#the way I was recommended to use Fair & Lovely Cream in my childhood

[partnersatfazbear]

Fazbear Frights: What We Found Analysis

Here’s my analysis for What We Found, the third story in Gumdrop Angel. I wrote this as I read so it may be a little different than my previous analysis where I read the story first and went back.

If you’re a Michael Afton fan I highly recommend this. Also, there’s possibly some insight into William Afton, Mrs. Afton, and Henry too, so it’s worth a skim.

Pg 144 '...a place thirty-some years forgotten' Just reconfirming FNAF 3 is 30 years past *one* of the FNAF closings, presumably FNAF 2 location.

Pg 145 "The whole building was giving him [Hudson] a headache." FIX THE VENTILATION BRUH

Pg 148 '...they were able to use salvaged derelict equiptment original to the old pizzerias.' Another confirmation of something we heard from Phone Guy.

Pg 147 "How old are you?" "Twenty-three, same as you." I think this gives us Michael's age during FNAF 3.

EDIT: This kept me awake last night. Obviously this is impossible because he has to be alive for at least 10 years before 1983, BUT maybe its just reconfirming FNAF 3′s year? 2023?

Pg 149 "Hudsan's dad died and his mom married Lewis, a ridiculous balding man who wore plaid vests and smoked a pipe" Did... Did this book just seriously imply Mrs. Afton left William for Henry? Really? (Yes, there's differences; the husband is dead and the man wears plaid 'vests' but it seems very odd to include that detail. This could just have been the writer's own imagination, though.) I have seen this as a fan theory and 100% explains the jealousy aspect of William, but I can't help but kinda hate it. I think this is very important, though, and probably Scott's intention. "This horrible little man [Lewis]... would make Hudson's next ten years a living Hell" This REALLY intrigues me given the context I just went over. The text implies Lewis was fairly neglectful to our main character / Michael stand-in Hudson. Maybe I'm wrong and for some reason Mrs. Emily left and went to William? XD Haha, I'm reading too much into this page. Maybe I'll come back to this later. I figure it's more of Scott possibly including double-details (contradicting stuff with the same character that really applies to two, which has been something I heavily pointed out in previous anaylsis on this blog) Having said that, I'm going w/the former because I can't imagine Henry being abusive (neglectful yes, abusive no) and he's never been portrayed that way in official works like William has in the novels.

Pg 150 "Hudson began to screw up in class...a product of spending the night in fear that his stepfather [Lewis]... [would] beat him just for the fun of it." Ooof. Big confirm on William actually being abusive. Unless we stick with the Henry theory for Lewis (combined with Midnight Motorist Henry theory / alcoholic). "...near-daily beatings..." "his mom started taking pills to get through the day..." So, whoever Mrs. Afton is, she was definetly not paying attention. But then, most people married to serial killers either don't notice because of denial (like this) or because the killer is so manipulative / careful they can't notice.

"Barry, who had red hair and freckles..." Yo?! Is that a description of Fritz?! These friends in the story could be the other kids Michael knew's stand-in's, aka the two gravestones with names he used (Fritz and Jeremy), as shown in the checks for the games and FNAF 6. I've long figured Michael was probably friends with the victims--it makes them easier, although riskier, targets [for William]. The two friends are male, too, like Fritz and Jeremy. If you're curious about Duane's description (our stand in for Jeremy), it's "tight black shirt... muscles... black hair long enough for a glossy ponytail..." I'm not sure if this matches anything found in the novels or contradicts them, though. (The novels = TSE trilogy)

"And so it went... until the night of the fire." For context, this is before FF burns down. We're learning of Hudson's life from his close friends in childhood, his father's death, his mother remarrying, to his abusive stepfather, to his grades slipping to this line. This would be a new fire not seen/mentioned in the games...

Pg 151 "...go to Charlie's for a sundae..." Really. Really Scott. Just gonna use this name again. OK. I'm not even gonna discuss this because it's probably irrelevant. *This is confirmed on pg 158 to be an ice cream shop. No lore relevance aside the annoying name coincidences Scott loves to troll with.

"This is not... an advance into enemy territory, a fight with demons, or a descent into Hell..." Uh, what? What is Hudson talking about? XD I'm only noting it because it seems so out of place. He's probably talking about video games or something.

Another note, although I don't have a specific reference since it is mentioned off-hand many times, is that Hudson keeps referring to his "history" which is implied to have kept him from getting a well-paying job and a girl he's crushing on doesn't know this "history" which is good for him. Seems good old "Michael Stand-In" has done some jail time or something. Edit: On pg 154/155 the girl asks Hudson, "Did you do it?" Seems he may have killed his stepfather or been involved with something else just as bad. Edit 2: No, I was thinking too deep into it. This probably refers to Evan's death at Fredbear's. DUH.

Pg 156 describes an actual "prize corner" in FF! What am I even reading? IIRC this is in FNAF 3, too. So they just hand out these scary gift boxes to people that complete the attraction? (Hudson says he *would* have fun handing out the scary toys to kids when this location opens--kind of a bully thing to do, eh?)

"[Hudson] avoid[ed] glancing in any of the mirrors..." I'm only pointing this out because it could be reference to one of two things. 1) We know because of one of UCN's music tracks, William has a fear of his reflection. Michael probably shares this trait, especially since 2) after Ennard and all... and later on pg 157 it also says, "he never wanted to face: himself" Sounds like guilt, my guy.

Pg 157 "blonde hair... blue eyes..." Hudson shares an eye color with Michael. It's possible Michael had blonde hair as a child and it changed to brown (it's common, something I personally went through being technically blonde/ blue eyed myself)

"He [Hudson] knew from personal experience that toys could turn from fun...to torture ina heart-beat" Fairly self explanatory. Either Hudson's worked at a creepy location before or he doesn't like remembering Fredbear's.

*checks how much is left.* There's still 35 pages (not counting back/front) left of this... This is gonna be a lot of notes.

Pg 158 Hudson doesn't have a car. Poor Mike, probably having to walk everywhere. Especially as a corpse.

Pg 160 This page describes many physical issues Hudson has that prevents him from entering the Navy, all from the abuse of Lewis. Obvious paralell to Michael becoming an undead [because his father sent him to CBPR indirectly causing his condition]

Pg 161 "How's your granny, Hud?... ...Is she still alive?" "I don't think she can die." Does anyone in the Afton family really 'die'? XD

Pg 162 These few pages discuss Hudson's grandmother. She's described as "a seer who claimed to know the future... ...wore big men's plaid flannel shirts with baggy jeans" Um, more plaid / flannel? AGH. STAHP. Lowkey, I would totally headcanon my Aunt Jen like this, though.

Pg 163 "Hudson's mom... the way she was before Hudson's dad had died... never... particularly warm and fuzzy... but... effiencient and responsible..." More about Mrs. Afton, so that's kinda neat.

"Hudson's dad was fun and attentive." There's a good Dad in this series?

"Unfortunetly, he also struggled with mental illness." "invisible low points" (Pg 164) Kinda reminds me of how Henry is described after Charlotte's death in the books.

Pg 164 "When Steven got himself into a bad deal that cost him his small business... he'd taken his life." Oh, it is Henry! SMH. Way to use confusing paralells. So, from our understanding thus far, Hudson's real father, Steven, is our Henry stand-in. His step-father despite being described similar to Henry, is actually our William stand-in. Fair game, Scott.

Pg 164 "...he [Hudson] was locked into a supply closet..." Oh shit, you guys. So, let me go on a tangent here, because this IS important! I just watched a retrospective on Sister Location and FNAF 6 earlier and one theory for Midnight Motorist was the person in the chair was the mother and the kid was Michael. I think this little line may confirm that. In fact, the story may be the key to figuring things out. Obviously, the line is a paralell to FNAF 4's scene in which Crying Child was locked in the supply closet of Fredbear's. I know some people, including Matpat, believe[d] CC was Michael, and in this book's context, it sort of works. This does contradict Step Closer and 1000 other things that make Michael the older brother, but maybe it's hinting at MM? Abusive stepdad (possibly Henry... maybe William is gone at this point), checked out Mom (hey, grey couch lady with Foxybro's font). IDK, but its definetly something to think about.

Pg 165 Lewis is mentioned as calling Hudson "nothing" and saying "you're nothing" on several occasions on this page. Just more abuse, for those accurate fanfic writers like me. Also I kinda wanna watch Morel Orel again. Yall know my fav character is Clay. Yall know.

"You're smoke." <-- Lewis / The text later reads, "...there was some irony, given what eventually happened." BRUH. Why did your stepdad die in a fire? :V TELL ME.

"When his family's house burned down at the end of his senior year..." Huh. Is there a fire we don't know about in the game-verse? Could this explain what happened to the FNAF 4 house before MM house?!

"...it purged Hudson of Lewis and his mother." MRS. AFTON BURNED ALIVE, TOO? Bruh. I can't with this story.

The text later describes the fire is concluded to be man-made and Hudson was blamed for it. Can't say if this ties to Michael, but it IS interesting... TBF, there is a small paralell to draw between Henry in FNAF 6 and his history of suicide in the books, too.

Pg 166 "...this place's [FF] busted thermostat.." I just find this line funny.

Pg 167 "...after three weeks of keeping an eye on the place" Some more timeline context for FNAF 3. We know that Michael worked there a little while before we start playing the game thanks to one of the phone calls, IIRC, so this makes sense. If Michael was accused of [something] and also wanting to hunt down his father, then it makes perfect sense why he's working a dead end job at Freddy's over and over and over. Fun fun fun.

Pg 169 "He hated to think about a functional character [Foxy]" This line is in regards to Hudson not liking the set up of Pirate's Cove and Foxy's hook to scare people. Sounds familiar, don't it? (For Michael anyway.)

Pg 173 "Some big find is arriving tomorrow." SPRINGY BOI! COME ON BOOK, get on with the show?

Pg 176 "Granny was wearing a red-and-green plaid shirt and her baggy jeans." Nothing special, but it was specifically brought up twice. I'm kind of racking my brain trying to understand what the point of this character is outside of "woooo everything is haunted don't you know that" kind of character.

Pg 180 "...dropped the crate on the linoleum with a resounding thud." HEY. Poor Springtrap, just gettin' tossed around like the trash he is.

Pg 186 "If you weren't so stupid, I'd tell you more about it." Springtrap bringing the burn. =:)

"A voice with a burr-like rasp...hint of a Southern accent" I'm going to assume this is because it's Lewis probably in the suit in this story and not our old British lad.

"It's was Mr. Atkin's voice." THE MATH TEACHER? *goes back to check* 'The algebra teacher'. Okay...

Pg 190 Okay, so Hudson hear's Lewis' voice this time. Okay, I get it now. Springtrap in this kind of imbodies all of Hudson's old bullies, including the teacher. He also has PTSD, just FYI. IDK if anyone finds that important, but it's fairly obvious by the line "He wasn't in his bedroom. Lewis didn't just slam his head into a desk; his head had been slammed into the [arcade] game."

"Why did he hallucinate a scene from his childhood?" Oh, it's not PTSD, then. It's just the VENTILATION ERROR. lol Okay.

Just a note, as I'm reading through the more action-based stuff, I kind of feel bad for Michael if he had flashbacks like this guy. They're intense.

So, Lewis' voice finally comes out of Springtrap on Pg 213. There's that.

Pg 220 "You can just stay there [in his room]" Kind of a paralell to Midnight Motorist. Lewis is saying it to Hudson. I really feel like the kid in the MM game is Michael because of this story...

Pg 223 "Heat purges. Fire heals." I'm sure that's Henry's life motto.

The ending was stupid, but most in these stories are. Hudson is hallucinating and is implied to have burned himself alive in FF's oven. Meh? The first half of this one is A TRIP and a little insight into what I 100% believe is Michael's childhood. I think the saddest part of it all is that we never got Springtrap speaking to Michael in FNAF 3--and if it's ever remade I hope we get more of them interacting.

[volleyball-dontknowher]

I’m going to make you fall in love with me in one night Daichi x reader

A/N I heard this line at the store the other day and it has been stuck in my head since and I just thought that it was totally something Daichi would say and do and I’ve had a rough couple days at work so I needed some fluff and here is some fluff

IT was late and you had a long day and decided to go to the bar for a drink and a much needed change of scenery. You put on a cute dress, put in some dry shampoo and some mascara and called it good. You hoped at the very least you could have a drink or two and maybe have a half decent talk with someone. 

You were going to a super cute  bar that your friends showed you a couple months ago because they both met their boyfriends here and they promised you that they had only the cutest boys here. So far you had no luck finding the cute boys they talked about, you got hit on often but you weren’t really interested in cowboys or male strippers so you had to pass on all of their moves. When you got to the bar you took a seat at the bar and ordered “whatever you recommend” to which you got a strawberry daiquiri that was absolutely amazing. The bartender was very sweet, the two of you have talked a couple of times before. But tonight he was way too busy to have any sort of conversation with you, that was fine because the gentleman next to you was keen on having a conversation with you. 

“Hey there pretty girl, mind if I buy you the next drink? I’d love to know what someone like you would order for herself” the man is eying you up and down obviously undressing you in his mind. 

“Oh, that’s quite alright I just had a long day and wanted a drink, I wasn’t planning on having another one” you reject his offer very politely. 

He leans over from his seat and places his hand on your thigh. “Well I insist that you have another drink and I will pay.” You’re obviously uncomfortable and completely shocked, you didn’t have a chance to respond before you heard. 

“Whoa whoa whoa, who said I wasn’t going to buy her next drink? She is my girlfriend after all so you should take your hand off of her before I call security on you.” Shocked, you look over and see a handsome man flash you a warm smile before staring down the creep sitting next to you. The guy took the hint and left without saying another word muttering something about how you were “just a cheap whore” and “not even that cute”. 

“Thank you so much” you’re beaming at the gentleman as you pat the now empty seat next to you “please take a seat and I’ll buy you your next drink.” 

He takes a seat, “I don’t need you to buy me a drink. And sorry for the whole girlfriend thing, it’s the only thing that really works on someone like him. Instead of a drink I would love to know your name.”

“My name is Y/N, and you are?” 

“Daichi, call me Daichi. How is someone as gorgeous as you sitting alone at a bar on a Friday night?” Little did you know he had been sitting across the bar trying to think of a way to talk to you because he found you insanely gorgeous and somehow that creep gave him the perfect opportunity. 

You cannot help but blush at his comment, “well I had a terribly stressful day and wanted to get a drink and be distracted from the real world for at least an hour or so” you have no idea why you’re being so honest with the stranger but you can’t help yourself. “It sounds dum-” 

“No it’s not dumb at all, that’s why I’m here too. Would you mind if I was your distraction for tonight?” He’s blushing at you and inside he’s super  nervous that you are going to reject him on the spot, but you were just too cute not to try and ask you out. He hadn't felt this way about someone in a long time and wanted to know if he could possibly take you out. 

“Actually I would love that” you smile at him and take the last sip of your drink. “So Daichi, how do you plan on distracting me?”

It was the first time that anyone saying his name had made him feel like this. In the two minutes you’d known him he’s already fallen for you and hard. You both are blushing and totally into each other, “Well first I’m hoping to take you to dinner, then I’m going to make you fall in love with me in one night.” He can’t help but internally cringe at this one, it was definitely the alcohol speaking and he couldn’t control it, but when he saw you turn bright red he knew that as cheesy as it was, it worked. 

“Dinner sounds perfect,” you grab your phone off of the counter, both pay your tabs and leave the bar with Daichi. You were secretly super excited to be going out on what you could only assume was a date with such a handsome guy after such a bad day. “So where exactly are we going for dinner?” “It’s right up here on the left, don’t worry I promise it’s good”

“No, I’m more worried that I trusted a stranger to lead me to a restaurant at night” you teased back as you two approached the restaurant.

You got a table pretty quickly and both got water to drink. Everything on the menu looked so amazing, “I’m getting whatever you’re getting, choose wisely” 

“Why would you do that?” he asks, he’s both intrigued and confused by your notion. 

“Well, if I am going to fall in love with you I have to make sure that you have good taste so we can share food, duh” You’re acting as if it should be an obvious answer and he’s dumbstruck.In all reality you just didn’t want to have to choose what to eat and this was the perfect way out. 

When it came time he ordered two chipotle chicken quesadillas with a side order of chips and queso. Damnit. If there was one thing you absolutely loved in this world it was queso. Just on that alone he had won your heart, but you weren’t going to let him know that. The two of you had a great conversation going about your childhoods, work lifes, and just any and everything. Your conversation was so natural, you two just kept finding more and more things to talk about without a dull moment. He told you stories from when he played volleyball in high school and how he still goes and watches some of his teammates and will play alumni games sometimes with their old coach. You told stories of your high school experience and how one time you saw a janitor trying to get two bats out of the building by swinging a broom at it before the school was put on a lockdown. 

When food arrived Daichi was nervous, he wasn’t completely sure if you were joking about ordering the wrong thing and he just wanted to get it right. He watched closely as you took your first bite, your face was completely unreadable and he had no idea what to expect. 

“Holy crap Daichi, that’s amazing!” He let out the breath he didn’t even realize that he was holding and took a bite of his food. 

“Are you a creepy stalker or something?” 

“What? Y/N why would you ask that?” He thought things were going well, you laughed at all of his jokes and told funny jokes back and he had told you things that he couldn’t even get himself to tell his best friends, but creepy stalker was definitely a bad sign. 

“Well queso is my favorite food, and you just so happened to order a side of chips and queso and that cannot be a coincidence.”

“Well it’s not a coincidence because I was testing you. I love chips and queso and this couldn’t workout if you didn’t so congratulations, you passed.” 

You couldn’t help but laugh at his antics, you two got along so well that all you could think about was whether or not you really were falling in love with him in one night. Like he was a stranger two hours ago and now you both know each other’s most embarrassing stories and biggest fears and even your 10 year plans. It was crazy to think that you really might have just met the guy of your dreams, you just hoped he felt the same way. 

The bill came and he insisted over and over that he brought you here so it was only fair that he paid for the both of you, and to that you insisted that you two go get dessert and you pay. You left the restaurant and this time you linked arms to walk to a late night bakery that was just around the corner. The bakery was meant specifically for situations like this, it was an early morning coffee shop and on the weekends a late night casual hangout. You got inside and found two cozy chairs to sit in before you two went up to the counter together. 

“Alright now it’s your turn to order something for the both of us, and if I don’t like it then there’s going to be a problem.” He’s smiling at you, and you can tell that he’s completely joking and you can only laugh. 

