#does anyone else have the bug where the queue says all posts will go up on the same time at the same time?

[holocene-sims]

story queue

hiiiii it's me again

and it's finally time to restart the story queue!

i'm in my final year of uni (hallelujah) and starting classes this week, which makes this a perfect time to post again! i won't have time to make many new posts, so i'll just release all the ones i've been working on :)

as per usual, two posts per day at 8:00 and 9:00 pm eastern time <3

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #400

“it’s an age-old story: the first will be last, and the last will be kings  /  the small will be great, and the great will be weak”

Who was the last person you sincerely thanked? My mom; I thank her every time she cooks for me/us, and I really do mean it. What’s the longest you’ve ever stayed as a guest at someone’s house? Somewhere around a month. What was the last thing to really surprise you? My brother has a fiancee and is having another son! :') Have you ever found out that you have been sleep walking? No. Have you ever tried making something from one of those short cooking videos? How did it turn out? No. Have you ever written a review for a product you bought online? No. What was the last thing you had the urge to do? Idk about anything notable. Is there anyone you feel that takes you for granted? No. What is the last thing you had a craving for? A donut. Do you ever read the comments on social media posts? Sometimes. What was the last thing you felt like you wasted money on? It's so rare that I buy things with my own cash that I really don't know. What was the last thing you wanted to buy, but couldn’t afford? Venus' terrarium on my own. Mom has to help me with buying it. What is a recipe you’d like to try to make for yourself? I don’t cook, so. What goes through your mind when you look back at old photographs of yourself? More than anything, I get sad over how much weight I've gained. I was so healthy once upon a time. It also just makes me miss my childhood. What was the subject matter of the last email you sent? I believe it was about setting up an appointment with my therapist. How do you get your news? Facebook articles, really. What do you think about lizards? I love them! I was that kid that always tried to catch them when I saw 'em. Now I just observe because I don't want to terrify them by trying to pick them up. Have you ever done consumer testing (testing products before they come out on the market)? If not, would you ever want to? No, but sure, I'd do it. Have you ever received anesthesia or morphine? Both. The time I received morphine, it did jack-all for me. If you had to choose which video game to be in, which would it be? Hmmm... I would say Azeroth from World of Warcraft, but too much shit goes down, ha ha. Perhaps the top of the temple in Shadow of the Colossus? So long as I could have someone I love with me, I'd be in Heaven. Although... I doubt there's WiFi there, so I might drop that answer, lmfao. I really don't know. Between the two, would you rather live in a place where it’s only night or where it’s only day? Day. I need the natural light of day sometimes, and if I wanted to sleep, I could just find shade. If you had to be an actor/actress in a movie, what genre of the movie would you be best at? Fantasy. Out of fire, earth, water, wind, light, and dark, which element appeals the most to you? Dark. What’s one thing that you wish was real? Friendly dragons, haha. Is there anything (show, comedian, etc.) that you constantly quote or make references to? No. What’s your favorite Disney Channel movie? I have absolutely no idea. I don't even remember almost any of them. What’s your favorite holiday? Christmas. Do you ever have to do yard work? No. Do you have any live versions of songs in your music software? Yes. Did/do you listen to Britney Spears songs? Yeah, sometimes. I genuinely don't mind her. Do you still make Christmas lists? Yeah, because I'm asked to. Do you watch the show Dexter? Never seen it. Which musical instrument do you think sounds the prettiest? I'm torn between the violin, harp, and piano. Is your mom or dad the older parent? Mom, by a year. Do you and your parents like any of the same bands/singers? A lot, actually. Is there any food in your bedroom? What? I have these tictacs I keep in my purse in case of a dry mouth. Medication makes me have that severely, and my psychiatrist recommended me to always have a hard candy available to suck on since it forces salivation. Do you know anyone who has road rage? Who? My younger sister, badly. How far away do your grandparents live from you? They're all dead, but they lived in far away states. Do you know anyone who wants to be the president one day? No. What kinds of chips are in the cupboards? None. It's a bad idea to keep chips in this house, haha. Do you have your mom's or dad's hair? Well, I was born with dirty blonde hair like my dad, but my hair is thick and more similar in color now to my mom's before the cancer completely drained the color. If you were going out with your celebrity crush, what would you wear? OH MY GOD LA;KSDJFAKLWJE I DON'T KNOW I LOOK AWFUL IN EVERYTHING. Have you ever cried when a teacher retired? Teared up, yes, multiple times. Do you swear and yell while playing video games? I might swear under my breath, but that's the extent of it. If you were adopted, would you want to know? At this point in my life, I don't really know. I kinda find myself leaning towards no. Has a best friend ever ditched you for a girlfriend/boyfriend? Pretty much. Do your pets chase after bugs? Roman sure does. When’s the last time you were so excited you couldn’t sleep? Why? I want to say that was the night before I was getting my tattoo redone. Do you own any flip-flops? Yeah, considering they're like... all I wear, ever. Did you ever really believe that the stork brought babies? I don't believe so, no. Have you ever had a dream about sleeping with a celebrity? (You don’t have to give details.) It was the only lucid dream I've ever had and I'm not complaining about it lmao. Have you ever had a dream that upset you or made you cry? Oh I'm sure. Has anyone ever told you that they needed you? Do you think they meant it? Not to my recollection, no, and I don't believe you should ever adopt that mentality and say that to someone. Do you own a laser? No. Is there anything you like to put on a sandwich, that some might find odd? Nah. I do enjoy a layer of potato chips on some sandwiches, like ham and cheese, but I know that's like an actual thing some people just like. What colour are the shoes you wear most often? They're black flip-flops. When was the last time you were required to put on a mask? In the morning when I go to the TMS office. And what colour was the last mask you wore? It's one of those normal blue and white medical ones. The last time you were in a queue, what were you waiting for? To see the woman who would give me my APAP mask. Have you had your Covid vaccine yet? Which one, if you have? Yes, Moderna. If you've had your vaccine, did you experience any side effects? None for the first shot, but my second shot bruised badly and I felt seriously shitty the following day. I was perfectly fine afterwards, though. Can any of your friends sing well? Which one has the nicest singing voice? Sara has an AMAAAAAAAAAAAZING voice. When was the last time you wore make-up, if ever? What shades/colours? I don't even remember, but I'm sure it would've been black. What is something that seems popular, but doesn't interest you personally? Fashion, various TV shows, etc... Are you clumsy or graceful? I am STUPID clumsy. Like it's just ridiculous. Do you like gloves? I like fingerless gloves. Does your sibling(s) have braces? My older sister did as a kid. Do you ever say "OMG" in person? No; it's a random pet peeve of mine, "Internet talk" irl. What was the last thing your parents got mad at you for? Dad, no idea. Mom, uhhhh. Not "mad," but "annoyed" probably better fits how she felt about me leaving the heating pad I use for my cramps on the floor. Do your pets have favorites? I'm definitely Roman's favorite seeing as he is my literal shadow, and I'd assume Venus trusts me more than anyone else, but realistically, she's in contact with almost no one else, so. Who was your first boyfriend/girlfriend? Why did you break up? The first guy to have the title of "boyfriend" was Aaron, and I broke up with him 'cuz I just wasn't as romantically into him as I thought I might be. It was puppy-dog love, and I feel I knew that. My first *real* boyfriend was Jason, who broke up with me because my mental illnesses began to affect his wellbeing. Which I now accept is fine, but he seriously coulda gone about things differently... When was the last time you got a new bed? Is your bed comfy? Late into my teenage years; idk the exact age and don't feel like doing the math. Teddy kept peeing on the bed to where it was just unrecoverable and needed to be thrown away. My current bed is comfy enough. What kind of games did you play on the playground when you were younger? My absolute favorite was digging tunnels in the sandbox, pretending to be a meerkat. The only trend I ever created, haha, seeing as my classmates got into it with me, allowing us to make huge tunnel systems. It was really cool. I also liked playing 4 Square (which I now don't even remember the details of) on the basketball court. Do you remember the first time you ever drove a car? Who were you with? Yeah, my driver's ed instructor and the guy who was on the same route as me. What’s your favorite thing to do when drunk? Would you do this sober? N/A Are you a fan of dogs? Do you have any as pets? I'm picky with dogs. I like interacting with any dog, but I don't plan on ever owning another. I don't like how hyper they can be, and I prefer more independent pets, like cats. Basically, I'll be hyped to meet a random dog on the street and give it some loving, but I don't want to take it home to be my own. Are you an elitist (even a little bit) when it comes to anything? What? No. I cannot stand elitists. Is just being fond of something enough, or does it take more than that to be a ‘real fan’? And I hate gatekeeping in fandoms even more. There are varying intensities of "being a fan," but regardless, if you like something, congratulations, you're a valid, "real" fan. What type of fabric is most comfortable for clothing? I don't pay attention to this, honestly. If you wear one – bras with or without a wire? I'll wear either, but without is way more comfortable. If you wear one – are you able to find cute bras in your size? God no. What length do you like your shorts to be? I don’t wear shorts. What was the last disappointing movie you saw? Warcraft, but not because it was bad. I've talked before how in the theater, the orcs' voices were just so fucking baritone that I couldn't understand almost ANYTHING they said. Kinda ruined the experience for me. What was the last disappointing book you read? Don't recall. Do you ever watch compilation videos? Of what? Very rarely. If I do, they're mostly of animals being silly. Favorite Disney character who isn’t royalty? Probably Dory, but idk. There's WAY too many options to fish through.

[winterune]

A Persona 5 Fanfiction - Something Perfectly Normal

Word count: 3838

Summary: The second week of Ren’s transfer, the second Sunday. It’s his birthday and he doesn’t know what he should do.  

A/N: a self-indulgent fic I write for my birthday. So, this is a present from me to me, featuring Ren^^ (since Ren doesn’t have an official birthday). Set right after Ren transferred to Shujin Academy, so he’s still adapting to his new environment. It also contains some allusions to another p5 fic I’m currently writing about Ren’s past (the mentions of his mother and foster parents), and it’s my headcanon of who Ren is (helps me in writing his character too). I don’t delve too deep about them here though. 

The hum of the television filled the background. Another recap news of the recent psychological breakdowns. Ren was sitting on the counter with the usual serving of curry Sojiro gave him every morning.

“Do you have plans for today?” the middle-aged man asked from behind the counter.

The same question he posed last Sunday. Ren wasn’t sure if he meant well or he just wanted him away from café every day he had off. But his reluctant guardian hadn’t once looked at him, and he had his back to him. Indifferent. As long as Ren didn’t create any trouble, Sojiro didn’t care less what he did.

Ren shrugged. “I’ll go somewhere,” he said quietly.

Sojiro gave a noncommittal grunt.

Ren brought another spoonful of his curry into his mouth. It melted immediately and it was a struggle not to finish everything so quickly. Despite his attitude toward him, Sojiro’s really was the best curry Ren ever ate. Not to mention the coffees he brewed.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Sojiro seemed to notice Ren’s reaction to his breakfast. His lips stretched into a small smile though he didn’t comment on it.

