#programming is so awesome once it actually works. which is rarely

[autism-corner]

i hate it when a thing i was struggling with turns out really cool.

[frozenjokes]

guys it was a little touch and go on whether or not they’d kiss in this final chapter of this (intended) shipping fic but rest assured I made it happen

convex week day 7 - past/present - prev

@convexweek

What do you do when you can’t stop thinking about him?

Not Scar, necessarily, but what Scar represented, the opportunity, the idea of justice, the allure of change. As much as he didn’t want to, as stupid as it was, Cub believed Scar when he said he didn’t know what those training aids actually did. Cub believed Scar when he said he wanted to ban their use among celestials. Moons must not have the same protocol, they must do things differently, better.

Over the course of his life, Cub had adapted to the world around him by becoming a systematically selfish man. The rest of the world wasn’t lesser per se, but they weren’t important, they didn’t matter so long as they did their jobs and left Cub alone.

Thinking about people other than himself was a startling and mildly embarrassing experience, but all of a sudden Cub was doing that a lot, thinking about people, thinking about to-be suns.

“Do you really think you can do this? Remove the aids from the training program altogether?”

Scar blinked, like somehow this hadn’t been what he’d expected when Cub requested his appearance. “Uh, no, I think I specifically told you there’s a 99.99999% chance nothing comes of this.”

“Oh. Not even with me working with you?”

Scar snorted, then laughed, he was laughing! “Who do you think you are, seriously? It’s a toss up who has a worse reputation among suns, except at least I have friends and a folk hero background to fall back on. If anyone knows your name it’s not for a good reason!”

Cub opened his mouth to argue, then closed it, drawing a fist to his lips as he tried to come up with any singular thing he could bring to the table here. “Hm. No, you’re right. I add nothing of value here.”

“That’s not true!” and Scar was so passionate, Cub almost believed him, “You have a story to tell, Cub! Come on, stars aren’t born spiteful!”

“You can be born looking the part.”

“Say more.”

Cub did say more. Suddenly he was saying more and he just couldn’t stop, he was saying more words than he had in his centuries of being alive, he was so angry, he was so angry and never once had he been able to say why- Maybe that wasn’t the whole truth. He’d had opportunities even after his escape, but opportunities took work to nourish and Cub was in a monogamous relationship with his system guardianship already. This was free, unexpectedly easy, an eager audience who agreed with him, validated him, was horrified to hear the ways in which Cub was treated- offhand remarks, snide instructions, frustration at repeated offenses that Cub literally could not help-

Cub had never had another person tell him it was okay. When Scar was gone, Cub cried for hours.

But Scar was not gone for long.

At first it was a lot of ‘I have an idea for this case,’ and ‘I got an opportunity to do this thing for this case that’s awesome,’ and ‘I got this new anecdote for this case,’ which was fulfilling a normal amount and also extremely fucking irritating (which is why Cub kept letting Scar in, of course.)

There were some ‘I met someone I think you would like!’s which was simply untrue, so Cub attempted to discourage these lines of thought by ceasing conversation for the rest of the encounter, which Scar rarely noticed.

Then something terrible started to happen. With Cub’s face.

By now, Scar had a somewhat consistent way of finding Cub, and graciously, did not scream nearly as much. Cub had two places he typically frequented; his mail, and his telescope, both within reasonable distance of each other, so Scar got to know them pretty fast.

Today, when Cub felt the beginnings of a moon’s signature chill while sitting at his telescope, he.. something..

“What’s wrong with your face?” Scar asked, all but tactfully.

Cub did not speak, because if he spoke, he might lose control of it.

“He thinks I’m stupid,” Scar said, to no one in particular, but extremely to Cub, “He thinks I’m stupid. He thinks I don’t know that he likes me. Well two can play at that game.” Scar held a finger to the corner of his mouth, pulling it into an exaggerated frown. He held this for a while. Cub did not bend. Finally, Scar relented, “You know, your head’s gonna explode if you don’t breathe sometime soon.”

“I don’t need advice.”

“Great! Still looking through that shitty telescope?” It was impressive how Scar could move from one deeply annoying topic to the next, “I seriously don’t understand why you don’t just go see it. In person! You can’t even control what you look at there, and all of it’s through some shitty filter! Come on, Cub!”

Cub frowned (a relief), rolling his eyes and looking away, “I like not choosing. I see things I might never have seen otherwise. Besides, I’m needed here.”

“Are you that needed? Come on, you’ve said yourself that your system is ‘full of very competent moons and efficiently run,’ when’s the last time you’ve actually had a problem? It’s not like anyone comes to see you anyway, and if your moons are as diligent as you say, they’ll notice any potential issues long before they become emergencies. You have time for a day around Earth.”

“Why don’t you just sit with me instead?”

Scar paused at the invitation, Cub had never extended one like this before, though he couldn’t say he regretted the impulse. Anything that made Scar stop, even for just a moment, was a damn blessing.

“I’ll sit with you,” Scar said, even, imploring, almost like he was navigating some kind of business deal. “But I won’t look out your telescope. Once is enough, friend, I know what you’re missing.”

And Scar did sit, he sat very close, uncomfortably so, and Cub was about to say something about it until it didn't seem so bad, and Cub was relaxing, perfectly alright with the cold at his side. Was this how it felt on Earth? A little cool, a little bit uncomfortable, but not exactly unpleasant. No, not unpleasant at all.

Cub didn’t feel the need to respond. Today he was watching an endless number of small frogs resting in the water of a lush swamp, the whole scene full of shapes and novelties that could never exist anywhere else. The frogs were singing, Cub couldn’t hear them, but he knew it to be true. He imagined their voices, ones he’d heard centuries ago but had long forgotten.

“There’s an eclipse later, on Earth. We could still go, still see it the way the life down there would. The sky darkening in the middle of the day, the moon blocking the sun..”

“I know.”

Scar half recoiled, utterly taken aback, “You knew? How? Why won’t you go with me? These don’t happen very often, you know.”

Cub snorted. “I know everything.”

“You do not.”

“I know most things to do with the alignment of moons and planets in my system, especially Earth. I’ve seen a thousand eclipses all over the place, including there.”

“Why not a thousand and one?”

“I’m looking at the frogs.”

Scar scoffed, “You’d rather look at frogs- which you can see at any time- than go see the eclipse on Earth with me.”

“I’d rather look at frogs than do anything with you.” Cub responded without hesitation, to which Scar hunched over himself in a pitious pout, and Cub only cared a little bit. “This is fine though. I can do frogs and Scar.” Scar was not to be appeased.

“I like you.”

Cub didn’t know what Scar wanted, but Scar was an impatient moon, and Cub did not have to wait long.

“Say it back.”

“Why.”

“Because I know you like me too and quite frankly I am so extremely out of your league it’s not even funny, so I should at least get the satisfaction of you looking away from your frogs and telling me with your words you feel the same.”

That was enough to make Cub jolt away from his telescope, blinking feverishly. “What?”

Scar did not waver. “What.”

“You like me?”

“Of course I like you!” Scar threw up his arms in his great exasperation.

“Like like?”

“What the fuck does that mean.” Arms back down.

“If you’ve been around humans long enough you know what ‘like like’ means.”

“I haven’t! I’ve been busy trying to get your job taken away and now I’m kind of your legal errand boy but you don’t really know or care what the errands are.”

“I care. I like to hear about them.”

Scar made a completely inscrutable face, but it looked angry, searching, maybe exaggerated-? Was he joking? “Only one ‘like.’”

“Oh, okay. You just said you were out of my league, which is true, but that implies two likes.”

“I am out of your league in every way it is possible to be out of it.”

Cub nodded, sage. “It’s painful, a little bit.”

“Well imagine how I feel! You’re the biggest loser in the galaxy and I don’t even hate you about it anymore. And you won’t say it back!” Scar threw up his arms again, and Cub looked back at his telescope.

��I don’t have to. You already know.”

Cub eeped! when Scar pulled him off his telescope by the shoulders, the two of them suddenly very very close, face to face. Wow. This was great. There was so much darkness this close. Maybe if Cub put his face on Scar’s face it could be dark forever.

“I want you to say it.”

Man, Cub really didn’t want Scar to be talking anymore, especially if he was going to continue on this topic. “There’s a thing humans do to tell each other they like each other.”

“I don’t care about-“

Cub kissed him, he tried at least, it was a little awkward and Scar didn’t seem to know what was happening, but come on, there was no way Scar hadn’t seen humans kiss before, they did it all the time! Regardless, it wasn’t anywhere near as magical as the humans made it look. Cub leaned back, unsatisfied. Scar looked bewildered.

“What the fuck was that.”

“Humans do that sometimes. I’ve always wanted to try. Was that cool or was it gross.”

“I mean I don’t know if it was gross or if it was just weird as hell. Why do humans do that?”

Cub shrugged, “Usually it’s because they like like each other, but I just wanted my eyes inside your scars.”

“Sometimes I think you’re trying to peel my skin off with your eyes, and I am still undecided on whether or not I like that or if you’re a freak who needs to be around more people desperately. None of us have this ‘sensitivity’ problem because we never isolated like you have. At least that’s what I think happened. I don’t know. Your sun is bright as hell, it doesn’t make any sense why you’ve become sensitive to all light. Is it the color?”

“I like your scars.”

Scar rolled his eyes. “I know.”

“I like you.”

Scar stopped. He smiled that half-smile of his, just one of many things about him that Cub had really grown to enjoy. It had never made Cub happy before, a smile. Not on his face or anyone else’s. But this one.. Cub was starting to get it. He was starting to get it.

“Well good. This was getting embarrassing.” Before Cub could process or say anything, Scar’s head was back on his, not in a kiss, just a light push into the dark spots of his face, black, brilliant, serene. Cub closed his eyes and relaxed. Yeah.. he didn’t mind this at all.

[captainsophiestark]

The Dread Pirate Roberts

Westley x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for my Year of Olympians and part of a bigger challenge being run by @yearofcreation2023​ which features a ton of awesome creators and runs all year! Go check it out if you haven’t already!

Also, this fic wasn’t a request, but I’m dedicating it to @auroracalisto​ who is my fellow Princess Bride fangirl searching desperately for fic with me

Fandom: The Princess Bride

Prompt: Poseidon; Sea, Water, Storms

Summary: Prince Humperdinck has set his sights on Y/N to marry, but she can't simply forget the love of her life, Westley, and give that up for a life with the prince. So, she decides to run, taking a boat and setting sail for new horizons like her farm boy did so long ago.

Word Count: 3,192

Category: Angst and fluff

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

I glanced back over my shoulder one last time as I undid the last of the lines holding my boat to the dock. In the dead of night, I couldn't see much, but in the far distance the lights of the capital city of Florin stared back at me. This would likely be the last time I saw this place.

A few weeks ago, I'd been in town to do some shopping for my family, taking a bit of a rare adventure away from our farm. While I'd been walking through the market, a procession had ridden through on horseback. Among the group of young soldiers and officials was none other than Prince Humperdinck, apparently in the city to visit his subjects before going back behind the walls of his massive palace. By some strange stroke of luck, he'd seen me, and apparently decided I was someone he wanted to get to know.

We'd spent the rest of the day walking around the market, surrounded by his guards, talking and taking in the day. At first, I hadn't minded. What other opportunity would I get to speak with a prince, after all? I told him of the troubles I faced in the countryside, and about things I thought might help or fix them. He listened closely, and I thought I might actually be making a difference. He even invited me to return to the capital city and the palace in a few days' time to continue our conversations. Of course I'd said yes, excited that the prince had listened to me and wanted to hear more of what I had to say.

And then, when I arrived at the castle, he proposed to me. To make matters worse, it was clear from the minute I set foot in that place his proposal came out of a place of attraction to me physically, and absolutely nothing else.

I immediately knew I wanted nothing to do with him, especially not in that way. I'd already met the love of my life, and although I'd lost him when he went off to sea and left my family farm, my love for him had never faded. Perhaps, someday, I'd be willing to love someone else, but that day was not today, and no matter what I knew it wouldn't be love for Prince Humperdinck. However, there was no saying no to the Crown Prince. So, to escape the fate of the loveless life I surely faced if I agreed to marry him, I'd decided to leave this land once and for all.

I'd had very little time to make plans or preparations, since my window to escape Humperdinck was incredibly small. I'd managed to pull together some provisions and to secure a small boat, that hopefully I'd be able to sail on my own. I was no expert sailor, but I could get by well enough to leave the country. I'd had no time to tell my family or anyone else I cared about, but eventually, I'd decided that might be for the best. This way, they'd have deniability when people eventually came asking about where I'd gone or why I'd left.

I took a deep breath, steadying myself, then chucked the final tether ashore and away from me. I ran around, adjusting the rigging and sails on my small boat as I drifted out of the harbor. There was a light wind tonight, perfect for helping me make my escape. The gods of the sea were watching out for me, or else my darling Westley, the love I'd lost to the sea, now acting as my guardian angel.

It was fitting, I supposed, that I'd eventually follow him out here. I hoped to find a new place to call home, somewhere no one knew me or my connections to the Prince of Florin, but nothing was guaranteed. This may well be the place I perished, to finally join Westley after he lost his life to the Dread Pirate Roberts.

I sat up all night, manning the lines and making sure my sails were always adjusted to catch the winds. I made good progress, leaving Florin in my wake, and eventually got comfortable enough that I could sleep for short periods of time in between making sure everything went smoothly. I'd actually managed to gather a decent amount of provisions, and I started to feel more hopeful about my prospects on this ship to find a new land.

At least, until a storm hit.

I woke up just after twilight on the third night since I'd left, being almost rocked out of my seat by the waves tossing my boat about. I shook my head, trying to clear it of the remaining sleep fog as the waves continued to grow around me. I swore as I looked to the horizon, only to find darker clouds and bigger waves. I was headed straight into the center of what appeared to be a very big storm.

I ran to the rigging, trying to change course. I wrestled the ship into a sharp right turn, thinking I could run along the edge of the storm until, hopefully, I past it. I'd never be able to outrun it by going back the way I came, and the odds of me finding the eye of the storm before I capsized were fairly low. I had no other way out.

I wrestled the rigging until my arms burned, and then found a way to keep going. Despite my best efforts, however, the storm only got worse around me. I clung to the ship, praying for a miracle or some way out of this, and then suddenly, I was underwater.

A massive wave must've finally managed to swamp my boat. I floated for a moment, letting my natural buoyancy show me which way was up so I didn't accidently swim further from the surface before I at last made my push upwards. I gasped once my head broke the surface, searching frantically for something to help keep me afloat.

I found a piece of my now-smashed ship not too far from me and swam towards it wildly, clinging onto it for dear life once I reached it. I frantically tried to come up with an idea to save myself, but I kept drawing a blank.

I was going to die here, tossed among the waves, resigned to a similar fate as my dear Westley. There was a certain poetry to that, I supposed, even as I fought back tears at the hopeless feeling now welling in my stomach.

Then, out of a break in the waves, I saw the mast of a ship coming closer to me. My heart leapt, and I started shouting and waving, doing my best to catch its attention. It was a far bigger ship than mine had been, meaning it hadn't lost its struggle with the massive waves around us. Maybe I had a hope of making it out of this after all.

That hope immediately died when I caught sight of the flag flying over the mast as the ship got closer to me and the wind changed. They were flying the Jolly Roger.

I stopped waving, debating mentally whether it was better to stay in the water or be caught by pirates, but apparently a decision had been made for me. They'd already seen me, and I could hear shouting and see people pointing to me as the ship came even closer. I braced myself, trying to be as ready as possible for whatever this new challenge brought. I had been the one who'd decided to run, after all, and I knew in my heart I didn't regret that decision one bit, no matter what this new hell might bring me.

Before I knew it, I'd been fished out of the water and hauled on deck. I quickly backed away from the men who'd gotten me on board, and although most of them didn't pay me any attention in the chaos of trying to keep the boat afloat, two followed me as my back came up against the main mast, halting me in my tracks.

The men stared at me as they stalked closer, and every muscle in my body went into fight or flight mode. The man a bit further back from me seemed to be taking cues from the other man, his eyes darting between me and who I assumed must be the leader. The leader, the one closest to me, was dressed in all black with a mask on his face, his ice blue eyes tracking my every movement. My heart stopped dead in my chest. I'd never seen him before, but I'd heard enough legends and stories to know beyond a shadow of a doubt who this man was.

Before me stood the Dread Pirate Roberts.

A fury like none I'd ever felt raged through me, replacing the panic and fear that came before. This man was responsible for the death of my Westley. I glared at him, putting the full force of my hate into the look, then glanced around for a sword or something else to attack him with. I'd most likely die on this ship anyway, so I might as well go out attempting to get some justice for my lost love.

"You! What were you doing out in this storm?" yelled the pirate over the waves. I glared back at him and ignored his question.

He waited a few long moments for my response, then huffed in irritation. He looked around at his crew and the storm still raging on all sides, then back at his first mate.

"Keep us from sinking! I'll be back!" he roared at the man behind him before turning back to me. The man rushed off to fulfill his orders, leaving me more or less alone with Westley's murderer.

Before I could even attempt to make a move for revenge, the pirate surged forward and grabbed me by the arm. His grip was like iron, and although I fought against him, I couldn't break away. He dragged me across the deck of the ship with surprising strength, up the stairs to the ship's wheel where a navigator wrestled against the wind and waves, and then through a door to what I assumed must be his private quarters. He shoved me into a chair as soon as we were through the door, slamming it behind us before turning back to me.

I moved to stand from the chair, but before I could, he had his sword at my throat. I glowered up at him as he spoke again, a deadly calm to his voice.

"Now, I'll ask you again–and I expect an answer this time. What were you doing out in that storm?"

I clenched and unclenched my fists, debating whether it would be worth it to answer or if I should just let him slit my throat. After a moment's hesitation, however, I decided I didn't really want to die if I could avoid it, especially not before I found some way to get even the slightest justice for Westley.

"I was escaping the hell of being married to a man I don't love, a monster second only to yourself," I hissed. The pirate stared back at me for a few moments, seemingly considering my words, then spoke.

"Explain."

I took a deep breath in and let it out slowly, trying to get my temper under some kind of control.

"I caught the eye of Prince Humperdinck," I finally managed. "I had no desire to marry him, but he's not a prince who takes well to the word 'no'. Running was my only option, so I secured a boat and set sail as soon as possible."

"On your own?"

I nodded once, not bothering with a verbal answer.

"And being a princess was such a horrifying fate that you risked death in its stead?"

I sneered. "Being wed to someone I don't love after knowing what true love feels like is a fate worse than death, yes. And thanks to you I will never have my happy ending with my love, for he died at your sword while he was out attempting to gain enough fortunes for us to finally marry."

"...And what was this man's name?"

"Westley," I replied without hesitation. Up until now I'd been staring back at the Dread Pirate in rage, but my tone softened and my focus shifted to the distance as I got lost in memories of my beloved farm boy. "He was good and kind, something you'd know nothing about. He loved me, and despite the simple life we led together, we were happy. We could've lived long, wonderful lives together, but now that will never happen. So threaten me with your sword and whatever else you want. Nothing you say or do will ever match what I've already had to endure."

I faced the pirate again as I delivered the end of my speech, only to find him staring back at me with slightly wide eyes. When I'd finished speaking, he stared at me for a moment longer, before finally dropping his sword to his side. Another beat, and then he'd dropped to his knees before me, staring up at me like I was the sun. I leaned back a bit, confused, until he tore off the black mask covering so much of his face and looked up at me again.