You end up getting two strawberry shortcakes with scoops of vanilla ice cream on top. You played it safe because if he doesn’t like strawberry shortcakes then there is something fundamentally wrong and you would have to return the whole man.

“You’re lucky that you are so cute because now I am suspecting that you’re a spy sent here to win my heart and kidnap me and take me to my enemies.” Instead of responding you just winked and took another bit of your food, “But seriously this is the best strawberry shortcake that I have ever had.” He loved it, you were safe, it was super relieving because you and Daichi had such an amazing dinner together. 

You two play the little game of checkers that was set out on the little table between you. He got red and you got black. He was winning by a longshot but you were determined not to lose. 

“Hey! You can’t jump corners that’s against the rules!” “Rules? What rules? I only know how to win.” You tease.

He easily wins the first game but couldn’t let it end there so when you suggested best two out of three he couldn’t say no. You lost again, somehow even worse than the first time but you had a good time playing so you couldn’t help but smile. You two tried playing Jenga but neither of you were good at it and it fell after about ten turns. You kept blaming each other saying that if Daichi hadn’t made the base only have one left and he blamed you saying that you pulled a bad spot, if it didn’t move easily don’t move it. You didn’t dwell too long on the game and after cleaning it up you talked for a little bit and ate your desserts. 

After you ate dessert you both were going to head your separate ways. 

“Hey, Y/N can I at least get your number before we go?” he asks smiling at you nervously. 

“I thought you would never ask.” And with that you two swapped numbers and were headed on your way. 

On your walk home all you could think about was your night with Daichi and how much of a gentleman he was throughout the night. You hadn’t processed until just now that he grabbed every door for you,  pulled out your chair at dinner and even thrown away your trash at the bakery. He was the perfect gentleman and your heart was fluttering just thinking about him, but you couldn’t remember what the rule was. Did you wait 2 hours to text, or was it two day? Maybe it was 36 hours, you had no idea. Lucky for you you didn’t have to think about it too much because when you woke up in the morning you saw a text from Daichi. 

Hey, wanna get breakfast with me this morning? 

And there you were off to another date with Daichi, appropriately labeled in your phone as “future husband”

[lovelyirony]

Parkner for the OTP thing??? I like your others ones but I’m curious about ideas for this now that you’ve added on with PeterNed (god Tier ship)

coming right up! 

Coffee shop AU: Who is the barista, and who frequents the coffee shop?

Harley actually owns his own coffee shop, and he is fairly sure that the guy who always comes in around his age is half the reason Bean There, Drank That is still open. (Well, that and Tony won’t stop name-dropping it casually in every interview.) 

Peter comes into the shop at first because Tony recommends it as a great stop before his job, and then...

Listen. He’s not even that big of a coffee guy. Occasionally he’ll have one when he’s in a mood, or he’ll drink tea instead. 

But he gets so flustered around the guy who works in the mornings that he’s been ordering a black coffee with no room for cream or sugar for about a year now, and he always tips three extra dollars. 

Harley has been saving all of his tips to use when he finally gets the hints that are all over his coffee cups. 

Highschool/College AU: Who is the straight-A student, and who’s the backrow slacker?

It’s not that Harley is a slacker, it’s just that he prefers to have other skills outside of school. You know, cool stuff. Like working on his motorcycle, or doing literally anything math. 

But...the decathlon team needs another member after Betty gets the flu and Flash is on some weird boycott that he’d rather not ask about. 

So he’s paired with Parker, who is very school-oriented and is the subject of most of the bragging rights with the school’s staff and administration. He is also the subject of most of Harley’s dreams. 

(Not that Peter will ever know that...) 

Rivals to loves AU: Who takes their rivalry seriously, and who is half in it just to push the other’s buttons?

Harley absolutely does not take it seriously at all. He thinks it’s cute that Peter keeps trying to “prank” him, but he has the most obvious tells in the world. 

But he humors him, because honestly if they were rivals, Harley wouldn’t pay him the time of day. That’s just the kind of person he is. Besides, it’s kind of cute to see Peter’s cheeks go all red like that. 

Enemies to lovers AU: Which one switches sides?

criminal au: Peter’s been a thief since he was twelve and stole a woman’s wallet back for her, but in the process maybe took five dollars. Hey, it’s only fair. He saved her the hassle of having to wait in line at the DMV for three hours. 

People tell him he has a cute face. A trusting face. A face that screams that he’s the one who gets pick-pocketed, not the other way round. 

Enter in Harley, society’s newest socialite, and one that Peter is assuming is going to be an easy mark. He doesn’t know his own reputation, requested “pigs in a blanket” at his inaugural ball, and talks with a slight southern twang that is truly adorable, and...

Misleading. 

“I saw you take my ring, sugar,” Harley says to Peter as they’re dancing. “And, well, I’d like it back, if it’s not too much trouble. If it is, I can always launch you out of a window.” 

Peter gives the ring back, although he tends to hang around far more often. Not every day someone as cute as Harley Keener catches onto his tricks. 

Soulmate AU: Who is eager to meet their soulmate? Who absolutely does not want to meet their soulmate?

Harley is absolutely not going to meet his soulmate, he’s decided. It didn’t work out for Mama, and he’s learned from a very young age that you don’t really need a soulmate. All he needs is a job at a mechanics shop, and then maybe a second job. He’s not sure yet. 

Enter in Peter Parker, who is very cute, and very much so his type. As in, the type to have his mark right on his neck. 

He’s screwed. 

Single parent AU: Which one is the single parent? (Alt. if they’re both single parents: Which one is open to starting a new relationship from the start? Which one is never planning on finding love again… Until they meet the other and are instantly smitten?)

Harley always takes his little girl to the library every Saturday morning, approximately at ten o’clock. He never deviates from the time, because that is when Mr. Parker, the children’s librarian, starts reading a story and Harley can pretend he’s actively listening (which he is...mostly) and not staring. 

Then his daughter picks out her books, he talks with Peter, and is slowly getting the courage to ask out the nice librarian. 

Doctor AU: Which one is the longsuffering doctor? Which one is the patient?

Peter is honestly amazed at the “regulars” of the hospital. Usually it’s old people like Gladys, who he swears broke her hip on purpose in order to talk with Dr. Watson-MJ-about the newest romance novel they’ve been reading. 

A regular should not be a cute guy his age. Really and truly. 

This time, he’s been hooked up to a heart monitor, and Peter doesn’t really want to say anything, but Harley’s heartbeat speeds up each time he enters...

Bodyguard AU: Who is the bodyguard? Who are they protecting? Which one is secretly pining for the other?

Peter doesn’t need a bodyguard. His aunt and Mr. Stark are being paranoid. (After all, sure he’s in the public eye. But it’s not like he didn’t escape out of that moving car.) 

Harley Keener doesn’t much care what his client wants or doesn’t want. He will be following him. 

And he finds out about his little shortcuts. 

And a bit more. And more. Until eventually, he knows what Peter likes in the morning, and his imagination shouldn’t be running as fast as it is. 

Pirate AU: Who is the pirate? Who is the member of the royal family who did not sign up for this?

Harley doesn’t have a need for a prince, really. They don’t do much besides threaten you with warfare, and he’s been over warfare for the last three years. 

He wasn’t expecting their newest prince to be so...fierce. He’s escaped restraints three times, improved the chef’s soup recipe once, and is currently sitting in Harley’s chair in his office in a way that has only been dreamt about. 

This should be...fun. 

Childhood best friends AU: Which one was super obviously in love with the other the whole time? Who was oblivious until they were older?

Peter is very surprised that Harley hasn’t noticed that he’s had a crush on him for a long time now. Everyone can tell, and everyone makes fun of him for it. 

“Just go for it!” Ned cheers. “That’s how I asked out Betty!” 

“As I recall, Betty asked you out,” Peter grumbles. “And he’s...himself. I can’t compete with that!” 

“Love isn’t a competition, idiot,” MJ comments. “Now shut up about it, love is disgusting and only for the weak-minded.” 

“Then I want to be as weak-minded as possible!” Ned cheers. “But seriously, Peter. What’s the worst that could happen?” 

An alien attack on the night of prom. 

That’s the worst that could happen. 

[purplesurveys]

1062

survey by chrissylee22dc

A

Achievements: I guess I’m being asked to list some of mine...some of the ones I’m proudest of, at least, are graduating university with honors, landing a job (liking it is a big bonus), and taking up leadership positions.

Age: I am 22, but never felt quite like it.

Are you planning something right now? Kind of. I’m eyeing a long road trip to Tanay with just myself and go to one of their coffee shops, but idk when I’ll be able to do that. My wallet and bank account are still beat from Christmas lol (and until now I’m still buying gifts for friends), so it might have to wait until sometime next month.

Arizona or Alaska: I think Arizona weather is already quite like ours here, so I might enjoy Alaska a bit (if not a lot) more. There’s generally a lot more factors I find interesting with Alaska, like their food.

B

Birthdate: April 21st.

Build: I’m quite thin and underweight, but I actually recently made plans to start working out - both to make an effort to be healthy with myself, and also to feel good post-breakup. I’m hoping to see some changes in my body and build in the coming months.

Babies, do you have any? None of those, not sure if that’s still the plan for me.

Blonde or Brunette: Brunette.

C

Childhood sweetheart: Erm, does Gab count? We technically weren’t kids anymore when we first got together. I wasn’t attracted to anyone as a kid and was more concerned with growing my Pokemon pogs collection.

Current mood: I’m hungry and can go for savory breakfast foods right now, like shakshuka or huevos rancheros. Also a little anxious because I really don’t want to think about work, but tasks continue to pile up for a certain client.

Children, are there more in your future? There aren’t even any to begin with.

Coke or Pepsi: Pepsi just because it reminds me of Punk and my chaotic wrestling fangirl years.

D

Dad's name: Edgardo, but no one calls him by that full name. He has two nicknames; one of which he hates and only family and friends use, and the other is the name he has permanently introduced himself as in his workplace.

Dating anyone: Not anymore.

Do you plan on having lots of money? Don’t most people?

Dogs or cats: Dogs.

E

Elementary School: I’m not sharing that.

Eye color: Dark brown/black.

Ever going to China? Probably not right now considering the present situation. I’d love to go to the rural cities and have a peek into their country life.

Early or Late: EARLY. Lateness is a big pet peeve, unless the excuse is super reasonable like Manila traffic or a car accident.

F

First Crush: The first person I felt remotely attractive to was Andi, from 6th grade. Then she moved to New Zealand and the crush quickly faded out.

Fears: For concrete things, I hate cockroaches and fair rides. For bigger concepts, I fear getting left behind, failing, and not getting approval, and the idea of never being satisfied or happy with who I am, what I’ve done, or where I’ve gone.

Future goals: Have a place of my own, be able to sustain myself, and keep myself alive.

Funny or Serious: I think everyone has to have both sides. I wouldn’t want to hang out long with people who can’t be sat down to just shoot the shit with conversations that go a little deeper. At the same time, I’d be quickly bored with someone who talks about existential or philosophical topics 24/7 and takes everything seriously.

G

Grandparent's names: On my dad’s side, Dolores and Federico; on my mom’s side, Agnes and Jun. My maternal grandpa is the third in multiple generations of Abelardos in the family, but his nickname is simply ‘Jun,’ because Philippines.

GPA: We don’t measure our grades with that, but we do have a GWA; I’m just not sure how that can be converted to GPA. Mine was in the 1.47 range, which was good enough for cum laude honors. I barely missed out on a magna cum laude honor (which required a 1.45 GWA), so that’s something I’ve always been pressed about and I know I could have clinched it if the pandemic didn’t cancel my final semester, which would’ve given me the chance to pull up my grades.

Going anywhere this weekend? I don’t think so. I want to spend the remaining 5 days of my break completely unproductively.

Giver or Taker: Giver. I like pleasing people.

H

High School: I attended one school from kindergarten to high school.

Hair color: Black.

Hate anyone for life? I don’t think so. I dislike some people, but I can’t tell if I’ll feel that way for the rest of my life.

Hairspray or Gel: When I’m going somewhere or attending something fancy, I use hair gel to hold my hair down.

I

In 8th grade, who was your best friend? Eighth grade is freshman year of high school, right? In that case, my best friend was Gabie.

Is ignorance bliss? Sometimes it is. I like no longer being updated about Gabie’s life. Back when I still tried to push my way in, I was miserable. I stopped doing so over the holidays and I just stopped reaching out, stopped trying to communicate, everything. I’ve been a lot happier that way.

Is there anything you wanna share? That’s kinda the goal with every survey I take.

Ice Cream or Cake: Right now, maybe ice cream. I’m very picky about cake, and I don’t like the spongy ones aka most cakes I know.

J

Jumped rope for fun: That’s exactly what I use jump ropes for. I don’t think I ever used it for fitness or working out except for maybe PE.

Junk around you right now? I mean, not really. I have my embroidery stuff in a pile beside me, but I don’t consider them junk.

Joining anything anytime soon? Not planning on it. I briefly considered joining a gym as a new thing to do for 2021, but in the end I figured working out at home would be enough. Angela recommended the latter as well, so that’s how I abandoned my gym plans quickly haha.

January or July: I guess July? January always feels just a teeny bit stranger than other months, considering it’s the beginning of a new year.

K

Killed anyone: ...This serious?

Keeping a secret? I keep different secrets from different people.

Kicking someone off your top friends today? I don’t think that’s a thing anymore. Hasn’t been for a while.

Kiwi or Apple: Apple, just because I’ve never had the chance to taste kiwi.

L

Lost anyone close to you: I’ve lived 22 years, of course I have. I’d be very surprised if someone has lived that long but has never experienced losing people, whether from a fallout, from death, etc. Just this year alone I lost a great-aunt on my maternal grandpa’s side, and a ton of relatives from my maternal grandma’s side.

Last kiss, when and who: Gabie, three months ago.

List 3 people that you'll love forever: I can only think of Angela. And of course, Gab.

Lover or Fighter: Fighter, I suppose. I can be relentless. Right now with my breakup has been the only time I allowed myself to take a step back and not forcibly take things under my control for once.

M

Middle School: We don’t follow the concept of middle school here. The levels in middle school fall under elementary school as well.

Marital Status: Single.

Mom's name: Abigail.

Music or TV: TV.

N

Northernmost state you've been to: Batanes, which is as northernmost as northernmost gets in the Philippines.

Nickname: A lot of family members call me Byn, but for the most part Robyn has always been my main nickname.

Name your future boy and girl: I have yet to make up my mind about this.

Naughty or Nice: Nice. I never particularly feel ~naughty, and since the breakup I especially haven’t felt the need to be sexual.

O

Opened a piece of mail that wasn't yours? Sometimes I’ll open the electricity or water bill addressed to my parents out of curiosity just to find out how much we consumed in the last month. But nothing more than that.

Occupation: I’m an associate at a PR agency.

Owe anyone money: Nope.

Outgoing or Shy: Shy at first but I can get outgoing once I’ve warmed up to a person/situation.

P

Place you most want to be? Right now? I’d love to be at a coffee shop or bar at a higher altitude, with a view of the city. I used to go to a lot of these before the pandemic hit, but now I’m thinking of doing it again.

Purposely destroyed someone’s life? No.

Planning a major trip? Not really. Most tourist spots require swab tests and I am not having anything go up my nose.

Pink or Black? Love both, but I like pink ever so slightly more.

Q

Quit a class: I’ve never dropped a class. I’ve wanted to, but there was so much paperwork to fill out to do so and I also didn’t want to be behind on my overall schedule.

Quickly...the first word to come to mind: Whistle, because the pink/black question reminded me of Blackpink.

Quitting your job soon? No lol I’m barely two months in.

Quiet or Loud: I can be both, but these days I’ve been quieter.

R

Riding in an airplane: I have no idea what this is asking.

Ride, tell me about yours: ^ Same.

Running for any political office in the future? No plans to.

Rain or Snow: I guess rain, since it’s the only one I’ve experienced.

S

Siblings names and ages: Nina is 20, my brother is 17.

Shoe size: I fit anywhere between a size 6 to 7.

Shave daily? It used to be daily, but I haven’t had the need to since the quarantine began.

Shower or Bath: Shower.

T

Turning 21 was (will be): It’s been a year since then.

Texas, ever been? No but I have relatives who live there, so it’s one of my choice states to visit and stay at if I ever plan to go to the US.

Think you'll live to be 100? I doubt it. I don’t have any relatives who lived until that age.

Tame or Wild: Idk, tame I guess?? I don’t know what this is asking.

U

Unique quality about you: I feel like this is a question best answered by other people who see and interact with me more than I do myself.

Underwear on? Yeah.

Under your bed lies: Large containers with all the magazines I collected from childhood that I can’t bring myself to throw out.

Under or Over: Idk, you have to be more specific.

V

Virgin? No.

Vacation time left? I have five days left, including today :( I plan to be the most unproductive or bum-y I’ve ever been, because I have no clue when I’ll have a break this long again.

Voting in the next Presidential election? Of course.

Volleyball or Swimming: I like swimming more, but I like watching volleyball.

W

Went white water rafting? I don’t think so, but I would give it a shot.

Wearing right now: A hoodie that’s around two sizes bigger for me.

Write a sentence about you: About anything? I’m a little upset with myself for having been a bit lousy with survey-taking during the holiday break. I planned on taking a lot to catch up on the ones I’ve missed out on, but so far I mostly take just one a day lol.

West Coast or East Coast: East.

X

X-Rays in the past month: 0.

X-Mas plans: Had a get-together with my mom’s side of the family on the 24th; we hosted our own Christmas party on the 25th; and we visited my dad’s side of the family on the 26th.

X, does it mark the spot? Idk.

X-Tina or Britney? Britney.

Y

You lost "it" when? I mean, I’ve had more than one moment where I freaked out...

Your favorite song:  I’m really in love with Saw You In A Dream by The Japanese House. My favorite songs come and go, but this one has been a constant.

Your favorite place on Earth: Sagada.

Yes or No: Idk. I’m not enjoying these vague ass questions.

Z

Zodiac Sign: Taurus.

Zodiac Sign: Idk, I’m still a Taurus.

Zippos are neat, agree? I don’t have an opinion.

Zoo or Circus: Neither.

[jbbarnesnnoble]

Hurts A Little Less

Summary:  Bucky knew he was never at his best. But you were a constant, helping him on the days where things were difficult. 

