#fresh kindle : ask meme | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spring-emerald · 5 years

Note

Hi. Is it ok to request a Game of Thrones au for Karasuno?

Hello @runningfromrealitytoanime! Yes, though in the interest of full disclosure, I’m one of those that didn’t watch GoT in its entirety and what I know of it is from the memes and pop culture in general, but I’ve brushed up by reading the GoT wiki to give you a little something. I’m sorry that it’s really short though and that it took me a while. I hope you’ll still like it. :)

-----

Daichi pulls the thick blanket over himself and wraps it tighter in attempt to warm himself up more, inching closer to the hearth that a short, younger boy with a ginger hair is keeping alive by throwing kindling, all while occasionally glancing at Daichi.

Daichi couldn’t be more thankful being surrounded by heat again. He used to hate it, the heat that is, because he’s never experienced anything else, working in the forges and all. He’d always dreamt of escaping its suffocating confines and smell of melting metal. He had wanted to experience breathing fresh air and know the smell of the sea, the lush greens of the forest and feel the winter winds against his skin. But having experienced all of that in what he considers a hard-pressed journey almost to the point of dying of cold because the North is upholding its reputation, more so than what he thought, he would do anything to be sweating out again.

“Here, have some soup,” Sugawara offers him a steaming bowl, and Daichi’s stomach grumbles and he couldn’t get his hands out fast enough to cradle it. The warmth escaping the wooden bowl was a welcome comfort especially for Daichi’s freezing hands. He says a soft thank you, before he starts slurping the soup, burning his tongue at the first spoonful because of his haste.

When his belly is warm enough and his mind more lucid, he’s more aware of the other people around him, all looking at him at varying state of polite hesitance to unconcealed awe. They all look away when he meets their eyes, focusing on their own bowls instead, but he’s sure they all have some words at the tip of their tongue, but he feigns ignorance.

It’s a strange group, their lot. He’d met the tall, gruff one, Asahi, beforehand, when he pretended to be commissioning a weapon for his master and had taken him aside in the guise of discussing the details and payment, but once out of earshot had a completely different message for him -declared that he knows Daichi’s lineage and that it’s only a matter of time before others, the enemies do; that his life is in danger and that he should come with him, with them because they’re going to keep him safe, they are his only hope.

They, who, at this point still even after meeting them all, Daichi cannot pinpoint which of the seven kingdoms had come from. He never cared much for politics and to which powerful family belongs which members, he could care less about that, but he’s pretty sure that the variation of hair colors and physical features means that they’re far removed from each other’s lineages, and don’t belong to only one kingdom.

“You must have a lot of questions.” Sugawara asks, watching him. “About who you really are and why we’ve taken you. But rest assured that we are your allies and we’re here to protect you and help you get back what’s rightfully yours.”

“I don’t even know what’s rightfully mine,” Daichi admits. “Since we began this journey, all I have are doubts and questions that keep on growing every day and gives me sleepless nights. I want to understand.” He’s still wary, but he shows them that he will listen.

Sugawara and Asahi share a look, then Sugawara nods. Asahi slips a stack of parchments out from a rucksack sitting on the floor beside him and hands it over to Daichi, which he takes slowly.

“We’ve received this a few months ago which led us to look for you.”

Daichi frowns but unfurls it nonetheless and reads through. It wasn’t exactly a letter, like he’d expected, but accounts, multiple ones in chronological order, detailing the aftermath of the coup that happened 25 years ago. He’s halfway reading the third page when he’d realized that what he’s reading are ripped out journal pages.

Thoughts and knowledge and experiences of who Daichi realizes later is the man he grew up to know as his father, but had eventually abandoned them. That his entries are about his mother –the princess of the overthrown and betrayed king, and with growing dread, him –the rightful heir and ruler and had to be kept safe. All of the entry though soaked with obvious fear would always be littered with hope and promises of the prince restoring his family’s honor and eventually the peace in all the Seven Kingdoms.

Daichi doesn’t finish reading, couldn’t bear to, as his mind starts spinning around the possibilities, the weight of the words, the recollections that swiftly and abruptly changed his life. If proven to be true.

“You…” he starts. “I’m not- I don’t… This isn’t about me. I’m not. I can’t be,” he throws the pages down on the floor.

“I understand that you may find it hard to believe,” Sugawara says, picking up the papers. “But it’s the truth.”

“These letters are hardly proof of any truth you’re speaking of!” Daichi shouts, standing up, the blanket falling behind him. “That could be referring to anyone!”

“You bear a striking resemblance to the late King,” Tsukishima interjects from his place in the far corner, the dancing flames reflected on his glasses and light blond hair. “I was studying to be a Meister and had seen portraits of royals during my time as apprentice. Your likeness is uncanny.” He also proceeds to describe the princess, and Daichi swallows the lump on his throat at how it matches his mother.

“That doesn’t prove anything.” Daichi insists.

Sugawara sighs. “You’re right. No one alive during that time can help us. All the allies of the king were executed and killed. All from the different families of the Seven Kingdoms, noble and otherwise, no exemptions. We know this because some of us come from them. No one was spared, not even with promises of loyalty and fealty to him, the current king made sure of that no one can know that someone can contest his claim. We only have portraits he doesn’t know exist hidden in the forbidden section of the Citadel and accounts from a dead man,” he waves the paper in his hand. “And you.”

“And we need you,” Asahi adds, somber. “It wasn’t uncommon for family members to betray one another. A lot of people got into power through that. But in the years he’d been on the throne, the king had turned a lot of people against each other and had laid waste in this once great country. He made blood ties meaningless, family names and connections useless. But he didn’t anticipate that in the division he created, a stronger bond between people would form.

