#And we weren't communicating in English but for some reason she used “coming out” in English instead of telling me “Fratè so' lesbica”

[randomraytrash]

And I thought my reaction to my best friend coming out to me when we were like 12 was bad, good Lord Ted

[xsolaresx]

daryl dixon.: love goes through the fire

pairings: daryl dixon x fem! reader wife!

summary: after being kidnapped and tortured by Negan, the reader does everything she can to make Daryl feel better.

warnings: angst! sad! graphic description of Glenn and Abraham's death! mention of torture! only depression from here on!

word count: 3,9k

Author @xsolaresx  

notes: English is not my first language, so there may be some grammatical errors.

The noise still bothered me every night. Whenever my eyes closed, even for just a second, the sound of the bat repeatedly hitting Abraham's skull and then Glenn's tormented me. 

One hit after another, and at the end Negan's diabolical laughter. 

I could still feel Glenn's blood dripping down to my knees, I was so close to him that after it was over I was covered in his blood and the scraps of skin that flew off. No matter how many baths I forced myself to take, that sticky feeling of fresh blood never left my skin. And sometimes I still found a patch of my skin with a crimson tinge impregnated in it. 

My dark circles told anyone who saw me that I hadn't slept for days. I kept reliving the moment like an endless loop in my head. I still remember how that day began, that week, that month, how the whole situation ended the way it did. 

Hilltop had enemies, and Alexandria needed food. One thing led to another. 

First the massacre at the outpost, then the kidnapping of Carol and Maggie. Everyone had questions about whether it was the right thing to do, whether killing so many people was worth it, whether it was worth seeing another sunrise under so much blood. 

But Carol felt more, the deaths she had caused were beyond counting on her hands. We all kill to survive, but she was molded in this world, she wasn't raised with Rick's hero instinct, or the strength that the trauma and torture that Daryl suffered at the hands of his father and brother did to him. It was too much for her, she couldn't look us in the eye anymore, so she ran away from everything and everyone. 

There was no concrete reason for so many deaths, they were evil, weren't they? They killed people, and they die at the hands of our people. We did what had to be done. We saved a community from the so-called Saviors, but it couldn't have been that easy, there were more of them, there always would be. 

Daryl had to see it first hand. Denise died in front of him by her crossbow. It made him furious, we saved Dwight in the burning bush, helped him and his wife only for him to do something terrible in the end. Daryl had shown them a way, but they couldn't believe that was salvation.

He had to go back there, he had to finish what he didn't finish. He thought it was his fault that Tara no longer had a girlfriend. If only I could have stopped him before...

Everything happened so fast, Maggie got sick, we had to get her to Hilltop. I thought I'd meet Daryl at night, in our room, I'd arrive and he'd be waiting for me, he'd apologize for leaving unannounced, we'd talk and make things right, and then we'd sleep together and have a new day. 

But that day never came. 

They surrounded us on the road, left us with no way out and took us exactly where they wanted us. The frightening whistles were the prelude to something much worse to come. After that I only remember seeing Daryl shot and bleeding being dragged to the wheel, Abraham offering himself up and dying by the bat. 

Little by little I saw the terror forming in Rick's eyes. In all the years I've been with him leading this group, this was the first time I'd seen the elder Grimes lost, with no way out and praying that this madman wouldn't take someone else from our family. 

But Dixon got angry, he tried to get to Negan. And the next thing I knew, the bat with the barbed wire was next to my face. Daryl screamed so much, screamed, cried. 

"It's all right, my love. I love you, it wasn't your fault” I could only look at him, knowing that he would be the last thing I saw before I left calmed me down. 

Negan started smiling and swinging his baseball bat between the two of us. "What the fuck! Let's see what we've got here, guys."  

“P-please... no-no” 

“You'd better shut the fuck up, Rick! Or your dear son's next.” Negan shouted when Grimes tried to intervene, he knew that if I died Daryl would never be the same. "So you're a couple? Dwight's best friend has a wife? hohoho this just gets more interesting!"

“If you lay a finger on her I'll kill you, you bastard!” Daryl wasn't the type to take a beating quietly, even though he was losing blood and had a gun to his head he was going to try and fight back.

“Ah, but I'll remember that very well, dear Daryl... You know what... I'm tired of all this, why don't we just get it over with, huh?” The next thing I saw was blood gushing everywhere. One second I had Glenn, my best friend, the person who had saved me in so many ways by my side, and the next I had a lifeless body. 

Daryl was taken away that night, as a guarantee that we would stay on the line. And only God knows what happened to him during those days.

I couldn't bear to see him so bruised and dirty the first time the Saviors came to Alexandria. That wasn't my Daryl anymore, he looked so fragile, wounded, defeated. He was no longer the survivor who could take it all.

