#I saw camera updates and I got so excited. But alas

[ranvwoop]

oh one last thing to be complain about about... the camera function in scarvi makes me sad. It would really not be that hard to make it functional

[oumiyuki]

Teachers don’t date teachers (but You-sensei and Riko-sensei definitely are) Ch5

Summary: The whole student body and teachers teases the gym teacher, Watanabe You, with the new art teacher, Sakurauchi Riko, that they make a cute couple. How long can You deny this when Riko isn’t helping to reduce the rumours?

Pairing: YouRiko

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Slice of Teacher Life ;D

Words: 2219

Author Notes

Okay...Not so much tumbling...more like bearing the cuts and bruises and all forces of nature... but hey, I'm still here...

And here's another YouRiko-sensei update. 

May you enjoy~ XD 

 Tease05 – You-sensei and Riko-sensei’s first kiss!? (it sure looks like it)

 You haven’t noticed this, but the students buzzing with endless energy and on the edge of their seats with cameras and love-filled shipping minds have. What they have noticed? They noticed that the newest addition to the art facility, a beautiful, gentle but kind of damsel in distress art teacher, namely Sakurauchi Riko, complete the perfect picture of romance when she rests in the gym teacher’s arms. That’s right, once again, Riko was being held by You’s strong arms.

Bundles of rolled up canvases tightly hugged in her left and right arms, a few wooden frames, art box and jotter book pressed to her chest in a risky way as she tried to make her way to the carpark, but alas, turns around the bend was never in favour to her, or never in favour to pretty girls who can’t see to their front that well. The auburn-haired art teacher lets out a shriek of surprise as she steps onto a can and loses her balance; right leg stretches in front of her more than she has ever stretched in months, the pull on her muscles getting to her already. She expected to meet the floor this time but instead warm, very warm hands held her up from the waist.

“Riko-sensei. Are you alright?” Her hero unintentionally breathes in her ears those words of concern and even let out a sigh of relief through the nose as the ash-brunette leaned in front to examine her face. Riko scrambles for her facial muscles to bring up a smile and hope to all the gods that her face wasn’t painted in any shades of the cherry blossom pink or the red camellia flowers she illustrated in class today. 

"Ah...You-sensei...Yes, I believe I'm in good hands right now." Riko leans her head back onto the gym teacher's reliable chest to make her point. 

You feels her cheek turn warm. "Um... I'm glad..?" 

Is it just me or Riko-sensei looks really pretty right now?

Riko's smile pulls a tad higher and looks back to the front, seemingly giving off a somewhat embarrassed aura. 

Riko-sensei..? 

"Um... Could you help me back up...all the way? And er..." The auburn hair teacher sports a dash of pink on her cheeks which makes You's cheeks redder by a chain reaction. The way Riko's almond eyes pointed out the fact that You's arms were still wrapped around Riko didn't help You's case of staring at the art teacher rumoured to be her girlfriend. 

You moves her tongue in her mouth nervously, swallowing nothing at all just to distract herself, a silent call out from her brain to the body to stop gaping at the pretty art teacher and start doing as requested. 

"Ah. Right. Yes. Um. Yes. Sure!" You blurts a string of agreement. Riko chuckles; worsening You's red cheek reaction. 

Iiiiiiiii am such an embarrassment! What was that, Watanabe You?? 

You stands back awkwardly, not noticing two pairs of eyes watching her and Riko's little save and rescued moment with growing excitement and glee. Riko, on the other hand, was back on her feet and gives You a slight bow of thanks, grin gentle and cool, pink cheeks no more. 

"Say, You-sensei, could you help me with something?" 

You nods. "Sure. Whatever you need, Riko-sensei." 

As long as it's within my capabilities! And if I can clear up all the uncool side of me Riko-sensei has witnessed...that would be a plus. 

Riko's ears flared a hot red when You suggests that she can offer pretty much any service but luckily for the art teacher, the gym teacher did not notice her mini rise of excited-panic, her cool exterior hiding a blush-inducing fantasy that flashed through Riko's imaginative mind. Riko clears her throat for good measure. "Could you help bring my materials to my car?" 

