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tanzanite-zircon · 4 years

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Collabwithmyself Chronicles: Phoe-nix Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Just an Average Day

“Put on your Sunday clothes,

There's lots of world out there

Get out the brillantine and dime cigars

We're gonna find adventure in the evening air

Girls in white in a perfumed night

Where the lights are bright as the stars!

Put on your Sunday clothes, we're gonna ride through town

In one of those new horse-drawn open cars

We'll see the shows at Delmonico’s

And we'll close the town in a whirl

And we won't come until we've kissed a girl!”

The Hello Dolly show-tune definitely does not describe the current state of the Earth. The beautiful shades of blues, greens, browns, and whites of the entirety of Earth have been dulled to a murky brown. The atmosphere surrounding the planet is littered with satellites and other space debris. Once you actually penetrate the pea soup-like smog that drapes the landscape, you can make out the outlines of the beautiful mountains … of trash … if you squint. Buried under and surrounding these mountains are decommissioned wind turbines, nuclear power plants, factories, telephone and power lines, and long abandoned cities and buildings. A truly depressing and eerie sight to behold.

The bubbly show tune and the sound of wheels crunching paper, glass, metal, and plastic are the only sounds that can be heard within the sickening silence of the abandoned street as Phoenix skates his way through the pathways, carrying Trucy on his shoulders. Phoenix was wearing dirtied, light brownish-orange jumpsuit with grey sleeves and gloves, had black accents on his arms, and black boots. He also had a pair of goggles resting in front of his spiky black hair that aided him whenever a little, or big, dust storm ever picked up. Trucy had brown hair tied up into a side ponytail and was wearing a little black dress with gold buttons, white gloves and boots, a light blue cape, and a red ascot tied around her neck. Trucy looked like a magician, as she was programmed to know magic tricks in order to entertain children. Trucy had started to come with him to work after a few months of becoming a little family. While she couldn’t really help with compacting and sorting trash, she did keep him company and help find new trinkets to add to their collection back home. Since Phoenix was the only Fen-10 unit with a ‘soul,’ the rest were not much for conversation.

Once arriving at his destination, Phoenix knelt down to let Trucy, who was carrying the small, portable cooler they had for storing new treasures, off as Phoenix removed his backpack-slash-trash compactor and placed it on the ground. He glances at his surroundings, seeing the huge skyscrapers of trash cubes he and his fellow Fen-10 units created over the centuries. Despite many of these trash towers being taller than most of the abandoned buildings, he and the other androids barely made a dent in the sea of trash. This task has only been harder ever since the last Fen-10 broke down nearly three centuries ago. Phoenix couldn’t help but give out a sad and tired sigh as he gently rubbed the side of his face where a noticeable scratch lied. He turned back to the section of trash and fastened his gloves.

“C’mon Phoenix, just do a few more cubes and you’ll be done for today,” he whispered to himself. With Hello Dolly still blazing through his portable radio, Phoenix scoops two armfuls of aluminum cans, paper cups, and other miscellaneous pieces of trash into his compactor and starting it up. The loud sounds of the machinery crushing the trash muted out the song until the trash cube came sliding out once the machine was done. All that was left was to carry the cube to the stack and do it over again, and again, and again. As he and Trucy trekked up the already very tall structure of trash cubes, Trucy noticed a new treasure.

“Hey daddy,” she chimed, “look at this!” Trucy pointed to a silver disk that was lodged within one of the trash cubes as Phoenix began to tug it free. The two androids stared at disk, trying to figure out what it could be used as, when it began to reflect the light of the sun as it began to set, shimmering within its light.

“Wow, it’s so pretty,” Trucy stated in awe, “Can we keep it?”

“Heh, I don’t see why not,” Phoenix replied, “But it looks too big to keep in the cooler with the other things we found. I’ll carry it in the compactor until we get home.” With that, Phoenix places their newest trinket into his compactor before turning off his radio.

“I think this is enough for today,” Phoenix tiredly sighed, “Let’s go home sweetie.” Phoenix put his backpack back on and helped Trucy and the cooler up onto his shoulders. He then activated his retractable skates and carefully made his way back down the newest trash-scraper. The size of this paled in comparison to the others that Phoenix had created over the many years. Countless mountains of trash have been made by Phoenix over the years, and it look that there would only be even more in the future.

________________________________________________________________

The trek back home gave the two androids the full tour of the abandoned city that they lived in. They once again passed the huge Buy N Large Ultra Store that they have become all too familiar with. The store was absolutely massive and used to carry practically anything a person could need or want. It was as a great place to find supplies, tools, or just fun treasures to take home. The android family then passed by the gas station with one too many pumps and then the bank, which had many ATM’s and had the ground littered with abandoned currency. There was even a speaker that was still playing the Buy N Large theme song, as it was solar powered like Phoenix. Next was the ‘hall of advertisements,’ as Phoenix would playfully call it. Nothing but BNL advertisements of varying products and sizes as far as the optics could see. Phoenix and Trucy then made their way up a broken-down escalator, making their way to the monorail system. Phoenix paused as he approached the rail, checking to make sure it was safe to continue. His demeanor saddened as he knew that they would soon be approaching ‘the graveyard,’ the sight where hundreds of other Fen-10 units broke down. It was always hard to come this way, seeing basically himself lifeless. His daughter knew this all too well.

“Will you be okay Daddy?” she softly asked, “We can go a different way.” Phoenix snapped out of his thoughts and turned to her.

“No, it’s alright,” he replied, “This is the fastest way home. I just … need a moment.” He took a deep breath and gently shook his head.

{Just take it slow Phoenix. You’re going to be ok.} Phoenix squeezed Trucy’s hand, letting her know that he was alright. He then reactivated his skates and carefully made his way along the rail. The deactivated androids soon came into view. Large piles of Fen-10 units surrounded the monorail system, with each droid caked in rust and dust. Phoenix tried to focus on the rail or at the sunset, trying to avoid seeing what he would look like if he ever went offline. Suddenly, just when they reached a patch of solid ground, Phoenix’s deteriorating treads finally gave out. Both androids began to feel the quick, shaking movements of Phoenix’s broken treads unevenly traveling on the path. Phoenix carefully came to a stop to check on Trucy and the condition of his treads.

“You alright Truce,” Phoenix asked.

“I’m fine Daddy,” she replied as she slid off her father’s shoulders. Phoenix lifted his ped to inspect the damage, only to groan in frustration at how bad it was. There was no way to fix these treads with the tools back home, they were completely destroyed beyond repair. He needed a new pair to tread boots. His optics then landed on an offline Fen-10 unit slumped to his left, with a pair of tread boots in perfect condition. Phoenix looked between his destroyed boots and the unit’s boots. Phoenix sadly sighed and looked at the downed unit with guilt.

{… I’m sorry}

________________________________________________________________

After switching the boots, Phoenix and Trucy got back on the rail that lead them back to their bunker. Taking equipment or parts from the other Fen-10 units was always difficult, but sadly necessary. The factory where Phoenix was built ran out of parts practically in the first or second century. The plans, equipment, and supplies needed to recreate the parts Phoenix could need were lost or destroyed. This left Phoenix with no choice but to use the countless androids that littered his home. Since there were so many and the droids were built with durability that would make a cockroach jealous, Phoenix practically had an endless supply of equipment and parts that he would ever need. Even though they were never really ‘alive,’ he would always feel a bit guilty after taking the parts. He took some comfort knowing that Trucy will not have to deal with that. The local Tru-3 factory still has parts and they were able to secure the plans and equipment if Trucy ever needed new parts. The android family carefully continued on the rail, passing by abandoned apartments and destroyed factories and equipment, before finally coming to the downtown transit station. As Phoenix skated on the terminal floor, he passed an automatic advertisement that displayed exactly how the human population left the Earth.

“Too much garbage in your face,” the voice asked, “There’s plenty of space out in space! BNL Starliners leaving each day. We’ll clean up the mess while your away.” The advertisement had four individual screens, each showing a different scene when Phoenix moved passed them. The first was just an animated growing mountain of garbage, the second showed the BNL Starliner, the Axiom, soaring past the Earth, the third screen showed two Axioms taking off from their docking points, and the fourth one displayed about six Fen-10 droids doing their jobs as another Axiom takes off in the background.

{I guess it’s more like “I’ll clean up the mess while you’re still away” these days.} Phoenix and Trucy made their way to the end of the platform and pushed through the exit terminal gates. Just then, another, larger screen appeared above them with another advertisement of the Axiom.

“The jewel of the BNL fleet, the Axiom,” the voice exclaimed, “Spend your five-year cruise in style! Waited on 24 hours a day by our fully automated crew while your captain and auto-pilot chart a course for non-stop entertainment, fine dining, and with our all-access hover chairs, even grandma can join in the fun! There’s no need to walk! The Axiom, putting the star in executive starliner!” This advertisement showed hundreds of humans being pampered in a number of ways by all kinds of androids, be it by massages or by cooking hibachi-styled meals. It also showed the captain at the time and his android auto-pilot. Phoenix was always put off by the auto-pilot. He had slicked back grey hair, striking yet cold red and black eyes, and a stern face with noticeable wrinkles, making him look very old. It was almost as if that android could see right through your hardware. Phoenix’s paranoia about the auto-pilot android was interrupted by the image of the CEO of Buy N Large, Shelby Forthright, appearing on the screen.

“Because of BNL, space is the final fun-tier,” Forthright cheered as he waved to another Axiom taking off into the stars.

{I just wish you all would come back from that final fun-tier.}

______________________________________________________________

After a few more minutes, the android family finally arrived back at their bunker. It was set up on an abandoned, half-finished highway with a few deteriorating cars and construction vehicles in front. The bunker was designed as a place where Fen-10 units could power down after work, but Phoenix and Trucy made it into a suitable home over the centuries. Phoenix gained a good knowledge of machinery, electronics, and energy from reading books and downloading memory files, which helped him set up a small, yet sufficient home. Phoenix was able to fix the solar panels on the outside of the bunker to power everything in their home. They had working lights, heating and cooling systems, mechanics, and even an entertainment system with a DVD and VHS player, iPod that functioned as their television screen and sound system, and a few gaming systems. Phoenix was even able to repair a transceiver and screen that was capable of communication with a person in space if it linked with the other signal code. While they have never been able to reach anyone in space, they could still use its screen for their gaming system. Phoenix pulled up to a control panel, allowing Trucy to a lever that activated the door to their bunker. As the door slowly began to open, the sun’s light shown on the multitude of treasures they have collected over the years, be it a chandelier made from miscellaneous junk, a birdcage full of rubber ducks, or even a collection of clocks of varying types and sizes.

{Home sweet home.} Phoenix grabbed a power strip and flipped its switch, activating the lights in their bunker. Phoenix’s mood brightened as he stared at many treasures that he and Trucy collected over the centuries. Each item was a cherished memory he shared with his daughter. Phoenix helped Trucy off his shoulders before zipping off the top part of his jumpsuit, revealing the white undershirt underneath, and tying the sleeves around his waist. Phoenix began to hum the Hello Dolly show-tune as he strolled over to the entertainment system, taking the copy of Hello Dolly on VHS out of a decommissioned toaster to continue watching from the night before.

To say that phoenix loved Hello Dolly was an understatement. While there were other movies or shows that he and Trucy could watch, Hello Dolly had a special place in Phoenix’s core processor. The joyful music, lovable characters, and mesmerizing dance numbers always helped Phoenix and Trucy cheer up after a long day of trash sorting, treasure hunting, and seeing how badly the world keeps deteriorating. Moreover, this was her favorite musical. The favorite show of the Phoenix’s first and only human friend before every person evacuated the planet.

Phoenix placed the tape into the player and adjusted the large magnifying glass over the iPod’s screen, making the image of the town’s people in the scene bigger to see. With the familiar tune playing in the background, Phoenix and Trucy began to sort their new treasures, starting with the silver disk. As Phoenix turned what now appeared to be a hub cap from a car, he turned to look at the screen and took notice of the hats that the towns people were using in their dance number. Phoenix began to turn the disk above his head, mimicking the choreography of the scene.

