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asukaskerian · 2 years

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monthly word count - november

TOTAL: 7 224 eh. not unexpected. :X POSTED: zilch. IN PROGRESS -bloodsport chapter 4 (1 266 words) (i keep starting and stopping and starting and stopping aaaa) -suburban ot4 (3 095 words) (this is a lot of snippets here and there as i try to bridge gaps. it's weirdly nice to be able to do that because i haven't posted any of it yet. at the same time if it wasn't something i'm writing just for me and not expecting other people to love the lack of feedback would be so discouraging XD) -cherry wine chapter... 5? i think. and a little bit of six. (2 863 words)

-- bloodsport -- The spaceship docked in the hangar didn't look Quincy in style, but it didn't look Arrancar either. Humanity had spread out across a lot of planets, though. Grimmjow could recognize the main thrust of it -- one of the Rukon diaspora worlds -- but he was not going to pin down the precise planet of origin off the top of his head. A lot more weapons on it than the usual Quincy rich-and-flaunting-it type, at any rate. Quincies seemed to think that if they couldn't deal with space attacks with their superior psychic blasts that they deserved to die or some shit. (Not that they ever did. Kinda hurt to admit it but the assholes' sterling-silver focus arrays kept them more dangerous than any reactor-fed cannon in the market.) Really odd. It wasn't like the Quincy fleet was lacking in smaller vessels. Half of the last battles had taken place on Earth, with land troops and local guerilla factions. A lot of the fleet hadn't even had time to get in the air. "Admitting weakness to look too pitiable to attack," Charlotte mused as they all lined up to wait for the hatch to open, "or trying to visually separate themselves from the supremacist faction, or...?" Or unassuming, and friendly, and in the same power class as his Kurosaki. "Being tricky," Grimmjow decided. "Ballsy enough to bring their heir in their baggage?" "He was weak," Luppi countered. "In her place I'd bring him as a bribe." Pfft. Possible. That they were family didn't count a ton, from what he'd ever remarked from high-caste assholes. The more money and power in play and the less you could count on blood bonds and all that shit. But Kurosaki and Ishida had been hanging out together, on that mission, even outside orders to pair up for patrol. It was already a good while ago, and Grimmjow hadn't paid him much mind at the time, but that Ishida's reaction to that half-assed blackmail story... Nah. "Stiff ain't the same as weak. Guy had a serious temper. He wasn't docile enough to come along nicely if he thought he was gonna get sold off to us, so he's here under her protection, so she thinks she can." A quiet snort. "If she's related to old Ywhach she ain't gonna need much in the way of focus arrays, so there might still be some under the plating." "I come in peace, but do try to bite, it'll be funny?" Dordoni asked. "Heh. That sounds interesting -- ah, there they are." -- suburban ot4 -- Is he keeping them up? Fuck. He hesitates in the entryway, jacket half opened. "Grimmjow? Is that you?" "Nope, it's your union-appointed cat burglar," he shoots back without thinking, because -- that was Kurosaki Ichigo. Weird thuds and wriggly noises happen, and then a thundering of feet, and Nelliel appears at the door to the living room, staring with owl eyes and imperious eyebrows. Her clothes are askew and her wavy hair all over the place, and well, he has a thought. For like half a second. Then he smirks. "You got stuck in the couch, huh." "--fuck you." She closes her gaping mouth, scowling harder with her cheeks puffed up. "How dare you malign me like this." "Orihime tried to pull her up and almost landed on her," Nerd Glasses Kurosaki says, peering from the side of the doorway, and then Karate Kurosaki pops up under his chin, and all three of them ogle impatiently at him as he sits there on the step trying to pull his boot free. "Cat burglars have a union now?" "Why do you think I came in through the ground floor? We got safety standards now." "Aww, that's kind of taking the romance out of it," Karate Kurosaki bemoans, and crouches and makes grabby hands the way she does for her kid, for him to give her his feet. "... Uh. I'm good." Grimmjow gives a good yank and plops his boot in the corner, weirdly embarrassed, trying not to boggle at the thought of her pulling hard as she can and flying ass over teakettle when it finally gives. "Thanks. Yeah." He's already halfway through getting pulled to his feet by the time he even realizes Nerd Glasses Kurosaki was holding out his hand to him. "So?!" Nelliel demands, feet planted, surprisingly frazzled. He could tease or drag it on but all that comes out is "Yeah, I got it," not quite as naturally casual as he was trying for. A weird note of awkwardness slipping in. He wants to scratch at his head and shrugs instead, but then he's getting his neck cracked in three places. She's up on the step and he's still down in the entrance; it feels different from a normal hug, more enveloping somehow. It's warm. At Nelliel's shoulders both of their hosts are smiling at him. "This is great! Ooh, I'm so relieved--" "Yeah, yeah," Nerd Glasses Kurosaki says, humoring his wife, and flicks him a lopsided smile even as he turns her by the shoulders. "Let's stop blocking the way for a minute though. Good job," he throws over his shoulder, leaving Grimmjow to have a private cuddly moment with his -- whatever Nelliel is to him. He feels a burst of embarrassed gratefulness for the privacy; he buries his face in her neck, breathing out finally. "I got it, fuck." -- cherry wine chapter 5 -- "Dressing someone else is best done with the person in question nearby," she mused apropos of nothing, like she hadn't just about said 'lest you commit regrettable fashion faux-pas' out loud. ... Like dressing Tobirama in forest greens, he couldn't help but think, and narrowed his eyes. (Tobirama's skin was almost translucent in places, tinged a rosy pink and veins showing blue. Yellower greens would probably turn him into a walking, rotting corpse.) He walked back his suspicion, poking at it from another couple of angles. She'd been around to watch the confrontation, about Tobirama (though really more about the Fuma wanting to cause trouble and only managing this half-assed little squabble; underwhelming and therefore suspicious.) The current big Uchiha scandal meanwhile was also related to Tobirama, but... She knew who he was shopping for, and was considering the result of his trip important enough to get in his face to gather more intel. So she was going to sabotage his purchase, or undermine it somehow. It would be as simple as having something identical or better offered first, before the meeting, so theirs would seem poorly researched or lazy or just disappointing now that the surprise was spent. Which meant he was wasting his time out here. "I didn't say I was dressing anyone else either." He smiled. "That would be extremely presumptuous, wouldn't it? Considering." "Considering?" Nishi mumbled to her sister, quietly enough that Izuna could have easily pretended not to hear her at all. He grinned instead. "Well! Depending on the context, spending a year's salary to dress someone in a long-sleeved kimono would carry a strong expectation of being allowed to undress them." He beamed straight at her, teeth out and eyelids draped a touch too low to be anything but smug. "Rather a waste of money, wouldn't you agree?" For the briefest instant, as he watched, sharingan on the verge of emerging, he could see her affable, disinterested expression tighten, he could feel a tendril of killing intent twang in the air between them. A waste of money, because he'd already gotten it for free.

#teaser #ABO quest

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thehandsomeasshole · 3 years

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@starttheanarchy from X

"Then why use them for a job they are not meant for, just keep them to their original purpose and make something new that works for what you need. And because quality work will save in the long term with less repairs, replacements, and malfunctions over all. And your welcome." The wide grin could be heard in her last three words. She was raised to have some manners after all. "And DT could probably do it as long as the load weight isn't over hmmm..." She drifts off as fingers tap together, mental math being calculated. "Eight tonne? Maybe less. I'm not exactly sure on that front since I actually haven't tested his limits on that front. Hmm something to test another day." Her eyes drifted over the floating form of her robot as it stayed ever vigilant of her surroundings. She knew it could do some heavy lifting since she had used previous versions to move things in the junk yard.

Eyes roll at yet another reason on why to avoid corporations, and another as he seems to enjoy being a pest.

"Actually last thing I did was fix up several things that were in disrepair in Overlook, since too much of the population of that poor town have the skull-shivers and had no access to the medicine. Something about repair tickets being ignored or something like that. And I didn't come here for the shallow reason of becoming rich, I'm opening the vault to try and prevent a very clearly corrupt corporation from monopolization on something that might be a blessing or a curse." If she had it her way, she would keep it locked forever since no one has a full understanding of the capabilities and issues of Eridium that began to spawn after the first one opened. To many variables and yet everyone wanting to just add more into the chaos.

"Yes, yes. The definition fits, but you seem to think I am on the same level of depravity like the Fleshrippers or the Bloodshots. To which all I can say is, rude and incorrect. And princess? Really?" That got her to shoot a glare back at the space station.

"Not everyone. Yes there are people who still deserve a chance to be treated like a decent human because they are. But you seem to be hard at work for making it so those people are just as dead as the rest. And you are right, no one has used an army of robots to lay siege on a planet in the name of their own ideals. They used armies of people, and all of them were considered like a plague upon humanity in the context of history. Dictators, tyrants, oppressors, authoritarians, monsters. Wonder how will you be written down."

At the laughter, and how it grew as she talked about what started this whole hot mess off for her on planet side, it made her skin itch with irritation. Out of everything on this fucking disaster hellscape, it was Hyperion that tried to kill her first. Sure others might have had to deal with bandits at other stops, but she went from off the inter-space shuttle to the train with no issues.

It was fair to say Jack was the first person to try to actually kill her. Even when escaping Eden-5 they were aiming for capture to make her life a living hell instead of a death sentience. It was one of the reasons she was trying so damn hard to keep surviving at this point, out of spite for the asshole who tried to kill them after using some shitty signs to inform them of their supposed doom.

Hands were clenched into fists and she could feel a chill roll through her body. It was like the ice never left at times.

A deep breath as she turns her face to the sun that burns the landscape, she is fine and alive. And she isn't going to follow his script and get pissed. She isn't going to scream like everyone else on this planet. The Mechromancer is going to do what she always does, go against what is expected.

"How about you tell me something else instead. You worked with the Crimson Raiders? What happened? What is the full story, from beginning to end?" Her voice is calm and even, one that seems to hold no judgment and wanting to listen. And she does, after all there isn't much information on the group. Gaige had no plans to jump ship, but she honestly had as much trust for them as she did for most anyone on this planet that wasn't shooting at her. Eden-5 taught her that the only person she could ever trust was her father and the friends she created with her own two hands.

"No bullshit, no propaganda. Just your side of the story. I have time."

Jack did smile at the little sass she threw his way, despite himself. "Well, empty, those things weigh nearly five tonnes. So, nice try. I guess." He chose to ignore her initial comment about using the loaders for their designed purpose. There was not enough patience in Jack's body to unpack all of that right now.

"Oh, the vaults are definitely a curse. But, once you get the ball rolling around here, there's not really anything anyone can do to stop it." Jack shrugged lightly, scanning through the first four pages while he spoke, "You just… gotta do what you can before another idiot comes along and screws everything up even worse than you did."

"Nah, you're right. Princess made me feel a little icky. How about… I- I'll get back to you, I'll think of something real good." he laughed lightly, beginning to scribble down some notes on the papers before he continued.

"You sure as hell act like 'em, you and your bandit buddies. Just exactly how many things or people have you killed since you got to Pandora? Hey, look, I'll even give wildlife a pass cause- Well, you could kill a hundred skags one day and the next day there'd be two hundred more. Let's just focus on people. Maybe you're not running around screaming about meat bicycles, and maybe it is a little rude of me, but it's also correct. You just don't wanna admit it."

"The people who are still decent in this universe are few and far, kid. In my entire life, I've only met two people who were truly selfless." One's dead and the other’s… worse. "But, you do realise that if it wasn't me up here, it'd just be someone else? Hell, Dahl and Atlas would still be plowing through planets like they're big balls of paper and slaughtering everyone in their way while going off about fighting for those planets' freedoms and peace."

"Ooh, I love tyrant! Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Always considered myself more notorious, than anything else." The sharp, almost humorous-sounding edge to his voice gave the impression he was teasing her, "Kid, it's nothin' I haven't heard before. You really think I'm gonna be kicking it anytime soon, anyway? Nah. Nope, not happening! I got way too much to do."

Jack's brows knitted together and slowly raised in a mixture of surprise and confusion. Sure, maybe she didn't care, he'd just never had a person who hated him ask for his side of the story before.

He decided not to express his shock.

"So, I'd been working on Helios since it launched, I was, uh-... A- a programming and engineering specialist for Hyperion for ten, fifteen years, maybe. I was in charge of most of the construction, getting together schematic proposals to give to my bosses, all that kinda shit."

"The first time I met Lilith and Roland was when Dahl decided they wanted to massacre all the workers on Helios and take it over. They… They didn't discriminate. If you worked for Hyperion, they'd gun you down without even batting an eye. They killed so many of the workers up here, I knew them all personally. We- we didn't even have a real military then, for God's sake! They shot workers out of the sky when they were trying to evacuate. That was the level of murderous psychopaths we were trying to deal with. We defended as best as we could, but even the freaking loaders weren't weaponised yet, I had like… Six hours to get them into a position to defend themselves, and you bet your ass I did it. I guess that actually answers your earlier question, too. I used them for a job they weren't made for out of necessity, the damn Lost Legion shot at them when they were running away, too. Assholes."