Features/Warnings: Minor angst; mentions of Bucky’s trauma 

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Reader

Notes: Based off of ‘Hurts to Know’ by 1551, which I highly recommend you listen to while reading. Spot the Hallmark Channel reference 😂

Word Count: 2394

He stood, staring blankly out the window. The sun was shining, but you knew a darkness was battling inside. You stood by him, day in and day out. The line between friends and more had blurred a long time ago. You sighed as you stood from where you sat on the couch, heading for the kitchen. 

You loved him, more than you loved anyone before. You had been down that road before, thinking you could fix someone, heal them. You knew you couldn’t. It wasn’t a healthy mentality to have. He wasn’t a broken toy. He was a human being, one who had been through unimaginable things. You knew the only thing you could do was make sure he knew you were there, that you cared, that you loved him. You couldn’t fight that battle for him, as much as you wished you could. It was the one battle he had to face one on one. At the end of the day, when the fighting became too much, you would be there to hold him, to support him, but you weren’t the one healing him. No. That was something he had to take charge of. 

He stood, staring blankly out the window. Thoughts swirled around his head. Every failure. Every life he had taken. In startling clarity. The Starks hit hardest, especially now that he had worked through that trauma with Tony. It had taken multiple counseling sessions for them to reach an understanding, to reach common ground. It had surprisingly been Tony’s idea. 

“If we’re going to work together, you and I have problems to resolve and Pepper has informed me that punching you repeatedly is not a productive way of resolving our issues,” Tony said. Bucky looked at him with an unreadable expression.

“Buck?” you asked, looking at him with concern. 

“What’s the catch? You would’ve killed me if Steve had let you,” Bucky said. Tony glared at him.

“You killed my parents. I think I’m entitled to a bit of anger. You in or not? Because we’re not going on missions until we resolve this because no one trusts that we won’t kill one another,” Tony said. 

“Okay,” Bucky said, stunning everyone in the room. Tony opened his mouth, prepared to continue arguing his case.

“Wait...you agreed?” Tony asked. Bucky nodded. Dr. Thornton had been telling him he needed to start working through accepting his past. She had been encouraging him to work things through with Tony if Tony approached him. Elizabeth Thornton was a force to be reckoned with. Her husband had been a SHIELD agent, close to Fury. She worked with the children and adults involved with the Avengers initiative now. 

“Well, alright then,” Tony said.

Their sessions had been filled with tension to start. You were the one constant, always there like his own Northern star, guiding him home again, back to some sense of stability. You gave him space to breathe, to exist, to process. Steve was well meaning, but his oldest friend could be overbearing at times with his need to check in on Bucky. Sam, as much as Bucky hated to admit it, had been a help there. Reminding Steve that Bucky needed to adjust on his own terms. You were different. 

You were a quiet person, in his periphery from the day he set foot in the compound after he was cleared and the Accords were thrown out. You didn’t give him looks of pity. You didn’t crowd his space. You would enter a room and sit down in his line of vision. Sometimes you had a book, other times some sort of handheld device, what he had learned was a Switch. You were there, existing in the same space, but giving him his. 

The dark days had outnumbered the good days back then. And when it was dark, it felt like no light could break through. Like he would never be able to move forward. And then you’d ask him a question, something off the wall. At first he wouldn’t respond. He wanted to be left alone. God, did he want to be left alone. But you persisted. If it wasn’t an off the wall question, you’d launch into a story about the team, about your childhood, anything that came to your mind. Slowly it had gone from an annoyance to something he looked forward to, something that pulled him away from the dark turn his thoughts constantly took. He remembered the day he told Dr. Thornton about you.

“How have you been since the last time I saw you?” she asked. Bucky was quiet for a moment, looking around the familiar office. Her desk had a photo of her with a group of people, friends from home, he guessed. She came from a small town in the Pacific Northwest, Hope Valley. 

“I don’t know. There’s this agent. And she’s annoying,” he said, a small smile on his face. Elizabeth kept her expression neutral, writing something down. It was the first time she’d seen him smile about something that wasn’t long since passed. It was progress. He launched into a rant about you.

“But she’s real nice. Doesn’t make me try to talk like Steve. Don’t get me wrong, he’s like my brother...but...he can be overbearing,” Bucky said.

“And how’s your relationship with Sam?” she asked. At this, Bucky laughed. It was a rare sound. Elizabeth wrote that down too. He might not have seen it himself, but James Buchanan Barnes had made progress since the first day in her office. He was starting to let the walls down for someone who wasn’t Steve Rogers. She knew you well. You popped in from time to time, sometimes after a difficult mission, other times because you needed to talk. 

When Bucky left his appointment that afternoon, he had a soft smile on his face and you on his mind. 

Bucky was pulled from his thoughts by your voice. He turned to see you sitting on the couch, two mugs of hot chocolate with extra whipped cream in front of you. 

“I think today is a favorites kind of day, what do you think, Buck?” you asked him, a small smile on your face. He nodded. 

“I think that’s a great idea, doll,” he said, his voice low. You still heard him. He made his way over to you, picking up his mug. You had learned since meeting Bucky that sometimes on his bad days, if you gave him choices on low effort things, it helped him. There were days where he wanted to be left alone entirely. On those days, you would make sandwiches for him and leave them in a container on his desk in his room after making sure he took his medication. What you would do after varied. Sometimes it was shopping with Natasha and Wanda. Other times you would sit and talk with Steve for a while or resort to baking if you wanted to be alone. If it wasn’t baking, you would sit and journal, occasionally checking in on Bucky through FRIDAY, something he had given you permission to do. 

“Can we order pizza? And mozzarella sticks?” Bucky asked quietly. You nodded. It was one of the things Bucky had slowly adjusted to. Being his own person again. Having agency and making decisions for himself. He had had time to start adjusting while he was recovering in Wakanda. But coming back to the US had presented new challenges, new decisions to be made, and a society that hadn’t been ready to accept that he was an Avenger until at least part of the truth had come out. 

“FRIDAY can you please order that for us? And two orders of garlic knots,” you said. FRIDAY knew your usual order. 

“The usual then?” the AI asked. 

“Yes please. Thank you,” you said. Bucky stifled a laugh at your manners. You always made sure to say please and thank you to the AI when asking for something. It was something he found endearing. 

“What?” you asked him. 

“Nothing, nothing. Just you,” he said, taking a sip of his hot chocolate. You took a sip of yours, coming away with a whipped cream mustache. He laughed a little before swiping his finger across your upper lip.

“You had a little,” he said, holding up his finger. The two of you got comfortable, turning on a movie he hadn’t seen yet.  As the movie credits started to roll, you looked over at him.

“How have you been sleeping, Buck?” you asked him. He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. The two of you weren’t at the point yet of sharing a room and you had been gone all week on a mission. He always hesitated before telling you when things had been bad. He didn’t want to place that burden on you, no matter how many times you insisted you wanted to know, that he could tell you anything. He was scared. Scared that if he told you some of the things on his mind that you would walk away, even though everything he knew about you told him that wasn’t who you were. 

“Not great. Nightmares,” he said. You nodded. 

“Did you try the tea?” you asked him. It was one of the new things you were trying. Something to help settle him down. Whether it was a placebo effect or not, it had been helping at least a little before you left. 

“Wasn’t the same as when you made it for me,” he said.

“Fair enough,” you said. The two of you sat talking for a bit. He was more relaxed than he had been earlier. As the two of you spoke, you smiled as you thought about how far he had come from those early days. 

A few days later found you sitting on the balcony late in the night. You hadn’t been able to sleep. A sense of something being wrong had settled in and you couldn’t shake it. You drained your cup of tea before checking on Bucky. You were alarmed when FRIDAY told you he was in distress. She usually was on top of letting you know, and if you weren’t there, letting Steve know. 

You barreled into his room to find him hunched over. You sat beside him as his shoulders shook. 

“May I touch you, Bucky?” you asked. He shook his head. 

“Do you want to tell me what’s bothering you?” you asked. Again, he shook his head. You stood up and grabbed a bottle of water from where they were stored in the refrigerator and looked around for the other things you needed. It used to be more frequent that he would have nightmares bad enough to shake him like that. More like memories, you had thought. He had said they hadn’t been to that level while you were gone, just bad enough to keep him from wanting to go back to sleep. 

You handed him the bottle of water while you busied yourself in the kitchenette making a cup of tea for him. It was routine now. You never pushed him. He would talk if he was ready. If not to you, then to Dr. Thornton or Steve. If he really didn’t want to talk, he would write about it. It was progress from where he had been when you met him, when the two of you weren’t even friends. Back then he never spoke, unless it was short sentences, and even then it was mostly to Steve. 

You brought him the tea, sitting down beside him. He reached for you after finishing the tea, pulling you on to his lap and into a hug. You wrapped your arms around him, holding him more than he was holding you. 

Bucky’s thoughts were still racing. You were there. You were alive. You were okay. His nightmares had taken a new turn. One that saw you ending up hurt or worse because of him. His biggest fear now was hurting you. He knew he wasn’t perfect. He knew that his trauma would be a lifelong process of working through. He knew that he would never fault you for walking away. But you still hadn’t. You stayed, patiently waiting, listening, helping. You were his reminder that there was still good. It wasn’t you alone, but you were who he was around most.

He saw good in how Wanda would sneak off to volunteer at the children’s hospital, reading to the kids and spending time with them, entertaining them with her magic, a reminder that she wasn’t only a force for destruction. He saw it in how Peter Parker helped out at a local soup kitchen, both in the city and near the compound. Peter Parker, who had taken time to explain to Bucky what the hell a meme was, knowledge that Bucky had one hundred percent weaponized against the team, making them groan on more than one occasion. Bucky saw good in how Natasha spent some of her time off helping victims of abuse, in how Tony had started an actual internship program for students from low income backgrounds. He spent a lot of time watching, observing while lost in his own head. He wasn’t sure the team knew what the others really did in their free time away. None of them ever broadcast those things. But Bucky saw them. It grounded him, in a way. Another beacon of light, of hope.

You felt Bucky slowly start to relax. His arms loosened and you pulled back a little. He was looking at you, a small smile on his face.

“Thank you,” he said.

“For what?” you asked.

“Everything you do. You don’t have to do the things you do for me, but you do,” he said. You shook your head.

“Because I love you. Our friends love you. And we never want you to forget that you’re loved, Bucky,” you said. He placed a soft kiss to your forehead. He knew the road was long, but with you by his side, with his friends by his side, he knew it would be easier. It would never be easy, life so very rarely was. But if there was one thing James Buchanan Barnes was sure of, it was that he would never be alone, not truly, and that made all the difference. 

[sadlyafanofotomegames]

A Road Paved with Bad Endings - Nightshade

You know why it takes so long to talk about Nameless Bad Endings?  Because they’re so complicated and different from each other!  There’s so many bad endings.  So.  Many.  Bad.  Endings.  So why don’t we shift gears and talk about a game that limits itself to one bad ending per boy.  Sometimes you get otome games where each ending is unique and fucked up in their own special way.  And then sometimes its just “And then they died.”  And you know what?  Those endings can be just as valid.  So lets get to these shinobis and ninjas and Naruto has corrupted my vision of ninjas permanently I am so sorry.  

Nightshade is about Enju, daughter of the Koga Clan’s leader and the sister of the Iga Clan leader.  After the Iga Clan was destroyed in a war the Koga Clan absorbed the survivors.  Because of this Enju is seen as the glue keeping the Koga and Iga Clan together, and is treasured by the villagers.  But Enju wants to be a real shinobi and go on missions like everyone else.  One day she gets her wish, and travels with her childhood friends and mentor to complete a mission.  Good news, she completed the mission!  Bad news, she gets accused of killing the ruler right after.

On the way she travels with her childhood friend and bodyguard Gekkamaru, her other childhood friend and Gekkamaru’s brother Kuroyuki, and her mentor and cousin (oh no) Chojiro, as well as meeting a cold-hearted powerful ninja from another clan, Hanzo, and a libertine totally-not-a-gentleman-thief Goemon.  Who’s going to be with Enju beyond the game of life-and-death she’s been forced into?  Or in this case, who’s going to see her literal end?

General Thoughts on This Bad End Journey

So before I get to the boys I’ll just do an overview on how choices work here.  Note that I’m playing the Switch Version.  You got the boys.  You got choices.  First four chapters you make choices that the boy you want likes and then in chapter five that’s when the route starts (though some routes start a bit early, but each route’s choices still start in Chapter 5.)  If you go to the Relationships in the Menu you’ll notice the line of boys and under each one is a line of flowers.  Every time you pick a choice a boy would like, the flowers will flash on screen and the next time you check the Relationships you’ll see the flower line begin to fill in with color.  Whoever’s flower is colored in the most until chapter 4 will begin the route in 5, and to get the good end you need to continue filling the line with color as much as possible.  Don’t fill the line by the end?  Bad Ending.

This makes it pretty simple to get the ending you want.  Quick Save, make a choice, see the flowers, good.  Make a choice, don’t see the flowers, bad, quick load.  I’d recommend Quick Saving continuously if you’re like me and can’t stop smashing buttons like I’m trying to speedrun (I can read pretty fast) because if you’re not paying attention you’ll “A” yourself right into picking the first option of a choice that popped up.  I did this more times than I would like to admit to.

On the content of the choices themselves, they’re good at connecting to the themes of each boy, so even though you can depend on the flower pop-up to keep you on the path you want you can intuitively see which choices work.  This is not true for all otome games.

The Bad Endings themselves basically all lead to the same place - dead and sad.  Enju dies, then boy.  Or boy dies, then Enju.  But each ending differentiates itself in the various flavors of how the deaths occurs and the reaction to it.  Also there’s one sad song for all the bad endings and it is a mood.  Despite the simplicity of it these endings do genuinely make me sad because Enju is a cutie and I love her and how dare you do this to her and dangit now I’m fond of the boys and now they’re sad and now I’m sad and I’m listening to a sad credit song and want to eat ice cream in a empty bathtub and cry for some reason.  So lets be sad...together.  

Spoilers for each route.  Warning for Descriptions of Death and Suicide. 

Goemon - It’s All Fun and Games Until You Need to Pretend You Betrayed a Cute Girl and Cause Her to Be So Sad She Doesn’t Stop Someone From Killing Her

Goemon is a gentleman thief archetype, who’s a player (or in this case libertine?) and steals from the rich to give to the poor.  Goemon is the only real one because he doesn't give a single fuck about cops, shinobi rules or the hierarchy, and strives not to shed blood if he can help it, AND is always good to Enju (expect when he was forced to be mean and he literally cried about it later in the good ending.)  Usually I’m not for player types, but Goemon manages to pull off being flirty and playful without coming off as pervy and careless.  It helps that there’s isn’t a Mean Girl for him to flirt with to cause conflict.  But then we near the ending of the route, where Goemon has to pull off a ploy to save Enju without being able to tell her the ploy, and it sucks.  I knew it was a ploy from the start, but you still made her be sad gosh darnit!  They managed to save the good mood of the route after that spell but just thinking about it left a sour taste in my mouth.  Unless you’re in the bad end, in which case you’ll be left with the taste of TEARS.

How to Get the Bad End 

Show distrust toward Goemon.  Goemon, lets be honest here, looks a little sus.  He pressures young ladies into going out for deserts, he’s a little flirty and doesn’t seem to take things with the right amount of seriousness, you fought him on a rooftop because he’s a notorious thief you were sent to capture, you know, it might be hard for Enju to trust him.  When Enju trusts in Goemon and is ready to have a good time (no not that kind) the two really establish a bond.  But on the road to the bad end Enju always had a seed of doubt in her mind about Goemon.

What Happens

The ploy Goemon came up with was to pretend to rejoin his old shinobi clan, the Fuma Clan, and deliver Enju to the Council of the Five Elder  (who all want to be the regent for the late rulers son but need to avenge him by killing his murderer) and then double-crossing both the Lords and his old clan and escaping with Enju with them believing she died.  Unfortunately because he’s surrounded by Fuma Clan members during this ruse he couldn’t spill the beans, thus Enju was left in the dark.  Also he faked all of her friends murders.  It’s not a great feeling to become so connected to someone only to find out that they killed all your friend and will send you to your death.  

But in the good path Enju is able to still believe in Goemon.  In the bad route...she just gives up on that line of thinking.  When they reach the palace, there’s a twist Goemon wasn’t expecting.  The late ruler’s Concubine and mother of the later ruler’s son enters before any of the Lords can debate who’ll execute her and kills Enju herself, and in her despair Enju lets her.  Goemon then releases the poison that causes people to see illusions and kill each other.  Hanzo escapes with his lord Tokugawa before it hits them.

Review

This ending fits well with Goemon because its after Enju dies because of her doubt toward him that Goemon truly betrays his beliefs.  He didn’t want to kill anymore.  He didn’t want to ever use the cruel techniques he was taught as a shinobi leader.  And then he’s left holding Enju’s body covered in blood that’s not his own, tear in one eye.  Hearing the screams of lords and servants alike killing each other due to his poison.  It’s poetic. 

Hanzo - TFW You Go From Cold to Softie But Still End Up in a Double-Suicide Because You’re Girlfriend Didn’t Fully Learn Her Own Self-Worth

So Hanzo is what the kids call, a kuudere.  He’s also the oldest, being the same age as Enju’s mom.  Enju is 16-17.  I am uncomfortable.  To be fair Goemon is also around Hanzo’s age, but Goemon doesn’t act as a tutor/guardian in the way Hanzo does, so its less noticeable.  Also...he gets real saucy in the last chapter.  Saucier than the so-called libertine.  Went from 0 to 100 real fast.  There are some parts I really love about this route, but given Hanzo’s role and age-gap I feel like this is one of those ones where I wish they left out the romance altogether, but hey this wouldn’t be an otome game without the smooching, so eh. 

How to Get the Bad End

Be pessimistic, hesitant, self-defeating, make silly mistakes.  Hanzo wants Enju to be smart and willing to improve her skills.  This entire route is really about Enju’s growth, both mental and physical, in the face of overbearing odds.  So don’t do that and you’ll end up in the bad end.  There’s a loooong gap between your last choice and where the bad end hits, and in the last chapter you don’t get any more choices.  

What happens.

When Hanzo seemingly disobeys his lord’s order to kill Enju (at least, that’s what the messenger said) he planned to commit suicide.  In the good ending Enju stops him and they move on to smooches but in the bad ending...she kills him herself so that he wouldn’t have to do it.  Then she ends her life soon after.