“No! He's my servant now, you don't talk to him, you don't look at him, and I don't make you cut off any part of his body.” Negan shouted when Rick tried to talk to Dixon. “And that goes for everyone, even his wife, understand?” I couldn't walk away, I needed to hug Daryl, tell him that everything was going to be okay and that I was there, but I couldn't risk someone else in our family, so I just turned and walked to our house, mine and Daryl's, unable to hold back the tears any longer. The last thing I heard was Negan's shrill laughter. “That one knows how to take orders, Rick!”

A few days had passed since then, we hadn't heard from Daryl, Maggie was hiding in Hilltop, which was under threat from the Saviors. Rick went out every day in search of supplies for the Saviors, and I... couldn't leave the house. I couldn't leave the room, the bed where I could still smell Daryl.

Frantic knocks started at my door, and when I opened it, I saw Gabriel. "He's back, Y/N. He hasn't done anything yet, but he's back with Carl, they're at Rick's now and he's not back from his run with Aaron yet. I-I don't, we don't know what to do, Judith is there with them and..."

"Gabriel, breathe. It's okay.” I held the priest by the shoulders, trying to calm him down. Everyone was lost, scared. “Tell everyone to stay in their homes, they mustn't have come for anything else, so don't provoke them, okay?” 

“But Judith... I... I promised Rick I'd look after her...” 

“I'll go, okay?” I grabbed my sweater and left the house in the direction of Rick's. If Carl is back with Negan, it means that the boy went after him planning some revenge. He's so young, but he harbors so much anger, he's lost so much to this world. 

“Hold it right there, cutie,” one of Negan's henchmen stopped me on the front steps of the house. 

“I want to talk to him.”

“You can let her through, let's hear what the wife has to say” I stared at the man until he got out of my way. I was angry, the way he called me 'wife' only reminded me that every day Daryl was in prison, being tortured by him. “Hello, my dear, to what do I owe your presence in my humble abode?” Negan was sitting on the balcony with Judith on his lap asleep, Carl was next to him without the bandage on his eye with a sad and angry expression. I completely ignored the killer and turned to the boy.

“Are you all right, Carl?”

“Yeah. I'm fine, he didn't do anything,” he replied, lowering his head. I turned to Negan, who didn't look the least bit happy at being ignored. 

“I want to see him.”

“You're going to have to be more specific, sweetheart.”

"I want to see my husband, see if he's alive. You can search me, I don't have any weapons after you took them all. Take me with you to him." A devilish smile appeared on his face. 

“You know, I can see that you don't look so good after I took your man, but I don't know if I was very clear when I said that he's now my servant, maybe you won't like what you see, your husband isn't the most sociable.”

"I know he's not, but I've seen worse. I need to see him alive, it's okay if he's dirty." 

"Ah girl, you're a tough nut to crack. But I understand, I can't go too many days without seeing my wives, Carl here has met some of them and he can tell you how hot they are! Tell you what, I'll talk to Rick, we'll settle up and if I'm still in a good mood you can come with me." 

“Thanks”

“Oh how I like that word, thank you.” Then Spencer arrived, started his plan to take Rick out and ended up dying. Eugene was going to be taken away for making the bullet. 

“You're gonna take me, right?” I shouted as Negan neared the gate, about to leave. 

"Y/N... what? No." Rick tried to approach but I moved away, I needed to see Daryl.

“I almost forgot the wife, search her, you're coming with me in the truck”

I kept quiet the whole way, blindfolded, the truck had three seats, the driver was some kind of savior who kept quiet and Negan made me stay in the middle of them in case I decided to jump out during the journey. 

“I told them to give your husband a bath, you know, to make him look more presentable, but no intimate visits, I don't want him to get too comfortable with all this” Negan said when we stopped in front of a room. “I also took him out of his cell, that's no place for a lady like you, my love”. When the door opened I saw Daryl in the corner of the room, a little cleaner, but cowering in the dark with an angry look on his face, but when he saw me he turned away from the wall in anguish. Dwight was in the other corner, standing guard. “I thought you guys would be more comfortable with an acquaintance on guard.”

“Not the best, but thanks,” I said between my teeth, looking at Dwight, who couldn't take his eyes off Daryl.

"What the fuck, baby! If you thank me one more time I won't be able to let you go, you've become my favorite." Then he left, closing the door. I ran over to Dixon, throwing myself into his arms, but he didn't return the hug, still focused on the other man in the room. 

"No, no, please, look at me, darling. Don't focus on him, focus on me, please.” I ran my hands over his face and turned him towards me, tears starting to well up in my eyes when I saw the bandage on his shoulder where he had been shot. “I missed you so much, are you okay?”

“I don't think he's going to say much, he probably doesn't even remember how he does it, does he Daryl?” 

"Shut the fuck up Dwight! If you don't I'll come over there and smash your face in” I turned to him who just laughed weakly and left the room. 

“You have to get out of here, you can't stay, I can't protect you... them... them” his voice was broken, as if he hadn't spoken for days. 