{Well, that’s one thing we can use this for.} Phoenix placed the disk into one of the many shelves that lined the wall of the bunker. Trucy then opened up the cooler to take out the other treasures they had found throughout the day. Inside the cooler was a spork, a Rubik’s Cube, a hand-powered mixer, a light bulb, and an old BNL lighter. Trucy took out the spork and Rubik’s Cube, admiring the strange objects she found near the Ultra Store earlier that day. She placed the cube in a section that also housed one of her father’s art sculptures, which was a red clay heart with a spiked dog dollar around it on a spring. Trucy then moved to the section next to it to place the spork, trying to decide on whether to place it with their collection of forks or spoons. She eventually decided to put it in between the collections, as it was a fusion between the two. As Trucy placed the spork in its section, Phoenix pulled out the BNL lighter.

“What made you want to take this Trucy,” Phoenix questioned, “We must have nearly one hundred of these things by now.”

“Oh, it has something in it” Trucy replied, “I heard liquid inside when I picked it up. The others we have are empty. What do you think is in there?”

“I’m not sure,” Phoenix declared, “I don’t remember reading anything about these in our books or memory files. Let’s just put it with the others we found for now.” Phoenix moved to the end of the shelf and pressed the lowest button on its control panel, making the Ferris-wheel like mechanism begin to rotate the shelves until it reached the one with their collection of lighters. After placing the newest lighter in with the others, Phoenix’s audio receptors picked up a familiar sound. That song was playing again.

“And that is all, that loves about.

And we'll recall, when time runs out...”

Phoenix was always captivated by this song and scene. Seeing the two humans sweetly sing to each other, intertwine hands, and stare lovingly at each other made Phoenix’s core processor swell with happiness, but he also felt hints of jealousy and sadness. Phoenix let out a quiet sigh, surrounded in love and loneliness that Trucy managed to hear. She looked over to the screen, and anticipated her father’s next action.

“That it only,

Took a moment,

To be loved...

Whole...

Life...

Long.”

As the song began to end, Phoenix intertwined his own hands, mimicking the two humans on screen. There is was. Her father always held his own hands whenever he watched that scene. The scene was beautiful, but it also unintentionally rubbed what the two characters had that her father didn’t: Love.

This was not to say that Phoenix did not love her, extremely the opposite. Ever since Phoenix found her in the landfill her original ‘family’ left her in and re-activated her, he has been the greatest father she could ever ask for. He was always thinking of her and would do anything for her. He helped her recover and cope with her feelings of abandonment, shared with her everything he knew about the world, and would always make time for her for whatever she needed. Phoenix loved her with every ounce of his processor, no doubt about it.

But this was a different type of love. The two characters shared a romantic type of love, and her father did not have someone to share that kind of love with. He would try to hide his sadness over this from her; he did not want her to believe that their bond did not make him happy. Trucy understood how he felt, she did not have someone to share this kind of love with either. While she didn’t feel that strong of a desire for romantic love, probably due to her programming, she could see that her father wanted to experience that kind of love for himself, and not just watch it from movies. Trucy slowly walked over to her father and placed her hand on his arm.

“Daddy,” she carefully whispered. Phoenix slightly jumped at her touch. He looked over to her and then his hands, slowly separating them.

“I’m doing it again,” Phoenix softly mumbled, “I’m sorry Pumpkin, I …”

“Please don’t apologize Daddy,” Trucy reassured as she cupped her father’s face, “It’s not a bad thing to feel sad over this. You told me years ago that we have to feel what we need to feel. So please, if you need to feel sad, don’t hide it. Not even for my sake.” Phoenix held Trucy’s hands and gently pressed his forehead against hers. He knew that she was right. He shouldn’t be ashamed of his emotions. She’s not a naïve little android; she has changed and grown over the centuries. He shouldn’t be afraid to feel sadness around her, but he practically conditioned himself to in an attempt to spare her from feeling any undeserved guilt. He placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and cupped her face.

“What did I do to deserve the world’s most perfect daughter,” He softly asked.

“Saved me from becoming one of the many trash cubes you have to make,” she jokingly replied. Phoenix couldn’t help but giggle at her clever comeback. He hugged her close as they turned toward the screen, watching the two characters walk off, hand-in-hand. Phoenix hugged Trucy tighter as the sadness and jealousy seeped back in. Trucy placed her hands on her father’s, staring up at him to see what he would do next. Phoenix sighed and turned his head towards her.

“Trucy,” he began, “I know that you already know this, but I love you. Without you, I’d be so miserable here. But … I wish we weren’t the only two beings left on Earth. I wish we didn’t have to do the same things all day, every day. I’m so tired of cleaning and making trash cubes. I’m frustrated that I’m the only Fen-10 unit still working. I’m angry that I was the only one alive. I hate that there is still so much trash left, and we have to take care of it ourselves. I wish that the humans were back. I wish that there were other androids we could interact with. I wish that…”

“Easy Daddy,” Trucy interrupted, “Don’t overload your processor. Just take it slow.” Phoenix’s voice was getting faster and higher in pitch. Anymore and he might have needed to change his voice box. He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts.

{Easy Phoenix, you don’t have to say everything on your mind right now. Like Trucy says, take it slow.}

“… I want more out of life Truce,” he continued, “I don’t want to sound ungrateful for what we have now. Having you with me, collecting treasures together, making art, … it does make me happy. You make me very happy. … But that scene … it reminds me of what we could have … or what we never may have.” Phoenix knelt down to be at eye level with his daughter, placing his hands on her shoulders. He tried to speak again, but his melting pot of emotions made him stop to think about how he should say what needs to be said. However, Trucy caught on to what he wanted to say.

“I feel the same way Daddy,” Trucy revealed, “I love going with you to work and treasure hunting, but … I also want to do more. I want our lives to change.”

Change. Change is something that many people often fear. After all, fear is the result of not knowing something. But when you have been doing the same things for centuries, you might welcome a change of pace with open arms.

“I want to do the things that the humans in the movies can do,” Trucy added, “I want to meet people. I want to go on picnics, go to the beach, travel the world. I want an ..”

“Adventure,” Phoenix interjected. Phoenix gently sighed, feeling a weight lift off of his shoulders after sharing his frustrations, and remembering that he does not need to hide anything from his daughter. He couldn’t help but quietly laugh at how he fell for the cliché plot of hiding his true feelings to spare another’s; one of the curses of having a human ‘soul’: you have human flaws and make human mistakes. Phoenix pulled Trucy into a gentle hug.

“Truce, I really am sorry for hiding how I’ve been feeling, but I’m happy that you finally got it out of me,” Phoenix apologized, “I should have known that you were feeling the same way.”

“I’ve been hiding it too Daddy,” Trucy replied, “I was worried that I would hurt your feelings if I told you how I was feeling about this.”

“But this …. This is good. It feels good to talk about this. We shouldn’t be afraid to talk to each other about anything like this anymore. Trucy … if you ever feel unhappy, frustrated, or anything, never be afraid to talk to me about it. And I promise to do the same.” Trucy wrapped her arms around her father’s neck, tightening their hug. Phoenix felt his core processor swell with relief and happiness, knowing that the unneeded burden of hiding their true emotions was lifting. He knew that it would take some time to break this habit, but they took the first step. With more open talks and support, they can and will cope with their situation.

{An adventure would be nice. It would be great to do something else, go somewhere new … Wait a minute! Somewhere new!} Phoenix straightened his posture as an idea entered his mind.

“I think I know a little adventure we can have,” Phoenix exclaimed, “There’s a section of the city that we haven’t gone to, not even once! I think it’s called Sector 358, South-West from here. I’m supposed to finish Sector 174 tomorrow, but how about we skip it and go there instead!” Trucy looked up at her father in surprise and excitement.

“Really, a new sector,” Trucy thrilled, “You really mean it?”

“Of course. I’ll still be doing my job, but we’ll have a change of pace. What do you say?”

“Y-yeah! That sounds great! Think of all the new treasures we can find! This is gonna be awesome!” Trucy began to pace around the bunker, happily listing all of the new things she and her father could do and see. She began to speak faster and her voice raised in pitch. Phoenix waved her down and then spoke.

“Heh, take it easy Pumpkin! Now you’re gonna overload your processor. But, I’m glad your excited. Why don’t we plan out what we can do at the sector while we finish sorting our new treasures?” Trucy took a deep breath and calmed her excitement. She then joined her father by the cooler, trying to find a fitting place for the hand-powered mixer.

________________________________________________________________

The sun had finally set and the night sky began to sparkle with the lights of the stars … is what one would see if the smog wasn’t blocking the atmosphere. Phoenix and Trucy had finished Hello Dolly and placed their new treasures in their collection. Trucy was on top of the bunker trying to catch a glimpse of the stars while her father was carefully banging the cooler on the ramp of their bunker to clean out the dirt and dust from the day.

“Hey Daddy,” Trucy called, “The smog is clearing a bit! You can see the stars!” Phoenix looked up to the sky as a grin grew on his face, joyful to see that his daughter was right. It was a small hole in the smog, but it was enough to see the silvery dots speckled across the black darkness of space. The beauty of the sight made Phoenix couldn’t help but think back to the song “It only takes a moment.” The soft lyrics and melody did fit the sight of a calm sky well. Phoenix pulled out a tape recorder and pressed the play button. The song, which Phoenix had recorded earlier began to play as Phoenix continued to stare at the night sky. Phoenix sighed as the beauty of the song mixed perfectly with the calmness of the shimmering stars.

However, the song was only able to play the first line as the smog once again covered the sky. The sound of the song was then replaced with the blaring siren of Phoenix’s alarm system. Phoenix stiffened and gasped at the sudden change of sound and quickly pulled his goggles over his eyes to see what and where the danger was. Phoenix’s line of vision fixated directly in front of him.

[WARNING! LEVEL 3 DUST STORM APPROACHING!

SPEED: 249 MPH

ESTIMATED ARRIVAL TIME TO CURRENT LOCATION: 30 SECONDS

SEEK SHELTER IMMEDIATELY!]

“Oh no,” Phoenix quietly gulped before turning to warn Trucy, “TRUCY! SANDSTORM COMING IN FAST! GET INSIDE, QUICK!” Trucy quickly sat up upon hearing her father’s cry and scrambled to her feet. She quickly climbed down the bunker’s side ladder and sprinted into the door. Once she was safely inside, Phoenix flipped the switch on the power strip to close the door. Phoenix and Trucy moved to the back of the bunker, watching the door slowly close. They hugged each other and held their breaths as they saw the storm quickly approach. Once the door finally closed and locked, they let out a sigh of relief.

{These storms are getting more and more common. No matter how many we face, it never gets easier.} Phoenix and Trucy stayed silent for a few seconds, listening to the wind blow around their bunker and the song. Trucy was the first to notice that the song was still playing and began to giggle at the unfitting music after narrowly escaping the dust storm. Trucy’s giggles alerted Phoenix to the song and he couldn’t help but laugh along with her. As he pressed the off button, Trucy let out a yawn. She pressed the button that held her cape together and checked her stats. Her energy was low.

“Heh, it is pretty late,” Phoenix chuckled, “We should get some sleep. We’ve got quite a day tomorrow.” Phoenix and Trucy made their way to the very back of the bunker to their beds. Phoenix was able to hook up Trucy’s charger to her cot so she could be charged when she went to sleep. Trucy removed her cape, gloves, ascot, boots, and pulled her hair out of the pony tail while Phoenix completely removed the top part of his jumpsuit and pulled off his boots. After Trucy settled into her bed, Phoenix strolled over to tuck her in.

“Good night sweetie,” Phoenix cooed as he kissed her forehead.

“Goodnight Daddy,” Trucy yawned. It only took a few seconds for Trucy to power down and fall asleep. Phoenix softly smiled as he made his way over to his cot and pulled the quilt over his body. Phoenix stared up at the ceiling, letting his body relax after the long day.

{Just an average day. … With a few changes.} Phoenix closed his eyes and allowed himself to power down, letting himself drift off to sleep.

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Author’s Note

Man, I did not mean for this to take so long.

