#i had to raid my branded photo stuff

[reallybadrebelsheadcanons]

So.

I did a thing.

I remembered that the ghost crew’s heights are on their wiki pages.

And I’m the shortest out of all of my friends so I wanted to see how tall I would be compared to them.

In conclusion, Zeb could pick me up and kick me like a football.

[jellifysh]

Yaaaaas sharing one braincell for fluff.

Can i be 🐤 anon? 👉👈

Also I have another random idea. OC missing Jimin extra when he’s off for a weekend away for a shoot so she sneaks in his room to borrow a sweater (the same way Jimin raids her closet) that he had left so it smells like him. She wears it & when she helps Jin to make breakfast the next day, she forgets what she’s wearing & Taehyung just sneakily takes a picture? Or maybe even before she goes down, Taehyung goes to cuddle her but sees her in Jimin’s sweater and sends Jimin the photo…and just…. We drown in fluff.

Or maybe oc randomly decides to dress up & take photos bc she’s been trying her best to just gain confidence again so she takes selfies with Jungkook / Jin? (jimin’s still out for the weekend) and decides to finally post on her instagram. Cue the other jealous boys because FAVORTISM? 😭

this is all so good, and omg I have my first emoji anon 🥺 yes you can be 🐤

I'm going to make the mc gradually more comfortable with giving them affection and I think it would be so on brand for you steal their sweaters and stuff. Jimin would love if you wore his stuff, he would love it even more if you stole it while he was gone thats adorable and he would encourage it even. And you taking pictures with jungkook and jin would be so funny especially imagining the other boys reactions and you posting your first picture would blow everyone's mind, especially if you're wearing a cute outfit and casually have a huge movie star and director in your pictures lol

But what if Yoongi took a lil photo of you snuggled under blankets on the couch in his home studio and posted it? And Yoongi's not the type to post personal stuff, so it just 🤯

[myopinionisimportant]

It's 2021: Here's Why You Should Be Playing Pokémon Go

When Pokemon Go was first released back in 2016, it made a bit of a splash. People were out everywhere, finding wild pokemon, wandering their neighbourhoods, giving each other awkward nods and shy smiles that said yes, I too am playing that thing. A year later, it had just about disappeared from the public consciousness. Five years on, and it's mostly that thing people kind of remember, a bit, not really. But the game is still there, better than ever and improving all the time. And in a world where a lot of things are terrible, it's nice that this has stuck around - at least for now.

So here's why I'm still playing it, and why you should be too.

There's More To It Than You Remember

One of the reasons people dropped off the game was that back in 2016, there wasn't that much gameplay in it. You walked around, got pokeballs from pokestops, caught pokemon, and that was sort of...it. Alright, there was some stuff with gyms as well, but it was pretty limited, and as some players shot up to the higher levels, newer or less dedicated players were largely locked out of participating.

Fast forward to 2021, and...well, there's a lot of new stuff there. The gyms have been revamped entirely so that even brand new players have a chance of defeating other teams and getting their own mons in, there's little missions to complete for bonuses ranging from berries and pokeballs to rare and hard-to-find pokemon, and there's a global battle league for those who like a competition. You can play with a pokemon buddy, feeding them treats, taking photos of them in the world, and letting them follow your avatar as you walk around the game world. They've chucked in battles against roaming Team Rocket members (which, ultimately, let you fight the big boss Giovanni himself). For those (like me) who mostly play alone, there's low-level raids, while large raids let you fight (and catch) legendary pokemon with groups of other players.

And speaking of other players...

Yes, They Know There's A Pandemic

Covid-19 has shaken the world, there's no way to deny that, and at time of writing it looks like it's far from over. For a game that has been characterised by crowds of strangers congregating in parks and around statues, that's certainly a concern to grapple with.

The good news is...well, they have. Some tweaks have been minor, like increasing the distance at which you can interact with stops and gyms so that you don't have to get closer than the other side of the street, or making it so that the battle league doesn't require walking to participate. Others have been more significant, like the introduction of 'remote raid passes' to let people raid from a distance - potentially from anywhere in the world, under the right circumstances.

And what are those circumstances? Well...

It's Friendlier Than Ever

Back in 2016, Pokemon Go was a fun way to get out and meet people in your neighbourhood. However, this wasn't reeeeally something reflected in-game. Sure you could be in the same team as your friends, you could defend the same gyms, but that didn't go very far.

Well, it took a little while, but they've not only let you add friends, they've given you good reasons to do it. If you fight alongside a friend in a raid, your pokemon are stronger. When you trade with friends, you have a chance to guarantee the pokemon will become 'lucky,' a nice little benefit that helps you to power them up. You can send your friends gifts (which you get free from pokestops) that turn into nice little bundles of items, and might have special eggs in there to hatch. And, as I sort of alluded to above, you can invite them to remotely join you in a raid, backing you up no matter where they're playing from.

(And if you'd like some gifts from Australia, my code is 0852 3085 0093)

There's one more thing that I find pretty significant, too:

It's Still Totally Free (If You Want)

Okay, the game has an in-game currency that you can spend real money on, and if you want you can certainly go through it with a pretty decent speed. But, critically, there is absolutely no need to. You can get things that might help you level up quicker or catch more pokemon, but none of that is remotely required to enjoy yourself and do decently in the game. Even if you do want stuff from the shop, you can earn the in-game currency at a reasonable speed, as long as there's a couple of gyms and a few other players around you. I personally have never paid a single dollar for this game in all the time that I've played it - and unlike a lot of other optionally-free games, it's never committed the deep sin of showing me an ad. Which these days seems to be about as rare as a shiny Chimecho.

Basically I just really like this game and I'd like it even better with a few more players.

Join me!

[flyandfamousblackgirls]

RASHIDA RENEÉ WANTS YOU TO KNOW YOUR HISTORY by  Alexis Rene Moten (Culture Jock)

Let’s start this article with a quiz: Name a Black model from the 1990’s that isn’t Naomi Campbell or Tyra Banks?

Stumped? It’s safe to say that if the question were asked to name a White model that wasn’t Kate Moss or Cyndi Crawford, best case scenario you would’ve excelled with a list to provide. Maybe something like: Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer, Christy Turlington, Shalom Harlow, Carla Bruni, Heidi Klum..you get my point.

At times, Pop Culture can be a fair-weather friend. Monday’s It-girl becomes Friday’s nobody and by Sunday there’s a new hot thing in town to get all the girls in a fuss. But as nostalgia-trends rises as capitalism’s newest enterprise, endorsed largely by social media app, Instagram, history is being retold by the agenda of it’s curator. The selective hearing of  Instagram accounts like @90scelebvibes (391K followers) and @90sanxiety (793K followers) present a facade that the past was rather beige, leaving largely out the credit due to the Black and people of color creatives that developed and inspired the trends imitated today.

Bay area based, Fashion archivist Rashida Reneé, takes on self-love to a familial level celebrating her love and the appreciation of Black designers, models and other fashion industry influencers that otherwise go forgotten in our modern culture. In fashion, as in anything else, things old become anew. However, Reneé takes on the responsibility as a trend gatekeeper, providing evidence of what fashion used to be and recognizing the faces we longed forgotten.  

Q: Name a Black model from the 1990’s that isn’t Naomi Campbell or Tyra Banks?

A: Beverly Peele,  Gail O’Neill, Iman, Kara, Young, Karen Alexander,  Louise Vyent, Roshumba, Veronica Webb, etc.

Culture Jock: What is a typical day for the most hated hoe in the city?

RR: (laughs) It’s weird, I kind of like to keep it to myself. Keep track of what I like and my thoughts. I don’t know. I'm very low-key person in real life, but when I do leave the house (pauses) I do, I promise! I just like my personal time, but when it’s time to be out I am present, as much as possible. I do what I do becauseII like giving information to people and give them links and information just so they know.

CJ: What brought you into fashion archiving?

RR: My whole archiving process was originally for myself and filling in spots of information where there it was empty of black people. Of course, there is street fashion, but in terms of online fashion, sites like Manrepeller, you didn’t see a lot of black girls doing it and the people doing it I thought were lame. Finding other black people who weren’t anti-black in those kind of spaces. I felt a lot of people were trying to make us to assimilate. Everyone was kind of like doing the same things and it was like, ‘Naomi Campbell!’ But if it were any other dark girl it didn’t matter. So, I started my own blog and then I had to stop myself from posting Naomi Campbell’s photos too. I would do one picture of Naomi Campbell a day and try to really give props to other black woman involved and black people in general. When I was younger I was familiar with the other models not just Naomi Campbell, my mom was really in it with Naomi. She worked in a beauty salon, which had magazines of all the models. Like, black hair magazines, they always listed the models so, no matter what you knew who they were. Whoever it was in the 90s, ‘this is who that is and this who that is.’ You’d see the oldest Destiny Child’s video shoots in black hair magazines. I just haven’t seen other people doing that. There are other girls now that focus more on Hip Hop in 90s and 2000s. Livejournal, fashion spot, Tumblr, people didn’t go out of their way to scan the black models or even try to name them. It’s funny, people online, they don’t even try to hide their biases. No one was really fashion blogging the way I like or how I see .

CJ:In your piece for Office Magazine you mention, from Patrick Kelley to today’s influence of Dapper Dan, American culture from its roots drips of Black influence and culture. Why do you think Black culture is so immutable and where do you see the ownership of our creations.

RR: People I mean know, it’s just like, it’s weird and odd to even talk about. Not just people referencing me or copying, I feel like I am being gaslit all the time or being told that. People love stealing from black people. People love stealing from black people. People love stealing from black people and lying about it. People hate black people but they think we are cool. I can’t even (pauses)yeah it’s very weird. The twitter thing is weird (sighs).

CJ: It is weird.

RR: (sighs) It’s not really helping them. It’s boring to live with no personality. To see someone interesting and steal from them to bolster themselves. [On social media] we have the means to share with each other, like, moments that are of shared experiences of oppression and that is even imitated. I don’t know why the copy of things are okay. It is such a multi-layered thing. Or the way the Stans talk like mainly the Black queer and Black trans talk and how all of that is now being used by everyone. Ariana Grande, ya know, icons talk like girls on the ballrooms did back in 2006. Parodying things. It helps them develop their own brand, I don’t understand their fascination with us anyway. I’m into my own shit and own culture. I like the way black people express themselves and other people use us and what we do to talk to each other or communicate and then take that to feel cool. I’ve always been,like, ‘why would someone want to be like this?’ or pretend. I don’t get it. People run out of content. I know people used to make fun of me and the things I used to be and ironically they are into it now. People need to find their own hobbies. They are bored.

CJ: The internet is complex. It’s a parody of itself.

RR: Knowing your history is important. You need to know where you came from to know where you are going. When it comes to fashion archives the question is, ‘what is it that you are looking for or trying to highlight?’ My concern is that fashion archiving is feeding into nostalgic trends, where it’s easier to mimic what was done before rather then create new moments. Do you share the same sentiments?

CJ: What is it about fashion that excites you?

RR: It’s so fun and so funny. The dolls are taking over. That’s how most things go, the things that happened come back with a hyper focus. It really is going full out now. It’s interesting to see how people are dressing now. [Fashion] is always reflective of the political climate. Think about the 80s everyone is dressing like a dickhead. Then when people got sick of dressing like a dickhead, minimalism comes in. We cycle through trends so fast, today. I remember a girl wearing a hair clips and no one was into it. Then the next week everyone was wearing them, then I see Cyndi Lauper in an interview wearing hair clips. She’s like 50-something and she’s wearing hair clips made out of Swarovski crystals. It’s so interesting. It’s funny how it happens. Now everyone is into fashion.

CJ: Who are your biggest fashion influences ?

RR: My biggest influences are Naomi Campbell and my mom. Girls I follow on the internet. My mom is from San Francisco lives her own life and is very eclectic. I get a lot from her and different taste. Foxy Brown is also very inspiring, I reference her a lot I think about her and Steven Miesel. Steven knows how to do everything. Steven can do everything. Everyone knows I am a crazy Beyoncé fan. But, I have different girls for different moods. My main inspo is Naomi and Foxy Brown. I really gravitated to Foxy because she was more into Prada and Chloe when Stella McCartney was there. Because of Foxy I love Chloe. She was very cool. Naomi is, you just aspire to that level of greatness. There is no one else. Even in her flaws she handles them so well. I can’t imagine someone else with that kind of rap sheet to not get fully canceled. I judge people by how they react to criticism. She handles it really well. I find that really inspiring.

CJ: What film or television do you think has the best fashion catalog? If you could what character's closet would you love to raid?

RR: I am so frazzled. There’s so much stuff I like. I write things down specifically, because I can never remember. I watched The Nanny last year with Fran Drescher, when I was really depressed and was like, ‘Wow this is inspiring.’ Brenda Cooper, her mind. Everyone had a look in. Pose, is another one. Everything has intentions from the main characters to the background characters. I really like the first season of costume design. It’s commitment to that era. Someone is always dressed like, Karen White or Jodi Whitley. Elektra is very dynasty, that high lady energy. I love that about the show. I love Glow, the costume designer, Beth Morgan. I love when people do era shows, specifically the 80s and they don’t try to soften it, especially in makeup or hair. They aren’t scared to embrace the ugliness, I love that. That’s what good costume design is about. High fashion is easy, but what really gets me is watching old movies and looking at the clothes.  

CJ: We are moving into a new decade of 2020. I have a feeling it may be the year of 2020 vision and final clarity. What are your aspirations for this new era and what do you hope to see from the world?

RR: I feel like the children are our future. That’s what I’m looking at, to see what the kids are into. People are more focused into what they look like and I remember if someone dressed a little bit out of fashion it was a huge deal and get talked about. But now they are embracing their weirdness and experimenting. Do you watch that Tik Tok stuff? I just want a regular life. Happy, healthy, all my kids are happy and healthy. When I move to [Los Angeles] and get hotter, hotter and I want to  become, what is that called, a wellness person? I want a Goop moment, but with Solange aesthetics. Maybe make a propaganda film to get people to stop wearing wigs.

[tobebugjewce]

MONSTER BREEDER - fun times with yet another neil cicierega creation

todays web surf led me down town on the rabbit (worm)holes of neil cicieregas tumblr pages, twitter pages and various other little neil cicierega type things. i sifted through the entirety of his windows 95 tips blog, which i highly enjoyed. i didnt get around to reversing the CLOUD.MID audio clip but i will another time. 

he briefly adds in something about a twitter page in the windows 95 tips page, so naturally i clicked it, looking at the photos and finding myself really captivated by his (probably never going to be finished) retro video game which he called icon architect 1.0 i was really sad to find out he’d been working on it for a good while, then just suddenly... stopped. oh, neil, you whippersnapper!

anywho i then explored all 25+ pages of his slideshare gems (nightmares from slideshare.net) tumblr, which had some truly entertaining stuff thats gonna lead me down another rabbit (worm)hole later, as i want to delve a little more into the slideshare website and perhapsably post some stuff i find interesting/bizzare myself.

then after thoroughly scrubbing through those pages with my eyes, i went on to another neil cicierega brand blog, google suggest. a shorter one, and a smidge less entertaining than the others, but still great nonetheless. its gonna definitely get me to google some shit later when i have nothing to do.

my tangents wouldve been tied up if it werent for my exploration in the extremely stupidly fun flash(?) game neil made called MONSTER BREEDER. holy shit its a lot of fun. dont know how or why but ive spent hours on this shit already, i have over a hundred discovered crossbreeds but it only adds up to a measly 9.1% of all discoverable breeds! so thats what im gonna be doing all night tonight, while probably finishing up my walten files notes in between.

gonna drop some fun little tidbits here, like how breeding beetlejuice and michael myers makes michael keaton. that shit sent me to mars and back i was laughing so fucking hard.

i also stimmed wildly when i captured hannibal lecter. but i sadly lost him to a police raid. stupid fucking neighbors reporting me for my monster stables conditions... fuckers.

i also really just loved the combined design of the crossbreed between a skeleton and slenderman, aka slender bones

look at em,, what a cutie :3

then i just loved some of the beetlejuice dialogue and commentary so i saved those to plop here as well

he also has one that says “im the monster that says F*ck” which i found funny but forgot to take a screenshot of

breeding the ghosts with literally anything is almost guaranteed to create some hilariously ridiculous shit with fantastic fucking commentary. examples A and B; count ghostula, and GUMBY

“will suck” “boo bee!” youre so intelligent, count ghostula. i too enjoy sucking and also boobees.

WELL thats gonna do it for todays longshitpostupload, im definitely gonna probably add more things i like about monster breeder either onto this post or just make a whole new one. and now, im off to breed more monsters, avoid more cops and make FAT cash. cya!!!!!!!!!!!

...

fucken gumby.

[lisatelramor]

Truth and Lies

I’ve wanted to write something for FF15 since I started playing the game and reading fic, but hadn’t had any ideas my brain latched onto. So here, finally, is something it deigned to write. @vulcansdarkest, hope you enjoy <3 (It’s not detective!Ignis, but it is Ignis-centric ^_^ ) To everyone in quarantine or living their lives, hope you can keep safe! 

