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#bunny’s human fast forwards a lot of the videos to the point where it’s probably reasonable to assume bunny is no longer asking or reacting
farm-paws · 1 year
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wait what's wrong with the talking buttons?
So, the talking dog buttons are fine when they’re used for a concrete action (like asking to go outside, for water, etc) or as a funny trick (‘happy birthday bitch’). The former has an immediate reward/reaction that the animal can conceptualise; the dog gets to go outside, or gets water. And the latter is a trained behaviour sequence exactly the same as any other trained behaviour.
But they’re not fine when paired with non-concrete action or concept, such as time. You see this a lot in @/WhatAboutBunny’s videos. Dogs don’t conceptualise time like we do. They can learn routines (see: Bella harassing me at 6:15pm exactly for dinner) but don’t understand things like ‘tomorrow’. They are more likely to understand words like ‘tomorrow’ or ‘later’ as ‘that’s not happening’ or ‘go try something else’
The use of the buttons is the same as a verbal cue; it’s a sound tied to a specific action. There is no action tied to sounds like ‘why’, ‘where’, or ‘question’ (all buttons that Bunny has) except for gaining attention and interaction from her owner. This is a reinforcement the same as getting a treat from pushing ‘treat’ or water from pushing ‘water’. Good reinforcement histories are incredibly powerful things. There’s a reason why my dogs sprint full speed to their kennels when I say ‘go to your pen’, cause they get their dinner there! There’s a reason that Bunny and Stella (the OG talking buttons dog) push the buttons for questions, emotions, or other concepts. But it’s not because they understand them like people do.
Also the whole marketing of them as ‘finally our dogs can communicate with us!’ is kind of shitty. Dogs already communicate so much with us. Verbally too (ever owned a terrier or northern breed?). Just because they’re not saying words doesn’t mean it’s not communication.
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miyaniacs · 4 years
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collaboration between @shhhlikeme and @thosenerdy3amthings​
about: Casually scrolling though YouTube Hanamaki suddenly stops. His eyes scan over the title again and again “Most Handsome & Beautiful Haikyu!! Faces”.  As soon as his brain comprehended what he just read, he clicked on it. There was someone out there, ranking him, his friends and the people around them? He HAS to tell Matsukawa. There is no way he can not. Not after what he just saw. Let the vicious cycle begin … 
Link to the video and credits are in the masterlist
Introduction /Oikawa and Iwaizumi
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Kageyama and Hinata
written by @shhhlikeme​​
“Hey Kageyama!” Hinata greeted the man standing on his lawn, hopping out of his house like an orange bunny. 
“Why were you calling me when I told you I’d be here in 2 minutes, boke.” Answered the setter, skipping hellos and turning his back to walk to the library. Hinata caught up with him. 
This afternoon, the two college boys / ex teammates planned on heading the local library. Even though they attend different post-secondary schools, they had gotten so used to cramming together everyday in high school for three years that they find comfort in working alongside eachother to pull out the grades they need, even though neither of them were willing to admit it. 
“Oh! Because I thought of something I had to tell you and I didn’t want to forget it when I got out here!” 
Kags was annoyed, as per usual. “Alright.... So are you gonna tell me what it is..........?” 
Hinata‘s mouth formed an “O” as he lifted up his index finger excitedly to say what he’s been itching to tell his friend for weeks......only to not have any sound come out: because he forgot. 
Kageyama glared at him. “You forgot.” 
Shōyo waved his arms around maniacally as they walked. 
“Well crap! Maybe if you got here on time I would have remembered!” 
“Boke. Think. What was it about?” 
Hinata raked his memory with all his might. “Uhhhh......Twitter. Something about Twitter. Oh, right!!! I sent you something funny of Twitter!”
“I’m never on Twitter. And I won’t find it funny.” Tobio mumbled, sliding his phone out of his pocket, unlocking it with his thumb, he pressed the Twitter app that might as well have cobwebs on it. Tobio had like 50+ mentions and 20+ direct messages. 
Looking around his arm to see, Hinata pointed to the screen. “Hey.... why is The Great King messaging you??” 
Tobio was suddenly very interested. “What? He did? What did he say?!”
Retrieving the iphone, Hinata opened the direct message, taking the liberty of shoving his face closer to the screen and reading the message out loud: 
“Oikawa said..... ‘ha guess who’s better again’ ...............then he said..........’once second best, always second best ..... nail polish emoji.....middle finger emoji..............sticking tongue out emoji’............and then there’s a video link. A rank.”
“A rank!?” His blood boiling because his ex-mentor could easily get under his skin, Kageyama ripped his phone out of Shōyo’s hand and brought it close to his face for analysis. 
“Someone put out a ranking?” He inquired. 
“Ouuu lemme see! I think that’s our old coach Takeda on the thumbnail!” Hinata grabbed the phone back, getting excited. 
“No, Boke! Let me hold MY PHONE!” 
The two began a scrappy cell phone tug of war, resulting in a toss of the phone several feet in the air into the neighbours yard. The video had begun playing as they threw it.
The two competitors paused - looked at eachother, then hurdled over the fence, jumping over the lawn gnomes and raced over to the phone that was playing the Rank video. During the race, they slid onto their stomachs on the grass, immediately trying to pry it out of the other’s hands before settling on placing it in the middle as they both held the device.
“Whoaaaaaaaa.” Hinata widened his eyes as he saw the pictures roll to left. “How did they get all these pictures of everyone?!” 
Taking the phone completely and pausing the video, Shōyo rapidly scanned his surroundings as if he’d just seen a red target on Kageyama’s forehead from a distant shooter. 
When he figured the coast was clear, he brought his attention back to the video. 
“WHOA OVER 400,000 VIEWS?!” 
Annoyed, Kags pressed play again. 
“I mean maybe there’s no spies around but it is kind of scary. Where did they get these pictures!?” 
Lying on the grass, Kags bumped Hinata’s shoulder with his own in an attempt to get him to shut up about random shit. “What’s my rank.” He inquired. 
“Hey they put Aone-san at the end all the way at #166!? Well, that’s mean.” 
Kags nudged Hinata again with his shoulder. “What’s my rank, Boke.?”
“And hey that short Ace that you said I fly higher than back in 1st year is at #115! I think he’d be really angry to see that.” 
I don’t care: Kags thought. 
Nudge. “What’s my rank, Boke?” 
“HAHA! ONION HEAD IS AT #77! .......But how did he beat out Lev, looking like a human onion?” Hinata scratched his head. 
Shut up: Kags thought. 
Nudge again. “What’s my rank, Boke.?” 
“Hmmm.... I see a lot of old heads on this list! I guess the person who made this list likes grandpas!.” 
Harder nudge. “What is—“ 
“Awesome! Inuoka is in the Top 50?! Way to—“
Never the patient sort, Tobio Karate-chopped Hinata on the head. 
“WHAT IS MY RANK, YOU IDIOT—!” 
Hinata yelped in pain, turning to scream back in his ear. “—I DON’T KNOW KAGEYAMA, OBVIOUSLY WE HAVEN’T SEEN YOU OR ME IN THE VIDEO YET SO—“
“—WELL SKIP TO AT THE END, THEN! YOU THINK I WOULD BE RANKED ANYWHERE NEAR THE PLAYERS YOU JUST MENTIONED—“
“FINE! I’LL FAST FORWARD IT BUT ONLY IF YOU STOP YELLING IN MY EAR! I NEED TO USE THEM TO PLAY IN MY GAME TOMORROW—“ 
“HEY YOU KIDS WHEREVER YOU ARE GET THE FUCK OFF MY LAWN WITH ALL THAT YELLING BEFORE I CALL THE COPS—“ Yelled a shaky elderly voice from the grumpy old bat that lived on Hinata’s street. 
The boys froze as if that would render them invisible. Kageyama quieted down so that his idiot friend could just fast forward quickly. Given the circumstances, Hinata did, to top 15. 
“Oh, hey! There’s Asahi!” 
The two boys whisper-exclaimed in unison. 
 “Tsukishima should not be in the Top 15.” 
They also said in unison, deadpanning.
“Hey look! It’s me!” 
Both boys exclaimed, seeing rank #13 and #12 roll across the screen.
“At least whoever did this knows I’m better than you, Boke.” Kags muttered.
“Why should you be higher than me?!” Hinata yelled. “You look like the monster Natsu thinks is hiding under her bed!” 
“Oh shut up....” 
Glancing back to the screen, Hinata gasped. “AND THERE IS THE GREAT KING! At Number 5, wow!” 
Kageyama was not happy.
“I mean, I guess I can see why they would mistake Oikawa because he is in all the magazines so they probably have seen him more so I’m only a little insulted about that. But the real question is... WHY would they think Coach Ukai—the guy who smokes a pack a day and can barely jog one lap around the gym—is a better player than ME?! I’m disgusted. And Kiyoko?! She only serves underhand! What kind of stupid video is!? Show me who made it I’m going to send them my highlight tape right now so that they can correct this shi—“ 
Hinata blinked, interrupting his frenemy. “Uh, Kageyama....?” 
Kags stopped his angry rant momentarily to glare at his old teammate. 
“What?!”