As you can see, this au follows the story of the Disney and Pixar movie Wall-e. If you have seen the movie, then you know around 85% of the story’s plot. If you have not seen this movie, then this will contain spoilers for it. But I am adding new scenes to the story to keep it interesting, so I hope you all continue to enjoy it.

The scene with Trucy and Phoenix in the bunker was difficult to write. I wanted to write that scene in a careful, honest, and respectful way. Being someone who suffers with depression, I know first-hand how important it is to one’s health to talk about one’s emotions and feelings. If you are struggling with your emotions and how you feel, please talk to someone you trust or seek out a therapist or councilor. And if you know or see someone struggling with this, please help them in the best way you can. You could save a life. Your feelings and mental health matter, always remember that.

So, can you guys guess which Ace Attorney character is Auto? If you remember what Auto does to Wall-e near the end, then you should get your answer.

And who is this mysterious woman that Phoenix befriends? Who is the woman that Phoenix has the highest regard for? See the next chapter to find out!

#collabwithmyself #collabwithmyself chronicles #phoe-nix #ace attorney #wall-e au

11 notes · View notes

firstginger · 4 years

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hello, i loved the hdm quiz and i'm curious: what was the full list of possible daemons??

hi, i’m so glad you liked it! :D so there are currently ~320 possible outcomes and i will type them up because i’ve gotten this question so many times! however i do add more periodically — about 50 have been added since the quiz was first posted

domestic doghusky, pug, golden retriever, cocker spaniel, german shepherd, bulldog, bloodhound, afghan, westie, poodle, chow chow, pomeranian, australian cattle dog, rottweiler, st. bernard

domestic catbengal, sphynx, persian, maine coon, tabby (DSH), siamese, lykoi, bobtail, russian blue, abyssinian, turkish angora, norwegian forest cat, cornish rex, oriental shorthair

viverroidhyena, aardwolf, meerkat, mongoose, fossa, fanaloka, binturong, african civet, genet

bovidbison, domestic cow, muskox, yak, water buffalo, cape buffalo, kudu, bongo, nyala, gaur

bearbrown bear, polar bear, black bear, sloth bear, sun bear, panda, spectacled bear, moon bear

xenarthrapichiciego, armadillo, sloth, silky anteater, anteater, tamandua

raptorvulture, osprey, hawk, falcon, secretary bird, eagle, caracara, goshawk, gyrfalcon

foxgray fox, arctic fox, fennec fox, red fox, bat-eared fox, simien fox, andean fox, corsac fox, rüppell’s fox

marsupialopossum, wombat, tasmanian devil, kangaroo, koala, bandicoot, quokka, pygmy possum, brushtail possum, sugar glider, tree kangaroo, wallaby, cuscus

owlbarn owl, snowy owl, screech owl, great horned owl, burrowing owl, eagle owl, great grey owl, little owl

primategorilla, chimpanzee, mandrill, gibbon, capuchin, tamarin, spider monkey, ring-tailed lemur, squirrel monkey, colobus, sifaka, howler monkey, orangutan, tarsier, loris

wild cattiger, lion, snow leopard, cheetah, ocelot, caracal, cougar, serval, jaguar, clouded leopard, lynx, jaguarundi

waterfowlheron, pelican, gull, goose, duck, swan, albatross, booby, shoebill, stork, puffin, sandpiper, flamingo

batflying fox, disk-winged bat, vampire bat, little brown bat, ghost bat, yellow-winged bat, sac-winged bat

musteloidraccoon, kinkajou, skunk, red panda, coati, ringtail, olingo, olinguito, cacomistle

perching birdsparrow, blue jay, raven, cuckoo, magpie, cardinal, dove, parrot, robin, blackbird, mockingbird, manakin, thrush

wild dogwolf, african wild dog, jackal, coyote, bush dog, dhole, maned wolf, dingo

deerwhite-tailed deer, moose, reindeer, mouse deer, fallow deer, elk, water deer, pudu

serpentblind snake, shieldtail, python, file snake, viper, cobra, boa, corn snake, garter snake, rattlesnake, milk snake, hognose, vine snake

mustelidstoat, badger, wolverine, polecat, marten, ferret, sea otter, river otter, tayra

antelopegazelle, duiker, impala, wildebeest, oryx, waterbuck, addax, reedbuck, dik-dik, eland

rabbitholland lop, cottontail, jackrabbit, snowshoe hair, pika, flemish giant rabbit

cavitavetoucan, woodpecker, hornbill, hoopoe, kingfisher, kookaburra

eulipotyphlahedgehog, shrew, mole, moonrat, desman

rodentrat, mouse, squirrel, hamster, beaver, capybara, guinea pig, porcupine, flying squirrel, kangaroo rat, gopher, chipmunk, gundi

insectant, beetle, mantis, ladybug, moth, butterfly, cockroach, bumblebee, firefly, wasp, grasshopper, dragonfly

arachnidharvestman, tarantula, black widow, orb-weaver, scorpion, horseshoe crab, trapdoor spider

reptilecrocodile, tortoise, chameleon, gecko, iguana, skink, komodo dragon, gila monster, tuatara, caiman, bearded dragon, snapping turtle, horny toad, tegu

caprineibex, domestic goat, bighorn sheep, domestic sheep, serow, mountain goat

swinedomestic pig, warthog, babiursa, wild boar, pygmy hog

equine (i’m such a horse girl there are so many horse options LMAO)arabian, friesian, thoroughbred, fjord, shetland pony, clydesdale, donkey, zebra, przewalski’s horse, akhal-teke, dartmoor pony, dutch warmblood

pinnipedharbor seal, leopard seal, elephant seal, sea lion, walrus

amphibianpoison dart frog, pond frog, glass frog, fire-bellied toad, common toad, bullfrog, salamander, axolotl

flightless bird (SO many people have commented that some of these birds aren’t flightless… i Know i just needed more birds for this category)kiwi, emu, ostrich, cassowary, kakapo, penguin, chicken, turkey, peacock

i’m considering adding camelidae and montreme to the main section but as of right now it’s just these 34 😊 for fun, the least common daemon is the pygmy hog — 5 people or 0.0002% of people got it!

#daemon quiz #Anonymous #long post

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kodazat · 5 years

Text

GUNDAM CREATOR’S INTERVIEW: YOSHIKAZU YASUHIKO

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the character designer and chief animation director of the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime and author of the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin manga, shares the details behind his creative process and thoughts on female Gundam fans in this interview for Girl’s Gundam (Pub. Date 9/23/2009).

AMURO RAY MIGHT HAVE BEEN JAPANESE

Women have such a variety of ways of enjoying a work. It’s truly commendable. Any time I try to slip in things to appeal to them specifically, it proves entirely unnecessary (laughs).

Gundam was a project where the character designs were settled upon easily. A big-eyed boy with curly hair who wasn’t cheerful or, frankly, especially handsome… in other words, an anime hero quite unlike those who came before him. When Tomino, the director, approached me with this concept for the lead, I had already been envisioning just such a character. It was as if we had read each other’s minds, and Amuro’s design was quickly finalized.

Since Amuro wasn’t going to be handsome, we decided to make his adversary, Char Aznable, good-looking instead. This movie was inspired by the character Sharkin from Raideen, a show Tomino and I had worked on together previously. He had been well-received by female fans and through him, I learned villains were also capable of leaving a strong impression. But since handsome characters aren’t interesting enough on their own, Char needed an individual element to distinguish him. Thus, the mask to conceal his face. This had the added effect of giving him an air of mystery. Call it haphazard or superficial of me (laughs).

As for Bright Noa, he’s nineteen but mentally much older. Role-wise, he’s the middle management type. So I gave him his hairstyle imagining he’d develop a receding hairline a few years down the line (laughs).

The biggest factor behind us being able to design the cast so freely was the TV programming agency becoming lax with their inspections. Normally, they’d go over everything and make demands like: “The hero must be Japanese! He must be handsome and cheerful!” But with Gundam, they let everything pass without comment. I had even thought up a backup setting for Amuro which changed the Ray in his name to Rei and listed his birthplace as being in the mountains of Shimane… but we didn’t end up needing it (laughs). While we’re on this topic, the characters of Mirai Yashima and Hayato Kobayashi sprang from this hidden agenda of wanting to portray the Japanese in supporting instead of starring roles for a change. That’s also why I made them shorter and plumper, with smaller eyes (laughs).

Regarding the costumes, I tried to add some fun touches. I felt the Federation uniforms would seem unappealing if the colors were too military-like, so I went with a 19th century, French Tricolore-inspired palette. In contrast, I gave the Zeon uniforms more traditional coloring, hoping to evoke the image of pre-war Germany; less Nazi, more Prussian. I wanted outfits that kids could cosplay by customizing their school uniforms. I even hoped the really dedicated girls would do matching looks with their boyfriends (laughs). And sure enough, the cosplayers appeared! I remember shouting: “Yes! There they are!”

A WORK BECOMES ATTRACTIVE THE MORE PEOPLE PLAY WITH IT

In retrospect, Gundam came out during a transitional period when anime was moving away from the standard hero pattern of story-telling. So while it’s a military drama, there are still some unrealistic parts. Take Char’s cape, for instance. I wanted him to wear one, but if it were too long, it would look cartoonish… so I made it waist-length. As for his helmet, those horns serve no purpose beyond being a safety hazard, but I figured an anime character requires some extra ornamentation (laughs). I troubled myself over these details a lot, and even aiming for the middle ground, things got muddled (laughs).

But there were people who had fun parodying such details. I remember them dubbing Char’s cape ‘The Cockroach Mantle’ and remarking on how he looked ‘pretty adorable’ scurrying away from battle in it (laughs). Garma, the narcissist rich boy, got called cute and became more popular with female fans than we ever anticipated. Even the freckled weakling Kai had his admirers. As for Amuro, many girls said he was the kind of character they couldn’t leave alone, that they wanted to take care of him.

It was around this time that the light parody doujinshi*1 scene, including yaoi*2, was growing with women at the center of it. Their work felt fresh, completely unlike the stodgy parody works being made up until then, and took me off guard. Some were angered by it, claiming it made a mockery of the source material, but I didn’t think so. It was brand-new culture, after all. So while keeping in mind issues of copyright, be it parody, fangirling, yaoi or cosplay… I’d like to encourage everyone to continue enjoying Gundam in their own unique way.

TRANSLATION NOTES: *1 Doujinshi: Japanese fan comics and zines that are primarily comedic, romantic and/or pornographic. The creation of doujinshi became a staple of Japanese fandom upon the founding of Comiket in 1975, and the production of them boomed after the influential release of Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979.

*2 Yaoi: A genre of doujinshi, written primarily by women for consumption by other women, featuring romance and sex between male characters from established media properties. Mecha anime doujinshi, those parodying Mobile Suit Gundam in particular, accounted for most of the material produced in what is referred to as the First Wave of yaoi.

#translations #mobile suit gundam #gundam #yoshikazu yasuhiko

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hellyeahomeland · 4 years

Photo

“Fucker Shot Me” | Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, Cinematography by David Klein

Sara: I truly stan G’ulom and his collection of capes. He is the villain in the shadows we need!

Gail: G’ulom’s character arc has really come a long way since Carrie blackmailed him back in episode two. Feels like a year ago.

Sara: Mike is highly annoying. He is so annoying I’m starting to feel sorry that he keeps asking Jenna to do things. Why did he have Jenna tell Saul what happened? Why did they wait until the next day? Why couldn’t he have done all this himself or at least delegated? What I’m saying is Mike is a drama queen.

Gail: It’s interesting that you see Mike as an antagonist to Carrie when he is literally doing the right thing by reporting her. Carrie’s lucky he only went to Saul at first. It gave her the opportunity to get a head start on her mission to find Max. This small meeting of the minds in the middle of a bustling CIA station says a lot too: all of her secrets are about to be laid bare.

Gail: This surveillance shot was when I realized that Yevgeny is intentionally feeding into the suspicions around her. His government must know and approve of what he is up to. He might have some affinity for her, but he is definitely on his own mission here.

Sara: Couple’s first photo together.

