Hiiii! I love your work!! Here's my request, maybe it's a bit silly but I think this could be funny.

How would the Gym Leaders respond to their s/o being tipsy/drunk?

OOOOH this is very funny. Full disclosure, I don’t drink often. Like maybe three times a year. So this is based on my limited experience. Hope you enjoy!!

CW: Alcochol

Gym Leaders With Their Drunk S/O

Katy

She’s also rather tipsy herself as she hangs off your arm and giggles. It’s no fun drinking by yourself! The two of you stumble after each other, barely able to speak through mouthfuls of laughter, and the kisses she keeps pressing against your cheeks. Katy’s an affectionate drunk. She finds it romantic when you share a drink, two straws from the same glass. I hope you like fruity drinks, they’re her favorite.

Brassius

He links his arm with you to keep your footsteps even. The last thing he wants is you tripping and falling on your face. Ushers you to bed, with a glass of water and a bottle of tylenol, before making his way into the studio for the night. Secretly, he is quite pleased to have the opportunity to pull an all-nighter. As much as he feels warm when you worry him into a good nights sleep, he enjoys the inspiration he gets under the stars. What you don’t know won’t hurt you,

Kofu

His tolerance is greater than most others, which you knew, but still insisted on trying to drink him under the table. Kofu gives you a pat on the back, pays your tab, and carries you home on his back with a booming laugh and a few teasing remarks. You wake the next morning to a pounding headache and a greasy breakfast. Kofu hasn’t slowed at all. No fair.

Grusha

He sighs and acts like keeping an eye on you is some Atlas sized burden he has to bear. In reality, he can feel his ego growing each second you slur over a compliment or plop your head against his shoulder. Grusha takes you outside in the snow and snickers as you complain. Come on, the snow’s supposed to sober you up, y’know? Grusha will make fun of your drink of choice despite being incapable of taking a shot without gagging.

Tulip

Another Gym Leader with an incredibly high tolerance. You’re giggling and red in the face while Tulip stares adoringly at you, absent-mindedly stirring her drink. You can tell when she’s tipsy. Tulip gets much more open with PDA. Cupping your face, she tells you how sweet you are as you melt. For some reason, you wake up in a blanket fort in the living room of Tulip’s apartment. The two of you crawl into the bathroom for some water and headache medication.

Ryme

She takes this opportunity to push you on stage to do some karaoke. You get to see her on stage, now it’s her turn. Sing your heart out, babe, Ryme’ll be cheering for you louder than anyone else. On the way home, she carries you over the threshold with you in her arms, a huge grin plastered on her face. All her bravado dissipates when you drunkenly joke she’s practicing for your wedding. You’ve never seen her so flustered filling a glass up with water for you.

Larry

He keeps feeding you, so you haven’t managed to get past the “mildly buzzed” mark. Larry is significantly more intoxicated than you. His voice isn’t louder than a mumble, slurring something as he aims another spoonful of soup towards your mouth. Insisting it was lonely to drink by yourself, he bought a drink alongside you. Who knew he was such a lightweight?

Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask (Answered)

I"m not even gonna wait for anyone to ask bcuz this bitch is gonna answer them NOW

I wait for no one 😤

Keep reading if you wanna see my answers!

I nominate @xxsabitoxx, @magoliaomega, @yurmomsawh0r, and all my other writer moots to answer all these as well, CUZ I WANNA KNOW WAT YALL HAVE TO SAY

😅 What's a story or scene you've created that you're a smidge embarrassed exists?

All of my old Doushino fics lmao, I like the base storyline I did for all of them, but my writing was so shitty back then and I cringe looking back at them now. Ireally really wish I could just rewrite them but Ik some people would literally shit their pants if i deleted them so im stuck

🥺 Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

I have a kink for apology/angst scenes haha, if couldn't already tell from my past works. It's just something that I feel everyone thrives for, especially myself, where the love interest apologizes for all their wrong doings and admits that they long for yn's forgiveness and love. Mama is a heart throb

🤡 What's a line, scene, or exchange you've written that made you laugh?

Any scene with shinobu in my Gamer Giyu fic "The Perfect Date". I tried to make her as funny as possible in that one, and believe me, there were plenty more funny moments of her in my draft for that fic that I ended up having to cut out bcuz I felt it drew away from the plot too much. Oh how I wish to make a fic just for her lol

😈 Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

I like to make the love interests assholes sometimes, just to piss you guys off hehe, everytime they do something shitty that makes you hella sad, just know that it was me 😈

✍ Do you have a beta reader?

I don't unfortunately, I kinda just go read over it myself a couple times to check for mistakes but thats pretty much it. Ngl lie though, I am kinda interested in having someone else proofread for spelling mistakes and plot holes, any takers 👀 preferrably someone who's talented with that sort of thing haha

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

I always enjoy a good simile and metaphor here and there, not really sure about themes... love at first sight maybe? enemies to lovers? tsundere? I like sad fics as well that have happy endings, I will never, ever do a completely sad ending, i just don't like them and they leave a bad taste in my mouth

🎢 Which of your fics would you call your wildest ride?

Dog, I dont even knooooooooooow, i think all of my fics are pretty straight forward and tame. Maybe Regrettable? All of my super crazy fics are still in production so we'll just wait and see, but for drafts rn, my "No Escape" (Sanemi x Reader) series is gonna be hella crazy, so just you wait

✨ Give you and your writing a compliment. Go on now. You know you deserve it. 😉

My fav thing about my writing is probably my dialogue, i think I write pretty appropriate dialogue. I try my damn hardest not to make the characters cringe and to make them relatable so I hope I've done a good job with that

💋 First kiss fics. Love em or hate em?

Ngl, I kinda hate them. Kissing is nice and all but i write smut yall, i got bigger things to worry about than smooching. Now virginity loss fics are a whole nother story, bcuz i can actually make it enjoyable unlike real life 😭 Shitty first time gang arise ✊

🎶 Do you listen to music while you write? What song have you been playing on loop lately?

Nope, I bask in silence, maybe some white noise in the background sometimes? Music distracts me too much

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

I use my notes app on my phone to make my outlines, google for thesaurus, and an online word counter for the final word count

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

Yup, for those who remember, I was working on a fic called Night and Day about Kyo x stepsister reader who was living with him. Originally I had him as a yandere, obsessive person with reader being uninterested in him and the fic being non-con, but I ended up scrapping the whole thing and changing it to be a fluff fic with reader living with kyo, reader having a crush on him, and slowly the two grow closer, with tons and tons of angst and sadness. The original outline for the non-con fic is on my patreon if anyone would like to see the poor thing, it had 8 chapters outlined too haha. what a waste.

🙋‍♀️ Do any irl people know you write fanfic?

Only 1 ☝️ I'm pretty sure i've mention her before, my friend sam? We used to read a ton of fanfics and watch anime growing up so she's the only person i've ever told since she understands the field, and i am never gonna tell anyone else 😭I would literally die, my group at college doesn't even watch anime

🍦 What's the sweetest fic you've created so far?

Either Perfect Date or Regrettable

🍷 Do you drink and write?

Hehe no, I do smoke and write sometimes though

🍆 Do you write the spicy stuffs? If so, what's your most popular nsfw fic?

My Little One if I remember correctly

🌞 Do you have a preferred time of day to write?

I usually like to write at night after I've finished all of my hw, right before bedtime :)

💖 What made you start writing?

I had a ton of idea for fics but didn't want to spend my days requesting all of them so I just wrote them myself, I write so much shit already for school, so I just said fuck it, lets ball

💌 How do you feel about comments and feedback?

I thrive off of them ❤️‍🔥 I frame every single comment on my wall ngl

❌ What's a trope you will never write?

Cheating. Not sure if thats a trope but i kinda feel it is in some fics where reader or love interest cheats, the one who got cheated on gets revenge sex with another party, and then they get back together. I just hate it and it hurts my feeling and turns me off

💲 Would you ever open commissions?

Of course! After I finish all of my requests I'm gonna get that started hopefully and use the money to buy hot figurines 🥵

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

Sometimes, it depends on the fic. I usually just look up time period stuff so that things are close to accurate

🏆 What's your most popular fic?