“Shiii, it's okay, I just came to see you, he's taking me back, we made a deal... What did they do to you, darling?”

“It was my fault”

"What? No, it wasn't, everything's fine at home, everyone's fine” He pulled my hand away from his face, moving away from me. 

“It was my fault, Glenn, then Maggie, she died because of me” 

“My goodness, no” I moved closer to him so that no one would hear. "Maggie's fine, the baby's fine, we did it so he wouldn't get suspicious. Everyone's fine” Daryl pulled me into a long-suffering kiss and began to cry, grabbing me in a hug, I sat on the floor with him still clinging to me. Dixon looked so broken, he wasn't the same strong guy who did everything for Rick. We stayed like that for a few hours, I ran my fingers through his hair to calm him down, he didn't sleep, he was on the lookout for any threat, but he closed his eyes, enjoying the affection. Until our bubble burst when someone opened the door. Daryl got up at a speed I didn't think he could manage, weakened like that, and promptly stood in front of me, protecting me from whoever came in. 

"Visiting hours are over, honey. I hope you didn't take your clothes off after Dwight left." Negan entered the room with a smug smile, covering his eyes with his bat. 

“I'm very well dressed, much to your displeasure,” I said, getting up and standing next to Daryl, who promptly grabbed my hand. "I have to get back, but nobody's forgotten you here, okay? We'll get you out of this, sweetheart."

“I wouldn't be so sure, but now Laura will take you back, and I hope your puppy behaves better after the visit.” Negan left and a blonde woman came in, waving us out.

I hugged Daryl one last time, kissing his forehead and left the room. 

The days passed more melancholy and with preparations for the war against the Saviors approaching. Rick got help from the people at the Dump. We were on our way to Hilltop to talk to Maggie and get her support. 

But when the gates opened, my vision blurred with tears... Daryl was there, a little shy, but waiting for us halfway. 

I threw my backpack on the floor and ran as fast as I could to him, his arms already open waiting for me, and he kissed me with such urgency that I lost my breath. We stayed like that for a few minutes, crying and hugging, until Rick approached us in silence, his smile unmistakable. 

I broke away from Dixon, making room for Rick and the others to hug him. Joyful laughter with tears coming out of me. 

_______________________________

“We can't try anything without Hilltop's weapons, we have a lot of personnel, but it's still too little, and we're vulnerable that way.” Maggie said after we left Gregory's room, the asshole would rather spend his whole life under threat than fight back. 

“She's right, but maybe I know someone who'd be interested in helping... they call themselves The Kingdom.” Jesus intervenes, from the corner of the room, where we're hugging, Daryl squeezes my hand with an air of hope and I can't help but smile at him with confidence too.

“Do you think they'd be allies in the war?” Rick asks, shifting in his seat. The situation isn't the best, I realize that now. I was so numb from missing Daryl that I didn't focus on protecting the community, and Rick had to handle it alone. 

“They also suffer threats from the Saviors, but the community doesn't know about it, only the leader and people they trust.” 

“He doesn't want to create panic or riots for no reason,” I say and everyone agrees. “So, what are we waiting for?” With a nod from Rick, everyone leaves the mansion and heads for their cars. The whole time Daryl didn't let go of my hand and I didn't make a point of complaining, he wasn't one to show much affection in the midst of so many people, but after everything that happened to him, I understand. 

The Kingdom was very large, with many warriors training and many families, protected and happy. I squeeze Dixon's hand tighter when I see a couple with a newborn baby surrounded by elderly women. He stares at the couple and lowers his head.

When we enter the auditorium, the first thing that catches our eye is the huge tigress sitting next to a guy on a kind of throne. Rick shies away from approaching her, but they talk normally. Until Morgan appears, and Daryl asks me quietly where Carol is. “It's a delicate subject, but if Morgan's here she must be all right, you know she's tough.” He nods, even though his curiosity isn't quenched, he knows it's not time.

The King didn't accept our proposal, but gave Daryl the freedom to take refuge in the Kingdom for as long as he needed. 

“We need to go Y/N, they can go into Alexandria after Daryl.” Rick appeared next to us as I was saying goodbye to Dixon, I nodded and he walked away. 

“It's temporary, when this is over you're not leaving my side anymore, okay?” I held Daryl's cheeks and he bowed his head sadly. 

“I want to go with you, I want to help put an end to this”

"You'll help, my love. Staying here, safe. Maybe you can convince the King, we need him."

“You know I'm not that diplomatic”

“Let's look at this situation as an opportunity, what do you think?” I smile to break the mood, Daryl gives a sad smile. “I'll never leave you, my love” I say more seriously so that he feels the truth, these days away from him were the worst and I don't want it to happen again.