Sara: Truly the road trip of my dreams! On a more analytical note, almost all the camerawork in these scenes is done outside the car, looking in, with the barrier of the windows between us. This is continuing a motif from earlier episodes that saw Carrie often shot from behind the car window, trapped on the inside. And now she’s “trapped” with Yevgeny.

Gail: I love how the camera shots in this scene give us a feeling of eavesdropping on them. Makes me wonder who else is listening?

Sara: I really loved this shot, with the reflection of the countryside visible. The scenery and remoteness of it all (uh… not to mention them literally being on the run together) really reminded me of Carrie and Brody in “The Star.”

Gail: Yes--and she’s not the one driving this time. Yevgeny is literally and figuratively in the driver’s seat.

Gail: I love that we are getting Carrie’s perspective here. We can’t see or hear what Yevgeny is saying. We are as in the dark as Carrie is when it comes to his true motivations.

Sara: Yevgeny shot from behind again. This continues another motif of Carrie watching him walk away (repeated in the first three episodes of the season), his back turned to her.

Sara: Before I caught on to what was happening, I saw the light blue burqa and thought something was super fishy. This is the same color burqa that Samira Noori had. There was also a woman wearing a blue burqa walking by Haqqani at the end of last week’s episode when Carrie spots him outside the embassy. I feel like this is super ominous and must be intentional…. Right?

Gail: I noticed that too! I love how colorful the market is here too, it reminded me of the donkeys heading up the mountain in the last episode.

Gail: IJLTP.

Sara: Gotta have that parallel! This must be intentional. The positioning of the camera and choreography here is identical to the pilot.

Sara: IJLTP.

Gail: Even in a crowd of people, Carrie is always alone.

Gail: Such a contrast to the colorful market and busy streets nearby.

Sara: This is a really stunning shot and you can feel the emotional weight of these rows and rows of tombstones--all of which Carrie is responsible for.

Sara: I noted this in TCWTW, but they’ve dressed Carrie and Yevgeny similarly here. Notably they’re both in jackets with pockets on both breasts. Also notably, Carrie’s ensemble is in shades of grey, while Yevgeny’s is darker. Also also notably: height difference.

Gail: His constant and consistent nonchalance is such a vibe.

Gail: We are on the outside looking in at their relationship again. So much we don’t know about it, and by “we,” I mean the audience and Carrie.

Sara: This is a cute bookend shot to the final scene of last week’s episode where Yevgeny is staring at Carrie, who stares straight ahead.

Sara: The Jesus light shines on Max!

Gail: Max’s living conditions keep going from bad to worse.

Sara: What the actual hell was this? The speed with which Yevgeny prevented a total and full-blown Carrie freakout was certainly admirable and positively weird as hell.

Gail: Yevgeny sure knew how to calm her down quickly: bends down to eye level, holds her forcefully in place, and even does the sympathetic head tilt. He knows way more about her than “we” can imagine.

Sara: I just picked this shot because was anyone else surprised that Linus is still the Chief of Staff? I thought for sure he would have been transferred to an ~advisory~ role when Keane left but both Beau and now Hayes are keeping him? Let’s all admit that Linus is really the cockroach that creepy doctor in Caracas said Brody was.

Gail: I loved the scale of the empty airplane hanger against the optics Hayes is trying to convey. Empty attempt with an even emptier coffin.

Sara: Don’t sleep on Tasneem! She’s always lurking around every corner and that is why we continue to stan. Also shout out to blog member Angela who remarked on the way they dressed Tasneem in virginal white a few episodes ago, and now this Madonna-esque blue. What does it mean?

Gail: Now Tasneem is looking over her shoulder too.

Gail: The distance between Saul and Bunny/Tasneem speaks volumes.

Sara: The choreography in this scene is really something. I mean… LOL. Could they hate Saul anymore?

Gail: Even though Mike has reported Carrie to the FBI, he still takes her call in private. Interesting.

Sara: Why does Mike have encyclopedias in his sad office?

Sara: This is such a great shot. G’ulom looming in the background, out of focus but still totally in control. Everyone gets an over-the-shoulder shot this year.

Gail: G’ulom in a tie < G’ulom in a cape.

Sara: Yevgeny took the night shift and let Carrie sleep in the back of his car. I repeat: CARRIE SLEPT IN THE BACK OF HIS CAR. I can’t with them.

Gail: I didn’t think she was sleeping, Carrie doesn’t sleep! I thought she was laying low since she’s a fugitive now and was hiding from the drone(s) that she was hoping the CIA would send to check for Max. Ugh, poor Max!

Sara: Dammit, Gail! You’re probably right.... but a full night has passed so she had to have slept, for at least 15 minutes, in his car. Let me have 15 minutes!

Sara: First, I think this shot is totally gorgeous (Jesus light shines on Max again!). Second, I’m not getting too freaked out because remember how totally dumb Jalal is? We don’t have much to worry about, folks.

Gail: Such a gorgeous shot, I agree. Another empty space that illustrates just how alone Max is.

Gail: Another parallel to the end of season three: Carrie calling for an extraction team that isn’t coming.

Sara: And this shot, too. Damn… this episode was visually quite gorgeous, if substance-wise quite dull.

Sara: Total Brody vibes with the cage and also Haqqani’s general air of acceptance here. They wanted us to feel bad for Brody at the end too! Later, again like Brody, Haqqani is surrounded by a crowd of raucous people who want him dead when he’s sentenced to his fate. Although this specific shot with the cell in the center of the courtroom reminded me a lot of those scenes with Hugh Dancy in Hannibal (can’t find a pic, you’re just gonna have to trust me!).

Gail: I agree and really loved this scene.

Sara: I love shot because of how small Saul looks. I don’t mean this in a shady way! It really puts into perspective (literally) how futile his attempts are to save Haqqani and secure the peace deal (again). Saul states at the beginning of the episode that Haqqani and the Taliban control half the country… that necessarily means that half the country would also probably like to see him dead. He’s just one man, one small man, and the sun is setting on him.

Gail: Great insight. The loss of control and chaos surrounding Saul is only growing in scale through this episode, culminating in this fantastic shot.

Sara: I have to laugh. Best facial expression of the century goes to Mr. Linus Roache.

Gail: Wellington is literally biting his lip! Love it and love the villainous John Zabel, menacing beard and all!

Gail: Carrie is very much “in the weeds.”

Sara: Carrie sure is trying hard to be stealthy given she’s tracing the perimeter of a fence that’s more or less see-through. I LOVE YOU, CARRIE.

Gail: Everything happening to Max feels extremely ominous to me.

Sara: It’s official, this show has an eyeglasses complex. Saul and Max are both glasses-wearing people, and I tend to think the scenes where they’re without them (whether in captivity or otherwise), and the scenes where they get them back, suggest a loss of humanity. They’re being stripped down to the barest and most vulnerable forms of themselves.

Sara: This reveal is really very clever and would have been a lot more so if it hadn’t been spoiled in 46 promos.

Gail: I love how Carrie and Yevgeny are off center in this shot, just like Carrie.

Sara: IJLTP. IJLTP.

Sara: And again with this eyes wide, hands on shoulders, controlled and direct response. I would be creeped out if I didn’t think he was doing it out of ~*~LOVE~*~. But seriously, what do you think this is and why is it so effective?

Gail: I think he had a lot of practice. (Ugh)

#homeland #homelandedit #in the director's chair #fucker shot me #*#by: sara #by: gail #lesli linka glatter

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kandyrezi · 5 years

Text

(pitch black);

fandom: the gray garden

characters/pairings: ivlis/yosafire, satanick

summary: “whilst wandering around outside the flame castle, yosafire has a strange encounter with a jovial, otherwordly devil.” | word count: 2.7k

warnings: implied sexual harassment.

///

a red-colored sun.

there was nothing quite like that back in the gray world – a bright, shining orb in the far distance that one couldn’t quite look directly towards, lest they wanted to permanently damage their eyesight. in the flame underworld, the sun was distant, yet would one set their eyes on it, it resembled the moon a lot more, except duller in color during nighttime. but the sun never seemed to disappear, be it day or night. the sky was barren, not a single moving cloud in sight to form seamless patterns to gaze upon while laying in the grass, feeling the gentle blow of the wind through her hair, pondering which objects the individual shapes most resembled. not like she had been so used to seeing before.

yosafire felt as if she were walking in circles around the flame castle with an empty maroon-colored notebook in hand, and she likely was. not that it mattered much, since she wasn’t allowed to venture too far away from the current location. she wasn’t acquaintanced with anyone there well-enough to inquire about it either, nor did she really have any desire to do so. other than the occasional demon servants who were there to make sure she wouldn’t run too far away or cause any unneeded trouble, sometimes run a bath or feed her at the devil’s request who reside there. formal appearances and company aside, she really felt more lonely than ever.

while the heat was hardly a bother to her, she wished that the flame world didn’t look so burnt to the ground and devoid of any colorful life that would bloom together in harmony - it would’ve been nice to grow a flower garden while she was stuck there.

trying to push the thoughts of her friends back in the gray world to the back of her head, and how much they must have missed her (surely they must’ve known she was still alive and would send someone to come and get her… surely?). instead choosing to focus on a potential spot to grow an array of plants, either side of the road leading to entryway into the big castle could work, or perhaps even both, to make a distinct, vibrant in color landmark across the otherwise bleak area.

even just a select few; with enough soil, dirt, and some water, it was doable. it was warm in the flame world, but hardly any real sunlight, which would be a hassle for the plants, thought yosafire. a couple of a few messy scribbles were the first thing to appear in the notebook, an assortment of different flowers that she liked and thought would look nice near the huge mansion, scribbling their names underneath.

“ohoh, well, hello there, cutie.”

she didn’t get very far with planning out a garden or writing down any other thoughts, when a voice from behind caused her to halt in her tracks and stand still, before snapping the notebook shut.

a deep, yet chipper voice she definitely hadn’t heard before.

turning her head, getting a good look at the strange demon in front of her. he’d appeared like an unannounced silent shadow, creeping up slowly without a sound before she really got a glimpse at him. now in front of her, yosafire had to bend her neck to look up at him. she might have thought the flame devil was tall, but this guy was the size of a mountain, with long legs and daunting presence to match.

a quirk upwards of the stranger’s lips, short ebony hair framing his face, one hand behind back and other on his chin as he observed the lime-haired demon from where he stood with quite a keen interest.

“perhaps you could escort me to the flame devil’s whereabouts, hm? could you?” he asked, eyes never straying from her.

“who’re you?” yosafire blurted out instead, as if the apparent question had completely flown over her head.

the demon only kept smiling, like there was something that brought him great amusement that she was missing out on, but what exactly, it was hard to tell.

“nothing that concerns you, cutie. just be a dear and tell me where he is, will you? inside the castle behind you, perhaps?”

the small demon furrowed her brows, nose crinkling. while normally wanting to be amicable and approachable to strangers or anyone otherwordly, yosafire really did not want to seek anyone out in her current predicament; it seemed most demons here had ill intentions of a kind, or were just plain rude and aloof, hardly making her stay there any more pleasant than needed. in all honesty, she wasn’t too certain nor did she really care about said devil’s whereabouts either. the further away he was from her, the better, really.

he might have figured out the answer to his own question, yet he was still looking down at her in anticipation, like he was waiting to be amused by whatever her answer might be.

“um, i dunno where he is, really...”

the demon hummed in mild annoyance, lip twitching slightly. he brought his hand from behind him, bending and leaning towards her, cape dark as the starless sky slouched on his shoulders, the two of them now on equal eye-level, deep purple irises gazing into her soft pink colored ones, a stark contrast.

“oh, what a shame. guess i’ll have to tear apart this world piece by piece in search for him, won’t i? the longer he won’t show up, the angrier i’ll get… are you sure you don’t know where he is?”

words leaning towards borderline threatening, although the response hadn’t pleased him too much and even claimed so - the small, knowing smirk never left his expression. yosafire frowned at the peculiar demon, as he placed his hand on her shoulder, getting just a little too uncomfortably close.

“h-hey, hands off, mister!” she slapped his gloved fingers away, taking a step backwards with a glare through rose-tinted glasses, “i already said i don’t know!”

rude, and with no sense of personal space either!

the demon blinked twice in wonder, but quickly regained his composure with a slight chuckle, standing his full height again.