“That’s why we’re here,” he stares at Daichi. “This family we’ve created for ourselves would fight until we can and we’d like you to do it with us.”

“What you’re asking for is…” Daichi couldn’t even finish, thoughts too jumbled and feelings too conflicted.

“A lot, we know,” Sugawara concedes. “But we’ve been gearing ourselves up for this revolution for a while now. We could’ve done it without you. We didn’t know of your existence until a few months ago. But now, we’d like to believe that the Old Gods and the New have blessed us because you are here.”

Daichi still isn’t thoroughly convinced. And he knows that what he says next is rash and impulsive, too raw and sudden but still he breathes deep and squares his shoulders, looks them all in the eyes and says “What do I need to do?”

------

i was trying to go for a subversion of loyalty to family trope that I think is part and parcel of what makes up GoT. I was trying to go for kind of like embodiment of the saying “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb” but idk if I justified it well enough. Anyway, thank you for your patience.

#haikyuu!!#karasuno #sawamura daichi #hq fanfic

8 notes · View notes

theofficersacademy · 5 years

Photo

The little oaken box still sits in its corner of the cathedral, a few months’ worth of dust coating it like snow. Rumors abound about the short-lived advice box–that it had been used as kindling for the Midsommar festival, that the Cardinal Beasts were created when an unwitting student opened the box and unleashed the terrible evil kept inside, even that it could predict the future and foretell the winner of the upcoming Battle of the Eagle and Lion.

The advice box is a font of evil, exposing the precious secrets and fears of the Officers Academy for all to gawk at and judge.

The advice box is a force of good, gathering the empathetic hearts of Garreg Mach Monastery together to give advice to their anxious peers.

Regardless of opinion, everyone could agree on one thing: The advice box must return.

....

A familiar monk wipes down the table before placing down a fresh stack of paper and quills. He blows off the dust from the little oaken box, then pats it affectionately like an old friend. The box has been in disuse for quite some time, and no notes await him inside. The monk resolves to be its first query.

There is 1 note. Would you like to read the note from the advice box?

Welcome to TOA’s Advice Box!

Let’s get this out of the way, we haven’t opened the Advice Box since September, and we’ve grown so much since then that there are a lot of people here looking at this and going, “What the hell, I didn’t know that this was here!” We hope that 2020 will be the year we open the box to questions more regularly, and we thank everyone who wanted the Advice Box to make a comeback!

While the Advice Box is open, characters may submit questions or scenarios, and/or respond to questions their peers are asking! The advice box will be open from January 17th to January 31st. We hope that you enjoy this mini-event!

It’s been a while, so here is a refresher on how the Advice box works. Even if you were here when the Advice Box was last open, please keep reading as we have made a few important changes to the rules.

Sending questions in:

Please follow the @toa-advicebox blog. This is where the advice box will work out of.

During the mini-event period, send in-character asks to this blog asking for advice on anything your character would like. In accordance with the tradition, all asks must be sent anonymously.

TOA’s Advice Box is based on the ingame Advice Box mechanic, so all submissions should be formatted as questions. This isn’t simply a rumor mill or meme generator, but that doesn’t mean that rumors can’t be made into questions.

Your question will be published here! Wait with bated breath to see if it gets answered.

Answering questions:

Please follow the @toa-advicebox blog. It will publish questions that are sent in anonymously.

Reblog the question you’d like your character to answer, rather than make a new text post.

Please tag all advice box answers with #toa advice box so others can easily find them.

If the sender of the question chooses, they may decide to reveal themselves however they would like: using the reply function to comment on your post, reblogging it with an acknowledgement, etc.

This mini-event is meant to serve as a fun, mysteriously anon way to interact with each other! You can choose to just send in questions, just answer questions, or both (though of course we have to receive questions in order for anyone to answer anything!).

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a limit to how many questions I can send in or answer?

Nope! As long as the advice box is open, you can keep sending in questions. You can also continue to answer questions after the box closes, too, but there won’t be any more new ones coming in. Additionally, there’s no limit to how many answers a question can have. Just because someone else has answered it already doesn’t mean your character can’t offer their own opinion!

What should the answers be like?

However you want, as long as it’s in-character! You can do a drabble; you can do just a couple lines. It’s as intensive or laid-back as you want to make it. All you need to do is tag with #toa advice box

Do I have to reveal that I sent the question?

No, you don’t! You can remain anonymous forever if you’d like. But if you do want to show your face to your responder, feel free! The comment function is great for that, or you can reblog it.

What if I want to make it into a thread?

Feel free! If the answer so inspires you that you think a great interaction might come out of it, there’s nothing stopping you. Of course, it’s always good etiquette to run it by the other mun first.

Does this count towards anything, like monthly activity or skill points?

Yes, any answers you post will count towards monthly activity! However, at this time, there won’t be any rewards for participating in this mini-event.

#toa announcements #toa mini events

8 notes · View notes

shinobi93 · 7 years

Text

I accidentally posted this on my book blog even though it is partly about writing fic so...second time lucky

I was tagged by the fantastic @nobodytoldthehorse and as it’s like a writing meme I couldn’t not

1) How many works in progress do you currently have? That’s a nebulous term. I have one poetry submission that’s in the ideas stage, some very self indulgent further worldbuilding type writing for a fic I wrote that will not be shared with anyone but is for me to read, the novel planning that probably/maybe isn’t going anywhere due to the narrative’s relation to real world events that have happened over the past few months, and then some stalled ideas sitting in documents.

