#but yeah kat and i joined some servers

[salemsimss]

a new bombshell enters the ship

and thanks to seph [@literalite], i have now got back into among us since they encouraged me to redownload the game

@wildmeadowsims look at us being iconic, even moments before disaster

[clonerightsagenda]

while we're on the topic of social media

Gill Hm Concept: FMA character most likely to be a Twitch streamer Kat hohenheim is a twitch streamer he's if twitch plays pokemon was a father in a more general setting probably that one younger guy whose specialty is radios though, he seems like the Tech Dude Gill Fuery? I could see that For some reason my mind kept going back to Ed discovering redstone building in Minecraft and vanishing off the face of the Earth for a month Kat yeah that tracks but idk if anyone else would want to watch a live stream of that maybe tune in occasionally for videos of whatever atrocities unto god this kid managed to do in minecraft this time honestly my grasp of minecraft was 'caves cool', idk how people are doing mystical rituals in there Gill Ed drops highlight reels once every quarter of whatever nonsense he’s managed to do and then if you want to watch his process it is all archived on Twitch in excruciating detail Al makes fun mob farms and then occasionally he and Ed set each other’s stuff on fire for fun Fuery regrets inviting them to his server Kat I would watch a livestream of Alphonse just to bask in his presence as he pets cats in video games Gill Al takes up coding just to make mods so You Can Pet The Cats Ed attempted Fortnite once but kept getting no-scoped out of nowhere by some rando Maybe don’t make your handle Actual_Fullmetal_Alchemist if you don’t want that kind of attention in-game my dude Kat Amestris blue checkmarks…………. Gill Good way for Scar and also internet trolls to ID targets Kat Father: where did my bitcoin go. Greed:

Gill Of course Of course Father would be into crypto He makes an NFT of the big transmutation circle, also

Kat Re your fma twitch stream concept “The presidents 10 year old headshot me in overwatch and then called me a slur” Gill Ed making a call-out video for Selim over his use of slurs in League of Legends’ voicechat Kat New gamergate Greed: I spent five years curating my beautiful animal crossing village and then my terrible brother broke my hard drive Gill Speaking of animal crossing: it may not be Raymond that Greed gets possessive over but he definitely gets Weird over other people having his favorite villagers in their towns Also: do not discuss shiny Pokémon hunting with this man Kat Ed and Al the incredibly aggressive Pokémon go players Summer 2016 the last peace and joy I knew in my life Gill Ed, about to trespass on government property: This Blastoise better have good IVs. Kat Fights church gyms just to put Pokémon with sacrilegious names in them Gill Ed is the guy nicknaming all his Pokémon “HAIL SATAN” and is part of why gyms stopped displaying Pokémon nicknames Kat Al posts a video on which games you can pet cats in and Scar accidentally likes it Ed: Isn't that the guy who commented 'GOD WILL PUNISH YOU' on my redstone video Al: idk guess he has good taste Gill Alphonse is not personally affiliated with the violent state apparatus and Scar is surprisingly consistent about the ethics of his vengeance quest What can we say Kat Roy is one of those army recruiters going after kids on twitch streams…. they made him do it because he's the youngest Gill Roy, running the Official Amestrian Military Twitch: how do you do, fellow kids. If you have any questions about joining the service let me know! Ed, maybe: hey what’s up, what’s your favorite war crime you’ve committed Kat Roy : the one you will commit for me after I hire you Al: you have to admit he's good Gill Roy’s the one dude they’ve got who can hold his own in an Internet flame war /ba dum tiss Kat lmao commenter: post another video Roy: wow I'm popular commenter: I want to see more of that hot blonde who walked by in the background Roy: hey Gill Ah yes another addition to the “chat inexplicably fascinated by streamer’s partner/roommate/colleague” club Congrats Riza Kat Roy: I get more hits if you're in the videos Riza: I said I would follow you into hell not into tiktok Gill The line must be drawn somewhere Roy Kat Ed gets cancelled by half the internet for disrespecting the troops, reveals his military credentials, gets cancelled by the other half of the internet Gill Why do I still see him trying to take all this with a Knife Cat-meme-type attitude Ah yes. He totally planned for all of this. He has definitely not been owned Kat awful teen Gill Ed: The Internet is great actually, even when you catch shit it means next to nothing in the real world And then he gets doxxed a week later Kat this is what you get for joining the military Ed people keep linking him to a reddit thread tracking Hohenheim as some kind of cryptid Gill Ed like “stop sending me this. That bastard was the one to walk out on us, I’m not about to go chasing after him” Meanwhile Al keeps tabs on the sightings just in case he needs to be braced for a surprise father/son confrontation

[isabellehemlock]

Hi Kat! Popping in to request some top fives, please <3

(If you're up for sharing) how about the top five things that always make you smile? Aaaand top five cursed images 👀

(Intrigued to know if Pwimo will make it onto both lists lollll.)

Aw hi Sarah! Thank you so much for sending this one! I love playing the glad game and can easily go on a tangent, so let's see if I can even limit it to five things that make me smile (which, fun fact, isn't all that hard to do - I've even been told I smile too much so yeah, doesn't take a lot lol).

(This got long - that's what she said - so I put it under the cut)

1. Hubby

It's a long running joke that I married Mr. Darcy, in what appears to be a sort of sunshine meets (seemingly) grumpy, but it's all a facade lol. He's so funny! And I remember once, when we first got together (almost 18 years ago!), a family member politely asked uh, what it is about him that drew me in, and I replied that he makes me laugh so much! And she said, "but he never talks?" And I just laughed harder because like, sure maybe not to others - but for me, he makes not only jokes, but sound effect noises, and accents, and I never know when. Can just be in the living room and suddenly it's like Black Pete walked in lol.

He also makes me smile in many other ways, too - like he's the first person to ever kiss my hand, and all my princess dreams were fulfilled. He was the first person to just accept my sexuality (even before I ever knew the term asexual, much less the spectrum of it - though maybe him being the same is what helped us both go "you, too?!" Yeah it just felt so nice not to deal with - what I later learned was aphobia - and just get to be). So basically, yeah, he was the first healthy, mutually equal relationship I ever had, and he helped me better understand the minds of introverts, too. He is my biggest supporter, even patiently listens to me sharing server stories or Pwimo memes and never in a patronizing way - though sometimes he looks like this:

I love him your honor

2. Kiddos

Both my children are my rainbow babies after loss, and I'm so blessed and honored that I get to be their mother. It is my job to love them, not theirs to love me, but they bring me so much joy and laughter simply by being them. There are several videos of us just hamming it up, dancing, singing, dramatic play - and I hope I never take the gift of their presence in my life for granted. The relationships naturally shift and evolve as they reach different milestones, but I do hope that even as adults they will want to continue to spend time with us because I'm excited to see how their personalities and experiences will further shape them into (hopefully) down to Earth, kind, people who want to pay it forward.

3. Chatting with people

I'm an extrovert, ESFP, words of affirmations gal - like gosh gimme all the people. It's my serotonin boost - it fills me up to converse with people. So much so that on long days with apps and errands and lots of driving, I'll timeblock social media time to get a boost in between them, because yeah, it always works! Seriously, on days when I'm stuck in bed, being able to stay in touch with people has genuinly shifted my general apphrension about the encroaching winter months. It's no lie that I essentially look like this when I get notifications:

I'm very appreciative of the fact that I have local friends and family I get to see monthly, and seasonally of course, but yeah my brain loves being connected with people more often than that, so social media/online is a great tool for me ❤️

4. Memes

Absolutely no shock to anyone who has talked to me even twice - I adore me some reaction memes and gifs (like even before I joined discord, I'd use them liberally in my text communication as well) - there's a limit to how much can be conveyed in text based conversations and my brain tends to read very literally so I love adding gifs/memes and emotes to help convey my sentiments and I appreciate the same back (or tone indicators if someone is being sarcastic). I have several albums/categories on my phone, divided by theme, hundreds if not thousands, and unless I know someone has a sensory/visual limit (certainly don't want to make it harder for anyone to communicate with me!) I tend to use them fairly liberally.

5. Knowing I brought a smile to someone else ❤️

And top five cursed images?? Now, do you want some from my cursed children galleries:

Or some I've only shared with a select few for extra cackles? Or from the cursed emote server where I made some for Pwimo's birthday back in May?