My Little One

🎃 Do you write fics for certain holidays? Which is your favorite holiday inspired fic?

I love halloween fics, they are scarily hot

🎯 Have any of your readers accurately guessed major plot points? Care to share which?

YUP, @magoliaomega has perfectly written part 2 for two of my fics, reading her gifts is so eerie bcuz they were exactly wat i would've wanted for the sequel and I love her for for it, she is literally god

🎨 How do you feel about fan art of your stories?

I've never gotten any but I would love to, fan art is awesome

📈 How many fics do you have?

Uhhhh like 20 I think?

🦅 Do you outline fics or fly by the seat of your pants?

I usually outline but I'm kinda thinking ab stopping bcuz my best fics were written without any preparations so well see.

👀 Tell me about an up and coming wip please!

Girl Imma talk about I'm Yours, my upcoming series ab alpha kyo and omega fem reader. I am sosososoosososossosos excited for this one yall have no idea. I've already mapped out the chapters and plot and everything. Im currently working on chapter two and just cant wait to get this shit done so i can post everything. I'm just excited to add to the very small pile of kny omegaverse fics and hopefully the series will inspire more abo creations for demon slayer. Another work I'm excited ab is a collab im doing with a fellow bestie 😏 I wont name any names or say wat the fic is ab but hopefully well get the fic done sometime next year, really excited to work with her on this!

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

I would start off with headcannons, then short scenes, then one-shots, then multi-chapter. I went backwords from this list and i wish i didnt haha. theres nothing wrong with doing it out of that order of course, I just think its the best way to build up skill and get a hang of things. Also dont be afraid to take breaks! burning urself out will lead to depression babes

💞 Who's your comfort character?

Shinobu ❤️ she was the first girl I wrote for in demon slayer and she's always held a special place in my heart

🧠 Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them.

Can't really answer this one lmaoooooo, so ill choose a random headcannon I have, Shizu taught Sanemi how to cook and he always helped her make meals for the family

🤩 Who is your favorite character to write?

Kyojuro, my love. He is so pure, I wanna suck the soul outta him

🤲 Would you please share a snippet of a wip?

Mitsuri was obviously upset.

One day was fine. Two was pushing it. Three was a little concerning. Four was a lite search. Five was thorough detective work. And six was a breakdown. By day seven, today, she was still bawling in her pillow, wondering where-oh-where you’d gone. 

Meanwhile, you hardly had time to worry about your concerning absence with a dragon on you at all times of the day. During the rare moments you weren’t getting knotted or eaten out, you were getting bathed, fed, or hushed to sleep. Similar to Kanroji, you too were sobbing into your bedding - but your reason being your cunt getting ravaged hourly. The pleasure was still incredibly mind-blowing, but your pussy was so fucked raw and puffy that you were sore beyond belief from the mating session. You had misunderstood that section in the book. You’d thought a week-long initial rut meant only occasional couplings, like a sort of honeymoon phase.Nope. Every waking moment was spent hanging off his knot and getting filled to the brim with his seed. Hereallywanted babies. And he was likely going to get them, even if it wasn’t your fertile week. You doubted his sperm would take no for an answer, honestly...

“Are you tired, my love?”

You moaned as he pulled on the lock and replied in a cracked voice. “Ye-eess.”

With one more tug, his knot was pulled free. You came painfully one final time before a flood of spunk gushed down your legs. Kyojuro flipped you over to your back and set you down onto the part of the nest that wasn’t caked in sin.

He kissed your forehead as you panted. “Our rut is done, little one. You did wonderfully, I’m so proud - you may rest now,” he whispered and laid next to you. You sighed and groaned, “Finaallyyyy.” He chuckled.

“Tomorrow we will bring your things here and anything else you may need. Your friends and family will understand, I’m sure.” You eyes shot open and you remembered them.

“Oh my god!”

Lil snippet from My Sweet Kitten (Mitsuri x Dragon Iguro) My Little One Part 2 hehe

😬 Which of your fics would you be most horrified for friends, family, or coworkers to stumble upon?

Any of my non-con lmao, I think they would kill me tbh, but I heard that kinks were hereditary so this is their fault

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

If people ask for a part 2, even though I wont write one hehe

✅ What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

Breeding kink, I have needs. Also pet names (baby, sweetheart, my love, darling, princess, ect)

📚 Would you ever want to turn writing into a career?

Maybe as a side career, I'm not getting a degree in my field of study just to write smut all day lmaooo, i enjoy having writing as my hobby and dont want to have it bare the burden of being my main source of income, it would stress me too much

⌛ How long does it take you to write a fic, or a chapter?

It depends honestly, if I'm really inspired and horny, it takes less time. My Little One took me only 3 days to write cuz i was so pent up haha, requests take longer tho bc i have a specific plot and terms to stick to, along with anxieties about whether or not the requester will approve wat i've produced, so those usually take me a couple weeks to a month

🤯 What's a genre you struggle with as a writer (ex. romance, action, etc.)?

Action. That shit is hard. I don't think i could ever write a fight scene ever

💔 Is there a fic of yours that broke your heart?

Not the ones i have currently but the ones i have in the works are extremely heartbreaking, i cried a little writing some of them

💥 How do you feel about criticism?

It depends on the type of criticism. I appreciate it if its about errors in my writing since i still have some growing to do in that department. But there has been some drama ab the things I write ab that people find...distasteful. If you don't like what I write ab, leave, dont waste my time pretending to be a mutual, I write for me not you. Some of yall have some real mean girl mentalities and need to grow tf up, this isn't fucking highschool. Im glad for thei experience tho bcuz it's taught me how to deal with negative people better. On the more constructive side of things tho, if you see errors like plotholes, devices, or grammar in my fics, please tell me! I miss shit sometimes and appreciate the help to better my work

🤭 Do you have a favorite tag to use when posting your works?

#Smut. LMFAOOO

🥰 How do you feel about reader interaction? Are you open to receiving questions about your fics?

I looooove reader interactions! I wanna know what people think and what they would like to see next. I also love requests but I've learned that they are harder than they look lmao. I just worry ab disappointing readers sometimes. I want you guys to enjoy it too!

One Day

This fic is my gift for @feilcityqueen who loves missing moments. By @tangled23works

Rating: Teen and Up    Words: 1500    Relationship: Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak

I hope you’ll enjoy this one, my friend. It is set in Season 2, a little after Oliver makes that stupid mistake in Russia. Have fun reading!

November 2013

Felicity stared at the stupid gadget that her annoying friend from college had sent as a prank. The thing was built like a watch but it obviously didn’t function as a one or at least like any watch that she knew. For the life of her, she couldn’t figure what it was. She was tempted to break it with a hammer and claim it had been an accident but a bet was a bet and if she lost she would have honor it. Yup, that was not allowed. 

The continuous sound of metal clanking on metal disrupted her concentration. If her vigilante boss-slash-friend could stop doing that for one minute, she might have a chance to actually concentrate.

  As if he had heard her thoughts, he jumped from the salmon ladder on the unforgiving concrete. He made it seem effortless, moving quietly like a jungle cat but she knew it was the exact opposite. Felicity had once tried to climb on the thing, while Oliver was on a mission of course. Thankfully, Dig had caught her trying to get to the second rung before she could get hurt. It was higher than she had expected which had made her dizzy in seconds. That was the day she discovered her fear of heights was legitimate and not just a remnant of their break-in last year in Merlyn Global.

  “Fe-li-ci-ty”

  She jumped and turned around so fast that her ponytail smacked Oliver on the arm.

  “You need a bell. A big, brown, cowbell that rings whenever you move.” She made a mental note. “Yup, that’s what your Secret Santa is bringing you for the holidays. Not that I drew your name during this year’s Secret Santa at the office but if I had, I would definitely-”

  “Breathe, Felicity.”

  She fixed her glasses. “Why are you so sweaty?”

  His expression showed nothing but she could tell that he was amused. “Have you ever tried the ladder? It’s impossible not to be sweaty after thirty minutes on that thing.”

