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princesssarcastia · 3 years

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2021 Harry Potter Fanfic Primer

im here to point fingers at the incredible authors that have enabled my new interest in HP content. im still conflicted and upset about it, tbh, but for now we’re leaning into the curve. we’re getting out our shovel and finding out just how deep we can make the hole we’re in. hand in unlovable hand my beloved <3. anyway, these fics are wonderful, their authors are wonderful, and you should go read their stuff. if there’s a star next to it that means im losing my mind over it and always will be.

Creatively Maladjusted, by elumish on AO3, 101k (they also have a wonderful writing advice blog on tumblr, @elumish, which I recommend following if you are a writer)

A very excellent re-telling of harry’s first year at hogwarts if he were sorted into Slytherin, plus some more not!fic or piecemeal re-tellings of his second and part of his third year. Harry, in this, has a slightly different trauma response to growing up with the Dursley’s. He’s a bit quieter, and the signs are a bit more obvious to the people around him, and I enjoyed that immensely.

Honestly, if you’re going to get sucked into something you have absolutely no business getting sucked into, elumish is the way to go, their fic is incredible. their teen wolf fic is also immaculate, if you’re so inclined.

Dissonance, by ImpishTubist on AO3, 2.5k (@impishtubist on tumblr)

Set during fifth year. Oblivious!Harry has always been a delightful trope when well executed, and this is well executed. Plus, some angst between Remus and Harry over what Umbridge has been doing to him.

I would certainly recommend a lot of ImpishTubist’s other hp work on AO3, like Lacuna.

blow us all away, by rexcorvidae on AO3, 23k (@rexcorvidae on tumblr)

In progress (like, updated last week in progress). Currently in the beginning of Harry’s first year. Fem!Harry, Indian!Harry. Hagrid puts Harry in touch with Remus when she has questions about her parents, and they become reluctant, traumatized, angst-ridden pen pals who keep missing each other’s true intentions like ships in the night. hot DAMN do I love this fic. there’s hints of the way the dursley’s treat Harry peaking through in her letters, and I appreciated the attention to “hmm, her experience as a girl of indian descent in britain under the thumb of a bunch of white people who like being Normal may not have been gucci”

Definitely comb through the rest of their HP fic, too, I may or may not have gone feral over it.

Where the Heart is, by silver_fish on AO3, 15k (@kohakhearts on tumblr)

Woof. This one said, “hey, harry was probably SUPER depressed in the summer after fifth year. like, clinically. maybe someone should do something about that.” Fuck yeah. Then this one said, “that someone was Snape.” You all know my opinions on Snape; generally, Bad. But damn if this fic didn’t wholly convince me by the end of it. I thought it was a very realistic way for Snape to start seeing Harry as a person all on his own, and not a proxy for Snape’s angst over James and Lily, respectively. The angst is wonderful, the ending is even more so.

*bernie sanders voice* I am once again asking you to read through the rest of the author’s HP fic. a lot of them have similar themes; there’s actually a great one with Molly that i’m not reccing here, Wonder.

☆Bindings, Bindings, by Quietlemonhush on AO3, 60k (@quietlemonhush on tumblr)

WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS TO YOU HOW MUCH I ENJOYED/AM ENJOYING THIS. If I had to pick a single fic and say “you, it’s your fault I’m stuck here,” it would be this one. Anyway Lily in the afterlife is So Very Angry about how Petunia is treating Harry, and how Sirius is rotting in Azkaban, and how Remus is alone, that she literally brings herself back to life and drags James and Regulus with her. All three of them are there to chew bubblegum and fix everything that went wrong after they died—and would you look at that, they’re all out of bubblegum! There’s only Fury left. That inciting premise is very crack, but every moment after that is very much not crack. Lily and James love harry more than anything, the way a child should be loved; James and Sirius have the epic friendship of a lifetime; Sirius and Remus have staggering amounts of resolved sexual tension and take turns keeping each other in check; Regulus, though he realized that Voldemort and his family were shit before he died, is still unlearning all his racist bullshit and, also, years of trauma. Actually, they’re all traumatized, but hey: now they have one another again and not a damn one of them seems inclined to let go anytime soon. Quietlemonhush went, “hey, HP has a lot of Awful people in it, and a lot of Righteous people in it, and many of them are Very, Very Powerful; also, love is the most powerful force in the universe” and i said “hell yes tell me more right now.” And then they did!

Quietlemonhush writes Sirius/Remus in a way that makes it sooo much fun to devour, so the rest of their HP fic is most certainly worth a look, if that’s your thing.

Rebuilding, by Colubrina on AO3, 113k (@colubrina on tumblr)

Hermione/Draco (*shrug emojis into the abyss* yeah, yeah, like none of us have ever been there before). Takes place during Hogwarts 8th year, and while the beginning is, IMO, a little unfair to Ron, it gets much better. Tells the story of Hermione and Draco clearing the air, learning to like each other, having some hormones over each other, and then falling in love. Also tells the story of Hermione and Theo Nott becoming friends; the story of how every single 7th and 8th year student is fucked to hell by the war and the Carrows; the story of how they start an emotional support group about it and all become friends; and the story of, what the hell do you do with yourself after that kind of trauma?

I’ve been dipping in and out of Colubrina’s HP since before I was even on tumblr; I actually found them in those dark yesteryears when the only fandom interactions I had were on fanfiction.net. Of such fame as Green Girl, which is an HP fic staple, and has also written a lot of wackier, crackier, and darker things than that. If you don’t take yourself too seriously, I highly recommend many of their big HP works, though I imagine it’ll press some people’s buttons. Colubrina’s work really does take up a corner of my mind whenever I’m in an HP mood, and will take up yours if you let it.

☆ all waiting is long, by shuofthewind on AO3, 149k ( @shu-of-the-wind on tumblr)

This is so well written that I can’t stop thinking about it. It is occupying my mind when I lie awake at night, you know? It’s one of those. Hermione messes with something she probably shouldn’t have in Grimmauld Place, so when Sirius is sent through the Veil in the Department of Mysteries, she gets thrust into an alternate universe...in 1975. Instead of handwaving it away, shuofthewind actually gets into the mechanics of it in a way that makes sense, to emphasize that hermione is never going home. ever. The world she finds herself is shifted slightly to the left, quite a bit darker, but in a “the author is treating the idea of a society-wide conflict over blood purity much more seriously than JKR ever did” way, not a sensationalist way. Now, Hermione has to grapple with all her grief at losing everyone she’s ever loved or known, the moral/ethical/magical implications of sharing what she knows about her future in an alternate world, and, you know, a goddamn war with people who want to murder her for being who she is. This Hermione is smart, and she’s kind, and she’s powerful, and she’s making real friends. If you hate JKR’s guts I’d go read this right now, because it delivers in all the ways she failed us. It’s plotty, its got great world-building, and it pulls back the white curtain on the wizarding world to show you that, like real life, it’s multicultural and full of queer people...and the discrimination that comes with both.

shuofthewind write epics, mainly for the MCU, and I’ve read some of them a looooong time ago, so this fic kinda seemed out of left field for me but im SOOOO GLAD it exists. If you want MCU fic you can sink your teeth into, go for it, but alas, they do not have any more HP fic (.......yet?)

Speak Now [+] Listen Now, by mrsfrizzle on AO3, 33k altogether

Harry reaches out to Remus for support because Umbridge is getting to him with her literal torture. Remus, being a former professor, former mandatory reporter, person who loves Harry and has since he was born, and all around good man, tells Harry he has to tell someone, or Remus will. It’s everything any adult looking back on that time in HP canon ever wanted, which is for an actual adult to say “what the fuck, those are literal chidlren” and then do something about it. Then, a far more dangerous task: Harry trusts Remus enough to go to him about the Dursleys. Harry and Remus’ relationship develops SO WELL, and there’s a bit of exploration about how Sirius may not exactly be guardian material, because he did in fact spend 12 years of his life getting tortured instead of growing up. I think I’m actually going to go reread this right now, because it speaks to my id.

they do have some other HP fic which did not appeal to my hyperspecific wants, but may appeal to some of yours. I think they’re also a published author, there should be a link on their profile page.

chase the stars, by Duskglass on AO3, 101k (@felix-duskglass on tumblr)

When Harry is five years old, a picture of him ends up in the Daily Prophet, and Sirius Black, Terror of Ministry Officials Touring Azkaban everywhere, gets a hold of that issue. He then, in order: breaks out of Azkaban; crosses the countryside to Surrey; Finds Harry: Kidnaps Harry; Breaks Into Remus’ Apartment; starts processing (or maybe just acknowledging) his trauma from Azkaban, the war, and his childhood; and pines after Remus. It’s a little plotty, and deals a lot (sometimes through flashbacks) with the specific awful things that happened to Sirius—largely because, after years in the constant presence of Dementors, those are nearly literally the only memories he has left. It’s a wonder he’s got the strength to love Harry and Remus at all. But then, maybe it isn’t.

This is a Very Serious Fic, but the rest of Duskglass’s HP work is actually just cracky enough to tickle your funny-bone, while still making you think “okay but why couldn’t we have done that in the first place.”

So! That’s it for recs, for now. These are all things I’ve found and read in the last month; if any of y’all are interested in my old HP recs, let me know and I can make a post for that, too. While I’m still very conflicted about my choice of current fandom, I am not in ANY way conflicted about my taste in fic and authors. Send these guys some love, read their fic if you’re so inclined, and leave some nice comments at the end of it.

#harry potter #hp #fic recs #hp fic #to the authors: if for some reason you don't want to be on this list #let me know and i'll be happy to take your part down #tho i'm hoping you're fine with it because i want other people to read this stuff #and then cry about it with me #harry potter fic #harry potter fic recs

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pokedashwarrior55 · 3 years

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Raincloud HC and Mini Fic

BENTHOMAAR/VANIA HC DUMP.

CAN BE READ PLATONIC OR ROMANTIC BUT THESE TWO WOULD BE PERFECT FOR EACHOTHER EITHER WAY

Inspired By @parachutingkitten

- They saw each other at the nya tribute but didn't get to actually meet

-Bentho became king of merlopians but struggles with citizens seeing him as a real king, as many still are distrustful of the surface world

-He has gluttonous there as the royal scientist and Gripe helps him out, but the citizens still don’t view him has a true king after what happened with Kalmaar

-Bentho and Vania have a cordial meeting for royal business

-Vania is struggling less with her people and more with her city economically recovering.

-Bentho wants to bind the kingdoms somehow, since her kingdom is so inland that if they had good relations with a mountainous region it's one step closer to accepting him.

-They are skeptical of SURFACE DWELLERS not humans so it's a good try.

-establishes trade and economic relations with each other. Maybe trade or sell deepstone and bioluminescent stones for jewelry and architecture in return for some shintaro product unavailable under the sea. Maybe a metal or type of cuisine? Not sure. Flowers perhaps since they have so many in the garden.

-Both relate to having less than respectable family members and share experiences with defeating them

-share new ruler problems they face and can relate to each other very well

-benthomaar can keep up with the bubbly energy of Vania and they both have a backbone to keep their bond from being too unhealthy, fluffy and overly optimistic.

-bentho has trauma from kalmaar's abuse and goes overboard to try and impress vania and thinks he has to be the best damn guy and best royal ally possible to keep her current friendship

-Vania is pretty easily impressed and is very vocal with her admiration so he'll be overwhelmingly happy and confused when she latches on so quickly.

-she'll show him around the sky city, bentho never been so high up, and can introduce him to her allies down below.

-Bentho loves the caves much more than the city in the sense that it's more comforting and all the underwater streams and lakes remind him of home.

-all streams lead to the ocean so I'm not surprised if they find out the water is connected to merlopian seas some how

- this can also work to compliment the kingdoms

- Like Merlopia can reach out and achieve diplomacy with another kingdom instead of being so islationist, and shintaro struggles with moving on from a unsustainable and horrific economic system so they could help eachother alot.

-Both very isolated so coming together may be a good step for both countries’

-Merlopians could be accepting of geckles and munce since they live below the surface, and the shintarins live high above it (so they couldn’t flood it even if they wanted to). It’s baby steps towards liking the rest of NINJAGO as a continent.

-When they become closer friends she Opts for calling him Ben or Benny, since she is so outgoing and bubbly like that, but immediately backtracks and asks if it was ok and apologizes, saying she went over the line

- He would stand up for himself and deny BENNY but I think Ben would be a cute name between the two uwu

-Benthomaar is naturally formal in his ruling and has to push himself to relax while Vania is very lax and friendly with her ruling but needs to push herself to be demanding and formal (She took awhile to use the “Princess” card against Halmaar, opting instead for mutual understanding)

-ok quasi-fic time

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FIC SKELETON (might finish writing someday but here’s the basics with some interaction)

summary: : They spend the day learning about each other kingdoms, and in turn eachother.

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CHAPTER 1: Shintaro

Vania goes about giving Bentho a tour of her city and he is overly courteous of her. She finds it cute at first but then she starts worrying if Benthomaar thinks she can’t handle herself.

Introduces Bentho to Chompy. He finds the dragon very cute and that gets a big smile out of him, really showing off his very sharp teeth. Chompy loves him immediately and starts to climb over him and sit on his head and stuff. Bentho reciprocates pretty much immediately, no stranger to the values of an animal's unconditional love. (The only love that ever seems unconditional in his experience.)

He has trust issues from Kalmaar and tries extra hard to earn love so he goes overboard sometimes, he’ll be the sort to open doors literally all the time, agree with her ideas more aggressively than is really needed, go out of his way to try and physically protect her from perceived threats, etc. Not knowing this fact, and being insecure about her own leadership skills, she thinks he is babying her, or worse, pitying her. She eventually tells him that she can indeed handle herself.

“I can handle myself Benthomaar, you don’t have to do all these things for me.”

“I… Know that”

“You’re very sweet and I appreciate your generosity but… this”, gestures to all the things he bought or given or made for her, and gestures to the situation they were in where he immediately went to protect her from, “simply is too much”

The walk back is a tad awkward after that. Bentho remarks he’s never been so high up before and he does seem very dry from the heavy winds and cold air.

Good thing it’s about time to show him the lower parts of the Kingdom anyway.

“Halmar, I am escorting Benthomaar down through the mountain. Can you be in charge while I’m gone.”

“As you wish my queen”

Benthomaar looked the armored man up and down. “Halmaar? Are you of royal blood too?” he asked.

“What?” Halmar bluntly questioned aloud to the merlopean king before sputtering out in a bow, “I mean, Pardon?... Your majesty”

“Benthomaar this is Halmar. My right hand advisor and head of our defensive force.”

“Oh. In my people, -Maar is given to that of royalty. ‘Halmaar’ means Brave Sea. ”

“Well I can assure you he’s very brave.” Vania beamed as Halmar recovered from his bow. “And will protect the city while I'm gone” she reminded him playfully, as she moved benthomaar out of the temple.

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CHAPTER 2: The Dungeons

Going through the dungeons vania remarks on her father’s previous ruling over it. They share stories and struggles.

Talks about her father and how the ninja came to help. Goes into the topic of her ruling struggles.

“Now that I have helped bring King Vangelis, my father I mean, to justice, people expect me to fix everything. They come to me asking for plans to retain Shintaro's glory, or with pleas for more funds. The people put so much faith in my father and, although his actions were Terrible… it made the city so wonderful for everyone living here. I don’t think I’ll be able to make Shintaro prosper the way he did. I love my people but they expect so much of me all at once. I admit It is very difficult to keep track of it all.”

“That sounds rough, but at least your subjects care for you. The people of Merlopia don’t see me as their king...and they have every right to. I helped the surface dwellers and my actions led to Kalmaar’s death. In their eyes I am a traitor…. Many don’t follow my commands unless they are directed through Gripe. It’s understandable they won’t respect me… I was adopted after all...”

“Well I respect you. Why, from the past--” counts on her fingers with a tongue sticking out “-- three hours I’ve officially known you, I’d say you’re a wonderful ruler! I hereby royally dub you a great king! You can tell your people that!”

*Small air laugh recovering from his Sadness* “Thank you, Vania. I don’t know how much they’ll regard a compliment from the mouth of a ‘surface dweller’, though”

*Smol vania /hj sad pout to one side*

“But I appreciate it, really!!” He corrected arms waving at his front, trying to recover from his previous, in his eyes, disrespectful remark (also in his eyes failing horribly at doing so. He needs to queen to like him. This isn’t going well and-)

“I know you do.” she beamed, “ Now Come on, I see the cart tracks we’re getting closer!!” she happily stated, almost skipping past the new King.

Bentho looked onward at the long haired blond who was trying to walk and balance on the rim of the track, and smiled with relief that she is so easy going at him. He essentially disregarded her royal decree to her face and she brushed it off like nothing. Trimaar had always honored heavy respect towards other royals but it seems this Queen runs things very differently. Even the day had been tame. It felt more like some playdate than an official royal gathering,but with how stressful becoming King had been it was a pleasant change of pace.

“Hey Bentho! We’re HEeeereee!” Vania waved excitedly as the other royal caught up to her standing near a steep ledge leading down to an opening with a large passageway.

Have to go down a large mountainous trench first to reach the dungeons. Benthomaar prepares to scale down the cliff but Vania brings out her wings and tells bentho to hold on. She flies him down the cave--

(Flying is vaguely exciting, but also vaguely terrifying. He’s never really had to deal with the possibility of falling before. Buildings in Merlopia aren’t that tall and you literally can’t fall underwater, there’s always something supporting you.)

The two meet up with the chancellor of the geckles first. He welcomes Queen Gania and her friend Genthomaar and he asks first for trial by mino, but Vania orders him off. Scoffing at her majesty’s boring overriding of their usual procedures he opts for a simple vote for bringing the new unfamiliar face to the munce queen. Bentho gets rocks thrown at him and the geckles cheer as they escort the two to where murtessa is. Vania giggles at him.

Next up is the muntz.

So she'd challenge him to a quick duel to see if he is a fitting ally. Naturally Benthomaar rocks with a spear, so he's good, but he'll be really confused at first and probably not want to fight her.

He doesn’t win, but Murtessa sees through his fighting that he has a good heart, and a brave one. She declares him an ally of the Munce. King Menthomaar. And then gives him a hearty slap on the back and invites them all to dinner. They politely decline (Vania, to preserve her stomach. Munce food is, ah, something else.)

Murtessa thinks Bentho is a good kid and a good fighter. She thinks it's funny how polite he is, though. Gives him some royal advice that he’d be a little better off if he would carry himself like a king. “Confidence! Important in every Munce ruler!”

Bentho finds her and Munce a bit...much, but they also kind of remind him of the Maaray back home so he also finds it kind of familiar. (Also he doesn’t know it, but shark Merlopians are kind of rough and tumble, too. Like Munce, but without tight knit families or a set kingdom.)

________________________________________________________________

CHAPTER 3: Merlopia

Goes back to the temple to discuss whats next.

“If we are going to be partners in this royal engagement, I think you should see My homeland. Merlopia”

Vania just laughs at his wording

“What did I say?” Genuine confused babi just trying to be overly courteous cause he feels like he must be a GOOD KING. ULTRA KING.

Brings her to the beach. He signals her to wait there and he dives into the water to ask nya for some help in bringing Vania down the depths. She knew the bare basics of what happened but seeing nya in such a state made her a tad saddened.

“Nya. Can you help bring my friend to Merlopia?”

Nya nods all slow and goddess like. “You helped me defeat Wojira, correct? For that I’ll grant you this.”

“Thank you, nya”

“That’s NYA??”

“Do I… know you.”

She just frowns at that question. She knew she and nya were not super close but to be forgotten like that. Ouch. “I guess not”

Nya makes a large air bubble and descends quickly down the depths. And like cool camera pans and junk and bentho is riding the wave nya is making outta the bubble and vania sticks her head outta the bubble for a sec to meet his gaze and feel the current go by. Fluff insues

“Don’t worry there is air in the palace”

Vania just loudly exclaims in relief cause honestly she was prepared to be living in a bubble forever.

Nya just...disintegrates. Which is a bit strange to see, even for Vania who usually likes weird stuff. But she doesn’t linger on it long because ooooohhh Merlopia is so pretty! I mean Shintaro is pretty too but this is a whole different kind of pretty. It’s like the gardens of Shintaro, but that’s the whole city. It’s so colorful compared to the flawless Ivory City.

They tour around a little bit, with Vania looking at everything in interest. She even likes the Royal Ripper Sharks (who are being treated a bit nicer now that Kalmaar is gone, and are sicced on people far less frequently than before.) Benthomaar gets a bit nervous when Gripe runs up to him with a bunch of kingly concerns and kind of tells him a lot of noncommittal responses.

Since they declined dinner with the Munce, Vania’s stomach starts rumbling, and she embarrassedly admits that she was pretty hungry.

Benthomaar invites her to dinner in Merlopia.

They eat while discussing trade stuff and diplomacy? (And also their day and the G&M and such.)

Also a fun chance to make up some Merlopian culture and food, and for him to share it with her. Unsurprisingly, it’s a lot of fish. But that’s honestly great because they don’t have a lot of that in Shintaro. There are a few streams a hike away that she's had every now and again, but for the most part fish isn’t something eaten often in Shintaro.

Benthomaar is pretty happy with this set-up because he had been eating dinner all by himself which was very lonely and wistful. It's much nicer with her company, and he needs her to know that, and really wants her to stay around and to like him so that they can do this again. So his super-manners-having-to-prove-himself-worthy-of-friendship kick in again and he starts getting super formal and passing her stuff and offering dishes a little overzealously and such and she's like "this again what the huh?"

“My lord, you're...doing it again.”

“Sorry, I’ll do better.”

“Better? You’re doing just fine. Really. The meal is great, the presentation is beautiful, and you’re being so kind. I just...don’t need this much attention at once, that’s all.”

No I’m not it’s not good enough. I’m not good enough. * frowns silently * *internal screaming *

They decide to meet again later to discuss trade and commerce deals and both bow goodbye after dinner, but soon as she leaves the dining room and gets lost roaming the temple (this palace is constructed like the caves how do they find anything) eventually ends back up at the dining room, where benthomaar is cleaning up the table and stacking the used dishes and they both realize that she can't get back up on her own. They share a laugh and Bentho promises to escort her back up.

Vania wonders why he is cleaning and not the palace servents so she decides to help him clean up, since it seems his people weren’t going to.

The end

(Also Nya is busy being a goddess somewhere else, so they’ll have to get her transportation back at a later date. With any luck there’s an air-breather-friendly manta saddle that they can use for her.)

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They are too precious for this world someone please do more of thisssss

#ninjago #ns15 spoilers #ns15 #ninjago seabound #ninjago seabound spoilers #benthomaar #ninjago benthomaar #ninjago vania #vania #Vania X Benthomaar #raincloudshipping #ninjago raincloudshipping #raincloud #ninjago nya #nya smith

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mcfanely · 4 years

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Ivory and Gold

With Ninjago finally falling into a state of calm again, the Ninja finally find a chance to take a well deserved break after the whole Prime Empire debacle. What better to have time off than to visit the Kingdom of Shintaro upon official invite of King Vangelis, for his daughters birthday celebration. Only, Cole can’t help but feel that he’d already been to the ivory city before. The name at least rung a deeply hidden bell in his mind, the only issue was that he couldn’t place the memory. 4518 words

It wasn't every day that being a ninja coincided with celebration and relaxation, but sometimes karmic justice did work in their favour.

