#the next two are fun bc they were both made specifically for high end content

[xavathun]

hi chat. people liked my mossy titan so i’ve come with my hoard of warlock outfits :]

[bukojuiice]

ʚ Going to Universal Studios Japan with them (ft. Izuku, Katsuki, Shoto, Denki, Eijirou, Shinsou and Dabi) ɞ *‧.₊˚*੭

—  @bukojuiice’s 720+ followers gift! thank you so so much for supporting my works!  ♡ ily all i never would have thought i would reach this milestone 🥺

—  uni student! izuku, katsuki, shoto, eijirou, denki, shinsou and evil turned good! dabi x reader headcanons ♡

 — To further elaborate, this is a Dabi that turned Good for his bby bro because I know that this is physically impossible in the manga and i found it hard to play around with a cute and fluffy set of hcs within a villain context. so pls let me have a good Dabi just this one time qwq

— if you like to see more from me, i have an ongoing bakugo x fem reader! smau called cuddle buddy! read it here!  for my bnha masterlist check it out here!  ♡

— please reblog, reply and leave like if you enjoyed! it means a lot! c:

—  all universal studios japan photos are taken by me. Most of these headcanons are also based on my experience in Universal Studios Japan!  (๑•͈ᴗ•͈)

—  content warning: slight innuendo/sexual content, strong language and mention of Endeavor

— summary: You spend a wonderful day in one of the most happiest places on earth with your just as wonderful significant other. 

—  You and Izuku stroll through Hogsmeade of the newly opened Hogwarts area of the Park. Your hand in his and your arms interlocked.

—  Izuku would geek out. As in geek out. He very much loved Harry Potter growing up and being able to go to USJ was a dream come true.

—  “It’s LeviOSA not LeviOSAR.” You continue to make Harry Potter jokes and Izuku was loving every minute of it. He could not stop laughing.

— You loved seeing his laugh as it made your heart feel all fluffy inside. God. why must this boy be so cute?

—  Izuku is just as big of a Potterhead as you. The two of you took the Hogwarts House test online and Izuku was sorted into Gryffindor whilst you were sorted into Slytherin. Two complete opposites yet you guys were the most adorkable couple ever. 

— Even the amusement park goers (the couples in particular) couldn’t help but turn their eyes to the two of you. 

—  The two of you are wearing matching Hogwarts robes, earning compliments from the staff giggling about how cute the two of you are! 

— YOU GUYS WERE MOST PROBABLY THE CUTEST COUPLE IN THE AMUSEMENT PARK!?? 

— LIKE YES TWO SOFT CUTIES AND IN HOGWARTS ROBES OF ALL MATCHING OUTFITS THEY COULD HAVE WORN?? COUPLE GOALS

—  You were originally going to hang out with the entire Dekusquad but ofc your friends just decided to play matchmaker and instead collectively backed out and said they were busy bc of uni (obvs a lie)

—  You wonder why they would play matchmaker when the you and Izuku were already together in the first place and they know that very well HSKHSHSKHS 

—  anyways ochaco, tsuyu, shoto and tenya are very supportive wbk

—  Izuku just wanted this day to be very special and to be between the two of you only. 

—  “Izu-kun! Let’s try out the Butterbeer and see if it tastes just as good as the books and movies make them to be!” You point to a food stall that sells the famous beverage seen in the series, with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic kinds.

—  “Of course (Y/N)!-chan Anything for you!” He says sweetly and gingerly hands the money to the food vendor. 

— For fun and because why the hecc not, you decided to order the alcoholic variant of the drink whilst Izuku had purchased the non-alcoholic one.

—  In turn, you ended up becoming a little bit tipsy as the two of you enter the Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey ride.

—  Izuku stares in awe as the waiting line makes you go through the interior of Hogwarts Castle. Both you and Izuku couldn’t help but just stare in amazement. 

—  You smile at the sight of your cute freckled boyfriend admiring the view and the area before him. It was as if he was transported into the actual world of Harry Potter and you couldn’t help but feel the overwhelming emotions he was feeling right now. 

—  The two of you hold hands during the entire attraction as both of you are seated in a 3-seater ride. T’was cute uwu

—  Albeit the fact that you were a little bit tipsy, the entire 4-D ride was magnificent as it literally took you through every adventure Harry Potter and the rest of the cast had experienced. 

— It was probably one of the best rides you’ve been to tbh??

— “The Dementors were so creeeeeeepy.” Izuku shuddered, rubbing his arm. “”They looked so real!” He turns to you, wonder and amazement plastered all over his face.

—  “THE WORST THING ABOUT PRISON WAS THE DEMENTORSSSS.” You howled, your voice practically echoing around the exit area. 

—  “IZUkU!!! I LOAF YOUUUUUUU SOW MUCHHHHHIE.”

—  Midoriya knew that you got a bit tipsy due to the butterbeer, as soon as he had noticed the body language you were showing, he supports your weight by holding you tightky and then slowly take you to the cafe near the entrance that served hot coffee.

—  Thankfully, you were able to sober up so that the two of you could go around the rest of the park before the Night show took place in Hogwarts Castle. 

—  “You know, I’m so lucky to have you (Y/N)-chan. Just like how lucky Ron is to have Hermione.” He plants a kiss on your forehead, he firmly holds you as the evening light show of Hogwarts Castle begins. 

—  “You’re overreacting Izu-kun. I’m not as smart as Hermione.” You shake your head, trying to avoid eye contact as he just made another cheesy Harry Potter Joke. “More like I’m the Ron to your Hermione. I mess up sometimes yet you’re always there for me to help me up when I’m down.” 

—  “Then I guess we don’t have to compare ourselves to Ron and Hermione then. Because I wouldn’t have a life like this with you any other way. I love you (Y/N)-chan.”

—  “I love you too Izu-kun.” 

—  An array of colorful fireworks pop in the sky and the both of you look deep into each other’s eyes, holding each other tightly til the festivities end.

— The two of you arrived at Universal Studios Japan earlier than most people. Bakugo always wanted to be first in line even though the two of you had fast passes to specific rides. He just rolls like that.

—  You forced him to wear matching matching elmo and cookie monster headbands with you. You were wearing the Elmo one and he was wearing the Cookie monster design.

  —  He’d spoil you soooooooo bad like he’d be grumpy at first and refuse to buy you this cute little souvenir item you’d probably never use, but he’d still spoil the heck out of you. Just as long as it was mildly reasonable.

—  He was all for thrill rides. As long as he got to show off how bad-ass and brave he is to you. That was until you discovered one of the Jurassic Park rides in the park and HOO BOY...

  —  You were internally squealing at the sight of him wearing the cookie monster that your brain just?? kinda stopped?? You secretly take a pic of your explosive boyfie and then change his contact name to Cookie Monster.

—  You first enter the Jurassic Park area at the insistence of Kirishima, Kaminari, Mina and Sero whomst you were supposedly going to meet after 2 hours

— As you roam around, there’s awkward silence between the two of you until you begin to obnoxiously sing the theme song of the series to try and annoy Bakugo, “TENENENEN TENENENENEN TENENENEN”

—‘’(Y/N) Geez, could you stop singing that stupid song? It fucking annoys me.’’

—‘’No way we’re riding that shitty fucking water ride. I will not get wet today.”

— “Oh really? What if you get wet in different ways?”

—He smirks at you, taking your hand and rubbing your thumb, “Let’s see when we get home.’’

— “OH WAIT BUT FIRST LET’S SHARE A TURKEY LEG!’’ You point to a nearby food stall, selling turkey legs for 980 yen. 

— Katsuki begrudgingly follows you to the stall and buys a turkey leg for the two of you to share. 

—You were deep in thought. Fantasizing if you could eat the Turkey Leg with Katsuki “Lady and Tramp” style. 

— Much to your dismay, Katsuki had finished the Turkey Leg before you could get another bite. You pout and cross your arms, yet he doesn’t notice you silently shooting daggers at him.

— You then quickly forget about the Turkey Leg as soon as the Flying Dinosaur attraction hovered above you. The amusing screams of the people riding it could be heard as it passed at a speed you could have never imagined.

—  ‘’Suki-kun!! Let’s ride that next!’’

— ‘’We just ATE. Are you fucking serious right now?’’

—  ‘’Or are you too chicken?’’ You tease him playfully. ‘’Hmm… Looks like eating the entire turkey leg turned you into a chicken now didn’t it?’’

—  ‘’Fine. Fuck this.’’ He tilts his head, gesturing you to follow suit. ‘’Let’s get into the fast pass line.’’

— You get on the ride and see up close the details of the dinosaur as it’s positioned upright for you two to get on. You take your seats and are instructed to strap yourselves in the seat. 

— You get a wonderful view of the sea as the ride continues to ascend, going up and down, at high speeds. You begin to scream your heart out, the adrenaline rushing through you. Bakugo tries to put up a face, not wanting to scream and show any weakness. You look at him again as the ride arrives at a downwards slope, creating a momentum before it descends again at high speed.

— The ride begins to move, positioning itself like a pterodactyl would. You take Bakugo’s hand and give it a tight squeeze. You look at him for comfort and he nods at you lovingly. You were at ease albeit the fact that the two of you are about to experience one of the most terrifying amusement park rides ever.

The two of you are then positioned to be dangling in mid-air, the safety strap from a while ago being the only thing holding you in place. 

—  ‘’(Y/N)! I LOVE YOU!’’ He screams his lungs out as the ride passes through the ocean again, giving you a clear view of the sea surrounding the wonderful prefecture of Osaka.

—  You smile cheekily and begin to scream from the top of your lungs too. ‘’I LOVE YOU TOO KATSUKI!’’

—  ‘’Did you really mean that I love you?’’ You ask him. Your adrenaline is still pumping you up.

— ‘’Of course I did you nerd. I had to get it out of my chest.’’ He says, avoiding eye contact, scratching the back of his neck.

—  The ride then ends abruptly and you could never feel more grateful. You could practically kiss the floor as your legs shaked once you got off. Katsuki supports you with his arm around yours and the two of you get off the ride.

—  ‘’I want to hear you say that again.’’ You poke his cheek but he doesn’t move an inch.

—  ‘’Come on. We have to go look for Kirishima in the others.’’

—  ‘’One more time Suki-kun! Please?’’ You look at him with your most dramatic puppy eyes and he couldn’t help but give in.

—  ‘’Fine.’’ He says grumpily. ‘’I love you.’’

—  ‘’I love you too. Let’s never ride that again.’’

— ‘’Agreed.’’

— Shoto made sure that he would make the most of the time with you before the two of you go back to University. Booking the most luxurious hotel available, fine dining every single night you were in Osaka and going on private local tours and taking high-end trips to Nara and Kyoto.  

— He’s spoiling you so so so bad and as much as you didn’t want Shoto to spend too much, he kept on insisting. 

— This is also why he decided your trip near your birthday so that in a sense, this is his birthday surprise for you too!

— He wanted to go all out just for you. 

— You feel like you’re in Cloud 9 every time you’re with Shoto. How much more when you’re going on an extra special trip with him? 

— “This Eren Jeager’s voice sounds familiar. It’s as if we have the same voice.” Todoroki looks at the screen perplexed, putting on the 4-D Glasses and making sure you were already comfortable on your seat.

— ‘’I know right. You’re hotter of course.’’ You whisper, giving him a peck on the cheek.

— Attack on Titan is your all time favorite anime ever.

— Shoto wasn’t too well-versed in anime, so him bringing you to USJ is one of the best things he could ever do for you.

— Especially since the park had a limited time Attack on Titan 4-D Attraction!!

— YOU KNEW you had to go there and it was also a perfect opportunity for you to bond with Shoto

— As long as you were happy and he could support you with your interests, he was happy too.

— Being able to go on the Attack on Titan 4D Ride was a dream come true.

— You brought Shoto to the souvenir shop first and bought matching headbands for the two of you.

— You were wearing a headband that had two little chibi Levis on each side whilst Shoto had little chibi Erens on his uwu

— He’d be spoiling you so so much !!! Any souvenir item you’d set your eyes on, he’d immediately buy it for you!! 

— Before you can even say no, he’s already bought it using his luxurious black credit card. YOUR BOYFIE WAS RICH OFC I MEAN WHAT WOULD YOU EXPECT!?

—  "That was amazing." Todoroki says in awe, still trying to process the thrill he had just experienced. "I wonder what would happen if titans started appearing all of a sudden?"

—  "Let's say a smol titan appears right now. I wonder if you could pierce it with your ice?" You tilt your head, beginning to think about unrealistic scenarios. "Anywhooo, shall we go to the next ride on our list? It's called Hollywood Dream!"

—  "Let's gooooo~" He hums monotonously, earning giggles from you. He wraps an arm around your shoulder, pulling you close as you walk side by side. 

— “Okay... so there are two variants to this ride. There’s one that goes in reverse and the other one goes so high up that we have an overview of the whole park.” You go through a brochure that you picked up at the entrance.

 — “Whichever one you’re more comfortable with (Y/N).” 

—  “Let’s go on the one where we can see our hotel because of how high it is!”

—  “OKAY NVM THIS WAS A BAD IDEA.” You say as the rollercoaster begins to reach it’s momentum, the ride going higher and higher.  Until you can see your hotel and every recognizable landmark from afar. 

—  Shoto then clasps your hand, giving it a tight squeeze. “It’s okay (Y/N). I’m right here. Just hold my hand okay?” 

—  You nod slowly, taking a deep breath. You close your eyes and feel a fell swoop on your stomach as the wind passes through your face.

—  Justin Timberlake’s Can’t Stop the Feeling begins to play as the rollercoaster begins to descend from roaring heights. They purposefully attached speakers to the ride so that the park goers would feel hyped up and excited instead of being terrified of how high up they are. 

—  Shoto’s hands are still intertwined with yours. You weren’t letting go. 

—  The screams of everyone else in the ride grows louder and louder and you can’t help but sing to the song instead.

—  “I GET THIS FEELINGGG INSIDE MY BONES! IT GOES ELECTRIC, WAVEY WHEN I TURN IT ONN.” You began to sing, raising your arms up high as you slowly begin to enjoy the ride. 

—  Shoto who was sitting on the end yet is still able to keep his calm composure, turns to you, and a small smile flashes on his face when he sees you channel your nervousness through singing. 

—  He begin to sing along with you too! AAAHHH WHAT A CUTIE

—  “All through my city, all through my home, We're flying up, no ceiling, when we in our zone.” He continues. You look at him and ease up a little bit once you see his handsome face and comfortable presence beside you.

— And before you knew it, the ride came to a stop. It was finally over. You take a deep breath and Shoto helps you out of your seat.

— “I got that sunshine in my pocket! Got that good song in my feet. I feel that hot blood in my body when it drops!” You and Shoto begin to duet to the pop and colorful song. You begin to fully enjoy the ride, barely even noticing the ride making sharp and fast turns as it continues to go up and down. 

— “I might have hated it at first but that was exhilarating.” 

— “I knew you could do it.” He says proudly, planting a kiss on your forehead. “You are the bravest person I know after all.” 

— “I wouldn’t have overcome my fears if it weren’t for you though.” You scrunch your nose, and hold on to Shoto’s arm. Your heart still beating so fast. “Thank you for being my safe space Shoto. I’m always at peace whenever I’m with you. Thank you for always being my comfort person.”

— “Of course (Y/N). Why wouldn’t I be?” He tilts his head, clueless. “Are you game enough to ride the reversed one this time?”

— “Of course I am!” 

— He chuckles, “That’s my love. If you feel like you can’t do it, Just know that I’m always here to support you.” 

— The first attractions on your list were the water rides. More specifically the Jurassic Park Water Ride and the JAWS ride. 

— You and Kirishima would try every ride in the park if you could. He loved to try and experience new things especially if he’s able to do them with you!

— Kiri is a very very fun person and would always be game with anything tbh!!

— You’re wearing matching dinosaur hats with Kirishima!!

— ‘’RAWR!’’ You make cutesy dinosaur gestures at your boyfriend, jumping around in your place. ‘’Can you believe we’re finally here in USJ!?’’ He blushes profusely, pecking your cheek. 

—  ‘’I can’t believe it too.’’ He chuckles then pauses for a moment before...

— ‘’RAWR!’’ He says back, his hands forming into claws, his cute mouth open wide and his sharp shark teeth very much visible. You giggle at his returned gesture, finding it more cuter than you should.

— ‘’(Y/N) you’re adorable! You know that right?’’ He laughs and continues to hold you tightly.

— ‘’Pshh of course I do! I have an equally adorable boyfriend too!’’ You look up at him, beaming.

— The two of you then jump in your place in unison, both mimicking each other’s cute ‘’RAWR!’’ and hand gestures as Kirishima pulls you into a hug.

— ‘’Don’t forget manly!’’ He winks and grabs your hand, taking you to the Jurassic Park Water ride.

— “I actually find it smart that we go on the water rides first so that we can just change clothes immediately after. Good thinkening Kiri!” You remark, patting him on the head.

— THINKENING??? THINKENING??? Eijirou could not think straight right now because of how cute you are

— ANYWAY HE WASNT GOING TO LOOK OR ANYTHING KIRISHIMA IS A GENTLEMAN HE IS NOT A BAD BOI WHO WILL GIVE IN TO TEMPATION!!