  “Wow, that’s the most words you have spoken to me since Russia. Are you sure you don’t have a fever or something?”

In hindsight, mentioning Russia and referring to Oliver’s escapades with TheOneWhoShallNotBeNamed might not have been such a great idea. The humour vanished from his expression and he reached for the nearest towel, turning his back to Felicity.

  “I know things have been fraught between us…”

  “Have they?” she mocked. “I hadn’t noticed.”

  “Felicity,” he sighed. 

  “You know, Oliver, saying my name isn’t considered a full sentence. Could you please use a little more grammar and syntax?”

  He grunted and threw the towel away.

  “And you’re back to brooding.” She threw her hands in the air. “Whatever, Oliver.”

  He put on a gray henley with a lot more force than was necessary.

  “What do you want me to say? I already explained-”

  “Yeah, let’s not revisit that particular discussion, thank you very much. It was hard enough to stomach the first time.”

  Their eyes locked for a few moments. In his gaze she could read the remorse and guilt eating him alive. There were a few other emotions buried under that but she had not mastered the art of deciphering his feelings yet. Suddenly, with a clarity that had been missing from her life for days she realized she didn’t want that. Making him apologize over and over would not make her feel any better. And Oliver Queen had enough things in this lifetime and the next to feel guilty about. He didn’t need her adding to that pile of misery.

  Russia had been a blessing in disguise. Her inappropriate dreams had just started to take shape when Oliver’s one night stand had delivered a blow more powerful than any lecture she could have given herself. The thought was like a bucket of cold water thrown to her face. Oliver didn’t see her that way. Sure, he liked her and she would bet her entire Doctor Who tea set that he respected her but it wasn’t the same. Still, the fact that he slept with that woman of all the women in the world, the one that tormented her and spread vile rumours in QC, rumours he had no idea about by the way, was a low blow.

“So,” she said with a forced lightness she didn’t feel, “I’m in trouble.”

  “What’s wrong?” He took a menacing step forward as if there was an invisible enemy he would have to fight.

  “Calm down, big guy!” Felicity rolled her eyes, then blushed a bright red. “I didn’t mean big like big down there,” her gaze dropped towards his cargo pants without meaning to, “even though I’m sure that your penis must be at least average-sized considering the size of your-”

  Oliver grabbed her shoulders before she could go on. 

  “Oh my God,” she squeaked and fell on his chest, “someone kill me now. Where is the damn league of assassins when you need them? Call Sara! I could use an assassin right about now.” She kept mumbling even though the sound was muffled because she was way too embarrassed to stop and apparently her brain to mouth filter was permanently broken. 

  Oliver’s hand was stroking her back softly, gentling her as he always did whenever she said something mortifying. He didn’t seem to mind that he was more often than not the focus of her inappropriate babbling. Most of the time he found it amusing and he never hesitated her to hold her. At least, he had never hesitated before Russia. These days they were overly polite and kept making sure no hands or arms or legs were ever close enough to touch. It brought tears to her eyes.

  “Hey,” he breathed.

  Felicity looked up at him biting her lip. “I’m sorry.”

  “There’s nothing to apologize for.”

  She took a deep breath, inhaling soap, leather and something that was pure Oliver and stepped back. He let her go but one hand lingered on her shoulder.

  “So,” she pointed to the device on her workstation to shake some of the awkwardness, “I have a friend from college. The only one I’m still in contact with and every year we place a bet. We find a gadget, something that is not accessible to the public yet and we send it to each other. This year it was her turn and this thing is driving me crazy. I know it might seem silly to you but I can’t lose, I just can’t.”

  “What happens if you lose?”

She loved the fact that even though he was a tough, scary vigilante he never mocked her concerns or laughed at her.

  “I have to wear a Christmas headband. A red one. With reindeer antlers.” She shuddered at the thought. “And I don’t know if I told you but-”

  “You’re Jewish.”

  “Yeah, which makes it even worse somehow. Anyway,” she stopped abruptly and stared at him in surprise. “You remember that?”

  “I remember everything about you, Felicity.”

  Cursing herself for her inability to control the flush that spread on her face, she harrumphed and picked up the watch that wasn’t a watch.

  “Wanna help me figure out this thing?”

  It was an olive branch and he knew it so he smiled and stepped closer. Felicity wanted to giggle at the thought that Oliver Queen, the man who couldn’t figure out the apps on his brand new iPhone would be able to help her in this case. It would be akin to her trying next Wednesday to shoot the bad guy with a bow and arrow.

  “Why are you laughing?”

  “No reason. I just remembered something.”

  “Huh,” he replied frowning and turning the device upside down.

  “Careful with that. I don’t know what it does and I don’t think that Martina would ever purposely send anything dangerous but still…”

  “This was made by Kord Industries.”

  Felicity grabbed the watch and lifted it closer. “How do you know? The Kord Industries logo is distinctive and I don’t see it here.”

  He took her finger and stroked the metal. “Do you feel the carving? It’s a beetle. That’s Ted’s idea of a joke.”

  “I don’t get it.” Felicity didn’t like the things she didn’t understand. Mysteries needed to be solved.

Oliver ignored the question in her eyes. “Guess who owes me a favor?”

  “Mr. Kord himself?”

  He nodded and smiled like a kid at Disney store. His eyes were filled with excitement and something else. Pure pleasure. Solving this small mystery together, working as partners was important to him. Perhaps, more important than she had realized. For a moment, she could see the child he once was, mischievous and happy, causing trouble along with his best friend Tommy. It was so rare for the Oliver that she knew to show any kind of enthusiasm that she felt a painful pang in her heart. So, even though things were still complicated and she was by no means ready to forgive and forget, Felicity knew in her bones that they would get past this. One day.

Dangan Thieves Third Palace

...This is over 4300 words - last I checked. I hope this makes up for all the delays of the Third Palace and revives the AU. Thank you all for waiting! I had to take a hiatus from writing this summary and @shsl-shipper-gamer-fangirl also got pretty busy. Plus writer’s block decided to knock my head up for the Boss Battle and ending bit. Luckily for everyone, that’s all gone now for this to arrive. As you can tell, we got ourselves Juzo Sakakura being the Third Palace Ruler and let me say - it was a blast figuring out how this would go down. Without any further delay, let’s begin anew! PS Don't blame any mistakes in here because this took long enough as is. Might revise it later if I feel like it needs one. Consider this your Christmas Present everyone!

Third Palace/The Prison Palace 

Keywords: Juzo Sakakura, Hope's Peak Academy Security Building/Faculty Building, Prison

