#so we'll see what i decide to do because i am super lazy but i've been wanting to do Job prints for ages now

[captainbasch]

I thought I would take some time today to gather some flower refs for ffxiv prints, specifically flowers that matched the colors of job stones/soul crystals and BOY did it take a literal 3 hours to get all of them a match @ A @ ; and some of them are reaching LOL Like you want to find me a GREY, SEAFOAM, or GREEN HELLO? flower - too bad I did it already - but G O D. Some of the choices were like "oh wow, this flower matches the color and vibe of DRG perfectly. It even looks like a little snowflake to give Ishgard imagery and its spiky like the end of a lance!" but my favorite ones were "Oh GNB is yellow and mimosas are yellow and they're my fave, so :)" Hardest finds were NIN, MCH, and SAM T v T but i did it in the end. Everyone's got a flower match and hopefully I'll have enough drive to actually make these after all of this work LOL

[yuri-is-online]

There's Mud in Your Eye (Leona and Deuce x Yuu)

"Oh can I help you? You seem to be lost." You attempt to cheerfully ask the vaguely familiar looking person in front of you. As if he is deliberately trying to rub salt in your wounds, Crowley ignored your request to leave campus for NRC parents day and is instead making you and Grim run errands. The person in front of you, blissfully ignorant to your inner turmoil perks up at your attention.

"Forgive me for asking, but are you the magicless prefect?" You and Grim exchange a confused glance. "You've got to be right?" They're practically glowing with how happy they are to see you. " Oh I'm sorry, I've just heard so much about you!" Wait, what?

notes: they/them pronouns used for Yuu, i am out of creative ways to describe these: it's Cheka and Mamma Spade. Slight references to the White Rabbit event. If you liked this please check out the previous parts on my master list here.

Leona

A very confused, very important looking little lion is standing in front of you, attempting to mimic Leona's judgey thinking face. Five year olds lack the smarmy bitterness required to truly pull off the look, but you have to admit, it is pretty cute.

"Um, do you think he ran away from his guards again?" Grim whispers, painfully loud and without nearly enough concern. "Do you think we'll get in trouble if we can't get him back to his retainers?" The scenario feels completely unreal, but then again so does standing in front of royalty. Who are you again anyway? Just some weirdo who is going to have to apologize to their loved ones for taking so long to come home because you couldn't sneeze in another world without bumping into royalty. While you are busy considering whether or not it would be considered child neglect to sprint away from the little guy, Cheka finally finishes his thought process, letting out a contented "hmmm" as he points decisively at you.

"You," he says with all the authority of an extra on a children's tv show "are not Unca."

Well.

That was not what you were expecting. Your mind draws a lengthy blank as Cheka grins up at you in a surprisingly catlike manner seemingly very pleased with himself.

"How did it take ya so long to figure that out?" It has to be a truly stupid question to get Grim's voice to crack.

"Well I decided I was gonna sneak up on Unca." A terrible idea really but who are you to refute royalty. "So instead of running around and askin I decided to just focus on his scent! But I found two places he could be so I just decided to go to the closer one."

"Whatdya mean?" Grim takes a deep breath and interrupts his train of thought with a hard gag you really hope is dramatic. "Oh wow he ain't wrong, you really smell like that lazy bi-" You manage to muzzle him before he can teach Checka too many bad words. You wonder if it would be rude to sniff yourself in front of a literal prince, Cheka's pleased little tail swish doesn't help.

"Can you please take me to Unca?" he asks, so very sweetly looking up at you like you're the shiniest star in the night sky. It hurts to disappoint him.

"Uh I'd love to little guy but I'm not too sure where he is..." you really hope Cheka can't tell just how nervous you are. Crowley did give you a schedule, but it wasn't super detailed, just a vague set of notes about the various events going on.

"Then I'll just stay here with you!" He says, with a surprising degree of authority. "Unca's scent is really strong so I'm sure he'll show up soon!"

''I don't think that's a good idea little guy." You just called the Crown Prince of the Sunset Savannah a little guy. Which he is but you are pretty sure there's a time period where that would have gotten you executed, and you can only pray it's not now. The intense look of what you assume are Cheka's guards running up the main street is not helping with that.

"Your highness! Please don't run off like that." The man seems wary of scolding the prince, but he has no qualms about staring you down. "You! What is your name and who do you think you are to be speaking so casually to-" He cuts himself off, bluster fading as he takes a deep breath and starts staggering away from you. Well not you per se, you realize as you turn around and see an extremely intense looking Leona behind you.

"Stop blamin' your inability to do your job on other people." Leona's voice is slow, authoritative enough that you almost forget he's supposed to be the second prince. The guards do too, until Cheka jumps away from them onto Leona's shoulders and shatters the illusion just a bit.

"Unca! Unca! You're gonna show me the spelldive fields right?" Cheka nuzzles his Uncle's cheek while Leona tries his best to get away.

"I thought you were gonna stay with Prefect." He grumbles.