Westley. Somehow, by some miracle, I was staring into the face of Westley, the love of my life.

"I... How... What kind of trick is this?" I demanded, trying to get my head straight. Had I been drugged somehow?

"No trick, my love," he replied, staring at me dreamily. He scooted a bit closer to me, but didn't touch me, instead letting me work through my thoughts.

"Tell me what's going on," I demanded, sounding a bit more desperate than I wanted to.

"As you wish."

He opened his mouth to continue speaking, but I didn't bother listening. That was enough to satisfy any lingering doubts I had. I didn't understand it, but I could also say with complete certainty that this was, in fact, my Westley.

I slid out of my seat, joining him on the floor on my knees. We were face to face, and he smiled softly at me, but I didn't give him a chance to do much more before I pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss.

After a few seconds of shock, he kissed me back, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me tighter to him. I ran my hands through his hair, over his arms, across his shoulders–anywhere I could reach. I'd gone years without Westley, my darling farm boy, the love of my life, and I needed every bit of confirmation I could get that he was here, and this was real.

We stayed like that for long minutes, only pausing our kiss once or twice to come up for air. When we finally broke apart, I laid my head on his shoulder, holding him tight to me as he likewise held onto me, a few tears finally starting to fall.

"Westley..." I breathed, relief flooding through my system as I felt his strong arms around me and heard the steady beat of his heart. "How is this possible?"

"When the Dread Pirate Roberts raided my ship, he didn't kill me," Westley breathed, speaking softly against my ear as he ran his hands up and down my back. "I begged him for my life, and I told him about you. My love, who I needed to return to. I told him I couldn't die because I couldn't leave you.

"He ended up sparing me that day. He kept me prisoner, and told me each day he'd most likely kill me in the morning. Over the course of time, he trained me, and I learned everything to do with being the Dread Pirate Roberts. Eventually, he told me his secret. He was not the Dread Pirate Roberts. He was a man called Ryan, who had inherited the position from someone else who was not the Dread Pirate Roberts. The title carries more weight than anything else, and so the name has been passed down every few years, the previous Dread Pirate Roberts retiring with their fortune after choosing and training their successor. He'd chosen me to be his, and a few days after he told me as much, we docked at a small island port. We hired a completely new crew, and then he left. I've been the Dread Pirate Roberts ever since."

"I... I can hardly believe it."

"Imagine how I felt when I found you bobbing in the water just as I was finally on my way back to you," he chuckled. I huffed a laugh with him, then at last pulled back to look him in the eyes again.

"So... what now? What do we do next?"

"Well, we can't stay on the ship. It's not the best place to start a life together, to say nothing of the questions it would raise that I left you alive."

"Of course."

"And you can't return to Florin or, truly, any country near it, lest the 'prince' find you and throw a wrench into our newfound happiness."

"Agreed."

"Then that really only leaves one option, doesn't it?"

"And what might that be?" I asked, smiling and leaning into Westley as he stared at me, a playful smile tugging at his lips.

"To find a completely new place and start over, of course. I've already picked my successor–I was planning to promote him once I reached the shores of Florin, but now I'll wait until we find our new home."

"My love, I can't think of a plan I'd more like to initiate," I said, beaming happily back at him. He leaned down and kissed me again, then pulled away to stare at me with love in his eyes.

"So, where shall we go?"

"I'd say you know the lands far from Florin's reach far better than I. You choose. But... pick someplace with green fields, and perhaps a gorgeous lake we can swim in on hot days. With land enough for us and any future children to roam and have adventures, and room for a home for us to curl up in on cold winter nights."

"Well, that's not much to ask for," he teased, leaning into me a bit. "Anything else you'd like to add to the list, my love?"

"Yes. I want our new home to be some place we can live happily together, without anything to ever separate us again so long as we both shall live. I want it to be a place where we can be by each other's sides for the rest of time, where we finally get our happy ever after."

He smiled at me warmly, leaning down to place a soft kiss on my lips before pulling back just enough to look me in the eyes.

"As you wish."

[thebashfulbotanist]

hey i wanted to ask if you are a certified botanist because I would love to ask a few things about how your job is and the road to becoming a botanist. im a teen with dreams of going to collage and getting my degrees for botany. I want to ask how many years of collage did you do? what inspired you to become a botanist? whats you favorite plant? was the years of collage all worth it in the end?

This is a tough ask to answer because there are many different ways to be a botanist! Typically, the starting point is to get a bachelor's degree in biology. If you can, try to find a university with a botany or environmental science program and see if there are any professors with labs that study things you find interesting. For example, you might be interested in the evolutionary history of oak trees, or how people domesticated maize, or how certain plants respond to climate change. Once you've taken a few classes (maybe in your second year) reach out to those professors (and the grad students in their labs!) and see if they're willing to take you on as an undergraduate researcher.

For me, my path is a little unusual because I actually started out studying animal behavior. Although I took a botany class and mycology class in my undergrad, I wasn't sure I wanted to study botany until I was almost ready to graduate. I went on to do a Master of Science in evolutionary biology, focusing on botany. Currently I'm working on my PhD studying both evolution and ecology of bamboos. I have over 9 years of college under my belt now. It'll probably be about 12 years by the time I'm done. I can't say whether it'll all be worth it in the end because I'm not there yet! But so far I really love what I do.

For many jobs, a M.S. degree is what you need. For example, there are positions with government agencies, such as state departments of conservation and natural resources, that utilize botanists to identify and help write management plans for populations of rare plant species, which often don't require a PhD. Botanical gardens are also a great option with an M.S. or even just a bachelor's degree, especially if you go to an institution that has a program in horticulture. Museum and herbarium curatorial positions may also require an M.S., although requirements for a PhD are becoming more common at these institutions. A PhD is of course required for academia and sometimes desirable for other positions, such as those with museums or government agencies.

However, even if you're not a "professional" botanist, you can still do botany. For example, many cities have local native plant societies that you can join to learn more about native plant species and help promote their conservation. Some universities and societies also have "citizen science" or "community science" programs where you can volunteer to help with research projects, too.

As for what inspired me to be a botanist, I've always loved plants, having grown up helping my mom in the garden, and I took an awesome botany class where we went on a number of exciting field trips. I really enjoyed the field work we did (field botany is usually a LOT of hiking, so get yourself some good shoes/boots if you want to do it!) and was excited to learn more. Plus, I really enjoy learning about WHY plants are the way they are - how their environments shaped their evolution.

I don't really have a favorite plant - there are so many! But if I HAD to pick one, I'd probably say the Pacific Dogwood, Cornus nuttallii. Don't tell my bamboos!

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

Lila Rossi: I’d Say She’s a Good Villain, but Then I’d Be Lying (300 Follower Special)

Deception and cunning are easily two of the most important traits an antagonist could have. It shows that even if they don't have the strength to overcome obstacles, their wit is more than enough. This kind of trait is why characters like Lex Luthor, David Xanatos, and Princess Azula are so beloved, simply because of how intelligent they can be as villains and pose a real threat to the heroes.

It's clear that the Miraculous Ladybug writers want Lila to be seen as this, but the writing seriously fails to back that claim up.

Easily one of the most controversial characters in Miraculous Ladybug is Lila, mainly for the writing surrounding her. But there was a time where she was actually more of an ambiguous character, mainly for the lack of screentime she had until Season 3. But unfortunately, the more appearances she's had have painted a very poor portrait of an antagonist.

Lila's Tragic and Sympathetic Motivation for Hating Ladybug

Lila's first appearance was at the tail end of Season 1, “Volpina”. She was a new transfer student from Italy, and quickly made friends with a lot of her classmates for the lies she told, including being friends with Ladybug (which Alya blindly believed without doing any research like any excellent journalist). But because of how close she was getting to Adrien, Marinette, in a rare act of selfishness, transforms into Ladybug just to chew out Lila for lying about knowing her, humiliating her in front of Adrien. And this is the only motivation we get for what Lila does afterwards.

I'm not saying that it's wrong for Lila to get upset at Ladybug for doing this, and I like the moment of weakness Marinette has, but this is literally the only explanation we get for Lila deciding to side with Hawkmoth, a literal terrorist. As much as I hated the way the arc turned out, I could still understand Chloe siding with Hawkmoth, as it was clear that Hawkmoth was manipulating her and taking advantage of her ego. Lila? Ladybug's mean to her one time, and that inspires her to conspire with a complete stranger who brainwashes people to attack the city, which endangers innocent people and causes God knows how much in collateral damage if not for Miraculous Ladybug fixing everything.

I just don't get how a single negative interaction with someone is enough to conspire with a literal supervillain. Even in Season 3, when Marinette and Lila truly became enemies, it was because she risked exposing all the lies she told, which could damage her reputation. Sure, it's petty, but it makes sense for Lila to want to keep up the illusion. If she was simply an antagonist to Marinette in her civilian life like Chloe was before “Miracle Queen” , I'd be fine with that, but the writers clearly want her to be seen as on the same level of evil as Hawkmoth. I'll get into why that doesn't work later on.

Why Lila is an Excellent Liar

In my Master Fu analysis, I had pointed out that despite all the flaws he had, the narrative insisted on portraying him as an incredibly wise mentor. The same problem applies for Lila as well. We're supposed to see Lila as an expert manipulator and liar, but her lies are insultingly obvious. She always claims to be friends with celebrities and does all these awesome things, and in an age where we can have almost any question answered thanks to the internet, nobody ever stops to question her.

It's even more frustrating when you hear Lila talk about saving Jagged Stone's cat, when Jagged Stone is established to be very fond of Marinette (evidentially more than his own daughter), and nobody ever points that out. I think if Lila's lies were more stories about her travels around the world than outright lies about real people, it could have worked. It'd still be hard to believe, but it's something.

But this is a problem with writing shows aimed at children. As much as we hate writers who need to spell out things to kids, sometimes, they just don't understand some of the media they consume. Seriously, I never got this joke in SpongeBob as a kid, and I can't believe Nickelodeon actually approved this.

So the dilemma when writing a show with children in mind is finding that sweet spot between assuming your audience can figure it out, but not being too vague in your details. It's even harder when you need to find a way to convey the fact that someone is lying without being too obvious. Unfortunately, the show clearly fails to do that

Okay, this is going to sound like an incredibly weird thing to cite, and I only know about it because I used to know someone who was a huge fan of the franchise, but the movie Monster High: Friday Night Frights does a better job of subtly explaining to the audience that a character is lying. Please, just hear me out.

The movie follows the main characters competing in their high school's roller derby for the season after everyone on the usual team gets injured, and the championship match is against another school whose team tends to cheat to win matches. How they manage to do this without getting caught is anyone's guess. While the main characters are practicing, their coach, Clawd, notices a spy for the enemy team taking video of them to study their moves. In response, he calls over one of the athletes, Operetta, to chew her out for her showboating attitude. In reality, he's alerting her to the spy. Only using facial expressions, he clues her, and by extension, the audience, in on the fact that they know what the opposing team is trying to do.

This soon leads to Operetta pretending to tell the enemy team about their secret plan for the championship match, which was really an attempt to outsmart them to gain the advantage in the final stretch. The brilliance of this is how the audience is informed of this with no dialogue, and there's no scene afterwards spelling it out for those who don't get it. It manages to convey deception without being too obvious that Clawd and Operetta are being deceitful.

I think if there were more subtle hints to show the audience Lila was lying, she would be seen in a better light. As it is, Lila's lies are just pathetic, and it's ridiculous that everyone believes her. Which leads me to...

Lila, the Master Manipulator

I once read a Star Trek: Voyager fanfic that poked fun at the series by claiming that the reason a lot of the dumber episodes like “Threshold” and “Twisted” happened was because one of the crew members was an alien who unintentionally produced mood altering pheromones, with Captain Janeway actually realizing they were all high because of said pheromones, while two of the unaffected crew members were wondering what the hell they were doing before they found out the cause. Why do I bring this up? Sometimes, it feels like Lila is an unintentional parallel to the alien in that story.

Like so many characters, it's clear the show desperately wants the audience to view Lila in a certain way, but her actions do very little to actually back up that claim. When she's not using lies to tell stories about so many famous people she knows like her uncle who works for Nintendo, Lila is using strategies to manipulate everyone that are so obviously deceptive, the Thermians could pick up on them. Everyone and their mother knows how ridiculous a lot of what Lila does in episodes like “Chameleon” and “Ladybug” are, and I've talked about them before, so I'll try to be quick.

First off, as someone who had access to accommodations through high school and has had assistance in college so far, there is no way in hell that Ms. Bustier should take Lila's tinnitus at face value in “Chameleon”. If a student has a disability that could interfere with the education process, physical or developmental, not only does the school have to evaluate their performance, and determine if they're eligible for an Individualized Education Program, or IEP, but her teachers would have to be notified in the first place. As her primary educator, Ms. Bustier would be part of the team to oversee Lila's IEP and determine what accommodations she needs to help her learn better with her tinnitus and arthritis. But because the writers don't know what Google is, they just ignore it,  assume that Lila can just say she has a disability, and have everyone believe it. Even when Eric Cartman pretended to be disabled to compete in the Special Olympics, he put in more effort to look the part, even if he looked like a caricature.

Then there's the fact that that in “Chameleon”, everyone just believes Lila when she says Marinette stole her grandmother's necklace when not only is said necklace from the Agreste line of jewelry, but Alya, who is Rena Rouge, can't pick up on the fact that it's a fake. All she does to justify these lies is come up with a sob story about how nobody believes her, yet nobody ever tries to defend Marinette except Alya one time, and it was after she got expelled.

Or what about in “Oni-Chan”, where Lila thinks having Kagami kill Ladybug while claiming she'll back away from Adrien is a good idea? Let's say Oni-Chan does kill Ladybug or at least take away her Miraculous, what then? We know Lila wouldn't go through with this promise, and as soon as Kagami sees her harassing Adrien, she'll be ripe for akumatization again. Overall, not a great plan.

And yet somehow, this last example is what made her worthy enough to become one of Hawkmoth's most trusted agents. I'm just going to say it: Lila is not a good fit for the power of illusion. Whenever she's Volpina or Chameleon, she always goes out of her way to make a big show instead of being subtle with her deceptions. “Chameleon” is the worst offender, as even though Lila gets the power to shapeshift into someone else, instead of being discreet and cornering people into kissing them and gaining their appearance, she just runs around to get Ladybug's attention instead of being subtle. Even Felix had the bright idea to pretend to be Adrien to catch Ladybug off guard. How do you lose to something that happened in “Felix”?

Despite all of these screw-ups, we're still supposed to see her as this master of deception worthy of allying with Hawkmoth in both his supervillain and civilian form, when really, she's a terrible liar on the schoolyard and on the battlefield.

Why Lila is an Important Character

In the grand scheme of things, Lila just isn't as important of a character that the show loves to parade her around as. She's nothing more than a plot device used to raise the stakes in an episode, given how much reality seems to bend over just to accommodate for her lies. Even when the show alludes to her being part of bigger things, like her deal with Adrien, or her rivalry with Marinette, they don't even go anywhere.

She just feels pointless when you remember Astruc's brilliant idea to force Chloe into being the final Akuma for the season while Lila isn't even mentioned once. She only really makes appearances whenever the writers feel like it, which is why it’s hard to take her seriously. Why should I take this character seriously as a threat if the writers refuse to take her seriously as a threat? Why build Lila up as a big threat and not give her a major role in the finale? Why even include her in the show in the first place when you could show Chloe being more manipulative to fill in the plots Lila plays a big part in?

As of the time I am writing this analysis, four episodes of Season 4 have aired, three of them have been about lies or deception, and Lila hasn't been mentioned at all. It honestly seems like she won't appear unless the writers need a easy way to drive up the conflict, so they can justify it by saying that Lila's “superpower” of lying is more powerful than the common sense of everyone else.

I'm sorry this post was shorter than the last one, but compared to Master Fu, there's not that much to say about Lila that I haven't already said. Even the show barely gives her any attention, so it's hard for me to really find a lot to talk about.

[georgescatcafe]

heaven can wait (we’re only watching the skies)

rating: t warning/s: slight internalized homophobia pairing/s: dreamnap genres/tags: high school au, friends to lovers word count: 6,639 summary: Dream was initially going to go to prom with him. Not, like, as a date, but… as a friend. Just two guys hanging out together. They’d go together and hang out and make fun of the people there, maybe, and they’d eat food that neither of them trusted to be good and they’d see if the punch was spiked and they’d have fun. Together.

And then Sapnap had checked the school website to find the rules changed. Only students from their school allowed, no exceptions. And Dream was homeschooled in a program completely separate to the school.

It sucked.

And now here Sapnap is, emptily drinking soda and watching a basketball game featuring teams he honestly doesn’t even care about. And thinking about Dream.

+ao3

;;

“Dude,” Sapnap says into the phone, staring blankly at the school’s website, “I have, like, zero interest in prom now that you can’t come. That rule is so stupid.”

“It is, but you’re not sneaking me in and getting suspended,” Dream replies.

“That’s only if I get caught,” Sapnap argues, “which I won’t.”

“Don’t even risk it.” Dream sighs, and Sapnap lets out one of his own in agreement. “Just go, and think about what we can do the next day—ice cream, maybe a drive to the beach, hey! Monday is Skip Day, right? Let’s stay the night at the beach. That’s awesome, right? Prom and then all that?”

“Prom without you, though?” Sapnap isn’t convinced.

He can see Dream’s frown crystal clear in his mind. “Don’t throw away unforgettable experiences just because of me. Besides, aren’t some of your friends going?”

“Our friends,” Sapnap corrects, even though that’s not entirely true. In freshman year, before, they were always more Sapnap’s friends than Dream’s, and even then, there weren’t that many in their group—just Sapnap, Dream, a guy from chess club, and two guys from the egamer group that met once every too many months.

Dream lets out a breath. “Our friends,” he agrees, nonetheless. “So isn’t that enough?”

“It’s just not right,” Sapnap says. “You belong in my unforgettable experiences, Dream.”

“Don’t go waxing poetic on me, Pandas,” Dream scolds, though it’s hard to take him seriously with both the nickname and the fondness creeping into his voice. 

“I’ll do it,” Sapnap repeats, “sneak you in. I’ll do it and I’ll get away with it and it’ll be fun. For both of us.”

“Sapnap,” Dream tries one last time, and he sounds so tired, so utterly exhausted, that Sapnap cuts him off.

“Fine,” he says, “you win. You’re not going, and I’m going without,” Sapnap swallows, “without you.”

;;

Come the final day to buy tickets, however, and Sapnap is still without one for himself, and without a suit, and without a date, and without a plan on getting to prom. He eyes the ticket booth warily, knowing if he chooses not to buy one today, it’s over for him.

Janson, one of the guys from the egamer group, takes a seat at the lunch table next to him. “Are you going?”

Sapnap stares at the booth for another second before shrugging. “Not really my scene.”

“Your scene?”

“Loud,” Sapnap replies, poking halfheartedly at his soggy rice, switching to the fruit drowning in juice. “Lots of people. I don’t really care.”

“Is it ‘cause you don’t have a date?” Janson asks. “Because yeah, that sucks, but no one actually cares, dude.”

Sapnap glances over at him for a second before shrugging once more and finally taking a bite of his weird blueberry mush. “I know. It’s not ‘cause of that. I just don’t really want to go.”