“...You do realize that this isn’t a rank for greatest volleyball skill, right? It’s uh..... for looks. How attractive we all are.” 
Upon hearing the new information, Kags’ infuriated face fell. 
“....Really?” 
Shōyo nodded.
“Oh.” 
Kageyama’s entire demeanour changed, switching from shifty— to absolutely careless. He stood up calmly from the grass and dusted off his attire. 
“Then I don’t care.” 
He stated simply, turning to head in the direction of the library again, expecting Hinata to follow with his phone.
“Wait! What are you going to answer The Great King!?” 
Tobio shrugged as he walked away, so, naturally, Hinata took his response literally. Not wanting to be rude and still holding onto Kags’ phone, Hinata responded to Oikawa’s dm that had the viral ranking with a: 
🤷🏻‍♂️ 
Immediately, you could see “.....” on the screen because Oikawa was typing. 
Oikawa: WHY AREN’T YOU ANGRY 😡😡😡😡😡😡😡😡🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻🖕🏻
“Hm. I guess Oikawa-senpai was hoping for a better reaction out of Kageyama.....” 
In the distance, Kags yelled, 
“HINATA! We have to study. Let’s go!” 
“Coming!” 
Shōyo called, quickly forwarding the video to his own Twitter so that he could send it to Kenma later. He does that with every interesting video he comes across, so maybe Kenma would get a kick out of it. 
Shōyo did not remember seeing Kozume on the list because Kageyama had gone into his distracting rant about unfairness, but Shōyo just figured he had skipped his anti-social friend’s rank when Kageyama made him fast forward to the Top 15. 
Little did he know.......... that the quiet cat boy’s ranking..........was even higher than Oikawa’s.
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 taglist ( open ) : @your-local-bnha-writer​​​ @chaichai-the-weeb​​​​ @kageyamasbraincell​​​​  @nekxrizawa​​​​  @ushiwakaflaka​​​ ​ @tendouthighs​​​​  @brokeyiam
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othercat2 · 3 years
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Writing Update, Bunny, and Snippet(s)
So! While searching for porn I found a series called Taming Riki on Amazon, which is apparently original fan fic of Ai no Kusabi. It is not very good fan fic, and only semi okay porn. It reminded me very much of the kind of yaoi porn one used to be able to find on LJ in the early 2000s. I did end up reading it, but was very impatient with it. (Writer, have you ever actually met human beings? I wonder!)
This somehow led to reading Ai no Kusabi fan fic. Which was very odd since I was not impressed with the Ova! (I am probably not going to read the novel(s) since they apparently end in Bury Your Gays Under Piles of Rubble.) Anyway, the AnK fan fic seems to tend toward the "rewrite canon so characters survive" variety. And is often quite optimistic that the mains could have a relationship.
Bunny 1: Due to the part where Iason "Why is my surname a Mustelid, it must be because I fuck like Weasels" Mink is an android he was never actually in danger because all you need to do is down load a backup. Problem: he keeps crashing because Riki was made of meat, and he does not know how to grieve. Jupiter POV as they/it/she tries to get Iason back to operational parameters. (Ricky don't you lose my number plays ironically in the background.)
Bunny 2: Almost exactly like AnK except with Homestuck style quadrants. So much quadrant vacillation. SO MUCH.
Speaking of Homestuck, I've been working on Rebel and Conqueror! I have also been working on Pernstuck, and the next installment of The Yiling Almanac ("the young master most likely to be found disappearing into the kitchen garden") Wei Ying's love of potatoes is featured. (I need to find Ursula Vernon's rant on potatoes.) I've also managed to get some writing done on Build a Life from Scratch. However, I'm slightly frustrated because I can't segue over the GHB/Signless debate. And I hate debates.
Snippet the First: (Rebel and Conqueror)
Trolls had all kinds of mind control powers. They could terrorize you into catatonia or turn you into a puppet. It depended on the caste though. Lower castes tended to have telekinesis powers, higher up the scale started to be telepathy and fear projection. At the very top it was mostly resistance to the mind control powers (and you suspected, regeneration and other weird shit you've only heard rumors about). It probably made sense to trolls to keep you away from Vantas, if things like what happened to you happened a lot. “He’s fuchsia,” you say, and even as you say it, you know it’s a stupid thing to say. Vantas doesn’t need to have been the one to fuck with your head, with or without the pheromones. “Is there any proof he had anything done to my head? Aside from fucking with it just by being his normal asshole self?”
“No evidence was found in the initial investigation,” the Dolorosa admits.
"So he didn't do anything," you say. "So I think I should get to see him sentenced." You pause, looking down at your hands. "For closure. Since I'm not allowed to be in contact with him anymore." The Dolorosa gives you an odd look. It's part concern and part curiosity, and you realize what you said might sound like. "It isn't Stockholm Syndrome," you tell. "I don't feel dependent on him for safety or something." You just want to know what's going on with him. "And don't ask if I want to see him, because that opens the entire do you want to be his kismesis can of worms, and the answer to that is still and will always be fuck no."
The Dolorosa smiles a little at that. "That's understood," she says. "Would you want to be in contact? From what I understand that also seems to be an issue."
"So, troll doctors don't have confidentiality?"
"I think you've made it clear that it's an issue outside Doctor Coyotl's office," the Dolorosa says. "It would be hard to keep common knowledge confidential." Her tone is dry. "Wanting to see him doesn't necessarily correlate to wanting to be in a kismesis with him."
"I want to see him," you say. "I don't know about contact. Maybe I want to ask what he thought he was going to do, raising my kid and screwing with me at the same time. How he thought that was going to work. What was he going to tell my kid about me, if he thought he was going to get away with it. Maybe I want him to delete that fucking 'I hate you' wall he has. Maybe I want to point and laugh at all the 're-education' he's going to go through."
"He already knew he wasn't going to get away with it," the Dolorosa says.
"What's the Black Tower like?" you ask, veering slightly off the subject.
"A prison," the Dolorosa says. "Or in some ways a hospital. I'm sure Pyrope has explained some of the details."
"Re-educated, supervised visits, supervised everything, Earth still conquered but the Viceroy can't have a hate boyfriend, yeah."
"Among other possible punishments," the Dolorosa says. "But those are the most likely." She pauses. "Are there any penalties you'd prefer?"
"Be pretty stupid for me to ask for execution, wouldn't it? Maybe ironic after all the effort not to kill me." Probably also stupid to suggest it to his grandmother, but she asked. "Maybe freedom for Earth and he doesn't have command of anything bigger than one of those ships you stick in a bottle. But freedom isn't on the table either."
The Dolorosa doesn't lecture on the benefits of imperial rule. Instead she says, "Dr. Coyotl mentioned that you had been losing a considerable amount of time during your captivity." She decaptchalogues a data grub, and sets it down on a low table by the couch. It's stubs around a couple inches before curling up, mandibles opening and shutting. You absolutely do not want to pick it up. "This data grub contains the complete security footage from your time on the then-Viceroy's ship. After viewing this, we can discuss if and when you can see him."
"I have to watch the home movie if I want to see him?" you ask. The Dolorosa nods. You know that you're stalling. (You still don't want to pick the data grub up.)
"You can watch it on your own, or with your partner, Rose Lalonde," Dolorosa says, and gets to her feet to leave.
"Wait," you say. She gives you an inquiring look. "So, if this is the complete footage, that's a lot of hours. What's the amount of hours before you'll let me see Vantas?"
"At least seventy two hours within a twenty four hour time frame," Dolorosa says.
"Okay."
Something resembling manners has you get up and follow her to the door, and see her out. When she's gone, you lean against the bulkhead and shudder all over, face in your hands. You slide down the bulkhead to the deck. Take it in steps. There was a computer in the corner of the living room, built into a desk. It wasn't too organic or alarming in appearance. Get the grub to the computer, and open the files. Did you really want to watch it on your own? Did you want Rose there, knowing how badly she wanted to kill Vantas? (It takes a moment to wrap your head around the way the argument wants to phrase Rose's presence as a negative. You don't want me her to be hurt. You don't want her to hurt Vantas.) Did you want to watch it, already knowing what you were going to see? (All the parts you couldn't remember and all the parts you could.)
"This is bullshit," you say, half hoping for a comment from the intercom. "You're hoping I don't watch, which will prove I shouldn't see Vantas." You don't get an answer.
With cringing fingers you pick up the grub (soft squashy urgh) drive and stick it in the port. As the drive opens you send a message to Rose: so i have umptybillion hours of video footage to go through before they'll let me see vantas please come hold my hand. You don't get an immediate reply, so you start going through the files.
You see that you have lots of raw footage. As far as you can tell, no editing was done at all. You are going to be doing a lot of skipping and fast forwarding, is what you're saying. Opening the first file, you get started. It starts with him getting you into his ship, and his quarters. Your hands clench as you watch yourself wake up, the combination of anger and panic on your face as he fucks you, how it turns to lust and desperation. You fast forward.