On the floor to the side, Morgana was eating his own breakfast from a bowl Ren had bought at a nearby pet store. Filled with more of Sojiro’s cooking, of course. The cat had also preferred it to the cat food Ren had bought.

“You know…” Morgana said between mouthfuls. “I can never…get tired of this.”

Ren grinned. “Don’t talk while you’re eating, Morgana,” he said.

“Yeah…”

Sojiro chuckled. “Seems like he loves it.”

Ren’s grin faded. “He does.”

Sojiro glanced at him. “Make sure you bring him with you when you go out.”

“I will.” Ren finished his food and drink. “Thanks for the food.”

***

“Where are you going?” Morgana asked from inside Ren’s bag as they headed outside. The café had just opened but it was still too early for anything else to be open—except for the local stores.

“Somewhere,” Ren mused.

“Aren’t we going to head to the Palace today?” Morgana asked again.

“Not today.”

Morgana was silent for a moment, before asking again, “Then, what are you going to do today?” just as Ren stopped before the stairs up to a batting cage in the neighborhood. Morgana popped his head from Ren’s bag and peaked his head over his shoulder. “A batting cage,” he read the sign. “You’re going to a batting cage?”

Ren shrugged. “No harm in it.” He walked up the stairs, only to find the door to the batting cage closed.

“It’s closed,” Morgana commented.

I can see that, Ren thought to himself. There was a sign posted on the door.  “Opens at noon,” he read.

Ren didn’t move. To be honest, he didn’t have anything in mind—where to go, what to do. The Palace? They hadn’t prepared enough. Maybe he should just spend the day preparing for their infiltration.

“So, what are you going to do?” Morgana asked again.

Ren glanced at the cat staring at him from behind his shoulder. “Do you have fun riding in my bag?”

“Wha—”

Ren smirked.

And maybe because Morgana wasn’t exactly a cat, but Ren could see the slight stretch of his mouth to a reluctant smirk as he huffed. “Well, I’m going wherever you go,” he said and went back inside the bag.

“You’re heavy, Morgana,” Ren commented again.

“Shut up!”

***

His phone vibrated as Ren waited at the station for a train to Shibuya. It was Ryuji, asking when they were going to go to the Palace. Why was everyone asking him that?! Ren replied it wouldn’t be today.

“I’ll be hanging out in Shibuya if you changed your mind,” Ryuji replied Ren’s text.

Well, good thing Ren was going to Shibuya too. Maybe he’d see Ryuji for a while.

It didn’t take long to reach Shibuya and even in the morning, these parts were already so crowded. It had been two weeks since he moved here and he hadn’t had the chance to explore much of the city. With everything that went on at school, Kamoshida, and the discovery of the Metaverse, not to mention how everyone kept bugging him when to go, when to go, when to go every single time they saw him… Maybe he should take the time to explore today.

The stairs from the subway led to an underground station and somewhere in it, Ren saw a crowded drink stand. He had noticed the drink stand a couple times but it was never as crowded as it was today. As he approached it, he saw how the people behind the counter looked so busy and the queue was so long. A sign read “Sunday Special Drink”—and it was expensive. Not worth it.

Ren spent most of the day wandering aimlessly, Morgana sometimes giving unnecessary comments on whatever caught Ren’s interest. Unnecessary, but still a welcome nonetheless. It made him feel less lonely. He hadn’t felt this lonely in years. On this particular day. Maybe he should just buy something and be done with it. He could spend the rest of the day in his room. Sojiro wouldn’t mind that, right?

He did just that and went inside the first store he saw in the underground mall. A music store. Racks of CDs lined the wall. The store clerk greeted him as the door slid open for him. There were only a few customers beside him inside. He took a look around, but didn’t find anything that interested him.

“Do you have somewhere you want to go, Morgana?” Ren asked as he exited the store.

“Hmm… nothing in particular,” Morgana replied. “Though I wouldn’t mind going to Mementos.” Even from behind his shoulder, Ren could feel Morgana narrowing his eyes at him. “You promised you’d help me recover my memories.”

Ren sighed. “I promise, but not today, okay?”

“Hmph, yes well, it’s still a while before your expulsion. There’s no harm in taking a break once in a while.”

Ren nodded. “It doesn’t do well to rush things.”

Still, that didn’t answer his initial question. Where should they go? Ren wandered around the mall for a while, checking every store. Everything was so expensive. He had noted a store that sold things that might be helpful for their Palace infiltration. But he didn’t have that much money. Maybe he should look for a job? There was some part-time job adds outside if he wasn’t mistaken.

He was just finished looking around a flower shop when he spotted a familiar face walking down one of the corridors. Ann… in casual clothes. At the same moment, Ann noticed him there and her face broke into a grin.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, right hand reaching high in a wave.

Ren smiled and wove back.

Morgana, hearing Ann’s voice, immediately popped his head from the bag and climbed onto Ren’s shoulder. “Lady Ann!” to which Ren cringed slightly but couldn’t help the grin on his face every time he saw Morgana reacted to Ann.

“Hi, Morgana,” Ann returned his greeting with a bright smile, then shifted her gaze back to Ren. “What are you doing here, Ren?”

Ren shrugged. “Just walking around.”

“This guy can’t make up his mind where to go,” Morgana added.

“Oh! You haven’t had the time to explore, have you?” Ann asked. “Want me to take you around?”

“Where do you have in mind?”

“Umm… well…” Ann thought for a moment. “There’s a sweet shop, and a diner in Central Street… a buffet that’s rumored to be super good but super expensive, so that’s out of the question. Oh! They sell the best crepes just outside the diner! It’s really good. You have to try some!”

Ren chuckled. “Everything you’ve listed are all food.”

“Sweets, mind you,” Ann corrected. “And deserts.”

“Aren’t they the same?” Ren laughed.

“I’m interested in those crepes,” Morgana said. “What are they?”

“Oh, they’re—”

“You just ate, Morgana,” Ren said. “You’ll get fat if you eat too much.”

“Say what?!”

Ren laughed again. Really, it’s so easy to forget everything and enjoy himself when he was with his friends. “Do you know some place where you can just stroll around?”

“Hmm… there’s this park that I like to go to,” Ann began. “But it’s a ways away. Not anywhere near Shibuya. You need to take the train there.”

“Oh…” Ren thought for a moment. A park sounded good. “What’s this park called.”

“Inokashira. Want me to go there with you?”

Going there with Ann… if anyone saw them together, no doubt more rumors would spread. Half of him thought adding more false rumor to the already existent false rumor wouldn’t change his situation. But another half of him just wanted all this crap to die down soon and for people to leave him alone.

“I’ll pass. Maybe I’ll look around Central Street.”

Ann nodded, but she looked unconvinced. “Well, I’ll be here if you need anything. Just text me.”

Ren nodded. He waved her goodbye.

“You okay, Ren?”

Her question caught him off guard. Did his face betray his emotions? Or was Ann that observant?

Ren put on his usual smile. “I’m fine.”

***

Central Street was as packed as ever. Ren monitored his way through the sea of people and found himself in front of a bookstore. Just the thing he was looking for.

“Don’t you still have that book you borrowed from the library?” Morgana asked.

“I’m just going to browse,” Ren said before he entered the store.

That was indeed his initial intention. But being in the bookstore itself was another thing all together and in no time, he already had several books he wanted to buy in his hand.

“Aren’t those too many?” Morgana asked.

Three books. Not really. But maybe Morgana was right. He didn’t have that much allowance to begin with. It was easy to lose himself when he’s shopping for books.

“Why don’t you choose this for the moment?” Morgana asked, nodding at the cheapest one. It was thin—probably not even two-hundred pages. He’d finish it in a day.

“Nah, I’ll choose this one,” Ren said, going with a book about a dog. He didn’t really know what present to give himself. This should do.

***

“Oh! An arcade!”

Ren eyed the building, then eyed Morgana. “You can’t even play it.”

“Shut up, Ren!” Morgana snapped, but his eyes glowed again as he looked at the building in red. “Let’s go inside.” His eyes were practically bulging out.

Ren sighed and did as he was told.

Well, Ren had never played in an arcade before either. Never wanted to. Never had the time to. Never had a friend who asked him to. He never went inside one—had only just looked at it from outside. And… inside was exactly as how he imagined it to be. Aisles of game machines, children and teens of all ages—even adults—were using every single one, loud.

He didn’t like the place. Morgana didn’t seem to.

“Let’s go,” Ren said. And Morgana nodded his assent.

And just as they turned around to leave, they spot a slouched figure leaning against the vending machine. Purple jacket, blonde-dyed hair.

“Ryuji?”

Ryuji looked up at Ren’s voice. His eyes grew wide.

“What are you doing here?”

Ren approached his friend as he shrugged. “Just walking around.”

“He’s been walking around since morning,” Morgana popped up from the bag.

Ryuji jumped in surprise. “Dude! You’re still carrying the cat in your bag?!”

“Mor-ga-na!” Morgana emphasized each syllable of his name. “I’m not a cat! How many times do I have to tell you until you understand, blondie?”

“What was that?!”

“Can you two please quiet down?” Ren hissed. “Look!”

There was a sign on the wall that clearly said no pets allowed. Both boys looked at Morgana simultaneously. Despite what the cat said, it was still a cat, and it was meowing quite loud. So Ren decided to pull out before anyone could catch them and Ryuji followed suit.

“You shouldn’t have yelled so loud, Morgana!” Ryuji complained.

“What? Who was picking a fight in the first place?!”

“Gaahh!! Now they’re going to keep an eye on me for sure!”

“You weren’t even playing anything in there!”

“What were you doing there?” Ren asked.

Ren noticed Ryuji’s slight stiffening of his body. “Nothing.” His voice was unusually quiet.

Morgana poked his head over Ren’s shoulder again. “Let me guess!”—and he was grinning from ear to ear in a way a cat would grin—“You were bored so you just decided to go someplace in random.”

“Hey! I wasn’t—” Ryuji shouted, to which Ren immediately shushed. “—bored…”

His voice trailed off and Ren could detect the desperate attempt to hide his embarrassment. He couldn’t help the slight laugh that escaped his lips.

“Oh, come on! Not you too!”

And that just made Ren laugh louder. Ryuji looked exasperated, but no sooner did he join Ren’s laugh and even Morgana was chuckling.

Both of them had nothing to do and it was nearing lunch time. Ren had actually planned to go to the Inokashira Park alone and enjoy his present, but Ryuji invited him to go have lunch. A ramen restaurant he knew that had the best ramen Ren just had to try it. The price was also very affordable for a high schooler’s wallet.

Morgana was hungry too, though he wasn’t that enthusiastic for ramen either. “They probably won’t allow pets in there, either,” he mentioned. He was right.

As they were musing where to go and what to do, a call drew their attention to an incoming figure, rushing down the street and through the crowd, blonde pigtails flying in the air.

“Heeeeyyy!!!”

Ann was running toward them, waving her hand high up.

Ann had a sudden craving for those crepes she’d talked about when she spotted them across the street. Hearing their story and their plan to go to a ramen restaurant, Ann agreed they wouldn’t let Morgana inside.