— You looked so excited to go on the rides and he couldn’t be happier seeing you like this 

— IT ALSO DIDNT HELP THAT YOU WERE WEARING A WHITE SHIRT SO IF YOU DID GET WET THEN 👁👄👁

— The ride begins and the all too familiar theme song of the series begins to play as the gates to the Jurassic Park opens as the water ride begins to move

— Although the ride was very predictable, and you knew the surprise at the end was the T-rex trying to jumpscare you as the ride falls down a high incline, splashing all of the people on the ride. 

— Kirishima still looked like he had lots of fun. 

— He turns to you, a huge cheeky smile plastered upon his face as he tries to dry his clothes. “That was fun!” 

— The ride may seem calm at first, but then the T-Rex begins to secretly appear around the forest-ish area surrounding the water ride. 

— “It was!” You smiled back. You look down on your shirt innocently. “I didn’t expect that I’d get this wet so I thought wearing a white shirt would be-”

— “LET’S BUY YOU A JURASSIC PARK SHIRT IN THE SOUVENIR SHOP OKAY!? SO THAT YOU WON’T WASTE YOUR OTHER CLOTHES AND YOU CAN CHANGE IN THEM FOR THE JAWS RIDE INSTEAD.” Eijirou stands up so suddenly from the boat. He takes you by the hand without shooting you another glance as not to show how flustered he was. 

— “Okay then...” You reply, as Kirishima whisks you away, leading you to the souvenir shop just outside of the attraction.

— Kirishima breathes a sigh of relief as he sees you exit the comfort room. 

— He calls you over, “(Y/N)! While you were changing your clothes, I went back to the souvenir shop and realized that they were actually couple shirts!

— We are so Adora-saurable! was written on both of your shirts along wtih a cute dinosaur couple print on them.

— “Funny how you were able to find a Dinosaur pun on the word adorable! What a coincidence!” You giggle, poking Kirishima’s cheek. “I think we had enough of dinosaurs for now. Shall we check out the other rides?”

— “Right beside ya!” Kiri flashes you his signature smile, taking your hand in his again, swinging it back and forth as the two of you continue to your next destination. 

— The way you scolded him was more in a joking way though!!

— You guys arrive a bit late because Kaminari ended up sleeping through his alarm 🙃

— When the two of you met up at the entrance you scolded him so bad because you practically lost two hours and HNGGGGG

— All he could do was hug you tightly from behind and say “gomen!” “gomen!” over and over again

— you were loving every second of it!!!! denki was being super cute and you couldn’t help but just go uwu

— BUT THEN YOU SCOLDING HIM  DIDN’T REALLY MATTER BC YOU GUYS HAD FAST PASSES

— YOU DO BE FLEXING YOUR FAST PASSES THO

— THE TWO OF YOU FELT LIKE RICH KIDS FLEXING YOUR GUCCI FLIPFLOPS WHEN IN FACT YOU WERE FLEXING YOUR FAST PASSES

— OK SO you and Kaminari decided to go to the Despicable Me/Minions area first not just for the memes but also because it was the most popular attraction this season.

— You also wanted to get on the rides there first since it takes 2 hours before you can even get in

— YOU HAVE MATCHING MINION POPCORN BUCKETS WITH HIMM!!

— The design of yours was a cute little minion holding a teddy bear whilst his was a special Christmas reindeer edition.

—  “(Y/N)-chan! Look at the line! Should we line up and take a picture with the Minions!?” He points to a meet and greet line for the yellow mascots

—  You weren’t exactly the biggest fan of these abominations but facebook mom memes aside, Denki looked super super excited and you didn’t want to ruin a great start to a perfect day so you just went with it.

—  The staff attendants thought Kaminari looked super excited like cute little sparky puppy seeing the minions so they gave you cute minion button pins!!

— The Despical Me Area pretty much played Happy by Pharell Williams non-stop as people stroll around so you and Denki couldn’t help but dance along to it.

—  It didn’t matter if people looked at the two of you weirdly either!! Just being with denki and being chaotic with him is one of the best feelings ever and he feels the same way too

— You guys did all kinds of funky dances til the two of you got exhausted and decided to try out the other rides. 

— There were also carnival game stands and Kaminari ended up winning you the exact same unicorn stuff toy seen in the Despical Me movies.

— Cotton Candy, Gumballs, Skittes, anything remotely sweet being sold on the stalls, you tried all of them.

— “IT’S SO FLUFFFFFY!!!” You imitate one of the cute characters from the movie, hugging the stuffed toy to your chest. “Thank you Kami-kun! I will cherish this forever!”

— Kaminari grins widely, “I know you aren’t too fond of the Minions but thank you for still going with me to this area first.” You can see the emotion and the appreciation in his eyes. 

— “OMG DENKI OFC! WHY WOULD I NOT ENJOY THIS!?” You say incredulously. “I had such an amazing time! Minions and their annoying voices aside. I always have the best time when I’m with you!”

— Crocodile tears start to form on Denki’s eyes as he pulls you into a hug. “AAAAAAAHH (Y/N)-CHAN I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUU. THANK YOU FOR BEARING WITH ME. I’M DOING THIS FOR THE MEMES.” 

— You giggle, patting Kaminari on the back. “It’s alright alright. I love you too! But this time you have to compensate by going on a horror ride with me okay?”

— “Ahahahahahaha what?”

— Endeavor had sponsored your trip and all expenses to ~try~ and start to mend his broken relationship with his son, although you refused at first, Toya did not. When he went to visit his mother and Enji was there to visit too, He got the money from him, ignored him, and flipped him off (aka gave him the bad finger) before leaving.

His three other siblings were in on this trip too. However, Toya wanted your trip to Universal Studios Japan between the two of you ONLY. His siblings went on a different day.

— He wasn’t the biggest fan of matching outfits or any accessories with you like any couple would and you didn’t want to pry on that. He really wasn’t the type of person to do that to begin with.

— And although on the inside he does feel a bit sorry about not being able to be cutesy with you it just really wasn’t his thing. 

The two of you would most probably make out in a secluded area in the Hogsmeade area that is barely noticed by any other park goers. How daring and how secsy

 ‘’Seriously? Snoopy and Hello Kitty? THIS is the area you want to go in first?’’

—‘’Come on! It’s not everyday you get to loosen up like this. Why not try out the kiddie rides first? Besides, I want to see how long you can last without taking the cuteness anymore.”

— The staff sees you enter the Snoopy and Woodstock ride and couldn’t help but ask a very imprudent question. “The two of you look like such a cute couple! I bet your child is just as precious!”

—“Excuse me… what?” You ask, your eyes widen. “We’re not-”

—“The kid is on it’s way. We’ll have one soon once we return here.” Toya says casually, sending you a flirtatious wink and you feel flushed and slightly embarrassed.

—“Jeeeeeeeeeez. Did you really have to say that?” You try to avoid contact with him so he wouldn’t see the embarrassment or rather the arousal present all over your face.

—“What? It’s true.” He smirks, taking your hand. “Do you not want anything to happen between us?” He teases again.

—“NO NO NO NO ITS NOT THAT.” You yelp in embarrassment, your eyes still cast down on the ground.

—You notice him kneeling down and before you could even react, instead of facing the ground, you were staring down at your boyfriend’s handsome face instead. 

—“Come on… I thought we were going to the Hello Kitty ride next?

— “Oh yeah right! That ahahaha let’s go!” You look up again before he could see your face looking like a tomato.

— You couldn’t help but be flustered by his words time and time again. This time though there was no point in hiding it. He got to you.

— He grabs you by the waist, and whispers into your ear, “Besides, I’m saving matching outfits with you once we bring our child here in the future. We would be the cutest fucking family out there.”

— You’ve already been dating for a year?? and your heart still flutters every time?? anything remotely romantic comes out of his mouth???

— HE WAS SUCH  FLIRT OH LORD AND YOU JUST SWOON AND FALL FOR HIM EVEN MORE 

— The other couples for some reason never thought of going on the cutesy rides, so as soon as they saw you and Toya going on them, the line for most of the rides got even longer.

— Toya might be lowkey an edgelord  but you guys became trendsetters in a span of an hour!! 

— OK BUT SPEAKING OF EDGELORD... DABI AS AN E-BOY HURRRRRRRRR YOU MAY OR MAY NOT BE MANIFESTING YOUR BOYFRIEND TO SUDDENLY BE IN E-BOY CLOTHES ON THE SPOT TOTALLY NOT NOPE NOPE NOPE NEVER 

— He still looked hot just wearing a plain dark hoodie but you still couldn’t get the thought of Toya wearing those fits out of your head.

— “Earth to (Y/N)? You’re spacing out again.” He waves a hand in front of your face and you snap back to reality. “We’ve rode every attraction here. I think we should go check out the other rides? The Jaws one next please. I can’t stand all this cute sparkly cuteness anymore.”

—  “AHAH! YOU FINALLY SNAPPED!” You laugh, acting as if you finally got back at Toya for making you such a blushing and stuttering mess just a few minutes ago. Dabi shrugs it off however. 

— “OKIE! Now that I got out of my system, let’s continue to go around shall we?” You huff and pace off to the next ride that you wanted to go on.

— Toya shakes his head and smirks, following you to wherever you were going to take him next. That didn’t stop him from teasing you every few minutes though.

— The two of you did come back to USJ, but only a few days later to accompany Shoto since Fuyumi and Natsuo had to take the train home due to having to attend important matters.

— The same park attendant who complimented you and Dabi was managing the Snoopy ride again. She recognizes the two of you instantly and waves. “Oooh! I didn’t think the two of you would come back again so early! Is this the cute child you were talking about?”

— You and Toya collectively facepalm whilst Shoto looks at the staff with a very puzzled look.

— Hopefully, the next time you come back, you finally have a happy family with Toya and you can finally show off to that sassy ol’ attendant that you have a cute little kid with you to go on rides with.

—This is officially your 7th date with Shinsou. 

— Although the two of you are already official, you can’t help but feel and notice how cold and distant he is to you still. As if he hasn’t exactly opened up to you.

—  And you didn’t want to end this day without seeing him loosen up and open his shell.

 —  You wanted a relationship with Shinsou in where the two of you could talk to each other about your own problems and help each other out. 

— That was the ideal relationship after all, and you knew for a fact that you could have something special like this with Shinsou. 

—  He did confess to you through a love poem and if that isn’t the most romantic thing ever, then I don’t know what is. 

—  You wanted to be his comfort person after all. Just as he is with you although I think he doesn’t know that yet exactly. 

—  “SOU-KUNNNN you know what else we can do?” 

—  “...What?”

—  “Let’s go on all the boring rides!!” You take his hand and start running to the next attraction. 

—  “T-that’s not actually a bad idea. Let’s go.” He mutters, albeit shy at the touch of your hands at first, he grows comfortable after a few minutes with your hand intertwined with his. 

—  SHINSOU IS SO TOUCH-STARVED AND YOU CAN’T WAIT TIL YOU GIVE HIM ALL THE HUGS AND KITHES IMAGINABLE LATER THAT NIGHT

— It was the middle of the afternoon and the park was less busier than usual, which meant all the time for you and Shinsou to try out every exhilarating ride the park had to offer. 

—  The only ones left were more performance-based attractions where you would be watching a live musical or play. One of those being a Terminator based ride. 

—  The concept of a Terminator live-action retelling was pretty cool but certainly not you or Shinsou’s cup of tea either. However, it was your goal with him to try out every ride in the park. So, eh why not?

—  The two of you sit in the front seat, making Shinsou within range of the stage actors to be affected by his quirk. 

—  “Don’t try to make them do anything bad okay?” You whisper to him. “This live show does look boring and really needs to liven up a little.

—  “I won’t do that of course. Let’s just make this show more entertaining.” 

— He then uses his quirk on the stage actors, making them do fun and entertaining dances. 

— The audience burst out into laughter as Shinsou had unintentionally made a twist to the musical playing before you. 

— “Of course not! You made that Terminator Musical much better! I bet they took notes and try to switch up the acting and the cheesiness for the next show!” 

— “Hopefully they will. Because the show was boring as hell.” He deadpans, putting his hands in his pockets. 

— Everyone in the theatre left in good spirits. 

— He stops in his tracks and looks at you. How lucky he was to have someone like you in his life.

— “Thank you for today too (Y/N). I really enjoy spending time with you like this.” He looks away, yet fails to hide his flustered face. 

— “You’re welcome!” You lean in and tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek. 

—  Despite how cold and straightforward he may be sometimes, you never complained. You accepted him for who he was and who he is. 

— The two of you take the train ride home in peace and solace knowing that slowly but surely, Shinsou becomes more and more comfortable with you and you can’t wait for the time he finally opens up and bears his heart to you. 

Thank you for reading ♡

-Fin 

[meimae]

Look at me, not being on time for my April Immersion Overview as is the usual. (・w・;

First, little blog updates to get out of the way:

I reached 100 followers! Got an influx of people checking out my 1 year update post, and got plenty of nice compliments on my data collection.

For those of you wondering just why I keep up with so much data, it's mostly because it can get really hard to notice how much you're improving in a language especially with something like immersion learning that for people who don't get it feels like a waste of time or a time sink.

Graphs showing consistency, improvement in reading speed, increasing vocabulary counts, and generally just seeing numbers grow turns language learning more fun and motivating for me, and if as a bonus, it encourages someone to try immersion learning then that would be cool!

With that said, whether you're here as a fellow language learner, graphs enthusiast (笑), or just want some Japanese media recommendations, ようこそ! 

Also, made a tiny DP change - it’s チト from 少女週末旅行. Pretty sure it’s the first manga series I ever finished in Japanese (not the first one I started since ちはやふる is still ongoing), and I always felt a bit of a ☆connection☆ with  her - between her book-loving personality and being a no-nonsense kind of person, there was no way for me not to enjoy her character. Great beginner anime/manga if you’re not into most beginner recommendations.

-☆-

April has been a pretty good immersion month, as I was able to dip my toes in a variety of media. A bit competitive, too! The club I joined has been pulling all the stops to get to the Top 20 Immersion Leaderboard in it’s first month. I was able to snag the 9th spot among a bunch of people of different comprehension levels (the majority being N1+ since they’re able to comprehend much more and in turn stand longer immersion hours). Lots of tiny complaints though of potential “whitenoising” content (”listening” and “reading” but not comprehending very well just to get a large number to post), but really what can you do? People lie all the time on the internet. Besides, it’s internet points that doesn’t do anything beyond being a little shiny I guess.

Enough about that, let’s get into the nitty-gritty details you came here for!

ANIME

フルーツバスケット

Might need to rewatch this one. Felt like I didn’t connect with the characters the way the rest of its fandom has. I’m kinda sad about it, since I normally love Slice of Life and Fantasy, and I know this is one of my friend’s diehard shows.

ラブライブ! School Idol Project S2

A filler anime to watch tbh. Nice and easy enough to follow for beginners. Pretty good songs. With regards to it being a show about music and moe, I still 100% prefer K-On! if I’m going to be honest, but for a show about non-toxic idols, it’s good!

魔法少女まどか☆マギカ

First read this as English translated manga when I was 13 or something. Mistakes were made. Let’s all just agree to throw キュウベえ into a pit of fire and never talk about it again. Great ending and a show that really reworked the magical girl genre. But seriously, I was traumatized by マミ’s death then and now, help.

四月は君の嘘

Already knew what was going to happen even before watching this so I didn’t ugly cry like I was expecting. Still got that awful sinking feeling though. 10/10 would recommend for a good cry. Also, I’m planning to read the manga, might enjoy that more, because I’ve always liked it more than anime actually. *shocked pikachu face*

ホリミヤ

Watched before I even finished the manga which felt like a mistake at first until I realized that it perfectly stops where I stopped reading. Nice and comfy anime, the kind I would have loved as a teen. Fun animation too, making parts very dramatic even though it wasn’t really that deep of an issue even in the manga. Just teens feeling feelings. Still salty that we lose bad boy styled 宮村, but I get why it had to happen.

AUDIOBOOKS

氷菓

Second re-listen. I understand it fine, but it’s very easy to drift off when you can’t catch all the words so I had to replay often. Will have to mine more from the anime/book.

君の名は

I mined from the anime, and was really pleased to be able to follow all 6 hours of this audiobook perfectly fine. Will need to read the book, because I realized just how seamless reading it would be after listening to it with hardly any issue.

BOOKS

キッチェン

Completed! Read my thoughts about it and see my stats on this post.

君の膵臓を食べたい

Still trudging on with this one. It’s not a bad story, it’s pretty well written actually, I just made the mistake of watching both the anime and live adaptation first, so I know exactly what’s going to happen and it’s killing my motivation to keep reading. I guess reading the book first before watching the movie still applies in any language with me. Really need to 頑張れ and finish so I can move on. 

三日間の幸福

Started reading towards the end of the month, mostly because I realized that every chapter is only 5000-15000 characters long, and I was able to read up to 40k in a day with Island most days. Only two chapters read so far though because I got distracted by manga, but it’s shaping up to be a really good plot and potentially a really sad one, too, so I’m interested.

DRAMA

花ざかりの君たちへ イケメンパラダイス

Heard this was a classic so I gave it a try. Loved 生田 斗真’s character in this one the most especially all his internal dialogue acted out. Also, 小栗 旬 in anything is bound to be a good watch. Simple and fun watch. They dragged the ending so much though lmao 

ごくせん

Look, I see 松本 潤, I click. Definitely the kind of show you should watch for some great life advice. Planning to watch the 2nd and 3rd seasons even if there is a terrible lack of 松本 潤, because I love my strong female protagonists, and man, ヤンクミ is such a great character. Need to read the manga, too, if I can find it.