Let me know in DMs bc one or two I'd have no idea how to tag and don't want to get reported lol

[shiningstages]

𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐔𝐍

NAME : Kitkatty / Kit / Kat

PRONOUNS : She/her!

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION : Discord is the best way, though I only give it out to close friends on here! I respond to Tumblr DMs whenever I go to either of my blogs, so that's usually fine too!

MOST ACTIVE MUSE : *looks at me doing two Atlas replies before remembering I had this to do* ummmmmmmm yes. Atlas OC-Wise is just...So fun to write, but also so easy to just pop off a lil rn? I have really big Seele brainrot rn as well, so for now she'd be high on the list; Vane and Amethyst are usually up their choices as well. Issac, Minori, Tsukasa are also pretty high...Yeah!!

EXPERIENCE / HOW MANY YEARS : Technically...August 2011. All of my experience is on Tumblr (though i did a bit of twit rp before it gave me anxiety and i yeeted it into the sun), but I first started out on anon and met a few really nice people (i've been...extremely lucky online, i know this; thank you to most of my past and all of the current people i know). Though I have recently joined a discord rp server made by a couple friends, and that also has been a blast; and I've done it on/off with a couple others as well.

BEST EXPERIENCE : ...It's kind of hard to pick a "best" experience, only because I have genuinely had so many amazing times on here. When my friend gbf server was a bunch of muns talking and rping and having fun; and the ptn server after that; and now this hsr rp server has been an absolute joy that I'm so glad to be a part of. There have been a couple months each year when somehow I just laugh so much and get so giddy and have the best time of my life. There's lil jokes and reaction images I still remember making; pinned messages I lovingly can't live down; connections I've made that I cherish so much. Again, I wanna say that I've been so lucky to have mostly been surrounded by such good people, and for making all my places online a joy to be in! Without you all, who knows where we'd all be now, you know!

RP PET PEEVE : I'm like..........Really bad at thinking of these now gfhgfhgfxjfhghf I guess not necessarily a pet peeve, but when I hear from friends of people in the rpc that do?? Harrass / harm people?? Like what is that for???????? It's the thought of "what compels a person to be so mean??" and it makes me a lil anxious and boils me like a lobster, especially when it's stuff directed at people I care about. When it just continues for forever too; when it's just hateful stuff, the block button is there for a reason and I have no problem using it; they should just use it and stop wasting their own time on any of these things.

PLOTS OR MEMES : I'm always willing to do both, but memes are v versatile..........Sending random stuff through asks that pops into my head is also fun too; but I only do that with like Wars / Charlie / Serin. The Besties (tm).

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES : Honestly I just. Write hjgghfghgcfgkhfg. I'm very much a "I'm only writing if I have the energy for it" woman nowadays, but it can be matched length, a lil longer, or "oops I wrote a novella again~" So...I'm so sorry for everyone that deals with all of it ghgjgfhgfxjchfgjxchf

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSES : I feel like at first I definitely picked up muses when I could relate to their struggles on a ground level, but nowadays it's more...That, combined with "do I really like this character? Probably gonna become a muse at some point". I also feel like I'm not like any of my muses, at least not as much anymore? Someone could prove me wrong though.

Tagged by: @shackld ( thank you hun~ )

Tagging: you!!!!!!!!!! reading this!!!!!!!!!!!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!

[hannahsmithyen]

Affordances and Sociality in RuneScape

An academic blog post written for a module exploring gaming, during my anthropology degree.

RuneScape is a massively multiplayer online role playing game set in a medieval fantasy world. New players name and customise an avatar to represent them in-game. There are a variety of activities on offer: players can engage in combat, mine, steal, cook, fish, pray, and trade, among many other options. Interaction with other players is possible by clicking on them (for options including trading and duelling) or speaking to them in public/private chat channels. It is both collaborative and competitive. I played mostly by myself but at times my brother, who played it years ago, joined me (both in-person and in-game).

The game begins in a tutorial area that teaches you some of the mechanics of the game through directing you to complete actions. You learn how to mine, cook, fish, light fires, and engage in combat, as well as basic avatar and camera movement. After this, you are directed to leave the tutorial area and embark upon your first quest, in which you receive the base weapons of the game. RuneScape gave me the distinct impression that a more combat-focused playstyle was meant to be the ‘right’ way to play, in that game prompts directed me to complete combat challenges first and complete combat-based quests – until I checked the wiki, I was not fully sure whether there were non-combat quests. I completed some of the initial quests but soon decided to focus on exploring the other ways to play as I found the combat sluggish and dull, and the movement system unresponsive and slow. My brother had played RuneScape years ago and he told me he followed a similar path in that soon after joining he decided that it would be more interesting to see how wealthy he would be able to become in-game rather than focus on levelling up combat skills. I predominantly focused on trading at the Grand Exchange and crafting-related activities. 

I found that, for an MMO, RuneScape was in some respects curiously un-social. For example, an affordance such as automated trading via the Grand Exchange greatly lessens the need to directly trade between players (which requires some level of social interaction) simply because it is more convenient, and it is possible to get better prices for your goods as the price does not have to be filtered through the lens of social relations. This arguably negatively affects RuneScape’s social community as trading between players is often considered important for the establishment and maintenance of social bonds, and this loss can represent a push towards solo play over social play (Crenshaw & Nardi 2016). 

Throughout my time playing, I received one request to trade from another player, and it was quickly cancelled as presumably they had only mistakenly clicked that option. Every other transaction I engaged in went through the Grand Exchange – you list items, set a price, then continue about your day until an unnamed player buys your item. It is possible to play for hours without speaking to a single person or witnessing a single public conversation. Furthermore, while I’m sure that with time I would be able to differentiate between NPCs and player avatars on sight, the fact that they are not labelled distinctly contributed to the somewhat deserted atmosphere of the world as it meant everyone appeared on first glance to be an NPC. This was in part due to the fact that my server was quite empty, as the below conversation illustrates (usernames changed for anonymity).

kats: Omg what happened to world 108, only 170 people?

smj: I think you mean what happened to rs

kats: Yeah well, you"re not wrong but, still aha

smj : Does anyone actually play this legitimately f2p?

kats: Hey, I'm guilty right now lol

smj : Just out of bonds or?

kats: I don't play enough to get membership tbh

smj : Yeah fair enough

kats: Wbu? Just ran out of bonds?

smj : Na cbf after I compd, mems ran out like yesterday

smj : No more goals

kats: :( maybe play some old school runescape

smj : Dont think I could go through ita ll again haha, otherwise i would

kats: Im exactly the same hey

smj : Anyway got a queue pop on cs, cya later

kats: Okay,cya later

The lack of players is viewed by both as a RuneScape-wide problem. This conversation brings up multiple affordances – the ability to buy membership, the split into different worlds, and the non-transferability of accounts between RuneScape and Old School RuneScape (OSRS). OSRS was originally an exact copy of the 2007 version of RuneScape, but has since differentiated itself through engine improvements and added content. It has over twice the active players of RuneScape (Anon 2018). OSRS is a modernised version of past Runescape, but that past is rendered inaccessible to either player unless they choose to abandon their avatar’s life history and start anew. In a sense, they are caught in an endless present – neither seem to see much of a future in RuneScape (as neither of them feel it is worth it to buy membership again, though they continue to play) but they are unable to revisit the ‘past’ by continuing their existing RuneScape life in OSRS.

The reason that 'smj’ brings up playing RuneScape ‘f2p’, free-to-play, is because RuneScape worlds are restricted by membership status and I was playing on a non-member world, which requires no fee. There are currently more member worlds than non-member and players must therefore pay to access the wider social community. Presumably the more committed players will buy membership, meaning that the free-to-play areas are more akin to stepping stones to a greater commitment and a more permanent community, rather than fully realised worlds unto themselves. For an MMO, sociality is an essential part of what ties players to the game (Taylor 2006), and so the quiet, empty, F2P world creates a play experience that is fundamentally more transient and less consequential. This is perhaps supported by the fact that 'smj’ leaves the conversation to play ‘cs’ (from context I assume this is Counterstrike: Global Offensive, though I cannot be sure) indicating that RuneScape occupies a less important place in their life.

An additional affordance related to membership is the existence of items (often awarded as prizes) that can only be used in members-only worlds. These function as a frequent reminder of non-member status and of the in-game benefits of membership, continually underscoring the experience of play with the knowledge that becoming a member would make it even better. The items take up space within the inventory and cannot be sold or banked, only destroyed. This was incredibly frustrating to experience – it means that non-paying players are forced by the game to specifically choose to destroy valuable items, turning them into active participants in the enactment of their own non-member status. 