“I think there are no pet restrictions at the diner,” Ann said.

“The one in Central Street?” Ryuji asked.

Ann nodded. “Want to head there together?”

***

The diner wasn’t much, but it was a really nice place to hang out. A nice place to study too, Ren noted. The warm atmosphere, the polite hummed background noise. It would be the perfect place to retreat when it rained too, said Morgana.

It was fun being with them. This was probably the first time the four of them ever hung out like this. And Ren watched as Ryuji and Ann laughed and joked about as if nothing weighed their mind.

His phone vibrated. It was his foster mother.

What are you doing? Are you having fun? Did you get our present? Happy birthday again! We love you.

Present…

Even after what Ren did to them, the trouble he had caused… they still thought of him as their son. And they went to all the trouble to send a present to him. And despite the guilt he was feeling, he couldn’t help the smile spreading across his face.

He didn’t realize Ryuji and Ann had stopped joking around. He didn’t realize they had a funny look on their faces. And he didn’t realize Ryuji had sneaked up beside him. And just as Ren was about to type something, Ryuji grabbed his phone from his hand and flipped through the email.

“Hey—”

“Let’s see, what made our leader smile so bright like that…”

But Ren was too late and his phone was already in Ryuji’s hand and Ryuji had already read his foster mother’s email.

He caught the word Ryuji was mouthing.

Birthday.

Saw the understanding clicked in.

Saw the surprise registering as he whipped his head at Ren and Ren wanted to shut his eyes and turned back time.

“Is it your birthday today?”

“What?” Ann whipped her own head at him.

“Birthday?!” Morgana did too.

And Ren would have laughed but he had no energy to laugh and he wanted to hide from the embarrassment.

The silence stretched on.

“Dude!” Ryuji exploded. “Why didn’t you tell us it was your birthday?”

“Because there’s nothing to tell,” Ren said, grabbing his phone from Ryuji’s slackening grip to hide his embarrassment. “It’s just a birthday.”

“Just a birthday?” Ryuji was aghast. “Dude! It’s your birthday! Of course we should celebrate it!” And he called in a waited.

“So that’s why you didn’t want anything to do with the Palace today,” Morgana mused.

“Happy birthday, Ren!” Ann said, beaming.

“Yeah! Happy birthday!” Ryuji was clasping his shoulder and beaming too.

Everyone was beaming and Morgana was grinning and the aura was toxic and Ren found himself beaming back.

The waiter came and asked for orders.

“We should splurge a bit,” Ann said as she scanned the menu.

“Don’t worry. We got it covered, okay?” Ryuji was following Ann’s example.

And Ren wanted to stop them, because this was embarrassing and there was no stopping them both as they began adding one order after another.

He never had friends. The only celebration he had ever done was with his mother, and his foster parents after his mother passed away. Even then, they had always had a simple celebration. More so when his mother was still alive, because his mother was always busy though somehow she had managed to always be there with him on his birthday with a small cake and slightly more extravagant dinner.

And seeing Ann and Ryuji doing this, as if they had done this countless times, as if this was perfectly normal…

He felt something small pressed against his side when the waiter finally left. Morgana was pressing his body against him, a small warmth, the most comfort the cat had ever given him ever since they met.

And Ren couldn’t help the smile as he said, “Thanks, guys.”

And he meant it.

***

Even with the splurge, they still had a lot of money to spare. They insisted to buy him a present, to which Ren declined because them being with him that day was already a present for him. Ryuji consented, but Ann wouldn’t take no for an answer. So in the end, Ann brought them to the underground mall and there was a photo booth there. And Ryuji was reluctant though and Ren was just watching from behind as Ann forcefully pushed Ryuji into the box.

“Ren?” She looked back and Ren grinned at her scowl. He rose both hands and entered the box without a fight.

They took some photos, which turned out surprisingly good.

It wasn’t much. But really, this was the best thing he had ever received from a friend.

***

He arrived at LeBlanc that night, exhausted from being dragged around by Ann. There were still customers inside—the old couple and someone who claimed to be a critic—so Ren immediately made his way to the stairs at the back of the store after greeting Sojiro. But Sojiro called him back before he got past the counter and said there was a package for him today.

“Your parents sent you something,” Sojiro said.

Foster parents, Ren wanted to say, as he set his bag down and Morgana poked his head out.

“Thank you.”

A small box. Seemed fragile. He’d look inside it later. But then he noticed the letter written on the box. And they were clearly spelled “Happy Birthday”.

Damn it. Does that mean Sojiro now knows too?

Well, he probably wouldn’t care even if he saw it.

He took the box upstairs without another look at his guardian.

He set the bag on the table and Morgana leaped out. He stretched his body. “Finally I’m free!”

“That’s why you should walk on your own once in a while,” Ren commented with a laugh.

Morgana acted like he hadn’t heard and Ren scoffed.

“What did they send you?” the cat inquired as Ren took a seat on his bed and began unwrapping the simple brown box.

A locket. And inside was a photo of his mother, his real mother, tucked neatly into the crevices. And his mother was smiling. Beautiful.

There was a note inside.

You may have only been our son for four years, but we have watched you grow since you were small. We love you, Ren. And we want you to know that it wasn’t your fault. It never was. You did the right thing helping that woman. And we want you to remember that. Just like your mother would have wanted you to.

It had broken their hearts when they found out about Ren’s trial. And it was the only thing they could do to stop him being sent to the detention center. Sent to probation. And Ren couldn’t stop feeling guilty yet grateful for all they had done for him.

“Hey, kid!”

It was probably an hour or two later when Sojiro suddenly called him down. All the customers were gone and Sojiro had cleaned the place up. Yet on the counter was a slice of cake and a candle on top. And Ren stopped on his tracks.

Sojiro noticed his pause. And a rare smile graced his lips.

“What are you doing? Come on and sit down here.”

“What…is this?”

The old man scoffed. “Today’s your birthday, isn’t it? Have a sit and have your birthday cake.”

Ren was still unsure. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. At least, he didn’t think it was.

Noting Ren’s hesitation, Sojiro sighed. “For the love of—sit down!”

The stern tone caused Ren to quicken his footstep and take the seat before the cake.

“How old are you today?”

“Seven...teen,” Ren replied warily.

Sojiro grunted. And maybe it was because of the sudden change of attitude, but Ren suddenly found the grunt was Sojiro’s way to show his affection.

Ren didn’t do anything. His gaze kept shifting from the cake to Sojiro to everywhere else, wondering if maybe this was a dream or he was imagining things.

“Well? Make a wish and blow the candle.”

“Oh—uh—yeah…”

Ren stared at the glowing candle. The fire dancing. It was a simple slice of chocolate cake with a single candle. Feeling nothing would go wrong with blowing the candle, Ren did just that.

And as the fire sputtered out, Sojiro smiled. A genuine beaming smile Ren hadn’t seen before.

“Happy birthday, kid.”

“Uh…thanks…”

Sojiro snorted. “What kind of response is that?”

“It’s just… not like you.”

“Did you think I was some kind of cold, heartless bastard?” his guardian asked with a scoff.

“I…did, actually.”

A silence. Then Sojiro laughed. A hearty laugh that came from his stomach. And it made Ren want to laugh too because maybe this was who Sojiro really was.

“I’m sorry if I gave you that impression, kid. But a birthday is a birthday. It’s perfectly normal for us to celebrate it.”

And Sojiro smiled again, a warm smile this time, and maybe, Ren could learn to love this place.

~ END ~

Thanks for reading^^

More of my Persona 5 fanfic here 

[dramallamadingdang]

A buncha replies about high-poly hair, fur-coated vacation locals, evil enablers, laziness, an old game being old, time management or the lack thereof, creepy pizza delivery dudes, terrain defaults that may or may not work, House Hunters and stupid Americans, nuzzling cats, cheap but AWESOME 80s knives, fermented milk and Canadian weirdness about it, forcing TV on people who don’t want it, annnnnnnd...Texas? Yep, Texas.

Quite a list, ain’t it? :) IOW, these go back a bit because I’m...me. 

These are for @immerso-sims, @nekosayuri, @fuzzyspork, @kairisu, @alawren4ever, @ajaysims, @didilysims, @delicatesoul88, @dreadpirate, @treason-and-plot, @jellybeanery, @pensblr, @twofee, @hemfbg, and @penig. Because Texas. ;)

Also, peripherally, @twofingerswhiskey.

immerso-sims replied to your photo “So instead of filling up my queue OR firing up my rebooted Castaway...”

I am guilty of having quite a few high polycount hairs, but I don’t have much CC in general and my Macie seems to handle them well, even with an integrated video card, so all is well, but yeah, 30k is a liiiiiittle bit excessive.

I have a few really high-poly hairs (20+K), myself. My game/computer does seem to be able to handle them without a fuss. (I really don’t know WHY, since both the machine AND the video card are older models, but...Hey, I’m not gonna argue. :) ) Even so, the ones I have are special and unique and very fabulous in some way, and if I later find a similar just-as-nice but lower-poly style, I’ll ditch the high-poly one in a heartbeat.

Mostly, though, I stick to hairs that are ~10K polys or less. I’ll have as many of those as I want because I figure if my game can handle the 30K+ ones without issue, it can handle a bunch of 10Ks. I have fewer that are 10K-12K. 13K is generally (and arbitrarily) my hard limit unless the hair falls into the “unique and fabulous” category and, really, those are few and far between.

nekosayuri replied to your photo “So instead of filling up my queue OR firing up my rebooted Castaway...”

@digitalangels lowered the polycount on Aviary, I'm pretty sure

I wouldn’t be surprised if she has. But really? There are already plenty of quite similar hairs that look just as nice as that one and that have much lower polycounts. I’ll bet it’s one of those that has thousands of backfaces that don’t even show in the game. :\ 

fuzzyspork replied to your photo “Well. This isn’t something you see every day. :) (Guess I missed that...”

The static she will collect on the way down will make that coat look like a tribble.

Yeah, like a tribble...or like they slaughtered a thousand-and-one poofy Pomeranian dogs to make her coat. :)

kairisu replied to your photo “Well. This isn’t something you see every day. :) (Guess I missed that...”

she's sliding in style ��✨

Maybe. But she’s gonna make a mess of that fancy fur coat. :)

alawren4ever replied to your post “So now that the second Blind Date gift I was called upon to make is...”

Fun thing of course!

See? THAT’S JUST NOT HELPFUL! :D I enable myself to do the fun thing quite well, thank you. ;)

nekosayuri replied to your post “So now that the second Blind Date gift I was called upon to make is...”

Get a mouse recorder to do it for you XD

That’s tempting, but the majority of the time spent on the “editing,” such as it is, is cropping the pics in the right place and to (more-or-less) the right size ratios. It’s never the same twice, so it couldn’t be automated.

(Confession: I had to Google “mouse recorder.” I mean, I could kind of tell what one would do from the name, but I doubted that such things actually existed. SURPRISE! :) )

ajaysims replied to your post “So now that the second Blind Date gift I was called upon to make is...”

