#i block freely its no big deal

[mx-paint]

I love it when people blatantly shit on dni posts and say how they're not going to check, then Immediately log onto their 2nd account after being blocked to ask "why do you hate me 🥺 im just a little guy who followed, I didn't know, why didn't you tell me!"

[eveistdiepommes]

Classes Start !

“World Academy is like… suuuuper prestigious! Everyone who goes there is either at the top of their class, or they had the money to get in! Either way, you’re surrounded by brilliance no matter which hallway you turn down!”

Hiiiiiieeeee everyone!! Welcome to my newest AU! If you couldn’t tell, it’s a College AU! I’ve been struggling recently with making art, but yesterday something clicked and I started doodling tons and tons and this was the result! Safe to say, my art block is at bay for now!! I started doodling for this AU because I wanted to tweak my art style a bit and because I just wanted a universe where lighthearted, funny things might happen! And as I drew and drew, I started thinking up more lore, more character backstories, and just having a ball thinking of all the characters’ dynamics! So, welcome to World University!

(Character bios and info below!)

Feliciano is quite brilliant in his own unique way, as Lovino knows and as Ludwig will find out. Feliciano has the amazing ability to draw what he sees photorealistically, and his brain seems to be able to break down architecture to its finest detail. His paintings are breathtaking, his skills are unmatched, no wonder he earned a scholarship! Ludwig, who was so sure of who he was, starts to question everything after returning a blueprint the elusive Feliciano had dropped. Ludwig comes from a very prestigious family, a family of winners, a family of business. So of course, he is to follow in his father’s footsteps, just like his older brother is. But… What if he… doesn’t want to do that? What if he wanted to explore other ideas, other concepts, where nothing is concrete and everything is colorful? It’s scary… not being sure… But he is sure of one thing! Feliciano is quite beautiful.

It’s a hassle to deal with his brother though! Calloused and on guard, Lovino is always there to speak up on his younger sibling’s behalf, maybe a bit too much. Lovino just gets worried, as their family does not come from money. He doesn’t need some rich assholes picking on his brother like kids did in middle and high school! Working as a model, Lovino is starting to gain attention, which means more money to support him and his brother. And he is just fine with this. He never thought this would be his profession, but he can’t deny, it is a big confidence boost!

Arthur was never a fan of his parents. They pressured the hell out of his older brothers, and then they turned their sights on him. Their pressure was harder on him though, as it wasn’t just to do well, but to do well and be “ladylike.” Safe to say, as soon as Arthur escaped to college he completely abandoned what they had taught him, finally cutting his hair, finally dressing how he wanted, finally living how he wanted to live. And when they came to visit one year, and saw the changes he had made, they were furious. One thing led to another, and Arthur lashed out, declaring that he was dropping out of college to pursue what he wanted to pursue. And he soon learned that his parents had cut him off from their funds completely, leaving him stranded in the town.

Francis is idolized around the school, mostly by other fashion students. Many have confessed their crushes to him, only to be met with a chuckle and gentle rejection. No one understands him! In the years before, he hadn’t been so reserved, flirting freely with peers and what not. But something has changed, and sometimes, people have seen him at some grungy joint where the scene is way too sketchy and the music is way too loud. After Arthur got off stage, it was Francis’ cue to follow him. He heard something curious the other day, something he wanted to ask Arthur. So, meeting him out back, Arthur scolded him for sneaking up on him. And through a game of mental chess, Francis had learned that what he heard was true; Arthur had no safe place to sleep. He decided then and there, Arthur would be going back to his dorm, even if he had to sneak him and that obnoxious guitar case in.

Kiku could relate to being pressured. It was a hassle just for his family to let him choose illustration as his major. But once he was set, he was achieving what was expected of him, he excelled. That was, until two years in he got sick. See, Kiku has a very weak immune system, it had given him issues in his childhood, and now it seemed such conditions were back to haunt him. After taking a year off, he’s been struggling to get back to the top. His anxiety has risen, his focus seems to be dwindling. Arthur helps him study, and what a kind and noble thing to do. But some days, he just needs to let off steam and go to the arcade to set a new high score on one of the many rhythm games. What he was never expecting… was to be challenged by the human embodiment of the sun.

Ivan had lived a quite solitary life until now. Even when he started college, many did not seem interested in being his friend, maybe because of his intimidating stature, or his accidentally off color comments. But when he dances, he frees his mind from any troubles, completely absorbed in the music. One would never guess from his height and build how easily he can float through the air, and it’s quite exhilarating to watch! Well, according to Yao! The ever energetic Yao met Ivan in a class they shared, and for the first time in his life, Ivan had been approached with a beaming smile and sparkling eyes. Yao was innocently curious of Ivan’s diet and workout regiment, exclaiming how cool he looked unabashedly. This made Ivan’s face red! He had never been fussed over, his sisters didn’t count!

Alfred heard all about Ivan from Yao, becoming excited at the prospects of more friends! Alfred seemed like he was the polar opposite of Ivan in the friendship regards. Almost anyone at the university could easily find themselves talking to Alfred, he was just that personable! But Alfred didn’t have many close friends. He had his twin Matthew of course, and he had Yao and Ludwig, but that was it! No one really stuck around beyond small talk. Maybe that’s why he went out of the way to climb through a forming crowd in the arcade one day to see just who had all eyes on them? He wanted attention too, you know? To say he was surprised would be an understatement. The guy his eyes landed on playing the game was like expert level good! Being the cocky guy he is, he couldn’t help but offer a challenge, even if he was sure he’d lose. That guy was just too cool! He wanted to be closer!

Matthew has struggled in school in the past. It’s not that he doesn’t understand, it’s just that he could never get the words out to explain his understanding. Oral presentations were living hell, as was socializing and trying to fit in. But with his twin brother’s help, Matthew got through high school and made his way into college. The change of pace was rough at first, often resulting in meltdowns from not comprehending what he felt he should be comprehending. His grades were excellent, and his love for nature and the arctic were always very apparent… maybe even too apparent. See, that’s what he couldn’t comprehend still; he couldn’t socialize. Alfred talked to people so easily, but Matthew struggled greatly. He knew from a child he had selective mutism, but it seemed that even when he wanted to speak, he’d choke! His palms would get clammy, he’d start collapsing in on himself. And then the dreaded day came where he had to give an oral presentation… in college. If it weren’t for his white haired peer, he surely would have gotten a bad grade. But miraculously, with Gilbert, he started finding his voice.

Gilbert does not care what his parents expect from him. He doesn’t care what anyone expects from him, well, except for maybe one person… But either way, Gilbert is a completely free spirit, doing what he wants and making his own way! He’s a class clown, often cracking jokes at the expense of the professors, but when he heard that soft little giggle cut through the crowd, his interest was definitely piqued. He attempted to speak to Matthew after that, being met with a stumbling, awkward response, which was somehow even more endearing. Gilbert learned quickly through Ludwig, who was told by Alfred, of Matthew’s past, his struggles in socialization, and his lonely habits. How could anyone not love talking to him? He had a bear fact for every conversation! What is there not to like? Gilbert was quickly becoming attached.

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Mngwa

CR 7

Chaotic Evil Large Magical Beast

Bestiary 5, pg. 173

These terrifying man-eaters are a far cry from their original form found in folklore and fairytale, existing only to kill, torment, and punish a particular person, group, or community which has despoiled or disrespected the spirits of the primeval jungles of Golarion. They are hatred embodied, but it's not an indiscriminate hate. No, each Mngwa is born with a Focus of Hate, a creature or group of creatures (up to and including whole cities in some cases) marked for death by the spirits which crafted the shadowy cat, and its these creatures that the Mngwa focuses its wrath upon, ignoring all else unless its murderous spree is interrupted. The Mngwa always knows the exact distance and direction of the closest Focus of Hate, unerringly tracking them so long as they're not shielded by any effect which could block scrying... but a Mngwa is not a stupid, mindless beast. If its focus is shielded magically, then it will track them mundanely, following their scent and the trails they leave behind, stalking them from the shadows when they believe themselves protected, with even the prepared and paranoid often ill-equipped to spot the prowling beasts until its fangs are tearing through their throats.

When I say that Mngwa are nearly impossible to detect in the darkness, I say it completely without exaggeration. Their darkened pelts give them a +23 to Stealth checks when in forest or jungle terrain, and their Jungle Stealth allows them to utilize their full 40ft speed without compromising that intimidating number. They have a constant Feather Step effect allowing them to ignore difficult terrain entirely, and can use both Chameleon Stride and Pass Without Trace at will, the former bringing their Stealth to +27 and making them nearly invisible unless you're standing right next to them, the latter allowing them to evade any attempt to track them without magic. Not that tracking them would do much good, because these beasts are Creatures of the Night and literally stop existing when the sun rises (and are rendered temporarily powerless by Daylight and similar), reappearing near the site of their creation the next night with the benefits of a 15th-level Heal spell nursing whatever wounds they sustained and allowing them to continue their reign of terror.

But doling those wounds out in the first place is difficult, as one must survive the surprise round. As one may expect from a big cat, a Mngwa that has spotted its prey prefers to get the jump on them, which it almost always will, sometimes even allowing its prey to fall asleep first just so it drag away and dispatch the weaker and more vulnerable first like the horror movie monster it is. Once the redshirts are gone and people start staying awake every night, Mngwa charge in with Pounce, allowing them to make their Full-Attack which, predictably, is a Claw-Claw-Bite. The bite deals 2d6+7 damage, while each claw deals 1d6+7 and inflicts 1d6 bleed damage... and all three attacks can Grab onto whatever they hit, and any creature that remains grappled during the Mngwa's next turn can be freely Raked by two additional 1d6+7 + 1d6 bleed claw attacks, letting the beasts swiftly shred anything they get their mouths on. Most creatures targeted by the Pounce rarely survive failing their first Escape Artist check to break its grapple, because that's 6d6+42 damage PLUS 1d6+4 bleed, typically enough to dispatch any creature hovering around 5 Hit Dice even without critical hits.

"1d6+4?" Correct! The Murderous Claws of the Mngwa adds a flat +1 bleed damage to a bleeding target every time they hit, to a maximum of 1d6+7, so even escaping their grapple won't stop the pain, AND it allows the shadow cats to track victims much more easily if they can't staunch the flow. The only mercy offered by the Mngwa's melee is the fact it's got only 5ft of reach, rather than the 10 of a typical Large monster (it still has 10ft of space, though!), so it can only Full-Attack creatures it's standing right next to. Disengaging it repeatedly to force it to step back into melee makes its damage more manageable... provided, of course, you avoided its three grapple attempts when it first Pounced.

Unlike most big cats. Mngwa aren't glass cannons. They have 20 AC and are shielded behind DR 10/Magic, which may as well make them invincible if they're stalking a bunch of level 4 or 5 idiots who have no idea what they've done. Even managing to bypass their DR and cut them down to size does nothing but delay the horror, because so long as the Focus of Hate exists the Mngwa cannot permanently die, returning to life 1d4+1 days later once the sun sets. There are only two ways to prevent the creature's nightly hunts: every single Focus of Hate must die, or the spirits which created the creature in the first place must be appeased somehow.

In the case of the former, depending on what the crime was and how many creatures the Mngwa is focused on, the players may just help the jungle cats in their quest. Of course, ANYONE can be stuck with the jungle's curse, from a dickish thieving invader, to a group of otherwise innocent locals who made a terrible mistake, to the player characters themselves, so this is often not an option. Appeasing the spirits is usually the way to go, so a big part of the Mngwa Mystery is figuring out why it's here, which typically involves finding out precisely who among a crowd it's targeting and getting some answers out of them. Even in a higher-level campaign when the Mngwa isn't a direct threat to the PCs, its relentless inevitability make them a danger to NPCs the party may be tasked with trying to protect.

One way or another, the players have to figure out who it's trying to kill, why, and how to undo whatever they did to enrage the jungle. Mngwa cannot communicate their desires, so some intense detective work is needed! ... Just be careful not to make it TOO intense, or else you may end up with a situation like the most chilling one in it's lore: some unfortunate bloodlines have been haunted by these creatures for generations, the cats passed down from parent to child like a living curse as memories of why the thing is hunting them are gradually lost to time, leaving entire families without the knowledge of why the night itself grows claw and fang to hunt them.

You can read more about them here.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Sometimes it's fun to just find a cheese strategy, even if that strategy isn't the fastest at dealing damage or what not. "The Immortal" my friend I have bad news for you.

I'm a really bad fighting game player. I subscribe to the School

OF NO BLOCK!

To explain this cheese for people who aren't aware and are wondering why my friends here aren't getting sandblasted to death, "The Immortal" has an interesting AI quirk where the attack he uses is dependent on the tile your unit is on, not whether or not he can hit them. If the enemy is on one of the ranged tiles around the map, he will hit them with his sand blast.

But if they're on a melee tile, he will always use his axe swing. This means that melee units with 0 Block can actually attack him with impunity. This means that Ambusher and Dollkeeper Specialists are at zero risk of dying to him and can freely whittle away at his HP.

There are two risks however: the first is the weather, so it might be a good idea to have a Healing Defender (like Saria) to keep their HP up. I had Thunderstorms and that can kill operators deployed, which will restore 12,000 HP to the boss, which is not great. As long as Saria doesn't damage the boss, she won't be attacked by him too. You might even be able to use her S3 instead of her S2, I haven't tested that yet.

The second is that _one_ of the Ore Guardians will decide to waltz his ass in the middle. We hate this guy. It's not super likely he kills anyone straight out since he'll also be whittled down, but importantly, it's annoying as shit. Once you see him, it's a good idea to block it with either Jaye or Lappland (since Silence turns off the retaliatory Arts damage iirc) and kill it off.