_______________________________

“Look, look, look, Rick Grimes has come to greet me on my doorstep!” Negan and his henchmen arrived shortly after we got back from the Kingdom, someone up there is surely on our side. "I love seeing your abandoned dog face, Rick, but today my business is with your little friend's wife. Why don't you bring her to me?" 

Rick nods begrudgingly, turns and starts walking towards the main house where we were all gathered, waiting for some sign of Grimes. 

“He wants to talk to you.” Rick approaches and says quietly. “Be careful, he's unpredictable.” 

"That's all right, Rick. I'll put him in his place, I've had enough of this.” I walk away quickly, anger overflowing just knowing that because of him my Daryl is shaken. 

“Y/N, no, wait.” Rick tries to stop me, but it's too late, I'm striding hard towards Negan. 

“I hear you want to talk to me.” That maniac's smile only gets wider when he sees me.   

"Oh, hello, darling. How are you? Miss your husband?" 

“You've got to be kidding... of course I miss him, if you don't remember you took him away from me and I'm very possessive of what's mine,” I say through my teeth. If he thinks I'm going to be compassionate and keep my mouth shut, he's mistaken.

"Wow, that's what I like about you, darling. You're tough as nails,” he says with a mischievous laugh. "The problem is that your husband was very moved by your visit, you know? And he must have thought it was a loophole for an escape." 

“Wait, what?” I say exasperated, I've always loved acting. “You mean you've lost my husband?” 

“I thought you could help me find him.” 

“You're unbelievable...” I whisper indignantly. “If you think he's here you can look, have your goons search every house, every manhole or cupboard in this place.”

“You're always a refreshment to me, darling, you always know what I want.” I roll my eyes as he sends his men to search Alexandria. 

As expected, they find nothing and leave, promising to return next week to collect supplies. 

“I have to go, Rick,” I warn Grimes. To avoid the risk of them following me, I waited a few hours after they left, and night came. I need to see Daryl, he won't stay another night thinking we've abandoned him. He gets up from the rocking chair on the porch of his house with Judith on his lap and approaches.

“Okay, but be careful, make sure no one's following you.” Rick hugs me in his fatherly way. We were always close like brothers, after I lost everything Rick was there as a leader for everyone. “And send him a hug, tell him we miss him.” 

“I will.” I say goodbye to him and kiss the head of a sleepy Judith, who gives me a smile. I grab a car and head out through the cellars of Alexandria, towards the Kingdom, towards Daryl.

_______________________________

“She's magnificent” Daryl was standing next to Shiva's cage when I arrived at the Kingdom. Quiet and shrunken, just stroking the snout of the tigress who melted at his touch.

“She is.” he confirms with a frown. I moved closer until I could see tears forming in his eyes. I quickly bent down, sat next to him and hugged him tightly, which he reciprocated. 

"It's all right now, my love. I'm here, you're not going to stay away from me any longer.” I tried to calm his crying, which was only getting more intense. I've never seen Daryl so broken, he seemed to be accumulating all the suffering, the pain, waiting to fall apart on me. He would never do that to anyone else. 

“I got scared.” Daryl says after he calms down. “I was afraid of losing you too, losing our family.” 

“You're not going to lose me, ever.” 

“But what if it does?” Daryl lifts his head with a more serious look. "When they tortured me, all I could think about was you, that you'd be alone out here, unprotected. They could do anything to you to make me accept the fact that I was nothing in that place. And I felt like nothing."

“No, no, no.” I pull Daryl's face so that he pays close attention to me. “You're not going to lose me, you know why? Because your wife is strong, she'll go through hell to pull you out of the fire and when I can't do it anymore I'll have our whole family helping me, because I love you, Daryl, we love you. That's what love does, it turns us into fighters, people who would do anything for the one they love. I love you, Daryl.” Tears flowed non-stop from my eyes and Daryl's.

“I love you, Y/N” His lips met mine fervently, it was a needy kiss, as if he had been thirsty for days and I was his oasis in the desert. I gave myself completely to him, wanting more and more all the time. 

We were too wrapped up in our bubble, completely forgetting that Shiva was still in the cage next door, and an imposing roar from her broke us out of this bubble of lust. 

“I don't think she likes not being the center of attention,” we laughed when we noticed the tigress's angry face at being left out. 

“She'll have to accept it, because now my only attention is on my wife.” 

[maifazcomics]

After a little discussion i had about if the ARG is important to understand and appreciate Sea of Stars and the Saboverse as a whole, i have some thoughs

Mainly that: no, you don't need to read the ARG

It was always planned as something only for the most hardcore of fans, the ones actively searching for more stuff

There are only three informations that are at the moment ARG exclusive:

- the Demon King in The Messenger (AKA Dweller of Strife + the Acolytes) is a pale copy, and the real one's remnants are inside Clockwork Castle

- Resh'an and Aephorul were lovers, and created the Elixir of Life to escape until society accepted them

- the Shopkeeper is a woman, and she descended from The Watchmaker

The rest is just community fluff and Resh'an being incredibly emo, nothing essential

I feel like these informations are important, but they just weren't able to be explored yet.

