#it was a year of love and lessons

[septemberkisses]

with just a few hours left for 2024, I want to thank everyone who came into my life this year. whether it was for the good, or for the bad, I'm still thankful to you - for the love, memories, moments, and lessons. and moving into this new year, i wish only the very best for you <3

[selfhealingmoments]

[macksartblock]

beware of burnout it's so real i'm afraid

also bc ended up making my writing into a font to avoid killing my hand as much and bc I saw Caden do this, I thought it would be fun to see who y'all think it suits lol

[ganonfan1995]

Burnt out

[romeowho]

brennan: names are important and powerful and you should be careful when saying them

bad kids: *bring the night yorb back by saying its name too much*

brennan: maybe now you've learned that names are important and powerful and you should be careful when saying them

bad kids: *revives an old god by speaking it's name*

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 767: Rivalry between warlords

Pag 2

1: Hahaha!

2: Two people are coming up!!

Who is it?

What a force!

Uh... those jerseys... that orange hair....!!

3: It's Sohoku's second year, Kaburagi!!

Hahaha, sorry for the wait! A hero always arrives late!!

Pag 3 / 4

They gathered from all over the country.... to decide the strongest in Japan!!

Pag 5

1: Two people from Sohoku caught up to the lead!!

Uh... Sohoku

Sohoku... and it's two of them!!

2: Senpai, is he strong?

That's the guy who last year competed until the end against Hakogaku for the sprint battle of the first day!!

3: I'll say it again

4: Hahaha, sorry for the wait! A hero always arrives late!!

He really said it a second time!! Does he like that sentence so much!?

Pag 6

1: “Join the lead” completed, Issa!!

Hahaha just as we planned, Danchiku!!

Pag 7

6: Senpai, the fact that they're here

7: means that are chances of winning are lower, right? It means big troubles for us, who used our legs, jumped ahead and got here with so much efforts, right!?

8: That's not a “hero” at all!! Rather, it's the opposite!!

Pag 8

1: Come forward if you wanna be defeated

2: Such an overwhelming confidence!! What arrogant attitude!! Ug!! Ah!?

3: But, somehow, he's a little cool!!

4: Wait wait wait

Wait!!

Pag 9

1: Small, small

You're small!! Sohoku!!

Ah?

2: A man's strength is “thickness”!!

3: Oh

4: Just now there was a guy from Nagoya who also didn't know

Just

5: Tch

6: I wanna make you understand by strength!!

Pag 10

1: Look at this thick neck!!

2: This thick waist!!

3: If you ride a first-class road-bike you should understand too!!

A thick waist is the trunk of your body!! And the trunk is the most important muscle to turn your legs and move your bike forward!!

4: And then, the “neck”!!

5: The heaviest part of the body.... the head accounts for one-fifth of the body

And it supports it from the side!! In other sports, the head is supported by the spine, only in cycling it's supported only by your neck's muscles!! That thickness stabilizes all your movements!!

6: These two things are “thick”!!

Do you understand what it means?

7: Kaburagi-kun!!

Pag 11

1: Let's race!!

2: No need for words, let's speak with our legs!!

How 'bout until the second roadsign!?

4: No problem

5: I'll entertain you!!

6: You'll recognize the “thickness”!!

7: The race between those two is starting!!

Pag 12

1: The thickest volcano in Japan is Sakurajima!!

Pag 13

1: The thickest radish in Japan is the Sakurajima radish

2: Kagoshima's Oosumi jumped ahead!!

Oosumi-kun!! His killer phrase came out!!

3: An explosive acceleration, just like a volcano's eruption!!

4: And his trunk.... his thick trunk

5: is moving forward like a log in a flowing in rapids!!

Pag 14

1: They call me “the raging log of Kagoshima, Oosumi”!!

My way of running is crushing everything!!

2: On the other hand, Sohoku's Issa got a late start!!

3: And his pedaling doesn't even have any explosive power

4: Is his condition not good!?

Pag 15

1: He's pedaling so... unconcerned...

He's just pedaling.... huh!?

4: and yet....

6: He caught up to Oosumi!!

7: H-

Pag 16

1: How!!

2: Your power is “thick” but your power loss is “thick” too

The really fast pedaling... haven't you heard it?

3: Is the one that appears weak at first glance

5: Is that the second roadsign?

6: Since you got here

7: I'll show you

8: He raised his hips from the saddle

Pag 17

1: Hoooooooo

2: My explosive acceleration!!

3: Ra!!

5: Ngh....!!

He's getting smaller in the blink of an eye.....

Pag 19

2: He accelerated with a popping sound!?

3: Hahaha, so how was it?