***

“I’m bored,” Noctis groaned, flat on his back in the tent. It was raining outside as it had been all evening. Ordinarily, this would mean a round of King’s Knight, but their phones were on the last dregs of battery life after days of hiking in the wilderness. Their second-best option would have been a card game, but a mishap during one of Noctis’s fishing marathons had taken away that option.

“Read a book,” Gladio said, tossing one of his paperbacks at Noctis’s head.

“Ow! Not all of us are into whatever historical epic-romantic whatever you’re reading at the moment,” Noctis grumbled tossing the book into the Armiger.

Ignis was about to suggest Noctis help go over their inventory and funds if he had such a dire need to keep himself engaged when Prompto sat bolt upright with a wide grin.

“Ooh, I got an idea!” He pulled something out of the Armiger and set it on the tent floor with a soft thump. “Ta-dah! We could play a drinking game!”

“Prompto,” Ignis said looking over the bottle of high proof vodka he’d pulled out. “Where did you get the funds for that?”

“Psh, I didn’t raid our budget, Iggy,” Prompto said with a wave of his hand. “I sold off some bits and bobs I collected a while back. Sometimes you can find neat stuff near all those fishing spots. I figured it might be nice to relax and have a drink once in a while.”

“I’m not sure we can really afford a night of drunken revelry,” Ignis said, though it was tempting. They’d been working hard lately, pulling hunt after hunt to gather up a better buffer of money. And when they weren’t doing that, they were looking for any hint of a royal tomb around them. It was wearing them ragged even when they weren’t roughing it camping for over a week straight.

“Please?” Prompto asked with the puppy eyes that were far more effective on all of them than they would ever admit to Prompto lest he abuse them. “It doesn’t have to be drunk-drunk, just like, a few shots?”

Gladio examined the bottle. “Vodka’s crap, but you got a less shitty brand so, sure, sign me up. Noct?”

“Sounds better than staring at the tent ceiling,” Noctis said.

Outnumbered three to one, Ignis sighed. “Very well, but we’re not drinking straight vodka.” He had a can or two of fruit juice in the Armiger to water it down with.

“Yes!” Prompto did a little seated dance. “Ok, what’re we playing? Never have I ever? Buzz? Most likely?”

“Dude do you just have a list of drinking games you want to play?” Noctis asked.

“Uh, maybe if you’d have come to one of the parties in school you’d recognize them.”

“Yeah, that was never going to happen back then and you know it.”

Prompto pouted and Ignis and Gladio exchanged an amused look. Ignis pulled out juice and a carafe and started mixing the alcohol. “Well it’s not like we can do the games with other props,” Prompto said after a moment. “No cards. No cups and balls for beer pong. Not drunk enough for the games like Thump.”

“I can’t even remotely imagine what any of those games are with names like that,” Noctis said with a yawn. “Hey Ignis, what game do you think?”

“Well, considering there’s only four of us and we don’t have props, games like never have I ever are probably the better choice. Although given how many shared experiences we have here…” Everyone grimaced. Between growing up together in the citadel to running around all of Lucis on this trip, Prompto would likely get them all drunk very fast on the sheer principle that he had more unique personal experiences that the rest of them lacked. But a game that involved talking was more or less a given. “How about… two truths and a lie?”

“Not truth or dare?” Prompto asked.

Ignis gave him a look. “With everyone’s competitive streak and magic to fuel drunken shenanigans, I think not introducing the possibility of wild dares is the best option.”

“Ok, yeah, fair enough.”

Ignis still remembered a memorable occasion where Noctis got stuck on a roof when he was still new to warping thanks to one of Gladio’s dares. They were not going that route. “Besides, two truths and a lie will be a good test to see how well we actually know each other.”

Prompto sighed. “Dude, you guys all grew up together. Kinda rigged.”

“And yet we have very little knowledge of your life,” Ignis countered. “So if any of us has an advantage, it’s Noctis for knowing all of us.”

“Ooh, good point. Guess it works in the name of bonding.” Prompto grinned. “Gonna know you guys better than I know myself at the end of this trip.”

“Quite.” This hadn’t been what any of them expected when they left but leave it to Prompto to find a glimmer of brightness in the mess. “Here’s how we’ll play: we each have a cup, no more than two helpings of the drink to work with, and will take turns telling various facts and lies while the next person in the circle guesses which was the truth or lie. If they guess wrong, they take a drink, if they guess right, the person whose turn it was takes a drink. When you run out of alcohol, you’re out of the game. Does this seem fair?”

“Geeze, Iggy, that’s a lot of rules for a drinking game,” Prompto says. “But sure, sounds great, gimme the booze!”

Ignis rolled his eyes and handed around glasses of vodka mixture.

Gladio sniffed it. “Smells more like juice than vodka.”

“The point is not to have a debilitating hangover tomorrow,” Ignis said drily.

“Ok, but those two are lightweights and I have an iron liver.”

Ignis rolled his eyes again and added a shot to Gladio’s cup. “Is that satisfactory?”

Gladio grinned. “Yeah, that’s a bit more like it. Now who goes first?”

“Specs,” Noctis said, sniffing his own cup with a wrinkle of his nose. “Since you chose the game.”

“Very well.” Ignis sat in their loose circle. Two truths and a lie… “I speak six languages, I stabbed a man when I was five, and I can do a backflip in heels.” He looked pointedly to his left at Prompto.

“Damn, starting things out on hard mode,” Prompto said with a grimace. “Uh… The flip in heels is the lie?”

Ignis smirked.

“Aw man.” Prompto took a drink. He at least didn’t seem to dislike the taste. “Wait, you can do a flip in high heels?” A beat. “You’ve worn high heels?”

Ignis kept smirking.

“Iggy!” Prompto groaned. “What was the lie?”

“He only speaks three languages,” Gladio said. “He can read six. I don’t remember you stabbing anyone when you were five though.”

“It was an accident learning how to use daggers.” Ignis’s lips tilted into a real smile. “I never said I stabbed someone purposefully.”

“None of you are surprised by the heels?” Prompto asked.

Noctis and Gladio exchange a look. “A bet,” they said in unison. “Though only Ignis would take it as a challenge to master movement in high heels in general,” Noctis added.

“One never knows if that skill might be useful,” Ignis said. He wasn’t exactly going to admit that he’d liked how they’d accentuated his legs.

“The more ya know,” Prompto said. “Okay. My turn! Uh, lesse…” He tapped his cup absently. “My first kiss was with Jessia from eighth grade, I love cucumbers, and I have a whole USB filled with nothing but dog pictures.”

Noctis pointed at Prompto. “The first kiss is the lie.”

“Bzzzt,” Prompto said.

“What? You’d have told me if you’d had your first kiss!”

“Dude, I had it before we were friends. Also, like, it went horribly and she never talked to me again so I don’t really bring it up much.”

“Wait, so either you don’t have a USB of dog photos—which you totally do—or you secretly hate cucumbers? I thought you liked vegetables.”

“I eat healthy cuz it’s healthy not cuz I like all of it,” Prompto said. “You should try it.”

“Pass.”

Ignis made a mental note to avoid giving Prompto anything with cucumber in the future. “Drink up, Noct,” Ignis said when Noctis kept giving Prompto a look like he’d just destroyed one of the pillars of his understanding.

Noctis rolled his eyes and took a swig. “Whatever. Ok, Gladio. My favorite character in King’s Knight is Toby, I once pet a cat that had ten toes on each paw, and I caught a two-headed fish one time.”

Gladio raised an eyebrow. “That’s not even hard. You’d have talked our ears off if you caught a two-headed fish.”

“Eh, fair enough.” Noctis took another swallow of his drink.

“You just want to get drunk, don’t you?” Gladio said, amused. “My turn. I can bench a hundred and twenty kilos, on one of my camping trips I hiked forty kilometers in one day, and I once ate eight cup noodles in one sitting.”

Ignis hummed, turning the numbers over in his head.

“You know,” Prompto said, “I honestly would believe all of those actually happened. You’re not normal.”

Gladio snorted. “Thanks for the backhanded compliment.”

“You’re welcome.”

“The hiking one is a lie,” Ignis said after a moment. “I know your average bench press numbers and I remember you trying to prove something stupid with how many cup noodles you could eat in one sitting—and definitely remember you throwing them back up.”

“Worth it.”

“So the hiking distance has to be the lie.”

“You would logic it out,” Gladio said, snickering. “Yeah, you win.” He took a drink. “Your turn again Iggy.”

“Wait wait wait,” Prompto said. “I’m not going to have to guess Ignis every time am I? He’s like, way too good at deadpan for that.”

“Hmm, you have a point,” Ignis said. “Noctis and I can swap positions this next round and then you can swap with Gladio and by alternating like that we can keep things fair.”

“You’re making this way too complicated,” Noctis said, but he obligingly swapped places in the circle with Ignis.

“It makes things more interesting,” Ignis countered with a sharp grin. He had every intention of playing this game to win—by which he meant he intended to stay as sober as possible while watching his friends fall into drunken antics.

“Whatever, just get on with it,” Noctis said with a sigh.

Ignis glanced at Gladio. Gladio was privy to far more of Ignis’s private life than perhaps anyone in part because while he couldn’t always talk to Noctis—because friend or not, there were still the occasional professional boundary lines—Gladio was someone who shared a responsibility in caring for Noct and as such someone who could commiserate over some of the worse aspects of their prince’s personality. Still, he didn’t know everything about Ignis’s life. “My favorite knives are a gift from my uncle, I’ve always loved the taste of Ebony…” He pretended to put an extra second of thought into this, like he was hesitating over a lie. “One of my earliest memories is of reading a book.”

He could see Gladio labeling the knife fact as truth; Ignis hadn’t been subtle about his preferred weapon choice in combat and the topic had come up before. But Ignis was also banking on Gladio’s association of Ignis and Ebony; he’d been drinking some form of coffee since his early teenage years, and for as long as he and Gladio had any significant interaction.

“As hilarious as the idea of baby-Iggy reading is, I’m calling that out as a lie,” he said after a moment.

Ignis smiled triumphantly. “While not my earliest memory, I was reading full sentences by the age of three, so yes, it is one of my earliest memories. I actually detested Ebony the first time I tasted it and poured the can down the drain. It was only the lure of caffeine that ever got me to pick up another can.”

“No kidding.” Gladio didn’t look the least upset by guessing wrong, but he was probably happy enough to be ingesting some alcohol. “Sometimes I think you pretty much run on the stuff like the Regalia does gasoline.”

Ignis snorted. “It’s not an inaccurate assumption.” Thank goodness for caffeine for his overworked, frequently sleep deprived body.

Gladio took a larger-than-necessary swallow from his cup. “Right. So. I ran away from home when I was six, I tried to give Iris away when she was first born because she kept crying, and I can’t float when I swim.”

Noctis frowned. “I’m pretty sure everyone can float. That’s swimming 101.”

“Take a drink because I can’t.” Gladio grinned, then grimaced. “It’s actually a downside to muscle. It’s dense as hell and sinks more than my lung capacity can make me float. I can swim just fine, but it’s kind of hell trying to tread water for long.”

“Huh. You learn something every day,” Noctis said taking a drink.

“Did you really try to give Iris away?” Prompto asked. “Because I can’t see it.”

“No. I mean I was tempted because she was the worst, colicky baby ever but I was old enough that I wasn’t that impulsive.” Gladio picked at the edge of his cup. “Now if I was a couple years younger at the time…”

“I remember hearing your dad complaining to my dad,” Noctis said. “She was only quiet when she was asleep and even then that was almost never the first month.”

“Yeah, I feel so lucky she grew out of that.”

“Noctis’s turn!” Prompto chirped. “Go easy on me, buddy.”

“You wish,” Noctis said, sticking his tongue out at him. “Okay. I’ve killed every plant I’ve tried to grow, I broke three priceless vases as a kid and told no one, and I set Iggy’s first boyfriend on fire once.”

“Noctis Lucis Caelum!” Ignis said, scandalized and more than a little annoyed. “That was you?!” Ignis had been dumped very soon after that incident.

“That guy was a jerk,” Noctis said.

“I could have dumped him myself instead of the indignity of it being the other way around!”

“Uh,” said Prompto. “I’m guessing that’s not the lie.”

Ignis huffed, and Noctis waited.

“Plants are the lie?” Prompto said tentatively trying to steer things back toward the game.

“Nope. Actually it was Gladio that set the guy on fire.”

“Way to throw a man under a bus, Noct,” Gladio grumbled. He held up his hands when Ignis turned his glare on him. “Hey, he’s right. The guy was a dick.”

“Gladiolus!”

Gladio leaned a bit away from Ignis, a sheepish grin on his face. “I mean, no one got permanently injured.”

“Which of you ran off my next boyfriend, then?” Ignis demanded. Neither of them met his eyes.

“Uh,” Prompto said again into the tense silence. “So… Iggy, you like dudes?”

And Ignis had the horrifying realization that Prompto didn’t know.

“Oh shit,” Noctis said. “Uh, sorry Specs…”

“It’s fine,” Ignis said, hoping that it actually was fine and this revelation hadn’t just made their current close-quarters living arrangements strained. He’d forgotten for a moment, too comfortable with Noctis and Gladio being in the know, that not all of his friends actually had the knowledge that he was more interested in men than women.

“No, hey!” Prompto waved his hands frantically. “It’s cool, I’m fine with it, shit, I wasn’t trying to make things weird!”

“Prompto…” Ignis took a breath. “If this is—”

“My turn next,” Prompto blurted over him and Ignis frowned, trying to cut in only to have Prompto keep talking over him. “I’ve only kissed girls,” he said, which stung a bit considering what was just revealed, “I’m bi,” oh, “and I’ve never, uh, never had a crush on anyone here,” Prompto finished, his confidence draining into nerves. There was a faint blush on his face.

“Prompto,” Ignis said softly, “you didn’t have to do that.”

“What, continue the game?” he said with a forced smile. “Uh yeah I did, we still have booze so…” His gaze pleaded for Ignis to play along.

And Ignis couldn’t refuse considering his friend had chosen to out himself just to make Ignis feel less uncomfortable. “I take it the last one wasn’t a lie,” he said gently.

“You got me there.” Prompto took a large swallow of his drink. His cheeks were pink and he couldn’t meet anyone’s eyes.

“Shit,” Noctis mumbled. “…I wasn’t trying to make this real, I just wanted to tease Ignis.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Full disclosure, you’re not the only one who’s had a crush on someone here, Prom.”

Prompto’s jaw dropped. “Wait, is Gladio the only one here that’s straight?”

Gladio snorted. “I mean I’m mostly straight,” Gladio said. “But if we were playing a game of never-have-I-ever, the only one of us who wouldn’t drink to having a crush on Ignis is Ignis.”

Ignis went bright red.

“There was more than one reason we didn’t think your boyfriends were good enough,” Gladio said with a snort of laughter.

“…Did either of you approve of any of them?”

“Uh, the one Glaive was okay but…”

Noctis finished for him, “You weren’t into him half as much as he was into you.”

Ignis pinched the bridge of his nose. He was going to have to reevaluate so many previous interactions with a new perspective.

“Wait, Prompto, is that why you keep taking ass shots of Gladio?” Noctis asked.

Prompto sputtered. “I do not take ass shots! Of anyone!”

Gladio laughed. “Uh, hate to break it to you but you kind of do. Don’t worry, I don’t mind.”

“You take ass pics of Gladio, Ignis whenever he’s doing acrobatics, and usually half of what you take of me is mid-warp.”

“That’s just because you’re always warping, Noct,” Prompto said, settling into an embarrassed pout. “And Iggy’s usually doing backflips or setting something on fire like a boss so…” His shoulders hunched. “Also Gladio’s always rushing in so of course I get pictures from behind in battle.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” Noctis said with a shit eating grin.

“Well,” Ignis said, feeling vaguely uncomfortable and ready to finish the game, “I think we’ve learned enough about each other for one night.”

“No, no,” Gladio said. “Prompto’s right. We still have booze. Also you and Noct haven’t interacted yet and I haven’t traded lies with Prompto.” He swished his cup around. “Besides, we’re still bored. Scared you’ll get embarrassed more?” he teased.

Ignis rolled his eyes. “Not at all.” It was just that if things continued along the current lines of affairs things could get complicated in ways that their trip didn’t allow for. From the way Gladio gave him a teasing eyebrow wiggle, he was thinking along the same lines without considering the fallout. He sighed. Ignis was not going to let things run in even more flirtatious directions thank you very much. “Noct.” Coming up with something for Noctis was about as hard as Gladio. On the one hand, Noctis could be unobservant. On the other, when he did use his powers of observation, they were uncannily accurate and stuck in his memory. “I choose to keep my accent,” he said after a moment of thought, “I had tutors before I was chosen to train to be your chamberlain, and I hated cooking when I first started learning.”