"We can come with." You say before you fully realize what you're saying surprised at how ok you are with the offer. Cheka lights up, jumping away from his Uncle to nuzzle up to you. Leona's gaze softens ever so slightly, even if he immediately breaks eye contact and starts walking away from you.

"You're welcome to come if you can keep up." You try to convince yourself you follow him just to get away from the guards, but there's a spring in both your steps no one is brave enough to act like they notice.

Deuce

"Yuu! And Grim too! Lucky me I thought I was going to be stuck looking for my kids for at least another hour." Dilla Spade cheerfully says, her decision to refer to you as her child momentarily distracting you from the fact Deuce is nowhere to be seen. She seems to have been granted a day off from work, her usual delivery uniform ditched in favor of a very mom like set of old sweatpants and an old athletic jacket with a logo you assumed belonged to Deuce's middle school.

"Mama Spade!" Strange feelings aside you are extremely happy to see Dilla, and happier still when she perks up just a bit at your calling her mom. "Did Deuce forget to text you again?"

"Not exactly," she says with an affectionate sigh "I caught up with him a bit earlier but he ran off to find his Housewarden. He really wanted to introduce us but said it might be a bit difficult to make that happen."

"Yeah..." Grim says as you exchange a look "Riddle's a really busy guy."

"Well never mind then." She says with a shrug. "What's up with you? Deucey tells me all sorts of things, but it's never the full truth." You shouldn't be surprised Dilla knows something is up. Honestly it's a wonder any of the students with a half way decent relationship with their parents hasn't been yanked out of this school already.

"Nothing too bad I hope?" You say, hopeful that Dilla will give you something to work with so you don't confess to something too wild. She laughs.

"I'm a mom, worrying's part of the territory." You breathe a sigh of relief, though you can't help but wonder just what Dilla's reaction would be to knowing Deuce had fought four overblot phantoms. Would she be proud? You hope so, he deserves it. "I keep telling Deuce to invite you to spend summer with us but he's really hung up on doing things the 'honorable way.'" You try your best not to fluster.

"What's that even mean?" Whines Grim, probably thinking more about the donuts you had while visiting Clock Town more than the implications kicking around in your mind. "offerin' to help me and my hench human out is honorable enough!"

"It really is," you try not to come off as too eager, it would be really nice to spend the Summer somewhere that wasn't Ramshackle, even if it would hurt the ghost's feelin-

"Is Deuce waitin' till he can afford a ring or somethin'?" Grim says, crossing his little paws and sticking your words in your throat. Dilla winking at the little monster with a conspiratorial grin makes you choke. "He is isn't he! Hmph, figures. Well he knows he won't get the Great Grim's permission!"

"Grim!" You squeak.

"Well you are a bit young," Dilla says "but you have my blessing prefect."

"I- I think there's been a bit of a misunderstanding-" you don't want to get anyone's hopes up, you aren't even dating Deuce, you want to say that you don't like him that way, but the lie dies on your lips as a familiar duo comes into view just behind Dilla.

"MOM! oh and PREFECT!!!" The overwhelming joy in Deuce's eyes contrasting with the smug amusement of Ace makes you feel just a bit more at home, despite the awkwardness of the situation. You can almost convince yourself that he's running up the road on the double just to see you.

"Think of it this way," whispers Dilla, firmly placing a hand on your shoulder in a comforting and not forceful way "you're family, and you always will be no matter what label gets slapped on things. Though I am pretty sure you can guess Deuce's preference."

You can, or at least you can hope.

[fatiguedfatso]

⋆˚࿔ my may diet plan 𝜗𝜚˚⋆

may is really the last month before summer begins which means no more excuses, no more laziness. i decided to come up with a diet plan for this month, one that is more likely to work for me. i'm not telling you to do this diet plan, this probably won't work for you, it is purely based on tips i've received from others and information about what does/doesn't work for my body. this is going to be quite long, sorry ! >:3 𐙚 meals omad doesn't work for me, it almost always leads to a binge. i've realized this after trying to make it work for a long time. instead of forcing myself into something that is going to lead to self-destruction, i want to work with my own body/mind. breakfast - it isn't something i often do, i just prefer to wake up later and can never fit it into my schedule, but i think it might help me a lot. getting some energy into my body before school will help me feel less zombie-like throughout the day. sticking to the same meals every day is quite boring, but in the mornings it's hard for me to want to make anything. i'm going to be sticking to a greek yogurt bowl filled with fruits, granolas, etc. this is a super filling meal !! on the weekends, i might switch it up a bit, but we'll see. dinner - seeing as i live with my family, i don't have a lot of choices when it comes to dinner. i'm not often the one cooking the meals which does make it a bit hard to control the calories. this definitely won't be as uniformed as my breakfasts, but i'll make sure to track it as much as i can !! not allowed at all - sodas/coffees + noodles 𐙚 exercise