This frustration continued with the realisation that there are level caps for certain skills in the F2P worlds. The format of the free game with paid memberships essentially creates “one game, two experiences” (Lin & Sun 2011:276) where poorer players will always be at a disadvantage, and at times it felt as if RuneScape was essentially punishing me for choosing not to buy membership. The continual, assertive emphasis on purchasing membership represents the invasion of the market and material interests into the game, and therefore the blurring of the boundaries between the ‘real world’ and the limited space that characterises play (Huizinga 1970). This damages immersion into the online world and arguably lessens enjoyment of RuneScape.

With regards to the affordances for learning, RuneScape’s tutorial and in-game prompts offered very little guidance on massively important aspects of the game such as switching between servers, navigating the landscape, interacting with other players, and trading. I was not aware that it was even possible to play different worlds until I had written most of this post. While this might be argued to be a way to push new players to ask others for help and thus to encourage the formation of social relationships, because of the low player population on the server this meant that in practice the early periods of gameplay were simply confusing. When I mentioned this to my brother, he replied, “Oh yeah, you kind of just have to figure it out. It’s not an intuitive game.” 

If there is no longer any real community in the F2P sections of RuneScape to implicitly relay social rules to new players, the informational gaps in the tutorial phase and the lack of actively pro-social affordances within the game are exposed. It is difficult for a new player to internalise and acculturate themselves into the social world of RuneScape with neither a player community to observe and imitate, nor affordances that specifically promote the game’s forms of sociality.

Bibliography

Crenshaw, N. & Nardi, B., 2016. ‘It Was More than Just the Game, It Was the Community’: Social Affordances in Online Games. 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, pp. 3781-3790.

Lin, H. & Sun, C., 2011. Cash Trade in Free-to-Play Online Games. Games and Culture, 6(3), pp. 270-287.

Huizinga, J., 1970. Nature and Significance of Play as a Cultural Phenomenon. In: Homo Ludens: a study of the play element in culture¸ pp. 1-27. London:Maurice Temple Smith Ltd.

Taylor, T. L., 2006. Play Between Worlds: Exploring Online Game Culture. Cambridge:MIT Press.

[katara0524]

Impromptu Ramblings about the NEO:TWEWY Demo

In case y'all weren't aware, I've been a pretty big fan of TWEWY for a couple years now, and with the sequel coming out next month, the excitement I feel for this game is greater than ever :) I played the Demo for the first time yesterday, and following a couple views of some livestreams of others playing it, I felt like sharing my (very ramble-y) thoughts prior to the release of the full game. This post WILL contain spoilers for both TWEWY and NEO:TWEWY, so if you want to avoid those from now on, please block the tags: #twewy spoilers, #ntwewy spoilers, #neo twewy spoilers, #ntwewy, and #neo twewy ^_^ Oh, and if you wanna keep up with any other posts I make about my experience with this game, please refer to the tag "kat plays neo twewy" :)

-First things first: I have not watched the Final Trailer and I don't plan on doing so to avoid spoilers, especially after the pre-release era of KH3 where a lot of the later trailers spoiled a lot of the endgame content. That being said, I've seen some minor screenshots from the final trailer including what many believe to be characters from the original TWEWY, namely Shiki and Joshua. That is all I know about the Final Trailer and I would very much like to remain as blind as possible going into NEO :)

-The very first cutscene was quite ominous in the sense that this game is likely going to be about "changing fate" (a recently common theme in Squeenix games, which I do appreciate), perhaps leading off from the end of A New Day in the OG and trying to stop an Inversion of Shibuya. Also worth noting that A New Day had similar aspects in which the main character experienced "future visions" of tragic events, although in A New Day these events were not able to be changed, while in NEO it seems like one of the main "powers" our protagonist has is specifically to rewrite these events and avoid a "bad ending." Very interesting indeed!

-I really like the revamped comic book style dialogue scenes, it's much more fluid and modern, which is an excellent direction for the series to take!

-I would love to have an actual PokemonGO knockoff of Final Fantasy creatures, please Squeenix that would be incredibleeeeee

-Also the LINE stickers??? Are so cute???

-I would just like to point out that Fret is an absolute treasure throughout this entire demo, he's hilarious and I will protect him with my life

-UHHHH don't like that Fret picked up some Reaper Pins just out of nowhere.....or the fact that they're apparently popular all over Shibuya.............did y'all not learn anything from the OG game or what lmao

-Okay so when I first got the "curry or ramen" scene and heard NPCs talking about the new curry place replacing the old ramen place I became IMMENSELY distressed that Ramen Don was totally cut from the game because....well, Ramen Don is a King okay?? But I'm glad to learn that no, he didn't fall off the face of the earth, he's still in business and he's the one opening the curry restaurant lolol. PHEW, crisis averted!

-.....I don't like the sudden appearance of a Wall Reaper and being able to read NPC thoughts. Wtf happened when they left the ramen place??? Are they playing the Game alive somehow?

-Okay so I have my own theories about this "Swallow" character and what they're up to but considering this is only the Demo and I still Have No Idea What's Happening, I'm just gonna say that I think Swallow intentionally led Rindo and Fret to the Crossing so they could join the Game. I mean, add in the fact that Swallow still communicates with Rindo during the Game and you've got yourself a suspicious character right there lol

-"Hey they're shooting off fireworks!" Fret honey that's not fireworks oof (see also: "*laughs* I'm in danger")

-WOOOOOO way to traumatize Rindo right off the bat like that LMAOO

-The visuals for the intro are VERY GOOD, the song is pretty decent until it gets all "screamo" (which I absolutely cannot stand sorry lol)

-Shoka is every Customer Service employee ever and I respect that

-Susukichi went from being "meh" to "WOW THIS GUY IS FUN" in the span of 10 seconds and I also respect that (he is also built like an Absolute Unit which is hilarious)

-The Wall Reapers (and just Reapers in general) seem.....way nicer and more helpful this time around?? Like in the OG the Wall Reapers were SO RUDE gfhjgjdfkhn and yeah I'm sure we'll get some like that but the juxtaposition of the first Wall Reaper in the OG compared to the first one in NEO is insane.

-The puzzles are quite a bit more entertaining this time around even if it's generally the same "fetch quest" formula lol

-"Rindo's Group" way to go Fret HFKJDGHSDFKJ mans really left the default name in there lmao

-OKAYOKAYOKAY so to those who aren't aware I am a MASSIVE SIMP for Sho Minamimoto, he's my absolute favorite and I think about him daily. HIS INTRODUCTION IS. INCREDIBLE. I LOVE IT SM.

-GOD hearing him actually SPEAK FULL SENTENCES is just SO SURREAL I love this sm

-Also the remix of his theme???? NEO TRANSFORMATION????? IT'S SO GOOD????????? It's like gone from a Boss Theme to a more triumphant sounding theme and I am HERE for it (every version of Transformation is just INCREDIBLE and getting a new one is even better)

-I Love Him, Your Honor

-Also idk how exactly but it's kinda weird seeing Sho in the OG vs NEO, cuz while he's mostly the same Insane Math-Obsessed Catboy, he's.....calmed down quite a bit?? Like OG made a whole point of how poorly he cooperates with others (not to mention just being completely unhinged and trying to kill everyone), whereas here in NEO he's......actually kinda working with others??? HELLO???? Sir what happened to you and Neku during those 3 years I would love to know all about it

-I guarantee you Sho is still probably scheming shite and will likely pull some total insane BS later down the road, and I am very much looking forward to that. Also, is he looking for a certain Pin or something??? Cuz he keeps talking about different Pins and even mentions "this is just another Psych Pin" like he's actively looking for a Pin to do something with. Maybe it also has to do with the "latent powers of Players" thing he mentioned as well??? What is this dude UP TO oml (also is he in contact with Neku at all?? they're both technically fugitives at this point right?? WHAT HAPPENED AFTER A NEW DAY I AM BEGGING YOU)

-I seems like Sho ALSO has an idea of what's going on in this specific game (even if he won't admit it straightforward). Per his quote "The game's 142,857. Factor it out," he's essentially saying, "This game is a neverending cyle, figure out how to get out of it" (or at least that's what I got from his "cyclic number" nonsense lolol)