Janson studies him before nodding and stirring his own blueberry mush around with a spoon. “Suit yourself. We’ll miss you, though.”

At that, Sapnap laughs. “You don’t have to lie for me. But thanks, man.”

Janson gives him an easy smile. “Any time.”

;;

The hardest part is telling Dream.

But Sapnap wasn’t lying when he told Janson prom isn’t his scene. It is a lot—lots of people, lots of noise, lots going on in general. He doesn’t care about nor want that. He’d rather take a quiet night at home watching basketball with his dad on the couch over getting knocked between sweaty girls and guys while bass shakes the floor beneath him. Maybe, if he doesn’t make him too angry, Sapnap can even convince Dream to come over before their scheduled meeting the next day.

He can only hope Dream understands as he types this all out in a late night Discord message explaining what happened. And then he tries to throw himself into a game of CSGO, and when that doesn’t work, a game of League. When that doesn’t work either, he just rises out of his chair and flops pathetically onto his bed, closing his eyes and praying for sleep to come fast.

When he wakes up, it’s to six new messages from Dream—a rare sight—and two missed calls. Sapnap stares at the notifications until his eyes sting.

Dream: i mean, it’s ur choice, but i rly don’t want u to regret this sap

He won’t. 

Dream: and as it turns out, my older sister has something going on this weekend, so we can’t meet up either :( sorry :(

That’s… okay. It’s fine. Sapnap gets it. Just a weekend for himself, then.

Dream: are u sure u don’t want to go? r u sure u’re sure?

Dream: i sound naggy ik i just don’t want u missing out on these things

Dream: ok?

Dream: sap?

Sapnap types his response—he won’t regret it, sucks about this weekend but it’s fine, Dream’s not being naggy, really, and sorry, he was asleep—then hits send and tries not to feel too bad about everything.

Unsurprisingly, “everything” doesn’t include the prom itself. Sapnap really couldn’t care less about the actual prom.

;;

The rest of the week passes by quickly, and before Sapnap knows it, it’s prom night, and he’s sitting on the couch next to his dad, basketball game on the TV and soda can in his hand. And then it’s time for prom to start, and the ball is tossed into the air. Briefly, Sapnap wonders if Janson scored a date—though he consoled Sapnap over his lack of one, he never talked about his own. 

Sapnap wonders what Dream is doing, why they didn’t decide to simply meet up tonight. Maybe he was sleeping? Playing Minecraft? Maybe he was thinking about Sapnap?

Maybe he was thinking about Sapnap.

Sapnap blinks, and the score changes from 12-8 to 12-11. From the other side of the couch, his dad leans closer to the TV. Sapnap sends a glance back to the kitchen, wondering if they still have those chips he likes. His dad crunches on cheddar Ruffles. 

Dream was initially going to go to prom with him. Not, like, as a date—not like that. That’s weird, but… as a friend. Just two guys hanging out together. Maybe they’d match, probably not, but they’d go together and hang out and make fun of the people there, maybe, and they’d eat food that neither of them trusted to be good and they’d see if the punch was spiked and they’d have fun. Together. 

And then Sapnap had checked the school website to find the rules changed. Only students from their school allowed, no exceptions. And Dream was homeschooled in a program completely separate to the school.

It sucked.

And now here Sapnap is, emptily drinking soda and watching a basketball game featuring teams he honestly doesn’t even care about. And thinking about Dream. 

Sapnap downs the rest of his soda. “I think I’m going to go play some League.” He stands and crushes his can in his hand.

His dad doesn’t look away from the TV. “Don’t stay up too late.”

“I won’t,” Sapnap says, but he doesn’t even know if his dad’s heard, since he’s already back in his room, door slammed shut behind him, can tossed into the trash and chair creaking as he falls into it.

Despite his dad’s words, Sapnap games late into the night, and when he wakes, his head hurts from the way he’s had it pressed to the desk, asleep for however many hours. He shakes his computer mouse till the monitor comes on and he stares at it blearily as he realizes he managed to close out of his games before falling asleep. His Discord is empty, no new messages, no missed calls, and he sighs before sending a message to Dream.

Long day?

He closes out of the app before spinning around and heading out of his room to scrounge for breakfast. His dad isn’t in the living room, though the bag of Ruffles he’d been eating from sits there on the coffee table, empty, and the remote still rests on the arm of the couch. Sapnap can only assume he headed to bed after the game ended.

Once in the kitchen, he searches through the fridge before deciding to just eat a bowl or two of cereal. Part of him is still into the fanfare of prom, and he’s filled with a quiet shock at how mundane Sunday morning feels, in comparison to what was likely a crazy night for a bunch of seventeen- and eighteen-year-olds. Sapnap bites back a derisive snort. Last night was so crazy for him. Totally.

But it was his choice, and he doesn’t regret it. 

Now if he had gone, he’d regret that he’d gone without doing everything he could to get Dream there. And that’s a regret he just couldn’t live with. 

Sapnap sets his now empty bowl in the sink.

Skipping prom? Yeah, he doesn’t regret it.

;;

Come two weeks later, and Dream is sitting next to him on a park bench telling him about a different prom, one they can go to together, one without rules, without limitations.

Sapnap doesn’t even need to hear the rest of it before he’s agreeing, throwing an arm around Dream’s shoulders and talking quickly about how great the night will be. 

“It’s actually themed,” Dream finally interrupts him, holding a hand up and stopping Sapnap mid-daydream.

“Oh?”

Dream nods. “Decades. Got any ideas?”

He doesn’t. When he tells Dream as much, Dream sighs, staring out at the empty swingswet, the swings swaying slightly in the summer breeze. Sapnap sighs too, though he watches his friend, not the playground. “We could do, like, Dad Rock. Seventies, y’know?”

At that, Dream laughs, full and loud, and Sapnap smiles by reflex. Dream rests his chin in his palms, elbows digging into the tops of his thighs. “Remember when we read The Outsiders in eighth grade? What were they called? We could be those.”

“Oh,” Sapnap bites back a snort, “uh, greasies? No,” he and Dream speak at the same time, “greasers!” The laugh he’d been keeping down finally breaks free, spilling past his lips as Dream grins. “We could be those. We’re hot.”

“So hot,” Dream agrees, though he’s still giggling slightly, turning away from Sapnap so the other can’t see his smile, but his shaking shoulders give away his amusement.

Sapnap grins, bright, happy. “When is it again?” he asks.

Dream leans back, head tilting back so he can stare up at the clear blue sky. “A month from now. June 7th. Think you can go?”

“Uh, yeah,” Sapnap says, like it’s obvious. (Because it is obvious. Even if he couldn’t, he’d find a way to go. He’s just that loyal. To Dream, specifically, but that’s not important.) He clears his throat at his own thoughts. “I definitely can go.”

Dream looks to him, then, small smile on his face. “Awesome.”

Sapnap smiles back. Awesome.

;;

May trudges on like its stuck in the mud, Sapnap counting down the days until this rule-less prom. Dream was pretty sparing with the details, only saying it’s date and theme, and Sapnap can’t help but itch with the need to know everything. When he questions Dream for more info, however, the other shrugs him off, turning the tables and asking him if he’s settled on a decade yet.

“I thought we were choosing together,” Sapnap tells him over a Discord call one night, prom finally only a week away.

“So nothing?” Dream asks. “Let’s meet up tomorrow; we’ll figure it out then.”

It’s a plan, and come eleven in the morning, he and Dream are meeting outside of the city’s mall. “This feels kind of stupid,” Sapnap admits when they go through the sliding doors leading to Macy’s mens’ department. “Like, wow, we’re really putting effort into it.”

“Says you when there’s only a week left,” Dream replies. “Putting effort into it means having had our costumes in our closets since the day I told you about it.”

“True,” Sapnap replies, picking up a paisley tie from the clearance table. “What is this?”

Dream takes it from him, setting it back down. “Something we definitely don’t want.”

“Yeah,” Sapnap keeps his eyes on it as they walk away, “no shit.”

They don’t buy anything from Macy’s mens’ department. For an hour they wander aimlessly up and down the mall, more time spent talking rather than looking. It’s only until Sapnap’s stomach rumbles that the two of them realize they’ve gotten nothing done. Their feet finally take them to the food court.

“Shopping for a prom outfit is hard,” Sapnap says into his fries, while Dream nods in agreement shoving a chicken nugget into his mouth and staring down at a greasy spot on the table. “I mean, my feet hurt, and we haven’t even bought a t-shirt or something.”

“We haven’t even gone inside a store,” Dream replies.

Sapnap groans, shoving a fry in his mouth. “This is so stupid.”

They walk the mall again, this time going into various stores, pointing out ridiculous gag gifts and Sapnap picking up more hideous ties. Finally, Dream grabs a leather jacket off the Dillard’s clearance rack and tugs it on over his shoulders. It’s military-style, almost, the shoulders strong, and when Dream turns, it stretches broad across his back before tapering off at his waist. Sapnap swallows. It fits Dream well.

When Dream turns back around, Sapnap’s eyes shoot back up to his face, and he hopes his face isn’t as red as it is hot. He grabs the jacket next to it, also a large luckily, and puts it on. Dream gives him a thumbs up when he turns around to show it off.

“Looks good,” Dream says, and his cheeks aren’t red, and Sapnap isn’t disappointed about that.

They buy the jackets, think about what shoes they own, then buy some cheapy black shades.

“I don’t know if I can do my hair like they did,” Sapnap tells Dream when they go back through Macy’s and pass some grooming kits, jars of pomade on the shelf next to them.

“I might be able to,” Dream says, studying his reflection in the mirror on the post next to the grooming kits. He’s always kept his hair cropped pretty close, but Sapnap knows it’s been awhile since he’s gotten it cut, bangs starting to grow in the front, actually almost reaching his brows. Sapnap thinks it suits Dream, but he sees the way Dream always tries to push his hair back, though it always flops back into place.

“Maybe,” Sapnap agrees. “I think the glasses and jacket should be enough if you can’t though, right?”

Dream glances at the jars of pomade before nodding. “Right.”

;;

Dream and him got their licenses at sixteen, but Dream says he can pick Sapnap up Saturday, “don’t worry about gas money.”

“Are you sure?” Sapnap asks Saturday morning, both about the picking-up and the gas money.

“I’m sure,” Dream replies. “Just be out in front of your house before six, okay?”

“Sounds good,” Sapnap says. “You don’t think our parents want any pictures, would they?”

“Of course not,” Dream answers. “Your dad taking pictures of the two of us?”

“My stepmom maybe,” Sapnap laughs, but she left the house that morning, heading to the city to do her own business. She’s not going to get any pictures of them.

Dream laughs too before he finally says, “See you later then,” and Sapnap is left rushing to get dressed.

He feels giddy, almost, heart racing and stomach turning over itself. His hair has grown out much like Dream’s has over the school year, him never bothering to get it cut or trimmed, and he gives up on the pompadour when it comes out a wet looking lump on the top of his head, strings of hair falling in his face. He sighs and rinses out the product in the sink, leaving it to air dry and drip droplets onto his white t-shirt. By 5:45pm, he’s sweating, face flushed and chest tight, stomach still doing flips, and he ties his mostly dry hair back into a low ponytail, hoping it’s not too off-brand. Finally, he pulls on his jacket, though it feels restrictive and hot with the summer air and his nerves, and he has to stare at himself in the mirror for the next ten minutes repeating to himself that it’s just Dream and that it’s not romantic and that he’s acting like a freak, stupid and quite possibly into his best friend. (But he’s not.)

Then he marches himself out to his curb and sits.

Dream pulls up a couple minutes after six, his hair actually done Greaser-style, and damn it, he looks good.

(Sapnap can think that. He’s not blind. Anyone could see that his best friend is attractive. It’s just a general thing. Not a thing.)

When he gets into the passenger seat, Dream grins at him from behind matching dark sunglasses. “Looking good.”

“We look hot, man,” Sapnap says, a lot more casual than he feels.

The grin doesn’t leave Dream’s face as he puts the car in drive and takes off down the road.

Sapnap honestly doesn’t know where his nerves have come from—how is this prom any different from the school one, like, actually? How is Dream and him going to this one any different from them going to the high school’s? They won’t know anyone at this one, he’s pretty sure, but who cares? Isn’t that better for them? He glances over at Dream, who’s got his wrists crossed over the steering wheel as they speed down the highway to their destination.

It’s just Dream. Sapnap is just excited. It’s normal. It’s Dream.

He lets himself relax.

;;

“What the fuck?” Sapnap whispers to Dream when two girls pass by them looking straight out of some period piece. “I thought you said this was decades themed?”

Dream looks just as perturbed, brows furrowed as a girl and a guy dressed like pirates enter after the Victorian girls. “Guess they meant all decades,” he replies.

Sapnap stares at him before they reach the check-in counter where a woman with her face painted like a member of KISS checks their ages and directs them to the room where the prom’s held.

Madonna plays loud over the speakers, and Sapnap eyes a kid who spins his hands around his face while a small group of onlookers watch in awe. He glances over at Dream, who continues to face forward, leading him over to an empty table, undisturbed. When they sit down, Sapnap turns to the dance floor, where the Victorian girls are, twirling and laughing, and where a boy looking straight out of the 80s sways with another who wears a hat like Jamie from Mythbusters and suspenders attached to plaid, fitted pants. Sapnap watches them for another second before turning stiffly to Dream.

“Where are we?” he asks carefully.

“Sapnap,” Dream starts, but a look from Sapnap has his mouth shutting fast. He stares right back before sighing, leaning back in his chair. “I’m sorry. I didn’t—I mean, I knew, but I didn’t think it’d—look, we can leave. It’s fine.”

“Well,” Sapnap huffs, dropping his gaze to his lap, where his fingers grip the denim of his jeans tightly, knuckles turning white, “it’s not fine, but—I don’t really want to leave. I like—I wanted to go to prom with you.”

A laugh, and Sapnap looks over quickly to see the 80s boy tugging the Mythbusters hat’s jacket over his shoulders. Sapnap thinks he might be sick.

“Not like that,” he adds.

“Right,” Dream says.

The booming of the bass rattles Sapnap to his core, along with the table. Even the hand Dream has placed on it doesn’t stop it from shaking. Sapnap wonders what would happen if he were to take Dream’s hand. Dream pulls it back and drops it into his lap. Sapnap tightens his hold on his jeans.

“I am sorry,” Dream tells him. “But I didn’t really think you’d mind. We’re friends, Sapnap. Why does where we are have to change that?”

“It doesn’t,” Sapnap replies, but people can misunderstand. People will misunderstand. He tells Dream as much.

Dream frowns, leans forward. Sapnap doesn’t meet his gaze. “Sapnap,” Dream says, “why would they misunderstand?”

Because they match. Because, under the table, their feet knock against each other. Because when Sapnap looks at Dream, the rest of the world disappears, and he’s certain the rest of the world knows it.

“Doesn’t matter,” Sapnap mutters. “They just would.”

Dream says something. It’s lost to the sound of Rihanna, declaring that a bitch better have her money. Sapnap’s foot taps quickly against the floor, and this time, when it brushes up against Dream’s, he readjusts, feet no longer under the table. Dream sighs, resting his chin on his palm. 

Finally, he looks to Sapnap again. “Does it bother you that much?”

“Does what bother me?”

Dream stares at him for a second before looking out at the dance floor. “Them misunderstanding?”

“Doesn’t it bother you?” Sapnap asks.

Dream is silent for so long after that Sapnap almost forgets he’s waiting for a response. “No,” Dream says at last. “It doesn’t.”

Sapnap doesn’t know how to reply to that.

They just sit there after that, watching the crowd wax and wane, change based on the song playing. Dream pushes himself up out of his chair when a familiar number starts. He holds out a hand. “Come on.”

Sapnap stares at the hand. “Dude, he says, “what.”

“Dance,” Dream replies. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“What the fuck?” Sapnap lets out a laugh, glancing over at Mythbusters hat and 80s boy. They’re laughing over something on 80s boy’s phone, foreheads resting close together, cheeks flushed pink in the dim light that hangs over their table. He looks back at Dream. “No way.”

“It’s ‘Come on Eileen,’” Dream says, but Sapnap is resolute, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat. They hold a short staring contest before Dream sighs, looking away. Sapnap doesn’t even have the chance to puff up at his W before Dream is reaching forward and taking him by the arm, pulling him out of his seat and to the dance floor.

“Dream!” Sapnap argues, trying to pull away, but Dream’s hold on him is lethal and Sapnap is unwillingly pulled into the circle that’s formed, one arm tugged behind Dream’s back by Dream’s free hand, and the other tossed over a girl’s shoulder. She gives him a bright smile before the circle begins to move, slowly, ever so slowly, then quicker.

It’s like a treadmill, Sapnap thinks, watching his feet and making sure not to step on the girl’s sparkly slippers. Her laugh is loud even with the music blasting and Sapnap starts to gain some of her enthusiasm as the chorus hits. And then a laugh comes from behind him, and he can’t help but look over his shoulder. 

Dream is already grinning at him. Sapnap couldn’t stop himself from grinning back even if he tried. The circle speeds up, and soon Dream is a constant cackle in his ear, Sapnap joining in as the group turns this way and that, before they all jump to a stop and kick a foot in the center.

Sapnap is awkward, slightly off-balance the way he holds on to Dream’s back and leans towards the girl, her shorter than him. He’s running out of breath quick too, kicking quicker and quicker before they’re spinning again and again, all smiling, all laughing, some singing, some panting, and Dream brings their heads closer together as they share one more laugh before the song is fading out, and then it’s just them alone, the others retreating back to their seats or to their own friend groups, just Dream and Sapnap breathing in each other’s exhales.

“That was fun,” Sapnap admits, and Dream nods, arm still around Sapnap’s shoulders, his other one eventually coming up to join it. Sapnap still has an arm around Dream, though it’s slipped so his hand rests at the small of Dream’s back. He swallows.

Dream notices his discomfort, and the smile falls from his face. “Sapnap,” he says.

Sapnap shakes his head. “It’s fine.” His fingers curl into the soft leather of Dream’s jacket. “They can misunderstand.”

I want them to misunderstand.

Sapnap looks up at the same time Dream lets go. “What?” he asks. Dream starts to take a step back, but Sapnap doesn’t let go. “No, you don’t get to—Dream, what did you say?”

“I—,” Dream’s eyes are wide, startled, scared, and Sapnap can’t help but think this isn’t fair. He stares Dream down, and eventually, Dream stares back. When he speaks, he can barely be heard over the music, even with the minimal distance between them. “I want them to misunderstand.”

It’s like he took the words straight from Sapnap’s brain, putting them out there for everyone to hear. Sapnap feels sick, and the feeling only grows when his head falls forward to rest on Dream’s chest. “What the fuck,” he says.

“Sorry,” Dream apologizes above him.

“What—no,” Sapnap’s face screws up, even though Dream can’t see, “you don’t get to apologize, dude. What the hell.” Sapnap feels a weight then on his back, hesitant then heavier. Dream’s hands. He closes his eyes. “What the hell,” he repeats.

“Let’s go back to our table,” Dream says. Sapnap nods, standing up straight, but Dream just pulls him into his side then, and Sapnap thinks about resisting, thinks about getting mad, maybe even leaving (but without a car, without Dream, where would he go?), but in the end, he just lets himself fall more into Dream, the other bearing his weight easily, leading them over to the table they had left.