You looks Riko up and down once. "Ah, of course. You wouldn't be able to unlock your car with that many things on hand!" You slaps her hand over her mouth without warning earning raised eyebrows from Riko. 

And chest..! I almost said and on Riko-sensei's chest! If I did that I'd not only be uncool, I'd be seen as a perv! Ahh, that was a close call! 

You composes herself and gives Riko a reassuring smile as she eased Riko's arms of more than half the load. "S-shall we?" 

Riko smiles, letting the matter slide though she glanced at the gym teacher curiously on the way to the car, to see if she could perhaps spot anything to clue her in on what made You react that way. 

Now by the car and items loaded, "Do you have to bring all these up to your house?" 

I doubt Riko-sensei can enter her house like that...

Riko nods. "I do. I've got to grade the assignments." 

You chuckles softly. "And how do you see yourself opening your house door?" 

Riko's eyes widen as realization settled upon her with the help of the ash-brunette's wagging eyebrows. 

"Perhaps you actually can go through doors without unlocking them and you've been hiding it from us?" You teases with a broad smile. 

Riko gives the playful gym teacher a mock glare as she opens the passenger door. "Then will you help a maiden out?" 

Anytime. 

You grins and nonchalantly rests her arm over the top of the opened car's door. "If I get a please and dinner." 

I don't really want those from helping but well, let's see how Riko-sensei handles being teased~

Riko simply smiles; completely okay with You's request. "Please help me out, You-sensei? We can grab dinner before my house too. My treat." 

Uwa. Not even a slight fluster or hesitance. 

You straightens her back. "Sounds good." 

Riko giggles and closes the door after making sure You was nicely settled in her humble, brownish-red Mazda. Both teachers do not notice squeals and camera flashes after Riko was in the car and buckled up. 

"Ah." 

"What's wrong?" You looks over with concern. 

"Just a... dirt I guess..." The art teacher carefully touched her eye that may have caught some dirt on the way into the car. 

You leans across the distance between them and silently obtains permission to assist Riko in clearing the dirt and easing the art teacher's eyes since Riko seemed to be having slight troubles doing so herself. Riko lowers her own hands and after a short few seconds of You's feather-like touches and a soft blow of air to her eyes, Riko's eyes were back to good condition.

"T-Thank you..." 

You leans back in her seat with a satisfied smile. "No problem."

Riko takes a moment to herself, while You sat beside her oblivious to how she has caused the art teacher to be on the receiving end of needing a timeout. A good minute or so and Riko starts the drive back to her place. 

A week later, You receives a text message from Riko which made You confused. 

Riko (10:37): Have you seen it yet? 

You (10:41): Seen what? 

Riko (10:56): It's okay.

You was perplexed. If it was something that the art teacher would message her about, wouldn't it be important? Or pressing? You tapped her pen impatiently on her desk where she sat; having some paperwork to do. 

What did I miss? 

You glances to the photo collage of her students and her; at a barbeque and on the school open field. You was a teacher that was really close with the students after all; chatting, playing, teaching, advising as a full package. 

Was the students doing something again? Their murmuring has been more hushed lately though... 

The gym teacher kicked back and spun in her computer chair a few rounds before the science teacher places something on her face. "Hey." 

The teacher with long blue hair grins. "Thought this might interest you." 

"What is it?" You takes the papers folded in half, wearing a thinking face which was rather adorable for the gym teacher who usually wore a carefree, smiley expression. 

"You're the topic." 

"... Don't tell me." 

The science teacher chuckles. "Okay, I won't." 

It's that matter again, isn't it? Ah, please don't be it. Don't be it... What could it be? 

You stresses the ear of the folded documents which was actually really high-quality paper for a good minute before she finally turns the paper over to see the content. 

WHA-

You immediately slaps the paper close after her eyes widened at the image of Riko and herself. You looks up and gestures at the paper now lying on her table. "Where did you get that, Kanan?" 