Continued ramblings below:

About the DK, with Picnic Panic being part of a planned three-act DLC (Barma'thazël's Revenge) that they stopped working to prioritize Sea of Stars, and the final one presumably having you reach Clockwork Castle, this could have been explored there. Or maybe in another game. We still have 3 more books to go, in the end

Shoppy descending from the Watchmaker... with the DLC being called "Throes of the Watchmaker", this has the potencial to be explored there. Or not. They are characters so far apart, HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS APART, knowing this information would change your whole perception about the games? This only happens because of the curse of knowing stuff lol, and as someone that knows I would like to see this being explored. But my point is that this isn't fundamental.

And Shoppy's gender... people misgendering her after playing The Messenger bothers me, but it isn't the devs fault IMO. They never use pronouns with her in the game for a reason (iirc Thierry said he didn't want anyone to assuming stuff about the Shopkeep, and that's one of the main reasons behind him writing first in English and having ENG as the only canon language), and people using he/him are taking that out of their asses. Just a one minute Google Search and you find that information, you don't need to read all the ARG logs

There are other stuff like Primals or Shoppy being the first Messenger, the Artificer giving the scroll to Monk that Bowman got because she got transformed into the Queen of Quills and then gave to Ninja, or the entirety of Void Logic being explained and still making us confused to this day, and this is all fluff. Like for real, all that was needed to be in The Messenger for the BIG LORE is already there, and for Sea of Stars too

And for the big elephant in the room, Resh'an and Aephorul being really gay for each other. This is something not even the ARG explored further! Resh'an said that at February 2019, when we didn't even knew who a Fleshmancer/Aephorul was, then when he got to tell the community about him Resh'an explicitely said that he didn't want to elaborate further on his personal past with Aephorul. And with Sea of Stars, we got a taste of that, but it was only their introduction to the world!!!

More like anything else, this feels like something to be explored on the next books (just explaining this better, Thierry Boulanger, aka Creative Director and Writer and some other stuff, has come and said that his dream is to tell this grand story in 5 arcs/books (books because Sabotage works directly with Resh'an, translating the books he writes into videogames) book 1 being TM and book 2 being SOS). This narrative, at least for me, feels like it is about them. About these "gods", the harm they created to this world, and how Resh'an wants to redeem Aephorul. It feels... like a slow burn. And that's why i think they didn't want to tell this right now

Like, Time Shards. We didn't have much lore about them in TM, then SOS comes and BOOM, Time Shards indicate the presence of a timeloop. And maybe Resh'an created them too?? This recontextualizes the nature of the Messenger narrative. And them being More Than Friends can be that too, both for the general public and the Lore Nerds. We still don't know about their society back then, or if the flashback cutscene was pre or post elixir, or why specifically Aephorul became evil, etc. This all feels intentional, ya know

The rest of the ARG is just a bunch of fun interactions the characters and the community had, and a buuuunch of foreshadowing to what we get to see in Sea of Stars. Either Clockwork Concierge (AI Core) hinting about his past with Caël and the Kids, Arty saying he was a robot, or Resh'an literally infodumping about the Guardian Gods, Dwellers and World Eaters. We see all of this in Sea of Stars, and that's amazing!!!! It's so cool to see all of that being real, and that makes me confident that all of this unresolved stuff is something thar Sabotage wants to make real too

/rant over

But would i recommend reading the ARG? oh sure i do. It's very fun. The narrative framing of the games being books written by The Archivist and SaboTeam working for him is so interesting. And also, we get tons of insight into Resh'an's mind and how he's just extremely depressed, how he misses Aephorul and yearns for being loved but doesn't know how to deal with that when people love him back

Also Clocko's adorable

---

EDIT: After chatting with someone, they pointed something about Shoppy's gender that is really relevant to bring out. Yeah yeah, Sabotage wrote the game with English in mind and in ENG they didn't pronoun her at all. But two things

First: in many languages got translated into, including Quebecóis which is a script Thierry himself wrote, since you need to gender stuff, the Shopkeeper got treated as male because of defaulting. So if you played the game on those languages, and didn't follow any stuff related to it, you just assumed Shoppy was a man and moved on with your life.

Which, by the way, is something I MYSELF made. I stopped following the ARG in 2019, so I didn't see the conclusion about her gender for years until some months before SOS came out. And as something I still haven't told, I come from the forbidden land of Brazil, and the PTBR translation of TM is one that suffers from that, so I defaulted her as a dude for years and years

And second: even if you played the game directly on english, if you speak a language that also does the male-defaulting, you probably did that too, and that is not your fault

In the end, this isn't anyone's fault. I may have been too mad at seeing native english speaking redditors calling her a dude? Yeah maybe. But yeahhhhh we live in a society in the end, and them being explicit on the text about her gender on the future would help that at lot

Thankfully on the easter egg she's referred as a woman on SOS in PTBR, which is GREAT

[popculturebuffet]

BCN Retrospective: Year Two: Station Expansion (Patreon Review for Emma Fici

Hello all you cool cats! We're back on the air and now MONTHLY as Emma graciously agreed to make this her patreon review.