Though it did always seem that whenever they donned their gis, it was for anything but a normal day. That the action of pulling on their masks, making sure all their weapons and armour were in place, checking the fit of the clothes and the tightness of their belts to prevent any mishaps during possible battles. It inherently meant danger. It meant that something had gone wrong with the world again, that there was another big bad on the horizon and it was their job as protectors to prevent the world from plunging into the hands of whatever evil and dark force had decided to try and play their hand and take over.

Yet this time, things had been a little different. Generally, the kingdoms within Ninjago kept to themselves, as much as everyone else did. They interacted, yes, traded goods and services, but that was as far as anything really went. It was a state of harmony, a working relationship.

Cole had heard about the Ivory City of Shintaro a while back, he didn't specifically remember who had mentioned it initially but the information was stored somewhere in his mind. He'd seen it too, or at least he'd felt he had. Stood on the deck of the Bounty, staring in astonishment as they descended amidst the towering structures that made up the city. Turrets that reached high into the sky, made to look even more vast due to the peak of the mountain that the kingdom already resided upon.

Their duties as ninja was to protect life, maintain a visage of hope. Be people to look up to, and to be relieved to see.

Sometimes, it also included showing face. It included being given opportunities and experiences that Cole would never have expected to have should he have led a normal and mundane life like anybody else. Such as being invited to a generally fairly closed off kingdom to celebrate the birthday of one of the heirs to the throne. Princess Vania, it wasn't a name Cole was very familiar with.

Honestly, he wasn't familiar with anything there. Even as they docked and promptly met with and escorted through the complex and winding hallways of the kingdom's palace by a guide with wings no less. Golden sheets that almost looked like silk flowing in an invisible wind, and it looked as though any form of flight with them seemed impossible. Yet still, the man floated gracefully above the ground.

Nothing about the kingdom was ringing any bells other than the distant inkling that this wasn't the first time he'd been there, or that he'd heard of it. Faces, names, they were all completely foreign, but the feeling the place provided…

It was so familiar, right on the tip of his tongue.

"Earth to Cole," came a voice, and Cole promptly snapped back to reality with Jay's face far too close to his own. "You're thinking pretty hard."

He took a short step back to place some distance between the two of them before answering. "Yeah, I guess." Cole took a brief second to actually take in where they had ended up in the castle. The floor they were walking on was polished to perfection that it almost felt like sacrilege to be walking across it. Patterned with gold lines that stretched as far as Cole could see, turning corners as the floor did, glinting and glimmering in the sun as it passed through the windowed walls. "Just, you know, taking everything in." And he was. He may have been distracted, but he was taking in the splendor of the kingdom.

"Awesome, isn't it?" Jay said in a wistful tone, his pupils practically blown wide. They both slowed down in their pace just slightly. They were still following along behind their winged guide and their friends, just a little bit further back. "It's not every day that we get invited to anything to do with royalty--."

"Well, I mean, we have." Cole shrugged loosely, not going into much more detail on the subject. He didn't need to anyway, since Jay just gave a slow nod, his eyes briefly tracking over to Lloyd, who seemed to be sharing a conversation between Kai and their winged companion.

"That was, you know, ninja stuff." The lightning ninja replied, in time that strongly implied the idiom of 'water under the bridge'. "We were there to do a job. But here, it's to have fun." He seemed fairly ecstatic about that fact.

They'd all been told of the reason for the trip not long before they'd actually set off. No real precursor, more of a 'pack your bags, we're heading off the following morning'. The invitation had been carefully constructed, a cream envelope with gold embossing announcing that the contents were for all of them to read.

You have been cordially invited to the Shintaro Kingdom to partake in the birthday celebrations of the crowned Princess Vania.

It had read funny, and Jay had mentioned that it sounded portentous.

An engagement that included all the ninja. It wasn't a battle to fight, it was a party to attend. Down time that they all agreed they needed and deserved.

"Finally, something that's not stressful." Sighed Jay as the group came to a flight of stairs, which led up briefly to a huge standing white door, arched with golden and near cerulean blue tones that made the white stand out even more, if that was even possible. At this point, their guide turned back with a bit more of a measured expression. It was calm, but also the face of a man doing his job.

"You are about to be introduced to the King of the Kingdom of Shintaro. He's been looking forward to your arrival." the man said with a smile, "We've all heard of the great deeds you've done. It's a pleasure to have you here. Now, King Vangelis awaits."

The man turned back to the door, flying a little higher to its centre, "It is with great honour," He began, the booming voice resonating around the now open throne room. Cole's mouth dropped at the magnitude, and it's beauty. It seemed to be an expression shared by everyone as they stepped forwards.

"That I present the famed Ninja!"

To say the day was busy would be an understatement, but Cole knew that the following day, the day of the actual birthday celebration would be a whole lot more hectic and exciting. They'd been given a proper tour of the castle after they'd met with King Vangelis, followed promptly by a walk around the city with the same royal guard as before guiding them through streets that were all filled with people setting up for the following days celebrations. There was a sense of calm to the place, a nice warmth and camaraderie that was displayed by anyone they had met. Everyone worked together, shared tasks and helped out in order to have everything done before the sun had dropped behind the horizon. Between walking through thin streets, sidestepping people walking down the paths with arms full of colourful bunting, Cole had spent a good portion of the day lost in thought.

It was always a problem when he noticed something he couldn't quite put his finger on; and this kingdom just made him feel weird. The foreign familiarity of everything, the cleanliness of the air he breathed in struck a chord in his lungs, the way the sun dipped down below the halo of clouds that circled the peak of the mountain, below the city limits. How the orange colour still glowed from underneath the blanket before it finally disappeared behind the horizon line for the day. It was incredible.

Déjà vu inducing, but incredible.

Eventually, they were all guided to their rooms for the night. Guest rooms in the Palace of all places, an entire hallway dedicated to bedrooms specifically for visitors to the kingdom. As rooms went, they were lavish. Four poster beds adorned each one, huge amounts of room space, closets and cabinets that would go unused in their brief stay in the sleeping quarters, but it was more than what Cole had anticipated. What with going from sharing a room both at the monastery and shared living spaces in the reduced size of the Bounty, to finally getting his own place to sleep when they'd remodeled and rebuilt the burnt down shell of their old training ground, it was nice to have that privacy maintained. Anyway, if Cole needed anyone then he could just head to the room to the left or right of him and find one of his friends to talk to. Privacy didn't mean constantly staying alone.

Yet, Cole was alone with his thoughts. Laid out on top of the beds quilt, the light from the day now faded fully into the din of the night, it was a time when he was meant to be winding down, not letting his mind run wild.

He just couldn't stop thinking.

It was one thing, to have a minor inkling at familiarity, but it was another thing to be so sure that he'd heard of a place before to such an extent that somewhere, deep down, he'd seen this place before. He'd seen the climbing walls of ivory white, the buildings topped with cladding of the best blue and the most perfect gold that gave such an ethereal quality to everything. It was such a unique place. Anyone who'd ever set eyes on a kingdom like Shintaro would forever have the place branded into their memories. There was nothing like it in the whole of Ninjago, yet there Cole was with one arm draped over his eyes in an effort to bring sleep to him even in his energised state, sifting through his memories for anything that would help him make sense of the feeling that had planted itself in his chest.

It brought with it warmth, a softness, the sensation almost tinted with rose in the best way.

There was something that Cole was missing. Forgetting.

However the darkened room, the softness of the mattress beneath him, the calming silence that the night always brought about; even plagued with an active mind, sleep was never really far away.

Cole fell into it, the comforting and restful silence.

For what felt like a blink.

He felt his eyes crack open far too soon, though he must have been asleep. His legs were now tangled with the bed covers and he'd migrated over onto his chest, hair falling in his face and what looked like a less than glamorous drool spot just beside his pillow. He had been sleeping.

The dim blue light of the early early morning fizzled through the windows, providing a bit of light into the previously darkened room.

Cole could go back to sleep easily, all he had to do was let his eyes slip closed.

Then a noise met his ears. It was faint, the sound of shuffling almost. Enough to make his brow furrow and get him to sit up in bed, though a short glance around his room didn't reveal anything to him other than that his vision was still blurry from sleep.

Then the noise happened again. Much clearer this time. Distinct, even, enough that Cole's eyes were open and alert in an instant.

He wasn't sure how he'd missed it, but Cole was sure that barely a second ago he had been alone in his room.

Now…

Well, now he was staring into the eyes of… Something. It was short, purple skinned and had a mouth of sharpened teeth. A hood was pulled low over its head but it seemed as equally shocked to see Cole awake as Cole was to see the nightly visitor.

Everything happened so quickly after that. The intruder started to make their escape, but even in the dregs of sleep, the earth master was quicker. Barely two steps away from the bed and the creature was laid out on the floor with Cole standing above him.

He was about to speak, to question the reason behind why this… thing was lurking in his room. Where he'd even come from?

Before a tiny glint of gold caught his eye.

Cole's eyes flicked briefly down to the locket around the intruders neck, clicked open in their brief struggle. It held two pictures inside, and before he realised it, Cole was reaching for the small piece of metal. Tugging it from the other person's neck, the chain breaking at the clasp, the pictures that were held reverently inside froze him to the spot. Half stood up, clothes still crinkled from sleep, the creature on its back just at his feet going all but forgotten as he stared at the faces that looked back from the black and white images.

On the left side, the unmistakable face of his father. A small smile on his face, as he was looking over the expanse between the open locket, over to the picture that was held in the opposing side.

A face that Cole had feared would fade from his mind for years. Being left with nothing much other than fond memories, though they were few and far between. Context and details lost over time, fading as many old memories did. The visage of his mother looked back up at him, as beautiful as she'd been the last time he'd ever seen her. He couldn't have asked for anyone better to have helped raise him.

Then, puzzle pieces began to slowly slot together, and a memory that had never even crossed his mind for a second was now pushed to the forefront.

It was clear, scarily so, for how buried it had been.

"What do you mean you're leaving." Came a high voice, almost whiny and temperamental. Small hands reached up and grabbed onto the closest thing they could reach, that being the bottom of the woman's shirt. The material was soon balled up in the child's palms, fabric stretching as it was pulled down .

There was a quiet sigh, and arms reached down beneath the young boy's arms, scooping him up as if he weighed absolutely nothing. Dark hair, in vast need of a haircut dangled in front of his eyes, it was fluffed up and looked like he'd been rolling around on the grass, or messing around in some undergrowth if the twigs and loose pieces of foliage tangled in the strands were anything to go by.

Lilly looked down at her son with a soft smile, then leaned forwards, pressing a prolonged kiss to the cheek of the boy in her arms.

Cole squealed in retaliation, voice high and arms flailing as he failed to free himself from his mother's unrelenting grip. Still, the kiss went on until eventually, finally, she pulled back. Only to dot smaller briefer ones over his cheeks and nose.

"I already told you yesterday, sweetie." Her voice was soft, but measured, as though they'd had this conversation a few times before. She crouched down, placing Cole back onto solid ground, then ruffled his hair even with all the earthly mess accumulated in it.

"But you're going to be gone for so long." Cole crossed his arms over his chest, his face dropping into a sulk.

Lilly crouched down more to her son's height, even though her toddler was still quite on the shorter side than his peers. "Only four days, Cole. I'll be back before you know it. It's only a short trip to Shintaro, your grandfather needs a little bit of help with something and he needs me there."

Cole looked up, brow furrowed in far too much suspicion for someone so young. "Because you're strong?"

"Yes, honey, because I'm strong."

"And- and," He paused, his fingers looping into a couple of the torn holes in the hem of his shirt, picking at the loose threads there. "And, you'll be okay? You'll be back? Because, you know, you're--" The words were muffled as he brought his hands up to his mouth, the sleeves of his jumper blocking the words.

Dutifully, Lilly leaned forwards further until Cole could move closer to her ear to spill his small secret.

"Because you're more fun than dad…" He whispered, and she pulled back with a wide smile and silently shaking shoulders.

"We'll keep that between the two of us." The words sounded like she'd gained some type of achievement. "But I promise, I'll be back. And whilst I'm gone, you're in charge?"

Cole's eyes only widened, "Really?" He grinned.

"Really, sweetie. Really. I need to have my little man looking out for my other older man."

Cole slowly came back to reality, still stood stock still in the centre of his bedroom, the locket held reverently in his grip as the blurred sleepy feeling that had overtaken his vision was replaced with a slight sting which could only mean the onset of tears.

He shook his head, drew one sleeve over his eyes to catch any stray droplets, before his attention shot immediately down to the floor.

The empty floor.

Cole cursed.

He'd been so caught off guard, so caught up in memory he was surprised he even remembered that whoever the intruder was, they'd disappeared as promptly as they had so suddenly appeared. The floor was bare, no inch or indicator that there had even been anyone there in the first place, or if Cole had just been dreaming.

The locket in his hands stated otherwise.

He stared down at it, his feet moving him back over to the edge of the bed in autopilot, where he slumped down and kept staring.

He'd always been told he looked a lot like Lilly. By anyone that had known her, the comparison was always drawn. Or at least, they did draw it. They looked at him, old family friends, long time neighbours. They all reverently stated that he was just like his mother.

Until any comment like that slowly came to a stop.

Cole hadn't heard it much at all, following her passing at least.

His fingers traced their way over the image, moving with the contours of her face, captured and frozen in an everlasting expression of peace and contentment.

It was the exact way he remembered her, that small smile that was always there. The warmth in her expression, even towards the end.

Cole hadn't been allowed to see her as she'd only gotten sicker and sicker, but he remembered her laid in bed at home. He'd spent most of his time there, sat quietly with a book or sharing headphones and music with her to keep her company. He could never have imagined that one day he'd leave that room and he'd never see her again.

"That same song again?"

The words came out of nowhere, an internal and forgotten dialogue that dragged sharply at Cole's heartstrings.

"Well, if you want to change the song, you can be in charge of the music," He was sitting on the right side of her bed. His mother was laid just under the covers, her back propped up with a couple pillows and her hair was pulled back from her face with a hair-tie. Even around the usual expression on her face, she was clearly sickly. Her skin was paler, a grey tone permeating the darker tone. There were bags under her eyes, ones had just got deeper and deeper with each passing day. Cole was sat cross-legged on top of the covers, music player held in his hand and a single earphone hanging from one ear. His mother had the other one.

She held up one hand to stop him, "No, no, the technology is far too complicated."

He closed his eyes, before holding the player up to her, "You literally just press this arrow button--"

"As I said, sweetie, far too complicated."

"You grew up with this tech as much as I did, mom."

That seemed to catch her out for a second, but she just chuckled and shook her head. "No, no, I didn't. This is, why you're holding the music box--"

"Player."

"And I'm just listening to it." Lilly said plainly, then rested one hand on her son's knee afterwards, squeezing lightly. "Though you don't need to be sitting there flicking through songs for me, don't you have homework? Or friends to write letters to."

At that point, Cole knew that she was just trying to make him laugh. Phones were a thing and she was fully aware of that factor, if the grin that split apart her previously stoney facade meant anything.

Cole laughed, resting his head back against the headboard. "I'm spending today with you. I'll get my homework done tomorrow, I promise."

"You'd better." Lilly smiled, threading a hand through his hair. He just paused for a second, allowing his eyes to slip closed at the contact, "Otherwise we'll have to tell your dad that you did it and then rush to get it done last minute, all the while trying not to get caught in the lie."

Cole just grinned even more, "You're words, mom, not mine." He held up his hands in mock surrender. "I'll sit in here tomorrow and do my work. Deal?"

"Or," She spread her hands, as if she was going to impart a revelation upon the world. "You could sit outside, because it's been sunny the past few days and you've been cooped up with me." Lilly pointed to the window of the room. The curtains were drawn, they always were. It kept the room dim, the light from getting too harsh, but there was a warm glow from the sun permeating the material.

Cole sighed. He could sit outside, he could sit in the middle of the flower beds. Sure, it would frustrate his dad and track mud back into the house, but with the sun shining down on everything, the colours and the smell floating in the air around him; it would be worth it to get his school work done outside. Yet, there was also the fact that he wanted to sit and spend time with his mother. He wasn't a child, he wasn't sheltered from the world. His mom had been sick for a while and she only ever seemed to get worse and not better.

He could see how it affected family life too. It was rare that Lilly got up out of bed anymore, and with his dad out working it left Cole with the lion's share of chores and jobs to get done. He didn't mind, how could he? It kept everything clean, his mom didn't get worried and his dad wasn't stressed over the unfinished tasks when he came back home from a performance or rehearsal. But it was clear that what was happening to Lilly was affecting everyone. Smiling was hard to come by whenever he left her bedroom, he was always partially focused on a task along with wondering if his mom was okay.

Which was why it made it easier sitting with her and getting stuff done. If he was worried, all he had to do was look to his left and see that she was fine.

It made the day easier to handle.

"Cole, you're going to sit outside tomorrow, right? Have a quiet day, leave chores alone for a while. Go on a walk or something." Lilly offered with a tilted head, "No rush to get things done."

"Other than homework."

She nodded in agreement, "Other than homework. Which you will do--"

"Outside." They said in unison.

Cole smiled and leant over to press a kiss to his mom's forehead, "I'll have a quiet day tomorrow then, mom."

"You'd better."

That night, he'd walked out of her room like he did every other day. The following day he'd brought her breakfast, then walked out into the middle of the bed of chrysanthemums with a maths textbook slung under his arms. The day had been far too unassuming for it to be anything but normal.

Cole hadn't thought that the final memory he shared with his mother would be something so mundane. She deteriorated rapidly afterwards. He was kept away from it, prevented from going into her room. He knew the reason behind it, the attempt to shield him from what must have been the last few days of his mother's life.

But staring down at the picture in the locket, a face that he hadn't seen, hadn't thought about properly for years, it brought everything crashing back. Every birthday, every small conversation. Every night spent with his dad's old record player spinning in the corner of the room, his small hands in her sure grip, his feet - donned in fluffy socks - were stood on top of hers as she danced her way around the living room of his childhood home, guiding Cole's movements.

She'd been to Shintaro, she may have even walked the same halls he'd walked that morning. He may have literally followed in her footsteps.

Though that realisation fell into the background as the first of the tears dripped slowly down his cheek and landed as a dark mark on the bed covers. More only continued to follow as he looked at her picture in his hand. One of his dad, the other of his mom; their family back together again in a way that Cole had never imagined, or expected to happen.

The tears wouldn't stop flowing, the hiccuped breathing that came with crying was silenced by his own hand clamped over his mouth.

He'd just had someone in his room, but he didn't care about it during the moment. He'd found his mother's locket around said creature's neck, but that fact moved to the outer reaches of his awareness as Cole sat on the edge of his bed, head and shoulders slumped forwards as if acting as a barrier between the world around him and the precious memory held in his hands.

Even with his found family in rooms both to the left and right of his own, he stayed where he was. Tears falling slowly and silently, shoulders shaking minutely. The rising sun had begun to show itself now, a line of hazy orange flowing warmly into his room. Cole could get up, he honestly should go and get someone and tell them about what had taken place.

He just found he couldn't move. He didn't want to move, he didn't want anyone to see him in the state he was in.

Crying over memories that were so far in the past, long forgotten until that one moment. The warmth and happiness of his mother's smile, her soft voice yet foreboding and stoic demeanor.

Cole could wait until everyone else was awake before he mentioned what had happened.

For now, he was content to sit in the comfort of the memories of his mom, his palm closing as he clicked the locket shut.

AO3

Thank you, @existentiallyrandom, you’re so galaxy brained!

#ninjago #lego ninjago #lego #cole #cole brookstone #cole ninjago #jay walker #jay #kai #lloyd #cole's mother #lilly ninjago #ninjago season 13 #ns13

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beautifulterriblequeen · 4 years

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I’m really intrigued by Rayla’s moonshadow assassin peers. I especially am interested in Andromeda because I think she is the only other girl in the group? Do you have any headcanons in how these teen/young adult assassins interacted? Do you think Rayla isolated herself from them because she was always iffy about taking a life? Also TDP finally colored their map and I know you live maps, find any new cool stuff? I especially love how there’s a frozen sea north and a spinning sea south, imagine the powerful Magic’s that channeled to make them.

Okay, so I jumped straight to the map, did 80% of it, and wandered away for a few weeks. I apologize, anon. Let’s get this going again:

I’ve got a few headcanons on the Moonshadow assassins! It seems likely that they hang out mostly with each other, when they hang out, to reinforce their teambuilding and to give them some socialization, since assassins tend to keep others at arm’s length. So I kinda figure they tend to roam as a pack on their evenings out in the village, if they’re not married to a non-assassin like Runaan is.

I think that could be part of the reason that Rayla might not have hung out with the others as much, too: Runaan wanted to be either training or at home with Ethari, so Rayla probably spent a lot of time doing those things just because he did them. And when Runaan was doing more serious training or missions, that’s when Rayla had her free time to run around the forest and make adoraburr friends.

Runaan could’ve probably insisted that she do something more assassiny with her free time. Shadow an assassin, do more studying, practice certain prescribed skills on her own. But he didn’t. He let her play. Soft assassin is soft!

Listen, anon, I have a fun headcanon for you about Andromeda--and by fun, I mean it’s really angsty half a second after you start thinking about it. Ready?

What if: Andromeda is Runaan’s half-sister. If they’re both Lujanne’s children by different assassin dads who kept dying in battle, but a Moon mage needs an assassin leader partner to defend Xadia with, and Lujanne knew her son Runaan wasn’t old enough to lead yet, so she burned through three or more husbands protecting him until Runaan was well trained enough to lead the assassins himself and had fallen in love with a mage who adored him and would be his partner in her place.

Andromeda looks a fair bit like Lujanne, too:

Along with Runaan, they all have long hair, side tails bound in silver cuffs, and some form of braids. Andromeda’s hair is sectioned in front similarly to Runaan’s. Her accent sounds more British than Scottish, though she only has the one line: My eyes for truth. And Lujanne and Andromeda are the only two Moonshadow elves we’ve met who have medium blue horns, while Runaan’s are dark blue. Almost everyone else’s horns have purple or pink as their base color.

But then, see, Andromeda went on Runaan’s mission, and she died. Her spirit was the most aggressive in TTM, usually closest to Rayla with her sword out, as if she hated Rayla the most. If she had a vested family interest in Runaan’s mission succeeding, and then it went pear-shaped because of Rayla, that would make sense.

No matter if she’s related to Runaan or not, she’s wearing horn cuffs, so she was in a dedicated relationship of some kind, and that’s so sad. Someone’s missing her the way Ethari’s missing Runaan. :’((((

Anyway, it’s just a headcanon, but since you asked, there ya go.

Okay, on to my thoughts on the map, of which I have a normal and healthy amount:

The Map Border:

Everyone doodles in the borders. I love to see what they put there.

Starting in the upper left and going counter-clockwise, the five human crowns are cool

Cornucopia swirls center left look like an homage to Cabbage Man from ATLA

Bait is staring at Evenere. his home? Or maybe he just wants to eat the dragonfly on its logo

Human defender has a beard. Hairagorn. He's very heavily armored but has no helmet. Long hair is braided to rest on front of shoulder, like the blond elf in the painting at the Moon Nexus. Old timey hairstyle?