極主夫道

Oof, this was kind of hard. The yakuza talk was throwing me off, but the rest of it was enjoyable. Not really plot heavy as I thought it was going to be. The comedy side of it was fun and predictable after the first few episodes. Overall, pretty good slice of life, family story with a twist.

MANGA

Read a bunch of manga this month, mostly because I am struggling to find the next vn to read.

おやすみプンプン

Read a couple of volumes (6-7). This manga is so good, but it’s so depressing I need to stop to take a breather every once in a while. Please don’t leave any spoilers. The club has been reacting to me reading this, and it has mostly been a lot of crying emotes. It’s both been enjoyable to see and really worrying. 笑

チェンソーマン

Club recommendation. Only read the 1st volume so far. I really need to get into more 少年 anime/manga. That’s currently my 苦手 genre which is awful because literally all the top anime/manga is 少年 help. I just can’t enjoy it much still even though it’s comprehensible to me.

ちはやふる 中学生編

Read Vol. 1, chill read to me at this point after reading 45 volumes of the regular manga. Look, it’s my favorite 幼馴染 manga in baby format, of course I’m going to read this! 太一 has been a flake way before season 3 confirmed. Don’t come at me たいちはや stans bc I also like his character.

約束のネバーランド

Volume 7. I’m taking my sweet time with this one, because I heard the anime for season 2 sucked, so I’m avoiding it like the plague. This is 少年 how am I enjoying this and not everything else what.

ヲタクに恋は難しい

Enjoyed the anime hated the movie why did they make it a musical that sucked (ps i normally love musicals hated this one) 

The オタク jargon is kinda hard to read suprisingly but I do enjoy this ship very much. It’s a lighthearted take to otaku culture which is great because seriously it’s scary out there.

ツバサ -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE-

It’s my childhood ship, obviously I will read this again (read in English several years ago). Still as plot twisty as I remember it being (now at a bonus hard level reading it in Japanese 笑). Really enjoyed reading this one (I finished it this May).

-☆-

I’m starting to really dislike furigana in manga. It was a great help as a beginner, but now it’s like training wheels that you can’t take off. I feel like the gains I’m getting from manga is much lower than it was when I first started which makes me both proud of how far I’ve come, but also sad because I love manga. Sad that I might have to start choose VNs over it, because it’s not going to challenge me as much going forward. I mean it didn’t stop me from reading a lot of it this month, but you get the picture.

VISUAL NOVELS

ISLAND

Completed! See my stats and read my long spoiler filled post here.

ファタモルガーナの館

Picked up this VN and finished two doors (15 hours) before stopping. On the fence about it, because it has been kind of predictable so far, and I don’t particularly enjoy the horror genre. That said, this is more psychological than anything, so it’s probably not that that’s putting me off. The language is not exactly difficult, too - maybe some oddly specific words because it is after all historical fiction (which is one of my favorite genres, btw), and 敬語 is definitely interesting to read for once after encountering so many お嬢様 characters in anime/drama so far. 

I think maybe it’s the conversations that are kind of dull - dots (silence) every few clicks that keeps breaking the flow of reading. Probably judging it really harshly too early, because it’s rated so high everywhere, and I just have high expectations. Definitely not dropping it yet though, just taking a break and testing a couple of other VNs before I settle with whatever I end up choosing. It is, after all, going to be another 50+ hour read, and I just don’t want to not enjoy the process, because having fun with the process is a huge part of immersion learning.

Let me know if you’ve read Fata and if I should continue! 

-☆-

That’s it for this month!

If you have any suggestions on what to watch and read next, please send me a reply, especially for VNs because I’m struggling over here.

[tendaysofrain]

Random Stuff #9:  Daoist Elements and More in The Untamed/MDZS Part 1 - Concepts

(Part 2 Here) (Super-long post ahead!)

Though The Untamed is a Xianxia/仙侠 drama (kind of like fantasy genre), there are some elements in it that had clear roots in Chinese culture, especially religious/philosophical Daoism.  So here are some Daoist elements within the world of The Untamed/MDZS:

“Cultivation” (Dao)/道 

In Chinese, the “cultivation method” is the “Dao”/“道”, which some of you may recognize as that character that sometimes stands for Daoism.  Within Daoism however, that character has a deeper meaning than just a name; in fact it is one of the most important concepts of both philosophical and religious Daoism (it also has a few different meanings, but the world of The Untamed mostly focuses on one of them; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a very comprehensive article entry on Daoism that explains the concept of Dao in detail, for anyone who’s interested in more scholarly explanations).  It actually translates best as “way” or “path” (note:  when not referring to a specific “way”, it absolutely CANNOT be translated as “the way” or “the path”, and I will get to why that’s important), and basically means a “way” of doing something.  For example, to make a salad you might rip the lettuce leaves or cut them with a knife.  Both of these methods would be “ways”/道 of making a salad.  And as you can see in this example, there are many different ways of arriving at a result or accomplishing a goal.  Since Dao encompasses all of the different ways of doing all the different things, it cannot be translated as “the way”, since “the” would imply that “there is only one way”, or “only one right way”, of doing things.  

(image credit:  My Great Lakes)

This concept that there is more than one way to accomplish something is very important to the story of The Untamed/MDZS, especially in terms of Wei Wuxian.  But we have to clarify the “goal” in The Untamed/MDZS first:  what was it that these people were trying to accomplish with their different “ways”?  Looking at the overall story, it appears that they were all generally trying to do good and uphold justice by warding off or neutralizing supernatural threats.  Now that we’ve established the goal, let’s return to WWX.  In the story, WWX was forced to give up the regular “cultivation”/ the “sword path”/剑道, instead founding the “demonic cultivation”/”dark path”/魔道 in order to survive the extreme environment of the Burial Mounds and acquire enough power to get revenge on the Wens.  Since the Wens killed a lot of people, WWX would also be upholding justice by punishing them for their evil deeds.  As the lyrics of the opening song of MDZS animated series puts it:  “though his (WWX’s) ‘path’ was different, there was justice within his heart” (道不同义在心中).  Conversely, this is also why the sects/clans were wrong to label different “cultivations”/“ways” as good or evil, as both WWX’s “demonic cultivation” and the regular “sword path” could be used as powerful forces for good and evil.  Of course, the irony was that while the sects hailed their “sword path” as “the one right path”, they were using it to control each other, instead of using it to do good.

(The two “paths”/daos.  How different are they?)

“Cultivation”/修道 

Well now that we’ve cleared up what “cultivation”/道 or Dao actually is in the context of the show and what the characters were trying to accomplish with their different “ways”, this “cultivation” or 修道 becomes easier to understand.  It means the development (修) of one’s skill in regard to the “path” (道) one has chosen.  For example, most characters chose to develop their skills in the “sword path”.  In actual religious Daoism, however, since the ultimate end purpose is to become an immortal/仙, 修道 would mean doing something to work towards that immortal status.

“Cultivator”/仙

In Daoism, the character “仙” can be translated as “immortal”, “sage”, or “celestial being”, and refers to the end goal of religious Daoists:  to “metamorphose” into an immortal (羽化登仙) (also connotes transitioning into eternal afterlife through death).  The characters “羽化” literally mean “to become feathery”, because at least in Western Han dynasty (202 BC-8 AD) figures and tomb murals, such immortals often appeared as humans with feathers or winged humans, and are capable of flight.  

Over the next few hundred years, the appearance of immortals gradually morphed into humans that fly by floating, standing on platforms of clouds, or riding birds (often cranes)/mythical creatures.  

In the drama and the animated series, 仙 is often used as a descriptor in different words (ex:  仙门, 仙家, 仙侣, 仙缘...etc), rather than a standalone noun.  However, it is still a reference to this general idea of training/cultivating oneself to become something greater, and provides a strong connection to Daoism.

“Cultivators”/修士 

In Daoism, this term is used less than 道士, but it still means “cultivators of Dao” (修道之人), or simply, “Daoists”.  In The Untamed/MDZS, of course, it means practitioners of a “cultivation”/“path”.

“Golden core”/金丹

This one has roots in real life sects of religious Daoism.  The translation “golden core” itself is quite literal.  “Golden” from the descriptor 金, and “core” for 丹, presumably because it looks like a sort of core.  In reality, 丹 is quite hard to translate.  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy translates 丹 as “alchemy”, so I will use “alchemy” for 丹 from here on out.  In religious Daoism, there are two types of this alchemy:  external and internal, and both are supposed to help one towards immortality.  People who practiced “external alchemy”/外丹 basically made “immortality elixirs” (in reality it wasn’t a drink like “elixir” implies, but a ball-shaped chewable) in the hopes that it would give immortality to whoever ate it.  This is very much like alchemy in Europe, except instead of trying to turn things into gold, people were making things to eat for immortality.  Some fun facts:  these elixirs frequently contained heavy metals like mercury and lead, and ironically would shorten people’s lives instead of helping them live longer; also legend has it that an explosive attempt to make elixirs actually led to the invention of gunpowder.

(these appears to be actual products of external alchemy found in an Eastern Jin dynasty tomb, well-preserved due to its high mercury content)

This external alchemy obviously does not apply to “golden core” in The Untamed/MDZS, so let's look at internal alchemy.  “Internal alchemy”/內丹 is much more abstract than external alchemy, but in simple terms it is the practice of using meditation and similar strategies to return oneself to a state of emptiness (kind of like “one with nature”).  This is probably what the show’s “golden core” was based on.  Also another name for “internal alchemy”/內丹 is “golden alchemy”/金丹, literally the same characters as “golden core”/金丹 in the show.  

There is one major difference though.  While real practitioners of internal alchemy believe that everyone already possess a “golden alchemy” (“golden core”), in the show everyone has to “cultivate” themselves in order to have one in the first place.

[glittercracker]

Kingkiller Crap

So, I’ve never really posted much here that involves my own thoughts. There are a number of reasons why, but whatever. I feel the need NOW to post some thoughts, and having no working independent blog (yet!) I suppose this is the place to dump them. PSA: none of this is about anime. None of this is frivolous or fun. TW for sexual abuse. You have been warned! So. I’ve been rereading the Kingkiller Chronicles. aka “Name of the Wind” and “The Wise Man’s Fear” and “That Other One That Shall Not Be Named.” This reread was, at the beginning, almost an afterthought. A way to keep my 13 yo happy on a 7 hour car ride. Except, he could not have cared less, and I got sucked back into the story (and okay, if that is how all our audiobook car rides go, meh? At least it keeps me sharp!) I raced through book one, and bought book 2 on audible with an eye to my upcoming surgery and recooperation. Book one was problematic in the places I remembered, but also as generally engaging as I remembered. And then book 2 happened, and surgery happened, and I have had weeks to lie in bed listening to this bloody interminable sequel, and I find myself lost in a morass of, “WTF was I ever THINKING?” Namely, how did I ever love this book enough to pine for the next? It’s been hard to put a finger on exactly what is making this time through book 2 both a slog and also vaguely, creepily uncomfortable, but if you’re interested, my rather stream-of-consciousness ramble of thoughts ensues. First, the male gaze that rears its head at times in book 1 predominates here. But while I don’t love the way Kvothe describes women, I also have 2 degrees in literature, and I’m beyond that being a reason not to read an otherwise engaging book. Second, Kvothe is a Gary Stu, for all of Rothfuss’s protestations to the contrary. Again, so far, so much traditional high fantasy. But while, say, Aragorn is content to just quietly be Awesome At Everything, Kvothe is a braggy little shit of a Gary Stu: the person you hated for announcing their perfect scores in that hs class you could never quite master. I could fill several pages with examples, but for some reason what really made me want to kick him in the head was not Felurian’s disbelief of his virginity (though really, jfc, REALLY?) Nope, it was the end of his time w the Ademrae (sp may be off, remember, I’m listening not reading!) when he crows about having learned the history of his sword 2 days earlier than expected. Why does this stick out? Oh, idk. Maybe bc he sucks so hard he can’t even get past the first obstacle in his practical final exam? Yet he still has to tell us how fucking awesome he is for remembering 6000 names of previous owners.

I know, I’m supposed to forgive his teenage idiocy. The internet sympathists (no pun intended!) keep telling me this. And I suppose that I would, IF this were a simple first-person narrative - but it isn’t. Let’s repeat that, and really think about it. This story is being narrated by an older and presumably wiser Kvothe who has lost everything - whose abilities have been expunged to the extent that he can’t open his own chest of Cool Stuff. He shows humility in his actions, mostly. And yet when discussing his 16 yo self, the humility evaporates, and he speaks with no kind of perspective or lens of accrued wisdom. He still compares women to instruments waiting for the “right” player (i.e. him) and defends this choice of words by saying, essentially, “You aren’t a musician, you don’t know!”

Interesting assumption for an innkeeper in a medieval-esque world. Interesting assumption if this is in fact authorial interjection, too, because I suspect the majority of this book’s audience *are* musicians to at least an extent, and I also suspect that the majority of us (yes, us - I own several beloved instruments, including a harp custom made for me as a wedding present from my husband) would not equate a human lover to even the most beloved of instruments.

But all of this is well-trodden critical ground. As far as I can tell, though, my third issue isn’t: although it’s perhaps the most glaringly tone-deaf example of all of Rothfuss’s excruciatingly tone-deaf portrayal of his world’s women. Namely, the two girls kidnapped and gang-raped by the fake Ruh.

Almost all of the criticism I’ve read on this section of TWMF concentrates on Kvothe’s treatment of the girls’ abusers. What’s interesting is that no one ever seems to write about Kvothe’s treatment of the girls themselves. Yes, he treats them kindly. He tends their wounds, he feeds them, he tries (and succeeds, of course) to draw Ellie out of her shocked stupor. 

Yet what he never once does, from the moment he takes control of the situation, is ask their opinions on any of this, including what their next step should be. He just decides to bring them back to their families - families who, in this type of society, might well disown them for being “ruined”. And the girls themselves, namely the intelligent and savvy Krin, seem to go blindly along with what he says. Why? Would Krin at least not question this, or object to his making decisions for her, when a group of men had so recently and brutally taken away all of her agency? Would she not question whether being brought back to her family is the best thing for the catatonic Ellie?

Okay, apparently not. So they return to their apparently very forgiving town. Kvothe stands up for the girls against the village shithead: thank you, Kvothe, bc I’m sure Krin could not have said those words herself. He assures the reader that they are with people who will love and care for them despite what has happened to them: thank you, Kvothe, though it’s stretching my credulity a bit that you would assume that no one will take issue with their deflowering. But then he “gifts” the girls the spoils of his slaughter: the horses, the valuables, the wagons. And I was about to give him a (grudging) pass for being decent about this, EXCEPT: he goes on to say that these goods are meant for the girls’ dowries. Specifically, to make them worth enough financially for potential husbands to overlook their loss of virginity. He even tells Krin not to settle for a less-than-lucrative marriage.

And suddenly, I was outraged. Why? Because a man who had witnessed the full extend of these women’s abuse brought them back to a backwater town believing that he was being magnanimous both in doing so, and in giving up whatever share he might have taken of the spoils of the debacle to make them financially lucrative marriage prospects. Because he never asked these traumatized girls if they might rather cut and run with the money than use it to make some man overlook their abuse in order to make them his property. He never even questions the idea that they will be grateful to submit to marriage contracts that will no doubt require them to have sex with their husbands, even though these women have been abused to the extent that they cannot sit a horse for *two days* after being rescued. And the worst part is that 20-something frame-story Kvothe doesn’t question this either; he just goes on to gloat about people singing songs about his daring rescue. Maybe I was just ready for a straw to break my benefit of the doubt. Or maybe this really is as outrageous as it feels. Either way, I can’t help being angry at Rothfuss. As a writer, I am very well aware that character and author are not the same thing; that authorial intent is not the same as authorial beliefs. But there are moments in some books when I have to wonder if that line is blurring, and this is one of them. Kvothe has literally JUST left a female-dominated country full of independent women happily doing their own thing. He has given these girls the means to find themselves a situation that will never require them to be beholden to a man again - even houses ffs, in the shape of those 2 wagons, should they want them. There are so many options beyond marriage: I can’t, for instance, think of a medieval society that didn’t have its version of a convent. Or, for Krin at least, why not the University? For that matter, why not marry her himself, and then set her free to do as she likes under the awning of a respectable marriage? 

Instead he returns them to their fathers, and likewise gives their fathers the means to marry them off with no argument. Who, after all, holds the reins of the horses at the end? Why does Kvothe assume that these families will actually use the wealth even in the dubious way that he recommends?

And in this, I think, I am justified in giving Rothfuss the stink-eye. This is one more instance for Kvothe to play the hero with no real attention given to the consequences. Kvothe himself, I think, would be appalled. He has suffered so much deprivation in his life, so often been marginalized, scapegoated, powerless, how on earth could he so easily consign others to that fate? How could he think, loving Denna as he does, having heard her words to the beaten girl in Severin, that buying these girls husbands who will “overlook” their abuse for the sake of wealth is anything but a wretched life sentence for them?

Sigh. There was a time when I desperate awaited book three. Now, given the other women’s lives at stake in this series, I’m not so sure I want to know.

[iiasha-archived]

So, I recently was binge-re-watching Avatar and was wondering how you'd place the SVT members in terms of benders plus non-benders. Vernon really seems like a water bender to me because he's so chill but that also makes me think he'd be Gucci as a non-bender. But Jun as air and Minghao as fire?