Noctis frowned. “I could see you keeping the accent because you like it and it reminds you of home. I know nothing of your life before you came to the Citadel more or less, and knowing you you’re probably banking on that. So, weird as it is to think of you hating cooking, I’m calling the second one a lie.”

Ignis smiled ruefully. It figured that he’d apply logic to it. “You’re correct.” He took a swallow of his drink and was pleased at its flavor, the alcohol a faint aftertaste on his tongue.

“If you didn’t like cooking, why’d you stick with it?” Prompto asked.

“Because it’s a useful skill,” Ignis said. “Knowing it is an important life skill as well as useful for caring for others; it was non-negotiable to learn. It just took a bit of a learning curve to get good enough at it that it wasn’t troublesome. Once I started looking at it as a puzzle made of ingredients it was a lot more enjoyable.”

“You know, you’re allowed to like or dislike something based on other things than usefulness,” Noctis said with a slight edge to his voice like he was somewhere along the lines of sad and exasperated.

Ignis, of course, knew that. But when growing up with a large job to fill, there had never been much room for non-useful things. Even his hobbies were chosen to be practical. “I can also enjoy things that also happen to be practical,” he pointed out. He liked languages. And while he couldn’t say he liked cleaning, it gave him a sense of satisfaction. Cooking was similar. These days it was one part puzzle, one part challenge, and the satisfaction of an end result. Baking on the other hand… “I do enjoy baking though.”

“Oh?” Noctis said.

Ignis smiled. He’d started because he’d hoped to make Noctis smile. And every time Noct ate one of his desserts and looked a bit happier, it had made Ignis happy. “I’d have to to make the same dessert over and over with slight changes for years.”

“Wow, that almost sounds like you’re accusing me of something,” Noctis joked.

“Accuse? Never,” Ignis said, grinning back. “I am surprised you never got sick of me trying though.”

“They were good,” Noctis said. “Even the worst of the failures. And they were…”

“They were?”

Noctis looked faintly embarrassed. “They were part of how you showed you cared so… it meant a lot.”

More than the cleaning and cooking or giving condensed reports ever did if Noctis’s embarrassment meant anything.

“And this is getting weirdly emotional,” Gladio cut in. “I know Noct drank a bit, but you only took a sip.”

Ignis rolled his eyes. “It’s reminiscing and nostalgia, Gladio.”

“Uh huh. Sure.” Gladio gave him a look that had Ignis blushing slight enough that hopefully no one would notice. “Anyway, Noct, either you go or I’m going next.”

“Fine.” Noctis drummed his fingers for a moment. “I like traveling and helping people out. I don’t like how crowded we are. I sometimes wish that things could always be this simple.”

Ignis had the strong desire to give Noctis a hug, like he’d done when they were children. There was vulnerability and defensiveness warring under his attempted nonchalance and if they still had the sort of uncomplicated relationship that children had, he’d already have Noctis in an embrace. But they were adults and Noct might accept side hugs and slaps on the shoulder from Prompto and Gladio, there had been a wall of propriety between him and Ignis for a while. A wall that he should really start to take down. Propriety was pointless when there wasn’t anyone left who would care.

“The second one is a lie,” Ignis said softly.

Noctis smiled, lopsided. “Yeah.” He took a drink.

“Aw, we like crowding you too,” Prompto said, nudging Noctis with an elbow. “I mean, sometimes a little privacy would be nice, but honestly you can’t feel lonely like this and that’s been good.”

Left to their own devices they weren’t the sorts to spend every waking moment with another person, but they had been spending more or less that for months now. Ignis, if asked before their trip started, would have thought that they’d have gotten on their last nerve at some point or another, but they hadn’t. There was quiet, introspective time on car rides, or brief moments at havens to break away from the group and have a private moment, but surprisingly they hadn’t needed more than that so far. It was almost nice if Ignis didn’t think about the circumstances. And for Noctis who had never really had enough time to spend with friends with his busy life… Well, Ignis, having a busy life of his own, could more than understand why the lifestyle they’d been living appealed.

“We can’t forget our purpose though,” Gladio pointed out.

“Dude,” Prompto said, “I don’t think any of us could no matter how many fetch quests people send us on.”

“I’m just saying,” Gladio grumbled.

“And I’m just saying that tonight’s time to not think about the things that are always looming over us,” Prompto said, pushing back more than he normally would. “Please? Like we’re all strung out, that’s why we gotta relax and recharge sometimes or we’ll just burn out.”

Gladio rubbed a hand down his face and took a drink even though it wasn’t part of the game. “Yeah.”

“I haven’t forgotten,” Noctis added in a quiet voice. “I promise.”

“We’re really missing the point to this game,” Prompto said with a sigh. “Getting too real, guys. On that note, Gladio—Two truths and a lie. I’ve always wanted a pet, I bought my first camera with allowance money, and I am naturally a morning person.”

Gladio took a second to switch gears but when he did he relaxed in a very deliberate looking manner. “Well considering how you go on about chocobos, I wouldn’t be surprised if you always wanted one as a pet. And how you’re friends with Sleeping Beauty over there, it’s a mystery because you don’t need coffee in the morning like Ignis and you don’t sleep in like Noct. So, how’d you actually get your first camera?”

“I bought it with money from a part time job,” Prompto said after taking a drink. “Technically I had a phone camera before, but I was kind of frustrated at the limitations and after taking a photography class… Yeah, I was hooked.” He smiled. “So I saved up and bought this beauty,” Prompto said patting his camera. “It’s not like high end, but with multiple lenses and filters and a hella good zoom, it’s a pretty dang good first camera, you know?”

“I commend your work ethic,” Ignis said, though Prompto’s work ethic had always been good, even if he and Noctis were enablers in indulging in their gaming interests at the expense of other tasks at times. Prompto had gotten decent grades his whole life, and worked from no prior combat knowledge to full-fledged Crownsguard, pulling his own weight on this trip purely because he cared for Noctis. It wasn’t really surprising that he’d seen the goal of a nice camera and put the effort into getting it.

“Thanks, Iggy,” Prompto said with a pleased grin.

“Now if only Noct had a bit more of that,” Gladio joked.

“Of all of us, I think Prompto and I have the best work-life balance,” Noctis shot back.

“Besides,” Ignis added, “Noctis is hardworking. Unfortunately he just has a tendency to drop less pressing tasks in favor of immediate ones.”

“Is this about not sewing the button back on my shirt? Because I’m going to sew the button back on my shirt.”

“I’ve actually been impressed by how much help you’ve been with tasks like dishes and laundry,” Ignis said, a bit mean to do, but it was a sore point between them. Then again, Noctis was more likely to drop what he was doing and help than Gladio. Prompto was fine if given directions at least. Goodness knew Ignis couldn’t run every minutia of their lives no matter how much he wanted to.

Noctis groaned. “You’re never going to let high school go are you?”

Ignis smiled. “If it was only high school, I would.”

“He’s got you there, dude,” Prompto said. “You’re kind of a trash master when you get distracted.”

Distracted being anything from work, to a gaming binge, to one of Noctis’s occasional depressive episodes. Ignis was sympathetic to the latter and exasperated by the former.

“It’s Gladio’s turn,” Noctis said pointedly turning the conversation away from himself.

“Fine,” he sighed. “I am a dog person, I kill houseplants no matter how I try to keep them alive, and I kind of wish I’d gone to college.”

Prompto squinted at him. “This is the sort of thing I was worried about playing this. I have no idea which of those is a lie.”

“Guess,” Gladio said unhelpfully.

“Plants?” Prompto asked more than stated.

“Bzzt. I’m not a dog person. They’re cute and all but they’re high maintenance compared to cats.”

“Harsh, dogs are great,” Prompto said taking a drink. “They’re loyal and hard working. Don’t get me wrong, cats are adorable, but they’d abandon you for a sardine.”

“Lies and slander,” Noctis said.

“Dude, they’re super picky and you fall for their begging every time.”

“You feed every dog that looks your direction,” Noctis countered.

“Uh, no, we’ve seen like three dogs and one of those is Dave’s. You’re the one busting out super expensive cat food. Anyway, we can all agree chocobos are best.”

Noctis laughed. “I think it’s just you there.”

“Nah, chocobos are more useful and better fighters than either of them,” Gladio said, “so they win in my book too.”

“Why didn’t you attend university?” Ignis asked.

“You think I’d have had the time? I don’t know how you did it, honestly. I had my plate full learning everything I needed to protect Noct.”

Ignis could see a small, guilty twitch from Noctis. Ignis’s own university years had been…hmm, eventful. And the largest reason for his caffeine addiction. “Out of curiosity, what would you have studied?”

Gladio shrugged. “I dunno. I like history, and some of the stuff I’ve talked with Sania about’s pretty cool.”

“Oh yeah, you are friends with her aren’t you?” Prompto said. “Are frogs really that exciting?”

“Okay, the frogs are just one of the things she studies,” Gladio said. “Her greater research is on wildlife in general and you’d know that if you listened to what she said when we help her that she’s been looking into the change in daylight and the increase in scourge infected wildlife—”

“Holy shit have you been hiding a nerdy side this whole time?” Prompto said with the expression of a man who’d just witnessed something life changing. “Gladio, are you a science nerd under all that muscle?”

Gladio frowned. “Could you not say it like that? Also, I haven’t been hiding anything. I already know a lot about physiology from training, and nature is a thing I clearly enjoy as you guys love to complain about how I like camping. At least one of the books I’ve read on this trip was Sania’s research.”

“Well shit, man.” Prompto downed the rest of his drink. “The more you know. I think we all learned something today.” He blinked. “I should not have drank that all at once.”

Noctis laughed. “So we’re all on board to just drink now, huh?” He took a pointed swallow of his drink. “Might as well.”

“Really?” Ignis sighed.

“Eh, let ‘em,” Gladio said, taking a drink from his own cup. “As you guys keep saying, we’re trying to relax. Besides we were getting nowhere fast with the game.”

“That’s the point,” Ignis said. “To not get drunk.”

“They can’t get that drunk,” Gladio pointed out. “You made sure of it.”

Ignis pursed his lips, but Noctis and Prompto were elbowing each other and laughing and no one was going to end up so inebriated they were hung over the next day. It was almost like back in Insomnia…

Gladio slung an arm around him. “Don’t think too hard.”

“I am trying not to but…” They hadn’t really given themselves any proper time to grieve had they? One moment they were watching Insomnia burn and the next they were throwing themselves into seeking out royal arms and helping random strangers and going on hunts with barely any time to breathe because if they relaxed too much it might all fall apart. Ignis was used to setting how he felt aside, and so were the rest of them, but that didn’t necessarily make it healthy. Noctis and Prompto could laugh like this, so they would be okay. But sometimes Ignis wondered if he would be. That if he ever stopped he’d pull himself back together again.

“Drink if you think it’ll help,” Gladio said softly under the shriek of Noctis engaging Prompto to an impromptu tickling fight. “If you think it’ll be worse, leave it. Be in the moment, not the past.”

“I know that,” Ignis said. “I have been.” But the game had been about the past. On automatic, he saved the alcohol from getting spilled all over the tent floor as the tickle fight got wilder. Gladio gave his shoulder a squeeze.

“How about we team up against them, hmm?” Gladio offered.

Ignis pushed the mess of feelings back to deal with another day and managed a smile that almost reached his usual standards. “Would that be fair?”

“Anything’s fair in a tickling fight,” Gladio said. “Noct or Prompto first?”

“Noctis; Prompto is easier to subdue.”

“I’ll get his arms.”

“And I’ll handle his feet.”

Noctis and Prompto jumped when they entered the fight and Noctis yelped as Gladio caught him and Ignis exploited his weak points until he was gasping. Prompto laughed at his misfortune. At least until Ignis and Gladio shared a glance and turned to him, leaving Noctis to recover.

Later, much later, after more alcohol and Gladio ultimately emerging the victor of the tickle fight—he was only ticklish on his neck and that was hard to reach even when he wasn’t guarding it—they collapsed into a comfortable pile of bodies, curled up around each other, propriety and personal space be damned. They needed this, Ignis thought hazily on the edge of sleep. The laughter. The contact. The reassurance that they were still friends and close even after—or perhaps because of—everything that had happened.

“I haven’t done something like this in ages,” Gladio said, breaking the silence. “Not since… Hell, I don’t know. When I was a teenager?”

“Same,” Noctis said.

“Do our elbow fights over racing games not count?” Prompto asked. “Because we did that less than a year ago.”

“Yeah, but that’s… different,” Noctis muttered. “For one, Ignis joined in this time.” He lifted himself on one elbow long enough to fake-scowl in Ignis’s direction. “You’re brutal, by the way.”

Ignis laughed and had to stifle it on the nearest surface, which happened to be Noct’s thigh. When the laughter ran out though, he felt a bit drained, happy and sad at the same time. “I don’t think I’ve let go quite this much before.”

“Eighteenth birthday?” Gladio countered.

“Mm, but not everyone here was present for that.” And it hadn’t ended in a cuddle-pile on the ground. This was much better and would hopefully have less hangover-induced nausea the next morning.

“Well we’re all here now,” Noctis said, and like that was all that needed to be said, they went quiet, just the soft sounds of breathing and the occasional shift of limbs as they got comfortable.

Ignis ended up with Prompto’s head on his stomach and his own in Noctis’s lap. Gladio was both Noctis’s pillow and a heat source in how he managed to curl around Noctis and half of Prompto in the process. They were all going to wake up with limbs asleep and cricks in their necks, but for the moment it was all terribly comfortable.

Ignis drifted, letting the familiar sounds of his friends existing lure him toward sleep.

He was almost there when Prompto shifted against his chest.

“Ignis?” Prompto whispered, easily heard above the whistle-y start of Gladio’s snores and Noctis’s softer breathing.

“Mm?” When Prompto was silent, Ignis let a hand curl against his back, reassuring.

Prompto breathed out, relaxing minutely. “Do you think we’ll do this again someday?”

Ignis hummed. They didn’t have much downtime, though playing games happened when they did, but he knew that wasn’t what Prompto meant. They’d all shared parts of themselves tonight and boundaries had been crossed in other ways too, or they wouldn’t be curled up like this. But would it last beyond the morning?

Altissia loomed in their future and Ignis, for all that he would be glad to reach the city safely, equally dreaded it. It was one more step along some pre-destined path Noctis had laid out for him that only seemed to grow more burdensome the more Ignis let himself dissect what little he knew about Noct’s fate.

No, Ignis didn’t think that they would do this again. Not with this level of uncomplicated friendship, with their burdens as easily set aside. Those burdens only grew as days trickled by.

But he knew that wasn’t what Prompto needed to hear though, so for the moment he pulled on comforting hopes instead of his more realistic fears.

“We will,” he said, making himself sound sure.

“Promise?” Prompto asked.

He was so young, all of them were, but Ignis felt it in this fragile moment. All the more so because Prompto didn’t come from a life where things were predetermined. He’d forged his own path here, and perhaps that made him the most driven out of all of them. But because of that, he didn’t hold the same assurances. He didn’t see that he’d forged his own bonds here or that they were just as strong—if not more—as anything Ignis or Gladio shared with Noctis. Or with each other truly.

They were all friends and more than by this point. Comrades. A family of a sort, the last that each other had.

Ignis wanted to protect that with all his heart.

“I promise,” he said gently.

“Double promise,” Noctis slurred, patting randomly in Prompto’s direction. “Now go t’sleep.”

Prompto stifled a giggle. “Back at you, dude.” Noctis, apparently, fell truly asleep at that. Or perhaps he was already asleep and in one of his odd, in-between lucid moments.

“You’re one of us,” Ignis murmured, “and we’re going to stick together.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Prompto said, getting comfortable again.

As Ignis relaxed again, letting sleep pull him under, his last thought was how lucky they were to still have so much in each other.

[danganronpa-21]

Happy birthday to Makoto and koichi!!!

Happy Birthday to the boys!! Sorry that this is so darn late, Wednesdays are my long days at school. Plus, one of my poor pups had ear surgery today! He’s doing okay, but he’s very drugged up and sleepy. Therefore, he needs a lot of attention. Got the cone of shame and everything.

But yeah, BIRTHDAY! Seiko made them t-shirts and everything. Let’s do some birthday headcanons, shall we?

Makoto’s Birthday — 2020:

February 5th, 2020 brings a seemingly typical day for Makoto at first. As it’s a Wednesday, he’s still expected to drag his butt into work. He doesn’t even get to sleep in! Kyoko claims that they can pretend to be late because of “morning sickness”, but he doesn’t think anyone will believe it. She’s in her seventh month of pregnancy with their first, and fully intends to go to work with him. She’s much too stubborn to take maternity leave until she has to. At the very least she talks him into skipping a breakfast at home, as he’d have to be the one to cook it anyway. He later discovers that by the time he gets there, Aoi’s already baked some muffins for him and dropped off a cup of coffee — just the way he likes it! If that weren’t enough, some of his students left him gifts. One of his favourites is a small succulent in a hand-painted pot, which he cheerfully places by his window.