The short answer is not actually that much except poetry and stuff just for me because I finished the things I was writing for deadlines and haven’t really settled from moving enough to start much fresh.

2) Do you/would you write fanfiction? We all know the answer is yes. My AO3 shows that the answer is ‘hardly anything any more’. Though I recently wrote a story for an anthology that is essentially fanfiction, but just jazzed up.

3) Do you prefer paper books or ebooks?

Both are equally good. (I left Megan’s first sentence there because it is true). I don’t buy many ebooks because I use my kindle predominantly for reviewing proof copies I get via Netgalley, but I probably read an equal amount of both.

4) When did you start writing? When I was little (like, before school) I told stories about my two favourite soft toys, Teddy and Doggy (yes, original names), and then I ended up writing some down in a green exercise book.

5) Do you have someone you trust that you share your work with?

It’s not so much trust as only sharing it when either I need feedback or someone asks. My poetry feels self indulgent (even though it’s the only thing that’s been actually published right now) so I like sharing that less (also I always feel like people sound like they don’t really like it when they are saying ‘oh, I liked it’). The only one of my fics I got properly editing was done by Megan who was a dream of an editor and very useful, and @alichay has read a fair amount of things I’ve written either because I asked her to or they were for her. I also have a friend (not on here) who reads a lot of what I write because I trust her not to judge it in a ‘why have you written that’ way.

6) Where is your favourite place to write?

Varied. Probably not in silence - I write at home with music on, or can write out and about places (I wrote some stuff on the train on Tuesday and had to hope nobody looked at my screen because the names of the characters made it obvious it was fic).

7) Favorite childhood book? The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is my go to answer. I also loved the Saga of Darren Shan.

8) Writing for fun or publication? Both is the aim. I need a prose project because at the moment it’s like prose for fun, poetry for publication, which sounds like I’m from the sixteenth century and have a patron.

9) Pen and paper or computer? Computer almost solely, unless I’m out somewhere and some lines come to me (that makes me sound like a wanker, but really I mean because I was imagining the characters and needed to note it down).

10) Have you ever taken any writing classes? Nope! Which makes me feel like I won’t get a novel published as like everything at the moment is by people with MAs in Creative Writing and stuff. But my undergrad English course was not the kind to include any writing (no creativity at Oxford). So nothing beyond them trying to make you use imagery in your writing in English at school.

11) What inspires you to write? The fact I like doing it. And like people’s reactions to reading it. And also I read things and think either ‘I could do this’ or ‘I could do better than this’. Who knows if those thoughts are true.

#this is why you shouldn't have multiple blogs

2 notes · View notes

davidarc · 4 years

Text

The WWW Wednesday meme is hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do an update on your reading and plans. I know lots of people do this one every week, but my being such a slow reader, you’d all get bored seeing the same thing week after week, so it may be a while before my next one!

To take part all you have to do is answer the following three questions:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

As my regular readers know, I usually read one book on my Kindle and one book in print, so you get two for the price of one with this meme. So, here we go!

What am I currently reading?

On my Kindle: “Miss Mole” by E.H. Young. This book will be re-released on August 2, by Dean Street Press, and they kindly send me an ARC of the book. In Print: “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Well, I loved her “Daisy Jones & The Six” so I just HAD to buy this book as well!

What did I recently finish reading?

On my Kindle: “The Part-Time Job” by P.D. James. This little short-story with a sting in the tail was released to honor the upcoming 100th birthday of the “Queen of Crime”! In Print: “The Red House Mystery” by A.A. Milne. Yes, that very same Milne who wrote the Winnie the Pooh books wrote one adult, murder mystery novel!

What do I think I’ll read next?

On my Kindle: I’ll probably read “Cher Ami and Major Whittlesley” by Kathleen Rooney. I just got the ARC for this book, after asking for it directly from the publisher (because I totally adored her “Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk“!

In Print: Ah, this is harder. I’m leaning towards reading “Fresh Complaint” by Jeffrey Eugenides because… short stories! Another idea is “Love is Blind” by William Boyd, because I’ve not read nearly enough Boyd! My husband really enjoyed “The House by the Loch” by Kirsty Wark, so that’s another idea. Finally, there’s Bill Bryson’s “Shakespeare“.

Which one of these print books do you think I should read next?

Take Our Poll

TCL's 1st WWW Wednesday - July 22, 2020! Yes, I've decided to take part in this weekly meme because... why not? Thanks @SamAnnElizabeth for this! #WWWWednesday #BookBlogersHub #BackaBlogger The WWW Wednesday meme is hosted by Sam @ Taking on a World of Words and is a great way to do an update on your reading and plans.

#blogging #book bloggers #book blogging #books #eBooks #Memes #novella #novels #print books #short stories #WWW Wednesday

0 notes

toomanysinks · 6 years

Text

How to read fiction to build a startup

“The book itself is a curious artefact, not showy in its technology but complex and extremely efficient: a really neat little device, compact, often very pleasant to look at and handle, that can last decades, even centuries. It doesn’t have to be plugged in, activated, or performed by a machine; all it needs is light, a human eye, and a human mind. It is not one of a kind, and it is not ephemeral. It lasts. It is reliable. If a book told you something when you were 15, it will tell it to you again when you’re 50, though you may understand it so differently that it seems you’re reading a whole new book.”—Ursula K. Le Guin

Every year, Bill Gates goes off-grid, leaves friends and family behind, and spends two weeks holed up in a cabin reading books. His annual reading list rivals Oprah’s Book Club as a publishing kingmaker. Not to be outdone, Mark Zuckerberg shared a reading recommendation every two weeks for a year, dubbing 2015 his “Year of Books.” Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, joined the board of Room to Read when she realized how books like The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate were inspiring girls to pursue careers in science and technology. Many a biotech entrepreneur treasures a dog-eared copy of Daniel Suarez’s Change Agent, which extrapolates the future of CRISPR. Noah Yuval Harari’s sweeping account of world history, Sapiens, is de rigueur for Silicon Valley nightstands.

