#>water

[hinamie]

green

[aquanutart]

I was talking and I mentioned that I have my old Game Boy and original Pokemon cartridge. I said, "I think they still work."

I was told, "The internal batteries on the Game Boy cartridges have run out. They're all dead."

"Oh," I said, trying not to show how crestfallen I was. I felt like I was losing nerd cred for not knowing that, although I never kept up with that type of info anyway. I'm here for the fantasy and imaginative aspects of games, and tend not to follow the competitive or technical details.

I tried not to feel anything as I went home. If they were real animals, I reminded myself, I would have had to say goodbye long ago.

But like so many other people, Pokemon was my childhood. It was all I thought about and dreamed about, and the closest thing I could imagine to heartbreak was the knowledge that they weren't real. I spent nearly all my time writing longhand self-insert Pokemon fanfiction--far more than I spent actually playing the game. My Pokemon were with me in my imagination wherever I went. I started playing Pokemon Blue when I was 5, and the last time I had played it was probably when I was 9 or 10. I remembered I had turned it on again one more time after that, not to play it, but to look at my childhood Pokemon.

It was during high school, after a move overseas that completely upended my life, and I was struggling with the crushing blow of being taken away from everything I knew and trying to make sense of anything (least of all adolescence) in another language. All I wanted was to go back to childhood and have everything go back to how it was before.

Seeing my Pokemon, just as I'd left them, had comforted me. I had looked at their stats pages, taken photos of them with my digital camera (that I don't even know if I still have), and then turned it off without doing anything.

That was probably 9 or 10 years after the games came out. It had been a long time since then. I had long since taken the AA batteries out of my Game Boy Color and left it untouched. I didn't even have AA batteries anymore.

It had worked then. But now it had been 27 years... I thought about not trying to turn my cartridge back on. As long as I didn't turn it on, I could believe my Pokemon were still there, the way I remembered them.

On my day off, which happened to be Pokemon Day, I googled and read that some people on forums and Reddit were still able to play their original Pokemon games.

Then... it was possible. I went out to buy toothpaste. At the store, I asked where I could find AA batteries.

It was a big thing for me to be able to go to the store and buy things myself. When I moved at age 13, I felt like something went wrong with growing up. It was difficult to follow what people were saying, and people didn't always understand what I said either. I had been introverted even in English, but now I had enough negative experiences that I became afraid and stopped trying to talk to people altogether.

I threw myself into video games and reliving childhood memories. The internet was where I could communicate in my first language and understand. I lived online and didn't interact with the real world. On the internet I felt like I was understood and could find people who shared my interests the way I did, but in the real world it always felt like I could get hurt if anyone knew me.

I realize now that I could have had a better experience overseas if I'd known how to adapt and socialize, but this was not something I knew even in English, and trying to learn in another language made it ten times harder. I'm sorry now for missing out on interactions that I know I could have had, but I just didn't know how. I wouldn't know how until I learned, and it took me a long time to learn.

I grew up online, in the company of others who had trouble fitting in with the real world, even in their own language. Those experiences shaped me, and the friendships I've made and support I've received online are invaluable to me. The internet gave me a way to live, and through it I learned how to interact with others. But in many ways, for many years, it felt like my life was put on hold and I stopped growing up.

Several years ago I moved back, to not far from where I was born, and I was able to work for the first time. I began to interact with people and feel like I had a place in the real world.

After shutting myself away for so many years, every little step I made out in the world felt terrifying. But every little thing I did on my own made me feel like I was living for the first time.

Even something as little as going to the store and buying a pack of batteries.

I was directed to a shelf at the end of an aisle, and found myself looking at a rack of lithium AA batteries. Did they not sell the old kind anymore?

I walked around to the other side and was relieved to find the familiar black and brown Duracell batteries I'd known from my childhood. I felt more confident about putting in a battery that looked the same as I remembered. The smallest pack they sold was an 8-pack for $12.99. I really didn't need 8 batteries. I didn't have any other devices that used them.

I thought, what if I turn it on and it doesn't work and I'll have wasted $12.99?

I also thought we might already have batteries. I might be able to say, "Mom, do we have any batteries?" and she'd pull out two AAs from a drawer somewhere and I'd save my money.

But somehow I felt like part of what was important about this was being an adult and being able to buy my own batteries.

Yet... what if it just ended up making me sad? Was it better not to know?

I went to the checkout with just the toothpaste and stood hesitating at the edge of the checkout line.

If I didn't get the batteries now, and it turned out we didn't have any batteries, I wouldn't try it. I knew I would just put it off until even more time passed, and then... "Are you in line?" someone asked me.

"No," I said, and I turned around and went back to the shelf.

I bought the batteries.

At home, I took out my original Game Boy Color from the drawer where I left it, the one my dad had surprised me with when I was 5 years old and that I had brought overseas and back.

I put the batteries in and turned it on without a cartridge first to make sure the batteries were inserted correctly. The Game Boy logo scrolled across the screen and it made the familiar blinging Game Boy startup noise. I turned it off again, satisfied.

I took out my original Pokemon Blue cartridge, momentarily having to remember which way it went in, and slotted it in.

I turned it on, watched the whole Pokemon Blue intro out of nostalgia, and then pressed START.

My heart leaped for joy.

MY POKEMON!!!! MY POKEMON ARE ALIVE!!! 🥺🥺🥺

My original Pokemon, that were with me in 1998 when I was 5-6 years old, are still with me 27 years later. I want to cry!!! I love the old sprites, I'm SO happy to see them again 😭😭😭 the Pokemon look so little and cheerful at the same time, which I love 🥺🥺🥺 I know there are people with many more hours on their games, who have leveled all their Pokemon to 100. But these are my Pokemon who were with me through my childhood, and I spent many more hours making up stories about them than actually playing the game. I'm so happy to see them again 😭😭😭

All I want is to see my Pokemon. My other Pokemon are in boxes. Now, how do I get to the nearest PC? Where am I?