He’s defending Katolis Castle specifically. I wonder if the little white building is kinda random or if it’s supposed to represent the Banther Lodge. Nah, I have a better guess: that’s where Viren grew up

The crack in the map looks meta. It's been repaired somewhat. Makes me wonder if it's an in-world map, whose, who ripped it, and who fixed it. Sir Phineas Kurst seems like the kind of guy to almost shred his really cool map

The star behind Zym's egg has seven points

The two ships on the southern waters are western and eastern respectively. Tidebound elves from Singapore? Jack Sparrow would be proud

There is land just south of the Dragontail, wonder what’s there?

The leaves around the human figure are small and numerous while the Moonshadow elf has fewer but bigger leaves

The elf is standing in the way of one of the six leaves growing out of the rune rose and that leaf's curly tip seems to have been replaced with a curl of the elf's very long hair

The human pose is more offense and the elf pose is more defense. But the elf has two swords, and one has some wicked hooks in it.

Elf has 4 fingers instead of 3 so whether it’s in-universe or meta, they were drawn by a human :DDD

The elf's braid winds around their horn and I think that's clever

High collar shirt under protective layer, bracers and elbow gloves, bare biceps, complex shoulder getup, ornate hair that's butt long and partly braided, two long slightly curving swords... horn cuffs too. This is a Moonshadow assassin in the same gear Runaan's got, poised to defend the Xadian half of the map as the human is poised to defend his side

The rune rose isn't a compass. It has a two sided pointer and six primal runes. Just decorative I guess. ;)

More lettuces on right center.

Maybe a portaling caterpillar on the center knot? Little bug pal, I see you

“The Five Human Kingdoms” lettered in red, “Xadia” in blue. Giving me Stratego flashbacks. Even the flowers on their banners are color coded

Banners in the corners are similar but Xadia has more fluttery tips

Thunder drawn all attacky top center, does he have anything to do with the Frozen Sea being frozen?

Compass rose under Thunder’s wing

Dick island near the compass. Well, Duren is the breadbasket of the human lands. A most excellent cartography joke! 10/10 would chortle wholesomely again

The Human Kingdoms:

Neolandia

Capital Eboreus seems to be a lake city below a mountain and I'm here for all the Lake Town refs.

It's also the eye of the elephant shape

Not a lot of trees, mostly grasses or desert. Only borders Duren across a couple rivers/estuaries/sea channels

Heart shaped island next to elephant trunk

Land generally broken into several sections by sea/rivers

If it’s rivers, they seem to generate from the capital’s lake and flow in several directions. And they say there’s no magic left in the western lands! ;)

But if there was exactly one source of freshwater in a desert land, it makes sense that you’d find a way, magical or mechanical, to spread that lifegiving water in as many directions as possible so your people can thrive so kudos to Neolandia’s ancestors/Tidebound elves/whoever managed that, it’s brilliant

I can and will make up explanations for anything on a map. I adore worldbuilding

Del Bar

Two named locations. Since Del Bar’s national symbol is a serpent, I guess Serpentongue is the capital.

Hinterpeak is a sweet name. Looks like Helm's Deep with that retaining wall. What’s it for? Are there dwarves in this land? Is it an Earthblood stronghold? Maybe it’s like the Mines of Moria, and the Earthbloods were chased out and/or killed inside and now it’s full of nasty orcses but someone left a MacGuffin down there so *nudges hero* Off you pop.

Nice forests around the southern mountain range but northern DB is more arid or grassy lands like Neolandia.

Considering that crops grow well in Duren, which is farther north, I assume there is a massive meteorological gyre over the human lands, with a southern wind blowing down over the western realms and keeping them icy until the mountains of Hinterpeak block and divert them, protecting Evenere. The winds don't blow eastward without warming right up-- and causing thunderstorms in Katolis how about that-- because there is a warmer side to the gyre over Katolis and Duren, blowing tropical warmth and moisture north and providing rain for trees and crops alike. Most years, anyway.

How does the weather fail in Duren for seven years in a row, anyway? That seems like a Thunder issue. Unless it’s a Sunforge issue, which I’ll get to below.

Ahem.

Borders Neolandia, Duren, and Katolis across rivers, but most border is coastline.

Serpentongue probably got its name from the two river heads around it

Cluster of dead little cracks spawns a single river. Looks like someone cracked the tub and it drained away. I wonder how much of this landscape has been affected by the Mage Wars. Big watery basins have flooded and other spots seem dead. The lands may or may not actually touch depending on how deep some of these waterways are

Evenere

Looks like someone punched holes in the land with a giant pencil to make it a separate island. Broken outline with scattered islands

That Pawprint Isles has only four toes

Moon-shaped island is very crescenty indeed

Are these isles home to refugees or outcasts from Xadia? Listen, I want pirates and that sea looks pretty Caribbean to me

No capital city, hmmm what's that about? Is it underground, does it move? Maybe Fareeda’s capital is on the back of a world turtle and she’s constantly on tour around the island?

That arm of land ending in a peace sign, please can we get surfers

The hills emanating from that claw shaped headland look like something is sleeping under the island, hello yes I am here for giant immortal creatures please

Katolis

its capital is also called Katolis, the only human realm to use the same name twice

Weeping Bay could be a ref to the tears the humans shed after they reached the west. Or the Moonshadow elves as they left their forest for the east. Or both. Both, in this case, is bad but balanced

Boomerang island next to the Dragontail

The river the Dragaang rode on was going uphill

The watery slash in the land between Katolis and Del Bar is awfully straight. So is the one between Del Bar and Neolandia. I call magical warfare.

Katolis has a bunch of mountains in the east, part of an old natural border before the lava one appeared

Mt Kalik is probably volcanic. It's a standalone mountain and it's really tall. Rex Ignius maybe? Oh, probably not, I think I see him peeking on the other side of the map

The trees of Duren and Katolis are different then the western lands. Softer green, deciduous. And the land itself is yellower, warmer in tone

Forests centered on Mt Kalik

The Moon Nexus looks like an eye on a dragon head near the Dragontail, and Evenere looks like a severed wing (Yes I am still wondering where Luna Tenebris went, why do you ask)

Weeping Bay looks like the most natural body of water in the western lands

Three red little trees scattered around the Katolis map. Fruit trees? How very Moonshadow.

Duren

The only land border among all the human kingdoms is between Duren and Katolis. Maybe it used to be further south along the river?

Capital is Berylgarten, set on a lake. Beryl is a stone that’s usually green, blue, or yellow in color, very gardeny

Second smallest realm but the breadbasket of the human lands. Has several little forests and great tilled fields

Being a farmer in Duren is probably as awesome as being an assassin in the Moonshadow Forest; you do what you do for all your friendly kingdoms

Northernmost land is cold and craggy, named Skall's Hook along the sea

Third ship in the Frozen Sea is icebound and crushed. Looks western, indicating no possible passage

Lots of colored trees and shrubs as if fruitbearing, I keep comparing Duren to the Yakima Valley in Washington State

Where the lava reaches the Frozen Sea, it melts the ice next to Duren's mountains

Northern Xadia:

Lux Aurea

Most of the center lands of this map has warm tones for its ground. Maybe that’s because of the long reach of the warmth and light of Lux Aurea’s Sun Nexus, and only the lands that are just too far from it are truly cold and icy. It would explain why Duren is a breadbasket realm so far north--it’s just across the border from Lux Aurea.

If there’s anything to that, then I suddenly worry for the fate of all the human lands now that the Sunforge has gone dark. It’s early summer now in Xadia, and crops in Duren will be ripening soon... Unless the sun’s magic was helping them grow. This coming winter could be rough. Next winter, people will die. Unless they can purify the Sunforge again.

Also, I have to wonder if Duren’s seven years of famine had anything to do with Sunforge shenanigans. They’d have happened at Khessa’s command, and we know she despises humans. If she was responsible for all the struggles that humans had to go through without enough food for seven years, and then their desperate attempt to fix the problem by invading Xadia for a Magma Titan’s heart which extended and exacerbated the war, I can see why Aaravos might feel Queen Khessa deserved to die

The city’s shaped kinda like an Egyptian pectoral necklace on this map, and that’s super pretty and not at all ominous

Also that’s a lot of gold for a whole city and I wonder how they got it all

The Shiverglades and the Shards

These areas are north of Lux Aurea and seem cold but not very icy, even though the Frozen Sea is right there. More thoughtful glances at the Sunforge over this one. Is it warming the land, or not warming the sea? Both?

Shiverglades is a play on Everglades, so this is a cold swamp, which sounds super fun I’m sure. Permafrost, tundra maybe?

The Shards seem to be rock islands with ice mountains. Glaciers are cool.

I wonder if something broke those islands off on purpose. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy worldbuilding? Yeah, well, I like world-wrecking, too.

Storm Spire

Has a good view on everything that happens for miles, including Lux Aurea, the Midnight Desert, the Shiverglades, the Black Tundra, the Uncharted Forest, and Drakewood.

Defensible position, no other tall mountains nearby

Also able to alert others to danger, especially since Avizandum could teleport like lightning

The Midnight Desert

It’s pretty big! And it looks like it’s littered with ruins of columns and dead palm trees. Like something else used to be in that great space and then something Very Bad happened to it. Maybe there was one great city where all the elves could mix together, and then it got utterly obliterated and the elves all fled to their respective safe places around Xadia. A city of black stone, back when Aaravos wore a crown? Now pulverized to dust and surrounded by not one, not two, but three primal nexuses? Hmmm...

All the wisps could be heat from the sand, or spooky spirit hints, or just an ominous sign of danger from the snakes below, but the overall effect is that the land is unhealthy if not cursed

The oasis is marked, and it must contain a spring since it runs a river out to join the river that passes through the Moonshadow Forest

Also the actual oasis kinda resembles a blue lizard which is adorable and probably also terrifying

Moonshadow Forest

The Silvergrove is the only village marked in the forest, so in keeping with the other lands and general map legend rules, it’s likely the capital/central village for the Moonshadow elves

The village is marked by four round-roofed homes between two tall leafy trees that shelter and hide them. It’s a hybrid balance between the blocky manmade castles of the human lands and the actual forest around them, showing a blending with nature that even the Sunfire city of Lux Aurea did not embrace, with all its golden buildings

It’s a good-sized forest, and it kinda stretches thin to the east but there it tentatively connects to the Drakewood Forest

Moonstone Path to the west just chilling in the lava like a blank alignment chart. Moonstone Path is Chaotic Hot.

Southern Xadia:

Ruins of Elarion

Elarion is a city, and it’s been lost to the humans for a thousand years

The building outlines are squared-off towers like the more modern castles in the west, suggesting that humans in Xadia built for strength and defense as soon as they could. They felt vulnerable and created protections in their architecture. The three elven cities we see also play to their strengths, but those strengths include magic. Elarion’s humans had to find a different strength, and they went with craftsmanship and ingenuity

It seems to be the only human city from before the border was drawn

“Ruins” doesn’t necessarily mean no one lives there at all, but it’s been emptied of humans and no one else has maintained it since

It had a great position on a vast lake, with sheltering hills and easy sea access

Sea of the Castout

This inland sea has five inlets and outlets. It’s hard to be sure which is which with some of them, with the way the water is drawn on this map. But I’m kinda liking the idea that all the water swirlies are places where Tidebound magic has been placed over the millennia, so the water can do whatever it needs to do depending on circumstances. That goes for the human lands, too. Katolis backward river, you’re off the hook.

With a name like "Castout,” I wonder if it was some kind of universal toilet to flush away things you didn’t want--including humans--who might wash up near Elarion and start to build there. Yeesh.

The rivers that flow into this sea pass through or near the Moonshadow Forest, the Midnight Desert, the Storm Spire, Drakewood, and the Uncharted Forest. That’s a lot of drainage.

It’s pretty far from the Tidebound Archipelago, so maybe its name is referencing Tidebound elves who have left their home colony

Was this always a sea, or did something that Xadia wanted to forget get flooded and hidden in the depths?

The land around it seems open and hospitable. It could be a good place to build/rebuild in a time of peace.

The Far Reaches

Open grassland with low hills

Two of the hills look like giant boot prints

Several colorful trees which I hope are fruit trees

Bounded by two rivers from the Sea of the Castout

Looks homey tbh, great spot to retire to get away from everything if there were a war that really shook you up

Ocean Point

There’s a Star rune here, and it could mean many things

The closest other marked location is Elarion

If this was where Aaravos lived of his own free will, I can see why he’d take a shine to the humans. They were his neighbors.

If he is imprisoned here, it’s literally the furthest point in Xadia from the other elven realms, with the Moonshadow Forest being the closest one and Umber Tor not too much further but in a totally different direction. If they were trying to isolate him physically with a portable mirror to watch over him, that’s a good spot for it

Possible location that the cube is leading Callum toward? Portal to the Star Touch home plane? Aaravos’s seaside B&B? Trap street?

Eastern Xadia:

Drakewood

Umber Tor looks to be the tallest mountain in all of Xadia, save possibly for the Storm Spire. It’s more traditionally mountainy, with a nice snowcap. Since it’s labeled, I’m guessing it’s the Earth Nexus, under which an Earth Archdragon sleeps

Also there’s a giant yellowish-brown dragon chilling next to the Tor. Yeah, he seems nice. Rex Igneous, I presume?

Or maybe not, since the neighboring forest is called Drakewood. Maybe this woods is just where a bunch of Earth dragons hang out? Ezran and Pyrrah flew off and returned with a crew of Sun dragons from somewhere, so dragons must have communities too

The mountains that edge the sea are shaped roughly like a stone dragon in flight

Drakewood seems to be the forest closest to Umber Tor, with both deciduous and evergreen trees, though there’s a huge swath of wooded land here, to the north and to the southwest. I wonder what the locals consider the border where the Drakewood becomes the Uncharted Forest and why. The way the evergreens are drawn almost looks like a border, a sort of kingswood set aside for a specific use. Rex Igneous’s best toothpicks?

Uncharted Forest

Okay this is a properly magical name, very mysterious. But uncharted by whom? People with charts? This might be a Sir Phineas Kurst name, which is outsidery, and it makes me wonder if the locals/neighbors have their own name for it, which the human explorer never learned, a la “Thunder” for Avizandum

Maybe “Uncharted Forest” just means no one ever turned those trees into charts though, old growth ftw

If no one lives here, will someone move here? If someone lives here, who are they? Earthblood elves? Moonshadow elves? Humans? This mystery, it calls to me

the trees are mostly deciduous and fill basically all of this whole section of land, up against the mountains and the rivers, so it seems very fertile land indeed

Earthblood elves could live here, but there is no city marked. Maybe because we haven’t gotten that far in the show, or maybe that’s the wrong sort of descriptor for how the Earthbloods live and organize. Maybe the whole forest is their city, like Pando, the interconnected quaking aspen clone forest

The northernmost part of this forest lies right between the Storm Spire and the Tidebound Archipelago, so it might get a regular flyover route for migration or messages

Yes, this forest is the most interesting place in Xadia to me, I desperately want to learn more about it

Black Tundra

Yeah this place isn’t ominous

Similar to the Shiverglades, but where that has shrubbery, the Black Tundra has single dead trees and creepy curving spikes. Scorched? Poisoned? De-magicked?

The water north of this area isn’t frozen, and with a lake to the south and a river and a moderate mountain range, the whole area looks like it would otherwise be decently habitable, but instead it’s cold and black

Is climate change a thing here, or will we get a nice horrible disaster instead?

Tidebound Archipelago

These islands have dotted lines around them, like they’re submerged at high tide, or maybe made of shifting sand that literally moves around like sand dunes across a desert, or perhaps they’re exactly at sea level with half their civilization in the air and half underwater or in cool bubbles, or maybe the islands actually float

Maybe the Tidebound elves even sank them on purpose for defensive purposes

The archipelago is about even latitudinally with the Storm Spire Lux Aurea, Berylgarten, and Eboreus so they probably get pretty nice weather

There’s no ice in sight here in any direction along Xadia’s east coast, so presumably the prevailing current is a warm one

do they have bridges connecting the islands? Ferries, animals who give them a lift across?

the islands have quite a bit of space on them. I wonder if there’s a big population, maybe a shifting population? Do Tidebound elves migrate up and down the coast like gray whales and return to the islands for certain holidays or social events?

This is probably the hub of the Tidebound elves’ culture, but the sea surrounds the whole land and infiltrates it with many rivers and lakes. The Spinning Sea and the Frozen Sea are pretty firm Do Not Enter signposts, but a determined Tidebound could get around either one if they wanted to

What I’m not seeing here is a city. Either it’s not been marked yet, or that’s not a thing that Tidebound elves have in their culture. If they don’t have a city, they’re possibly migratory in family groups, or maybe they stick to small villages like the Moonshadows do, but with even less central leadership

#asks #map of xadia #i love maps okay #xadia #andromeda #rayla #runaan #lujanne #moonshadow elves #moonshadow assassins #tdp angst #angst #through the moon spoilers

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peace-coast-island · 3 years

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Diary of a Junebug

At the Drumbeats Festival!

Guess which camp had the honor of hosting the Drumbeats Festival? Actually, it was kind of a last minute thing. Sunny’s camp was originally going to do it but scheduling conflicts happened and since my camp’s the nearest, they decided to move it here. First the Happy Floral Festival and now this? It’s been a lucky year!

So for the past week Isabelle, Katie, Daisy Jane, and I have been working hard to get things ready for the festivities. Since we’ve had experience with the Happy Floral Festival, preparation was a lot less daunting this time around. I’ll admit, it was tight, but we managed to get it done.

Because things were a bit hectic due to last minute changes, we had help from some of the performers who arrived early. To my surprise, there were some familiar faces at the festival. One of them happens to be Hawk, the last of the BFF Squad who finally made it to the camp! His sister Paloma is one of the performers along with her partner Phoebe in a duo called Lo-Pheebs, which is a play on lo-fi. What a cool name! I’ve only met Paloma a handful of times and she’s always fun to hang around with. Phoebe perfectly compliments her in personality as they’re chill and laid back while Paloma’s enthusiastic and playfully aggressive.

Another familiar face were the Thornton bros. Ever since the entourage officially disbanded I haven’t seen much of Josh and Lake, and even less of Demetri. Shortly after leaving the entourage, Josh became Lo-Pheeb’s manager, which was unexpected but turned out to be a good fit for him. Meanwhile Lake’s been focusing on his acting career as well as trying to become an influencer and Demetri’s studying at Seashore Path while working at Kitchen Cove on the weekends. In short, they’ve all been super busy to the point that they rarely saw each other anymore, which was surprising to me as all three are super close.

The Drumbeats Festival is a music festival where all kinds of artists come together to perform. It has an indie, folk rock, lo-fi vibe that makes you feel chill and pumped up at the same time. I wasn’t familiar with many of the artists so it was great listening to and discovering new music. Lo-Pheebs is definitely on top of my list of new artists to check out!

Lo-Pheebs became a thing over a year ago, shortly after Paloma’s band Out of Sight disbanded. She met Phoebe while on tour a few years back and they became friends, later partners. Lake was the one who suggested Josh become their manager because he felt that his brother needed someone to boss around that wasn’t him or Demetri. Josh is the type of guy who can go a little overboard when it comes to being supportive, something his brothers know all too well. Paloma’s similar in that way too so that’s why they get along so well. At least Phoebe’s there to balance them out as they’re good at handling conflict and helping others see the bigger picture, something that Josh and Paloma admit they’re working on.

This year was supposed to be a busy one for Lo-Pheebs as they were finally breaking into the charts. The festival was actually their first performance in months as they decided to take some time off touring after finishing a major one earlier this year. Josh had to leave abruptly towards the end of their last tour when Lake was badly hurt while on vacation. Also, in between tour stops, Paloma was helping Hawk in Crescent Moon and Phoebe had their own family stuff to deal with. So with everything being so hectic, the duo decided to postpone their next tour and focus on studio work, resulting in their first EP, Bring Down the Beats.

Now that Lake’s almost fully recovered, Josh is slowly getting back into the swing of things. It’s good to see Lake again, especially since he almost died in a freak accident. So naturally his brothers are a bit overprotective of him, making sure that he doesn’t exert himself and such. He can’t run around and explore with his bros, but he’s perfectly content hanging around the camp and taking pics to post online. Honestly, I’m surprised that he doesn’t have more followers.

Hawk and Demetri are an unlikely duo I never saw coming. In a way, they’re kinda like Paloma and Phoebe - the enthusiastic and easily excited one and the chill and quiet one. They’re both into computers and tech stuff - Demetri’s a self taught hacker and Hawk likes to build stuff. Them building something together is either genius or dangerous - let’s be honest, if anyone were to accidentally build a killer robot, it’ll probably be them. Still, I’m interested in a collaboration between the two just to see what they can come up with.

In between setting up for the festival, we also took the time to hang out at the camp. Hawk was going to meet up with Paloma and Phoebe at the festival so when he heard that it was being moved to the camp, he decided to drop by early. So Paloma, Phoebe, Josh, Lake, and Demetri tagged along as they too wanted to help out and spend a couple days at the camp. When we weren’t doing festival prep, we went fishing, bug catching, swimming, cloud gazing, seashell hunting, and foraging - all the fun outdoorsy stuff that one does while camping. It was also a good way to wind back from the stress of setting up a festival, which we definitely needed.

The Drumbeats Festival was a blast! Like I said, I’ve discovered a bunch of new artists to check out. I also learned a lot about drums, which was unexpected, but now that I think about it, the festival is called Drumbeats for a reason. Who knew that drums can be so interesting? Some of the stands are interactive - not only you learn about different kinds of drums, you also get to play with them!

There’s nothing more perfect than a fun festival under a starry night. Hawk says he’s been into constellations lately, especially now that he has a newfound appreciation for them after spending a couple months out in space. It’s cute seeing him and Celeste gush over stars and galaxies!

We got to see the Starstruck Nebula, something that only shows up once in a blue moon so that was super amazing! The books were right, words can’t accurately describe how it looks. The closest I can come up with is like a rainbow kaleidoscope made up of stardust and flames, which probably doesn’t make sense now that I think about it. Now I can cross off another thing from my bucket list!

While messing around with drum tracks, Josh and I got to talking about the future. By that, we mean Hawk, Paloma, Lake, and their significant others. Paloma’s with Phoebe, Hawk with Kat, and now Lake and Tom are a thing. According to Josh, it was kinda a will they, won’t they relationship - though it was a surprise that they ended up together. Lake did say his near death experience caused him reevaluate some things and they spent a lot of time together while he was recovering so it makes sense.

As for Hawk and Kat, there’s been talk of an engagement in the near future. AJ, Elara, and Micah have mentioned it - Micah being fully convinced that a conversation he overheard between his sister and dad has to do with Kat seeking advice on proposing. Devi, Leyla, Tulippa, Misty, and DT have speculated on it as well. So far, nothing from Kat and Hawk themselves so it’s still all up in the air. Let’s just say that when one of them finally pops the question, we’ve got the champagne bottles ready.

Josh also talked a bit about Lake’s ordeal and how it shook him and his brothers up. For a while, before the accident, things were rocky between the two brothers. Most of the time it was minor, petty disagreements, usually involving one of Josh’s schemes gone wrong. They still don’t always see eye to eye, but things were really bad around the time between the entourage disbanding and the accident. And in the middle of all that was Demetri, who was trying to keep the peace as he hates it when his brothers fight, especially when they try to drag him into the conflict.