Kanan shrugs. "Noticeboard, You. When did it happen? You could have been more a friend and tell me ‘bout it." 

You squints at Kanan's teasing tone. "Because we're not. Ugh, the students just keep teasing me and Riko-sensei and I don't even know why. Do we look like that to you?" 

You asks genuinely and Kanan hums for a moment. "Kinda." 

You groans. "No. We're not." 

The ash-brunette picks up her phone, opening the messaging application, taps Riko's name swiftly like she’s used to it; the fact that Riko was on the top made Kanan hold back a chuckle. 

You (11.33): I just saw it

You (11.33): why ;_;

You (11.33): I'm sorry

You (11.33): I'll talk to the kids

You (11.33): tell them to stop these

The gym teacher sighs as she rests her back against the chair, head facing the ceiling with a tired expression. She sees Kanan smiling down at her and she pouts at the science teacher. “What.”

“Oh, nothing.” Kanan grabs a chair and sits on it, hands propped on the headrest and her chin on her arms, grinning cheekily. “Texting your girlfriend?”

You groans yet again and spins in an attempt to kick Kanan’s chair. The bluenette easily dodges it with a front push with her long legs, laughing. “Better luck next time.” You stops her chair’s spin to face Kanan while the playful science teacher rolls the chair she’s on forwards.

Them and all their teasing… Kanan too! Sheesh!

You whines in her mind before grabbing the papers once more. Looking at the image reluctantly. The scene of Riko resting on her shoulder, her arms wrapped around Riko’s waist, and with how her face was leaning close to the art teacher, features not entirely visible from the side-back view the picture is taken in, it’s not a surprise that the header is “You-sensei kisses Riko-sensei!?” You’s shoulders slumps.

How did this happen?

You glances to her phone; the pretty but clumsy art teacher coming to mind.

Riko-sensei slipped and I caught her. That’s all.

You’s phone vibrates and the purple light indicates a message.

Riko (11:55): It’s my fault. So I’m sorry, You-sensei. Don’t scold your students please. They are just having harmless fun and…their photography and editing skills are commendable.

You chuckles as she reads the message. Even now – with such a scandalous news spreading about Riko-sensei and her, and the art teacher is actually defending them. Praising them too!

You (11:56): Aye, I don’t really scold. They don’t find me scary enough.

You (11:57): Still gotta tell them off tho

You (11:57): And how are you to blame? >8/

Riko-sensei is too kind… This probably needs disciplinary action… I think… Not that I want the students getting in trouble…

You looks back at her phone when a vibration comes in.

Riko (11:57): I fell.

You arches an eyebrow at the message.

That I know.

Riko (11:58): Want to have lunch together?

You blinks twice at the question. Usually, she’d respond with a quick “Sure” if her schedule was free, and a “Sorry, can’t”, if her schedule was not. But for some reason, she’s definitely free for lunch at the moment, but she’s hesitating. You doesn’t know why; her palms got a little sweaty and she wasn’t being straight forth… why?

Kanan notices the gym teacher in a rare state of pouts and thoughts so the bluenette gives a helping nudge. “Yo, what’s up?”

That’s what I want to know…

You sighs. “Riko-sensei asks if I wanna go grab lunch. Wondering if I want to.”

“Why not?”

You looks to the phone; Riko smiling gently appears in her mind and You for a reason she can’t come up with feels like blushing. You looks to Kanan with an unsure face. “I don’t know.”

Kanan stares at You for a time before a grin grew on her face. “Just go.” The bluenette turns back to her desk. “Not like you to overthink things, You.”

True… I’m not thinking of anything that leads anywhere anyway.

You picks up her phone and taps away.

You (12:09): Sure

You (12:09): Sorry for the late reply

You (12:09): I’ll treat

“Thanks.” You brofists with Kanan.