“Playable” Thieves: Hajime, Chiaki, Komeada, Ibuki, and Fuyuhiko with Monomi

The world inside the Metaverse created by Juzo Sakakura, it formed itself quite differently compared to the previous two. Even the way they find themselves entering the Palace is different than before. Rumors of the supposed Dangan Thieves spread throughout the campus and none of the group knows how to handle the fact their popularity is growing. And as much as Hajime, Chiaki, and Nagito would like to continue - a longer question keeps them under pressure from doing so quickly. From the last Palace, not even Nagito could understand what his cognition meant by a strange animal. It has them wanting to learn more - something that they believe may or may not backfire later on down the line. Constantly meeting up after school, their adventures to the Metaverse and Mementos continue onward slowly. In one such case, a certain student just so happened to be minding their own business when they overheard a meeting before a trip to Mementos. Unbeknownst to them, not being aware of their surroundings most of the time would be their undoing. Sometime later, Hajime, Chiaki, and Nagito are meeting up for some downtime - with nothing really relating to their identities as the Dangan Thieves when Ibuki surprises them. Startled very much at first, the group is very confused at how Ibuki even found them. She admits to stalking them and being a huge Dangan Thieves fan; it gets to the point where her loud noisy voice gets the attention of a security. Catching the attention of one of the guards in the area, the group gets scared off when that guard releases that Hajime isn’t supposed to be in that part of the school. Getting off without much of punishment, this would only be the beginning of the next Palace’s discovery. Days go on as Ibuki keeps pestering the group to have her join one of their adventures to the Metaverse. As much as it annoys Hajime, the attention starts to bring Juzo Sakakura into the whole ordeal. Everything starts off as small, minor annoyances to the party - mainly to Chiaki since Fuyuhiko’s sister isn’t at all punished whenever she visits her brother as with Mahiru visiting Sato. The weird fixation Juzo has for Hajime gets to the point where the Head of Security gets restraining orders on the poor students. No matter what Nagito and Komaeda - though mostly Chiaki - try to get the restraining orders lifted, Juzo won’t budge one bit. Now forced to meet up outside of school ground and far away from the sight of any security guards, they believe that this has to stop. Yet even that clearly an objective due to the fact it could have repercussions and could get Hajime expelled if it proceeds any further. No leads for them to go on, it is then Ibuki appears and apologizes for getting them into that mess. Hajime still isn’t at all forgiving since Ibuki caused him a new annoyance. Still, the Ultimate Musician wishes to join them in the Metaverse and comes up with a solution. Using her mobile device, the trio discovers that somehow Ibuki gained access to the strange Navigator App and is able to find out Juzo has a Palace. The thought of a Palace didn’t really cross their minds since they couldn’t even think or believe it got to that point. Having the information in hand, Ibuki agrees to help get them to the Palace with her “distracting” music recordings if they agree to take her to the Palace. A goal clearly set a way to get past security by Ibuki’s boisterous loud mouth, they accept it in order to lift the restraining orders on Hajime. When the first attempt into the Palace begins, it doesn’t appear to be anything fancy. It first appears to be the security building and is fairly straightforward. Possessing a single floor without any real map, the Thieves quickly sweep it with ease and find themselves getting into the Treasure seemingly way too easily. At first, they seem pretty cautious since it looked to be way too much of a walk in the park. Yet temptation gets the better of them and they reach out to the “Treasure” - something Ibuki is an entrance to the glowing chest. By a twist of predictable fate, however, that was but a trap! Getting surrounded by many Shadows appearing as Prison Officers holding various equipment. Even worse is the fact of not only being outnumbered is the liability of Ibuki. Despite her somewhat well-meaning intentions, her voice goes unheard as they try to fight them off. The battle rages on until one by one, the party is knocked out and Ace has no time to react to the sound of sirens blaring is the last thing he hears. The next thing he knows, he awakens in a prison room with Pierrot welcoming him to their cell. Much to his surprise, Ace finds that while they were unarmed, their rebellious appearance still remains. A relief to the leader since everything might become compromised if his real identity was known. Shocked at not seeing Bonnie, Monomi nor Ibuki with them, neither of the Thieves even have an idea on how to get out. Yet by looking through the bars of the cell, Pierrot places his hand on the lock and by chance or just his pure luck, it opens up for them to escape. While they still possess their outwards appearances, both Ace and Pierrot realize very quickly that neither of their Persona was summoning one bit; something that nearly cost them both their lives by mistakenly engaging in a battle. Resorting to the stealth techniques of actual thieves, they sneak around the Prison and come across Bonnie not far from their cell. Unlocking the cell door for her to escape, the trio quickly tries to locate Monomi and Ibuki to make sure they’re okay before reclaiming their weapons and escaping. As they go more and more through the Palace, they come to find that every flight of stairs didn’t lead them to anyplace where there were windows. Everything seemed to be shut off from the natural light and instead lit by the electrical system powering the place. None of them could really explain just why this was going on but soon enough, they encountered Ibuki yelling her in what appears to the lobby of the prison building with Monomi trying to get Ibuki to calm down. It is there that they find a Shadow carrying a large sack - the same one being chased by the obnoxious yelling and not trying to harm Monomi nor Ibuki. Really perplexed on what’s going, the Thieves discover that on the ground floor that they can summon their Personas. Having their power back, the Shadow is quickly defeated and the sack is dropped to the floor to reveal the missing weapons. Pumped up by the action, Ibuki starts making a ruckus - much to the dismay of the Thieves that eventually gets the attention of the prison officers and are forced to fight some of them off. Exhaustion from the floors and the last battle tolls a good deal of hinderance on the Thieves. Monomi worries for their well being but as the battle continues, Ibuki is watching and getting excited but worried about the Thieves since even she was threatened. No matter how much she shot and yells out, it doesn’t seem to be helping all she wishes to do is to help. She feels powerless in all sense of the words due to the fact that not even becoming a distraction is helping the situation at all. This sparks triggers her awakening to her Persona and a great asset to the battle since her starting powers are Nuclear and hits all the enemies. The force of her powers suddenly causes a power outage yet opens up an escape route for the Thieves to flee. Escaping to the real world after that deadly encounter, Ibuki is hyper-energetic about awakening to her Persona, everything stops when they realize where they are. Wait for a second - when did they get to the Faculty Building?! Yep - much to their shock and horror in Hajime’s case - Juzo’s Palace is split into two different parts. The strange one-floor area that was a trap and then the prison. Nagito notes that they only escaped from the lower floors and didn’t get a chance to go up those floors in the Palace. Trying to collect their thoughts, Ibuki realizes that it wouldn’t be ideal to continue since she’s pretty tired and everyone else appeared to be also. With the thought that everyone else is quite tired as well, they agree to come back tomorrow with Ibuki - much to her joy and group’s reluctance. Yet as they are leaving the area, a certain somebody notices their activity but speaks nothing of it as they leave. The next day, the group meets up to try and get back in order to quickly change Juzo’s heart. Even with not encountering the Shadow Self, upon their return they find that the Prison is inaccessible for any of them. Ibuki even tries making a ruckus in front of the prison gates and in the first area to no avail. Stumped on just what exactly to do to get back in, Monomi questions the group on how they even got in there in the first place. Ace explains the restraining order and how strange it was that they couldn't go back inside. The magical talking bunny suggests it may be because of Ibuki’s Nuclear power spiking and causing the prison to reset its systems that by chance his cognition would have reset on who he saw at a major threat - so even if the Thieves attempted to get back inside it wouldn’t let them. A major threat that he had to restrain even more due to the rumors students were gossiping to each other. Now in order to reset it and get them back inside, somebody would have to appear as a prisoner in order to get them inside. Knowing that Hajime could no longer by their ticket to get in, Chiaki suggests for the group to investigate the rumors going about and see if there was any way to seemingly get Hajime or any of them “caught”  to allow them back inside the Palace. Taking some time, their chance doesn't really show up on Nagito’s, Chiaki’s or Ibuki’s end at all. Fortunately for Hajime, he just so happened to notice how Natsumi seemed to be upset and alone during one of their classes. By some persistence and slowly gaining her trust, she lets it slip that her brother got in trouble for meeting up with her. It was so bad that Peko got hurt pretty badly and she could tell Fuyuhiko wasn’t at all pleased. She confesses that it's even spooked Mahiru and Sato for meeting up - a thought she scowls at. Nothing she seems to be doing is getting him to talk to her. Yet she fears that Sato might be losing her and starting to blame both herself and Hajime for not being able to meet with Mahiru. Hajime tries his best to cheer her up and Natsumi appreciates his help before leaving. Getting that information from the younger sister to the Ultimate Yakuza, he goes to text the others with that lead and hopes that by talking with Fuyuhiko they can get caught and get back into the Prison Palace. Meeting with Fuyuhiko sometime after the news, it surprises the group to see him alone with Peko by his side - something Hajime believed wouldn’t be the case. At first, the Ultimate Yakuza is reluctant to comply with even speaking with the group. Ignoring them seemed to be a priority until Hajime brought up what happened to Peko from the information his little sister told him. This pisses of Fuyuhiko and puts him on the defensive on just how he acquired that knowledge. Finally getting him to talk, they slowly get out of him that Juzo had apparently gotten information from somebody about false dealings that would disrupt order for both the Main and Reserve Course. It wasn’t anything he knew about but Peko got badly hurt inside of him and he wasn’t going to deal with any more of that shit. Of course, this was climax since afterward Juzo comes along to break them. Upon seeing Hajime, Fuyuhiko, and Ibuki with the other Dangan Thieves, hell breaks loose and the group flees the scene before the Head of Security can catch them. By either Komaeda’s turn of good luck or by the wheels of destiny, they happened to get out of getting caught by accidentally finding themselves at a corner of the school. How they escape would be something to question. Recollecting themselves, they found that Fuyuhiko had joined them in running off, only for him to scoff it off since Ibuki had dragged him along with her