When everything came to a crashing halt, Josh had to come to terms with some hard truths. The main ones being that he can’t fix everything and that sometimes it’s not okay. Being the oldest and having practically raised his brothers by himself, he’s super protective of them. So it’s understandable why Lake and Demetri sometimes feel smothered by him. He’s been working on giving his bros space and their bond has grown stronger since then.

I’ll admit, sometimes while catching up with Josh I wonder if this is the same guy I met at Rave’s party (it was a weird time and no, I will not elaborate), but not in a bad way. Of course, he’s still the same happy go lucky, playful, and easily excitable goofball we all know and love - now with a touch of emotional maturity. He and his brothers don’t always have it easy so it’s good to hear that things are getting better. Seeing the three of them together not only reminds me of their close bond - something I always admired about them - but also how much they’ve been through.

I’m glad that Josh is finally able to find some peace for himself. Being out on the road with Lo-Pheebs really helped him find a purpose outside of his bros and in return, Lake and Demetri can live their own lives without worrying about leaving Josh behind.

After having a busy week, there’s nothing more rewarding than a night full of fun festivities! On a side note, Lo-Pheebs is on the roster for Concert in the Stars, so the camp will be a stop on their tour, which is set to begin in a couple months. Lake and I are making plans for him and his brothers to spend a weekend at the camp during an event. Also, Hawk and I are also making plans for a BFF Squad camping adventure. So there’s a lot to look forward to in the future.

#animal crossing #animal crossing pocket camp #Diary of a Junebug #headcanon ramble

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baconpal · 5 years

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here i go talkin bout fuckig anime again

rant time, but like a good one where i’m happy about things instead of angry

so ima talk about and recommend some anime shit, specifically comfy anime and gurren lagann

i’ll just start it by saying what i mean by comfy anime, cus its something that is more vague than it should be for most people, but for me it’s pretty much anime that i wouldn’t want to binge all together, and instead watch an episode or two when i want to just enjoy something. The kind of show where after watching a little you become really confident that every single episode is just gonna be good, and you can just enjoy forgetting everything and watching it for just a moment of time.

The anime I consider comfy and also like the most are:

Girls Last Tour, which i’ve talked about a lot already and i will do it more if you give me an excuse, still one of the best things out there, go watch it fuck you, but that was really good as a once a week thing to wind down my week when it aired.

Non Non Biyori, which is a pretty classic example of just a really slow paced show about a slow paced kind of life. It’s about the best example of slice of life since it’s not trying to be anything else. It’s not comedy or romance or a hobbyist show or anything at all but moments in life, and it’s very relaxing.

And lastly, the comfy anime that made me wanna start ranting in the first place, Yama no Susume. I’m gonna go and talk about it for a while now, but I’ll just give it a general recommendation to whoever cares. The episodes are all short so watch a little and decide if you like it, cus if you like the beginning even a bit, you’ll likely love seasons 2 and 3.

I found this show when my brain thought “anything with a sequel must have at least been good enough to warrant more”, and I looked at the currently airing anime that was a sequel of something and went and watched the first seasons instead, despite coming to enjoy Yama no Susume, I also found that watching things just because they have sequels is a pretty bad idea, cus most of it fucking sucked.

Regardless, I saw season 3 was airing exactly 1 year ago, and began watching the first season, which really shouldn’t have taken long, because it was a short series, coming in at maybe 40 minutes of actual episodes for the entire first season, even still, I watched it over the course of a month, and really enjoyed having such incredibly small amounts of nice content to just have ready whenever. The second and third season are still shorter than most, with 13 minute episodes over regular anime lengths, and also encouraged a slow consumption of just a little bit whenever I felt like watching. It’s been a clean year since season 3 aired and I’ve only now finished the series, despite being fully engrossed the entire time I was watching. I guess talking about the anime is probably a good idea, so here’s the gist:

THE GIST

Yama no susume is a hobbyist anime about mountain climbing. I don’t climb mountains and I don’t use any part of my body besides my arms and my penis so I don’t have much investment in the subject, but it was still very easy to enjoy the show because the premise set up the studio with the chance to produce countless beautiful scenic shots, which is usually the strength of hobbyist shows, one specific thing the artists want to draw really really well. Yama no susume also has a strong story it wishes to tell on top of an easily enjoyable premise and format.

Like most good hobbyist shows, the main character, Aoi, starts of without any interest in the subject, and seems to have a void in her life, in her case, absolutely nothing going on in her life, at all, besides casual knitting. It took a bit for it to sink of for myself, but I had become very attached to Aoi because she mirrored very similarly my own life going into high school, no friends I really felt like i cared about or cared about me, and only a passing interest in some stuff I wasn’t too invested in. The entirety of the show explores how a friend entering Aoi’s life and giving her a hobby to be invested in and meet more people through improves her outlook on life and helps her grow as a person in pretty much every possible way.

THE NOT GIST (THE ACTUAL STORY)

The first season, being so short, really only features Aoi and her forgotten friend Hinata climbing two mountains total, both of which are pretty much just light hiking that most people have probably done once or twice themselves, and meeting two people in their town with more interest in the hobby.

I’ll also just awkwardly sandwich this here, in between season 1 and 2 is a very short ova where they climb a rock wall with their new friends, but its not anyway near as well animated or interesting as anything else in the series and also has an extensive sauna scene that, again, doesn’t really fit with anything in the series, so if you read this extensive review before deciding you wanted to watch the series, feel free to skip that one i guess.

The second season is where a lot of the show really is, and most of the show being 24 of the 39 episodes, as well as including a nice short film that’s pretty much just 2 more episodes afterwards. With the new, longer, but still short episode time, a lot more mountains get climbed, as well as some actual stuff goin on. After climbing a few mountains, Aoi decides she wants to climb Mt. Fuji, the fuckin big boy, and the 4 ladies go and do that together, when the show pulls out the first of it’s comfy tricks;

the main character does not succeed at their goal they had set and worked towards, and it results in an uncomfortable situation for the rest of the cast. Aoi is unable to handle such a difficult climb, and her friends complete the climb without her, and it pretty much destroys her for a good amount of episodes. Despite definitely being a comfy show, there are a few stretches of episodes in which things are not going well for the cast, and the slow paced scenery viewing takes on a more comber, pensive purpose. After failing at her hobby for the first time, Aoi falls pretty hard back into her original disinterested state of being, and it seems like a lot of her character falls apart. It takes the intervention of Hinata again to reinvigorate her by taking her to the first mountain they climbed, showing Aoi that she has still grown a lot, and that she will improve more with time.

From that point till the end of season 2 (including the movie) the driving idea of the show becomes memories, and how the vague and heart-shaking feeling of nostalgia can be helpful in unpleasant times. The two main girls recall things that occurred when they were childhood friends, like times they were scarred and depended on each other, or a camping trip they took when they were children, and use those memories to fuel further bonding and growth. Even the two secondary girls use memories to reconnect with their friends and families, and it’s a very strong concept to roll with for the slow, one step at a time type of show it is. The season ends with all 4 girls better than ever, and flexing their friendship muscle by making friends with a stubbornly shy mountain climber that parallels Aoi’s original state, and shows her new understanding that having a friend that shares your hobby will always lead to both of your lives being better.

While the first episode is almost entirely about Aoi and Hinata being friends, the second season continues to introduce more characters that Aoi interacts with as she grows more socially capable, with her even getting a job to support her hobby. This shift away from the relationship between the two girls is then made into a proper topic in the third season, where Aoi is pushed to gain even more friends and do things completely separate from Hinata and mountain climbing. This is when the other comfy trick comes out;

The secondary protagonist, Hinata, becomes upset that the Aoi has grown to have more friends and be less dependent on Hinata, and begins to make poor decisions that further put strain on their relationship over most of the season.

“wow two characters misunderstand each other and it creates drama!!!” isn’t exactly a mind blowing thing for an anime to do, but whenever any problems came up in the first two seasons, they were handled fairly quickly, rarely ever lasting more than one episode, and usually handled with pretty open, mature conversations that you would expect two friends to actually have instead of just being pissed at each other for a few weeks. So when Hinata does not make any attempt to be open about her feelings, and Aoi is unable to grasp the situation, it creates a justified stretch of drama. I really do mean it when i say most of the season is about this, like pretty much from episode 3 till 12 it’s just a constantly building frustration with a lot behind it, and when they finally can have a simple, honest conversation, it really feels nice.

After that there’s one final episode with a more expected case of the two not understanding one another, and having an honest conversation about it. This specific case is a good capstone to the series, as they discuss how you really don’t know much about even your best friends, but talking about each other honestly, and desiring to know more about each other is where a lot of the fun in friends is.

With that, the series is done for now, but who knows where it’ll go from here. I heard a lot of good about season 3 as it was coming out, and still see a good amount of support for it, and season 3 ends with “See you again” as opposed to “The end” like the other two season. I’m not gonna get my hopes up cus there’s already a lot there and they explore 3 very important ideals that really resonate with me. But if they could make a fourth season that brings in an entirely knew concept to look at, I’d be really happy.

Anyway if you read all that and still haven’t decided then just go fucking watch some Yama no Susume, see if i care.

THE GURREN LAGANN PART

Ye how about a complete tonal shift from comfy anime to loud action stuff?

SO i saw Promare finally after missing a bunch of chances to see it, and honestly I don’t have all that much to say about it. Despite being 2 hours it felt really short and like I got no time with the characters, and they were all pretty shallow characters that I didn’t really have any attachment to even on a surface level. Near the end there’s a big drill and a mech with a face on its chest with absolutely no reason or explanation, and because of that I came out of the theater really just thinking “i really want to rewatch gurren lagann” instead of caring that much about promare.

Now I’m rewatching it for probably the 8th time and it really impresses me how much more I like it each time. When i was a stupid baby and watched it for the first time i did what a lot of stupid kids did, watched for a while, really liked kamina, and stopped watching when the he was gone. Obviously I’ve watched it fully many times since then, and while younger me probably would have loved the second half, where simon fills the role kamina did, the me of today really doesn’t care for the second half that much, and I find myself watching just the first half of the show and stopping, or watching the second movie instead of the tv version. The first half of the series is just really strong to me, so I’m just gonna talk about that a little bit and then go to bed I guess.

The art and sound is so fucking good in gurren lagann holy shit. Everything is so springy and malleable, and the mechs are just really big people who are equally malleable and expressive. The characters are all unique and fun, even random background characters in the villages are strong. The use of that very specific light green color that spiral energy has begins with this show, and trigger would forever try and fail to use it as well as gurren lagann did, though LWA uses it pretty well. Every little thing feels so right that I’m just amazed the show keeps up such quality for the whole first half...

EXCEPT THAT ONE EPISODE WHERE IT FUCKING DOESN’T

Along with always assuming gurren lagann isn’t as good as I remember, I also somehow manage to forgot how absolutely miserable the fourth episode is. Not to say that i forget it’s bad at all, i couldn’t forget that episode 4 sticks out as a really not good episode and bring it up as a weird point of contention for the series, but watching it again it’s really baffling how awful it is.

The visuals just fall apart, the shots are lazy and don’t read well, the animation is choppy and unpleasant, the characters look really stupid, and the newly introduced characters never get any proper cuts to introduce themselves with and make a good impression. The voice actors also don’t seem quite as into it as with the other episodes, presumably because they had to watch episode 4 while voicing it, and couldn’t feel the same energy the rest of the show has.

I can really only assume it was an outsourced episode or something to that effect, and near the end, when gurren laganns absolutely kino combination cuts that would be reused for the next few episodes are first shown, it becomes even more jarring how bad the fight afterwards looks, and how bad the episode is in general. It’s a shame that such a good show has to have such a sudden and massive drop in quality, but it’s interesting in it’s own way.

KAMINA THOUGH

While i did say i’m not as into the kind of character simon becomes in the second half, kamina himself is still undeniably a strong character, and I always appreciate how dopey and unmanly his face is despite being the embodiment of excessive fighting spirit, rash thinking, and unapologetic horniness.

Another strong kamina related thing that always hits me right in the feels is the episode titles, which for the first 8 episodes, are all lines that Simon hears kamina say at some point, which comes is used as a really strong twist, when in episode 8, kamina’s last words are used as the episode title, and not presented as the title until the viewer already knows the meaning of those last few words. From there the episode titles become things Nia says until episode 15 where simon is finally able to step up to his destiny and say his own damn episode title, but Kamina really does get the most out of such a simple concept.

Related to Kamina, I really enjoy how the very very first part of the show sets up episode 8′s strength even more. Besides being a really weird segment where simons voice and design are kind of off and dai gurren’s design isn’t quite finished and also boota is a dude, it sets up the concept of “The man who has yet to realize his own destiny” before introducing simon. The show doesn’t do anything to hide the fact that this “man” is simon, but also never clearly states it, so it’s not hard to understand people who gravitated towards kamina more and assumed that kamina would have a great destiny. Many episodes began or ended with a statement from the narrator saying that “the man” still was not aware of his own destiny, until episode 8, where the narrator claims “Now the man will realize his destiny”, and before the episode is over, Kamina is gone, and without every stating it, the identity of “the man” becomes clear in a rather brutal process of elimination. Another minor aspect to how gurren lagann builds itself up so well.

Only other thing i really have to say about it is I still really appreciate stories where the protagonist steals things from the villains to grow stronger, or just generally makes use of things his enemies used, creating their own style out of disparate pieces. I hope to make a strong case for that kind of stuff when I can finish more of my comic. Read my comic.

And, as always, if you read all this shit you’re cool and we can be friends. We won’t be, but we could be, and that’s nice to think about sometimes. Have a wonderful night.

#juvenile rant #classic move where i type about anime for 3 hours instead of doing literally anything productive or fun

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blacktribbles · 5 years

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Peaches 🍑 &

Anime Dreams ⭐️

I don’t think many people dream of growing up and living in the same city their entire life. Not being able to see different things outside their own world and limiting their world view. Unfortunately it happens, maybe far too often to count. I hoped and prayed that would never happen to me; as I got older and began to travel a bit more I began to realize how much I love the area I’m in, how much I love the Greater Philadelphia area. However, I promised myself that there are a few cities in the US that I MUST travel to and get a feel for, for when I eventually do leave the area that raised me (inevitable due to future career wants). One of those cities was Atlanta Georgia, and what better reason to go to the state where the players play, and people ride out like everyday, than to go to Momocon and celebrate a special birthday with some friends.

The crew that was riding with me were My homie Mike (aka the Wizard Tribble), his girlfriend Gabe (Director, Producer, and 1 half of the horror podcast “The Ghouls Next Door) and my girlfriend Kat (Producer and the other half of “The Ghouls Next Door). We flew in early Friday morning and hit the ground running when we landed in Atlanta. Things moved quickly in the airport. It was wide open, thoroughly organized with no real confusion, which I was not used to from the Philadelphia airport where pigeons would just sit and claim their spot to a seat right beside you in the airport. There was also this air of safety that honestly rubbed my Philadelphian grit in an odd way but I was very appreciative it was noticed. First time in a new city, the first thing anyone wants is some confirmation of safety.

Once we stepped outside, leaving the comfort of the ATL airport that safeguarded us with AC, we were blessed by the loving and excessive sun. Back home in PA the weather consistently flip flops, unsure of what season it wants to be throughout the day let alone the week. Here in Georgia though, in the city of Atlanta, it was bright and sunny all day and week long with a high of 95 and low of about 63 at night. It felt wonderful knowing that there was going to be a steady weather condition to prepare for. The sun was kissing my skin, invoking the power of my melanin–while burning some of my friends. They enjoyed it all the same luckily.

We arrived early to ATL, early enough to call a ride to the nearby diner to get some good southern breakfast in our systems. From the airport to the diner it felt like we were being taken on a small ATL tour. Passing by us was beautiful scenery, birds chirping, healthy, luscious green trees–adding a perfect amount of nature to the populated urban jungle. The letters GT were everywhere for Georgia Tech. A university that seemed to just keep expanding its territory wherever we roamed. The architecture of the city was sleek, not overly futuristic but reminiscent of Philly. It was modern with some buildings taking a design chance on aesthetics; adding in solar panels, wide open glass roof structures, inverted and curved buildings, the chances taken weren’t over the top and did just enough to stand out. Definitely caught my eye.

We finally arrived at a diner close to where we stayed—Silver Skillet Diner, a place that has hosted the likes of Samuel L. Jackson, and Dave Chappelle to name a few. It’s here that my friends and I are able to take Atlanta in more and notice that yep, this may not be Texas but things sure are thiccer (Yes with 2 C’s) down here in the south. We ordered our meals, with everyone of us making sure to get a bowl of grits–mine as a side to my chicken and waffles. Which, were so crispy yet tender. Only made better by the soft waffles and the sticky sweet syrup to combo it all together perfectly. We finish up and pay our bill. Finally we head to our Airbnb.

We get there and are blown away at the place. Nice balcony, modern furniture with a TV in every room, kitchen is dope and has a beautiful island for us to eat at and lean on. The bathrooms are HUGE and the bedrooms are perfectly fitted for 2. To top it off we had access to a summer lounge area that led to a nice pool and fitness center. Place was so good we had to take a instagram video of it. We were in prime location. Downtown Atlanta, right next to the expressway, walking distance from markets and other restaurants, clothing chains and if we didn’t want to walk we could scooter around wherever we wanted to. Yes, I said scooter around. Not like kick push scooter but motorized. Rideshare companies like Lyft & Uber have motorized scooters you can take by going through the same process as you would by ordering a driver except it’s cheaper and you scan a QRcode to activate the scooter. When you’re finished using it, you hop off, pay and just leave it. Drivers come around later in the day and pick up said scooters and recharge them for later use. It was the strangest but coolest thing to see. Definitely had too much fun bending coroners whipping the scooters like I was in rocket power.

After unpacking and taking more IG photos of our Airbnb, it was time to hit the scene and check out the hype around Momocon. What started out as just a “pick up my badge and go” operation turned into a full storm of fun and adventure. When we arrived at Momocon we took it like any other convention and didn’t pay it much attention, the jaded-ness of being a frequent convention goer showing. That is until we got our badges. We got them, so finally we had access to everything the convention had to offer. We rushed the escalators and slid down the rails to do so again until we reached the convention floor. The choices laid out before were the vendors alley, or the gaming hall. We chose the gaming hall for day one.

A concert of echoing laser sounds, dance taps, sirens, alarms, and winning shouts filled the floor and us with it, enveloped in its energy joined the fray. Game after game we played. Putting our bid to even win some the next day. New friends were made, cosplays were stellar, and I got to chill with one of my favorite Pokémon–Blastoise.

We caught wind of a very rare concert happening that night. One my close friend and I have been dying to see. It was the Bytes & Beats Nujabes Tribute concert featuring the NPC Collective, Richie Branson, Asheru, And our favorites–Substantial and Shing02. If you know anything about great anime then you know about Samurai Champloo. An anime that still stylistically, artistically, and musically, holds up and stands the test of time. Those who watched Samurai Champloo leave with a spirit of hypeness and angsty rebellion. That is if they’re the Mugen type. Those like myself who align more like Jin, feel the counter balance energy of flow. The subtle and instinctual vibrations of being in one's element–just riding the current. One of the biggest things to enjoy about Samurai Champloo is its music. Samurai Champloo had a lot of its music crafted by a Japanese DJ named Nujabes. In my eyes, Nujabes is a god among DJ’s. Shoot, a whole generation of young adults and older can thank him for all the music that inspired if not created the genre of chill-hop & lo-fi.

It was the type of music that could soothe the savage beast, could bring you to this place of perfect concentration like you took the limitless pill. The Beats Nujabes crafted was the type of music that makes you think of the perfect weekend drive by sunset cruising the city blocks or mountain roads or the plains of the countryside–windows down with your one arm doing the free flowing roller coaster motion. That feel good–I’m alive vibe. Then topped with the lyrical stylings of artists like Substantial and Shing02, enhanced everything passed the stratosphere and takes the listener to this otherworldly plain of profound worldly views and humbleness. Even with the uptempo joints it felt like every artist that blessed the track, and Nujabes blessing the beat, it just spoke humble confidence. In short, Nujabes was that dude!

Nujabes collaborated with many artists, but the two that he collaborated with and stood out the most were Substantial and Shing02. He worked on joint albums with both (that are historic for chill-hop culture and must listens) but it was with Shing02 specifically that the two together blessed anime fans worldwide as they collaborated on the intro theme song to Samurai Champloo–Battle Cry. A song so enigmatic that just the utterance of its name begins to make my head bop in rhythmic hip hop fashion. Needless to say, we were going to that damn concert!

It was Friday night, we were in Atlanta, we were looking fly, it’s our first time ever at Momocon and quite possibly our first and only time at this Nujabes tribute concert. We were gonna make sure we had a great fucking time. We did everything possible to make sure we got up close and personal to the stage. I may have stuff-armed a person or two….We made sure to take in all the ambience and to not miss a single beat nor lyric felt or heard. We expected greatness and would be damned if we didn’t have a chance to bear witness to it up close and personal.

The concert began and we were taken to a land of hip hop joy, geek excellence, and a dream fulfilled. The concert started at 11pm and didn’t end till about 3am. For those who waited and held out to the very end like my friends and I were treated to a very special rendition of Battle Cry. A new version with verses from every artist that graced the stage prior, and instrumental solos. This shit was absolutely BONKERS and I LOVED every single moment of it. I’ll add, it was made even better that after the show, the artists came out and interacted with the fans. A humble group of men for sure.

Friday was a blockbuster hit in our books. What happened on Saturday though put everything over the top.

Saturday was special. It was Kat’s birthday and all of us were doing our first ever group cosplay. We decided a while back that we’d do the teen titans in casual attire. This was based off the popular artwork of Gabriel Picolo. So, for me that meant I got to embody a character that I along with many others believe I emulate–Cyborg. I dawned the cybernetic blue and steel grey and white face paint, put on a DC Comics Cyborg shirt to rep him even harder, and topped it off with a colorful playstation jacket. Your man was looking fresh out here. To round out our cast of titans was Kat as Raven, Mike as Robin/Nightwing and Gabe as Starfire. Our rule was if we see a Beast Boy, we adopt him for a family photo; and sure enough we did.

We bursted into Momocon towards the backend of a DC vs Marvel Photoshoot. We got a couple pictures taken there then dispersed to get our own in front of the Momocon banner. That’s when it began to happen. It started off quietly by a singular person, then it built into a loud murmur from everyone I see, then it finally erupts into a loud “DOPE COSPLAY CYBORG” from groups of people. Wherever we went I was getting noticed, our team and group cosplay was getting noticed. I don’t think we ever knew it would become such a big deal. I know I didn’t at the time until it was pointed out to me that, every teen titans cosplay done by a group is ALWAYS lacking a Cyborg; everyone but ours. It was a moment that really struck home for me. It began to make more sense as the day progressed. Little kids were coming up to me saying “BOOYAH!” and singing the teen titans theme song. People loved us, they wanted our pictures, put us in videos, stopped what they were doing just to chat with us. It was major. It without a shadow of a doubt drove home the message to me that representation matters. I know some out there will say it’s not super important but after Momocon, after seeing little black boys and girls smile with joy and sing teen titans with me, after they get excited by the utterance of the word booyah by another black character, that families start showing me off to their kid cosplayers and other adult cosplayers of color pause everything because they NEED to take a photo with you...you just can’t ignore how important that is. To be able to see yourself as a hero. To see oneself as greater than for once, when most of–if not all of society says you can only fit into these certain boxes. To see someone else that looks like you in a positive light; that’s all it takes to break a negative cycle, that’s all it takes to create another hero. For a small moment in time, I was inspiring to those around me; and I hope that the sliver of inspiration that I sparked stays ignited in those I met. I know it surely will with me.