Ambushers:

Ethan: Ethan can actually damage The Immortal with his S2, but he'll only do about 250-360 damage with each swing depending on his Module progress and this is assuming E2 Max Level and Mastery 3. You'll want to use his S1 instead, because The Immortal actually has 0 RES and so the 100 Arts damage per second will be a much higher DPS.

Manticore: Manticore barely misses the 1000 DEF mark for her normal attacks to do damage, so it's best to use her S2 for this stage. She won't contribute all that much to DPS outside of doing a lot of damage to the Core Guardian, so she's not the most useful here.

Kirara: This might actually be one of the best stages for Kirara in the game, which is absolutely hilarious to think about. We've done it. We've finally broken Kirara. I'm not entirely sure whether her S1 or S2 is better, I think her S1 has better overall DPS than her S2, but her S2 boosts her survivability in the stage and she's pretty easy to position for the bonus.

Mizuki: Mizuki is actually the only Ambusher who can deal more than chip damage with his normal attack (only 97 though), but he does so much Arts damage its not really a fair comparison. You can use either his S1 or his S2 on this map, depending on which one you find has better DPS against a lone enemy.

Dollkeeper:

Bena: With Dollkeeper's, their skills don't tend to matter because they pretty much always instantly die. You might be able to get some use out of her S2, but Bena is more important due to the fact that her Substitute deals Arts damage, and a fully upgraded Bena can deal about 800 per attack, which is pretty reasonable.

Kazemaru: With proper timing, Kazemaru might actually be able to deal some damage with S1, but the big draw is the burst damage she gets off of her Substitute being summoned. This being said, she won't contribute that much damage even with her Module since the Substitute does physical damage and is just barely under 1000 ATK. Like Manticore, she's not really needed.

Specter the Unchained: This probably will not be surprising, but she's easily the best Dollkeeper for this bit. While it's highly unlikely that she'll survive to use her skills (even with the help of Gladiia and Skadi) her best one is obviously her S2, and she'll even do pretty good damage with it. Her Substitute is one of the big damage dealers here, as a full rotation will do about 17,000 damage and gradually wear him down. Skadi's Mod Y will also be a big help her for increasing her damage output.

I don't have everyone maxed out, so I can't say if this cheese can kill him within the 5 minutes for the stage. If not, it can get a good idea to supplement with a high damage Operator (they need to deal at least 12,000 damage in order to be worth it).

[fountainpenguin]

"Turn your face towards the sun... Let the shadows fall behind you..." (x)

---

Debut of Criminal Experience today! || Short Story

Chapter 1 - “Wanted”

Read on AO3

Basically a series prequel... Li'l bit Hermitcraft, li'l bit Traffic SMP, li'l bit Naked and Scared

---

Mumbo Killsalot Jumbo has never been one to take sides during war. He tends to his llamas, trades freely with his neighbors, and his doors are open to all.

Fellas, is it spoon behavior to not ask more questions when a burned-out phantom hybrid starts hanging around your llama farm? 🤔

(First 1,000 words under the cut)

Criminal Experience ᓵ∷╎ᒲ╎リᔑꖎ ᒷ ̇/!¡ᒷ∷╎ᒷリᓵᒷ 392,861 Minecraft days before Dog's Life

Buzz and Ursula Uno don't know it, but they are (without a doubt) the most pampered llamas in all of Little Sun Valley. Yeah, that's right! He said it: Anywhere in the valley. That even includes the west side of the river, and you best believe he's digging in his heels on that one, mate. His wheat farm's been cranking out results this year… so much so that every time he checks its drops, he's practically up to his armpits in fresh hay. Took ages of iron collecting to craft all the hoppers, but Mumbo earned every bar of that stuff while still adhering to the valley rules of 'no non-essential harm done to passive mobs,' and he counts that as a win.

Double-U and Buzz are spoiled. He'll just say it. They've got the softest, driest straw and he switches it on the daily. He's got glowstone for heat tucked in one corner of every pen and he drops silk touch'd ice blocks in their water to keep it fresh and chilled. Surely even good parents are allowed one or two favorite children, yeah? As long as it's kept under wraps and all that.

I mean, come on… Just look at them. Heh. Even when it's nail trimming day, they can't stand to be apart. They're like two scoops of raw cookie dough, marbled brown and cream fur bundled together in a nest on the dirty floor. Which is… peculiar, actually, seeing as Impulse supposedly swept the barn out while Mumbo took the llamas down for water. Mental note. What's that man been up to?

"Foot," he says, and Double-U plops her pad in his lap. It scatters soil all over his robes, but he can forgive the dirty floor. Impulse went above and beyond this weekend already with the crops. You know, it's not every year a man who'll voluntarily harvest uncraftable blocks for hours just stumbles into your life… Actually, last night Mumbo offered him a few stacks of emeralds for a hard day's labor, but Impulse only laughed, sticking his thumbs in his overall straps.

"What? Can't a guy just want to lend a helping hand?"

And, well… He's a phantom hybrid, so Mumbo let it slide (Phantoms are safe to talk to; it's allay hybrids you don't want to make open-ended deals with). Actually, it's nearly noon. Impulse should be coming up the hill from the farm in just a couple ticks… hopefully with clover and alfalfa in hand. Alfalfa is a massive pain to farm since the rain will wash the redstone dust out sooner than you see it grow, but luckily, he doesn't need much. It's a special treat he'll lightly thread into the feeding trough… because Buzz and Ursula Uno are still the most pampered llamas in all of Little Sun Valley. Possibly the whole Between dimension.

Now, will their glorified loafing shed of a barn win any points for flair? No.

Was his use of maple wood in this build even a little bit unique? Also no. But maple's abundant - maple's efficient - and an entire village of wandering traders can't all be wrong.

Actually, Mumbo thinks, lining the edge of his shears against Double-U's toenails, out of every player hybrid type… I feel like wandering traders must be the MOST knowledgeable people when it comes to block qualities and how well they hold up in certain types of weather. Is that too big of a pat on the back? He's really not that kind of guy. It's just… you know… He and his friends have spent their whole lives swapping stories.

The maple mountain biome is always soaked in rain, but the residents of Little Sun make it work. When the ground's too moist for proper farming, the whole community gets together to lead the animals up the plateau. Everyone pools their harvests and they get by on what farms they still have. Mumbo's spent a solid 600 fresh, clean wet seasons (at least) in the shade of the tweenstone spawn temple, swapping stories and laughing until his stomach hurts. Because even when the rain rinses redstone dust off the farms, everyone in Little Sun still has each other. They have their llamas. They have community.

And when all else fails… they can always go out wandering.

Good fun, that… but some days are meant for sitting on dirty barn floors. Is there any better way to spend a morning than cleaning the toes of the most beautiful llamas in the world, occasionally bouncing ideas for silly redstone ideas off their heads?

"Uh-oh," says a voice at the door. Ah. Mumbo still doesn't have a name for that type of accent, but he definitely knows the man from his volume. Double-U's ears flick up instantly. Mumbo keeps trimming her toenails with gentle brushes of the shears. He doesn't even have to use the F5 cam to know Impulse is hiding behind the barn door, peering around it like a twitchy cat. Mumbo can almost hear the way he hunkers, knees shifting to a crouch. He's got wheat, yeah, because it flutters and whispers when he clutches it to his chest. "Uh… dude? Is that the llama who hates my guts? Or the one who just wants to headbutt me into the void?"

Double-U gets a slithery rumble in the base of her throat. This stirs Buzz into lifting her head and Impulse jolts again.

"No! What? Oh, come on! You really have to have both the llamas who wanna trample me in there?"

Mumbo chuckles. "Double-U's all right with you now, I reckon. I mean, yesterday she let you get within spitting range."

"Yeah! So she could spit." Impulse says the word like it's some sort of ancient curse. Mumbo listens for the scrape of shoes on creaky floorboards, but they never come. Tsk, tsk… Double-U would never hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it. Llamas can sense these things, you know. "My pixels were fritzed for three hours before I got that stuff out."

"Did you really come all the way up here thinking there wouldn't be llamas in the llama barn, mate?"

"Just bringing you wheat," Impulse mumbles back.

[Cnt'd on AO3 - Link at top]

[female-malice]

First Nations groups on the Canadian side of the Columbia River Basin are adamant that salmon runs that have long been blocked by dams in the United States must be restored, potentially in a renewed river treaty between the two countries.

But experts say possible solutions, such as “salmon cannons” that suck fish through a pipe and shoot them out upstream and over obstacles, are all costly and potentially limited in their effectiveness.

Representatives from the Ktunaxa and Syilx Okanagan nations say they continue to bring up salmon restoration in negotiations for a modern Columbia River Treaty and will not stop until a solution can be reached within or outside a new agreement.

The U.S.-Canada treaty regulates the cross-border Columbia River to prevent flooding and generate hydro power. A key component of the 62-year-old treaty is set to expire in September 2024, lending urgency to the ongoing talks.

“I think what we are doing in the fight to bring salmon back is vital to us moving forward,” said Lower Similkameen Indian Band Chief Keith Crow, who is a member on the Syilx Okanagan Nation’s Chiefs Executive Council and the Nation’s lead in the Columbia River Treaty talks.

“And we’re not going to back down, either,” he said.

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation says much of the migratory salmon run in the Upper Columbia, both in Canada and the U.S., ended with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state in 1942.

While the Grand Coulee Dam isn’t among four dams built in accordance with the 1961 Columbia River Treaty, First Nations leaders say the talks offer a rare opportunity for them to directly engage American officials about restoring Pacific salmon to the Upper Columbia.

“The salmon hasn’t been a big piece of (the talks), and I’ve been trying to move it forward consistently,” Crow said.

The nation opened its own hatchery near Penticton, B.C., in 2014 to help bring salmon back to Okanagan waters.

The goal, Crow said, is the restoration of natural salmon runs throughout the Upper Columbia Basin.

“We’ve been supplying salmon back to the people for years from our hatchery from the work that we’ve done, but to be able to see them actually swimming freely and coming up the Columbia the way they’re meant to be, I think it’s something I’m hoping I’m going to see in my lifetime.”

Ktunaxa Nation Council Chair Kathryn Teneese said the loss of salmon to the Upper Columbia Basin fundamentally changed communities and their ways of life, since the fish was a staple to traditional diets and held significant cultural value.

“We now have generations of people that have grown up without even knowing that salmon was very much part of our staple diet,” Teneese said. “So, from that perspective, it’s changed who we are. Because one of the things that we say is that we have a word in our language for salmon, but we don’t have access to it.

“We just fill that void with the utilization of all of the other resources off the land that we’ve always used, but there’s just a piece missing.”

Crow said salmon may have comprised up to 50 per cent of traditional Syilx Okanagan diets prior to the region losing its fish runs.

In September, the U.S. pledged more than $200 million over 20 years from the Bonneville Power Administration for reintroducing salmon in the Upper Columbia River Basin.

Crow said he has spoken with British Columbia Premier David Eby about similar long-term financial commitments on the Canadian side.

“Right now, we are kind of doing the best we can with the budgets that we get every year,” Crow said. “So, a long-term commitment would be so much more beneficial. We can get so much more done, I think.”

In June, the province agreed to separate bilateral deals with the Syilx Okanagan, Ktunaxa and Secwepemc Nations so each group receives 5 per cent of the revenue B.C. receives every year from the U.S. through the Columbia River Treaty, funding known as the Canadian Entitlement.

But the challenge in bringing salmon back to the Upper Columbia Basin isn’t limited to funding, experts say.

In 2012, a group of researchers published a report on efforts to restore Atlantic Salmon and other migrating fish species to rivers on the East Coast of North America.

The report found that the effort at three major rivers did not yield “self-sustaining populations in any eastern U.S. river” despite “hundreds of millions” in investment on the construction of hatcheries and fish passages.

“It may be time to admit failure of fish passage and hatchery-based restoration programs and acknowledge that significant diadromous species restoration is not possible without dam removals,” said the report on fish that travel between salt and fresh water.

University of Victoria Biology Professor Francis Juanes was a co-author of the report, and he said that while the topic of fish passage technology among researchers is actively discussed and constantly advancing, studies have shown the only reliable way to fully restore a natural fish run may be a dam’s removal.

Juanes said that when a dam on the Elwha River was removed about a decade ago in Washington state, “you didn’t have to reintroduce (salmon).”

“They came back naturally. In a sense, that is the best way to reintroduce salmon especially to a river system.”

Results on the East Coast where fish ladders were used, particularly the Connecticut River, were not nearly as effective, Juanes said.

“It took so much effort by so many states, and you needed the hatcheries to grow these babies. So, that’s an enormous effort, and the return just wasn’t very good.”

John Waldman, biology professor at Queens College in New York, is one of the main authors of the report.

Waldman said there is rising belief among grassroots and Indigenous groups throughout North America that dam removals may be the optimal way to restore fish runs, in lieu of the poor results from alternative passages.

“I think there’s one universal theme that has emerged over the last two decades, which is that dam removal is without question the best solution to bringing these fish back again,” he said.

“Fish ladders and fish elevators provide what’s called the halfway measure.

“It looks like to the uninitiated that you have a solution and that it works, but the truth is when you look at the actual performance of many of these fish ladders and fish elevators, not that many fish pass through them.”

The biggest dam removal project in the United States began earlier this year on the Klamath River along the Oregon-California border, where four such structures will come down by next year under a budget of US$450 million.

Discussions on removing four dams on another branch of the Columbia River Basin – in the lower parts of the Snake River – have been ongoing for years, with the U.S. federal government rejecting in 2020 the idea due to possible power-grid destabilization if the hydro electricity from the dams are removed.

Last month, U.S. President Joe Biden directed federal agencies to use all available authorities and resources to restore salmon runs in the Columbia River Basin that are “healthy and abundant.”

Biden’s order, however, stopped short of calling for the removal of the dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington state.