AHHHHH omg this is SUCH a good question and i hope you’re ready for the whole ass analysis under the readmore bc i have many Thoughts on the subject 😂 honestly though arguments could be made for any, since i think they all have traits that could fit in with multiple elements!! but anyways longass rambling ahead lmao ❤️

seungcheol

definitely a firebender in my mind, no questions asked, but i could also see the argument for earth

this kind of comes out of his character of being such a great leader

on one hand he has such a passionate and ambitious personality, which is the main reason why i see him as a firebender

especially on stage you can really feel his energy explode

his loyalty also runs soooo deep and one of the things i really admire about him is the lengths he’ll go through to do what’s best for his members. he really does take care of them

so on the other hand, that’s why i also see the argument for earth!

again making him such a great leader, he has a lot of patience and stability

it’s clear that he’s a rock that the others can rely on during turbulent times, and that steadiness is definitely a trait i associate with earthbenders

but overall i think his own personal aspirations and drive make him more suited as a firebender

jeonghan

waterbender! there is a trait that water benders are versatile and adaptable to situations, which i can DEFINITELY see with jeonghan

i mean obviously we speak loads of his cleverness (cheating) and how good he is at speaking out of his ass on the fly

at the same time though i also kind of see him as a flowing river

as in he’ll flow and move in any direction he wants, and is definitely open to change if he is willing to

but god if you try to force that change out of him he is absolutely immovable; he can also be pretty stubborn and relentless sometimes!

and also with rivers how there’s always a destination for it; jeonghan is completely not afraid to do whatever it takes to achieves his goals, which to me is a lot like a river steadily rushing on towards the ocean

even if there are obstacles he’ll do whatever it takes to overcome them (even if it means cheating lmao)

at the end of the day though he’s definitely a healing presence for other members, considering how much they confide in him, which is another property i associate with water 

joshua

now with joshua i’m not entirely sure. i could definitely see him as an earthbender or nonbender

my rationale for earthbender is that he’s just very... grounded

while of course he can be really goofy and playful at times, i think in general he’s very down to earth 

like in interviews and stuff he obviously isn’t the one always reaching for the microphone

and his answers are honestly pretty standard most of the time, i haven’t really seen him try to answer in an outrageous way, especially compared to someone like, say, hoshi lmao

even in going seventeen he seems more content to literally just sit back and enjoy the show, only speaking up when he really feels like it

he just gives off super reliable vibes as well; i mean that’s probably half the reason why he got that gentleman nickname lmao

it’s also this difficulty of pinning an element to him that i could see him as a non-bender??? 

i’m not really sure what traits drive home for a non-bender but that’s just my gut feeling lmao. if he was an earthbender he’d be an incredibly chill one

jun

ahhhhh my boy is definitely an airbender!!

i keep thinking back to that interview where the members were asked something along the lines of whether they had worries or something? i can’t remember the exact wording

and like jun (and maybe vernon?) said no and the others were like “that’s just because he forgets” lmao

he is suuuuch a go with the flow type of dude, and his playful nature really plays in well with the aspect of freedom that’s tightly associated with the element of air

another reason i kind of associate him with airbending comes from the show itself, namely aang’s own personality and how much aang would stand his ground to defend his own beliefs and morals

i always come back to jun’s selfless attitude in cyzj when he had to perform without yanan, specifically the stage where he performed with two microphones to represent that he was still thinking of yanan in that moment

like even if he seems all over the place at times, when it comes down to it he’s really going to do what he believes is right, and can be incredibly stubborn about it too

but at the end of the day jun is a lover not a fighter and just wants everyone to have a good time and god i fucking love him for that

hoshi

what else could our resident tiger be but a firebender

again, the main thing i associate with firebending is high energy and passion and BOY DOES HOSHI DELIVER

but his outrageous outbursts aside i also think there’s a lot to be said of his work ethic that i think really fits into firebending

from the show there is a lot of discipline and hard work that comes with firebending, as fire is often seen as difficult to control

while all the members are obviously hardworking, a lot of them have pointed to him and woozi being the hardest working of them all

hoshi is definitely the kind of dude that throws himself into his work with everything he’s got

and of course the fact that it’s what he loves only helps push that drive and determination even further

i also often think of how hoshi mentions he basically feels possessed when he’s dancing/on stage lmao

but i think that can be attributed to the overwhelming passion he has for the art; it consumes him like an overwhelming flame

wonwoo

for me wonwoo definitely feels like a waterbender

again with the idea of water being adaptable, wonwoo is really good at adjusting to the energies of the others even if he’s not naturally super outspoken himself

he can easily go from low to high just like the tides (haha get it), and if the other members are being super excitable it’s very easy for him to join in on the fun

but on the flipside he also has the capabilities of just completely shutting them down lmao kind of like how he cuts people off in debate night

not to bring astrology into this but he’s also the one helping bring some water into this air-dominated group lmao

so yes, versatile, adaptable, but also really good at literally dousing out the flame when needed

if jeonghan was a river i see wonwoo more as a vast like, in that even if he’s somewhat quiet on the surface there is so much more going on underneath

there’s just something very tranquil about his energies that i think make him very suitable for waterbending

woozi

honestly woozi is another one that’s hard for me to place, but i’m going to go with firebending on this one, although i can also see earthbending

i know i’m sort of sticking to the same traits for these lmao, but woozi is kind of that perfect combination of being super well grounded and stable vs just sooo so passionate about his work

he’s always throwing himself into his music like never has anybody questioned his absolute passion and determination for it

as such it sort of makes me lean towards him being a firebender, but a more like... aloof one i guess??

kind of like uncle iroh, except instead of tea it’s music lmao

and if you hurt the people he cares about it’s going to get SERIOUS because how DARE you

but that sort of distance is also sort of why i see more earthbending traits in him; he’s more comfortable with sticking with what he’s used to, and isn’t as inclined as others to go outside his comfort zone

and why he facepalms so much when the other members do stupid shit lmao

seokmin

seokmin i actually have no idea

if i had to pick an element i’d say either water or air, but somehow neither of those completely fit either. so maybe even a nonbender???

like for water, i see it through his kind and healing soul and heavily relate that to the healing properties of water

he’s also just so expressive, which honestly to me can be represented in the many different forms of water there are

like he wears his heart and emotions on his sleeve, and i feel like that is something that could be reflected in waterbending

for air, i see it through his playful and joyful personality and the childlike innocence he embodies, like a playful breeze on a warm sunny day

like jun he’s completely a lover not a fighter, and if he had bending it’d be more about mediation than confrontation

but at the end of the day i think he’s more grounded by his emotions which is why i feel slightly more inclined towards waterbending, but honestly it’s still pretty 50/50

he’s also one of the members i can definitely see being a nonbender; i don’t have anything to back this up but it’s kind of just a gut feeling lmao

mingyu

interestingly enough i kind of see both firebending and waterbending for him, and kind of like seokmin i’m very 50/50 on the two

for firebending i actually literally associate him with fire, and my nickname for him is also spicy red hot chili pepper lmao

i also see fire with him because almost everything he does is done with extreme eagerness and curiosity

for me he almost encapsulates the tantalizing allure of playing with fire, and how he wants to try his hand at experiencing many different things as quickly as fire spreads from one interest to the next

for waterbending though it’s kind of for the exact same reason

i keep preaching about the versatility and adaptability of water, and what better aspect to associate with mingyu’s continuous curiosity for trying new things? 

so it’s a mix of the two due to the passionate determination behind his desire to literally get his hands on everything

and there is no end goal, it is just an all consuming fire that is hungry for more until there is none left

minghao

okay i see minghao as a firebender as well and also this is a slight nod to the minghao = zuko agend LMAO

but kind of in the same vein where iroh/zuko used elements of waterbending in their firebending, i think minghao would also have a lot of the more fluid waterbending techniques in his firebending

like where traditional firebending is perhaps more of a hard, fighting style, minghao gives me a much more fluid vibe

this also comes out of his artistic style with contemporary dance and abstract art, and his passions with developing it

i’m not totally sure how to explain this but to me his artistic expression has a lot of fluid movement in it in which the driving force isn’t the necessarily the user/artist (minghao) but more about where those energies want to go themselves

compared to hoshi where i said the fire consumes him (in a good way), minghao’s fire is more directed at releasing the energy where it needs to be released and not forcing it

i think that’s also why minghao finds a lot of stress release in drawing and art

so still very passionate, very hot, but fluid, like a dancing flame

seungkwan

seungkwan i see mainly as an earthbender but maybe with some fire as well!

a lot of this comes with just how extremely disciplined he is with pretty much everything

even if he is extremely witty and incredibly funny on variety shows i think a lot of it comes out of him just being extremely socially aware, or like aware of his surroundings if that makes sense??

one of the key elements of earthbending is sort of taking in the environment around you and waiting for the right moment to strike

and for seungkwan i think he just has so much natural wit and knowledge that he is able to always come up with the right thing to say at the right time

but i also see some firebending in him because he also gets easily frustrated lmao

like how he gets so easily flustered when he does say the wrong thing at the wrong time and it doesn’t get the reaction he wants

he wears his heart and emotions on his sleeve a lot like dk but tends to also act on them, which to me is aspects of firebending shining through

vernon

personally for vernon i very much see air bending!

again a huge association i have with air is also the element of freedom, and kind of literally doing whatever you want, which i think suits vernon SO well

we always talk about how he’s just simply vibin’/off in his own world and for me there is no element more suitable for that then airbending

he has the kind of energy where everyone else is forced to go at his own pace; you can’t really force it

to throw another pun in here it’s literally like trying to fight the wind: completely useless

but it’s not necessarily met with resistance; vernon has his own ideas but he’s definitely extremely open minded to others and could be swayed given a good discussion

like while jeonghan also goes at his own pace, it’s often feels like it’s towards some directed goal, again like a flowing river. but with vernon, i feel like he’s literally just kind of doing whatever, in the same way that the wind never has a destination or specific course

it’s more about exploring the possibilities and just straight up enjoying life

dino

dino is definitely a boy of the earth for me hahaha

while he is definitely just as passionate about things as his other members, his energy comes off more of a really steady and powerful determination

there’s this sort of strength and endurance with dino that for me makes him extremely suitable for earthbending 

like i think a large part of it comes from the fact that he has very clear goals and a steady mindset way of achieving them

like if he says he’s gonna do something then he’s going to do it, and also the way he always stands his ground when it comes to confrontation

he’s the guy who’s gonna absolutely speak his mind but at the same time be really open minded to other opinions

like he obviously gets teased a lot as the maknae but he takes it all in good stride and then throws it back with just as much force you know lmao although maybe not as much in recent episodes where woozi has just completely obliterated him with the razor

[theclaravoyant]

If you’re still doing FitzSkimmons prompts where Daisy keeps falling asleep on the other two so they’re unable to move

AN ~ with pleasure my friend, with pleasure! three fluffy drabbles for the price of one bc it’s What She Deserves(TM). Fluff, romantic FSK, Rated G.

Read on AO3 (~1600wd)

-

One of the things FitzSimmons admired most about their mutual girlfriend was her tenacity. It was an inspirational quality that each of them had taken quite to heart – and, not to mention, it was probably a large part of the reason they had ended up together in the first place – but the downside of it was that burning the candle at both ends left Daisy very tired, at very inconvenient times.

Take for example this particular Monday.

Jemma woke with a start when her alarm began to chirp; usually, she beat its rise, but tonight she was tired too, and had been lulled into a particularly deep sleep. She was not unaccustomed to waking up with the weight of the others crushing her chest – somehow she’d simply learnt to breathe through it – but with Daisy sprawled across her like this she had no chance of turning that damned alarm off, let alone getting up. She could barely even reach her glass of water, stuck fumbling across the bedside table without being able to lift her head high enough to look.

For a moment, Jemma thought she might as well just give up and bask in the extra warmth and the excuse to lie in. But her phone continued to chirp and buzz on the desk across the other side of the room, her mouth was dry, her chest was starting to hurt, and Daisy was unresponsive to her prods and pleading whispers. She was cute though, don’t get Jemma wrong; she was like a sleeping cat – and besides, it was a rare moment she got to treasure like this – but said moments were rare for a reason. Aside from anything else, Jemma had to get to a conference this morning. And Daisy could sleep. It was time to call in reinforcements. Somehow.

Jemma patted her hand across the bedside table again. Book. Bottle of medication. Glass of water. Wrapper of something. Phone – Daisy’s phone.

“Yes!”

Lifting the phone as high as she could manage and arching her back to try and look over Daisy’s head, she tapped out a text and sent it. It wasn’t long before Fitz appeared in the doorway – looking worried for a moment, and then, calm and adoring. He smiled sympathetically at Jemma as he approached.

“Okay, how are we going to do this?” he asked. “I’d throw the water on her but… I just can’t. Look at her, Jemma.”

“I know,” Jemma agreed. “And I’ve tried waking her and I’ve tried rolling her off me, but you know how she is. I wouldn’t even mind, but I’ve got a conference…”

“Okay, okay.” Fitz took a deep breath. “I have one more idea. One that won’t mean waking her up.”

Jemma gasped theatrically. “No, Fitz, you can’t!”

“It’s too late Jemma. I’m coming in.”

With a moment to mock-salute, Fitz dove into the covers and took up the space in the bed that Daisy had left free by sleeping on top of Jemma. Carefully, between the two of them, they rolled and lifted Daisy’s sleeping form until she had been transplanted onto Fitz’s chest instead. She curled up contentedly, and Fitz didn’t argue when she elbowed him in the gut to resettle.

Jemma extricated herself from the tumble of limbs and reached across the bed back to Fitz. One of his arms was trapped and the other couldn’t reach her across the whole bed, but their fingertips hovered inches apart.

“I’ll never forget you!” Jemma cried, her chest heaving like a damsel in an old film.

“It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make,” Fitz promised. “Go on without me!”

Jemma carried on the act with a grin as she swept herself away to collect her clothes and head to the showers. In truth it was hard to pull herself away from the thought of a quiet morning in spent with her lovers, so the ridiculous over-dramatisation actually did help a little, even in its bitter-sweetness hitting close to home.

When she was gone, Fitz turned his attention back to Daisy, and stroked her hair gently. She was so animated and full of character even when she was asleep. Or – not so asleep.She smirked against his chest, without opening her eyes. “You two nerds are so dramatic.”

“It’s why you love us.”

“You’re not wrong.”

Fitz kissed the top of Daisy’s head and she fell silent again, for a long while, letting the steady rise and fall of Fitz’s breathing and the warmth of his hand on her back lull her back to sleep.

-

There was another time, on the Quinjet, after a messy but unfortunately, not all that unusual mission. Daisy had exhausted her body, her powers, and her emotions, and had cried on Fitz’s shoulder until she’d fallen asleep in his lap. He had worked the straps and belts as much as he could to protect her, but most of all he just made sure to wrap her firmly in his arms. (And, after the day they’d just had, he was a little too proud of this fact – he had no doubt Jemma would have poked fun at him and his peacock expression had she not been busy in the medbay helping patch a few people up. Perhaps he’d tell her about it later. It would make her smile.)

For now though, Fitz was content to embrace the opportunity to protect one who often resisted the notion of being protected. It was an honour to cradle Daisy’s vulnerability in his arms, and not one he took lightly. Fortunately, it seemed that the cosmos shared this sense of protectiveness – as did May at the wheel, guiding them, and everybody else on the plane, who mercifully chose to leave Daisy undisturbed and to solve their problems amongst themselves instead. The journey passed without turbulence, except for a couple of jolts from Daisy’s fitful sleep. It was only once they docked on the Zephyr that Fitz realised they’d have a problem.

More specifically, it was when Jemma came up from the medbay and caught sight of them both, and smiled.

“All’s well here then?” she checked.

“Nothing a little tea and some comforting films won’t fix,” Fitz promised. “Unless you count the fact that somebody’s going to have to chop off my leg. Haven’t felt it for a few hours now. It seems Daisy and I have fused into one being. You’re going to have to cart us around on a stretcher for the rest of our days. Or at least, until Daisy sleeps this off.”

“Or,” Jemma countered. “I could leave you here with her, to wait like the gentleman you are, until she wakes of her own accord, and your stomach can simply wait its turn.”

Fitz gasped, scandalized. “Jemma. If my stomach has to wait much longer it’s going to eat Daisy. I’m warning you now. Also, the leg. Seriously. Now that I’m thinking about it it’s started feeling things again and that thing is the thing where it’s on fire.”

“Noble sacrifices, my love,” Jemma reminded him, leaning over Daisy to steal a kiss from him. “I’d take over, but I have to shower. I’ll help you wake her up?”

“No, leave her,” Fitz agreed. “But, uh, maybe bring us up a sandwich when you get a chance? Ooh, and some crisps. And some of those – Little Debbie things.”

Jemma’s sweet smile turned into a sardonic expression, eyebrow raised.

“What?” Fitz suggested, looking as innocent as possible. “Not for me, they’re for Daisy. She specifically asked for them. Just before she drifted off. You weren’t here but it’s true, I swear.”He heard a sound from Daisy, and covered her face with her hair and then her hair with his hand, in case she gave him away. Jemma’s eyes shifted between them skeptically, and she eventually agreed.

“You’re lucky I love you,” she said. “Both of you. I’ll be back.”

“Thanks, babe!” Fitz called after her as she left. It seemed like something Daisy would say.

-

“Come on babes,” Jemma beckoned, elbowing Daisy. “May texted. The shuttle’s leaving. If we don’t go now we’re going to miss the film.”