-I do like how Sho mostly stays out of sight until he's needed for a battle or assisting with a mission, that's kind of on par with his whole "uncooperative" quirk from the OG, plus he might literally have to stay out of sight of other Reapers and Players considering he's likely breaking the rules of the Game (not surprising considering him and Neku broke practically every rule in the book during OG)

-The nicknames for Sho- I can't- They're so FUNNYYYY GFHJSDFKJ

-He goes from being called "Pi-Face" and "Tabooty" in OG to "Mr. Minami" and "M-Teezy" in NEO LMAOO

-(Wowee I just realized I've been mostly talking about Sho oopsies sorry y'all, this is what I meant by thinking about him almost daily he is THAT much of a fav of mine ghfkjsd)

-Okay RIP Fret and Rindo for not getting literally ANY explanation as to how the Game works OOF, that is kinda cringe that whoever gets the Pin earns points, not whoever erases the Noise (which like I understand but also URRRGGHHH I WANNA SEE THE SQUAD SUCCEED)

-"I should be going home now it's getting late" Oh you sweet summer child-

-Also love the mention of parents in this game???? KH you could learn a thing or two from TWEWY (poor Rindo's mom fhgjkdh)

-KUBO IS HILARIOUS I SUPPORT HIM AND HIS GROSS FACE (also thank you Final Trailer thumbnail for spoiling my suspicions about him very cool smh)

-Kaie is a LAD I also support him, go King type those funky texts I believe in you

-FRET PLS STOP SCANNING FHGJKSDHKJFGHFKJ he's like me when I scan in OG during Weeks 2 and 3 and see Taboo Noise coming after me ghfjdshfj

-Also Rindo can you stay off your phone for TWO SECONDS ik you're trying to figure things out but Fret is a jelly boi and I don't want him to be upset with you my guy

-Sho being an actual sorta mentor to the kiddos?? Who are you sir this is so unlike you ghfgskj what happened to the guy who tried shooting children in the face 8 times over LMAO (granted he's probably just using them but it's still nice to see him actually cooperating and sharing knowledge with the kiddos aaaaa)

-EYO EIJI OJI THE TIKTOK INFLUENCER IS BACK LMAO

-hgjkfshgkjf "we aren't glorifying capitalism on my watch" THATS SO FUNNY TO ME GFHJFSDGHJKS (also an all-orange ensemble is disgusting you deserve jail for one thousand years fkn Cheddar Goldfish Cheezit ass woman)

-WICKED TWISTERS NAME DROP EYOOO we love to see it

-gfhsgjf Poor Rindo embarassing himself for the sake of the Game that's incredible

-R e t u r n t o M O N K E. That is all.

-Dialogue during boss battles is HELLA cool i love that

-HHHHH THE KANON SCENE MADE ME A N G E R Y FRET STOP SIMPING MY GUY says the girl with a Literal Simp Encyclopedia and simps for pixels on a screen daily

-Can't wait to see the other Reapers :eyes emoji:

-CAN'T WAIT TO SEE NAGI MY BELOVED YEAHHHH WOOOOOO AAAAND that's about it for the demo lolol, I absolutely CANNOT wait for next month, this game is gonna be INCREDIBLE holy hell Prepare for more simping, more screaming, and more vibing from Yours Truly :) I fully intend on sharing more general thoughts like this on both Tumblr and Twitter so it's not just reblog-retweet-reblog-retweet with the occasional comment fhgskjd

If you wanna witness my insanity up close and personal I have a Square Enix Discord server called Sea Side Dreamers! You can look it up on Disboard, or you can add me on Discord @Katara0524#9244 for a direct link :) We have topics about Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, NieR, and ofc TWEWY (as well as other topics!), so if you want some good ol' chaos and chitchat, you're more than welcome to join!

[darkestwolfx]

Home on the Range - Re-Review #47

Just a quick note to say, I know I am super behind on replying to everyone! I will aim to go and do that now! Thank you all so so much though, I really do appreciate it. Hopefully work will slow down in a bit and I can be a little more active here.

Anyhow, let’s move onto how awesome this little house is!

Of course International Rescue have a training zone. The Gecko Gloves sound pretty useful as well. Gordon could have done with them in ‘Weather or Not’.

“Maybe I should take the lead for a change?”

“Actually, that’s not a bad idea.”

“Hey- What are you doing? That’s not what I had in mind!”

“Me next!”

Of course they’re the sort of brother’s that work together to throw each other around. That little look between Scott and Virgil was priceless. They really are a dream team.

“MAX, go and shake things up a little bit.”

Key word there MAX being “little”, not deathly. Seriously, you nearly took out three brothers!

“I can’t! He’s out of control!”

And that is the harbinger of doom for this episode.

Virgil saving Scott like a good brother.

And I love how Gordon somehow managed to make it all the way to the top!

Also, maneuver 17? We haven’t heard of it before, but they know what it means, and good for it too or we might have been spending a full twenty-two minutes looking at this wall of death.

“What a lovely place! I can see why you come here every year.”

“Nice hof your Father, to build this little ‘ome haway from ‘ome.”

A perfect sentence to give to Parker.

“Actually the Ranch belonged to the boys Mother. It’s been in her family for generations.”

A hint of Lucille! How lovely.

You know when you turn the TV on and you’re sorely disappointed? Yeah, Gordon was the epitome of that!

“Uhh, it’s her again! How many times do they have to play this thing?”

Her being Kat Cavanough - reporter from ‘Falling Skies’.

And more hints of Lucille!

“Do you remember when Mom used to take us all horseback riding?”

“Especially when Gordon was facing the wrong way. I think there’s a picture here somewhere.”

“I don’t really have much to add to the conversation.”

This is such a sweet moment! Of course Alan is younger and doesn’t have the same memories. Must be hard though, to be surrounded by brother’s who can have a conversation you can’t join in with.

Alan going out to watch Shadows take off was adorable! I mean, this episode really felt like they were trying to push Kayo and Alan, but then... I don’t really know what happened with TAG love interest story lines, save Penelope and Gordon.

“Sherbet, wait here and... guard FAB One.”

I love how the guarding idea was an afterthought, but Bertie takes it seriously! Parker and Lady Penelope having hard hats as well was genius.

“Seems hare hintruder ‘as vanished hinto thin hair.”

And sit on a rock Parker... anyone else getting flashbacks to ‘Tunnels of Time’? Just don’t touch anything, Parker. Although he did help them to find Kat! Really, what was she trying to achieve, silly woman.

A full family team up! Here we go.

“Thunderbirds are- Oh come on!”

Best launch ever. Just putting it out there.

P.S. Don’t look so down Scott.

“So, if all our ships are grounded, how are we going to get to the rescue site?”

“Fortunately, we still have some vehicles that are completely self-contained.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me! We’re actually taking Dad’s old hoverbikes?”

“They’re like the oldest things in here.”

“If these get us where we need to go then they’re gonna be our new favourite rides.”

They took a bit of ‘Jeff Tracy Fixing’ but they did actually work!

“Thunderbirds are go.”

Sort of.

It’s the old hoverbikes! The original get-around vehicles of TOS, seen in a great many episodes! They look a bit worse for wear here though, but hey.

“Since EOS isn’t affected by the malfunctions, I’ve downloaded her to a local memory bank.”

John’s coding is superior! That is what this episode teaches us! He really could take over the world...

“Hello John. You’ll be pleased to know all systems on Thunderbird Five are operating normally.”

“That’s a relief. Now, I need you to do a full system sweep. Look for anything unusual in the Z-Band Network.”

“One anomaly detected.”

“Looks like one of the transmitter nodes has been modified.”

Brains telling John to stay put was one of the best calls anyone could have made. They could have really ended up with everything stuck.

Their jet packs work on tech? I thought they were self-contained, but okay, Virgil is the expert and I bow to his superior knowledge.

“You know who I am, don’t you?”

“Yeah I do. And we know what you’ve been saying about us.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t just leave me here to rot.”

“Right now, you’re someone in a tough spot who needs help. Who you are and what you’ve done doesn’t matter.”

Brilliant attitude Scott! Many people struggle to do that.

“The Mechanic! Wait, it could be a holographic drone.”

No such luck.

Parker actually taking apart FAB One! I never thought I’d see the day.

“You’re risking your life to save mine. All of you.”

“You know that’s what we do, right? It’s the Rescue part in International Rescue.”

“Even when I was out to ruin you?”

“I’ll try not to take that personally.”