4: My Special Strong acceleration, that's had another power up since last year?

5: Sohoku defeated Kagoshima!!

The raging log!! And with a huge margin, even!!

Oosumi-kun!!

So strong... is he really a hero?

Pag 20

1: As expected by Issa

You sure show your strength during a “race”

2: Your high power, judgment, and wild instincts are first class

3: With this performance, you erased

4: this leading group's will to fight!!

5: There's 6km left until the...

6: sprint line!!

Pag 21

1: (Kaburagi and Danciku

Leading group)

We've passed a group of some people while coming here, but as expected there's no one else....

2: who will catch u.....

6: ….. Sohoku

Somehow

8: This pressure!!

Pag 22

1: Hakogaku's Doubashi!!

Pag 23

1: Yo!! It's been a while, orange!!

2: I came here to shoot you down!!

3: Thick!! Who is this thick guy!!

4: Ha.... Hakone Acedmy in a moment like this!!

5: What's with this pressure

6: He caught up? Until here and on his own!!

7: Ugh!!

What do we do, Issa!!

Pag 24

1: I won't forgive you...

I'll never forgive you....!!

3: You've arrived after me and so now I look like less of a hero!!

[ducktracy]

Rewatched Book Revue and can feel the fanaticism I once (and still do!) held for it dripping back into my bloodstream as I find myself mindlessly redrawing poses from the model sheet in MS Paint

[reineyday]

shanks, four years younger than mihawk, is usually granted the "starry-eyed crush on the cool older boy" trope (with good reason!), so i was thinking it'd be cute to grant that dubious pleasure to mihawk in an age swap au instead.

mihawk, scrappy nine year old, gets picked up by roger for a trip on the oro jackson to the next island (roger just wants to feed the kid lol), and gets sweet talked into it by dangling a duel with rayleigh, the current world's greatest swordsman, as bait. when mihawk gets there, rayleigh says mihawk has to be able to beat his apprentices first, and gets his ass summarily handed to him by a thirteen year old shanks, who both impresses and embarrasses mihawk, as shanks beats him without even trying but he's so cool when he does it.

and so mihawk declares himself shanks's rival, and when he wins, shanks will have to listen to a request. and years and years later, when mihawk finally does win, that request--which he's never changed his mind about--is permission to start formally courting shanks. charmed, and absolutely having seen this coming after years of observing an obvious crush and slowly warming up to it as mihawk grew and changed between their meetings, laughs and just kisses mihawk straight-up.

[chaos-lioness]

Thinking about the beach year tonight. So much of stolen century is beautiful and intense and the stated point of the beach year is to get a break but. It’s still in the middle of the century you know? The players and the characters and the audience are ALL still feeling the weight of everything around it the whole time, and because of that it becomes so much more than a fun break. Like there’s goofiness and joy for sure but it’s still so steeped in the intensity and sadness and we end up with this stunningly realistic experience of the moment of calm in the midst of a terrible storm. At the end of it there’s going to be another year, right? And they know that and we know that. 

[unashamedly-enthusiastic]

Thrilled and Delighted to hear (quite literally) that my 8yr old downstairs neighbour has kept up with his music lessons and has progressed from stage 1 to stage 2

Stage 1 Stage 2

[skyloftian-nutcase]

First Meetings (Hero’s Shadow backstory!)

The highlands were particularly chilly today as Link looked out into the dunes of Gerudo territory. It was strange how he could be so close to barren heat while also freezing his butt off.

Trilling his lips, the half-Sheikah warrior stretched lazily, gaze drifting from spot to the next. He had been transferred to guard duty along the Hyrulian-Gerudo border for his new assignment. It was his first time truly far from home, and it was honestly pretty thrilling. Link loved to see and learn new things, and the Gerudo Highlands were so vastly different from the lush, wet valleys and mountains of home. Kakariko Village was tucked away near Lake Hylia, and Link had spent most of his youth swimming and rushing to the large Cracked Mountain - legend said an earthquake had caused the large split along its center, and it held mystical treasures within its belly, but all Link had managed to do as a child was get stuck halfway through and give his elders a heart attack.

Either way, he loved exploring, and this place was all entirely new. The Highlands were visible from the capital on the Royal Plateau, but he’d never really known what to expect of any of it. Now that he was assigned here, he wanted nothing more than to explore every inch of the place.

But at the moment he was on duty, and so he stayed in his position.

It wasn’t as if the Gerudo were particularly hostile. They were not part of the kingdom and needed to be watched, and they were a warrior people, making them more threatening than others, but still… they hadn’t really caused problems for Hyrule, nor vice versa. There was definitely a wariness between the factions, though, and it created tension.