“my, you’re quite a feisty little rabbit, aren’t you? i’ll have you know, i do happen to have a type.”

this guy had an aura of perversion and cruelty far greater than that of ivlis, thought yosafire.

“what do you even want from him anyway?” she asked, hoping to stray from going into unwanted territory.

“hm, well, nevermind about that cockroach then right now…” brushing off her inquires, he continued on pondering with his own thoughts and ignoring her own, “say, you give off quite an otherwordly presence, like you don’t quite belong. why is that, i wonder, cutie?”

(if he couldn’t get anything out of her, then perhaps he could persuade her in some other way.)

“uhm… well...”

yosafire thought if she should tell this guy anything at all - but if he too, was from another world, like she was, perhaps he had enough power to world-jump, then he could aid her in getting her back to the gray world. even if she didn’t like the look in his whimsical purple-shaded eyes, she had to try.

“i’m not from this world, actually, uh...well, i...”

the strange demon didn’t give her time to say much, before stepping closer again and taking a lock of her green hair in between his digits, twirling it around a bit.

“that so, hm?”

despite wanting to slowly inch away from him yet again, she kept her feet planted firmly on the ground and mustered as much confidence as she could to keep her narrowed gaze on him, not allowing herself to be pushed around by this weirdo, whoever he might have been.

“since ivlis doesn’t deem you important enough to come to your aid right about now... how would you like to come back with me to my world and go sightseeing? perhaps i could even show you my mansion and get to know eachother better. i promise it’s a lot more high-class than this humid trashheap he lives in.”

whereas before it seemed more jovial, his voice had then turned more sultry and lower, giving her a mischievous wink. yosafire threw the plan into the gutter in the back of her mind. there was no way in a million years that she would ask this creep for his help to getting her back home!

before she even had the chance to refuse--

“you…!”

the demon allowed her strands of early apple-colored hair slip from his fingers, as he directed his gaze to the one behind her. yosafire could feel herself freezing up a bit as she swallowed the lump in her throat, not even needing to look, knowing full-well just from the irritable tone of voice who exactly it was approaching the both of them.

“oh, roachykins, there you are! what a coincidence, we were just talking about you moments before!”

the strange demon’s demeanor turned mirthful again at the drop of a hat.

“i was going to come visit you, but this cutie here wasn’t too keen on telling me of your whereabouts. how upsetting! i thought… maybe i should just have some fun with her instead~?”

the demon tried to extend his hand towards yosafire yet again, but she was promptly pulled backwards, feeling ivlis’ broad chest against her back. the notebook nearly falling from her hands, the demon squeaked slightly, as an arm curled protectively around her waist. she didn’t exactly feel comfortable being in his smothering grip, but knew fighting back was ultimately futile, having learned the first time the painful price she would pay for it.

The stranger demon clasped his hands together, the sound echoing slightly, “ah, so she is your pet, then! how unfair! where did a cockroach like you get such a cute loli from?! i bet you stole her. ah, where did you steal her from? hey, c’mon, tell me, don’t be stingy!”

“who are you anyway, mister?” yosafire tried asking for his name again, trying to ignore the nonsensical ramblings, wondering if maybe seeing ivlis for whatever reason he needed to see him had put him in a better mood.

ivlis didn’t seem to respond with the same enthusiasm. he didn’t seem to want to talk at all, which was unusual. usually he wouldn’t let go of any given opportunity to taunt her, or anyone else he didn’t like, it would seem.

“oh, even she’s more talkative with me than you have been for the past week.”

the tall demon took yosafire’s hand in his, with a gentle grip as he brushed his thumb over fingers, allowing him to bring her knuckles to his lips as he placed a delicate kiss on them; smirking against them while making direct eye contact with ivlis, who only scowled silently, but was otherwise unnmoving and silent. she couldn’t see him properly from where she stood, but guessed he must’ve been fuming with anger, sensing his growing bad mood.

“i’m satanick, and you best remember that. pleased to make your acquaintance, cutie. do you have a name as well, or should i just keep calling you, cutie?”

the green-haired demon’s eyes bulged wide, immediately drawing her hand back. “ew, no! ugh… just-just call me yosafire.”

yosafire could feel ivlis sink his claws into her abdomen, pulling her as close as he could, now properly pressed against him and trapped in his grasp, barely having any wiggle room left.

“well, i’m so, very terribly sorry to interrupt this heartfelt moment. should i come back for another time? when your pet is away, i’ll come back and play with you then. unless… unless, she wouldn’t mind joining in~?”

yosafire blinked, uneasily choosing her words, “play… play what? what game are you two playing?” hoping he wasn’t referring to the kind of ‘playtime’ ivlis liked to refer to when he had her pinned on his bed.

wondering briefly if her naivete before the flame invasion couldn’t correctly interpret his speech; the youthful spirit in her would have jumped at the opportunity for anything that involved a good, lighthearted game of fun. now, she was increasingly becoming more and more vary of anyone she came across, suspicious of their motives.

“feel free to take me up on that offer anytime, perhaps i could show you what kinda games we like to play then~” satanick replied, taking a few steps back.

“i’ll be back soon, roachy. don’t think i’ll be leaving you alone for long.” with a small wave and a wink, satanick turned on his heel and ventured away from the two of them, the cape that eloquently clung to his shoulders flung behind the otherwordly devil, as the two of them watched him leave.

the grip around her slowly but surely loosened and stance less guarded. hands trailing from waist to her arms, murmuring something venomous through gritted teeth, ivlis exhaled a breath he’d been holding in his lungs in an attempt to not lash out and keep steady.

then the claws were back on her in an instant.

“mr. devil…!” yosafire gasped in surprise.

he spun her around by her wrists, causing the notebook to fall from her grasp onto the ground with an audible thud, so that she was looking up at him. there was some kind of flicker in his golden eyes; they were steel and narrowed; the frustration behind them quite visible, mixed with something she hadn’t quite seen on him before. even when pervy mcshades had tried to get a little too close and friendly with her, ivlis had gotten annoyed at best, and the few threats that had followed would certainly keep the shades-wearing demon at bay.

this was… something else entirely.

“why were you talking to him?” ivlis hissed, once he was certain the other devil was out of earshot.

yosafire blinked in slight confusion, “he just came up to me and asked me about you! i didn’t know what else to do.”

maroon scaled fingers trembled slightly, but they didn’t let go of the fabric they were holding onto.

“just… stay away from him. he’s nothing but bad news and i don’t want him around you. is that clear?” he asked, sounding more like a command.

yosafire’s lip upturned uneasily, with a quirked brow, “why not? he’s a little… weird, but he can’t be any worse than you--”

“don’t.”

in a second, the fire she was setting her foot into began to burn again; she recognized the fury and cruelty on his expression as his eyes bore into her like sharp glass. yosafire could feel the pressure of his scaled fingers on her arms, digging deeper into her delicate flesh through her red sweater.

she could have sworn she saw his hair glow ever so slightly.

“m-mr. devil… please let go.”

with increasing discomfort and pain, she tried to squirm from his hold on instinct, but the grip on her was too tight, doing nothing to appease him, if not worsen his temper.

“i asked… is. that. clear?” ivlis empathized the words with distinct venom and authority in them.

“o-okay, okay, sheesh! i won’t go anywhere near him! just let go!”

pushing her delicate hands against his chest, digging the heels of her boots into the ground. his grip slowly softened again and yosafire yanked herself free a little too harshly, causing her legs to give out and fall backwards onto the ground with a yelp.

getting up quickly as she fell with a hateful glare, now filled with indignation at having her peaceful moment ruined, yosafire wasted no time in running away from him without so much as another glance back, likely to the other side of the flame castle, anything to avoid being around the devil.

not that she could escape from him forever, ivlis thought as the sound of footsteps slowly faded, and if she got too rowdy, well… nothing a few days short of being chained up and trained to be more obedient to his needs couldn’t fix.

spotting the fallen journal, or diary, forgotten on the ground next to him, ivlis picked it up it up and peered inside until he found a page with something in it. allowing himself to fall into silent thought, he couldn’t help but marvel at some of the drawings decorated with flowers – a page filled sketches of what they would look like in front of the flame castle.

the encounter with the pitch black devil had been enough to put him in a sour mood, but perhaps there might have been something that would lift it again… and someone else’s, as well.

#mogeko #funamusea #the gray garden #yosavlis #yosafire #ivlis #satanick #dsp #deep-sea prisoner #okegom #ivlis (mogeko)#yosafire (mogeko)#satanick (mogeko)#ficlets #i had a little too much fun writing this

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dark-eyed-elegance · 5 years

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Meme: Muse Aesthetics

Tagged by @everarddelanden

BOLD any which apply to your muse! Add what you’d like.

Tagging ALL OF YOU

[COLORS]

red. brown. orange. yellow. green. (sky) blue. purple. pink. black. white. teal. silver. gold. rose gold. grey. lilac. metallic. matte. royal blue. strawberry red. charcoal grey. forest green. apple red. navy blue. crimson. cream. mint green. ocean blue.

[ELEMENTS]

fire. ice. water. air. earth. rain. snow. wind. moon. stars. sun. heat. cold. steam. frost. lightning. sunlight. moonlight. dawn. dusk. twilight. midnight. sunrise. sunset. dewdrops.

[BODY]

claws. long fingers. fangs. teeth. wings. tails. lips. bare feet. freckles. bruises. canine. scars. scratches. wounds. burns. spikes. feathers. webs. eyes. hands. sweat. tears. feline. chubby. curvy. short/normal height (not small but not his full height if he’d continued to grow). tall. muscular. beards. piercings. tattoos. lithe.

[WEAPONS]

fists. sword. dagger. spear. arrow (hi dad). hammer. shield. poison. guns. axes. throwing axes. whips. knives. fire. throwing knives. pepper sprays. tasers. machine guns. slingshots. katanas. maces. staves. wands. powers (the Mind gift). magical items. magic. rocks. mud balls. kitchenware. fangs. hair pins.

[MATERIALS]

gold. silver. platinum. titanium. diamonds. pearls. rubies. sapphires. emeralds. amethyst. metal. iron. rust. steel. glass. crystal. wood. porcelain. paper. wool. fur. lace. leather. silk. velvet. denim. linen. cotton. charcoal. clay. stone. asphalt. brick. marble. dust. glitter. blood. dirt. mud. smoke. ash. carbonate. rubber. synthetics.

[NATURE]

grass. leaves. trees. bark. roses. daisies. tulips. lilies. pansies. lavender. petals. thorns. seeds. hay. sand. rocks. roots. flowers. ocean. river. lake. meadow. forest. desert. tundra. savanna. rainforest. caves. underwater. coral reef. beach. waves. space. clouds. mountains.

[ANIMALS]

lions. wolves. eagles. owls. falcons. hawks. swans. snakes. turtles. ducks. bugs. spiders. cockroaches. worms. birds. whales. dolphins. fish. sharks. horses. cats. dogs. foxes. bunnies. praying mantises. crows. ravens. mice. lizards. werewolves. unicorns. pegasi. dragons. rats. doves. tigers. macaw.

[FOODS/DRINKS]

sugar. salt. candy. bubblegum. wine. champagne. vodka. hard liquor. beer. ale. cider. coffee. tea. spices. herbs. apple. orange. lemon. cherry. strawberry. watermelon. vegetables. fruits. meat. fish. pies. desserts. chocolate. cream. caramel. berries. nuts. cinnamon. burgers. burritos. pizza. soup. cheese. meat pie. sandwiches. cheesecake. soda. blood. rum. whiskey.

[HOBBIES]

music. art. watercolors. gardening. smithing. sculpting. painting. sketching. fighting. writing. composing. cooking. sewing. training. dancing. acting. singing. martial arts. self-defense. electronics. technology. cameras. video cameras. video games. computer. phone. stand-up comedy. movies. theater. libraries. books. magazines. CDs. records. vinyl. cassettes. piano. violin. guitar. electronic guitar. bass guitar. harmonica. harp. woodwinds. brass. bells. playing cards. poker chips. chess. dice. motorcycle riding. eating. climbing. running. parkour. spinning. walking. magic. languages. antiques.