my biggest struggle fr. i am terrible with actually putting in the effort to work out, but it will make weight loss so much easier. i'd love to just be lazy and not do it at all, but i want to try to at least stick with it for a month. maybe not every single day this month, but at least 4 days a week. walking - getting steps in is so important. there are so many days i just spend rotting in bed because i'm too lazy to get up, but that is so unacceptable. it is difficult for me to get a lot of steps in because i can't go on walks alone (don't attempt suicide, kids.) so i will just walk back and forth in my room. my room isn't very big so it takes about 30 minutes for me to get 1,000 steps in if i'm walking at a regular pace, but if i try hard enough i can do about 1,300 steps in 30 minutes. youtube workouts - i will be trying out different youtube workouts, i'll probably post about which ones i'm doing each day. i have knee issues so the workouts i do probably won't work for you ! make sure to do workouts based on YOUR body. 𐙚other

distractions - being distracted is so so so important for me! i often eat because of boredom which is actually why my weight got so heavy in the first place. i will probably make a separate post about my favorite ways to distract myself. water - drinking water before meals is the best way to prevent overeating. since i am trying to cut out sugary drinks completely, i want to increase my water intake. i'm often dehydrated, but water helps with weight loss so much! being in the right mind - i think to actually do something, you really need to believe in yourself. if i'm constantly telling myself "oh, i'm not going to lose the weight", i am just ruining my own progress because those negative thoughts become reality. i don't think i'm going to become my ugw in a month, but i do believe i can make some good progress this month! MWAHHH!! tysm if you read this whole thing, i yapped a lot. come up with your own diet plan, each body is different, but i hope my diet plan inspired you! :D

[road-breakin-slasher]

~Chapter 3 - Don't Spoil It, It's Too Soon!~

"You know, I've been daydreaming on my nap about Sasha's cuteness. I just couldn't. Sometimes I'd rather dream about how I'll be the greatest here in Wonderville, outsmarting Hogi, or even take Pinkfong's crown!

Or maybe put my soft hands on Sasha's hands...

Err, anyway, 5 minutes forward, I got up and decided to think another prank. But I have no idea, so I opened up a chest and found something strange: It's an Invisibility Cloak. This looks fun.

Few minutes after being outside, behind the bushes, I saw Sasha walking and thinking. I even heard her said, 'I really want to be the captain of Wonderville, but how?'

Hearing her what she said, I decided to put on my cloak and get closer to her. She sings:

'Our captain, the very best captain

Eyes like steel

Blazing this way, flashing that way

Super-duper cool

Our captain, the very best captain

Heroic and brave

Hee-yah ha, hee-yah ha

Super-duper cool

Our captain, the very best captain

Crown so sparkly

Shiny shiny shiny! Shiny shiny shiny

Super-duper cool

I wanna be the one

I am the captain

Our captain, Sasha's the one!

Our captain, Sasha's the best!

Yeah, I wanna be the one

I am the captain

Yeah, our captain's the one

It's captain Sasha!'

Geez. Even I fell for her vocals... Errgh, snap it. Then, suddenly, I got very close to her and prank her, giggled and said, 'What's so funny?' With my pointy finger ready, she turned and poked to her cheek. And...

'Ahh!' She screamed.

Laughed about it and decided to uncloak myself, showing myself up!

'Billi, where did you come from?' She asked.

'I've been here for a while under this magic Invisibility cloak,' I said.

'You really scared me, Billi,' she said. She suddenly picked up the cloak and wonder. She tried putting her hand in it and impressed.

'But THAT is a pretty cool cloak,' she added, and she suddenly thought and said, 'Ah, that's it! I just got a great idea. Heeheeh!'

You probably seen that one already. But what you didn't know is there's more of it than that. Because...

'Oh? What's your idea?' I asked.

'Well, simply put: I want to be the captain of Wonderville, and I just dreamed about it. I'm thinking about getting Pinkfong's crown just to do that. And I think...' She said and added, '...we'll play hide-n-seek with them, and we'll make a good use of this Invisibility cloak. And you will use it. Are you in?'

'Heeheeh!' I giggled, 'I'm in! I can't wait to see Pinkfong dethroned so I can look at his face!'

'Geez, you're so sweet when you talk that way...'

'What's that?' Sasha asked... I must have whisper that thought out loud...!

'What?? Nothing! Nothing...' I answered. Thankfully, everything proceeds just fine. Why did I slip that one??

'Okay. So, hear me out...' She said.

From there, we've been plotting a scenario about Sasha's plan, and making a good use of this Invisibility Cloak on this one. Shortly, we went to Pinkfong and Hogi's WonderStar H.Q. and we saw them cleaning up their place. Pinkfong seemed to be lazy on sorting up what's on the floor. Pinkfong wanted to play instead. Hogi suddenly agreed and asked what to play.

From there, we finally slip through to them, which is such a coincidence since we plotted this plan.

Shortly after Hogi asked, Sasha answered, 'How about Hide-n-seek?'

'Sasha! Billi!' They greeted.

'Why don't you play Hide-n-seek with us?' Sasha added.

'Hide-n-seek? With you?' Pinkfong asked.

'Yeah!' Sasha said. 'But, let's spice it up to make it more fun by adding an award at the end,' She added, 'the winner gets whatever wish they want.' Saying so at the same time she stares at Pinkfong's crown, something that I, too, have been wanting for so long...