You fast forward a lot. A lot of this, you remember, and don't much want to go over it again. From a third person perspective, it's weird watching him with you. Watching you with him. (You don't remember the times you tried to make a shank--three times--or biting him as often as you as you actually did.) You can see the moments of concern or confusion on his face, see him arguing with Egbert and Harley. Or meeting some official. (Those are the times when you can remember having been locked in your room. )
Snippet the Second: (Build a Life from Scratch)
After some more talk you all break camp and head west. As you all walk, you stretch your Aspects out, figure out what they can do. It's at least half way to sense for danger, half to practice. You might lay down a "beat" that Redglare joins in on, that Disciple sings along to, that Zahhak hums absentmindedly. Or Jade and Signless have a "song" that Dolorosa joins in on, accompanied by Disciple. Demoness can sound like an entire choir, with Highblood coming in over the top, "sounding" something like a theremin crossed with a bass fiddle. Dave joins in, and Roxy, doing odd little solos or "duets" with one of the trolls, or with Jade.
The next few nights not much happens. The terrain is uneven, the sky is endless, and the air is muggy and damp. There are a few high-flying clouds that disappear by morning. You can see mountains in the distance, and the glinting snake of a river edged with trees. On the third day, you get closer to the river, it starts to get cloudier and the wind kicks up. In the early evening, you can see the wall of an approaching storm. It's a solid green-black wall, and you can see the trailing mists of rain as it dumps down, along with flickers of lightning. "Well, that's going to suck when it gets here," you say.
At the same time you hear this huge sliding crunch off to the side. Exactly like someone pulled up a whole hell of a lot of chunks of ground, all at once. You turn in that direction and see huge chunks of dirt and rock floating around Jade and the Demoness. "Hopefully we can make it suck less!" Jade says cheerfully. The chunks orbit Jade and Demoness as they began to quickly create a shelter. Everyone helps with pounding the dirt and rocks into a rough shelter big enough to hold everyone plus the not-horses. Demoness and Jade (with help from Alter Dave and Dolorosa) smooth out the inside and make everything solid and waterproof.
You all get inside as the storm hits. Roxy pulls out a couple of battery powered lanterns, and sets them up. "Getting better at that," you say.
She grins. "This trick's kind of fun," she says. "Watch." She shows you everything she can make appear, and then disappear. She starts with green cubes, then goes on to various toys, a pair of shoes, a laptop computer, a 3rd Edition Dungeon and Dragons Player's Handbook and DM Handbook. And various sets of dice. And a DM screen. "So, how about a game?"
"That game's for nerds," you scoff.
She rattles one of the clear tubes of dice at you. "Dirk, you are in fact a nerd." She tosses the tube at you, and you catch it reflexively. She also tosses one at Alter Dave, who steps back and lets it fall.
"Nah," he says. "I want to be Debbie."
Roxy laughs, eyes a little bright. "Rose had a brief stint of leaving Chick Tracts in odd little places. I covered the door to her bedroom with a print of The Time of the Dark."
"The one with the wizard sitting in the kitchen with can of beer?" You ask.
"Yep!"
"Mean," Dave says. "Isn't Hambly kinda homophobic?" Quickly. "Not that I would know, except from what my Rose might have ranted about a time or two because she's read a few of the writer's series. I'm way too cool for wizards."
"Wizards are extremely cool," Roxy says. "And I'm not sure one way or another, except yes, if she had written certain books today the way she had then, she would be up to her ears in angry letters and tweets, because holy crap."
It turns out trolls also have roleplaying games. Redglare, Disciple and Signless join in. To your surprise, so does Demoness. Highblood, the Dolorosa and Zahhak do not.
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mvssmallow · 6 years
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Cloudy With A Chance
Chapter 25: …of marshmallows.
Masterlist
November isn’t really what he expected. He had hoped for the best and expected the worst. November was a good song that ended too soon. Or a car ride that was too fast. He was a knife and November was a damm gun fight.
One minute he’s on their roof, eating take-away, a little bit sore but feeling content just sitting there and eating in silence.
The next thing he knows, Jiwon is pulling up in front of the Daily Grind offices to pick him up after work. He’s in that white shirt again, this time with fitted black jeans, black boots and the smell of that Jo Malone perfume that only gets used on special occasions.
That hair was still a mess though. Some things never change.
“Hey.” Jiwon greets him with a wide smile as always.
But he stops in his tracks to take everything in. He has a sixth sense about Jiwon and it’s almost never wrong. “Oh my god.”
Jiwon must have expected it because he laughs and shakes his head. “Oh my god, what?”
“Something happened. What happened?” He demands with a pointed accusatory finger.
Jiwon rolls his eyes and sighs. “Just get in the car, Hanbin. Your paranoia is showing.”
He stays frozen in his spot on the pavement and he knows it must look weird but he doesn’t care, the passersby can walk around him. “No. Something happened to you. Tell me.”
“I’ll tell you in the car.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“No! I want to know now-”
“Hanbin? Please just get in the car.” Jiwon pleads in a tired voice.
A few curious heads turn in their direction and he feels a small prick of worry creeping up his neck but it’s nothing compared to the anxiety in his chest. They just stare at each other for a moment and he expects Jiwon to back down but he doesn’t.
When did that even happen? Since when did Jiwon even learn how to do that? Since when did he let Jiwon defeat him?
“Okay, fine. Drama queen.” He mutters before walking to the passengers side that Jiwon holds open for him.
“Oh my god…” Jiwon says under his breath as he climbs into the other seat and reverses out of the parking spot and down a quieter side road. They don’t get very far before he’s reach the end of his patience.
“JIWON.” He whines.
“Wait….let me find a park….”
There really isn’t one on the street so they drive down a dark and partially deserted underground carpark. It’s as ominous as the cloud hovering over his head.
“Okay.” Jiwon starts, cutting the engine and pulling his seatbelt off. “Don’t freak out but-”
“Well, that’s a dumb thing to say-”
A hand clamps down on his thigh in warming. “Hanbin…”
He sits back in his seat with what he knows is a childish huff. “Okay, sorry. Go on…”
“Okay. So ummm, I had a meeting with BeatBox today. You probably figured that out by now. They said they liked the mixtape and wanted to talk about signing me up for a 3 year deal. I was going to just sign right there and then but I remembered what you said about reading all the fine print so I said I wanted to take it home and think about it and……Hanbin? Are you even listening?”
No he wasn’t. He stopped listening after “signing me up for a 3 year deal”.
The hand on his thigh squeezes it lightly and Jiwon peers into his face with worry. “Are you okay?”
He shakes head. “No. I’m …..just give me a second.”
He climbs out the car to take a few deep breaths and stare into the darkness. Now he understands why Jiwon wanted to drive him somewhere more secluded, to a place where he can freak out properly without embarrassing himself in public.
When he gets back in the car, Jiwon is looking at him with a big toothy grin. “Feel better? Thought I told you not to freak out?”
“And I thought I told you that I hate surprises. Looks like nobody is getting what they want.”
Jiwon’s hand finds it way up his neck and across his cheek. “Yeah, this is such bad news.”
“Where’s the contract? I want to read it.” He asks, eyes searching around the car.
Jiwon sighs a second time and ruffles his hair until it’s a matching shaggy mess. “Why did I even think this would be some memorable romantic moment…..”
A heavy white envelope is dropped into his lap. “There. Go nuts. I’ll just be over here, waiting for my boyfriend to congratulate me like a normal person would. No big deal.”
He pulls the contract out of the envelope and the sheer weight and number of pages is terrifying.  So this is how Jiwon’s new life begins. He can hardly believe that any of it even came true. It wasn’t so long ago that they were still dreaming of this together.
There’s a whiny noise of irritation next to him. “Biggest day of my life and I’m upstaged by a word document. Great.”
He smiles to himself before sliding the contract back in its envelope and throwing it into the backseat. He thinks about waiting until they drive home but the parking lot is still empty so he climbs into Jiwon’s lap and hovers inches over his face. “Is this romantic enough for you?”
Jiwon is staring at his lips. He’s so obvious that it’s adorable.
He doesn’t know how long they just kiss for but by the time he comes up for air, he forgets where they are.
“You just like me for my contract don’t you?” Jiwon murmurs, hands roaming under his shirt and scratching down his back.
He licks into Jiwon’s mouth again and bites at his pouty lower lip. “Mmm, yeah. I love your big thick contract. I’m going to read it all night long. My eyes are going to be so sore when I’m done.”
Fingers dig painfully into his back and Jiwon groans. “Don’t say stuff like that unless you want me to do something about it.”
He pulls at Jiwon’s hair to get better access to his lips. “Why do you think I said it….”
There’s a laugh that he can hear in his ears and feel in his mouth. When they pull apart a second time, he’s breathless and getting lightheaded.
“So,” Jiwon says quietly, reaching up brush some warm fingers across his cheek. “You proud of me yet?”
He sits back and studies Jiwon’s face for a moment. There’s a smile, there’s always a smile, but there’s also the slightest tinge of insecurity. He’d never pick up on it if not for the fact that he sees it almost every day in the mirror.
He’s caught between feeling offended and guilty. Offended that Jiwon would even doubt him but guilty because he knows he never tells Jiwon how he really feels about him.
“Of course I am. I was proud of you even before you got this deal. You know that right?”
“Oh….Okay.” Jiwon replies with a smaller lopsided smile. “You’re kind of taking this better than I thought you would.”
He shrugs. “I always knew this was going to happen for you eventually. I was just waiting for the rest of the world to catch up.”