Movement caught Link’s eye, and he turned, wondering if maybe it was another lizard (he had already collected three), when he realized it was a person. Small, far in the distance, but someone nonetheless. Curious and a little wary, Link crept closer, hand slowly resting atop his katana, and then he got a closer look.

It was a Gerudo. A teenager, from the looks of it - maybe even around his age. She had twin scimitars, and she was practicing with them, slicing hydromelons with ease. Link watched her a little while, watched the way she moved so fluidly, the way her muscles rippled with each twist and turn, the way her hair reflected the sun far more than the sands did. He felt himself staring a little too long, his heart fluttering a little, and he stepped back, a little overwhelmed. The girl seemed to sense his scrutiny, stopping and looking around before glancing upward at him. Link swallowed, throat dry.

She—she was—she was beautiful.

Link heard a sandal on stone, and his adrenaline immediately spiked, every nerve on high alert, just in time to see a shadow cast over him. He looked up and saw a large figure seemingly falling out of the sky towards him, large mace in hand, and Link gasped a little, rolling out of the way as the weapon slammed into the earth.

Grabbing the hilt of his katana with his left hand, the thirteen-year-old immediately went into action. The initial removal from the scabbard was a wide slash, pushing the figure—a man who bore Gerudo traits (but weren’t all the Gerudo women? That’s what he’d heard)—back a little to avoid getting eviscerated. The sun shone behind the man, blinding Link a little, and he changed his position, breaking the kata in order to get a better view. It gave his opponent an opening, and he took a large step forward, swinging the mace horizontally. Link ducked, thankful for his small stature, and jabbed his blade directly forward. His enemy twisted to the side to dodge, and Link’s flank was wide open, giving the man an opportunity to do a one-handed swing with his weapon.

It hit true, slamming Link in the ribs.

The young warrior went flying, hitting the cliffside and falling to the ground, trying desperately to catch his breath. He heard the person walk towards him, and then heard under his breath, in a bemused tone, “A child?”

Link gasped life back into himself, ignoring how his ribs protested, and he sprang back to his feet, gripping his blade with both hands as he did another sweeping cut to drive his enemy back. He jerked a little at the end of the fluid motion, hissing in pain. His ribs were definitely broken.

Did he have a fairy? An elixir? He didn’t remember packing anything, but—

Link’s eyes widened as the man strode forward purposefully, both hands around the leather handle of the enormous mace, and he swept it right where Link’s head was. Clapping his hands together, the teenager channeled his magic, feeling the air sucked out of his lungs as he disappeared before the weapon could land a hit.

Ganondorf stared, blinking at the blank space where the child had just been. Despite being caught off guard by the Hylian’s age, he was still armed and he’d still been watching his daughter, which merited a swift response. The Gerudo king looked around a moment, confused, before hearing clothes fluttering. He turned around wildly, still seeing nothing, and then the sun reflected off something bright just above him, and he looked up and—

The child was about to stab him in the head.

Hissing, Ganondorf pushed hard with his right leg, jerking his body to the side just in time for the Hylian to slice his blade across his shoulder and part of his chest. Ganondorf bit back a yell, his blood pumping faster than it had in ages, and when he’d finished dodging, he’d almost had to laugh.

He didn’t know how this child was actually managing to put up a fight, but this was actually kind of invigorating. The boy had even landed a blow!

Ganondorf knew he’d won, though, based on how the boy struggled to breathe, so he paused before continuing the fight. “Who are you, child?”

The boy immediately hesitated, clearly caught off guard by his change in tone, and he stood hesitantly in a ready stance. “My name is Link.”

“Link,” Ganondorf repeated, humming and putting the mace on a strap on his back. The Hylian hesitated, red eyes curious and hopeful and far too trusting. In an instant, Ganondorf pulled out his spear, slamming the boy’s abdomen with the blunt end. The child gasped, falling to his back, and the fight was over. Ganondorf approached him slowly, watching his chest heave as he struggled to breathe. He pulled out a red potion, plopping it on the ground next to the boy, and dug the sharp end of his spear into the earth beside the child’s light blonde hair. “Don’t watch my daughter again.”

With that, the Gerudo king walked away, wondering what in the world Hyrule Kingdom was doing sending children to its borders anyway. But he had to admit… he was impressed by the boy’s fighting prowess.

Link grimaced, turning enough to grab the potion and chug it, wondering what in the world just happened.

Despite reporting the incident to his superiors, not much was really done. Apparently, there was concern that this was the actual King of the Gerudo himself, and no one would dare cause problems by claiming the king had attacked a lowly Hyrulian guard. Link wasn’t important enough to merit a war. He also felt immensely guilty he’d even managed to bring about any concern for one.