But I digress.

Beyond the massive success of our group cosplay, beyond the elation and fun had for Kat’s birthday, the icing on the cake was being able to meet a famous cosplayer by the name of KieraPlease. This was after an intense dance dance revolution session in which I sat and recorded video and got exhausted looking at everyone else go. It was pure happenstance, which resulted into pure happiness when we finally met. I don’t get starstruck often but I must say, words failed me for our brief interaction. I saw her, saw my friends, and shot my shot at a possible chat and photo opportunity for us all. I took the shot and it went in (KOBE!!). After the picture she hugged us all and had a nice conversation with the Ghouls (Kat & Gabe) which I’m sure made their day if the hug didn’t already. It’s great to note that as a team, we have this cosplay thing down well. When a pro says you got it, you freaking got it! More so, it was better to finally meet someone your used to seeing on a cellphone or laptop screen. A living breathing tangible person, who quite honestly is living her best life fully and truly can be looked at as a symbol of positivity; a role model even. Just like that, day two was in the books.

So, I think I brought you along far enough on my experience in ATL. Detailing 2 key days. Now let me change things up on you a bit and give you my overall thoughts of Atlanta and Momocon as a whole.

Atlanta itself is a hotbed of culture. On the weekend we went, that weekend alone had a bevy of major events happening all weekend long. There was Momocon, Caribbean festival and parade, a food festival, and Stone Mountain fireworks and light show to name a few. As one of our lyft drivers said, ATL is a hotbed of culture because it is made up of a lot of different cultures and people from around the US. Atlanta has its own swagger but it is the culmination of others that has shaped the way it is today. Atlanta is a Transplant City. Many people are moving to Atlanta because of the opportunities that present itself. From music, TV, movies, overall entertainment and broadcasting, the warm weather, the great food, the architecture, the various modes of transportation (ONE TIME FOR THE SCOOTERS), the cheaper housing, and generally you get more out of your earned dollar; why people move there makes sense. And like all major cities Atlanta has its issues, shoot the state of Georgia alone is a bit problematic depending on where you slide politically. But my time spent there will be one for the history books. It’s definitely a place worth traveling to again. Next time I go, I’ll be sure to do more exploring. I didn’t get a chance to travel the halls of Cartoon Network (IF ANYONE ONE IN THE HR DEPARTMENT IS READING THIS, HIRE ME PLEASE) so that’s reason enough for me to go back. That and I didn’t get to try some of Hattie B’s Nashville hot chicken or the slutty vegan sandwich. There’s always next time though.

As for Momocon….IN-FREAKING-CREDIBLE! Momocon has that extra something. That nudge to taking it up one more notch to make it great. No, it is not as big as DragonCon and maybe it won’t get the same recognition or acclaim but Momocon is a phenomenal con. Momocon brought me back to 2014, when I first started going to conventions. My first one at the time was Otakon and to this day I don’t think any other con will hold as special of a spot in my heart as Otakon. But Momocon, Momocon was dangerously close to taking that spot. Which lets me know and hopefully you, the reader, now that it’s just that damn good! The crowd size of the convention is comparable to say the Greater Philadelphia comic con. Meaning there’s a large crowd and over a thousand things to do but you never have to fear about missing out on something. You can and will get to everything you want if you have patience. The event staff from security to the PR and press team were absolutely amazing. All were easy to talk to and informative, helpful and never overbearing. What truly made Momocon as great as it is in my eyes, is that it at its core it remained an anime and gaming convention. It wasn’t a comic convention with anime sections, it was an anime and gaming convention that accepted comic lovers just as much as it did its anime and gaming fans. Anime and gaming is my bread and butter, it’s what got me into this geeky, blerd, pop-culture world I exist in currently. Momocon stayed true to that core value. The sheer fact they had Substantial and Shing02 performing live in concert said more than enough for me. Momocon you are in fact, a real one.

Atlanta….I’ll be back in the future. Whether that be for work or pleasure, or hell maybe to be a transplant myself and live there. All this kid from the burbs of Philly has to say left is…

Peace up, A-Town down.

Much love,

– Isaiah Luck aka Broku

Assistant Producer

Black Tribbles

#blacktribbles #tribblenation #geekculture #entertainment #anime #popculture #comics #blerds #tribbledelphia #marvel #dc comics #momocon2019 #momocon #atlanta #blog #blog post

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tjkiahgb · 5 years

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Episode Recap: 3.05, “That Syncing Feeling”

Bex and Andi wait for Bowie at Red Rooster. They want to go see a movie. Bowie says there are a bunch of trailers before the movie, so chill, but Bex wants to see those trailers. (They’re all already online, Bex.)

Andi demands to be in charge of popcorn-related decisions this time. The big complaint is that Bowie puts too much butter on the popcorn, which is almost certainly not true. It’s not too much butter until the bag is dripping onto the floor. If you’re not creating a slipping hazard, you’re not sufficiently buttering your popcorn.

Bex says we’ll get chocolate and mix it in with the popcorn, but Andi’s a firm “no” on that. They decide they’ll all just get their own popcorn instead.

It’s fine they went this direction here and now, but they’d better figure out a cleaner way to deal with stuff like this once they start living together or they’ll find themselves eating meals from three separate restaurants every night. It’ll take hours to get anything done.

It’s about finding compromise. Being clever and resourceful. Like, for example, how about just lightly buttering the popcorn? Is that nuts? Am I talking crazy here? Maybe. But sometimes someone needs to say something truly crazy to really make improvements in this world, and if that man’s gotta be me, so be it.

The next day or whenever, Buffy and Walker skip rocks on the lake while Andi and Cyrus watch.

Good height. Great speed. That’s a damn fine rock skip.

Jonah shows up and is like, “Buffy and Walker, huh?” Wait, weren’t you at the Color Factory when they were on a date? What did you think that was? Maybe he’s just trying out new conversation starters.

Andi thinks those two really like each other, and that’s unfortunate. Cyrus tries to talk about Walker, but Andi’s like, let’s talk about something else so Cyrus tries to talk about something else (geese and their thoughts on schoolyard games) but Andi’s like, “Freakin’ Walker! Always showing up!”

You know what, I kinda love how outwardly hostile Andi is towards her friend’s relationship in front of her other friends at this point. She’s done with this, all of this, and doesn’t care who knows it.

Buffy shows up and shouts “Canoes!” and so they decide to canoe.

Two to a canoe, so Buffy and Walker go together in one canoe and Cyrus and Jonah get into another canoe. This leaves Andi with no one to canoe with. That’s just math, unfortunately. The cruelest of all school subjects.

Andi wanders off to build herself a crown of flowers. Her ability to do crafts anywhere is truly impressive.

Suddenly, Amber comes out the woods like some kind of forest monster.

Never sneak up on someone from the trees! Nothing good comes out of the trees!

Turns out, Amber’s here with her family. Well, she was with her family, but I guess she left them to go sneak around in the woods. Which is a thing she should absolutely not be doing.

Amber wants to know why Andi isn’t canoeing. Andi doesn’t have a reason other than her friends are all canoeing, and, again, math. Also, isn’t it weird how words start to sound strange after you say them a bunch of times, like canoe?

Anyway, she has an Amber as a plus one now, and one plus one is two, which is just the right amount for a canoe. I learned that in the Eagle Scouts.

So Andi and Amber get in a canoe. Turns out, Amber doesn’t like canoeing. I don’t know what kind of exhilaration she thought she was going to get from it, but, surprisingly, it turns out it’s just a bunch of putting your oar in the water and rowing.

Amber gets excited when she sees another canoe, though. Why? Because she would like to ram it and see what happens.

Dark thoughts Amber is back.

Andi’s like, that isn’t the point of canoeing, but Amber’s like, come on, how often do you get a chance to capsize a boat and potentially drown someone in a lake and get away with it?

Andi seems like she’s kind of giving in to the idea, but then sees it’s Buffy and Walker and doesn’t want to ruin their day. I mean, if it was just strangers in a canoe, sure, knock ‘em over and make them swim to shore. But not your friends, obviously.

Andi rows them aside and allows Buffy’s canoe safe passage.

Buffy’s confused to see Andi and Amber in a canoe. Walker doesn’t understand, so Buffy tries to explain why it’s weird by explaining what everyone’s relationship to Amber is, but it turns out there isn’t really a solid answer to what exactly Amber’s relationship is to everyone.

“Our mean waitress” is basically as close as Buffy can get.

Meanwhile, Jonah and Cyrus row their boat, until Cyrus just straight up drops his oar, which is inadvisable when you’re in the middle of a lake.

At Cloud 10, Bex bunches Bowie’s hair into puffs.

Bowie laments the fact he has another lesson with Shaun, who is bad. Bex rightly points out that the child is nine years old, but Bowie thinks he’s a failure of a teacher. Bex thinks it’s too early to give up, but Bowie thinks it’s too hard. He just wants to teach people who don’t need teaching. Getting paid to not really work? That’s the American Dream.

Back at the lake, after Andi has explained the entirety of the relationship drama from the start of season 2B until now, Amber tells her that Buffy’s at fault because “Girl Code.”

Andi’s like, what exactly are we talking about here, this “Girl Code” you speak of? Amber tells her that the first rule is you don’t date people who dated your best friend. Andi’s starts to say that she and Walker didn’t really blah blah blah... but Amber’s firm in her stance that Buffy is a “Girl Code” violator.

And Andi’s like, hmmm... your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

And at that moment, like a perfectly-timed sign sent from the Universe about the perils of listening too closely to Amber of all people, their canoe starts sinking.

Amber and Andi try to paddle to shore but Andi thinks they should abandon ship. I feel like it’s going to be a problem when they go to return the canoes and they don’t have a canoe. At least it’ll make Cyrus’s lost oar look not as bad by comparison. I’ll tell you this much, though: all these kids’ mugshots are going up on the “DO NOT RENT TO THESE PEOPLE” wall inside the canoe rental company’s office.

Amber stands up in the canoe, breaking the first rule of canoeing as laid out in the Ten Commandments of Canoeing. The second rule is “Don’t go out in a canoe your best friend has already gone out in.” The third rule is “Have fun!”

The two fall into the water and have to paddle to shore.

Amber and Andi realize that, despite sinking, they actually had fun out on that there lake and maybe, just maybe, they’re friends now?

That’s what they say about canoeing: it brings people together like nothing else.

At Red Rooster, Bowie gives Shaun an electric guitar to try and see if he can get through to him. Bowie tells him to say “Rock on!” and Shaun says “Rock on” in the least rockstar way possible. He says it like it’s the middle of the sentence, “Hey, there’s a rock on that table that needs geological analysis.”

Every interaction with Shaun is like another little needle stabbing Bowie in the soul.

Bowie tries to teach Shaun a power chord. Shaun strums off-key and that’s the last straw. Bowie gives up. It took one and a quarter lessons and Bowie is utterly defeated. He tells Shaun he can’t teach him, but Shaun’s ok with this because he doesn’t even want to play guitar. Victor wants Shaun to play guitar. Bowie is thrilled, but Shaun tells him he still needs to keep giving him guitar lessons because if he could tell his dad he didn’t want to play guitar, he wouldn’t be sitting in this room trying to play guitar.

Plus, let’s be honest, it seems like Victor really needs this in his life. He feels like the kind of guy who’s one more life disappointment away from building himself a crying shed in the backyard. Oh, you don’t know about crying sheds? It’s just a nice little place to go have your daily cry. 3:00, 3:30 in the afternoon maybe. “Shaun, I put a snack on the table. Don’t hurt yourself. Daddy needs an hour.” And then you just go out there and let loose. Get it all out. Feels good. Feels refreshing. Gives you enough fuel to juuuuust make it through to the next day. Nine years until Shaun’s out of the house. Counting down the days. Then you can finally buy that motorcycle you’ve always wanted. Travel the country like you’ve always wanted. Let the wind run through your hair. Maybe follow Jimmy Buffett around on tour. Anything to finally feel alive again, you know? Like you’re not just going through the motions but really living, dammit. Someday, Victor. Someday.

Anyway, Bowie tells Shaun they'll break the news to Victor together.

Celia shows up at Bex’s to try and get her to go eat wedding cake. Bex, unsurprisingly, is not interested. Andi is, though. She just needs to put on her cake pants.

I’m not a fan of cake pants. They don’t protect the torso. I’m more of a onesie guy myself. Put one on anytime I’m eating so I can just go to town. Do I get looks from the other people eating at Olive Garden? No. Because they’ve come to expect this behavior from me by now. I’ve broken their will. You can normalize anything with repetition.

Andi and Celia partake in a cake-eating montage. They really overdo it. It’s a cake tasting, but they ate like half or more of some of these cakes.

They find themselves miserable from overconsumption of cake, and worse, at odds over what the best cake option is. This could be the end of a peaceful Andi/Celia relationship.

The two return to Bex’s with their cake options, practically screaming at each other over them. They’re also hopped up on sugar. They’re a mess.

They want Bex to pick the cake but Bex doesn’t want to so she mixes up the boxes and blindly picks one. It’s like cake Russian Roulette in that it’s random, dangerous, and leaves everyone in the room feeling kind of bummed out afterwards.

Later that night, Bex returns to the cakes and tries them and it turns out one is actually very good. She hopes it’s the one she picked for her wedding, and, if not, well, she’s learned a valuable lesson about not eating free cake that’s put in front of you. Always take free cake.

At Red Rooster, Bowie sits Victor and Shaun down for a talk and lets Victor know Shaun doesn’t want to play guitar. Victor says that he does, but then Shaun comes out to Victor as someone who doesn’t want to learn guitar. It’s a touching moment between father and son.

Bowie asks Victor if he plays and Victor says yes, air guitar. And then he does air guitar with a sense of sadness far greater than even I expected.

You see, Victor only does air guitar because he wasn’t ever cool enough to play real guitar. I didn’t know they checked that sort of thing before allowing you to take lessons, but I guess that’s the case. Victor thinks it’s too late now, but Bowie tells him it’s never too late. He shows him a guitar chord and Victor plays it. Bowie feels like he can teach again and gets excited. They start playing together. Just a couple of dads rocking out.

Walker, Buffy, and Cyrus eat grilled cheesesus. (Grilled cheesesi?) Walker goes off to get Buffy extra napkins. Cyrus asks if they should invite Andi.

Buffy’s not sure she’d want to come. They decide to invite her next time but Andi just shows up out of the blue like some kind of Walker.

She’s very upbeat about the whole situation because she’s got a surprise of her own: Amber! Appearing from out of nowhere for the second time this episode. Her sneak skill is maxed out. She’s loaded all her skill points into it. She’s practically a ninja at this point. Andi and Amber basically skip off together to get lobster rolls.

And even though Andi wasn’t invited to their group hang in the first place, Buffy still feels ditched. There’s a lesson here, but I’m not sure what it is.

Don’t stand up in a canoe?

#Andi Mack #Buffy Driscoll #Cyrus Goodman #Walker Brodsky #Bex Mack #Bowie Quinn #Amber #Celia Mack #Victor #Shaun #Andi #episode recaps

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espanadiarywriter · 5 years

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Fez!

We have turned another Spanish holiday into an excuse to travel for a long weekend, and so once again I have ignored my bad back and dove into exploration anyway. The weather wasn’t great, but we are all from Oregon and brought our good jackets.

On our first full day in Fez, we took a guided walking tour of the Médina which is the largest one in the world. It was a whirlwind for the senses. Even in the cold rain, we wandered through streets so narrow it was hard to pass people coming the other direction. Some streets are stone staircases. Others are low tunnels, where a building covers the street and you go under and come out on the other side. Sometimes there are courtyards, but most of the streets were winding and narrow. Some passageways seemed deserted with only a narrow doorway here and there; others were very crowded. Cars are not allowed in the Medina (they wouldn’t fit!) and streets have hand carts, donkeys, and motorbikes instead. Some sources call the Fez Medina the largest car-free urban area in the world.

Old cities like the Fez Medina (which was established in the 9th century) were purposely built with winding narrow streets to more easily defend against invaders. Our tour guide Muhammed (I think every third person we interacted with was named Muhammed) explained that the Medina was divided into sections, and each section had 5 elements: a mosque, a hamman (bath house), a communal bread oven, a communal water fountain, and a madrasa (school). People bring their bread to the communal bread oven and they use a different mark in the bread so they know who’s bread is who’s. The different sections have large doors that used to be closed at night.

Throughout the medina, vendors were selling everything from meat and vegetables to essential oils and handmade leather. There were wooden crafts, fabrics, shoes, clothes, musical instruments, intricate metal work, furniture, and lamps. The meat and vegetables area was quite pungent, and of course, it had the obligatory live chickens you find in any traditional market area. We passed one vendor who had hung camel heads up to show what kind of meat he was selling. I would have taken a picture, but I really did not need to stop and look closely. Here’s picture of the chickens instead.

We were guided by Muhammed through all the twists and turns. It was very, very hilly inside the old city. Guides take tourists into all the different artisans where you get a demonstration of the traditional way they make things (still), and then of course, they want to sell you something from each one. I thought the most interesting was the tanneries where they make leather in the same vats that were created in the 11th century. The white vats are where the skins go first, for cleaning; then they go into the vats with pigeon poop (ammonia for curing and softening); then they go into the brown vats which gives them their base color. All the colors are made from natural sources like tree bark.

We also saw people pressing argon oil and weaving fabrics on a giant hand loom, saw what people consider the oldest university in the world (the University of Al-Karaouine, established in 859 CE), and went into a mosque that was a school for study of the Koran. (Non-Muslims are not allowed into mosques, but because it was a school we could enter this one.) Also, the walls have carvings that are geometric or script because they are not allowed to have art depicting people or animals in a mosque.

On our second day, we left the Medina with a driver and went to the palace (which you can only see the outside of), some non-impressive Roman ruins with a pretty view, a ceramics workshop, and the Jewish neighborhood (called the Mellah). Fez had a Jewish population since the 8th century and had some great Jewish scholars among its inhabitants (such as Maimonides in the 12th century). As with all Jewish communities all over the world, the Jews of Fez suffered numerous massacres and periods of forced conversions throughout the years. Many Jews fled to Fez after they were expelled from Spain and the community grew in the 15th and 16th centuries. Most Jews in Fez have since immigrated to Israel or other more hospitable countries where they don’t have to fear massacres or pillaging every 100 years. However, unlike in Spain, we could actually see an old Jewish synagogue (with mikvah) and cemetery that were not obliterated by the Christians.

On our second afternoon, we shopped. No longer obligated to buy overpriced stuff at all the artisan tour places, we could just follow Rob around as he kibbitzed with all the vendors. “Oh, THIS is the place with the good prices. Thank goodness we found it.” And of course, he taught the next generation of Courys how to haggle. Our 10-year-old wanted a box. They had a similar box at many of the little places in the Medina. The shop keeper said it was 150 dirham (~14 Euros). We walked out. We sat down at a coffee shop; Rob handed our son 100 dirham, and sent him back by himself. “Tell them you only have 100, and get a small hand of Fatima thrown in.” (There were small jewelry-sized hands everywhere so we just figured he would have one too.) Our son comes back saying he needed 45 more. Rob sent him back and said no, you only have 100. Back and forth this goes while we drink our coffee: down to 120, no, 120 only, just give him back the box, etc. Finally, our son comes back with the box and a hand for 100. Well, we look, and the hand of Fatima that he haggled for was HUGE, not at all the tiny necklace pendant we had intended. Good bargaining!

We walk a little further looking to buy aragón oil. The price starts at 50 for a small bottle, but goes down to 40 pretty quickly. We walk out, and Rob sends our son back with a 20 for the oil. Our son and the shop owner are having their bartering back and forth as we stand nearby. The next thing we know, the guy from shop with box comes over to the oil shop. He talks to the other guy in Arabic, hands him the 20, gives our son the oil and walks him out of the shop with the oil. We are all laughing—as are many of the surrounding shop keepers. He takes the four of us down the road and says “here, come to my other shop”, into a shop full of more stuff. Big fun.

I’m not quite back to full strength after all the walking up and down hills, but I hope to have a quiet week coming up where I can recover.

#fez fezmedina travel

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consecotaleo · 6 years

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Boku No Hero Academia Light Novel Vol. 3 -- Unofficial English Translation -- Chapter 2: “Dramatic Makeover”

T/N: Here’s a Chinese > English translation for the second chapter of BNHA Light Novel Vol.3. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a lot of banter, honestly. I really enjoyed the teachers’ interactions in the first chapter.

I’m hoping to see a proper Japanese > English translation at some point, especially to see Chapter 1 fully fleshed-out. At least for this chapter, the Chinese translator expressed that they like Todoroki a lot and paraphrased less on his parts.

Disclaimers

Some parts were paraphrased by the Chinese translator. // ‘Quirk’ and ‘personality’ are the same, so there might be mix-ups. // It’s difficult to handle verb tense in Chinese. Hopefully I didn’t mess up the order of events too much. / Names. Honorifics don’t translate well. The Chinese characters were weird. “why is he talking about rice fields” “nvm that’s Iida”

BNHA Light Novel Vol.3 Translations

Complete list here

Chapter 1: “Cheers!” – After UA home visits, the teachers go out for drinks. Focuses on All Might and Aizawa.

***Chapter 2: “Dramatic Makeover” – Class 1-A moves into the Heights Alliance dorms. Todoroki-centric, interspersed with scenes from the other students.

Chapter 3: “Crisis”: An unexpected visitor comes to the 1-A dorms. Part One, Part Two

Fantasy AU, translated by aitaikimochi: Set in the alternate universe from the anime S2 ED

Manga References.

You should reread Chapters 98-99.

The Hideout Raid arc or wiki page

Chapter 98 or wiki page – moving into the new dorms

Chapter 99 or wiki page – best dorm room competition

Chapters 53 & 68 or wiki page on Todoroki’s mother.

(The students are about to move into dorms.)

Chapter 2: Dramatic Makeover

Yaoyorozu, who’d grown up utterly pampered in a palace-like home, was now packing for life in the dorms.

Her mother eyes the ten packing boxes with some trepidation. “Are you sure you’ve packed enough?” she hedges. “Did you bring a proper tea set? Make sure you have enough to serve the entire class – it’d be terribly awkward if you ran out of cups.” Then, “You did bring some formal attire, I suppose?”

None of this was necessary for learning at school, so Yaoyorozu obviously had not. “Better safe than sorry!” her mother insists. The house servant agrees, suggesting a few more packing boxes to fill with various luxury items.

Yaoyorozu contemplates it for a while, but eventually refuses, thanking her mother for her consideration.

“My daughter is growing up,” cries her mother.

Yaoyorozu is plied with a dozen boxes of fancy books and bookshelves, a gift from her father. Books are her absolute favorite. Yaoyorozu brushes away the tears that well up. It was time to move forwards to dorm life.

In mid-August, the students of Class 1-A assemble in front of their brand new home.