The Upper Columbia United Tribes, consisting of five member Indigenous nations in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, said on its website on salmon restoration that while more studies are needed, there have been “encouraging advances” in fish passage technologies such as floating surface collectors and salmon cannons to get past tall dams without the structures’ removal.

But such technology, Waldman said, is unproven in being able to support a large, natural fish migration.

“I think this is a quarter-way measure, not even a halfway measure,” he said.

“You see them emerging once in a while, and somebody gets wind of it on TV, and some late night comedians make fun of fish being shot through these these cannons. But no one’s ever ramped them up to be at a level that would sustain a natural level of migratory fish.”

But Juanes said such options may be necessary if dam removals are not possible, even if they may add stress to the salmon population and make them more vulnerable to diseases.

“For one, that’s a very costly thing to do,” Juanes said of fish-passage technology. “For two, it causes stress to the animals. I can imagine that this cannon is not a happy moment for the fish, but maybe it’s better than it dying below the dam.”

Crow, for his part, said he understands “there’s no way of getting around the fact” that dams such as the Grand Coulee remain in the migration path, posing a monumental challenge to restoring salmon migration routes.

But he said the reintroduction of salmon runs to the Upper Columbia Basin is important enough to warrant effort and funding.

“There are lots of options out there, but what is going to be the most efficient and least impactful to the salmon, and they can still get back up? That’s the key,” he said.

“I’ve been taught to think seven generations down. So, I’m looking seven generations ahead of decisions that I make today: How is it going to influence or how is it going to impact my great-great-grandkids?”

[firedragon1321]

So...this is all I have to say about Pokemon Horizons. I will not repeat it on this account. I have blocked the tag, and I have also blocked tags related to it. After this post, I want nothing to do with it. I just need to get this off my chest so I can move on.

If you’re excited for Ash’s replacements- do not read this. Nothing good in here. Continue scrolling and have a wonderful day.

If you’re not happy or ambivalent- welcome to my dungeon.

This show is gonna be Sue-Town and I hate it.

First, let me post my definition of a Mary Sue, because I’m sure someone will say “but you’re only saying that because Liko is a girl, you sexist pig! >:(”. Mary Sues are real, and they are not gender-locked. That is a myth perpetuated by Sue-lovers, who want to encourage people to write freely without being attacked. While that’s understandable for Little Miss Peggy writing her first fanfiction, it’s less acceptable for a big corporation. So I’m going to use the term “Sue” and ignore its baggage.

To determine what a Sue is, I use three rules. I made them in high school. I made some adjustments to spread away from fanfiction and use gender-neutral language. But the ideas still stick-

The character is “more” than human- usually a sign of author wish fulfillment. They look positively beautiful at all times, have no character flaws, and are generally free of the messiness of human beings.

Everything goes the character’s way. They face no real difficulties over the course of the story, and can do no wrong. Even if the author has to defy logic, they will clear the character’s shining path of all obstacles.

Other characters in the presence of this character alter their behavior. They may fall head over heels for this character, put them on a pedestal, or take them under their wing even if they normally wouldn’t. If the other character is a villain, the “problem” character will become main target of their hatred/jealousy/evil plan/etc. to provide the illusion of conflict. In short, the character is the primary concern of as many other characters as possible.

I can’t say if the Horizons cast will follow these rules at this point in time. But I have enough evidence that leans in this direction.

Liko and Roy both possess mysterious, powerful objects, despite being rookie Trainers. This could lead to Sue Rule 2 depending on how those objects are used. I can guarantee that one or more other parties are gonna want those items, which is Sue Rule 3.

The Rising Volt Tacklers and the Explorers are both tangled up with the protagonists- new Trainers with batfuck nothing except these rare and powerful items. This screams Sue Rule 3. Why else would these seemingly powerful groups tangle with newbies and/or care?

Liko’s only real struggle as of now is Sprigatito won’t listen to her. Which is just a copy of Ash’s Pikachu in Episode One. I’m going to take that with a huge grain of salt. If Liko’s first conflict is a copy of Ash’s first conflict, that’s an early sign she’s going to get swallowed by his shadow. Which doesn’t mean anything good for her as an individual character. Could be Sue Rule 1 later is she doesn’t have her own flaws.

Then, there’s this, which doesn’t make me confident-

“It seems that pendant has a secret-”

*shows a fucking shiny legendary*

“-and that secret is linked to you.”

(Trailer here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_c_hMehCORQ)

This could constitute Sue Rule 2 if Liko gets to keep that shiny, or otherwise control it. Giving the characters powerful Pokemon can help make their lives easier. Other characters start with powerful creatures like Charizard (Friede) and Ceruledge (Amethio). These aren’t legendaries, but remember how Ash’s first Trainer battles were against common, unevolved wimps? This seems like a bit much for new characters to deal with. Sure, they’re probably not fighting Charizard. But we know for sure Liko will go toe-to-toe with Amethio.

Which brings me to a problem all these characters share. They look so damn boring. Here’s the mentor! Here’s the rival/villain! Here’s the cheery announcer! They’re character types trying to fill the shoes of a very iconic character. It’s going to take a lot to step into that role successfully, including well-written characterizations. But, um, this ain’t Digimon, where characterization is a priority. Pokemon very rarely has knockout character development.

Which brings me back to Sue Rule 1. I don’t have enough evidence to securely convict anyone of Sue Rule 1 crimes. Well-written characters can overcome all these other issues. But boring/flat characters cannot. Their flatness exemplifies the minor issues, building into a tower of Sue-ism.

“But Ash made friends with legendary Pokemon! He did other stuff you whined about! He even saw Ho-Oh on Day One! Is he a Stu?”

Answer- no. Here’s why-

Ash breaks Sue Rule 1 because he has flaws, especially at the beginning. He is child-like and naive. His intelligence in any field outside of Pokemon (and food, kind of) is very low. At the start, he’s also arrogant and a sore loser.

Ash breaks Sue Rule 2 because he doesn’t get to keep the legendaries he meets long-term. The one mythical he does keep- Melmetal- has a bad losing streak. He loses more often than not. The three big tourneys he won were unheard of to most of the world (Orange Islands), in their infant stage (Alola) or required eight whole episodes to get through the last two battles alone (World Coronation).

Ash breaks Sue Rule 3 because he usually has to prove his worth to other characters. In later seasons, he’s respected as a powerful Trainer. But that’s only after he’s slogged through multiple tournaments and made his mark.

I kind of hope I’m being resistant to change. All of this could be proven wrong later. Horizons does have a bigger story focus than the original anime, which means the characters could be written better. But that also makes characterization even more important. I’m sure Horizons would be just fine as a special like Origins. But it’s meant to replace a world-famous legacy character, is throwing dazzling shit around to distract from basic writing issues, and not convincing me it’s wearing those twenty-six-year-old sneakers very well.

TL;DR- Horizons is a cast of Sues as of now. I could be wrong. There is plenty of time for me to be wrong. But the red flags are all present. Horizons is not providing the same heart that made the original anime a success- merely empty trinkets and fancy lights.

Post Script

As I said before, I’m not going to pester the Internet with this any more. This is a vent post to get my anger out. People who reblog this to steer away from the topic- or to attack me- will be blocked. People who come in later with “aged like milk, lol” will be ignored. 

I’ll scope out Horizons just to see if I’m wrong. If I’m right, I’ll drop it like a hot potato and will never mention it again. It’s not worth stressing about it any more than I already have. I’d rather celebrate the character we lost than hate what replaced him.

[sturmovik]

morning twitter rambling about mecha

[i have no energy to make this more cohesive; dumping stuff like this is why i made this tumblr lol)

Gundam might be my favorite mecha (so far) but one thing I don't really like that much about it is the scale. 

Mobile suits are gigantic! To me they only make sense in space where they are weightless and can use thrusters to maneuver freely.

In space I understand they need to be huge because the whole point is that their weapons are strong enough to destroy capital ships while still being smaller and more maneuverable. But in Earth level gravity they'd just be massive targets!

like in anime you see them using their thrusters to jump or glide around on Earth but can you imagine how much fuel or power those thrusters actually need to propel an apartment-block-sized robot like that?

my favorite scale for mecha so far IMO are stuff like Patlabor and Kyoukai Senki. The size of the mechs there don't feel too crazy and could fit well into a combined arms doctrine w/ other military units (infantry, tanks, air support, etc.)

As much as I love recent Gundam, I don't like how they abandoned combined arms warfare of the early UC setting in favor of making all warfare giant robots. One of my favorite things about OYW setting is how they showed Gundams and MS fighting alongside tanks, spacecraft, etc.

(on the other hand, this is also why i'm disappointed in Kyoukai Senki; all the fighting is done by the robots but their scale is great for combined arms, and if they had tanks or soldiers or artillery it would've changed many otherwise silly situations)

This is what i love the most about Patlabor as science fiction: the story is built around the idea that giant robots are a normal part of work/life/society, and explores their impact with different scenarios that can only happen in a society that uses giant robots.

The concept behind Patlabor is simple but brilliant: big robots are used for work everywhere, so police need their own big robots to combat robot-based crime.

But it's careful not to replace everything with giant robots but presents them as new wave of technology that people need to adapt to/deal with.

I still think Gundam excels at emotional and politically charged war stories when it puts the effort into crafting them (look at how much I've been loving Witch from Merucry). But when it comes to integrating mecha into the worlds they write, Patlabor beats them by a slight margin.

*Not saying Gundam doesnt put effort into writing giant robots into the universe cuz WFM in particular does a pretty good job showing us how mecha are "normal" in its world and exploring some implications/dangers of the technology, which is a nice step up.

[senil888]

Copying this from Twitter because it ended up way longer than I intended lol. Anyways, here's what I'm replying to. Please know that I also think capitalism makes negative electric prices a bad thing, but, well...

https://twitter.com/AlanRMacLeod/status/1677081236991516672

begging these people to understand there's a lot more nuance here than anyone is presenting.

Dirt cheap electric prices, from a generation perspective, can mean that production is far outstripping demand. This might be OK in any other industry but it DOES NOT WORK here! The short and sweet version is "We don't have nearly enough energy storage to absorb how inconsistently solar/wind generate power."

The longer version starts with "The grid works best when generation = consumption, and too much of either fucks with the grid."

Not joking on that by the way, we have to measure the grid frequency to the thousandths because shifts in demand really do fuck with grid frequency. Too much generation and it creeps up, too little and it sags. A Reminder: The North American electric system is built to 60 Hz now.

This power regulation is currently best done with fossil fuel plants - they can spin up and down pretty freely, so long as they have fuel. It takes energy to do, so it's not like you want them turning on and off all day.

Solar and wind add a problem, though: you can't exactly regulate their output in any meaningful way. Fossil fuels you can just burn less, dams you can run less water through, nuclear you can try to turn down (they're best at base power though so you generally don't wanna do this). But solar and wind? Well, outside of straight up disconnecting them from the grid, there isn't much you can do. But that's energy to use!

This, annoyingly, causes some problems. Easiest to recognize is that these generation spikes mean you need to spin other stuff down more. Second is that you don't get a choice in that matter. The grid cannot, by itself, store power. Excess power will find a way to get back to its source, and that can cause real problems. You use it or lose it here.

But... what if we could offset the peak generation to peak demand?

Energy storage is, of course, the answer to this problem. Figure out how much energy you'll need for whatever reasons, and then figure out how you're gonna do that. Currently, there are two working ways to do that. Batteries, and pumped hydro. A third is a work in progress.

Batteries are great because there are no moving parts involved, the main complications being that Now You Have To Deal With Batteries. Which isn't easy, but we can do it. Their big problem? They're nowhere near energy dense enough for grid scales. Especially safer chemistries.

The current (and really long term hotness) in grid-scale energy storage is pumped hydro. Take a couple conveniently located lakes*, run tubes between them, and you've got energy stored in the potential energy of all that water!

*not required but it means less terraforming.

They're so simple it's almost stupid. Let water run down the pipes to turbines when energy is needed, then pump it back up when it's not. Sure there's more working parts, but the only new thing is the pump system. Everything else is just dam stuff. Why don't we build dams with pumped hydro? Honestly a lot of them could make it work, at least somewhat, but you need a pretty sizable height difference to maximize on the energy stored & generated.

Remember that I brought up trying to avoid terraforming? To make new systems cheaper and easier to install, you really really want the "conveniently placed lakes" or similar so you're not needing to dig up a lake yourself. Those lakes aren't exactly a common sight y'know. There's been a lot of work on using cranes holding concrete blocks to store potential energy that way, but the work is still ongoing last I heard. Big Problem to solve there is that, y'know, those blocks might crack and break if the crane isn't gentle with them.

anyways where was I? Oh right. Renewables make grid management more annoying and we need to store all the energy they make so they're actually useful. Batteries are, IMO, totally fine for on-premise & microgrid needs. Neighborhood operations would work alright too. Gravitational storage is either difficult to set up if it isn't the perfect spot (pumped hydro) or still actively being researched to see if it's actually viable (cranes & blocks).

So... where does that leave us with our problem?

Well, batteries might be enough to offset generation by a few hours so that there's a better baseline when everyone comes home from work. Cooking, heating/cooling homes, etc. are pretty predictable demand increases. But what if renewable generation is so good that it's filled up our demand shifting batteries? That's a really big problem, one that we don't have a solid answer for. Pumped hydro is a big deal but it's not as trivial as batteries to install. Cranes still have problems too. We don't want to waste energy from renewables - every megawatt we can store from renewables means a megawatt less of on-demand fossil fuel power. To be all in on renewables means being all in on energy storage. In my opinion, there is no way to separate them.

We need storage.

It also means giving engineers and constructors some time to get these projects up and running so the grid can really handle the inconsistent power generation of renewables. Which, however much I hate to say it, means letting us use on-demand fossil fuels while we get to work. We need more nuclear to replace the base power fossil fuel plants. We need more storage so every megawatt of surplus can be used later. We need a grid that is smart enough to juggle this daunting task.