Review

I was honestly wasn’t expected this flavor of death from this route, but I suppose its attached to the antithesis of the route.  Hanzo, first from orders and then from heart, needed Enju to live and demanded Enju to stay alive, but in the bad end she was able to kill her own lover but didn’t learn to stay alive for herself.  It’s sad, but its a little too short for me to really sink in the tragedy.  Now if you want tragedy for the entire route, well that’s what our next boy’s for.

Chojiro - This Whole Route is a Bad Ending That the Real Bad End is Almost Cathartic

Chojiro is...*long, drawn out sigh* Enju’s cousin and mentor, whom she calls “Brother Chojiro.”  Look there’s a lot of tropes common in otome games that I just can’t get behind, but here I am still playing them.  Anyway sliding that fact back under the carpet Chojiro is another seemingly cold-hearted man, but unlike Hanzo, Chojiro already has a developed bond with Enju, and that bond makes it obvious that Chojiro’s got the fuzzies deep down.  Unfortunately a lot depends on him being a shinobi who follows the rules and orders to a T, which is awkward when yer girl becomes a fugitive after being accused of murder and you’re sent to kill her.  Again, there’s parts of this route I really like if they didn’t bother with the romance.  The thing under the carpet aside I feel like there was already an established love between the two from the get go, so to have them smooch, especially after all their friends died, is a little bit...bad timing is all I’m saying.  Now the bad ending, well, that just fits right in.

How to Get the Bad End

A good chunk of the choices made are without Chojiro present at all, but if you pick the right choice you’ll still see the flowers.  A main theme I suppose would be to get the bad end Enju emulates Chojiro.  Try to be cool and calm.  It’s not real, but its how Enju sees Chojiro.  Think of what Chojiro would do, rather than what Enju truly feels.  That’s just a loose thread though.  The path to the bad end comes mainly from how the plot of the route happens, which is Enju asking if living is really worth...all this?

What Happens

So uh, that ruler Enju was accused of murdering?  Yeah he never died.  The double was killed.  In this route at least, he set it up so that the Five Elders would play a game to see who would become the guardian.  Each of Enju’s friends, tricked into hunting down Enju at risk of losing their entire village, represented one of the five lords.  But then, in the ruler’s viewpoint, Enju managed to kill four of her friends (actually they mostly killed each other...it was actually three of them who died) and was so impressed...that he decided to bring her and Chojiro to the castle to set up a death match.  Enju’s blood is boiling.  Chojiro’s blood is boiling.  My blood is boiling.  

So what are we gonna do?  Go down in style.  Enju decides that if they both can’t live in peace, then they shouldn’t have to live while the other dies either.  She convinces Chojiro, who’s revealed to be as soft as Chojiro always told her she was, to strike her as she strikes him.  They die in each other’s arms with smiles on their faces.

Review

While the choices don’t really connect outside of whether they’re good for Enju or not, the Bad End fits like a glass slipper on this horrific tragedy.  It’s poignant that its Enju who takes the lead in how they go out, when its always been Chojiro who had to be in charge.  At the end it was like Chojiro was holding Enju’s sleeve.  Sad and beautiful...and closed off from the opportunity to escape that was so close.

Kuroyuki - Kuroyuki is a Tragedy with a Neat Scarf and Losing Enju Did Not Help

Kuroyuki was raised alongside Enju and is, FOR ONCE, around the same age as Enju.  At age 8 he was sent out on a mission and only returns now to tag along with Enju and her friends during their mission.  He’s aloof and playful, but its pretty clear he gots some secrets, and has some feelings for Enju from the beginning.  Once you get into Kuroyuki’s route he doesn’t hide that fact, up and saying that he loves Enju early on in his route.  He can act very forward (forward enough to make me act like a PTA mom and evoke the three-feet-apart rule), but when he realizes Enju’s upset he’ll quickly apologize and make pouty faces.  Despite the fact that he can be a cold-blooded killer (like all the boys except Goemon can be) and also be the most calculating, he can also be a sweetie, and it feels like he and Enju are on a more even playing field than the other boys.  Kuroyuki and Enju can be pretty childish toward each other, and it can get pretty cute.  That won’t stop the plotwist, and this bad end, coming fast to snap your heart in two.

How to Get the Bad End

Okay also Kuroyuki’s a yandere.  Probably should have said that sooner.  Anytime you’re in a yandere route the choices that lead you to the good end are basically to be sensible, because your yandere pal sure won’t.  Its the same here, though its good to show some care.  So get to the bad end...don’t be sensible.  Be reckless.  He’s says they’d live together and die together.  That’s not worrying at all!  What if I want to be with the yandere who gaslit me, mom!?  Ever thought about that!?

What Happens

So in this route, the ruler was killed for realzies this time...by Kuroyuki.  He was probably killed by Kuroyuki in every route except in Chojiro’s and Gekkamaru’s, because when he kills the ruler there’s no blood or open gash, which is a mark of his type of power.  There was a deal between the Kaga Clan (who Kuroyuki was sent to train in 8 years ago) and the Koga Clan to kill the ruler, bringing the country back into war.  There’s no use for shinobi in times of peace.  What Kuroyuki wasn’t planning was for Enju to be accused of the murder.  So uh...he basically sets it up so that he’d be the only one to save her from prison and travel with her.  He lied about her friends possibly coming after her, which even I was set to believe because I was in a couple of routes where they did come after her, which was clever.  He was spot on about Enju’s father disowning her though, even if he didn’t know it when he told her, which goes to show how much of an ass her dad is.

I need to set this all up to say after all this is revealed Kuroyuki decides that if he can’t be with her, he’ll at least make a better world for her, first by killing her ass of a dad (which, like, same.)  Coincidentally Enju, determined to find out who ordered Kuroyuki to kill the ruler to save Kuroyuki, decides to confront her dad on the matter as well.  So they both meet again while facing off her dad.  Enju wants to live and die with Kuroyuki, and in her reckless rush to protect Kuroyuki her dad stabs her.  Kuroyuki kills her dad (good) then carries Enju to a clear field.  He gives Enju the only thing he can give her at that point - a happy dream that everything turned out alright, and that he and all her friends are together and happy.  Enju dies peacefully in his arms.  He promises to join her soon.

Review

I feel like I’m going to say this every time we meet a yandere, but while I like seeing yanderes as obstacles, I don’t believe in good endings with yanderes, at least romantically.  Like if a boy can only see happiness by keeping one girl by his side with rope and a red eye that freezes your shadow so you can’t move, maybe he should, at the very least, try to connect with people other than her?  Like, maaaaaaybe take a break from each other, clear your mind?  No?  Enju wants to be with you forever now too?  Tch.  

That being said, I’m glad this was the bad end for this route, and not a yandere ending where Kuroyuki kills Enju or Enju gets trapped in an illusion so that she couldn’t escape or something.  Much as I like “WTF” bad endings this bad ending struck a chord in how...sad it is.  Hands down, this one made me cry for Enju and Kuroyuki.  Much as Kuroyuki’s got issues, he gave Enju a way to pass peacefully.  It hurt me when she closed her eyes, and it hurt me when Kuroyuki cried.

Gekkamaru - The Overprotective Childhood Friend to End All Overprotective Childhood Friends

Gekkamaru is Enju’s childhood friends and bodyguard, and is overprotective to a...concerning degree.  No matter which route you’re in he’ll come to Enju’s aid, ranging from “well that’s sweet” to “oh gawd Gekka pls calm tf down.”  So you can imagine how he acts in his own route.  Despite the over-protectiveness (though I suppose when you become a wanted criminal over-protectiveness is a welcome trait) Gakkamaru is probably the Best Boy of the whole game.  He’s earnest and a real sweetheart.  Its too bad that this route is about as tragic as Chojiro’s, except the tragedy happens gradually, over and over again, not to mention his bad end...

How to Get The Bad End 

So that whole servant-and-master thing?  Yeah it’s fine.  Gekkamaru wants to act as a servant towards Enju?  Eh, don’t worry about it.  Pick options that don’t rock the boat on their relationship.  Don’t pay attention to Gekkamaru’s growing feelings, it’s fine.  It’s fine!  Not like he’ll die or anything.  

What Happens

So he dies.  Turns out Gekkamaru’s been hypnotized not once, but twice!  Enju’s mother hypnotized him into protecting Enju at all costs, and his mother hypnotized him into want to kill Enju, due to her father killing his parents before she was born.  Enju was tricked into releasing Gekka from her mother’s spell, leaving him with the curse forcing him to attempt to Enju.  Before he could do the deed, Enju tell him she loves him.  Rather than her love breaking the curse, Gekka’s role as her servant and bodyguard wins over, and he stabs himself fatally.  Enju follows after him.

Review

This ending isn’t far off from what actually happens in the good ending, but it mattered how Gekkamaru broke the curse.  What killed him was his duty trumping both the curse AND his love.  It’s what Enju feared - that his devotion was only due to the spell, and that it would kill him.  It’s poetic, but given the roller coaster of tragedy that’s happened throughout the route it feels like just another addition to it.

Conclusion

If I were to rank these bad endings from least interesting to most interesting, I’d say Hanzo - Gekkamaru - Chojiro - Kuroyuki - Goemon.  Obviously if you’re looking at good ending ranking or best boy the ranking would be different, but that’s not what we’re here for!  This is BadEndVille babey!  Chojiro, Kuroyuki and Goemon are a bit of a toss-up, since all three of those bad endings match the character and evoke a unique sort of pain.  Hanzo and Gekkamaru’s endings are also sad, but I don’t think they’re as strong a finish as the others.  Chojiro, Kuroyuki and Goemon’s bad endings feel like a real conclusion to a tragedy, while Hanzo and Gekkamaru’s bad endings feel like a “whoopsie you killed yer boy from the top!”

Still, all the bad endings are fitting for how they occur: Enju and Her Love learned the wrong lessons.  Enju constantly has to face being hunted down by shinobi stronger than her, being abandoned by the village who treasured her and the father who never acknowledged her, and sometimes she has to face her own childhood friends.  But on the way she’s often with someone who loves her, who’s willing to carry her through.  What she needs isn’t just strength and willpower, its the desire to live.  Live even when it feels like it’d be easier for everyone if you were gone, because your life is not for others to use up and wilt.  

And in the bad end, Enju fails to learn that lesson.  She dies because she can’t see happiness in living, not without the person who loved her by her side, and doesn’t realize that there is a way out, that they can both be saved.  With Kuroyuki, they both agreed that they will live together and they will die together, and in every bad end Enju decided that dying together was the better option.

It’s the same for the boys: Goemon fails to keep his beliefs after Enju dies, Hanzo fails to save Enju because he couldn’t change his beliefs as a shinobi, Chojiro fails because he’s so certain that everything he loves with eventually wilt, Kuroyuki fails because he realizes the consequences of what he’s done too little too late, and Gekkamaru fails because he couldn’t truly see himself as anything other than a loyal servant, ready to die even if that dooms the one he serves to misery.  They all became Romeos and Juliets, too short-sighted to see the light beyond the horizon.

All this to say that if you have the time after completing the good endings for all the boys, grab some ice cream or any other sweet treat that suits you and go through these bad endings.  Let those sad feels wash over you for a bit.  Then get to those bonus stories in the extras because I THOUGHT I WAS DONE-

[forthemultiverse]

Young Justice Headcanons (2)

A Teenaged Night In

- They still found a way to blame Robin when they found out Batman had walked in on them again.

- Technically he was the one that set up the game station in the cave…

- And technically it was his hard drive of illegally downloaded TV Shows and Movies. 

- It all began when Artemis outed that Dick and Wally weren’t available one night because they were at the Batcave, playing video games. 

- M’gann asked what video games they played. having heard the time a few times at school, and instead of just welcoming everyone to the cave, Dick and Wally decided to relocate to the mountain. 

- He linked the training simulator to the video game so it was like some super high tech virtual reality game. 

- Wally and Dick started explaining how to play the game to the group and Kaldur picked it up immediately.

- He destroyed them all. 

- They never saw him coming

- He’d just appear, score points, disappear and somehow gain even more points.

- Conner…not so much

- He’s a button masher but doesn’t know the actual combos

- No technique, just hit and hope for the best.

- They can’t let him play certain characters in fighter games because button mashing started to work for him and Dick refused to lose. 

- They started a rotation thing, every one pairing up to try and complete one of the levels

- Dick and Wally are an unbeatable combination, they didn’t even need to communicate in full sentences.

- They just played off each other to destroy all of the bad guys

- Seeing them be such nerds and so successful set off the next part of the night.

- M’gann watched them and suddenly started singing Two-Player Game from Be More Chill

- Dick started joining in as he played, attempting to sing at the top of his lungs and still play well. 

- Wally and he were distracted by the song and started stupidly dancing along to the words.

- When they completed the level and the song had stopped, everyone was laughing and wanted to know why Robin knew all of the words.

- “My dad supports theatre and stuff…” he carefully phrased. “But if we are introducing musicals, a throwback to the other night, we need to show them High School Musical.”

- “Oh my god yes!” Zatanna clapped

- That discussion turned into a full-blown debate

- They all knew that they had to show theme High School Musical, but what about all the other Disney movies? 

- What order to you watch DCOMS and the normal Animated Movies

- And what about Pixar

- What about the Pixar Timeline

- Or the must-watch animated TV shows like Avatar The Last Airbender

(Fight me, we all know Wally or Dick would have watched it and worshipped it)

- They binged all three High School Musical movies, the group that already knew the words trying their best not to ruin the musical numbers

- They failed, Dick started singing and dancing ‘I Don’t Dance because it’s his jam (+he’s the youngest and a ball of sunshine with no self-control yet)

- They also starting ‘arguing’ about whether Sharpay was truly a bad character.

- They started Avatar the Last Airbender and made Kaldur do the water movement each opening credits.

- They also didn’t get very far into the episode because they kept making Kaldur copy Katara.

- They stopped because Artemis started thinking about M’gann’s love of ‘Hey Megan’

- She suggested they should watch Friends

- The thing about Artemis is, she didn’t have much of a happy childhood, and she certainly didn’t have all the TV channels or a Netflix account to watch all of these shows on. 

- She watched them illegally from rooftops and closet when she was hiding from her dad. She’d watch every time he and Jade had an argument before Jade ran away. 

- She binged hundreds of shows when joining Gotham Academy to try and fit in, she thought she’d understand all the references, but she was wrong. 

- Watching the shows now, surrounded by a group of people who loved her, laughing out loud and saying whatever she wanted, without the fear of being found and told off/caught in the middle of an argument.

- Thinking about it all made her snuggle even closer to Wally’s chest.

- She wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything. 

- Artemis and Wally started the clapping in the Friends Theme Tune since they had it on constantly when they had more relaxed dates. 

- Soon M’gann joined in. Overly excited, and clapping far too many times since she didn’t know what the rhythm was.

- Soon everyone was clapping randomly.

- Dick and Wally started deliberately trolling the group by clapping out of time, or adding too many times.

- They watched the first three seasons and started classifying each other as the characters.

- They didn’t settle on anyone definitely because they all kept arguing. 

- Some people would say Wally was Joey, since he used to flirt with everyone - but now he was with Artemis…it was harder

- Wally said Robin was definitely a Joey but no one agreed with him. They didn’t know Dick Grayson - ward of the billionaire playboy, the Dog who kissed Barbara Gordan in a closet during his fourteenth birthday party. (Dick identifies as Janice)  

- Since they’d watched friends, Raquel said they needed to watch How I Met Your Mother, since she’d started watching it from the recommended section on Netflix. 

- The Slap Bet is now banned from the mountain because if Conner manages to somehow win - you are screwed

- Plus, M’gann knows if you’re cheating to get extra slaps

- And Dick always wins, even if the bet is over something as small as the most popular ice cream flavour or the name of some random background actor. 

- He then goes on a mini-rant how he’s constantly pressured by Batman and the second he lives home, he’s going to relax his head and focus on the things he wants to know - like people and real team leading, not just I always have a planning team leading. 

- After the mini-rant, they needed something to lighten the mood. They could see the tension Robin’s feeling about Batman, and they aren’t ready to be the catalyst to their breakup. 

- Wally suggested ICarly

- The Theme tune is all that’s heard from Kaldur’s room from that point forward for about a month and a half. 

- Seddie versus Ceddie. 

- They’re all team Seddie, and Dick totally doesn’t make them rewatch the first kiss from Season Five three times just because he can’t deal with how amazing it was. 

- That pisses Wally off even more as  the gang then say that a hopeless romantic like that couldn’t possibly be a dog/flirt

- Little do they know Dick just has emotional problems that stop him from expressing his hopeless love for people.

- They thought about all the videos of them up from their last non-superhero adventure and considered making their own little online show. Just some small vlogs about them training, or the stupid things Kid Flash does.

- They decided against ever publishing them since they can’t trust themselves not to use real names by accident (or just showing too much personality that would allow people to figure out who they are)

- Batman had said they were a team to work on the sly.

(cackling from a distance)

- Robin makes the Youtube channel anyway, just in case they ever change their mind. 

- Zatanna also makes a team Instagram to post short videos or photos, they all have the password so they can post whenever they feel like it. 

- They have to be careful they don’t accidentally post on their civilian account

(I reckon Dick fucks up one time, and that’s how the team find out his identity, but all the civilians just assume that something’s up with the Wayne’s so the team were brought in for protection)

- Watching ICarly leads them into looking at what exactly Dick has on his hard drive 

- Phineas and Ferb came on by accident, and even though they’re all tired and half asleep, it’s too entertaining to turn off.

- It also got Wally in the mood for Snow Cones, due to the Swinter episode, meaning they attempted to make them, sending him and his superspeed off to grab the stuff for it.

- Watching Phineas and Ferbs starts an OG Team meme

- “Aren’t you kids a little young to be saving the world?”

- “Yes, yes we are,”

- Batman saw the social media account and wants to know what’s going on/ Why Dick hasn’t been home for over twenty-four hours?

- He walked into the mountain, and they were all too caught up in Snow Cones, lack of sleep, and kids cartoons to notice his arrival (even though the system announced it)

- He heard them laughing and thought about all the argument’s he and Dick had been having recently.

- He thought of Artemis’s stolen childhood

- How M’gann and Kaldur were now apart of earth culture, but they never grew up here, M’gann faced discrimination on Mars, Kaldur trained in magic. They didn’t get childhoods in their worlds, and they at least should get a moment of childhood here on earth.

- He thought of Zatanna, being forced to see Fate every time the Justice League was around, and how she can’t do anything to free her dad. Her family was so close, yet, she had still lost him. 