Oh... Oh. I have to confess something. When I was a kid, I was scared of the dark cave areas, and whenever I got to them, I stopped playing for a while. (I was stuck at Mt. Moon until I was like, 7.) So I never actually beat the game.

And here I am on Victory Road, with the team of Pokemon I was taking to the Elite Four, without an Escape Rope.

The only way for me to see my other Pokemon is... to finally make it through Victory Road, after 27 years?!

[littlelord]

the minor characters lowkey took it this season.... gwayne, erryk & arryk, simon strong, oscar tully, tyland lannister, aegon's little frat friendgroup, maester orwyle, alys rivers, jasper wylde, larys, elinda massey, hugh hammer, rickard thorne, those 2 riverlands guys that had everyone fujoshing out i mean come ON.. let's hear it for the relatively normal people

[caffichai]

Shaw, post workout!

Shaw's probably my favorite operator so far. Firefighter, tiny, good voice, and incredibly hilariously cheesy water blast attack. (Also, I thought Shaw was a little man for like 2 weeks)

[benevolentcannibal]

Straw Heart Alliance Clash

[somewhereincairparavel]

'i hate jason grace because he thought he was worthy enough to compete with percy' I'm sorry have y'all SEEN jason. this man defeated a TITAN without weapons and his bare hands to the point the titan wanted to rise from the UNDERWORLD with the help of a GODDESS to seek vengeance over him. I think we can cut him slack for having some well deserved self respect bc I'd brag too wtf

[ninakoll]

6 page (pg-13?) rinniki comic inspired by that one rly cute hajime story in which hajime is invited to eat pizza with rinne at niki's place. did this sort of as rinne's bday comic since niki got one too! sorry if its a little ooc i needed them in the Situation for this comic to work...

that dangling spit over someones face as punishment thing is 100% an older sibling forbidden move . anyway.. always fun to draw a short comic. see you aruound space cowboys

[choyling]

Day 8 - Treasure ✨

[franzkafkagf]

Gonna be so normal about Aegon's little frat boy gang that somehow obediently sits at his feet while he is cuntily lounging on the throne.... their names are Martyn Reyne, Eddard Waters and Leon Estermont btw....

[records-of-a-slacker]

so you know how WS mentions not being able to taste stuff or something along those lines? Like that is miserable but what does that mean for Cale? Aside from starving for so much of his life he literally can't even properly enjoy the taste of food to the fullest. Sure maybe the curse is like watered down a little on his end compared to WS but like it's still there. So I HC that as KRS he liked really flavorful food, esp. spicy food since they're the only ones that actually kinda stand out to him in terms of taste you know. So now you have this guy who eats everything with a giant bucket of gochujang piled on top and chili flakes like it's normal while even his fellow countrymen question him.

Idk I just thought of how happy he was about eating good food when he woke up as Cale and really praising Beacrox and like. what if aside from how its fancy food compared to what he usually eats it's literally the first time he's ever PROPERLY tasted food. Thinking about how satisfied he was with his food that his family noticed and how he's finally enjoying food and akjbkdkadbakdjkw

[rendevok]

Skirting the truth

(aka i saw this meme and laughed so hard i lost my sense self control)

[electricsqueels]

No worms were harmed in the making of this Airplane reference. Probably. Maybe…

Dialogue (in case you can’t read my handwriting):

*The Lamb and Goat are cackling to each other. They’ll be up to mischief soon enough.*

Narinder: “That’s it! You two are giving me a drinking problem!”

*Narinder misses his mouth and splashes himself with liquid before collapsing on the bar in front of Leshy.*

Goat: “Yo, what’s up with your cat?”

Lamb: “He’s allergic to change.”

*Leshy empties a pitcher over Narinder’s already wet head.*

Narinder: “LESHY!”

[spacerockfloater]

Do you know what went completely over our heads?

The fact that Rhaenyra has sex with her uncle on the day of the funeral of her children’s father.

I repeat. Harwin is being buried at Harrenhal (S1 E7, Jace: We should be at Harrenhal, mourning Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin.) and Rhaenyra can’t keep it in her pants for the uncle she french-kissed when she was 18.

This man risked his life and his family’s reputation for her. He practically got his father to quit due to the shame he made him feel. He fathered her children, raised them, protected them, trained them, loved them and loved her. He was to her essentially a husband and she cheats on him the day of his funeral. His fucking body was not even cold yet.

And what’s crazy is that she is trying to gaslight her own children by telling them “No, Ser Laenor is your father, not Ser Harwin, stop thinking about him because it’s inappropriate and focus on the death of this other person”, as if she wasn’t the one who imbedded Harwin on every aspect of their lives, only to then turn around and remove Laenor from their lives as well!

Like, I stopped liking these kids after the way they treated Aemond, but I really felt for them here. They look disgusted as fuck, lol!

[r-aindr0p]

Rook. Idk if you'll see this first or not, but please send the package over... I have the money to get my mini rollo ok!

Sending them to y'all with a care package (a small packet of brown sugar and a mini pillow) dw they shouldn't multiply if the meals are spaced out enough. Rook is calibrating and sending

[rubensmuse]

if justice dragonage has 100,000 fans i am one of them if justice dragonage has 5 fans i am one of them if justice dragonage has 1 fan i am that fan if justice dragonage has 0 fans i am no longer on this earth

[raycatzdraws]

@theegh0st. So you know how I mistook your ghostie pfp as a bird? I took that and ran.

my skykid's taking you places.