When they sit, Dream stares down at his hands. Sapnap stares at him. “How long have you known?” he asks.

“About what?” Dream replies.

Sapnap shrugs.

Dream studies him for a second before looking back at his hands. “About myself, since maybe always. About you…?” He smiles then, bitter. “Maybe just as long.”

Sapnap sucks in a breath.

Dream looks over. “What about you?”

“I don’t know,” he answers. “I think—I think I didn’t want to know.”

Dream snorts derisively. “With your dad, I wouldn’t want to know either.”

That gets a laugh out of Sapnap, but it’s dry, empty. “Hey,” he defends his dad halfheartedly, “my dad isn’t that bad.”

The bitter smile on Dream’s lips twists into downright acidic.

Sapnap sighs. “I’m glad it’s you.”

Dream looks at him. Sapnap stares back.

“You’re my best friend,” he tells him. “I can tell you anything.”

“Me too,” Dream replies. “I’m glad it’s you too.” And then he frowns, looking out over the crowd. “But I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

Sapnap is too, but he doesn’t tell the other that. Instead, he shrugs. “Could be worse,” he says. “I could hate you right now. But I don’t. I think I feel about you how you feel about me.” The last sentence is hard to get out, like bile in his throat. He hopes Dream doesn’t realize that.

When Dream smiles at him, then, he guesses he doesn’t. “I,” Dream looks back down at his hands, “like you, Sapnap.”

And that’s the truth, isn’t it? Dream likes Sapnap, and Sapnap likes Dream. Now Sapnap just needs to figure out what to do with that.

“I like you too,” he says, and Dream turns to him, eyes wide, as if they hadn’t established this already—maybe, for Dream, they hadn’t, “but I don’t know—I don’t know if this is good for us, Dream.”

“We’re best friends,” Dream starts to respond, but Sapnap cuts him off.

“Exactly.” He pulls his jacket tighter. “I don’t want to lose that.”

“We don’t have to,” Dream replies. “Why can’t we be both?”

“Why isn’t what we are already enough?” Sapnap argues. “I can’t afford to lose you, Dream. You’re my favorite person.”

“You wouldn’t lose me,” Dream denies. “You’re the one that was willing to cut me from your life for losing.”

“We were ten,” Sapnap scowls. “That’s not the same.”

Dream doesn’t reply. He knows it’s not.

The upbeat ABBA song playing does not match the mood that’s settled over their table. Sapnap drags his shoe along the floor. Dream drums his fingers against the table.

“Should we have not said anything then?” Dream asks. “Do we act like this never happened? Because I don’t know if I can do that.”

Sapnap doesn’t think he can either. Nonetheless, he shrugs.

Dream huffs. “Look,” he says, “you’re my best friend. I like you. If we stay friends, I’ll still like you. If we become more,” he swallows, squaring his shoulders, “and that doesn’t work, we’ll still be friends in the end. Okay?”

Sapnap doesn’t entirely believe him, but when he meets Dream’s gaze, Dream looks so determined, so resolute, that Sapnap finds himself echoing an okay. Then the clouds part, and Dream smiles. Sapnap tries to smile back.

The ABBA song ends and a much more recent pop song begins to play, but neither of them move, choosing instead to sit in a still silence that leaves Sapnap wondering what Dream is thinking.

Sapnap squeezes his eyes shut, shoving his curiosity aside to instead gaze out at the dance floor. The girl that was next to him in the circle bounces around three other teenagers, light-colored hair a kaleidoscope of colors in the everchanging club lights. When she spots Sapnap staring, she smiles, throwing up a peace sign. Sapnap gives her a small wave. Their eyes stay locked for another second before she makes a little motion towards Dream and Sapnap looks at him, only to find Dream already looking back. Sapnap sighs before rising from his chair.

“Your turn,” he says, hand already extended out towards the other.

Dream doesn’t hesitate in grabbing his hand and letting Sapnap pull him up.

Sapnap leads them to the dance floor, fully prepared to halfheartedly bop his head to the song playing, but then—and of course it’s just his luck—the minute he steps onto the wooden panels, the song changes to something mellow… and slow.

So very slow.

He turns to Dream, eyes wide in alarm, but all Dream does is smile.

“Don’t back out now,” he says.

Sapnap glares at him. “You wish.”

Dream laughs before putting a hand on Sapnap’s waist and an arm around his neck. Sapnap lets out a harsh breath but doesn’t pull away, just follows Dream’s lead, pulling him close. The emcee is saying something probably absolutely humiliating, but Sapnap ignores the queen (oh God, the emcee is a drag queen, how did he not realize that upon walking in?) in favor of focusing on Dream, on not stepping on his toes, on not bumping into other dancers, on not getting lost in the other’s eyes, however stereotypical it may be.

Dream lowers his head until their foreheads almost touch, and Sapnap is painfully reminded of 80s boy and Mythbusters hat. He looks down to the floor.

“Pandas,” Dream whispers, and Sapnap curses his heart for jumping.

“What?” he replies, still looking down.

“Look at me,” Dream urges.

Sapnap shakes his head, but then the arm around Sapnap’s neck becomes just a hand, and then that hand is traveling up, up over his neck, to his ear, fingers curling around his jaw, forcing Sapnap’s gaze from the floor.

“I’m sorry,” Dream says.

Sapnap finds himself stuck staring into Dream’s eyes. “Why?”

“You didn’t go to prom because I wouldn’t be there, and now we’re at a prom together, and you’re not having fun because I’m here.” His thumb strokes across Sapnap’s cheek—Sapnap hopes he can’t feel the heat under his skin. “So I’m sorry.”

“I’m having fun,” Sapnap replies, automatic.

“Because having me confess me to you and forcing you to dance with me and taking you to a fucking,” he breaks their gaze only to look around demonstratively, “gay prom is fun for you.”

But even with his reply being automatic, Sapnap finds it true. It’s not conventional, and he’s felt vaguely nauseous this entire time, but the dance circle was fun, and just standing here with Dream, swaying back and forth, it’s fun too. And there’s something nice about having everything out in the open. He and Dream like each other.

Wait.

He and Dream like each other. He and Dream like each other. Dream likes him.

“You like me,” Sapnap whispers.

Dream still hears him. “Yeah,” he replies, easy, “I like you a lot.”

“I think I missed that,” Sapnap says, louder. “You like me.”

Dream stares at him. “Yes,” he replies. “I like you.”

Sapnap stares back before he removes his hand from Dream’s waist to put it on his chest, fingers curling into the fabric of Dream’s t-shirt as Sapnap tugs him down into a kiss. Dream’s lips are surprisingly soft for the amount of times Sapnap has caught Dream biting at them, and Dream himself is surprisingly gentle when he brings his other hand up from Sapnap’s waist to cradle his jaw. Sapnap lets out a quiet exhale when they pull apart.

Dream is looking at him, but his gaze is distant, his mind somewhere far away.

Sapnap lets go of his shirt to shove him slightly. “Dream?” he asks, wondering if he might’ve just ruined everything, despite Dream’s insistence that a change in their relationship wouldn’t affect their friendship.

“I think people might misunderstand us now,” Dream says.

Sapnap can’t help it—he laughs. “You think?” And then Dream is laughing too, pulling him in for another kiss even as the song changes and the floor becomes crowded with everyone else coming to dance.

The tension now broken, neither of them suggest leaving the dance floor.

;;

By the time the prom is ending, Sapnap’s feet hurt, and he’s sure his lips are red from the amount of times Dream has kissed him. They’re both giddy with teenage excitement, and Dream is singing a pathetic rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody,” words slurring together and pitch way off.

Sapnap laughs as Dream knocks their heads together, pushing him away with one hand while the other wraps around his waist to pull him closer. “You sound so bad.”

“You love it,” Dream murmurs into his ear, and Sapnap grins even as his cheeks flare red.

“You wish,” he replies.

“I most definitely wish,” Dream says, head now tilted to rest atop Sapnap’s own.

“Did you drink?” Sapnap asks, suspicious, though he’s pretty sure he and Dream only got water. “Are you drunk?”

“You know I’d never drink,” Dream replies before the most shit-eating grin takes over his face. “Actually, I’m just drunk on love.”

Sapnap rolls his eyes. “Now you’re just acting stupid.”

“But I mean it.”

Sapnap looks at him. Dream looks back. Sapnap shakes his head as they reach Dream’s car. “Don’t be dumb.”

“Okay, so maybe not like… love love, but I love you, Sapnap.” Dream leans against the door. “And it could turn into love love one day. If you let it.”

Sapnap stares at him. Dream stares back.

“It’s just a possibility,” he says, hand coming up to pat Sapnap’s cheek. Sapnap continues to stare until Dream leans forward to bump their noses together. “I won’t bring it up again.”

“Next month,” Sapnap finally replies. “Bring it up next month.” He pushes himself away from Dream to go to the passenger side. “Now unlock the car. It’s hot as fuck out here.”

;;

The car ride is spent in an easy silence, though Dream keeps glancing over at Sapnap every once in a while, always looking on the verge of saying something.

Finally, Sapnap snaps. “What is it?”

Dream has clearly been waiting to be asked. “You said next month.”

Sapnap frowns. “Uh, yeah? Why wouldn’t I?”

“So we’ll still be together next month?”

Sapnap’s eyes narrow. “Are you assuming we’re together now?”

“Yes.”

Fuck. He’s right to assume that. So much for Dream being the one to forget their friendship in order to pursue a relationship. Dream knows him too well. (It’s perfect.)

“I love you too,” Sapnap says. “As a friend.” He looks out the window. “But it could be love love one day too.”

He doesn’t need to look over to know Dream is grinning, and when a finger brushes his own over the glovebox, not asking for permission but not not asking for permission, Sapnap can’t stop a grin of his own from spreading across his face and lets Dream lock their hands together.

;;

A knock on the door startles Sapnap in the middle of his studying. He looks up from his notes to see Dream leaning in the open doorway.

Sapnap raises a brow. “Since when have you knocked?”

“Since British exchange students started chewing me out whenever I’d come in without knocking.” Dream smiles at him before looking into the room, green eyes searching.

“George isn’t going to jump out at you from behind the door,” Sapnap says, stretching out in his chair before rising to properly greet his boyfriend. “Besides, he likes you; he’s just a bitch.”

“Of course a bitch like you would say that,” George interrupts, his small frame almost invisible behind Dream, who turns around with a guilty look on his face. “Hi, Dream,” George says, shoving past him to toss his bag in his desk chair and collapse onto his bed. “I don’t like you, by the way.” He lifts his head slightly to look between Dream and Sapnap. “Either of you. I hate you guys.”

“We hate you too,” Sapnap replies cheerily before grinning at Dream and pulling him down into a kiss that Dream eagerly returns.

“Can you not?” George asks, even though they all know he doesn’t really care. “I already feel single enough, thanks.”

“Like you could ever feel single,” Dream teases. “You know nearly everyone here is into you.”

George pushes himself up onto his elbows to stick out his tongue. Dream sticks his own out too.

Sapnap laughs before picking his keys up from off his desk and checking that his wallet is in his pocket. “We’re heading out,” he tells George, who hums and nods, flopping back onto the bed. “Let me know if you want us to pick you up dinner.”

“That’s so sweet of you, Sapnap,” George says, “to go out of your way just to get dinner for me. I didn’t realize I mean that much to you.”

“You mean the world to me, George,” Sapnap replies, even as his hand links with Dream’s and George flips him off. “But seriously, we’ll get you something if you want.”

“It’s fine.” George waves a hand. “Go be in love or whatever. Better somewhere else than where I can see it.”

“True, true,” Sapnap says, even though his favorite hobby nowadays is antagonize George, which sits right under spend time with Dream. 

They leave the Brit alone to head out to Dream’s car, and it’s there that Sapnap finds them imitating the pose they had the night of prom. He hides his smile in Dream’s neck as Dream wraps his arms around his shoulders.

“Hey, Sap,” Dream says.

“Yeah?”

“Remember how you said ‘next month’?”

Sapnap lifts his head slightly to look through the car window. “Yeah.”

“Well, it’s been next month, and then it was the month after that, and the one after that, and then there was—”

Sapnap barely stops himself from rolling his eyes. “I love you, Dream. Now let go of me; I really am hungry right now.”

“Right, of course. Of course,” Dream releases him, “but for the record, I love you too. Like, love love.”

Sapnap shoves him even as a smile begins to show at the corners of his lips. “Yeah, I love love you too.”

[inventors-fair]

Club Decks: What We Play

Fifteen decks, fifteen archetypes, fifteen strategies. For my students, not everyone can make a good deck, and/or they don’t necessarily have the resources to make what they’d like. Commander and stuff is the most difficult, but they enjoy Oathbreaker with the inexpensive and more or less accessible planeswalkers, and they don’t usually worry about Standard, Modern, or Pioneer. 

Club decks have a number of cards of different rarities that I use to model them off of my first starter decks, back in Alara. There’s a fair amount of repeats and a good chunk of power, and they’re easy enough to model so that students can make their own.

Depending on the year (2020-21 being pretty disruptive), there are different criteria for “leveling up,” which means beating a number of students and then beating me to get a booster pack and a level in my ledger. There’s no limit, except you can’t level up more than once a week. Hey, I make enough to make kids happy, but not enough to give them a zillion packs.

Below the cut are my club decks, some notable cards, and why I made them the way that I did. Enjoy this little slice of Magic! If you’re looking to start similar programs or you’d like details as to how things are run, let me know and I can provide extended decklists and explanations.

1. White Equipment Voltron

Notable cards include:

Healer’s Hawk

Taj-Nar Swordsmith

Strata Scythe

Little things turn into big things. With a little bit of destruction and a whole lotta keywords, this deck is all about building up to a single aggressive Voltron creature that wrecks shop. It’s good about teaching different card types and keyword interactions, and hey, it feels good to swing with an 11/11 creature that started off as a 1/1, right?

2. Blue Tempo Control

Notable cards include:

Pestermite

Everdream

Tidespout Tyrant

This is the deck for advanced players. The big blue comes out with a lot of disruption, and this is the deck that often gets described as either “unfun” or “my favorite deck.” Bounce it, counter it, bounce my land to cycle, return your threat, disrupt, and so on and so forth. Not every deck has a difficulty curve like this, but it’s satisfying to say the least.

3. Black Sacrifice Everything

Notable cards include:

Butcher Ghoul

Whisper, Blood Liturgist

Priest of Forgotten Gods

“Synergistic” is an understatement. The number of death triggers and sacrifice triggers can easily win someone a game if they know how to interact properly. Forcing decisions upon your opponent and exploiting some awesome stuff from your side of the field makes this deck easy to play if you want to have things die and VERY easy if you know how to manipulate the board.

4. Red Discard into Madness

Notable cards include:

Spinehorn Minotaur

Dragon Mage

Glint-Horn Buccaneer

I’ll admit, this deck is a bit of a pet project and one of my favorites. Ditching cards to draw cards feels great to me! I love madness, I love looting, and I love throwing a bunch of stuff away to make big things before getting it all back later. As much tuning as it needs, this deck is another advanced joy for people that love to make niche ideas work to the best of their ability.

5. Green Lands & Boys

Notable cards include:

Timbermaw Larva

Howl of the Night Pack

Kalonian Twingrove

Sometimes you just want an easy ramp deck. The small end of this gets lands and has some landfall, and the big end just wrecks shop with the big and powerful creatures that we all know and love from green. It’s easy to play and it’s easy to win with and sometimes, stomping is all you need to do. A great card for the Tim-Tams of the world.

6. UW Fliers Beatdown

Notable cards include:

Squadron Hawk

Watcher of the Spheres

Windreader Sphinx

I recently got my butt handed to me with this deck, and it’s not to be trifled with. Each deck has its own kind of evasion and whatnot, but this deck has got the early-game down and the late-game? Unstoppable. It’s designed to massacre you in the air and that’s what it does. Pumps, beats, and more. One of the first decks the kids loved.

7. UB Surveil Control

Notable cards include:

Notion Rain

Price of Fame

Thief of Sanity

“Really?” Yeah, well, here’s the thing: I built this deck when I didn’t have a whole lot of spare cards sorted, and that’s why I did it. As a block mechanic, though, surveil really is fun, and as a control player, the deck is pretty darn sweet. It’s beefy, powerful, and great flavor for the city. Fun fact: the Thief of Sanity I had is actually a misprint! It’s missing the rare sticker.

8. RB Goblins Snarl Rage Win

Notable cards include:

Goblin Instigator

Fodder Launch

Weirding Shaman

And this is another deck that the kids absolutely love. Fast fun, and furious, Goblins is a great tribal introduction that people go to when they want to show how easy and cheeky it can be. Burn ‘em out, make ‘em attack, turn ‘em sideways. This isn’t necessarily an easy deck, but if all you know is attacking, then you’re golden. Or, you can kill someone only through noncombat damage!

9. RG Monsters of the Jungle

Notable cards include:

Ruination Wurm

Footfall Crater

Mina and Denn, Wildborn

This is, surprisingly, the deck with what I feel is the lowest barrier to entry. You give big things trample. Now, there IS a fair bit of complexity in the number of combat tricks, with some buffs and some bloodrush cards along with it, but everyone knows that big things are big. The difference is in the variety of strategies available to you with access to red mana. 

10. GW Token Swarm

Notable cards include:

Raise the Alarm

Selesnya Guildmage

Growing Ranks

If you can be fast with this deck, then you can run someone over faster than they could ever react. If you can be slow with this deck, you can build up enough life and army power that you literally can’t be beat. There’s a lot to love about this deck and it’s not as easy as it might seem. Tokens are popular with a subset of MTG players, and I’m glad that they have lots of support.

11. BW Ghosts of your Past

Notable cards include:

Pillory of the Sleepless

Vizkopa Guildmage

Ethereal Absolution

Basically, this is in the same vein as the surveil deck, but like the surveil deck, this has been modified so you get the best out of the deck. There’s a little nasty sacrifice, some draining, lots of good stuff. This is a deck for players who want to be mean, but with the option to beat down as well. After all, the best games are one you play in good spirits!

12. GB Elves Reclamation

Notable cards include:

Eyeblight’s Ending

Shaman of the Pack

Immaculate Magistrate

Everyone loves elves. Except for the people that hate elves. You get them out, go wide, or go narrow. Either way, you’re beating in face. This deck can be impossibly fast and I love it, but without breaching the barrier of being overpowered. Heck, I’ve won and lost with all of these decks, but elves put up a struggle, and I love that for them.

13. UG Defenders and Butts

Notable cards include:

Axebane Guardian

Assault Formation

Feed the Pack

I’ve been 100% blown out by this deck before by a student who I underestimated. That’s fantastic. This is the kind of deck that students don’t understand until they see it being played, and that’s honestly great. It’s fantastic to watch them learn and I love watching them pull out all the stops to get the biggest butts possible. Can’t beat seventeen angry wolves!

14. UR Spellslinging Recursion

Notable cards include:

Thermo-Alchemist

Thoughtflare

Call the Skybreaker

Flashback, Jump-Start, and Retrace: people love to cast spells. There’s so much fun stuff that can happen in a stormlike brew, and though it’s definitely not storm, it encourages playing spells, and that’s what makes it fun. It appeals to burn and control players alike and makes them feels skillful to the max. It’s Izzet in everything but perfect flavor.