I really know what you mean. My head is always bursting with a million different hood and story ideas but at the end of the day a lot of the time I just wanna play without thinking about editing pics after.

Yep, that’s me, too. I mean, I have (literally) about 1200 GilsCarburg pics to post. I mean, they wouldn’t all be posted because a good chunk of them are similar, where I took a lot of pics knowing I’d pick the best one of the bunch to post, but still...a lot. It’s going through them and making the posts that I drag my feet on sometimes. I kinda have to psych myself up to do it -- although once I start, I enjoy doing it, so it’s not a chore or anything :) -- and it’s easy to distract myself by, for instance, downloading a bunch of hairs for my Castaway game because I want to try my hand at making defaults for it.

nekosayuri replied to your post “You're my Senpai. Lol jk but for reals I adore you! You make amazing...”

Senpai XD tbh this is one of those things though, people actually PLAY the game AND make cc AND download stuff AND organise downloads folder/Tumblr posts. How do people have time for all of that??

I honestly don’t know how most people do it. For me, the answer’s easy: I’m mostly retired -- I’ll do paid gigs if I get bored and want to, but otherwise? Eh. -- and I don’t have to worry about money. And I have employees. That helps, too. Also, I have health issues that prevent me from doing a lot of things I’d LIKE to do. So, I do Sims-related stuff a lot. And go on a lot of dates with my husband, but he DOES work, so I can’t be doing stuff with him all the time. So, for now, unless/until I decide to do some kind of volunteering, I occupy a good chunk of my time with Sims stuff. And with hanging out with friends and whatnot, too, of course. But...Yeah, I don’t have a “normal” life. I don’t know how people who DO have a normal life manage to do all the Sims stuff they do.

delicatesoul88 replied to your post “Hi there, I’m pretty impressed that you create and use a lot of high...”

@dramallamadingdang I feel like I should print this and place it up right next to my monitors for the next time I take the cc cleanup plunge. The flashing pink bug is real and has caught up to me, I also know its my own darn fault for having so much cc. My computer can handle it but my game can't, and this is the swift kick in the rear I needed to remind me of that.

dreadpirate replied to your post “Hi there, I’m pretty impressed that you create and use a lot of high...”

Personally what works for me (since I love my sims 3 and 4 conversions and my pretty hairs) is playing with smaller lots as much as possible and going easy on the clutter

Yeah, it’s all a matter of prioritizing. You truly can’t have everything because “old game is old” even if you personally own a supercomputer. So, you focus on what’s most important to you and sort of skimp on the other stuff. So if pretty hairs and conversions are your thing, OK, but you might have to sacrifice, yeah, large, heavily-landscaped lots and lots of deco-only clutter and/or a heavily-hood-decorated neighborhood. Or if you’re a person who doesn’t actually play the game and just does, say, decorating, you can have all the converted, high-poly/high-res shit your little heart desires because you don’t need the high-poly hairs and clothing or the neighborhood stuff. Or if you’re mostly a Sim-maker, you can have all the high-poly hairs with gigantic textures that you want because you don’t need anything else that taxes the game. 

And if you want to do everything...Then I say: Separate user accounts/different downloads folder for each purpose. So, if you wanna decorate, you load up the high-res conversions. You wanna make Sims, load up the high-poly hair. You wanna actually play...Don’t go batshit with the big stuff and you’ll generally be OK.  Conscious downloading is the way to go. Know what you’re putting in your downloads before you put it in there and make conscious, aware, informed decisions so you’re not surprised by any consequences (i.e pink flashing) that you experience..

It’s all balance, man. Like, be in harmony with the universal spheres, totally.

treason-and-plot replied to your photo “This pizza delivery dude that my game generated…looks like a pizza...”

He has seen things...

Seen many things, yes. Let’s just hope that he hasn’t done anything...to the pizza... :)

didilysims replied to your photo “This pizza delivery dude that my game generated…looks like a pizza...”

Just as long as he doesn't get any of those long hairs in the food.

Things like that, yes! :) Or, you know, worse. Ah, all those urban legends... :)

jellybeanery replied to your photoset “Happy Monday! Now that Blind Date is over, I’m back to doing Monday...”

Eeeee! Thank you! I'm grabbing this and gonna check it out tomorrow! ♥

Well, I hope it worked better for you than my first stab! :) Please let me know if it didn’t! 

fuzzyspork replied to your post “To be or not to be...a bitch.”

My reply to this sort of thing is "Oo, this is short notice. We already have plans!" Even if those plans are to watch Netflix in our underwear. They are probably just doing the Christian thing by inviting you guys and they may not even care if you come (my sister is of the High and Mighty mindset and she invites out of "duty" but is always relieved with people can't come or cancel, lol).

You know, of anyone else, I’d believe this. But whenever we’ve turned down an invite, there’s always been tons of wheedling about it. So, either they’re really good actors or they really do want us there. I’m pretty sure it’s the latter, since entertaining and cooking big meals and all that is what the female half of the couple lives for, since aside from going to church, she’s stuck at home, homeschooling their 7 kids, ranging from infants to teens. (Which is another reason to avoid their house, as far as I’m concerned. I’m done with kids. I don’t hate them or anything, but I really don’t enjoy being around them. Especially not toddlers. I’m not even goo-goo for my own grandkids, so I don’t want to deal with anyone else’s kids anymore.)

pensblr replied to your post “Random non-Sims things”

Just going to leave this here. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/75/a2/2d/75a22d07e38b1fedd15834c67bea0bb2.jpg

*sporfle* Yeah, that about sums it up, I’d say. :)

immerso-sims replied to your photoset “Kitten spam, with captions.”

The nuzzle animation is so cute :3

It is! I think they could’ve done so much more with pet-to-pet interactions, personally. Like, cats and dogs sleeping in piles like they do IRL. Also, pets sleeping on beds with Sims. (I have the mod that enables that for children, but it would have been nice if that was possible for all Sims.) But at least that one interaction is cute. :) 

fuzzyspork replied to your post “Random non-Sims things”

Oh god House Hunters. What gets me is when they decide they don't want to buy "the perfect in every other way" house because the paint/wallpaper/carpet is hideous. I always yell at the TV "THOSE ARE EASY TO CHANGE YOU PRISSY IDIOT!" But we ditched cable TV a few years ago and I've never been happier. It's so much more relaxing to just watch what we want streaming, when we want, not bound to a show's schedule.

Yeah! I saw that, too! I was like, “You know what? There’s this thing called painting. And if you don’t want to do it yourself, there’re even people who you can pay to do it for you!” But when the realtor says something like that (with not NEARLY enough snark, IMO), they’ll say “Oh, we don’t want any big projects.” As if painting one room before there’s anything in it is a “big project.” Stupidity abounds!

And yeah, I’m much happier without squawk boxes around. The only remotely good thing about it is Cartoon Network. And some of the HGTV-type stuff is fun to watch, I suppose, if only to get ideas for my game. ;) But I much prefer no TV. I mean, yeah, I know no one forces anyone to turn it on, but we feel like we should watch SOMETHING since we’re paying through the nose for it. :p

twofee replied to your post “Random non-Sims things”

house hunters international is hilarious because they always want to be in the center of whatever city, pay almost nothing in rent, and at least one person in the couple expects everything to be americanized. plus if they are asking for it to come furnished, they always complain about how its not their style or whatever. i just want to see the pretty scenery of the country youre lucky enough to be able move to. have you been able to guess which house theyll pick?

I can pretty much always tell the house they’ll pick because it’s usually the one that’s most like what the female half of the couple wants. Which is so stereotypical but...there it is.

And yeah, I watched an “International” one the other day. Some chick looking for a place to rent in Spain who was bitching about the lack of central air conditioning (In buildings older than America, that she said she WANTED to live in) and freaking out because -- OMG! -- the washing machine was installed in the (small) kitchen! Americans, SMH. Of course, she ended up in a new place with central air that was very American and also above her budget, but she justified that by saying she’d be more “comfortable” there. :p Moron. Why go live in another country if you just want to drag yours along with you? Isn’t that exactly what a certain sector of American citizens bitch about when it comes to immigrants? But what do American émigrés do? *sigh* Swear, most Americans just need to stay the hell in America because God forbid they deign to adapt to anything else. :p

hemfbg replied to your post “Random non-Sims things”

It's funny that you mention House Hunters- it's playing on the tv in the other room. Sometimes I'll watch it when it's on just because I like to look inside other houses, though I agree with you about it being very safe-for-tv and every episode being the same.

I did actually see a gay couple on it the other day! Of course, they were a white, middle-aged well-off gay couple looking for a place in Palm Springs, CA, which is pretty much a place you can’t live in unless you’re LGBT (and well-off), but still! Gay people, OMG! 

nekosayuri replied to your post “˜Tis reply time! \0/”

Maybe you could suggest it over at MTS to people who actually mod? it is a great idea overall! and it *might* be possible, but wont know till we try right? :D

I did post the idea in the “Hacks & CC You’d Like To See” thread over there. It’s not a request thread, though, because MTS doesn’t allow requests. It’s more like an “I wish” thread, and a lot of the stuff wished-for IS impossible, but sometimes people have picked stuff out of the thread and actually done it, so...Well, it’s out there in the world. Of course, right after I posted it, a little argument broke out about something unrelated, so it quickly got buried, but maybe something’ll come of it. Who knows?

didilysims replied to your post “Random non-Sims things”

3) I need to get me some of those knives! I feel like I'm sharpening my junky knives every time I use them because I refuse to crush my poor vegetables instead of cutting them. Never heard of the brand but I looked it up and apparently they're still making them. Probably not as good quality as back in the day but...I'll keep my eyes open in the stores now. :)

I was amazed to find out that Ginsu still exists. But yeah, those knives are way nicer than their 70s/80s ancestors. Which, yeah, probably means they won’t work half as well. :) Gimme my cheap plastic-handled bread knife made of God-knows-what ANY DAY!

didilysims replied to your post “Random non-Sims things”

1) Pretty sure internet packages try to include TV these days because the TV stations are paying them extra money to force it on people. 2) I say it the American way (never heard the English way in my memory) but I spell it with an H. There are almost as many different spellings as there are different Canadians, however. I've also seen yogourt, which is an odd one.

1) I’m pretty sure you’re right. I’m also pretty sure that most people do still want TV...although I’m pretty sure that, as time goes on, most people will prefer to stream what they want when they want it, so I think standard TV’s kind of on its way to dinosaur-hood. So perhaps one day it will no longer be forced on people. Probably won’t happen before I croak, though. :P 2) Yeah, @twofingerswhiskey reblogged with a pic of a yog(h)(o)urt container spelled “yogourt,” which is apparently how they spell it in Quebec (so I guess that’s how it’s spelled in France? Who knew?), which is apparently where most of y’all’s yog(h)(o)urt is made. :) Which is kinda weird, if you ask me. Why Quebec? Are there no dairy cows in Saskatchewan or Ontario or Alberta? :) I’ve seen dairy cows in BC, so I know they’re there...

penig replied to your post “˜Tis reply time! \0/”

Army bases can be beautiful. Ever go to Ft. Sam Houston? There's a reason all the officers retire here...