He assumes that maybe this is going to be the extent of his special day, but he’s wrong. When he goes to do his paperwork, he discovers that almost all of it has been done already. His meetings have been cut in half, and all because his friends took over some of his work! He’s overwhelmed with love, and makes sure to shoot them some thank you messages. He then does the rest of the work that’s left over, which holds him for just enough until Kyoko comes bursting into his office. She’s planned a picnic for his lunch. They eat together in the school’s gardens, chatting and cuddling. Kyoko can’t help but tell her husband how grateful she is for him, and how excited she is to be carrying his child. Makoto can’t help but laugh and tell her how lucky he feels to be the subject of her love.

The rest of his school day is spent in meetings and popping in and out of classrooms to chat with the students. When work ends, his friends drag him out for dinner, and then to the karaoke bar. They spend the night drinking, singing, and laughing until the late hours of the morning. Makoto, Yasuhiro, and Byakuya are mid-way through a trio song of “Hakujitsu” when they realize they should probably head out... as Kyoko and Toko had started to nap in the corner. To settle things down a bit, they pop into Aoi’s café — where they have a sweet birthday cake waiting for Makoto. He gets a cheerful singing of happy birthday, and all kinds of love and hugs from the people around him. They even prepared in advance and brought their gifts for him to the café!

Byakuya just straight up gifts him cash. He insists that he doesn’t know what to buy someone so painfully average, but everyone knows it’s because Makoto nearly had a heart attack at last year’s birthday gift. He really wasn’t expecting to get a car for his twenty-fifth, so for his twenty-sixth... Byakuya plays it safe. Toko and Komaru choose to collaborate on an adventure manga for him, in which he is depicted as a valiant hero saving people from despair (and inevitably winning the heart of his pretty detective boss in the process). Aoi puts together a collection of CDs for him, with every song he’s ever sung along to on it. It’s really hard not to cry when they put it on and hear Sayaka’s voice playing through the speakers. Yasuhiro opts to gift him a couple of free fortune tellings, before also passing along a brand new hoodie. Hiro says that he figures if he knew one thing, it was that Makoto loves comfortable clothing. So he thought it would be fun to pass along something he knew Makoto would use. As for Kyoko, well, she goes super romantic on her gift. It’s a huge notebook, filled to the brim with photographs and journal entries of all of the adventures they ever had together. She’s even notably added passages from her personal journals, in which she first begins to cite her feelings for him. At the end of the book, he finds the words “... and I can’t wait to have even more adventures with you”. 

Below this, is the ultrasound photo of their daughter.

Koichi’s Birthday - 2037:

Koichi has never really been someone who likes too much birthday attention. Most of the time he’s content to spend it with his family. Growing up, he’d usually take the day off school. Kyoko would take the day off work, and they’d go around doing whatever he wanted to do until the rest of the family got back from work and school. 

This year, he chooses to go to school. Not because he really wants to, but because he has friends who are desperate to see him for his birthday! So his dad wakes up that morning for school as always, with the two of them wishing each other a mutual happy birthday. He gets to eat a happy breakfast with his family, who is sure to shower him with love and affection. It seems like none of them can stop talking about how old he’s getting! Even Seiko’s going on about it, as if she’s not getting older herself. 

When Koichi comes to school, his friends are sure to greet him with as much as they can manage. Tamiko, Natsumi, and Phoenix have decked out his desk in balloons and confetti. They’ve each placed a little wrapped gift for him on his desk, and Tamiko even went ahead and made him a birthday cupcake. The three of them (embarrassingly) sing a rendition of happy birthday in front of everyone, and the whole time, Phoenix is happily snapping pictures. 

Unfortunately, he does have to spend much of his day in class because it’s still a school day, but at least his friends make it fun. For lunch, they decide to sneak out and go to a local restaurant. Being a technical yakuza heiress, Natsumi covers all of lunch and tells everyone to order whatever they want. Naturally, the group stuffs themselves full of tasty food before returning back to school. They slip back in mostly undetected... well, if being noticed by Aoi but not chided is considered “mostly undetected”. 

After school ends, Koichi goes to meet his parents as always. He’s surprised to discover that his father has gone out to pick up their birthday cakes, and that he intends to meet them at a surprise location... Which his mother is taking them to. After picking up Seiko from school, Kyoko takes all of her kids to the local arcade. They’re told that they can play as many games as they want for [retty much as long as they want. The kids all decide to team up in an attempt to win a huge purple teddy bear, just for the fun of it. Seiko kicks everyone’s butts at whack-a-mole (including Makoto’s, when he shows up), Hope absolutely destroys at Dance Dance Revolution, Kyoko shoots a decent amount of hoops, Makoto is able to stop on just the right spot at the prize wheel multiple times, and Koichi has nothing but victory at the ski ball machine. They manage more tickets than they ever thought possible, and of course managed to nab the teddy bear. They decide it should be kept in Seiko’s room, given that she’s the kind of person who could probably find space for something like that.

When they return home, Hope and Seiko challenge their brother to play a quick game of basketball outside while Makoto prepares dinner. Being the most athletic of the three, naturally, Koichi beats his sisters into the ground. But they get a lot of good laughs out of it, and they end off the match with Hope having slung Koichi over her shoulder and walking him back into the house for dinner. Dinner is Oyakodon, paired alongside some homemade gyoza. Despite having had a big lunch, Koichi eats something like three helpings, which his family teases him about. “The older he gets, the more he eats! He’s gearing up for that big growth spurt!”

For dessert, they of course, have two birthday cakes. One of them is Makoto’s, and the other Koichi’s, and each of the boys gets their own rendition of happy birthday. Makoto’s birthday cake is a vanilla-flavoured cake, whereas Koichi’s is a strawberry ice cream cake. They take turns pretending to blow at each other’s candles, just to mess around. It makes for some great pictures. Everyone tries to have small slices of each cake, so they can enjoy it. The only people who get big pieces are of course, the birthday boys. And when cake is done, they follow it with presents. Being the younger one of the two, Koichi gets to go first.

From his parents, he gets a new video game. One that he’d been saving his allowance for for a long time, I might add. He’s ecstatic! He’s sure to thank his parents several times, especially considering that they’d complained about how pricey it was. Seiko’s birthday gift to him comes with a card she made herself, decorated with as many happy penguins as she could fit onto the page. They’re his absolute favourite animal, after all! The gift she ends up giving him is a set of different tea flavours for him to try -- most of them being far off from the kinds you can find in stores. She also throws in a little plushie penguin that Kyoko and Hope helped her sew. Truthfully, it’s not really pretty, but Koichi loves it. He promises to treasure it, before tearing into Hope’s gift. She’s managed to get him a brand new stack of novels, ones from authors she knows he admires. She confesses that she sort of raided his room to figure out which authors were his favourite. 

They watch Makoto open his gifts next. He receives about what you’d expect for a man his age. Hope gifts him a whole bunch of new yarn to knit with, as well as some of his favourite candy. Seiko gives him a clay sunflower she made at school in her art class, as sunflowers are his favourite flower. Koichi gifts him a set of headphones that have become popular in the past year or so, figuring he will make use of them while he’s working or trying to sleep. Kyoko gives her husband her gift in the form of kisses... as well as multiple picture frames that contain photos of their family. Notably, even the older pictures of his parents that she found are added. 

All in all, the boys have a great day.

[keeperofthelostsleepschedule]

KOTLC J fastion AU

I'm reposting this here because I spent way to long on it for it to go icnored, this au takes up every waking moment of my thoughts

NO ONES GONNA KNOW WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT BUT IM POSTING IT ANYWAY AAAHHHHHH

-I don't know if either of these groups are big enough to understand any of this but like, here we go!

-Lihn is a classic/gothic lolita and goes to too many teapartys.She likes big extravagant headpieces lots of jewelry and never wears wigs.

-Tam is Lihns ouji accessory, and Tam is just begrudgingly accepting of it. all of Tams sets are gothic. No color. Nope. None. Black.

-Tam buys almost exclusively from Moi-Meme-Moitie, and Lihn is a total BTSSB brand whore.

-Biana likes fairy kei and just really likes cording big fluffy jackets. She also pretty much exclusively wears purple, pink and yellow. Sometimes she needs outher colors, in that case she raids Sophie's wardrobe.

-She likes chunky sneakers, hair bows and cute hair colors. Biana would totally dress Iggy up and bring him to meets.

-Binana is a total lifestyler.

-Sophie got converted by Biana to fairy kei, but then desocoverd classic lolita and down the rabet hole she went. She still likes cording pastal colors tho.

-Every once in a while she'll go out in OTT sweet lolita. Also because she's basic, she's been trying to get her hands on honeycakes in her size for a year and a half.

-she likes brands like lily of the valley and lady sloth

-When Sophie wears lolita, she likes to wear like, 200 Pettis. So she's just POOF.

-Biana, Dex and Lihn had to have an intervention for Sophie about her Beret addiction. It's getting seriously out of hand.

-Dex likes casual styles. He mostly dresses in pastels.

-Dex likes more indie brands. He orders these massive pastel tow bow hauls once every couple of months. You'll just see this mile high stack of boxes and think, "aw heck he's done it again."

-Dex really likes Dimond Honey

-Dex tried to convince Tam to do a style swap once. It did not go well. We don't talk about that day anymore.

-Dex likes bracelets and big chunky necklaces. He says he likes how he rattles when he walks down halls.

-Sometimes he'll let Sophie dress him up in sweet lolita. Everyone agrees he pulls it off really well. He loves milky planet and steals bianas jsk way too often

-Fitz just follows Biana and Sophie around to carry bags. He takes photos for everyone. He is the coms designated photographer.

-Lihn wants him and Tam to do a matchy look but Fitz dosent want to, mostly because he doesn't like Tams style

-Marella wears off brand lolita a lot, but not as offten as everyone else.She's to afraid to buy brand because she's afraid shell set it on fire.

-Marella is also the meme lord of the group. She pumps out Mr. Yan memes faster than dex can make tow bow orders.

-Marella owns 12 different pairs of teapartys.

-she really hates it when she can't find matching headbows

-Keefe went through a INTENCE ita phase.

-He spent a long time building up a sweet/classic wardrobe for a few years, before is style morphed into more party kei. He still kept a lot of his stuff tho.

-He still has a lot if AP skirts. Keefe rocks the skirts. Lihn hates cording skirts with a passion, and is eternally impressed with Keefe's abilitys.

-Stina wears old-school, and likes rocking horse shoes.

- she's the person newbies allways cause of being it's, but is actually like, the most skilled in the whole comm

- rectangle head dresses up the wazooo

-I would write more about her but I hate her so I'm not giving her any more attention.

-Sidenote, Della totally collects irregular choice heels 😏

If you know what the hell I was talking about feel free to add on. Also expect art soon. 😅

[seventeen-teen-teen-trash]

Ash requested a yukhei fluff

She gets a Yukhei crack instead

—

It was 3:30am when Yukhei crashed into my room as silently as he could. Which, with his long ass limbs, was impressive.

“Dude(!) Cmon, we gotta be quick(!)”

You might be wondering why I wrote (!). Well, Yukhei managed to yell as quietly as he possibly could, but the sound still sounded like thunder in the middle of the night. He dragged me out of bed as quickly as he could, throwing my jacket and shoes at me, and started to climb out of the window before I told him, still half asleep, that if he thought I was sneaking out through the window he was certifiably insane and I would kill him in his sleep.

After i told him that, he promptly brought his leg back into my room and closed the window, patting gently while smiling at me like “Look I did a good!”. It was very adorable, and if i wasn't ready to kill him, I might have awed.

Instead, I dragged my half asleep ass over to him and slapped his chest once, as if that was enough payback for waking me up. He laughed and winced, rubbing his chest slightly while leading me out of the room, taking me to the front door of our shared apartment. Which, I must add, was completely empty apart from us, so why he felt the need to sneak out, I will never know.

We left the apartment with Yukhei still trying to be sneaky, sticking to the walls as much as he could. To the guard watching the security cameras, we must’ve looked like some pair- A 6 foot tall man-child trying to hide from the cameras and me, still in my pjs with a hoodie pulled over, glaring at the man-child with hate. Truly a loving couple.

Finally, we reached the elevator, and while we waited for it, Yukhei started shoving me with his hip. By this point, I was fully awake and still filled with hate but as his hip hit my elbow, I couldn’t help but laugh at him. When I looked at him from the corner of my eye, his smile was wide and infectious, and I couldn't help but laugh at him.

The elevator ride down was uneventful, and it was just as we were getting off that I finally remembered to ask him why the hell he woke me up at 3am.

“OH! I ran out of noodles and I didn’t wanna go without you incase you wanted something and were annoyed at me for going without you and I really wanted noodles :).”

Once again, you may be wondering why I wrote down the :). Somehow, Yukhei managed to be that kind of person who could make a :) sound in real life, but if you tried to explain it, you would get nowhere. Before the :), I was ready to kick Yukhei for dragging me out of bed just for noodles but the :)... the :) got to me.

So, I followed the tall idiot to the car, where he sat patiently in the passenger side waiting for me to start the car. While he was holding the keys. While he was holding the car keys, he pulled a different set of keys out of his pocket that were made for a toddler, and then tried to hand me the toddler keys before realising the fuck up, and handed me the real keys.

I watched and judged as he slowly pocketed the toddler keys, tucking them deep into his pocket. I kept staring at him until he turned to look at me like nothing ever happened. Slowly, i turned back to the front and put the car into drive, accidentally ramming the car in front gently. Yukhei turned to stare at me with shock, pulling out the toddler keys again.

“Maybe I should drive from now on?” He whispered before bursting into laughter, clapping his giant alien hands together. I laughed along with him, slowly reversing out of the spot we were parked, making sure to not hit any more cars on the way out.

When we finally arrived at the convenience store, Yukhei ran out as soon as the car stopped, eager to get the noodles. I followed slowly, making sure to check the front of the car for any damage. I had a feeling the other car was less okay judging by the paint marks all over the front. I made a mental note to leave an apology note on the other car, but the note was quickly forgotten as soon as I walked into the store and saw Yukhei running down the cereal aisle.

“Look!! They have coco puffs!! Man I’m coco for coco puffs!!” He whispered gently to himself before running away with Reeses Puffs instead. I reluctantly followed him as he ran, apologising to the cashier as I passed. It took Yukhei about 3 minutes to find the noodle aisle, and oh boy was he in heaven. The amazement on his face was hilarious, I have never seen a boy look so happy to see noodles.

After searching through all the noodles, he managed to find the brand he wanted and ran over proudly, staring at the noodles lovingly. In our 3 years of dating (at that point in time) I had never seen him smile at me like that. As you can imagine, I was a bit ticked off.

However, once Yukhei took me to the candy aisle and said he was paying… oh boy, he grew to regret that. I ran down, grabbing one of every kind I liked, making sure to grab a few more chocolate bars and packs of gum. After all, he uses most of my gum, why shouldn't he pay for it?

Once I finished my raid on the aisle, I looked back up at Yukhei to see him staring with a look of disbelief and regret, looking between his few things and my many MANY things. He looked back up at me with a sigh and slowly nodded his head, accepting his fate. He waddled his way to the register, going to pull out his wallet but pulling out the toddler keys again, and then pulling out a pair of spongebob learning chopsticks.

The cashier was staring at us with dead eyes, obviously wanting to go home but when Yukehi, a giant ass man, pulled out a collection of toddler sized things, her eyes lit up again. Eventually, Yukhei found his spiderman wallet and pulled it out, the cashier lost it. Her laugh was uncontrollable and wild, and both of us couldn't help but join.

Slowly, we all recovered and the cashier wiped away tears, clutching her stomach in both pain and to try and recover. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced something like that but I can safely say it was one of the best parts of that night. Eventually, we had everything cashed up, and the cashier kept smiling as Yukhei hip bumped me time and time again, trying to push me off balance.

Eventually, I gave up trying to be discrete in hitting him and full on punched his arm, turning back to face the cashier with a smile. She let out a chuckle as Yukhei started collapsing, clutching his arm and claiming that he sees the light. Eventually, the cashier finished ringing up the stuff and Yukhei pulled out the spiderman wallet again, opening it up and almost handing her monopoly money before going to the right section in his wallet, handing her a few notes. Thankfully the cashier didn't notice the monopoly money, the spiderman wallet itself was distracting her.

After we left, and started driving home, Yukhei pulled out his phone and looked something up on Twitter, waiting until we had parked again to show me.

“Oh my god look!!” He zoomed in on the photo, covering the bottom half to show a large hand resting on a thigh, and did the same to my thigh, smiling gently.

Then he grabbed something from the bag and put on his thigh, revealing the bottom half of the photo showing a chicken fuckin foot on a thigh, and I lost it. To anyone outside the car it would’ve looked like I was choking on air, I couldn’t breath anymore, it was a hot mess.

Yukhei had grabbed a damn chicken foot from the bag and placed it on his leg, posing gently to show off the full look he had going on. It took me about 6 minutes to stop laughing at him, and even then he had to put the chicken foot away for me to even be able to look at him.