Daisy curled up: perfectly content just where she was. Perfectly content to never open her eyes again, to just listen to the voices and the breaths of Fitz and Simmons, who cradled her as she hovered on the edge of sleep. Deep voices of something dramatic on Neflix warbled in the background, and she could feel the pipes humming all around them pumping water and air as if the base were a body. It was loud, too loud for some, but it was familiar. It was alive. It was Fitz’s hand absently stroking the short hair at the nape of her neck. It was Jemma’s hand resting tenderly on her thigh, even as her other hand tried to prod Daisy awake. Even as sleep eluded her, this was rest. It was home.

Fitz hummed, and Daisy felt the rumble of it in his chest.

“Maybe we should let her be,” he suggested. “We can catch it next time.”

“She’s the one who wanted to see it,” Jemma reminded him, “and our next R&R roster, such as it is, all together isn’t for weeks.”

“Then maybe we should do what R&R was invented for. Rest and relaxation.”

“It’s recreation, Fitz. Rest and recreation.”

“I am recreating!” Fitz insisted. “It’s not our fault you get your jollies from a full schedule. Me, I’d be happy to just sleep all weekend.”

“No, you wouldn’t.”

“I would, if it meant I got to spend it with you.”

Daisy smiled. She could picture the look Jemma was giving Fitz right now; a fond sort of irritation at her sappy romantic man. Then, ever the planner, Jemma returned her attention to the problem at hand. She and Fitz settled into a familiar rhythm of banter as they tossed dinner options back and forth between them. Their voices lulled Daisy, until she eventually lost track of the argument, then the words, and then even consciousness itself; asleep at last in the arms of her loves.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

SO MAYBE A RECESSION IS A GOOD TIME TO START A NEW CHANNEL

Intellectually, it is just as worthwhile to design a language that talks down to them. But elegance is not an end in itself. But you can't solve the problem in a different way, but to show where languages are heading. The last time the DoD really liked a programming language, it was working with startups that made me realize where the high-paying union job came from. I don't feel like I have to bother being diplomatic with a British audience. One group got an exploding term-sheet from some VCs.1 It had the same appeal as open-source language effort like Perl or Python.2

It may seem cavalier to dismiss a language before you've even tried writing programs in it. This caught my attention because earlier we'd noticed a pattern in the least successful startups we'd funded: they all seemed hard to talk to. That doesn't mean you can ignore the economy. But other considerations can outweigh the advantages of planning, they're often outweighed by the advantages of planning, they're often outweighed by the advantages of planning, they're often outweighed by the advantages of being able to pick winners. What are you going to do? Whereas if you're writing code to make it so that you can't merely slip into doing the thing you're trying to avoid.3 Often it's one the founders themselves hadn't seen yet. The investors or acquirers chose you because you seemed hot.

Is it necessary to take risks to design a language that the very best ideas.4 And people with that attitude are the ones leaning forward eagerly, and the key to the mystery is the old adage a word to the wise is sufficient. And fortunately it has gotten very cheap to run a startup. In a sense, they are. Now it's Wepay's.5 Look in the mirror. Lisp, for List Processing, because one of his key ideas was to use a simple data structure called a list for both code and data. Google.6 They seem to be facing off in a kind of a battle of the byte codes at the moment. If I'd spent a whole morning sitting on a sofa watching TV, I'd have noticed very quickly.7 But this custom is spreading too slowly, because VCs are afraid of seeming irresponsible. They're not going to move to Albuquerque just because there are some smart hackers there they could invest in.

That's not the part to focus on. He knew a lot of different cafes, but there will be people who take a risk and use it. It was as if they'd spent the past week at acting school. The dangerous thing about investors is that hackers don't know how little they know about this strange world. Some want to believe this comes from the city's prudent Yankee character.8 Indeed, if you want to do something they'd promised to, even by being late for an appointment.9 More like the first step is to realize there's a problem. Many if not most of the time. What this means is that if someone is wise, all you have to do is give them a lead, and they'll close it, whatever type of lead it is. Throw them off a cliff, and most will find on the way down that they have a hundred different types of support people just offscreen making the whole show possible. Of course, the idea you have now won't be the last you have. What's going on here?

If there was going to be replaced by apps running on tablets. That generates almost as good. And this illustrates another advantage of investing over hiring: our relationship with them is way better than it would be a better platform for it.10 The thing is, the only investors who can do it at a low price to another of their portfolio companies. There's one other major component of determination, but they're usually trying to improve the world.11 The low cost of starting a startup, initially.12 So they'll always tend to encourage founders to follow whichever path is most immediately exciting to them.13

When they go to VC firms they have to invest $40 million each.14 But this is old news to Lisp programmers. It took a while though—on the order of 100 years.15 Structurally it is to kill. If you offend investors, they'll leave in a huff. That feels so good. I bet this isn't true.

Venture investors like companies that could go public too. The main value networks supply now is ad sales. Most founders have such low standards that they'll feel rich with a sum that doesn't seem huge to investors.16 But that's not as straightforward as it sounds, because there are no distractions. Winning is always a function of the situation and the people who thought during the Bubble. Lots of VCs rejected Google. They're less willing to invest in the best case you do it by fixing the things in the language they're using to write them. Developers have used the accelerometer in ways Apple could never have imagined.17

When we were starting to hear about byte code, which implies to me at least, exclusively for work. The advantages of doing things in software on a single device are so great that everything that can get turned into software will. Six weeks is fast. The exciting thing is that startups are not just one random type of work in which meanness and success inversely correlated?18 What they're good at is reading people, and making deals work to their advantage. In the third century BC Archimedes won by doing that. In fact I think you ought to design for the best programmers, but even the best programmers, but even if it isn't, it is at least an interesting question. I've heard of people hacking for 36 hours straight, but the relative importance of determination and talent probably do vary somewhat. For example, I'd tell myself I was only going to last a couple years, a good recipe for startups will be to look around you for things that people haven't realized yet can be made unnecessary by a tablet app. But they might as well be from a venture investor's point of view, and they don't want random people pestering them with business plans. What this means is that most VCs will only invest in you if you start to get lots of users.19

Notes

Companies didn't start to leave.

5 year olds the truth to say for sure whether, e. There are a better user experience. In fairness, I mean that if they were already lots of back and rewrite journal entries over and over for two weeks.

The Socialist People's Democratic Republic of X is probably not far from the 1940s or 50s instead of happy. Compromising a server could cause such damage that photography has done to painting may be underestimating VCs. If the Mac was so violent that she decided never again.

New York. Another advantage of startups have over established companies can't compete on price, and would probably find it was briefly in Britain in the same ones. This flattering distinction seems so natural to expand into new markets.

If language A has an operator for removing spaces from strings and language B doesn't, that's the main emotion I've observed; but as a single snapshot, but for a group of people who will go away. The next time you raise money? We funded, summer 2010. Com.

Ian Hogarth suggests a way to predict areas where you wanted it? As the name of a long time in the first thing they'd want; it would be improper to name names, while Reddit is derived from the initial investors' point of view anyway.

I'm guessing the next Apple, maybe 50% to 100% more, while simultaneously implying that lies believed for a while ago, and each night to make a fortune in the same advantages from it, but he turned them down. There are simply the embodiment of some power shift due to Trevor Blackwell points out that this filter runs on.

There are circumstances where this is mainly due to I. Y Combinator certainly never asks what classes you took in college is much more attractive to investors, you have to put it this way, I know this is one of these limits could be adjacent. Startups are businesses; the defining test is whether you want to keep them from the compromise you'd have reached after lots of opportunities to sell things to the same investor to intro you to behave like adults.

Users judge a site not as a constituency. Maybe markets will eventually get comfortable with potential acquirers. If they want both.

Most of the living. Possible doesn't mean you should seek outside advice, and then a block later we met Rajat Suri. So where do we draw the line? Download programs to encourage startups, but as the little jars in supermarkets.

Who knew how much you get an intro to a study by the size of a reactor: the separate condenser. Acquisitions fall into a form that asks for your pitch to evolve. Geshke and Warnock only founded Adobe because Xerox ignored them.

This was certainly true in the sense of the kleptocracies that formerly dominated all the worse if you're good you are unimportant. What happens in practice money raised in an empty plastic drink bottle with a real poet. Among other things, which have evolved the way up into the shape that matters, just the location of the scholar. Perhaps this is largely determined by successful businessmen and their wives.

More precisely, there was a false positive rates are untrustworthy, as on Reddit, stories start at the wrong ISP. If doctors did the same, but this advantage isn't as obvious because it is to say Hey, that's not the primary cause. People only tend to have fun in this way.

Then Josh Wilson came in to pick the former depends a lot of people, but it wasn't. Giant tax loopholes defended by two of the Dead was shot there. VCs regularly wipe out angels by issuing arbitrary amounts of other people.

They have no connections, you'll find that with a potential acquirer unless you want to.

The danger is that you'll have to resort to raising money from good angels over a series A round about the idea that could evolve into a big success or a complete bust. That will in many cases be an anti-dilution, which draw more and angrier counterarguments. Content is information you don't see them much in the postwar period also helped preserve the wartime compression of wages—specifically by sharding it.

Bankers continued to dress in jeans and a back-office manager written mostly in good ways. So where do we draw the line that philosophy is worth more to most people don't dislike him for the reader: rephrase that thought to please the same work, the Romans didn't mean to imply that the missing 11% were probably also the golden age of tax avoidance. They thought I was a new airport.

Companies often wonder what to do with down rounds—like putting NMI on a map.

Interestingly, the Nasdaq index was. But not all equal, and both used their position to amass fortunes among the largest of their hands thus tended to make people richer.

[el-trotamundos]

Returning to Canada after Melbourne’s strict lockdown has been a shock (and not in the right way)

In mid-October I returned to Canada having spent the better part of 2020 under not one, but two lockdowns of increasing severity in Melbourne. Better acquainted with the four walls of my bedroom than the four corners of the vast Australian continent, my working holiday year had certainly not gone as planned. I’ve been back nearly 7 weeks but it still hasn’t quite sunk in. This house, this city is not where I grew up and they hold no more than holiday memories for me. In limbo, I can’t go back to where I was and yet I’m not sure how to move forward. I am frustrated and sad that the opportunity to live and travel in Australia just evaporated. I feel in some ways like I was never there, that it will go down in my life story as the ‘missing year’.

As the first wave of coronavirus swept the globe, I chose to stay in Melbourne. I’d only just arrived a few months previous and Australia seemed to have a better plan than Canada. The government closed its borders and sent all returning citizens into supervised mandatory quarantine at hotels. Community transmission - to the extent that it even existed - was quickly nipped in the bud and in May only a handful of cases were being reported each day. Things started reopening and although I had lost my job in March, I felt confident I had made the right decision in staying and would be able to find another. Australia, like New Zealand, was a rare success story. 

That sense of pride didn’t last long. In June case numbers in Melbourne started to creep upwards. News articles started appearing about breaches at the hotel quarantine sites which allowed the virus to gain a foothold in the community. The return to the restrictions of the first lockdown were gradual - targeting postcodes (mine included) with the highest number of cases. At the beginning of July, the rest of the state joined us. New cases were 100+ and climbing every day but a far cry from the numbers Canada was experiencing and deeming acceptable. But this time the lockdown didn’t work. In August, as case numbers hit the high of 700+ a day, the government implemented its strictest measures yet. There was a night time curfew. Only 1 hour of outdoor exercise per day was permitted and you had to be alone or with members of your immediate household only. Masks were mandatory even if you were just out to walk the dog and you couldn’t be further than 5km away from your home. Rules were enforced with large fines and police and Australian Defence Force personnel patrolled parks and other areas where people might try to gather. 

Draconian? Authoritarian? Critics and Twitter bots certainly thought so: the Premier was often referred to as ‘Dictator Dan’. I do not dispute that the economic and mental health cost of Melbourne’s lockdowns was enormous. But it was the only way Victoria could get to the zero or single digit cases that the rest of Australia was enjoying.

Victoria has gone 31 days without a single new COVID case. In contrast, British Columbia announced a record breaking 911 positive cases on 26 November. It’s been incredibly tough to see Instagram stories from friends in Melbourne: they are going to bars, the beach, meeting new people, planning Christmas vacations. Of course we can do all this too in Canada, with limits depending on where you live, but it comes with a COVID risk that does not exist in Australia. 

Coming back to BC’s fairly relaxed guidelines was terrifying. Any relief I felt over leaving the nearly 4 month lockdown was quickly replaced by anger and disbelief at how complacent provinces were as they stared a second wave in the face (I exclude the Atlantic bubble here). With cases in BC climbing to the same level that precipitated Melbourne’s harshest restrictions, I found myself wishing to be under those rules again.

It’s not ridiculous to look at Australia for guidance on how to deal with this second wave. The state of Victoria and the province of BC have comparable populations of 6.6 million and 5.1 million respectively. Both Australia and Canada have similar systems of government in which the premiers have much of the control over how they handle the pandemic response. Just like we are seeing in Vancouver and surrounding cities, the majority of sustained community transmission was in the greater Melbourne metropolitan area. What is different is the path that was chosen when the pandemic started. Australia, like New Zealand, aimed for elimination, even eradication of COVID-19. Canada was content to merely suppress it at levels that would not overwhelm hospitals. That choice may have worked the first time but it’s certainly not now.

“New modelling from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) shows the number of COVID-19 cases could reach 60,000 a day by the end of December if Canadians increase their current level of contact with other people. That number could be limited to 20,000 a day if Canadians maintain their current number of personal contacts, according to PHAC. But to drive that number under 10,000 cases a day by the end of the year, Canadians would need to limit their interactions to essential activities while maintaining physical distancing and adhering to other public health guidelines.” CBC 20 November 

The fact that we should just accept 20,000 cases a day with our current levels of restrictions is mind-boggling. Even 10,000 cases a day scares me. Much of what I take issue with in the following is BC specific but it goes for any province not doing enough to curb this second wave (cough, Alberta, cough).

When I returned I was shocked to discover that BC did not have a provincial mandatory mask mandate unlike many others. The official line was that the spread was mostly from social gatherings and masks wouldn’t be worn in those situations anyway. To this I yelled ‘then put more limits on gatherings” at the TV. On 19 November masks became mandatory in public indoor spaces. Even as she made the announcement, Dr. Bonnie Henry seemed to brush it off as something the government was only implementing to appease the growing public call for legislation; other than that, there was still no reason for it. Furthermore, the mask mandate does not apply to schools. Again the government maintained the position that there was not enough transmission in schools to warrant it. So now BC is in this ridiculous situation where a parent has to wear a mask in the grocery store for half an hour while their kid sits in a poorly ventilated building for 7 without one. With contradictory messaging like that it’s no wonder people don’t take it seriously. Wearing a mask is relatively low cost high reward but it must be enforced in all indoor public settings.

The other thing that seemed crazy to me was people eating in restaurants, going to the gym, and attending large weddings and funerals. Those events had not been allowed in Melbourne for months. A few weeks after I arrived the government talked a lot about sticking to your ‘safe six people bubble’. But it was never made clear that a bubble is only as strong as its weakest link and would never be completely COVID free. With people still going to restaurants, the gym, and cinemas, the chances of someone bringing COVID into your bubble only increased as cases numbers did. Now we’ve finally been told to socialize with our immediate households only, but we can still troop out to the bar or go to a gym (although high intensity activities like spin classes are no longer permitted). 

What could help monitor these social interactions is the federal COVID Alert app. Yet the BC government has consistently declined to activate it stating that it will hinder current contract tracing efforts and confuse people who receive alerts that they may have been exposed. Adopting the app will never replace track and trace investigations by human beings but it can complement it. Dr. Henry has admitted that the rising case numbers are causing delays in contact tracking. If the alert can tell me I’ve been potentially exposed before a public health official can, I’ll take it. It’s the same principle with mask wearing - it will never completely prevent you from picking up COVID but it sure helps your chances.

I want my normal life back as much as anyone but that is simply not possible. Leaving one lockdown for another is not my idea of fun but 7 weeks of being back in Canada has demonstrated that this country is only putting off the inevitable. Even after 9 months of this pandemic, the federal and many provincial governments would rather use words like ‘encourage’ or ‘recommend’ rather than ‘mandatory’. They put out confusing or contradictory information and then scold people for not following it. The longer we wait to enforce stricter rules, the harder it will be to flatten the curve, let alone force it downwards. It’s only the end of November; we have another four to five months of cold weather keeping us indoors to get through. I shudder to think at what our case numbers will be in January after the holidays.

The news of three promising vaccines provides cause for celebration but we should not resist implementing further restrictions simply because some people *may* start receiving the jab next spring. It will take time before it gets to the general population - our medical professionals and the vulnerable rightly need it first. We will still have to wear masks, limit gatherings, and socially distance as those around us slowly start receiving the vaccine. Yes that means throughout 2021 for Canadians, especially if we cannot get a handle on cases this winter. 

I can offer these thoughts only as someone who experienced an actual lockdown (make no mistake, Canada’s version is ‘lockdown-lite’). I won’t bother advocating for the harshest of Melbourne’s restrictions because the government isn’t willing or prepared to invest the manpower it will take to enforce such rules. But surely some watered down version could be implemented. At some point public health must take priority. You can’t have a thriving economy when your workforce is sick, isolating, or dead. As the Victorian government reminded me daily this year: ‘staying apart keeps us together’. 