Riko (12:10): See you soon :)

Riko (12:10): And I’m treating ;)

You smiles at Riko’s responses as she grabs her gym jacket and heads for the school cafeteria. The new picture and news from the newspaper club, or what You thinks to call them now – the teacher teasing club – parked at the back of her mind as the ash-brunette was more interested in having a good meal with her colleague cum friend, not girlfriend.

Of course, the student body thinks otherwise, and more pictures were snapped that day.

Author Notes

When this is done, I wish to have all those pictures. So precious. Mari-sensei, please give me a nice HD copy of them all~ XD

Anyways! Here’s another teacher we all know and love~ ;D

I got so much more I wanna write for this AU, ahh. XD

Do tell me which parts you like of this chapter! *O* And see you next tease! ^w^

P.S. I keep trying to come up with witty titles fitting of the content and it’s fun but sure takes lots of time XD –chuckles- I came up with like 5 for this chapter and kept changing it :3

[troahsmidliferoadshow-blog]

Car Wars -- The Foot Awakens!

So, day and night one of my awesome adventure is complete.  I left Durham much later (3 hours) than intended.  Part was due to sleeping late, which in turn was due to being up until 4am trying to get everything together.  Part of it was due to sorely underestimating how long it would take to put everything into the truck.  And a big part of it was the damned cat running off somewhere.  I call her Princess Underfoot because she is always underfoot, but this particular morning, she just disappeared.  My friend Tracy suggested she knew something was afoot and went into hiding.

I finally set off a little after 11 instead of the 8:30 I was hoping to hit.  The driving was surprisingly smooth even considering my rearview mirror is completely blocked by Vash’s crate.  I suppose it’s psychological -- the drive being the trip instead of a means to the destination made it much more pleasant.  I also remembered my prescription sunglasses which helps.

So I finally made it to Megan and Kevin’s awesome cabin (though I don’t know if you can call a house that size a “cabin”) party for a delicious Greek inspired dinner for which I can take zero credit.  I didn’t even really help with the clean-up :(  Met some really awesome people -- one who apparently lives in the Raleigh area -- mostly from Megan’s high school, drank entirely too much tasty beer, walked down a super creepy hallway, maybe saw a bear (or a deer), proved once and for all that I wear underwear and that an unzipped fly would not cause any dramatic wardrobe malfunctions by exposing my boxer-briefs, and slept in a real bed for the last time for almost a month.

I stayed up entirely too late (again) and overslept (again), but here are some of the awesome people I spent an amazing evening hanging out with.

And this guy who isn’t in the other picture because he was “cleaning-up” or some such sillyness.

So by 11:30, I was up on the road again.  I knew the first time doing the camping thing, things would get bumpy, so I intended to only go a little ways into Kentucky.  I didn’t quite make it.  I’m about 4 miles of Interstate 24 off of Kentucky but still in Tennessee.

I did take a little time out to stop by The Hermitage (Andrew Jackson’s estate), but unfortunately, it requires a ticket and a tour.  Ain’t nobody got time for that!  And I had Vash in the back of the truck.  So I looked over the fence a bit and got a couple of fun pictures, alas, with my phone because the camera got opened accidentally and battery went kaput.

Don’t take yuppie food stamps that look like this :D

Then back onto the Interstate.  Near the Kentucky border, I saw a sign for a state park that had camping (woot!), but once off the Interstate, I realized it was a lot farther out of the way than I wanted to go.  Thankfully, good old Google showed me a camp ground much closer than that, so I stopped in at Spring Creek Campground.

It’s a neat little place, and all the people I’ve met have been super friendly.  It mostly seems to cater to RV people (only one other tent camper in the whole place today).  Unfortunately, coming on a Sunday is highly irregular, and the office is only open 2-5pm.  Thankfully, they have a little envelope and slip you can fill out if they aren’t around.  So, I picked my spot, filled in my form, threw (almost -- 2 cent tip) exact change into the envelope, and shoved it in the slot in the door.  There were plenty of spaces, so I decided to take one near the creek with shade.  Alas, as soon as I put the slip in the slot and went down to start setting up, I realized it only had 220 power (like you would use for a RV), no 110 sockets.  Obviously not meant for the likes of me . . . so I slipped a note in the slot and moved to a tent appropriate area with normal plugs.