This obsession with literature isn’t limited to founders. Investors are just as avid bookworms. “Reading was my first love,” says AngelList’s Naval Ravikant. “There is always a book to capture the imagination.” Ravikant reads dozens of books at a time, dipping in and out of each one nonlinearly. When asked about his preternatural instincts, Lux Capital’s Josh Wolfe advised investors to “read voraciously and connect dots.” Foundry Group’s Brad Feld has reviewed 1,197 books on Goodreads and especially loves science fiction novels that “make the step function leaps in imagination that represent the coming dislocation from our current reality.”

This begs a fascinating question: Why do the people building the future spend so much of their scarcest resource — time — reading books?

Image by NiseriN via Getty Images. Reading time approximately 14 minutes.

Don’t Predict, Reframe

Do innovators read in order to mine literature for ideas? The Kindle was built to the specs of a science fictional children’s storybook featured in Neal Stephenson’s novel The Diamond Age, in fact, the Kindle project team was originally codenamed “Fiona” after the novel’s protagonist. Jeff Bezos later hired Stephenson as the first employee at his space startup Blue Origin. But this literary prototyping is the exception that proves the rule. To understand the extent of the feedback loop between books and technology, it’s necessary to attack the subject from a less direct angle.

David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas is full of indirect angles that all manage to reveal deeper truths. It’s a mind-bending novel that follows six different characters through an intricate web of interconnected stories spanning three centuries. The book is a feat of pure M.C. Escher-esque imagination, featuring a structure as creative and compelling as its content. Mitchell takes the reader on a journey ranging from the 19th century South Pacific to a far-future Korean corpocracy and challenges the reader to rethink the very idea of civilization along the way. “Power, time, gravity, love,” writes Mitchell. “The forces that really kick ass are all invisible.”

The technological incarnations of these invisible forces are precisely what Kevin Kelly seeks to catalog in The Inevitable. Kelly is an enthusiastic observer of the impact of technology on the human condition. He was a co-founder of Wired, and the insights explored in his book are deep, provocative, and wide-ranging. In his own words, “When answers become cheap, good questions become more difficult and therefore more valuable.” The Inevitable raises many important questions that will shape the next few decades, not least of which concern the impacts of AI:

“Over the past 60 years, as mechanical processes have replicated behaviors and talents we thought were unique to humans, we’ve had to change our minds about what sets us apart. As we invent more species of AI, we will be forced to surrender more of what is supposedly unique about humans. Each step of surrender—we are not the only mind that can play chess, fly a plane, make music, or invent a mathematical law—will be painful and sad. We’ll spend the next three decades—indeed, perhaps the next century—in a permanent identity crisis, continually asking ourselves what humans are good for. If we aren’t unique toolmakers, or artists, or moral ethicists, then what, if anything, makes us special? In the grandest irony of all, the greatest benefit of an everyday, utilitarian AI will not be increased productivity or an economics of abundance or a new way of doing science—although all those will happen. The greatest benefit of the arrival of artificial intelligence is that AIs will help define humanity. We need AIs to tell us who we are.”

It is precisely this kind of an AI-influenced world that Richard Powers describes so powerfully in his extraordinary novel The Overstory:

“Signals swarm through Mimi’s phone. Suppressed updates and smart alerts chime at her. Notifications to flick away. Viral memes and clickable comment wars, millions of unread posts demanding to be ranked. Everyone around her in the park is likewise busy, tapping and swiping, each with a universe in his palm. A massive, crowd-sourced urgency unfolds in Like-Land, and the learners, watching over these humans’ shoulders, noting each time a person clicks, begin to see what it might be: people, vanishing en masse into a replicated paradise.”

Taking this a step further, Virginia Heffernan points out in Magic and Loss that living in a digitally mediated reality impacts our inner lives at least as much as the world we inhabit:

“The Internet suggests immortality—comes just shy of promising it—with its magic. With its readability and persistence of data. With its suggestion of universal connectedness. With its disembodied imagines and sounds. And then, just as suddenly, it stirs grief: the deep feeling that digitization has cost us something very profound. That connectedness is illusory; that we’re all more alone than ever.”

And it is the questionable assumptions underlying such a future that Nick Harkaway enumerates in his existential speculative thriller Gnomon:

“Imagine how safe it would feel to know that no one could ever commit a crime of violence and go unnoticed, ever again. Imagine what it would mean to us to know—know for certain—that the plane or the bus we’re travelling on is properly maintained, that the teacher who looks after our children doesn’t have ugly secrets. All it would cost is our privacy, and to be honest who really cares about that? What secrets would you need to keep from a mathematical construct without a heart? From a card index? Why would it matter? And there couldn’t be any abuse of the system, because the system would be built not to allow it. It’s the pathway we’re taking now, that we’ve been on for a while.”