And we need it all yesterday. So the next best time is to start now.

[graywyvern]

( "vaporwave miniature golf" via / via )

A Traveler's Guide to the Latent Space.

Every time i see a blog-discussion on prosody, i’m amazed all over again how this musty old topic can still generate confusion, & heat. The basics. But then i remember we’re basically dealing with a situation similar to that in which Classical Latin was revived in the early Renaissance by people who didn’t speak it. (Except that those people bothered to get it right.) It’s not like the versifiers of today even started with the bad poems one can hear on the radio ten times an hour. They start with textbooks, & listening to people read who don’t even stop at the end of their lines (sigh). But i really would like to see one confusion reversed: between ICTUS (beat) & STRESS (which is a relative thing of adjacencies). And poetry in English was always a thing of beats; still is, if you care to listen. The most expert prosodists did things that still can’t be explained by the old GraecoRoman style of analyzing “feet”: i am thinking specifically of W S Gilbert, & his song in The Mikado that goes:

“...awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp shock/ from a cheap and chippy chopper on a big black block”.

Now, you probably have no trouble hearing the change in velocity of each line toward the end. In fact, he goes straight from duple feet (“aWAITing the senSAtion”) to syncopation (“SHORT SHARP SHOCK”) without so much as pausing for a real iamb in between. --These lines can be put into musical notation better than they correspond to the binary analysis of “stressed” & “unstressed”. I think it can be safely said that when the great poets like Shakespeare & Milton & Tennyson had reached the point of being able to speak freely in perfectly regular verse, they did not rest in this mastery, but began to explore polyrhythms & the effects of countering hearers’ expectations. Too bad the teachers of prosody couldn’t follow it!

Acid barista.

"DRAWN BUT NOT SKINNED: A Cento

Tonight the mean winds of November have begun to blow Indian Summer away, pointing you north and north against your will. North is easy. North is never love. Without a shield of hills, a barricade of elms, one resorts to magic. It is called breaking out of the ground and it is done by force.

On the wind like something out of Leviticus, a bat quivers across the porcelain of evening, deep horror of eyes and of wings; more come in watery flocks, each one woven to the other like bubbles in a frozen pond.

The dance winds through the windless woods. Fires started by lightning make up the telling of men: we were the fine shavings of sheepskin mercy and love were not. We for whom grief is so often the source of our spirit's growth, whose veins Death the gardener twists into a different pattern, wonder, 'Out of such numbers how will I be noticed?' Whether caring accomplishes anything is irrelevant. Every angel is terrifying.

It is the image of the ungraspable phantom of life, and this is the key to it all. There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. It is all you have and all your father had and all your brothers. We live in an old chaos of the sun, one sun, one journey here and everywhere, of that wide water, inescapable. At evening the diminishing of the dance, no, not night but death, makes constant cry: Disturb even a seed sleeping and you harvest stones. It is called breaking out of the ground and it is done by force."

--Jeff McMillian

Loab classical library, black and white, goya.

"But while Rochberg rejected serialism, he did not reject the atonal composition out of which serialism had grown and which characterized its harmonic syntax. Instead, Rochberg began to construct his music out of both tonal and atonal languages. In so doing, he dramatically reinterpreted the notion of stylistic uniformity that had been a hallmark of the Western aesthetic since antiquity. He refused to abandon 'past' musical styles, insisting that they continue to live—transformed by his individual artistry but recognizable nonetheless—in his new art. By including these diverse musics, Rochberg believed that he had expanded the emotional range that modern music was able to express. He had found a contemporary language that could both bear the weight of despair and point to transcendence." --from the Rochberg page

Good Time for a Coffee.

[bitcofun]

Key Takeaways The bulk of Ethereum's MEV-Boost relays want to censor deals, due to OFAC sanctions issues. Ethereum neighborhood members think these relays' actions make up an attack versus the network's stability. Solutions advanced by crypto locals consist of restricting relay block structure power, boycotting the censorious relays, or penalizing them through slashing. Ethereum's neutrality is being tested by MEV-Boost relays, which have actually had the power to censor deals in about a quarter of all blocks provided considering that September 15. MEV Censors Ethereum is dealing with a censorship issue. According to MEV Watch, because Ethereum transitioned to Proof-of-Stake, nearly 25% of its blocks were constructed by MEV-Boost relays that have actually freely mentioned they 'd censor deals associated with Tornado Cash. On August 8, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) included Ethereum-based personal privacy procedure Tornado Cash to its sanctions list, arguing the program was being utilized for cash laundering. The restriction sent out a shockwave through the Ethereum environment, with significant company like Circle and Infura right away transferring to blacklist Ethereum addresses connected with the procedure. MEV research study company Flashbots likewise rapidly adhered to the sanctions. MEV means "Maximal Extractable Value"; the term describes arbitraging on-chain trading chances by reordering deals within a block while it is being produced. Flashbots intends to enhance the practice and reduce its unfavorable effects by providing an off-chain block-building market in the kind of MEV-Boost. Flashbots' choice to censor Tornado Cash deals was met protest from the crypto neighborhood, which triggered the company to make the MEV-Boost software application open source. There are now numerous MEV-Boost relays, indicating various tasks utilizing the very same code. MEV Watch declares that, given that September 15, 86% of MEV-Boosted blocks have actually been processed by relays that have actually specified their intent to censor Tornado Cash deals, consisting of Flashbots, BloXRoute Regulated, Eden, and Blocknative. BloXRoute Max Profit, BloXRoute Ethical, and Manifold have actually stated they would not be censoring. Crypto Twitter Reacts Censorship at Ethereum's base layer was a fiercely disputed subject in the wake of the Tornado Cash sanctions. Neighborhood members revealed issues that OFAC might require significant staking entities such as Coinbase or Kraken to decline to consist of Tornado Cash deals in the blocks they produced. The Ethereum advancement group reacted to these worries by explaining that, ought to big validators try to censor deals, the network might establish a user-activated soft fork and burn their stakes (efficiently ruining billions of dollars worth of ETH). Prominent members of the Ethereum neighborhood required comparable steps versus censoring MEV-Boost relays. "I favor Ethereum core devs developing slashing tools into the procedure so that we can slash anybody selecting to censor, no matter who it is," specified NFT collector DCInvestor. "That will be one method to exterminate volume in MEV networks genuine quick, and require individuals into forks which are not preemptively 'certified'." Quite remarkably, the concept appears to be supported by Flashbots co-founder Stephane Gosselin. "A concept which is underexplored is needing relays to stake a considerable quantity of worth and utilizing programmatic censorship slashing based upon [a] censorship tracking model." Another idea has actually been for MEV-Boost relays to go back to structure partial blocks rather of complete blocks. When Ethereum still utilized a Proof-of-Work agreement system, Flashbots would just construct a little part of a block while miners developed the rest in your area. According to Flashbots item lead Robert Miller, under Proof-of-Stake, the partial block style would "cut off solo stakers from the

system, which eventually was considered too high of an expense after public conversation with the Ethereum neighborhood and its stakeholders." Other crypto locals have called for a boycott of censoring relays or for them to close down totally. As highlighted by Gnosis co-founder Martin Köppelmann, a core concern is that Flashbots is an extremely competitive MEV-Boost contractor, indicating that it provides greater benefits than other, non-censorious relays. Market forces are most likely to incentivize validators to select relays that are harmful to Ethereum's censorship resistance. Crypto Briefing's Take One of the crucial criticisms leveled versus Flashbots and other so-called "OFAC certified" relays is that OFAC has actually never ever particularly advised MEV-Boost relays to censor Tornado Cash deals. These relays are successfully complying to laws that currently do not exist. This is why neither Coinbase nor Kraken has actually attempted to censor Tornado Cash deals because Ethereum ended up being a Proof-of-Stake chain. The Treasury Department just recently launched information surrounding the sanctions that showed a particular softening in its position. Far, the U.S. federal government has actually revealed practically no interest in blockchain service suppliers, just in cybercriminals and money-launderers. Flashbots has likewise yet to describe its thinking behind the censorship. The company's interaction has actually been nontransparent, and its leaders are usually hesitant to openly resolve the problem. Hasu, probably Flashbots' most widely known factor, has actually not taken part in the last couple of days' online dispute at all. Crypto Briefing has actually connected to both Gosselin and Miller for remark: they had yet to react at press time. While it's crucial to keep in mind that just a few Ethereum blocks have, in truth, been censored up until now (for a brief while, as non-censoring validators eventually chose them up), the reality that 24.94% of Ethereum obstructs in the last fourteen days might have dealt with censorship is a major risk to the network's stability. The yields supplied by MEV-Boost mainly eclipse the ones from non-MEV validators, suggesting that need for relays is most likely to keep increasing. Designers will probably requirement to carry out functions making censorship difficult-- or penalize the relays guilty of it. Disclaimer: At the time of composing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and numerous other cryptocurrencies. The info on or accessed through this site is acquired from independent sources our company believe to be precise and trustworthy, however Decentral Media, Inc. makes no representation or service warranty regarding the timeliness, efficiency, or precision of any info on or accessed through this site. Decentral Media, Inc. is not a financial investment consultant. We do not offer tailored financial investment suggestions or other monetary guidance. The details on this site undergoes alter without notification. Some or all of the details on this site might end up being out-of-date, or it might be or end up being insufficient or unreliable. We may, however are not bound to, upgrade any out-of-date, insufficient, or unreliable info. You ought to never ever make a financial investment choice on an ICO, IEO, or other financial investment based upon the info on this site, and you must never ever translate or otherwise count on any of the info on this site as financial investment suggestions. We highly advise that you speak with a certified financial investment consultant or other competent monetary expert if you are looking for financial investment recommendations on an ICO, IEO, or other financial investment. We do decline settlement in any type for examining or reporting on any ICO, IEO, cryptocurrency, currency, tokenized sales, securities, or products. See complete terms What Prevents Large Validators From Taking Over Ethereum? Proof-of-Stake critics have

actually sounded the alarm on Ethereum's brand-new Proof-of-Stake agreement system, declaring it makes the network prone to hostile network takeovers. Ethereum's brand-new system consists of a failsafe to ... U.S. Treasury Clarifies Key Points on Tornado Cash Sanctions News Sep. 13, 2022 A month after it initially included Tornado Cash to its sanctions list, the Treasury Department has actually acknowledged that the procedure was not just utilized by cybercriminals. New Guidance for Law-Abiding ... Will Ethereum Be Vulnerable to Censorship After the Merge? With the upgrade to Proof-of-Stake quickly approaching, the Ethereum neighborhood is disputing whether the current sanctions versus Tornado Cash might wind up threatening the blockchain itself. Combine Hype Overshadowed by ... Read More

[elizabethbathoryofficial]

We should get FGO review bombed for this

^About the design of Mother Harlot in Arcade

I originally received this ask on the day the design was revealed, on December 23rd. I avoided answering it right away, because I was extremely upset and my response would've just been a 40 mile long venting post about the design. So I decided to wait on it until I could calm down and give a more articulate response. I believe now I'm in a mental state where I can express my feelings better.

That being said, this will still be pretty long, so I'll write on the topic under the cut. CW, we'll be talking about transphobia, misogyny, and an uncomfortable amount about pedophilia.

My philosophy towards FGO is, and has always been, to be a critical fan of it. The fact that it has some extremely gross aspects to it has always been undeniable. Sure, I enjoyed the gameplay and the characters, and the story built around them was very compelling. But we can't and mustn't forget the fact that it has extremely fetishistic designs, designs aimed specifically to please lolicons, and blatant transphobia written across big chunks of the story, just to name a few of its issues. I like the game, but I'm aware that it is flawed. I think those flaws shouldn't be ignored, but brought to light and criticized, so that the designers start to do better and the product improves over time.

It hasn't. It's gotten worse.

For those unaware, on December 23rd, DW introduced a new character to its roster, as an Arcade-exclusive: Mother Harlot, the biblical whore whose debauchery led Babylon to its ruin. This character is one of the Beasts in-story, and has been teased as being related to Nero Claudius for years now. Not to mention how important the location of Babylon is to FGO's story! Now she's here, she's canon, she has an official design, and.....!!!! ......she's a little girl in a string bikini.

DW introduced a literal, no question about it, no room for interpretation, canon child prostitute.

At this point how important she is to the story doesn't matter. How cool it is that she's Nero Alter because the number 666 in the bible is talking about Nero and how it was teased in Nero Caster's abilities, none of that matters. None of it. Nero is already a grown woman character who lives her sexuality much more freely than others, making her the Whore of Babylon should've been an extremely easy home-run. Just make her edgy and put her in a revealing outfit, done. There is literally no reason to turn this grown-ass woman into a child, especially when the character she's turning into is a literal Harlot. This is inexcusable. This is beyond repair. They saw a character whose whole deal was that she destroyed a city by having sex with its rulers and decided she should be a child. And before they try to come and justify it like "Oh she's actually a child bc she's not the fully mature version of the beast yet so this is just a visual interpretation of that fact", or "nono you dont get it she drank a potion that made her a little kid", then it still doesn't matter because WHY WOULD YOU WRITE YOUR STORY IN SUCH A WAY THAT IT LEADS TO A LITTLE GIRL IN A STRING BIKINI. WHEN YOU COULD'VE LITERALLY JUST NOT DONE THAT AND IT WOULD'VE STILL MADE SENSE.

For me, this is the point where it becomes too much. The point where "I'm a critical fan of it and am aware of its flaws" stops being enough. The point where the bad aspects of the game overshadow the good. The point where good faith and hopes it will improve are completely dried out, and I feel like I'm supporting an awful product just by engaging with it.