phone open. Her gleeful smile shocks the group when it suddenly transports everyone into the other world. This grandiose event that gets them into the Metaverse to not only freak out the Ultimate Yakuza but everyone as to why Ibuki would do such a dangerous thing. They’d be arguing a bit with trying to explain to Fuyuhiko just what’s going until security Shadows from Juzo’s Palace roam by and once again kick their asses back in into the Palace’s lower sections. Fortunately this time, Ace and Pierrot find that neither their Weapons or Personas are gone this time - at least for the floor they are on. Losing Bonnie, Noise, Monomi, and Fuyuhiko once again, they break out and begin to examine the floor fully this time. What the two find unusual is a security room on their level and how it seemed to be broken. Going to an above them, their Personas once again won’t appear but having their weapons, they soon come across Monomi cowering inside a security room in that level. Testing out a theory, they end of smashing the head controls of the room to find that their Personas appear once the power in that room goes out. Monomi makes a comment that it would best to destroy all the security rooms they come across and to find the others. Going up the floors again, they destroy the power sources of each room to allow access to their Personas and regroup with their remaining members. Upon reaching the main floor of the building, somebody finally decides to grab them a map during their regrouping moment. When they notice Fuyuhiko is still missing and that on the bottom floor of the Palace looked to be the main generator room, Ace decides to attack their to make sure the security rooms won’t have the power to restrict their Personas and that on their way down they can try and locate Fuyuhiko before bailing out. Descending down below with banter between the group, it comes to Bonnie’s realization that even with the map they have of the lower levels that not even Monomi knows where the Treasure Room is located. Monomi apologizes for not being of much help and reminds the Thieves that even while they are going to change Juzo’s heat, to be aware that anyone not welcomed in a strong Palace’s cognition could easily be killed. A warning - though rarely late - gets the party motivation to continue onward when they hit that roadblock. Through every level they descend, none of them are aware of a certain figure following behind them. Not only that, but the security rooms are mysterious repaired whenever they leave and return. One way or another, the group finally reaches the main generator room and find it guarded by Shadows. Having no other real choice, they ambush the guards and defeat them to gain access to the generator. Getting a clean access to the generator, their next issue is trying to the big power off switch. Noise finds the switch first on the other side of the room and goes over to pull the switch. Just as she is about to grab the switch, she stops upon hearing something upstairs and their only exit has it bursting wide open as Fuyuhiko falls down the stairs. Pierrot and Ace go to see if he’s alright only to find themselves surrounded by shadow guards as everyone in their party is forced to the center of the room. It is here of all times does Shadow Juzo makes his appearance on the very top the railing, all the while belittling the thieves for breaking in and trying to cause an uprising for all the crimes those ‘prisoners’ have committed. Being in a high position compared to the Thieves, his presence alone makes them angry - especially Fuyuhiko at how arrogant the guy is. What gets to the Ultimate Yakuza is how Shadow Juzo only refers to Peko as ‘some common convict’ and not as her own person - in fact, her name is only brought up by Fuyuhiko during the whole exchange between the Thieves and Shadow Juzo. Their exchange of words only lasts so long until Shadow Juzo gets fed up and uses his position as the cognition’s prison warden to order them executed before leaving - not wanting to waste his time watching them. Another battle begins between the waves of shadow guards and the Thieves while Fuyuhiko and Monomi watch it all happen. Ibuki tries to cheer the Ultimate Yakuza to see if she gets him to awaken his Persona but to no avail. Fuyuhiko awakens his Persona more on his own after taking what Shadow Juzo said and comparing it to how he really feels about Peko. Getting the resolve he needs in order to have Peko avenged, his awakening happens and Agrippa’s first action is to rain down flaming bullets that explode upon contact. Yeah, let’s just say Gangster comes out guns ablaze to get all the remaining forces and leave burning remains inside the room. We’ll go with that, and I’m going to leave it at that since afterward the group realizes Gangster’s outburst caused a major blackout as it somehow destroyed the generator. They do escape somehow unharmed and no longer trapped inside the Palace. Just don’t question how they did it in pitch black darkness and no backup generators; ACCEPT. IT. Blame Komaeda’s luck ok? Or that it “overloads” the Palace and the Palace itself kicks them out to the real world. Either one is acceptable. Probably a few days afterward since Fuyuhiko would obvious pass out after causing that much destruction the group would all meet up. Now, they got Fuyuhiko who agrees to join their cause to mainly avenge Peko and get the whole deal with not meeting with his younger sister over with. With Gangster finally added to the party, Monomi introduces the whole switching party member things and almost everyone goes back main lobby before Gangster points out how stupid that idea is. Then through some search, they find a secret entrance to the back part of the prison and finally, Monomi gets to sensing the Treasure Room. Gangster is also while more reckless when fighting he’d another level-headed member help keep everyone in check as long as they didn’t piss him off. Solving puzzles involving finding the right key cards and avoiding the protocols set up to stop them, the group goes through them one by one until they reach the Treasure Room. And where was the room they were searching for all this time? By the looks and the irony of the Thieves… it's the exact same place they first enter! Yelp, it's the main security office/room but now looks more like the hideout of Shadow Juzo with many monitors and backup generators running. Though now they see the misty like a sphere of where the Treasure would appear for them. Monomi confirms it as Ibuki goes and has her hand faze through the cognition’s unstable form of the Treasure. So now after going through all that hassle to get to the room, it is very reasonable for the party to finally have the chance to now send the Calling Card. As to how they send the Calling Card, it's either getting a mass amount sent to Juzo’s office or Fuyuhiko pulls some strings to get the Calling Card to Juzo. Who knows, maybe he does both; he does whatever he wants but either way it's delivered to the man himself. Of course, it triggers the Treasure to appear and then the Thieves enter to steal the Treasure. Entering the security room, the group finds that its manifest into what appeared to be a large arena surrounded by cells and filled with inmates they recognized or know... And while the group questions it a bit, they are quickly cut off when Shadow Juzo appears by nearly shooting Ace’s head off. Ace only barely gets away from the stray bullet due to Gangster noticing it ahead of time. Shadow Juzo appears with his gun snarking at how easy it lured petty thieves into the grand arena of his. Deciding to use them as the perfect pieces of scrap metal, he makes them examples to the rest of the ‘furnace’ and the begins the battle. Shadow Juzo has a similar start to how Shadow Chisa began, sending out inmates of all sorts and kinds out from the cells on the arena’s floor. He’ll be out of range of the attacks for the time being. The Thieves will have to focus down the waves of enemies to even have a chance at facing the Shadow Prison Warden. He’ll even have Shadow Guards of his give status ailments of Rage to the party or the Shadows they are facing if not taking down the guards quickly. One of Shadow Juzo’s moves is an instant K.O to everyone left in the open. The only way to survive is to get into the empty cells around the arena to survive the attack. It also kills the Shadows on the field as well, so it is risky since Shadow Juzo might fake people out with it at times. About halfway through the battle, Shadow Juzo is getting tired of watching the Thieves win and decides to take things into his own hands… ...Or heads in this case since when he lands and destroys the remaining Shadows, he transforms into his second state. While the Shadow mainly is based on the guardian dog of the Underworld Cerberus, this form is quite different as while there are three, dog heads that are floating. Not connected to anybody but just floating, severed heads. Each one has a guillotine collar around the neck to symbolize that the leash/collar was too tight and it literally killed him. What makes this worse is while unleashing powerful Curse, Fire and Physical attacks one by one, their most deadly attack are when the three combine their strength. Together, the trio can unleash a deadly attack that will drop the party’s health to 1 and nullify all buffs followed up by one head making a strike to KO another party member. This makes it very challenging to face the heads working together, so the gimmick with this is distracting the heads to prevent this from happening. Who are the ones best at distracting the heads? Well, it would be Ace, Noise, and Gangster since they were the ones to piss off Shadow Juzo the most. Only one can distract one head at a time, and while Gangster and Ace will only distract ahead, Noise ends up not only distracting ahead, but causes that distracted head to attack another. After one member is sent to distract a head, they’ll need a break before another chance to distract a head comes around. Each head is weak to a different attack: Curse to Bless, Fire to Ice, and Physical to Gun. Also, each head has a move to revive another head at fifty percent health that might use used if one head falls. Through distracting each head and ganging up, they finally take down the Shadow Juzo and the fight ends, returning the room back to normal and the Treasure finally materializes as a security badge, glittering gold and making Monomi super excited. Shadow Juzo gets to here all the Thieves and does agree to go back and give the real Juzo a change of heart. The Shadow doesn’t directly state the blackmails, but mentions that “they” weren’t kidding underneath his breath. None of the Thieves hear what he says before he vanishes. Then, as soon as they take the Treasure into their possession, suddenly the alarms go off and they look at the monitors around the room. Much to their surprise, the Palace collapses as a prison riot breaks out and gives them a new challenge. Escaping while trying not to get caught in the riots. A timer begins as they escape as they must leave before it runs out. Once they escape, everyone returns to the outside world and confirms that the Palace has vanished and all are accounted for. Ibuki cheers in excitement at their successful heist and Fuyuhiko admits that the group isn’t that bad to hang out with. Of course, the hyperactive student takes this as meaning he’s permanently going to hang out with them. Everyone laughs it off a bit until Fuyuhiko points out the treasure in Chiaki’s hands. The Ultimate Gamer is confused at first about what he meant until realizing that the Treasure was in its real form. Much to everyone’s surprise, they find it to be a photo - much like Chisa’s Treasure. What made this different is the obvious crudely cut letters pasted on it blackmailing Juzo into doing everything. Though instead of a name being signed - the group finally learns of the Despair Bear named Monokuma. Getting this lead of sorts, the true race of finding out what’s really going on begins and prompts them to stick together.