"I managed to get the vault hunter's I'd hired down to Elpis in a moonshot, think you've met a couple of them. They got to Concordia thanks to-" Shit. He hadn't actually thought about Janey in a while. He'd ask Athena how they were both doing, but she'd probably curb stop his head before he could even say hello. "-uh, this mechanic. They asked Lilith and Roland to help cause, y'know, Dahl had stuck a jamming signal somewhere on that moon and I couldn't work Helios's defences until it was shut off. They knew people on Helios were dying, and they said no."

"They only started to help when their lives were in immediate danger and Dahl got control of the moonshot laser and start firing away at Elpis. I really did trust 'em to help us, y'know? Like they promised they would."

"I guess they kinda did. We managed to get control of the laser again and… They blew it up. They nearly took the whole space station down just because they didn't want Hyperion having it. That stupid laser could've saved Pandora, you know. It could've- The blasts were so concentrated we could've wiped out an entire bandit settlement and their nice neighbours next door would've barely felt the ground tremble. I'd worked so hard on that laser. You have any idea how hard it was to make? How much progress they destroyed when they blew that damn thing up? A lot! A whole, freaking lot and-... Sorry. Off topic. Uh…"

He made a small noise, "Oh, yeah. Anyway, after that it was just a rush trying to get to the vault before anyone else did. Dahl was already there, but after what happened with those two I wouldn't have been surprised if they got to the vault first just so we couldn't."

"But, we did. My vault hunters took care of the- The Empyrean Sentinel, I think they called it. Big bastard, more human than the other vault monsters. Freaky stuff."

"So, the Sentinel was dead, and we finally got to the vault relic. It looked like… Nothing. Very underwhelming. Just a weird little floating vault symbol. I decided to touch it and-..." Jack went quiet for a while, his knuckles growing white with how tightly he was gripping the armrests of his chair, "And I saw… everything."

He felt sick even talking about it. The pit in his stomach growing deeper and he knew if he didn't stop soon he'd fall into a full blown breakdown. So, he took a shaky breath in and continued.

"Wasn't long after that when Lilith made her grand entrance. She destroyed the relic and- blasted the fuck out of my face. You ever had your face branded by some freaky eridian technology? It sucks. Real bad."

He let his head drop back, and he rubbed his eyes, "So, there's my side. Think I can quit my day job and become a professional story teller?" Though he tried to make a joke, the fire in his voice seemed to have dissipated. He just sounded… tired.

#jack was not expecting that either hsndkdkd #and also i do see what you mean about this turning into a whole ass novel hahaha #it could've been paradise // borderlands 2

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the-archlich · 4 years

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Clone Wars: The Arc That Is Too Relevant

This one is the best episode of the West Wing.

There are groups within the Republic senate playing both sides - most notably the Banking Clan and Trade Federation. They're trying to get a bill through the senate that would essentially deregulate the banks (and produce more clones). To help this along, Dooku orders Grievous to make a strike on Coruscant.

Meanwhile, Padme and Ahsoka are hanging out. I'm glad they're friends now. Padme would like to meet with some friends in the Separatist senate and negotiate peace. This is a new thing. We've always seen a very limited view of the Separatists until now. Pretty much just armies of droids and assholes like the Trade Federation, Techno Union, and Banking Clan guys. Not just regular, hard-working people who think they'd be better off removing themselves from the corrupt Republic and banding together in a different union.

Also Ahsoka seems to have aged up a bit. She's got a new outfit and a second lightsaber. Pretty dope.

Padme's meeting with her Separatist friend is a really interesting one. All we've seen from them so far are droids and military types, but the vast majority of the population - and the civil leadership - is just regular people. They disagree on policies but are still basically decent individuals trying to do their best. And of course they're not aware of the extremely shady stuff going on behind the scenes (what with Dooku being a Sith Lord); not that the Republic people are any better informed (hi, Palpatine.)

Padme's friend meets with the Separatist senate and puts forth the idea of negotiating peace. Most of the senators agree, despite objections from some powerful groups. This makes sense. They didn't succeed because they wanted a huge war; they wanted a better government with less corruption and where powerful factions (like the Banking Clan, Trade Federation, etc.) don't have total control over everything and individual systems have a say. Honestly they make a lot of good points.So the Separatists want to establish peace. Padme tells Palpatine and it's honestly a pretty good scene because he's totally blindsided. It's one of the only times we see something take him totally out of the blue and I like having a reminder that old Sheev still isn't an all-knowing god.

Of course it isn't that easy. Grievous sneaks some murderbots (disguised as cleaning bots) onto Coruscant. They blow up a power plant, which causes the Senate to freak out and agree to deregulation.

Also this is obviously before the Senate Murders episode because several people who got killed in that one are alive here.

With that first bill passed the conversation then turns to buying more Clone Troopers. This is the same thing they were debating in the Senate Murders episode; and since this takes place before that one, I guess we know how this ends. The debate gets interrupted when Dooku skypes in and says that peace is off; he says Republic a strike team attacked one of their planets and, in the process, killed Padme's friend.

Padme and friends put their efforts into getting the "grow me more clones" bill shot down. In a meeting with the Banking Clan, the chairman says they'll loan the Republic money to buy the troops at 25% interest rate. Now I'm 30 years old so I know a thing or two about interest rates and that is such a goddamn insane rate that if anyone suggests it to you you are legally allowed to shoot them in the face. (Before this the Republic was still at 10% interest, which is also pretty fucking insane. This is not a good government.) He can charge 25% now because of the deregulation. (Of course, if you've studied what happens when rich people loan money to the government, it doesn't go well for them because they often don't have the ability to force repayment.)

Shit's getting bad. Senators are getting jumped and beaten in the streets - which is usually good, but in this case it's at the instigation of the banks, so this is the one time I'm not for it. Padme is running around, trying to get anyone she can to join her side. There's a good conversation with one senator who points out that they all spend their time on Coruscant arguing with each other and are never on their own planets talking to their constituents. It's a good observation.

Dooku orders Padme killed but how many times are people going to try this? Just fucking stop. Padme gets away - and in the process does some things to one of the bounty hunters following her that should have killed him in at least 5 different ways but I guess we don't want blood on her hands? I say let her get some.

The whole experience has really been disheartening to her. Not so much that people tried to kill her; Senators are being intimidated into silence or are using the war as a pretext for their own profit. As she puts it, "What has happened to democracy? And why doesn't anyone seem to care?"

The bounty hunters also try to kill Bail Organa, since he's the main sponsor of the opposition. But he's actually a 6'2" beast and doesn't go down easy. Still, he's too injured to give the speech he was preparing, so Padme has to talk to the senate instead. She gives a speech about the terrible conditions her aide's family is living in because of the war but it kind of rings false because Padme could always, you know, fucking pay her more.

This is a very good arc; the capstone of the Senate Murders episode isn't as strong as the rest of it, and this might be one time when it's better to have it out of sequence because that'd be a weak finish.

At first I expected that this arc was just going to be the usual senate bullshit (like Senate Murders). There's a bill that's bad, Padme has to stop it, someone tries to kidnap/kill her; maybe she wins, maybe she doesn't. And that is what happened. But this arc also gave us a lot more than that.

This arc humanized the other side of the war in a way that hasn't been done before - in any other Star Wars media that I'm aware of. We're not talking about the Empire/First Order where people know they're living under an asshole. The Separatists are rational, reasonable people. Their grievances with the Republic are real and valid, and they have a good reason for fighting their war. And most of them would rather not fight at all. It's really only a couple assholes at the top working behind the scenes to keep the conflict going - and we see largely the same on the Republic side.

These episodes also go heavily into things like banking regulations and what happens when you let them run wild. And how the military industrial complex is a monster that will never be satiated; the people who profit from it will throw your loved ones into the first until there's nothing left as long as it puts a little more money in their pockets. The people trying to prolong this war aren't doing it because they care about the outcome, they just want it to go longer and longer so they can profit more. Their sis a government that has a bottomless budget for military expenses (no matter how much debt it causes) but suddenly cares about cost when it comes to social services like education and healthcare.

With the zillo beast episode I made a joke about this show using the Clone Wars format to express the sort of complex problems we're facing as a country (as we were back in 2010 and still are now a decade later). This time it's not a joke, and it's not metaphor or subtext. The issues discussed in this episode are ones we're still fighting with now. Endless wars for profit, an unrestricted financial sector, and a government who couldn't care less because outside of a small minority of people who genuinely give a shit most of them are either too greedy or too cowardly to do a goddamn thing about it. It's true in Clone Wars and it's true in America.

And we know how things end in Clone Wars.

#clone fights #eat the rich

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dianatownerart · 5 years

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Sweaty Eyeballs Reflection

10/16/19

On October 5, I had the pleasure of attending the Sweaty Eyeballs animation festival. I saw the Joanna Priestley screening as well as the Baltimore Showcase.

Some thoughts:

1) it was very cool to see my work and my classmates’ work displayed on the windows of the Parkway !! It was also very cool to see a UMBC alumni (Ezra) have his animation senior project showed in the Baltimore Showcase. I loved “Wilow”- it had a surreal, dreamlike quality to it that was infused with a sense of nostalgia and moodiness. And it was a great example of things that can be accomplished in the senior projects class.

2) I am biased towards “Foreign Exchange” because I was one of the animation assistants (I got too excited when I saw my name !! in !! the !! credits !!!!!!!!!) but I really think it was such a cool piece. Hollywood found dead in a ditch!! Corrie’s sand animation and the intricate, beautiful animation of the bank notes was so captivating. A lot of animation that I’ve seen tends to be focused on character and have a very... “Pixar storytelling feel,” if that makes sense. i.e. it fits into a specific structure of emotional beats, like character A tries something twice and fails but on the third time they make it. which isn’t to knock on formulaic narratives, but to say that it’s cool and refreshing to see something different than that.

3) Joanna Priestley’s work was amazing !! It was very interesting to see how her work got more abstract when she transitioned to digital animation, though there always was a sense of abstraction even in her earlier works. I got very excited when I saw that Pascal Campion had worked with her on “A Streetcar Named Perspire” because I love Pascal Campion.

4) I was super impressed by “Stitches” because it was made by high schoolers. It was cool how they combined digital 2D animation (I think they used rotoscoping?) and what looked like stop motion to create a fascinating Frankenstein-esque romance story. The drive... the motivation... the collaboration... the skill... I hope those kids go far in pursuing their dreams.

5) My favorite animation was the trailer for The Indies. It was a promotional trailer for a kickstarter-backed series about hip hop in a dystopian future, and the trailer was an action-packed introduction to the main characters of the series. Showing the trailer at the Baltimore Showcase was a smart way to get people who otherwise wouldn’t know about the project excited for it (me. I’m talking about me. I didn’t know that The Indies was a thing, and now I do know, and I cannot wait to see it in its fantastic final form). It was a fun, exciting animation to watch. I’m interested in sci-fi/fantasy/dystopian stories, so this was plenty of inspiration fodder for future projects!!!!

6) I’ll be honest: I liked the technical part of “A Love Letter for the End of the World”—I think it was animated beautifully, with its combination of home video, stop motion, and traditional animation, but its message annoyed me. It was basically about how Earth is dying, but at least the filmmaker got to enjoy the world and cherish what she had.

Which is sweet.

Really.

I’m just being cynical.

But.

I will say, when I think of climate change, I don’t really want to hear messages of “it was good while it lasted uwu”—I want to hear, “Hey, this crisis is preventable!! What the fuck!!! Stop killing the planet !!” in an eat-the-rich, end-capitalism kind of way. So my enjoyment of the film was hindered by my own feelings towards the subject, as well as my desire to hear what I wanted to hear. Is that close-minded? Is that selfish? Perhaps. Maybe if I rewatch it, it will feel less like a simpering white girl whose home isn’t being destroyed by climate change talking about how lucky she is. Sorry, that was harsh. I’m an asshole.

While we’re on the topic of my personal flaws, I did feel bad after seeing Joanna’s work and the Baltimore Showcase because I didn’t talk to any artists. I just kind of stood in the lobby looking uncomfortable as I waited for my friend to get done talking with her parents so we could leave. That was not cute, and if I want to be involved in the local animation community, I have to...involve myself...in the local animation community. So I’ll have to work on that.

ANYWAY. Overall I enjoyed Sweaty Eyeballs, and I hope to try to get my work screened at the festival one day !! It was a great way to expose myself to different kinds of animation and gain inspiration for future projects.