'Woah! That does sound fun!' Both agreed.

'Well? We hide and you find us. If you find us, you win, but if you can't, we win. Got it?' Sasha said.

'Got it!' The WonderStar replied.

We then walked to the playing spot. While we're approaching, the way Sasha stares at Pinkfong's crown, I started to think, 'I think Sasha is prettier with Pinkfong's crown than me...' The longer I stared at her, the prettier she is. Alas, I have to stop staring at her when she looks at me. I don't want my feelings slipped.

We finally reached our destination...

'Okay, we're gonna hide,' Sasha said.

'Yeah, yeah! Go hide!' Pinkfong said. Waiting... But he DIDN'T even start the count.

'You have to close your eyes, Pinkfong,' Sasha advised.

Pinkfong and Hogi start counting. While they count, we start running and ignite our operation.

'Billi, operation is a go,' Sasha said, and we begin splitting up while I'm carrying a magic cloak. While I was running, what I didn't know is I stepped on a mud, leaving my footprints trailing me. A result of stupid me NOT looking. Again.

'Where should I hide out?' I wondered, as I look around the environment and saw what looked like a nest.

I climbed up the nest and analyzed. 'Oh, it's nice and comfy. This is perfect!' I said. 'Now, for the cloak...' I said and wrapped and covered myself up so I can hide. Or, in this case, cheat.

'They're never gonna find me!' I said with laughter. Evil-y.

Unfortunately, because of my lack of knowledge of whose nest is this or will something even come back for it, I heard a noise of something familiar. 'Ca-caw!' Oh, shoot! It's a Hawk! This nest belongs to a hawk!

'It's a hawk! Oh, no! This is the hawk's nest!' I panicked silently as the hawk sits beside me!

'I can't stay here! I have to go before I get caught...!' I said panickly as I attempt to leave off the nest with my cloak! But, my cloak is stucked under the hawk!

'It's on my cloak! This is bad!' I whisper in panic while I'm stuck under the hawk hiding! I don't know what to do then...!

Then I saw Sasha in the distance! 'Oh, it's Sasha!' I said in silence! 'Sasha! Sasha...!' I tried calling her without my loud voice as it will alert the hawk... She couldn't hear me... I wanna cry at that point...

'Billi must have found a good spot. Excellent! I'm gonna win for sure,' she said in the distance.

Even more unfortunate, she's walking away! 'Sasha! I'm over here! Help me! Sasha...!' I yelled whisperly, but it almost alert the hawk...!

I'm crying. I'm crying inside. But I hold it back. I don't want to see myself crying. It's a crybaby doing. Yet it wants me to...

I don't know now...

I'm fainting. I'm just...gonna lie down. I'm stuck. But didn't shut my eyes close. I couldn't. As the hawk suddenly rest still on me as if I turned into a pillow. It's heavy. The hawk is really heavy, resting on me.

It's up to the WonderStars to find me. Soon...

I couldn't hear anything. My thoughts are on between me and this hawk...

...and I suddenly heard a whistle! Who's doing it?

And I started hearing some voices. I heard Pinkfong speaking. Said he found Sasha. She must be the one did whistle!

Wait, whistle?

'Ca-caw!'

The hawk is disturbed!

'Stop, hawk!' Sasha yelled.

The hawk became angrier!

'The hawk looks really angry!' Sasha said in panic. Confrontation makes the hawk real, real angry.

'I'm so scared!' Hogi added.

Their confrontation with the hawk gives me the opportunity to think something. So I pushed the hawk off the nest. 'Booooo!' I exclaimed.

'I-I'm-- I'm a ghost!' I said. 'Bravely'. Yes, I use that term loosely because the hawk is massive and I can't face it off alone!

'S-s-s-stay away!' I said confronting the hawk within my cloak, holding nothing but a branch. 'G-go away!' I added.

The hawk finally choose to fight back by grabbing my branch. Losing balance, I'm finally uncloaked. Finally revealing myself to the hawk.

'Billi?!' The WonderStar surprised.

Finally exposed to the hawk, I get even scared. The hawk prepares to charge at me.

'Oh, no, you don't! Hoi-Poi, Pinkfong!' Pinkfong charges as he cast a magic on my Invisibility Cloak, turning it into an invisible ball. Bounces off the hawk.

Annoyed by it, the hawk finally flew off, and thank goodness it's over... I wanna cry in happiness.

'Phew. Thank goodness,' I said in relief.

'Billi, what's going on? We could have got hurt!' Hogi questioned, as the magic Pinkfong encant wear off, it turned back into a cloak.

Pinkfong got his hands on the cloak I used, and seemed amused by its ability. 'Wow. What's this? It's so cool! Where'd you get it?' Pinkfong asked.

And then, I answered, 'Um, it's an Invisibility Cloak. If you wear it, no one can see you.'

Pinkfong, still amused, said, 'Invisibility Cloak? Wow. Awesome! This uses magic, too!'