Jiwon sighs again and frowns. “Can I tell you something else?”
“Yeah.”
“Once I sign the contract, it’s going to be crazy busy.”
He leans forward and wraps his arms around Jiwon’s body again. “I know. It’s going to be a wild ride.”
“You’ll be there for it, right?”
His heart fractures just a little bit at the way Jiwon is so unsure of himself now, despite the amount of times he’s won and keeps on winning. Part of him understands it, the way insecurities creep into everything no matter how hard you push them away, but the other part can’t understand it at all. Jiwon has everything going for him. A whole new life to begin. What was there to even be scared about?
“I’ll be wherever you want me to be.”
*****
June invites them out to dinner to celebrate. He doesn’t really want to go. He doesn’t know how long he can keep this version of Jiwon all to himself for. It’s selfish but love is selfish sometimes and there’s nothing he can do to get rid of it’s greed.
But it’s nice. And he’s just happy to watch Jiwon laugh and bicker with June over things that weren’t even worth bickering over: like if he’s going to dedicate a song to each of them or if he’s going to make embarrassing hip-hop videos or when he’s going to buy June a Porsche.
There’s a nudge at his elbow as Yoyo leans across the table and asks him how he took the good news today.
“Did he text you? Because that’s about as romantic as I expect him to be.” Yoyo says, nibbling on a breadstick. “He told us he moved in with you via a post-it. It literally said; at hbin’s house now.”
“Because you guys aren’t worth a 10 cent text.” Jiwon interjects snidely.
June looks at him with a shake of his head. “See how he disrespects us? This is what I’ve been trying to warn you about for 6 months. It’s not too late to leave. If you’re into tattooed music guys, I can set you up with this guy that’s been coming to the shop lately. Kinda looks like a bunny too.”
Jiwon makes a disgusting noise. “Are you talking about that Jungkook kid? No way. He goes to my gym, he’s a little punk.”
“At least he can perform on stage without his pants falling down.” Yoyo says quietly into his glass of wine.
“I told you, that was deliberate. All the guys were doing it!”
June leans towards him again. “Seriously though Hanbin, if you ever want out, just let me know. I think you’ve suffered for 5 months longer than any human man should have to.”
He laughs at Jiwon’s indignant face as there’s another burst of argument.
Yoyo sighs, leaning back in his chair. “They’re like this every single time they’re within a 5 mile radius of each other. If anyone has suffered, it’s me. Please don’t leave okay? I need you as a buffer.”
“I won’t.” He says with a chuckle.
They end up talking about award shows over the entrees, music videos over the main course and how rich Jiwon will be over dessert. He loves thinking about Jiwon’s future and all the things he will get to do but there’s still that selfish part of him that resurfaces again, the part that doesn’t really want to share Jiwon with anyone. The more people that Jiwon meets, the more likely he’ll eventually find the guy who he is probably meant to end up with.
He can feel a frown forming so he occupies his mouth with cake instead. There’s a hand that sneaks behind his back to draw him slightly closer and for the billionth time in 25 years, he just wishes he was a regular person who knew how to act normally and didn’t have a brain that tries to ruin every single situation with pessimism.
By the time a second round of dessert is ordered Jiwon’s hand leaves his back to rest on his upper thigh. He likes it. Not because it’s possessive, and it was a little bit, but because he likes the feeling that they’re always connected, even when they’re not talking to each other. The conversation goes on without him so he reaches under the table and traces over all the prominent veins on the surface of Jiwon’s hand.
He really should’ve stopped drinking 3 glasses ago but someone keeps setting down something new in front of him. Either he drank too fast or Jiwon was drinking too slow because when he looks over with glazed eyes, all he can focus on is how Jiwon’s bottom lip always sticks out so much.
There’s a burst of laughter and suddenly his eyes are caught in Jiwon’s too-sober gaze. “What?”
“Nothing.” He shakes his head but even as he does it, he can’t even tear his eyes away from that face. Jiwon smiles at him before turning away. The hand under the table squeezes tighter around his thigh.
They share a rowdy and chaotic taxi home and and he doesn’t remember what was said in the backseat, just snippets of laughter, an old song on the radio, the cool air from an opened window, the way the night sky and sparkling lights whiz by and Jiwon’s hand still on his leg.
He wants to remember everything.
****
November felt so different. It wasn’t really a month. It was more like a circus with something happening at every turn. It was like someone just hit the fast-forward button on their life and now all they could do was try to keep up.
In the week after his BeatBox meeting, he felt something change in himself. Hanbin was right, he had never been expected to do anything or have any real responsibility for anyone but himself. Maybe there had been some kind of parental pressure to find a wife and settled down but after awhile even his parents must have come to terms with his need for independence and freedom.
But now he wasn’t just a single entity anymore. He wasn’t just Jiwon. Not really. He belonged to someone and to something. It went against all 26 years of living freely and doing what he wanted, whenever he wanted. He will never tell Hanbin about all those nights where he freaked out about falling in love because….well, he isn’t someone who falls in love, he barely even knew what that was like. Maybe he thought he knew but when Hanbin came along, it just proved beyond a shadow of doubt that he didn’t know anything.
He wasn’t just Jiwon. He was Jiwon-And-Hanbin, said in the same breath as June-And-Yunheong. Donghyuk-And-Coffee. Chicken-And-Beer. Music-And-Lyrics.
He was in a unit and he had actual responsibilities now: to himself, to Hanbin, to their life and their future. He wasn’t just living for himself anymore. The choices he makes affects someone else, just like the mistakes he makes will.
It was…..terrifying and claustrophobic and he doesn’t really know how to deal with it when it all finally hits him at 2 in the morning.
His first instinct is to just run away.
But there’s a hand that rubs his back when he tosses and turns a few too many times. “You okay?” Hanbin asks in a sleepy voice.
He doesn’t know. Is he okay?
“I’m fine. Go back to sleep.” He replies, probably not convincing anybody, least of all Hanbin.
“What is it? You want to tell me?”
The back rub is soothing and he wishes it wasn’t because it makes it harder for him to leave their bed and this conversation. “I’m just……I don’t know. Maybe this isn’t meant to happen like this.”
“Like what?”
“Like if I fuck it up, it’s not just me who has to deal with it. It’s you and the record label and the producer who went out of his way to get me the contract. I just wanted to make music and perform but this is turning out to be a whole big deal and I’m just…..I don’t want a whole big deal….and I don’t want you to expect anything from me because I might just disappoint you.”
He doesn’t really hear it until he gets to the end. He’s freaking out. He hasn’t had one in a long time.
“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Hanbins says gently in his ear and turns him around so he can bury his head into the smaller, but somehow more softer, chest. “I don’t really care if you fuck things up. I told you. I don’t care if things never get any better than this. You can fuck things up as many times as you want but I know you, I know you’re going to be great at this. You’re already great and you haven’t even started.”
He shakes his head.
“You are. You know you are. You always have been. You went out and got everything you said you wanted to get. It’s more than I’ve ever done Jiwon. You’re the opposite of a disappointment.”
“I don’t want things to change.” He says into Hanbin’s chest, wondering where the hell all his confidence and optimism went. Maybe he had been living in some bubble for too long. Maybe this is what it’s like living a normal adult life, complete with all it’s complications. “I don’t want to sign a contract that locks me in for three years. What if they make me tour for like 12 months straight? What if you can’t come with me?”
There’s a chuckle underneath him. “Did you even read anything besides the first page of that contract?”
“It’s too long.” He grumbles.
“Well, I read the whole thing and it doesn’t even say anything about a tour until year 2. You write and record for the sixth months, then they’ll try you out in clubs and events. If people like you, they’ll put you on the promo rounds. If that goes well, they’ll push for either a mini-album or a full album, depending on how popular you get. You won’t be going on any crazy 12 month tour for years.”
He knows it’s meant to make him feel better but it doesn’t really. “What if no-one likes me?”
“You must be kidding right?” Hanbin asks in an amused tone. “You know you have fangirls and guys already don’t you?”
“I don’t know.” He’s getting pathetic and whiny but he can’t help it.
There’s a hand carding softly through his hair. “Think of it this way, BeatBox could’ve picked anyone but they picked you. They’ve been to so many mic nights and they still picked you. It wasn’t an accident. They planned it. And they have plans for you. All you need to do is show up. It’s in their interest not to let you fail. And besides, you’ll always have me. If it helps.” Hanbin concludes with a laugh.
He’s known for a while now that there are days where Hanbin needs him in some way, whether it’s just a little physical contact or a lot of emotional support but the more time that passes and the more he grows up, the more he realises he needs Hanbin just as much.
“Can you read all my contracts?”
“Even if you don’t ask.”
“And come to all my shows?”
“Even if I’m not invited.”
“And maybe not date any other rappers?”
“Now you’re just being unrealistic, Jiwon.”
He shoves at Hanbin’s chest and gets that adorable high pitched giggle in return.
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding!” Hanbin laughs. “I already got the most ridiculous one, everyone else would be a total downgrade now.”
He settles back into Hanbin’s chest. “Why does everything have to be so complicated when you grow up?”
“Because adults like complicating things and business ruins art. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying.”
He hmms in response and just enjoys the warm comfortable silence of their bed.