- Raquel was inspired to help people by the team, that was her choice, but it still wasn’t fair. She may have chosen to give up a normal life, but she deserved a break.

- He thought of Conner. Clark was working harder to welcome Conner into his family, but it’s hard enough dealing with teenagers and Conner had appeared as a sixteen-year-old, and he was going to be that age forever. Conner was brainwashed to think he was a weapon; he deserved to feel like he was more than that. 

- He retreated into the teleporter, disappearing away to let the kids have that weekend off. 

- They deserved a weekend off, a night in.

- They deserved to enjoy teenaged culture. 

Part One: Teenaged Night Out

Sorry guys, I wanted to write some cutie TV show stuff plus some sadness that was just on my mind. Hope people like it <3<3

xx Scarlett

[todo-dorky]

BNHA Fic Recs

** next to fics that are ongoing

Tododeku

waterlogged (red blue, green) by lein (@fay-fluorite) - a very sweet soulmate fic. one shot

history has its eyes on you by aloneintherain (@captainkirkk)​ - I CANNOT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT THIS. I’M JUST GOING TO LINK YOU TO THIS POST WITH EVERYONE YELLING ABOUT HOW GOOD IT IS. one shot

(nothing really gay about it) by @adreamingsongbird​ - okay I just have a lot of feelings about dorm life and late night conversations plus the fic being from Kirishima’s perspective is a nice change of pace and works really well. one shot  

it’s not about the ice cream by drunkenCharm (@sewrprince) - oh my god this is just so funny. the idea of the whole class stalking a date is amazing, and reading this never fails to bring a smile to my face. one shot

Guiding Light by furihatachlookie (@dreams-of-the-morrow) - AU where todoroki attends the same elementary as midoriya. god I wish this were actually canon. one shot

Burn and Breathe by @pitviperofdoom​ - soulmate AU where they share each others pain. given their respective childhoods you can imagine the angst (but there’s a happy ending!). one shot

Petal Steps by @pitviperofdoom​ - hades and persephone AU. this just works so well, it’s wonderful. one shot

count your blessings, not your flaws by (you guessed it) @pitviperofdoom​ - oh my god my heart broke for midoriya reading this the first time. one shot

every cloud has a silver lining by korsokov (@ssawbones)  - AU where midoriya is the world’s most endearing weather presenter. multi chapter

in death, at the end of the world by @theroyalsavage​ - paranormal investigators au!!! I’ve already recommended this one as part of the halloween recs, but I’m going to do it again. multi-chaptered

Half-Cold, Half-Warm Bodies by beachbby ** - I’m generally not a fan of zombie fics/books/tv shows/movies, but this fic (and the next one) I absolutely love! This fic features a quirkless Izuku using his observation skills to navigate the apocalypse. ongoing multi-chapter. 

it’s the end of the world (as we know it) by @cipheredsong​ **-  every time I think of this fic the song gets stuck in my head. It’s another well done zombie au, with Deku making his way downtown walking fast *zombies approach* walking faster. ongoing multi-chapter

what’s in a name? by ihatemilk (@lechemaligna) ** - spirit au fic. the world feels so vivid and the author has put so much work into researching that it’s an educational experience reading it! again, I’ve spent a fair bit of time yelling about it with anons. ongoing multichapter

Erased Potential by @theslytherinpaladin  ** -  AU where midoriya tracks down aizawa before meeting all might. very interesting take on how things could have gone and everyone is super in character. I can’t say enough good things! ongoing multichapter

of course the Sweater Weather series by @crispykrimi - it’s a true tododeku classic (and pretty much the fic that got me into this pairing) 

General 

starry eyed by aloneintherain (@captainkirkk)​ - midoriya freaking out over rookie heroes while also being the number one, need I say more. one shot

out of character by @pitviperofdoom​ - aizawa looking out for his students A+ content right here. one shot

but you gotta get up at least once more by @simkjrs **- I’ve raved about this one before, it’s the fic where (to steal the summary) ‘Izuku follows the ridiculous training regimen of Saitama from One Punch Man and becomes stronger than anyone ever imagined he could be.‘ Hilarious and heartbreaking. ongoing multi-chapter

know what i’ve made by the marks on my hands by @simkjrs ** - another one that I’ve recommended before (and it’s updated recently too aaahhhhh!!).  ongoing multi-chapter

Yesterday Upon The Stair  by @pitviperofdoom​ **- Sixth Sense AU,  I’ve been trying to come up with a way to summarise this properly and I can’t. Just go read the first chapter, I guarantee you’ll fall in love with it. ongoing multi chapter 

[boo1a4]

11 question tag!

Hey guys so I was tagged by 5 of my fav gals to do the 11 questions tag (THATS 55 QUESTIONS WHY ARE YALL LIKE THIS) but anyway I was tagged by @s-lay-ing @sambashua @achuu-nice @indiepoptime and @yongpal-i (this tag is fucking eternal help me)

Cloud’s Questions!

Do you know a ksong by heart? (bc I don’t :x I can hum a trillion tho)

Blackpink’s As If Its Your Last, Heize’s Star, Day6 I loved you and You Were Beautiful, most of seventeens title tracks and most of their ballads, lastly  Pristin’s Aloha! I'm sure my pronunciation is way off but those are tho the ones that I've taken the time to actually sit down and learn!

When it comes to friendships, are you low or high maintenance? (As in your friends gotta talk everyday with you or you’ll feel like the friendship is dying OR if you can spend days without talking to them yet you still remain close)  

Ummmm I think it depends on the friendship? also I think I can tend to be a bit of both (cause I'm an insecure ass binch), tho I don't ever feel like my friendships are dying lmao

Do you have a secret that you will take to the grave? (Ofc I’m not asking you to reveal it)

not that I can think of?? like I'm sitting here thinking if there is anything and like honestly no????

Recommend me 5 songs (not necessarily kpop songs)

Dracula Teeth - The Last Shadow Puppets(honestly cloud just listen to all of their music is so great) Daydream In Blue - I Monster (this is honestly one of my all time fav songs I love it too much) No Way Down - The Shins (you know I can't go 2 mins without mentioning them, some great lyrics right here tho also give September a listen in beautiful) Beechwood Park - The Zombies (I'm assuming you know the zombies cloud but on the off chance that you don't BINCH THEY ARE MY ACTUAL FAVORITE well beside cream and zeppelin but they are up there) Kimbra - Miracle (kinda of a random one but this song just never seems to leave me!) Big Bird -Hyukoh (oh that was 6 BUT THIS SONG IS SO GREAT also listen to wing wing!!)

What do you prefer?: first, second or third gen kpop songs?

I generally prefer second generation??? I think????? I like a bit of all of them tho. but like there is no definitive answer to when each of the generations start and end so like I don't even know??? but most of my fav groups as far as music goes are older around 2nd gen but a fair amount of them are gen 3, I have a really strong love for kpop that was released between 2009-2014.

What’s the cheeeeeeeeeesiest thing you’ve done? (one time a former friend of mine was telling me about a problem she had and at the end of our convo I kissed her in the forehead bYE)

girl idk just my whole fucking life tbh, but my family members and irl friends will all tell you I do this thing where I yell sing songs and change the lyrics to their names this includes badly sung kpop songs IM SCREAMING THO CLOUD WHO ARE YOU AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

If you were asked to participate in a variety show, which one of the following would you pick and why? (Pick two!): problematic men, master key, hello counselor, weekly idol, one fine day, law of the jungle

um probs ofd?? id say weekly idol also but damn the hosts would literally be like who is this weird binch!

Your top 10 kpop songs of 2017?

In no order but 1. Would U - Red Velvet 2. Let’s Hang Out - SF9 3. Night Rather Than Day - EXID 4. Aloha - Pristin 5. Missing You - BTOB 6. I Loved You - Day6 7. Teenager - Got7 8. Habit - Seventeen 9. As If It’s Your Last - Blackpink 10. You, Clouds, Rain - Heize

Would you rather live in a huge mansion or a compact studio house?  

Im a real messy binch so definitely compact studio

Tell me a fun childhood story (I’ll start! One time an aunt gave me money to buy ‘papas’ (potatoes) at the grocery store so bc I’m obedient af I went and asked the counter lady how many of em could I buy with the money I had so she went ‘uhh, not many tbh’ so i ended up getting like two and when I returned to my aunt’s house she laughed her ass off and said: I meant ‘papas fritas’ (potato chips) Not those! - and uh yeah this is funnier in Spanish but it proves that I’m such an innocent angel I mean wow)

ok so I spent a lot of time at my aunt Lori’s house when I was a kid (like summers, and after school) and my cousin was the BUG queen so she hand made leashes for her pet toads (that she caught) and we walked them around on leashes for like a week but I was always so afraid of them and also hurting them so I WAS NOT ABOUT THAT ahahaha dumb story but it makes me laugh alsoalsoalsdo they had this bench swing in their back yard and my cousin my sister and I would swing on it together for hours at a time and one time we were swinging real hard (REAL HARD) and the links?? or whatever that held it to the ceiling it was hanging from snapped and the three of us of us flew off of it and we all collectively blacked out??? it was so weird but I woke up to my cousin stuggling to get me off of her and then there lays my sister underneath the bench just blacked out chilling (she was fine) then my aunt came running out cause she had just heard the loudest crash ahsdfasdf not long after my uncle put stronger links on it and that bench is still there! From time to time when the three of us get together this story gets brought up its still the most hilarious thing ( ALSO CLOUD YOU ARE SO PURE I LOVE)

If you were offered to start a band, would you accept?

yeah I love music so much why not! not sure I would be able to contribute much  lmao

Mir’s Questions!

If you could travel anywhere, but were completely by yourself, where would you go?

hmmmmm do you mean like I wouldn't be visiting anyone and just traveling alone?? or like going someplace where I know no one?? ok cause for the first I would book it straight to az TO SEE YOU MIR!! AND SISTER!! but for the second I would love to go to Japan (my cousin lives there tho so that also doesn't technically count lmao)

What inspires you?

Music, books, and tv shows! Also really well written characters or just interesting people I guess! but on like a ??spiritual?? level my mom?? she's just that binch you know ( like seriously Ive never met anyone kinder or more driven and hard working in my life she's wild)

How many pets would you have in your ideal future? Any specific names or types in mind?

47 KITS, no realistically I want 2 kittos and they will be named Bellamy and Murphy cause I got too also lowkey want to name a cat rami or Elliot or also kaz or Inej damn all the good names wow. Also the name Calloway is my fav name of all time and I WANT SOMETHING WITH THIS NAME

What are you opinions on fedoras

um eww?? what other opinions are there?? what is this question mir I'm???? but like ngl when worn in a none cringe manner then can look nice!

how many spoons can you balance on your face at once (picture or video proof preferred (i’m trying to get someone to do it pls anyone))

girl I've done my time (lowkey did you put this on her cause I told you about my gravy spoon today???)

What is your favorite type of tree?

I like Birch trees!

If you could convince one person to like kpop who would you convert?

damn MY MOM cause then she might listen to something other than bruno mars once in a while

What are three things you are normally associated with and/or what are three things you want to be associated with?

art, sleeping, reading and um idk?? tbh??? like maybe not being shitty and being funny??? idk??? like I don't know????

If you were in a kpop group what position would you hold (ie. leader, main vocal, moodmaker, etc) feel free to tag your mutuals and who they would be!

um hm im a moody binch bonch so probably moodmaker?? mir is main dancer cause yes duh ivy is leader cause she's the only sane one kennedy I feel would be a great rapper like she got that chic thing going she could do it I feel??? and cloud would be our talent tbh??? nom would be the maknae cause she's small I feel! Jeddy would be my happy virus bud cause she's a fun and funny gal ( I love) Jamie ALSO ONE OF OUR TALENTS wow yes I feel a main vocal here she’d go solo and be singing ballads left and right! JESS WOULD BE THE SWEET MOTHER MEMBER THAT EVERYONE LOVES AND IS JUST THE SOFTEST,,,A SUNSHINE GAL.

If you could have any wild animal as a tame pet what would it be?? (i’m ocelot loyal all the way)

damn idk I'm like horrible at taking care of things (including myself) so like honest id just stick to the kit kats

What is your opinion on mint chocolate chip ice cream? (for maj)

The best ice cream (tho I can't eat it anymore and its very cursed)

Nom’s Questions!

how are you? :D

I’m good Nom thanks for asking!

sad ballads or happy upbeat songs?

Im a ballad ho these days they are honestly all I listen to anymore, but I do love me an good upbeat song I'm just slightly more picky about them!

fave anime movie?

ok tie between Whisper of the Heart and Howl’s Movie Castle, I honestly need to see more that arent Ghibli!

dogs or cats?

Cats! (my dog is practically a cat tbh)

do you keep stuffed animals in your room?

I have one! its a portal companion cube! its not technically an animal BUT I LOVE IT ANYWAY ITS ALL IVE GOT!!!! also if you count tsum tsums I've got a few big hero 6 ones!

someone you miss?

My dad, its been especially hard lately.

describe your phone case?

its like rainbow watercolor! I have a pop socket that matches

favorite lore/myths?

Not technically myth or lore but Beowolf! I've seen the movie at least 40 times and I've read the epic! generally I find northern european mythology/literature to be more interesting than southern. but if we’re going for like ubran myths tbh not really my thing ahahaha.

eardbuds or headphones?

both for different things! but when I first listen to an album I like to listen with my headphones!

can I steal your heart?

you already have ~~~~~~~

favorite thing about your ult bias?

His sensitivity and kind heart! I love a sweet boy! Also I'm really here for Boo’s cheeks!

Jamie’s Questions!

If you could only listen to one song for the rest of your life what would it be and why?

ohhh there are a few songs that I really really love, Heize’s Star is a song that I listen to daily and I feel like I could listen to it for the rest of my life! also September by The Shins! Miracle Aligner by The Last Shadow Puppets also. Idk man I just really love songs with a mystical quality to them.

If you were in a kpop group what would your group be called and what would your fandom name be?

BINCH AND OUR FANDOM NAME WOULD BE BONCHES

If you could acquire mastery over ONE skill instantly, what would you pick and why?

Singing!! its just about the only kind of musical talent I think I’d be any good at! Im a vocalist ho I just want to be like my favessssss

First reaction if you spotted your favorite celebrity on the street?

I would literally hide so fast omg

First reaction if your favorite celebrity followed you on your favorite social media site?

SCREAMING ALL THE LOVE FOR BOO SEUNGKWAN 24/7 and literally only doing art of him and nonstop posting it

Snap your fingers and you get to steal your favorite outfit off of a kpop idol. What outfit do you pick, off of whom, and why?

OK literally all of Soonyoungs airport looks cause damn that boy does not get enough credit for his fashion (he's the best dressed in the group fite me)

If you were to get a painless tattoo that you could remove with the press of a button, what would you get and where would you get it?

umm probably something really pretty? and colorful? I'm not sure what put I like  arm tattoos!

What is your most prized possession?

probably my laptop?? also my collection of sketchbooks!

What’s a YouTube/online challenge that you have always wanted to try?

Im always interested to try those youtube art challenges, I've done the three marker challenge before and the draw this again challenge also!

You get a guarantee that your favorite celebrity will see your social media post but you only get 100 characters. What do you say to them?

I would literally just send my art to them! I feel like it says more than 100 characters can!

You wake up in your dream room. What does it look like?

LITERALLY A LIBRARY AND LIKE NICE AND DARK AND WARM BUT NOT TOO WARM LOTS OF BLANKETS

Kennedy’s Questions!

Make a 10-song playlist for your current mood.

it is here

What vine do you quote the most?

what is that?? who you fighting?

What do you value most in a friend?

I like people who are good listeners! but also people can keep a conversation going! But really tho just genuine kindness and openness.

If you could learn any kpop choreography instantly, what would you learn?

DAMN THIS IS HARD, so many great ones that I love a lot but probably Red Flavor?

If you go to your Tumblr activity page, who does it say is your “number one fan?”

damn Idk them so I'm not gonna like tag them or something lol

What is your ideal clothing style?

I like simple dark clothing that is comfortable.

What is your favorite Snapchat filter?

I really like the ugly ones tbh I don't use them enough

What subject would you like to study, but wouldn’t necessarily want to make a career out of? (for example: I really want to learn about botany!)

psychology, I really love learning about how people work.

Would you rather be constantly half an hour early to everything, or constantly 15 minutes late?

early of course, I hate being late

Would you rather have a single day to spend with your top bias or a week to spend with your number 2 bias?

damn neither??? ahahah no a day with boo would be very blessed!

If you could bring back any disbanded OR inactive group, who would you bring back?

F(X) BINCH I NEED MORE MUSIC

My Questions!

if you had to chose one kpop stage outfit to wear for the rest of your life which would you choose?

favorite music video aesthetic?

Group you are most excited for in 2018?

Recommend me some underrated kpop songs/groups?

If you could join any group other than your bias group who would you join and why?

Favorite soloist? and some song recs?

Childhood Story? (thanks Cloud)

Were you in any fandoms before you got into kpop, if so what were they?

Favorite Comeback/debut of 2017?

astrological sign? Myers Briggs type? Hogwarts House (I'm a Gemini, infp, and Gryffindor)

Random question but what are your favorite names?

Tagging : @s-lay-ing @sambashua @achuu-nice @indiepoptime @yongpal-i (y'all can do mine if you feel like it!) @forgetjunnot @babybyuny @kae-popx @kiheehyunie @jeonwoooo @trbldean130 @howcaniwait @joshhjs @maetaamong and if you’ve already done this you don't have to do it again ahahahaha I feel like everyone has done it already lol

ok thats it do it if you want!