No one would blame you if you did, Scott. Gordon (and probably Alan) would have if he was down there. And that rockfall must have hurt! It was a really good improvised rescue though considering they couldn’t get their proper equipment there.

“See that wasn’t too bad.”

“Easy for you to say little brother.”

“It’s a glitch in the security log.”

“Someone was covering their tracks!”

“And that someone is still here in the compound. Grandma went looking for Brains. They could both be walking into a trap. I have to warn them!”

“John, wait! Then you might get caught in it as well. Let me try something. There. I now have a subroutine nested in the transmitter room server.”

“Is Brains in the room?”

“Yes, but so is The Mechanic.”

“The Mechanic?”

We really should be worried by how easy that was for EOS (and John) to do.

“You’re trying to build a laser.”

“Not trying. I already have.

EOS’ message was a classic! That little Scooby-Do moment was hilarious.

“Short version, The Mechanic is here.”

Those faces! Well, I suppose that’s equal to or worse in a way than The Hood breaking into Tracy Island. It also means that both of their homes have been broken into. I thought Kayo was meant to be doing all the security stuff.

“Your former employer tried a similar tactic once. It didn’t work out very well for him either.”

This confrontation was one of the best scenes I’ve ever seen.

“You need to work on your intimidation techniques, Grandma.”

“First of all, only family get to call her that. And second, EOS we need to separate the machine from the man.”

“With pleasure.”

John going in with a super back-up plan was completely awesome. EOS is super dangerous. In ‘Earthbreaker’, The Mechanic got the better of her, but she’s definitely evolved in order to be able to put a stop to him in this episode. So, that begs the question, is there anything she cannot overcome? I really loved this episodes use of John and EOS tech, as well as Brains and MAX’s relationship, and the ever continuing Brains and Mechanic battle. Even Grandma got her moments!

“You’re not welcome here.”

“Oh MAX, you’re a hero!”

Question: how did they not realise The Mechanic’s ship was in there?

Moving on.

“If there’s anything you want to know about us, all you’ve got to do is ask.”

“Really? Anything?”

“Well there are somethings we have to keep secret. Otherwise people like The Hood and The Mechanic will use them in bad ways. There may be a lot of mystery around International Rescue, but really we’re just a regular family.”

“Hey, that’s my chair!”

“No it’s not! I was here first.”

Yeah, definitely just a regular family.

“You want to hear a real story? Let me tell you some of the things Gordon says in his sleep.”

“Oh no you don’t!”

“Watch the hair.”

“Come here!”

“Oh, you’re a lot stronger than you look, Fish-boy!”

And you know what, I agree that that’s as good as place to leave it as anything.  This is an absolutely amazing episode, definitely the peak of Series 2.

[catgirlthighhighs]

A serious post. cw abuse, mental health

Context: I posted this as a comment under Katzun’s video where they came out as trans. I highly recommend watching it, but be prepared to have emotions.

At the end of the video, Kat says that they are trans and such, then says “Who are you?” It’s powerful.

This is a response to that.

"Who are you?" I'm me. I.. have been fairly certain that I am trans for almost a year now. I can't believe it's been a year. 

 I started questioning last October. 

I found a subreddit known as r/egg_irl. They have memes about being closeted. It hit me like a truck. 

 I started having mental breakdowns on the bus cause it couldn't be me, what would they say, my dad would kill me. Because people like that were disgusting, a thing to be made fun of, to be ridiculed, a punchline, a tragedy. 

I hated myself for considering it. 

 If I was that way, that would make me gay. I'd always seen myself as not gay. I couldn't be. It wasn't me. 

 I joined the egg_irl discord. And what I found was the first place I'd ever been where you could be whatever you felt like. That these thoughts were okay. I'd had to equivalent to that up until this point.  It was nice. 

I cracked on New Years. It was one of the happiest moments of my life. I told my friends. A few anyways. They were supportive, and it was amazing, for a few months.

Then the virus happened, you know. And my parents found my discord, that used my new name. 

 I should talk about my parents, they aren't great. It took me a long time to realize they were technically abusive. So yeah, that's a thing. My dad's a super conservative bar owner. My stepmom is manipulative. My mom lives a few hundred miles away, and my stepdad's in a home. 

They found my discord, and I was forced to explain the name thing. They thought I did it as an attempt to hide the account from them. 

They were surprised to say the least. My dad immediately spouted some shit about it being society's fault. Stepmom went on about how she wanted me to happy. I expected dad to be the worst, but stepmom has been literal hell. 

I talked to my math teacher, DCF got called, shit went down. I ended up in a Baker Act facility, then residential. Got sent home cause insurance stopped paying. 

I wasn't allowed to speak to that math teacher ever again. Was sent to a catholic school, so I wouldn't be able to see him. I ended up dropping out, cause I couldn't handle it. Been working ever since. 

That discord server has been my savior through all this. I wouldn't have made it. I met some very important people on there. People that have changed my view of the world. People who helped me see what I was subject to was not okay.

 So yeah, I'm not really sure how to end this. I say that like this had structure in the first place. 

I just want to let everyone know this video made me cry. I'll treasure this, I think. 

That's me, a queer, trans, lesbian, autistic person trying to make it. I love you all. 

[If you read this deep, kudos]

[soranihimawari]

Hold me close:

Part 2 of the Kuroo x 1st person reader (1st/fem! point of view. Named her Nekomata, Kat or Shamu for calico cats)

Tag list: @vbcshenaningansnwritings & @kaidasen

Begin here :

My alarm on my phone began to chime at 5a.m. I stifled a yawn as I silenced it. I woke up to two texts on my screen both from Kuroo telling me to sleep well and another for the morning. To say I was amused was not the least bit a lie. I chuckled softly when I pulled my hoodie over my tank top. I remained in my workout leggings from the night before, however I opted to keep my hair down instead of tying it back in a top knot bun. Today was a different day, so perhaps after I sneak back in, Lev would be awake. After the events of yesterday, I think he’d appreciate the gesture of me trying to help him control his aim. I slipped on my sneakers close to the classroom door, careful to not disturb any of my sleeping neighbors. 

I was greeted by the Nekoma captain leaning against the opposite side of the wall dressed as casually as I was. He was quick to take hold of my hand and lead me down the hallway of our campus. In a matter of minutes, we snuck past all of the rooms hosting the different teams during the training camp. We did not speak a word to each other until we were outside the campus gates. Kuroo let go of my hand asking me where we were headed.

“I just wanted to get some peanut m&ms and coffee,” my groggy voice seemed to have been filtered with gravel this morning. “I didn’t want to walk these streets alone.” Kuroo nodded, agreeing with me that these streets were safely lit, but I shouldn’t be walking in the dawn alone. We reached the local 7/11 by our campus where we went aisle by aisle browsing through different products. 

I stopped in front of the coffee machines and hid my tired expression by rubbing the side of my eye. 

“Here, lemme pour that. You seemed tired enough as it is,” Kuroo offered. 

“O-okay. You know, I could do it myself,” I teased. However, he wasn’t having it, to which I laughed off later. He poured one for himself as well. Soon, we exited the store, splitting the bag of candy between us. He noticed I was only eating the the primary color ones first before moving on to the oranges and greens, finishing the bag with the browns.

“Why do you do that?” he asked. I suppose he was entertained by my color-coded pickiness.

“All m&ms are the same milk chocolate. Is there anything wrong with color coding my candy?” I inquired. I began to sip the remainder of my coffee little by little as Kuroo continued walking at my side. The streaks of the morning sun began to filter through the light gray clouds overhead.

“No. It’s just funny is all.”

“Of course it is. How’s the coffee?” 

“It’s fine, Kat. Just like you.”

“Are you attempting to flirt with me right at the sunrise?”

“Maybe. Is that bad?”

I took another swig of my coffee. My cheeks were a bit flushed with color from the hot beverage, but there was an underlying redness to them and I knew it was from his compliment.

“No. Actually, coming from you, I think that was rather sweet.” My lips curled into a childlike smile. He arched his eyebrow at me before choking on his next sip of his coffee. This caused me to burst into maniacal fit of giggles.

“One compliment in for the day and I have already broken her.” Kuroo muttered when he was able to calm down. By 5:25,  we were already back on campus grounds, awaiting the rest of the members of the teams to wake up. Morning practices typically included a jog, so everyone except for the secondary managers and myself stayed behind to begin preparing breakfast for the players.