There’s a long sigh underneath him. “I can’t sleep now.”
“Me either. Sorry, I woke you.”
“It’s okay.” Hanbin yawns and stretches out. “I’m kinda thirsty. Do you want anything?”
“I really feel like a hot chocolate. With those marshmallows.”
“Are you also five years old?”
“Yes.”
****
November is throwing everything at him.
One minute he’s in their bed, having a dream about pudgy cheeks and bunny smiles and the next thing he knows, Jiwon is having a mid-adult-crisis and he’s now standing in their kitchen trying to find the mini-marshmallows for the hot chocolate.
Jiwon shuffles in eventually, looking like a crumpled mess as always. He hopes that never changes.
“Why did you get up? I was going to bring it to you.”
“Got lonely waiting.” Jiwon shrugs.
“It’s been like seven minutes.”
Jiwon takes the packet of marshmallows from his hands, throws it on the kitchen counter and just pulls him into a tight hug. He doesn’t really say anything or explain. Just holds on tight and whispers the same thing over and over again.
He gets the bittersweet feeling that one day, in the not-too-distant-future when they’re both too busy, he will miss this moment. He misses it even though he’s still right in the middle of it and can feel the way the seconds tick closer and closer towards the end. 
Because every beginning must have an end right?
He grabs the back of Jiwon’s shirt and holds on just as tight. Maybe he can make this last longer. Maybe some beginnings don’t have to end.
****
Soundtrack: Spring Day (piano cover) | Airplane (piano cover) 
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All them numbers. You knew this was coming.
I’m gonna be real honest with you here, half the time I don't really even look at what I reblog (or the god damn length of it), but fiiinnneeee here we go
1. Who was the last person you held hands with? B yesterday while dismounting a ski lift
2. Are you outgoing or shy?Solid mix of both
3. Who are you looking forward to seeing?I’m going to my friends house later, so I'm excited for that
4. Are you easy to get along with?Yes, I can be friends with pretty much anyone
5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you?Yes (been there done that)
6. What kind of people are you attracted to?Girls, who are nice, who are chill, who like being outside 
7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now?Absolutely no idea
8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?My dad is away for work and the roads aren't great, so him I guess
9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?NO
10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?Probably either M or B
11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?“Sophie is a murderer and my alley is the crime scene, the only up side is it was already dead but fucking still there is blood all over the snow” *My dog just jumped out of the truck and chased and actually managed to catch and kill a rabbit and I am not pumped
12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?I’m learning Spanish so here are my most recently liked youtube videos-Carlos Vives, Sebastian Yatra - Robarte un Beso-CNCO - Para Enamorarte-Becky G, Bad Bunny - Mayores-Alvaro Soler - El Mismo Sol-Silvestre Dangond, Nicky Jam - Cásate Conmigo
13. Do you like it when people play with your hair?Depends, if you take it out of how I have contained it to keep it out of my face I will kill you, but if you are going to contain it in a cute way, go for it
14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?I’d like to
15. What good thing happened this summer?I got the one and only “ER” placement with my school at the urgent care downtown and it was absolutely phenomenal and I loved it and it was amazing and I made great friends and it was the best thing ever
16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?Without hesitation
17. Do you think there is life on other planets?Yes
18. Do you still talk to your first crush?No
19. Do you like bubble baths?Sometimes? I’m not great at sitting still
20. Do you like your neighbors?City and country neighbours are all amazing
21. What are you bad habits?I procrastinate, thats probably the biggest one
22. Where would you like to travel?Australia, Portugal, Hawaii, New Zealand, Iceland, Europe
23. Do you have trust issues?In some ways yes, in some no
24. Favorite part of your daily routine?Snuggling with the little dog in the morning
25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?I’m passing on this one
26. What do you do when you wake up?Let the dogs out and eat
27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?A little darker so I didn't roast in the sun
28. Who are you most comfortable around?B
29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?No
30. Do you ever want to get married?Weddings aren't my thing but if my future partner wants a wedding I’d do it
31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail?Yes
32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with?Like, two and myself or myself, my partner and another? Either way, Katie McGrath, Emily Bett Rickards and Caity Lotz
33. Spell your name with your chin.rzacgdel, 
34. Do you play sports? What sports?I surf and climb and ‘hike’, and have picked up snowboarding, and I like to bike. I like board sports and wheel sports
35. Would you rather live without TV or music?TV, music is what I live for
36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?Yesssss
37. What do you say during awkward silences?Whatever the hell pops into my head next 
38. Describe your dream girl/guy?Cute and nice and fun and funny and who is easy to be around and caring and can feed me when I don't realize I'm hungry and invites me to do things and is down for spontaneous trips and adventures but will make sure they aren't too reckless or crazy and who is willing to try new things and who is chill and isn't easily frustrated and who is a good driver so we can share driving on road trips so I can actually relax when I’m not driving and who likes music and being outside and dogs and isn't super into fashion or at least is okay with getting dirty or wet when we go outside and who owns winter gear and rubber boots and a good phone case. 
39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?Fav if I had the money would be Mountain Equipment Co-op and Atmosphere and honestly I love Save On Foods they have such good vibes
40. What do you want to do after high school?Well, I graduated in 2012, so at this point I’d like to put my degree to good use and get a job as a nurse in the ER
41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?Depends on why they blew the first chance
42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean?Scared or unsure, or tired, possibly hungry 
43. Do you smile at strangers?I smile at everyone
44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean?Space because the bottom of the ocean has scary creatures
45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?Because I’m hungry
46. What are you paranoid about?The wind and potential for tornadoes or bad weather, making sure the dog doesn't drown if she is swimming and has a seizure, feeding myself
47. Have you ever been high?Not on weed, but yea
48. Have you ever been drunk?Yes
49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?No? I don't think so??
50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore?Currently wearing a black one
51. Ever wished you were someone else?Offhandedly but never for real
52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?I want to be 1/2 an inch taller so I can reach the top shelf at the back of the fridge, or not have to wear glasses, but thats only really an issue in the winter
53. Favourite makeup brand?Whatever my eyeliner was that I owned for 6 years and was the best ever and I could never find where it came from because it was a gift and will forever mourn the loss of it
54. Favourite store?Didn't we do this already? MEC or Atmosphere
55. Favourite blog?Most of them
56. Favourite colour?Blue
57. Favourite food?I love stir fry an unhealthy amount
58. Last thing you ate?Spaghetti and rice noodles
59. First thing you ate this morning?A piece of cantaloupe and 2 waffles
60. Ever won a competition? For what?No I don't think so
61. Been suspended/expelled? For what?No actually all hail
62. Been arrested? For what?Never been pulled over for real
63. Ever been in love?Yessss
64. Tell us the story of your first kiss?I was like 5 and we were playing with the neighbour kids and saw a TV show about them doing CPR so we took turns reviving one another (obvs I was going into healthcare my whole life)
65. Are you hungry right now?I literally just ate 
66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends?No because as much as I value my Tumblr friends I also need real human contact for connection 
67. Facebook or Twitter?Facebook
68. Twitter or Tumblr?Tumblr
69. Are you watching tv right now?No
70. Names of your best friends?B and M
71. Craving something? What?I would kill a man for a cupcake
72. What colour are your towels?Red, green, and one weird purple one
72. How many pillows do you sleep with?Three, one under my head and two stuffed in the wall so I don't get eaten by the hole of doom 
73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?I sleep with a real animal
74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?Currently? Idk like 8?
75. Favourite animal?Dog, manta ray
76. What colour is your underwear?Light blue and dark blue
77. Chocolate or Vanilla?Both
78. Favourite ice cream flavour?Vanilla and butterscotch or cotton candy
79. What colour shirt are you wearing?Black
80. What colour pants?Grey
81. Favourite tv show?Right this very second, Legends of Tomorrow
82. Favourite movie?Marvel anything
83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2?I don't really do movies and haven't seen either
84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street?Again, haven't seen either
85. Favourite character from Mean Girls?/\
86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo?The starfish sucker guy in Phillip Sherman’s office
87. First person you talked to today?My mom
88. Last person you talked to today?Its 1530
89. Name a person you hate?Daniel 
90. Name a person you love?B
91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?Daniel 
92. In a fight with someone?No
93. How many sweatpants do you have?3
94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?300
95. Last movie you watched?No idea
96. Favourite actress?Currently Katie McGrath, Emily Bett Rickards and Caity Lotz
97. Favourite actor?Man I don't know :p 
98. Do you tan a lot?I wish
99. Have any pets?3 dogs
100. How are you feeling?Tired and stiff from snowboarding
101. Do you type fast?Medium fast
102. Do you regret anything from your past?Not writing down song lyrics I heard in a store in Santa Monica in 2011 so I could find it again later because it was phenomenal 