13 Things We Learned About Travel by Watching Star Wars

View photos Luke yearns to get away over a binary sunset. (Video: Benguitar9000/YouTube) Are you excited yet about Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens? We sure are!  So when someone tells me they’re going to try traveling someplace soon, I give them my best Yoda impersonation: “DO or do not. There is no try.” With J.J. Abrams revving up the Star Wars hype machine again, it got us at Yahoo Travel thinking about how the original films are as much a travel guide as they are a classic mythological space opera. We see diverse lands and fascinating modes of transportation, all in a story sparked by one farm boy looking far, far away to the heavens with wanderlust. You don’t think we can come up with 10 travel lessons learned from Star Wars? As Han Solo once said, never tell me the odds! Here are 13 of them that will teach you a Jedi’s wisdom when on the road, inspired by the thousands of times I’ve watched the original trilogy (no dorks here!). One note: I’ve purged most of the prequel movies from my memory in protest to George Lucas, but I do include one romance-related reference to them here. Han Solo was the original Uber

(Video: Daniel M. Kobayashi/YouTube) Ride sharing was cool in the Star Wars films long before their geeky fans in Silicon Valley thought of it. Obi-Wan didn’t use an app to find Han, but he did go to a part of town where rent-a-pilots were known to congregate, and he arranged to ride a vehicle driven by its cocky owner. Notice any parallels? When Han found out they were running from the Empire, he even used surge pricing on them! How much more Uber can you get? Can’t you just picture Princess Leia calling CEO Travis Kalanick a “scruffy-looking nerf herder”? Related: Go Far, Far Away to See Where the New ‘Star Wars’ Was Filmed Also like Han, Uber shoots first at its critics, and it’s known to keep a secret compartment or two. We just hope Uber will follow his lead and learn that underneath that bad-boy exterior, the company has a heart of gold. (We’re not holding our breath.) One thing is for sure: Anyone would give the Millennium Falcon a five-star rating. If you must lie to customs, play it cool

(Video: Daniel M. Kobayashi/YouTube) Repeat after me: “These aren’t the Cuban cigars you’re looking for.” Maybe you shouldn’t risk it with American customs, but travel to enough countries and you’re probably going to need to employ some Jedi mind tricks against sketchy border-control people. In my case it was the officers at the Syrian airport six years ago, when I had to calmly deny my father was from Syria — had they known the truth, under law I could have been drafted in the Syrian army even though I was born in the U.S. Talk about going to the Dark Side. Pack a versatile wardrobe for any occasion

(Video: Stormcab/YouTube) We’ve got to hand it to Princess Leia — in addition to being the kick-ass, courageous leader of a rebellion against an evil government, she can really pick an outfit. When she was dodging Imperial starships in Episode IV, she was dressed in a practical white robe with that iconic hair bun; on frigid Hoth in Episode V, she wore smart layers. And when cavorting with Ewoks in Return of the Jedi? She was all about that camo look, baby. And all this was despite most of her wardrobe getting blown up on Alderaan! Preadolescent boys like me were most intrigued by Leia’s Slave Girl outfit while trapped on Jabba’s sail barge in Jedi. But we’re not going there, OK? Resist the temptation to have an unplanned wedding when you travel

(Video: Daniel Ard/YouTube) Hey, girlfriend, I understand how you feel traveling with that guy you’re dating. He’s tall, handsome, and saying super-romantic things such as, “I don’t like sand.” You’re light years from home and alone with this person, surrounded by digitally enhanced scenery. Sure, he had one bad night and slaughtered some innocent locals, and he hinted at his desire to become a galactic dictator. But just look at those eyes! And it’s like he can read your mind! Don’t jump into any big relationship decisions without getting back to reality and giving it some thought. Padme didn’t follow that advice, and she got married on the road to a future Sith Lord who knocked her up, then indirectly murdered her. Don’t go into bad neighborhoods by yourself or without telling someone

(Video: joncarr/YouTube) Luke learns this the hard way when he takes his landspeeder into the Jundland Wastes, chasing after Artoo without even telling his aunt and uncle. True, he wasn’t technically alone, but would you want C-3PO having your back in a fight? We’re not saying you should stick to tourist areas when you travel — some of the best experiences are off the beaten path — but have a sidekick and make sure you know exactly how you’d get out of a hairy situation. Luke got bailed out not once but twice when you include his kerfuffle at the Mos Eisley Cantina, but we don’t all have exiled Jedi Masters looking out for us, now do we? No, really, Luke … DON’T go into dangerous places by yourself!

(Video: schultzstudio/YouTube) Yup, he did it again in The Empire Strikes Back, only this time in the snow at his tauntaun’s expense. Luke gets bailed out more times than American banks. If you’re traversing any desolate, icy terrain, have someone to help you fight off Wampa creatures so Han Solo doesn’t need to rescue you. When traveling with the boss, DO NOT slack off

(Video: DRMMRI14/YouTube) It might start with sleeping in before the conference. Then you have a couple too many drinks at the hotel bar and embarrass yourself. Before you know it, you’re pulling out of hyperspace too close and letting your sworn enemies know you’re there. Then this happens, and you’ve failed your boss for the last time. And remember, the Emperor is not as forgiving as he is. Don’t crash at a friend’s house unless you’re on good terms

(Video: Canale di BenguitarBis/YouTube) We understand Han and the gang didn’t exactly have an Airbnb search at their disposal while ducking Star Destroyers in The Empire Strikes Back. But by his own admission he didn’t trust his frenemy Lando and hadn’t spoken with him lately, yet he chose to fly to Bespin anyway. All that got him was betrayal, electroshock torture, and a frozen date with Boba Fett. Lando did redeem himself by saving Han, but still. A general rule: If it’s been more than a couple of years since you talked to the person, don’t ask to crash with them if you don’t fully trust them.   Back up your photos and video as you travel … just in case you’re attacked by a Star Destroyer