Some months ago, in one of my sideblogs, I got an anonymous ask from someone saying they liked fgo bc they were a lolicon and fgo was made for them. I blocked them and moved on with my day, thinking that they were on the wrong for liking the game for the wrong reasons. Today I'm not sure that's true anymore. The game seems designed specifically to make lolicons happy, decency and the story making sense be damned. Now I feel like I'm the one who likes the game for the wrong reasons, what with me enjoying its gameplay, designs, and seemingly trans and nb-friendly character backstories. Now I feel like I'm the kind of fan DW wants to get rid of so they can appeal more to their target audience of pedophiles and people who jerk off to anime girls with no personality other than "big bobba mommy dom gf".

At the end of the day, I'm just... tired. So, so tired. I don't know for how much longer I'll be playing the game, but I don't think it'll be that long. I'm currently still mindlessly playing it when commuting or watching youtube videos, but I've been skipping all cutscenes, events, and I couldn't bring myself to give two craps about the new lostbelt. Hard to care about a story when you feel like the people who made it hate you and are actively supporting and encouraging pedophilia around the world.

I used to think fgo was the kind of game I could play and engage with for years to come, but at this point I just want to move onto other things that don't make me feel embarrassed when people find out I like them. I know no piece of media is irredeemable, but fgo keeps digging itself further down the shitter and I can no longer bear to walk alongside it. In the meantime, I'll keep casually enjoying its wholesome, well-made fanon content by reblogging it to this blog. I really want to remember it by the friendships it made me and the happiness it gave me before I drop it completely and move onto better things.

-Eli

[jinpanman]

All I Want Is You(ngi)

pairing: yoongi x reader

wc: 2.5k

genre: pg15, fluff, established relationship

warnings: alcohol consumption

summary: Yoongi takes his baby out to sing karaoke the night before Christmas with the two Seoks. It’s a riot with drunken caroling (read: hollering) but he's so in love that he doesn't care.

a/n: My part of the SNOWLLAB with a super lovely bunch. Pls do yoself a favor and read everyone’s stories when they drop cause I promis it’ll be amazing. <3 A big thank you to Willow for pulling this crew together. A big thank you to Willow for the prompt inspo. A big thank you to Willow for creating the banner. A big thank you to Willow for beta reading my lil story and fixing up all the lil pieces and praising me….. So basically this is one big love letter to Willow. Thanks for being the best and most amazing little holibean 💙💚

sequel: Will You(ngi) Marry Me? 

Here he is now, currently regretting his inability to ever say no to your whims as he watches you skip with a couple of slips and twisted ankles along the way to the front of the small darkened room and snatch the mic off its stand. You’re bent over the karaoke machine, clumsily swiping the screen to find the song you want. After several more swipes, you squeal excitedly... and then he hears it. The reason for your excitement. The all too familiar jingling of church and sleigh bells elicits an embarrassed groan from him. You turn to face your small audience and after taking an unreasonably deep breath, you close your eyes and sing.

“I… don’t want a lot for Christmas. There is just one thing I need…”

“Sing it girl!” Hoseok cheers, thrusting a newly opened glass bottle into the air.

“Aaall I want for Christmas…”

“WHAT DO YOU WANT Y/N?!” Hoseok shrieks over the music.

“...iiiiiiss YOOOOUU...NGIII!!!” You hunch over to belt out the last note and your hair falls over your face but he doesn’t need to see you to know your features are scrunched up in order to sing past your lung capacity.

Yoongi very much wants to curl in the corner to hide from your unabashed love, but alas you, Hoseok, and Seokjin would never let him live it down, so instead he sits there trying (and failing) to fight the shy smile that overtakes his features. Even as the music grows louder, Yoongi can hear Seokjin laughing and slapping Hoseok’s thighs on the other side of the booth. 

Oh god. It was a bad idea. He knew it was a bad idea to have agreed to go out to karaoke with Seokjin and Hoseok, but you had begged and begged him and he was but a weak man when it came to you.

“I should have remembered it’s never a normal holiday with this crew.” He moans into his hands.

A hand roughly pats him on his shoulder. He peeks through his fingers to the portrait of a grinning Jin, now beside him. The man extends an unopened bottle of alcohol out to him.

“You sure you don’t want a drink, man? I know you drove but I don't mind chauffeuring you both home and taking a cab from there.”

“Nah, I’m good. We can’t both be stupid drunk when we get home. We might burn the house down then you’d have to waste even more money to come collect our bodies.”

Jin snorts at his remark. “Touché.”

The two of them lay back against the bench cushion and watch with horrified amusement as a wobbly Hoseok makes his way to you. The rambunctious (and very buzzed) duo up on the little stage drop to their knees and Yoongi balks at the way the two of you obscenely shake your butts to the very cheery tune of Mariah Carey’s biggest holiday hit. Sober Hoseok was always a delight. Even Yoongi didn’t mind busting out a few moves every now and then with him. Drunk Hoseok, though, he was a different animal altogether. Insatiable, he was, and he was the perfect hype man for drunk you.

Yoongi makes eye contact with you and now that you’ve got his attention, you reach out your free hand towards him and beckon him over with the curl of your finger. His heart goes a-hammering away without his permission. Yoongi, a fool in love, lets himself be pushed out of his seat and like a man lost at sea, he’s pulled closer and closer to the siren who sings the song meant to be his undoing. 

Except that the siren is you and your slurred singing is not at all alluring or seductive. He smiles at your pitiful attempt at fluttering your lashes at him. Despite your inability to entice him with your song and your sensual form, he still jumps overboard. He jumps and dives headfirst into the ocean that is your freely given love. All for him. Even a horrendous, throaty snort does nothing to unwind the unintentional spell you've cast on him. He faintly hears the two men squealing like children behind him, but all he can hear, all he can see is you.

“Make my wish come true! All I want for Christmas is you! Yoongi, baby!”

He can’t help but giggle at the way you serenade him, with your terribly exaggerated airy voice, but he loves it all the same. He loves you and all the surprises and jolly that comes with loving you.

Both you and Hoseok giggle at each other as Yoongi and Seokjin try to guide the two of you out of the building. Hoseok clings to his partner but his free hand is held tight in your grip, much to Yoongi’s chagrin. You’re both so wobbly and walking together is no help to either him or Jin. 

It’s definitely gotten chillier and Yoongi is grateful that you didn’t forget your winter coat tonight. You’re bundled and cosy beside him, with the hood wrapped snug over your head. Your eyes are still glassy and your breathing hasn’t quite recovered from your exuberant singing competition against Seokjin, but that’s okay. You know Yoongi will take care of you. That’s the only reason why you were able to let go so freely tonight anyway, and he takes pride in knowing that you trust him so entirely. He hoists you up into a more comfortable standing position and nods to Jin.

“Merry Christmas, hyung.”

“Merry Chrysler, Yoongichi. Drive home safely!”

Yoongi grimaces and mutters under his breath but Jin merely smiles bigger. With a final wave, he pulls a swaying and incoherent Hoseok close to his side and they walk to their awaiting cab. He would have waited until they got into the car, but you’ve started blowing raspberries on his neck. While he normally wouldn’t mind having your saliva on him, he can feel remnants of soggy pretzel bits flying out of your mouth onto his exposed skin and that is more than enough to kill what could have been a flirtatious mood. He pushes your head away, eliciting a squeaky whine.

“Ah, stop. That’s gross. C’mon, let’s go home.”

It wasn’t too much trouble getting you in and out of the car, but now that you have arrived home, you refuse to step inside your house. You cling onto him like a lifeline, as if you’ll fall to the ground and drown in the air that surrounds you.

“I don’t wanna go home yet, Yoongiii. I feel soooo gross!” You whine, heavily emphasizing on how gross you felt.

“That’s why we’re gonna go inside and shower, baby. So you’re not gross.”

“Oh my goood!” You sob into his shoulder. “You think I’m gross!”

Yoongi sighs and looks into the night sky, pressing his lips tightly together into a forced smile. You continue to wail out in the open and he all but clamps your mouth shut with a press of his finger against your lips.

“Do you wanna go for a walk instead?” You immediately shut up and nod eagerly. “Okay, let’s go walk, honey.”

He knows you’ll complain about the cold in a few minutes, but he’ll deal with that future Y/N when she arrives. They’ve walked a short distance around the complex when he suddenly feels a drop of cold wetness against his cheek. He looks up and notices the flakes of white falling from the sky. He squeezes your hand and points your interlaced hands up.

“Baby, it’s snowing.”

“Oh, shit it’s snowing! Okay.” You perk up at having heard that and untangle yourself from him. “Shit. Let me, let me uh, wait. Here.”

Before he could even begin to guess what you were about to do, you plop yourself right onto the cold grass. You shriek at the burst of cold against your legs but like the diva you think you are, you don’t get up and instead pose for him. Your hands are positioned entirely too close around your face that your eyes are barely visible and your skirt is hiked so far up your hunched legs that he can see your panties. You’re wearing those adorable brown bear ones he knows you think are the most comfortable pair of undies you’ve ever owned. Cute.

“Okay. I’m ready. Always gotta be ready for the camera.”

The noise that comes out of his mouth is entirely uncontrollable and he all but melts at the sight of you. The fairy lights your landlords put up around the apartments shine brightly in the night and illuminate the flakes of snow that fall from the sky. It’s a beautiful sight, but you shine the brightest. The light hovering above you highlights your subtle cheekbones and the combination of the falling snow and lights creates a sort of glowing halo around you.

You are, without a doubt, the most beautiful person he has ever laid eyes on.

The most beautiful and also the most extra because of course your first instinct would be to pose for him. That was how you met, after all. He had been out practicing street photography a few years ago when he bumped into you. You had the decency to be politely curious why he was taking pictures of strangers and after he shared his project, you agreed (even though he never asked) to let him take pictures of you. You started posing immediately and even walked around the block to pose with whatever you found interesting, whether it was the wall of a building or a newspaper stand. He probably loved you then. He definitely loves you now.

It’s too bad he doesn’t have his camera with him. His phone will have to do, so he pulls it out, angles himself and the phone at just the right spot, and takes several shots. Your eyes have shut close again, the trickle of soft snow cascading down onto your face and hair. Oh, the way his smile only widens as you bat your eyes in an attempt to blink the snowflakes away. He waves his phone and you suddenly remember what you were here for and you smile for the camera. Smile for him. 

“Sit down and take a picture with me!” You pout and pat the space next to you.

Who is he to say no? Several very blurry photos later (because what’s the point of getting drunk if you weren’t going to take blurry pics?), you were finally done with the cold. You cup his face and kiss his pink-tipped nose.

“You’re cold, Yoongi. Let’s go home.”

“Mmm… Let’s go.”

He takes your hand in his and tucks both your hands inside his coat pocket, knowing full well that you have a coat of your own with its own pockets. It’s true, his face is somewhat numb from the cold of the night, but he is quickly heating up wholly by the warmth of your shared love that the two of you have nurtured and tended to together.

“I hope you had fun tonight, baby.”

“I always have fun when I’m with you, Yoongi-poo.”

“So… what do you want most for Christmas?” He wonders if you’ll accidentally spill what you really want for Christmas but not even drunk you would sell yourself out to him.

“Didn’t I literally just sing ‘all I want for christmas is Yoooongiii’? Did I not make it clear enough?”

His lips spread into a bright upward curl and he giggles at the way you stare at him as if he was stupid for even asking such a question. As if it was obvious what you wanted. Of course, he knew you would say that. He honestly just wanted to hear you say it again. And... oh no. Now you’re singing again. Hollering, more like. Ah, well. It’s only for one night. He pulls you closer beside him and sings along with you, albeit in a much quieter tone.

Your apartment is back in eyeview and he pulls his phone out to check the time. It’s only a minute left until Christmas. He continues to watch the time pass by the seconds until there are only fifteen seconds left before midnight.

Then he starts counting out loud, in a teasing lilt that he knows is sure to pique your curiosity.

“What exactly are you counting down to?” You ask, puzzled.

You’ve sobered down quite a bit now, and you were ready to go sleep. He ignores you though and continues to count. By 5 seconds, you’ve stopped walking, although you’re still mumbling about how rude it was of him to ignore you. He reaches up to tuck your hair back behind your ears to get a better look at your face. Your stupidly beautiful face.

“I’m granting your Christmas wish in three… two… one... Merry Christmas, Y/N.”

He cups your face. It’s cold, and he makes a mental note to make sure to warm you up with a bath once you’re home. You gasp a second later and wrap your arms around him, staring up at him with a wide grin plastered on your face.

“Ohmygoddidyoubuymeapuppy??!!!”

He snorts and it’s out of sheer self restraint that he doesn’t go on an hour long tirade on the terrible idea of buying animals as holiday gifts and how he refuses to ever partake in it. He instead channels that energy into squishing your cheeks together so you don’t say anything else that could potentially ruin the mood he’s trying to set.

“Baby?”

“Whuh?”

“You make me really happy, you know that?” His voice softens up and he gently rubs your cheeks with his thumbs.

Your wide, wide eyes are still staring at him, unblinking, but he’s been under the scrutiny of your ridiculously lubricated eyes for long enough that he’s unbothered.

“And even though you’re still kinda loopy and you definitely spilled beer on me tonight, I still want you to know…”

He pauses for dramatics and chuckles when your hands fly up to grasp his hands that still cup your face.

“Yes?” You plead with him to carry on.

“I love you. I love you so much my heart is fit to burst.”

The soft inhale of breath is not lost on him and he grins at you. The sweet smile and blush that quickly overtakes your features is easily the best gift you could ever give him this Christmas.

“Oh my god. I think my heart just nutted.”

He snorts and sighs in defeat. Right. Only you could say something like that and still make his heart leap.

“I love you too. Can we go home now, though? My butt’s cold.”

“But I haven’t even gotten to the best part,” he teases.

Before you could ask what the best part was, he draws your face to his and presses his lips against yours. The warm exhale as you part your lips for him comes as a welcome surprise. You giggle into the kiss and pull him closer against you.

“You just kissed me,” you whispered as if he had committed a scandalous act.