Machine learning pioneer, former President of Google China, and leading Chinese venture capitalist Kai-Fu Lee loves reading science fiction in this vein — books that extrapolate AI futures — like Hao Jingfang’s Hugo Award-winning Folding Beijing. Lee’s own book, AI Superpowers, provides a thought-provoking overview of the burgeoning feedback loop between machine learning and geopolitics. As AI becomes more and more powerful, it becomes an instrument of power, and this book outlines what that means for the 21st century world stage:

“Many techno-optimists and historians would argue that productivity gains from new technology almost always produce benefits throughout the economy, creating more jobs and prosperity than before. But not all inventions are created equal. Some changes replace one kind of labor (the calculator), and some disrupt a whole industry (the cotton gin). Then there are technological changes on a grander scale. These don’t merely affect one task or one industry but drive changes across hundreds of them. In the past three centuries, we’ve only really seen three such inventions: the steam engine, electrification, and information technology.”

So what’s different this time? Lee points out that “AI is inherently monopolistic: A company with more data and better algorithms will gain ever more users and data. This self-reinforcing cycle will lead to winner-take-all markets, with one company making massive profits while its rivals languish.” This tendency toward centralization has profound implications for the restructuring of world order:

“The AI revolution will be of the magnitude of the Industrial Revolution—but probably larger and definitely faster. Where the steam engine only took over physical labor, AI can perform both intellectual and physical labor. And where the Industrial Revolution took centuries to spread beyond Europe and the U.S., AI applications are already being adopted simultaneously all across the world.”

Cloud Atlas, The Inevitable, The Overstory, Gnomon, Folding Beijing, and AI Superpowers might appear to predict the future, but in fact they do something far more interesting and useful: reframe the present. They invite us to look at the world from new angles and through fresh eyes. And cultivating “beginner’s mind” is the problem for anyone hoping to build or bet on the future.

source https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/16/the-best-fiction-for-building-a-startup/

0 notes

fmservers · 6 years

Text

How to read fiction to build a startup

This begs a fascinating question: Why do the people building the future spend so much of their scarcest resource — time — reading books?

Image by NiseriN via Getty Images. Reading time approximately 14 minutes.

Don’t Predict, Reframe

It is precisely this kind of an AI-influenced world that Richard Powers describes so powerfully in his extraordinary novel The Overstory:

Taking this a step further, Virginia Heffernan points out in Magic and Loss that living in a digitally mediated reality impacts our inner lives at least as much as the world we inhabit:

And it is the questionable assumptions underlying such a future that Nick Harkaway enumerates in his existential speculative thriller Gnomon:

Via Danny Crichton https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

0 notes

infotainmentplus-blog · 6 years

Photo

Here are some things you can do when your phone is offline In 2018, it’s pretty uncommon that we find ourselves completely offline. However, dead zones and long flights remain an unavoidable part of life for many. Google Assistant now recommends things to do when you’re phone is offline, like playing games, but we’ve come up with a few options to add to the list. Without further ado, here are some things you can do when your phone is offline. Take advantage of offline storage If you know that you’re going to be going off the grid ahead of time, you have a tremendous advantage. Put those gigs of storage to use by downloading your favorite playlists or videos. Most streaming services offer this as an option. You can even save online articles for later perusal. Having a library of readables on your Kindle or Audible app can also help pass the time. That’s right: books are still a thing people make and, apparently, consume. If you haven’t jumped on the literary bandwagon, now’s your chance! See Also: 10 best offline apps for Android How to download YouTube videos for offline watching 10 best literature apps for Android Re-check for networks constantly Face it, you’re going to exhaust just about every obvious activity you can do with your phone while it’s offline pretty quick. When it happens, you’ll be tempted to check your network connectivity like a gerbil on a heroin drip. Go ahead and give into that temptation. The sooner you get reconnected the better. Refresh, refresh, refresh. Note that searching for networks sacrifices substantial battery life. Use Airplane Mode if you’re in a power-conservation situation (see what we did there?). If you’ve brought along a hefty power bank like a responsible tech enthusiast, you should be good to go. See Also: How to expand your battery life Use your device as a paperweight Sometimes paper doesn’t stay where it’s supposed to, which is why God invented paperweights. Most people pay good, hard-earned money for paperweights shaped like turtles or oversized diamonds, but your offline phone is just as effective at keeping paper still. To convert your phone into a paperweight, simply place the device on top of papers that you want to remain stationary. Now if someone opens a door briskly or cats invade your workspace, your papers will remain right where you put them. Prop open a window on a sunny day If you’re in a part of the world where the outside is more pleasant than the inside this time of year, let that good old fashioned fresh air into your home or office! Some older windows have trouble staying open, but with your trusty offline phone, you’ll let no summer breeze go to waste. Tackle that FOMO When you’re phone is offline, it’s easy to start thinking about all the activities that you’re likely missing out on. You might start imagining all the things your friends and family are almost certainly doing without you and how much fun they’re having. Don’t panic. What you’re experiencing is classic fear of missing out (FOMO). Your friends and family are almost certainly having buckets of fun without you There is currently no known cure to FOMO, which is not yet classified by the World Health Organization as an actual disease. However, spry mental gymnastics can get you back in good spirits in no time. The Oatmeal recommends converting FOMO into “JOMO,” the joy of missing out. Alternatively, we’ve found napping is a good countermeasure because it’s impossible to fear anything while asleep. Unless you’re prone to sleep paralysis, in which case it’s perfectly natural to fear the demon in the corner of your room. Talk to a stranger Many of us were raised to “Not talk to strangers,” but you’re, what, 22 now? 30? 57? Time to ditch “Stranger Danger” and strike up a delightful conversation with someone you’ve never met. Strangers are almost everywhere, but most of them are located outside of your home. That means you’ll probably have to leave or order pizza delivery to find one. Strangers are almost everywhere, but most of them are located outside of your home Once you’ve identified your stranger, you’ll need an icebreaker question to get the conversation flowing. We recommend softballs like “What is your deepest regret?” or “Do you suffer from any gastrointestinal conditions that complicate your day-to-day?” After you get the conversational ball rolling, let your natural charisma guide the conversation like the savvy social Sisyphus you know you are. Remember: strangers are just friends you haven’t met yet. Or dangerously unpredictable sociopaths. Or both! Play bocce ball Bocce is a lawn game with roots in Ancient Rome, a time when most phones were offline. As such, it’s a perfect activity for the typical offline user. To play, you’ll of course need a set of bocce balls. A solid set will likely run you between $30 and $40. If you find yourself looking at a $70 or more price tag, you’re likely overpaying. We recommend springing for a soft carrying case. Bocce can be played by two to four people, and involves throwing heavy balls at each other. The game is over when a team reaches 12 points Start by having one team toss out the smaller “jack” ball, which is usually white. This is called “delivering the jack.” The team that delivers the jack also makes the first bocce throw. The goal is to get your bocce closer to the jack than your opponent(s). After each team makes an initial throw, the team with a ball closest to the jack gets to throw all of their remaining bocci balls in succession. After their balls are thrown, the team with a ball next-closest to the jack throws the rest of their bocci balls, and so on. Master Sergeant Thomas, “The O’Malley Factor”, O’Malley and the Referee Mr. Bill Huges from the Santa Maria Lawn Bowling Club measure the distance between the two Bocce Balls during Combat Bocce Ball Tournament on Friday May 5, 2007 at the 381st Training Group of the U.S. Air Force. The event was put on as one of the 381st Training Group Quarterly Events to ensure morale stays high. (Photo by Nichelle K I Griffiths) Remember, it’s completely legal to hit the jack with a bocce ball. This can radically change a round by moving the nucleus of play away from players who have already made their throws. Once all the balls are thrown, determine which team has a bocce ball closest to the jack. Only that team will score points this round, and any other teams receive no points. Tallying points is simple. If your ball is closest to the jack, you get a point for each bocce ball that is closer to the jack than the next-closest bocce ball that doesn’t belong to you. If one of your balls is physically touching the jack at the end of a round, this is called a “kiss” or “baci” and worth two points. Once points are tallied, the bocce balls are collected and the winning team delivers the jack to start the next round. The game is over when a team reaches 12 points. However, if you’re losing when a team reaches 12 points, you can insist that the game last to either 15 or 21 points to keep your ego intact. With all the fun you’re having now, memes and emails are probably the furthest thing from your mind! Contemplate the heat death of the universe Remember, the inexorable expansion of the universe will eventually isolate our galaxy within a causally disconnected void. The remaining stars will collapse and fizzle, replaced by a bleak abyss choked with black holes and increasingly inert interstellar gas. With no way to inject more energy into this closed system, all life will go the way of Motorola. Eventually, even black holes will leak their energy via Hawking radiation over millennia, shrinking and ultimately evaporating completely. Considering the magnitude and inevitability of this slide into mindless entropy doesn’t have any practical use, but you might dwell on your comparative insignificance and transience long enough for your phone to find a network connection again. Prank your friends In the hit Willy Wonka movies, poor Charlie Bucket found a golden ticket concealed beneath the wrapper of his coveted Wonka Bar. We don’t recommend storing gold next to chocolate — heavy metal poisoning is a serious condition with myriad symptoms that can take years to manifest. However, you could conceal your phone in a repurposed wrapper to the surprise and delight of your friends. For instance, a Samsung Galaxy Note 8 fits nicely inside a “king size” Hershey’s Gold Peanuts & Pretzels bar. Imagine your friend’s surprise when, instead of caramel creme surrounding a salty crunch, they find a practically unusable smartphone. You got ’em! A regular Jack Vale, you are. The best part: you get to eat the candy ahead of time. Pro Tips: You’ll want to use a very mild glue to reattach the packaging after you carefully open it. We recommend eyelash glue, which adheres unobtrusively to cellophane and is easy to clean if any gets on your phone. Apply with included brush, hold in place for 30 seconds, and leave it for an hour to fully set. Don’t forget to ask for your phone back. It’s expensive. Intervene if your friend actually attempts to eat the device. Learn how to play the guitar All that time you’ve been Redditing or looking at your friends’ vacation pictures could have been spent developing a skill! Now that those distractions are no longer an option, it’s time to dust off that old Fender you borrowed from your brother three years ago and learn an E chord. You’d be surprised by the progress you can make by just devoting 30 minutes per day to an activity. It only takes about that long to learn all the main chords in a single sitting, but you’ll have to wait on muscle memory to kick in before you can switch between them naturally. The key here is consistency. Set aside a time every day, and get to strumming. See Also: Learn to Play the Guitar in 10 Hours Deal: Portable Smart Guitar, Learn Anywhere! Best apps for musicians We actually recommend learning on an electric guitar rather than acoustic. The reasoning here is that finger-positioning is of the utmost importance, and practicing that over and over again will annoy the hell out of your roommate, dog, neighbor, or dad if you’re using an acoustic. Electric guitars without an amp are quiet, but you can still hear if you’re hitting the chords correctly. Learn your chords, then work through Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash over and over again while lying on the couch and binge-watching Altered Carbon on Netflix. Make a list of your accomplishments Lists aren’t just for things to do, they can also be for things you’ve done! While your phone is offline, set aside a few moments to take stock of your life. What have you done with it? Are you happy with where you are? Are you in a better situation now than last year? Have you watched all of Altered Carbon yet? It’s pretty good. See also: Best note taking apps Best productivity apps Make a list of all the things you’re proud of having accomplished by your age. Whatever you do, don’t go to the Museum of Conceptual Art “Things Other People Accomplished When They Were Your Age” page and enter your age. Don’t do it. Stop. Resist. Face crippling introspection Revisit the list you just made. What have you really done with your life? Are you really happy with where you are? Are you really in a better situation now than last year? How many days have you squandered? How many valuable relationships have you let slip away? What would have happened if you actually went in for that kiss when you were terrified to make the first move in high school? What did you want to be when you grew up? What are you doing now? Are you happy with your BMI? What about your credit score? Is your degree really worth the debt you’re in? When’s the last time you remember not being stressed out of your mind? See also: National Institute of Mental Health: Depression Overview Crippling Alcoholism Subreddit Borrow a friend’s phone Remember, not all networks are created equal. If you have friends, some of their phones might still work even if yours is currently offline. If the situation becomes too dire, don’t forget that even heroes ask for help from time to time. Get your mobile fix by asking to borrow your buddy’s device. If you don’t have any friends, refer back to our entry about strangers. In Summary There you have it! Now you’ll never have to worry about what to do when your phone is offline ever again. If you’re feeling particularly canny, go ahead and download this article so you can access it even when you’re offline. If you know someone currently suffering from an offline phone, share this with them. They won’t see it, of course, but it’s the thought that counts. Share this with a friend who is frequently offline. They won't see it, but it's the thought that counts These are our favorites, but we’d love to hear from you too! What do you do when your phone is offline? Give us your best in the comments! , via Android Authority http://bit.ly/2mBKtbf