So now to setup time.  I lugged all the stuff I would need out of the truck, took Vash for a quick walk since he had been cooped up in the crate most of the day, and then started making camp.

This is, of course, when Murphy rared his ugly head.  I brought the tent, poles, stakes, air mattress, camp stove, etc. -- all the stuff I needed.  So here’s camp.

For those who know me well, you may be asking -- “Isn’t your tent a bright orangy-yellow and gray number in a pentagonal shape?“  Why, yes.  Yes it is.  “And isn’t that a red and off-white rectangular number?”  Why, yes.  Yes it is.  “And aren’t your camp chairs red and blue?”  Golly, they sure are.  “But that one’s grey?”  Hmm, sure is.

I brought poles.  I just didn’t bring the poles for the tent.  I brought the poles for the canopy.  So I have the fabric part of the tent but not the things that hold it up.  Thankfully, and part of the reason I selected this particular camp ground over the state park, there is a Walmart 3 miles down the road.  So 44 bucks and 30 minutes later, I had a new tent and a new camp chair.  Also dinner (a can of oh-so-exciting Hormel Turkey Chili) that I plan to heat up shortly.

Honestly, though, this tent is much easier to set up, and it accommodates my air mattress just fine (though not much more than that).  I did, however, have to make a modification that I later realized I actually didn’t have to make.  My power cord has 3 3-pronged plug points, so it’s a pretty beefy connector.  The hole in the tent for a power cord is small, and there was no way this monster was fitting through.  Blame fatigue or having too much beer the night before or just panic about having a way to charge all my devices, but rather than taking the obvious answer (pull the male end from the inside of the tent out rather than the female end from the outside in), I just widened the hole.  Oh well, it’s a sub-35 dollar tent that I probably won’t use again after this trip since my other tent is much nicer.

More updates tomorrow, Interwebs and energy permitting.

[ddrkirbyisq]