Nope, never been there. I’m sorry to say that I avoid Texas as much as I can. No offense to you or to any other individual Texan out there, but...y’all have a lot of bombastic asshats amongst you. And y’all seem to elect sexist, grabby-hands asshats at an alarming rate, too. Whenever I’ve been in Texas, I’ve had bad experiences at the hands of those two groups. So...Yeah, not going there if I can possibly help it. THAT said, I know that the cities are generally better and I’d like to visit San Antonio one day -- and maybe Ft. Sam Houston -- because I’ve heard that it’s, like, the artsy/hippie capital of Texas, kind of like how Santa Fe/Taos is the artsy/hippie capital of New Mexico, but....yeah. *sigh* 

[anthonymalone-blog]

Ways to Play

When I say “Ways to Play,” I’m not talking about which console you’re playing on; PC is hands down the way to go in this case (I don’t think console versions have had support for years, this isn’t Fortnite). Instead, I’m talking about the game modes available in CS:GO, and there’s plenty.

These options available for play in the main menu show the most basic of game mode options. Official Matchmaking puts you into Valve-owned-servers, with Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) enforced. This is where I’ll be mentioning actual game modes created by the creators. 

With Practice With Bots, the same modes are available, but you can only play with friends or by yourself, of course with bots if you choose.

Training Course is practically useless after your first run of it. It’s basically the tutorial to the game, showing what keys to press, introducing EXTREMELY basic mechanics, that sort of thing. Don’t expect to learn styles of maps, teamwork, rotations, or anything more complicated than throwing a grenade in here.

Workshop Maps allows you to play the maps from the community that you’ve subscribed to and downloaded. Because this is only what you’ve chosen, the content of each map isn’t rated by Valve, and is exactly what you wanted. While some maps made by users are similar to ones made by Valve, others are used to change settings and train you, like the ones on the left and middle of the photo.

Lastly, the Community Server Browser allows you to play on 3rd party servers not hosted by Valve, and may include Workshop maps. This also houses some of the “sub-gamemodes,” which I’ll mention later.

As for the basic gamemodes hosted and supported by valve, there’s a few. Of course, you have the most popular and most competitive, defusal (the one I discussed last week). Other gamemodes hosted by Valve include Hostage, rules similar to bomb defusal but the teams are swapped (CTs are attacking), and the entire flow of the map changes. Instead of defusing a planted bomb, the Ts must stop the CTs from delivering the hostage back to their spawn.

Other gamemodes in Official Matchmaking include Deathmatch (a weird combination of Free For All and Team Deathmatch, popularized in games like Call of Duty), as well as Danger Zone, Wingman, and the separation of Casual and Competitive play.

Although Defusal and Hostage are 2 different game types, they’re both played in casual and competitive versions of play. The map dictates which is being played. In Casual, you are thrown against whoever else is playing that map in the casual rotation, and skill is not accounted for. In Competitive, who you play against is determined by Valve’s very mysterious yet accurate ranking system, which puts you up against people as close as possible to your skill range, and they’ll likely be actually trying to win. Think of Casual as the “quickplay” of CS:GO.

Wingman uses Competitive rules and smaller versions of regular maps (as well as a few unique ones) to put players in a 2v2 matchup, where an independent rank is issued to a player, using similar (if not the same) systems to that of regular Competitive Matchmaking.

The last of the main game modes is Danger Zone, the newest large addition to the game modes of CS:GO. This Battle Royale version of CS:GO puts 16 players against each other on the biggest Valve made map in CS:GO (Blacksite, seen above, but ignore the right side, as I’m launching the map in a different way for showcase purposes), and each is either alone or with a team of 1 or 2 other friends (2 separate queues: solo players will get their own match, while teams get another). Like Fortnite, PUBG, and other Battle Royale games, each player loots for their own weapons, and aims to kill each other as the playable area decreases, and 1 person/team is crowned victor at the end of the match.

With the Workshop and Community Servers, as well as Counter-Strikes history of user made content, many gamemodes and activities are made by the community, and some may drive players to buy (now just download) the game to play these apart from the regular game.

The most popular of these gamemodes (and my personal favorites) are Surfing, and BHop maps, which I’ve found to even help my regular gameplay in terms of movement.

Surfing is a gamemode much more relaxed than competitive play, and you aren’t even aiming to kill each other (usually, there are combat based surf maps where players fly past each other while firing at each other). Players chill out, fly down ramps, and try to reach the end of a race-track type of course as fast as possible. Smooth mouse movements, good strafing, and other knowledge of movement are stressed in this fan-made gamemode. Also, this gamemode isn’t unique to Counter-Strike, as its played in other games using the Source engine, such as Valve’s TF2.

B-Hopping is similar to Surfing in some ways, but is generally thought to be more precise and generally more difficult. The objective of the mode is the same: reach the end of the level as fast as possible. The game mode takes advantage of Source’s “bunny hopping” bug and exaggerates it, allowing players to fly around the map over 5x faster than regular running, but it takes tremendous skill to do so. B-hops happen when a player jumps right when they hit the ground, which happens on the little squares seen above. Smaller versions of BHops are possible in regular matchmaking (on floors, sometimes bumpy if you’re outside), but your speed is limited a lot more, but it’s very impressive when it does work.

Because of Valve’s support for fan-made modes and maps, CS:GO has multiple sub-communities, as well as other 3rd party matchmaking services such as ESEA and FaceIt, which I may cover later on. If there’s one thing to remember from this post, it’s that CS:GO has something for “almost anyone” (not really though, but the customization is definitely there and it’s the thought that counts).

[ginnyzero]

Completely Harmless Ch. 27

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

WOW, somehow not in queue properly. Oops.

Chapter Twenty-Seven Planning Rainbow Week Pt. 2

“Okay, Ingrid,” Lily moved on hurriedly. “Plans for Firgrove.”

“Andy is opening up his petting zoo at the sandpit. We have the Red String Ride. So, we’ve decided to use the Friendship Knot as our charm. We have a big field area with a hill. Perhaps, Mr. Wetton could set up his talent scouting show there? We can put out extra balloons and create a backdrop if necessary.”

Lily nodded. “Okay, I think that’s the best. People are going to want to come and see the new talent and I don’t know, we can advertise it as a picnic thing? Maybe have the fireworks and those paper lanterns nearby?”

Everyone agreed that sounded like a good plan.

Violet picked off where Ingrid left off. “We’re also opening the flea market in the village. We’re going to show them how to make big friendship knots. Big enough for wall art out of silky ropes. And Ma Anna’s doing an Italian Rainbow cookie, it looks more like a layered cake with chocolate to me. Andy’s grandmother is doing a rainbow pancake cake. So, that should be delicious. Actually, she’s doing two, one with a heart in the middle and one plain rainbow.” Violet shrugged.

Pia looked panicked. “Are we doing treats? Our cafe relies on Harold for treats.”

“Oh, I’m sure we can have him do something with what he’s got going already,” Kate jumped in to reassure her.

“As long as it’s not cardamom,” Pia shuddered.

“Got it,” Kate said. “I mean, he’s doing these freeze and bake things. There has to be a different way to do it. I’ll get right on him.”

Pia relaxed. “All right. Sorry Lily, moving on.”

Pauline nudged Lily, “better plan something for Moorland too,” she muttered.

Lily glowered at her. Pauline made a note.

They turned to Melissa.

Melissa made a face. “One, our waterfall is still green.”

“It’s your club color, pretend it’s deliberate for now,” Lily said.

Melissa grimaced. “Can you get the Baroness to come out and look?”

“We need to find the Count or Countess,” Riley huffed. “You can’t have a county without them!”

There were some scoffs around the table.

“We can’t make them care,” Lily said.

“If we can get enough attention out here that’s positive, they’ll start paying attention and be horrified that their area isn’t in tip top shape,” Amelia said.

“Or not,” Ingrid grimaced. “If we can get attention without their help, why would they need to do anything?”

“Okay, what do you want to do?” Lily asked.

“We have a lot of roses, so we were going to make rose crowns for our craft. We’ve got yellow.”

“Oh good, because we don’t,” Lily mumbled.

Brooke spoke up. “It’s tied into our treat, our baker is going to do funfetti cupcakes and pipe rainbow roses on them, like individual petals. She’s nuts!” She lifted her hands up in the air.

“We’re using the crossed arrows and a star for a charm,” Melissa said. “And we thought about doing a special orienteering race or trail in the forest. We’re decorating the lake trail and are going to advertise it as a ‘love trail.’ It would be better in a boat, but we’ve got what we’ve got. We have beach picnic areas if that helps at all.”

“We had that thought too about orienteering,” Sonja said. “Granted, Mistfall is very little but riding trails being it’s a designated Jorvik National Park.”

“I think some folk music would go over nicely, if there is any to be found.” Melissa shrugged. “Druids.”

Lily twisted to look at Luciana, “Okay, Dundull, what are your plans?”

“We are so far out of the way,” Sonja murmured.

“Get a ferry going to Dundull,” Lily murmured and added it to the list. This list was getting strange and very political.

“And New Hillcrest,” Ginny added. “I think that is a big part of our problem, it’s difficult to get to us.”

“Kit has her Cuddle Cottage, where you can come and cuddle the animals. She keeps foxes.”

“Because fox babies are called kits,” Lily murmured.

“You are the weirdest trove of information,” Pauline wrinkled her nose.

“Okay, I like crime procedurals and cozy mystery novels, is that a crime?”

“Nooo,” Pauline leaned away from her.

“I mean,” Luciana said. “We’re lots of pretty forest and a big lake.”

“No fishing. No swimming. No boats,” Sonja said.

“I don’t know what we can do,” Luciana bit her lip. “That’s not what everyone else is doing.”

Helen bounced in her seat. “You’re a National Park right? I mean, what do you do in National Parks?”

They all looked at her.

“You go camping. So, okay, you get one of the musicians that’s folk. You advertise that you’re doing a bonfire cook out. Do things on the hour. Have sausages on a stick and s’mores. You can decorate the forest on the way to and from the bonfire. Maybe do a night time ride around the lake when the lightning bugs are out. No one else is doing a night time thing other than fireworks.”

Lily’s phone buzzed. She picked it up. “Mr. Wetton. Really? I understand.” She reached over to Pauline’s notes and scratched out Raptor and DJ Wetfloor. “How does Firgrove for your talent show sound? They have a hill with a big field in front of it. That’s great. We need two,” she trailed off as Kelsey waved to get her attention and held up 3 fingers. “Three folk musicians.”

Kelsey wrote something down and held it up.

“If one is a Celtic group, that’d be great. The moors on South Hoof are big and can carry the sound beautifully. We also need someone for Valedale, and someone to serenade campers in Dundull at a sausage roast.”

Brooke leaned in. “There’s a broken down house in Valedale that if we clean it up, it’d be a great place for a musician.”

“A ruined house for a stage for Valedale, we can make it atmospheric,” Lily said. “You know just the people. A Harpist, really? You are amazing, Mr. Wetton.”