0 notes

deathincarnatetbh · 7 years

Text

burn the stars

Warnings: N/A

Pairings: Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck

Tags: Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Recreational Drug Use, Marijuana, Introspection, Family Issues, Feelings Realization, Angst, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Character Study, ASLDFKJASKLDF?, i wrote this??, gon and killua smoke weed this is new, illumi is referenced frequently but does /not/ show up, Internal Monologue

Summary: Gon teaches Killua about all the mountain grasses and plants he’s sampled. Including weed. It yields unexpected results and revelations.

Notes: ASDFGJKL? I can't believe I wrote this. Based on this meme everyone in the HxH fandom has probably seen at least once, I never thought I would write anything like this.

Link on AO3

Killua could give Gon credit: Whale Island was a beautiful place to grow up as a child. It fostered adventure and a sense of comfort that could only be described as “new.” Although the forests that surrounded the Zoldyck mansion were well-kept and familiar, this was something else entirely. Whale Island felt alive and free, without the sense of impending doom his family’s property had pressing on his shoulders. The woods he explored with Gon were serene and calm. Killua followed him through winding paths of mud, boggy in places as it fell into gullies and rose up the hills. They raced through the trees, leaping over thin winding creeks and slippery rocks. Killua dodged and zipped past rotting oaks and under lowered and snapped branches until everything blurred into dizzying blend of earthy tones.

Best of all he was able to do it all with Gon, and he wouldn’t want it any other way. The entire trip seemed “innocent,” a concept he was deprived of during most of his life. It felt almost strange to do so many things with so much freedom. It seemed like Gon had so much to share and Killua had so much to learn about having a normal childhood and a simple life. He could almost say he was jealous, though he wasn’t about to admit such a thing.

It was fun, something he wasn’t quite used to while growing up.

By the end of the day, Killua was worn out but quite pleased. Gon had taught him how to fish, and upon catching one they roasted it over a fire as the sun began to fall over the treetops. They had found a nice and quiet clearing to relax and unwind after the day’s activities, right next to a small lake. As twilight ensued, the surface of the water was as smooth as black glass. The thought of his eldest brother’s eyes matching its vacancy began to form in his mind, but he managed to push it away as he gave a glance to Gon. He was safe now, further away from his brother than ever before. Being by his side gave Killua more comfort than his own family, which mildly disturbed him but it was also a sign that he wanted something for once in his life.

He wanted to stay , and after Gon’s enthusiastic and endearing statement (‘Then let’s stick together,’ Killua recalled Gon’s assertion word for word, ‘We can travel around and see the world together!’) he was sure that his desire triumphed everything Illumi had taught him about his destiny and purpose.

“Killua are you okay?”

The words shook Killua from his thoughts. Gon was staring at him with a look of concern, his head turned to the side and the campfire’s flames flickering orange light over his face.

“What? Yeah. Why would you ask that?” Killua replied, his tone a bit drawn out and low.

“You look like you’re thinking about something.”

He was right of course, but it would be embarrassing to say it out loud. Killua chewed a bit on his cheek as he glanced away from Gon to stare up at the stars instead. What if Illumi was right? What if Gon would eventually become someone he got bored of? What if the happiness he felt with Gon faded and he would be left with nothing but sick thoughts and a morbid curiosity to see if he could kill his own best friend? That was the way he was raised, wasn’t it?

“Killua!”

He was snapped from his train of thought again, blinking several times. Gon was kneeling next to him, eyes a bit wide with unease.

“Are you okay?” he reiterated, his voice clear and sharp.

“Yes.” The lie slipped out smooth and easy. Why did it feel so wrong?

“You’re not, or else you wouldn’t go quiet.”

Killua growled a bit at that, sitting up to face him. “If you know that I’m not okay then why ask again, idiot?”

Gon’s eyes went downcast at that as he began to chew on his lip. “Maybe…because I expect you to be honest with me about how you’re feeling for once.”

His words struck Killua in the heart, a dull ache beginning to form in his chest. Honesty was difficult to come by within his own family and even harder to confront within himself. The truth is treason in an empire of lies, Illumi had drilled into him. Lies choke you and make you feel empty. That is the way you were born, that is the way you were raised. You’re a liar and a killer Killu.