After I recovered from the chicken foot, we got out the car and walked back to the car we crashed into earlier. By this point, an hour had passed and the car park had lightened up slightly, and we could see the damage done to the other car. It lost some paint and was ever so slightly banged up. Yukhei had a genius idea, and grabbed the note we wrote earlier and tucked it into the bumper, adding the chicken foot next to it (wrapped up of course, we aren’t monsters) in apology.

We laughed our way back up in the elevator, Yukhei pretending the chicken feet were his hands, pressing the buttons with the claws and scratching his chin with them. Of course, he went back into sneak mode when we got out the elevator, even going so far as to roll across the floor, trying to hold the bags while he did so but failing oh so much. Eventually I stormed over to grab the bags, and let him roll along as much as he wanted.

Soon enough, we reached our apartment and when we arrived, Yukhei walked in and flopped onto the couch, too tired to make the noodles by this point. I managed to drag him off the couch and back to the bed, shoving him on it and taking off his shoes for him. I collapsed on the bed next to him, too tired to take off my own shoes. Luckily, mr Bigfoot had a solution, and just randomly reached around with his feet until he could kick off my shoes for me, doing it all lying down next to me. It made me laugh the entire time, his faces while doing so were so silly and dumb. Eventually he got them both off, and he just lay laughing next to me for a while. Slowly but surely, we calmed down and just stayed in silence, smiling at each other.

“I really love you Yknow? Not many people would willingly follow their boyfriend randomly at 3am, and they wouldn’t be as happy about it as you were.” He looked almost sheepish, looking away from my face and looking slightly disappointed in himself. I grabbed his hand and held it right, making him look at me.

“Not many boyfriends would wake their girlfriend at 3am because they wanted noodles. Not many boyfriends would have a pair of spongebob training chopstick or a kids pair of keys. Not many people would have either of those to be honest. I was happy about it because it was you, because you made it something to be happy about.”

He smiled at me, moving forward to place a kiss on my forehead.

“Thank you for this life.” He smiled at me again, then slowly dragged me up the bed so my head was on the pillow. He then proceeded to wiggle up the bed so his head was on the other pillow, and he managed to drag the covers up over us both, tucking me in gently. While I was woken up at 3am, I had one of the best nights of my life that day.

EL FIN

[180abroad]

Day 125: Hadrian’s Wall and the Scottish Borders

When we first started planning this trip, one of the big sites I'd wanted to see was Hadrian's wall. But it's so far from anywhere else we wanted to go in England that I had resigned myself to the fact that I probably wouldn't get to go. Luckily, Rabbie's offers a tour of the wall from Edinburgh. Not only would we get to see Hadrian's Wall, we'd get to approach it from the north like an old Celtic barbarian.

It was a long tour, so we had to get up and into town early.

There must have been quite the party going the night before. Even the statues woke up with traffic cones on their heads.

Our guide and driver for the day was Nik, a middle-aged, born-and-bred Edinburgh man with the accent and stories to prove it.

As we drove south, we passed through the beautiful rolling hill country that makes up the Scottish Borders. The Highlands are seem to get all the glory when it comes to romanticizing Scottish countryside, but the Lowlands definitely have their own idyllic charm.

Nik told us some interesting stories about the medieval residents of the Borders and their complex relationship between England and Scotland. They were ethnically Scottish, but the Borderers resented both countries because their wars inevitably brought the razing and pillaging of border towns by both sides.

The Borderers were excellent horse riders and highly valued as mercenary cavalrymen throughout Europe. Whenever the English and Scottish armies fought in the Borders, the Borderers would hire themselves out to both sides, then sit on the sidelines of each battle until the winner was clear. They made special coats with English colors on one side and Scottish colors on the other, so they could flip their coats inside-out to match whichever side they decided to be "fighting for" at the moment. Hence the term "turncoats."

When they weren’t fighting as mercenaries, the Borderers spent a lot of time fighting themselves. One town would gather a raiding party and invade the next town over. That town would then gather a counter-raid to get their stuff back. Eventually, the raids became so bad that towns hundreds of miles away–well outside the Borders--were being raided by these crazy hill people. Neither country wanted to take responsibility for them, but when King James VI and I united Scotland and England under one crown, he was able to raise a police force to move in and establish order.

We also saw a lot of sheep on our drive. According to Nik, there are three sheep in Scotland for every man, woman, and child. Which is the perfect number, he said–one for meat, one for wool, and one for snuggling.

Our first stop was the abbey town of Jedburgh, just ten miles north of the border with England. Streamers hung up all over the town indicated that a festival was going on, but it was dead quite on this Thursday morning.

The abbey, like most abbeys in Britain, is only a picturesque ruin now. But this time it wasn't Henry VIII's fault--the Scottish destroyed their own abbeys during their own Presbyterian Reformation.

Before its destruction, the abbey was inhabited by Augustinians, who were known as cannons rather than monks. Whereas monks live and work in their abbey, cannons are priests who choose to live communally in an abbey but still teach and perform services in their local community.

We got about an hour to explore the small museum and wander through the peaceful ruins.

Next we headed down to the crossing between England and Scotland, where we pulled over for a quick photo op. There's no security or anything, just a pair of engraved standing stones.

The view was fantastic, though.

Our timing was good, too. Just as our group finished taking pictures, a kilt-clad busker showed up to serenade us with his bagpipes. More oddly, a man driving through the parking lot stopped and called one of our group mates over so that he could give her some sort of "helpful" pamplet. According to Nik, this guy is a regular feature at the crossing who stages this sort of thing all the time, making it seem like he's just a friendly local who randomly decided to pull over and give the handout to a passing tourist.

After a few very pleasant hours of driving (some of which my dad and I might have spent dozing), we arrived at Hadrian’s wall. Specifically, we arrived at Steel Rigg, a dramatic line of glacial crags that the wall runs along the top of.

It was a steep climb up to the top of the outcrop, but the view was well worth it. Even if the wall was never really used as a defensive installation, it was easy to imagine hordes of painted Celtic barbarians massing to the north.

And seeing the way crags rise up like a wall themselves, I can very easily understand how George R.R. Martin was inspired by this place to create his fictional wall of ice in A Game of Thrones.

Next, we went to the nearby Vindolanda excavation and museum. Vindolanda was a Roman walled settlement inhabited by the soldiers who manned Hadrian's wall, as well as their families and the various merchants and artisans who supplied them. The site has been meticulously unearthed, and the included museum is filled with fascinating artifacts from the Roman inhabitants’ everyday lives.

There was pottery, flatware, tweezers, and lots and lots of leather shoes. The Romans wore very intricate leather shoes, but apparently very few examples are still around. Vindolanda is a treasure trove of leather and wooden goods because the land it's on is basically a bog--pretty much the same story as with the Celtic artifacts we saw at the Irish National Museum of Archeology in Dublin.

Despite being such innocuous pieces, one of the collections that struck me the most was the wooden barrel staves on display. We could see the ancient branded markings in old Latin clear as day, and one stave still bore a round stain from when some Roman set something dirty on it. The world's oldest coffee ring, perhaps?

There was a fascinating collection of Roman locks and keys that were much more intricate than what I would have assumed they had at the time.

Other interesting finds in the museum included a piece of intricately painted glass that had been imported from Roman Germany, some surprisingly shiny Roman coins a bug-resistant wig made from local moss, and a small metal hand used for religious ceremonies.

But the pride of the museum's collections was a barely distinguishable pair of leather boxing gloves. Boxing was a favorite pastime in the Roman Empire, and there are countless artistic depictions of soldiers and gladiators wearing an ancient form of boxing gloves. But these gloves found at Vindolanda are the only known surviving pair in the entire world.

Normally, there is an afternoon guided tour of the ruins, but today's tour was replaced with a performance by a group of local Roman Legion reenactors.

They described their arms, armor, and troop composition. We learned that up until the mid-20th century, historians didn’t actually know for sure how the iconic Roman segmented plate armor worked. It wasn’t until an old wooden chest under someone's house was discovered to contain two intact sets that people were able to accurately recreate them. And by recreating them, historians and reenactors can learn firsthand how they work and would likely have been used.

And you know you're in for a treat when your tour guide is excitedly taking pictures along with the rest of the group.

We learned how most of the soldiers manning Hadrian’s wall would not have actually been Legionnaires, but rather auxiliaries. Auxiliaries were non-citizen soldiers who fought for the Roman army in exchange for citizenship after 25 years of honorable service. In the meantime, they got less money, worse equipment, and more dangerous postings.

The reenactors also described how the invincibility of the Roman army was not just due to the superiority of their arms and armor. At the time, the Romans basically reinvented the idea of a professional, standing army. The Celts of Scotland had a proud and fierce warrior culture, but they didn’t really have armies. When one clan went to war against another, they would just gather all the able-bodied men together and head out. They were strong and fierce, but they just didn’t have the skills and tactics that full-time soldiers are able to develop through years of constant, structured practice.

We got to see the reenactors charge, duel, throw spears, and even fire a ballista (basically a giant crossbow, for anyone who's never played Age of Empires).

Leaving Vindolanda, we headed back up to Edinburgh through the western Lowlands. Again, the rolling hillsides were spectacular. I was especially enthralled by the area around the River Tweed, the home of a famous British textile. We could easily see how the raiding parties Nik described could hide out in a fog-cloaked ravine and become virtually unfindable. Nik also pointed out the particular hillsides where the wild haggis love to run free--in circles, of course, because of their naturally lopsided legs.

We also passed by the narrowest hotel in Britain.

Back in Edinburgh, we finally got my dad his first taste of Nando's before heading back home. It was in a shopping mall at the edge of Old Town, and it was about an hour's wait between when we first put our names down on the waiting list and when we actually got our food. It was well worth it, though--especially considering that it would be our last Nando's of the trip.

Back home, we rested up and prepared ourselves for our last two days in Edinburgh. We would be staying in the city, and we had almost all of it left to see.

Next Post: Edinburgh, Part 2 (History, Hiking, and Beer)

Last Post: Glasgow

[consecotaleo]

Boku No Hero Academia Light Novel Vol. 3 -- Unofficial English Translation -- Chapter 2: “Dramatic Makeover”

T/N: Here’s a Chinese > English translation for the second chapter of BNHA Light Novel Vol.3. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a lot of banter, honestly. I really enjoyed the teachers’ interactions in the first chapter.

I’m hoping to see a proper Japanese > English translation at some point, especially to see Chapter 1 fully fleshed-out.  At least for this chapter, the Chinese translator expressed that they like Todoroki a lot and paraphrased less on his parts.

Disclaimers

Some parts were paraphrased by the Chinese translator. // ‘Quirk’ and ‘personality’ are the same, so there might be mix-ups. // It’s difficult to handle verb tense in Chinese. Hopefully I didn’t mess up the order of events too much. / Names. Honorifics don’t translate well. The Chinese characters were weird. “why is he talking about rice fields” “nvm that’s Iida”

BNHA Light Novel Vol.3 Translations

Complete list here

Chapter 1: “Cheers!” – After UA home visits, the teachers go out for drinks. Focuses on All Might and Aizawa.

***Chapter 2: “Dramatic Makeover” – Class 1-A moves into the Heights Alliance dorms. Todoroki-centric, interspersed with scenes from the other students.

Chapter 3: “Crisis”: An unexpected visitor comes to the 1-A dorms. Part One, Part Two

Fantasy AU, translated by aitaikimochi: Set in the alternate universe from the anime S2 ED

Manga References. 

You should reread Chapters 98-99.

The Hideout Raid arc or wiki page

Chapter 98 or wiki page – moving into the new dorms

Chapter 99 or wiki page – best dorm room competition

Chapters 53 & 68 or wiki page on Todoroki’s mother.

(The students are about to move into dorms.)

Chapter 2: Dramatic Makeover

Yaoyorozu, who’d grown up utterly pampered in a palace-like home, was now packing for life in the dorms.

 Her mother eyes the ten packing boxes with some trepidation. “Are you sure you’ve packed enough?” she hedges. “Did you bring a proper tea set? Make sure you have enough to serve the entire class – it’d be terribly awkward if you ran out of cups.” Then, “You did bring some formal attire, I suppose?”

 None of this was necessary for learning at school, so Yaoyorozu obviously had not. “Better safe than sorry!” her mother insists. The house servant agrees, suggesting a few more packing boxes to fill with various luxury items.

 Yaoyorozu contemplates it for a while, but eventually refuses, thanking her mother for her consideration.

 “My daughter is growing up,” cries her mother.

 Yaoyorozu is plied with a dozen boxes of fancy books and bookshelves, a gift from her father. Books are her absolute favorite. Yaoyorozu brushes away the tears that well up. It was time to move forwards to dorm life.

 In mid-August, the students of Class 1-A assemble in front of their brand new home.

The atmosphere is heavy as they file into the dormitory, Aizawa-sensei’s lecture weighing on everyone’s minds**.

 ** See chapter 98 or wiki page for context

Once Aizawa-sensei has finished the building tour and everyone’s received their room assignments, it’s time for the students to unpack and decorate their new rooms. But as Yaoyorozu waits at the elevators with everyone, Aizawa-sensei calls out to her. “Oi, these rooms are too small to fit more than five or six boxes of stuff. Pick out what’s most important and send the rest back.”

 “Eh, really?” Yaoyorozu flounders.

 Meanwhile, the elevator dings at the 5th floor. Todoroki emerges and advances to his new room – only to halt. A small “ah” escapes him, then silence. Finally, in barely a whisper, “No… no tatami?”

Todoroki had already seen from the earlier tour that the rooms were Western in style. But having been raised in a traditional Japanese house, he couldn’t shake the feeling that his living quarters should be the same. Since students weren’t required to use the standard dorm furniture, Todoroki had brought his own.

 “…” After rearranging his furniture for a while, Todoroki peers around the room with a grimace. No matter how he looks at it, the Western room and Japanese furnishings clash horribly. And the veranda… Sure, he’d gotten used to the verandas at school, but to have one in his own room seems terribly wrong. The cloth curtains (in lieu of shoji screens) also make him a bit uneasy.

Todoroki quickly finishes unpacking his sparse belongings. With nothing left to do, he flops onto the (strange Western) bed. He just can’t get used to any of this.

 “From now on, I’ll be falling asleep and waking up here,” Todoroki declares to the room.

 He’d been waiting to escape the ‘care’ of his damned father for years, but hadn’t expected the day to come so soon. The thought of his father brings a stormy expression to Todoroki’s face. He sits up on the bed, shaking his head as if he can forcefully eject his negative thoughts.

 To try to alleviate his sore mood with a bit of fresh air, he opens the window and takes a deep breath. A vast forest stretches out beyond his vision, interspersed with the occasional UA building. But even the magnificent view from the top floor can’t dispel Todoroki’s unhappiness. He turns back to his new room and retrieves a dusty photo album. He tugs out a single faded photograph – his mother, beaming at the unmarred baby Shouto cradled in her arms.

 Before, when Todoroki looked at this photo, he’d be hit with a wave of regret and fear that his mother would never smile the same way again. But no more. Now he knows that his mother is still full of laughter**. The picture soothes his troubled heart.

 ** See wiki page on Todoroki’s mother

 Todoroki is beginning to feel much better when a gust of wind snatches the photo from his hands. The photo drifts out into the forest.

 He rushes out of the dorm. How will he find a single photo in such a huge forest? He scours the ground, the trees, the UA buildings. “Where the hell did it go,” he mutters, a frown etching itself back onto his face. In the distance, he suddenly hears a mechanical clanging.

 “?!” Out of nowhere, a small object comes hurtling into Todoroki’s (hastily-raised) wall of ice and falls to the ground with a thunk. It appears to be a large fist-sized gadget of sorts. “The hell is this?”

 “That’s my baby!” a feminine voice retorts back. Ah, it’s the inventor girl from the Department of Support. Her performance in the UA Sports Festival had certainly been something. Not wanting to face the same fate as Iida, he offers the handful of machinery back to her.  

 **bold = originally in English

** See wiki page for Hatsume Mei

 Hatsume thanks him with a brilliant smile. She’s about to go off on one of her advertising spiels when one of her inventions zips by. A few others zigzag about in the distance.

 “My baby! Wait up!” In the blink of an eye, Hatsume vanishes from view to chase down her precious machines.

 “Hold up, there’s one over there too,” Todoroki points out. It’s finally dawned on him that she’s referring to her inventions.

 “Help me catch it!” Hatsume yells over her shoulder.

 “… Hah? Oi!” But his cries are lost to the wind. Todoroki flounders a bit, stunned.

 Your machinery may be very important to you, but I’m also looking for something precious to me, Todoroki gripes. An especially strong gust sends a flurry of leaves up. His anxiety spirals up as well. In the time he’d wasted just now, the photo could have flown off even further.

 He sends a wall of ice in the direction of the machines to freeze them in place. That settles that. He heads off to resume looking for the photo.

 But more clanging and whirring reaches his ears. Are there more gadgets out there? Todoroki is at a loss.