'It's not fair, Billi! That's cheating!' Hogi suspected as I was fainting under the hawk. Like I said, like a crybaby.

'It's just... A bit of magic,' I said. But, nothing can help me now. After what they suspected of my cheating part...

'At least Billi tried to rescue us,' Sasha added. Umm, I guess so. I did gave Pinkfong some time to encant his magic.

'That's true, Hogi! We should be glad that we're all safe.' He said. Pinkfong hid himself behind the cloak. When Hogi pulled it down, Pinkfong pulled a silly face. Really funny.

Yeah, we should be glad we're alright.

And then, Pinkfong got awarded from his magic about what happened there. He got a Cube-Cube. And it has my face on it.

Oh, and because they won, they finally have the chance to grant a wish. Well, guess what they wish for...

...they wished for my Invisibility Cloak.

Yeah, they earned it.

Some time later, under the orange-covering sun as it's setting down, we're just sitting on a rock. Still feeling disappointed. I think Sasha is disappointed at me, too...

'Billi, what's the matter?' Asked Sasha

'Well,' I said, 'I failed you. I didn't make you the captain of Wonderville. And it's all thanks to my stupidity.'

'Had you not picked that spot or leave a trail, we could've have won, and take the crown as my wish,' said Sasha in disappointment...

'But, it's all thanks to you, we got away from the hawk's mess. We could have injured further. Or worse...' Said Sasha. 'You're brave. Or, trying to be.'

'Really? I... I guess,' I said. 'Wait... Did you said 'leave a trail'?' I added.

'Yeah! They could've found you so soon if you hide somewhere than that nest. But, hey. Stupid happens,' said Sasha. 'But, it's all right now. We don't need to problem that anymore. Come on. Cheer up,' Sasha added.

'Th-thanks, cuteness...'

'Hmm? What's that?' Sasha questioned in sudden.

'Wh-what?? I-I-I said nothing! I didn't say anything!' I panicked, as I slipped again.

'Really? Okay,' Sasha said, 'well, I guess I should go off now. Maybe another time?'

'Well, sure,' I said.

'Well, I'm off,' Sasha said as she sat off the rock and started to walk off, leaving me here on this rock.

Well, I'm not wrong. She's cute. Her cheek is really soft...

Also, Hogi told me that the cloak has another name: Crystal Cloak. And is a missing item from its time. Umm, how did it get here?"

[editorialsonlife]

well hello there it's been a while but what a glorious little while it has been. 2.5 weeks into my 3.5 week break and oh my god I can actually read books with actual plot lines and subplots and characters and keep them straight in my brain??? WHAT IS THIS MAGIC I ASK but it's great either way.

We did christmas with Dave's parents which as predicted was very low key and lazy but, for the first time in 9.5 years I got them out for a walk!! we took them to the botanic gardens and THEY WALKED! it was genuinely a christmas miracle I tell you. They've never once wanted to come but they finally did and jokes on all of us coz it turns out their botanic gardens are on a giant hill looooolllll but whatever we got them across the line anyway so that was pretty good. and it was mostly just a very chill break on all accounts with them. lots of kitchen goodies for the renos which was excellent.

We overnighted in Palmy to catch up with friends as well which was a good time - bloody great call to have had a break in between the families and we will do this for the forseeable future from now on and it was lovely to see friends and Izzy managed to behave for most of the brunch date which was pretty impressive for a 17month old kid so we'll take it!

Went and saw my family and after the recent family dramas we only committed to staying two days which was a good length of time I think. With the sister planning the wedding which is now solely going to be held at mum and dad's we absolutely made the right call. Mum and I went for a walk on our last day there to clear the air between us after all the wedding stuff and I feel like we can both just let it lie now and move on from it. I hope thats the case but either way, I'm not bringing any of that into 2022 with us. It's just too hard. We're married and its done and choices were made that can't be reversed so let's all just get on with it ya know.

Dave and I got home on new years eve, or maybe the 30th? either way, its the longest amount of time off we've had together with no family obligations since 2015 and 9 glorious days were spent in each others company, bar the stupid fkn heatwave. I do not live in wellington fo 33 degree weather. no sir. even today it's like, 26 and I am a sweaty messy mess. it's not great lol and it's meant to hang round til march so I need to do some serious things to my work wardrobe because ew.

We went and waded in rockpools though, and have been swimming in the harbour twice which is unheard of for us but was so bloody amazing. We've gone for quite a few walks and actually just enjoyed our time together without having any pressure on it really. 2022 is just going to be a good year. I have such good vibes for it. It really does feel like we can just set down the last two years of misery and anguish and family drama and just live our best lives. He's back at work today but I have another week off - woohoo! I am very much here for it tbh.

I bought a new fitbit after breaking mine in like dec/nov and I've decided in an about turn I actually kinda hate it? I went for a walk one morning on my usual loop to the river and it was GLRIOUS - nice temps, super quiet, almost back to lockdown levels and it was just lovely and restorative and beautiful and then I got home and got real bummed coz I'd only done 7000 steps and I was like nah mate I'm done with this level of BS about all of this. So that was $160 well spent lol. I'll chuck it on trademe at some point and sell it given it got used for all of 3 days.