For those just joining us Breaking Cat News is a comic strip by georgia dunn that hit it's 10th anniversary just 11 days ago! So to commemerate this strip i'm chroncling all 9 years of it's existance, with Emma agreeing to sponsor. You can find part 1 HERE covering the first year. In short it's a strip covering three kitties and various aquantinces as they cover all the news that's relevant to cats. It's well done.

Year Two is where the strip starts to hit it's stride. Year one wasn't bad by any stretch. It had plenty of all time classics, including my personl faviorit I can't help but notice you only have two arms.

But while Year One has the strip's magic lightning in a bottle premise of cats reporting on things that happen from a cat's perspective, not quite getting how humans work and often explaning some of the weird things the cats in Georgia's life, the strip's other major strength is it's characters. With Year One it took a bit for the big three to really FEEL like themselves, while from the start of Year Two it's clear she has a solid idea of who these guys are in fiction, links it well to their real life selves, and thus the comedy only gets richer. While the premise is solid, the strip wouldn't be as good as it was if our main trio, later expanded to six, weren't so great and bounced off of each other, their humans and their supporting cast so well. Said supporting cast also gets expanded from two cats the guys hadn't met yet and one outdoor cat whose now their best friend: this year formally introduces Tabitha and Figaro and adds Sophie, Burt, Baba Mouse and the Robber Mice to the mix, all of which have been key fixtures in the strip since, while also adding the Girl on the human side. The humans also start to feel slightly more fleshed out, paticuarllyt he man whose exasperation with his stupid cat children coming more into view. It's what any second act of a work should be: somethign that only gets better and only enriches what was there. So let's dive into it under the cut?

Year two starts with a lot of buisness as usual. We get followup on Tommy getting a mic at the end of his christmas adventure, with him now being field reporter.. and his woman reacting approriately int he face of her pet having gottten lost

But the story really picks up shortly in with our first major story arc

Laudrevous

We begin with Lupin having found the laundry chute and with this year his dynamic with Elvis, one of the best parts of the strip is settled. Lupin and Elvis bigger like an oldest brother and youngest brother would, with puck as the calm peacekeeping middle child: Elvis acts stern, disgruntled and snarky with his jabs while Lupin tries to simply needle his brother with various verbal jabs at his vulnerabilities to get a rize out of Elvis, which works EVERY TIME.

Naturally Lupin ends up down the Chute and while Elvis is just as naturally annoyed, Puck condones with his exploration , as he finds his way to the laundry room for the first time nad explores it… and while he enjoys the quiet ironically enough.. he's not as alone as he thinks.

Of course this being Lupin it takes some brotherly shouting to realize he's not alone

He panics and we find out how Lupin commuincates with the others: he can read whiskers, a nice cat take on lipreading, and only can't understand Fig because he's not speaking english, but a quick nose sniff, the first of many in this strip, communicates that this guy is alright.

Lupin soon becomes more concerned iwth capering, and gets reported on by some non family cats for a change, with us getting subtitles for the first time. In the redo of the storyline we get this the whole time for reasons we'll get to in a moment, but I decided to save looking at the now translated dialouge for when I do those versions. For now it's clear the "cat of adventure" is okay and isn't stealing the laundry room. Naturally exactly who you expect takes it exactly as you'd expect and does exactly what you'd expect

It's a nice early show that while Lupin may bug the hell out of elvis on a daily basis… he loves his little brother and would be the first to kill for him shoudl the need arise. It really hasn't here but Elvis reacted to the kindest cat in the world with

Thankfully this time.. the kind new kitty has some backup to speed this up a bit

Tab instantly sets herself up as Lupin's rival: just as fierce.. but her temper's on far less of a hair trigger and only really gets pissed off when confronted and only threatens to tear Elvis' world asunder the second he harms her best friend. It's a shame her role kinda gets reduced as she goes, with other cats we'll meet taking up the roll of keeping Elvis in check. It's not a bad thing, it's just glear. Fig meanwhile… is just kinda there. I love his design and he's perfectly friendly but even when we can understand what he's saying he dosen't relaly stand out nearly as much as the other cats or his roomates and it's telling in most storylines even when he IS present it's Tabitha doing most of the talking. He's really either Lupin's friend or Tabitha's brother and roomate and dosen't get much beyond that.

Anyways long story short the guys escape the laundry room before the humans find them and our heroes now have a place to meet the neighbors.