In the kitchen, I heard the mixer for the scrambled eggs go off as well as the toaster ding every couple of seconds or so. Hitoka was in charge of the eggs while Yukie, the manager from Fukurodani, was in charge of the toast. I, on the other hand, was manning the gas lit stove. I rolled up my sleeves and put on my earbuds. I played jazz selections from the early 40s-late70s while making the rolled egg omelets. We did this for roughly an hour and a half, until the teachers and coaches walked in to see how efficient we were at making breakfast. 

“Yukie, Hitoka, help me out by beginning to fry some of the bacon please on that stove over there,” I instructed, tossing my head back over my shoulder to point to the stove.

“Yes ma’am!” they said in unison.

“That granddaughter of yours is something else,” we heard Takeda-sensei compliment me. Nekomata clasped the young educator by his shoulder.

“Of course she is. Kat leads by example. After all, this isn’t her first training camp with me,” my grandfather stated. 

Around 7:30 all teams had returned from their morning run and began to walk through the kitchen. I made sure Yukie and Hitoka ate before the boys came and wrecked havoc on the simple spread of breakfast items we had laid out for them. I paused my music for a moment before I disappeared back into the kitchen to make myself a plate of over easy eggs and buttered toast. I took my plate and wandered off to the back of the kitchen to sit on one of the steps. I placed my earphones back in once the volume of the chatter were echoing, just this once, I would like my peace to eat alone. A morning spent with John Coltrane’s Giant Steps was a morning well spent, in my opinion. I stifled another yawn as I raised my arms above my head in an attempt to stretch. I overheard the coaches instructing their players which drills they were going to be practicing with through the lowered volume of my headphones. 

“Just enough time in between drills to start on lunch,” I said softly to myself. I checked the time of my phone and noticed I had about another thirty minutes or so before I had my one on one lessons with Lev. I pulled myself up off my make shift dining area and went back into the kitchen. I paused my music and disconnected my headphones in order to place them back in my shared room with the other managers. Those who went on the morning runs with their teams volunteered to do the dishes this time since the work was needed to be evenly balanced. I thanked the girls for their help while I walked back to our room to freshen up a bit more (i could tell I smelled like the meal I cooked for the boys, so a quick rinse was in order for me before I went to gym 3 sporting just my gray sports bra and magenta dry fit capris [with my sneakers on again]). 

I had arrived at gym 3 a couple of minutes late to see Lev, Yaku, Bokuto, and Kuroo taking turns practicing spikes. Bokuto spotted me out of the corner of his eye and he nudged Kuroo with his elbow. 

“What the hell Bo, that hu--Oh,” Kuroo said when he saw me standing there half clad ready to get work done. His blush was not very concealed when Lev and Yaku looked at their captain with knowing grins.

“Neko-senpai looks amazing,” Lev whispered into Kuroo’s ear. Yaku almost roundhouse kicked him, but he didn’t when Kuroo collected his thoughts into a solemn, “Yeah,” which Bokuto heard. 

Bokuto wasn’t as dense or as thick headed as every one seemed to me

“Hey hey hey! Kat’s here!” Bokuto exclaimed jogging up to me. His gray and white hair bounced along as he ran, which caused me to chuckle. “You’re going to join us?”

“Hey yourself Bo,” I said walking in. He picked me up in a hug and twirled me around before placing me back down on the gym floor. This caused me to see Kuroo’s nostrils flare in a small fit of jealousy. Yes, I may have known Kuroo for a short period of school time, but Bokuto and I were close in elementary school before splitting up to different junior high and high schools. We remained in contact over the years especially since volleyball was the one thing that brought our friendship together (that and gramps had a close friendship with the Fukurodani coach).

“Morning guys. Bo, you had your fun, but I’m actually here for Lev,” I said bending down to pick up a few of the strewn volleyballs. I nodded toward where the tall string bean first year stood. “C’mon, let’s use the other court set up for spike practice. Have fun boys.”

Lev followed behind me with a few more volleyballs in his hands and he placed them on the floor behind one of the serving boundary lines. His other companions were starting up a receiving drill (usually comprised of one setter and spiker duo and a solo player on the othrer side, typically a libero).

“Alright Lev,” I began bouncing one of the royal blue and canary yellow spheres on the floor. “I’m going to have you stand on the opposite side of the net and I want you to watch me as I serve. I’m going to need you to try and either one, let it go out of bounds or two, receive it. Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be, senpai,” Lev said with a shrug. I smiled with glee. This child wouldn’t know what hit him. I thought. Maybe I should hold back? Nah, my inner voice snickered. This is for the benefit of the team if he’s going to learn today...

I gave the ball a solid bounce before I walked behind the server’s line and tossed the ball high in the air. The split second the ball reached the appropriate height for me I leaped into the air and with another loud crack sprouting from my left palm,the ball whirred past Lev’s tall stature. I landed on my feet with a proud smile when I saw where the ball landed, it was inside the lines of the court, meaning that in an official match, I had scored a service ace. Gramps always taught me to try to aim for the spot none of the other players were thinking the ball would go. 

The others stopped for a moment in the middle of their own self practice long enough to witness the magic that just occurred. I guess I was able to shock them into a renowned silence. Honestly,because I had other interests than volleyball, maybe they thought I didn’t know how to play? However, there was no time to waste, so I bent down to pick up another ball to send over the net.

“Don’t tell me you three thought I couldn’t play volleyball? Me, the granddaughter of Nekoma’s formidable coach? Haha,” I teased, brushing my hair over my shoulder. Lev seemed petrified for a few seconds while his seniors shook their heads before chuckling along nervously at my strong serve. “It’s alright, I’m joking. So Lev, are you ready for another one?”

“N-no? How did you do that? I mean you almost hit me!” Lev said with an admiring sheen over his eyes. 

“Practice? I mean, you could have returned it instead of letting it slip by, Lev. Clearly that was a service ace,” I replied with a shrug. “You want to serve to me this time?”

He agreed on the condition that he listened to my instruction for the next hour and a half. His serves did get better, in my honest opinion. Lev had improved his command on where the ball was heading. I was able to return a few of his serves, but I have a feeling his technique would improve over time. 

“I think we ought to stop here before you over work your arm,” I mentioned, patting Lev’s shoulder when he crossed under the net. “Improvement is not going to come overnight, but your serving aim did gain some control.”

“You think so?” Lev asked me when he straightened up.

“Well, yeah. We’ve been at this for a little over an hour, but” I began. I had simply not paid attention to the time before Kiyoko and Yukie appeared to escort the boys to the main gym where their practice games were about to begin.

“You four clearly have practice matches to get to.” I walked toward the other three and ushered them out of the gym much to their protesting, but I was not budging on them missing out on team practice. Once the group had left, I began picking up the remainder of the volleyballs laying across both courts before wheeling the carts away to the side of the wall. 

Kuroo came back a few minutes later before I was able to press song shuffle on my phone’s GooglePlay. I tucked my phone in my side pocket of the leggings I wore when he greeted me with a bashful look. How did this captain seem so competely competent on the court yet now look like a shy elementary school kid who saw their teacher on their midday attire?

“Oh, Kuroo? Did you forget something?” I asked, wiping the sweat drops off my forehead with the back of my hand. I approached him when I noticed he was fidgeting with his hands like he did when he had something on his mind. I glanced up at him, thinking of what I should help the girls prepare for lunch, but that was neither here nor there.

“Uh, yeah. I did,” he replied, bending down toward me. It happened so quickly; his lips brushed against mine gently. No one would have noticed unless I told them that his lips lightly pressed against my own. A kiss for luck? I though. Maybe this was not what I was expecting at all; there was this inkling of short-lived innocent wondering what his lips would feel like against mine that floated in my head. Light like cotton candy and sweet like caramel, I mused.

When he pulled away, I yearned for him to kiss me again, but I tucked thought back into my mind. Kuroo looked over my shoulder for a moment before mentioning he should head back before his team would play without him. I traced my lips with my index finger, still feeling the giddiness spread across my body like wildfire.

“Good luck in your match against Bokuto, Kuroo. Oh,” I said reaching out to stop him from leaving for a moment. “Don’t be too mad at our friend for hugging me the way he did earlier. You did look annoyed when you have jealousy written on your brow...”

***

Later on that evening, before I went to bed, I received a text from Kuroo asking me to meet him by the vending machines by his classroom turned dorm for the training camp. He claims it wasn’t his idea, but Bokuto was the one who actually sent me the message, seeing as they had a phone mix up earlier after their practice games had ceased.