103. Can you spell well?Medical words yes, real words no
104. Do you miss anyone from your past?Only one person
105. Ever been to a bonfire party?Yes!
106. Ever broken someone’s heart?Possibly?
107. Have you ever been on a horse?Yes, I’m allergic but would love to do it more regularly 
108. What should you be doing?Finding a job
109. Is something irritating you right now?Daniel, or the dog who just killed a rabbit
110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?Yeahhhhh
111. Do you have trust issues?Think we did this one already, but kinda
112. Who was the last person you cried in front of?B or M
113. What was your childhood nickname?My dad used to call me Buffalo Rug because I have a shit ton of hair
114. Have you ever been out of your province/state?Many times
115. Do you play the Wii?I have in the past?
116. Are you listening to music right now?Yes
117. Do you like chicken noodle soup?Yes
118. Do you like Chinese food?Yessss
119. Favourite book?I liked The Chrysalids but I was also on oxycontin when I read it and am afraid it will be less good if I re read it
120. Are you afraid of the dark?I’m afraid of not seeing everything thats there
121. Are you mean?No
122. Is cheating ever okay?Never in a relationship, occasionally in school
123. Can you keep white shoes clean?Ha! No lol not ever
124. Do you believe in love at first sight?Not really
125. Do you believe in true love?I’d like to
126. Are you currently bored?Kinda generally yes
127. What makes you happy?The ocean, my friends and family
128. Would you change your name?No I’m okay with my name
129. What your zodiac sign?Scorpio
130. Do you like subway?No, they wouldn't sell me just chicken when I was having a food meltdown, dude wouldn't even let me pay for the whole sandwich and just hand me chicken, so I am eternally pissed off with Subway 
131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?Date her :D
132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?Did this already, M and B
133. Favourite lyrics right now?“Jesus christ cant save me tonight”
134. Can you count to one million?Mate, I can hardly count to 100. I have a real hard time with 69-70, idk what it is but I always say 69-80
135. Dumbest lie you ever told?Theres so many I honestly don't even know 
136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed?Closed, I refuse to die in a house fire
137. How tall are you?5′2″ Optimistically 
138. Curly or Straight hair?Curly
139. Brunette or Blonde?Brown
140. Summer or Winter?Both
141. Night or Day?Day
142. Favourite month?July
143. Are you a vegetarian?No
144. Dark, milk or white chocolate?Milk
145. Tea or Coffee?Tea
146. Was today a good day?Yes, had a good walk, gonna see a friend later
147. Mars or Snickers?Mars
148. What’s your favourite quote?“Fingertips laced with narcotics that would make her crave skin against skin”
149. Do you believe in ghosts?For sure
150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page?“Once you’ve gained a bit of height its time to survey the land”
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12izzy3 · 7 years
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Webcomic Recommendations No One Asked For:
I......... Spent 2 hours putting together a list of my webcomic recommendations, with summaries and reviews, because I was reworking my blog... And really I don’t think anyone ever goes directly on to my blog proper, so it feels kind of foolish to have that there where no one will see it, so I’m actually going to post it as well:
Webcomics are honestly just so tight, and there’s such a vast variety of them that there’s something for everyone, if not a few somethings for everyone! I’m personally all about indie games, but if there’s another indie market that I feel like the internet has created a space for it’s comics. After I started writing this I realized I have a uh… Lot of recommendations. Also, I may be an idiot for not using the author’s own summaries???
Regularly updating:
KILL SIX BILLION DEMONS - A comic about a college girl, Allison, given mystical powers beyond her understanding, and thrust into a celestial world filled with angels and demons, where the lines of good and evil are blurry at best. With the help of friends she meets along the way, she must navigate her new powers, and save her boyfriend from forces that would destroy existence. Kinda dark thematically (with very rare and minor gore), but a great comic if you love action, fantasy, and fantastic art. One of my favorites.
AWFUL HOSPITAL - Another one of my favorites. After her child becomes terribly sick, and doctors tell her that there’s nothing that they can do, a mother wakes up in a mysterious, otherworldly hospital. She must navigate this confusing and sometimes horrifying hospital to save her child and get home, and on the way, she makes many odd friends and unknowable enemies, and learns that her child’s sickness may be part of something larger. This comic is funny, has cool action, a unique format, and lots of great, though ghastly, character designs.
GUNNERKRIGG COURT - A coming of age story about two girls, Antimony and Kat, as they try to find their place in each other’s lives, and the two clashing worlds that surround them, the massive technological complex that is their school and home, Gunnerkrigg Court, and the forest across the river, where magic and fantastic creatures thrive, under the watchful eye of the trickster god Coyote. Another great one for if you like fantasy, but is usually a lot lighter, with a peak of intensity about equal to… Like, Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, I think. I’ve only gotten into this one pretty recently, but it’s good.
PARANATURAL - After his family moves to his dad’s old home town, Max discovers that he has magical powers, and becomes part of the Paranatural Activities club at his school, a group of students and their adviser who all have magical powers, and use them to protect the populace from ghosts, as well as investigate the many magical mysteries of the town. This comic is great, and mostly focuses on action and comedy. The art is a very colorful cartoony style, and the characters are drawn very… fluid, rubbery. The best way to put it is that the artist has really put a lot of effort into making characters consistently as expressive as possible, and that good old Disney/Looney Toons/Tom & Jerry stretchiness makes for very good visual comedy.
HOUSEPETS! - Another one of the earliest webcomics I ever read! Housepets is… largely a comedy comic, following the lives of anthropomorphized pets in a small neighborhood. They go on adventures, and live the fun yet complicated lives of an open society of people with unbelievable amounts of free time. However, sometimes there are bigger drama/adventure arcs, which are really good! A lot of the times amazing art or cool action are what draw me into adventure stories, but I just think the plot of this comic can be really good and surprisingly deep for a humor comic. And it’s still loose enough, and in the newspaper comic style that you can usually jump in very often (not every strip, mind you but in pretty small arcs) without feeling like you’ve missed a ton. Long too, lots to read, recommend.
STAND STILL STAY SILENT - SSSS is a comic that takes place 90 years after the end of the world. A zombie-like virus with strong mystical qualities has wiped out not just human, but much of the world’s mammalian life. In Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, and Denmark), in spite of the virus, society continues to exist, and most people live normal, happy lives. Our comic follows a research team, formed on a hairstring budget to travel into the infected zone, collect information on the virus and state of the fauna there, and, secretly, to collect books to sell back home. A great fantasy adventure drama that updates very often, and has really good art.
CUCUMBER QUEST - In spite of order this is actually the last one I’m writing, and I’m tired, so I’m going to copy the book one summary from Amazon:
What happens when an evil queen gets her hands on an ancient force of destruction? World domination, obviously. The seven kingdoms of Dreamside need a legendary hero. Instead, they’ll have to settle for Cucumber, a nerdy magician who just wants to go to school. As destiny would have it, he and his way more heroic sister, Almond, must now seek the Dream Sword, the only weapon powerful enough to defeat Queen Cordelia’s Nightmare Knight. Can these bunny siblings really save the world in its darkest hour? Sure, why not?
Cucumber Quest is good, the art is colorful and bright, all of the characters are relatable and real, including the villains, there’s cool adventures sequences and plot, and it’s a very fun comic. There’s humor and love and struggle in the comic, and it’s very well done.
GIRL GENIUS - Girl Genius follows Agatha Heterodyne, up and coming mad scientist, on her many adventures to save herself, her friends and the world if it’s along the way. It’s hard, however, competing with an entire world of mad scientists, as well as the Heterodyne legacy, one filled with chaos and bloodshed up until recently. I like Girl Genius a lot. It doesn’t move through the story very fast, but there’s a lot of solid world building, and more importantly, very intriguing sci-fi action and adventure happening inside of that world! I’m also pretty sure they do a radio show or podcast or something with additional Agatha adventures on top of the comic.
SUPERNORMAL STEP - After leading a life as a drifter after the death of her father, Fae is pulled into an alternate world where magic is real. There, she tries to find her place in life, master the magic that the world around her runs on, and get home to plain old earth in one piece. Lots of cool action, every character has really got their own style of magic. I can honestly tell you that it’s good, but I read it over such a long period of time that it’s got a pretty vague impression in my head.
ATOMIC ROBO - Robo is a skilled an dedicated scientist. He’s also an atomic robot built and raised by Nikola Tesla. Atomic Robo follows the titular character on the many adventures of his life, from WWII to the present. As the head of Tesladyne Industries, Robo is dedicated to researching the outlandish, the weird, the impossible! And when the world calls on him, he and his Action Scientists defend it from giant monsters, cosmic anomalies, and mad science. Atomic Robo is great if you love action, robots, monsters, humor, and velociraptors duel-wielding uzis. Highly recommended.
DUMBING OF AGE - As the title would imply, Dumbing Of Age is a pretty standard coming of age comedy! Starring a wide cast of likable and complex character, DoA follows a group of college freshmen as they learn more about themselves, and grow beyond the bubbles that they were raised in. I think the underpinnings of the comic are pretty strongly on humor, but there’s a lot of drama, and conversations about meaningful things too. There are lots of varying depictions of drama, depression, anxiety, and the ways people deal with pressure, and fear. But there’s also a lot of love and friendliness. It’s a good comic, and probably the only solid slice-of-life on my list.
MANLY GUYS DOING MANLY THINGS - This comic follows The Commander, a bio-engineered super soldier sent back in time to run a temp agency. This particular temp agency specializes in reintroducing particularly brutish video game, comic, and movie protagonists back into normal polite society. Duke Nukem isn’t much of a man for customer service, however. Later on the comic drifts more toward Commander’s personal life. (So slice of life, but with a buff, and actually surprisingly sensitive and forward thinking, super commando from the future.) Has been in a bit of a slump in terms of updates recently, but they still happen.