Sold another plant too so that's good thank you friends, more cash in the door for meeeeeee.

Renos kick off on the 31st which is very exciting. Moving into the apartment in town ahead of all of that kicking off as well which is good. Actually kind of looking forward to it? I think I've found the PT I want to go and see who is focused on mobility and form and posture which is basically what's needed while I learn how to exercise again in this body which is significantly larger than I've ever had to work out in before. I just want some of the functional movements I've lost back. it's so frustrating to know that I used to be able to do shit and now can't and so here's hoping that works out. I need to email them tomorrow and get that sorted as well. also need to email the reno compnay.

Got a social week coming up with a different friend each day which is kinda fun. Catching up with Jade for lunch tomorrow which will be cool, just some good one on one time so looking forward to that! sarah on wed for a coffee and a walk, Rachel on Thurs for an art exhibition, lunch and a float tank session, and then I'm off over the hill with Bish on Friday so it's gunna be luxe. Depending on the temperature I'm going to meet dave after work tomorrow since he's at the office and we'll have dinner at the beach and go for a swim as well which will be faaaaaaaab.

Just need this bloody job contract to come through man. I think I'll be fine pay wise if they won't bring forward my start date so yolo on that front but it'd be nice to just have it signed and done and dusted ya know. Its annoying to have had it hanging over me all break even though I know there's not really any issues.

I also need to go buy medical disposable masks. It's only a matter of time before omicron gets here and based on everything from the medical fam overseas and what dave's dad's medical practice is saying the fabric masks probably aren't gunna cut it, sigh. will put that on the to do list as well, boo. In the best news all day, my anti vax friend has FINALLY had her first vaccine dose and I'm so fkn happy and relieved. SO HAPPY. All the patience and gentleness has paid off and fk me am I relieved.

Also need to sort dave's birthday present but I already know what I'm getting him so yay for that.

I'm looking forward to 2022. It feels like it's going to be a good year. a super full year, and a year of growth, but like, a happy positive year, not a year that's going to break us like the last two. so here's keeping our fingers crossed for that. I hope everyone else had a lovely christmas/new years break and is covid free and is also feeling the positive vibes.

[stickswrites]

Keiko Aizawa: Origin “Her Shadows” (Chapter One)

It was the first day of classes at UA and I was less nervous than I probably should have been. I hadn't met anyone new from my class yet and I wasn't sure how well we would get along, not that I cared too much about making friends, but it's nice to get along with heroes you could work with in the future. You see, I got into the prestigious UA High School on recommendation from a few different pro heroes.

Allow me to back up for you. My name is Keiko Aizawa and I am a part of the 80% of the population that has a unique ability called a quirk. Mine is known as shadow manipulation and it does exactly as the name suggests, plus a few other things. I've been using it for years, training and pushing my limits so that I could be like my dad, the pro hero Eraserhead. He's not my biological dad, but he's more of a father than my real one. My biological parents are a story for another time.

Like I said, it was my first day of classes and the first day I would meet the rest of my classmates. I had to drag my ass out of bed at the crack of dawn in order to get to school on time and do my morning routine of going for a run and working out. I'm not exactly a gym rat because my social anxiety would actually manifest and kick my ass for making me go out in public to train, so Dad and I made a small at-home gym and training room so that we could both train, occasionally inviting my best friend over. I guess you could say my personality fits my quirk. I'm like a shadow in a room and lots of people don't notice me, which is fine by me. I don't want to be a pro hero like All Might, although I do respect him (who doesn't). I'd much rather be a hero like Dad, who stays out of the public eye as much as possible.

After I got out of bed, I walked sluggishly out of my room, petting my cat, Yuzuki, who was laying at the foot of my bed. I opened the door to the hallway and walked to the kitchen, where I figured Dad would already be waiting. Sure enough, there he was, sitting at the table and looking like he was half asleep, which he probably was. If you didn't know any better, you'd think that Dad and I were related by more than a name. We acted extremely similar and I even looked kind of like him after spending 8 years with him.

"Good morning," he said lazily, bringing his coffee to his mouth and taking a sip.

"If it was a good morning, I'd still be asleep," I retorted.

Dad snorted into his coffee as soon as I said that, but he composed himself again very quickly. I went about the kitchen looking for something to eat but didn't find anything. Guess we'll have to go grocery shopping sometime soon. I thought to myself. Instead, I poured myself a cup of coffee and grabbed a bag of chips that were definitely not meant to be eaten as breakfast. I was about to sit down across from Dad to eat when our two long-haired cats started circling around me and meowing, signaling that they were ready for their breakfast. Sighing, I set my breakfast down and poured their food into the designated bowls on the ground. I grabbed my breakfast again and sat down across from Dad.

"Are you still not going to tell me who my teacher is?" I asked for the millionth time since I found out I was accepted into UA.

"No," he responded. "You'll figure it out later today. Besides, you already know the majority of the teachers there."