15. RW Combat Control

Notable cards include:

Thatcher Revolt

Intimidation Bolt

Citadel Siege

I actually let my kids down with this deck before. It was an underpowers Firesong and Sunspeaker deck, and it just wasn’t working. What else can you do? Blow things up and make ‘em big. This deck is a powerhouse of unimaginable proportions and I love playing with it. Smart combat makes for some tricky strategy, and it’s humbling for the reckless opponnent.

That’s all for now! Ask me about questions and I’ll tell you no lies. And hey, if you know any kids, play around with ‘em and see how they engage with MTG. What do they lean to? How can you use that to teach them? It’s an amazing game and I’m glad to be sharing it with you, too.

—Abelzumi

[dreamautonomy]

Thank you, thank you for the tag @fanarain. I took my time with this. I swear, I got to find a tag game to share with my followers and those I follow. @dreamautonomy needs more love and activity. 😭

I will answer questions about @dreamautonomy (my main that’s not officially a main) and @defectiveconantoy (my more popular Tumblr).

1. Why did you choose your url? I came up with the name Dream Autonomy waaaaay back in 2008. At the time, I was inspired by Kazimierz Dąbrowski's theory of positive disintegration (TPD), where he explained that one must go through anxiety and psychological tension to achieve autonomy and true individuality. In my teens, I dreamt of independence and autonomy, to live on my own terms and break away from society’s rat race. I still do to this day.

For my DCMK stuff, I’ve considered the name Conanology, but someone on Twitter took it. I wanted something witty. Then, I stumbled upon that Reddit post with the counterfeit Conan and Ayumi action figures. They looked so ridiculous and badly made it’s almost a joke. The thread’s first comment: perfect as a funny username. Unfortunately, defectiveconan was already taken here, so I settled with defectiveconantoy (also nicknamed by me as DFCT - DeFective Conan Toy) instead.

2. Any side blogs? @relaxwithanime because there’s a lot of relaxing anime, and I want to showcase relaxing anime scenes. @sillydogpictures, which has no posts. I wanted to show pictures of dogs with intentionally or unintentionally silly faces. 🐶

3. How long have you been on tumblr? It’s complicated! I began lurking back in 2010 or 2011 but didn’t create an account until 2014 with the original dreamautonomy, now the defunct @olddreamautonomy. I never used it until mid or late 2020.

I made @defectiveconantoy back in October 2020 because I considered participating in the DCMK Secret Santa event. I eventually decided not to, as I was busy with school and coping with the pandemic. I didn’t need more deadlines then.

4. Do you have a queue tag? Nope! I should make one once I learn how.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place? I planned to use @dreamautonomy as a creative blog for posting photography, graphic design, food and travel stuff, motivational stuff, and more. Never happened!

DFCT was made for Detective Conan and Magic Kaito fandom stuff, nothing else.

Stupid me made @defectiveconantoy a completely separate account, even after realizing minutes later that I could have made it a side blog. Oh well! I mostly use Tumblr for fandom stuff nowadays, so I deleted my old Dream account and made a new account as a side blog under @defectiveconantoy. Now, I no longer have to use different apps and browsers for both blogs. Life is good!

6 . Why did you choose your icon/pfp? For Dream, I chose Retsuko from Aggretsuko. That scene wonderfully represents the agony of one’s twenties: working miserable jobs, not being taken seriously, and wishing life was more fulfilling than the average adult life. There she is being “one of us” on a Sunday by lying in bed and scratching her butt. 😂

And for DFCT, how could I not post action Conan from The Fist of Blue Sapphire with the counterfeit action figure’s head replacing the original Conan’s head? 🤣

7. Why did you choose your header? For Dream, because Retsuko’s bouncing her little tail off. For DFCT, because Ran is precious in that scene, all soft and shy.

8. What's your post with the most notes? @defectiveconantoy’s set of GIFs from the Ferris Wheel scene in the Episode ONE special. And that’s my original post. I’ve reblogged even more popular stuff by others.

9. How many mutuals do you have? About a dozen.

10. How many followers do you have? @dreamautonomy: 9 (Most are p*rn bots I’ve reported for spam and blocked. Have no idea WTF I did to attract them.). @defectiveconantoy: 175!! 😁

11. How many people do you follow? 72!

12. Have you ever made a shitpost? I don’t know. I think I only post relevant memes.

Here am I typing this after spending years confusing shitposts with really funny, sometimes offensive memes. I’m still confused about the meaning of a shitpost. I’m not very trend or meme savvy.

13. How often do you use tumblr each day? About 10-20 times a day, usually through my phone app.

14. Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog once? Over ten years ago on websites that Tumblr, Twitter, etc. long replaced in popularity. Even then, I’ve usually been a lurker for most of my life and rarely engaged in arguments or debates. Whenever I did, I regret it to this day. I looked stupid (everyone did, actually). What a waste of time!

I wish I hadn’t forgotten about Detective Conan back in 2004. The DCMK Tumblr fandom is chill and AWESOME! I wonder what the fandom was like back in the 2000s.

15. How do you feel about "you need to reblog this" posts? Ehh…it depends. If it’s something most or everyone agrees with, I might reblog it. I don’t know about you, but such posts often bring the rebel in me. If you say, “REBLOG IT,” I say, “Ehh! Nope.” 😋 Anyway, life is short. I’d rather stick to fandom and humor, things that unite people and make them smile.

16. Do you like tag games? Of course! That’s how I get to know everyone. I should initiate tag games and tag all of you.

17. Do you like ask games? YES! I should start ask games as well.

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is [tumblr] famous? We interrupt this program to give mad props to that nicely formatted Tumblr logo-fied text. 👌

Aaaanyway, I won’t name names. Some are Tumblr famous for different reasons, and that’s what matters. We all contribute different things while being under the same main fandom, ships, arcs, and adaptations aside.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual? No! Why ruin this nice little Tumblr space for drama? It’s not worth having a crush on people you’ve never met face-to-face imo. I’m not repeating my teenage mistakes.

20. Tags: anyone happy to participate! 😁

[jaynavajasso]

A list of things about Boris Habit:

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

(Edited to include some corrections from you guys! Thank you for helping me out!)

▪ He (at least partially) went to college for dentistry - enough to successfully perform multiple operations. It’s safe to assume he’s very intelligent.

• In his tweets, he complains about his fingers being “too sharp”, suggesting that his spelling atrocities are mostly because he’s having trouble typing - not that he can’t spell. Further examples are the diary and the PSA’s; in the diary pages (writing) his spelling is nearly perfect, and in the PSAs (typing) you get way more misspellings. 

• On that note: He can speak English almost perfectly! Typing errors aside, in any of the endings, he sobers up real quick - and when he gets serious, the misspellings just stop. I’ve seen a lot of people writing his dialogue like he types, but according to the game, he can speak just fine.

• If anything, the misspellings pop up in his dialogue when he’s psychotic - perhaps he’s baby talking you? No proof on that one, just speculation.

Edit: I’ve been informed that “manic” is the more appropriate term for how he acted in the boss fight. Sorry for the confusion!

• His cheerfulness isn’t completely an act - the game suggests that he was a really cheerful kid up until he snapped (as an indirect result of his father’s abuse, no less), and in the good ending (after you agree to be his friend) he gets some of that same peppiness back. Even Kamal agrees he’s just a big softy... under the poorly managed trauma, at least.

• HE UNDERSTANDS, AT THE END, THAT WHAT HE’S DONE IS WRONG. He’s not all flowers and sunshine about it, either - in the bad ending he realizes he’s become the villain, and not only accepts his death but smiles at you as if to encourage your actions. In the neutral ending he actively says that hurting you would be “wrong of [him]”, and in the good ending, if you agree to be his friend, he somewhat disbelievingly says “a real friend… after everything i’ve done to you…”

• Related to the last one: His amazement at your friendship, combined with the bullying documented in the diary, suggests that he’s never had many friends. In the last PSA, you see a picture of Kamal labeled “friend :-)”, suggesting they either used to be close or that Habit got attached. (I don’t think Kamal really hates him, but with how mad he got at him for so long, I’m not sure how close they actually were).

• In the good ending, it’s suggested that Boris left the Habitat and became a florist! At the very end of the credits, no less - you see Habit surrounded by plants, grinning ear to ear, holding a lil flower pot in his hands. If not a florist, then he’s at least getting to work with plants! (Good on him!!)

• On that note: in the bad ending, you see the same shot at the end of the credits, but with Boris just missing. You know, because you killed him. The game pretty heavily goes against that ending and repeatedly tells you that there’s another way.

• His favorite color is orange, according to his tweets! That’s not a ground breaker, it’s just cute. 

• He’s canonically 37, but his knowledge of the internet seems to be... mixed. On one hand, he knows enough to program his own website - and on the other, in the good ending he asks you to email him. (I don’t know a soul who uses email anymore.) BUT he does tweet! So maybe at the time of the ending he just doesn’t have a phone. We have no way to know.

Edit: Several people have informed me that the game takes place in the 90′s, which would explain why he uses email! Considering his tweets are (apparently?) canon and take place before Flower Kid, the timeline may be more or less ambiguous - but as far as I know it’s canonically in the 90′s.

• The Habitat is canonically in the USA, according to his twitter. Considering the developers said he has a Russian accent, perhaps his parents are immigrants. Again - no way to know for sure.

• In the tutorial, the pre-ending, and Boris’ photograph (if you take one), he appears as nothing but a red-eyed shadow that quite frankly looks demonic. In the game, the camera is used to show people's true selves (most dominantly with Trencil, where taking his photo reveals him as a vampire). Considering vampires exist in this universe, we can take Boris’ photo and assume he’s… at least not fully human. Exactly what he is, however, we don’t know.

• Boris created the Carlas, and it’s suggested that he cares for them. Each of them refer to him as “dad” or “father”, expressing concern for his mental wellbeing and even recognizing his diary pages. (In fact, you get one of the diary pages from a Carla, who says Boris stored it inside her!) The fortune telling Carla even recognizes the Tooth Lily and understands how rare it is - knowledge that, according to Habit, only he knows.

• Randy says that Habit smells like “loose change”, suggesting that the metallic smell of laughing gas clings to him. Apparently he and Habit butt heads - Habit told him he couldn’t smell like pickles, and in his tweets he calls Randy “smelly”. In the same tweet he also admits to crying because Randy told him he smelled like loose change, so maybe he’s just holding a grudge.

• Habit doesn’t seem to be very tactful. He manages to tick off a few of the Habiticians, most prominently Kamal, who Habit says has “sepia toned teeth”. If you ask the Habiticians in question, they’ll suggest that he’s plain rude - but considering his character, it’s more likely that he’s just unintentionally blunt.

• Habit is trusting, even before the good ending. This is mostly displayed by his tweets. He clicks an ad for free lasagna and gets a computer virus, buys a fake set of X-Ray glasses from Gerry (and wears them all day despite not being able to see!), someone stole quiches (presumably from his office) without him noticing, and in another tweet he said he ate an apple pie that tasted like rat poison! He expresses concern about the poison, but the way he wrote it suggests he ate the whole pie! He trusts people nearly to the point of naivety, despite the broken philosophy in his boss battle.

• It’s very heavily suggested that Habit is hurting for attention and interaction. In the good ending, despite knowing he’s just hurt you, he’s desperate enough to ask to be your friend (and not only surprised, but ecstatic if you say yes). In the same ending, kissing him is enough to completely snap him out of his breakdown and sober him up - right after flustering him immensely, of course. In one of his tweets, too, he accidentally admits that sometimes he wants kisses. Considering his childhood, it’s more than likely he’s really touch starved. 

• It’s really easy to make him cry. Several of the Habiticians mention him crying, and Habit even mentions crying in some of his tweets. On the other hand, he gets excited really easy, too. Basically, it seems he’s prone to feeling any emotion really strongly. 

• Habit canonically loves to draw and is good at it. In-game, he illustrates himself all over the walls of the Habitat. Usually they’re peppy, fun, somewhat childish drawings, but once you get to his office and the areas near it, you start to see some... really disturbing illustrations.

• Finally, my favorite: his hair. Aside from the obvious fact that it’s really long, in one of his tweets he’s distressed because he’s “drowning in it”. There’s no conclusions to be drawn here except that his hair’s awesome.

[vs-redemption]

Crime is Common. Logic is Rare. (Ch 3)

Chapter Three: Unusual Monday (HawksxGN!Reader)

Plot summary: You thought your hands were full as a regular quirk geneticist, but then you meet Hawks and things get even more exciting! 

Warnings:  

⚠️This story contains spoilers from the manga. 

⚠️Some events and plot points have been altered from the original manga 

Next Chapter : Chapter Guide

You arrived to work Monday morning, coffee in hand, ready to start another usual week. Your boss had already unlocked the building and was sitting behind her desk, scanning over some paperwork. You mumble a “good morning” while heading to the break room to drop off your work bag. When you walk back out into the lobby though, your boss is eyeing you intently.

“So?” She asks, clearly holding back some excitement. “How was lunch yesterday?”

“It was fine,” you keep your face flat so as not to encourage whatever wild scenarios she might be concocting in her head. “He just had questions about quirk copying and transferring like most people do these days.”

“Sure,” your boss wasn’t giving up. “But he isn’t really like most people, is he?” You weren’t sure what aspect of him she was referring to, so you shrug. “Did you not watch the Hero Billboard Chart announcement last week?” She asks incredulously.

“No,” you admit. “I missed it because I had a video conference with that professor from America. I set it to record, but I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. I saw the rankings printed in the newspaper though.”

“Did you pay attention to them? Hawks isn’t just any random hero,” your boss lectures. “He’s ranked number two in Japan.” The surprises just kept on coming.

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope,” your boss shakes her head. “He’s actually the youngest person to ever make it into the top ten heroes.”

Apparently the bird man hadn’t been kidding about working fast. He was so young, yet he had already established his own agency and worked his way to the number two spot. It was very impressive, but it made you wonder even more about the case he was working on. It must be something serious, probably involving the League of Villains.

“Hey guys!” Simon the research assistant burst through the front doors suddenly, waving a tablet around. “This is incredible. I just got the results of the study! The findings were significant!”

“Let me see,” you take his tablet and did a quick scan of the data. “These numbers ARE outstanding,” you tell him, “but they’re wrong.”

“What?” his face falls as you reach over the desk and grab the stack of papers you’d left there the day before.

“I ran the numbers myself,” You tell him while handing back the tablet with the printouts. His eyes move back and forth between the papers and the tablet screen.

“I was so excited,” he says in defeat.

“The numbers aren’t bad,” you console him. “We can still publish, but we’ll need to do further testing if we want to make any real impact. We can talk about that later though. We should run the data through your program again together to see where you went wrong.” The kid seemed to perk up a bit as you headed to one of the labs. You worked with him for about an hour when your boss knocks on the door frame to get your attention.

“Your bird is here,” She was smirking. You’d never seen her smirk before. You tell Simon you’d be back in a bit while heading out into the lobby, wondering if this was a joke.

“You know,” you whisper to your boss, “one lunch meeting does not make him MY bird.”

“Some might say it was a lunch DATE,” she fires back.

“I think you’re the only one who would say that,” you tell her honestly.

She hadn’t been joking. Hawks was indeed waiting at the front desk, standing out with his bright red wings and devilishly handsome face. He smiles happily when he notices you and waves a gloved hand. “Long time no see!”

“Hello Mr. Number Two,” You wave back. Hawks lets out a short laugh.

“You looked me up, huh?” he asks in amusement.

“No,” you shake your head. “I was informed… against my will.” You tilt your head toward your boss who blushes a bit in embarrassment. Hawks took pity on her.

“Aw,” he smiles at her. “At least someone loves me.” Your boss looked like she might be experiencing extreme heart palpitations.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you two days in a row?” you ask Hawks. Teasing your boss was fun, but you really did want to know why he was back. Hawks reaches into his coat and pulls out a plastic folder with some papers inside.

“I wanted to thank you for your help yesterday,” He hands you the folder and you flip it open. “I talked to some people and got you access to the research center in Tokyo where they’re holding the captured nomus.” You could hardly believe what you were hearing.

“What? Are you serious?” you skimmed through the papers which contained confidentiality contracts and protocols for keeping the data private. It all looked legitimate.

“You’ll have to fill out all that paperwork,” Hawks grimaces. “Sorry about that. But once you submit the forms you’ll get a special badge that will grant you permission to enter the building.” You continued to flip through the pages for a moment, still in a state of shock.

“This is… unbelievable,” You look up at him. “Thank you.”

“Hey, don’t mention it!” He grins, seemingly pleased with your reaction. “You’ll still have to take the trip out there too which is a pain. I’d offer to go with you, but I’m being sent back to Kyushu today. Try not to have too much fun without me.”

“Is there like, a catch to this?” You had to ask. “You just met me yesterday. Having direct access to those nomus is every scientists dream right now.”

“No catch,” Hawks puts his gloved hands together as a promise. “Well, except that I might come to you for help again in the future if that’s all right with you.” You had no idea why he would want to do that, but if it got you into the nomu research lab, you could accept it.

“Fine by me,” You put out your hand to seal the deal. Hawks grabs your hand and shakes it happily. His wings ruffle behind him and it reminds you of a dog wagging its tail.

“Awesome!” He nods his head. “Well, I’d better be off. I have a long flight back to my agency. It was nice working with you though.”

“Yeah, no problem,” you say honestly. “Travel safe.”

“Of course,” he smirks. “I’ll see you later then.”

Hawks was out the door a moment later, leaving you to wonder how all this was happening so suddenly.

[tealin]

Basler to the Beardmore 1: You See a Plane, You Take It

As always, the original post is up at the official blog – the formatting definitely works there, if you are having issues with it here.

When planning my research trip with the Antarctic Artists & Writers Program, I had to make a wishlist of places to visit.  One of the more important ones was the Beardmore Glacier, the route by which Scott and his men climbed from the Ross Ice Shelf (or, as they called it, the Barrier) to the Polar Plateau.  It's one of the largest glaciers in the world, but is hardly visited anymore so is rarely photographed, and despite the blessing of Google Image Search, I had too poor a sense of it to draw a journey up or down it with any confidence.

Setting foot on the Beardmore turned out be prohibitively demanding, logistically, but there are regular LC-130 flights between McMurdo Station and the Pole which traverse the Beardmore en route.  The plan we made was for me to get on one of those, and snap as much as I could from one of the small windows as we flew.

November 2019 turned out to be a terrible time for Pole flights – if the weather was OK at Pole, there was a problem with the planes, or vice versa.  However, the weather delays worked in my favour, because they affected not only Pole flights, but one particular season-opening flight, which had been bumped so many times that it still hadn't gone when I turned up. That meant I could get a seat.

The big flights ffor the USAP’s operations in East Antarctica – cargo and passenger flights on/off continent, and to major stations like Pole and WAIS Divide – are handled by the New York Air National Guard, and their fleet of enormous military airplanes, namely a C-17 and small handful of LC-130 Hercules.  There are lots of smaller trips from McMurdo to satellite stations, and these are serviced by Kenn Borek Air, a Canadian company which operates out of Calgary, Alberta.  At the start of every season, they fly their fleet of Twin Otters and Baslers down the length of North and South America, then leapfrog depots down the Peninsula and thence to various hubs including McMurdo.  From there they move people and stuff where they need to go, and also restock those fuel depots.  There was one depot flight that remained to be done, and it happened to be to a cache near the base of the Beardmore, so they agreed to take me along.