GRRL POWER - Sidney, a slightly hyper nerd who works at a comic shop, stumbles upon an artifact that gives her a variety of superpowers. After being exposed, she becomes a member of the government’s brand new super hero organization. This comic is a lot of fun, with some cool superpowers and super fights. Lots of humor, very consistently, in any given scene. Sadly, it is a bit fan service-y, though in the grand scale of things it’s not the worst offender (though definitely the worst you’ll see on this list).
SWORD INTERVAL - This is a pretty new one for me, but it’s great. At some indeterminate point in the past (potentially as far back as the civil war, if not farther), the earth became exposed to monsters and magic in ways that it wasn’t before. Humanity still exists and survives, but plagued by supernatural forces. Our main character is Fall, a very new monster hunter, who after years in witness protection, has decided to track down and kill the Hierophant, the powerful monster that killed her parents. Sword interval does a lot of really cool fantasy stuff, with new takes on classic monsters, and magic and monsters in settings that we don’t often see them in, out in the open in present day. It’s something I wish we could see more. Good action and art, particularly character design.
BACK - Abigail is back. From the dead? From a very long sleep in a box underground? She doesn’t know either. She doesn’t know a lot of things. What she does know is that she’s got two guns, is nearly indestructible, and is prophesied to go north to the capital and end the world. With the help of the young cleric Michael, who supplements her absolute lack of all knowledge and common sense, Abigail fights her way through the kingdom, and past the kings many superpowered deputies. Back is cool, back is funny, and sometimes has some good action. I wouldn’t consider it one of my favorites, but it’s a comic I started and I’ve kept up with, so that’s saying something.
MARE INTERNUM - Not very long yet, and I only recently read it, but Mare Internum is really good. I don’t want to spoil it too much, honestly, especially because it’s so short, but it’s a sci-fi adventure comic about being trapped, underground, on Mars, and finding life there. The art is great, the story so far is well written, and the dialogue is good. I really don’t want to spoil it, but there are some great concepts in it and you should read it.
OPHIUCHUS - A very new comic about an ancient stone guardian who is whisked away to another, far off world. Here, he is employed to help two of this world’s denizens defeat the blight that has corrupted and destroyed their once almost utopian world. The art for this is really good. The comic is not currently long enough to comment on much else, but it seems interesting, sci-fi with a touch of fantasy.
Slowly Updating:
AVA’S DEMON - Ava’s Demon is about a girl, Ava who has spent her entire young life haunted by a ghost that torments her, before finally making a deal. The ghost, Wrathia, will help her become a normal girl, with friends and a normal life, but first, Ava must track down the ghosts of Wrathia’s most powerful allies, and help her dissolve the massive interplanetary empire that is TITAN. Ava’s Demon is amazing. The story is good, but I think the comic’s greatest strength is absolutely stunning and polished art. Strong recommendation.
THE PROPERTY OF HATE - RGB is a self-described monster, a sharp dressed man with a TV for a head. However, he’s looking for a hero to guide on a quest. RGB whisks our young protagonist, the Hero, to a world that exists beside our own a world completely fueled and inhabited by our creativity, our stories. RGB protects the Hero from these dangers, guiding her on a mission unknown, through a world that, although mystical, seems to have lost its hope.
HE IS A GOOD BOY - Slow but large updates. This comic follows the life a sentient acorn, Crange, after the death of his parent (a tree) to a lumberjack. Crange is kind of a bit of a loser, and stumbles around his world of sentient rocks and bugs getting into all sorts of trouble and hijinks. These hijinks almost always result in someone’s death, which Crange is impressively unphased by. HIAGB is fantastic, in my opinion. The art is great, the humor is great, especially the visual comedy, and the story is good. However, it gets real dark, and gory. But if you’re fine with that, it IS a (dark) comedy comic, and a good one.
THE LAST HALLOWEEN - One Halloween, the darkness opens up, and monsters pour out from the seams between our world and theirs. Approximately 7 billion monsters, in fact. Mona, a young girl and horror fanatic finds herself thrown into a world of chaos and horror, on the run from her own monster, and forced to look for a way to save the world, with the help of ghosts, zombies, vampires, and even monsters themselves. In spite of the fact that this comic can be VERY dark, I think one of its big hooks is humor and likable characters, on top of great art and plot. I really like it. This comic maybeshouldn’t be on the slow update list, but the artist is just picking up speed after a long hiatus, so…
ROMANTICALLY APOCALYPTIC - The apocalypse happened, and Charles Snippy missed it. Humanity was wiped out in a war against it’s own, ever-present AI, and Charles Snippy, a scientist/tour guide without the implants made it out alive, only to wander alone this is until he meets Zee Captain, an ever positive, gender question mark, maniac who wanders the wasteland with their insane assistant Pilot. Snippy, Captain and Pilot wander the wasteland, facing off against monsters, raiders, and the laws of physics in a mind warping and illogical adventure.
On Hiatus:
DERELICT - Like a surprisingly large number of comics on this list, in Derelict, the world has ended. A strange Miasma travels the world, killing billions, and bringing with it gargoyle-like monsters who fear the daylight. However, the world goes on, in a small, broken way, and our story follows a scavenger in this new world.
HELVETICA - So, you die, and then what? Well, life goes on. This is what Helvetica learns, after he dies and reemerges into an afterlife that seems shockingly similar to the world of the living, with work, pressure, responsibility, danger, and just plain old boring life. Except everyone is a skeleton. Helvetica is very resistant to accept this new life in death. This one is pretty short so far, and hasn’t updated in a while, but it’s good.
VIBE - Hasn’t update in a year and a half, but what’s there is good (Honestly, it’s super sad it hasn’t update, I like it a lot). Vibe follows Baron, a young shaman, a spiritual master who is able to expel negative emotions (bad vibes) from the human body. Only those emotions then become monsters, who a shaman must fight to complete the process! With the help of his Loa (they’re like familiars), he navigates life as a teenager, and his increasingly complex and dangerous life as a shaman. I really like this comic. There’s a lot of very cool and dynamic action, and the artist makes great use of a ton of bright colors.
THE ABOMINABLE CHARLES CHRISTOPHER - This one hasn’t updated in about a year, but what’s there right now is good. Charles Christopher is a Sasquatch, living in the woods on the edge of society. Though he himself is fairly soft, and simple, the wilderness around him is full of anthropomorphized animals who go about shockingly human social and professional lives. The comic follows Charles Christopher as he interacts with the world of these animals, and becomes tangled in a vast spiritual quest.
POWER NAP - Hard to know exactly where to put this one. It’s currently VERY slow updating. Power Nap takes place in a world where the majority of mankind is reliant on a drug that allows them to live 24/7 without sleep. However, there are those who are allergic to the medicine, who live their lives out of sync with their peers, protected by the government, but effectively second class citizens. However, in a sleepless world, over-saturated by virtual reality, the human subconscious has found ways to seep into reality.
THE FANCY ADVENTURES OF JACK CANNON - I want to start this out by saying this comic is probably dead, without a 100% resolution. However, it’s currently 492 pages, and a LOT of the storyline covered in that span was resolved. Such that, if they’d wanted to, I could’ve seen the author wrapping it up. I digress. Jack Cannon is about a kid moving to a new school, where he finds the bullies are able to hack reality. Somehow immune to hacks, Jack fights the bullies, and in doing so, puts himself on the stage of a worldwide battle against hackers. Lots of really cool action in this, one of the first few webcomics I read.
Complete:
HOMESTUCK - If you’re here, you are probably at least aware of Homestuck. It’s about a bunch of goofy awkward teen friends who get sucked into a cosmic (video) game, with the fate of the universe at stake, but you know, they’ve still got that teen angst. Time travel is involved. It’s a very long, fun, and dramatic comic which is heavily influenced by RPGs and point and click adventures.
THE ADVENTURES OF DR. MCNINJA - The pressures of being a doctor AND ninja are immense, but on either front, you can trust that Dr. McNinja is the man for the job. Born into an Irish ninja family, Dr. McNinja longs for a life where he can do medicine in peace, but finds himself constantly pulled into a string of action packed adventures, fighting giant monsters, bandits riding velociraptors, and dueling radical interdimensional kings. This one if fairly long, a bit over 1800 pages, but it’s really good and well done. Again, there is a lot of both action and humor (I’m big on that), with some surprisingly meaningful and well-done story arcs in spite of how silly the premise is.
REMIND - This one is about a girl who lives in a lighthouse on the edge of a town whose main draw is the “Lizard Man” legend that her own father made up. However, after her cat one day starts walking on two legs and talking, claiming to be one of many said lizard men, they both go on a journey to discover the truth. This one was OK. The story and sci-fi elements are both alright bot not great. But it’s not super long, so if you have the time, maybe read it.