#reflection #long post

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mordred · 5 years

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Books I read in 2018

The little friend by Donna Tartt

was there even a plot? I can't remember. took me ages, felt like a fever dream. worth it. 4/5

Kyökin puolella by Sigrid Boo

rich girl makes a bet with her crush she'd get along as cleaning lady even though she's never used a towel in her life. easy read, predictable but enjoyed it more than I thought I would. in the end everyone is happy and married... horrifying! 3.5/5

1984 by George Orwell

depressing dystopian novel. pretty sure everyone knows what it is about. you can tell by the way boobs are described it was written by a man. my stars are given for how much I liked it, not the overall importance and quality so 2/5

Brave new world by Aldous Huxley

even though I had my difficulties getting into it I ended up liking it much better than 1984. I feel like it's much more complex in a way were you could easily read it as an utopia (for the most part) but at the same time you really know it isn't one and getting behind what makes it this way is...quite fascinating. and horrifying. 3.5/5

Circe by Madeline Miller

retelling of greek mythology concerning Circe and I'm so into it. GREAT summer read! still hate odysseus, used to love him as a child when I had this book about the odyssey...what happened. 4.5/5

Der rote Planet by Alexander A. Bogdanow

communism on mars. this guy is willing to fuck an alien but only after finding out it's a woman (after he mistook her for a man). contains the flattest love story you've ever read 1.5/5

Gläserne Bienen by Ernst Jünger

it was advertised to me as a story where a guy gets invited into a garden and finds a cut off ear. he panickes but soon discovers the ear is not real at all. which starts to make him wonder if anything in this garden is really real. sounds quite interesting huh? I was really looking forward to reading this book but while this is exactly what this book is about, at the same time it's really not. was disappointed. looses a star for making me read a very graphic description of the body of someone who just jumped out of a window. still quite interesting 3/5

Somniavero by Anja Stürzer

science fiction children's book about the climate change. had to write a paper on it, turned out 57 pages long, still haven't gotten a grade for it, my teacher is probably afraid to start reading it. was terrifyingly realistic and we as the human race are fucked. not gonna rate this one because it's written for 10 year old kids not me.

Cold comfort farm by Stella Gibbons

if you never watched the movie you should totally watch the movie it's even better than the book. but I loved the book as well! local girl decides working isn't for her after her parents die and she'd rather move in with some relatives at cold comfort farm where everyone has issues. local girl makes it her task to solve those issues to make her stay more pleasant. 5/5

Gentlemen and players by Joanne Harris

loved the book while reading it. what a plot twist! after I finished the book I totally felt like I'd have to read it again at some point. yet left almost no impression on my and I'm having trouble right now to recall what it even was about haha. still 4/5

Der Schwarm by Frank Schätzing

for too long humans have fucked up the earth and the oceans. now the ocean is angry and it wants Revenge! great science facts! brilliant concept. gave me a vivid nightmare about a tsunami. even the idea of who's behind the fuckery is quite fascinating once you're used to it. if it only wasn't for the plot and the characters. I hated them all with a burning passion. couldn't have cared about the plot less. almost everyone dies but you just don't care. almost everyone dies EXCEPT for this one guy who's death I started praying for after the first few chapters. what an asshole. but I'm pretty sure the author loved him and wanted to be just like him 2.5/5

A little life by Hanya Yanagihara

you want to read about the most fucked up life you couldn't even possible imagine? you love depression? you're into crying? this book is for you! after some consideration I decided that even though it is not a bad book, I hate it. and I'm never going to touch it again. 2/5

If we were villains by M.L. Rio

local boy must be fucking delusional if he thinks I'm able to keep up with the plot while he and his friends are talking in shakespearian verses. tries to be the secret history for theatre kids. is really not. there's no chemistry between any of the characters 2/5

#you can tell i had a class about science fiction literature laat semester haha #does not include the books i reread this year #but i swear the secret history gets funnier every time you read it #shout out to the goldfinch alice in wonderland harry potter and the picture of doiran gray because i read them again and i love them #personal

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thecraftgremlin · 6 years

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In A Little Pickle (A Metalocalypse Fanfic)

I don't always write fanfic, but when I do it... um... I don't know how to end that. There's basically no Pickles and his nephew content, so I decided to give the fandom what it probably didn't need but has anyway now. The story basically just came to me as a series of scenes and eventually I just decided to write those scenes, string them together, and say screw the rest.

Also on Ao3

Nathan found Pickles sitting at the kitchen table of Mordhaus, glaring at a brightly colored card in his hands like it had stolen the last bottle of vodka on the planet. He would have just grabbed the bag of chips he was after and left the drummer to… whatever it was he was doing, if Pickles hadn’t spoken up.

“He’s pure evil, Nathan.��

“Uhhh… who?” Nathan was only half paying attention, carefully considering the weighty decision of barbeque versus salt and vinegar flavor.

“Seth,” Pickles spat with the venom he reserved for his family.

Having ultimately decided on both flavors for his snack, Nathan wondered what Pickles’ asshole brother had to do with a card covered with multicolored balloons and confetti. His questions were soon answered as Pickles stood from his seat at the table, pacing and waving the card in the air.

“I thought I knew how low that motherfucker could sink! But no, this time he can’t just try to worm his way into my life and bleed me dry like he always does. Now he’s getting his fuckin’ kid in on the act!” He punctuated the rant by slapping the card down on the table. Now invested in the drama, Nathan picked the offending paper up, squinting at the text without the aid of his glasses. The outside cheerfully announced “You’re Invited!,” a handwritten note inside that somehow felt slimy for Nathan to read.

Pickles,

Little Davey’s turning 5 next week, and he says he wants his Uncle Pickles to come to his birthday party more than anything. I know you’re busy being a big hotshot rock star and shit, but you better not disappoint my little man. Party’s at my place on the 17that noon. Make sure to get him something good.

-Seth

It was times like these that made Nathan glad to be an only child with no obligations like these to deal with.

“Couldn’t you just… Not go?” Nathan offered sagely. It seemed like the easiest solution to the problem, and he wasn’t particularly interested in thinking too hard about helping Pickles with his family crap.

“And give that douchebag more reasons to think I owe him something? No,” Pickles slumped back into his seat at the table, “I gotta go to my nephew’s birthday party.”

“I still don’ts gets why you wanteds me to helps you picks out a borthsday present?”

Pickles looked Toki dead in the eyes; picturing his collections of stuffed animals and the model airplanes that hung from his bedroom ceiling, the pastel fleece pajamas he wore when he watched cartoons in the living room eating the sugariest cereals his diabetes would allow. Pickles smiled and put a hand on his shoulder.

“’Cause you’re a good pal.”

Toki seemed to buy it, a wide smile breaking out on his face.

“Aww, t’anks Pickle!”

From the moment they entered the toy store, Pickles already felt overwhelmed by the sea of plastic and plush. He hoped he could keep Toki focused for long enough for them to find something suitable for a five year old. He let Toki lead the way, the two musicians wandering the brightly colored aisles. Pickles immediately vetoed anything clown related Toki tried to suggest. Only people who had childhoods as fucked up as Toki’s actually liked clowns, and Pickles hoped to the metal gods that Seth wasn’t that much of a piece of shit to his kid. They examined toy weapons construction sets and science kits, debated the merits of ninjas versus pirates versus superheroes. Finally, Pickles’ attention was caught by a flash of metallic green. He picked up a hefty box proudly showing off a robotic dinosaur and remote control inside. It was expensive enough that Seth couldn’t call him a cheapskate over it, and he couldn’t see any of those small parts that were bad for little kids for some reason.

“Hey, what about this one?” He held the box up to Toki for approval.

“Oh, cools! Ja, dat’s a good ones! Everybody likes de dinosaurs, rights?”

That was certainly true. Even as Pickles’ interests had turned to rock n’ roll and illicit substances as a kid, he still remembered having a healthy appreciation for a good old t-rex or stegosaurus. As they left with his present and several items for Toki, as they had agreed, Pickles felt a little better about the whole party ordeal. Maybe he could actually do this.

He couldn’t do this.

Pickles was baking in the Australian heat, his only source of respite his cup of what used to be fruit punch, now replaced completely with whiskey from his hip flask. His father glared at him from across the yard every time he pulled it out, but Pickles was beyond caring at that point. He supposed he was lucky to have avoided his mom for as long as he did, but she had him cornered and was on her usual lecture of how Seth was so responsible and such a good father and what was Pickles doing with his life, still playing around with that band of his. In the background, Amber chatted with other equally disinterested looking moms, a handful of rowdy kids wrestled in the dirt while their dads, the greasy lowlife types that always seemed to flock around Pickle’s brother, made shady deals amongst themselves. Sitting at the table piled with presents and a plain looking blue and white sheet cake was little David, playing a handheld video game, having long given up on trying to play with the other kids. Pickles felt bad that he had initially assumed the kid was in on Seth’s manipulative bullshit. He had thought his nephew would be a little hellspawn, like his brother had been as a child. Instead Pickles only saw a lonely little boy, trying to enjoy a crappy birthday party. Pickles felt like he was being suffocated under all this heat and judgment, but he had decided when he saw David that he wouldn’t let his family get to him, even as they weighed him down with their usual complaints. He was surprised when his relief came from Seth.

“Alright, time for presents!”

As David unwrapped generic sports equipment and t-shirts for year old movies, Pickles started to feel better about his presence at the party. At least he had gotten a good present for the kid. At least they couldn’t give him shit about that. Pickles felt himself stand a little taller as Seth pulled out his present.

“This one’s from your Uncle Pickles. Should be a good one, he’s really rich,” Seth said, directed completely at Pickles. David unwrapped his toy and Pickles swore he saw a sparkle in the boy’s eyes for the first time that afternoon. His growing pride was soon squashed by a mutter from his brother.

“Guy’s got all the money in the fuckin’ world and only gets the kid one present.”

Of course.

“I can’t believe you, Pickles,” his mother said from behind him.

Of. Fucking. Course.

“You don’t visit your nephew even once since he was born, and now you think you can just buy your way into his life with some expensive toy?” Molly had wormed her way in front of Pickles, “You make me sick.”

That was it. He couldn’t take this anymore.

“God, there’s nothing I can do right for you people, is there?”

It was then that the birthday boy burst into tears and ran into the house, leaving his brand new robot dinosaur half-opened on the table.

“Look what you’ve done now, Pickles!”

Pickles had stomped into Seth's kitchen in search of more booze, but instead he stumbled on his nephew curled into a tiny sniffling ball under the table. He kneeled down to the boy’s level and tried to speak as gently as possible.

“Hey, buddy. You doin’ ok?”

David minutely shook his head. Dumb question.

“Mind if I sit next to you?”

The boy shrugged. Pickles squashed himself into the little space, for once thankful for his short stature. He had no idea what to do now. He didn’t even know how to comfort a grown adult, much less a little kid.

“Hey, um. I’m sorry if you didn’t like your present. I can, uh, buy you something else if that helps?”

“No, I like it.” David’s voice was small and quiet. Pickles realized that this was the first time he had actually talked to his nephew, beyond the awkward greeting they’d shared earlier that day.

“So, uh, something else up then?”

The little boy was silent for a moment.

“The party was so boring. Daddy didn’t invite my friends, just those mean kids from my class and their weird dads. And then everybody started yelling and-“ He whimpered and curled in on himself tighter. Pickles took a chance and put a hand on the boy’s back, rubbing gently.

“Yeah. Doesn’t sound like a very fun birthday. I’m sorry.”

“I thought it would be fun with you here.”

Pickles was taken aback by that. He had assumed that Seth had been lying about David wanting him there.

“You really wanted me to come?”

The boy looked up at Pickles with watery eyes, his expression serious as a five year old’s could be.

“You’re so cool! You’re a rock star and you’re my uncle! But-but you don’t like me…”

“No, no, no!” Pickles interjected quickly. God, he was the worst uncle in the world. “I do like you! It’s just… Our family… They aren’t the nicest people to be around. But you’re not like that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, you’re cool. Rock stars can always tell when somebody’s cool.”

Pickles saw that little bit of sparkle return to his nephew’s eyes. He wondered if there was a way he could keep it there.

“Hey, I got an idea. Tomorrow, would you wanna spend the day hanging around with your Uncle Pickles and his band?”

“No, nope, nuh-uh. No way we’re spending the day hanging around with some little kid.” Was what the members of Dethklok said five minutes before meeting Pickles’ nephew David. Five minutes aftermeeting him, the band was dead set on giving the kid the best, most metal post-birthday a boy could ask for. The six stormed arcades, ice cream parlors, even a petting zoo (partly with the logic that Australian petting zoos are more brutal because everything in Australia can kill you, partly with insistence from Toki.) One by one, the band’s uncaring brutal facades began to crack under the innocent wonder of a small child.

Nathan spent a good portion of the day with David perched on his shoulders, the two intently discussing the brutality of various dinosaurs.

Skwisgaar ate up the enraptured way the boy watched him play, which led to the guitarist pulling out increasingly more complicated techniques to keep his attention.

Murderface and Toki delighted in crafting elaborate and violent stories for the monster finger puppets and tiny parachuters David had won at the arcade.