I was not the only extra job tacked on to the flight. After depoting the fuel, we were to scout out a camp in the Transantarctic Mountains which had been in regular use until a some fierce winds a few years ago had scoured great furrows in the landing strip.  Was it landable again?  What state was the camp in?  We would find out.  They also wanted to scope out a historic site that left no physical trace, to get updated intel on its condition.  Then we would fly north again via the Beardmore and the coordinates for One Ton Depot.

As soon as the Basler had finished her more pressing engagements, we were put on alert for the depot run.  Everything in Antarctica is weather-dependent, and that can change on a dime, so one is always on standby.  Because they needed to make the most of the Basler's time, they would put two missions on for any given day, then the one with the best prospects would be activated.  For five days I was ready to go – breakfasted, fully suited up, lunch packed, ECW bag to hand – at 7 a.m., in case my flight was the one that was going.  Flight status would be announced on the screens at the entrance to the Galley.

For four mornings I joined the poor Thwaites Glacier team anxiously hanging on the screens – they were trying to get out to WAIS Divide (the high point of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, from which they would catch a flight to the Thwaites camp) where the weather had been abominable for a month.  One of those mornings my flight was activated and I got all the way out to the airfield only for it to be called off at the last minute because of a change in forecast for the depot site.  But finally, the fifth morning, it was all systems go!

There are two airfields that serve McMurdo: Phoenix, which is designed to take the massive C-17s on a packed snow runway where they can land with wheels, and Williams Field, of groomed snow, for ski'd aircraft.  The extra special thing about Williams Field is that it's more or less where Scott's 'Safety Camp' was located – so named because it was far enough onto the ice shelf not to break up and float out to sea – so the view to Ross Island from there would have been very familiar to our explorers.  On the day of my false start, while waiting to find out that the plane wasn't going after all, I got to take some good pictures of the view from there.  It was also a good day to get a sense of the 'bad light' that obliterated contrast on the snow and made navigation difficult:

The Sea Ice Incident took place between us and the conical hill to the left!  Wild!

Anyway, Try no. 5 was on a much nicer day.  Here is the magnificent bird with her spanking new paint job:

It was a funny experience – I mean, besides sharing the fuselage with many hundreds of gallons of flammable liquid – in that it was an island of Canada amidst all the Americans. The crew all lived in BC when they weren't in Antarctica, and next to my seat were the usual set of flight safety brochures, in English and French, just as if we were flying out of Calgary.

Our pilot was named Steve, and I learned from him that, if you're training to be a pilot in Canada, you have to do your qualifying hours in the North.  Most people put in their time and then get a comfortable job flying passengers between major southern cities, but Steve liked the North so much he stayed and stayed, until he got the job with Kenn Borek and ended up South.  As much as I feel obliged to make a facetious quip about my flammable fellow passengers, I can honestly say I have never felt safer in an airplane than this one.  This was just as well, as one of the first things we did once we were in the air was rather exciting.

The Basler is a workhorse, and one of the Antarctic planes (though I never found out if it was this one) had actually flown in WWII – they just keep going and going.  However, the hydraulics that lift the landing gear were designed to lift just the landing gear, not the landing gear plus 650-pound skis, so in order to get them up we had to lose some weight.  And we did this by climbing steeply up and then nose-diving, bringing us temporarily closer to zero G.  We had to do this every time we took off, and it took 2-3 goes to get the skis up successfully.  You'd expect someone with a history of nervous flying and a sensitivity to motion sickness to find this unpleasant, but it was just plain awesome.

This post is getting long already, so I will describe our errands in detail over the next two posts.  I really must take the time here, though, to give my regards to Kenn Borek Air. I don't think anyone in Canada knows how absolutely vital they are to everything that gets done in Antarctica; their vermillion planes keep camps supplied and people moving around, and are the everyday lifeblood of the continent, in the most literal circulatory sense.  Steve and the Basler may possibly have saved the Thwaites Glacier project this season – after a month of delays getting people and freight out to the field camps, it was reaching a point where they might have called off the massive international project for this year.  But they allocated the Basler to the WAIS flights and Steve landed it in conditions that the NYANG wouldn't – the Basler couldn't fly nearly as much cargo as a Herc, but they got enough out there that some work could begin.  I haven't seen this mentioned in any of the Thwaites coverage and I'm sure it hasn't been covered in Canada, but for a country that doesn't even have a national Antarctic program, they should be mighty proud of the central role their people play in making other countries' programs happen.

[batupermata]

Review NiftyPlanet Project

NiftyPlanet - Decentralized international NFT marketplace.

#NFT #NFTCommunity #niftyplanet #niftyplanetnews #NFTmarketplace #digitalart

What is the main aim for the NiftyPlanet project?

NiftyPlanet is an NFT marketplace and minting platform that utilizes the NFPL token to empower users who actively interact with the platform.

Users on the NiftyPlanet platform can buy and sell NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) created for rare and unique digital items such as music, artwork, trading cards, experience-sharing, hybrid digital/physical, and in the near future, even physical items.

NiftyPlanet’s plans extend far beyond being just another marketplace for digital collectibles and art. We intend to bridge the digital and physical world via blockchain technology to make it possible for collectibles and creations borne from both worlds to be shared with the world in the same exciting place.

We also want to give an international voice to creators that have never ventured past their own “neighborhoods” by connecting creators with an exploding International Crypto community.

Finally, we plan to provide a place where creators can monetize their creativity and even make a living from it, something especially needed in the wake of the globalist-created plannedemic, inhuman lockdowns and global financial destruction of 2020–2021. NiftyPlanet also wants to give back to all of its users and will offer rewards for active participation on the platform (creating and selling, collecting, voting and moderating, etc.). NiftyPlanet plans to provide the opportunity for farming to earn, as well.

The NiftyPlanet protocol is a solution to the limitations faced by the intellectual property market, including licensing and paperwork challenges, piracy issues and right-protection, limited or subdued revenue, and more. The advent of NFT’s represents an awesome alternative to everyone.

NIftyPlanet Video Guides - NFTとは？

https://youtu.be/8qApW2D_sn4

Why is the NiftyPlanet project team remaining anonymous?

We believe that new era of privacy and also private money is here. The world is changing very fast and people want to have a new approach in their relationship with the world at large, including the economy and government. It is clear, especially after the tyranny that has arisen from the insane and and irrational response to the “pandemic” that the NWO and its buddies in the new Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex, are currently trying to take over the world, and or kill us all. We feel that it is essential that we all begin guarding and protecting our privacy and rights before everything we own and love is gone or usurped by the “powers that shouldn’t be” either via their surveillance, assisted by other NWO buddies such as the tech giants we all know and love. Our own efforts start with this project. Those megalomaniacs aren’t welcome to participate in our community nor do we want anything to do with them thus we choose to remain anonymous.

We also feel there is too much pressure on companies and individuals to pay exorbitantly high taxes. And besides the obvious fact that taxes are too high, governments have shown perpetually that they are completely irresponsible in how they use taxes they collect from hard working citizens the world round; wasting and misusing funds for personal ends such as visiting prostitute establishments, rebuilding the same road many multiple times just so they can receive the same budget as the previous year, and last but not least to start wars, spending billions worldwide to create weapons of destruction to kill people in foreign countries that the taxpayers have no desire to have conflict with at all in the first place. But saying all this does not mean that we are against the taxes completely. In fact, we will gladly support the payment of taxes when they will be used for the people that bust their asses to pay them, and not to benefit the psychopaths who are currently in control of the spending of the taxes they collect from all of us. Taxes should migrated to a cryptocurrency basis and the method of payment should be changed from advanced payment — where you pay VAT, consumption taxes or taxes from your income from trading, to the “payment for the results”. In business area it’s called “Pay for Performance Principle”. In this payment for results scenario, for example, if you were happy with how the roads look around us that were built by your government, you would go to the DeFi Tax platform and pay directly to the company who built those roads. The same with your local Police force or any other kind of service that are currently funded by the thousands of types of taxes collected around the world. This way of paying taxes after you see the results or actual use of those taxes will motivate governments to transform and become more effective, efficient and responsible, and it will improve the world and environment around us. In our opinion, VAT that we are all paying in shops is absolutely enough for the government to survive. The rest of the Taxes we will pay in the future, once governments recognize and respect that The Era of Private money is here and we will no longer forgive their irresponsible use of our hard-earned income.

Cryptocurrency gives us our power to control our governments once more, the way they should be. Until the governments can prove they can be responsible and will not misuse or simply steal taxed money from the people we have no reason to hand any over to them. Another important reason for remaining anonymous, is routine paperwork and other extra costs. Once we register any kind of a earth-based company we need to hire a lawyer open a physical office, get and send correspondence in perpetuity. And all these things decrease our efficiency and effectiveness. In our initial stage we can not allow ourselves to waste such important resources as a time. We would better off investing this time to improve your user experience on our platform and make your life easier and more interesting, and to provide more creative and financial opportunities for our users.

The structure of NFPL token distribution

The NiftyPlanet platform is a semi self-funded platform. Half of the funds for the development and platform launch were provided by a few pre-seed investors.

Total token supply is 1 billion tokens.

There are 10 pre-seed investors of this project. In total they control 83M tokens. Additionally, they own 29% interest in the project.

2 main Founders control 8% of all token supply (80M tokens).

Tokens have been distributed to 2 founders, 2 team members and 10 pre-seed investors.

Before we hold our IDO which is planned for June 2021, founders’ and pre-seed investors’ tokens will not move at all. The main reason we are doing this is because we believe that people who participate in IDO’s should have a guarantee that the team and investors will not sell all of their tokens all at once before the IDO starts.

In the graphic you can see the entity structure of token allocation with exact ETH addresses. Until the end of the actual IDO, there will be no NFPL transactions originating from project or investor wallets.

Founder 1 (4.00%)

0x313a82316f2591ecdff509699f80ff434b4f23a1

Founder 2 (4.00%)

0xb85d39145755ca7cbd7a0703327dd0ad7fc7137c

Pre-seed investor 1 (2.00%)

0x3fb9bea7a24b70bc7588c5c25815f5d6a5936cdd

Pre-seed investor 2 (1.15%)

0x05fc4d24c1ccd25b69b8d072f4234d37d2f26bb3

Pre-seed investor 3 (0.60%)

0x9664a89a0627106d02a0143f3e6b8cc8403070cd

Pre-seed investor 4 (0.55%)

0x6ada63ea649c558718da343f09be19421724f6a6

Pre-seed investor 5 (0.40%)

0xcbc297537f30d383460862e86c3c7c332b2f1eda

Pre-seed investor 6 (0.40%)

0xbf9c915abf2003da52a6e67ae6bcd2daba6779a1

Pre-seed investor 7 (0.40%)

0x9cf8e867328eb1d35c6637c5c75fd7851d879ef5

Pre-seed investor 8 (0.40%)

These tokens will be distributed after IDO

Pre-seed investor 9 (0.40%)

0xe81C6E1B75dD8fA589Ce0389dEc305e899FA943D

Pre-seed investor 10 (2.00%)

0x58E2966cA92Eb9FebE5f6c05DA653E464aF2531A

Core team member 11 (1%)

0x6802bf043ECA770F7c1F4A03C9D68F9D181591fe

Core team member 12 (1%)

0xeAe5700167e71E88f2D20CDf5E7B743C8EB79533

Marketing (10.00%)

0xC5F62cCDB455800c1daa1e8f6b0678A77F71B756

Main address with rest of the NFPL tokens (81.70%)

0xee0ab4691476244d1633d8d1197d0a66def7e5a9

Platform Roadmap

Development of "NFT Creation Engine" and marketplace.

Launching of marketplace Beta Testing, presenting exclusive Drops.

Collaboration with show-biz talents, artists, and creators in Japan and China for Drops.

Implementation of invitation system/Start reward system for users.

Opening of NFT creation to all content creators.

Official launch and mass marketing in Japan and China.

IDO (Initial Dex Offering) in Japan, China, and Internationally.

Voting system integration and delegation of Management to the community.

#niftyplanet #nifties #NFT #NFTCommunity #digitalart #NFTmarketplace

NiftyPlanet — Where Are We Heading?

NiftyPlanet is the world’s marketplace for Nifties. Nifties are authentic and verifiably unique digital items you can truly own. Our team has been working hard to create something worthy of the attention of our community. After quite a lot of testing of the platform, we are happy, excited, and proud to announce that we are officially launching tomorrow, June, 19th! Our first drop is now scheduled, so more info will be published on our social media shortly.

Let’s talk about some things that you can expect in the next few days. On June 22, we are conducting our first Chinese AMA, so make you follow our WeChat and have your questions ready.

Another important piece of news is that NiftyPlanet is starting its first bounty campaign. During the next 8 weeks, bounty hunters will have a chance to earn $9,000 worth of NFPL tokens.

There will be 160 winners in total. At the end of the bounty campaign, we will count the number of stakes earned in all bounty programs and reward the best achievers. To increase your chances of winning, participate in several bounty programs. More details and rules will be published separately.

For more information about niftyplanet

WEBSITE: https://niftyplanet.co/

MEDIUM: https://niftyplanet.medium.com/

TELEGRAM : https://t.me/NiftyPlanet

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PlanetNifty

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7iTV9RFgEOQsxhOaKfITDw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nifty.planet/

Reddit: https://discord.com/channels/829112237247561738/829112237247561740

Author:

Bitcointalk username: Batu permata

Profile link: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1875984

Telegram name: @yunicomel001

ETH address: 0xA5d3c9288F1C6A4a9D1298456DBCcDf9e2811896

[cryptonewsmanuelakanji]

NiftyPlanet (NFPL)

NiftyPlanet (NFPL) - Decentralized international NFT marketplace.

What is the main aim for the NiftyPlanet project?

NiftyPlanet is an NFT marketplace and minting platform that utilizes the NFPL token to empower users who actively interact with the platform.

Users on the NiftyPlanet platform can buy and sell NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) created for rare and unique digital items such as music, artwork, trading cards, experience-sharing, hybrid digital/physical, and in the near future, even physical items.

NiftyPlanet’s plans extend far beyond being just another marketplace for digital collectibles and art. We intend to bridge the digital and physical world via blockchain technology to make it possible for collectibles and creations borne from both worlds to be shared with the world in the same exciting place.

We also want to give an international voice to creators that have never ventured past their own “neighborhoods” by connecting creators with an exploding International Crypto community.

Finally, we plan to provide a place where creators can monetize their creativity and even make a living from it, something especially needed in the wake of the globalist-created plannedemic, inhuman lockdowns and global financial destruction of 2020–2021. NiftyPlanet also wants to give back to all of its users and will offer rewards for active participation on the platform (creating and selling, collecting, voting and moderating, etc.). NiftyPlanet plans to provide the opportunity for farming to earn, as well.

The NiftyPlanet protocol is a solution to the limitations faced by the intellectual property market, including licensing and paperwork challenges, piracy issues and right-protection, limited or subdued revenue, and more. The advent of NFT’s represents an awesome alternative to everyone.

NIftyPlanet Video Guides - NFTとは？

https://youtu.be/8qApW2D_sn4

Why is the NiftyPlanet project team remaining anonymous?

We believe that new era of privacy and also private money is here. The world is changing very fast and people want to have a new approach in their relationship with the world at large, including the economy and government. It is clear, especially after the tyranny that has arisen from the insane and and irrational response to the “pandemic” that the NWO and its buddies in the new Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex, are currently trying to take over the world, and or kill us all. We feel that it is essential that we all begin guarding and protecting our privacy and rights before everything we own and love is gone or usurped by the “powers that shouldn’t be” either via their surveillance, assisted by other NWO buddies such as the tech giants we all know and love. Our own efforts start with this project. Those megalomaniacs aren’t welcome to participate in our community nor do we want anything to do with them thus we choose to remain anonymous.

We also feel there is too much pressure on companies and individuals to pay exorbitantly high taxes. And besides the obvious fact that taxes are too high, governments have shown perpetually that they are completely irresponsible in how they use taxes they collect from hard working citizens the world round; wasting and misusing funds for personal ends such as visiting prostitute establishments, rebuilding the same road many multiple times just so they can receive the same budget as the previous year, and last but not least to start wars, spending billions worldwide to create weapons of destruction to kill people in foreign countries that the taxpayers have no desire to have conflict with at all in the first place. But saying all this does not mean that we are against the taxes completely. In fact, we will gladly support the payment of taxes when they will be used for the people that bust their asses to pay them, and not to benefit the psychopaths who are currently in control of the spending of the taxes they collect from all of us. Taxes should migrated to a cryptocurrency basis and the method of payment should be changed from advanced payment — where you pay VAT, consumption taxes or taxes from your income from trading, to the “payment for the results”. In business area it’s called “Pay for Performance Principle”. In this payment for results scenario, for example, if you were happy with how the roads look around us that were built by your government, you would go to the DeFi Tax platform and pay directly to the company who built those roads. The same with your local Police force or any other kind of service that are currently funded by the thousands of types of taxes collected around the world. This way of paying taxes after you see the results or actual use of those taxes will motivate governments to transform and become more effective, efficient and responsible, and it will improve the world and environment around us. In our opinion, VAT that we are all paying in shops is absolutely enough for the government to survive. The rest of the Taxes we will pay in the future, once governments recognize and respect that The Era of Private money is here and we will no longer forgive their irresponsible use of our hard-earned income.

Cryptocurrency gives us our power to control our governments once more, the way they should be. Until the governments can prove they can be responsible and will not misuse or simply steal taxed money from the people we have no reason to hand any over to them. Another important reason for remaining anonymous, is routine paperwork and other extra costs. Once we register any kind of a earth-based company we need to hire a lawyer open a physical office, get and send correspondence in perpetuity. And all these things decrease our efficiency and effectiveness. In our initial stage we can not allow ourselves to waste such important resources as a time. We would better off investing this time to improve your user experience on our platform and make your life easier and more interesting, and to provide more creative and financial opportunities for our users.

The structure of NFPL token distribution

The NiftyPlanet platform is a semi self-funded platform. Half of the funds for the development and platform launch were provided by a few pre-seed investors.

Total token supply is 1 billion tokens.

There are 10 pre-seed investors of this project. In total they control 83M tokens. Additionally, they own 29% interest in the project.

2 main Founders control 8% of all token supply (80M tokens).

Tokens have been distributed to 2 founders, 2 team members and 10 pre-seed investors.

Before we hold our IDO which is planned for June 2021, founders’ and pre-seed investors’ tokens will not move at all. The main reason we are doing this is because we believe that people who participate in IDO’s should have a guarantee that the team and investors will not sell all of their tokens all at once before the IDO starts.

In the graphic you can see the entity structure of token allocation with exact ETH addresses. Until the end of the actual IDO, there will be no NFPL transactions originating from project or investor wallets.