Sighing, the teenager resumed his post the next day, a little more wary and more than a little put out.

When he heard a foot scuff on stone, he immediately drew his blade, wondering what kind of insanity he was going to deal with now.

Instead, he saw the girl he recognized from yesterday, carrying a basket and looking apologetic.

“Hey,” she said softly, holding her hands up to appease him. “I don’t mean any harm.”

“This is the Hyrule border,” Link warned, not moving.

“Yeah. I know.” The teenager replied dully, as if it were obvious. Well… it was, but still. What else was he going to say?

“That means you can’t be here,” he explained, though there was less force in his voice.

“Yeah, yeah,” the girl replied dismissively. “Technically I can’t cross the line. That’s somewhere between you and me. I’m still in Gerudo territory.”

Link lowered his sword, growing confused. “Yeah, but… what do you want?”

“I wanted to say sorry,” the girl replied, lowering her arms and gripping the basket with both hands. “My dad is… overly protective. But… yeah. You want food?”

Link blinked. Blinked again. “Uh… sure?”

The girl smiled, trotting over and grabbing a stick. She traced a line in the dry earth, easily creating a division between them. “There. There’s the border. I won’t cross this line. But we can have a picnic in the meantime.”

Link stared at her, then at the line, then back at her. And then he giggled. “A picnic sounds nice.”

The two sat across from each other, the center of the basket placed directly over the line, and slowly they started to eat and chat. And if they stayed there for hours until the sun started to set, neither really commented on it.

And if they saw each other the next day for another picnic, neither complained.

And if a King and Queen of the Gerudo stood exasperatedly at the bottom of the cliff the tenth time it happened, neither of them noticed.

[familyofpaladins]

@tmaynt Day 16: Favorite Episode

It was hard to pick just one episode to do. But TMNT (2003) Season 3 Episode 11: The Lesson is one I love because I love stories where we find out that the characters actually met each other as kids. And the fact that the turtles tried to teach Casey how to fight (someone who is older than them) while switching turns of who is doing the teaching without actually talking to each other about what they've taught so far is very funny to me.

I thought about also doing the Battle Nexus Arc from 2003 because I really like those episodes too, also 1987's "Pizza by the Shred" (Michelangelo accidentally ends up working for Shredder as a delivery boy who is trying to catch the turtles with pizza) and "Cowabunga Shredder" (Thanks to plans gone awry, Shredder ends up with Michelangelo's personality) because they're absolutely hilarious to me lol

[daily-hanamura]

[ywpd-translations]

Ride 756: The third Inter High!!

Pag 1

1: The Inter High starting line is impartial

2: Those aiming for victory

3: Those filled to the brim

4: Those who are scared

5: Everyone who put on their number bib

6: The line calls everyone to a new path

Pag 2 / 3

1: No2, Onoda Sakamichi's last Inter High!!

Pag 4

1: “Kyushu” was once divided into nine countries, and that's why it has that name*

(NdT.: The “kyuu” in Kyushu means nine)

(Currently is divided in seven prefectures: Fukuoka, Ooita, Saga, Nagasaki, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Kagoshima)

2: It has a lot of active volcanoes, and people coexist with the harshness of nature while enjoying hot springs, geothermy, and tourism

3: Trade with the continent has been active since ancient times

4: Formerly, the distribution of goods by ships, which was the mainstream

5: Passed through the Kanmon Straits, separating Honshu and Kyushu

6: And transported to Osaka, Edo, the Japanese cities by the sea, and every corner of the country

Pag 5

1: Even today, the Kanmon Straits, which passes through Shimonoseki, and Kitakyushu City, and Moji, is the shortest route that connects the Inland Sea and the Sea of Japan, and is a key point for the shipping through sea

2: 1000 ships a day pass through the complex strait, which is 500m wide in its narrowest point

3: As for the land route

4: An highway crosses the Kanmon Strait with a huge bridge 1068m long

5: Ordinary national roads and railroads pass through specialized tunnels

6: As for bicycles and people... they use the “pedestrian bridge tunnel” at the bottom of the huge bridge

From Honshu to Kyushu, they can cross over the Kanmon Strait by walking

Pag 6

4: Waaa

We're at the bottom of the sea here?

That's right

5: So above us is the sea?

Yeah

And we can walk to Kyushu?

That's right, it's around 400m from here

Amazing....

6: There's even people with bikes

Yeah

7: Look! There's a line!

It's the prefectural border

8: One, two-

9: Yes! I landed in Kyushu!