[writing-yj]

can i ask you to answer all 0-61, i just really love your writing and wanna know everything about you sorry

This WILL be deleted later, honestly, but here goes... Some personal info. ones are not on here, for obvious reasons.0: Height?5'3 (In my mind, I'm 5'4, leave me alone2: Shoe size?My feet can fit in many different sized shoes, so I have no idea3: Do you smoke?Fuck no4: Do you drink?Not alcohol5: Do you take drugs?Prescribed medication, if that's what you're asking7: Have tattoos?Not yet9: Got any piercings?Just ears10: Want any piercings?Not sure if I want any others yet11: Best friend?I don't use this label so I don't offend anyone or they get weirded out12: Relationship statusI've been single for three years, my boyfriend is fictional 13: Biggest turn onsI trust very few people with this information14: Biggest turn offsBody odor, risk getting caught in public, you know what I have too many to list and I don't feel like going through all of them, soooo15: Favorite movieThis makes me think too hard16: I’ll love you if...I don't even know what real love is supposed to be like in a romantic sense. So I have no idea what will make me truly love someone.17: Someone you missMy friends from camp, my guinea pig that passed away earlier this year, my aunt who passed away from breast cancer, and a friend I grew up with that passed away from Batten Disease.18: Most traumatic experienceI mean, I was bullied a LOT in my younger years and my mom used to yell at me a lot more than she does now. And there was a fight at my school and this girl got hurt REALLY bad and she was screaming out of pain. I couldn't get the sound of it out of my head for days and I had nightmares.20: What I hate most about myselfBITCH, I HAVE A LONG LIST TO CHOOSE FROM AND I AM NOT CHOOSING NOW22: What I want to be when I get olderI wanna be a vet tech!23: My relationship with my sibling(s)Sometimes it's iffy (I want to deck my brother at least half the time I'm around him), I know for a fact that my twin is somewhat two-faced; a seemingly kind and straight A student who hardly ever does something wrong, but she can be completely different and downright mean behind my back/closed doors. I like me older sister, there's nothing wrong about my relationship with her.24: My relationship with my parent(s)I get along with my dad a hell of a lot more than my mom. He is waaayyy less strict than she is on almost everything. Yeah, I love my mom, but things can be tense between us. I try my best not to get an attitude, but it's hard to when she's the one swearing at us to do things or to scold us, and it's hard when she's so unnecessarily strict!25: My idea of a perfect dateMaybe a dinner date where it's not super busy, maybe just eating/hanging out at each others' houses. Definitely NOT somewhere crowded, like the fair or circus. And I wouldn't like to go to the movies either; I want to be able to talk to him.26: My biggest pet peevesNew paragraphs not being started whenever a new person talks or when there's a subject change, waking up early (if you're not a parent or an adult, wake me up early and you DIE), being forced to eat a meal when I'm not hungry, loud noises, and many more.27: A description of the girl/boy I likeI actually don't have a crush irl right now. Not really a dedicated celebrity crush, either. Does Nightwing count? 😂💖28: A description of the person I dislike the mostI dislike so many people, I can't decide29: A reason I’ve lied to a friendI don't want to bother them with my emotions, I don't want to bother them in general, or I just have a secret I want to keep to myself.30: What I hate the most about work/schoolGetting up early, learning things I know I won't need, and homework.31: What my last text message says"Okay😊"32: What words upset me the most"Shut up", "You're fat", and "Why can't you stop being weird for once?".33: What words make me feel the best about myself"You're a great friend", "I trust you", and "You're an amazing person, Ren"34: What I find attractive in womenI can't say that I'm attracted to women35: What I find attractive in menSharp jawline, eyes, hands, neck/collarbone, handsome face, etc. I am attracted to many handsome men.36: Where I would like to liveSomewhere WARM, DAMMIT37: One of my insecuritiesI am constantly insecure about my weight. In an unhealthy, almost obsessive way.38: My childhood career choiceTeacher or vet.39: My favorite ice cream flavorDon't ask me this, not today!40: Who I wish I could beSome rich woman who has plenty of time to write and money to use for useful purposes41: Where I want to be right nowWith one of my very close friends42: The last thing I ateI can't remember? Bad memory.43: Sexiest person that comes to my mind immediatelyNIGHTWING44: A random fact about anythingI love writing angst, I wish I had the ability to write smut, and male betta fish will kill the female betta fish if she won't mate with him.45: One of my best featuresUm, I can be funny and I have great eyelashes?46: SexualityStraight/Heterosexual47: Got any hobbies?I do; I like drawing, painting, video games, WRITING (obviously), talking about super heroes, and getting/giving physical affection other than hugs.48: Favourite clothing storesI don't go to specific clothing stores... Mostly just Walmart and online shopping49: Where I would like to studyQuiet library or with a friend50: What's stressing you at the moment?School, I'll be able to drive again in January (I had a seizure in July and you can't drive for six months after a seizure), my room is a mess, I can't get on my laptop until Sunday (I got an attitude with mom 😒), two of my guinea pigs are sick, I really wanna hang out with friends, my fish tank needs clean, I have around thirty requests and imagines I still need to write, and more.51: Favourite music genresI'm all over the place with music52: Worst thing a friend has done to meDated my crush when she knew damn well that I liked him. And one friend shocked me with a dog collar, which is BAD because I have a pacemaker.53: Favourite subjects at schoolHistory and my art classes. And orchestra class, if that counts.54: Perfect guy/girlDick Grayson. Someone like him. Or someone funny, handsome, kind/caring, and will not use me mainly for sexual purposes.55: Something no-one I know IRL knows about meI still stress the hell out about my weight56: Happiest memoryI have many happy memories, which one?59: Best advice someone has given you"The heart must first pump blood to itself" and "Don't throw the first punch, but you sure as hell throw the second"60: Books you recommend"The Vampire Stalker"61: Movies you recommendThe Purge, Disney's Princess and the Frog, Pacific Rim, Son of Batman, Batman VS Robin, and Batman Begins.

[allenmendezsr]

The Beauty Of Food -- Natural Beauty Product.

New Post has been published on https://autotraffixpro.app/allenmendezsr/the-beauty-of-food-natural-beauty-product/

The Beauty Of Food -- Natural Beauty Product.

 Buy Now

    Date:

FROM: Hanan, Natural Beauty Consultant

RE: Why Your Kitchen Holds The Key To Increasing Your Beauty

Would you like to turn the clock back and have your face look 5 to 10 years younger in just minutes a day, all while never even leaving your home?

Would you like to save money every month on those skin creams, expensive hair treatments, and even those painful “tox” procedures, and get it all while receiving the same exact benefits at a fraction of the cost?

Are you willing to spend just 5 minutes a day to enhance your beauty…naturally, painlessly, and near-effortlessly… giving you results you can see instantly…

… all for less than you will spend on lunch today?

If so, my life’s passion and devotion to empowering women of all ages with the tips and natural techniques that enhance and restore your youthful beauty is going to make you jump for joy…

Yes, Natural Beauty “Secrets” Really Do Exist

When I first became interested in enhancing my beauty—softening the fine lines that started to appear on my face after giving birth, restoring my hair’s youthful luster, and ridding myself of cellulite—I knew I was on to something that few women would ever discover…

And I made a vow to myself to share what I discovered with as many women as possible.

When I began my search for home-based, natural, non-surgical, and inexpensive beauty enhancers, I was absolutely shocked at how manipulative the beauty industry had become…

And how often they lied to women, all for the sake of selling snake oil miracles, and tricking us out of our hard-earned money.

I’m a positive person by nature, so you can imagine how hurt and devastated I felt when learning more about this multi-billion dollar scam—a scam even the smartest of women have fallen for, and one that I have devoted my life to exposing.

Did you know that one of the lies the cosmetic and skin care companies tell women is that there is no such thing as “natural beauty treatments?”

It’s true. In fact, they spend millions of dollars every year trying to convince you that the only solution to younger-looking skin, silky, strong hair, and reducing cellulite is surgery, expensive creams that cost hundreds of dollars a month, or “tox”…

… you know, those needles a lot of us have tried?

Sure, it works—yet, I have something that works without the pain and the expense… and it gives you the same exact result.

I’ll share more about this with you in a moment… first, I really want to be clear about something important. While remarkable natural beauty solutions are out there…

These Unique Beauty Tips Are Really Hard To Find

Ladies, it took me years to discover all the secrets I want to share with you today…

So please, know that it’s not your fault that you’ve never heard of some of these right-in-your-kitchen remedies that you can put on your face, hair, thighs, belly, and more…

Remedies that help to slow the outward signs of aging…

Reducing the severity of fine lines and wrinkles, restoring smooth, youthful skin on your face, neck, breasts, and body…

And that gives you back that super-silky, almost glowing hair you had in your teenage years…

And Just To Think: I Had An Unfair Advantage!

My name is Hanan, and I have a rather embarrassing confession to make before I share these tips with you today:

If I would have listened to my mother, I would have saved a lot of time.

You see, my mother was descended from Persian royalty. She is no longer with us today, and there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t miss her. Yet, as a child, as most children do, I thought I knew better.

My mother felt she had to maintain her beauty for political reasons, as well as her own passion for looking her best for my father. She would always share these “crazy” home-based “concoctions” with me (you see, I was her “little Princess.”) I wasn’t interested. After all, I was NEVER going to grow old!

Maybe you can relate to feeling that as a kid as well…

Even into my early 20s, I ignored the advice of my mother out of sheer rebellion. I was caught up in the Lebanon beauty and fashion craze… and all the rave back then was expensive beauty creams from America and Europe.

I thought my mother was just “old-fashioned”. I believed that I was younger, smarter, and more hip to the times.

It took me another fifteen years to realize how wrong I was, and how wise my mother’s beauty solutions really were. She never looked a day over 35, even though she was fifteen years older than that when she passed away too soon in a political attack.

Everything Became Crystal Clear When I Read My Mother’s Journal

I was given my mother’s journal not soon after her passing, along with photos of her throughout her life. I noticed how happy she looked, and how radiant…how beautiful, even as the years passed…

It looked as if she was born without the “wrinkle gene”.

Even with a tinge of grey in her hair, she looked fifteen years younger than most women her age…

Of course, there was so much more to my mother than her beauty. I’d love to share that with you at another time.

I was going through some really stressful, hurtful times in my life during those days…times that aged me rapidly. My once-youthful skin was aging fast, despite all those fancy and expensive beauty treatments all my friends and I were hooked on.

I was spending hundreds of dollars each and every month, and seeing nothing for my efforts. In fact, I had to face the harsh truth:

I was aging faster than I ever dreamed I would…

However, inside my mother’s journal was the answer:

She had transcribed ALL of her home-based beauty remedies for me to pass down to my own family. What a treasure!

The Answers Were Found For Pennies Right In My Kitchen

I was shocked to re-discover all of her tips, secrets, and remedies… and even more shocked to find out that they had been passed down from Persian royalty for over a thousand years!

Here I was, this know-it-all gal who thought that modern beauty manufacturers surely knew more than my mother… yet little did I know that she was using methods that were virtually sacred to our culture…

Methods of enhancing every aspect of female beauty, without relying on creams (most of which are full of toxins and chemicals that do you far more harm than good), and before the words “plastic surgery” or “the Tox” were ever used.

These were the secrets of actual REAL princesses, queens, and royalty throughout the East and Orient, and I simply could not believe that I had ignored them all these years!

I vowed to make up for my childhood silliness, and devour every word, every tip, every secret my mother passed down to me…

And what surprised me the most? Almost everything I needed to restore my beauty was 7 feet to my left… right in my kitchen.

You see, queens and princesses throughout history only had natural means of increasing and maintaining their youthful beauty…

And if you have seen any of their portraits, or could see my mother’s family line, you would know for a fact they work almost like magic…

So I Decided To Put My Mother’s Secrets, As Well As Dozens Of My Own, Into One Little Beauty “Handbook” For Women

After a few more years of studying what REALLY causes skin to age faster than it should in women, how to reduce cellulite and wrinkles in the most rapid way possible, and uncovering some of the modern era’s most powerful all-natural beauty enhancers, I decided to put everything I discovered into one simple-to-use beauty blueprint for women…

The Beauty of Food is the result, and women from all parts of the world, and of all ages, are raving about the results they are seeing… and the money they are saving… and the pain they are avoiding by using PROVEN beauty solutions that really work!

Inside The Beauty Of Food You Will Discover…

My coveted “Fifty-Cent Botox Alternative” that takes about 7 minutes to prepare, less than $.50 to make, and leaves you looking as if you just went to a Tox Party (just without those red, blotchy marks and needle marks!)

Which foods you can use topically (this is NOT a diet) that instantly improves the tightness and texture of your skin…

The Eastern shiny hair secret that blows away any shampoo…

The “Persian Princess” mixture that I use on myself and my clients to give your neck area a fantastic younger look

Tips for younger looking hands (ladies, you know how important hands are!)

How best to avoid future wrinkles, and how to deal with the ones you may have right now

The very few store-bought items I recommend (there are not many)… and ladies, these are not required (I just wanted to be thorough)

Simple “add this food” tips that will help you slow the aging process… and no, this is not a diet (personally I don’t enjoy dieting at all, but I love these tasty foods!)

The real reasons we age faster than we should, and what you can do about it, starting today…

And much, much more…

Why Spend A Fortune In Time And Money When You Can Get The Same Exact Results For A Few Dollars A Month?

If you desire, you can of course continue to use those expensive creams, shampoos, treatments, and more…

Or, you can choose to save a lot of money while seeing visible, dramatic results, right in the comfort of your own home.

You can also choose to use these secrets to simply enhance your current regimen if you like, yet why would you want to spend a small fortune, go to pricy, time-consuming salon treatments, or suffer through painful “Tox” needles when you don’t have to?

More Good News: “Beauty Blueprint” Is Only $7.99… Yet, Why?

Other than the thanks and well-wishes I receive every day from ladies of all ages, the number one comment I get is:

“Hanan, why is The Beauty of Food only $10?”

That’s a fair question. After all, not everyone has access to thousand-year-old Eastern beauty secrets, so you may believe that I should charge far more for my life’s passion…

Yet, I’m not… and for good reason.

You see, I set out on a mission to help as many women as I possibly can. So, I made sure any gal who desires more beauty can easily afford to have these secrets for herself. And I know that earning your trust is an act of good will—and such acts return ten-fold.

Also, this is my “Second Edition Debut Price”… so it’s been reduced from what I’ll be forced to sell it for (see below)….

Plus, I made a deal with an ethical publisher who agreed to make this book a digital-only “instant access” affair… that way you get it immediately, and you are not out a penny for shipping costs or printing fees.

I know if I can just show you these simple formulations for home-based beauty that I’ll earn a customer, and a friend, for life.

Besides…

I Cannot Take Full Credit For These Beauty Secrets

A lot of what I am about to share with you today comes from my mother’s journal… and still a lot more comes from my own pursuit of every little thing I could find to help women enhance and restore their beauty.

So, think of me as a fan of beauty. People call me a “beauty expert”, yet that’s not really the truth.

The truth is I found myself fortunate. I had such a great gift given to me, and the rest was a lot of searching on the Internet, trial and error, interviewing countless women, and experimentation on my own skin and hair.

If you want, you can spend about a hundred or so hours on Google and find many of these secrets for yourself. Of course, you’ll have to suffer through the trial and error I had to go through (there’s a lot of misinformation out there.) And you will have to spend a lot of your valuable time.

The smarter decision would be to allow me just to hand you a proven, all-in-one-place blueprint for beauty—and hand it to you within minutes from now. You can literally apply just one of these tips tonight and see a noticeable difference.

You save a lot of time, hassle, and energy… and you never have to think about it again. You’ll have all the answers in your hands within minutes…

I Can Only Sell A Few Copies At This Price

My publisher has agreed to allow me to sell copies — for now — of The Beauty of Food before they reconsider the price. I’m not into all the “business” side of things, however, I do know that they incur advertising costs, web hosting fees, and more…

So, they have put the following chart together to explain why you must act right now to secure your “Second Edition Debut Price” of only $7.99.

YES! Give Me Instant Access

Charter Pricing: Current Price: First Few Copies… $7.99 *Limited Time Only Next 1000… $27.00 After that… $37.00

Price Today: $47.00 $39.95 $27.00

Today Only $7.99

What If I Guaranteed Your Results And Your Satisfaction, Too?

Few people would literally guarantee that simply by using their system you would see noticeable improvement in your skin texture, the fading of fine lines and wrinkles, tighter, more youthful-looking skin, radiant, silky hair, and more…

However, I’m not most people—and I am as 100% committed to your absolute satisfaction as I am to your beauty…

So, please rest easy and know that you have a full 60 days to try The Beauty of Food for yourself on me, with full trust in your small investment today. If for any reason you are not utterly thrilled and amazed by the improvements in your skin and hair, as well as how much more beautiful you feel day-in and day-out, simply email me for a prompt and hassle-free refund.

Just One Last Word: A Loving Reminder

I really feel I can relate to what you may be feeling right now:

You feel like time is slipping by…

Some days you feel on top of the world, while others you feel as if there’s nothing you can do to stop the age-inducing damage that your stress-filled, responsibility-heavy lifestyle is producing…

You may even feel as if your “best days” are behind you…

And, if you are anything like many of the women I’ve helped over the years, you may even fear losing your partner because of time and age.

Will you please allow me to help you, and show you a simple solution that really works? These feelings will begin to fade, along with your fine lines once you do…

However, please lovingly accept the fact that you simply have to take action in order to allow me to prove it to you.

And, the cost of not acting can really add up:

You can continue spending your hard-earned money on expensive “solutions” that are anything but… hundreds, even thousands of dollars per year…

Or, thousands, even tens of thousands on surgical procedures… procedures that put you in terrible pain, and at high risk for far more serious complications…

You can continue searching as time continues to pass… and you’ll spend far more money on some modern doctor’s new “breakthrough” whatever… only to see marginal results, if any at all…

Or, you can choose to trust me, and allow me to prove to you what a thousand years of natural beauty solutions have proven to kings and queens throughout the ages…

Simple remedies and formulations you create using foods and nutrients found right in your own kitchen…

Remedies proven and guaranteed to work for you.

Accept my invitation today, along with my discounted Second Edition Debut price of only $7.99, and I’ll give you immediate, hassle-free access to The Beauty of Food.

And, more than that, I’ll give you the secrets that the most beautiful women throughout the centuries have used.

That’s what I desire for you, too: to become the Queen of your life, and reign with more radiance and beauty than you’ve ever imagined possible.

Here’s to the most beautiful YOU ever!

Sincerely, Hanan Natural Beauty Consultant

P.S. The most beautiful women in the history of the world have used many of these secrets. They went on to become icons of beauty and youthful charm, long before drugs, creams, or surgical procedures were ever invented.

I invite you to join them today…

Do You Have Some Questions For Me?

If you are still reading this letter, that means you may be facing some skepticism, or perhaps you have a few questions about The Beauty of Food…

So, I’m here to alleviate any doubts, as well as answer the most commonly-asked questions before you order today…

“Hanan, is The Beauty of Food a diet?”

Many women make the assumption that “food” always involves a diet. This is not a diet, but rather a way to use common foods in specific combinations that you apply topically to your skin.

I do give healthy nutrition tips, yet I for one love food too much to recommend an overly-strict diet plan. Besides, most of them are unhealthy, and many diets are so low in fat that they actually increase wrinkles! That’s the last thing we want, right?