Founder 1 (4.00%)

0x313a82316f2591ecdff509699f80ff434b4f23a1

Founder 2 (4.00%)

0xb85d39145755ca7cbd7a0703327dd0ad7fc7137c

Pre-seed investor 1 (2.00%)

0x3fb9bea7a24b70bc7588c5c25815f5d6a5936cdd

Pre-seed investor 2 (1.15%)

0x05fc4d24c1ccd25b69b8d072f4234d37d2f26bb3

Pre-seed investor 3 (0.60%)

0x9664a89a0627106d02a0143f3e6b8cc8403070cd

Pre-seed investor 4 (0.55%)

0x6ada63ea649c558718da343f09be19421724f6a6

Pre-seed investor 5 (0.40%)

0xcbc297537f30d383460862e86c3c7c332b2f1eda

Pre-seed investor 6 (0.40%)

0xbf9c915abf2003da52a6e67ae6bcd2daba6779a1

Pre-seed investor 7 (0.40%)

0x9cf8e867328eb1d35c6637c5c75fd7851d879ef5

Pre-seed investor 8 (0.40%)

These tokens will be distributed after IDO

Pre-seed investor 9 (0.40%)

0xe81C6E1B75dD8fA589Ce0389dEc305e899FA943D

Pre-seed investor 10 (2.00%)

0x58E2966cA92Eb9FebE5f6c05DA653E464aF2531A

Core team member 11 (1%)

0x6802bf043ECA770F7c1F4A03C9D68F9D181591fe

Core team member 12 (1%)

0xeAe5700167e71E88f2D20CDf5E7B743C8EB79533

Marketing (10.00%)

0xC5F62cCDB455800c1daa1e8f6b0678A77F71B756

Main address with rest of the NFPL tokens (81.70%)

0xee0ab4691476244d1633d8d1197d0a66def7e5a9

Buy our NFTs from the first Original NiftyPlanet drop!

https://twitter.com/i/status/1406979232463470599

#niftyplanet #digitalcollections #NFTs #ETH #Drop

Platform Roadmap

Development of "NFT Creation Engine" and marketplace.

Launching of marketplace Beta Testing, presenting exclusive Drops.

Collaboration with show-biz talents, artists, and creators in Japan and China for Drops.

Implementation of invitation system/Start reward system for users.

Opening of NFT creation to all content creators.

Official launch and mass marketing in Japan and China.

IDO (Initial Dex Offering) in Japan, China, and Internationally.

Voting system integration and delegation of Management to the community.

#niftyplanet #nifties #NFT #NFTCommunity #digitalart #NFTmarketplace

NiftyPlanet — Where Are We Heading?

NiftyPlanet is the world’s marketplace for Nifties. Nifties are authentic and verifiably unique digital items you can truly own. Our team has been working hard to create something worthy of the attention of our community. After quite a lot of testing of the platform, we are happy, excited, and proud to announce that we are officially launching tomorrow, June, 19th! Our first drop is now scheduled, so more info will be published on our social media shortly.

Let’s talk about some things that you can expect in the next few days. On June 22, we are conducting our first Chinese AMA, so make you follow our WeChat and have your questions ready.

Another important piece of news is that NiftyPlanet is starting its first bounty campaign. During the next 8 weeks, bounty hunters will have a chance to earn $9,000 worth of NFPL tokens.

There will be 160 winners in total. At the end of the bounty campaign, we will count the number of stakes earned in all bounty programs and reward the best achievers. To increase your chances of winning, participate in several bounty programs. More details and rules will be published separately.

Our first ever AMA session is live. Only for Chinese people!

#AMA #Niftyplanet #digitalart

For more information about niftyplanet

WEBSITE: https://niftyplanet.co/

MEDIUM: https://niftyplanet.medium.com/

TELEGRAM : https://t.me/NiftyPlanet

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PlanetNifty

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7iTV9RFgEOQsxhOaKfITDw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nifty.planet/

Reddit: https://discord.com/channels/829112237247561738/829112237247561740

Author:

Bitcointalk Username: Manuel Akanji

Bitcointalk Profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2954998

Telegram Username: @Manuelakanji777

ETH Address: 0x176a48a2Eb8FF8dfa46e58741E4A7b642C90F512

[jadonsancho09]

NiftyPlanet Project

NiftyPlanet - Decentralized international NFT marketplace.

#NFT #NFTCommunity #niftyplanet #niftyplanetnews #NFTmarketplace #digitalart

What is the main aim for the NiftyPlanet project?

NiftyPlanet is an NFT marketplace and minting platform that utilizes the NFPL token to empower users who actively interact with the platform.

Users on the NiftyPlanet platform can buy and sell NFT’s (non-fungible tokens) created for rare and unique digital items such as music, artwork, trading cards, experience-sharing, hybrid digital/physical, and in the near future, even physical items.

NiftyPlanet’s plans extend far beyond being just another marketplace for digital collectibles and art. We intend to bridge the digital and physical world via blockchain technology to make it possible for collectibles and creations borne from both worlds to be shared with the world in the same exciting place.

We also want to give an international voice to creators that have never ventured past their own “neighborhoods” by connecting creators with an exploding International Crypto community.

Finally, we plan to provide a place where creators can monetize their creativity and even make a living from it, something especially needed in the wake of the globalist-created plannedemic, inhuman lockdowns and global financial destruction of 2020–2021. NiftyPlanet also wants to give back to all of its users and will offer rewards for active participation on the platform (creating and selling, collecting, voting and moderating, etc.). NiftyPlanet plans to provide the opportunity for farming to earn, as well.

The NiftyPlanet protocol is a solution to the limitations faced by the intellectual property market, including licensing and paperwork challenges, piracy issues and right-protection, limited or subdued revenue, and more. The advent of NFT’s represents an awesome alternative to everyone.

NIftyPlanet Video Guides - NFTとは？

https://youtu.be/8qApW2D_sn4

Why is the NiftyPlanet project team remaining anonymous?

We believe that new era of privacy and also private money is here. The world is changing very fast and people want to have a new approach in their relationship with the world at large, including the economy and government. It is clear, especially after the tyranny that has arisen from the insane and and irrational response to the “pandemic” that the NWO and its buddies in the new Pharmaceutical Industrial Complex, are currently trying to take over the world, and or kill us all. We feel that it is essential that we all begin guarding and protecting our privacy and rights before everything we own and love is gone or usurped by the “powers that shouldn’t be” either via their surveillance, assisted by other NWO buddies such as the tech giants we all know and love. Our own efforts start with this project. Those megalomaniacs aren’t welcome to participate in our community nor do we want anything to do with them thus we choose to remain anonymous.

We also feel there is too much pressure on companies and individuals to pay exorbitantly high taxes. And besides the obvious fact that taxes are too high, governments have shown perpetually that they are completely irresponsible in how they use taxes they collect from hard working citizens the world round; wasting and misusing funds for personal ends such as visiting prostitute establishments, rebuilding the same road many multiple times just so they can receive the same budget as the previous year, and last but not least to start wars, spending billions worldwide to create weapons of destruction to kill people in foreign countries that the taxpayers have no desire to have conflict with at all in the first place. But saying all this does not mean that we are against the taxes completely. In fact, we will gladly support the payment of taxes when they will be used for the people that bust their asses to pay them, and not to benefit the psychopaths who are currently in control of the spending of the taxes they collect from all of us. Taxes should migrated to a cryptocurrency basis and the method of payment should be changed from advanced payment — where you pay VAT, consumption taxes or taxes from your income from trading, to the “payment for the results”. In business area it’s called “Pay for Performance Principle”. In this payment for results scenario, for example, if you were happy with how the roads look around us that were built by your government, you would go to the DeFi Tax platform and pay directly to the company who built those roads. The same with your local Police force or any other kind of service that are currently funded by the thousands of types of taxes collected around the world. This way of paying taxes after you see the results or actual use of those taxes will motivate governments to transform and become more effective, efficient and responsible, and it will improve the world and environment around us. In our opinion, VAT that we are all paying in shops is absolutely enough for the government to survive. The rest of the Taxes we will pay in the future, once governments recognize and respect that The Era of Private money is here and we will no longer forgive their irresponsible use of our hard-earned income.

Cryptocurrency gives us our power to control our governments once more, the way they should be. Until the governments can prove they can be responsible and will not misuse or simply steal taxed money from the people we have no reason to hand any over to them. Another important reason for remaining anonymous, is routine paperwork and other extra costs. Once we register any kind of a earth-based company we need to hire a lawyer open a physical office, get and send correspondence in perpetuity. And all these things decrease our efficiency and effectiveness. In our initial stage we can not allow ourselves to waste such important resources as a time. We would better off investing this time to improve your user experience on our platform and make your life easier and more interesting, and to provide more creative and financial opportunities for our users.

The structure of NFPL token distribution

The NiftyPlanet platform is a semi self-funded platform. Half of the funds for the development and platform launch were provided by a few pre-seed investors.

Total token supply is 1 billion tokens.

There are 10 pre-seed investors of this project. In total they control 83M tokens. Additionally, they own 29% interest in the project.

2 main Founders control 8% of all token supply (80M tokens).

Tokens have been distributed to 2 founders, 2 team members and 10 pre-seed investors.

Before we hold our IDO which is planned for June 2021, founders’ and pre-seed investors’ tokens will not move at all. The main reason we are doing this is because we believe that people who participate in IDO’s should have a guarantee that the team and investors will not sell all of their tokens all at once before the IDO starts.

In the graphic you can see the entity structure of token allocation with exact ETH addresses. Until the end of the actual IDO, there will be no NFPL transactions originating from project or investor wallets.

Founder 1 (4.00%)

0x313a82316f2591ecdff509699f80ff434b4f23a1

Founder 2 (4.00%)

0xb85d39145755ca7cbd7a0703327dd0ad7fc7137c

Pre-seed investor 1 (2.00%)

0x3fb9bea7a24b70bc7588c5c25815f5d6a5936cdd

Pre-seed investor 2 (1.15%)

0x05fc4d24c1ccd25b69b8d072f4234d37d2f26bb3

Pre-seed investor 3 (0.60%)

0x9664a89a0627106d02a0143f3e6b8cc8403070cd

Pre-seed investor 4 (0.55%)

0x6ada63ea649c558718da343f09be19421724f6a6

Pre-seed investor 5 (0.40%)

0xcbc297537f30d383460862e86c3c7c332b2f1eda

Pre-seed investor 6 (0.40%)

0xbf9c915abf2003da52a6e67ae6bcd2daba6779a1

Pre-seed investor 7 (0.40%)

0x9cf8e867328eb1d35c6637c5c75fd7851d879ef5

Pre-seed investor 8 (0.40%)

These tokens will be distributed after IDO

Pre-seed investor 9 (0.40%)

0xe81C6E1B75dD8fA589Ce0389dEc305e899FA943D

Pre-seed investor 10 (2.00%)

0x58E2966cA92Eb9FebE5f6c05DA653E464aF2531A

Core team member 11 (1%)

0x6802bf043ECA770F7c1F4A03C9D68F9D181591fe

Core team member 12 (1%)

0xeAe5700167e71E88f2D20CDf5E7B743C8EB79533

Marketing (10.00%)

0xC5F62cCDB455800c1daa1e8f6b0678A77F71B756

Main address with rest of the NFPL tokens (81.70%)

0xee0ab4691476244d1633d8d1197d0a66def7e5a9

Platform Roadmap

Development of "NFT Creation Engine" and marketplace.

Launching of marketplace Beta Testing, presenting exclusive Drops.

Collaboration with show-biz talents, artists, and creators in Japan and China for Drops.

Implementation of invitation system/Start reward system for users.

Opening of NFT creation to all content creators.

Official launch and mass marketing in Japan and China.

IDO (Initial Dex Offering) in Japan, China, and Internationally.

Voting system integration and delegation of Management to the community.

#niftyplanet #nifties #NFT #NFTCommunity #digitalart #NFTmarketplace

NiftyPlanet — Where Are We Heading?

NiftyPlanet is the world’s marketplace for Nifties. Nifties are authentic and verifiably unique digital items you can truly own. Our team has been working hard to create something worthy of the attention of our community. After quite a lot of testing of the platform, we are happy, excited, and proud to announce that we are officially launching tomorrow, June, 19th! Our first drop is now scheduled, so more info will be published on our social media shortly.

Let’s talk about some things that you can expect in the next few days. On June 22, we are conducting our first Chinese AMA, so make you follow our WeChat and have your questions ready.

Another important piece of news is that NiftyPlanet is starting its first bounty campaign. During the next 8 weeks, bounty hunters will have a chance to earn $9,000 worth of NFPL tokens.

There will be 160 winners in total. At the end of the bounty campaign, we will count the number of stakes earned in all bounty programs and reward the best achievers. To increase your chances of winning, participate in several bounty programs. More details and rules will be published separately.

for more information about niftyplanet

WEBSITE: https://niftyplanet.co/

MEDIUM: https://niftyplanet.medium.com/

TELEGRAM : https://t.me/NiftyPlanet

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/PlanetNifty

YOU TUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7iTV9RFgEOQsxhOaKfITDw

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nifty.planet/

Reddit: https://discord.com/channels/829112237247561738/829112237247561740

Author:

Bitcointalk username: Jadon Sancho

Bitcointalk Profile: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2954208

Telegram: @Jadonsancho09

ETH Address: 0x5541Bd8145965dFBE8CE3429898000605F689904

[bandicoot88]

My Cyberpunk 2077 thoughts...

Gonna go into some spoilers, which I’ll hide under the cut, tho for now, I will share what I thought of the game. I finished my original playthrough a while back now, and did a second, with my same V but with a few different choices (and going back so I could take a bunch of snaps in photo mode, as you may have seen!)

  The game is definetely overhyped tho. Did I enjoy myself? Yes, but the game could’ve been better had it been worked on either more, or taken a step back... and made sure the game ran nicely. There are problems with it, and I’ll share this video here from videogamedunkey who does a good job of explaining the good and bad:

    The length of the game:

  Too short. For about 2 days I was doing side quests only to look for Brendan and Theo, voiced by Bryan Dechart and Ameila Rose Blaire, and even then, I felt like the story just... ends. When I went to do the final mission, I actually didn’t realize it was the final mission. It does say a point of no return, and I’ve experienced that once before in a game, but I just thought it’d be a really long mission, not the end of the game.

  There’s too many side missions I feel, and as mentioned in the video, a lot of copy and paste kinds which are boring, while some are worth doing, but you can’t tell which is which until you visit those locations.

  Game machanics:

  I’m an easily confused person, but I still felt like the game doesn’t really explain... much. All this tech, upgrades, add-ons, abilities, weapons, hacking, and WHY THE FUCK AM I OVERHEATING!? Like... did anyone else feel overwhelmed? I’d be hours and hours into the game, and I still didn’t know what did what. Heck, there’s stuff now I still don’t understand, like... consumerables. I never use them, EVER!

  I just find them kinda pointless, and they’re fucking everywhere, which is probably my problem because I pick EVERYTHING up. I just wanted the game to explian things better. Even BOTW just throws you into the wildness with little to go on, but it’s easy to pick up and understand once you know how (yes, I know the games are totally different, but CP77 could’ve learned something from games such as that on how to introduce players on how to literally play their game).

  Crafting:

  Did anyone actually craft in this game? I crafted very little, and by that I mean I crafted a few grenades to use. I thought weapons could be upgraded, but I was wrong I think, and legendary weapons could be crafted instead? Either way, I never found enough material to craft anything legendary, and with how often I looted... something ain’t right there.

  Selling stuff:

  On PS4, it’s a fucking nightmare. It’s sooooo slow. It would’ve been nice to have an option like ‘sell all commons/whites’ or selecting multiple items and then go ‘sell’. But no, you have to sell each item individually, and with how the game performs on PS4 currently... yeah, not fun.

  SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!

    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        The story:

Confusing. I got the impression that Arasaka were the bad guys, since y’know... killing Jackie, the son killing the father, etc. Then Takemura enters the scene, thinks we’re the killers, then we both get attacked by robo ninjas, who I haven’t got a fucking clue are, and then... Takemura is trying to save me. When it said ‘finish him off’, I thought it meant Takemura (I think I ignored the prompt, thinking Takemura would die in that moment).

I also kept getting confused on character names within the Arasaka’s, namely Saburo and Yorinobu, constantly getting lost on what and who Takemura was referring to, but I think that’s a me problem and not the fault of the game.

Romances:

  I still have yet to romance someone, but my first encounter with a romancable character was Panam. Little did I know... that she’s straight, so my female V cannot romance her. So. Lame. There’s 4 romances in the game, and we’re limited to 2 per gender? Judy is nice, but I really liked Panam... Why not just make them all bi so from a player perspective, there’s more choice? That’s what Joytoys are, with Skye and Angel as prime examples. Just put the gay/lesbian representation in game elsewhere, but not with romancable characters that are limited, because that’s just lame to me. AC Odyssey didn’t have that problem... It’s really not difficult. According to a YouTube comment on Kerry’s romance, in the Cyberpunk board game, Kerry was bisexual anyway, so... what gives?

Character deaths:

I hated that Jackie died. Seriously? That lovable goof giant just killed off in the most anticlimatic and lame way? If you’re gonna kill off such a great character, at least go out with a bang. The guy didn’t get enough screen time and he was such a lively character in the doom of gloom of Cyberpunk’s world.

It also sucked that T-Bug and Dex died too. T-Bug... how did she even die? The game doesn’t explin anything, and the way she went off comms like that made me think that we’d see her late, as I didn’t realize she was actually dead for a good while, expecting her to make contact at some point.

As for Dex... yes, he did screw us over, but I still liked him. The way he talked, his voice, his style... I just felt he could’ve had more to give.

Then there’s Takemura, another death that I thought had to happen, but the game fucks him over by giving no indication that he could’ve been saved. According to the PS4 trophies, it says 0.8% had Takemura get his revenge for Saburo’s death near the end of the game, so... hardly anyone knew he could be saved.

They couldn’t have done like a decision that could’ve saved him? If they didn’t want to make it obvious, fine, don’t label literally “save Takemura” and “leave Takemura”, but have a decision there at least. Or, explain at some point in the game (maybe near the beginning) that following what the mission says doesn’t have to be taken so literally. When gamers are told by a mission on what to do, they do. How would we ever know to crawl in a tiny hole and find Takemura that way? Again, I assumed we’d meet up later, waiting... waiting... Hanako makes no mention of him whatsoever, and eventually I realized he was dead. Even called him on his phone to confirm it. So lame...

  Smelting legendary weapons:

  I think I accidentally smelted down Johnny’s Revolver, and I fucking loved that thing! The damage, the sound, the awesome reload animation... So now on my other playthrough I’m gonna try and not mess that up. How on Earth are Johnny’s clothes non-sellable/smeltable, but his gun is? How do you mess that up!? Let me mark certain weapons so I don’t accidentally sell them. Again, CP77 can learn from other games...

  Buying cars:

  I’ve bought... one car, and I hate that buying cars are labelled as side missions. Why would I want to buy a hoard of cars? I’m not made of money? I can’t just spend 22k on a car I don’t even really want, especially when I got Johnny’s car, and the bikes of Jackie and Scorpion. Just... have a single place where you can go to buy cars instead of littering the map. I read somewhere that buying cars is the Corpo path only, but I’m not sure?

  The endings:

  I think the ending I got was a common one. I understand there are 5 endings? I chose to go back to Earth and... eventually die I guess, because I didn’t trust Arasaka. I picked the other choice to see what happens, and I wish there was some explaination. You’re just stuck in some program, waiting for a body? If one will even be available? I felt like both endings kinda sucked, and dare I say, the ending you can get much earlier sitting on the roof was oddly more satisfying to me, because you get an actual cutscene with Johnny, and overall, it’s just a nice heart to heart moment. Sure, it’s sad, but there was emotion. The other 2 common endings just felt empty to me. I still have to watch the other, more rare endings.

  Okay I’m done. This is mostly a big rant, but I did still like the game. It just wasn’t ready for release, even after 8 years, and it did had problems, outside of bugs and performance issues.