Back in the apartment things have seemingly calmed with Elvis accepting the toddler.. and you allk now what that means

After the cats deal with everyone being gone, Lupin in paticular doing so with his usual grace , ellegance and dignity.....

Our heroes adjust to their new sibling/surrogate child. And while Elvis was a jealous older sibling about the boy.. when it comes to the girl?

It's sweet and really adds to Elvis: while he's.. elvis about being her protector as you'd expect, just check that last panel, it shows he has a parental side and where as he just kinda coped with the boy he actively encourages the girl like she was his own, as we'll see when he gets a kitty child next time.

We also get lupin mastering naked invisibility, and magic wind boxes, and the retun of the menace of the july bug. Again image limits mean I have to say all this but trust me it's awesome. What I did make sure I had space for was one of the sweetest moments in the strip

So after a lot of great strips, it's finally time for another arc. I'm not complaning mind:I like the strip breaking up storylines with various shenanigans of the cats and it's what makes the strip work, giving things time to breath before heavy serilzation kicks in. I mean these days just about everything is a storyline, but some are just weird stuff the cats are doing and some add more to the world or progress things. If I gloss over the strips inbetween and when we get to the uversal strips, sundays i'ts not out of lack of care btu more because I only have so much space because Tumblr is a butt. So with that we've reached

The AV Cat

This arc opens with a fantastic twist on the "ther'es a cat in the backyard" gag…

(burt) Naturally Elvis takes this with all the dignity and grace we know him for while Tommy gets to know our mysterious knew stranger, finding out his name is Burt and he's a laidback, kind barn cat. He also explains how he's here and how we haven't seen him before.

Burt's handsomeness to the other cats will be another runner, particularly with Pucky but everyone gets in on it. Burt being a casual sort invites Tommy along on his rounds as he heads to work. Burt takes tommy to his barn, as Burt is a barn cat. For those who've never seen one, Barn cats live in barns, mostly keeping out vermin. I"ve seena bout one and was sad it didn't want me to pet it. It's a nice way to shake it up as most other cats we see live in apartments and eventually most of the domestic ones we see live in the big pink house with only burt and someone we'll meet next time as the exceptions. Burt isn't alone there either. Not only do most of the barn animals flirt with him.. but he's not the only cat here

Baba is based on an elderly cat Georgia used to die who was long dead before the strip started and thus reinvented here as a longtime barn cat whose near feral, has a ton of children, and as you can tell takes not one iota of shit from anyone, not even Burt who as we'll learn later but i'm just gonna go ahead and reveal now, is her grandson. The Robber Mice you see there will, like Baba, be important later, but for now this is just setting them up for said later. THe focus is still on burt as TOmmy asks the question i'm sure we all had.

Naturally our heroes curosity is peaked.. and Elvis being concerned about Tommy (though naturally trying to brush it off) asks if there's a way Burt can link their home broadcasts so they can check in on him normally. Burt is fine with that as long as they have a place to meet.. so naturally our heroes settle on the laundry room and convince las gatos to buy in, and the next strip we se them test the new connections out.. and see that Tommy has a roomate.

While Las Gatos agree to mostly use it just for emergencies, the broadcasts are now linked and thus our heroes can check in with tommy anytime.. and as a result we find out he has a roomate.

We'll learn more about her later but with that the cast is mostly complete. There's more to come of course, but it was a trip to realize most of the core characters were introduced within the first two years, with two major additions next year to round it out until Georgia got some more real life cats and thus needed to expand to captalize on their real life shenanigans.

Seen a Ghost

Unlike with the last arc it's not as much of a lull between stories as we get our next one with a pretty important addition to the lore. Breaking Cat News mostly sticks to reality.. granted it's a reality where all the cats are reporters and have access to clothes, phones and whatever else they need, but their still bound by actual cat diets and the world is basically just "our world but with talking reporter cats"… but this arc introduces the one fantastical aspect beyond that….

Yup there's a ghost in his home, and it's better than being alone as she's a friendly reporter cat, though for radio as we'll find out much later, named Tillie. Ghosts are real in this setting, and will show up sporadically. It's something I had to adjust to pretty quick as when reading the daily strips without the context of the archive, as I hadn't caught up yet, I was shocked to find this setting had ghosts , let alone fairly detailed ghost lore. I"m okay with it as A) again we have to accept the cats being more sapient and wearing people clothes already so why not and B) it's a touching way to include pasts cats Georgia has had or known.