The atmosphere is heavy as they file into the dormitory, Aizawa-sensei’s lecture weighing on everyone’s minds**.

** See chapter 98 or wiki page for context

Once Aizawa-sensei has finished the building tour and everyone’s received their room assignments, it’s time for the students to unpack and decorate their new rooms. But as Yaoyorozu waits at the elevators with everyone, Aizawa-sensei calls out to her. “Oi, these rooms are too small to fit more than five or six boxes of stuff. Pick out what’s most important and send the rest back.”

“Eh, really?” Yaoyorozu flounders.

Meanwhile, the elevator dings at the 5th floor. Todoroki emerges and advances to his new room – only to halt. A small “ah” escapes him, then silence. Finally, in barely a whisper, “No… no tatami?”

Todoroki had already seen from the earlier tour that the rooms were Western in style. But having been raised in a traditional Japanese house, he couldn’t shake the feeling that his living quarters should be the same. Since students weren’t required to use the standard dorm furniture, Todoroki had brought his own.

“…” After rearranging his furniture for a while, Todoroki peers around the room with a grimace. No matter how he looks at it, the Western room and Japanese furnishings clash horribly. And the veranda… Sure, he’d gotten used to the verandas at school, but to have one in his own room seems terribly wrong. The cloth curtains (in lieu of shoji screens) also make him a bit uneasy.

Todoroki quickly finishes unpacking his sparse belongings. With nothing left to do, he flops onto the (strange Western) bed. He just can’t get used to any of this.

“From now on, I’ll be falling asleep and waking up here,” Todoroki declares to the room.

He’d been waiting to escape the ‘care’ of his damned father for years, but hadn’t expected the day to come so soon. The thought of his father brings a stormy expression to Todoroki’s face. He sits up on the bed, shaking his head as if he can forcefully eject his negative thoughts.

To try to alleviate his sore mood with a bit of fresh air, he opens the window and takes a deep breath. A vast forest stretches out beyond his vision, interspersed with the occasional UA building. But even the magnificent view from the top floor can’t dispel Todoroki’s unhappiness. He turns back to his new room and retrieves a dusty photo album. He tugs out a single faded photograph – his mother, beaming at the unmarred baby Shouto cradled in her arms.

Before, when Todoroki looked at this photo, he’d be hit with a wave of regret and fear that his mother would never smile the same way again. But no more. Now he knows that his mother is still full of laughter**. The picture soothes his troubled heart.

** See wiki page on Todoroki’s mother

Todoroki is beginning to feel much better when a gust of wind snatches the photo from his hands. The photo drifts out into the forest.

He rushes out of the dorm. How will he find a single photo in such a huge forest? He scours the ground, the trees, the UA buildings. “Where the hell did it go,” he mutters, a frown etching itself back onto his face. In the distance, he suddenly hears a mechanical clanging.

“?!” Out of nowhere, a small object comes hurtling into Todoroki’s (hastily-raised) wall of ice and falls to the ground with a thunk. It appears to be a large fist-sized gadget of sorts. “The hell is this?”

“That’s my baby!” a feminine voice retorts back. Ah, it’s the inventor girl from the Department of Support. Her performance in the UA Sports Festival had certainly been something. Not wanting to face the same fate as Iida, he offers the handful of machinery back to her.

**bold = originally in English

** See wiki page for Hatsume Mei

Hatsume thanks him with a brilliant smile. She’s about to go off on one of her advertising spiels when one of her inventions zips by. A few others zigzag about in the distance.

“My baby! Wait up!” In the blink of an eye, Hatsume vanishes from view to chase down her precious machines.

“Hold up, there’s one over there too,” Todoroki points out. It’s finally dawned on him that she’s referring to her inventions.

“Help me catch it!” Hatsume yells over her shoulder.

“… Hah? Oi!” But his cries are lost to the wind. Todoroki flounders a bit, stunned.

Your machinery may be very important to you, but I’m also looking for something precious to me, Todoroki gripes. An especially strong gust sends a flurry of leaves up. His anxiety spirals up as well. In the time he’d wasted just now, the photo could have flown off even further.

He sends a wall of ice in the direction of the machines to freeze them in place. That settles that. He heads off to resume looking for the photo.

But more clanging and whirring reaches his ears. Are there more gadgets out there? Todoroki is at a loss.

Suddenly, Todoroki recalls Iida’s response to the Bakugou Rescue Squad. Though Iida hadn’t agreed with the group’s reasoning, he’d joined to make sure he could watch over and protect everyone.**

** See Hideout Raid arc – Summary – Infiltration Preparation

Iida is a serious student and responsible class president. Had Iida been placed in this position, he wouldn’t hesitate to lend a helping hand. And as a prospective hero, Todoroki obviously can’t turn down a person in need. He turns back towards the machine whirring. Though the lost photo is dear to him, he take the time to freeze the other gadgets.

(Oblivious to the events outside, Iida is in his room, organizing his book collection.)

Finally, Todoroki captures the last gadget. Some belated introductions are exchanged. Hatsume sheepishly admits that she’d tripped and triggered the power switch for the gadgets earlier, when she’d been unpacking her own room.

“Did you really make all of these?” Todoroki is rather awed. “Amazing!”

Fluffed up with pride, Hatsume restarts her earlier spiel on her inventions.

Todoroki listens with half an ear. “Is this all of the machines?” he suddenly interrupts.

It turns out they’re missing one. This particular invention is barely the size of a prune, but weighs a ton. It’s designed to latch onto villains so they can’t escape under the added weight, Hatsume explains.

“Well, if it’s that heavy it can’t have gone far, right?” Todoroki offers hopefully.

“I’ll look around, then!” Hatsume agrees. “My quirk is ‘Zoom’, so I can see objects up to 5 kilometers away!”

“I’ll check any blind spots,” Todoroki decides. He heads off. Then he backtracks. “Hey, if you see a photograph with that ‘Zoom’ of yours, can you let me know?”

“A photo? Ah,” Hatsume’s eyes light up in understanding. “So you were looking for something! Sure!”

A voice suddenly cuts into their conversation. “Hey, what are you youngsters doing out here? Shouldn’t you be unpacking right now?” It’s Recovery Girl, who’s out for a stroll.

Hatsume explains the situation, and Recovery Girl offers to look over Hatsume’s blind spots with Todoroki. But after they peer into the nearby nooks and crannies and decide to move on, Recovery Girl trips over some tree roots. Todoroki rushes to catch her, but she rights herself.

Noticing Todoroki’s outstretched arms, she smiles warmly at him. “You wanted to help me? Thank you, young man!” She adds, good-naturedly, “I trip rather often anyways though, since I’m getting old.”

Recovery Girl considers Todoroki for a moment. “Really, Endeavor’s son is already this grown up!”

“Ah…” Todoroki scowls at the mention of his father’s name. This goes unnoticed by Recovery Girl, who begins rambling about the Endeavor as a student, and his aspirations to be the greatest hero.

But all Todoroki could hear was that terrible, hated rumbling voice, “In my place, to fulfill my dreams, you will surpass All Might to become the greatest hero.”

“I don’t want to hear about that guy,” Todoroki cuts in. Recovery Girl is immediately apologetic.

An alarm goes off, coming from the direction of the road. Recovery Girl heads over to assess the situation, while Todoroki heads deeper into the forest.

He stumbles over something. It’s a prune-sized machine. Todoroki gives it a tentative tug. It’s quite heavy. Well, this is definitely the right one.

Todoroki yells out that he’s found the gadget. The sound is buried under a sudden cacophony of mechanical clanging.

It appears that one of the gadgets has captured Recovery Girl in some steel rope. Hatsume speculates that some of the circuitry must have been damaged when the gadget fell, and it mistakenly set Recovery Girl as a target.

Recovery Girl had tried to evade the machine earlier, but she’d tripped again, allowing the rope to snag her.

Todoroki valiantly attempts to free her. Unfortunately, he gets tied up as well. Now dangling together with Recovery Girl, escape attempt thoroughly botched, he apologizes profusely.

(read Aitai’s Japanese > English translation of the following scene here and here)

Kirishima Eijiro. Todoroki hadn’t ever really spoken to the boy before they’d teamed up to save Bakugou. But they’d shared the frustration of having the League of Villains snatch away Bakugou in front of their noses. For Kirishima to have his dear friend whisked away, without getting the chance to do anything about it – well, Todoroki could certainly empathize. This frustration was what drove the students to form the Bakugou Rescue Squad, anyways.

In the current situation? Kirishima would probably act according to instinct, complete with a ‘manly’ desire to help others…

As it turns out, Kirishima is presently on the 4th floor, helping his next-door-neighbor Bakugou unpack. One of Bakugou’s boxes had gotten mixed in with Kirishima’s luggage earlier. When Kirishima dropped off the box, he’d decided he might as well help out.

“Hey Bakugou, what’s this stick?” Kirishima inquires. “Some weapon?”

“That’s for mountain climbing, dumbass.” Bakugou snaps. “Why are you such a pain in the ass? Go the hell back to your own room.”

At Bakugou’s scrunched-up scowl, Kirishima just laughs, unfazed. “Hey now. Two is better than one, right? When we’re done with your room, let’s head over to sort out my room too!”

“I bet, you lazy ass! You’re just slowing me down!” Bakugou doesn’t put any real weight behind his harsh words.

Rescuer and the rescued. The breeze drifting in through their new home scatters the vestiges of unfamiliarity between the two.

Todoroki attempts to break the ropes. Unfortunately, the more he struggles against the unyielding steel, the higher he and Recovery Girl get hoisted up by the ropes. Hatsume’s remote control isn’t working either.

“Damn… in a time like this… if only Yaoyorozu was around!”

Like Iida, Yaoyorozu had also disapproved of the Bakugou Rescue Squad, but had joined them to make sure no one would engage in combat.

With her ability to stay cool-headed in any situation and her superior knowledge and strategizing – if it was Yaoyorozu, she’d definitely be able to come up with a solution!

Meanwhile, Yaoyorozu is still on the 1st floor trying to cut down on her luggage.

“Silverware… it can go.”

“For paintings, just one will suffice.”

“Shoes… three pairs is enough, right? Ah, but I really need a pair of heels. There’s just no room! I’ll just have to go with the bare minimum for everything. Screw it, one pair of shoes it is.”

Todoroki racks his brain for ideas. He could possibly use either side of his quirk to deal with the rope, but Recovery Girl could get seriously hurt in the crossfire.

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to dismantle the machine,” Hatsume finally says, defeated. “I’ll go fetch some tools from the workshop!” But as she turns to leave, the two captured begin flailing about violently.

The offending machine – unwilling passengers and all – begins to roll away, along the road. Hatsume makes to send her other gadgets after it, which is totally ineffective and nearly gets her caught as well.

“Oi, don’t mess around,” warns Todoroki.

“Go call a teacher,” Recovery Girl decides. Meanwhile, Todoroki’s getting swung about. He eyes something ahead with trepidation. The gadget is approaching a large, deep pit, one that was used by the second-years for practice. And now they’re on track to go tumbling into a bottomless chasm. If they fall in with the huge machine, it can only end in tragedy.

Todoroki can no longer conceal his anxiety. The machine is still making for the pit with speed. There’s no time to call for help. Should he take a chance with his quirk? No, but… What to do?

As he becomes increasingly panicked, the face of his friend comes to mind. Even in a life-or-death situation like this, Midoriya would never give up! Todoroki recalls when they’d tried to save Bakugou while All Might and All for One were fighting. Though there had seemed to be no way to get to Bakugou, Midoriya had come up with a way to succeed.

Todoroki regrets that his own deep-seated, long-standing hatred against his father had caused him to lash out at Midoriya, his friend.

On the 2nd floor, Midoriya is quite upset. Over what? The order of his All Might figurines, of course. Disregarding daily necessities, All Might paraphernalia had taken up a good half of Izuku’s luggage. Position, order, and angle all must be considered…

Todoroki is still desperately trying to figure out what Midoriya would do in this situation. Finally, he comes up with something. He yells out to Hatsume, “Toss the heavy prune gadget to me!”

“Hah?” Though confused, Hatsume retrieves the small gadget. “Wait! Do you really want me to throw this over?!”

“Yes,” Todoroki confirms. “Aim for my mouth!”

Using ‘Zoom’, Hatsume lines up and (nervously) sends the gadget sailing over.

Todoroki catches it with his teeth and swings his body to the side. The altered center of gravity makes one end of the machine lift up. The machine attempts to advance with a single set of wheels and eventually topples over, precariously close to the edge of the pit. Todoroki dives under Recovery Girl to cushion her fall onto the road.

“Whew, that was close!”

Todoroki just winces at the weight in his mouth, still pinned under Recovery Girl.

The runaway machine finally shuts down after some loud clattering and Hatsume rushes over to check over the finally freed hostages. Todoroki finally spits out the small gadget and confirms that he’s fine.

“I’m okay as well,” Recovery Girl concedes.

“Great!” Hatsume beams. “And using the weight of the heavy prune gadget to unbalance the runaway machine was brilliant! What valuable data!”

“Can we get these ropes off first?” Todoroki asks dryly.

So Hatsume runs off to the workshop to fetch some tools, returning with Power Loader. Finally, they sever the steel ropes and free Todoroki and Recovery Girl. Power Loader immediately begins chastising Hatsume.

** See wiki page on Power Loader

“Oh right!” Hatsume, who had been quietly been nodding along to Power Loader’s berating, suddenly reaches into her pocket. “I found this in a tree on my way back. Is this what you were looking for?”

It’s the photograph of Todoroki and his mother. A brilliant smile stretches across his face, and he thanks Hatsume profusely. She rummages in her pile of machinery until she emerges, triumphant.

She offers a strangely familiar basketball-sized barrel as a gift to Todoroki. “Let me know what you think after you’ve played with your friends!” Hatsume and Power Loader then start on the task of moving away all the machinery.

Recovery Girl is about to address Todoroki when she notices a gash on his cheek. When Todoroki had dived under Recovery Girl to cushion her fall, he’d ended up scraping his face on the ground.

She fixes him up with her quirk and pulls out some candy. “Here’s some soft candy, eat up! Thank you for saving me. Hard-working children get more rewards!”

“It’s nothing.” Todoroki ducks his head, accepting the considerable pile of candy. “Any of my friends would have done the same.”

Todoroki startles a bit. Just a while ago, these sorts of thoughts would have never entered his mind. But he acknowledges and accepts the changes to his mindset as personal growth.

Coming to UA had been really good for him.

At Todoroki’s gentle expression, Recovery Girl cheerfully responds, “True, true. You and all your classmates are working hard. It’s true now, and it was true in the past. Not a single person is slacking off. But to occasionally recognize and applaud your own efforts? That’s perfectly okay!”

“Okay.” Todoroki puts a piece of the candy into his mouth. … Did my father also work hard at UA? He shakes his head to banish the thought.

Recovery Girl asks how moving into the dorms is going. Todoroki recalls his strange new room. He just can’t seem to get used to it.

Upon hearing this, Recovery Girl drags him off to the off-campus junkyard. “I think I have just the thing for you!”

When they get there, Todoroki’s eyes light up. In the corner are some apparently brand-new tatami mats, shoji, and traditional furniture!

“Even though these were used for a class, no one will mind if you take them. I’ll contact the teacher to let them know,” Recovery Girl reassures.

“You have my heartfelt thanks.” Todoroki bows and sees Recovery Girl off, then returns to the dorms. What a day. He lets a deep sigh of relief escape him.

He’s opening the brand new doors to his dorm room – in a brand new chapter of his life. Though there are some things he won’t be used to, Todoroki is certain it’ll be okay if it’s at UA.

Now, time to start remodeling! He rolls up his sleeves.

–– End of Chapter 2 ––

Chapter 3, Part One

tl;dr “Yes,” Todoroki confirms. “Aim for my mouth!”

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bnha #mha #todoroki shouto #bnha light novel #translation

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buri-art · 6 years

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Wuqiao Acrobatics World

A few years ago while trying to keep my Mandarin skills in tact, I saw a short documentary about Wuqiao, Hebei Province, said to be the birthplace of Chinese acrobatics, and where all the villagers can at least do some acrobatics (I treat that saying with a big grain of salt, but phrases like this do have some impact on local identity). For my last six-day backpacking trip in China, I planned it around going to Wuqiao for a day trip and seeing this circus-y place myself.

I’ll start out by saying that if you don’t speak Chinese or feel very comfortable getting around in a place that speaks no English, I wholeheartedly recommend going with a tour group from Beijing or Tianjin if you want to go here yourself. The venue is designed for groups with coordinated performance times and dependable transportation. I found this out through trial and error and missed a few morning performances that way. Sniffle!

Anyway, if you search “Wuqiao” in English most of the results will be the same short article on multiple websites and several tours designed for foreign travelers from Beijing, so while I don’t have a specific recommendation, I can say that Chinese tour guides will vary a lot and as long as you have a small group, you’ll have an easier time getting a good guide who will be flexible to your interests. So now onto my June 19, 2018 experience!

Sometimes when people talk smack about tour groups, they say it’s because they want to the see the “real” things, not touristy things. I see where this comment is coming from; sometimes a superficial run-around of a handful of packed locations that the locals never go to and then hours spent being shoved into gift shops is going to make it feel like you learned nothing in a foreign country except for the stresses of international travel. However, as someone who has worked in foreign tourism before, I want to point out a couple things: 1. If you have a good guide, you’re going to get a far more awesome experience than you might have been able to plan on your own. You’re not lame for enjoying the good (and often amazing) services of a tour operator who cares about giving you a good time. 2. In China, you’re getting something “real” anyway. That was one of my biggest impressions of this very dilapidated tourist venue.

“This is so China,” I thought.

To boil the past several decades of Chinese economic history down simply, China has lifted millions of people from starving to having disposable income (it can’t be understated how large of a feat this has been, though poverty is still a significant issue). When a population goes from “most people are so poor that everyone stays put” to “whoa, we have... money?? Um... let’s do fun stuff! Let’s go places!!”, this is what gives birth to the development of domestic tourism. And China, as you might guess, is chock full of amazing landscapes and historical locations.

China got this great idea: Now that people are making money, let’s make them spend money, so we can make more money!

China, more so than any other place I’ve been, will find any way it can to monetize a tourism destination. Is there a cool rock? Put a fence around it to obstruct the view, make people pay to see it. Is the lake too big to put a fence around it? Have Zhang Yimou make an “Impression” show there and have people pay to see that! Too big of an area to charge admission at each spot? Block off the whole area and add some nifty transportation options inside. No possible way to block it off because the historic area is in actual daily use? Call in the vendors, kids, we’re still going to make something off of this!

Yes, I’ve been to places with free admission, and often I only stopped in because they were free admission. And I rather liked a lot of those free places, yes. But in general, if you’re traveling to see something, you’re going to pay to see it, even if it means paying admission to even get closer to a village.

But that means building stuff to justify it being something to see and spend money on. That means, with extra money suddenly available to you and/or pressure from above to make something snazzy and brag-worthy really fast, you build a lot of things. Domestic tourists have come to expect big fancy stuff, and construction makes this world (or at least this country) go round!

And then you do the press reports. Take some good pictures. Have people make a cool documentary. Welcome the tour groups, stay busy while the place is shiny.

And then let it fall into disrepair.

There are many tourism facilities in China which are really, really nice, and kept that way. But there are also not only tourism projects finished and then abandoned, or slowed indefinitely partway. This is pretty “real.” It’s not just tourism; this is very “real” for a lot of China’s rapid economic development and construction projects, even entire new cities that they couldn’t get anyone to move into.

So yes, by coming to Wuqiao Acrobatic World, you’re getting a very real experience of what modern day China is like, especially outside of the biggest cities or especially famous tourism facilities.

But you know what makes that awesome? The people here were so much fun to interact with.

Before leaving on my trip, I told some Chinese friends and coworkers where I was going, and they had never heard of Wuqiao. When I told them about it, some reacted in horror that I’m interested in acrobatics. “But it’s so sad,” one friend said. “The kids go through so much pain to train like that.”

Yes, the performance arts and competitive sports worlds of China have a long and ongoing history of this. But I also really, really like watching circuses. If someone loves their art and works hard at it, then I want to watch them, I want to be impressed by them, I want to reward that hard work by giving it my attention. I’ve had some fun experiences in the past with helping backstage when grassroots level diplomatic groups of performers went to my college in the US or in the city I worked for in Japan, and I’ll never forget how spirited those Chinese contortionists were, and how easy they made being bendy look.

So anyway. In all this preamble I haven’t even gotten to my travels yet. I took a morning train in from Tianjin and with only some little red tuk-tuk like cars with three wheels available for transportation, I went with a guy who gave me a ride for 5 RMB (about 77 US cents). He was a nice old guy who also picked me up later right on time for my return that afternoon. But, uh, one of the doors of the little vehicle wouldn’t close.

It’s a short ride, but not really walking distance, especially if you only have about six hours to spend there. The town is still mostly farming community, on the platform of the train station you can watch people take care of sheep and stack up dry reeds. The town is hot and dry in summer with smooth traffic, wide roads, and no tall buildings. I arrived at the Acrobatics World on a weekday morning with no line to get tickets and enter.

There were a few scattered people who stared and whispered (loudly), “Whoa, it’s a foreigner,” a phrase that after a while either bounces off of you completely or piles up on you so much that by the end of a trip off the beaten path you think your trapezius will snap if you hear it again. I found buildings under construction and a temple, and because many tourism facilities have temples built into them, I assumed I’d politely go straight through it. Not so! Turns out you go around this one, which I would have had no idea about had a woman not approached me and told me so.

So, with no one in sight (an odd sight in and of itself at a tourism facility in China), I went hunting for the acrobats.

I hunted a long time, saw a few people here and there. Passed a few people making noise in what looked like a wuxia version of a renaissance festival fairground, but according to the maps, I decided to press northward, looking for, well, whatever it was I was looking for, or at least trying to figure out what all was there.

Well, like, nobody, basically. A few people here and there, but mostly some lonely statues in various groupings around a wide park, some architectural pieces ignored and serving no purpose, some poorly kept animals (I chose not to check out the “Funny Zoo” area), but mostly big expanses of nobody. After living in a place like Shanghai for a while--a place unkind to introverts--you come to really appreciate those periods of nobodyness, and walking around this place had the same sort of bizarre allure of photos of abandoned, flooded shopping malls.

This would be such a great spot for hanfu photoshoots with nobody in your way! But I’d need someone to take the photos, something to wear in the photos, and a much better hair day than I was having on that whole trip.

Anyway, based on the size of the building, I had assumed that I reached the “main spot” I was aiming for, whatever that was.

This was a combination of performance space and museum, so I started at the museum. When I approached there were a couple women hanging out on the red queuing gates, not quite doing acrobatics, but not keeping their feet on the ground either. They were surprised to see me, and I asked if I could go in, and they were like, “um... okay,” and turned the lights on inside. I asked if I could take pictures, and they said yes. While enjoying myself in the first room of the winding exhibits, I heard them talking to each other and saying, “She asked if she could go in. Then she asked if she could take photos.” What I wish I would have overheard them saying would have been something like, “What the hell is she doing over here, doesn’t she know that the only action taking place in this whole facility is going on as scheduled over in the Jianghu Culture City ren-faire-ish-place?” But I heard no such thing, and enjoyed the museum in ignorance.