[STYLE]

lingerie. armor. cape. dress. tunic. vest. shirt. boots. brogues. heels. leggings. trousers. jeans. skirt. jewelry. earrings. necklace. bracelet. ring(s). cuff links. pendant. hat. crown. circlet. helmet. scarf. brocade. cloaks. corsets. doublet. chest plate. gorget. bracers. belt. sash. jumper/sweater. coat. jacket. hood. gloves. socks. masks. cowls. braces. watches. glasses. sun glasses. visor. eye contacts. makeup. cane. suit. leather pants. robe(s). boyfriend shirt

[MISC]

balloons. bubbles. cityscape. light. dark. candles. war. peace. money. power. percussion. clocks. photos. mirrors. pets. diary. fairy lights. madness. sanity. sadness. happiness. optimism. pessimism. loneliness. family. friends. assistants. co-workers. enemies. loyalty. smoking. drugs. kindness. love. hugs. dreaming. nightmares. daydreaming. silence. noise. politics. anger. pity. cars. mechanics. alchemy. religion. travel.

#rp meme;#{ dial paris yourself; ooc -- }#// thank you!!

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a-disaster-piece · 6 years

Photo

Other little buddies you come across while mushroom foraging...Cape or Table Mountain Cockroach (Aptera fusca), which only occurs in the fynbos of the Western Cape, & also gives LIVE BIRTH! It may be a huge cockroach, but c'mon, look at those cute little speckles! (at Cecilia Forest) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn9NBLknCBS/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=yl2inxgiwqdh

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give-me-a-thousandkisses · 7 years

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Q: How are you today? A: Good … thank you !! Though THIS traffic …. #shame

Q: How many days till you are able to go home? A: Just a bit over a month … counting down the days !!! #summerfun

Q: #AskClaire are you watching anything good? Binge worthy? A: Did someone say @SHO_TwinPeaks

Q: Where’s Eddie while you’re away? You must miss him! A: I do miss HER … (i won’t let her know you made that mistake !!) She’s waiting in Scotland for some SA treats !!

Q: You gonna be long? #onbehalfofmycompadres A: If I said another hour …. would you a) cry b) explode c) just go home ..????

Q: What do you consider to be your best scene from Season 3? A: 🌴…. that’s a clue !!!

Q: What book are you currently reading? #AskClaire #Outlander A: Mirror, Shoulder, Signal …or is it Mirror, Signal, Shoulder … anyway .. It’s GOOD.

Q: Will you get time off this summer before Season 4 filming begins? A: Well I’d better … I hear people might want us to promote it #AskClaire

Q: What’s been your favorite thing you’ve learned since coming to South Africa to film? #AskClaire #Outlander A: People’s incredible capacity to forgive and heal … and that it’s a process … LOVE SA ❤

Q: When will you come to France ? #AskClaire A: Soon, I hope !!

Q: Favorite think about SA? Worst thing? A: Food and the distance from loved ones

Q: If you could hav dinner with one person, alive or deceased, who would you choose? A: Gore Vidal ….

Q: This season is taking a long time to be recorded, will we have a very accurate fidelity to the book? A: Its the same length as the others …. actually shorter than season 1 … and we do our best !

Q: Ok … so do you plan on taking ax long holiday or doing different work after Outlander S 3 filming ends? A: Both would be nice. We’ll see

Q: What’s your favourite book at the moment? any book recommendations? A:Loving anything by Zadie Smith

Q: Any museums in SA you would recommend? A: District 6 museum

Q: Will you consider the possibility of doing a musical ep just like they did on Once Upon a time? That would be amazing A: NOBODY wants that. BELIEVE me !!!

Q: Is there alot of bloopers coming? A: US ??? Bloopers ???

Q: So if you are late you won’t be able to rib that other guy @SamHeughan who’s always/never late ?? A: For once he’s waiting on me !!

Q: Do you still play the accordion (sometimes)? A: No … :-((

Q: What’s your favorite place in Cape Town? A: Too many to choose. But Table Mountain, Cape Point …. the 🐧 Penguins!!

Q: Describe Claire in 3 words????? A: Smart, strong with a dash of stubborn #

Q: Any plans to visit Brazil? Lots of fans here! Beautiful places beaches and “caipirinha” is our best drink! A: I would love to !!!

Q:How long is the traffic going to take omg A: I don’t know … just passed a bad accident ….😔

Q: Costumes aren’t as glamorous and you’re probably wet a lot… most challenging about shooting this part of S3? A: 🕷🐜🐍🐢🐐🐕🌰…. my new costars !!!

Q: what was the last picture you took on your phone? A: this …

Q: Could we get a behind the scenes selfie please? A: Are we there yet???????????

Q: Caittttt have you ever visited Greece? #AskClaire #ThankYouForBeingWhoYouAre A: Not yet but top of my list

Q: Do you share Claire’s decisions throughout the books or is there something you disapprove? A: I don’t always have to agree … but I do have to understand …

Q: Night shoot today? What’s your tip for surviving night shoots? #askClaire A: Coffee, silly chats and my kindle !!

Q: Why you use #askclaire instead of #askcaitriona? A: Cause I spend more time being Claire and I have an identity crisis …. good point #AskCaitrionaorClaireorwhoeveriam #AskClaire

Q: Are you headed to or from filming for the day? A: Going to work … NIGHT shoots 😓😓😓😓

Q: What did you have for breakfast? A: Green juice, Avocado on toast and Coffee !

Q: When are you coming back to NYC? Love to see you here… maybe S3 premiere?? A: Mayyyyybe Mayyyybe #season3

Q: Haz visto muchos animales exoticos mientras esta en SA A: Baboons, penguins, zebra and @SamHeughan

Q: The Outlander fanbase is growing and growing, how do you feel about this? A: Waaahaaaahaaahaaa world domination is in our sights WaahaaahaAHAAAAAA

Q: Favorite character apart from claire?? A: This season …. ooh one young sailor and one batty priest !!!

Q: Do you have a phobia? A: Cockroaches !!!

Q: What is the weather outside? A: 🌞🌞🌞

Q: I just got to work, but you’re a great distraction! Love these q&a’s. #WhoNeedsToFocusAnyway A: Thats what I say …… #Oooops #Imeanialwaysfocus #Ahem #walkingawayquietly

Q: With the older characters the action will continue strong? A: Yes @SamHeughan and I will just beat each other up with our walking sticks

Q: If you could give one advice to your character, what would it be? A: Just once in a while #Sssshhhhhh

Q: Hello Queen . Can you send greetings to your Brazilians fans and for my friend from @caitbalfebrazil We love u so much A: Bom Dia

Q: On a scale of 1 to 10 how much of a pirate do you feel like now that you’ve spent all this time on “old ships”? A: Arrrrrrrrrreight

Q: Do you think sam uses photoshop for his pics? cuz that body cant be real A: Yes, every morning for an hour, six days a week @SamHeughan photoshops his body.

Q: The “.” right before someone’s twitter handle isn’t working anymore! You should consider doing quoted retweets A: Really ..??? Since when ..?????

Q: If claire was at the women’s march, what do you think she would write in her sign? “A: Are we STILL protesting this shit ..???”

Q: what’s your secret to keep yourself positive when you need it?! A: “Write a gratitude list … 5-10 things you are grateful for … will help !! ”

Q: How would you define season 3 in three words? A: “🗡, 📃, 🛌, ⛵"

#caitriona balfe #twitter #claire fraser #post #q&a

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thehikingviking · 5 years

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Gelai Volcano from the Maasai Village of Gelai

I was sitting in my cubicle one lazy November day and received an email from Laura Newman, asking if I wanted to take her spot on an upcoming Africa ultra bagging trip (ultra = peak with > 5000 ft of topographic prominence). I couldn’t recognize any of the proposed peaks and I knew none of the attendees. I sat on it for a while then came to the realization that I may never get another opportunity to climb such obscure, prominent peaks. I got the okay from my manager and jumped on board. The leader of the group was Rob Woodall, a name I vaguely recalled, most likely from online trip reports. I would later learn that Rob is one of the most active worldwide ultra peak baggers.

To prepare for my trip, I got a series of vaccination shots, including hepatitis, MMR, Typhoid and probably several others. My doctor prescribed malaria vaccines in tablet form. Asaka really wanted to go, but she didn’t have health insurance, and getting vaccinated out of pocket would be very expensive. It was a tough decision, but I had no choice except to leave her at home for the trip. After the trip, I knew I made the right decision because she wouldn’t have enjoyed the trip. I promised her that we would go back to Tanzania together for Kilimanjaro and Meru.

The day finally came. I boarded my plane in San Francisco and flew down to Los Angeles via Delta Airlines. After a short layover, I boarded a KLM flight and flew to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam, we flew 10 more hours until finally landing at Kilimanjaro International Airport. I waited in the slow moving visa line with no bathroom in sight, making for an unpleasant hour. When I finally made it to baggage claim, one of my bags was missing. Included in this bag were my hiking boots, medicine and cash. It was panic time, but worrying just worsened the situation. I met a driver who drove me to Arusha, where I met Rob at the Korona House. He was relaxing in the room while the others were asleep. The window was wide open and I was paranoid of mosquitoes. He claimed he hadn’t seen one all night, and seconds later a mosquito flew into the room. As if my stress wasn't high enough... Rob did confirm that he had an extra pair of boots I could borrow, and thankfully his shoe size was close enough to mine.

The next morning we had breakfast outside where I met Adrian and Martin for the first time.

The plan for the day was to drive into town and gather some last minute essentials. I had everything needed for hiking, and while my bag was still missing, the airport confirmed they would deliver the bag to my hotel when it arrived. In the long run, this actually was not possible, considering I would be in rural villages over the next few days, but the faint hope of reuniting with my stuff did something to ease my stress. The group spent the next hour or so looking for a SIM card. I already had international data, so I had nothing to do. I passed the time watching several Arussie carry a large telephone pole through a skinny alley.

I watched various chicken vendors who kept their birds inside woven baskets. The chicken couldn’t escape the basket on their own, but the vendor could easily grab them and push them through the gaps in the webbing. I declined the dozens of street vendors who approached me with bracelets and other trinkets. Each of them gave me a different explanation for what the colors represented on the bracelet. Finally the others returned and we began our trip north along A104 in our Land Cruiser. We drove by Mt Meru on our way to Longido. The summit of the 14er was blocked by perennial clouds.

We stopped in Londigo for lunch, where we had plain sandwiches, unseasoned fried chicken and some bottled Coke.

Behind the town was Mount Longido, a very prominent peak which I would like to climb some other day.

From Longido we followed dirt roads to the village of Gelai. Not more than 15 minutes after leaving Longido we encountered our first animals. I was surprised to see so many large animals so far away of the Serengeti.

There were giraffes, zebras, antelope and even a kori bustard. About 40 miles away from Longido, Gelai Volcano came into view. It probably could have been visible from much further away if the air quality had been more clear.

After hours of driving we arrived at Gelai Village. It was a small town with only several buildings. We dropped off our luggage in our very small room which contained 3 bunk beds. There was still plenty of time before dinner, and with nothing to do, we decided to take a walk up the nearby hill.

As we approached, we wondered if the peak had at least 100 meters (or 300 ft) of prominence, so we took an elevation measurement at the key saddle and planned to compare this with the summit reading.

We reached the base of the mountain after fifteen minutes and started the uphill portion. I did not have on proper shoes so my pace was limited. There were many thorny plants along the way which really did a good job of catching my clothes and even skin. The thorns were quite painful. The locals call this peak Peridot Hill because the canyon below is full of the precious stones. Tanzanite, another precious gem, is only found in Tanzania, showing how mineral rich the land is.

The summit was surrounded by a circular man made wall a brush. I’ve seen similar structures on television; Maasi warriors make these for protection from predators at night. Even a hungry lion doesn’t want to go through these painful thorns.

To the north was Gelai Volcano.

To the west were Ol Doinyo Lengai and Ker Massi, two prominent volcanoes which I badly want to climb in the future.

We took another elevation reading and found that the peak indeed has over 100 meters of prominence. I was happy we made the effort, and we descended back down towards the town below.