"I know," I pouted while tossing a chip into my mouth. "But still, what's the point of having a dad who is a teacher at the school I'm attending, but not being able to know in advance who my teacher will be?"

"Maybe I should have just kept my job a secret then," he mused with a small smile on his face.

"Maybe you should have," I responded with a smile.

The rest of our breakfast was eaten with very few words exchanged. That's just how Dad and I were though. We didn't use a lot of words, so we showed our love with our actions instead. That's why he got me Yuzuki when I was eight years old. I had been bullied at school for my quirk and my eyes, which were obviously things I could control, and Dad happened to find Yuzuki, who shared a unique eye color with me, at a shelter. After that, I'd been bullied a few more times because of the scars I had on my face. There was an x-shaped one under my left eye and a vertical scar on the right side of my lips. The kids in my classes always found them unnerving. It was after those incidents that he finally pulled me out of public school and homeschooled me instead, which led to me hanging out around UA facilities a lot and meeting almost all of the teachers and faculty there.

"Are you ready for today?" Dad asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

"I will be after I go for a run," I responded with a smile. "I don't want to get lazy just because I was accepted into the UA Hero Course. Also, Mako is coming over to go on my run with me this morning."

"Good idea," Dad said with a smile.

Mako, or Makoto Saeki, has been my best friend since Dad adopted me. He got accepted into U.A. through recommendations like I did. What he didn't know was that Dad was the one to recommend him. Makoto has an amazing quirk called 'buffer'. It basically allows him to create gravitational plates that he can use to walk on walls, ceilings, air, etc. We've trained with my dad for as long as I can remember and are practically siblings at this point. For the majority of our childhood, we've been over at one of our houses. His parents were both pro heroes, but they'd been killed in action by a pair of villains. So his grandmother, who owns UNERI CO., bought the house that was right next to ours for Makoto and his little sister, Ichika. They had a nanny, Shiore, over at the house, so Makoto was able to come over a lot to hang out with someone his own age. So it was only natural that we became as close as we did and that we began working out together when we decided to apply to U.A. At least three times a week we would go on a morning run together before our days really got started. Today was one of those days. I glanced at the microwave clock to see that I still had half an hour before I was supposed to meet him in front of the tree that stood between our houses.

As soon as I finished my "breakfast", I went to my room to grab my pill bottle and take my medicine, noting that I would have to ask Recovery Girl for a refill in a day or two. Then I changed into some sweats and a muscle tank top before pulling my dark purple hair back into a ponytail and pinning my bangs back so that they were no longer in my face. As I reached down to tie my sneakers' laces, I scratched Yuzuki's chin as he tried to force himself under my hands. Finally being able to tie my shoes with the cat on my feet, I stood up and stretched a bit. I grabbed my phone, earbuds, and the armband I put my phone in when I ran and walked out of my room. I passed by the kitchen as I put my armband on and put my phone in it.

"I'm heading out now, Dad!" I called into the house as I bent down to pet Hana, Dad's cat, one more time before I left.

"Be safe!" he called back. "Tell Makoto I say 'hello'!"

With a promise that I would, I walked out the door and closed it behind me, making sure neither of the cats escaped. I took a deep breath of the crisp morning air before walking to the tree Mako and I always met in front of and saw that he wasn't there. I checked the time just to see if I was early or if he was late, but was disappointed when I saw I was a few minutes early.

"Damn," I said quietly. "Now I don't have anything I can hold over him."

While waiting for Mako, I took the time to plug my headphones into my phone and find a song I wanted to listen to when we would start running. The few minutes passed quickly and Mako was right on time. His messy, deep maroon hair catching the morning light like his eyes. One of the things the two of us had bonded over was our eyes. They didn't look the same, but we'd both been bullied for them in the past. While my eyes had a kaleidoscope of blues and purples, Mako had heterochromia. His right eye was bright orange and his left eye was an equally bright red.

"Hey, Koko!" he said cheerfully, a bright smile on his face as he pulled an earbud out of his ear.

"Hey, Mako," I responded with a smile. "How are you doing this morning?"

"I'm doing alright," he said with a small pout appearing on his face. "Although, my orange shirt was still wet from the wash, so I had to wear my yellow one."

"Oh don't pout," I said with a small laugh. "Yellow suits you just fine."

"You're just poking fun at me because you were able to find your purple tank top today," he retorted.

"Whatever," I said while putting an earbud in, knowing it was true. "Are you ready to head out?"

"You bet," he responded, clicking shuffle on his music."Normal route?"

"You know it," I said with a large smile as I clicked play on my music and put the other earbud in.

The two of us made our way on our usual jogging route. As usual, we didn't talk about anything while running, but that may have also been because we were both anxious about what U.A. could bring for us. Within a half-hour, we got back to our houses and said our goodbyes so that we could do our separate morning routines. I walked back into my house, not breathing super heavily because I was used to the run, but my face was still somewhat flushed with exertion.

"You back already?" Dad asked from the kitchen sink, washing his coffee mug. "That was pretty quick."