“Gon…” Killua grimaced. “I’m sorry. I don’t feel very well right now but I’m not sure if I want to talk about it. It’s too personal.”

To Killua’s relief, Gon nodded.

“It’s okay! I think I know how I can help though.”

Killua groaned.

“Gon you don’t have to, I’m fine. The feeling will probably go away eventually anyways—”

But Gon was already standing up and moving away from him and towards the edge of the clearing. He seemed to be pulling some leaves from a small bush that Killua couldn’t recognize quite yet.

Gon made his way towards the campfire and sat down, patting the area next to him as a gesture to coax Killua next to him.

“What is that?” Killua asked as he crawled towards the spot, watching him curiously. Gon must have plucked a bundle and the shape of the leaves seemed familiar… Killua couldn’t recollect where he’d seen it before.

“Aunt Mito would make a tea from this whenever granny would have very bad aching in her bones. You can breathe in the fumes and it can act as stress relief and it can calm you down,” Gon explained as he began to tear the pieces of the leaves so they would kindle and burn better.

Killua was… skeptical.

“Are you sure inhaling fumes is safe?”

“It is! I see some of the fisherman down by the pier do it sometimes and nothing bad ever happens.”

The white-haired boy grumbled as Gon gave him the fresh bundle of the leaves. “Alright fine, but this better not screw me up too much.” Killua gave him a shifty gaze. “Have you ever even done this before?”

“Not until now,” Gon muttered. “But if you’re going to do it, I want to do it too. That way if it is bad, we can share its effects!”

“E-Eh?!”

But before Killua could say anything else, Gon was already inhaling through his nose, the bundle catching fire for a quick moment before going out. The smoke wasn't completely opaque as he let it puff from his mouth, but its long grey wisps seemed to curl in the air like cattails. He gave a quick smile to signal his state.

“I’m okay Killua, it’s not a big deal.”

“What do you mean it’s not a big deal, what if this is poisonous? You could die—” Killua gave a cough as Gon exhaled more smoke and blew it right in his face. The scent was distinctive, he acknowledged. It most definitely had a signature taste as well. “Fine fine!” Killua sighed, giving in. He touched the tip of the bundle of leaves to the flames cautiously and inhaled as Gon did, choking a bit on the strength of the stench. Just as he breathed in, he felt a sweet burning sensation curl throughout his lungs and throat.

Killua blinked a few times as he exhaled. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, but it felt a bit unnatural. He testingly inhaled once more after lighting the tip of the bundle on the campfire, breathing in. This time he inhaled slowly, his system responding to the smoke, and he felt his lungs being wrapped by a warm blanket. Taking small, slow sips of the fumes, he felt delighted, like he had never felt before. “Hey Gon, this isn’t… that bad.”

“See… I told you…” Gon reassured him, the words drooling from his mouth slowly like syrup. He was sniffing the charred leaves curiously, thin strands of smoke lifting into his nose. His pupils were already decently dilated and his muscles in his back were almost completely unraveled and loose. Killua could sense his own tension fading away: whether it was from the smoke or being in the presence of Gon’s contagious emotions, he couldn’t tell.

Before Killua knew it, his back was on the ground and he was staring up at the sky. He wasn’t sure how he ended up in that position but his brain was lagging and he felt sluggish and tired, so it was likely he sprawled across the ground because it was cooler and more relaxing that way. He hadn’t realized how tight his muscles subconsciously were, like he was constantly vigilant for being attacked at any moment. But now… he was vulnerable. The thought would have made panic rise in his chest under normal circumstances, but he felt safe here. Safe with Gon, on Whale Island, far away from Illumi and his family.

Illumi. That’s what he was worried about. Before fear could claw itself back into his nerves it was already melting away. He could only think about Gon, focusing on his presence and how honest and there he was.

Killua reached up to touch his own face as he stared blankly at the sky, fingertips meeting with trails of wet tears rolling down his face. Is this what it felt like to be safe? To be completely comfortable, completely fearless? He wasn’t sad, he was happy. At least that’s what it felt like.

“Killua? Why are you crying?”

He vaguely heard Gon’s voice next to him and he felt a hand wrap around his wrist, but he suddenly felt too weak to move. It wasn’t the smoke, Killua acknowledged. He was resistant to all poisons, all drugs, but he couldn’t resist the way his mind succumbed to a source of comfort that wasn’t Illumi. A source of comfort that wasn’t pain, a source of comfort that wasn’t the cause of—

Killua’s breath hitched in his throat as he felt Gon’s fingers gripping a bit tighter, drawing him out of his painful turmoil of thoughts and fears. He looked to the side to meet those eyes, half-lidded and a bit glazed. Although Killua had taken a slight hit from the plant’s qualities, the high had only lasted a few minutes thanks to his background and resistance to intoxication. Gon on the other hand seemed definitely vulnerable to its effect.

“Killua, how do you feel?”

He felt his eyes soften at Gon’s words.

How did he feel?

Killua knew he would defend Gon with his life even if the odds were insurmountable. He would never betray him, never give up on him. He would never abandon him. He would never put him in danger, no matter how noble the cause may be. If he ever gave up on him then he will have slain himself, for it was Gon’s heart that pumped blood in his veins. With Gon he would always find his way back. When fear set his compass spinning, it wouldn’t matter which direction he took.

“I feel like I’m home,” Killua murmured, and that was the truth.

#killugon #gon x killua #killua zoldyck #gon freecss #hxh fanfiction #hxh #hunter x hunter #illumi writes

0 notes