“Are you trying to blame Bokuto for this meeting?” I quirked my eyebrow up at him. I leaned against the side of the vending machine with my arms lazily crossed over my old Nekoma dance team shirt; my denim pants glowed with the backlight of the soda machine. “I remembered you guys accidentally switched phones, but you sent me a message considering the time stamp, to meet you here. So, what did you want to talk abo--mmph!?”

Kuroo had this overtly confident look in his eyes before he leaned into my personal space for the second time that day, he kissed me. This time, I was a bit more prepared. Upon impact, I screwed my eyes shut. I didn’t think anyone would of came out of their rooms considering how late it was, so all I could do was wrap my arms around his broad shoulders and pull his body closer to me. 

There was this feeling of being warmed up like a hot tea being served to you on a cold night when Kuroo placed a hand on my cheek; the pad of his calloused fingers traced the features of my face. This kiss had a meaning: there was a longing behind the way his lips melded onto mine. Apparently, Kuroo’s mouth seemed to be made of magnets, finding my own again like this afternoon. His kisses were curiously asking me questions like what do I see in him and why did he wait so long to kiss me like this? It was probably his dumb late realization of having a crush on me that drove him to kiss me this afternoon, the same logic behind now. I pulled away first this time, studying his facial features. His eyes slowly opened to reveal a slight dilation in his pupils. Kuroo was indeed falling for me every second we were in this position. I ran my hands through his now dampened hair, causing his once rooster like hair-do to be done again.

“Shut up and let me kiss you kitty-Kat,” Kuroo whispered to me when he rested his forehead against mine. The faint smell of bubblegum flavored toothpaste he used intoxicated my already quivering lips.

“Please.” One world was all I had to say right before a hand of mine gripped the collar of his ebony shirt downward. I had a small smile grace my lips before I let my lips smack against his first. This time it wasn’t a just a light peck; instead I mustered every ounce of what I thought was a one-sided crush emotion into every second I had with him alone against the vending machine. It seemed like whatever emotions we had toward each other was masked in our moment of a coup de tonnerre. Electricity was coursing through our veins, but we wanted to keep this intense moment going for as long as needed. I let held on to him for a few more seconds before his hand was lost in a fist full of my mane.

Then, I felt the heat of Kuroo’s hand leave my face to rest comfortably against my waist. That was until I released his shirt from my hold, only to grip his shoulders. In one efficient move, I twisted his body until his back was against the wall, pinning him there. I swallowed his laughter when I ran my tongue over his mouth begging for entry. He didn’t make me wait long because I don’t think he minded one bloody bit since he continued to keep extending this passion-fueled moment for as long as we could. We were too proud to let the other withdraw first considering whatever this was, we needed to keep being locked in a tight embrace. Funnily enough, when I felt him nip the corner of my mouth in jest, but I had to pull away from him before we got too carried away during “quiet hours.” I pressed a finger to his pursed lips before speaking in a hushed tone. Our breathing was a bit ragged, but considering the shit-eating grins on our faces strewn across our faces made the other feel a bit more confident.

“Your kisses are just as enigmatic as I thought,” I told him, resting my head against his chest. His hands remained wrapped around my waist gently. I patted his upper arms as a sign to let me go, even though I know he didn’t want to. Instead he pulled me closer.

“Yours leave me wanting more,” he whispered in my hair. He continued to press open mouth kisses against my neck, his nose brushing against the warmest part of my neck behind my ear. This sent shivers down my spine and he knew it. There was going to eventually be a lover’s bite there if I didn’t stop him by reminding him we have to wake up early again tomorrow.

“What if I don’t want you to go?” Kuroo’s voice had an inkling of a disappointed pout. I raised a hand to cup his cheek, explaining if he didn’t want me to leave his side after this training camp was over, he’d have to take me out a proper date to which he sighed before burying his head against the crook of the other side of my neck. I patted the back of his head when he asked what I was doing on a Saturday night two weeks from the end of camp.

“Apparently, I’m going on a date with you?” was my reply before I placed both of my hands on his face to make him look at me. I smiled softly when I kissed his cheek. I bid the raven haired cat captain good bye before we both began walking back to our respective dorms. When I looked over my shoulder, Kuroo bit his bottom lip at me; it was a cute emotion, but I knew he’d want more lf whatever this was going to be whether it was a relationship or a fling. The choice was up to him, and honestly, I am hoping for the first option. I’m sure his heart was telling him that too. I took my phone out once I had tucked myself cozily in my sleeping bag bed and sent a text:

(Incoming message below)

[problematiq]

@reneetaleenaisnotvicious it’s just a place full of assholes.

in the last couple of weeks, i had to explain to them why you can’t use the n-word when you’re not black, thinking it was common knowledge, only to be met with “well, it’s not universally agreed upon” (like, no shit, of course white people won’t agree that they can’t use it and since when does every single person have to agree that something is wrong in order for it to be wrong?) and “saying i can’t say the n-word is reverse racism”, causing me to dig into 2012 discourse on how reverse racism isn’t real.

people will defend the actions of every single human being billie joe has ever had contact with. the allegations of the former (jewish) employer against kat von d about her writing an antisemitic note to him are dismissed as “just a cry for attention from an unhappy employee” even though experts have concluded that it was 99% her handwriting - but yeah, kat von d never said she wrote it, so it must just be fake, since we all know and trust her??

in the discussion over billie’s collaboration with morrissey, people have defended that dude at every turn so they could feel better about their collaboration and completely dismissed everyone who showed concern or disappointment with it. i’m not gonna list everything morrissey has done and i’m not gonna debate it with anyone anymore since i’ve seriously had it up to here with that topic, but the gist of it is that morrissey is a racist UKIP supporter who said that “chinese people are a subspecies”. people have routinely and adamantly attempted to downplay the racism and rationalize his fucked up behavior, saying “well maybe billie just didn’t know about what he did, why should you research everything your collab partner has done” which turned to “morrissey not a racist, he’s just a dumb idiot with no influence who wants attention” which turned into “he’s not even a ukip supporter” which turned into “well actually ukip / nigel farage aren’t even xenophobic if you think about it”. then, a user on the forum who is half-chinese voiced her disappointment in the forum for defending that scumbag tooth and nail and said she was done with the forum and wouldn’t visit anymore. people backpedaled a bit but still tried to tell her that it’s “not really that bad” and “there are worse forms of racism you should focus on” like lmfao really? so that’s when i said “you know what fuck y’all” and left the forum too and with that, the green day fandom really because i am sick and tired of people worshipping the ground billie walks on like fucking catholics, incapable of criticising him or admitting any flaws or mistakes.

for some reason i decided to join the discord server for the old gdc people who used the chat a lot because i thought, maybe i don’t have to cut contact to everyone and can still enjoy talking to people about my favorite band?? and for a while we had fun and i really liked them.

so on april 1st, they announced that the forum would be shut down forever by the end of the week because it was too much work and too expensive to continue keeping it up or whatever. of course only gullible people believed it and nobody else really took it seriously while the mod team desperately tried to convince everyone that it was not an april fools joke like “omgz i’m so sad” and “i dont understand why everyone would think THIS IS A JOKE wow i am so UPSET” and it was ridiculous really because they tried so hard with the joke and nobody bought it.

so then someone posted the link to the discord server in the forum so more and more people joined and i was like “oh” because suddenly every person i hated on the forum and who was the reason I left gdc in the first place joined the discord server, even the gdc mods (who can all suck a fucking dick). those people don’t like me either so it already felt restricting to post there and i was getting pissed that i joined there first and then they all came and forced me to communicate with them again. and i’m serious, i’m fucking done with that place and i want nothing to do with these people either.

then on april 2nd (AFTER april fools) the site was down but some people still didn’t believe it was gone forever because WHY WOULD THEY? that april fools joke was a fucking pathetic attempt to upset the community who loved the forum, and they were salty nobody gave a shit so they had to take extreme measures. i would’ve been happy to believe it and see the forum fucking rot but other people who had found friends and loved the community were genuinely upset about this (one person even started a gofundme).