[earthdeep]

ok this is really starting to get on ludicrous levels but... can we quit with the aa5 hate a bit? like srsly? y’all are gettin waaaaay too aggressive abt ppl liking this game. half the time it’s shit over nothing! it’s not like ppl are out here praising this as a masterpiece of writing. srsly the only times I’ve seen what y’all are insisting stans are doing is for aa4 (usually guessing at what was intended for future sequels that actually continued on from it) and shipping (especially narumitsu shippers? some of u are REALLY invested in subtext like wow). 99% of the praise I’ve seen for aa5 is for the characters. which is more than fair! in case u forgot, aa5 introduced us to the entire blackquill/cykes group, in all their lovable glory! and fleshed out the universe with the wonder that is lawyer highschool (which, listen, if ur accepting 13 year olds are allowed to prosecute, this isn’t actually incompatible with the depths this fictional justice system will sink) that also managed to connect parts of aai2 into the timeline as well! ffs apollo’s single friend only exists in canon bc of aa5!

and u can say everything’s clumsily implemented all u like. but, uh, in case u hadn’t noticed, aa5 isn’t the first time it’s gone weird. have u seen t&t lately? dahlia and godot were soooo clumsily integrated. I’ve ranted on godot’s mary sue qualities before, but ugh. both have the same problem of “oh by the way did I ever mention that INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT ex of mine who is totally irrelevant btw haha oh wow they’re suddenly relevant how about that”. fucking jfa has the same issue with franziska aka “woah now there’s ANOTHER von karma? and she’s even MORE challenging than the last one?!” srsly let’s not pretend her sudden arrival made sense for a prodigy who is also next of kin to the most infamous prosecutor around. nick not knowing who manfred was was clumsy too. what I’m getting at is that the aa series does not in fact have the smoothest writing, to the point where nick and later apollo appear to live under rocks in order to lose out on what should be common knowledge in their situation. srsly apollo how did u never notice that there’s some frontman in a rock group pushed by the literal police who looks scarily like ur boss, has the same last name as ur boss, said band is literally called the GAVINners. like christ I’m not into music but I at least recognise the names of 1d members. in all honesty I am so glad athena did not end up like those two pebble-dwellers and had actually p good reasons for either not knowing shit (hello l’belle and his private company) or keeping quiet (hello the entire space station situation). athena is good at this. 

and u know the biggest plus that kinda ties into the character situation? NO STOCK FUCKING PERVERT CHARACTERS. WE ALL HATE THEM. BUT CAN WE NOT OVERLOOK THE FACT AA4 HAD TWO. BOTH STICKLER AND HOTTI/HICKFIELD BOTH APPEARED IN THE SAME CASE. BOTH INVOLVING A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL. I HAVE THE SCRIPT. DO NOT FUCKING TEST ME.

there’s other stuff I’ve seen too specifically abt the satire that started the series. yes, gyakuten saiban was created to satirise the unbalanced nature and unbelievably high prosecution rates of the japanese courts. gyakuten saiban 4 was written in reaction to the real life introduction of the jury. (srsly if u have time, go on a research trip. there’s a lot of interesting stuff surrounding the background of the series.) but, forgive me if I’m missing something, what the FUCK were 2 and 3 satirising? as far as I’m aware, takumi was asked to continue the series bc ppl liked it. and it made capcom money. takumi eventually got totally sick of it and left the main series but please don’t act like this is something new from capcom. not everything in the series is pure political commentary. some of it is just regular stories. this is true for almost any satirical series ever. it doesn’t make them unenjoyable. besides y’all are content to shit on soj anyway for being a cheesy take on of a corrupt government system so maybe u just don’t care and just have a hate on for anything tangentially related to aa5.

and on whether it’s unenjoyable? nah man aa5 is fun. monstrous turnabout was a bit slow I reckon, but everything else moved at a nice pace, had fun characters, had those good good friendship moments. it was a bit wobbly in places, but we sat through turnabout serenade and turnabout succession! would u like my list of plot holes in serenade alone? bc I have one. I had to make one to break down the damn thing enough to write an au version of it. and with aa5 and the phantom? apparently that’s largely on the localisation team deciding western audiences wouldn’t accept ‘yokai’ as the answer and then just... not... putting anything else in? literally could’ve been solved with one word being swapped out or jinxie mentioning said yokai in one of her lists which... yeah that one’s on the game. idk maybe in the distant future when the games are all remastered for the new new new nintendo 3dsi that’ll be fixed too. or maybe the miracle never happen. who knows.

like probably the only other thing I can’t argue with on criticism is the art style. yeah, I’m not keen on fuse’s faces. nuri suffers with a certain level of same face too, but (as shown in dgs) the other parts of his design are pretty and managed to shine through in 3d. but the colours are way better come soj now the main team is getting into the swing of it, and anyone who doesn’t think khura’in is pretty as hell can fight me.

but srsly there are actually a lot of good points to aa5. it is not the antichrist. personally it is far from my favourite game (with my own fave as aa4 bc dem characters tho... barring the perverts) but many of its flaws are not new to the series. and while it has lost potential in various parts such as several important characters being dead on arrival, let’s not forget it left behind some especially nasty parts of the series and appears to be CONTINUING to leave those behind. mmm just look at that lack of literal canon pedophiles we’re supposed to feel sorry for... sorry every time I remember aa3 I like it less and less. which is a shame, bc young!mia is still the most relatable protag ever.

anyway, let’s not become the dicks who shat on anyone who liked aa4 back in the day, yeah?

[hyucksbf]

92 statements !

aaaaaaa so i’m finally getting around to doing all the tag games ive been tagged in so yeeeee,, thank u @nakamottoyuta and @thenctscenarios for tagging me !!! someone else might have but i dont remember akksdhkkh

LAST

1. drink: milk

2. phone call: uhh ?? i think my private teacher ??

3. text message: to one of my music camp friends !!

4. song you listened to: 태양처럼 by day6, specifically this live bc it’s better than the actual studio recording tbfh

5. time you cried: i cried at music camp bc i was having an internal crisis w myself aha :)

HAVE YOU EVER...

6. dated someone twice: never dated anyone oops

7. kissed someone and regretted it: i was almost kissed at music camp but thank god i avoided it bc i definitely would of regretted it since i didnt even kno the dude lmao like pls u dont just get to take my first kiss like that thanks

8. been cheated on: again,, never dated whoops

9. lost someone special: yea :(

10. been depressed: yep

11. gotten drunk and thrown up: jsjdh nope and i never will bc alcohol is just so unappealing to me

LIST THREE FAVORITE COLORS:

12, 13, 14: pink, orange, and purple

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. made new friends: yes many !!! i love u all !!

16. fallen out of love: no...?

17. laughed until you cried: *music camp flashbacks*

18. found out someone was talking about you: yes but in a good way

19. met someone who changed you: yes many !!!

20. find out who your real friends are: yea kinda ://

21. kissed someone on your facebook list: dont own a facebook u nerds

GENERAL:

22. how many of your facebook tumblr friends do you know in real life: changed it bc its more fun this way but !! shoutout to my irl friends who happen to be nerdy enough to also own a tumblr: @iwriteblogpostsnotsongs @graciasysaludo

23. do you have any pets: yes sjsjhj i have my best friend davidson the cat i love him then i have another cat whos really old shes like 17 but shes a sweetheart and then we also have two doggos (three if u include my grandparents dog who lives downstairs i love him the most aaaaa) and then two guinea pigs

24. do you want to change your name: sometimes i think of other names but i think ive created a name for myself with this one so i cant really leave it

25. what did you do for your last birthday: hsjhj i dont rememeber probably a small party or smth like that ???

26. what time did you wake up: uhh i think around 10:30 ?

27. what were you thinking at midnight last night: “why the fuck am i not asleep already”

28. name something you can’t wait for: districts next year aaaaaa !!!!

29. when was the last time you saw your mom: an hour ago ??

30. what is one thing you wish you could change in your life: have be people be more open minded and nice

31. what are you listening to right now: first time by day6 bc day6 is the Shit i love

32. have you ever talked to a person named tom: probably ??

33. something that is getting on your nerves: nothing really rn,, i’m pretty content

34. most visited website: u kno what it is lmao

35. elementary: if u have not completed elementary school yet pls leave tumblr pls

36. high school: gonna be a junior next year aaaaa im Excited !!!

37. college: hopefully ?? or a conservatory would be nice hsjdjdj

38. hair color: my natural color is ugli brown ew gross,, but i’m gonna be dying it a rose gold at the end of the summer !! its basically pink tho who am i fooling

39. long or short hair: i have short hair sjssj but its so long rn i can put it up in a little ponytail if i wanted to oml

40. do you have a crush on someone: do i ?? do i not ??? i confuse myself too much

41. what do you like about yourself: i like how confident ive gotten in myself this past year,, like i can actually be myself nowadays and not feel like i have to act a certain way or live up to other people’s expectations

42. piercings: aha no last ones i had got infected so never again :::)

43. blood type: i ?? have no clue ??

44. nickname: hunter with weird accented vowels,, hoonter, dad don’t ask it happened at midnight on the band bus,,, husband also band bus antics

45. relationship status: im in love w my clarinets

46. zodiac: leoooo yeeeeeeeee

47. pronouns: he + him !!

48. favorite tv show: hskkhhd theres too many pls,, but agents of shield has been a long time fave

49. tattoos: AAAA i want so many i have a List,, i want a giant lion on my shoulder bc im a leo,, then i want a music note behind my ear (i want that to be my first tattoo) then stars and planets on my collarbones bc space man,, also wings on my back, my birthday as a barcode somewhere ?? havent decided where yet + a heart on the inside of one of my fingers

50. righty or lefty: righty !

FIRST...

51. surgery: havent had any yet but i will at some point

52. piercings: i had some in my ears but they became infected and gross and yea no piercings for me thank

53. sport: my parents tried to make me play soccer lmao

54. vacation: the first one i remembered was going to the outerbanks,, but supposedly we went to maine when i was a lil kid but i dont remember rip

55. best friend: we met in kindergarten and are still best friends today aaaaa

56. pair of sneakers: sketchers lmaoooo rip me

MORE GENERAL:

57. eating: i’m chewing gum ?? does this count ??

58. drinking: water

59. i’m about to: go write some angsty markhyuck ::)

60. listening to: colors by day6 um Emo

61. waiting for: something great to happen !!

62. want: everyone to get along ::(

63. get married: nahhh

64. career: something in music !!

WHICH IS BETTER:

65. hugs or kisses: both are cute aaaa

66. lips or eyes: both are v pretty aaaaa why

67. shorter or taller: i’ll probably be shorter than everyone anyways with my 5′ 3 ass

68. older or younger: doesnt matter to me !!

70. nice arms or nice stomach: one, both or neither wouldn’t matter to me

71. sensitive or loud: loud !!! but also sensitive ??

72. hookup or relationship: relationship shakjdsk

73. troublemaker or hesitant: a good balance between the two would be nice lmao

HAVE YOU EVER...

74. kissed a stranger: thank god i didnt wowie

75. drank hard liquor: i dont drink so,,

76. lost glasses/contact lenses: i lost my fake glasses lmao

77. turned someone down: many times yes

78. sex on the first date: uh no

79. broken someone’s heart: i really hope not ??

80. had your heart broken: nah

81. been arrested: nope nope

82. cried when someone died: i cried when my cat died ?

83. fallen for a friend: no.. ??

DO YOU BELIEVE IN...

84. yourself: yes !!

85: miracles: the concept is nice but idk

86. love at first sight: i believe that u can like the idea of someone at first sight,, but you cant love them at as a person since you don’t know them yet

87. santa claus: nah

88. kiss on the first date: i mean i guess ?? idk

89. angels: nope

OTHER

90. current best friend’s name: i have too many to just name one

91. eye color: brown yeee

92. favorite movie: either pacific rim or sunshine both golden

now to tag: @softptg @omgnille1010 @featureless-spy @makkeuga @iwriteblogpostsnotsongs @peurodyuseu @haechance @hyukhyuck

[fortunefavorsthebrave-dude]

1 2 6 8 15 50

goly fuck coober

1. Your first OC ever?

Other than my self-insert character I had for a while in high school (who i think i talked about in another post?) I think my first fully fleshed out OC was Nikolas Noxon who I still use and think about every so often bc I’d love to do a comic with him but i can’t draw actually lolEdit: I looked through my OC folder and my poly boys might have been around the same time so it’s either Nikolas who’s a pretentious high school kid and his group of friends or Carter, Jack, and Owen who are all less pretentious high school kids and also all dating.

2. Do you have a personal favourite among your OCs?

Shit the answer to this one might also be Nikolas like I’m so attached to him?? Either him or like. Kaimana but she’s on a different level bc I use her every week now. I’m also very fond of Isa, from a dystopian book I was planning that never really got started, and Carter specifically from the poly trio above, who’s one of my earliest nb characters.

6. Two OCs of yours that look alike despite not being related?

Isa and an unnamed OC I have look fairly alike, as do Thalia (from another slice of life thing I didn’t really develop) and Owen from the poly group. Actually they could sort of be related to Aran, my other dnd character look-wise, come to think of it. I’ll post pictures when tungle works properly.

8. Do you RP as any of your OCs? If you do, introduce one of your RP OCs here!

I only RP as my dnd OCs and since y'all already know about Kaimana I’m gonna talk about Aran, my bard character who I was gonna use for the diccast before I learned we already had a bard (thanks coober). She’s a halfling who left her home to travel with her instructor before the instructor left to adventure with her own party. I’m currently using her in my irl campaign which is fun bc it’s the one that my friend and I came up with together so it’s the same plot I’ll be using for diccast when I DM.

15. Do you like to talk about your OCs with other people?

YES so much but I never make any content for them besides using dollmakers to flesh out how they look so no one ever asks me about them lol

50. Give me the good ol’ OC talk here. Talk about anything you want

Cooper this question was a Mistake why would you do this

I have so many OCs, most of which were created in pairs or groups to go together. Some have specific settings, but most are high school slice of life things bc I wrote them in high school. They’re also all gay actually. Since you gave me free reign I’m literally gonna name all of them get ready y'all:

Nikolas Noxon, Ricky and Kat Beckman, Harvey, and Marie make up my most detailed OC group. Nikolas is a high school student who thinks he’s better than everyone because he prefers studying over partying, though he changes his tune when Ricky Beckman, school jock with a heart of gold, takes interest in him. Kat is Ricky’s younger sister, and Harvey is her best friend (later boyfriend) who’s also on the team with Ricky. Marie is Nikolas’s best friend. She has one arm and ends up dating a trans woman who lives in the next town over.

Ayodele is a revolutionary in a dystopian society that’s based around couplings determined from birth, all of which are heterosexual misogynistic nonsense. Isa is the member of that society who leaves it behind to help the revolution and ends up being the key to their success. They date eventually.

Those are the only real specific ones. I also have A and Thalia, a nb kid and their trans girlfriend, Jack, Owen, and Carter, childhood friends who reunite in high school and all date each other, Andrew and Silas, who are in military school together, five kids in a band, none of whom got names for some reason, a trans boy and his boyfriend, also both unnamed, Aran and Kaimana, my dnd kids, and a few others who I just doodled or made for fun without having a story behind them.

[breeeliss]

Cn & lb's weapons have Internet access & untraceable IPs so when they're bored on patrol they livesteam & do random shit on youtube & bc of that everyone sees them as people not just heroes & sometimes alya gets in on it & they stream to the ladyblog

have you guys ever seen that shipping video that thomas sanders and jon cozart did? this is p much based off that xD

Link to Archive of Our Own: [AO3]

Summary: “We’ve noticed something interesting going on. An alarming number of people seem to ship Ladybug and I.”“

Yeah, it’s tricky stuff shipping real life people. People expect us to be romantically compatible. But are we?”

An exclusive Ladyblog Livestream Event with Ladybug and Chat Noir where they decide once and for all whether Ladynoir is a compatible (and acceptable) ship. Remember to like comment and subscribe!

“Okay, guys. Act natural, and remember this is just for fun. You guys cool with doing your own intro and everything?”

Ladybug scoffed. “Are you kidding? You’re giving him control of an entire video, he’s totally fine.”

“You can literally make fun of me until the end of time, I don’t care. Do you know how much I’ve fantasized about doing a YouTube tag?” Chat Noir bounced in his seat a little bit and cracked his knuckles. “I am beyond ready.”

Ladybug jutted a thumb at him and smirked at Alya. “See? I think we’ll be good.”

Alya snorted and finished setting up her phone on the little tripod mount she bought specifically for the occasion. Her hands were shaking a little bit because she was still finding it hard to believe that Ladybug and Chat Noir were actually sitting in her living room, not even a few feet away from her. 

It had always been her dream to do a Livestream to the Ladyblog that wasn’t just focusing on the superheroics. Yes it was always exciting to get details on fights, on their powers, on what goes through their heads in the middle of battles, but at the end of the day they were still the same age as Alya. She wanted to have the chance to just do something silly with them. News reporters very rarely treated them like the teenagers they were, and Alya was sure that her followers would get a kick out of them doing something humorous on camera. She’d made a whole blog post about it one night when she was sleep deprived and not thinking before she typed. 

But two days later, when she caught them right after another akuma fight, Ladybug pointed her out of the crowd and mentioned that they both saw the post she’d made. “Feel free to ring us up when you have an idea for a video,” she grinned.

It was almost too good to be true, but Alya wasn’t going to let go of an opportunity like this. The amount of views and followers she’d get after this would be astronomical. She was practically vibrating. “Alright, you crazy kids, I’m gonna read off the questions for you once you start. Whenever you’re ready.”