Suddenly, Todoroki recalls Iida’s response to the Bakugou Rescue Squad. Though Iida hadn’t agreed with the group’s reasoning, he’d joined to make sure he could watch over and protect everyone.**

 ** See Hideout Raid arc – Summary – Infiltration Preparation

 Iida is a serious student and responsible class president. Had Iida been placed in this position, he wouldn’t hesitate to lend a helping hand. And as a prospective hero, Todoroki obviously can’t turn down a person in need. He turns back towards the machine whirring. Though the lost photo is dear to him, he take the time to freeze the other gadgets.

 (Oblivious to the events outside, Iida is in his room, organizing his book collection.)

  Finally, Todoroki captures the last gadget. Some belated introductions are exchanged. Hatsume sheepishly admits that she’d tripped and triggered the power switch for the gadgets earlier, when she’d been unpacking her own room.

 “Did you really make all of these?” Todoroki is rather awed. “Amazing!”

 Fluffed up with pride, Hatsume restarts her earlier spiel on her inventions.

 Todoroki listens with half an ear. “Is this all of the machines?” he suddenly interrupts.

 It turns out they’re missing one. This particular invention is barely the size of a prune, but weighs a ton. It’s designed to latch onto villains so they can’t escape under the added weight, Hatsume explains.

 “Well, if it’s that heavy it can’t have gone far, right?” Todoroki offers hopefully.

 “I’ll look around, then!” Hatsume agrees. “My quirk is ‘Zoom’, so I can see objects up to 5 kilometers away!”

 “I’ll check any blind spots,” Todoroki decides. He heads off. Then he backtracks. “Hey, if you see a photograph with that ‘Zoom’ of yours, can you let me know?”

 “A photo? Ah,” Hatsume’s eyes light up in understanding. “So you were looking for something! Sure!”

 A voice suddenly cuts into their conversation. “Hey, what are you youngsters doing out here? Shouldn’t you be unpacking right now?” It’s Recovery Girl, who’s out for a stroll.

 Hatsume explains the situation, and Recovery Girl offers to look over Hatsume’s blind spots with Todoroki. But after they peer into the nearby nooks and crannies and decide to move on, Recovery Girl trips over some tree roots. Todoroki rushes to catch her, but she rights herself.

 Noticing Todoroki’s outstretched arms, she smiles warmly at him. “You wanted to help me? Thank you, young man!” She adds, good-naturedly, “I trip rather often anyways though, since I’m getting old.”

 Recovery Girl considers Todoroki for a moment. “Really, Endeavor’s son is already this grown up!”

 “Ah…” Todoroki scowls at the mention of his father’s name. This goes unnoticed by Recovery Girl, who begins rambling about the Endeavor as a student, and his aspirations to be the greatest hero.

 But all Todoroki could hear was that terrible, hated rumbling voice, “In my place, to fulfill my dreams, you will surpass All Might to become the greatest hero.”

 “I don’t want to hear about that guy,” Todoroki cuts in. Recovery Girl is immediately apologetic.

  An alarm goes off, coming from the direction of the road. Recovery Girl heads over to assess the situation, while Todoroki heads deeper into the forest.

 He stumbles over something. It’s a prune-sized machine. Todoroki gives it a tentative tug. It’s quite heavy. Well, this is definitely the right one.

 Todoroki yells out that he’s found the gadget. The sound is buried under a sudden cacophony of mechanical clanging.

 It appears that one of the gadgets has captured Recovery Girl in some steel rope. Hatsume speculates that some of the circuitry must have been damaged when the gadget fell, and it mistakenly set Recovery Girl as a target.

 Recovery Girl had tried to evade the machine earlier, but she’d tripped again, allowing the rope to snag her.

 Todoroki valiantly attempts to free her. Unfortunately, he gets tied up as well. Now dangling together with Recovery Girl, escape attempt thoroughly botched, he apologizes profusely.

  (read Aitai’s Japanese > English translation of the following scene here and here)

 Kirishima Eijiro. Todoroki hadn’t ever really spoken to the boy before they’d teamed up to save Bakugou. But they’d shared the frustration of having the League of Villains snatch away Bakugou in front of their noses. For Kirishima to have his dear friend whisked away, without getting the chance to do anything about it – well, Todoroki could certainly empathize. This frustration was what drove the students to form the Bakugou Rescue Squad, anyways.

 In the current situation? Kirishima would probably act according to instinct, complete with a ‘manly’ desire to help others…

 As it turns out, Kirishima is presently on the 4th floor, helping his next-door-neighbor Bakugou unpack. One of Bakugou’s boxes had gotten mixed in with Kirishima’s luggage earlier. When Kirishima dropped off the box, he’d decided he might as well help out.

 “Hey Bakugou, what’s this stick?” Kirishima inquires. “Some weapon?”

 “That’s for mountain climbing, dumbass.” Bakugou snaps. “Why are you such a pain in the ass? Go the hell back to your own room.”

 At Bakugou’s scrunched-up scowl, Kirishima just laughs, unfazed. “Hey now. Two is better than one, right? When we’re done with your room, let’s head over to sort out my room too!”

  “I bet, you lazy ass! You’re just slowing me down!” Bakugou doesn’t put any real weight behind his harsh words.

 Rescuer and the rescued. The breeze drifting in through their new home scatters the vestiges of unfamiliarity between the two.

   Todoroki attempts to break the ropes. Unfortunately, the more he struggles against the unyielding steel, the higher he and Recovery Girl get hoisted up by the ropes. Hatsume’s remote control isn’t working either.

 “Damn… in a time like this… if only Yaoyorozu was around!”

 Like Iida, Yaoyorozu had also disapproved of the Bakugou Rescue Squad, but had joined them to make sure no one would engage in combat.

 With her ability to stay cool-headed in any situation and her superior knowledge and strategizing – if it was Yaoyorozu, she’d definitely be able to come up with a solution!

  Meanwhile, Yaoyorozu is still on the 1st floor trying to cut down on her luggage.

 “Silverware… it can go.”

“For paintings, just one will suffice.”

“Shoes… three pairs is enough, right? Ah, but I really need a pair of heels. There’s just no room! I’ll just have to go with the bare minimum for everything. Screw it, one pair of shoes it is.”

  Todoroki racks his brain for ideas. He could possibly use either side of his quirk to deal with the rope, but Recovery Girl could get seriously hurt in the crossfire.

 “Well, I guess I’ll just have to dismantle the machine,” Hatsume finally says, defeated. “I’ll go fetch some tools from the workshop!” But as she turns to leave, the two captured begin flailing about violently.

 The offending machine – unwilling passengers and all – begins to roll away, along the road. Hatsume makes to send her other gadgets after it, which is totally ineffective and nearly gets her caught as well.

 “Oi, don’t mess around,” warns Todoroki.

 “Go call a teacher,” Recovery Girl decides. Meanwhile, Todoroki’s getting swung about. He eyes something ahead with trepidation. The gadget is approaching a large, deep pit, one that was used by the second-years for practice. And now they’re on track to go tumbling into a bottomless chasm. If they fall in with the huge machine, it can only end in tragedy.

 Todoroki can no longer conceal his anxiety. The machine is still making for the pit with speed. There’s no time to call for help. Should he take a chance with his quirk? No, but… What to do?

 As he becomes increasingly panicked, the face of his friend comes to mind. Even in a life-or-death situation like this, Midoriya would never give up! Todoroki recalls when they’d tried to save Bakugou while All Might and All for One were fighting.  Though there had seemed to be no way to get to Bakugou, Midoriya had come up with a way to succeed.

 Todoroki regrets that his own deep-seated, long-standing hatred against his father had caused him to lash out at Midoriya, his friend.

  On the 2nd floor, Midoriya is quite upset. Over what? The order of his All Might figurines, of course. Disregarding daily necessities, All Might paraphernalia had taken up a good half of Izuku’s luggage. Position, order, and angle all must be considered…

  Todoroki is still desperately trying to figure out what Midoriya would do in this situation. Finally, he comes up with something. He yells out to Hatsume, “Toss the heavy prune gadget to me!”

 “Hah?” Though confused, Hatsume retrieves the small gadget. “Wait! Do you really want me to throw this over?!”

 “Yes,” Todoroki confirms. “Aim for my mouth!”

 Using ‘Zoom’, Hatsume lines up and (nervously) sends the gadget sailing over.

 Todoroki catches it with his teeth and swings his body to the side. The altered center of gravity makes one end of the machine lift up. The machine attempts to advance with a single set of wheels and eventually topples over, precariously close to the edge of the pit. Todoroki dives under Recovery Girl to cushion her fall onto the road.

 “Whew, that was close!”

 Todoroki just winces at the weight in his mouth, still pinned under Recovery Girl.

 The runaway machine finally shuts down after some loud clattering and Hatsume rushes over to check over the finally freed hostages. Todoroki finally spits out the small gadget and confirms that he’s fine.

 “I’m okay as well,” Recovery Girl concedes.

 “Great!” Hatsume beams. “And using the weight of the heavy prune gadget to unbalance the runaway machine was brilliant! What valuable data!”

 “Can we get these ropes off first?” Todoroki asks dryly.

 So Hatsume runs off to the workshop to fetch some tools, returning with Power Loader. Finally, they sever the steel ropes and free Todoroki and Recovery Girl. Power Loader immediately begins chastising Hatsume.

 ** See wiki page on Power Loader

 “Oh right!” Hatsume, who had been quietly been nodding along to Power Loader’s berating, suddenly reaches into her pocket. “I found this in a tree on my way back. Is this what you were looking for?”

 It’s the photograph of Todoroki and his mother. A brilliant smile stretches across his face, and he thanks Hatsume profusely. She rummages in her pile of machinery until she emerges, triumphant.

 She offers a strangely familiar basketball-sized barrel as a gift to Todoroki. “Let me know what you think after you’ve played with your friends!” Hatsume and Power Loader then start on the task of moving away all the machinery.

 Recovery Girl is about to address Todoroki when she notices a gash on his cheek. When Todoroki had dived under Recovery Girl to cushion her fall, he’d ended up scraping his face on the ground.

 She fixes him up with her quirk and pulls out some candy. “Here’s some soft candy, eat up! Thank you for saving me. Hard-working children get more rewards!”

 “It’s nothing.” Todoroki ducks his head, accepting the considerable pile of candy. “Any of my friends would have done the same.”

 Todoroki startles a bit. Just a while ago, these sorts of thoughts would have never entered his mind. But he acknowledges and accepts the changes to his mindset as personal growth.

 Coming to UA had been really good for him.

 At Todoroki’s gentle expression, Recovery Girl cheerfully responds, “True, true. You and all your classmates are working hard. It’s true now, and it was true in the past. Not a single person is slacking off. But to occasionally recognize and applaud your own efforts? That’s perfectly okay!”

“Okay.” Todoroki puts a piece of the candy into his mouth. … Did my father also work hard at UA? He shakes his head to banish the thought.

 Recovery Girl asks how moving into the dorms is going. Todoroki recalls his strange new room. He just can’t seem to get used to it.

 Upon hearing this, Recovery Girl drags him off to the off-campus junkyard. “I think I have just the thing for you!”

 When they get there, Todoroki’s eyes light up. In the corner are some apparently brand-new tatami mats, shoji, and traditional furniture!

 “Even though these were used for a class, no one will mind if you take them. I’ll contact the teacher to let them know,” Recovery Girl reassures.

 “You have my heartfelt thanks.” Todoroki bows and sees Recovery Girl off, then returns to the dorms. What a day. He lets a deep sigh of relief escape him.

 He’s opening the brand new doors to his dorm room – in a brand new chapter of his life. Though there are some things he won’t be used to, Todoroki is certain it’ll be okay if it’s at UA.

 Now, time to start remodeling! He rolls up his sleeves.

.

–– End of Chapter 2 ––

Chapter 3, Part One

tl;dr   “Yes,” Todoroki confirms. “Aim for my mouth!”

[redvsvblue]

Your writing is awesome. Any fun shipping involving Michael and Ryan in an Airport related AU? (Based off that list you reblogged)

Hey, anon, anon, you’re awesome. :-P. That being said, uh, this…became less of a prompt and more of an entire fic. I’m sorry if it’s not what you wanted! (I chose ‘we have the same luggage and didn’t check the tags before we left so i’m calling you to exchange suitcases (and you also had some interesting things in your bag so i’m excited to meet you) au’ from the list!) 

Thank you for prompting, though! I do hope you like it! 

The phone rings awayand Michael holds it between ear and shoulder as he scratches hischin with a yawn. Late morning sunlight splashes over his livingroom, over the plush rug and the stale sofas he hasn’t sat on in aweek.

Michael lowers hisbowl of cereal to the table to flip over the rubbery luggage tagagain, rubbing his thumb over the brand name and drifting over thename messily scrawled in under the plastic covering.

The phone connectsand Michael snaps to attention, listening carefully to the silence onthe other end.

“Hello?”

“…Yeah?” Ascratchy voice replies, thick with sleep. And probably jetlag,whoops.

“Ryan?”

“…Is this Jack?”

“Uh, no, this is –I’m Michael. We, uh, we seem to have the wrong luggage.”

“Yeah, I figuredthat out when I saw the Amiibos. Give me a second.”

– 

“So, you livein Austin too. Thank god you weren’t connecting.”

“Yeah,thankfully.”  

“…I gottaask, what’s with the knives?”

“They’re –for a friend.”

“A friend?”

“Shut up.”

“And what’swith the makeup?”

“Okay, that’sdefinitely for afriend.”

Michael waitspatiently in the window seat at Starbucks, scrolling idly through hisphone as he waits for this Ryanto show up with his luggage.

“GavinDipshit Free?” Someone asks, tearing Michael from his screen as helooks up to see – well, who must presumably be Ryan,a charming smile and a polite hand extended and Michael’s suitcaseby his legs.

“It’sfor his birthday,” Michael says, grinning back as he shakes Ryan’shand and gestures for him to sit across. Ryanlaughs lightly and rolls his suitcase over under the table –Michael pushes Ryan’s over, and with their own luggage safelytucked next to their legs, they start up a mild conversation. Afterall, Michael does have somequestions.

“Thepotpourri was a nice touch,” Ryan says.

“Yeah,well, I’m not gonna let my dirty socks stink it up, that’s justgross.”

“Iappreciated it. Sorry I couldn’t return the favour.”

“Nah,you were fine. The body glitter is a little questionable, though, Imean, what are you, a stripper? Entertainer?”

Michaelshoots him a teasing little smile and Ryan laughs, shaking his head.

“No,uh, I was at a – convention. With a friend.” Ryan’s eyes driftover to Michael’s forearm and seem to light up a touch, his smilegrowing wider when he speaks. “The one over in Vegas? Theypremiered Far - “

“FarCry, yeah!” Michael says at the same time. “So, cosplayer?”

Ryanlifts one shoulder in a lazy shrug.

“Myfriend’s more into it than me,” he says. “At least, she putsway more effort in. The glitter was for her Overwatch day.”

“Whatwas yours?”

“Booker.From – Bioshock - “ Ryan grins when Michael starts eagerlynodding along, leaning forward on his elbows.

“Well,you gotta show me pictures now,” he says.

“I– eh, they’re not great,”Ryan says, pulling out his phone nonetheless. “Although Meg did doa pretty great Elizabeth.” He leans in a little to whisperdramatically as he opens his phone. “The photographer, however, alittle overpriced,I think.”

“Aw,dude, I know photography people!” Michael exclaims, hunching overRyan’s phone when he brings up the photos to show him. “Oh, thoseare good, yeah, shereally is a great Elizabeth.” He glances up at Ryan a little slyly.“And you’re a great Booker.”

Ryanclears his throat and flushes the faintest pink, murmuring his thanksas Michael zooms in on details.

“Didyou make the costumes?” He asks.

“Ah,no, that’s more Meg’s deal.”

“Dude,listen, next time you need a photographer, hit me up, I know a fewpeople,” Michael says, turning the phone back around. “I mean,Gavin’s all over that shit.”

“GavinDipshit Free?”

“Theone and only.”

Michaelbreaks into friendly laughter and Ryan shares it, pocketing his phoneand shifting a little in his seat.

“Hey,uh, listen, let me get you coffee and you can tell me more about yourcrushed snowglobes?” Ryan asks, something hesitant in his tone.

“Yeah,yeah, that’d be – great,” Michael says, and Ryan’s pleasedlittle smile is incrediblyendearing. God, it’s only been half an hour and Michael’s alreadythoroughly impressed with the man.

“Hey,wait,” Michael says, catching Ryan’s arm before he walks past. “Idon’t know your last name.”

“Haywood,”Ryan says, turning to shake Michael’s hand again. “Ryan Haywood.”

“Jones.Michael Jones,” Michaelreplies, clasping his hand to Ryan’s and grinning at the littlefirm shake Ryan gives.

– 

“Ithought you weren’t supposed to be back until tomorrow,” Ryansays as he pulls his bag off the carousel – checks the tag andshows Michael to prove it.

“Eh,there was a snowstorm comin’,” Michael says, shoving his hands inhis pockets and shivering a little in the chill of the airport.“Bumped all our flights either earlier or later. Figured I’drather lose a day on hotel fees than getting stuck in Jersey foranother week.”