By the time they were on the Dethcopter heading for Seth’s place, the band was seriously discussing the merits of adopting/kidnapping/buying him from his parents, before they realized there was actual work involved in having the kid around and promptly gave up on that idea. David left the chopper with his uncle to a chorus of suspiciously un-brutal sounding goodbyes. Just before reaching the front door, the little boy abruptly turned and threw his arms around Pickles’ waist.

“Thanks Uncle Pickles.”

“No problem buddy,” Pickles replied, awkwardly returning the hug as best as he could.

“Can you come visit again?”

He knew he should say no. Seeing David again meant dealing with Seth, and Pickles didn’t know if he could deal with seeing that greedy douche’s face on a regular basis. But with those big eyes staring up at him from that sweet freckled face…

“Of course, any time kiddo.”

Seth opened the door to let his son in, immediately questioning him on what kinds of things he’d managed to make his uncle pay for. Just before the door closed, David looked back at Pickles with a smile and held up his hand in the classic devil horns.

Yeah. Pickles could deal with Seth for this kid.

#metalocalypse #pickles the drummer #the rest of dethklok are there to to varying degrees #fanfic #how long has it been since i've written fic?#idk #if my art hasn't proven how much or an un-metal sap i am this fic sure will

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likexporcelain · 6 years

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A Crack in Everything (Chapter 5/8) - Jonerys

Summary: Six years after their high school romance ended in emotional ruin, Daenerys Targaryen runs into Jon Snow by chance on Valentine's Day, forcing old memories to resurface. This sudden reunion could be cathartic, but it could also deepen the cracks already in their hearts. The question Daenerys grapples with is, will this all be worth it in the end?

Rating: Explicit

First 5 chapters up on Ao3 -- more tags/warnings/notes there

After we had sex for the first time, it felt like everyone at school could tell. Or maybe it was just in my head. Maybe I just wanted everyone to be able to notice that mine and Jon's relationship wasn't just some super close friendship. I found myself wanting to hold his hand more in public and put my arm around his waist while we walked, to kiss him in the hallway and let everyone know that he was mine and I was his. Jon never seemed to mind either and I realized he had only held back before for my comfort.

The weather was getting hot as graduation approached – just a month away now. One day, while I was sorting through my mess of a locker looking for a hair tie to keep my waist-long hair off my sweaty neck, I was approached by a face I recognized, though we'd never officially met.

“Do you know who I am?” the red-headed underclassman asked me in a low, quiet voice like she was Deep Throat in the shadows of an underground parking garage and not the Social Sciences building at school, her Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses shielding her eyes despite us being indoors. Jon had mentioned his cousin, Sansa, had a flare for dramatics.

I closed my locker door and raised an eyebrow at her. “You're Robb Stark's sister.”

“Yes,” she huffed unhappily. She probably got that a lot, being the first Stark sibling to attend Westeros Prep since her older brother passed through the halls like high school royalty. Everyone loved Robb Stark. Even I did in the small way that one loves someone else just for being attractive and tall and not a total asshole. At the very least, he never call me the Targaryen bitch. Looking at his little sister, I doubted there was much we had in common, but I couldn't help but share her animosity for constantly being defined by a relative's existence. Robb Stark's Sister & the Targaryen Bitch. We should have started a girl band.

“But Jon Snow is also my cousin,” she continued. “You knew that, right?”

“Mhm,” I hummed, folding my arms in front of me, reserving all of my niceness until after her point was made.

“So, are you and him really. . . I mean, it's not just a joke. . ?”

“That we're together?”

“So you are together? Like, actually together?”

“Yeah, for about four months now. He never told you?”

Her lips pursed as she shook her head. “Jon doesn't really tell us things. I mean, he talks to us, sure, but he doesn't tell us things.” She took a beat to glance around us, like she was about to spill government secrets. “Look, don't be mad at him. It's good that he hasn't said anything. You probably know this, but a lot of families in this city aren't big fans of yours. To be honest, I think it's pretty silly. You seem alright to me. I actually think you're really pretty.”

My expression softened into a small smile. “Thanks. I think your --”

“I just wanted to tell you that I don't care that my cousin is dating a Targaryen. I'm not going tell my mom and dad. No one ever trusts me, but you can trust me.”

I got the feeling like I was supposed to be glad for this, but I wasn't. “Would it really be that big of a deal if they knew? I mean, I never even met my father. I'm not --”

“Yeah, but. . .” she interrupted, “you're still a Targaryen. It'll just make everyone's lives easier if they never find out. Trust me.”

“Okay,” I answered quietly, and after a quick complement about my hair, Sansa Stark was shuffling off in heels she wasn't steady on.

It was another conversation I should have paid more mind too. For a fourteen year old, Sansa had known what she was talking about. It would have been easier if Ned Stark had never found out about me and Jon. We could have pulled that off, right? We could have eloped and I would change my name to Snow. I would dye my hair and force Jon to call me Dany in front of his uncle when we'd come over for Thanksgiving dinners. Swear Sansa, and even Robb, to secrecy. A terrible plan, but I think we could have done it.

We were mere weeks from graduating. I had already gotten back all of my college acceptance and rejection letters – and one wait-list offer from Yale – and submitted my admission decision to Caltech, my second choice after Harvard sent me the old “We regret to inform you that. . .” e-mail. This was supposed to be a happy time, getting to leave Westeros Prep and start a better chapter of my life, but that all changed when I lost my job at Banana Republic. The first domino to fall.

“I won't be able to pay next month's rent. I won't be able to get a new job before I'll have to pay it, and what job would even hire someone who's going to have to quit in less than three months when the semester starts?” I was distraught, face in my hands while Jon ran his palm up and down my spine. I blamed loosing my job, but the truth was that it was my fault. If I hadn't been so upset, if I had just put on a confident face and tried to figure it all out on my own, then maybe Jon never would have felt the need to suggest what he did.

“You should come live with me,” he said. “The house is so fucking huge you barely see anyone even when the it's full of people. My bedroom is on the opposite side of the house from everyone else's, it's got it's own bathroom, and it's larger than your entire apartment. Just come live with me until we get our own place.”

Even though it was a ridiculous idea, I smiled anyway, because Jon wanted me to move in with him and how could that not make me smile. “I don't think your aunt and uncle would let that happen. Thank you, though.”

We were at my place, sitting on my bed. Jon had come over as soon as I texted him what had happened at the end of my Friday evening shift.

“Then I'll get a job and help you. I was going to have to get one after graduation anyway.”

“Even if I was comfortable letting you pay my rent for me, you wouldn't be able to find a job and get your first paycheck before my rent's due.”

“I could steal fixtures from my uncle's house and sell them.”

“Wow, chivalry really isn't dead,” I laughed.

He put his arms around me and pulled me close. “Just let me talk to him. I know he and your father had some sort of feud a long ass time ago, but Ned is actually a decent guy. Probably the most decent rich man you could meet. I think he'll want to help out once he knows how much you mean to me.”

“He'll probably think I'm using you just like everyone else.”

“You are using me, aren't you?” He ran his fingers up my side to make me giggle. “You know, for my sexy body.”

“You caught me.”

“And if you're going to move in with me, you're going to be seeing a lot of it.”

I grinned and twisted to put my arms around his neck, throwing a leg over his lap to straddle him. While we kissed, Jon laid down on his back.

“Thank you,” I whispered close to his mouth.

Running his fingers through my hair, he said “Don't thank me until I successfully convince my uncle to let a Targaryen move in.”

“I'm saying thank you for liking me even though I'm a Targaryen.”

His eyes squinted for a moment. “Targaryen is just a name. Like Stark or Snow. They're just syllables. A syllable can't dictate what kind of a person you are.”

I sat up, pouting slightly and gazing down at him with my best puppy dog eyes. “You didn't like me before you found out I was poor.”

Eyes casting away, he tapped his fingers against my hip, wearing a contemplative expression. After a bit, he looked back up at me and said “This is going to sound really pathetic, but I wasn't messing with you then because I didn't like you, I was messing with you because I did like you and I thought you would never like me.”

I blinked at him, not quite understanding.

“When I came into Chemistry on my first day, and Baratheon told me where my seat was, I remember walking over and seeing you with your wavy white hair and big blue eyes – and you were somehow already taking notes even though class hadn't even started yet – and I thought to myself, this must be the most beautiful girl on the planet. How the hell am I going to get her to notice me?”

“You're lying.”

He shook his head. “I thought all rich girls liked jerks, honestly. When I found out you weren't rich, I thought maybe I'd been going about it the wrong way.”

“Why did you wait so long to ask me out then?”

“Like I said. . . Most beautiful girl on the planet. It's a bit intimidating. You could have asked me out too, you know. Feminism and all that.”

I leaned down and kissed him, soft and slow, then whispered “Will you go out with me, Jon Snow?”

“Yes,” he answered with a sly smile, hands traveling from my hips to my butt. “Can we have sex first, though?”

Cheeks tinting red, I scrunched my nose and giggled silently while nodding my head. He flipped me onto my back. We were in love. Yes, we were young, but that didn't change anything. It wasn't platonic love, or fatuous love. It was real. We wanted the best for each other, to help each other and provide for each other. We were best friends but also wanted to fuck each other as often as possible. We respected each other and compromised. We never really fought because our personalities were so similar, and in the ways that we differed, we found love in those parts too. I really did think that we would be together forever, but forever would only last another few days.

* * * * *

When I got off my shift at Martell's the following Saturday, Jon was waiting for me out front and my eyes lit up like they hadn't since I was seventeen.

He was smiling too as he dropped his cigarette to the concrete. “Hungry?”

“Always,” I answered.

Because of our work schedules, it was difficult to spend much time together during the week so this was our first opportunity to spend real time together since he stayed the night at my house five days ago. I hadn't been able to hug him or kiss him since and I suddenly found myself too nervous to do so outside of Martell's, out in the open, like I was afraid one of the Starks would jump out from behind a bush and swat my nose with a rolled up magazine. But in Jon's Jeep, he put his hand on my thigh while he drove, and I put my hand over his.

We went to the beach and got tacos again. Jon bought some for himself too and we ate them together before walking down to the sand. The sunset was striking, pink fading into a deep purple. I toed out of my Sketchers and socks, rolled up my pants up to my knees and put my feet in the water, letting the tide wash up to my ankles before it rushed back out to the sea, sand and sediment rising over my toes. As I breathed in the salty air, I felt something small hit my back before plopping into the wet sand. I twisted around to see Jon standing above the tide line, hands behind his back and looking away, suspiciously innocent. A few seconds after turning back toward the water, I felt another soft pang of a small object hitting my back. Twisting around quicker this time, I caught Jon bringing his hands behind his back once again, lips pressed together to conceal his amusement.

“Are you throwing things at me?!” I called out to him.

He sent me an exaggerated look of confusion, bringing one hand to his chest. “I'm sorry, do I know you?!”

Shaking my head, I bent down and gathered up the wet sand in my hands before the tide could sweep back up the beach.

“What are you doing?” I heard him ask.

I stood, sculpting the sand into a smooth ball. Jon began backing away when I skipped up to him, but before he could get too far from me, I pelted the clump of sand, aiming for his chest, only to have it vaporize in mid air and fall like confetti down to the beach. While Jon laughed into his palm I glared at him with my lips pursed.

Once composed, Jon walked up to me with his arms outstretched, but I kept mine crossed defiantly over my chest. He embraced me against him and it became harder to conceal a smile. When his mouth pecked quick kisses to my forehead and cheek, though, I relented and turned my head to press my lips to his. As the kiss deepened I trailed my hand down between us, past his belt. Jon made a noise as I slid my hand right into the front pocket of his jeans and he leaned away from me with another innocent smile as I pulled out a handful of seashells.

“I've never seen those in my life,” he tried.

Shaking my head again, I dropped the shells into the sand before taking his shirt and pulling him against me, my wet toes digging into the sand as I kissed him some more before remembering we were still in public. I pulled back with a blush, turning away to find where I'd dropped my shoes.

“You're still a goofball, Jon Snow,” I told him and he seemed to take it as a complement.

We held hands on our way back to Jon's car and then he took me back to his apartment, which was just a couple blocks from the pier, an upstairs unit of a four-plex on a main road. The massive complexes on the other side of the road prevented an ocean view, but I could still smell the salt in the air. I was impressed before we even got upstairs.

Jon's was a funny apartment. It had quirks that showed how old the building must be. There was a nonoperational fireplace that now just looked like a curved wall with a square cut into it, and Jon used it to stack DVDs. The main room was divided into two sections by built in shelving and cabinetry stuffed with a massive collection of paperbacks. The front section, with a large window facing the road, was the living room, cluttered but not messy, with a deep faux-leather couch and some IKEA furniture in front of a TV mounted on the wall. He even had a PlayStation3. In the second section, which looked a lot like it was intended to be a dining room back when the floor plan was designed – I would guess the thirties – was where Jon's bed was, no larger than my full sized bed, but he actually had a headboard, wooden and sturdy.