“Hanan, how much money can I expect to save using your ‘beauty blueprint’?”

Quite a bit! Some women report saving over a thousand dollars a month, while others say they’ve cut out this cream and that beauty enhancer and saved $90 or more every month.

One thing is for sure: at only $10, and using mostly inexpensive foods and nutrients/herbs in our formulations, The Beauty of Food is by far the least expensive beauty solution in the world.

“Hanan, what if I just don’t see the results everyone else is seeing?”

You would definitely be among the minority…however, no amount of money is worth risking your satisfaction and peace of mind. That’s why I have included my Beauty Or Else 60-Day Guarantee to ensure you are totally happy, satisfied, and amazed by the results you’ll see. If for any reason this is not the case, simply email me using the support email within the Member’s Area for an immediate no-questions-asked refund.

“Hanan, can I still use my favorite cream/soap/shampoo/treatment with your System?”

You absolutely can! However, you may find you no longer need to. Still, if if makes you feel better, then I encourage it.

“Hanan, how long will it take me to see results?”

Nearly immediately. Some of the protocols (including my famous Fifty-Cent Botox Alternative, which is worth far more in savings than the cost of my entire solution) take only minutes, and render immediate results.

Other formulations require a few minutes a day and 10-14 days to see full results.

Now, let’s get you started right now on the road to the most beautiful YOU ever!

Disclaimer: ClickBank is the retailer of products on this site. CLICKBANK® is a registered trademark of Click Sales, Inc., a Delaware corporation located at 917 S. Lusk Street, Suite 200, Boise Idaho, 83706, USA and used by permission. ClickBank’s role as retailer does not constitute an endorsement, approval or review of these products or any claim, statement or opinion used in promotion of these products.

[scholastic-madcap]

What is your full name?

“Ah, Albeon Fulke, my good sir. Pleasure to make your acquaintance! Oh- is that tea? A cup if you would?—yes! Thank you.” What do your friends call you?

"Al, Alby, the occasional full Albeon. Perhaps Fulke here and there in east Othard.”

What is your favorite animal?

“Like animal in general such as a genus? Or do you mean a particular specimen, like a pet? Both--? Oh well, I’ve a great fondness for Deepeyes—oh yes I’m quite aware they’re voidsent ol’ boy, but not everything from the void need be spurned!

Not really an animal you say? Well very well then, I do find bandersnatches to be quite impressive. I saw some tamed ones in Radz-At-Han, and speaking of my dear fellow Zeeg came from there, a rather foul-mouthed Calibri who speaks only thavnarian and whom I consider my favorite particular animal.”

Where were you born?

"On the main island of Sharlayan, in the capital city. Beautiful place, should you ever be allowed in I recommend seeing the steps of the Forum!”

Do you have children?

"oh! I have a godson of reputable and wonderful breeding, dashing little bloke, toddling age. But of my own blood? None that I know of.” He smiles a little nervously.

Is there a person/people you love?

“Miss ah—right--, Miss Mandalina is my dearest and closest confidant, my editor so to speak. A childhood friend I share the most affection for, and of course I love my mother and father with great respect though I haven’t seen them in many a year but we write!  Oh—you want to know romantically?”

He pauses and smiles, tapping fingers to his lips.

“I’ve had many loves in many places and they’ve all be wonderful and beautiful people.”

What is your favorite color?

"I’m partial to nice creams and sturdy browns, warm and useful objects are often these colors, don’t you agree?”

What is your full occupation?

“Well! I’m technically a writer of some repute, I pen travelogues you see, but truthfully I consider myself a scholar and explorer more so!”

Are you good at physical fighting?

“I certainly would hope to think I am! I enjoy a good scrum anytime and my entire scholarly focus is on the art of combat, so I best be able to put gil where my mouth is, don’t you think? Ah ha ha ha!”

Which form are you best at?

"My swordplay is what I’ve certainly put the most work into, but I do my best not to let other skills fall too far behind! I certainly enjoy a good round of fisticuffs as well.”

What about magic?

"Ah yes, my first calling, my true heritage. My mum and father are both reputable spellcasters of considerable talents and I was tutored and trained in my youth by a red mage ex-patriot from Eorzea, fascinating stuff really! I would consider myself a red mage, I’ve certainly got a soul stone to prove it! Hopefully I impart as much knowledge on it as it’s last owner.”

Which type are you best at?

"Magic, it’s in my blood I confess and it comes so much easier to me than physical technique. Not that that stops me from trying my hardest to master both!

Wait—oh you mean what type of magic? Oh haha, goodness my apologies. It’s hard to say, I practice red magic, which is a marriage of white and black though channeled through one’s body and focus very differently. But if I were to pick up a traditional staff I think the thaumaturgic arts might come more easily?” He rubs at his neck, clearly unsure.

Craftsmanship?

“Ah—penmanship? Ahaha—does that even count? I’m a decent sketcher given enough time and I’ve a fairly decent grasp of cartography! Things I need to know for documenting my travels...”

Any other skills?

"Say! I’m a fair hand at cooking! In fact I always have a few recipes jotted down in my travelogues, you should try a few out if you pick one of them up! Ah..volume 4 has some really fantastic curries in it I learned while in the near east!”

He winks a bit, flustered, clearly not very used to ‘plugging’ his books.

Are you an only child?

“Aye, my parents barely had enough time to raise me, busy as they are! My father’s a regular re-elect to the Forum and my mother has a seat on the council of the College of Conjury!

Hm—poor childhood? Oh no not at all! They were great parents, they couldn’t always make time for me but they certainly tried!”

Where do you see yourself in five years?

“Ah, well, plodding around Eorzea I suppose! It took me ten years to get across the empire entirely and Aldenard is about half that size, so haha half the years!

Why not use aetherites you ask? Well you certainly skip a lot of the scenery and I wouldn’t have met or learned from nearly as many people! Goodness and of course you have to attune to them first! Though it certainly makes going back to other places easier! N-not that I go back to places often.”

He finishes that last line looking a tad guilty.

Have you ever almost died?

"oh yes! Dozens of times! In fact, at least once or twice a month! That’s the nature of studying rare and exclusive martial techniques and traveling the world to do it! Actually, just last week while crossing Mor Dohna I have an amazing encounter with a tribe of Gigas and their rival tribe…”

He proceeds to tell a rather dire story that has the interviewer wincing more than once at the close calls though never once does he seemed concerned about how dangerous it was.

Do you have a secret, not just a secret, but like a really big secret hardly anyone knows?

"I’ve learned many important and private things from masters of dying arts. Sometimes knowledge like that isn’t meant to be shared except with the exact right person. I’ll know them when I find them, I won’t let these important techniques die out with me, but I won’t share all of them with the entire world either.”

He says this all with surprising seriously, his bright exuberance toning down for a moment to drive home that this is important.

Salty or sweet?

"A black pretzel pressed in salt and drizzled with caramel, both salty and sweet and a fantastic snack for the road!”

Do you like yourself?

"Well of course I do! But there’s always room for improvement and there’s of course no end to the knowledge one acquires. Never stop learning!” 

Do you believe in the Twelve?

"In a purely scientific way such as in the study of primals and eikons and aetheric convalescence? Absolutely. But do I pray to them you mean? Ahaha, only in a joking way admittedly.”

Are you religious?

"Mm. While I respect all religions and cultures, I find it difficult to be as such myself with all the different communities and societies I’ve seen. Also Sharlayans aren’t naturally predisposed to such beliefs! Question everything!”

Do you carry prejudice with you?

“Absolutely none, it would invalidate my life’s work to judge knowledge and people unfairly. I walk into every community with a fresh outlook and to my gosh darn best not to have my judgement color my learning. Of course this isn’t always flawless, I did cause a little bit of trouble in the empire. But I confess I’m a man of action!”

He says little, but it’s unlikely that’s an accurate measurement.

What do you consider entertainment?

“A clear sky above me, a fresh road below me, and a new place on the horizon! I can think of absolutely nothing more invigorating and exciting!!”

Favorite drink?

“Do I really have to pick? –yes? Okay well I can narrow it down to two. An excellently brewed cup of tea with a hint of honey, or the cheapest palest ale I can find made as cold as I can possibly drink it! Both are preposterously refreshing!”

Tagged by: Nobody, but I saw it floating around!

Tagging:  @heretics-blood

[idontlikesummer]

Japan 2017 Trip 1.2 (?)

Yeah, it’s fast, haha. But I had to rush back to Japan because of a family event at the tail-end of July. Buying a plane ticket for a trip the next day is literally the most spontaneous thing I’ve done in my life. This 6-day trip is a lot less exciting than the previous one because we’re not technically there on holiday, but it was still somewhat of an experience. I traveled with my family this time—mainly my brother and mom, since my dad couldn’t make it to Tokyo with us. I won’t be including as much details here as my previous trip, since it really was a rushed trip! But if you’re still interested in some undiscovered parts of Tokyo and my ramblings on childhood, feel free to read on!

This is my first time taking a transit flight! We went on Thai airways for the first time! Stopped at the Bangkok for an hour, hehe.

We sat near the window seat! I was really nervous at first since I’m really bad at enduring turbulence, but this was hands down the BEST ride I ever had. Forget about the turbulence, the plane didn’t even SHAKE. Regardless, my anxiety just wouldn’t allow me a night’s rest, so I didn’t sleep for one night! 

I also ate garlic pork rice in the morning! It was really good! The first time I ate in a plane for ten years, I think. After touching down, we rushed to Ueno to take the shinkansen to Sakudaira station, where my paternal family lives.

We always take Asama line to my family’s hometown. It used to be a white bullet train with blue and red lines, but now they changed it to gold and blue ;w;. My brother and I were lamenting since the colours we associated with our childhood is gone.

To those interested, this is how the old train looks!

Chicken bentou at the Ueno station! It seems to be a very child friendly bentou.

View of the countryside where my paternal family stays! It rained a lot the few days we were there, so in spite of it being summer, the weather was very cool and pleasant. There was also a lot of fog! We used to play by a river near this area as kids, but it seems that there are a lot of plants creeping around the area this time and it’s hard to reach the river, so I couldn’t really get a picture of it. I feel a bit wistful and poignant staring at this scenery, since I haven’t been here for years. I hope I can come back more often from now on. It really is a very lovely village.

More pictures! I was fascinated by this signpost because it seems that a lot of people living in this village have the same surname as the words on the post.

Apparently, my aunt told me I was named after this flower! It was in full bloom when we arrived

Some really NICE dinner at the event. Most of the food here was sashimi! We ate sashimi for three straight days

There was a slug in the bathroom HAHA. It didn’t really move so I didn’t mind it much.

We went back to Sakudaira station soon after three days. These boxes of tomatoes were relevant to my interests! One whole box only costs 80 yen which is REALLY cheap!! They are really big too, just in case you’re wondering!

So we took the train all the way back to Tokyo again! And we docked at Shimo-Ochiai station, where we rented AirBnB! THIS PLACE IS SO GOOD. Would highly recommend if you’re staying in Tokyo! It’s a two-storey house with really homey décor! And the host (who is really friendly and professional!) lets you pick one of three rooms. We decided to pick the Japanese style room on the third floor! You can find the link to the AirBnB here!

This is how it looks! You can exit the doors on the right to go to the balcony!

The kitchen and dining area! We sat here to have supper every day while we were in Tokyo!

I caught a sticker of Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin on the door!!

Naturally, since Shimo-ochiai was a stop away from Takadanobaba, I decided to drag my family to the polar bear’s café!! They are having a different sale right now. It seems that they are having a panda fair atm!

Now they have calendar coasters!

When I found out that they were selling a limited edition cappuccino with coffee art of panda disguising himself as polar bear, of course, I had to go get it

LOOK AT HIM.

I had the salmon stew that Polar Bear made Grizzly in episode 25!! It was REALLY good!! My mom got the same thing, and my brother took the katsu dish!

Now they placed hats on the life sized penguin and panda HAHA

We went to eat at a sukiyaki restaurant with Belle!! (and no we didn’t order what was in the picture because we couldn’t finish that). It's called 木曽路 (Kisoji) and to anyone interested I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT because of the quality of its meat and its generous portions!

THE MEAT IS TO DIE FOR.

In sukiyaki, after cooking the meat, you’re supposed to dip it in raw egg. It sounds intimidating but it’s really delicious!!

VEGETABLES (that my brother refused to eat because he doesn’t eat his veges)

TOMATOES

Lok at all the vegetables sizzling in the pan. The onions were my favourite!

And they served the udon last before the dessert! It’s really quite a lot of food! But it’s all delicious so thank God that we could finish everything

I didn’t manage to get a picture of the sizzling meat in the pan so have a look at it on the restaurant menu.

THE FOOD IS REALLY GOOD. Literally everything here, especially the beef, was melt in your mouth heaven.

NEXT DAY (Harajuku and Shibuya)

We headed straight to Harajuku to eat since we left the house later than planned today. The first vegetable juice I drank in my life is Pokemon vegetable juice!

YUZU RAMEN. This is the craziest ramen I’ve ever eaten! It was not bad!! Apparently, it’s one of the more popular ramen joints in Harajuku. It was already jam packed by the time we arrived!

If you ever get the chance to eat Kakuni (braised pork) in Japan, DO IT. I promise you a slice of heaven

We went to Meiji Jingu just like last time, and we shopped a bit in GAP! Before long, we were hungry, and since my brother and mother couldn’t walk so much, we decided to go to Doutour coffee soon after shopping at GAP.

Don’t let the cheap prices of this joint fool you. Doutor coffee is everywhere in Japan and for GOOD REASON. Honestly this was the best BLACK COFFEE I’ve ever had. I think they roast their beans really well!

We went to Marion crepes after that! It's in the middle of takeshita street, so we had to walk a bit to get there. I also managed to shop at this place called good day! It sells the best clothes in the entire street in my opinion!

Life is good. A toast to marion crepes

We walked quite a bit after that! My brother went to do some shopping in Adidas, and we walked to Shibuya from there. Once again, on the way, I stopped by Alice on Wednesday, a quaint little shop which sells Alice in Wonderland merchandise! My family was really tired from the walk, so I decided to bring them to eat cow tongue rice.

It is as GOOD as ever. By the time we finished, everything in Shibuya was closing, so we had to go home after that. But the adventures of the day don’t end there!

It turns out there was a mini supermarket at the place we were staying. I got really carried away looking at their meat! I MEAN LOOK. All these are perfectly red and they only range from 200 to 800 yen!!

Their bacon and ham are to DIE for. But that’s enough excitement for the day. I bought some roasted pork to eat for breakfast the next day (but sadly I didn’t take a picture of it)!

NEXT DAY (Shibuya)

There was a melon bread shop near the shimochiai station! Apparently they specialize in melon bread with CREAM

This is a mini model of the melon bread. I’m excited already

The REAL THING. This is the best melon bread I have ever eaten HANDS DOWN. I love how you could just randomly walk around in Japan and go to a random shop, and everything you try is delicious.

I want this vending machine in my house

We decided to look around in the Tokyu Shibuya supermarket since my mom always talks about what nice food these supermarkets have. True enough, look at these omg

I REALLY WANTED TO TRY THIS

They didn’t have a price tag on these watermelons so I assume they’re not for sale. Pity!!

I am literally screeching at how fresh these prawns look

From the roof top of Tokyu!

We went to a Tempura restaurant at the top floor! I was really carried away looking at this thing while we were waiting for the food

IT WAS SO GOOD. I ate the set at the bottom! It was really refreshing and thirst quenching, since it’s cold noodles! They also used wild vegetables for the tempura (they didn’t have the typical stuff like sweet potato and pumpkins), so it was a really pleasant surprise! I didn’t know what I ate I just ate them all

I decided to eat kakuni again! I really want to try making this back at home. It’s such a good dish I’m obsessed

Immediately after we went back to the basement to have dumplings. Travelling with family is always about eating

Kimi no na wa posters outside the Tokyu building! It seems that the bluray just got released! We walked around a bit after that and visited the shops my family wanted to go. Including Loft

In the meantime I got carried away taking pictures of graffiti outside the shops lmao. Halfway through, my family decided to take a rest at Starbucks, while I went to Shibuya 109 in the meantime. They had clearance sales all throughout the building so I managed to snag some really good deals from this shop called Ingni!

Before long it was time to eat (AGAIN). If you’re ever in Shibuya Tokyu please eat at this restaurant! It’s called Maisen, and it serves tonkatsu (Fried pork cutlet). I think this is the best tonkatsu I’ve eaten all my life. Usually I only get the air-flown version of the food here, so eating it at the restaurant itself was a GREAT experience!

SO TASTY.

TOPS cake! It’s a chocolate brand in Japan that my entire family adores! I’m not one for chcocolate but even I loved this! It’s really worth a try if you’re in Tokyo! We ate this with our host, and we had a great chat!

Of course I’m a glutton so I ate extra things for dessert.

NEXT DAY (Shinjuku and Shibuya (Don’t we always go back to Shibuya?))

Arrived in Shinjuku! Apparently this shop is a Singaporean brand! Fancy seeing you here!

SHINJUKUUUUUUUU. I came through this exit about five years ago with my father! It really brings me back to the good old days tbh

Remember this guy from my previous trip? I saw this whole stash of Totoros at tokyu hands in takashimaya, so naturally I put my own totoro in the middle of them to snap a shot HAHA.

After this we went to meet up with my cousin who was in Tokyo! We travelled the day with her after that! First, we needed to eat, so we had to take the big lift up to the highest levels in Takashimaya. I had a bad experience with lifts before, so I excused myself and decided to take the escalator.

We ate tempura again! The last tempura was ice cream, if you’re interested! It wasn’t bad! But I did prefer the tempura from yesterday.

After this, we decided to look around in Shinjuku! We went to Tower Records, Don Quijote and Gap! And after a while we decided to go back to Shibuya again (lol)

Now I actually managed to get a proper shot of the Shibuya cityscape! I love this place so much.

We went to the basement of seibu to try out some food! Most of the shops close at 8pm, but the restaurants close later. We went to this Western buffet restaurant, and I took pictures of some of my more presentable salad plates. Lmao. Everything else after these three plates was just chaos.

Some of our mini-main courses!

After this we had to go back home ;w;. We said goodbye to our cousin and went back to Shimo-Ochiai! She was very nice to send us off at the platform despite holding so many things in her hands. I haven’t seen her for 8 years prior to this, so I hope we can see her soon again!