(Video: QuoteTheGuy/YouTube) When most of us travel, we accumulate files that we can’t risk losing: a photo of that glorious beach sunset, a video of your kids playing in a Parisian fountain, a blueprint to destroy the same Death Star that blew up your home planet. You know, typical souvenirs. Princess Leia knows this, as demonstrated by the way she quickly reacted to Darth Vader’s boarding party by saving the Rebel plans inside the most reliable flash drive in the galaxy, R2-D2. Even if you don’t have an astromech droid handy, carry a USB memory stick with lots of space. You can find Zen in exotic places … with the right instructor

GIF11 (Video: Canale di BenguitarBis/YouTube) Luke Skywalker was not into glamping. He flew to an ugly swamp to learn how to untap his spiritual potential from a cranky old guide who was on his back all the time. But what a guide Yoda was, and despite a frustrating start and that one bad trip where he saw his evil father’s face as his own, Luke emerged a far stronger and wiser person ready to take on the universe. Plus Yoda showed him how to get your vehicle out of the mud. When you’re shopping at a mobile flea market in the desert, inspect the merchandise closely

Would you buy a droid from these guys? (Courtesy: Wookieepedia) While the pre-Jedi Luke Skywalker was trying to whine his way out of the Jawa market — “But I was going to Toshi Station to pick up some power converters!”— Uncle Owen was the one who questioned and picked out C-3P0, the most overqualified farm droid ever, because Threepio spoke the right language. This was the right call. On the other hand, Owen passed on R2-D2 for that defective red look-alike droid without a good inspection. Thankfully the droid broke down on the spot, so they were able to exchange it for Luke’s future X-Wing copilot. Related: Eye Massagers and Star Wars Toasters — Odd Gifts From SkyMall for the Holiday Season Really, Owen and Luke should have known better. It’s not like the Jawas were Amazon, with a credible return policy: They were fly-by-night merchants. When you’re traveling through a foreign town and dealing with a street vendor you’ll never see again, you need to trust but verify. Be friendly with the locals and they may help you out of a jam

The cutest secret weapons you ever saw. (Courtesy: Wookieepedia) I tried going through this article without an Ewok reference — they’re my least favorite part of the original movies, and it’s hard to believe that a family of teddy bears could take down the Empire. Still, there’s a lesson to be learned here: While the Empire threatened the Ewoks, Leia befriended them, which swung the odds in the Rebels’ favor in the Battle of Endor. A parsec is a measurement of travel time … or is it? We confess, we’re not sure what the lesson is here, but it needs to be said in any mention of Star Wars and travel. As Han Solo tries to price-gouge Obi-Wan and Luke for a ride on the Falcon, he brags that his ship is so fast, it “made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.” Only thing is, a parsec is a unit of distance, not time. It’s kind of like saying, “My car is so fast, I drove from San Francisco to Los Angeles in less than 400 miles!” Either this was a rookie math mistake by George Lucas, a con attempt by Han, or something else: Han shortening the Kessel Run from 18 parsecs to 12 by bravely flying close to black holes. We’ll probably never know, and nerds like me will be debating it years from now in our nursing homes. source Read the full article

Dispatch #004: Happy book birthday to “SIX WEEKS WITH A LORD” by Eve Pendle | ARC review and interview

Grace Alnott is out of time. To save her younger brother from an abusive guardian, her merchant father’s will demands she must marry a peer. Handsome but destitute Everett Hetherington, Earl of Westbury agrees to her offer of a marriage of convenience but stipulates she must live with him for six weeks. No matter how honorable he seems she can’t allow him to get too close, because the aristocracy cannot be trusted.

Six weeks. Major Everett Hetherington, new Earl of Westbury, has exactly six weeks to convince the very independent Grace Alnott to spend the rest of her life with him. Despite her belief she doesn't belong in his world, he must tempt the alluring Grace into staying, because he has fallen for her. Hard. He just has to ensure she never discovers his secret.

Rarely do I come across a debut so skillfully crafted. This novel has got everything: impeccable historical research, nuanced portrayal of class privilege and the power of money, a slow burn romance between protagonists who are perfect for each other that inevitably explodes like fireworks.

The conflicts stems from the fact that Grace and Everett both enter the relationship with certain preconceived notions about their partner and they both take on the burden of responsibility for people in their lives. She craves independence and wishes to be put before anything else by her husband; he wants to maintain his family's good name and protect his wife. Oh, the angst!

The first half of the book focuses on them slowly building trust and getting to know each other while trying to figure out how to get out of trouble. The second half of the book turns sexy. Grace and Everett are developing feelings but both are stuck in the web of lies they'd set up. Have to admit, there was a time when I wasn't sure I could forgive Everett but the groveling made up for all the mistakes.

What I appreciate in this novel is the level of consent. Since Everett vowed to never claim marital rights, Grace is the one who needs to make the first step. While he always respected the boundaries and did everything to make her feel safe, he wasn't above teasing her to make sure she knows how desirable she was. Who knew a candlelit conversation in the middle of the night through closed door would be so romantic? And oh, their first kiss was so dreamy I twirled in delight :)

Most importantly, the prose was exquisite and the writing flows neatly. I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of historical context. This is exactly the type of historical romance that is up my alley.

I will say, if any kind of deceit or mentions of violence against women or children are dealbreakers for you, this might not a book for you and that is ok.

Now, let’s have a word with the author, Eve Pendle.

Thank you for chatting with me and congratulations on this terrific debut!

What made you want to write historical romance?

The first romance I ever read was a mills and boon historical called the autumn rose. Before that book, I remember rereading the tiny romantic parts in books, like when Achilles falls in love with a Trojan girl in a version of the Iliad that my parents had. Then there was whole books that gave me that sensation!

So I think a part of my love of historical romance is from that initial experience. Partly it's because I love history. I love to go to old houses and read about how women's lives were in the past (not wars and stuff, that's not for me).

But more than that, I think I find it difficult to suspend my sense of reality with contemporary romance. The people and the situations are too similar to things I see every day or on television, and those things aren't fun or romantic. But then, that's silly, because the past was NOT like it is in romances. I don't know. It's not a completely consistent viewpoint.

I think the most honest answer is, because I like it. I find it a nice fantasy place to spend time, with interesting problems that seem different to those today, but are at core the same emotional, moral, and social dilemmas.

What is your writing process like? What is your priority and what inspires you?

I'm a planner. I have spreadsheets and diagrams with character arcs, plot arcs, nesting of opening and closing of plot points, point of view for each scene, who is most affected, when new information is revealed... the whole lot. And in conjunction with that, I write on-the-fly. I write on a notes app on my phone most of the time, then edit in word or, more recently scrivener. Scrivener is good, but not organised enough for me. I need spreadsheets.

My priority is the emotional journey of the heroine. Which is deeply ironic, as most people seem to love my heroes. But at heart my stories are about scared, insecure heroines finding someone to love them. That's... not... a self-own... at all?

As for inspiration, I have no idea. Sitting down with the intention of working. Or often I ask, how is [character name] doing? And that will bring me back to a point in the story, maybe a conflict or maybe a happy moment, and I'll write about that. Sometimes (often) that means that particular scenes get written more than once, and I have to merge them together.

How is writing a novel different from a short story? Which one do you prefer?

A character in a short story cannot have too much sh*t to deal with - they need a HEA quickly, after all. So they're not as interesting to me, generally. I'm liking novellas at the moment. The short format means there is only space for the emotional core of the story. Two people, and how they are going to deal with their hang-ups to get to love each other fully. In a longer story there's a lot more room for other things besides the main romance and more complex feelings to develop.

Lightning round! Time for a few fun quick questions to get to know our protagonists a bit better:

If Grace and Everett were to travel abroad, where would they go?

Oh, this is really tricky. Grace would want to go to India because Everett talks about it, as he lived/worked there for a while. Everett wouldn't think that was a good idea, as he dislikes colonialism and knows Grace would be very cross at all the inequality and would lose her sh*t at the caste system.

They'd do better to stay at home, to be honest, as they've got enough to deal with. But if Grace wanted to go to India, they'd go to India. I can't guarantee it would end well, though.

Which books would they read together when they spend a quiet evening by the fireplace?

Grace loves Dickens, so they'd read him. He talks quite a bit about social issues, but he also is scathing in his portrayal of people.