“It's technically a one-bedroom,” Jon explained, “but the bedroom is super tiny so I just keep all my gym stuff in there.”

I made a right, walking through the small hallway. There was an archway on one side leading into a small room with a yellow kitchen – he didn't have a dishwasher either – and on the other side was the door to the bathroom. A few steps further down the hall was the “bedroom” Jon had referenced. It really was tiny. Just big enough to keep a rack of weights and a punching bag hanging from the ceiling.

“I like it,” I told him.

Back in the living room, we laid together on the couch, my cheek on his chest, his hand rubbing lazy circles against my back. I'd been telling him about work and how annoying my manager was. When I noticed some spiral bound notebooks lying across the coffee table, I stretched my arm out and took the first one my fingers met.

“What are these?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

Flipping through the notebook, my eyes scanned what looked like verses scribbled in Jon's messy handwriting. I lifted my eyes to him, grinning. “Jon, have you been writing poetry?”

His cheeks flushed, head shaking. “They aren't poems. Songs really, but I can't sing and I can't play any instruments. I've been trying to teach myself the guitar, but it isn't working out very well.”

Choosing a page at random, I recited the first stanza on the page:

“You make me feel like I am falling into pieces.

Take away all my feelings,

And I'm yours.”

I turned back to him. “Who is this about?”

With a shrug, he answered “Life, I guess.”

After shutting the notebook, I lifted myself up and placed it back where I found it. “You're talented.”

His head shook again.

“You are,” I insisted. Then, hesitantly, as I picked at a stray thread coming off the bottom hem of my shirt, I said “Jon, can I ask you something?”

“Mhm.”

“Have you loved anyone since me? It's okay if you have. I just want to know.”

His tired eyes seemed to focus more and he leaned up on his elbows.

“Wait,” I said quickly. “Never mind. I don't want to know.”

Ignoring me, Jon answered “I've only ever loved you.”

When all I did was chew on my bottom lip and stare down at my lap, Jon sat up and leaned in close to me. “You don't believe me,” he said.

“I believe you.”

“Then what's wrong? You want to know if I've been with anyone else?”

I looked at him. “Don't tell me. I already know you have. It's been six years after all. I'd be stupid to think you hadn't.”

Jon raised his hand to my cheek, running his thumb over my bottom lip. Hushed, but adamant, he said “I love you.”

To hear Jon say the words in that way, like it was a complete sentence, had me gravitating toward him until our parted lips connected, my tongue sweeping inside his mouth.

When I pulled back, we were both breathless, lips glistening. “I love you, too.”

There was still a small piece of me that wondered if this was wrong. It was the same piece that used to tell me no one would ever want me, and that I would never amount to anything, despite my best efforts. It was the piece of me that even my anti-depressants couldn't quite quash. Jon had the same piece inside of him and maybe we got it from the same place. But I never stopped believing that Jon and I were meant to be with each other, and I wasn't about to start fighting that now.

Our clothes were off before we made it to Jon's bed, wasting no time because the want was too strong. He was on top of me moments after my head hit the pillow, my legs eagerly parting for him. I had my hand around his cock, giving deliberate strokes until he was fully erect. Every time he moaned into my mouth I smiled. I positioned his erection and felt the head dip into my wetness.

Pulling away from my mouth, Jon mumbled something about a condom, then rolled off of me. I pouted a bit at the loss of warmth, then turned my eyes to watch him riffle through the drawer of his bedside table. Jon's back was to me and I gazed lustfully at the toned muscles as they subtly flexed. As Jon finally located a condom deep in the drawer, my eyes moved up to his shoulders and suddenly, my pulse began to race.

“Jon,” I said, my surprise sounding like urgency as I quickly sat up on my knees.

He twisted to look back at me, eyebrows furrowing with concern.

“You're shoulder.” I walked on my knees until I was right behind him.

“Shit,” he muttered under his breath, turning forward so that he could no longer see my shocked expression. His body seemed to relax like he had just received bad news. “I'm sorry,” he then said. “I got it so long ago, and it being on my back, I sometimes forget it's even there. I meant to tell you before you saw it.”

“How long ago?” I asked, my voice hushed, mind still reeling.

“Five years maybe.”

My fingers raised to the back of his right shoulder, grazing the flesh where it was inked with black, red and a sparkle of silver, where tall, curling cursive letters spelled out 'Targaryen.'

“Is it weird?”

“Yes,” I breathed before I leaned forward, pressing my lips to the 'g.' “But, I like it.”

His head turned to the side, peering at me over his shoulder. “I did always love your name.”

Wrapping my arms around his middle, I pressed more kisses to his skin, all the way up his neck. I plucked the condom from his hand and scooted backward, back to the center of the bed so that Jon could climb back over me. I scraped my bottom lip with my teeth. Eyes flickering toward the condom between my fingers as I said “You don't have to. I have an IUD. Birth control.”

Only a moment passed before he was taking the condom back from me and I thought he had decided to use it anyway, but instead, he tossed it back into his open nightstand drawer. Another second and his mouth was on mine. My knees raised and again I felt his erection nudging my slick pussy, and almost as soon as his hand was between my legs, I felt his cock enter me.

A week ago, we had made love with me rising and falling on his lap with a careful sensuality until we both came through soft whimpers and quiet moans. Tonight, though, Jon made love to me by fucking me into his bed and sucking on my neck while I had one hand clawing short nails into his back and the other planted firmly against the headboard behind my head. The next time that surreptitious piece of my brain would try to tell me I shouldn't be with Jon, I'd remember this night. I'd remember his hot mouth on my neck, his strong hands on my ass, and his bare cock thrusting deep inside me over and over in just the right spot while I beg him to cum inside me.

Afterward, lying spent on top of his sheets, he explained to me the rest of his tattoos: a wolf on his bicep, like the statue outside of the Stark estate – his mother's date of birth and death printed within the fur – then a small design dedicated to the Army and one dedicated to the friends he'd lost. He told me about them as well.

“Eleven,” he said. “That's how many men died. But, for some reason, I lived. For a long time I thought I shouldn't have. I thought that twelve men should have died, not eleven.”

With my hand rested on his chest, atop the scar and above his heart, I said “Zero men should have died.”

“I know that now.”

“I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like if you had died. If, instead of running into you at Whole Foods, I ran into Sam or one of your cousins and they told me you had died. . . I would. . . It would have torn me apart.”

He leaned up on an elbow and kissed me. “Then I'm glad I didn't die.”

“Good, because I need you. You're part of me.”

Shaking his head slowly, he ran his hand up the curve of my hip to rest on my waist. “I'm not going anywhere.”

At only twenty-three, I had felt like an old woman, like the rest of my life would be spent cursing past mistakes and mourning lost potential. But then I found Jon again, and suddenly, I realized how young twenty-three was. I had my whole life ahead of me. I could still get a college degree. I could still have a career and a small house on a big piece of land. Goats and dogs and lizards. I could still get married and maybe even still have two kids by the time I turn thirty. I could still want things. I could still get the things that I deserve. I could still be happy.

#jonerys #jonerys fanfiction #game of thrones fanfiction #jon x dany #jon x daenerys #jonerys fic #jonerys fanfic #mine #my fic #a crack in everything #a crack in everything: chapter five

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hcheadquarters · 6 years

Note

How would Joey Wheeler confess his love to a female student at his school? First date HCs too if that's okay... Brooklyn boy just too cute (• ε •)

Joey’s getting a lot more love than I thought he would. I’mhonestly pretty surprised I haven’t gotten more Atem/Bakura/Marik asks yet!Either way. Joey is a good boy.

-For someone who’s normally pretty outspoken, sometimes toomuch, Joey’s a bundle of nerves when it comes to his crush. He’s normally apretty confident guy, but when his crush is around he tends to babble and triesto show off. On more than one occasion he’s begged Yugi to pretend to lose agame of Duel Monsters against him in the hopes of impressing her. Yugi, thesweetie and best friend that he is will have no qualms about layering on thecheesy compliments when he knows Joey’s crush can hear. He’s delighted to seeJoey so smitten with someone.

-After agonizing days of self-doubt pushed aside by the lastsmile his crush gifted him with, Joey finally decides that he’s going toexpress his feelings to her, otherwise he’s frightened that he’ll blurt it outin the most inappropriate time.

-But how? He’s familiar with the old note-in-the-locker trick.That seems to be a pretty painless method, but there’s a problem. Joey’s notthe best with flowery words. How can he put a spin on this to keep him fromlooking like a jackass?

-He leaves a small note and two playing cards in his crush’slocker. One of the cards is his Red Eyes Black Dragon, and the other is hisTime Wizard. The note that accompanies those two cards reads as follows: “It’sbeen hard for me to concentrate on playing these lately because I’m too busythinking about you. I’m not the best with words, especially with this kind ofthing. I would be psyched to take you out on a date; I think you’re theprettiest girl on the planet, with a pretty hard to match. If you decide toaccept my feelings, put the Red Eyes Black Dragon back in my locker. If not,put the Time Wizard in there instead, and I’ll reverse time to make thisincident never have happened. Whatever, you decide, you’ll always have me as afriend. Joey.”

-It took Joey 5 hours until he was satisfied with what he wrote.In fact, he thought he was damnright clever. When he was finished he threw hisfist in the air and collapsed onto his bed.

-However, Joey picked the worst possible time to slip the itemsinto his crush’s locker: lunch time. He hovers in front of it for a momentuntil his crush ends up beside him, startling him and making him drop the noteon the floor.

-He desperately tries to beat her to the ground to pick it up,but his moment of being stunned by her presence has slowed him down. His mouthgoes completely dry when he realizes that his crush is clutching the note inher hand. Shit shit shit shit shit shitshit fuck shit. Now he’s forced to see her reaction in real time, one ofwhich could be rejection. He wants to flee badly, but he finds that his feetare heavy, his morbid curiosity too strong for him. He struggles with hearingSeto’s voice in the back of his mind repeating stupid mutt over and over again.

-After the most painful silence that Joey has ever experiencedin his entire life, he notices something: his crush is developing the reddestblush on her cheeks. She bites her lip, and Joey can see her trembling handreach towards the two Duel Monster cards that he’s still holding.

-Everything appears to be in slow motion as she picks one of thecards. Joey swallows, unable to take his eyes off of his crush’s cute blushingface while she picks. He’s taken out of his temporary stupor when he sees oneof his cards staring him in the face: Red Eyes Black Dragon.

-Red Eyes Black Dragon?It takes the poor boy a minute to register. His crush is good at shaking himout of it though by shyly giving him a kiss on the cheek. It’s Joey’s turn toblush now. His hand goes up to touch where she kissed, mouth hanging openslightly. “R-Really?”

-His crush can’t help but laugh at him, nodding and popping himon the head playfully. “Dummy…” she chides happily as she the bell rings. Shesmiles and waves at him as she makes her way to class.

-The last thing on Joey’s mind is getting to his next class ontime. After letting things sink in, he pumps his fist in the air, nearlyshouting “YES” at the top of his lungs, does a few silly dance moves, maybe abad moonwalk. Another student walks past him, telling him to shut up. “You shutup, asshole, I’m celebratin’ ova here!” Best. Day. Ever.

-Now that the hardest part is over with, the second hardest partcan begin: where the hell to have their first date. Immediately Joey’s slappedin the face with reminders that he’s not the wealthiest of people. He wasn’tcompletely finished repaying his father’s debts, but he did have some fundssaved away from small Duel Monster tournaments. But the fact was that as of nowhe wouldn’t be able to whisk his crush away somewhere rich and fancy. Hediscusses ideas with Yugi and Tristan thoroughly; they both assure him thatthings like that don’t matter to his crush. It’s the quality of the person notthe quality of the date that matters. Joey nods furiously in agreement, but hecan’t help but still feel small inadequacies creeping up in the back of hismind. After intense deliberating with the other two guys, it’s decided thatJoey’s going to take her out for ice cream. Perfect. He loves sweets, and he’spretty sure that she does, too. Joey clenches his fist and bites his lip. She’s so cute…!” Tristan rolls his eyeswhile Yugi can’t help but grin.

-Joey gulps. It’s not often he sees his crush in her streetclothes. How did he get so lucky? He’s a lot less nervous than before, however,and he’s back to being his, mostly, normal self, cracking jokes and complimentinghis crush every chance he gets. “Ya look really nice s/o! Every guy’s gonna besuper jealous of me today.” He’ll flash a grin and his crush can’t help butblush, maybe shove him gently out of embarrassment. “I’m the lucky one. I’vemanaged to get Joey Wheeler to take me out on a date.” Joey’s filled withwarmth; she’s the absolute best. He fights the urge to punch the air again.