Pag 7

1: The entrance to Kyushu is in the northernmost town, Moji, in the prefecture of Fukuoka, Kitakyushu City

Pag 8

1: This is where this year's Inter High will start

Pag 9

3: Where do I put this baggage?

Put it in the tent for now

Thank you, senpai

4: Look, The bikes are all lined up

So pretty

Pag 10

1: I took a picture

So cool

2: Two portions of Mijiko curry, please

Yessir

3: A pressure of 6.5?

Six, please

4: Do you have an allen key?

Yes

Pag 11

1: Ohhhh

2: There's so many huge buses!!

Teh!!

3: Nara

4: That one is from Miyazaki

5: Na-Nagano!!

6: And there's so many people, too, teh....!!

7: Are they participants in the race!? All of them!?

You're kidding, they look so strong!!

8: The attendance!! Is on this scale!!

So this is....

Pag 12

1: A national competition!!

2: Teh?

3: Ohh.... suddenly my knees started trembling, teh

Ho- how do I stop it, teh, Ki....

4: Kinaka-kun!!

6: Ki.....

7: “The competition is in Kyushu, so there's no way we can bring everyone along”

8: Kinaka.... kun

Pag 13

1: I'm here!!

Ah, you're here....

2: I'll be a mechanical help for the next three days

And I was entrusted to be your lucky charm

De-he.... oho, ohoho, fuhoho!! What's that enigmatic way of laughing!!

3: Don't act like I didn't come!!

No... I just wanted to reaffirm again how grateful I am that you came, Kinaka-kun...

Ah!? That doesn't make any sense

4: It does!!

Pag 14

1: Because I really am grateful to you, Kinaka-kun!!

3: And I think this jersey is for the both of us!!

5: Don't say you're grateful so directly

It's embarrassing!!

6: Let's go to the tent!!

Yeah!!

You

7: It's your first Inter High but you're not all that nervous!!

That's somehow incredible

8: Yeah!!

After all

Pag 15

1: We have the strongest senpai!!

Pag 16

1: Ohhh

Waaa

2: It's Sohoku!!

It's Sohoku, the two-times in a row champion!!

Sohoku is in Kyushu!!

3: What a terrific aura!

Waaa

Onoda.... Naruko, Imaizumi!!

They look serious!!

Are they aiming for the championship again this year!?

Pag 17

1: They're going to get their number bibs

They're heading straight for the reception!!

Yes, all the participants are lining up in a row there

2: Oi, you're interrupting....

3: Sorry-

Ah

Soho-

Waa

Waaa-

5: -ku's...... bibs....

Pag 18

1: ….. please

2: Is he..... nervous....!? The reigning champion, Sohoku!?

Did he have a nervous aura?

Maybe the two guys behind him.... were supporting him?

3: They were supporting him, but the jersey came off

5: They're going back to their tent....

So that's Sohoku... right

7: So-so- sorry, I got nervous!!

Yeah

Right

8: La-la-la-la-la

La?

La?

Pag 19

1: I was thinking it's the last Inter High!!

3: For us

Pag 20

4: Yeah

5: That's right

6: That's right, Onoda-kun

We're third years

7: It's our third and final

8: yearly grand stage

Pag 21

1: Once this is over, we'll retire

This Inter High is our last race!!

Pag 23

1: Honestly speaking, I my heart too was pounding when we were on the ship coming here

I was really nervous

2: Naruko-kun....

3: Naruko

4: But then I thought

When we were first years and ran in the Kanagawa competition..... maybe, at the starting point in Enoshima

5: The old man, Kinjou-san, and Makishima-san, too, were as nervous as we are now

Pag 24

1: They must have been

3: But they didn't show it at all to us kouhai

4: Well, we can't afford to show it, either

5: That's why, Manager, we talked and decided to go back to our beginning!!

6: We chased and caught up with those people's back, but this time we're gonna surpass them!!

7: Huh

8: We're changing our numbers from last year!!

Pag 25

1: The old man carried number 172, so I'll take number 2!!

Hotshot will take the number Kinjou-san wore, number 1!!

Pag 26

3: And Onoda-kun....

I....

7: The number Makishima-san carried

Pag 27

1: I'll run wearing the number 3!!

[okmcintyre]

Jasper being JASPER at the end of the world

[friendly-neighborhood-furry]

i love Carrie i think shes so so cool but i don't like drawing characters without any clothes on so i gave her a cute lil emo outfit :3

didn't go full on emo with it because i wanted it to simple enough that it could still be feasibly animated. idk how well i did cuz i'm not an animator but whatever i think she looks nice :)