then, some minor mod joined the discord and complained about us “talking shit” about the mods because it was all the admin’s fault and he gave us some bullshit story about how he was angry with him too, that the admin had given the mods a chance to back up their shit before they closed or even gave them an opportunity to take over the forum but nobody wanted to blah blah blah and some shit about green day’s management wanting to restrict the forum because people were talking about their private lives or that they had planned a dookie tour but it was cancelled because of trés baby or some shit??? whatever. and i believed it because he was convincing and not someone who usually lies and trolls people but who put in a lot of work into the media section and would have been upset if it were gone, so i was actually sorta understanding towards him.

then a couple of hours later the site was back online, the admin made some stupid joke about “lololool i’m a mastermind you can go fuck yourselves i’m so happy with myself!111!!”, they made a social media post about it having just been an april fools joke while directly quoting something i said on the discord server, and that one unimportant mod who lied to us and some other dumbass mod i’ve always hated posted on the discord that they “had a lot of fun lying to us” and how fucking hilarious our reactions were or whatever and how good it was to see how many people cared about gdc like???

and i was fucking mad because I HAD LEFT THAT PLACE!!!!! i had literally left that place and they come to the place i kinda found refuge hin after leaving that shithole (a place i actually liked being on and where i had fun to communicate with the other members and could actually see myself staying and maybe not leaving the fandom entirely), infiltrate it with their fucking presence and make it my fucking business what happened to GDC, lie to me and everyone and laugh to themselves about the things i said or how they had fooled us. so they ruined everything for me again just so they could have a laugh and i’m not kidding when i say i hate every single fucking person who keeps this dumpsterfire running with a passion. and what’s almost more frustrating is how every single person who was mad at them for the joke now runs back to them like “oh wow that was a mean joke but now i’m just happy i can be back, i’m ready to put this behind me” lmfao.

i don’t give a shit about the forum, I. LEFT. i want nothing to do with them, i don’t want them around me, i don’t want them to talk to me or about me. i want them to ignore my fucking existence and leave me THE FUCK alone. and now i can’t even visit the discord anymore because they don’t even have the fucking decency to leave the server after their bullshit stunt. so thanks for fucking nothing you absolute dumbass fucking dick-eating pieces of horseshit.

[darkestwolfx]

TAG S2E21 - ‘Home on the Ranch’ Review

What an episode!

Firstly, everyone on Earth, training at the family ranch = brilliant. I don’t think there are doubts about that. I love how our favourite brothers are having so much fun with this ‘training exercise’. There were some brilliant expressions too and lots of silent communication. Basically, just plenty of moments to enjoy.

Uh-oh! Evil MAX. That’s not so good.

I like Manoeuvre Seventeen.

I begin to wonder if Gordon stands a chance… Lady Penelope and John seem to have quite a few scenes together at the moment. One of my new favourite lines. Parker’s speech just tops it off so well!

“Nice hof your father to build this little ‘ome haway from ‘ome.”

And, hooray! A mention of Mrs Tracy for once.

“Actually, the ranch belonged to the boys’ mother. It’s been in her family for generations.”

And the hints just continued. I’d been hoping they throw some line to us eventually and here we have it!

“Hey, remember when Mum used to take us all horseback riding?” “Oh yeah, especially when Gordon was facing the wrong way. I think there’s a picture here somewhere.”

Typical Gordon – what more could we expect?

“Alan, are you alright?” “I don’t really have much to add to the conversation.” “Hmm, I know what you mean.” “Oh yeah right, you were away at school most of that time too, weren’t ya’?” “Don’t you worry, there’s still plenty of times to make our own memories here.”

There’s some interesting history in this conversation here. And was that an Alan and Kayo hint dropped? It would make sense seeing how Alan and Tin-Tin were originally a kind of ‘item’, but there’s not been little hints to this relationship for a while now.

Well, back in the saddle as they say – hey, the intruder alarm would go off, wouldn’t it?

One down, two down… will there be a third? Very nearly… Poor Parker, he’s always managing this sort of thing. Did anyone else immediately think back to ‘Tunnels of Time’ (S1E10) as he sat down and want to scream “don’t”?

I’d love to know how the reporter found them…

I like the new hanger design for the ranch. It’s a little cramped and not as upgraded as the Tracy Island system, but I think it works well. John joined the crew in Thunderbird Two as well. There really is a first time for everything in this new half of series two.

I think we had the best launch ever today;

“Thunderbirds are- Oh, come on!”

This poor face.

Look at Brains showing off some strength. And here they are! The hover bikes of TOS. And no, Gordon, we’re not kidding you.

They may be old Scott (and you may be desperate), but I’m not sure your father would appreciate you booting them. Or proving to us viewers that anything which won’t work, might if you kick it hard enough. Something to try with our laptops next time they fail maybe? I mean, if it works in 2060, why not now?

Okay, it’s definitely worth a try – Gordon kicked his twice. It’s no wonder he had to, considering he wasn’t very nice about them. Words matter you see people.

And this could have been such a powerful image, but then we just get their faces!

And shouldn’t it have been Hover Bikes are go, Scott?

Yes, more EOS time! I’m so glad the writers have suddenly remembered they have her character to utilise.

Oh Kat, you shouldn’t insult our heroes;

“You know who I am, don’t you?” “Yeah, I do. And we know what you’ve been saying about us.” “I’m surprised you didn’t just leave me here to rot.”

And then Scott delivers us what I think is one of the best lines yet, which really does sum up International Rescue and this family in a nutshell.

“Right now, you’re someone in a tough spot that needs help. Who you are or what you’ve done doesn’t matter.”

Brains just amuses me at times. He volunteered!

“M-maybe I shouldn’t be the one up here. I’ve never b-been one for h-high p-places.”

Hmm, like we don’t already know this for certain. Where did that blinking bagel come from! Seriously, what is this family’s obsession with them? The Mechanic didn’t look particularity impressed though… A new one for us all to remember – attack with bagels, and take them everywhere.

Poor FAB One! I could just imagine a cry of “not the seats!” from Parker. Good improvised system though. Scott is brilliant. He’s so good at keeping calm and at helping people who haven’t always been nice to them. He even held her hand. That is dedication right there in blue.

EOS’ concern for John was adorable. John’s concern for Grandma Tracy was perfectly realistic. I just love these little John and EOS moments – there’s so much packed into them.

“And that someone is still here in the compound. Grandma went looking for Brains. They could both be walking into a trap! I have to warn them.” “John, wait. Then you might caught in it as well. Let me try something. There. I now have a subroutine nested in the transmitter room server.” “Is Brains in the room?” “Yes. And so is The Mechanic.” “The Mechanic? Grandma!”

What a great rescue! Scott can move really fast and they all work in perfect synch. Even Lady Penelope was quite quick to react and she doesn’t do that everyday. I did like Alan and Scott’s little interaction.

“See? That wasn’t so bad.” “Easy for you to say, little brother.”

The return of MAX. And The Mechanic really puts his foot into it this time. Didn’t he learn from The Hood that the Tracy’s don’t take well to having their home invaded? That was bad move one. Here comes number two;

“No one lays a finger on our Brains!” “You need to work on your intimidation tactics, Grandma.” “First of all, only family get to call her that, and second: EOS, we need to separate the machine from the man.” “With pleasure.”

Go on John – look at that Tracy family anger streak emerging.

The technical team strike again! Question though – how did no one notice The Mechanic’s quite frankly giant and ridiculous ship? It felt a bit like the Charge of the Light Brigade at the end. What a disappointment in having to let The Mechanic get away, but I see John’s logic.

Scott very nearly put his foot in it there too.

“In the meantime, if there’s anything you want to know about us, all you gotta’ do is ask.” “Really? Anything?” “Well, there are some things we have to keep secret. There may be a lot of mystery around International Rescue, but really we’re just a regular family.”

But then, as though to prove the point, what do the Terrible Two have to do? I don’t think they even have to try. John and Brains are so absorbed in working it doesn’t even bother them.

“Hey, that’s my chair!” “No it’s not! I was here first!” And this end exchange just has to make it in for the fun of it; “You want to hear a real story? Let me tell you some of the things Gordon says in his sleep.” “Oh no you don’t!” “Hey, watch the hair!” What is this family’s obsession with hair? I swear it’s another genetic feature. “Alright you two, knock it off.” “But, he started it” “Quick, somebody take a picture.” I wonder what picture? Left to our imaginations, I suppose. “Cameras are rolling. We’re making memories, Alan. Hold still.” “Come on.” “Come here!” “Oh, you’re a lot stronger than you look, Fish Boy.”

Lastly, the tune playing this episode out was the same as the one Virgil played in TOS S1E1 (‘Trapped in the Skies’).