-Getting ice cream goes according to plan; but to be Joey’scrush, she’s gotta have a playful side. She offers Joey to try her ice creamand ends up smearing it on his face, bursting into giggles at the look ofamused shock on his vanilla-covered face. He raises an eyebrow and lifts up hiscone. “Oh yeah? Think you can handle ya own treatment?” A silly chase ensuesand Joey eventually overpowers her, both falling to the ground laughing andpanting, wiping the ice cream from their faces. Joey turns his head to look athis crush, giggling and adorable beside him. He can’t help it. He rolls overand kisses her, fully on the lips. They’re cool and sweet, and his crush, althoughsurprised, yields completely and happily.

#yugioh #yugioh headcanon #yugioh headcanons #Joey Wheeler #Jounouchi Katsuya

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thephantomcasebook · 6 years

Text

A Reality Check for the Reylo Fandom by the apparent Jim Hopper of the fam who doesn’t care about your Mirkwood Bullshit!

BIG FUCKING #1.) Who gives a shit what other people say? Do whatever “THE FUCK” You want to do! Stop whining like a bunch of piss babies, because some fangirl doped up on College Feminist Bullshit, says that they’re a *Bullshit Label* if you like Reylo. You know what that person is? It’s a random ass person on the internet that you don’t know, who doesn’t know you, with a dumb ass opinion. Who cares? Who “THE FUCK” cares that she thinks that? They’re not a good person for calling you *Random Bullshit Label*, and you’re equally not a good or bad person for shipping Reylo. It’s a fictional world, shipping is like playing with action figures, Fanfiction writing is for people who didn’t stop playing with action figures in their head. When you like a fandom, you automatically, mentally buy the whole collection of eight quarter inch figures. They’re your fucking toys, play with them how you want to, and don’t worry about anyone else’s rules but your own.

Stop fucking whining about what someone you don’t know said about something you like!

2.) Stop perpetuating this myth that all, or even most, Reylos are fangirls. They’re not, not even by long shots. Some of the most articulate, most passionate Reylos are fellow fanboys. Some of the most engaging, intriguing Reylo theories have come from long time Star Wars fanboys who were highly skeptical of a Star Wars without George Lucas but have latched onto the enormous potential of this beautiful mythical romance in a Sci-Fi Opera. So if you’re one of those assholes who think every Anti or “Anne” or whatever the fuck you call them these days, is some “Butt Hurt Fanboy” think again sewer pickle!

I guarantee you, you’ll never, NEVER, get the kind of vile hate and, frankly, dangerous accusations the male Reylo fans get from the biggest, craziest, cocksuckers on the web. I’m talking being accused of being a Rapist, of fantasizing about raping Rey, threats of warning Daisy Ridley’s management team of the potential of this person wanting to rape her. (Oh yeah, that shit happened to someone I know really well.) and other vile shit that you could probably image based on that line of examples. And all of it, because, a dude who builds Star Wars models with his kid brother thought Kylo Ren and Rey are gonna fall in love. So next time you want to take a sip from that tacky “Fanboy tears” mugs, because, you’re, like, a total “Badass” and just #Slay, just remember some of us would take getting called “Fake fans” over being accused and threatened of being a potential rapist, just for having a dick and liking a fucking fictional romance.

3.) Nobody cares what Race/Ethnicity you are. I’m not gonna tell you mine, because, I just made a bet with someone right now to see how many ass sore college pricks are gonna accuse me of privilege (She says five BTW) … Okay, listen, just because you’re a fucking pygmy, who is black as shit, and eats only the meat of the animals of the forest that have the evilest souls in them … doesn’t fucking mean that you get extra points, because, the first fucking movie you saw when you escaped the island was TFA and you think that Poser Vader and shitty Hermione are in love.

If some Anti comes along and accuses you of being a Racist for liking Reylo, you have the right to ignore, to block, or to scoff at that person. They’re a shitty person for leveling a serious charge over something trivial like Star Wars. What you don’t have a right to do is bore me with the details of your fucking skin color. Nobodies cares, because, it’s the internet, everybody, thinks everybody is white, because, only fucking white people scream privilege at people who are probably not white. And if you’re someone who is not white screaming privilege, most likely you are the most privilege mother fucker on the planet, cause you got a computer, you got internet, and you’re fucking screaming on a Star Wars tag on the most privileged website on the entire internet beyond that place on the dark net where Russian mobsters and Rich Sheikhs buy sex slaves.

This isn’t Mississippi 1932, this isn’t “Scavenger’s Hoard”, you’re an individual, not a skin color … act like it.

4.) Rey doesn’t know how to suck a dick, she doesn’t know what Sex is, she raised herself on a desert planet. She probably can’t even read.

5.) Kylo can’t even “girl” much less talk to one.

6.) Their first time having sex Kylo won’t even remember, because, Rey gave him a concussion when he put his finger inside her, because, she thought he was trying to seal one of her organs.

7.) She really needs to just watch the damn video …

8.) Finn did, Rose showed him that shit and he’s been grinning like an asshole for like two days already.

#Reylo #If You Dare to Come at Me you Better Come at Me STRONG!#I'm Exploding with an EVIL YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND!

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junker-town · 4 years

Text

How sports is Seven Worlds, One Planet: Episode 7?

Christophe COURTEAU/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

David Attenborough’s new show is epic ... and sports.

We continue our extremely important mission to conduct a scene-by-scene review of the BBC’s new nature documentary, Seven Worlds, One Planet, in order to see how sports it is. We determined that Episode 1, which focused on Antarctica, was reasonably sports. Asia was very sports, as was South America. Australia was more drinking than sports, and both Europe and North America were extremely sports. Now it’s time to wrap things up with ...

Episode 7 Africa

Scene 1: Nutcracking

I don’t think we appreciate how important the invention of writing is. Not only does it allow you to transmit facts (as far as I know, bookkeeping was, more or less, its original use) writing also allows the transmission of culture across time and space. Without that, animals are left passing along knowledge through direct demonstration, generation by generation. The requirement for direct contact, as you might imagine, drastically slows down the spread of knowledge.

In the Congo, a chimpanzee mother is teaching her daughter how to crack a nut. This is a relatively delicate operation. It requires finding a suitable anvil, with a nook to prevent the nut rolling around. The hammer must be the correct hardness and weight. The mother chimp makes it look easy.

Not the Nutcracker you’re used to seeing during the festive season. #SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/oRTMwYz91B

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

But this is the ease of experience. It can take up to a decade to master the skills required to reliably crack nuts, and the five-year-old has an idea of the basic mechanics and nothing more. Trial and error is the solution, and there’s plenty of error. She tries a pebble, a boulder and a stick, to no avail. Eventually she settles on the right answer: going back to mother and having her do it.

The little chimp is too young to be a millennial but these are some highly millennial vibes.

Aesthetics 6/10

Chimpanzees are pretty cool and there’s something beautiful about watching a child learning a new skill. Even if I was worried about the poor little chimp crushing her fingers the whole time.

Difficulty 6/10

I have gone through literally hundreds of hours of wilderness survival training, and would still definitely injure myself at least twice if you gave me a rock and told me to crack nuts with it. I’m pretty confident I could eventually eat it though.

Competitiveness 0/10

No contest.

Overall 12/30

Tools are sometimes used in sports, but do not, in and of themselves, constitute sports.

Scene 2: Cuckoo Catfish

Sometimes nature documentaries show me things that totally blow my mind. This is one of those times. Lake Tanganyika’s ecosystem is dominated by cichlids, which are some of fishkind’s best parents. That may seem like a low bar, but they’re actually not bad at it. Some of the more hardcore cichlids are mouth-breeders — after laying their eggs they take them into their mouths and let them develop in a safe place. Even after the eggs hatch, the young cichlids use their mothers’ mouths as a refuge.

Nature being nature, this creates an opportunity for some dastardliness. The cuckoo catfish, like its avian namesake, is a brood parasite. And while cuckoos parasitise nests, their catfish friends manage to get their hosts to raise the catfish’s fry inside their mouths. As the cichlids spawn, the catfish eat a few of the eggs and spawn themselves. Their eggs are ingested by the mother cichlid.

A few days later ...

Peek-a-boo! I see you! #SevenWorldsOnePlanet #Wasntexpectingit pic.twitter.com/WOkBJgnugv

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

Yep, that’s a baby catfish. And guess what it’s going to do to its adopted brothers and sisters?

Aesthetics 2/10

I’m really quite disturbed by those baby catfish coming out of that poor mother fish’s mouth.

Difficulty 8/10

A cuckoo waiting for birds to leave their nest so that they can sneak in and lay eggs is one thing. Pulling the same trick on a fish which uses its mouth as a nest is quite another.

Competitiveness 3/10

There’s not really much of a fight here. Once the catfish arrive the little cichlids are screwed.

Overall 13/30

Cuckoldry is also not sports.

Scene 3: Cheetah Brigade

In Kenya, a cheetah family hunts as a pack. Five-strong, they can bring down prey many times larger than would be possible for a lone cheetah, but with five mouths to feed they must also hunt much more often. Using scrub as cover, the gang tries to ambush a herd of topi.

Cheetah are the fastest land animals alive, but they’re not fast enough to overcome a head start of more than a few dozen feet. That means that, once out in the open, detection could ruin the hunt. That’s what happens here: the topi scatter, the cheetahs switch targets to a nearby herd of zebra, and one promptly gets bulldozed by an angry mare.

Botched hunts aren’t just individual, momentary failures. They set the entire savannah on high alert. If the grazers know predators are on the hunt, they’re much harder to ambush. The cheetahs you can see aren’t the ones that will get you.

Incredibly, the cheetah gang uses this to their advantage. Antelope possess merely an indifferent grasp of arithmetic, so they’re well not prepared to assess just how many cheetahs they need to be keeping an eye on. So the topi end up keeping a close watch on four of the cheetahs harmlessly parading in front of them.

In formation #SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/qtRyRS7Ndg

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

The fifth? Well, that one is behind them and about to ... yeah. The topi run away from the ambush, but they’ve let the lead cheetah get too close. The four other cheetahs join the fray, and the gang can have a nice meal. Pretty clever.

Aesthetics 9/10

That running form is really something else. Cheetah hunts are special sequences.

Difficulty 10/10

The topi hunt is difficult enough — they’re fast and beefy critters — but the use of a decoy group to catch their attention while the trap is set really elevates the whole hunt. That takes a lot of careful thinking. Good work by the cheetahs here.

Competitiveness 9/10

It takes a gang of five cheetahs plotting carefully to bring down one topi, which makes this pretty well matched.

Overall 28/30

Obviously sports.

Scene 4: Vampire Birds

Big animals (and small animals, although theirs are mostly less obvious) come with parasites. Lots of parasites. This creates a niche for parasite-feeders, which is taken up on the African savannah by the oxpecker. These little birds are more than happy to keep any big animal as free as possible from ticks, lice, and whatever else they can find.

Keeping it chill, ignoring the little dude on my face.#SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/c9mq8NlQmi

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

Oxpeckers will go pretty much wherever food is.

Not what we meant when we said leftovers were yum. #SevenWorldsOnePlanet #didntgetthememo pic.twitter.com/OK6UxPIie5

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

But while you might think that having oxpeckers around to clean you up sounds quite pleasant, there turns out to be a dark side to these otherwise benign little assholes. When they eat ticks, they also get a snack of the host animals blood — and they’re more than happy to cut out the middleman, if they can.

If an oxpecker finds an open wound, they’ll peck away at it, drinking blood and preventing the wound from healing. Hippos, territorial, aggressive and armed with dental sabres, are quite good at giving each other open wounds, and oxpeckers therefore are big fans of hippos.

The hippos try to dislodge their vampiric guests by splashing water on them, which fails to deter them. They also try a hippo special: the poop helicopter. No, I’m not embedding that gif. Don’t be gross.

Aesthetics 1/10

Every creature in this scene is pretty ugly, and then we get the hippo poop storm. Why!?

Difficulty 10/10

Being a hippo-annoyer sounds like just about the most dangerous job in the world.

Competitiveness 10/10

An oxpecker against a hippo is like David vs. Goliath except also Goliath throws his poop at people.

Overall 21/30

Disgusting sports, but sports.

Scene 5: Desert Hyena

youtube

In the Namib, an abandoned mining town still has one reclusive inhabitant. A brown hyena ghosts through the broken-down buildings, using them as shade against the desert sun. And she’s not quite alone. Her twin cubs await her in their lair, four months old and hungry. The mother hyena needs to bring back some meat.

While a dead town might provide good shelter, it’s not much of a hunting ground. The Namib itself isn’t much of a hunting ground either. It is something like the oldest desert in the world, bedecked by endless dunes of sand, blasted by the tropical sun and wind. How can there be enough food to support predators of any kind?

The answer lies with the Benguela Current, off Africa’s western coast. The Benguela brings up cold, Antarctic waters, which are nutrient rich and capable of supporting a vast quantity of marine life. Some of that marine life comes to the shore.