Riley spoke up. “We’ll take the Flaming Trio, since I’m sure New Hillcrest will want to host Syntax.”

Ginny relaxed. “Thanks, Riley.”

“Cape West will take the Flaming Trio. They’ll scout locations, though, I’m sure the Golden Hills Forest would be perfect. Syntax can appear in New Hillcrest, they’ve got the large market square after all. And then, Jarlaheim wants The Miscreants. There’s a theatre, one moment,” Lily put her hand over the phone. “Amelia, what in hell is Talia doing for Rainbow Week?”

“Hopefully not staging Romeo and Juliet,” Amelia flinched. “Her stage isn’t nearly big enough for the Miscreants. We have that town square and garden area. They can use that.”

“Point,” Lily said. “The Miscreants can perform in the Garden in Jarlaheim and DJ Kai can have the Fort Pinta Disco to herself. Do Lance and Lilith have a name? They can play in Silverglade where they’ll be centrally located. Lilith’s Lance? Really? Well, um, I didn’t know Lilith had a lance. Not relevant Mr. Wetton. That leaves us one short for the Stormgarden.”

Luciana waved her hand again. “Charity concert at the Dew’s Farm,” she said. “All proceeds going to help the Dew family. We’d be squatting.”

“And this is me not caring,” Lily said. “Have you heard about the plight of the Dew Family, Mr. Wetton? The G.E.D., you heard. You’re one of the corporate backers. We thought a charity concert. You think Raptor would get out for that. Well, that is the power of good publicity.”

Mr. Wetton was talking.

“An Asian girl group idol pop band? That sounds perfect for the Stormgarden. Oh, that’s why, well, definitely the best for last then. Thank you.” Lily blinked and hung up. “So, Ami, you have a pop group called Filly, he spelled it f-i-l dash l-e, so I’m assuming it’s not only a pun on filly but a pun on French for girl as well.”

Ami groaned.

“But they can play at the Stormgarden.”

“We have a maple grove, we can set them up in there,” Ami nodded.

“Okay, so, Dundull is having a camp out and doing a night time ride around the lake,” Lily said.

“We have a lot of birds, so we were going to use a dove for our charm,” Luciana said. “I don’t know about treats.”

“No one is doing iced biscuits so far,” Pauline said. “Sorry, cookies.”

“Biscuits, are you British all of a sudden?” One of the girls demanded.

“No.” Pauline rolled her eyes. “It slipped out. Iced cookies.”

“Anyone?” Luciana looked around.

They all shook their heads.

Luciana nodded. “Then we’ll talk to our baker about doing iced sugar cookies.”

Sonja twisted her hair around her finger. “Braided headbands, with feathers? Face painting?”

“Those are great ideas,” Lily encouraged her.

Sonja relaxed.

Lily bit her lip. “Okay, we’re hosting the Silversong String Quartet and having a grand opening of the restaurant, ice cream bar, and the gardens. Aaron has designed a special friendship rainbow sherbet Sunday with a sugar cookie that has a rainbow heart in the middle and a white chocolate rose decoration. We’re doing our rose garden trail ride and at the pavilion in the middle, we’re setting up to make old fashioned bead headbands. We’re using a rose for our charm. Riley!”

Riley laughed. “All right, we’re hosting the Flaming Trio now. The Smugglers are helping us set up a treasure hunt where the reward is a crystal sun catcher. We’re going to have others for sale too. But the one for the treasure hunt is special. We’re also going to have supplies to make earrings out of jewelry crystal versions. Going with the crystal theme, we’re doing a rainbow layer gelatin dessert cut into shapes. Captain Brus is refusing to let us near his ship but he has conceded to decorate it. He hates Rainbow Week so I think his sailors bullied him into it. And we’re saving the Light Ride for Happy Horse Week.”

“Fair,” Lily nodded.

Pauline grimaced. “More than fair.”

“We’ve set up the treasure hunt all in that area though,” Riley smirked. “It goes from the Labyrinth area, all the way up towards the King’s Road using the stables as the middle ground. It goes with our charm of a coin with a heart cut out of it.”

“Oh, wow, sneaky,” one of the girls breathed. No one was sure if she meant the treasure hunt or the charm. No one dared ask either.

“We had to nix using cookie crumbs though. Too easily eaten by birds,” Riley rolled her eyes. “Really, right now we’re in the same boat as Ginny is, I think. We don’t have a lot to draw people to Cape West. There are a bunch of shops but none of them ever seem busy.”

“Maybe it’s time for some consolidation,” Pia nodded.

“I think,” Riley leaned back and glanced at Ginny. “I don’t know if this is your problem, but, Cape West lacks a brand, a definitive identity.”

“So, if it was a jolly sailor town,” one of the girls trailed off.

“Right. I mean, the Stormgarden is doing an Asian themed Spa complete with oil pulling, hot stone massage, and chiming bowls or acupuncture and Chinese Fusion,” Riley waved her hands.

Ami grinned. “We are.”

“New Hillcrest is a ‘planned’ town,” Ginny rubbed her forehead. “Except no one seemed to include the stables in the plans. Again, like Cape West, we’re mostly fishermen. We’ve got the Mirror Marsh, a bunch of windswept islands, and the Cauldron. Both the observatory and Fort Maria are closed. Plus, Mrs. X has set up shop in the Observatory since it’s so close to G.E.D. and Old Hillcrest.”

“No news about Old Hillcrest then.”

“Whatever it is, it’s bad,” Ginny whispered. “We haven’t heard anything from them for weeks, and the G.E.D. keeps turning everyone away. There’s a haze around the area.”

Brooke fiddled with a pen. “The G.E.D. has been drilling, right? I mean, that’s what Dark Core and G.E.D. have in common. They’ve been drilling. What if they drilled too deep?”

“Like, the Mines of Moira,” one of the girls said.

“I got that reference,” Luciana brightened.

“Okay, Mr. Kemball never had the proper permits for anything.” Lily glanced over at Ingrid.

“We’re looking into it, ja. We think he’s squatting.” Ingrid smirked. “He’ll be gone before the festival.”

“Ms. Drake seems the type to cross her ts and dot her eyes,” Amelia said.

“Are you sure? Or does she come off that way so you don’t ask questions,” Lily lowered her voice. “You can’t have Herman dig into it. He’ll go off half-cocked. Syntax and this secret organization of his.”

“CHILL,” Susan said. “It’s called CHILL.” She rolled her eyes.

“Theirs,” Ginny corrected absently. “They’re non-binary.”

“Theirs,” Lily corrected herself. “Thank you, Ginny. They’re a hacker, right? Have them look into it? Or have them do it. Give them a challenge. Or say we’ll find someone else if they can’t be useful.”

“Ricky is still pretty hung up on getting enough money to save the stables from his boxing match.”

“I wouldn’t rely on it.”

Ginny licked her lips. “My family is moving to Beauvista soon. I’m leaving Susan in charge.”

“I’m sorry, Ginny. It must hurt to leave the club.”

Ginny shrugged. “I’ll be here past Happy Horse Week. I can help by befriending Mr. Kemball’s daughter too.”

“I’ll make sure the club stays together,” Susan said fervently.

“I believe you, Su,” Ginny smiled at her.

Susan nodded. “I think Riley’s right though. The stable doesn’t have its own identity. The town is so bland. It’s not like Crescent Moon Village or anything where we could at least take advantage of the imagery.”

“Hold up,” Josefina said, she was Amelia’s vice president. “Friesians are an identity. That’s what your main sell stable has, right? Those are exclusive horses. You have to have a license to even breed them. Like Frederick the Great has been dubbed the world’s handsomest horse. And like, if you have any chestnuts, those are super rare. They’re dressage horses.”

“We don’t have,” Ginny trailed off.

Josefina smirked. “You just thought of something.”

“Mr. Kemball wants to buy his daughter’s way into the club. He could build us an arena,” Ginny smirked back.

“People love seeing Friesians as a group in herds and the babies,” Josefina bit her lip. “Start a J-Tube channel, get on Friend-Fund, and offer early exclusive content for people who sign up.”

Riley sighed. “And we stick with our jolly sailor town?”

“That isn’t a half bad identity, you know,” Amelia raised her brow. “Though your colors are wrong.”

“You took the navy,” Riley retorted. “And do you know how fond they are of being ‘golden.’ There’s no way that we’re getting a cool color when that’s their take on it. And Kate has yellow! As does Pia!”

“Girls,” Lily broke in. They were getting a bit off track.

“Actually, a sailor town isn’t a bad idea. We can go with the pirate theme and,” Riley drummed her fingers on the table. “The issue being not appropriating other cultures.”

“Canterella then?” Luciana asked. “It’s old fashioned.”

“But at the same time, perfect?” Riley grinned. “I don’t know what Anastasia has in mind for our new outfits.”

“Well, a Canterella outfit would be a costume and extra, I think,” Lily said. “Is that the stuff at the Purple Pony?”

“Along with the Knights of Unistria and some Mermaid stuff.”

“Ohh, mermaids,” Riley said. “This, oh, idea,” she grinned and scribbled something down. “Okay, but yeah, we think the treasure hunt should take enough time that we don’t need much more than that for our area.”

Sonja muttered. “If we could get to Firfall they have a Medieval Faire with an archery competition.”

“The road’s blocked,” Luciana said.

“I’m thinking some moltov cocktails,” Sonja rubbed her hands.

Everyone glared at her.

“Oh fine,” Sonja slumped.

“Amelia, over to Jorvik Stables,” Lily said.

“Okay, so, um, no one is very worried about Evelyn, outside of Jill and us. Jack is useless. There are a ton of shops empty, but the shops there aren’t that amazing either and should be combined. Though the two hair salons can’t be. There’s two themes. Eventing style elegance, and the rock star stuff.” Amelia shrugged. “It’s a town so it’s big enough for both. For the event, we’re running a special group race. And in the arena we’re having a special show jumping race. Lowe Westburg runs both of them. She gives out prizes. Catherine is doing her special cake. And the Miscreants are playing in the garden.” She pronounced Lowe as Lou-ve.

“Have you talked to Herman about the Riding Arena yet?”

“He refuses to open it. Absolutely refuses,” Amelia rolled her eyes.

Josefina huffed. “We told him we’ll keep the doors open and not go in at night.”

“We’re using a pair of swans that make a heart for our charm,” Amelia shrugged.

“It seemed obvious,” Josefina smirked.

“Is that enough for that area, you think?”

“Two races, on top of everything else you can do during the week?” Lily widened her eyes.

“What about wrist cuffs?” Violet, Ingrid’s Vice President in Firgrove, asked.

“Wrist cuffs?”

“For a craft,” Violet defended. “Look, okay you say you’ve got two looks, elegant and rock. Elegant is pretty covered by the Winery, who should probably also be doing bead bracelets and stud and dangling earrings.”

“Noted,” Pauline said with a grin.