But the day hasn’t ended yet! Our host was very kind to buy us tarts on our last day! These cheese tarts are from a company called BAKE—which is apparently one of the most famous producers of cheese tarts in Japan. The quality of the tarts are REALLY good!!

FINAL DAY Departure

Nothing much to say other than us going back to Singapore! We left the house before peak hours so we didn’t manage to say goodbye to our host for that one last time ;w; The trip to Narita was mostly uneventful and I slept a little on the train..

Last meal in Japan at Narita airport! Porridge is great because I get quite airsick easily, so I can’t swallow too much oily food before a flight!

LOOK AT THE DECORATION. I love all the attention to detail tbh

Half an hour before the flight, I decided to swallow this down. It’s not bad! I wanted to save it for when I touched down in Singapore, but it seems that they don’t allow water on planes

BONUS:

This is just a little tidbit! But my grandma used to make us this thing called Matsutake gohan (it’s basically mushroom rice, but the mushroom they use is a special kind that only grows on mountains in autumn)! My aunt made this for us to bring back to Singapore so I was really happy and touched. She gave us enough to feed my family for three meals!

Also, I managed to eat the cup noodles I got from the cup noodle museum in my previous trip! Look at all the Hiyoko-chan narutos!!! I really hope they sell the original cup noodles in Singapore soon. It is my favourite flavour of Nissin cup noodles!

But yeah, that’s about it for now! This trip was really rushed so there were lots of things I didn’t take pictures of. But thanks for reading all the same!

[lantur]

Today was Renaissance Festival Day! Roommate and Post Office and I have been looking forward to it and talking about it for MONTHS. We’ve been planning for our costumes all month.

And honestly...today was one of the best days of my year. Everything from getting up stupidly early in the morning and putting on my Roman queen costume and driving to Post Office’s house, and getting lost on the way to Caribou Coffee to get a much-needed iced pumpkin pie latte. The baristas at Caribou were impressed by my costume! They said I looked pretty. :) I was really happy with how the costume turned out. It was like $25 on Amazon, the dark red fabric matches my hair and matched my red eyeliner and lipstick, and I had a lot of gold accessories. It came together perfectly. And the iced pumpkin pie latte was really good. I don’t normally get holiday drinks at coffee places, but I really enjoyed this one. 

Roommate made us omelets for breakfast, and then we headed off to RenFest! I have never been to RenFest before and long story short...it was one of the coolest experiences of my entire life. I’ve been to a lot of art festivals and cool events around the Twin Cities, and this was by far the best. It was AMAZING. I loved all the Renaissance shops, the sword shops, the pottery and woodworking stores, leather product stores, the amazingly detailed (and amazingly expensive) historical costume stores where Roommate and Post Office and I tried on multiple $650 pirate and admiral coats and $350 deerskin coats and $250 woolen cloaks, the chainmail and chain jewelry stores, the organic soap and lotion shops, and the standout, the CROWN store where Roommate and I tried on beautiful crowns! We went through the Fairy Forest and Sherwood Forest, we watched jousting performances and fire-dancer performances and visited a paper-making mill, and we ate meat pies and cinnamon ice cream.

It was just. Amazing. We spent 7 hours there and it did not feel like 7 hours. It was so much fun to walk around in costume and look at the other people in costume! 

I had high expectations for RenFest because of how much Roommate loves it and spoke highly of it, and my expectations were so surpassed. It was incredible. The Minnesota RenFest is supposed to be one of the best in the country, and it was HUGE. We did not see all of it today and I hope we can go back over the next couple of weekends! 

I strongly recommend going to RenFest sometime if you can, and dressing up. I can tell that this is going to be something I do every year probably for the rest of my life. It FEELS so good. I feel like we all just revisited our childhood today - dressing up, going to a fair, having fun, looking at fascinating things, eating ice cream, being carefree and happy. I felt so carefree and happy. <3 It was a perfect day.

The housewarming party yesterday went really well, too! Between IT with train guy on Friday, the housewarming yesterday, and then RenFest today, in the span of one weekend, I got to spend time with all of the people in Minnesota I care about the most. Train guy, my whole group of friends, Roommate and Post Office. :) I know #blessed is kind of a joke nowadays, but I was driving home from RenFest this evening and reflecting on this weekend and I was really unable to believe how lucky I am to have so many good experiences in my life, with great people. 

[knclarin-blog]

no. 18 magnum opus [final]

The Asian Beauty Standard: Is White Right? 

By Kristine Clarin 

Umbrellas, sunscreen and shadows--these were some of the ways I was taught to keep my skin white and bright. Growing up in the Philippines, my grandmothers and aunts urged me to wear a hat and slather my body with SPF 55+ because as soon as I stepped out into the sun, the only potential threat was not the risk of a sunburn, but the mere idea of getting a few shades tanner. A subject that is often overlooked in mainstream culture is the problem that within the East Asian community, the idea of white skin and Westernized features are glorified while tan skin and Asian features are frowned upon.

For decades Westernized beauty standards have circulated within this community, and unfortunately, darker skinned Asians such as Filipinos, Malaysians, Vietnamese people and so on, are shamed for failing to strive or maintain white skin. My aunts would give compliments when my skin was lighter than usual but would scold me when I was a tad bit darker, describing me as “dirty”. Being surrounded by this mentality, I genuinely believed that white skin was the only skin that fit under the definition of beauty. Sadly, this childhood is not only exclusive to myself but to most, if not all East Asian girls. In history, skin colour determined social status. The lower class would generally be working tirelessly under the sun while people of higher stature avoided the rays by staying in the shade. While this mindset doesn’t apply to modern day as much, many people still see dark skin as something negative and undesirable. Fortunately in North American society, we are taught to love our features which increases self confidence. However, this isn’t the case in other parts of the world and skin colour is not the only issue.

In Asia, the use of whitening products and undergoing cosmetic surgeries to look “Westernized” are as popular as ever. Statistics show that there has been a 20% increase in cosmetic surgeries between 2011-2012 and the numbers continue to rise rapidly. A 12 year-old girl named Lee Min Kyoung in Korea lacked confidence growing up. Her mother’s solution to her daughter’s shyness? Plastic surgery. Min Kyoung did not ask for the procedure but her mother insisted because “this is a society where you have to be pretty to get ahead” implying that she did not think her daughter’s looks were adequate. After the surgery, she became confident in her appearance because of her new eye shape. Lee Min Kyoung, like many adolescents, are still learning to accept themselves and being constantly pressured to “look a little less Asian and look more American” restricts them from doing so. This way of thinking is just not acceptable. Western features became a “need” rather than a “want” as this glorification continues to spread through the constant advertising of skin whitening products, celebrity endorsements, white washing, as well as the mentality of older generations.

Growing up in a Filipino household, I’ve gotten used to the sound of my grandmother’s daily dose of teleseryes or “soap operas” echoing from our living room. It wasn’t long until I started to indulge in these addicting television series and soon became obsessed with the main leads. Afterwards, my addiction went further as I branched off to watching Filipino variety and talk shows. Looking back at that phase, I realized that most, if not all of the celebrities were advocates for skin whitening products. From creams, to soaps to pills, they’ve vouched for them all. There’s even a brand called “SkinWhite” selling a range of products dedicated to achieving a fair complexion. Being a darker skinned girl, it was very hard for me to resist the temptations of wanting to be as “beautiful” and “perfect” as my soap opera idols and I did everything I possibly could to keep myself from tanning. Staying indoors, using bottles upon bottles of sunscreen and using every kind of chemical there is to achieve “perfection” while my family encouraged and even participated.  It is extremely saddening to know for a fact that others felt the same way I did and went to even greater lengths. Many people in the East Asian community have gone to the extremes to get the perfect pale complexion, even if it meant putting their lives at risk. An outbreak in Hong Kong occurred when certain whitening creams contained between 9,000 and 65,000 times more than the recommended dose of mercury, hospitalizing several women. However, women are not the only ones that feel the societal pressures of Eurocentric beauty because men feel the same way.

We often focus on how women see themselves and forget that the Asian beauty standard is a broad spectrum that shelters men as well. Many of my Asian-male friends are also surrounded by the idea that Western beauty is ideal. GQ (Gentlemen’s Quarterly) is one of the most well known men’s magazines and released its first issue in 1957. Fast forward to present day, GQ has over 600,000 monthly subscribers with more than half of the demographic to be men. In its 60 years of publication, GQ has only featured one Asian male on the cover which was back in 1996 and that was Jackie Chan. Almost all of the men on the covers were white, but doesn’t reflect the audience that the magazine reaches. It is without a doubt that many East Asians boys and men read their monthly issues and it is discouraging to see that what society constantly idolizes are people that look nothing like them. Asian-men become alienated and it’s implied that they are not attractive the way they are. By the looks of it, they are not worthy of being on the cover of magazines, but the same white males are offered several features in their careers not only on the US issues but in Asian ones as well.

Many people have labelled Asians to be those nerds that don’t know how to have a good time and all of them happen to be Chinese. Asian girls are submissive and cute, while Asian men are weak, short and have small--- nevermind. Society has painted this picture for the whole world to look at East Asians as nothing more than their stereotypes, that they’re not complex human beings like everyone else and we can give credit to the lack of representation in Hollywood. Recently there has been a rise in the remakes of movies and shows originating from East Asia, some of them I personally loved watching growing up. I was absolutely livid to discover that Scarlett Johansson would be the leading actress for the movie Ghost in the Shell which was once a Japanese animated film and that the show Death Note based in Japan would have a Netflix remake with no Asians in the cast whatsoever. The thought of Hollywood taking shows and movies from East Asia but have the audacity not to cast a single Asian, aggravates me. There is a plethora of roles to be filled by white actors and actresses while Asians aren’t even able to play characters that represent or supposed to represent their ethnic backgrounds. How are aspiring actors and actresses of Asian descent supposed to work for their dreams when they aren’t even given the chance to? Many people let go of their aspirations because it seems nearly impossible to be casted, no matter how hard they work. The roles that are available for them are the stereotypical nerds and immigrants with Chinese accents, not allowing these young actors and actresses to experiment and grow as artists. I grew up with very few role models in Hollywood because I had no one like myself with the same background and upbringing to take inspiration from. I looked up to actresses like Anne Hathaway, and Meryl Streep, not that I’m saying they are not talented, but I believed that I had to look like them in order to achieve anything in life. Although there have been steps taken to diversify Hollywood and the media, I still believe that even now, the mentality is “white is right”. Besides American culture, whitewashing is also a huge problem within East Asia itself.

In the past couple years, I found myself delving into the world of South Korean pop music. At first, I was in it for the head-bopping tunes, but then I slowly got deeper and deeper into the fandoms as well as the basic structure of the music industry in that country. I discovered that my beloved k-pop idols are constantly under the pressure of having porcelain skin. Fans take pictures of the stars and photoshop them so that their skin is whiter, smooth, clear and completely free from imperfections. The celebrities too, become ashamed of their skin and pile on products to remove the dark pigments because they feel as if the fans will not support them if they looked a certain way. Fans bash on their idol’s natural complexion because they think that it’s ugly and dirty. At one meet and greet of a group called Winner, a fan came up to a member named Mino, begging and pleading him to use whitening creams because he was dark. In a once and a lifetime event, the fan chose to criticize their idol, rather than expressing their gratitude for their music. How crazy is that? Another idol, Hyorin from the girl group Sistar has noticeably tanner skin and the public is blind to her talent and beauty because her “scandalous” complexion is what makes it on the headlines. I am in a constant state of confusion when it comes to this issue because not only are the celebrities already being targeted in the public eye, but picking on their slightly tanned skin makes them even more vulnerable. Skin colour has no correlation to one’s talent and ability to entertain, so what’s the big problem? It all stems from the idea that white skin is the right skin and that Western and European features are desirable.

Women and men of Asian descent as a result, detest their appearance and strive to Westernize because of the lack representation, the glorification of white skin and the constant shaming of those with darker complexions. Being a South East Asian girl, it took time and an accepting environment to realize that the Asian beauty standard is indeed a serious problem. I would look at myself in the mirror and wonder why I tanned so easily and why my eyes were so small. It’s sad to know that I was not alone in those insecurities. Why is light skin, a taller nose and bigger eyes deemed to be exclusively beautiful in the East Asian community? Shouldn’t we embrace our differences and accept that being unique is not a bad thing? My hope is that Asians and even non-Asians will learn to accept, admire and appreciate their features while educating others on inclusivity and self love. In the past, it was definitely not easy but now, I see beauty in myself and in others. Tan skin and all.

[suck-it-winter]

Suck It, Winter 2017 - complete holiday schedule

This is the holiday schedule for Suck It, Winter, which you can read an explanation of here.

Jan 7th - Throw Away Your Old Shit Day

“Is this really a holiday,” you ask, “or a sneaky enforcement of your own New Year’s Resolution to stop hoarding socks with holes in them?” FAIR POINT. But it feels wonderful to get rid of old crap and stop thinking about it, especially if you’ve just acquired new crap over the holidays.

After you’ve shoved unwanted belongings into a to-be-donated bag, give yourself a treat. Eating cookies while you sit smugly on a newly cleared-off couch is strongly encouraged. If you have nothing you want to get rid of, pat yourself on the back and skip straight to the cookie stage.

Jan 14th - S'moresgasboard Day

S'mores! Last year I tried toasting marshmallows over a candle (worked much faster than I expected, high char : gooey inside ratio), in a skillet (stuck to the bottom instantly, not recommended), and in the toaster oven (even golden brown, soft center, worked like a DREAM), all reasonable substitutes if you don’t have access to a roaring fire. Personally I like to skip the graham crackers and sandwich marshmallows directly between two pieces of chocolate like the decadent Greeks of old, but to each their own.

Jan 21nd - Fairy Tale Day

I have a soft spot for fairy tales in general, and this time of year reminds me of some of my favorites, the winter stories full of snow and ice and witches. Today is for those bone-deep tales. There’s no such thing as a bad time to read about Baba Yaga, but there’s something especially satisfying about curling up with chilling stories, snug inside a blanket, on a cold winter’s night.

Jan 28th - Slurp Day

Tea. Coffee. Hot chocolate. Hot toddies. Mulled wine. Warm cider steeped with cinnamon. Eggnog. Bathe your face in fragrant steam and drink warm, rich liquids until you slosh a little when you walk. Should you put whipped cream and cocoa/cinnamon on your delightful hot beverage? Should you EVER.

Feb 4th - Couch Fort Day

Couch fort! COUCH FORT. Couch forrrrrrt. When you’re spending a lot of time cooped up inside, dramatically changing, even temporarily, what your space looks like is a real mood lift. Creating an uber-cozy nest of blankets and pillows and retreating into it with a book and mug of tea is a comforting middle finger to the very idea of February.

Feb 11th - Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.

By the second week in February, it is time to GTFO of our reality. Use books, movies, television, video games, etc. to immerse yourself in other worlds today. Space exploration operas! Historical witch murder covens! Swash-buckling island adventures! Steampunk dirigible pirates! Go escapist or go home. Get some dinosaurs in there! Or some clones! Or some dinosaur clones! Dinosaur clones never have to shovel the sidewalk, dinosaur clones do whatever the fuck they want.

Feb 15th: BONUS HOLIDAY: Half-Off Chocolates and Flowers Day

All the Valentine’s Day treats are now on sale! GO GET ‘EM (if you have discretionary funds to spare and you’re into that sort of thing).

Feb 18th - The Spice Must Flow

Gingerbread. Madras curry. Red hots. Chai. Cinnamon-covered snickerdoodles. Any spice you like, any way you like, ideally with every meal of the day. Get your lips tingling with something other than cold, for once.

Feb 25th - Sauna Day

By now, every bit of moisture in the air has been surgically removed and hidden away so it can rush out in March all at once and flood the storm drains. Plug your bathtub drain and run the shower with the door open for fifteen minutes to send steam into the hallway; let the collected water sit and evaporate for the rest of the day. Boil water on the stove. Put pans of water on your radiator. Hang wet towels from the curtain rods. Imagine that you’re a delicate fern slowly unfurling in the welcoming damp.

Mar 4th - Rainbow Day

The world around you is probably a dreary heather of white, gray, and brown. EFF THAT. Paint every nail a different color. Eat a bag of skittles. Wear your brightest clothing. Tape a Lisa Frank folder to your glasses so it fills your entire field of vision. There is no such thing as too over-the-top on Rainbow Day.

Mar 11th - Garden Day

Whatever your frozen backyard might be telling you, somewhere out there plants are growing and thriving. Seek them out in greenhouses, nurseries, florists’ shops, or your own potted plants. Find the smell of wet dirt and leaves and breathe deep. OXYGEN: IT’S GOOD FOR YOU.

If live plants are nowhere to be found, look at pictures of your favorite flowers and dream of the enviable witch-garden you will eventually plant around your hermitage, once the snows recede.

March 18th - Throwback Day

You know that one book? That one TV show? That one movie, that one game, that one song? The one that defined some crucial part of your early childhood/adolescent/adult development? The one you love with an unmoderated, unreasonable, undying joy? Yeah, that one, you know. Go back to that today. Immerse yourself in something that was foundational to your development as a person and realize all over again why you loved it. Let it coil up quietly in your chest and warm you from the inside out.

March 25th - Stew Day

Spend hours with a pot of something wonderful bubbling gently on the stove. If stew is not your thing, it can be substituted for any slow, involved recipe (cinnamon rolls? roasted squash? roasted squash WITH CINNAMON? cinnamon rolls WITH SQUASH? probably not that last one). Take advantage of the lingering chill in the air to luxuriate in the kind of cooking that fills your kitchen with warmth and wonderful smells.

March 31st - Suck It, Winter Day

YOU MADE IT. April is right around the corner, and soon Proper Spring will arrive, with crocuses and later sunsets and breezes that don’t numb your cheeks. Go through your closet and joyously select spring outfits. Delight in the no-longer-choked-with-snow sidewalks. Make a festive springtime hat out of paper and crown yourself with it.

YOU ARE A CHAMPION. IN YOUR FACE, WINTER.

*** BONUS FLOAT HOLIDAY ***

??? - Cop-Out Day

This is a special floating holiday, to be used on a day when you Just Can’t. Maybe you have the flu, maybe it’s sleeting and you can’t face another trudging hike over icy sidewalks, or maybe you’re just fed up with never being warm enough. Crawl back into bed, pull the covers over your head, and curl up like a tiny mouse. It’s okay. This is what you’re supposed to do on Cop-Out Day.