The shore is exactly where the mother hyena is heading. Fur seals congregate here, and she’s able to pick off a baby seal and flee back towards the dunes. She’s not the only one who wants possession of her kill however; and she has to face down a jackal pack to return her prize to her family.

Aesthetics 10/10

Everything about this scene is wonderfully dystopian. Brown hyenas are also surprisingly pretty animals, with long shaggy hair which looks extremely snuggly.

Difficulty 8/10

Killing a baby seal is obviously rather trivial, but making the trek back and forth from the desert lair in scorching heat is not.

Competitiveness 10/10

The jackal pack’s late intervention really makes this scene. Five jackals against one hyena trying to bring food back to her cubs makes this very interesting indeed.

Overall 28/30

It’s official: killing baby seals is sports. If you’re a brown hyena and live in the desert. Otherwise it’s just being an asshole.

Scene 6: Termite Quest

The Kalahari, adjoining the Namib, is slightly less hostile ground. Here there is some food, if you know where to look. A lot of it is underground, in the burrows where termites make their homes. Getting in there requires some specialist tools. Some of those tools belong to the pangolin.

Licking the plate ‍♂️#SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/0008zwp4kd

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

With an acute sense of smell to detect their prey and strong, claw-tipped front legs to dig them out, pangolins are specialist insectivores. (The protective scales probably don’t help them as much with their food, but they’re also pretty neat so I am listing them as well.) When a pangolin cracks upon a termite nest, that gives other critters, like small birds, a chance to get in on the action too.

But a pangolin can’t go properly underground, so they can only really scratch the surface of termiteville. Getting to the good bits requires an even more specialised termite-hunter. Say hello to the aardvark.

The aardvark is the world’s largest burrowing animal.#SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/ySB7DNgxaK

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

Aardvarks are big, hungry and more than capable of digging to depths of ten feet or so, enough to root out even the most well-protected termite colony. They need to be, as well — an aardvark needs to eat tens of thousands of termites a day. Climate change, however, is impacting the Kalihari’s aardvarks. Droughts have reduced termite numbers, and that has placed their predators on the verge of starvation.

Aesthetics 10/10

Pangolins are objectively some of the coolest creatures on the planet and I enjoy watching them very much.

Difficulty 8/10

You try digging ten feet down with your bare hands and get back to me.

Competitiveness 2/10

It’s not shown here but soldier termites are capable of giving some pretty impressive bites, even if they’re outgunned by the pangolin and aardvark.

Overall 20/30

Probably sports.

Scene 7: Elephants

An adult bull elephant needs to eat something like 200 lbs of food per day. That would be difficult enough in times of plenty, but during droughts, when there’s little food to be had, they have to get inventive.

There is still food about, in the dried-out forests of Zimbabwe, but it’s hard to get to. Trees are producing seed pods, but they do so up on their highest branches, well out of reach of even the elephants. Packed with protein, these pods are good eating. But how to get them?

Some elephants have learned a good trick — albeit one that requires incredible strength and balance:

“He weighs over 5 tonnes. This is a truly monumental effort.”#SevenWorldsOnePlanet pic.twitter.com/6xBohrr3KO

— BBC Earth (@BBCEarth) December 8, 2019

That is some impressive stretching.

Aesthetics 8/10

Elephants are cute, but the parched forest doesn’t really do them justice compared to more verdant shots.

Difficulty 10/10

That’s a five-tonne elephant rearing back onto its hind legs. What? How?

Competitiveness 0/10

It’s not shown here but soldier termites are capable of giving some pretty impressive bites, even if they’re outgunned by the pangolin and aardvark.

Overall 18/30

Difficult enough to be a de facto sport.

Scene 8: Well This Is Depressing

To close out the series (this is our last scene!), BBC takes us on a tour of what’s going wrong with the planet. Climate change is already impacting every continent on earth. Habitat destruction is causing animal numbers to plummet. Poaching has all but wiped out some of Africa’s most majestic creatures. We are, in many ways, killing the rest of the world.

This is not merely an aesthetic question or one of being morally good versus morally not. Ultimately this is a world we all rely on, and we are contributing to its sickness. As the climate crisis deepens — climate change has been settled science since before I was born, incidentally — we will not only impact the animals showcased in this series but also deepen crises that materially affect our own communities.

Cities are starting to get close to running out of water and crop failures look increasingly likely. Sea level rise, caused by melting ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, will render coastal communities increasingly vulnerable to flooding. We’re already in the shit and nowhere near the worst of it.

It is our collective responsibility to mitigate this crisis as best we can. We must dismantle the structures which have allowed this to happen without consequences. We must accept that personal choice alone can’t save us in the face of rapacious behaviour from corporations. We must force our governments to confront the problem head on.

And we must also hold those responsible to account. For generations, fossil fuel companies have suppressed scientific knowledge about the damage they have been engineering and spreading misinformation instead, all in the name of profit. This is a crime against the rest of humanity, and the decision-makers involved then (and involved now) must be prosecuted and made to repay society.

The crisis is here and we cannot avert it. But there is hope nonetheless. We can lessen the damage it will do by mobilising to de-carbonise the economy, to move away from waste and greed and destruction in the name of “growth”. Mitigation now will save our children and our children’s children from the real brunt of the storm. We live in depressing times, but we ought never to forget that something can be done about them.

A better world is possible, and it is up to us to build it. Will it be hard? Obviously. Is it the only way? Yes.

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ikonislife · 7 years

Text

Here For You.

-Bobby x Reader

-Expecting parents au, fluff

-Better Together - I had another dad!Jiwon request so I decided to make a little continuation for this piece.

-I can already imagine this fluffy ball of sunshine with his future kids. He’s honestly so caring and amazing with everyone he meets that i’d bet he’d be the dad of all dads. Also, I am so sorry this only goes up now even though you sent this in like months ago. School and work got rough and unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to do any writing the past month or two. I’m really really really sorry for putting it up so late. I hope you haven’t given up on waiting for it and that it fits your imagination. Father’s day just past and I wish all the dads out there a happy, healthy life. Shout out to all the dads that not only there for their wives and kids physically, financially but also mentally and spiritually. Again, I am so sorry for being this late and I hope you enjoy.

You hiss under your breath, mutter a cuss that gets whisk away faster than your temper lately under the wing of the exhale of a sigh.

“Growing a new life is a beautiful thing my ass…”

Jiwon’s head snaps up at your mumbling of what sounding like a curse in some dead language. God knows what you’re grumbling about now as he shakes his head slightly, having already given up long ago on trying to make out anything you say in your strange trances of wandering around your humble abode all the while glaring daggers his way.

“Whose ass is beautiful baby?” He feigns ignorant anyhow, deciding to amuse himself with one of your all too frequent outburst as of late that he weirdly enough finds endearing. God knows he needs all the entertainment he could get to stay awake having to get up for the 3rd time in the mere 5 hours since you both headed to bed at midnight.

“Of course you’d pay attention to the word ‘ass’”

You drop your body onto the cold tiled floor, chest could barely keeps up with providing your body with enough oxygen to function let alone the dry heaving that sours your lips and sears your throat. Glass of water in hand, he storms into the small bathroom like, like Aquaman…. Seriously, how does this guy survive never wearing a shirt, ever, even when it’s minus 3 billion degree outside. Strong arms and familiar scent bring the comfort not even the most exorbitant of comforters and mattresses could offer as you lay your head onto his bare chest, listening to the calming beats of his heart and the rumble of a giggle from your comment.

“Jiwon, can you please put on a shirt… Looking at you make me cold.” You groan at the salvation of the clear liquid sloshing about meeting your lips, more landing on the floor than your mouth as you shiver under the night cold wind.

“You weren’t complaining about my glorious body last night, baby. And see! I told you the heated floor would be a good investment.” He retorts with all the sunshine might he could despite the graveling in his voice and the low tone of a rude awakening so early in the morning telling you otherwise.

“You say ‘glorious body’ one more time, see what happen.” Ice cold lasers shoot from your eyes as he cowers, pressing a bribing kiss onto your forehead. “Don’t make me regret moving in with you, asshole. We all know how well things turn out that night your glorious body’s decided on exercising its full potential on me.”

“You speak like you have a choice there my partner for life. The little paper in my office said you’re stuck with me in sickness or in health, poor or rich, for this eternity and all the ones after that. Plus, I clearly remember you practically screaming yes after I said let’s make a baby. Don’t act like I lured you into this.” Another searing kiss meets your pale cold skin as tender circles push life back into your frost bitten shoulders.

“I believe the correct phrasing is till death do us part and right now, it feels pretty close to death.” The shudder of another round of acid searing your internal rings through the air like the clearest of bells as you lunge forward over the porcelain bowl. It’s not so much the expelling of various digested unidentifiable content that bothers you, rather it’s the constant dry heaving that drives you insane.

“Baby… I’m sorry. I’d take it all alway if I could. I’ll be the one pregnant and you can just rest. I’m so sorry. I’m so useless… I wish there was more I could do. I just-” He whimpers, mischievousness gone as worry takes hold of his expression and it honestly hurts more than your stomach doing flips and tricks as if it’s a circus performer. Despite the constant complaining and hormone induced mood swing, you cannot be happier to be growing a family with such an incredible human being.

Jiwon had been nothing but an angel taking all the bullshit you’ve thrown his way, treating you so well you’d bet all your money the queen would be jealous. The adoration in his eyes just lulls all the turmoil of being a young parent and all the worries of all the uncertainties of the future to sleep. Sure neither of you are super young nor was this an unplanned pregnancy. Yet there was still so much… how could you put that uneasiness in words. That unsettling feeling of the what ifs sinking deep in your heart just below the elating joy of seeing that red plus sign flashing bright on the small window of the pee stick.

What if YG decide to put the boys on a 6 months world wide tour when you’re near the due date? What if you can’t be a good enough mother and a wife? What if Jiwon hates you now that you’re all bloated and waddling around like a planet with duck’s feet? Would he be happy with his wife looking less than ready for all the crazy stalker fans and the media? What if you drop your own baby right there in the delivery room? What kind of a mother would you be if child services come and whisk your little bundle of joy away then and there? God forbid something happens to your baby during the pregnancy.

So many thoughts ran through your mind that night as you laid in bed in the dark, awaiting his arrival from a long day of practice. Funny though, he had thought a serious talk was about to ensue as his eyes were met with dead silent and shadow that engulf the living room that’s usually brightly lit. He crept into the house, settling down on the bed just next to your stilled snoring body as he placed a small kiss upon your cheek.

“Hey, baby.” you remember him whispering. “Is everything alright? Do we need to talk about anything?” You can still clearly recall the trembling in his fingers as they so gently swept away your dishevel hair to read your expression.

“Yea, we do…” You mumbled sluggishly under an exhausted groan, body stretching to rid the dull aching of your joints. Then you were met with the terror in his eyes and the panic stricken man swallowed you whole in his safe embrace. He sighed heavily yet made no sound as he waited for your next word.

“I have a present for you… I wanted to wait up but I’ve been so tired lately. I guess it makes sense now why I’m so tired all the time. I’m sorry, Jiwon. I know you like it when I stay up to wait for you. You’ll understand when you see my present.” Nuzzling your face further into his chest, you gestured toward the night stand with your eyes close and body moulding against his. A sigh of perhaps relief permeated through the air as you felt his muscles flexing when he reached toward the stand to grab the small white box adorning a little bow waiting patiently all night for its owner.

“Don’t be sorry. My schedule is erratic enough, I can’t afford you risking your health staying up late for me. But… What’s the occasion, love?” He whispered, fear still rooted deep in his gentle words of uncertainty.

“Just… You know me, I’ve never liked the idea of only giving presents on certain dates. why do we need an occasion to give each other present. Why not just giving it on a random day to show that I think about you constantly.” Still refusing to meet his eyes, you let yourself slipped slowly into one of the strange drowsy trances that seemed to be the norm as of late. A swift sound of air rushing from Jiwon svelte fingers removing the bow, a gasp, and a “no fucking way” later, you were rudely awoken from your slumber with a string of wet kisses.

“You’re not joking right, baby? Like, for real. Wait I need to check the date, where’s my phone, where’s your phone, oh my god where’s a calendar when I need one. SSSHIT.” No sooner than the last cuss left his lips, he hopped off the bed lightning fast, diving for any indication of what day it was.

“Why are you looking for the calendar, silly? It’s June 19.” No chance of going back to sleep now so you might as well get up. Sitting crossed legs in the middle of the bed, you watched as he bounced around the room, the test stick still in his hand.

“Because, I need to know it’s not April’s fool. Christ, baby. For a second there, I thought you were gonna make me sign the divorce paper. Thank you. Thank you so much. I’m so happy right now I don’t even know what I’m doing. I need to call my mom. I need to call your mom. I need to call everyone’s mom.” Kisses coming from every angle, you were nearly toppled backward as he surrounded you with as much love as he could give, a bright smile never left his face.