What kind of pet would they adopt?

Whatever turned up.

What kind of sweets would Everett feed Grace?

Strawberries. Peaches. Cake.

What kind of a reader are you? What is your kryptonite when it comes to historical romance?

I'm a terribly fussy reader, but my absolute weakness is forced proximity and enemies to lovers with combustible sexual attraction. I have to physically restrain myself from buying marriage of convenience whenever I see it.

Any book recommendations you wish to bring to our attention?

Elizabeth Keysian is another UK historical romance author I've got to know through us being published with the same publisher. She is an awesome history buff, and writes perfectly balanced historical romances with a bit of angst, humor, details, and swoony heroes.

Would you care to share a bit about your next project?

I'm SO EXCITED about the charity Christmas historical romance anthology coming later this year. It's in aid of Planned Parenthood and they're all second chance romances. Five authors, including me, are involved. They're such wonderful stories, sweet, heartfelt, funny, and touching. If you'd like an email when it's available, you can sign up for my new releases email list and enter a draw to win an ebook copy of Six Weeks with a Lord.

Thank you 😘 ❤️

It was a pleasure!

Personal long post, suffering from BPD/Mood disorder/Anxiety/Depression/ADHD

What ever good vibe, positive assurance, high power or fuck if God exists and is paying attention to my life out of the many- Please grant me power, strength, and will. I can't live much longer with this heavy dripping tar in my chest. I can't live much longer wasting away in my bed. I can't handle this overdone feeling of guilt, sadness, and most of all the anxiety, much longer. I am struggling. I am low. I don't feel like living even though for so long I told myself I could never end my life just for the fact that it's a miracle I can even be here. But I cannot handle this god damn feeling, I cannot handle this fucking tar. I can't fucking deal with the pollution that has spread throughout my torso and head. On top of that, I'm a loser. I've always found the easy way out and made excuses and didn't care. School was a joke- I skipped, I dropped out then came back and made up my credits & graduated with a HS diploma at a school for those who have had bad experiences that held them back. I started smoking cigarettes & weed when I was 14. I'm 24 now. I smoke over half a pack a day. I chain smoke because it's therapeutic just to be able to take a deep breath in and out. Same with weed- all day every day. Never thought it was problem til recently when I ran out and don't have a cent to my name so I can't buy any(and would it I could instead of buying food when I'm starving). I scraped and scraped every piece for resin. I looked at the carpet for fallen scraps. I got all the kief I could manage out of grinders. I crushed the ASHES and smoked it, just in case I missed anything. Do you see the problem here? That's fucking nuts. I am so desperate. I scrounged 6 dollars in quarters just to buy a pack of cigarettes. Then I did it again when I ran out. I write in my journal til 5 am every night. I furiously write. I write pages and pages of self-destructive thoughts, self-hate, repeated lines, word games, things I do that people notice, things I do that I notice, the horrible horrible thoughts I have that Tumblr of all places would dox me and rip me to shreds. And the sad thing is, my enemy...this tar monster inside- it's me. It's just me. I'm going through so much(so much that I can take, there are stronger people who have it worse...I know). There are many times I just don't think I'm going to make it. I'm getting help but I just don't listen and I don't know why. I'm not trying to be this way. Borderline Personality Disorder. I was told that I am believed to be 'better' and 'fixed' in four months through intensive therapy. In truth, if I'd just exercise- apparently, I'd be okay. That may be true...but the problem is that I'm so fucking off the charts with all these overwhelming emotions that I can't fucking move to even brush my teeth or eat or shower. I left my boyfriend. Then he came after me. Then I came back to him. Then he said he needed time after he begged me back. Now this fuck doesn't know if he wants to be with me or if it's best. Now, to any other fine ass lady who don't take no shit(the real me under the globs of tar)- would say FUCK YOU I ALREADY LEFT YOU THE FUCK YOU BEG ME BACK FOR YOU FUCK! But I have this problem of a devastating psycho intense fear of being abandoned. So even though I left just a day before he pulled this shit, I'm back to pitifully wailing like I lost a child- begging him not to leave. The tables turned just like that. Even though I just left with a straight face and took all my shit, even the sheets off the bed. I took every last thing but a stray shoe on the floor and a note. I didn't cry. I didn't care. I was fed up. I was done and over it. I moved in somewhere else cuz I have a great best friend- I had no regret. And just like that, I'm back to being the little baby, fucked up and begging just like he just was. I cannot stand myself because my mental illness traps me. Anyone who doesn't have a mental illness pulls that shit- 'just calm down, just block him, forget him, relax, move on, you're better than that, you'll be alright., just DO it, you have to grow up, you just need this, you just need to meditate'. You either just have no fucking clue what it feels like or you are The Batman because that is some serious mental strength if you can just calm the fuck down when It feels like 10 trains of thought running full speed, dangerously close to one another (which is why from 8pm-5am, I'm writing like I'm about to get caught and killed). Or get up and go for a run and really get into it and sweat and work...this tar just...has me and I'm so stuck. I am immobilized. I am trapped in my mind. This isn't about me getting in a break up, promise. It's so much more than that. I cause my family grief. I always have and they love me so so so much, and I just constantly cause them pain. I'm so low and in mental anguish all of the time that they feel that they failed raising me and it's not their fault. I feel so much guilt for the craziness I have put my loved ones through because it never seems that I learn from mistakes. They try and they try, they spend so much money for me to make it and be successful, but I truly convince myself that I am a very lost cause. It's been over a decade. I have not progressed. I didn't go to college which typically isn't a big deal, but for those like me...I struggle at just keeping a part-time job. I cannot hide my expression and I don't lie but rarely...so everyone can feel the heaviness of my misery, which is obviously uncomfortable. Positive posts of- you're going to make it! You're loved! You're special! You are okay the way you are! - I hate them. It's such a nice thing to say, and it's not just meant for me so how dare I? But I never buy it and continue to rot in self-hate. The reason I post this, is because I hope people see this and learn something on mental illnesses and what it means to call someone crazy when they are suffering...they might not even be going through anything or ever had, this shit just happens to some of us. I'm just so angry. There is so much that I technically as a human being who has the ability to move, can do...it's not that I refuse to do it, I don't think it's laziness but it very well could be(?), I just don't have any will left in me. Nothing makes me happy anymore. Not the things that used to and not new things. I just feel alone and like I don't belong anywhere...and I don't know what I should do. I'm very lost. I'm sorry there is no cut on this post. I'm on mobile and have no idea how to add it on the app. I just needed to write this. I need people to see it. I need people, anyone to be aware. My boyfriend and I could never talk about anxiety or depression because he said it was something people put on themselves and he has 'anxiety' all the time- which people like him, often mistake as the 'anxiety' you get while talking in front of class or getting grades back or going on a date for the first time- heads up for those who think like him...open your eyes and see that the little tingle in your heart and your clammy hands are not the same thing as crippling anxiety, I'm sorry- please help us, not down play us who suffer. I've been ranting for awhile at this point and I think I'm gonna stop now. Im just really struggling and can't stop writing. Im really low. Please anyone who sees this- mental illness is a real issue and needs to be focused on. It needs to be heavily addressed. There are so many people like me...some worse, some more stable...some people who truly can't take it and end their lives...some people who can't contain the monster inside and take it out on others, may that be verbal/physical abuse, school shootings, massacres, animal abuse... It's painful. It's deeply painful. Imagine losing someone you love...now imagine feeling a similar grief every day and you don't really know why...or if you're like me, imagine if you felt as if sludge/tar/muck/pollution dripped down your insides every day... I'm a very beautiful girl(I believe so), I can be talented, I can be fierce, I can be a queen, I can achieve anything I want, I can work out, I can party, I can socialize, I can love, I can be a shining star and most of all- I can be happy and I can make it through. However...I am being held down by this monster of goopy tar...I am deep inside myself, trapped. Watching myself chase all I love away from me...alone with this suffering. Bruh, if this ain't the longest, emo ass post I ever did see and it's written by me. I hope nobody gets mad because it's a long post but I needed to put this out there. I'm going down. So far down. Forgive me.