[sunflowergrenades]

A Mile in My Shoes: Chapter One

Tears gathered in the wide eyes of the little green skinned girl as her bottom lip quivered violently. She searched her friends' faces for a hint that they were joking but she was coming up blank.

"Why can't I come with you, Yuki? I'm your friend too, right?"

"We're gonna be inside today. You're too loud and wild. My mom gets mad at me every time you come over." the blue haired girl replied, rolling her eyes.

Hana took a step forward, clenching the stuffed orca in her arms tightly "I'll do better this time! I'll -."

"You always say that! Just go home, Hana. You'll just get in the way."

The other two girls began laughing as Hana's tears poured down faster and she ran off in shame. Her scrawny legs carried her as far as they could to her apartment. As the door swung open, it collided with the wall heatedly which drew her mother’s attention from the kitchen. Hina sighed deeply as her oldest child looked up from his phone with a biting glare.

“If that little shit doesn’t quit making my baby sis cry, I’m gonna -!”

“Stand down. I got this. You just keep my soup from burning.” his mother instructed before going into the living room to find her only daughter curled up on the couch.

“Why am I so annoying?” Hana whimpered into her knee as she trembled under Hina’s loving touch.

“Says who? Yuki Watanabe? That kid is a spoiled brat. Her mommy and daddy can buy her anything but some damn manners.”

“No one at school likes me because I’m so hyper. I try to keep in it but I can’t.”

“And you shouldn’t have to! You’re hilarious, Jellybean! You’re so much fun. You keep me and your brother rolling with laughter. We won’t change anything.”

Hana stayed curled up in her dejected ball until Hina laughed softly. She looked up a little at her mother to see that she was looking at the television. They rarely watched the news but it must have come on while they were cooking. A rescue was going on the screen with a hero she’d never seen before. With his orca features and large frame, he quickly got the attention of little Hana who was wiping the last few tears from her eyes.

“Who’s that hero, Mama?”

“His name’s Gang Orca. I figured you’d like him because you’ve always been into weird stuff.” Yosuke replied from behind the couch.

Hina scoffed as she looked back, “You let my soup burn and I’m tossing you into it, little troll.”

“Cool your jets. I turned it down.”

“That’s what I want to do when I grow up!” Hana exclaimed unexpectedly as she got to her feet.

“What, burn soup? You’re already good at that, JB.” Yosuke teased.

“Huh? No! I meant what he’s doing on T.V! I wanna do that!”

“You want to be a pro hero?” Hina asked, sitting forward with her hands on her cheeks. “Well, you'd be super interesting to watch, that’s for sure.”

“Seriously? Hana, a hero? She’s too goofy. She’s not cut out for -. What am I worrying for? You change your mind every five minutes. You wanted to be an astronaut two days ago.” Yosuke grumbled as he returned to the kitchen.

“Don’t listen to your brother, Sunlight. He’s just mad that his grades aren’t good enough to get into U.A’s support class program.”

“Can’t hear you over the sound of me throwing this soup into the yard!”

“You brat, your laptop’ll follow it out there!” she screamed as she jumped over the back of the sofa to go save her food from her son’s bitterness.

Hana giggled softly as she turned her attention back to the news broadcast. Yeah, being a hero would be awesome. But heroes always had costumes and stuff, right? She pursed her lips for a second in thought before running down the hallway and getting her crayons. Who better than to design an outfit for her Quirk than her.

Time flies when you’re having fun and the hyper seven year old soon turned into a bouncy fifteen year old. To her brother’s astonishment, Hana’s hero dream never burned out like the others. Planning her campaign for president only lasted a week and it was one of the longest run schemes that she had. Despite thinking this was a dim-witted plan, he still determined to make sure that his rambunctious sibling didn’t repeat her bad habit of sleeping through her alarms.

“Hey, are you up yet?”

Hana, who was currently wrapped up in her fuzzy pink blanket, groaned loudly without making any movement. She was absolutely not planning on getting out of this criminally comfortable bed. The deep-toned but noticeably annoyed voice from the bottom of the stairs clearly disagreed with that plan.

"Some hero you are! You can’t even make it to school on time!"

That got a quick reaction as Hana popped up and promptly fell out of her bed with an undignified squawk. Once finally unraveling from her warm cocoon, she darted to the closet to get her clothes and found that her uniform had rudely fallen to the floor. As she dusted it off, she ran to the bathroom and hung it on the back of the door. She quickly brushed her teeth, ruffled her onyx pixie cut with her fingers for some texture, and put in her silver star earrings. She raked her long bang out of her face as she inspected her face for imperfections.

As she got herself presentable, the oldest Ishikawa child stuck two pieces of bread into the toaster before fastening up the Gang Orca lunch on the counter and putting in that ragged, ugly pink backpack with unicorns all over that his sister refused to replace for some reason. Surely, it should be qualified for retirement after all these years, right?

But Hana wasn't one to throw out much of anything. She was the textbook definition of a sentimental fool. Yosuke wasn't exactly sure where she had even picked up that habit but she was almost religious about keeping anything close to 'important'. 

“Hana! Move it or lose it, runt!" he yelled again as he put some strawberry jam on the nearly burnt toast.

"Don't call me a runt, jerk face. I already told you that everyone else is just too tall!" she shouted from upstairs.

He heard something crash its way down the stairs with a loud bang and sighed deeply. "What was that?"

"My shirt!"

"That was way too damn heavy to be a damn shirt." he huffed back, looking at his phone.

As she came around the corner, she was hopping on one foot attempting to tie a glittery silver tennis shoe while standing. "Well, I was still wearing it."

He rolled his eyes before grabbing her leg mid-hop which nearly sent her to the floor. He put the sole of her shoe on his leg and started tying it for her. She wrinkled her nose in frustration, to which he replied with a thump to the forehead.

"You're gonna break your damn neck." he scolded.

"You worry too much. I'm tough enough to handle whatever life throws at me." she scoffed back proudly.

Yosuke looked at his younger sibling with overwhelming skepticism. At an unimpressive five feet tall, puberty had seemingly forgotten to visit the poor girl. She was thin as a rail and still had a baby face with a button nose and big sapphire eyes. All that paired with her narrow frame, small breasts, and a high pitched voice, no one ever believed she was actually her age.

"Whatever you say, kid." He sighed as he gave her the toast and held out her backpack.

She shoved a piece of her breakfast halfway into her mouth, slung her bag onto her shoulder, and headed to the door.

"What? No 'thank you'?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"Toast could have been darker honestly." she said, shrugging lightly.

"You can't just eat charcoal, Jellybean."

She blushed slightly, pink lighting up her mint green skin. "I told you to quit calling me that!"

"But you're small, cute, and eat nothing but candy. You're our little jellybean and always will be. It's better than that shit you used to call me."

"And that's my cue to leave." She scoffed as she opened the door.

"Have fun today, JB. I gotta work late tonight so you'll be having way more fun than me." he called out as he waved to her.

"Yikes. Better you than me. Don't forget your wallet this time." she said, exiting the apartment.

"Got it. Love you, brat."

The door clicked but immediately swung back open so she could yell back "Love you too." before finally leaving.

She wasn't sure what she did to get such bad karma but she deeply regretted whatever it was because now she was sprinting to class as fast as she could. She had missed the first bus and had to wait for the second one, so she was even more late now. As she ran, she tried to finish putting the shoe that had fallen off when she tripped down the stairs a moment ago. Seriously, what was gravity's problem today?

She finally reached the door and straightened herself up before grabbing the knob. Opening the door to the classroom, she was greeted by the very unhappy face of her home room teacher.

“Morning, Mr. Aizawa.” she mumbled, ducking her head like an anxious pup.

“Nice of you to join us, Ishikawa.” he sighed deeply. "Now as I was saying, you'll be wearing the hero outfits based on the designs you submitted."

Hana immediately lit up and the second they could get their outfits, she pushed her way to the first and snatched the case with her seat number on it. As she ran off excitedly, Ashido looked at Tokoyami who was shaking his head slightly. He was her designated best friend since the first day of school so he usually ended up playing translator for the jittery girl.

"You'll have to forgive Ishikawa's impatience." He lamented. "From my understanding, she designed that outfit when she was a little girl and she's been talking about it all week."

"That's actually sort of adorable." Ashido tittered.

"I'm honestly curious to see what she’s created." Tokoyami replied, grabbing his own case and leaving the room.

As the upcoming heroes stepped out in their new costumes, Hana couldn't stop smiling and looking down. It was perfectly in line with her drawing.

The black one piece had a turtleneck and featured a cutout of a sun around her belly button. Squiggly cuts around it made the rays. The holes for her legs were cut high and displayed part of her hips. It laid her skinny shoulders bare and was visibly backless with only her backside covered. Her shoes were simple black ballet flats with a thick ribbon around either ankle. Her hands were covered up by a pair of yellow finger-less gloves. Finally, her eyes were protected by a square, yellow visor that faintly resembled work safety glasses. For added flair, she'd topped the outfit with a headband with a yellow over-sized bow that poked up like bunny ears.

She glanced over at Midoriya and giggled as she waved her hand at him eagerly. "Hey, Deku! Look! We match!" She said, pointing from her bow to his suits 'ears'.

He blushed slightly and nodded. "Y-yeah, I guess we do, huh?"

If Bakugou’s crimson eyes could use his quirk, Ishikawa would have exploded three times by now. They were digging into the back of her head. Hana seemed to feel his eyes on her and looked over her shoulder to see him glaring at her unapologetically.

Ah, yes. Bakugou and his famous attitude. She'd managed to be at least on speaking terms with all her classmates. The exceptions were Todoroki who gave her the cold shoulder (pun absolutely intended) and the furious blonde. Every single time she got the least bit friendly with Bakugou, he’d buck like a wild stallion. What he didn't realize was that his bitterness only made it more fun for his ridiculously headstrong classmate. He'd made the mistake of making it a game and she wasn't about to lose.

"Like my outfit?” she asked, twirling around jubilantly.

He scoffed and looked away from her. The answer was… maybe? It was admittedly a cool design. She needed a lot of skin showing to make her Quirk work its best but something extremely revealing would have been out of character for her. She had figured out how to balance the modesty she needed with the design her power required on his own? That was kind of cool. She still looked like a little brat though. That was probably less about the outfit and more about that silly grin plastered on her face.

"Well, I love yours!" She said. "The grenades are super badass."

His eyes widened slightly as he looked back at her slightly. Why was she suddenly complimenting him? She usually spent the majority of her time teasing and provoking him. Their bickering sessions started from the first day at U.A. Bakugou was at his desk with his feet propped up as he insulted pretty much anything that moved when petite little Hana walked by.

As soon as she walked by, he noticed her stockings had cat faces on them. Naturally, he scoffed loudly. "When did they start letting little kids take classes here?"

She stopped mid-step and looked over her shoulder. "About the same time they started letting in annoying jackasses."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY, YOU SHRIMP?"

She spun around and slammed her hands on his desk as she tilted her head to the side. He raised an eyebrow at her. Was this girl actually going to try and pick a fight?

Never breaking eye contact, she smiled jeeringly as she replied, "Oh, I'm sorry. Let me say it a little louder for you. You're acting like a jackass."

"Keep running that mouth and I'll hang our tiny ass from the ceiling!"

"Sweetie, you'd have to catch me first." she scoffed, poking his nose playfully.

Midoriya, who was watching this train wreck from behind the wall, exhaled deeply. It was their first day and Kacchan was about to commit a felony. Sure enough, the blonde went off and threw around some interestingly detailed threats.

She stood there taking his insults with a genuinely amused look on her face until he took a step toward her. She closed her eyes as her body emitted a blinding yellowish white light. Bakugou covered his eyes and stumbled back a little.

"SHIT, WHAT THE HELL, YOU LITTLE -!"

"My name is Hana Ishikawa." she replied, calmly as if she didn't just flash-bang the entire class. "Nice to meet you. Don't worry, the burning stops after 30 seconds."

With that, she skipped to her seat and sat down. Midoriya watched cautiously as Bakugou rubbed his stringing eyes and growled loudly. From that moment forward, every time they made eye contact, someone usually got detention.

All Might was the teacher today and Hana couldn't stop laughing at just how electrified Midoriya was. She was pretty excited too, but she was always that way about something. She was the kind of person who sat by the mailbox when her package was out for delivery and cheered for the mailman when he showed up.

What really tickled her was how pumped up Bakugou got when the words 'combat training' came out of All Might's mouth. It got an actual giggle out of her.

"Ishikawa will be with Todoroki on team B."

"Yay! Dude, I'm so excited. I love your dad. He's my second favorite pro!" Hana shouted out loudly as she bounced up and down.

Todoroki immediately rolled his eyes at her joyful reaction. Why did he have to get stuck with the class crazy lady? It was going to be a long day.

The first teams up were "villains" Bakugou and Iida vs Midoriya and Uraraka. The other other students were watching from a secondary location on a big screen. Things were already off to a bad start because Bakugou clearly had no intention of listening or cooperating. Like now, for example, he'd run off to find Midoriya and 'deal' with him, despite Iida's blatant disapproval.

"Well, I see Baku is doing whatever Baku wants and I'm sure you're all as shocked as I am." Hana said with a sarcastic tone as she put another strawberry pocky stick in her mouth.

"What is he thinking?" Tokoyami asked, shaking his head. "He's being completely irrational."

"Honestly, Yami, I'm guessing there's not much really going on in that head of his." Hana replied.

On the screen, Bakugou found his prey and was currently doing everything in his power to stomp him into the dirt. Asui made a comment about him being a good villain which unexpectedly grabbed Hana's attention.

"Whoa, that's a little harsh, Froggy."

Bakugou had lost track of Midoriya who had run away for his safety. Even through a screen, his hatred was almost visible in the air.

"That doesn't seem villainous to you?" Todoroki asked, pointing at the screen where Bakugou was apparently screaming some heavy threats at Deku as he searched for him.

"Look, I'm not justifying it but there's clearly something going on there that we don't know."

"Like what?" he asked flatly.

"Heck, I don't know! I'm not a therapist. Everyone's got a demon or two in them though, right?" She replied quickly.

Tokoyami looked over at her slightly and noticed that her eyes were locked on the blonde with a look of what seemed to be growing curiosity.

"Gotta admire his determination though. Even if his cheese has completely slid off his cracker."

"I think you're being naïve." Todoroki said under his breath.

Her eyes suddenly widened as she looked over at him slightly. Her hands balled into fists slowly by her sides.

"I'm sorry? Did I ask for your opinion on my personality?"

"With one as spastic as yours, you should be used to it."

"Spastic?! Listen, I don't -!"

"You'll kill him!"

All Might's thunderous voice made her jump as her eyes shot back to the screen. They quickly widened as Bakugou's hand ripped the pin from his grenade gauntlet with wild abandon.

"Dude, what are you doing?" She asked under her breath.

"How about now, Ishikawa? Does murder count as 'villainous'?" Todoroki scoffed.

"Seriously, Baku? Pull yourself together." She whispered, mostly to herself.

Midoriya used his Quirk to destroy several floors at once and Bakugou looked as if he'd seen a ghost. No, that wasn't enough to describe the level of horror in those wide ruby eyes.

Hana didn't see that uncommon expression as she walked to the back of the room and pulled out another pocky stick. She munched on it as she let her forehead rest on the cold metal wall. The thought of everyone watching her mess up was making her stomach queasy.

"Is everything alright? You seem a bit bothered by what just happened." Tokoyami asked from behind him.

She sighed deeply and painted her smile on her face, but it didn't hold anything close to genuinely positive. "Nah, I'm okay. Just a little performance anxiety. That's all."

"Well, it's our turn so I would try to shake those nerves if I were you." Todoroki stated while walking by.

"Sure thing, Ace." She mumbled as she followed.

She wasn't entirely sure she could handle much more of Todoroki's bitterness today but for the sake of the assignment, she was willing to try. At least, she was before they actually got to the building.

"You stay here. You'll only get in the way."

Her heart started banging on her rib cage angrily as his words unlocked a door in the back of her mind. Once again, she was just a little eight year old on the playground with her feelings on her sleeve. No, no more. Never again. Her teeth grit painfully as she ran to catch up with Todoroki. She grabbed his arm but he quickly shrugged her off.

"What are you doing?" He asked as he looked back at her.

"Just because your dad is a pro doesn't mean that you get to talk down to me like that! I'm a big fan of your dad's but I'm not just going to let you -."

"Let's just focus on the assignment, alright?" He interrupted before continuing toward the building. "You and I aren't on the same level. It's for your benefit that you stay down here."

As he disappeared into the entrance, she growled under her breath. Get in the way? No, she worked like crazy to get here! Some little rich kid wasn't gonna tell her what to do. It was sunny today so her Quirk was working wonderfully. The more sunlight, the more useful she was.The others watched as she created a yoga ball sized orb in between her hands. She processed to climb on top of it as it floated up to the window. Hana had a tendency to whatever she wanted, especially when told not to do something. While that attitude could bring interesting results at times, it also meant that despite her friendly attitude, Hana's teamwork skills were completely terrible.

She attempted to jump to her target window but the ball slipped out from under her. She gasped loudly as she clung to the ledge forcefully.

"I swear if I fall, my ghost is gonna haunt you, Ace!"

"I can't watch! Tell me when she's made it." Uraraka said, covering her eyes with worry.

"I like her fearlessness but that cooperation could use some serious improvement." All Might mumbled as he watched her finally climb through the window.

Her target barely even had time to notice her before the floor froze solid. Ice raced up her legs only to stop mid calf. She stared at it for a moment with rage boiling ever faster in her veins.

"I told you to stay outside for a reason."

She was visibly shaking with anger but was breathing in deeply. Tears stung her eyes as she bent down to melt the ice from her legs

"Man, I won't ever want Ishikawa to look at me the way she's looking at Todoroki right now." Kaminari laughed under his breath.

"She's normally so laid back." Asui noted.

"She's probably feeling a little embarrassed. She went through all of that effort for nothing. That's a bit of an ego bruiser, don't you think?" Tokoyami said, looking at the currently fuming Hana.

Bakugou rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. His eyes wandered up to the screen and he noticed that as the ice melted off her legs, she crossed her arms and stormed out of the room. He was having a shitty day to say the least but for some reason, that little pouty march of shame of hers made him laugh.

Okay, maybe not laugh laugh. Just that thing where you blow air out of your nose kinda hard in amusement? She came back into the room and noticed him staring a little. Her left hand came to rest on her hip as she tilted her head to the side.

"Hey there, Baku. You feeling better after all that? I know I always feel bushy-tailed after a homicidal rampage." She said, playfully.

"You expect me to believe a little runt like you can go on a rampage?" He huffed, looking away. "What do you do? Throw your toys?"

"Oh, my wittle heart!" She laughed as she threw her arm over her face dramatically. "You're so cruel to me, dude."

"You're just a pansy, Sunspot." He huffed.

He noticed that lazy, amused grin slowly spread back over her pastel face like butter on warm toast. The second he took a breath to ask what that stupid look was about, she cut him off.

"Sunspot? Seriously?" She snorted playfully. "Oh, I get it! Because of my yellow freckles across my face, right? Dude, that's actually kinda cute."

"Whatever, loser." He growled back at her, sulking over the fact that she made an intended insult into a damn pet name.

She bounced away to go talk to Uraraka. Now that she thought about it, maybe today wasn't all bad.