Ryanhums in agreement and pushes his beanie up out of his eyes, pullingup the handleon his suitcase to lean against it as he waits with Michael.

“Convention?”Michael asks. Ryan nods.

“Meetanyone interesting?” Michael teases, has done ever since he foundout Ryan has a penchant – ormore of a habit - ofaccidentally flirtingwith people.

“…notthere,” Ryan says, giving him a strange glance. Michaelignores the little skip in his heartbeat and nods, carefully watchingthe conveyor belt for his bag.

Itrattles up to them and Michael lunges for it, wrestling it off thebelt with exaggerated grunts as Ryan laughs behind him, steadying himwith a hand on his shoulder asMichael yanks the handleup.

They’reonly barely out of customs when something jumps Michael from behind,sending him stumbling forward a few steps and shouting an irritated“Gavin!” when he identifies who exactly is squeaking in his ear.

“Gavin,you fuck, I just got off a plane!” Michael yells, laughing anywaywhen Gavin slides off his back to come around his front, practicallybouncing on his feet in excitement.

“Michaelboi!” He exclaims, fiddling with a slim, wrapped gift in his handsand ecstatically presenting it to Michael. “Happy birthday!”

“It’syour birthday?” Ryan asks as Michael accepts the gift.

“Isthis Ryan? LovelyRyan?” Gavin asks cheekily – Michael hisses out a noand Gavin only grins wider, giving Ryan a quick once-over and holdinghis hand out to shake.

“I’veheard a lot about you,” Gavin says calmly. Michael glares at him.

Heknows too much. Michael’s going to have to snap his neck.

“Anyway,boi, didn’t want you to miss out on your birthday!” Gavin says.Michael smiles and tears openthe paper – and his jaw drops open, much to Gavin’s cleardelight.

“Holyshit, Gav!” Hebreathes, ripping the rest of the paper away and stuffing itcarelessly into his pocket as he flips over the copy of Far Cry, thenew one that came out only a month ago, just before he met Ryan. “Ican’t believe you got this for me!”

“Yeah,well, Jeremy can’t, either,” Gavin replies, tapping the cover.“It’s from him as well, but only if you let him play with you.”

“JesusChrist, thanks, Gavin,” Michael says, staring at the cover indisbelief. “…feel kinda bad for ruining your snowglobes now.”

“Nah,it’s fine! They were top! Worked great in the hammer smashin’video.”

“The– hammer…smashing?” Ryan asks, and Gavin turns to tell him allabout his slo-mo channel andMichael drools over the game.

Ryanends up sharing their taxi home, deep in a playful argument withGavin that only gets more ridiculous the longer the night goes on.

– 

“’ello?”

“Ryan?”

“Michael,”Ryan says cheerfully, something rustling in his background. “What’sup?”

“I– think I have something of yours,” Michael says, slowly turningthe envelope over in his hand. “It’sa – con ticket?”

“Nope,that’s yours,” Ryan says. He briefly pulls the phone away tocroon something to his dog.

“Mine?”

“Meghad an extra,” Ryan says lightly. “Said I could give it towhoever I wanted.”

“Areyou – serious?” Michael asks. Ryan goes silent for a moment.

“Thoughtit would be a good first date,” Ryan says. “If you – wanted itto be that. We can just go as friends, it’s okay - “

“Thecoffee wasn’t our first?” Michael jokes, his heart squeezing upin his chest and Ryan’s bright, happy laugh doesn’t help.

“Seconddate, then,” Ryan concedes. “Youin?”

“I– yeah, yeah, I’m in.”

– 

Michaelcurses loudly when he reads the tag on the bag he picked up andglances sadly back at the customs gate, at the strict security guardskeeping a rigid eye on the people. Ryan’sstill in the air right now, a fuck-up with the seating chart andoverbooking meaning he got the next flight but his luggage got thisone – and Michael’s a tired, travel-weary idiot who forgot tocheck the tag.

Atleast this time it’s not as bad – Ryan should be over in a fewhours, but until then Michael’s stuck with his stuff inan unfamiliar hotel in an unfamiliar city with no more clothes thanthe ones on his back.

Michael’sphone rings hours later, while he’s flipping carelessly through TVchannels and seriouslyconsidering raiding the con snacks he knows Ryan has in his bag.

“Hey,”he says, putting it on speakerphone and muting the TV.

“Propertyof Michael Jones,” Ryan reads out. “Austin, Texas.”

“Yeah,shut up, okay, so I got the wrong bag,” Michael grumbles. Ryanlaughs and car horns honk behind him.

“Youshould really be more careful about this,” Ryan teases. “Or get adifferent bag.”

“Youget a different bag!”

– 

Michael’scostume is only loosely a cosplay, some scraps he put together tomake a semi-decent modern Link sort of thing – Ryan assures himit’s plenty fine, but when Michael sees Meg’s Zelda heimmediately realises he’s way out of his depth.

Still,he walks into that damn convention centre with a BJ Blazkowicz Ryanon his right and an Ocarina Zelda on his left, and determinednot to fuck up their costumes somehow.

It’samazing. It’s goddamn amazing and Ryan and Meg hit up all the gamebooths with him and the overpriced stalls – they split up for a fewpanels, Meg finds her other friends and splits for lunch while Ryanleads Michael outside to get some air and refuel, pulling snacks outof his hefty jacket with a grin and setting his guns aside to pullout some bottles of water.

“Ohgod thank you,”Michael gasps, cracking one open and downing half of it in one go asRyan chuckles beside him, tearing open the fruit snacks and tippingthem into his mouth without touching his grimed-up gloves.

Theyconverse quietly against the warm railing, basking in the sun andsharing snacks as they laugh and talk – at one point Michael inchescloser and Ryan twists a little to face him better and Michael’sheart does backflipswhen Ryan smiles at him.

“What’veyou got planned next, big guy?” Michael asks, a bottle danglingfrom his fingers as Ryan shrugs and looks him over.

“Inthe next hour or in the next minute?” He asks.

“Youplan to the minute?”

“Somethings.” Ryan’s eyes drop to Michael’s lips and – oh– oh, that’s whathe means. Michael nervously licks his lips and Ryan’s cheeks flushthat familiar faint pink again when Michael steps even closer, barelyany space between them.

“Sowhat is your plan for the next minute?” Michael asks, tilting hishead.

Inresponse, Ryan simply cups his jaw and leans in for a gentle kiss,softly pressing their lips together and then a little harder whenMichael sighs against him, butterflies dancing in his chest at thesimple, electric touchof Ryan’s mouth.

Ryanhums contentedly and Michael places a hand on his neck to encouragehim closer, captivated by theslow way Ryan sinks into him, the easy way his lips move andMichael’s just aboutto open his mouth -

Acamera shutter goes off and startles them into each other, Ryan’sforehead bashing against Michael’s and Michael’s nose rubbed inthe makeupped grime on Ryan’s cheek.

Michaelsprings apart to snap at the assholephotographer and finds it none other than hisasshole photographer, with that stupid happy grin and that stupidexpensive camera and –

“Gavinwhat the fuck are you doing here?!”

“Meginvited me,” he says simply, tongue poking out between his lips.

“Didyou know about this?” Michael asks, whirling on an awfullysheepish Ryan.

“Maybe,”he allows. “He was –going to take pictures later, for us.”

Michaelsquints at him.

“Ididn’t know he’d do this!”Ryan protests, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

“It’sa good photo, though,” Gavin adds, stepping forward to showMichael. “’S sweet.”

“Youasshole,” Michaelmutters, grabbing the camera to turn the screen towards him. Fuck,it is a good photo.Fuck Gavin and his fuckingamazing photography skills.

“Asshole,”Michael murmurs again, more reluctantly, and Ryan peers over hisshoulder to study the picture.

“It’sgood,” Ryan says, glancing up at Gavin. “Great shot.”

“Thanks,Ryan,” Gavin chirps, grinningsmugly at Michael. “See? He’snice.”

“HeyRyan, stop encouraging dipshit.”

“Oi!”

– 

“Hey.”

“Hey,what’s up?”

“Eh,nothing much, just callin’. How’reyou?”

“Yeah,yeah, I’m okay. Thanks for Friday, by the way, it was really fun.”

“Yeah,it was for – me, too. Thanks for letting me stay over.”

“I,uh – of course. Yeah.”

“SorryI stole your shirt.”

“Bringit back next time and we’re even.”

“…justbring it back?”

“Wearit.”

“Thatsounds like the Ryan I know.” A pause. “Oh, yeah, actually, I didcall to say something.”

“Hm?”

“Igot a new bag.”

“I– really?”

“Yeah,it’s bright fuckin’ red, can’t be missed.”

“I,uh, I got a new one, too.”

“Ohyeah? What colour?”

“…red.”

“Ryan.”

“No,wait, wait – what brand is yours?”

“It’sAL, it’s the, uh, the AL All-day large - “

“ -large compartment storage case?”

“Michael?”

“…”

“Michael?”

“Areyou telling me we got the same fucking bag,Ryan goddamn Haywood?!”

“Greatminds think alike?”

“Thesame fucking bag?!”

[troahsmidliferoadshow-blog]

Dawn Approaches!

So we’re now sitting at about T-6h until the scheduled departure.  Not sure we’ll hit that window exactly, but I think we’ll be close.  I’m going to share some of the inventory before I leave, but as time ticked down to blast off, I had to focus on getting things packed rather than snapping photos.  So before you start submitting comments like “Aren’t you taking a towel?” Or “How are you going to blow up that air mattress?”  know that I’ve got that handled, just no pictures.

Sorry for the picture quality.  They’re from the phone, not the good camera, and the lighting was terrible.

So this box, plus my passenger seat in the Ranger, represents the sum total of my water-safe storage for the trip.  I put it by the standard sized stove for size reference.

And as you can see, the tent, air mattress, and sleeping bag take up about 50% of the volume.  That also doesn’t include the tent poles, stakes, or mattress pump (but they can get wet).

So, laundry will have to happen -- I can’t take 3.5 weeks worth of clean clothes.  Laundry bags are really good for containing wet-safe things like pots and pans.  The bag I got from all detergent (came free with a jug, thanks guys!) is some kind of nylon or something, so it should repel water pretty well and also dry exceptionally fast.  That’s where my dirty clothes are going.  The other bag is where I’m putting wet-safe items for easy lugging in and out of the truck (my laundry bag from undergrad days -- so it’s creeping towards 20 years old but still works like a champ).  The shiny bag on top is a zip bag of quarters (raided the Strategic Change Reserve) for laundromat ease.  And yes, those are my toes :D

Man has to eat, right?  So here we have my kitchen and dining room for the next nearly month.  From left to right I have -- a long fork for weenies and marshmallows, a spatula, a long lighter, my combo fork, spoon, can-opener, knife tool from Coleman, a corkscrew (as W.C. Fields said, “Reminds me of my safari in Africa. Somebody forgot the corkscrew and for several days we had to live on nothing but food and water.“)  It also has a bottle opener and a secondary knife blade.  Propane and propane accessories (camp stove), a heat safe mug, a plastic plate, and an aluminum drinking glass.  Cookware and coffee percolator.  A roll of aluminum foil (useful for cooking and storage), and a bottle of Badia Complete Seasoning since taking multiple spices would have eaten valuable cubic inches.  Sorry, foot fetishists, no toes this time.

Some camping essentials.  An emergency poncho, a hand-held and head-mounted LED flashlight pair (special thanks to IBM and CISCO’s booth at EDGE 2016 for the hand-held), tools (adjustable wrench, bitdriver with bits in the handle, and hatchet with claw, hammer, and blade), a 1 qt aluminum water bottle, some cheater logs (hey, I’m not trying to be Bear Grylls here unless Zac Efron wants to go on a shirtless backpacking adventure with me!), and of the utmost importance, my waypoint compass which will be around my neck the whole trip.

Unfortunately, the lantern would have taken up too much space, but my friend Tracy showed me a life hack with a bottle of water I’m going to try out.  If not, I guess I’ll just walk around with my headlamp like some doofus in a fanny pack.

So here’s the first-aid, medical and grooming party.  Always make sure to take your entire party’s prescriptions or OTC meds.  Gray bag has all the routine human grooming needs (toothbrush, toothpaste, deo, soap, etc.) down to a minimally reduced set.  Other items are of course sunblock, bug repellent, some antiseptic/analgesic spray, a general first aid kit with bandages, cleaning stuff, a few common medications, etc.  The little black bean is my polarized prescription sunglasses for safe driving and also better vision of the amazing scenery we’re going to observe.

One cut-back I did make -- I’m only taking one kind of soap and a 2in1 shampoo/conditioner.  There’s a story, potentially apocryphal (likely owing to his attempts at the Unified Field Theory), that Albert Einstein only used one type of soap -- face, body, shaving, and hair, all the same soap.  I draw the line at my hair, but there’s no shaving cream or face cleanser in that gray sack.  Just a bar of Old Spice brand soap.

And here’s the same stuff all packed up for safety.  I only put this out there as a reminder that not only do you need to keep water out of things from the elements but that wet things should be contained in case they leak.  Also, enjoy foot fetishists, they’re back.

Okay, all, that’s it for tonight.  I have more packing and inventory pictures and stories, but it’s after 2, and tomorrow is a long drive to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge/Sevierville area.  Stay tuned!

[pauldeckerus]

How I Handle Storage and Backup as a Photographer

I remember when I just started out with photography I would use external hard drives to save the biggest amount of my data on. I’m sure most of you reading have been there (or are still in this phase). The drive got full, and then I would get another drive, and because of technology and price, this one was often bigger… but eventually it would also run out of space.

I had a bunch of external hard drives with different sizes from different brands, each one with labels on what was on there. And from time to time I would need to get back to an old photo or video and I would have to find it on one of the old drives.

At that time, I didn’t even care about backups. I wasn’t really a professional and I had some drives crash and lost files. This was life. But at some point, I decided this was not working well anymore.

I remember back in the day, I was always checking articles and doing research on what would be the best way to handle storage and backups as a photographer. There are tons of articles out there with a lot of information, but I tried to keep this one as simple as possible.

Nowadays I have a reliable storage and backup system, and in this article, I am going to explain what works for me. This doesn’t mean there aren’t other options or that my way is the best. This is simply my workflow and a workflow that has worked for me over the years of being a professional photographer.

I work with decently high megapixel cameras with my main workhorse being the Sony A7RIII. Raw images are around 50MB (compressed raws, if I shoot uncompressed they’re sometimes more than double). I often travel and when I come home I often transfer over 500GB of files from my travel laptop/storage back to my main storage. I currently have way over 15TB of photos and videos.

For me, the most important things about storage are:

Speed: I edit directly from my storage device. This means it needs to have an interface as fast as possible. I often work with files that are bigger than 1GB each (PSD files with a lot of layers). Storage being able to handle these files at a decent speed is very important for me. Therefore I need drives with decent speed, and a fast interface to communicate with my workstation at home, currently an iMac 5k 2018 with 32GB DDR and 1TB SSD storage.

Reliability: My main workstation is on for around 24/7. The storage is being used every day for extended periods of time. Being reliable is important to me. Even though I have backups in place, it’s still important that the device I use is reliable including the hard drives. If anything crashes it still takes time to fix or replace.

Expandability: As I mentioned earlier: it doesn’t work well to just keep buying new external hard drives and throw the old ones somewhere in your garage. Being a creative professional you start to work with bigger and bigger amounts of files and data. More often than not do you need to access old projects for clients. As a photographer, I often sell licenses from very old photos. I need to be able to access those quickly. If I run out of space, there needs to be an easy and fast way to expand.

My Workflow

Structure

I arrange my photos by date and location. My directory structure is as follows: year -> month -> date/ location. This way I can always easily find my photos. I catalog them in Lightroom with keywords so that I can always find old photos in a very easy way. Every time I come back from a shoot, I would make a new directory with the photos named date/location in my current month and simply update my Lightroom catalog to add them in there.

Storage Device

So what exactly do I mean with a storage device? A storage device is simply a device that handles your storage. It’s not just a hard drive that you need to replace when it’s full. A smart storage device takes hard drives and combines their capacity together as one. So you can increase the total capacity by adding more hard drives. These devices have a lot of advantages compared to normal external hard drives. The main advantage is that you can easily upgrade your storage by adding more drives into the device. They also often have smart functions, their own processor to speed things up, own software, backup options etc. There are a lot of storage devices and brands out there. I use devices from a brand called Drobo.

Full disclosure: Although I have been using Drobo devices for a number of years, I recently became a Drobo ambassador. This does not affect anything written in this article. Your choice of storage device is entirely up to you and there’s a lot of research and articles out there comparing different brands and different kinds of storage devices.

What I like about Drobo is the ease of use, the speed, and reliability. And it’s very easily expandable. I have been using the DAS systems of Drobo (direct attached storage). I prefer DAS over NAS. Because with DAS you directly connect your storage device to your workstation. With fast USB ports or currently Thunderbolt 3 this is simply faster than NAS storage. Working and editing photos and videos directly work much better from a device directly attached. There are a lot of other options next to Drobo, but Drobo simply works great for me because of the things mentioned above.