“Baby, I always kiss you.”

“You’re right.” You grab hold of his hand and walk briskly towards your home, tugging a smiling Yoongi behind you. “Let’s go home so you can kiss me some more!”

a/n 2.0: HELLO THERE FRIENDO. how are you. happy holidays or i guess, happy day if you’re reading this in like, the summer time or something :”) thank you for reading this. did you like it? penny for your thoughts? (i will give u a pretty one forreal) isn’t yoongi the sweetest most amazing boyfriend eveerrrrr plz gush over him with me PLS

[mapplestrudel]

Chur'cerar

Rating: General Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: F/M

Relationships: Paz Vizsla/Reader, Paz Vizsla/You

Characters: Paz Vizsla, Earthling!Reader

Additional Tags: Reader-Insert, self-indulgent semi self-insert, Established Friendship, reader panics a little, and then a little more, Almost-Drowning, lurky things in murky waters, (it's clear waters actually but murky rhymed so nicely with lurky), Reader almost dies, but Paz saves her, with his warmth, some implied nudity is going on I guess?, cuddling for warmth

Wordcount: 2.1K

Summary:

You and Paz are trapped in a pitchblack cave lurking with dangers.

His gentle presence calms your panic, but then you fall and end up needing more comfort (which he dispenses freely).

Takes place sometime after the (yet unfinished) "Mando'a for Beginners" fic.

---

You're trapped.

On the plus side, you've escaped the sandstorm that was going to swallow you whole.

On the minus side side, you were now in this cave, its entrance blocked by rocks that were too big even for Paz to remove.

Up till now things had gone so well.

You had posed as a seasoned trader convincingly enough that you got the goods the covert needed plus a bit more. Paz had had no issue falling into the role of your bodyguard. Basically, he was, anyway. This charade had been necessary because your trade partner refused to do business with Mandalorians in general, so the Armorer asked you to step in. And you did. With wobbling knees and sweaty hands. But it had been enough and you felt so proud after the finished deal and woohooed into the desert once you were far enough away from the other's camp.

And then the sandstorm hit, leaving you stranded in this cave.

Paz is calm, though, unpacking supplies from the crashed speeder in practiced moves. You try to keep your shit together, but your lungs always tighten up when you don't know where the next exit is, or a crack at least to let some air in. That's why you never did the diving quests in Assassin's Creed IV after all.

It doesn't really help that it's pitch black in here.

Paz seems unfazed, but, well, he's got it easy with the helmet. Probably has nightvision activated right now. You expect him to start whistling a happy tune at any moment.

"You good?" he asks, finally noticing you standing tensed up like a stalagmite.

All you manage is shaking your head. You're not even sure if he sees it. But there is no sound in you, just a panic rising and you can't get your ragged breath under control.

He clonks over to you. Maybe he is extra loud so you know where he is.

A gloved hand takes yours and squeezes it. It helps. But you still can't help your too short and too fast breaths. You hiccup as you try to swallow a sob.

"Hey..." he hums gently as the second gloved hand squeezes your shoulder. "It's gonna be alright. We're gonna get out of here, okay?"

He starts rubbing a circle with his thumb on the palm of your hand and it helps to take your mind off of the impending doom of suffocating in a caved-in cave in a desert in a galaxy where you don't even belong...

You calm down a bit more and he instructs you to breathe and syncs it with the speed of the circles on your hand. Eventually you lean forward until your head touches the humming beskar. It's not as cold as you would have expected, but that may be due to him being a furnace of warmth.

He wraps you up in a light hug and you tremble, a lone sob escaping eventually. But you keep following his breathing instructions and it helps. His calm presence does, too.

Eventually, you are calm again, too. Calm and convinced that no harm will come to you as long as Paz is around.

"We're gonna get out of here. Come on, say it with me!"

You do: "We're gonna get out of here."

You huff a little laugh, shy smile on your lips.

"You make it sound so easy."

"I'm gonna intimidate the cave itself.

"Stare at the wall until it gives in?"

He shrugs. "Has worked before." His jesting tone releases even more tension from you.

"Really now?"

"Yeah, well okay, somebody else may have applied a detonator on the other side of the wall."

"Ha! I wish we had somebody else to apply a detonator outside right now."

"Technically we do? But they're too far away."

"So practically we don't."

"Well... yeah." He huffs and gives you another little squeeze. "You better?"

You take a long deep breath and nod into the chestplate.

"Yeah.....I just... I.." You sigh and your shoulders sag.

"Don't worry. You did well today. This is just a minor setback."

He gives your shoulder a reassuring pat and you give his chestplate a pat of thankfulness, before you remove yourself. The chill air of the cave seems even more cold now that you have basked in his warmth.

---

While exploring the cave together, you suddenly lose your footing.

You fall.

Into pitchblack darkness.

And you hit water. Submerge for a second. You try to breathe but there's only water.

And it's cold. Too cold.

"Paz!" you want to scream, but you can't with mouth and lungs filled with water.

Your head emerges from the surface but you can't see anything.

You cough and sputter and instincts kick in.

"Float," they say.

"It's gonna be okay," they say.

Paz says it, too, but it's only in your mind that he's calm and collected.

You hear your name from above and it's alarmed. There's a shriek to it you've never heard from him before.

You don't understand the words, too preoccupied with not giving in to panic again.

Something zips by your head.

Something else wiggles by your leg. Something... long.

You scream.

You don't hear anything.

You're below the water again.

You sputter. Hear Paz' voice again. He sounds.. concerned?

You don't understand why.

There's nothing to be concerned about.

There's a bright warm light and once more you hear the metallic zip and it's right beside you now and something is squirming away from your leg.

Again you hear your name. And more words. Must be important you think and try to focus.

"Take the zipline!"

The zipline?

It takes you a second or two to register.

You grab it eventually and feel yourself pulled up but your fingers can't hold on. They're to cold and too weak.

You hear his voice again.

"Laar'ika, please! The loop! Get into the loop!"

There's two things at your legs now. Or maybe it's two ends of the same thing.

You wreck your brain about what the loop is. Then again there's the swooshing warm light and you see the loop of the cordthrower. And you also see dark shadows in the clear water coming closer and it gives you the push you needed and you pull the loop under your armpits.

You're lifted up.

It stings in your armpits. but up you go, through darkness, water dripping from you back into the pool below, until strong arms heave you through the hole that had swallowed you.

What happens next is fogged and you're not sure what's real and what you dream.

A lothcat dances on the ceiling and gets eaten by a mudhorn.

A voice says things. His voice. Paz.

He's here. Of course he is, he was never gone.

Was that snakes? Did they bite you?

There's shadows slithering on the walls now and they're darker than the pitchblack.

You feel your grip of reality slipping away and replaced by a dark cold.

"Laar'ika!" is the last thing you hear as you fail to take his hand and reassure him hat everything is going to be okay.

---

The first time you come back to your senses, you register only a warmth around you, and vertigo inside you. You heave, and a bunch of cave lake water comes out. With no visual clue of where things are you feel like you're floating and spinning in all directions, and inadvertently your legs start kicking like they do when you have one of these falling dreams.

A strong arm pulls you closer to a broad warm chest, giving you and your senses an anchor, and the vertigo subsides. You're still cold, though, and the cold sits deep in your bones, and you scoot back and snuggle closer to the warmth, falling asleep again eventually.

---

The next time you gain some senses you don't know if you're awake or dreaming. Dark things slither around you, closing in further and further until you drown in their entangled masses and your arms and legs flail and kick. There's a thick snake holding you down and you turn and kick and try to get away. You hear a grunt and smile at your success as the snake leaves, but then you lose your balance and hit the rockhard floor.

A tiny light appears and in its shine the blue helmet.

Paz climbs out of the speeder and scoops you up from the ground.

You hang limbless in his arms, cold and scared. But he talks to you and although you don't have the mind right now to understand the words he's saying you can feel their meaning and you know it's going to be okay. You're lowered gently onto the makeshift bed in the speeder. An ungloved hand touches your cheek, and you lean into it, and as a thumb gently rubs along your cheekbone, you fall back asleep.

---

When you wake up, brain slow, but sure now of what is real and what not, you are engulfed in warmth. It takes quite a while to register more than this. But at last your brain starts noticing details. You're lying on your side, and it's not the stone ground you're lying on. It's softer, warmer. There's a blanket above you. You try and open an eye, but close it again when you realise it doesn't make much difference, seeing-wise. You try and focus on the warmth again, soak it up. There's still some remaining coldness in your bones but overall you feel much better. Finally you notice the big arm splayed over you. When you tentatively stretch your leg, it pulls you closer against the center of the warmth in your back.

And then it hits you and suddenly you're wide awake.

This is Paz.

He is the source of the warmth.

The big spoon.

You're completely wrapped up by him, one arm under your head, the other one over your side, his upper leg splayed over yours.

You don't move, but you tense up, trying to remember how you got here, but all you get is nebular memories of darkness and cold.

He scoots away from you as soon as he notices you tensing up. You hiss at the loss of warmth and grab his arm to pull him back again. He obliges and follows the pull, wrapping you up properly once more and you settle back into his curved frame with a content sigh.

"Welcome back."

His voice is different you think, but you're not sure why.

"What happened?"

"You almost drowned and died of hypothermia."

"... Just that, eh?"

"Hm. Oh, and that cave lake snake almost took a bite out of you."

"Oh. Right. But... I'm not dead?"

"M-mh. Won't happen. Not on my watch."

You feel a nose nuzzle into your hair.

"Paz!"

"Hm."

"Tion'vaii gar buy'ce??"

"It's all here, don't worry. Side-sleeping is more comfortable without it... and it's pitchblack, so you wouldn't... "

"... see anything even if I tried."

"Yeah."

"I wouldn't try, you know?"

He takes another self-indulgend breath with his nose in your hair, and sighs it out.

"I know."

"Good."

The two of you stay where you are. You don't know how long. There is no time in the darkness. But finally you do wonder about another important detail.

"Paz?"

"Hm."

"Tion'vaii ner haaran?"

He clears his throat.

"Drying."

"You... uh.." You clear your own throat. "You think they're dry yet?"

"Unlikely, with the temperatures here. But there should be a set of spare clothes in the trunk."

Suddenly he moves. "I'll get them for you."

You whine at the loss of warmth when he gets up, and you curl up, readjusting the blanket around you.

"Here." You feel a draft of air as he waves the spare clothes in front of you.

You take them and get dressed, and by the sound of it, he does, too. The silence is interrupted as he speaks again, worry in his voice.

"Listen, I didn't.. I ... I had to get the clothes off of you or they would have sucked any warmth right out off you. I didn't... I wouldn't...."

You step closer to him, following his voice, hand reaching out, finding purchase on his chest before going up, cupping his cheek. A scruff tickles back as he leans into it.

"I know."

He sighs in relief. "Good."

"Thank you for saving me."

Now it's his time to cup your cheek, gently tracing your cheekbone with his thumb.

"Any time, Laar'ika."

You linger a bit longer, basking in each others' touch, but before long he removes his hand and claps.

"Alright! Now, let's get out of here."

"Oya!" you agree, new warmth and hope filling your heart.

---

Translations and pronunciations (if available) from www.mandoa.org, and The Total Guide to Mandalorian Language by Tal'jair Rusk:

chur'cerar -- [choor-SAIR-ahr] -- dungeon, cavern

laar -- [lar] -- song

laar'ika -- Little Song

Tion'vaii gar buy'ce? -- [TEE-on-vay gahr BOO-shay] -- Where is your helmet?

tion'vaii -- where?

gar -- your

buy'ce -- helmet

Tion'vaii ner haaran? -- [TEE-on-vay nair HAH-rahn?] -- Where are my clothes?

ner -- my

haaran -- cover, clothes, suit

Oya! -- [OY-ah!] -- Many meanings: literally *Let's hunt!* and also *Stay alive!*, but also *Hoorah!*, *Go you!*, *Cheers!* Always positive and triumphant.

[fangirling-is-my-passion]

*Salted Caramel*(Steve Rogers x Platonic!Reader)

Warnings: mentions of anxiety and a very, very complicated parents-child relationship (I don’t know how to write warnings, I’m so sorry).

Summary: You have an anxiety attack one day and the First Avenger comes to the rescue. In a fatherly way, just to clarify, hehe.

A/N: Eeehh, I have no clue if any of this makes any sense, haha, but I’m not gonna lie, I wrote the fic I desperately needed, so anyways I hope you enjoy it, my lovelies. Also, know that if you ever need anyone to talk to, my dms are always open. :)

You were the newest member of the Avengers and, although you’d only been part of the team for a couple of months, everybody had welcomed you with open arms. Nonetheless, you didn’t have as much opportunity to interact with them as you would’ve wished to, since you, not only being the newest member but also the youngest, still lived with your parents. Everybody had agreed that that was fine as long as you attended training sessions at the compound three times a week, which your parents agreed to. And now, even though you’d celebrated your 18th birthday a week ago, your living situation hadn’t changed much. At least not so far.

In spite of it all, the team had quickly embraced your presence in their lives and you felt more comfortable and at home with them than you’d ever felt with any of your relatives, including your parents. As a matter of fact, you didn’t really feel at home with your parents at all. Due to some issues from the past that had had its peak only a few months ago, the effect in the present was that your trust in them had broken completely and, even though you’d tried to fix the relationship several times along the years, the truth was that your parents kept letting you down constantly, making the damage irreparable by now.

This had taken a toll on your mental health and your anxiety had worsened a lot lately, nevertheless, telling your parents about it was obviously out of the question, and you didn’t want to bother the group of superheroes with such insignificant problems like yours. The world was in their hands, and in yours now too, you couldn’t make so much fuss about something like that.

Until the day you reached your breaking point.

Which sounds very dramatic, yet if you thought about it too much, you’d been through a lot worse before.