Our guide Jeff took us on a detour. We stopped by a Maasai dwelling where we met a small family.

They appeared to be goat herders, and welcomed us into their home.

They showed us the precious minerals from the nearby canyon. I know nothing about precious stones so I declined purchasing anything.

Staying with the famous Maasai warriors was a very amazing experience, and everything felt very authentic until they pulled out the bracelets from Arusha and began trying to sell this to us. Rob had too much of a heart and ended up buying one. We walked back to the main part of town before dusk, leaving Peridot Hill behind.

Jeff prepared dinner back at the house. He did a very good job preparing food with the ingredients he had available.

The Englishmen were crazy about their tea and couldn’t stop drinking it. It was 85 degrees even after dark, but drinking boiling water didn’t seem to bother them. There was a bathroom in a separate building, and every time I used it a new friend would join; whether it be a lizard, toad, spider or cockroach. As I walked to and from the bathroom, a Maasai child would sit quietly in the dark. This caught me by surprise and frightened me several times. When it was bed time it was hard to sleep. I put the mosquito net over my body which made me feel constricted. The temperature never cooled off, and I spent the whole night sweating, tossing and turning in the dampened sheets. The others made many noises in their sleep and their smell was amplified in the small quarters. Jet-lag also didn’t help my situation; I did everything I could to mentally get through the night.

The next morning it was time to finally hike. We had breakfast and of course more tea, then jumped in the Land Cruiser and began our drive up the 4x4 road.

The road was extremely rough and deeply rutted in places. I definitely couldn't manage this road with my Jeep back home, but the Land Cruiser had few challenges. We passed by several dik-diks, which are the smallest species of antelope. They are one of the few monogamous creatures in the animal kingdom, and if their significant other dies, they will commit suicide by giving themselves up to one of the carnivorous predators.

We ran into a little bit of a traffic jam along the way.

We drove so far up the mountain that I became concerned we would have nothing left to hike. As we approached our starting point, two hyenas sprinted across the road. No one told me that there would be hyenas in the area. I was aware of the Cape buffalo, which are considered the most dangerous animal in the area, but I was not okay with the carnivores. While the road continued, the Land Cruiser could not make it up a slippery, steep portion of the road. We reversed back down the road and parked at a flat spot. In addition to Jeff, our local guide from Gelai named Khalifa planned to join us.

Prior to the trip, Rob confirmed that our guides would be armed. When we started hiking, I found Khalifa to be armed with nothing more than a walking stick. I felt sick to my stomach. Jeff pointed down at the partial print of one of the hyenas. Khalifa and Jeff explained that the hyenas would most likely not bother us. The only animal of concern was buffalo.

Down below to our northwest was Lake Natron.

We followed the main road as it continued through the shrubs. I felt that as long as I stayed in the middle of the pack, I would have the highest chance of surviving a hyena attack. The golden rule is you don’t have to outrun the hyena; you just have to outrun the slowest person in the group.

We heard something large moving through the vegetation up the hill. Khalifa turned to me and with a very concerned look on his face he whispered “boo-fa-low.” The locals treat the Cape buffalo with a great deal of respect.

They were a good distance away, but we could clearly see buffalo stampeding through the brush.

We cautiously watched as they ran across the road, seemingly unaware of our presence. Once the coast was clear, we continued following the road. Khalifa and I took the lead, and I was surprised when a Maasai warrior caught up to us from behind.

He had a spear, so I felt it was in my best interest to hike with him. He didn’t speak English, but seemed very friendly. I offered him some extra water and he gladly accepted.

We could see the very young volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai through the haze to the southwest.

To the south was Ketumbeine Volcano, which we planned to climb the following day.

Gelai is a shield volcano, so the ascent was very gradual. The western crater rim stood ahead of us.

We reached a flat spot and across a shallow valley was a herd of wildebeest.

Further up the ridge from the wildebeests, Jeff pointed out a hunting structure. It seems that hunting expeditions in this area are more popular than hiking expeditions.

I asked Jeff what animal was hunted from that hut, and he replied lion. At first I thought that was interesting, but then my brain started functioning; that meant lions must live in the immediate area. I then remembered that no one in our group was armed, which led me to wonder what I had gotten myself into. I asked Jeff if he was scared of lions. He responded no, and told me that the only large cat that he was afraid of was jaguars because they like to hide out of sight and ambush their prey. I asked Jeff if Jaguars lived on Gelai, and he said of course. What I once envisioned as an alpine mountaineering trip had turned into a fate tempting stroll of peril. With big cats on the mind, we approached an overgrown section of the road. This was the perfect place for a lurking jaguar.

I tiptoed through the thick brush, wondering what defense mechanism evolution had gifted me with to protect me from an untamed beast. As we reached the end of the dense region, a large animal exploded out of the brush and ran in front of us. To our relief, it was only a dik-dik.

We continued along the two-track towards the gap in the crater ridge above.

Rob, who is also a birder, took the opportunity to view several species unique to Africa through his binoculars, verifying each sighting with his birding book.

We were greeted with a grassy pasture upon entering the crater. Here Khalifa expressed his concern for buffalo. They typically like to graze in this area, but there were none today. It was clear that the cape buffalo is the most feared animal in the bush, even more than the king of the jungle.

We walked around the contour of the crater, eventually hitting a patch of of washa washa, also known as the Maasai Stinging Nettle (urtica massaica). The nettle induced a sharp, painful stinging sensation, followed by an intense tingling sensation, just from lightly brushing up against the plant. I had to carefully watch my step. Meanwhile, our Maasai warrior waltzed right through the washa washa as if it was nothing. At a fork in the road, he took a right and continued towards a high camp, while we veered to the left towards the summit.

There was no washa washa in this grassy meadow, but we were on high alert for buffalo. Just off the path was a bull carcass.

Rather than worry about what killed the bovine, we took this as a photo opportunity.

I would learn later on in the trip that the cattle in this region are very different than the ones back home. Even the females have large horns. There are also other species of cattle with large humps. We continued along the grassy section toward the northern edge of the crater.

The road continued back down the northern side of the mountain. We left the road here and headed towards the summit tower up above.

We only had 300 feet remaining, however much of the remaining off road portion was through washa washa. I had gaiters protecting my lower legs, but my bare knees suffered a direct assault from thousands of stinging hairs. We used a maze of buffalo trails to navigate through the flora, hoping the trail’s architects weren’t lying around the corner.

The washa washa seemed to never end. Every few minutes I would check my GPS, dismayed to see almost zero progress. All things come to an end, and eventually we were out of the washa washa and into a forest.

We exited the forest and entered a clearing with the radio tower.

Only a few meters away back in the forest lay the high point.

Within a minute we were standing on top of the true summit. The summit was completely forested and there wasn’t even a good place to sit. Regardless, we were happy to be standing on top, alive.

There was one opening through the branches and vines, but the sky was too hazy to make out any landmarks.

We ate our packed lunches in the shade. Even though the hike was short, I was tired from the humidity and jet lag. Hoping to get a view, I climbed up the radio tower in the summit clearing.

I could have climbed higher, but the tower didn’t feel very stable. Also, if I were to fall, I would definitely break several bones, and I wasn’t sure if this region had the proper infrastructure or medical expertise to properly treat me. Again, the views were limited due to the poor air quality. The only other peak I could make out was Ketumbeine.

I was eager to get back to the village before any apex predators could become aware of my presence. We walked back through the forest and at a clearing we could see Lake Natron below.

We again had to walk though the minefield of washa washa. Upon closer inspection, the true weapons can be seen on the stems. Jeff told me that the buffalo eat the washa washa and go crazy, which is a good enough explanation for why they are so mean and aggressive.

Once through the agonizing stretch, we were back on friendlier grasses. Scouting ahead, we could see no buffalo in the field below.

Returning was a simple task; we just had to follow the road back down to the car.

The hike took only 5 hours and was not so difficult. The total elevation gain was only about 2,300 ft and the round trip distance was 7 miles. Upon reaching the car, the day was still not over. The drive down to the village was very slow, and we stopped several times to talk with the locals. Our guides were speaking in Swahili, so it was impossible for us to know what they were talking about, but the length of each conversation seemed unnecessary and our group became impatient, especially those in the back without windows.

We finally got to the outskirts of Gelai Village, where we were stopped by a police officer. I felt very nervous because I wasn’t sure if this cop was legit, and there was nowhere to run and hide if things went south. What ended up happening was an hour long argument between our guides and the officer. Apparently, we failed to check in at the office the day before, but our guides couldn’t do so since the offices were closed on Sunday. Our guides had to bribe the officer with cash (luckily none of ours) just so he would leave us be. By the time we got back to the village, I was even more exhausted, but with all the humidity, creepy crawlies and lack of comforts that I am used to back home, I could not recover that evening. Our guides decided to spend another night at Gelai Village, which was good news because the original plan was to camp. This decision was made for safety reasons. We were not so far from Serengeti National Park, and animals don’t abide by human borders. I would not have felt comfortable sleeping with so many nocturnal predators nearby. The primary danger seemed to be hyenas, so we slept again in our small, smelly room, with our sights now set on our second Tanzanian objective; Ketumbeine.

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laurenborrelli · 6 years

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Lekkerrrr

When I moved to Boston 3 years ago, I got a text within my first 48 hours saying Kate and Daniel had booked a trip to visit the following weekend. The weekend of their visit, I distinctly remember Dan telling me he was interested in applying to University of Pittsburgh because of their study abroad program in Cape Town, South Africa. And then 3 years later he was attending that program through Pitt and I booked a flight to visit!

Dan is my childhood neighbor and 5 years younger. So I had to mentally prepare to be around kids that were barely 21 years old...AND tackle it as my first semi-solo trip. Not to mention I was able to use credit card points and fly for FREE!

Itinerary:

Wednesday, November 29th 2017: My flight departed Boston in the evening and I arrived at my layover destination in the AM. With a 9 hour layover in Munich, I ventured outside the airport to the Christkindlmarkt in the city center. With a full belly of sausage, one (ok two) gluhwein, and new cashmere scarf to keep me warm during the snowfall, I headed back to the airport nice and tired. Topping off with more hefeweizen (best type of beer to drink solo!) at the airport, I at least boarded verrrry sleepy for my 12 hour flight to Cape Town.

Friday: FINALLY arrived in South Africa around lunch time! Since Dan’s semester had just ended, the school let us stay there for a crazy affordable price. Would have been good to know that before we booked the airbnb in CBD...(theme with 21 y/o’s lol). A couple dead cockroaches in the kitchen and no central wifi BUT I had an incredible view of table mountain from my bedroom window. We spent most of this day booking tours / airbnb’s for the rest of the trip.

Saturday: We went to the Woodstock Market in the late morning. Half is local food vendors and the other half is local artists selling jewelry, household goods, clothes, you name it! Oh yeah and there was a DJ in the center right next to an aperol spritz station. I mean...what could be more perfect?!? Started with an amazing pour over and some stuff avocado. Then moved on to a spritz while I bought some awesome jewelry and a vegan leather clutch. I could have stayed here alllll day! And i probably spent less then $30 USD total. Then we headed to the central business district (CBD) to check out the Company’s Gardens. It is a beautiful public with a really awesome natural irrigation system for their vegetation. AND super cool mega sized whicker baskets as swings and tree houses. We grabbed fresh Juice on Long Street and ordered flights to try from brewery Beerhouse. A quick freshen up and we grabbed dinner on the waterfront meet up with some of his friend’s.