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nightingveilxo · 7 years
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Redbeard/Yellowbeard, Vernet, & Time Travel: Various Ways HoB & T6T Are Connected
Gatiss: To be honest, I put [an explanation of Redbeard] into the first draft of episode two, and actually explained it – the reason that Sherlock was behaving like a child was because he’d once upon a time fallen for that story that your bunny rabbit has gone to live on a farm somewhere. And then we thought, ‘No, let’s hold it back because we can tease it a bit.’ And we genuinely thought, ‘We can keep this running for years.’ But then actually…
Moffat: It’s nice to have resolved it.
Gatiss: So the truth is that when he was little – and obviously Mycroft tormented him about it – is that his dog died, and he totally fell for the idea that Redbeard had gone to live in a happy valley somewhere. ( x )
Yes, we’re back to the rabbit idea…as in HoB and time travel…mentioned here. (Read that meta, because otherwise, the rest of this won’t make sense.)
Moriarty
Is he not the celebrated author of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book which ascends to such rarefied heights of pure mathematics that it is said that there was no man in the scientific press capable of criticizing it?
— Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear
This topic had been covered by *Newcomb about 20 years before, and it may have been him that inspired the character of Moriarty.
Mary reading Dynamics of Combustion, and 221B is blown up in TFP, but she also manages to jump in front of a bullet in T6T before Sherlock even really has time to react.
The book that Moriarty wrote involves chaos theory.
Remember in the meta about the blog entries being recycled in S3 and S4? It’s related to that, due to the butterfly effect
Simple actions and events can alter history, especially if your memory isn’t reliable.
“The butterfly effect is exhibited by very simple systems. For example, the randomness of the outcomes of throwing dice depends on this characteristic to amplify small differences in initial conditions—the precise direction, thrust, and orientation of the throw—into significantly different dice paths and outcomes, which makes it virtually impossible to throw dice exactly the same way twice.“
Butterfly and Dice…oh!
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Well, here’s Mary reading the The Thyroid Gland, which is usually described as being butterfly-shaped. **Knowing about it is important too, if you’re involved in time travel.
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They were in the video on John’s blog, that Moriarty did when he entered 221B back in 2012, and Mary had her own that showed side 4 when she was going across the map.
T6T
Mary: How? Every movement I made was entirely random, every new personality just on the roll of a dice!
Sherlock: Mary, no human action is ever truly random. An advanced grasp of the mathematics of probability, mapped onto a thorough apprehension of human psychology and the known disposition of any given individual,can reduce the number of variables considerably. I, myself, know of at least 58 techniques to refine a seemingly infinite array of randomly generated possibilities down to the smallest number of feasible variables.
Then, he admits he made part of that up…
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By TLD, Sherlock is using some method to figure out where people need to be two weeks in advance. But…if not the one above, then time travel?
Two Major Results of Time Travel
-You die faster “The time machine can’t adjust your age backward–if it did, it would be altering your brain at the same time, wiping out the memories of what you experienced.” Hmm, wiping memories…It would be very beneficial to have a storage place for all of those…somewhere beyond a Mind Palace, which could be altered.
-Eating would be a problem, partially due to **bacterial infections gained from unfamiliar foods and their processing.
Redbeard/Yellowbeard The Space Pirates
TSoT
Mycroft: So, this is it, then. The big day. I suppose I’ll be seeing a lot more of you from now on.
Sherlock: What do you mean?
Mycroft: Just like old times.
Sherlock: No, I don’t understand.
Mycroft: Well, it’s the end of an era, isn’t it?  John and Mary – domestic bliss.
Sherlock: No, no, no – I prefer to think of it as the beginning of a new chapter.
*Mycroft is silently smiling on the other end of the phone line*
Sherlock: What?
Mycroft: Nothing!
Fast forward through the mentions of not getting involved…
Mycroft: Oh, by the way, Sherlock – do you remember Redbeard? Sherlock: I’m not a child any more, Mycroft. *Sherlock’s jaw clenches*
Mycroft: No, of course you’re not.  Enjoy not getting involved, Sherlock.
Mycroft telling Sherlock not to get involved, because history will repeat itself.
By HLV, we see Redbeard running toward Sherlock in the hallway, after Sherlock has been shot. It’s also the only time we see Mary with her wedding veil down over her face, as it would have been during the ceremony.
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TAB
Redbeard = Nothing or 0
Watson: As your friend, as someone who…worries about you, what made you like this?
Holmes: Oh, Watson. Nothing made me. *we hear claws scratching, and a dog whimpering*
Holmes: I made me. *scrabbling and whimpering continues*
Holmes: Redbeard?
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Now, we look at Mycroft’s notebook, and the binary matrix at the top with all the 0s. Combined with the equation underneath Scarlet Mo […??], it’s about working with space and time.
Not sure how? There are meta for that. ( x ) ( x )
In T6T, we have a visual for missing gaps in time, because of the clock that goes along with Sherlock’s fight with Ajay, but it’s not understandable as such until we’re in TFP. Meta by @darlingtonsubstitution
Alternately (or also), the sixteen by six, five by seven, nine by nineteen could be measurements. Due to the TLD & The Valley of Fear connections, however, I still prefer @darlingtonsubstitution ‘s explanation for the dimensions.
TFP
Redbeard is made into a code word for Victor Trevor, Sherlock’s childhood friend, who was taken from him by a female. Sherlock was Yellowbeard, and that’s who Mycroft dresses as in TFP.
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Back to Baskerville, and this formula on the whiteboard.
**Vancomycin Hydrochloride
Vancomycin is an antibiotic. When taken by mouth it fights bacteria in the intestines.
The bactericidal action of vancomycin results primarily from inhibition of cell-wall biosynthesis. In addition, vancomycin alters bacterial-cell-membrane permeability and RNA synthesis. There is no cross-resistance between vancomycin and other antibiotics. Vancomycin is not active in vitro against gram-negative bacilli, mycobacteria, or fungi.
Nice to have if you’re concerned about eating while in another place in time and space, along with that knowledge of the butterfly-shaped thyroid Mary read up on HLV.
611174 - Hamamy Syndrome or Gene ID for Canine Lupus Familiarus
Hamamy syndrome is a genetic disorder which is marked by abnormal facial features and defects in the heart, bone, blood, and reproductive cells.
Hamamy Syndrome is something a person is born with, so it cannot be caught or developed. Unless you have the ability to manipulate genes, as they do at Baskerville.
Or, you can write it down to recall your family dog that died when you were children. The dog that wasn’t a rabbit, because the rabbit was being genetically manipulated.
Vernet
One, it's a reference that was used particularly in the Granada series, where more than once Holmes or Watson mentions that Vernet was Holmes's relative--his French grandmother's brother. We're also back to the Dr. Who references. Madame Vernet is in the episode The Pandorica Opens, the episode that talks about the butterfly effect without actually using those words. It’s also in the same story arc with Amy’s Choice, which is basically the plot, villain, and even villain actor as in TLD. I’ve actually seen several meta on that connection, but the one above is the shortest, and makes the point.
As for pure mathematics, a topic close to Moriarty’s heart…
TD: Time Dimension Logical Sequence Number
The key component of any successful OBIEE implementation is the metadata model known as the repository (RPD).
Doing it right is sometimes considered “black magic”, and small mistakes in the RPD can impact all the exposed Subject Areas, resulting in poor performances or, even worse, wrong results. ( x ) So, it’s rather like the mathematic data-manipulation remedy against the butterfly effect? T6T Mycroft: Back on terra firma. *while he’s talking about manipulating data*
Teradata: One of the leading metadata storage, management, and analytics companies in the world.
TD12 = teradata 12 - version which would have been in use during HoB. Or choose its leading competitor… Oracle:
Sequence numbers are enumerations of time dimensional members at a certain level. The enumeration must be dense (no gaps) and must correspond to a real time order. For example, months in a year can be enumerated from 1 to 12. 
Oracle the data company, not as in someone that has premonitions.
Mycroft: Are you having a premonition, brother mine?
Sherlock: The world is woven from billions of lives, every strand crossing every other.  What we call premonition is just movement of the web.
If you could attenuate to every strand of quivering data, the future would be entirely calculable, as inevitable as mathematics.
Mycroft: Appointment in Samarra.
Sherlock: I’m sorry?
Mycroft: The merchant who can’t outrun Death. You always hated that story as a child.
Less keen on predestination back then.
Sherlock: I’m not sure I like it now.
Mycroft: You wrote your own version, as I remember.  Appointment in Sumatra. The merchant goes to a different city and is perfectly fine.
Sherlock: Goodnight, Mycroft.
Mycroft: Then he becomes a pirate, for some reason.
Sherlock: Keep me informed.
Mycroft: Of what?
Sherlock: Absolutely no idea. 
If you’re going backward though, you still need logical sequence numbers, to avoid a casual loop. Those happened in Dr. Who episode involving Bootstrap Paradox, written about here by Jonathan Holmes
…and the 80′s film, Somewhere in Time, where a playwright uses self-hypnosis to assist him in traveling back in time to the woman he loves. A pocket watch results in the loop. This brings us back to Sherlock first telling John how he knows about his history, because in canon ACD, it wasn’t a phone–it was Watson’s pocket watch. It’s twin, is in TAB, with the photo of Irene Adler.
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Tagging @may-shepard because of the HoB/T6T connection, and @swimmingfeelsinajohnlockianpool @princess-of-fireflies @sherlockians-get-bored @darlingtonsubstitution
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