The circumstances and its specific details are irrelevant, the point is that, while you and your mother were having lunch, you had quite an intense anxiety attack. The kind you hadn’t had in a considerable amount of time.

Your hands started sweating, your heart began pounding inside your chest, making you feel like it could burst out of your ribcage at any given moment. Your breathing became shallow and quick, your lungs always asking for more air to breathe in, and a weird sensation that felt very much like losing ground and any sort of control over your life and yourself invaded you. At one point you even thought you’d pass out, but fortunately you didn’t.

You had to get out of there, fast.

So you told your mother that oh, crap, you’d just now remembered that you had a training session with the Avengers that afternoon, so you really had to get going. And without another word, not even waiting for a response from her, you took your phone and nothing more, and exited the house.

Once outside you walked aimlessly, trying to get as much air into your lungs as you could in an attempt to calm down. A million thoughts were rushing through your head, making you feel slightly dizzy, but you tried with all your might to concentrate on your inhalations and exhalations. After several minutes, you started feeling the tension in your whole body loosen up a bit, your breathing becoming steadier and your train of thoughts no longer on the verge of crashing. However, you still felt the urgent need to talk to somebody. Yes, the last thing you wanted to do was bother any of the earth's mightiest heroes with your problems, but this really seemed to be the last straw for you.

Therefore, you unlocked your phone and called the first person you could think of.

“(Y/N)?” Steve Rogers’ voice called from the other side of the line.

“Uh… Hi.” you said hesitantly, with a remaining shakiness in your voice that certainly didn’t go unnoticed by Steve.

“Are you okay? What’s wrong?” he asked preoccupied, and you could almost picture the expression on his face: the furrowed brows, the worry reflecting in his blue eyes.

“I, um, I’m… I’m fine, I just… I just needed to talk to someone. I’m sorry, I shouldn't be bothering you with this.”

“No, no, you’re not bothering at all. What happened? Where are you, at your house?”

“Umm, no, not exactly, I’m… I’m a couple of blocks away, but…”

“Oh, okay. Do you want me to go there, or maybe meet somewhere, so we can talk?”

“I-,” tears started gathering in your eyes, making everything around you blurry, but you weren’t exactly crying out of sadness, “I don’t want to be a burden, really, I’m so sorry, I just wanted to hear your voice…” you mumbled, your voice cracking.

“(Y/N), you’re not a burden. Whatever happened, if it’s important to you then it’s important to me, okay? We can talk. Just tell me where and I’ll be on my way.”

“Why are you being so nice to me? You barely know me…,” you sniffled, tears rolling down your cheeks now, a sign of how moved you were by Steve’s kindness. He didn’t have to do all that, leave the compound to go meet with you somewhere, to listen to a problem that had nothing to do with him, but he was willing to do it nonetheless.

“Because I care for you. Even if you haven’t been part of the team for as long as the rest of us, you are family now. And families are always there for each other,” he stated softly but with determination.

“Thank you…,” you whispered, feeling like not all the thank you’s in the world could express how grateful you were to the man. “Um, well, there’s… There’s a small coffee shop relatively near here, I guess we could… we could meet there… if it isn’t much trouble,” you added.

“Sounds good. Can you send me the address?”

“Sure.”

“And text me when you get there, all right?”

“Yeah, I… I will. Thank you, Steve. Really.”

“Don’t worry about it, kiddo.” You smiled to yourself, feeling another wave of tears coming up. “And, hey,” he added, “it’s okay. It’s gonna be okay.”

_________________________

Minutes later, you were at the coffee shop, sitting at a small table for two by the window. It was a lovely place you’d discovered at the beginning of the year, one day you were wandering aimlessly around your neighbourhood. The food was quite tasty in general, and both the place and the people who worked there gave off a very warm and cosy vibe, the type you only feel during Christmas, sitting in front of the fireplace with a cup of hot cocoa in your hands.

You’d already texted Steve to let him know you’d arrived, and now all you had to do was wait for him to get there. According to him, he was just about to.

And it was true, because a moment later you saw the tall, blond-haired man enter the establishment and search for you with his eyes. He finally spotted you, and you were able to notice, even from a distance, how his expression softened, while he made his way towards you.

“Hey,” you muttered standing up, still ashamed that you’d made the superhero travel all the way there for such a mundane reason.

“Hey,” he greeted you back with a soft smile, before sitting down on his chair, prompting you to do the same, “so… What happened, kiddo?”

You sighed. “Well, I just… I, um… may or may not have had… um, an anxiety attack…,” you could feel your face heating up due to the embarrassment you felt by admitting it to somebody else. An anxiety attack. Pfff. It felt so absurd now, making such a big deal out of it when there were clearly more important things…

“An anxiety attack?” Steve asked, tilting his head to one side in that particular way of his. His ocean eyes were overflowing with kindness, and that single-handedly was more than enough to make you want to cry again. Your heart was definitely not used to such a level of sympathy.

“Yeah…,” you breathed, your eyes starting to water up once more.

“Does it happen to you very often?”

“Umm, not exactly, I don’t know… It’s… It’s been happening with more frequency lately, but… I-I don’t know, it’s… it’s complicated. I mean,” you sighed again, “I’ve… I’ve lived my whole life... with anxiety and, well, I know there isn’t an actual cure for it, but I’ve… I’ve learnt to handle it, more or less, it’s just…”

At that moment, a waiter walked up to your table and asked if you wanted to order anything. You wiped the few tears that had escaped your eyes as discreetly as you could, hoping the waiter wouldn’t notice anything. As a matter of fact, you were embarrassed by letting yourself cry in front of Steve too, but at this point you couldn’t really help it. The superhero looked at you inquiringly.

“Have you eaten already? Do you want anything?”

“Um, yeah... yeah, I have… Uh… no, I don’t know... if you want anything… I can tell you that the salted caramel frappe is really good,” you offered him a small smile.

“Is that so?” He smiled too. “Well… I’ll have one if you have one. If that’s okay.”

You chuckled lightly. “Okay. It’s a deal.”

“All right then, two... salted caramel frappes? Please.”

“Sure,” the waiter wrote it down on his notepad and gave you both a warm smile, “I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you,” you and Steve said in unison.

“So,” he began, “you said your anxiety attacks have been happening more frequently lately. What do you mean lately? Is there a specific reason? Is it because of the Avengers?”

“What? No, no, not at all, you’re actually kind of my escape from everything… Umm, it’s complicated…,” you let out another sigh and proceeded to explain the situation to Steve, at first hesitantly, but after a while you were capable of talking a bit more freely.

You told him about your parents, about how you no longer felt at home in your own house and how the trust you ever had on your mother and father had been broken. How the comfort they were supposed to provide you was long gone and, in spite of your past efforts, it always ended unfavourably. It wasn’t easy, not in the slightest, nevertheless, as you kept talking, you could feel a heaviness being lifted from your shoulders, one that you didn’t even know was there in the first place. And, yes, the possibility of things ending badly even now was still there, but Steve’s expression, his whole energy made you feel safe in a way you hadn’t felt for way too long. So you might as well give it a try and get this off your chest once and for all.

Not long after you started talking did your beverages arrive and you both thanked the waiter before you continued.

He listened to you attentively. Never interrupted you, waited patiently for you to go on every single time you paused to take a breath or sigh or calm yourself down, never pushing you to keep talking. His furrowed brow reflected his worry for you, but it was in an understanding and serene way. He was glad you were finally telling all this to somebody and felt honoured that from all people you’d trusted him. He was perfectly aware that you were opening up to him and the last thing he wanted to do was make you feel like your emotions were invalid or unimportant. So he kept listening until you finished, and then waited a few seconds more, letting you sip on your frappe, before he spoke.

“I gotta ask, is that the reason why you go to the compound more than the necessary three times a week?”

Touché. You’d been constantly lying to your parents, telling them you had training sessions almost daily, or making random yet believable excuses so you could get out of your house and spend more time with the people who actually made you feel good.

You simply nodded to confirm Steve’s suspicions.

“It’s okay, (Y/N), I understand, I really do. Families can be tough sometimes, and people may disagree with what I’m about to say, but you don’t really owe your parents anything, especially after the way they’ve made you feel. It might sound like a bold stance, particularly for someone as old-fashioned as me, but as the saying goes “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”. You’re not obliged to like your parents, let alone if they have had abusive conducts towards you. Now, in addition to that, it doesn’t have to be a greek tragedy for it to be valid. If something makes you feel bad or uncomfortable in any way, if it hurts you, then it does and that’s it. Other’s don’t get to say whether they hurt you or not, only you do,” he made a pause, pondering what to say next, ”Maybe someday your relationship with your parents can be rescued, or maybe not. Both things are fine, as long as it’s what makes you feel better. For now, however, I think we should find a quick and satisfactory solution to the problem, so why don’t you come live in the compound with all of us? You’re an adult now, you don’t need your parents’ permission,” the blue-eyed man offered you a sweet lopsided smile full of warmth, a tiny hint of fear that went unnoticed by you sparkling in his eyes, since he wasn’t sure of what impact his words had had on you. He was hoping he’d said the right thing, but he was terrified of the possibility that he’d screwed up.

Nevertheless, his fear couldn’t be further from the truth. Steve’s speech had reassured you profoundly, reinforcing that sense of safety of yours that had already started to develop around him and the rest of the Avengers. You lacked words to express how grateful you were towards him, but this man would always have your eternal gratitude. Needless to say, tears were streaming down your cheeks as quietly as you could keep them, your heart overwhelmed by the tenderness and the understanding he was offering you.

“I-,” you began, but your sobs became too much for you to contain and you broke down crying. Still, you tried to articulate your thoughts as best you could,” I’m sorry, it’s just… nobody had ever been so understanding with me and… and had ever comforted me so much in my life… you’re being so kind to me I… I honestly can’t thank you enough… I don’t even know what to say, I’m so sorry, I’m so lame...”

“You’re not,” Steve assured you softly, placing his hand over the one you had on the table. How were you supposed to stop crying if everything he did filled you with a sensation of comfort you’d lost a long time ago?

“Thank you,” you sniffled, wiping your tears clumsily with your free hand, “Thank you. And… yeah, I’d… I’d absolutely love to live with all of you at the compound. But will it be okay for everybody?”

“Of course! I told you, you’re part of the family now. We would all love to have you there with us, kiddo. We simply have to tell Tony, he’s the one in charge of that sort of stuff. And, of course, let your parents know. If you want, we can go to the compound right now and tell him. I’ll be there with you if you need me to. Both with Tony and with your parents.” Steve gave you a loving smile. His heart felt so relieved now knowing that his words hadn’t been a mistake.

“Okay, yeah… That… That would be nice. I told my mother I had a training session, so she won’t expect me to be back until later.”

“All right then, perfect,” he said, before taking another sip of his frappe, which had been reduced by half by now. Yours was almost untouched, but only because you’d been too busy speaking. Or crying. Or both. “By the way,” he added, “you were right, this thing is really good.”

You giggled. “I’m glad you liked it.”

Steve motioned the waiter to ask for the bill and once it was paid (he of course didn’t let you pay for your drink no matter how much you insisted), you both stood up from your seats, grabbing the remains of your frappes.

“Steve,” you called, making him turn back to look at you attentively once again, “thank you. So, so much. For everything,” you expressed with as much sentiment and gratitude as you were capable of. He was definitely the best man you’d ever met in your life. And that was saying something, having in mind that you’d met all the Avengers.

“Come here,” Steve said with a smile, his arms open, asking for a hug. You did as you were told, a wide smile now plastered on your lovely face. Yeah, it was a bit swollen from the crying, but it was still lovely.

To be honest, all you wanted to do at that moment was to keep hugging him and never ever let go; nonetheless, you knew that wasn't possible and eventually you'd have to break the hug. So for now, you breathed deeply, inhaling Steve’s scent (he smelled like bar soap and clean laundry, with a small touch of cinnamon), and you let yourself enjoy every second of that warm and strong embrace, and its newly found feeling of home.