Happy 7th anniversary to our most beloved game, Journey!  This was my 13th journey -- apparently I had not done one last year for the 6th anniversary, so the last time I took to the sands was all the way back in 2017 when I met raisin. On a whim I decided to take part in the 7th anniversary event, which started at 2:30PM my time.  I barely managed to get the requisite system updates and such taken care of in time, but made it to the Broken Bridge with a little bit of time to spare, this time donning my fully-embroidered white cloak.  Soon after I dropped to the sands below, I encountered a fellow chirpy white cloak and proceeded to do the normal excited meeting rituals, complete with faceplants and all.  The faceplanting actually is quite an easy litmus test for the experience level of the traveler, along with their general flying technique and where they choose to lead us.  Old-timers will generally always easily reciprocate a faceplant with one of their own, with no trouble at all -- sometimes even going so far as to do a leaping faceplant (!).  The real test, though, is where the traveler decides to go after collecting the 3 glyphs in the level -- if they go through the "headbonk" glitch entrance, or start charging a chargeboost near the sand falls, I'll know I'm definitely dealing with somebody who knows their way around. This was certainly the case, as I would later learn that my white cloaked companion was none other than Gilorien!  I somehow remembered their name way back from the TGC boards, though I can't say I remembered many details of their exploits or exactly who they were.  Truth be told, Gilorien messaged me later and told me that they remembered my ID as well, which honestly quite surprised me as I was never a very active poster in that community. We proceeded to have a wondrous journey, where Gilorien showed me all manner of things I had not seen before (and some that I had), taking me backstage in the Broken Bridge, Sunken City, and the Underground.  Gilorien was a wonderful guide and companion through all of it -- very easy to follow, very comforting in the way that they made sure I was with them every step of the way.  I did more tandem coasting (where you glide through the air together with no flapping at all) than ever before as well; it felt quite nice to be able to manage it so many times despite my relative lack of experience compared with a lot of the veterans of the game.  We even had a nice beamdown or two, though embarrassingly it took me quite a while to get the signal for it -- for a while I thought we were just floating about out of bounds and wondered where we were supposed to go next! In the Broken Bridge, my initial trepidation for trying to do advanced flying techniques like charge boosting (a glitch of sorts where you can accumulate flying "power" and use it to soar upwards into the sky) was quickly met with relief when I was able to chargeboost from the glyph CB spot up to the level end statue on my first try with no problems at all.  I wasn't sure that was the correct destination though, and sure enough Gilorien ended up further upward, toward the sand/wind wall marking the proper level boundary.  Understanding that they meant to try to go OOB (though I wasn't sure what the proper entry was at all), I went down for another CB.  Charge boosting is a tricky thing to do with a partner because it involves tilting the camera at a specific angle, so it's actually really difficult to see where your companion is going if they take off before you do.  Fortunately Gilorien was quite clear on the timing of the CB release and I didn't have too much trouble after another try or two.  We made it out of bounds and saw some of the weird skybox stuff back there before heading to the Pink Sands. The Pink Sands was where I feel like I really got a sense of what kind of traveling companion Gilorien was.  It's hard to describe these things, of course, but we traveled to all the usual landmarks, doing quite a bit of coasting along the way (to my delight), as well as wandering and meandering about, playing with each others' scarves and such.  I took a backseat for most of the Journey as I honestly don't remember where everything is anymore in a lot of the levels and definitely don't know where anything is backstage, but at some points I'm not quite sure if either of us was really leading the way at all, or whether we were just sort of moving forward by default, but it was enjoyable nonetheless. In the Sunken City rest stop area we chargeboosted up to the invisible platform and went out of bounds yet again, seeing some interesting things here and there before finally landing past the level exit in the UG spot of light that I particularly like.  Unfortunately I can't quite remember a lot of the specifics (there was some swirly sand textures, some interesting background color changes, etc), but I told myself that I wouldn't worry about taking notes or photos or anything and would focus more on just enjoying the Journey and my companion for what they were was this time. In the Underground I was getting a bit worried that our session would run a bit too long if we kept on going at its current pace, meandering about out of bounds every which way to see everything, and I knew that the UG didn't have too much exciting going on in the beginning of the level, so I decided to take the lead there for once.  There was a cute moment where Gilorien peek-a-boo'd me from the other side of the cage from the glyph where the bunch of kelp/seaweed/things were, hehe. In the next room (with the jellies) after collecting the glyph I knew we could either continue forward along the main path, or try to go OOB.  From what I had remembered, going OOB was relatively easy, but I've gotten lost out there before and wasn't quite sure I was up for it.  Gilorien motioned back towards the OOB route though, and I obliged, feeling that I was safe in their company. And safe I was indeed!  Throughout our entire time together I felt that Gilorien was quite a great leader in the unknown (to me, anyways) depths of the backstage areas and I never once felt that I lost them or was confused.  