Sunday: Dan was super sweet in arranging a day to hang to check out the newly finished Zeitz Contemporary Museum of Art! It’s superrrr sick - a restored grain factory turned into museum. Concrete was cast around the old silos, which created a traditional deceiving form on the exterior. While the interior is just the reverse - a HUGE curvilinear entrance with a skeleton of a pterodactyl very Game of Thrones like in the center. A guy who worked in Dan’s study abroad office was a recent architecture grade from the University of Cape Town - so he joined us on our day of touring architecture! In fact, he is the one that told me there was a bit of an uproar of a British architect being selected for Africa’s first contemporary art museum. The attention to detail and design was immaculate in the city - makes it hard to believe there were no African-based architecture offices that couldn’t have tackled the challenge... We then checked out the watershed project. It’s an old industrial boat storage facility turned host for local artist vendors on the ground floor and communal “we work” style offices on teh second floor. Once again, a SUPER cool space!!! (BTW - this will be the theme of my architecture comments for this trip). The enclosed food market next door was a perfect stop for lunch. After walking around the waterfront some more, we made our way over to Camp’s Bay to watch the sunset. This area reminded me a lot of Southern California w/o the prices plus mountains in the background. Truly it was the most stunning sunsets I have ever enjoyed (and wth a spritz too!). Quite possibly my favorite day in Cape Town of the trip!!

Monday: It was a big weekend of activities for Dan so he slept in while I wandered around a bit on my own! Started with trying the world’s strongest cup of coffee at Haas Coffee (great I would only need one cup this morning!). Then went to the District Six Museum - which is a museum dedicated to the district segregated and then bull-dozed down during apartheid. Really heartbreaking but an excellent intro to how it has only been 50 years since this epidemic happened! To put into perspective, my parents were born before this happened (sorry for the age exposure mom and dad)! I then grabbed lunch and took the scenic route from the V/A Waterfront allll the way down to Clifton Beach. Stunning views, beautiful weather, and a good opportunity to see what South Africa’s non-working people are doing along the water at this time of day. They consisted of surfers, mothers and sitters pushing kids in strollers, LOTS of people running or roller blading, and a handful of “lookers” that suddenly stop what they are doing when you walk by. The beach is tucked between a bunch of wealthy homes in a pretty private location. A great spot to water-color the ocean crashing into seals on the rocks beyond! After much relaxing, I headed home for a quick change before Dan and I headed to hike Lion’s Head at sunset. An easy hike but the views are stunninggggg. Ended the evening with take-out of a Cape Town quintessential BFA (bacon feta avocado) pizza.

Tuesday: Walked to grab coffee in the nearby neighborhood of Rondebosch and then took a car to the beautiful, traditional Bo-Kaap neighborhood! Vividly painted stucco buildings line the streets and are very well preserved amongst the expanding urbanism surrounds. We took a cooking class with Cape Malay cuisine. The culture descends from Southeast Asian, but brought to Cape Town through the Dutch Indian Trade Company. So the cuisine has a interested blend of all three cultures - deep curry flavors with just enough spice for white people to tolerate LOL. Great day learning more about the history and making amazing, brand-new dishes! With very full bellies and a very strong sun overhead, we noodled to Camp’s Bay beach with a handful of Dan’s classmates. They were a bit of a handful and we had to lay on every piece of clothing so it wouldn’t get swept up in the immense ocean wind, but the views were stunning! We ended the night with trivia at a local bar. Luckily we had a couple South Africans on our team, so they were able to help us answer “what is the most played African song in foreign films.”

Wednesday: Dan and I headed to CBD to pick up a rental car for our trip outside of the city! We drove along swerve-y, cliffy edge road from Camps Bay, down through Hout Bay, down to the Cape of Good Hope! It’s basically a national park with...wild baboons roaming around! We went to the lighthouse at the Cape Peninsula and it was so windy I was scared to take my phone out in case it would fly away! Awesome perspective of the peninsula if you had a strong enough grip of the railing surrounding you!! I did a bit of hiking around the rocky cliffs while Dan and his friend Allie took lots of selfies around the water. We then checked into out ocean-front apartment in St. James that was so. freaking. BEAUTIFUL! Unreal views, unreal price, unreal sunsets/sunrises. Even got to see whales breaching form the balcony!! We finished the day by grabbing dinner and drinks from the great restaurant Tiger’s Milk in Muizenberg.

Thursday: I started with a sunrise run along a beautiful ocean-front path that went right by all the morning surfers in Muizenberg and the super man-made formed but naturally resourced ocean pools in St. James. We then hopped in the car for a morning snorkeling with seals, to only find the currents and wind were too strong. :( Instead we headed to check out the legendary warm-weather penguins at Boulders Beach. I grabbed some coffee, and a meat/cheese delicious hot-pocket style snack for lunch, and we headed the immaculate Noordhoek Beach. Bright white sand, turquoise water with minimal waves - never seen a more beautiful beach! So stunning and barren, for some very strange reason...maybe the large number of horse flies? LOL despite getting swarmed it was so hard to not want to get swallowed up in the beautiful vista. Even if I did leave with over twenty bites on my legs alone. We headed home and while those two napped, I walked down to check out the shopping in Kalk Bay. Also shops and the store owners were all super friendly - one woman’s husband photographs architecture professionally! After stirring them awake we headed to Muizenberg to watch the surfers at sunset and check out the infamous painted beach shacks. We bounced around at a couple out door bars before ending up at the great Tiger’s Milk.

Friday: Another sunrise run and yoga on the deck. I grabbed coffee at the super cute shop blonde + beard in Muizenberg, then we jumped in the car to head back to Cape Town. We moved into a different university student housing buildling upon our return...and this is the point where I decided it was worth spending the money for a nice apartment not in the college area of the city. We went to a natural watering hole only known to locals/students. Amazing views of table mountain and the water was super clean and hella refreshing. We grabbed dinner at an Indian restaurant close by then headed to drinks at Yours Truly on Kloof Street. My. Favorite. Bar. HANDS DOWN! Different DJ each level, awesome craft brews and cocktails, beautiful string lights and plants climbing up the terraces, super funky furniture, and people rocking all different trendy outfits. Dan’s friends felt out of place but I freaking loved it!! Finally I caved with how much they were itching to leave, and we grabbed Italian food down the block. We then stopped at their favorite 21 y/o hangout sgt pepper on Long Street and I hung on the smoker’s deck with Dan while his friends had a couple items stolen from them on the sweaty dance floor.

Saturday: Time for our wine tour! $60 for a round-trip bus to the infamous wine town of Stellenbosch. Tasting #1 included an array of cheese. Tasting #2 was in a beautiful outdoor garden. Tasting #3 tour of a cute farm where we tried wine from the syringe! Plus a fullll traditional braai (barbeque). Tasting #4 tiny little private winery. Tasting #5 pairing with Chocolate! Best part was bonding with everyone else on our tour!! An american couple on grad school holiday, an older couple with one descendent of Upper Saint Clair, super cool British couple my age, older British couple who have travel to 80% of the world, and a British dad with his daughter about my age who works in an art gallery. Great convos about how crazy Trump is but it humanized the U.S. to not be this great country anymore, to why haven’t I signed up to do bungee jumping yet, to you are crazy for staying with a bunch of 21 y/o’s up until now! Left with lots of souvenirs and great memories!! Brought my stuff to my new adorable apartment downtown and crashed during the sunset while watching elf on Netflix.

Sunday: Headed out solo to grab coffee/breakfast and then check out the Castle of Good Hope. Strangely enough there was a cross fit competition taking place in the main courtyard, so that was a bit entertaining to peak at in between taking in all the history. It was a dutch fort along the East India Trate Route to Indonesia - but more specifically acted as the home base during teh British invasions. Free tours are given by of the military museum and the inter-workings of the castle which turned out to be very light and engaging! I think picked Dan up and we went to the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. Amazing variety of wildlife here and a good chance to hang with Dan one-on-one. We went to Moju Market and drove by a crowd letting out for the Springbok Rugby game. Now those fans where some crazy costumes! The market was superrrr lekker (va bene in Afrikaan). There was a station for trendy oysters, a “salad bae” stand, local wines shop, curry shop - everything plus an elevated ocean view. Awesome way to fuel up before Dan and I conquered a Table Mountain hike the next day.

Monday: I grabbed breakfast at the adorable Skinny Legs cafe and then coffee and beans at Origin Coffee Roastery. Both make my mouth water thinking about them (and their beautiful interiors too!). Then when to meet Dan at Kirstenbosch, where the beginning of our hike up Table Mountain began. Started pretty steep, up wooden ladders in woodsy areas. At the top we stumbled upon a completely barren water source. It looked to be a collection spot for a small reservoir. The water was unnaturally a rainbow gradient and was in a bit of a small canyon - making it seem like people were going to jump out at any moment like the hunger games. We randomly heard a siren here too, making us jumping in our pants even more! We then continued along the top of table which is mostly huge boulders - but it started to get windier. We soon found that it was too windy at the top for the gondola to take us down! So we had to bare the exposed edge by foot! This was seriously soooo hard because any time we would hear a huge wind gust coming, we would have to duck and hold onto any possible branch around us. Took a while it felt such a rush of accomplishment as we ate at an Indian buffet afterwards!

Friday: Last day! My flight was leaving in the evening, so i tried to squeeze in as much as I could! Morning at Clifton Beach then lunch of mussels and a glass of chenin blanc at the waterfront with Dan. Was able to do a little shopping at the artist in the waterfront too - most sold awesome sustainable home goods too! Probably did the most shopping / consuming of good food/drink this trip - but thats because it was all my style, amazing flavors, accessible, and reallllly affordable! I’m already counting this as one of my top 3 favorite cities and I can’t wait to go back and visit!!!

What brought me excitement:

Design Aesthetic: Yes the city is BUMPING with architecture, both new and old. Now this may sound crazy, but when i walked into a basic enterprise office in the CBD, something struck me. I followed the datum of the square floor tile, that then aligned with the line of small stair landing, that then aligned with the rectangular wall base, that then aligned wth the curtainwall mullion. MY JOB IS TO ALIGN FINISHES FOR A MUSEUM! How do these simple alignments just happen in the least design conscious interior spaces?! Still blows my mind the attention to detail and craft the culture just exudes. And it is oh so clear in every interior of every store, restaurant, coffee shop, boutique, refurbished space. Really inspiring as someone in the design field!! Nothing boujee or over the top either, all very minimalist, modern, simple, earthy designs - amazing!

Cultural Blend: My first day at the beach, there were a bunch of middle school age kids that all playing soccer together. A girl in a hijab kicking a ball to a blonde haired boy kicking to a black boy . The integration of the future generation was so heart-warming to see it made my eyes ACTUALLY well up! I’m not kidding too!! It’s location is an ideal spot for not just europeans on holiday, but a great stretch of immigrants from the middle east and asian as well! I can’t wait to come back in just 5 years and see how progressive it will be!!

What left me uneasy:

White Guilt: Learning how recent apartheid and many racist epidemics had occurred, it really left a sinking feeling in my stomach. I felt guilt vacationing here because I didn’t want any locals (no matter their ethnicity) to feel like I was taken advantage of their home. I didn’t want it to seem like I had some money to spend so I was creating a larger economic divide and taking anything away from the locals. It was probably the biggest guilt I have ever felt, even though it wasn’t me personally who had done those hurtful injustices. But it is up to me to stand up for those that are still getting hurt today. It certainly empowered me to not bat an eye and turn a shoulder when something is happening you don’t believe in.

Water Crisis: At first I was wondering why toilet’s in the student housing were never flushed! Then i realized it was to preserve water. They were in a serious crisis and I didn’t fully understand it still we were at our airbnb in St. James. I remember standing at the sink washing my hands, looking straight ahead at the 180 degree ocean view. After drying my hands, I stepped on the balcony to take in the view even more. A line of people about 100′ away caught my eye and I realized they were waiting at a public water source. The government has shut down water to certain neighborhoods - unfairly. These people weren’t stumbling out of overcrowded buses - they were coming with buckets out of private cars in nice clothes. I felt sooooo guilty that I had a water source right here yet these people are waiting for this small spigot down the street. Would the airbnb host downstairs be pissed if set a couple of buckets of water outside for these people? But also, how could the host bat an eyelash and not be wanting to do the same thing? This tore at my gut throughout this entire trip.

Safety: Cape Town is a very walkable, and even bikable city! Unfortunately i didn’t realize how much I had to worry about safety even during the day. I do look like the native Afrikaan, as many people spoke it to me before I spoke English back. However, I think the economic divide is still too much for there to not be some animosity between the various parties. It made me feel a little limited, that I couldn’t safely take the public train to the beach or rent a bike along the coast - all things I take for granted in my day to day life.

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