Not even a moment after she clicked record, Chat Noir froze, opened his mouth wide, and let out a huge sneeze. Ladybug jumped and buried her face in her hands, wheezing with laughter. “You freaking dork, we just started.”

Chat Noir chuckled. “I thought about Mr. Pigeon and I couldn’t help myself.” Ladybug leaned back in her chair and cackled while Chat Noir rubbed his nose.

“Hello, Ladyblog viewers!” Chat Noir said through his laughing. “Peace, love, and ladybugs to you all — oh my god, I improv-ed that! Can you use that from now on? Peace, love, and ladybugs? Wait, wait, Ladybug write that down, I wanna trademark that.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes, but pulled out her compact and typed it into the chat function. “I’ll text it to you right now, hold on.”

“Excellent,” he grinned. “Peace, love, and ladybugs! My name’s Chat Noir, and I am here with the lovely, wonderful, beautiful, and incredible Ladybug!”

Ladybug shut her eyes and hummed. “Oooh, I loved that. Thank you.” Chat Noir did a little bow while Ladybug picked up after him. “So, believe it or not, the two of us actually read the Ladyblog a lot, mainly because you all are so active on it, and we just wanted to thank you all for the kind words and support you give us everyday. We may not always be able to respond to it, but we see and we really appreciate it.”

“However, we’ve also noticed something interesting going on in the comments which is that an alarming number of people seem to ship us.” Chat Noir looked at Ladybug. “I dig it.”

“Yeah of course you would,” Ladybug teased back. “What is it called again? Ladynoir I think?”

“Yeah, Ladynoir! I mean, all kidding aside, I totally get it.”

Ladybug snorted. “Do you remember when Alya got all of those pictures of us when we were playing tag along the river? We were hanging off of each other the entire time, so yeah, super not surprised.”

“Just to clear up anything, we’re not dating,” Chat Noir told the camera. He darted his eyes side to side, leaned in close to the camera, and whispered, “ yet.”

“ He wishes ,” Ladybug whispered, winking at the camera. “But yeah, it’s tricky stuff shipping real life people, you know? It’s like…all these people sort of expect us to be romantically compatible and then the two of us are just left here thinking, are we?”

“So to rectify this dilemma for you all, we’re going to figure out today whether the two of us are compatible! So we’ve got these….mini whiteboard things…” Ladybug held hers up to the camera. “….and we have a bunch of these compatibility questions that you guys all sent us for us to answer.”

“Basically we’re going to keep track of how many times we agree and disagree, and if we’re on the same page more than we’re not, we can officially call ourselves compatible and you are all free to ship to your heart’s content.”

Chat Noir snorted. “Do you realize the amount of fanfiction fodder this is going to give people? Like seriously, just imagine it. Watch it pour in the night she posts this.”

“But see, you would know that, because you’re the only person I know who would read fanfiction about himself.”

“Um, you liked that Ladynoir story I sent you a week ago.”

Ladybug shrugged. “Well, yeah it was really well written, I’m not going to deny that.”

He reached over and flicked her on the nose. “So don’t be a hypocrite.” She pouted at him while he drummed his hands against his whiteboard. “Alright. I’m ready. Alya! First one.”

Alya chuckled. “Alright guys, first one: toilet paper over or toilet paper under.”

He blinked. “Wait, what?”

Ladybug nudged him in the side. “Like….when you put the thing in the dispenser, does the paper flip over or under, Chat.”

Chat Noir made a disgusted face and started frantically scribbling on his whiteboard. “Is that not obvious?” Ladybug shrugged as she wrote down her own answer.

“Alright, flip one…two…and.” They both flipped their white boards to the camera and cheered when they both put ‘over.’ “Oh my God, I was terrified you were going to say under,” Ladybug said in relief.

“That is so creepy,” Chat Noir explained, erasing his answer. “Like who even does that?”

“Alright so that’s a point!” They both celebrated once more and high fived as Alya got the next question ready.

“Okay question number two,” Alya read out. “White, milk, or dark chocolate.”

They both scribbled on their boards for a couple of seconds before flipping their boards at the same time. Ladybug stared at the answer on Chat Noir’s board and her jaw dropped. “What in the actual hell, are you serious?”

Chat Noir hugged his board to his chest defensively. “White chocolate is delicious! Are you insane?”

“It’s not even freaking chocolate, you monster!” she argued back. “It’s like….if I mixed together white crap, milk, and sugar, I’d get white chocolate.”

“Dude, who the hell puts dark chocolate? That’s not chocolate, there’s no sugar in it!”

“Chocolate is supposed to be bitter! Everything else is way too sweet, it ruins the taste.”

Chat Noir grumbled as he erased his answer. “I’m breaking up with you.”

“Ditto. I want all of your things out the house by this afternoon.”

“I’m keeping the car.”

“Fine.”

Alya was covering her mouth, trying not to let her laughter show up in the shot. “Okay, okay, this is the third one. Do you take your tea with or without sugar.”

“There’s no point to this, I already know what she’s going to say.” Chat Noir laughed and rubbed a hand down his face when they flipped their signs and he saw ‘without’ scribbled on her board. “You’re an abomination.”

“I….okay,” Ladybug said, facing the camera directly. “I dare all of you to fight me on this. Sugar does not belong in tea. Like I can maybe get behind you putting it in coffee but that’s literally it.”

“You are asking the Internet to fight you, my Lady.”

“I don’t care! I’ll fight all of you!”

Alya piped in. “I mean….I put sugar in my tea, so.”

Chat Noir reached over off camera to give Alya a high five. “Yes! Team Sugar Tea.”

“You’re all gross.”

“Alright, alright! Number four! Early bird or night owl?”

Ladybug hissed and stared up at the ceiling for an answer while Chat Noir poked his tongue out and started scribbling with intense concentration. It took them a while to both finish drawing, but Ladybug had ‘night owl!’ on her board, and Chat Noir had drawn a cartoonish owl in response. “Yes!” Ladybug exclaimed “Oh man, I was getting bummed for a second.”

“Yeah, but I’m not surprised the two of us are, we’re always out late.”

Ladybug nodded. “We schedule patrols for like an hour, and then once we’re done the two of us kinda just hang around for hours because we don’t wanna go home. There was one time we were out until like two in the morning.”

“We were definitely out until three at least once too.”

Alya pulled out the next question. “iPhone or Android?”

“Yikes, this might cause a fight,” Ladybug winced.

“Nah, don’t jinx it, I believe in us,” Chat Noir waved away, writing his answer. “These are good questions, by the way. Like….every married couple should do this.”

“You’re gonna make fights break out,” Ladybug snickered.

“Ah, fighting’s healthy. Alright, flip!” They stared at each other’s boards and cheered loudly when they both wrote ‘android.’ 

They fist bumped with both hands, and Ladybug bounced excitedly in her chair. “Oh thank god. Aren’t they better phones though?”

“People with iPhones are over here ranting about Siri, meanwhile they just lost their headphone jack, so who’s the real loser?”

Ladybug laughed to herself. “Have you seen the, uh….what are they called? The dongle things? Like that attachment you have to get to use regular headphones.”

Chat Noir snickered into his hand. “It doesn’t even sound sexy, like who wants to be in the street and be like ‘ah, sorry guys, gotta pull out my dongle for a minute’?”

“It sounds dirty, don’t you think?” Ladybug sniggered. Chat Noir cackled and almost fell out of his chair. “No seriously like ‘I have to pull out my dongle’ sounds like I have to pull out my….” She gestured to her lap and was grinning as she watched Chat Noir take one of the couch cushions and press it to his face while he muffled his hysterics. “What?!”

He shook his head and sat back up. “Oh man, I love you. Wait how many more do we have?”

“Three more. The next one’s uhhh….” Alya snorted in laughter. “Oh man, god help you two. Dogs or cats?”

Chat Noir covered his mouth with both hands and slowly turned towards Ladybug. Ladybug let her shoulders drop and stared in disbelief at the camera. “Why would you do that to us?”

“Ladybug — ”

“Chat don’t do this — ”

“Ladybug I’m like dead serious — ”

“You’re so dramatic, oh my god, it’s going to be fine!”

“Just please,” he begged. “Please. Answer carefully and honestly. This is like….do or die.”

“What would you do if I said dog?”

“Don’t make jokes like that!”

Ladybug turned away from him and looked back at him over her shoulder. “I’m writing my answer.”

“I’ve literally never been this stressed out in my life.”

“Do you want me to count you guys down so you show your answers at the same time?” Alya asked.

Chat Noir made a show of sniffing, making his voice sound like he was on the verge of crying. “Yes, please.”

“It’s like you have no faith in me,” Ladybug teased.

“Don’t lie on your answer!”

“I’m not going to lie, Chat, don’t worry.”

They both wrote down their answers and gave Alya the thumbs up when they were done. “Alright guys. You’re gonna flip on my count. One….two….three!”

Chat Noir kept his eyes closed when he flipped his board, holding it a full arm’s length away from him. “Agh, I’m scared.”

Ladybug tapped his leg with hers. “Flip, trust me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Chat Noir opened his eyes, stared at her board, and threw it behind the couch as he threw his arms up in glee. “Thank all the adorable kittens in heaven, you’re a cat person!!!!!! ”

Ladybug held her arms out. “You want a hug, I know you do, bring it in.” Chat Noir wrapped his arms around her waist and started to fake sob into her stomach. She patted him on the head and snorted. “You threw your board clear across the room.”

“I don’t care,” Chat said, his voice muffled. “You love cats and that’s all that matters in the world.”

“ Is that all that matters?”

“You’re willing to accept my kind into your home.”

Ladybug turned to the camera again. “See, he thinks he’s actually a cat, so he takes all this very seriously. Excuse him, he’s almost done.”

Chat Noir stayed huddled up to her for a minute more before he sat up properly and smacked his cheeks a little. “Oh man, that was an ordeal. Oh dammit, my whiteboard.”

“You threw it into the plant! Like by the television!”

Chat Noir quickly came running back to sit on the couch. “I got it, I got it.”

“You two are too much. Alright, this one is Fall Wedding or Spring Wedding?”

Ladybug snorted when she wrote down her answer and sighed in relief when they both ended up putting ‘Fall Wedding’ on their boards. “I feel like the two of us would rock a fall color scheme, don’t you?”

“Plus, like, have you ever seen those wedding photos where they like throw fall leaves into the air? Like when they do outdoor weddings? Wouldn’t that be the cutest thing?”

“Oh my God, my parents did that! It’s super cute, oh man, I wish I could show you. If we get married though, we’re screwed on the cake.”

“Why?”

“You like white chocolate. ”

“Oh my God, are we going to start this again.”

“I’m going to remember this for at least the next month, you think I’m joking.”

“So can we get milk chocolate and call it even?”

Ladybug hummed and bit her lip. “I’ll bring it up with the wedding planner, we’ll talk about it.”

Chat Noir shook his head, rubbing his hand across the board to wipe it clean again. “Remember what I said about all that fanfiction fodder?”

“Bet you ten euros there are gonna be like twenty wedding fics by the end of the week.”

“Nah man, more than that. We’ll see.”

Ladybug sighed and smiled at him. “Last question, right?”

“Mmhm,” Chat Noir grinned. “Alright, what’ve you got for us, Alya?”

“This is a fun one,” Alya prefaced. “Ladybug or Chat Noir.”

They both laughed uproariously and were quick with their answers. Alya already figured what they were each going to write before they even flipped over their answers, but she had to admit it was really adorable to see them smile at each other when Ladybug wrote ‘Chat Noir’ and Chat Noir wrote ‘Ladybug.’

“I’m very cool with that disagreement,” Chat Noir beamed at the camera. “If that’s the only thing we fight about, I’m blessed to be honest.”

Ladybug tapped him on the shoulder. “Wait, I think we won.”

“We won?”

“Yeah like we got the most compatibility points.”

“Oh crap, did we?”

Alya looked down at her notebook and nodded. “Yeah, you got more of them matched up.”

They both threw their hands up and cheered. “We’re compatible!” they chanted at the same time, Ladybug falling against his shoulder in a fit of giggles.

“Damn, so I guess….?”

“Yeah,” Ladybug finished. “We….essentially did the work for you. So you are free to ship to your heart’s content. Go forth!”

“You have our permission,” Chat Noir assured. “And if you guys could low-key tag me on Instagram with links to your stories, that would be awesome.”

“You know damn well you have a physics test next week, you are not going to ask for fanfiction.”

“I’m fine , don’t worry about it. I wanna see what they come up with.”

“Listen. Tag me in them. So then I won’t give them to him until he finishes studying.”

Chat Noir shook his head at her in disbelief. “You’re just going to read them before I do!”

“ Offended that you would think that.”

“We will discuss this later.” Chat Noir turned back to the camera and clapped his hands together. “So….that’s it I guess? Um….Ladybug and I have Instagrams!”

“Yeah, apparently, when you do things from our weapons, the IP addresses get totally scrambled? So you can’t trace them and you can’t tell who we are. Which is great because that means this loser can post all the videos he wants to his.”

“Oh did you see what I tagged you in this morning?”

“Yeah the seven cat videos? Of course I did. I always do.”

Chat Noir pumped his fist. “Excellent. Anyway, uh, we fool around on those things a lot, so if you’re in the mood for a laugh, feel free to check us out. Alya’s gonna leave our links below this video.”

“And if you have any suggestions for other videos we can do, let us know. Alya will keep us updated, because these are actually really fun,” Ladybug said. “Oh! And always stay safe! If you ever see an akuma, always stay indoors and put as much distance between it and you as you can!”

“Yeah, really important guys, we wanna keep you safe, but you have to remember to stay alert at all times okay?”

Ladybug pouted her lips. “I guess we have to say goodbye.”

“Wait wait! Our tagline!”

“Right, right.” Ladybug counted them in so that they spoke at the same time. “Peace, love, and ladybugs!” They both fell into more laughter and Ladybug waved at the camera. “Until next time, everyone.”

Alya fiddled with her phone and stopped the recording. “Aaaaaaand, that’s a wrap.”

“Sweet,” Chat Noir replied. “Was that okay? You think they’ll like it?”

Alya shook her head and dismounted her phone from the tripod. “That could not have possibly gone more perfectly.”

[marineclarity]

Pacific Angler Friday Fishing Report: January 12, 2018

New Post Pacific Angler Friday Fishing Report: January 12, 2018

OUTLOOK

Welcome to another episode of the famous Friday Fishing Report! This week is a good one. We have a bunch of cool content for you and some good updates from the local fisheries.

If you guys are getting out fly fishing for steelhead or are preparing to get out, we have just released a great video with Fishing with Rod called Dissecting a Steelheader’s Fly Box. It goes over the concepts that Matt uses to choose flies for steelhead fishing and you get a peek inside his fly box. Check it out here.

On a product front it is that time of year again when many of us are escaping the cold and heading down south. We just got a big shipment of warm water lures for jacks, roosters, GTs and barracuda. We thought it would be a cool addition to revisit Matt’s How to hijack your family vacation with a travel spinning rod article. We have updated it and if you are heading on a vacation and would like to sneak in some fishing or you are specifically traveling for a fishing trip be it a fly or gear trip this article is worth looking at.

Ok, on to the report information. We have an update on the Vedder. The water is at a good height but we are seeing issues with coloured water due to slides in the upper river. We have heard of fish being caught but the water clarity is making things more challenging than normal. Check out the info we have in the Vedder report in the river section below.

The Squamish continues to be good and the road to the upper river is accessible as of Thursday. There may be some snow in the forecast but we are betting that it will be ok. Jordan hit the water this week and has some good updates for you if you are planning a trip. We have our Egg Fishing Course next week so we should have even more info then.

The Stave and Capilano reports have updates. We have still not heard much from the limited reports coming in but they are worth looking at and should see some steelhead and egging opportunities.

Lastly Jason has a saltwater update and again the news is positive. Good numbers of winter chinook are being hooked. See his update at the end of the report.

CLASSES + COURSES

There is still time to sign up for our upcoming classes!  If a class is sold out you can always call and have your name added to the waitlist as we may add additional dates.

Steelhead Float Fishing In this fishery, 10% of the anglers catch 90% of the fish. This is your chance to learn from the 10%! Our 3hr evening seminar will educate you on the gear, water types, conditions and other key variables that put veteran steelhead anglers in that 10%. Mastering this fishery will make you the envy of your friends.

Cost: $45.00 Date: Jan 16 Time: 6:30PM – 9:30PM

Introduction to Fly Tying – SOLD OUT!! CALL TO ADD YOURSELF TO THE WAITLIST TODAY FOR ADDITIONAL DATES! There is no greater satisfaction than catching a fish with a fly you tied yourself. This course was specifically designed to give you the fundamental skills needed to tie proven fly patterns used here in BC for trout, salmon, and steelhead. This course consists of 3 sessions; each session is 3hrs. Students are required to supply their own vise, tools and materials. A 10% discount is available on materials and tools purchased for the course.

Cost: $75.00                         Dates: (Jan 22, 29 & Feb 5), (Apr 9, 16, 23) Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm

Tying Essential Steelhead Patterns This course is designed for the fly tyer looking to get the best start on tying steelhead patterns. In the 3-hour evening seminar your instructor will cover everything from tying techniques, material and colour choices, size and weight. They will walk you through 3 essential patterns that will build a well-rounded steelhead fly box. If you’re looking to get yourself into tying your own flies for steelhead, this is the course for you. This course is suitable for fly tiers with a basic knowledge. Students are required to supply their own vise, tools and materials. A 10% discount is available on materials and tools purchased for the course.