Perhaps they did not take me anywhere particularly dangerous, or perhaps just knew how to avoid all of the danger areas, but all the same it felt quite comforting. My best friend related Journey to social dance once, and I'm really inclined to agree.  There is so much nonverbal communication, and so many different types of interactions, whether it be between two dancers/companions who are already experienced, or perhaps someone new paired with someone who already knows the ropes.  I'm happy that I had enough experience with CBs and other tricks to understand pretty quickly what Gilorien was going for in multiple occasions, and I think that really made things easy. As is often the case with guides who take me OOB in the underground, we somehow managed to mess up some of the War Machines, making them inactive and playing with them for a while.  We were in the room with the first WM encounter when alas -- Gilorien dusted on me, I assumed due to a disconnect.  I quickly checked Discord and the fan forums to see if they had posted anything, and then decided to hastily run through the rest of the level in hopes of meeting them at the beginning of the tower. It worked!  I saw the white cloak, recognized the familiar chirp cadence, and the playful faceplant, and I knew I had found my companion once again!  We started proceeding up the tower -- I unlocked the first water level, but I think Gilorien wanted to play around without doing the further unlocks (or perhaps they had wanted to do a dry climb in the first place?), so we helped each other up a bit, until .... Gilorien dropped from the sky and....dusted once more. =(  Apparently they were having issues with their router, with quite unfortunate timing for the event. So I completed the rest of the tower without doing much special, though I think I did manage a nice CB of some sort at one point which sort of impressed myself.  I had hoped to meet up with Gilorien again in the snow, but alas, I paired with a reddie, and accompanied them the rest of the way to paradise and beyond in a relatively uneventful end (aside from us getting chomped by a WM in the snow, oops!!  I need to start just leading reddies over to the left side of that area...). Gilorien and I messaged each other after our "companions meet along the way" screen and thanked each other for the wonderful company, but Gilorien also asked if we could perhaps resume our Journey from the Snow level until the end.  I was happy to oblige, and we proceeded to right away go for the backstage entrance at the beginning of the snow level.  Lucky for me, I'm actually familiar with this OOB entrance, and the "trick" of returning to the beginning entrance to "re-warm" your scarf, so I wasn't super confused by that part and managed to get up there just fine after a try or two.  I'm actually also familiar with the other (easy) OOB entrance near the wall painting as well, which was nice. Gilorien showed me a great many fun things in the snow level backstage, including a very interesting steep and tall "wedge" of snow in the middle of nowhere that looked quite beautiful, as well as a flying WM to play around with.  When we got back into the stage proper, I took the lead and rushed over to the lantern room excitedly, my favorite place in the entire game.  I don't think I really need to ask Gilorien, I'm sure my love for this room came through clearly through my actions, as this was one of the few times I took the lead, and I chirped more excitedly than ever, followed by a lingering meditation session, and than a final large shout after leaving and turning back to the room. I write this pretty much every time I go out of bounds with a traveler, but seeing the mountain in the snow level from out of bounds is always quite something.  I always get the feeling of "I wonder if I can really MAKE it this time".  Every time we are out of bounds it feels like we are approaching the mountain from a different vantage (though I'm sure maybe it is just the same way and I just forgot), and it really does seem really close, almost within reach sometimes.  But alas, the death march must still happen one way or another, and we dropped down into it as soon as we flew close enough. Paradise was a really unique experience this time around.  I don't think I have ever felt so =free= and happy to be in Paradise.  That is because while I think Paradise is a beautiful level with amazing music and great colors and everything, it's also the level where you can travel the fastest and farthest, and therefore the easiest level in which to quickly lose track of your companion. But for this time, I had Gilorien with me, and I trusted them to be my watchful "chaperone" of sorts through paradise -- I knew that even if I flew quickly, they had more than enough skill to keep up with me and keep track of me, as well as the patience to follow me even if I went meandering off into random places or acted like I didn't know what I was doing.  And I think that let me really feel a unique sort of joy and "freedom" in the way that I played in Paradise.  Here too I felt a bit less reserved to take the lead if I felt like I wanted to fly somewhere, or see something, or play with the whales, or whatever.  Of course, Gilorien also showed me a number of really neat things, including a very very very epic sit-and-slide meditation drop.  Wow!!!  I have done a meditation slide before in Paradise, maybe it was this one too, but I certainly don't remember it being so epic.  That was a lot of fun!  We went OOB here too, to see some various things, meandered about and frolicked, and finally went up to the final walk to the light. I felt that drawing a heart here would be too cliche, and felt a bit "cheap" because Gilorien was more of a special companion for me.  Besides, they mentioned they had already drawn a heart for me when they were alone in paradise (<3).  So we zigzagged our way across the chalky sand, and I spontaneously made up a small "red light, green light" game before we approached the final walk into the light -- where Gilorien showed me you could wiggle your way into the light backwards!  Haha, a fun Journey right until the very end... What a wonderful time!  I consider myself so lucky to have met you on the sands Gilorien.  Thanks for a great Journey-versary :)