"Guess Mako and I both have some nerves then," I responded, pulling my earbuds out of my ears and wrapping the cord for storage. "After all, we are starting the Hero Course today."

Dad hummed in agreement as I went back to my room to do some stretching before showering. As soon as I walked in, Yuzuki greeted me from my bed with a meow.

"Good to see you too," I mumbled while scratching under his chin, causing a purr to come from his throat.

Glancing at my alarm clock, I realized that I only had another half an hour before I had to leave with Dad to get to the school. Sighing, I stopped petting Yuzuki and began stretching. Afterward, I quickly showered and got changed into my school uniform. Pulling my mostly dry hair back into a half-up ponytail, I looked at myself in the mirror and gave myself a silent pep talk. I wrapped the hair tie around one last time before letting my hands fall back to my sides. I nodded at myself as I fixed my bangs a little bit, satisfied with my appearance, and walked back into my room from the adjoined bathroom. I walked over to my bed and grabbed my backpack and made sure it had all of the school materials I would need. After seeing I had all of my stuff, I slung my bag onto my back and gripped the strap.

"Kiki, you ready?" I heard Dad call from the front door.

"Yeah!" I responded. "I'm coming!" I turned back to my bed and bent down to give Yuzuki, who was still laying on my bed in "loaf mode", a kiss on the head, which he shoved into my face as an attempt to get attention faster. "Goodness, you're so needy," I mumbled, standing back up straight.

I pet his head one more time before walking out of my room and to the front of the house, where Dad was waiting with his hero gear on. When I got over to him, he didn't open the front door right away, but instead straightened my tie, which I had spent 10 minutes on to try to make it look presentable but apparently failed to do so. After he fixed it, I gave him a grin that he responded to with a wide smile of his own.

"Let's go," he said, pulling the front door open.

We both walked out of the house and to the car in the driveway. Makoto, with his hair styled this time and his school uniform on, walked out of his house at the same time and came over to the car.

"Hey, Mr. Aizawa!" He greeted cheerfully. "Thanks for agreeing to take me to school! Shiore wasn't sure what she was gonna do with Ichika if she drove me. She gets carsick, you know."

"It's no problem at all, Makoto," Dad responded. "I'm happy to help out. And please, as long as we're not at school, just call me Shota."

Makoto and I were two of the only people Dad ever let his strict and uncaring facade down around. With me, he never even bothered to try to keep his facade up but he tried to keep it up with Makoto around. He gave up on that too though after we'd seen him cry while watching the Lion King with us when we were kids.

"Alright," Dad started. "Hop in the car and let's get going, you two."

Mako and I nodded and both got in the backseat of the car. The car ride was pretty quiet, but that was also normal for us. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence like one might expect, but to someone outside of us three, it might appear to be so.

The car ride wasn't very long, maybe a half-hour or so, but it felt longer as I thought of all the possibilities of today. Soon enough, Dad pulled into the staff parking lot of the school, by the back of the building, and parked. As he turned the car off, Mako and I grabbed our bags and stepped out of the car, taking the time to stretch our legs before stepping toward the building. Right before we walked into UA High School, Dad stopped us.

"I'm proud of you," he said. "Both of you. You're exceptional young people and I'm sure you'll be some of the best students this school has ever seen."

I swear both Mako and I started tearing up as we practically threw ourselves into Dad's arms, hugging him tightly. I squeezed his waist tightly as I felt the tears start to overflow. Dad wrapped his arms around the two of us and we stayed like that for a few more seconds before Mako and I released him.

"We'll make you proud, Dad," I responded, wiping the tears from my eyes.

Mako nodded vigorously as he wiped his eyes as well. Dad let out a small chuckle and placed a hand on top of my head.

"Both of you already have," he responded with a smile.

Mako and I turned to each other with wide smiles before turning back to Dad, who put his hands in his pockets. Without another word, he gave us another smile and walked in through the door we'd opened, kissing the top of my head as he passed by.

"He's the kind of hero I want to be when I graduate," Makoto said.

"Same here," I replied with a small smile. "He does it for the right reasons and not for the fame."

"It is strange that not many heroes choose to be humble," Makoto told me with a newfound determined glint in his eyes. "I'll be one of them."

I nodded in agreement and we finally walked into the building, looking at the place that would be our path to becoming the heroes we longed to be. We stopped in the middle of the empty hallway.

"Ready or not?" I asked with a small smile, holding my fist out to Makoto.

"Here we come," he responded with a grin, bumping his fist with mine.

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A/N

Hey everyone! This is my first MHA story and I'm super excited to share it with you. A few things, unless it is otherwise specified, all artwork is done by me. I don't claim to own any of the My Hero Academia characters or plotlines. Those all belong to the creators. I do, however, own Keiko Aizawa as well as her parents. My friend owns Makoto and his family, including Shiore and Ichika. He has given me permission to use him in this story. The picture at the top of this chapter is what Keiko looks like! On the left is her everyday clothing and the right is her hero suit. Anyway, I'm super excited for you all to read this story that I've spent so much time on!

-Sticks

Word Count: 3007 words