As far as Chinese museums are concerned, they’re a very mixed bag, but I rather liked the contents of this simple, small one. Everything had good English translations--and by that I don’t mean clear and grammatical, but actually useful content that puts what you’re seeing into context. Here are a few bits I liked:

Not all of the rooms were as interesting as others; and although I have a passing interest in how Chinese circus is used diplomatically, I didn’t have enough of one to stay in those exhibits for long. I was starting to get the sense that I was missing out on the performances. If I felt less rushed and was there with friends, however, I probably would have had a great time in this room, with this corner of traditional circus props, easily in arms’ reach and not mounted in place.

Nothing said not to play with them, but nothing said that it was okay to touch them either. I decided to err on the side of doubt. After all, assuming such things in the past had lead me to get bitten by a penguin.

Back to acrobats, I zoomed through the very empty painting and gift shop (if it can even be called that) rooms, where the people working there did not even look up from their phones. After that I found where they keep the horses (poor, skinny horses... let’s not even get to those bored, chained monkeys I saw later with nothing and nobody around to prevent a wandering tourist from walking right up to them--I imagine that could have been more disastrous than my encounter with the penguin). Then I found--what?? People??? What’s more, it was like a group of moms and a couple little kids watching some teens in capes on a round stage, the Red Peony stage. I asked if I could watch, and finally, these people told me what I wish someone would had told me in the first place:

All the performances are scheduled in different locations. The Jianghu Culture City has the morning and late afternoon performances, and the northern buildings and horse track have the early afternoon shows. Ohhhhhh, no wonder.

So I hurried over to where all the smart tourists and their group guides were; watching this guy.

I only caught the tail end of his act, and from the looks of the stage he must had been smashing bricks with his face or something earlier, who knows. He climbed down the handles of the swords at the end of his act, but if I had gotten there earlier, I assume I would have seen something like this:

Hmm. Not super sharp at tourist-reach, but still, ouch.

Immediately after that everyone shuffled over to this tent for some other folk acrobatics by a little troupe: Some lovely ladies young and not-as-young, some burly men, a dwarf, and a guy from the audience picked out for the knife-throwing show who had the build, expression, and haircut of a circus performer himself. He was at the other shows that day too, so I don’t suspect he was a plant. Chinese men just have some weird haircuts, that’s all.

Couldn’t really get good pictures in there, but you had a girl sitting on a chair balanced on a swinging trapeze, a routine with blocks complete with juggling and handstands and flips, the aforementioned knife-thrower who doubled as the clown of the show, a jar juggler who catches the big jar on his head and neck, a jar juggler who spins a much, much, much, much larger iron jar on her feet that three burly men needed to lift together, and this lady doing what you see here:

A note here about those tour groups---they were overwhelmingly made up of middle age men. I did see a few families with small children, some younger couples, and a fair number of women mixed with the men, but the groups of men who all knew each other was striking. Maybe I just happened to go on a day when they were planning big outings, who knows.

After that, there was a very, very small “performance” in this little back-alley area of the Jianghu Culture City, where there were many performance areas with signs stating the folk artist and their performing times, but with seating areas filled with, well, seats that they had probably pulled out of other areas and had not yet taken to the dump.

That said, some of the area felt downright homey. I was the only person over there at first when a lady was about to do her sales pitch--I mean, “performance” explaining that they were selling fans decorated with the origins of the 100 most common Chinese surnames. Many of the men bought them for 30 RMB each ($4.61 USD). I got one for my roommate since her surname is rather uncommon, she hadn’t seen something like that before and found it interesting.

Anyway, the lady there was very friendly, and insisted I put my heavy backpack down on her chair so I could relax while looking around (she also insisted I leave it there while enjoying my afternoon, but I declined). She would have been the right person to meet right away when I got to the park, she explained the whole schedule of the park (which I had mostly figured out by then) and helped me to plan how to make the best of my time left that afternoon, and she walked with me part way to the only place to get food in the whole area. She was on her way home for lunch, she said. Everyone working there is local and all the performers go home for lunch, except the director, who often has to show VIP guests around. Since she was so cheerfully talking about the place and clearly took pride in this being their local claim to fame (I got that sense from a few other people too), I considered asking if it was true that everyone could do at least a little acrobatics. I decided against asking, but kind of wish I had.

If you do ever get there and want to make sure you get to the see every performance offered from the moment the park opens, you do have the option of staying at the Red Peony Hotel! This is really your only option for food anyway. The staff was very friendly (and not overly friendly, so I could thankfully eat my meal in peace!), though I can’t say the food or ambiance was anything special, even for a tourist facility.

The fish sauce tasted like ketchup.

It was a really long lunch break. I imagine that’s when wiser people would have walked around the odd groupings of statues and architecture of questionable purpose in the park, or gone to the museum to play with hula hoops and throw ceramic jars at each other. I went out to the empty horse track to reapply sunscreen, smell the nature, listen to birds, and gaze into the lotus pond. And frown at how skinny the horses were.

The Red Peony theater opened at 1:30pm. There was a very small line; I was one of the first people there and got a good seat in a round theater that looked like it could hold up to 200 audience members. People continued to trickle in for 25 minutes. They were starting late that day, they said, blaming it on either having VIP tour groups who take their time or having foreign performers who take their time. For twenty minutes they played a Backstreet Boys song on repeat, and I looked at the apparatuses around the stage--a small Russian swing, three aerial hoops of different sizes, a couple silks, a triple-wheeled Wheel of Death (does it have a different name when three people are cheating death?) behind a curtain, a large net hung up out of the way, and some set pieces that looked like a wooden ship set to either side of the stage. After twenty minutes of Backstreet Boys they played the entirety of Hotel California before starting the show.

They had signs forbidding photography and Yours Truly is a rule-follower even in China where these silly rules about video recording are flat-out ignored even at Cirque du Soleil performances, so I doodled the show on the train a few hours later.

This was no Cirque du Soleil, let’s be clear about that. It was more like the community theater version of a Broadway show; everyone was doing their best but items were unintentionally dropped and costume pieces flew off, but everyone was encouraging because the kids were doing their best.

Let’s look back at a few parts of that sentence: 1. Encouraging audience: Chinese audiences can be extremely frustrating to perform in front of, because they are so likely to chat among themselves or play on their phones--I charitably chalk this up to a cultural difference that historically elevates the pleasure of the audience over the hard work of performers, but it still drives me crazy in my current job that involves training kids to do things in front of audiences. That said, this works in another way--when a Chinese audience is engaged, they’ll be very, very engaged, and even if these performers were dropping their stuff, they still kept the audience’s attention and smiles and applause, so it’s all good.

2. Their best: Sure, they weren’t the sort of performers I’d expect to see if I paid the big ticket price to go watch the Shanghai Circus, which is primarily geared toward foreign tourists. But they are still insanely skilled and have obviously poured hours and hours and hours of their life into this. Also, very importantly, many (but not all...) of them look like they truly enjoy it. As a point of comparison, I went to the Shaolin Temple eight years ago, and the whole little town of Dengfeng surrounding it was filled with schoolyards of boys from all over China studying there to fulfill their kung fu dreams. The boys in the temple, however, are often problem children sent there for discipline. I watched the show they put on, which the adults are full-on performers for. The boys also performed amazing stunts, but the whole time looked like they were sick and tired of tourists and having to do the same flips and feats every day. It was unintentionally funny to see such bored, sour looks on their faces as they were soaring through the air. The performers in this show did see themselves as performers and acted like it--though the expressions came much more naturally to some than others.

3. Kids: Yeah, no two-ways about it, the vast majority of this cast looked very, very young. This includes both the foreign troupe and the local Chinese kids. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if none of the local performers in this show were adults. Even the stage crew looked like they were all teenagers.

My friends’ words about “aren’t you sad for them, having to do all that painful training?” rang through my head during a couple of the performances in particular. The five contortionists smiled charmingly and performed without mishap, but I was very afraid that someone was going to break in one way or another. Their bodies shook with both unbalance and strain, and sitting that close to the stage, I could read some “uh oh” in their faces at times. The rollerskating show was charming at first with the pairings of what looked like high school boys with elementary school boys, all of whom kept a gracious performer’s attitude the whole time, even with small mishaps. At the end of the act they spun the little boys around by cords on their necks (like the graceful aerial hoop duo had done in a less startling way). Despite being really impressed, my stomach churned with pity for them.

The foreign troupe had quite a mix as well of veteran and less-veteran performers, and some mishaps here and there, but overall good shows. They seemed a little casual and self-managed, like one of the kids who performed earlier in the show snuck out into the middle of the audience later to watch his buddy and then sneak backstage again. I had to wonder about them too--how long were they going to be in Wuqiao? Did they go to other places around the world too? Did they choose the circus life, or did the circus life choose them?

Before getting dragged too deep into wondering about the darker sides I know exist behind something I love watching perhaps a little bit more than the average person does, the clown came out.

The very, very, very white, platinum blonde clown.

She and the person in a polar bear suit did a charming, although not particularly funny or impressive routine, but what struck me most was how naturally she lit up being on stage, and that she might had been told in clown schools that she was “too pretty” to be a clown (something I recall hearing about happening to many young women who try to go into that). What was really captivating about this clown was that it was like she wanted more than anything to be a clown, and she looked like she was having the time of her life.

At the end of the show the performers all came out to, well, not do a final bow persay, but wave at all the tourists on their way out to go to the “Home of the Demon Hand” theater across from the Red Peony Theater. I let things clear out before standing up, and the clown saw me, locked eyes, and very smilingly said, “AMAZING!!”

Amazing to see another lone white girl there, I’m sure.

We were both on our way out in opposite directions, but we had the following conversation: Me: Where are you from? Her: Ukraine! Me (pointing to the guest performers heading backstage without her): Where are they from? Her: (wild look over her shoulder, a look back at me, a giant shrug and nervous laughter)

We waved and then went our separate ways, but I wanted to say, “Come back here, girl, give me your life story.”

Instead I went to the next show and squeezed into what I thought would give me a good view of the sleight-of-hand tricks that old’ Demon Hand was apparently famous enough for to have his own theater hall.

The 74-year-old man in a silk outfit (the top of which he later took off to prove he had nothing up his sleeve) and ponytail started the show by very, very firmly insisting on no photographs, but they had the option of getting a logo’d photograph with him before the show. A small crowd of people, mostly middle age men but a spunky younger woman too, went up and forked over their cash.

To be honest, I got really irritated for the first ten minutes or so of the show. He was a gifted performer, yes, but he was more of an improve comedian who talked a big game (his sleight of hand tricks were impressive, yes, but they made up a very, very small portion of his show). Furthermore, I couldn’t see very well around the guy in front of me, so I had to lean forward and to the sides. It was so much trash talk with men in the audience that I couldn’t follow very well (my Chinese is good, but not enough to understand all the humor), and it wasn’t very possible to stand up and leave without calling a huge amount of attention to myself.

Call attention to myself I did anyway.

As part of his goading the audience, he invites skeptics to come crowd around him and watch him closely to verify his tricks. I stayed put, not really in the mood for all the talk and just wanting to see some impressive tricks to justify my staying put. Well, he saw me, and pointed everyone’s attention in my direction, and I had to announce where I was from, and he ordered me down to his side to watch.

So I sat directly next to him and had to play along with the “I’ll show you some real Chinese kung fu!” bravado and do my best to answer any quick questions he shot at me to answer, like “how many are under the cup?”.

He made some men bet their cigarettes on a few tricks, and was accumulating a stack of cigarette boxes on the table. The number of people standing, sitting, and squatting around him dwindled. I awkwardly stayed put because I knew he’d call me out if I tried to escape, so better that I stayed there and ready to quip back the next time he quipped something at me. And yeah, I totally had a better view of the tricks and could appreciate them a lot more from the table-eye view, so it was my luck that I was the one foreign face in the room.

Toward the end of the routine he dared anyone in the rowdy audience to come sit in his chair and do the tricks themselves to make a bet. No one did.

He told me to sit in the chair.

I half-way expected that. Thankfully I can play along well as the casual “I just came here to have a good time, I don’t know what you’re making me do and I never asked for this, but okay, tell me what to do” young foreign beauty* there to make the show more interesting for the audience.

*(This is how the locals describe me, and they often insist on taking photos with me. Often without permission. Often when I am looking my worst from days of backpacking in hot weather with tired looking skin, extremely unruly hair, and practical although unflattering outfits.)

He asked me to place a bet, but I think we had some difficulty understanding each other’s Mandarin, because he’s got a thick local accent and I have a foreign one.

Him: You don’t smoke, do you? Place a bet for something else. Me: Me? Him: What do you want? Food or something? Me: ...how about something sweet? Him: Money!? Me: No, sweets... Him: No no no, we can’t do money. Come on, there’s no point if you don’t bet anything. Hmm. Tell you what. If you win, I’ll make you my ghdrtsmplwssz. Me: (His what???)

I have no clue what he said. My guess is something along the lines of either “disciple” or “bride.”

Well, the coolest part was that he had me hold one little styrofoam ball in my hand, and next thing you know, I had two of them in my hand, and that was pretty impressive, enough to make the whole show’s worth of trash talk worth the experience.

And then he had me stand up with him and he thanked me as the audience applauded, and he introduced me as his ghdrtsmplwssz, everyone clapped, and then he hugged me a few times from different angles so a couple sides of the audience could see my face. I played along with a wide-eyed “what the hell is going on, save me” look.

And then he went in for the smooch.

I can do the “pure innocent maiden who blushes at the sight of a man’s lips” routine really well. Plus, practicing martial arts makes me really fast at blocking incoming attacks like this that I have faced at a few times throughout my life, so the dramatic hand in the air, lean backwards, and turned maidenly face were all automatic rather than calculated.

We repeated this a few times, with the lean getting more comically pronounced each time. He tried to insist that this is what they do in America (like the hug), but my maidenly virtue won out in the end, and he graciously played it off and gave me the send off back to my seat in the audience. Sorry dude, I’m stubborn about kissing strangers.

After that was the horse show. I skipped it and went back to the Jianghu Culture City to catch some of the repeats of morning shows I missed.

Which was really only one. A lady saw me walking around and tried to help me plan where to be at the right time, in a helpful, non-pushy way (I am so grateful when I get this mix of helpful and non-pushy). The only other show I had time to see was Chuipotian, the suona (horn) performer. His bio introduces him well:

It was a short show with just a few audience members, including a couple women who wanted photos with me and a girl who looked around one year old who kept wandering off so her dad had to chase her while mom enjoyed the show. I found his crosstalk with the audience a lot more enjoyable than Demon Hand’s, though I had to stay on my toes to make responses here too.

As for the sound of the suona, it’s like a screaming duck. If you’ve ever seen Beijing Opera, you can probably recognize its sound. (I don’t think it’s used as much in southern opera styles. On that note, I find southern styles more melodic.) It was a fun cacophony of a show.

He mostly used smaller ones, this just makes for the funnest photo. He also included some non-instrument related tricks, like taking a lit cigarette from someone and doing tricks with the smoke, swallowing the cigarette, and pulling it out of his ear, still lit. All while reminding you that smoking is harmful to your health.

Immediately after the show, the ladies with him pulled me aside and started teaching me his catchphrase. They caught on through the crosstalk and a little conversation before the show that I’d be a good person to do a little social media routine for them, saying “(Something I could not for the life of me understand but sounded catchy), he’s the real deal from Wuqiao, CHUIPOTIAN!” After rehearsing it several times to make sure I got it right, and the woman in red holding the camera directing me to just be big and fun with it, we recorded it with me standing next to him, looking into the camera, and pointing at him. They were all very pleased with my good work and looked forward to uploading it.

They were super nice and fun to talk to (there weren’t any other immediate performances to watch while everyone else was still at the horse show), and Chuipotian gave me his business card so we could be friends on WeChat, but within ten minutes of taking my leave I dropped it. Good thing I’m not a juggler.

My friend the 5 RMB driver with the one functional door met me right at the appointed time, and people chilling at the train station were also very aware of me. They were a great mix of kind and looking out for me, but not all up in my business. I appreciate it greatly.

And then I left on a crowded, cheapest-seat car of a train that would take over three hours to reach Tianjin. I had enjoyed the day and all the people I got to interact with the (even old Demon Hand, I guess), but being an introvert, I was grateful to have the chance to chill and make the above doodles in my notebook.

But then people figured out I understand Chinese and started chatting with me.

For three straight hours.

To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve been in the position to play a vehicle of foreign exchange for hours and hours at a time, and it can be fun, but it’s such a relief when you can rest.

And rest I did, on the night train I switched to in Tianjin to get to my next stop on the trip. I slept pretty well for it being on the cheapest berths, stacked three-high with little more than the average Chinese man’s body width. After maneuvering on the top berth with my heavy backpack, I felt like a pretty good circus performer myself.

#China #circus

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i-am-very-very-tired · 3 years

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Blessed with magnificent beaches, humbling mountain landscapes, and a blissful Mediterranean climate, Malibu is a famous city that lures even celebrities and socialites to leave foreign lands and permanently settle on its heavenly terrain.

Malibu brings both the resplendence of the Santa Mountains and the Pacific Ocean together, so expect a wealth of enchanting trails, state parks, campgrounds, and beaches.

It can be hard to choose where to go, so here’s our very own list of the best things to do in Malibu, CA to give you a glimpse of the city’s irresistible destinations.

1. The Getty Villa

The Getty Villa, located east of the city limits of Malibu, is an educational center and museum dedicated to ancient Greece, Rome, and other classical civilizations.

Why You Should Go

Featuring art that dates back to 7,000 years ago, the Getty Villa is nothing short of grand. In fact, it is a re-creation of an ancient Roman country house and offers performances, family events, lectures, Mediterranean-inspired food, and a wealth of resources on classical antiquity.

What to Do

Browse through the villa’s amazing exhibits, or catch an event if you can. If you’ve worked up an appetite from that, enjoy classical fare at the café, kiosk, or tea room.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Oceana Santa Monica, LXR Hotels & Resorts

2. El Matador State Beach

El Matador Beach is located within the Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach and is one the places to visit in Malibu that you should never miss!

Why You Should Go

El Matador Beach is a spectacular seafront location perfect for the usual swimming, snorkeling, and sunbathing, with the added bonus of cave adventures during the low tide.

What to Do

Ready your cameras for El Matador’s impressive arches and unique rock formations. Don’t forget to wait for the low tide after swimming to visit the cave!

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Calamigos Guest Ranch and Beach Club

3. Zuma Beach

Zuma Beach is a 2-mile-long shoreline bordering a massive sandy area. Unlike other beaches in the city, there are no residential buildings on its shores.

Why You Should Go

One of the largest and most popular beaches in Los Angeles County, Zuma Beach is often considered to be one of the top attractions in Malibu. Its wide taupe sands and gentle summer waves beckon beach lovers here to go swimming, scuba diving, surfing, and fishing.

What to Do

The squad will absolutely love all the fun things to do in Malibu, California waiting for them at Zuma Beach. On top of the classic beach activities, there’s kiteboarding, bodyboarding, bodysurfing, beach volleyball, and windsurfing.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Malibu Beach Inn

Related: Best Beaches in Malibu

4. Adamson House

The Adamson House was built in 1929, featuring an extensive use of decorative tiles inspired by Mediterranean Revival design.

Why You Should Go

Sometimes dubbed the Taj Mahal of Tile, the Adamson House’s exterior and surrounding landscape flaunt a vibrant Mediterranean scene, while a rustic Old World countryside charm permeates the house indoors.

What to Do

Step into the forgotten era of Spanish-Moorish design in California, and make your way through the gardens and historic rooms. Afterwards, check out the shop for unique gifts along this motif.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel

5. Malibu Country Mart

Nestled between the majestic mountains and the glistening sea, the Malibu Country Mart was founded in 1975.

Why You Should Go

Malibu Country Mart, the heart of the downtown Malibu’s Civic Center, has a generic name, which hides away its extravagant countryside ambience, upscale boutiques, and al fresco dining experiences.

What to Do

Immerse yourself in Malibu’s calming, laid-back setting as you shop ’til you drop and dine ’til you’re filled. If you brought the little ones along, there’s a small playground just for them.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Santa Monica Proper Hotel, a Member of Design Hotels

6. Malibu Bluffs Park

Malibu Bluffs Park spans six acres of community park facilities overlooking the Pacific.

Why You Should Go

Part-wilderness and part-park, the Malibu Bluffs Park offers families multipurpose sports fields, a playground, trails, picnic tables, a whale watching station, and community events at the heart of actually 83 acres of undeveloped wilderness.

What to Do

Escape the rush of urbanization and commune with the abundance and power of nature at Malibu Bluffs Park. Hike the trails, listen to the distant waves, have a bite in the wilderness, and encourage the love for outdoor recreation to the kids.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: The Anza – a Calabasas Hotel

7. Escondido Falls

The Escondido Falls drops from a 150-foot multi-tiered cliff, the highest in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Why You Should Go

Dependent on rainfall, Escondido Falls is best visited in the early months of the year. It takes an adventure through 4.2 miles of oak woodland, riparian woodland, and coastal sage scrub to be rewarded with such a sight to behold.

What to Do

One of the top fun stuff to do in Malibu is embarking on the outdoorsy journey to Escondido Falls. Hike the Winding Way and soak in the natural ambience to recharge your soul!

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Sheraton Agoura Hills Hotel

8. Malibu Wine Safaris

Click Here to See Ticket Price of Similar Activity

Malibu Wine Safaris takes you around Malibu’s largest vineyard to introduce you to its furry friends!

Why You Should Go

Aboard a trusty safari vehicle, Malibu Wine Safaris carries you through Saddlerock Ranch on a fun safari adventure that ends in wines and hor dourves.

What to Do

Explore the 1,000-acre Saddlerock Ranch with Malibu Wine Safaris and meet zebras, water buffalo, llamas, giraffes, and more! The adventure then serves you locally grown wines in a private wine tasting location.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village

9. Point Dume State Beach

Point Dume State Beach is one of the most breathtaking things to see in Malibu, noted for its vast, rugged beach landscape.

Why You Should Go

Featuring over one mile of shoreline and 34 acres of sand, Point Dume State Beach is a hidden gem that boasts views of the entire Santa Monica Bay and Catalina Island in the distance.

What to Do

Despite its rocky features, Point Dume State Beach actually has perfect spots for swimming, surfing, scuba diving, and fishing. Whale watching is also common from December to April.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Homewood Suites by Hilton Agoura Hills

10. Malibu Coastal Adventures

Click Here to See Ticket Price of Similar Activity

Malibu Coastal Adventures is a consistently five-star rated tour operator that takes you along the Southern California coast.

Why You Should Go

Looking for the top things to do in Malibu with kids? How does an ocean adventure aboard a luxury catamaran sound? And you won’t just sail aimlessly around; you can meet and interact with sea life along the way and explore amazing marine landscapes too!

What to Do

Try stand-up paddleboarding, explore incredible sea caves, grab a fishing pole to catch some lunch, or snorkel around exotic kelp forests! Meet whales, dolphins, and sea lions as you go.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Hilton Garden Inn Calabasas

Related: Best Things to Do in Southern California

11. The Grotto Trail

Nestled on the idyllic Santa Monica Mountains, the Grotto Trail leads you to a secret oasis hidden in a canyon.