I currently use the 8D with 7 drives. It can take 8 in total. If it runs full it will give me a warning and I simply put an extra drive in it. It doesn’t matter if it’s the same brand or capacity than what’s already in there. You just put the drive and the device will do the rest. This is what I like about systems: simplicity. When I have the maximum amount of drives in it (like in my older Drobo 5Dt), I can remove a smaller sized drive and replace that with a much bigger sized hard drive and again, the Drobo device will do everything. I don’t need to shift files or anything. Everything is been done automatically on the device. This is another great advantage of having a smart storage device.

Hard Drives

This is a tricky one. Regarding hard drives I need speed. The speed of interfaces is so fast nowadays that hard drives simply can’t keep up. To get the fastest speeds we could get SSD drives, but getting 20TB SSD can be pricy. Also, SSDs are not built for 24/7 usage. You would think they would be more reliable than normal hard drives because they don’t have spinning parts, but NAS and DAS systems operate drives almost 24/7. SSDs are not built for that, or at least not yet. So I would currently not recommend having only SSDs in your storage device, but this will probably change soon. I currently use Seagate Irongate hard drives. They’re decently fast and are built to run 24/7 in these storage systems. Another nice thing is that they have a lifetime warranty, so if they die you simply replace them for free.

Drobo with detached front, 7/8 bays in use

Backup

If one of your drives crashes, you’re screwed. This is the nightmare of every creative professional so having good backups is a must. I would recommend backing up your stuff in different locations. Lots of storage devices have backup options in them via a wide variety of RAID systems, and my Drobo device does too. I can easily set it up to automatically backup my files. When 1 drive in them crashes, it will automatically rebuild the files on the space that is left on the devices. Then I simply replace the drive and everything is fine again.

This gives me a great feeling of safety. But it’s not enough. What if my house burns down or what if my whole house gets robbed? You need a backup in an extra place. I would recommend backing up data in the cloud. I use Backblaze myself (not sponsored in any way). I love simplicity and Backblaze offers just that. You can select what to back up in a few steps and Backblaze will run in the background, uploading all your files into the cloud. It costs 8$ per month for unlimited storage. I have about 12TB backed up in the cloud.

If you don’t have a fast internet connection backup up large amounts of data can take months if not years. If you don’t back up on the cloud I would recommend having a physical backup at another place than your main office or house, at someone of your family for example.

The simple interface of Backblaze

Summary

The following diagram shows my current workflow setup.

When I come back from a shoot, I simply copy all my files onto my storage device (2). This often goes with 500GB+ at once after a trip, so speed is really a thing here.

The storage device is directly connected to my workstation via Thunderbolt (3) to have optimal interface speed for fast data transfers.

The Drobo (2) already has a backup function built in, so I am safely protected against a simple hard disk failure.

But in case of a whole device failure, robbery, or fire I have my files completely backup in the cloud via (4) Backblaze. To recover my files I can simply download them. This will take a long time for someone with a slower connection, so Backblaze also offers to send hard drives with the data on it. A nice function. Fortunately, I never had to recover anything from Backblaze yet, but the feeling of having my files safe is very important.

So, as you can see, the workflow and system I use are not very complex. It’s straight forward and simple, mainly because of the devices and tools I use. It’s important to note that good storage devices and services cost money. But fast and safe data is very important, so I would definitely recommend that you invest in a workflow that works best for you. The most important parts are a proper storage device and cloud backup. This makes sure your files are always easy to access and properly backed up.

To close this article I would like to emphasize that photography is my full-time job and so I prefer to invest in a robust storage solution. The brands I pick work for me but that doesn’t mean other brands can’t do the same job. It’s entirely up to your preference and how much money you want to spend. But having all of your photos and videos in a safe place is important for everyone.

About the author: Albert Dros is an award-winning Dutch photographer. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. His work has been published by some of the world’s biggest media channels, including TIME, The Huffington Post, The Daily Mail, and National Geographic. You can find more of his work on his website, or by following him on Facebook and Instagram.

from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2019/03/13/how-i-handle-storage-and-backup-as-a-photographer/

[sailorrrvenus]

How I Handle Storage and Backup as a Photographer

I remember when I just started out with photography I would use external hard drives to save the biggest amount of my data on. I’m sure most of you reading have been there (or are still in this phase). The drive got full, and then I would get another drive, and because of technology and price, this one was often bigger… but eventually it would also run out of space.

I had a bunch of external hard drives with different sizes from different brands, each one with labels on what was on there. And from time to time I would need to get back to an old photo or video and I would have to find it on one of the old drives.

At that time, I didn’t even care about backups. I wasn’t really a professional and I had some drives crash and lost files. This was life. But at some point, I decided this was not working well anymore.

I remember back in the day, I was always checking articles and doing research on what would be the best way to handle storage and backups as a photographer. There are tons of articles out there with a lot of information, but I tried to keep this one as simple as possible.

Nowadays I have a reliable storage and backup system, and in this article, I am going to explain what works for me. This doesn’t mean there aren’t other options or that my way is the best. This is simply my workflow and a workflow that has worked for me over the years of being a professional photographer.

I work with decently high megapixel cameras with my main workhorse being the Sony A7RIII. Raw images are around 50MB (compressed raws, if I shoot uncompressed they’re sometimes more than double). I often travel and when I come home I often transfer over 500GB of files from my travel laptop/storage back to my main storage. I currently have way over 15TB of photos and videos.

For me, the most important things about storage are:

Speed: I edit directly from my storage device. This means it needs to have an interface as fast as possible. I often work with files that are bigger than 1GB each (PSD files with a lot of layers). Storage being able to handle these files at a decent speed is very important for me. Therefore I need drives with decent speed, and a fast interface to communicate with my workstation at home, currently an iMac 5k 2018 with 32GB DDR and 1TB SSD storage.

Reliability: My main workstation is on for around 24/7. The storage is being used every day for extended periods of time. Being reliable is important to me. Even though I have backups in place, it’s still important that the device I use is reliable including the hard drives. If anything crashes it still takes time to fix or replace.

Expandability: As I mentioned earlier: it doesn’t work well to just keep buying new external hard drives and throw the old ones somewhere in your garage. Being a creative professional you start to work with bigger and bigger amounts of files and data. More often than not do you need to access old projects for clients. As a photographer, I often sell licenses from very old photos. I need to be able to access those quickly. If I run out of space, there needs to be an easy and fast way to expand.

My Workflow

Structure

I arrange my photos by date and location. My directory structure is as follows: year -> month -> date/ location. This way I can always easily find my photos. I catalog them in Lightroom with keywords so that I can always find old photos in a very easy way. Every time I come back from a shoot, I would make a new directory with the photos named date/location in my current month and simply update my Lightroom catalog to add them in there.

Storage Device

So what exactly do I mean with a storage device? A storage device is simply a device that handles your storage. It’s not just a hard drive that you need to replace when it’s full. A smart storage device takes hard drives and combines their capacity together as one. So you can increase the total capacity by adding more hard drives. These devices have a lot of advantages compared to normal external hard drives. The main advantage is that you can easily upgrade your storage by adding more drives into the device. They also often have smart functions, their own processor to speed things up, own software, backup options etc. There are a lot of storage devices and brands out there. I use devices from a brand called Drobo.

Full disclosure: Although I have been using Drobo devices for a number of years, I recently became a Drobo ambassador. This does not affect anything written in this article. Your choice of storage device is entirely up to you and there’s a lot of research and articles out there comparing different brands and different kinds of storage devices.

What I like about Drobo is the ease of use, the speed, and reliability. And it’s very easily expandable. I have been using the DAS systems of Drobo (direct attached storage). I prefer DAS over NAS. Because with DAS you directly connect your storage device to your workstation. With fast USB ports or currently Thunderbolt 3 this is simply faster than NAS storage. Working and editing photos and videos directly work much better from a device directly attached. There are a lot of other options next to Drobo, but Drobo simply works great for me because of the things mentioned above.

I currently use the 8D with 7 drives. It can take 8 in total. If it runs full it will give me a warning and I simply put an extra drive in it. It doesn’t matter if it’s the same brand or capacity than what’s already in there. You just put the drive and the device will do the rest. This is what I like about systems: simplicity. When I have the maximum amount of drives in it (like in my older Drobo 5Dt), I can remove a smaller sized drive and replace that with a much bigger sized hard drive and again, the Drobo device will do everything. I don’t need to shift files or anything. Everything is been done automatically on the device. This is another great advantage of having a smart storage device.

Hard Drives

This is a tricky one. Regarding hard drives I need speed. The speed of interfaces is so fast nowadays that hard drives simply can’t keep up. To get the fastest speeds we could get SSD drives, but getting 20TB SSD can be pricy. Also, SSDs are not built for 24/7 usage. You would think they would be more reliable than normal hard drives because they don’t have spinning parts, but NAS and DAS systems operate drives almost 24/7. SSDs are not built for that, or at least not yet. So I would currently not recommend having only SSDs in your storage device, but this will probably change soon. I currently use Seagate Irongate hard drives. They’re decently fast and are built to run 24/7 in these storage systems. Another nice thing is that they have a lifetime warranty, so if they die you simply replace them for free.

Drobo with detached front, 7/8 bays in use

Backup

If one of your drives crashes, you’re screwed. This is the nightmare of every creative professional so having good backups is a must. I would recommend backing up your stuff in different locations. Lots of storage devices have backup options in them via a wide variety of RAID systems, and my Drobo device does too. I can easily set it up to automatically backup my files. When 1 drive in them crashes, it will automatically rebuild the files on the space that is left on the devices. Then I simply replace the drive and everything is fine again.

This gives me a great feeling of safety. But it’s not enough. What if my house burns down or what if my whole house gets robbed? You need a backup in an extra place. I would recommend backing up data in the cloud. I use Backblaze myself (not sponsored in any way). I love simplicity and Backblaze offers just that. You can select what to back up in a few steps and Backblaze will run in the background, uploading all your files into the cloud. It costs 8$ per month for unlimited storage. I have about 12TB backed up in the cloud.

If you don’t have a fast internet connection backup up large amounts of data can take months if not years. If you don’t back up on the cloud I would recommend having a physical backup at another place than your main office or house, at someone of your family for example.

The simple interface of Backblaze

Summary

The following diagram shows my current workflow setup.

When I come back from a shoot, I simply copy all my files onto my storage device (2). This often goes with 500GB+ at once after a trip, so speed is really a thing here.

The storage device is directly connected to my workstation via Thunderbolt (3) to have optimal interface speed for fast data transfers.

The Drobo (2) already has a backup function built in, so I am safely protected against a simple hard disk failure.

But in case of a whole device failure, robbery, or fire I have my files completely backup in the cloud via (4) Backblaze. To recover my files I can simply download them. This will take a long time for someone with a slower connection, so Backblaze also offers to send hard drives with the data on it. A nice function. Fortunately, I never had to recover anything from Backblaze yet, but the feeling of having my files safe is very important.

So, as you can see, the workflow and system I use are not very complex. It’s straight forward and simple, mainly because of the devices and tools I use. It’s important to note that good storage devices and services cost money. But fast and safe data is very important, so I would definitely recommend that you invest in a workflow that works best for you. The most important parts are a proper storage device and cloud backup. This makes sure your files are always easy to access and properly backed up.

To close this article I would like to emphasize that photography is my full-time job and so I prefer to invest in a robust storage solution. The brands I pick work for me but that doesn’t mean other brands can’t do the same job. It’s entirely up to your preference and how much money you want to spend. But having all of your photos and videos in a safe place is important for everyone.

About the author: Albert Dros is an award-winning Dutch photographer. The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. His work has been published by some of the world’s biggest media channels, including TIME, The Huffington Post, The Daily Mail, and National Geographic. You can find more of his work on his website, or by following him on Facebook and Instagram.

source https://petapixel.com/2019/03/13/how-i-handle-storage-and-backup-as-a-photographer/

[lorrainecparker]

Gear+Beers Recap

Free food, free beer, good people, and amazing brands. That’s Gear+Beers at Filmtools in Burbank. As the sun set on February, Filmtools brought together Arri, Matthews, mLogic/Codex, Atomos, and G-Technology to demo some of their newest gear and provide an intimate setting for people to talk to them about whatever came to mind. Industry professionals, solo shooters, enthusiasts and everyone in between came out to shoot the breeze and celebrate what it means to work and be part of productions of all sizes.

     From Matthews, we saw the brand new K Stacker. Designed by Alex Amyot, the K Stacker holds 3 KinoFlo LED panels or two of their ubiquitous 4-Bank fluorescent fixtures. It can be hung in a grid or stacked to add even more fixtures, but primarily it’s used to put a large amount of light on a small, rollable package. In addition, they had their C-Stand bags on display, one of which is rollable like a snowboard/hockey goalie bag which, aside from helping you organize your grip heads and the like, makes transportation a snap. The top pocket fits a RoadRags kit as well, keeping everything nice and tidy. The DuttiDock and MosesPole were also on display. The former being a compact place to rest cameras while swapping lenses or between takes which attaches simply to a light stand, the latter being a ⅝” Baby pin on a telescoping pole. The pole is ideal for resting a Steadicam or similar stabilizer between takes. It can also be used to prop up a sagging slider or you can give it to a bored-looking crewmember to “Hollywood” a light in what might be the lowest-footprint light stand ever created.   

Arri gave everyone a special treat by demoing the brand new Skypanel S360-C, well before its slated debut at NAB in April. Almost six times bigger than the already-popular S60, the S360 is borderline solar. By the end of the event, its 120,000 lumen output was easily providing light for the entire parking lot, outpacing a traditional 12K tungsten spacelight and drawing only 1500 watts from the wall. Aside from its ludicrous output and buttery-soft light, and along with most of Arri’s LED offerings, the S360 can be programmed to replicate all of Lee and Rosco’s filters and almost anything in between. Like the other SkyPanel offerings, it has pre-programmed lighting effects like police lights, the flicker of a fire or television, the pulsing lights of a club, the brash flash of the paparazzi, or even fireworks. If you’re a fan of massive, soft light sources, you’d be hard pressed to find a better option these days. I’m excited to see how the competition reacts.

   Aside from raffling off a Ninja Inferno, Atomos was showing off their Sumo M & Sumo 19. The difference being that the Sumo M is a monitor and the 19 has recording capability. The Sumo 19 is a 19” HDR monitor that can record 4K 12bit Raw and 10bit ProRes/DNxHR, and has 1080p60 live switching built in. As you can see in the photo, the screen is bright enough (minus the glare the camera seems to have enhanced) to power through daylight viewing without the need of a hood, although Atomos offers a very nice one to ensure a distraction-free viewing experience. I made a joke asking if they’d seen someone mounting it to a camera ala their Inferno or Flame series and wouldn’t ya know it, someone had. Not directly to the camera, but attached to an arm next to it. Y’all are wild.

As an aside, Atomos is offering $400 off the Sumo M and $500 off the Sumo 19 from March 1st to the 15th so if you’re interested in a massive studio-sized production monitor that can record dailies, proxies or 4Kp60 masters and has playback controls away from the camera team, there ya go. It also has all the usual features like false color, waveforms, and all that good stuff. Atomos continues to kill it. mLogic and Codex got together to show off some slick LTO backups integrated into a cart, namely mLogic’s mTape and mRack systems. For those who don’t know, LTO is an extremely affordable backup solution with massive longevity and storage size with up to 12TB per cartridge and 300MB/s transfer rates with a 30 year shelf life. It may be 1990’s technology, but it has yet to be bested. The mTape is the drag-and-drop desktop version, with dual Thunderbolt 2 ports, and the mRack is the version that goes in your DIT cart. One version, the mRack can write to two LTO drives simultaneously while the mRack DIT version can support six HDD or SDDs on top of the LTO drive and four of those Thunderbolt 2 ports. A simple solution, but a requirement for productions that need to be sure that your footage doesn’t get lost. GDrive was also in tow, giving everyone a look at their Mobile SSD which I’ve glowed about before, so I won’t go too deep into that (they’re amazing) but they also had their G Speed Shuttle XL RAID system on display which can either be configured with 8 drives or 6 and two EV slots to make your footage transfers from RED Mini Mags or CFast cards dead simple. The Shuttle XL can be easily transported, easily drive-swapped, and can hold up to 80TB in its 8 drive form with transfer speeds up to 1350MB/s.      The day was filled with great conversation, awesome prizes, beer a plenty and tasty, tasty tacos. Smaller events supported by big companies do an amazing job of connecting folks from all walks of the industry, and Gear+Beers was no different. I personally met a couple folks I have admired for a while and never expected to see, and that alone made the day special on my end. The few hundred people who came through all looked like they had a similar experience, which made this Filmtools event a rousing success.

The post Gear+Beers Recap appeared first on ProVideo Coalition.

First Found At: Gear+Beers Recap