“Then, that leaves you with the rock stuff. Bandanas aren’t really a craft thing. So, that leaves leather wrist cuffs and chokers and headbands. Do a leather Siwa bow. Have some awesome looking heart and rose and the other symbols as metal studs and don’t they come in all colors now with electroplating? Then what you do is take your shops, get them down to four between the tack shops and the clothing shops. Then beg the Miscreants to set up a shop there for their swag, or do a combined band swag shop.”

The girls were all nodding.

“Don’t you have that donut shop too, with Lisbeth,” Ginny said, her eyes glazing over. “I love her donuts. She could do tons of rainbow ones.”

“Okay, I think that’s covered then,” Lily said. “Onward to you, Ami.”

“We’re like you, doing our grand opening.”

“Pretty hanfu inspired dresses and Chinese Fusion,” Lily said remembering Anastasia’s complaints.

There were giggles.

Ami tilted her head. “We’re using a frog for our symbol. It’s a Chinese animal for good fortune, and the kanji for friend. We though to do some origami for our crafts. Origami earrings and stuff you can add to headbands.”

“Right, and you have the pop group.”

“The bottom of the Cauldron can be pretty, so we thought we’d do a ride to the bottom, have something there and lead them back up. We aren’t sure on what yet.”

“Make it surprise.”

“Tea ceremony,” said someone else.

“Is that okay?” Ami looked over at Ginny.

“The best way down into the Cauldron is closer to you than it is to us. We’ve got a ride planned through the Mirror Marsh.”

“Bring lots of bug repellant.”

“And maybe Frida will show up with her frogs,” Ginny added.

“We’re also giving away rainbow themed fortune cookies,” Ami waved her hands. “Because, fortunes!”

The girls all laughed. Even Loretta cracked a smile.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

[travelguy4444]

Overtourism: How You Can Help Solve This Worldwide Problem

Posted: 9/6/2018 | September 6th, 2018

Years later, I returned to the scene of the crime: Costa Rica. It was in that country that I first fell victim to the travel bug, a disease that would infect me for the rest of my life and lead to where I am today. There was no place I was more excited about revisiting than Manuel Antonio National Park. Its wild jungles, deserted beaches, and bountiful animal life was the highlight of my first visit and I couldn’t wait to relive it all in this seaside town.

But then wonder turned to horror.

The quiet road to town was lined with endless fancy resorts. Hotels lined the park’s edge. Tour groups cluttered the once peaceful park. They fed the wildlife. They littered. The abundant troops of monkeys had vanished. So had the colorful land crabs. No deer roamed. And the beaches were a sea of bodies.

It was my first experience with seeing a destination shift into “overtourism.”

Overtourism is the term used to describe the onslaught of tourists who take over a destination to a point where the infrastructure can no longer handle it.

While not a new problem (that trip to Costa Rica was in 2011), this “trend” has been in the news a lot the past few months (heck, there’s even a Twitter feed about it) as many destinations have started to push back against the onslaught of visitors inundating their streets, communities, and overtaking their natural resources.

“Stay home!” they scream to visitors. “You’re no longer welcome!”

I believe travel can change the world. Done right, it expands people’s minds, fosters understanding, makes you a better you, and provides an economic boost to local communities.

But, thanks to cheap flights, the sharing economy, and (let’s be honest) an explosion of Chinese tour groups around the world, destinations have gotten a bit crowded lately.

I see it everywhere I travel these days.

There’s the Palace of Versailles, where years ago, I was able to film a video free of crowds. Now, it’s wall-to-wall tour groups slowly shuffling from room to room in the most insane queue ever. Its hard to even enjoy the experience!

There’s Tulum, once a quiet Mexican town, now awash with Westerners trying to turn it into the new Bali (which is also overrun with tourists and where “digital nomads” can float from yoga studio to cafe to retreat to wherever without ever actually having to interact with locals). There’s Iceland, where Reykjavik’s main street, complete with a Dunkin’ Donuts, is now a sea of people, and the city’s roads are cluttered. (Don’t even get my Icelandic friends started on this subject. They are none too happy about all the tourists.)

There the crushing crowds in Prague, Barcelona, Paris, Venice, Edinburgh, the Gili Islands, Ko Lipe, Chiang Mai, and Queenstown, where tourists are overrunning locals, acting idiotically, and littering.

Sure, crowded destinations are simply a by-product of a globalized world where travel has become attainable for more and more people. The number of international tourist arrivals is expected to increase by 3.3% worldwide each year until 2030 when it will reach 1.8 billion. And, on balance, that’s a good thing if you believe in travel as a transformative tool.

Yet the very things that make travel cheaper — budget airlines, Airbnb, ridesharing, etc. — have also made destinations unable to cope with all the visitors — and pushed out locals in the process.

Now they are starting to push back.

Barcelona is no longer allowing new hotels and is limiting the number of cruise ships. Dubrovnik is floating the idea of putting limits on the number of tourists. Chile is curbing the number of tourists to Easter Island and how long they can stay and Ecuador is doing the same for visitors to the Galápagos. Venice is trying to restrict Airbnb and the number of tourists (after restricting cruise ships). Paris is also restricting Airbnbs in the city. Iceland wants to limit the number of foreigners who buy property. Amsterdam is launching a campaign to reign in the partying in the city. Majorca has had continuous protests against tourists.

The world is saying “enough!”

And I, for one, am all for this.

Of course, I don’t think people intentionally try to “ruin” places. No one is saying, “Let’s go overcrowd Iceland and piss locals off!”

Most people just don’t even think of their actions causing harm.

Which makes education and these initiatives even more important.

Because there definitely needs to be a better balance between visitors and residents. Overtourism doesn’t help anyone. No one wants to visit a crowded destination – and no one wants to live somewhere that’s overrun with tourists.

While no one is talking about banning tourists outright, there should be better ways to control their numbers and the problems overtourism causes.

Take Airbnb. It’s one of the biggest problems in travel today (which is a shame, because I love the service).

It started out as a way for residents to earn money on the side and get travelers out of the hotel/hostel dynamic and into a more “local” way of life.

But that original mission has been perverted. As rentals have become more lucrative, Airbnb has turned a blind eye to the fact that real estate companies, property managers, and other individuals can list as many properties as they want. These companies, tapping into tourists’ desire to have a home away from home, buy up properties in the city center, which then decreases the supply of rental properties for locals, increases rental prices, and forces residents out.

Driving locals out defeats the purpose of using the service! Too many town centers have been decimated by Airbnb. While a man’s home is his castle, I do believe there should be some restrictions on Airbnb because it’s driving people out of city centers. That’s not good for anyone, especially the locals who live there and, since Airbnb won’t do anything about it, local governments need to step in and start cracking down. Personally, I’ve started to only rent rooms in an Airbnb (instead of an entire property) so I know there’s a local there benefiting from my stay.

“But what about social media?” you may ask.

One can’t deny YouTubers, Instagram “influencers”, and bloggers like myself have helped popularize travel and made it more accessible to the masses by destroying the myth that it’s an expensive thing only a few can do. We’ve shed light on destinations around the world and gotten people to visit places they might not have otherwise.

I don’t feel bad about that.

More people should travel.

And there’s always been the idea of that travel media “ruins” a place. The Lonely Planet effect. The Rick Steves effect. The Bourdain effect (which I experienced first hand since he came to my hometown).

I mean people have been opining about mass tourism for decades. Once it’s in the Lonely Planet, a place is dead, right?

But social media has an amplifying effect that didn’t exist in the past. It makes it easier for everyone to find – and then overrun a destination.

Do I really think my one article on (insert destination) created a crush of people like there is some Nomadic Matt effect? No.

But social media and blogging leads one person to a place and then another and then another and then suddenly everyone it taking a picture of themselves with their feet dangling over Horseshoe Bend, sitting on that rock in Norway, or having breakfast with giraffes at that hotel in Kenya.

Everyone wants to do what they see on social media so they can tell all their friends how cool and well traveled they are.

This is also one of the downsides of the Internet. For me, travel is an act of discovery – and respect – and we constantly talk about being a respectful traveler but, for many influencers and bloggers, they don’t balance their actions and influence with responsible travel (I mean you had Fun for Louis rationalizing his North Korea propaganda movies) and try to educate their audiences to become better, more respectful travelers.

After all, we are as much a part of the solution as we are part of the problem. There are ways to mitigate your impact and create a mutually beneficial relationship between you and the local population.

Here are seven ways I think we can help mitigate the overtourism crisis:

1. Skip Airbnb homes – Airbnb is one of the biggest villains in this whole drama. Don’t rent an entire Airbnb home unless you can be 100% sure that you are renting from a real human who is just on vacation. Look at the photos, talk to the host, ask them if they live there. If this is a rental company or the person has multiple listings, skip them. Don’t contribute to the emptying of communities. Rent a room instead!

2. Spread your travels around – Don’t stick to the most popular areas in a destination. Travel outside the city center. Visit the smaller neighborhoods. Get out into the countryside! Getting off the beaten path not only means fewer tourists but also spreading the benefits of your tourism around. There’s more to Italy than Venice, more to Spain than Barcelona (seriously, nearby Costa Brava is amazing), more to Iceland than Rekyavik, more to Thailand than Pai, more to everywhere than where everyone is posting photos from! Get out there and find those hidden gems!

3. Visit in the shoulder season – A corollary to the above is to not visit during peak season. If you visit a place when everyone else does because “it’s the best time to go,” you’re just contributing to the crowds (plus facing peak-season prices). Travel during the shoulder season, when the crowds are fewer, the prices lower, and the weather still (mostly) nice.

4. Don’t eat in touristy areas – If you eat where all the other tourists are, you’ll pay more for lower-quality food. Open Google Maps, Foursquare, Yelp, or your guidebook and find restaurants where locals eat. Follow my five-block rule: always walk five blocks in any direction and cross the invisible line most tourists don’t. You’ll get away from the crowds, spread your tourism dollars around, and enjoy a more authentic experience.

5. Be an informed traveler – Read up on the destination before you go. Learn its customs. Learn its laws. Learn its history. The more respectful and knowledgeable you are, the better it is for everyone involved!

6. Don’t be a drunk idiot – Part of the growing pushback against tourists is not just their sheer number but their disrespectful behavior too. Heck, that is part of why the folks in Amsterdam are upset — they’re tired of drunk tourists! If you’re going someplace just to party, don’t go! You can get drunk back home. Don’t treat a destination like it’s your playpen. People live there after all! Treat them with kindness. You’re a guest in their home.

7. Be environmentally friendly – Finally, don’t waste a place’s (limited) resources. Don’t leave the lights on. Don’t litter. Don’t take long showers. Don’t involve yourself in environmentally dubious activities. The more you can preserve a destination, the longer it will last and the more the locals will want tourists like yourself there. After all, if you ruin it, how will you ever be able to go back? Here are some resources on the subject:

Is eco-tourism really eco-friendly?

How to balance tourism and the environment

How to ethically volunteer anywhere in the world

***Overtourism has been written about a lot lately (see the plethora of links from above) and it’s an issue I’ve been thinking about by another name for years and especially this summer as I jostled through the crowded streets of Amsterdam and my home away from home of New York City.