[heyitsyn]

Keeping Up With Seijoh Ep. ∞

a/n: this made me tear up a bit ngl bc haikyuu always hitting us with ‘theres no next year for us’ typa bull like BLS TAKE PITY ON MY SOUL AND STOP TIME AND KEEP MY BOYS TOGETHER :(((((((

it has an infinity symbol bc this is in the future so there isnt really an episode number 

for more seijoh content, check this masterlist out!

anon:

the third years coming back to seijoh the following year for a surprise visit, and watching over practice cuz they were in town for break. being impressed on how kyo has calmed down (a bit), kunimi actually giving a sh-, yknow the deal. just the growth of their kouhai makes them 🥺🥺 but THEN- Y O U walk in with the team’s bottles n the small gasp that comes out of your mouth when you see them. they GAWK cuz you’re maturing SO well (stfu oikawa- my eyes up are here) and just 🥺🤲

SO LIKE UNLESS YOURE NEW TO MY BLOG YOU KNOW THIS FINNA BE A SAD ONE BC SEIJOH THIRD YEARS ARE MY FAVORITE BOIS AND THEM GRADUATING MAKES ME :(

oh god here comes the tears

so

it was something you knew was coming since yanno, third years and all that

but you were so sure you had more time left before it happened

didnt you just join the team and met them like yesterday?

nope love you met nearly a year ago

and they made quite an impact on you in the short term you were together

so during the day of graduation

it wasnt really a school day since it was mostly for third years and the whole ceremony but kouhais could come so they could send off their senpais

you already called each third year the night before, nearly 2 hours per boy, to talk to them and cry with them so you didnt have to cry during the day

but ofc

you were sobbing already when you saw your captain walk up and get his tube with the diploma inside

they tried to remain strong as they sat in their seats but a single glance at you and the team at the stands above, the tears were already either forming or full out slipping

i know yall finna beat me up for this but im not really familiar with the other third years in the team bc theyre not really shown in the anime or manga that much so i dont have a good grip on their character so can we pls pretend theyre not in here?? omg pls dont kill me though

the ceremony felt like a long time for the seniors but when it was finally over, they ran out of that building and yall did too and you bolted yourself into the arms of your captain

oikawa held you tightly against him and he didnt care about being seen by his fangirls, who were waiting outside for him, or the others who wanted to have you to them too

‘i love you, y/n-chan’

he mumbled and you nodded

‘mhm. i love you too, oikawa-san. i love all my boys’

YALL MY HEART IS BREAKING BC OIKAWA ACTUALLY MEANT IT THIS TIME AND YOURE STILL OVER HERE THINKING THAT HES JUST SAYING IT AS A FRIEND LIKE IM-

iwa ripped you away from him and your face was buried into his chest

but it didnt last long since the others got a little impatient and just joined the hug turning it into a group hug

‘i dont want you to leave!’

kindaichi sobbed and kunimi sniffled, holding on tighter to the backs of his senpais

even kyo was sad but hes a tuff boy so he easily hid that behind his usual frown and glare

after seeing their parents and reassuring them they would be home soon, you started your trek towards your usual hang out spot

the second and first years were walking ahead of you while the third years fell back in step with you in between them

mattsuhana flanked your left while iwaoi were at your right

the tears were now gone but sniffles still filled the area and everyone was still down in their spirits

you held tightly to the warm big hands of iwaizumi and the soft touch of mattsun’s hand as if you were clutching your life-line

but you knew no matter how tightly you held on to them, they would still go and eventually leave you behind

the ramen shop was filled with another round of tears as everyone realized that this would be the last time seijoh og would have ramen here

‘WE DONT WANT YOU TO GOOO~~~~!!!!!!’

kindaichi sobbed while kunimi aggressively shoved noodles in his mouth to hide his hiccups

you refused to eat because you were so sad that you were scared you might end up throwing it all up later so you settled on relishing your time with the boys

oikawa was busy talking to yahaba and telling him tips and tricks for next year while iwaizumi was consolling the others who were crying

that left you to harshly wipe off the tears and focus on the jokes that matsuhana were telling to help and lighten up the mood

‘think of it like this! you won’t have oikawa and iwaizumi fighting anymore!’

well,,,,,

that kinda made things worse

geez makki stfu!!!!

you bursted into full tears and you sobbed, loudly and freely

‘WAAAAAHHHH!!!!!’

you wheezed and then continued to cry

everyone flinched and got startled at the sight of you crying

theyve seen you cry before but not this intensely and sadly 

‘DONT GO!!! OU-OUR FAMILY’S GONE!! ITS B-BROKEN NOW!!!!’

you wailed

everyone is so used to seijoh antics that they didnt even bat an eyelash when everyone started crying

‘damn it, i was trying not to cry!’

iwa growled and buried his face into his hands to hide the pain in his eyes

‘come here, y/n-chan’

mattsun cooed while sobbing and you went straight into his arms and his arms tightly wounded around you

he pressed kisses on your neck to calm you and he whispered promises to keep you from thinking that you would be alone

the boys were all still crying even when you paid for them and at the exit, everyone wouldnt let go of each other

ngl it was a weird sight of seeing these boys just hanging on and hugging the others and you were tightly pressed against makki’s chest 

‘dont cry, y/n-chan. we’ll be here, always. just a 4-hour ride to tokyo’

he promised but you shook your head

‘--too far’

you mumbled and he was able to make out a few words and he laughed

‘i swear you’ll see us in a few hours’

it took a few words of assurance from makki and eventually mattsun and iwa joined

oikawa stayed back because he already wanted to walk you home and iwa knew you were the one that was the hardest for oikawa to tell his plans to

waving them good bye, you fussed and made sure everyone was not crying anymore

‘you text me the moment you get home, all right? and kyo-san, let the food in your stomach settle before-’

‘before i take a bath-yea i know’

he rolled his eyes but he smiled lightly before hugging you

‘go home now, y/n’

he pushed you towards his captain but you pulled away one last time to give each boy a kiss on the cheek

their lips trembled, especially the third years, and wanted to keep their tears in but they rocket launched to space

yanno that one part in season 1 when kiyoko told them to work hard and then they just snot-rocketed and cried

oikawa interlaced your fingers as you both walked towards your house and it was quiet

you were sus bc it was too quiet and oikawa would usually be either skipping, humming a tune, or just yapping his ass off

but right now

he was quiet, slouchy, and,,,, not oikawa

you looked up to see his face and you knew it wasnt just the graduating part

it was like,,,, he was nervous

you squeezed his hand and that got his attention

‘oikawa-san, whats wrong?’

he suddenly stopped and your linked hands caused you to also stop so you watched him stare down at his shoes and you blinked at him in confusion

‘oika-’

‘y/n, tell me to stay’

he,,, sounded like he was begging

pleading

desperate to hear you say it

‘why should i?’

you asked and he finally lifted his eyes to stare into your eyes

he gulped before further explaining himself 

‘coach got me a volleyball scholarship’

he whispered and your eyes widened before you launched into him for a hug and pulled back to cup his face

‘oh my god! tooru! a scholarship?! im so proud-’

‘in argentina’

he finished and your eyes dimmed, the lifted corners of your lips falling into a frown

‘o-oh’

you stuttered and pulled your hands away but he grabbed them, placing them back to his face 

‘but if you dont want me to go, i wont-’

‘NO! what?! tooru, its your dream! you and iwa-san wouldnt stop talking about that match with argentina and-and you want to go there! dont you dare let that slip away!’

you scolded frantically however oikawa’s face scrunched before he started crying

‘i-i can’t! y/n, i’ll be alone! its so far away! far from iwa, far from you-’

then you reached to your tippy toes and kissed his nose then leaned back with a big smile

‘no matter how far, ill always be right here. im always going to be here, waiting for you’

you mumbled and oikawa hiccuped then leaned his forehead against yours, eyes clashing that was so full of love and fear

‘then dont you worry, y/n-chan. oikawa-senpai will work really hard and he will come back and make you happy’

he whispered and you pulled him even closer to give him the biggest hug

‘im looking forward to it’

TIMESKIPTIMESKIPTIMESKIPTIMESKIP

ONEYEARONEYEARONEYEARONEYEAR

truth to be told with guilty conscience, the third years havent really been in touch

yes theyve called and messaged but there wasnt a normal kind of communication, especially with oikawa

but they decided to go over there during a simultaneous week break for universities in tokyo and iwa, makki, and mattsun pressured oikawa to fly back to japan just for a week to visit

‘iwa-chan im so broke righ-’

‘fine, we’ll see y/n ourselve-’

‘OKAY FINE! HERE! IM BUYING THE TICKET NOW SEE?!’

bahahaha im sorry i love oiks so much its not even funny

they agreed to not tell anyone, even coach, to surprise you all and to see your faces of surprise bc mattsuhana are little shites and they love to mess around

it was a normal day during practice

yahaba was teaching some first years how to serve while watari was giving exercising tips on how to bend their knees without shrieking in athritis

kyotani was doing jump serves while kindaichi and kunimi tried to block him

it was a normal day

the former third years knew the ins and outs of the place and oikawa still had his keys of the gym since he never gave it back so they were easily able to sneak in

they sat on the bleachers and observed everyones growth which really blew them away and took them aback by how much they improved in little time

like kunimis actually huffing and throwing a mini tantrum bc hes so into it and hes mad he didnt get that block right

they also noticed the larger amount of new recruits and based on their practice, it looks like they would be in good hands for the next few years

however, the true shock settled in when this happened

kyotani cursed loudly when the ball hit out but yahaba scolded him for saying a bad word in front of the first years

‘kyotani, dont say that anymore! its not good to teach the babies bad words!’

he ranted and the college boys shared a look of caution and fear, bracing themselves for kyotani’s normal screaming and tantrum for being called out

but they were the most surprised when the bleach-haired boy simply glared at him and turned away to go pick up another ball to hit

‘did,,,, did kyoken-chan-’

‘was he just calm right now?’

‘oh my god iwa-chan kyoken-chan got abducted by aliens!’

I SWEAR TO GOD ITS LIKE THE CURRENT THIRD AND SECOND YEARS GOT AN OIKAWA ‘IWA-CHAN’ SENSOR BECAUSE THE MOMENT HE SAID THAT, THEIR EARS TWITCHED AND THEY JUST KNEW

THEIR SENPAIS WERE HERE

their eyes were wide and their attention snapped towards the bleachers where indeed, their 4 fathers sat

‘OIKAWA-SAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!’

kindaichi screamed and he NYOOMED towards the stairs but kunimi grabbed him by the collar

‘come down here, senpais!’

yahaba urged and coach and naoi shared a look of initial shock but then transformed into happiness

it was nice to see the family together again

they quickly turned into a dog pile with the hugs that were given around like kyotani actually giving iwaizumi a hug and makki and mattsun affectionately ruffling everyone’s hair

the other first years were just staring in awe at the legendary third years of seijoh that theyve heard so much about

‘everyone, these are your seniors!’

yahaba presented and the 3 third years became very flustered but ofc attention whore oikawa soaked it up

‘yes, hello, my little disciples! you are my legacy so work har- IWA-CHAN!’

he was cut into his famous line when his best friend bonked him for being too self-absorbed again

‘waaa, l/n-senpai was right’

some first year mumbled at the scene and their ears perked up at the name

‘l/n?’

‘where is she?! y/n-chan!’

oikawa shouted and looked around

BECAUSE OF FATE

YOU AUTOMATICALLY MANIFESTED THERE

‘YES YOU CALLED’

okay no but you actually walked in just in time, carrying the crate of water bottles, focused on not dropping them so you didnt really see the others

they were silent not because they wanted to mess with you and see how long youd figure out that they were there

no

they were silent because of how BEAUTIFUL you became

you gained a few inches and your hair is now longer with your baby fat slowly melting away and you were also finally showing your growth with your body

the eyes that used to gleam with childish innocence was now mature and poised like a perfect lady

even the way you walked with a crate made it seem like a ballet performance with the grace at every step and the flowery aura you exuded

you have turned from a ridiculously cute and pretty girl to a beautiful goddess

AND YOU WERE ONLY IN YOUR SECOND YEAR HOW THE HELL ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO HANDLE IT WHEN YOURE FINALLY A THIRD YEAR?!

CAN YOU IMAGINE THE AMOUNT OF BOYS THEY HAVE TO WARD OFF?!

‘my god’

iwaizumi mumbled, flushing red and turning away to hide his fluster

‘beautiful’

oikawa whispered and he gulped, not remembering how strikingly attractive you are

‘have mercy’

makki whined softly, clutching his heart as it started beating fast and made his stomach feel all funny

did they act like this back in the day?

mattsun doesnt have control so he ran forward and you were just putting the crate down when you were lifted off of the floor and twirled around

so like yahaba waved off the others to go back to practice so its like not awkward to be standing around and see this happening

there was only one person who did this to you

‘mattsun-san?!’

you shrieked and you giggled happily as he put you down so you were able to hug him properly and eventually, catching sight on the others behind him

your gasp made them smile widely and you pressed a hand to your mouth to hide the shock and your overjoyed laugh

if they could take a picture of this and remember the amount of love your eyes held and the pure unfiltered happiness that swirled in those orbs

it was like they felt themselves falling in love with you all over again

‘oh my god everyone’s here too!’

you ran to them and jumped at the awaiting arms of iwaizumi and he was still the bara arm babie you remembered

‘i missed you, doll’

he whispered

‘hmmm,,,i missed you more’

he let you go and you skipped over to makki who engulfed you in his arms and you felt his soft brown hair because you remembered he loved it when you ran your fingers through his hair

‘youve grown! so much! you got even more beautiful!’

he exclaimed and you giggled, bashful at his compliment

‘hmm~, no i didnt’

he gave you a deadpan look and you chuckled before scurrying away towards the one you wanted to hug the most

he definitely got more toned and he got taller too

you didnt have any time to react since he grabbed you and squished you against him

‘youre here, oikawa-san’

he nuzzled his head against your neck

‘mhm, im here now, y/n-chan’

he placed a kiss on your nose and you scrunched your face but there was a big smile that was clear

then oikawa’s eyes trailed from your face to your,,, ahem,,, girls

‘jesus, y/n-chan really grew, huh’

he complimented and you blinked confusingly before trailing after his eye’s gaze and it landed on your chest and you punched him

‘urusai, oikawa-san! my eyes are up here! youre so perverted. pervert oikawa-san’

you pouted and moved to seek comfort in the arms of makki

‘hmm, oikawa’s perverted as usual. i think it got worse with all those argentinian women’

makki teased and mattsun joined to poke fun at their captain

oikawa whined and told iwa they were making fun of him to which his own best friend betrayed him and starting teasing him too

you simply watched on and your eyes watered, your sniffles catching their attention

‘eh? why are you crying, y/n-chan?’

oikawa asked while approaching you to wipe your tears with his thumbs

but you shook your head with a teary smile

‘n-nothing-just,,,, i missed you guys. an-and im so happy because its like our f-family’s back together and i just-i-’

you cried but it was out of happiness and their hearts warmed

ofc they felt guilty because they were aware that they werent as in touch as they shouldve been so you probably felt lonely and casted aside without any contact from your boys

but they know now to make sure you feel loved and cared for because as you keep saying, they were your boys

they were a family

seijoh is a family 

and you love them 

but they love you more

a/n: okay im sorry this is probably trash and all over the place and im crying and stressing but ive been writing in between my college alg homework and its been so hard like WHY IS NUMBERS SO HARD LIKE WHAT-?! but this has kinda been the baby of my break time and relaxing few minutes bc i procrastinate too much and i want to do something i like before i actually go insane and i promise PROMISE that once everything is cleared up i will edit this and im already working on the other requests so expect a few to be out by the end of the week or something like that!!