Cost: $45.00 Dates: Jan 23 Time: 6:30pm – 9:30pm

Mastering Local Saltwater Salmon Fishing Over 50 million salmon migrate past Vancouver annually. Learn how to catch these fish with a Pacific Angler. This course offers an in-depth look at the local saltwater scene. We cover the local saltwater salmon fishing for the entire year, showing you the how, when, and where. This course includes a 6hr weekend seminar and a fully guided day on the water in one of our Grady Whites.

Cost: $300.00 Dates:    Seminar: Feb 4 Guided: Feb 9, 10, 11, 12 – SOLD OUT

Stay tuned for potential new on the water dates to be added.   If you’d like to get out on the water in February give us a ring and we’ll add you to the waitlist.

Seminar Time: 9:00am – 4:00pm – with a one-hour break for lunch. There are two restaurants on site for students to have lunch at their cost.   Coffee/Tea and water will be provided. Seminar held at Pacific Gateway Hotel – 3500 Cessna Drive, Richmond, BC Guided Day: Full day on the water

SPECIAL FEATURE

The Warm Water Dark Side Two years ago I did a little article on warm water travel spinning rods. It was fun and had a ton of response from our readers. We looked at how to hijack your standard family vacation with a travel spinning rod so you can spend mornings walking the beaches.

In this 2018 update we are going to look at all the gear you might need to highjack the family beach vacation but not only that, I am going to also recommend that you look at a similar spinning rod setup if you are doing a warm water fly fishing trip. This may raise a few eyebrows and I have had a number of purists fly fisherman feel that a spinning rod is cheating. I will leave this debate up to you but I will say I love fly fishing and for the most part I will choose fly fishing over gear fishing. I have been on a number of trips where the conditions, location or simply the timing made fly fishing a futile exercise. These were the times that I was very happy to have packed a spinning rod.

This year we have expanded our warm water gear section with the addition of the Savage Gear line up of top water baits. These poppers and pencil poppers are perfect if you are traveling to Mexico, the Caribbean or South Pacific.

We have a great selection of poppers skip baits and diving lures in stock.

Rods If you are a conventional gear angler on the family vacation or a fly fisherman who wants to join me on the dark side what do you need? Depending on your location there are a couple things you want to look for in a 3-4 piece rod. If you love hanging out on beaches a longer surf rod is the way to go.

Matt with a barracuda that he caught while fly fishing for permit – nice break from the long hours of looking for permit

We carry the Rapala 9’6 Baja. It is great, comes with a tube and is relatively cost effective. Now the only down side to this rod is that it is a little long for boat fishing and a little clunky for shallow water flats fishing.

If you want an all round rod that can fish the beach, boat or flats, the shorter Rapala 7’6 Baja Rod is one of our most popular choices.

Now if you are going specifically for flats fishing, a nicer high-end rod that has a number of weight options to match fish species is ideal. My favourite is the TFO Signature Series Travel rods and they come in bonefish to tarpon size line ratings. They are 3-piece, have an awesome warranty and cast as nice as a 2-piece rod.

Last but not least, as an honourable mention for travel rods, we have the Ugly stick 3-piece. It’s ugly, very cost effective and though it is not a great casting tool, when it comes to trips where the spinning rod is an afterthought, it is nice not to care too much about the gear. The Ugly Stick is bomb proof and at a price where you can give it to a young angler on the beach after you are done. It is $69.99.

If you will be targeting the really big warm water species, think sailfish, tuna, giant trevally and mature tarpon you can absolutely do it with the rods I have listed above. That said we can’t make any promises you won’t come home with a great fishing story and a 4-piece rod that has magically turned into an 8-piece rod. I am doing a trip to Christmas Island again in a few months and off shore GTs are going to be in the mix. If you are looking for a rod to specifically target big species I have experience with a number of higher end rods and we can order them in for you. Both Diawa and Okuma make some excellent options. Come down to the shop and talk to me. I will need a little lead time but I can get the perfect rod for your trip.

The Rapala Baja Travel rod paired with a Penn Spin Fisher.

Reels Now you will need a reel to go along with you rod. If you are doing a casual trip using any medium to large size spinning reel that you have from salmon fishing will work. I recommend coming down and having us spool it with braid to get more capacity and stronger line but you will be in the game.

If you want to be a little more dedicated or are doing a fly fishing trip where the reel will be out in the saltwater elements all day long, investing in a saltwater safe reel is important. The best cost effective spinning reel in this class is the Penn Fierce.

Its bigger brother is the Penn Battle. I own two of these reels and love them. They have been around the world with me and are tough. For anyone planning on doing this a fair amount the battle offers improved saltwater durability and is fully recommended.

Last year we stepped up in the saltwater reel department. We started offering 3 very heavy duty reels. The Daiwa BG, the Diawa Saltist and the Penn Spin Fisher. We have been fishing and selling them for over a year now and though they are more expensive than the above reels they have stood up exceptionally well and if you are going to be doing a fair amount of this style of fishing we recommend you look at them.

Tackle With reels and rods covered you need to think about tackle. There is a huge selection but for me I like to keep things streamlined. I pick up a medium size flambeau box that I can tuck into my sling pack and I load it with 4 different styles of lures.

Our standard warm water lure kit.

I always have a bait setup that I can cast out, lean back with a beer in a lawn chair and see what come down the beach. I take 2-4, 3-6 oz dollar weights, a pack of swivels, a bead and 2 sizes of saltwater hooks. One small # 4 hook and one large 3/0 hook. I usually then hit up a local restaurant for squid or shrimp and the set up is ready.

The second lure I bring and easily my favourite is top water popper fishing. These work almost anywhere for barracuda, jacks and a ton of other species. Cast out and make as much commotion on the water as fast as you can is usually the best method. We have a great selection in the shop.

Now I like to fish popper style lures but pencil style lures are also always in my box. These lures don’t catch water like the popper but skip over the water like a bait fish jumping away from danger. These style of skip baits are actually way less of a work out to fish because they don’t catch as much water. In areas of heavy surf or if I know that I am going to be casting for an extended period of time I prefer this style of lure. You will be shocked at how tired your arms get when working a big popper for even a half hour.

The last thing you will want is sub surface style lures and some jig style lures for fishing deeper areas off the beach, deep holes on the flats of just off shore. We also have a great selection of diving lures, jigs and soft plastic jigs. Finally I always include wire leaders in my kit. You might have to use them on all of the set ups if there are toothy critters around.

A 50lb barracuda caught on one of our fly fishing trips to Cuba on a popper – You’re a hero Gord!

I always have a bait setup that I can cast out, lean back with a beer in a lawn chair and see what come down the beach. I take 2-4, 3-6 oz dollar weights, a pack of swivels, a bead and 2 sizes of saltwater hooks. One small # 4 hook and one large 3/0 hook. I usually then hit up a local restaurant for squid or shrimp and the set up is ready.

The second lure I bring and easily my favourite is top water popper fishing. These work almost anywhere for barracuda, jacks and a ton of other species. Cast out and make as much commotion on the water as fast as you can is usually the best method. We have a great selection in the shop.

Now I like to fish popper style lures but pencil style lures are also always in my box. These lures don’t catch water like the popper but skip over the water like a bait fish jumping away from danger. These style of skip baits are actually way less of a work out to fish because they don’t catch as much water. In areas of heavy surf or if I know that I am going to be casting for an extended period of time I prefer this style of lure. You will be shocked at how tired your arms get when working a big popper for even a half hour.

The last thing you will want is sub surface style lures and some jig style lures for fishing deeper areas off the beach, deep holes on the flats of just off shore. We also have a great selection of diving lures, jigs and soft plastic jigs. Finally I always include wire leaders in my kit. You might have to use them on all of the set ups if there are toothy critters around.

FRESHWATER FISHING REPORTS

Chilliwack River Fishing Report With the warm weather and the rain, the water level rose on the Vedder River this week. Usually, when the river is at this height and coming down fishing is very good. However, with the unstable clay banks the clarity isn’t at its best. With the continuous rain and snowmelt combined with the warmer temperature, we expect the coloured water to continue this week. Murky condition are not the end of the world. We have heard of a fish being caught but it does make things more challenging. Try to use bait such as shrimp or roe, or just simply add scent to your lure or fly. Also, use bigger presentations and brighter colours. This method just makes it easier for the fish to see and smell your presentation. If the water clears up downsize your presentation using smaller lures, flies, plastics, hooks and leaders. So if you are heading out make sure you bring your larger pink worms, large gooey bobs and cut your roe into larger than normal chunks.

If you are fly fishing for steelhead on the Vedder or anywhere else for that matter, don’t miss out on our latest video in our Learn How with Pacific Angler series where you can take a look into What’s in Matt’s steelhead box.

Good luck out there and stop by the shop and send us any pictures if you get lucky!

Dustin

Capilano River Fishing Update The water level at the Cap fluctuated over the last week with the rain and water being released from the dam. With the bumps of water we did hear about a confirmed winter run being caught, a couple guys hooked stale coho and we also heard a report of a kelted summer run being hooked. The weather is starting to warm up a bit which will also cause the fish to be more active. There are still some salmon left in the river however you probably do not want to target these late fish. If you do hook a steelhead, if it is very skinny and or red, it is probably a summer run. In an ideal world you will leave these fish alone and though you should be as careful as possible with all steelhead be sure to be extra gentle if you hook a summer run. For the overview of the Cap fishery in 2018 check below:

Overview of the Capilano Season The first steelhead start trickling in around the end of December. We do not see many steelhead on the Capilano but it is a fishery worth looking at it you do not have time to travel farther. They can be targeted with spoons, spinners, flies, or drifting colorado blades, jigs, shrimp, roe and plastic worms but the most popular method for the high banked deep pools on the Capilano is with a gear rod and a float. Come talk to us and we will show you the right setups. Steelhead are expected to be in the system until mid-March.

After the steelhead fishery, around may we will see early Capilano coho come in. It’s a smaller run and the fish aren’t that big. However, they are known as one of the best-tasting coho. These fish usually shoot straight up as the water from the dam is released quite often. The best way to catch them is swinging cap buggers at the cable pool. You can also target the moving fish with spoons, spinners, or drifting with roe.

After the early coho season, the fall salmon season is upon us. Only a small amount of fish trickle in when the water is low. Most of the fish will stack at the mouth of the river and wait for the river to rise up. Once the water goes up, the river is filled with salmon. You can catch these salmon by casting lures, swinging flies, twitching jigs or drifting. Remember the bait ban comes into effect from August 1st until October 31st.

There is the overview of the 2018 season. Hopefully, everyone had an amazing year. Even if you didn’t let’s start thinking about what can be done better next year for a successful season.

Come in the shop and our knowledgeable staff will help you gear up for all the upcoming fishery.

Squamish River Fishing Report Since last week’s report, the Squamish bumped up a bit, providing some much needed colour to the water and helped cycle fish and freshen them up. Some of the productive spots that were fishing well last week changed. Instead of being in the “spot” we found fish just above or below areas that had been good last week. This commonly happens when we get a little bump in the water. With water levels and river colour increasing, the swung fly was quite productive for us this week. At this time of year, I usually carry two rods- one for swinging, and one for egging. This allows me to fish every piece of water effectively depending on how it is set up.

As for flies, I carry a variety of sculpin and standard streamer style patterns in browns, greys, olives, and whites. One of my favourite flies currently is the C3, an articulated, balanced streamer I came up with last season that has become my go-to. Though I will fish a variety of flies, the C3 has consistently been one of my top producers for bulltrout, rainbows, and even coho when tied in appropriate colours. Come down to the shop and I’ll show it to you, and which materials are needed to tie it.

Jordan’s C3 balanced streamer pattern.

When swinging, I like to use a 4wt switch or 5wt Spey. Though not necessary (I caught a fair amount of fish before I had these rods) I do find I can cast farther easier, allowing me to cover more water effectively. Regardless of the rod used for swinging, carrying a selection of sink-tips or versi-leaders can pay dividends. I have fished runs effectively finding fish using T-11, working my way down stream, only to re-visit the spot near the end of the day and having to switch to T-8 because of the dropping water. In the single-hand world, the same can be said with Type-VI and having to go to a Type-III, or vice-versa and you have to increase your sink rate. Keep in mind, sink rate does not indicate how far it sinks, but rather how fast it sinks. This is important when trying to time your swing or drift through a bucket, riffle, run, or pocket- or when trying to effectively fish a piece of structure from where you are positioned.

Jordan With a nice fish caught on a C3 streamer.

With cooler temperatures mixed with clear skies, we can expect the water to start dropping again and clearing up. Keep in mind that clear water can be deceiving, and to wade safely: what might appear to be shallow, can actually be deep.

Though I focused this report on swinging flies we did use beads quite a bit when I was out last and it put a number of nice fish to the bank. Sean was out and focused a bunch on the bead rig. He hooked a number of really nice fish.

Sean With a nice egg caught bull from this week

And remember, if you come across some loose change, don’t be surprised- fish keep their money in the river bank.

Jordan Simpson

Stave River Fishing Report My fishing time has been limited in the last two weeks but I did manage to sneak a peek at the Stave earlier this week. Water levels have been fluctuating between moderate to low flow and have been gin clear from what I’ve seen, making finesse fishing somewhat crucial. The trout and whitefish fishing can be hit or miss; maybe not a day’s worth of fishing but definitely worth a look for a few hours if you are in the area. If they are there you will get them. Targeting trout and whitefish with egg patterns is the typical go-to right now although small streamers and spinners/spoons can also get them when they aren’t clued in on the eggs. Historically this is also when the Steelhead start showing up in this system; there aren’t a lot compared to the Vedder or Chehalis but factoring in that it is a short river it is very possible that you can put your hook over at least a couple of them. Presentation wise there aren’t any secrets; your roe, shrimp, pink worms, spoons, and streamers will all produce. We didn’t catch any steelhead when we were out but it usually takes a few trips to get luck this time of year. This is a fun fishery with a multiple species and to reiterate, it’s a short river so I wouldn’t purposely make a trip there if you are not local. However if you are in the area or are coming back from the Vedder/Chehalis and have a couple hours to spare then definitely take a look.

For an overview of the Seasons on the Stave click here to see what it coming in 2018.

Alex Au-Yeung

Overview of the Stave River Fishing Season During the winter months on the Stave beading/egging for trout and whitefish is a great fishery. There are good numbers of trout and whitefish in the system as they are gorging on eggs. If you drift with Jensen eggs, beads or egg-shaped wool in riffles behind spawning salmon, you can get these fish.

Steelhead are also trickling into the system in late December. From Late December on you will be able to catch them by drifting with steelhead rigs such as plastic worm, gooey bob, corkies, colorado blades or spin-n-glos. You can also use roe or shrimp. Fly fishing is also a viable option; try steelhead patterns in different colours.

The egg fishing trout fishery will last until mid February and steelhead will be in the system from now until May.

At the end of the steelhead season, we will see another trout fishery in the stave river. Fly fishing with fry pattern or tossing little spoons or spinners will attract the trout that are in the system to feed on the salmon fry. This fishery goes from March to May. The river usually gets high in May and though there are still resident fish in the system all summer it is not a go to destination until fall.

Early September marks the start of the salmon fishery. Once the chum salmon start coming in you can expect to hook them left and right because there are so many. Drift with jigs and if they don’t bite, play with your depth a little bit. Coho salmon will show up as well and they can be targeted with flies, spoons, or spinners. Look for frog water or structures when looking for coho as they like slow moving water.

That sums up the 2018 overview of the Stave River. If you wish to try any of the fisheries mentioned above, come to the shop and we will be glad to help.

SALTWATER FISHING REPORTS

Vancouver Saltwater Salmon Fishing Report Fishing continues to be solid and if you can find a day where the winds and rain aren’t too bad, even better! Looking ahead to this weekend it looks like some rain on Saturday but on Sunday the sun is going to make an appearance. As for the winds, the SE in the Strait of Georgia looks like it will be moderate but the outflow out of Howe Sound is being persistent, but not at the levels we saw earlier this month.

There are fish well spread out through Howe Sound and good numbers in the Gulf Island as well, so there really is no one hot spot. All spots are producing fish and the name of the game is being in the right place at the right time and perhaps taking into consideration the fishability of a spot when it comes to the wind. Too much wind makes for difficult boat handling which in turn makes it that much harder to control speed and stay in the zone.

The usual tactics of glow flashers with glow spoons or hootchies, fished close to the bottom, is producing fish. In last weeks report I featured some of the productive spoons we have been fishing and there hasn’t been much change there. Check out this past report for some detailed information on more productive spoons we use this time of year and some detailed information on flashers as well. Make sure you follow us on Instagram and Facebook too. In 2018 we will be posting more photos and interim reports. This weekend I am going to share some photos and videos on the work we have been doing on Salty Dawg the past few days. Next best thing to fishing for me is working on the boats. I love getting them dialled in for the winter and the upcoming summer season!

Crabbing and prawning have been decent this past week, not red hot, but worth dropping the traps if you want some of these tasty critters. Keep in mind it is a trade off though. The days are short so when you drop traps it takes up a fair chunk of time and that makes it more difficult to chase down the chinook. Looking forward to when the days are just a little bit longer.

See you in the shop or on the water,

Jason Tonelli

by admin