Why You Should Go

If you’re looking for cheap things to do this weekend, why don’t you take the squad on a short 3-mile round trip into the mountains? The trail leads you to a narrow canyon with caves, a creek, a little waterfall, and an enclosed pool.

What to Do

Experience the beauty of the majestic Santa Monica Mountains as you journey through a rare coastal Mediterranean ecosystem with occasional wildflower blooms.

Looking for things to do in Malibu tonight? You can also reserve a spot at the campground to listen to coyotes and watch the stars glisten in the dark!

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Calamigos Guest Ranch and Beach Club

12. Malibu Creek State Park

Malibu Creek State Park is a massive 8,000-acre mosaic of woodlands, tallgrass, and slopes surrounding the 14-mile Malibu Creek.

Why You Should Go

The Santa Monica Mountains is indeed home to a treasure trove of hidden gems, one of which is the ancient sprawling paradise surrounding Malibu Creek. This state park is so pretty it has been the location of a couple of popular films.

What to Do

Malibu Creek State Park offers a lot of the free things to do in Malibu for backpackers. Hike, bike, climb, kayak, camp, and watch wildlife as you explore the Santa Monica Mountains. For a full experience, the park offers free docent-led tours too!

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel

13. Solstice Canyon

Located off Corral Canyon Road from the Pacific Coast Highway up on the Santa Monica Mountains, Solstice Canyon is a popular sight with a wide array of hiking trails.

Why You Should Go

Another contender for scenic adventures into the Santa Monica Mountains is Solstice Canyon, a favorite among families, hardcore hikers, and history enthusiasts. Solstice Canyon features ruins, coastal sage scrub, and a perennial waterfall, all populated by roaming wildlife.

What to Do

Hike the wide trails and enjoy picnics along the way. A trip to the waterfall shows you several ruins too, like a stone hunting cabin and ranch house. If you’re looking for a more challenging adventure, opt for the Rising Sun Trail.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Courtyard by Marriott Los Angeles Woodland Hills

14. Malibu Riders

Click Here to See Ticket Price of Similar Activity

Malibu Riders is a top-rated horseback riding tour company that guides guests through Malibu’s most beautiful trails.

Why You Should Go

With Malibu Riders, you get to ride through the city’s most amazing trails, lush forests, and stunning landscapes aboard gentle horses. You don’t need to be experienced. Just come and enjoy the relaxing ride.

What to Do

First choose your adventure. You can enjoy a ride through forests, up mountains with ocean views, or to a famous ranch formerly owned by 20th Century Fox. Arrive about an hour ahead of the ride schedule for briefing, and enjoy the trip.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Hampton Inn & Suites Agoura Hills

15. Leo Carrillo State Park

Named after a local conservationist, Leo Carrillo State Park is bordered by 1.5 miles of breathtaking coastline.

Why You Should Go

Campers with an affinity for the water are always drawn to the sycamores, coastal caves, reefs, and tidepools of Leo Carrillo State Park. The park also features lovely trails for back-country hiking.

What to Do

Book a spot on the park’s famed campgrounds and enjoy a beachy camping trip involving swimming, surfing, beachcombing, caving, and diving.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Quality Inn & Suites Thousand Oaks – US101

16. Malibu Hindu Temple

Amidst the green state parks of the Santa Monica Mountains rose a Hindu temple built in 1981.

Why You Should Go

The Malibu Hindu Temple is one of the largest Hindu temples in the Western world. It’s actually an active temple that hosts Hindu ceremonies, activities, and cultural programs.

What to Do

Looking for things to do in Malibu for couples? This temple makes for a unique experience with a foreign culture.

Tour the grounds and marvel at the intricacies of Hindu architecture inside out. Check out their official calendar to catch an event. If you’re hungry, the temple has a kitchen that serves delicious vegetarian meals.

Recommended Hotel Nearby: Hilton Woodland Hills/ Los Angeles

17. Neptune’s Net

Neptune’s Net was started in 1956 by a retired aerodynamicist from NASA.

Why You Should Go

Done all the best things to do in Malibu, CA? Reward yourself with a warm tasty meal at Neptune’s Net, a popular restaurant that has been featured in countless movies and shows.

What to Do

Even when it’s raining or cold, Neptune’s Net’s popularity never dies out. Treat yourself with the deep-fried seafood well loved by locals until today. Enjoy the postcard-perfect views as you chow down on Malibu fare.

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solemnrosary · 5 years

Text

Things that are, things that were, things that will never be

More stuff bogging my headcase so, out it goes. No trauma stuff this time, to my surprise.

Today’s been a somber morning. For once, I slept a full night’s rest, since the longest time. I didn’t see nightmares or upsetting scenes, since the longest time. But I did revisit some places. I saw people, old and new. New patches in old buildings, the world rehashing itself.

That’s quite normal, the reordering of things. The places in my dreams do not exist in the waking world, never in the form and manner they take in dreams. Its architecture melds into vast places, empty spaces, entire streets and cities. The places themselves are completely new, or they’re several spaces reconnecting and overlapping. Sometimes, there are forests, deserts, bogs, beaches. Mostly though, everything’s structured into buildings. Cafes. Winding staircases and long hallways and entire malls. But, rarely if ever, are they places that I’ve been to. They aren’t the places of my memories. Partly, I feel, because I do not like them. The memories, the places and people they connect to. The spaces may be familiar, that I’ve visited them many times over many dreams, but they don’t ‘exist’. Windows to stores, exhibits, museums, malls, bright skylighted walkways, a narrow cobblestone spiral staircase into a musty cafe.

Much the same, are the people that inhabit, no that’s not quite right, people that- occupy and linger in the spaces of dreams. They don’t really live there, they’re more like fishes in ponds. Filling the spaces with movement and flow without me ever needing to pay any attention to who they are or what they do. They simply are, in the spaces. So that the space isn’t empty. I don’t interact with them. I can’t really hear anything in dreams. I can read, though. Sometimes pages upon pages, of words that I do recognize to be what they are, full sentences that make sense. I don’t remember much when I wake up, in terms of words. Ideas, places, actions.

But you see, I don’t tend to see anyone familiar. Mostly, certainly, for the same reasons spaces aren’t the spaces I’ve lived in. The people around me don’t ‘exist’. They are, they do, they act and they move, but they don’t ‘exist’. Sometimes their faces and expressions are clear, sometimes they motion something to me, selling, presenting, preparing. Mundane things, that don’t really matter. They walk, they talk, they laugh and have fun and go about their days, near me, not with me.

And I feel, that I’m mostly content with it. I like the spaces, I like the flow, I don’t need the interaction. I like walking about, exploring the tiny nooks and crannies of the worlds, seeing old iron fences painted bright red, structures and flow.

But, last night, I saw a space that I’ve been in. Breathed in.

I’ve seen it once before in a dream, but wasn’t ‘there’. Back then I saw what I could identify as the stone foundation of that place. It was sticking out in a vast space, between dunes of sand. It had been empty, lost, gone, abandoned. I had opened a door to a small closet that had been left intact, and people I’m related to in blood, walked out and into the vast desert, in different directions, until they could no longer be seen. People that were, people that are. All going somewhere. I didn’t chase after, only watched them go.

It had been a dream about loss and being lost. About accepting that places go as people do. It hadn’t been painful, only quiet. And then the dream had shifted someplace else entirely, and I continued my journey.

But, last night, that same place, wasn’t in ruins.

It was filled with people, some that I’m not close to at all, some that I carry a grudge to, some that I hadn’t met. Some that claimed to be people they cannot be. It was that place, ‘before’ it had gone, but also ‘after’ it had gone. It had rehashed between times that aren’t and times that were, with people that were and those that aren’t. People that cannot be, and people that can. People that shouldn’t be, and people that should be but aren’t.

It had walls that had been patched, in several tones and sizes of tiles. It made sense but it didn’t. I could see that this place had gone a little wonky. It was there, I could see some old things here and there, but it had new and unfamiliar things strewn about in a way that no one would build deliberately. It was a place where the people who aren’t, lived. I accepted this, it seemed reasonable to make accommodations that match that which isn’t. Why there were people that shouldn’t be there, I do not know. I didn’t care to see them there, or at all, but if they didn’t make a fuss, what did it matter?

There was, however, someone there that did matter. I suppose they’ve become somewhat of a regular companion in the dreams that don’t haunt me, as rare as they are. Is it my own loneliness that brings them there? Likely so. It doesn’t feel bad, in the dreams, not being alone. Sometimes, I can gather meanings about my own thoughts and feelings in the waking world, through the ways they accompany and interact with me in dreams. Sometimes, I can almost hear them, in the dreamspace where sound doesn’t really ‘exist’ to me. They are always reasonable, kind, gentle. Just, there, when I feel the most lost.

I feel a little guilty, letting them be there. I shouldn’t, should I? But there’s something soothing in their warmth, consoling. But, I do feel a little guilty, letting them be there. I don’t approach them. I suppose there’s something about dreaming a person that says ‘dubious consent’ to me, and I cannot approach them. I could, but I don’t. ‘I shouldn’t let them be there, they wouldn’t want to be there’. But I let them exist. Sometimes, I am lead somewhere that requires attention, sometimes, I am simply held. Sometimes I sit there, and listen to meanings expressed. I don’t initiate anything, though. Lately, though, it’s been less in the way of complex meanings and dilemmas I feel in the waking world, and more in the vein of ‘simply lonely’.

In the old space that had been made different, I’d sat in the living room. It must have been a celebration of some sort, by the amount of people there, and in the lack of available chairs. For the people that aren’t, I supposed. Like a housewarming party.

I don’t think I liked being there that much, but I took in the people there and listened. And then they were there, right beside my chair. I couldn’t leave yet, but there were no available chairs left and I didn’t want them to go away. So, I gently nudged them to sit in the same chair, on my lap. And I held them as I listened people prattle along. After a while, there was a tour along the space. It had a particular room, the one with the tiles, that looked like it would go much much deeper had I gone toward the backrooms I knew had been there at some point. It was very dark after the second doorway, right past the people and the new tiles. I didn’t get to go deeper, as my companion took my hand and led me away from that place without a word. I awoke.

Waking up, it had probably been the smartest choice. It had every makings of an entrance to a nightmare, not that I could recognize such in dreams themselves. People smiling just ever so slightly enough to be nonthreatening, but with faces I didn’t know and trust. Inviting me to explore. Darkness looming about, the twisting of things that are ordered and structured very particularly in my dreams.

I feel guilty, though. About holding onto my dream’s companion. Grateful that they keep safe, but I shouldn’t indulge myself in their presence. That inviting warmth and softness and sweetness. It’s not the right thing to do, even if it’s not sensual in nature. I shouldn’t, I shouldn’t. I cannot bear the thought of pushing my own feelings on any incarnation of them. How much had I suffered for such myself? I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to be that. A dream or not.

So, I wake in a complex tangle of feelings and guilt.

I head to the kitchen to prepare some tea, and I run into my kin. They’re watching old photos on the living room TV. Dad connected a portable drive into it.

.....I hate it. It brings me only melancholy, seeing myself in the photos. Much like looking in a mirror, I cannot see myself in what is reflected. It’s the body I am bound to, the one I’m perceived through, not the being I am. It takes me back to the unbearably sad and angry and tormenting days of my youth. To the control and the constant ‘sister’s and ‘girl’s and ‘lady’s and ‘woman’s. To the endless streams of do’s and don’ts and ‘good intentions’ that bind me in iron shackles. To all the wasted effort I poured into my kin and to everything I kept losing. And then I lost myself, somewhere there. I grew wrong and I look so uncomfortable in simply existing. Why do I look like that? Who’s that? I don’t like seeing this body. It’s not ‘right’.

I can’t help but to think, that that’s all I’ll ever be. I’ll always be the image that’s reflected back, that stranger whose face I can’t ever quite get used to seeing. It’s all in the wrong places, and it won’t ever be in the right ones. It’s too far gone.

If I was to die today, or tomorrow, though, all that suffering would amount to naught. I’d have never lived. What would be the point, to end the tally on a zero? Or a minus for that matter. Perhaps, it’ll never be a positive integer, or a sum that feels satisfying. But if it was to end now, it would certainly never have a chance to reach anything but a zero. So I live in the vain hope that maybe tomorrow won’t be like today. I daydream of a miracle that could make it right, so I didn’t feel like such a stranger every day. It won’t come, I know. But I need that image in my heart, the one that feels right. Even if it’s too far to reach. Much like my dream’s companion, I suppose. I don’t think I could bear the weight of my own heart without.

Today’s somber. I feel heavy and guilty and sad in a way that I cannot resolve. It’ll go, eventually. But I need to feel the sadness and regret for it to pass. It’s rough with this mind so foggy and thick and dull, so I’ll stay out of everyone’s way for today.

Write it out, feel it through, let it pass.

#solemn rambles #solemn laments

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krystangreen-blog · 5 years

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Situated along the waterfront, PIER 39 San Francisco is home to many of the best things to do in San Francisco. From the famous sea lions to tours that depart from the pier, here’s how to spend a day at this popular attraction.

Shortcut to Big Savings

Get 5 PIER 39 Attractions for One Low Price (Save $30)

Includes a PIER 39 Savings Fun Pack with more than 100 coupons and discounts to many of PIER 39’s stores, restaurants, and attractions.

Top Things to Do at PIER 39 San Francisco

Aquarium of the Bay

Aquarium of the Bay sits in the historic district of San Francisco and houses over 20,000 species of marine animals. You’ll discover a world beneath the waves when you explore exhibits of Northern California aquatic life. Three hundred feet of tank tunnels show 360 views of moon jellies, sharks, and skates.

Yoga lovers can attend morning classes while sharks, fish, and rays swim by. If you plan to visit other nearby attractions, make sure to purchase the PIER 39 Attraction Pass which grants discounted admission to the aquarium as well as deals on PIER 39 restaurants.

7D Experience

Get a fully immersive, action-packed adventure with San Francisco’s 7D Experience. Hop on a ride with motion seats that simulate the effects of a roller coaster. It feels like a virtual reality video game with interactive gun shooting and special effects.

Those interested in the 7D Experience and other PIER 39 attractions can benefit from discounted entry by purchasing the PIER 39 Attraction Pass. The pass purchase price covers the 7D Experience entry as well as discounts on other PIER 39 San Francisco activities.

Magowan’s Infinite Mirror Maze

Enter a psychedelic world of neon lights and mirror halls at Magowan’s Infinite Mirror Maze. Charles Magowan created this magical, artistic attraction for the whole family to enjoy. Navigate through a maze of flashing lights and neon colors that dazzle the senses.

You can take your time as the maze lets you stick around and enjoy the experience for as long as you like.

CitySightseeing San Francisco Tour

CitySightseeing San Francisco Tour presents the city’s official Hop-on, Hop-off experience. You’ll see the biggest San Francisco attractions from an open-air double-decker bus. The CitySightseeing tour winds past over 40 of the city’s top stops, each of which you can explore at your leisure.

The bestselling day tour includes the Golden Gate Bridge, Fisherman’s Wharf, North Beach, Chinatown Gate, and PIER 39.

Golden Gate Bridge/Sausalito Tour

Enjoy sweeping views of San Francisco during a Golden Gate Bridge/Sausalito Tour with Skyline Sightseeing San Francisco. The Golden Gate Bridge connects Sausalito to San Francisco. Sausalito has become famous for its Richardson Bay houseboats made by squatters after the Second World War, the historic Fort Baker overlooking Horseshoe Cove, and boutique shopping. You can walk along the world-famous Golden Gate Bridge for panoramic views of the bay.

Look toward the horizon to catch glimpses of Angel Island, Alcatraz, and the San Francisco skyline. You can explore by foot or take the ferries that run between San Francisco and Sausalito.

Bay Cruise Adventure by Blue & Gold Fleet

The Bay Cruise Adventure by Blue & Gold Fleet provides picturesque views of the city from every angle. During the 60-minute boat ride, you’ll also pass by the famous PIER 39 sea lions sunbathing by the bay.

The tour doesn’t require reservations, and guests can enjoy complimentary multi-language audio available. This is the perfect opportunity for photographers of all levels to capture classic San Francisco images like the city skyline, the sea lions, the historic waterfront, and of course, PIER 39.

RocketBoat

Blue & Gold Fleet offers guests another – this time adrenaline pumping – way to experience San Francisco Bay from PIER 39. The RocketBoat is a high-speed adventure that takes guests out on the water for the ultimate bay thrill ride. The boat zips along the water, taking you beneath the Bay Bridge. You’ll speed down to Oracle Park, home to San Francisco’s baseball team, The Giants. The RocketBoat takes 30 minutes and runs during warmer months between May to October.

*Note that the current RocketBoat has been retired and rides are not offered during the 2019 summer season. Ticket holders can be upgraded either to Bay Cruise Adventure or Escape from the Rock cruises. The other option is to hold onto RocketBoat tickets until summer 2020 for an even more exhilarating RocketBoat cruise on the new boat.

Escape from the Rock Cruise by Blue & Gold Fleet

A foreboding feeling creeps in as the Escape from The Rock Cruise circles Alcatraz Island penitentiary. Although the prison no longer functions, its infamous history lives on through the true stories of daily life in the prison and bold escape attempts. The Escape from The Rock Cruise by Blue & Gold Fleet provides 360 views of Alcatraz with intriguing audio tales of past inmates like Al Capone and Clyde Johnson.

You’ll learn about the only successful escape from the island penitentiary in 1962 that is the stuff of Hollywood lore.

PIER 39 Sea Lions and Sea Lion Center

California sea lions have established a permanent colony near San Francisco’s PIER 39—lounging and frolicking on floating docks made to serve them. And now, visitors can learn even more about the adorable barking sea lions at the Sea Lion Center at PIER 39, managed by Aquarium of the Bay.

Bring the whole family to see educational videos and interactive displays. Visual exhibits include a real sea lion skeleton and pelt. There are plenty of sea lion souvenirs too. Outside the center, you can watch the sea lions in action as they dive in the water and lounge by the bay. The PIER 39 Sea Lions Center is open to the public between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. daily.

Whale-Watching Tour

View the amazing migration of blue, humpback, and gray whales during an unforgettable boat tour through the protected Farallon Islands sanctuary. Whale watching tours run throughout the year, but the type of whales in the area depends on the season.

Humpback whales typically appear May through November. Gray whales and killer whales arrive in December, staying until May. Dolphins and seals also show up, along with an occasional sighting of the ferocious Great White shark.

Tours typically leave from PIER 39, and you can book discounted passes to enjoy PIER 39 restaurants, shopping, and local excursions before or after your whale-watching tour.

The Flyer

Ready for a jaw-dropping experience soaring above San Francisco and the Bay Area? The Flyer provides a live-action virtual reality flight perfect for an introduction to the city.

Take a seat in motion activated seats that simulate a flight exploring San Francisco’s most prominent attractions and landmarks. You’ll launch above the Golden Gate Bridge before sweeping by Coit Tower, Lombard Street, and Chinatown. The ride continues as you take in breathtaking sights of the Redwood National Forest from the skies.

The San Francisco Flyer is located on Pier 39. After the show, you can enjoy Pier 39 restaurants, shopping, and attractions, including the Aquarium of the Bay.

The Carousel

Buy separate tickets to ride the carousel.

Feel like a kid again on the Pier 39 Carousel. It’s thought to be the only carousel with artistic renderings of the city including the PIER 39 sea lions, Golden Gate Bridge, Coit Tower, Chinatown, Lombard Street, Alcatraz, and more.

Musical Stairs

The Musical Stairs at PIER 39 San Francisco is an interactive art exhibit. Climb up and down the piano key stairs and enjoy the sound of music with each step.

The artist behind San Francisco’s Musical Stairs, Remo Saraceni, also designed the famous giant piano from the movie, Big, starring Tom Hanks. Access the Musical Stairs from the PIER 39 parking lot and walk over to Building O, Level 1 & Level 2.

The Frequent Flyer

Bounce up and down on a bungee trampoline at the Frequent Flyer along PIER 39 San Francisco. While strapped into the bungee, you can spring up to 20 feet.

Try out some aerial acrobatics during hang time, and don’t forget to have someone in your group capturing your daring feats on video. The Frequent Flyer requires jumpers to weight at least 30 pounds and under 230 pounds.

Free Stage Shows

Not all activities along PIER 39 San Francisco cost money. During a visit to the bay end, you’ll come across a host of free stage shows throughout the day. Street performers, jugglers, and all sorts of entertainers throw on spectacles bringing excitement and laughter to audiences.

Weather permitting, show times are at noon, 1:20, 2:40, 4:00, and 5:20 in the afternoon. Evening performances are at 6:30, 7:40, and 8:50.

Over 110 Specialty Shops

PIER 39 has two levels with stores selling apparel, accessories, cosmetics, jewelry, snacks, and more. Chocolate lovers can indulge their senses at the Chocolate Heaven specialty store devoted to sweets. Houdini’s Magic Shop sells magic tricks and manuals for magicians in the making. You can even harvest your pearl at Pearl Factory.

PIER 39 Restaurants

Fog Harbor Fish House (Top Pick)

For a quintessential waterfront dining experience with spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Fog Harbor Fish House is the place to be. Seafood lovers can indulge in one of PIER 39’s best restaurants serving up shrimp, lobster, clams, and other fruits of the sea. The restaurant’s sustainable seafood program is approved by Aquarium of the Bay and is the backbone of their daily menu.

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Restaurant & Market

Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. is a beloved PIER 39 restaurant that’s perfect for the whole family. Life might be like a box of chocolates, but you know what you’re going to get at fishing boat-themed Bubba Gump – coconut shrimp, crispy golden shrimp, grilled shrimp, stuffed shrimp, and more shrimp. Other menu favorites include their award-winning Dixie-style Baby Back Ribs.

Players Sports Grill and Arcade

Players aims to please every member of the family. Sports fans appreciate the over 200 channels viewable on 30 screens. Hop over to the Luau Lounge and Tiki Bar for fresh seafood or a burger and beautiful views of the bay.

The arcade houses a massive collection of 85 arcade games for kids and adults including pinball, air hockey, and shooting games.

Dessert Shops

Yes, that’s cookie dough in a cone.

There are plenty of outlets to satisfy sweet tooths. If you’ve ever dreamed of eating copious amounts of cookie dough without needing to bake, head to Doughp (as seen on Shark Tank). There is also the Candy Baron with its barrels full of salt water taffy, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream Shop, Trish’s Mini Donuts and more.

PIER 39 Parking

PIER 39 San Francisco offers convenient parking for visitors. The PIER 39 parking garage operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Parking during the weekdays costs $10 per hour with a maximum daily rate of $50. You can also reserve PIER 39 parking access in advance for a $30 All-Day flat rate.

PIER 39 Savings Fun Pack

Don’t forge to pick up a PIER 39 Savings Fun Pack that includes more than 100 coupons and discounts to many of the popular San Francisco spot’s stores, restaurants, and attractions. Grab it at the California Welcome Center at PIER 39.

#><div #333333 #88B75B;font-size:24px;width:24px;height:24px #></i></div><div #ffffff;color:333333;border-radius:0px;-moz-border-radius:0px;-webkit-border-radius:0px;box-shadow:0px #eeeeee;-moz-box-shadow:0px #eeeeee;-webkit-box-shadow:0px #eeeeee;border:1px #88B75B></i></div><div #333333><i #88B75B><strong>Included

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