“Jiwon…” Fond memory fading away, a ragged breath leaves your lips as you clutch tightly onto his muscular arm. “I know I complain a lot but I’m really happy we’re doing this. I can’t ask for a better husband and soon to be dad than you. You’re perfect, baby. Stop apologizing.” Pushing yourself off the cold floor now, you try your best for his sake to mask the storm inside with a smile before heading to brush your teeth.

As you glance at your own reflection, the many nights of restless sleep and early date with the toilet had really taken a toll. Your eyes had not been so sunken to the depth of the Titanic since your grad school years. Skin dull and barely much colors, you honestly couldn’t care much for make up with the sheer exhaustion from just waking up. A slight frown finds itself resting upon your lips as the pace of your toothbrush dawdles to a stop. No sooner than a long sigh begins to huff away from your nose, Jiwon already had his arms tight around your slumping frame, hands smoothing up and down against your belly.

“Baby, you know you’re the most beautiful person in this world right? I love you so much. You’re just so kind and caring sometimes I feel guilty because i could only hope I take care of you as well as you do me. You never needed to do much to your appearance, actually you need not anything at all and I fall head over heels for you every. single. damn. time. you look my way.” God the way his voice drips like honey yet there’s just that slight touch of gravel just in the back of his throat from the early hours just drives you insane. You love Bobby and his never ending charms on stage but the Jiwon that whispers in your ears late at night, reminding you of how much he loves you… That’s something you won’t ever get used to. He never fails to light that spark in your stomach, intensify the fire in your heart just with his honest confession while wrapping his arms around your body like you’re the most precious thing in the world.

“You were always wonderful and understanding when I was anything but that just from being so stress out all the time. I can’t believe I’m lucky enough to call you my wife, to have a baby with you. Don’t you dare doubt yourself, alright?” He had been resting his head against your shoulder so peacefully up till now. With the last whisper, Jiwon presses a big kiss onto your shoulder as he always did whenever a back hug was called for after a long day of work. “I can’t wait for your tummy to get a little bigger so I can boast to everyone just how proud I am of my magnificent wife. I want everyone to know how lucky I am to have you and our baby in my life. I always hate it when the media made it out to be that you were the lucky one, marrying some rich idol. If only they know how much you sacrifice for this dumb ass husband of yours. How much I depend on you for every little thing. How lost I would be without you. How truly lucky I was to be the one you picked out of all the bastards that pinned after you all those years ago. If only they now how stupendously, extremely infatuated I am with everything you do, everything you are. Even after all these years, I’m just as smitten with you as I was our first date. Thank you for giving up so much for me and now to give me the ultimate gift of all. I love you.” By his confession end, your mouth was rid of the minty foam and tears of pain replaced with tears of happiness as you spin around in his arms, fastening your own tight around his waist.

“How could I ever thank you enough for always being there for me. I know I raise hell and can be so goddamn unreasonable like 90% of the time yet all you do is smile. I don’t want you to think that I-I don’t want our baby, or or anything like that… I just, it’s exhausting sometimes and you know parenting class, it should help but it doesn’t and all it does is make me worry more about this and that and oh my God what if I’m a horrible mother and our baby hate me and you’ll hate me and and an-” Your frantic words were silenced with a fervid kiss. He kisses you as if you hadn’t kiss in months from the grueling tours, as if this was the long awaited kiss you shared on your first date. The kiss that sealed the deal after years of the shy two way crush burning away with passion at the realization that all along you both love each other. He kisses you and not once did his hands leave your body as the affectionately pet and caress peace back into your perturbed self.

“You talk too much sometimes, you know that? Don’t you dare start with the whole what ifs. No. We’re doing this together and sure we got a big learning curve but so what. We got family to support us. We got this babe!” Damn his eye smile and those too good for this word bunny grin. One glance at your handsome man and you already felt like all is right in the world as he effortlessly carries you back to bed. All tucked in, you breathe easy as the serene air settles over the barely lit bedroom once more. Suddenly, your nausea, the back pain, the aching joint, and the constant mood swings seem to be just a small bump in the road. None of it seems to matter much as Jiwon snuggles close into the crook of your neck, large hand protectively yet delicately places over your slowly growing belly. With a smile, you let yourself fall asleep knowing no matter what happen in the future, Jiwon will always be the foundation that get you through.

Part 2.

#iKon #ikon scenarios #ikon imagines #ikon fanfic #ikon bobby #iKON jiwon #kim jiwon #Bobby #Bobby Kim #jiwon scenarios #jiwon imagines #bobby scenarios #bobby imagines #kpop scenarios #kpop imagines #ikonic

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professorurha · 5 years

Text

So I worked out a timeline and I cracked jokes through the whole thing because you have to.

TIMELINE There’s a few things that are important to Urha, who should be around 40, depending on how you view the timeline. She isn’t part of the timeskip, but she knows people who were, so let’s establish a few historical points. 3rd Astral Era, aka about 5,000 years ago, Allagan Empire rises and falls, shit happens. This is the height of technology as far as the history of this world is known. (4th Umbral era, Calamity of Earth) 4th Astral Era: The Eorzean Alphabet, not much else. 5th Umbral Era, ???, Calamity of Ice, Miqo’te can survive in Eorzea I guess. They can hunt, and enjoyed the Alphabet a lot. This is why they aren’t mentioned later in the waves of immigration I assume, because they were kind of there. (5th Astral Era, Mhach and Amdapor) (6th Umbral Era, Calamity of Water) (6th Astral Era, Pre-ARR. The reason a 7th calamity was not predicted was because the 6 elements had all been accounted for. I guess some people knew another one was coming, but no one really cared I guess, so they assumed it’d just all be great forever. If you think about it, it sort of makes sense since yeah that’s all the elements. Yoshi P, an as yet unknown element, was the 7th Calamity, as we all know. The Calamity of Deus Ex Machina, also known as, fuck, the moon.) - 969, the Lalafellian nation of Belah’dia, made up of descendants of ancient Mhach, is split into Sil’dih and Ul’dah. Some Hyurs try to come in around 755, and Belah’dia tells them to fuck off using the universal language of explosions. - ca. 1000, Ul’dah accepts some people from the prior waves of immigration to Aldenard, Hellsguard and Highlander sellswords. -1179, Ala Mhigan Mercenaries introduce Highlanders once again to Ul’dah. For 17 goddamn years Sil’dih has taken Ul’dah’s water and they are PISSED. They also fucked up Thanalan, helping in making it the crap place it is today. -1181, Ul’dah raises the fucking dead to destroy Sil’dih, thanks alchemy. -1224-1355, Thorne Dynasty, aka Hyurs sort of have some significance in Ul’dah for less than 150 years, good job guys, way to let the potato man keep you down. -1468-1469, Autumn War, Big Huge Deal. In summary, Ala Mhigo is an asshole and Ishgard, Ul’dah and Limsa all help Gridania fuck them up. -1476, Ul’dah isn’t gonna fuck someone up and not make a profit, so they force Ala Mhigo to reduce their tolls. This is great because pirates are still this huge problem for Ul’dah, and they haven’t invented flying yet, but they will soon. This is the beginning of it, where Tatanora makes coaches bigger and lighter using Ixali technology, which involves ceruleum vapors, and becomes a really famous figure in Ul’dah’s history as a fantastic and filthy rich merchant. -1522, Tatanora starts to do airships too, mostly used for exploration. Flight is available to the public as Highwind Skyways, 9 years later, but this turns out to be a terrible time to figure out how to fly because The Republic of Garlemald has just become the Garlean Empire in 1522. Somehow this doesn’t become a problem immediately. -1552, Garlemald Annexes Doma. -1557, Garlemald Annexes Ala Mhigo. -1561, Battle of Silvertear Skies. Neutral area of Mor Dhona is attacked by Garlemald, but they crash into a dragon. Midgarsormr and the warship makes a huge, gross mess. Ul’dah is still flying around like nothing’s gonna ever go wrong. -1563, Not only can Ul’dah fly now, but Garlond Ironworks works with Highland Skyways to make modern airships suitable for regular service between the citystates, available to an average citizen. -1569, Finally Garlemald shoots one of those airships out of the sky, so they suspend airship travel, limiting it only to “extraordinary circumstances”. Yes, it was only that recently. -1572, 7th Umbral Calamity, WOOPS WE HAD ANOTHER CALAMITY. Cue ARR. -1577, ARR, and we are in the 7th Astral Era. Some people who were at the Battle of Carteneau are forgotten along with the Warrior of Light and kind of jump ahead 5 years. It’s not really clear if it’s only the Warrior of Light or if it’s anyone out there fighting. Basically, if you were a player before ARR, your character has woken up 5 years later and someone took your shit. This blows. Fuck you, Yoshi P. (WE ARE NOW IN THE NOTORIOUS TIME BUBBLE) -1578 (?), Doma rebels, but it doesn’t work very well. Monzen’s bombed, because as previously established, explosions are a universal language. Doman refugees are refused entry to Ul’dah because Ul’dah has enough problems, and they are taken into Mor Dhona, which has now had not only a warship and a dragon fall on them, but also the moon. A regular local weather pattern is “gloom” so needless to say, this place sucks.

-1579 (?), Doma and Ala Mhigo is liberated by Some Guy, and I guess all of Heavensward happened last year, and/or this year, also Stormblood. These are a pretty impressive 2 years. They sure just flew by. -1580 (???), the year of our headcanon, Professor Urha, who is 41 or 42 sometime in the fall. Also known to some as The Future*. This could be ShadowBringers, but probably ShadowBringers also happened last year. Sorry, it’s not my fault. * (The only thing for certain is… heavensward happened, Yugiri said there was a rebellion at some point, and 25 years ago from that day, Doma was annexed, stormblood happened, and an NPC said the rebellion was last year. At least one year has passed. I allowed the canon to exist, and for 3 years to have past since ARR began, and that we are living in year 3, and will be living in year 3 for some time. When a more strict timeframe is referenced, my character’s age will reflect this.) Now that we have that established, let’s overlay Professor Urha’s history. Thanalan. Urha’s mother’s side is a seeker of the sun of the J tribe, who were there since magical ice age I guess or something. Her mother is a first generation citystate-cat, sired by a Nuhn named Raahn. Hyurs were let into Ul’dah around 1000, 6th astral era. It is suspected by her father’s side that in 1179, Urha’s Hyurian descendants were permitted to exist in Ul’dah society. The city of Davenport is on record existing at the time of the Autumn War, 1469, and is where her father, Miles Davenport, or at least that Surname, comes from. 1539: On the 30th Sun of the 6th Astral Moon, Myria Davenport is born to J’urhalla Raahn, AKA Rosegold, and Miles Davenport. This is a fantastic time to be born a Monetarist. No Ala Mhigan refugees, Ul’dah can fly, is dealing with the east near and far, Ul Dynasty is doing great, plenty of money to be made and no one to stop you. It’s been almost 10 years since the previously unknown republic has named itself an empire, but they’re mostly dominating Ilsebard, maybe the start of some of Othard, and not an issue Eorzea has to worry about. There aren’t very many Miqo’te monetarists, and so her father is very protective of her, as she came out with ears and a tail like her mother. He wants her to be taken seriously in business and gets her the best education money can buy. He takes it a little too far, and in the end, all members of the family go missing, with only some members of the Syndicate at the time aware of what actually happened. 1550: Something really really awful. 1552: Doma is Annexed by Garlemald. 1555: Something even more awful. 1557: Myria Davenport is all but forgotten, and somewhere in the east, a beautiful 18 year old Miqo’te is a horrible monster, and is frustrated her research has been rejected. She is being transferred. Oh, and Ala Mhigo is Annexed by Garlemald. 1559: Not a great time. Chemical Burns. 1561: Nope. 1572-1577: Calamity, and then a new era is born. The entire planet changes, physically and in spirit. Everyone works to repair their lives. When people try and remember those who fought for them and are the reason they are alive, they can remember neither the name nor face nor life of any being, only a shining, lighted silhouette. Myria Davenport returns to Eorzea after spoilers, in the year spoilers, using a short and sweet version of her mother’s name as her alias. She is found unconscious by a tribe of Keepers in the South Shroud, between the Black Shroud and Thanalan. Many keeper tribes have fled Eorzea entirely, a few broods moved from the West Shroud, now no longer in existence, to other parts of the Black Shroud. In spite of the fact she is a Seeker, she is accepted due to her medical knowledge and asked to act as the tribe’s wisewoman. Keepers are way more chill than she remembers them being, but I guess a calamity or two will do that. Once confident, she leaves them, and rebuilds her fortune, even though she cannot rebuild her family name, because spoiler.

#FFXIV Lore #ffxiv timeline #potato man keeping you down #making myself laugh #miqo'te lore #ul'dah #basking in this science ship #that fucking time bubble #yoshi p problems

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