I think we’re going to see a lot more destinations limiting the number of visitors and placing restrictions on the travel industry. People are just fed up – and they have every right to be.

Let’s not love places to death. Just like it’s important to protect animals and the environment when we travel, so too is it important to protect residents and the destinations themselves.

Do I think lots of tourists are suddenly going to go “Oh, I didn’t realize we were doing this! Let’s change our ways!”?

Nope.

I think tourist behavior will, for the most part, continue as before. I think tourists are still going to act stupid. I think people will still be short-sighted.

But I’m glad this subject is being talked about. I’m glad there is more action around the issue.

We’re the cause – and part of the solution – to this problem and, the more responsible we act, the better it is for everyone involved.

Overtourism is a problem that can only be solved by residents and tourists together.

The post Overtourism: How You Can Help Solve This Worldwide Problem appeared first on Nomadic Matt's Travel Site.

source https://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/overtourism-solutions/

[tamboradventure]

Overtourism: How You Can Help Solve This Worldwide Problem

Posted: 9/6/2018 | September 6th, 2018

Years later, I returned to the scene of the crime: Costa Rica. It was in that country that I first fell victim to the travel bug, a disease that would infect me for the rest of my life and lead to where I am today. There was no place I was more excited about revisiting than Manuel Antonio National Park. Its wild jungles, deserted beaches, and bountiful animal life was the highlight of my first visit and I couldn’t wait to relive it all in this seaside town.

But then wonder turned to horror.

The quiet road to town was lined with endless fancy resorts. Hotels lined the park’s edge. Tour groups cluttered the once peaceful park. They fed the wildlife. They littered. The abundant troops of monkeys had vanished. So had the colorful land crabs. No deer roamed. And the beaches were a sea of bodies.

It was my first experience with seeing a destination shift into “overtourism.”

Overtourism is the term used to describe the onslaught of tourists who take over a destination to a point where the infrastructure can no longer handle it.

While not a new problem (that trip to Costa Rica was in 2011), this “trend” has been in the news a lot the past few months (heck, there’s even a Twitter feed about it) as many destinations have started to push back against the onslaught of visitors inundating their streets, communities, and overtaking their natural resources.

“Stay home!” they scream to visitors. “You’re no longer welcome!”

I believe travel can change the world. Done right, it expands people’s minds, fosters understanding, makes you a better you, and provides an economic boost to local communities.

But, thanks to cheap flights, the sharing economy, and (let’s be honest) an explosion of Chinese tour groups around the world, destinations have gotten a bit crowded lately.

I see it everywhere I travel these days.

There’s the Palace of Versailles, where years ago, I was able to film a video free of crowds. Now, it’s wall-to-wall tour groups slowly shuffling from room to room in the most insane queue ever. Its hard to even enjoy the experience!

There’s Tulum, once a quiet Mexican town, now awash with Westerners trying to turn it into the new Bali (which is also overrun with tourists and where “digital nomads” can float from yoga studio to cafe to retreat to wherever without ever actually having to interact with locals). There’s Iceland, where Reykjavik’s main street, complete with a Dunkin’ Donuts, is now a sea of people, and the city’s roads are cluttered. (Don’t even get my Icelandic friends started on this subject. They are none too happy about all the tourists.)

There the crushing crowds in Prague, Barcelona, Paris, Venice, Edinburgh, the Gili Islands, Ko Lipe, Chiang Mai, and Queenstown, where tourists are overrunning locals, acting idiotically, and littering.

Sure, crowded destinations are simply a by-product of a globalized world where travel has become attainable for more and more people. The number of international tourist arrivals is expected to increase by 3.3% worldwide each year until 2030 when it will reach 1.8 billion. And, on balance, that’s a good thing if you believe in travel as a transformative tool.

Yet the very things that make travel cheaper — budget airlines, Airbnb, ridesharing, etc. — have also made destinations unable to cope with all the visitors — and pushed out locals in the process.

Now they are starting to push back.

Barcelona is no longer allowing new hotels and is limiting the number of cruise ships. Dubrovnik is floating the idea of putting limits on the number of tourists. Chile is curbing the number of tourists to Easter Island and how long they can stay and Ecuador is doing the same for visitors to the Galápagos. Venice is trying to restrict Airbnb and the number of tourists (after restricting cruise ships). Paris is also restricting Airbnbs in the city. Iceland wants to limit the number of foreigners who buy property. Amsterdam is launching a campaign to reign in the partying in the city. Majorca has had continuous protests against tourists.

The world is saying “enough!”

And I, for one, am all for this.

Of course, I don’t think people intentionally try to “ruin” places. No one is saying, “Let’s go overcrowd Iceland and piss locals off!”

Most people just don’t even think of their actions causing harm.

Which makes education and these initiatives even more important.

Because there definitely needs to be a better balance between visitors and residents. Overtourism doesn’t help anyone. No one wants to visit a crowded destination – and no one wants to live somewhere that’s overrun with tourists.

While no one is talking about banning tourists outright, there should be better ways to control their numbers and the problems overtourism causes.

Take Airbnb. It’s one of the biggest problems in travel today (which is a shame, because I love the service).

It started out as a way for residents to earn money on the side and get travelers out of the hotel/hostel dynamic and into a more “local” way of life.

But that original mission has been perverted. As rentals have become more lucrative, Airbnb has turned a blind eye to the fact that real estate companies, property managers, and other individuals can list as many properties as they want. These companies, tapping into tourists’ desire to have a home away from home, buy up properties in the city center, which then decreases the supply of rental properties for locals, increases rental prices, and forces residents out.

Driving locals out defeats the purpose of using the service! Too many town centers have been decimated by Airbnb. While a man’s home is his castle, I do believe there should be some restrictions on Airbnb because it’s driving people out of city centers. That’s not good for anyone, especially the locals who live there and, since Airbnb won’t do anything about it, local governments need to step in and start cracking down. (Personally, I’ve started to only rent rooms in an Airbnb (instead of an entire property) so I know there’s a local there benefiting from my stay.)

“But what about social media?” you may ask.

One can’t deny YouTubers, Instagram “influencers”, and bloggers like myself have helped popularize travel and made it more accessible to the masses by destroying the myth that it’s an expensive thing only a few can do. We’ve shed light on destinations around the world and gotten people to visit places they might not have otherwise.

I don’t feel bad about that.

More people should travel.

And there’s always been the idea of that travel media “ruins” a place. The Lonely Planet effect. The Rick Steves effect. The Bourdain effect (which I experienced first hand since he came to my hometown).

I mean people have been opining about mass tourism for decades. Once it’s in the Lonely Planet, a place is dead, right?

But social media has an amplifying effect that didn’t exist in the past. It makes it easier for everyone to find – and then overrun a destination.

Do I really think my one article on (insert destination) created a crush of people like there is some Nomadic Matt effect? No.

But social media and blogging leads one person to a place and then another and then another and then suddenly everyone it taking a picture of themselves with their feet dangling over Horseshoe Bend, sitting on that rock in Norway, or having breakfast with giraffes at that hotel in Kenya.

Everyone wants to do what they see on social media so they can tell all their friends how cool and well traveled they are.

This is also one of the downsides of the Internet. For me, travel is an act of discovery – and respect – and we constantly talk about being a respectful traveler but, for many influencers and bloggers, they don’t balance their actions and influence with responsible travel (I mean you had Fun for Louis rationalizing his North Korea propaganda movies) and try to educate their audiences to better, more respectful travelers.

After all, we are as much a part of the solution as we are part of the problem. There are ways to mitigate your impact and create a mutually beneficial relationship between you and the local population.

Here are seven ways I think we can help mitigate the overtourism crisis:

1. Skip Airbnb homes – Airbnb is one of the biggest villains in this whole drama. Don’t rent an entire Airbnb home unless you can be 100% sure that you are renting from a real human who is just on vacation. Look at the photos, talk to the host, ask them if they live there. If this is a rental company or the person has multiple listings, skip them. Don’t contribute to the emptying of communities. Rent a room instead!

2. Spread your travels around – Don’t stick to the most popular areas in a destination. Travel outside the city center. Visit the smaller neighborhoods. Get out into the countryside! Getting off the beaten path not only means fewer tourists but also spreading the benefits of your tourism around. There’s more to Italy than Venice, more to Spain than Barcelona (seriously, nearby Costa Brava is amazing), more to Iceland than Rekyavik, more to Thailand than Pai, more to everywhere than where everyone is posting photos from! Get out there and find those hidden gems!

3. Visit in the shoulder season – A corollary to the above is to not visit during peak season. If you visit a place when everyone else does because “it’s the best time to go,” you’re just contributing to the crowds (plus facing peak-season prices). Travel during the shoulder season, when the crowds are fewer, the prices lower, and the weather still (mostly) nice.

4. Don’t eat in touristy areas – If you eat where all the other tourists are, you’ll pay more for lower-quality food. Open Google Maps, Foursquare, Yelp, or your guidebook and find restaurants where locals eat. Follow my five-block rule: always walk five blocks in any direction and cross the invisible line most tourists don’t. You’ll get away from the crowds, spread your tourism dollars around, and enjoy a more authentic experience.

5. Be an informed traveler – Read up on the destination before you go. Learn its customs. Learn its laws. Learn its history. The more respectful and knowledgeable you are, the better it is for everyone involved!

6. Don’t be a drunk idiot – Part of the growing pushback against tourists is not just their sheer number but their disrespectful behavior too. Heck, that is part of why the folks in Amsterdam are upset — they’re tired of drunk tourists! If you’re going someplace just to party, don’t go! You can get drunk back home. Don’t treat a destination like it’s your playpen. People live there after all! Treat them with kindness. You’re a guest in their home.

7. Be environmentally friendly – Finally, don’t waste a place’s (limited) resources. Don’t leave the lights on. Don’t litter. Don’t take long showers. Don’t involve yourself in environmentally dubious activities. The more you can preserve a destination, the longer it will last and the more the locals will want tourists like yourself there. After all, if you ruin it, how will you ever be able to go back? Here are some resources on the subject:

Is eco-tourism really eco-friendly?

How to balance tourism and the environment

How to ethically volunteer anywhere in the world

***Overtourism has been written about a lot lately (see the plethora of links from above) and it’s an issue I’ve been thinking about by another name for years and especially this summer as I jostled through the crowded streets of Amsterdam and my home away from home of New York City.

I think we’re going to see a lot more destinations limiting the number of visitors and placing restrictions on the travel industry. People are just fed up – and they have every right to be.

Let’s not love places to death. Just like it’s important to protect animals and the environment when we travel, so too is it important to protect residents and the destinations themselves.

Do I think lots of tourists are suddenly going to go “Oh, I didn’t realize we were doing this! Let’s change our ways!”?

Nope.

I think tourist behavior will, for the most part, continue as before. I think tourists are still going to act stupid. I think people will still be short-sighted.

But I’m glad this subject is being talked about. I’m glad there is more action around the issue.

We’re the cause – and part of the solution – to this problem and, the more responsible we act, the better it is for everyone involved.

Overtourism is a problem that can only be solved by residents and tourists together.

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