Thankfully though Puck is not the ONLY one to see the ghost as Tabitha does too, alerting her owner. Both The Woman and the Ceiling Woman agree ther'es a ghos tin their house and decide to do the stupid horror movie move of trying to contact it.. though fine in this case as it's an adorable sitcom about cats, and this ghost is one we know is harmless. She talks about Freddie, the owner of the house and the "new addition" something that will be vastly important MUCCCHHH later. For now our heroines try to summon the dead, while our heroes try to figure out who the heck this cat or Freddie is,

And Tommy interviews a possible eye witness

… and despite not seenig it… the ladies conjur up ANOTHER spirit

Our heroes are spooked naturally, though the man does find a valuable clue.. a cat skull, which is distressing…. and of course leaves Pucky with a less than inveable task

We soon find out just who the cat and her woman are as we get our major dollop of backstory for the house and the vauge new england town it resides in, all stuff Gerogia added: Turns out the woman was Freddie Quinn, who founded the Quinn Animal shelter that used to be housed in the Big Pink House and would go on to own a good chunk of the town owning Quinn Animal Shelter (which is now housed elsewhere and is where Tommy's woman works) and Quinn Farms (Where burt and baba live). Despite being a rich lady she was a kind one who used her wealth wisely and loved cats.. and as you can guess founded the shelter because she lost her own cat as a child, living in the same houes and making it into the intial site of the rescue because of that. It's a truly moving, well done story.

The sendoff is also truly moving as they bury the skull next to freddie.. which is technically illegal but well worth the possible fines, and as everyone says goodbye to the mow mow… two souls finally reunite and Elvis finallys ees ghosts

We also get him apologizing earlier to Puck, admitting he was probably right .. and getting that conformation here. It's a touching story that both sets up the house ghosts, yes there will be more, and the quinn backstory. With that we breifly move on to some othe rbuisness.

We start by finding out what Sophie's deal is.

Also if you noticed her greyed out eye, that's because, like her real life counterpart, Sophie's blind in one eye. It took a while for me to tell if it was that or just two diffrent colors, but looking at her real life counterpart you can find on tommy's old facebook (which she inherited), you can tell.

And with that and a brief comment on the cucumber phenomenon that certainly was a thing, we enter our final arc of the year with

Pucky's Christmas Tips

Where Puck gives out fun christmas tips for the whole family and nothing remotely bad happens. Goodnight and

Oh yeah… sorry hang on

All I Want For Christmas is Revenge

There we go. So those mice I mentioned now take center stage. It's also why I emphasized buzzy mouse: while their around a lot , this arc has them as the centerpiece. As for who the robber mice are, Burt helpfully fills our heroes in, a nice way to tie in his barn cat experince that sadly just dosen't get used very often. (The robber mice)

I'm also putting this up because keeping track of these gals can be confusing: i've BARELY just started keeping them straight. It probably dosen't helped I binged the series, and thus four characters who only ocasionally speak each others names all wearing the same outfit and in most frames appearing fairly small despite their distinct coats… is a lot for my autistic ass to process. But i'm trying to drill it in to make this easier on myself.

Turns out the mice have sent a randsome note AND have been stealing the main family's stuff for a while now. And sadly.. the stress of this combined with the sheer fact four strangers did this to him breaks poor pucky. It won't be the last time he snaps , if the only time literally, but it's notable as one of the few times it's not played for laughs.. entirely

While all the mice play a roll here, the story is really centered around the sisters of the two, Alice and Agnes. Which doe shep keeping them straight as the other tow, violet and natasha, get a full origin story later. Agnes, like puck is the heart of her merry band and wants her sister to please stop this before it gets worse. Alice is determined though and while she denis it Agnes rightly pegs it's having nothing for christmas and wanting to take what she wants and not returns what she gets… if only because what they get is nothing. Violet and Natasha…

Our heroes plot, with Lupin rightly pointing out they get MAYBE two cheese cubes in a week if their lucky, so asking for a cheese wheel was a bit much to begin with, btu they simply use a hollowed out tin to trick them. The fight however dosen't go great: most of the robber mice scatter while Alice shows she's her group's elvis by jabbing the crap out of him with a needle. Thankfullyt his is a family strip so it's just a little ouchy. They do however capture poor little Agnes, but in a show of Puck's character.. he clearly feels terrible about it and Agnes, who like him is the heart of her group, admits this won't FIX things: her sister and sisters from another misters will just attack. Burt then gives his new buddy some very sage advice

PUck goes to free agnes.. only to get attacked by her sisters, with the station held hostage. Thankfully this dosen't last long as while Tommy can't help, and is really only here to set up a heartwarming scene later… Agnes is gone, and Buzzy Mouse is delivered to the statoin. The mice return home and find agnes happily watching Our IX LIves, the strip's in universe cat soap opera. More on that next time…. and she also has a guest.

This is the arc that really defines Baba: in her previous cameo she was just sorta old, grumpy and somehow still adorable, but here we see her role as the wise peacekeeper of the area. She got both sides were just misguided and rightfully guessed things wouldn't desclate unless someone stepped in. Had she not things likely only would've gotten worse. By simply giving each side their friend back, she stopped it. IT shows while she's crotchety.. she prefers peace and diplomacy over biting and hissing. I mean with her fellow animals, with humans it's bite o clock bitches.

She also outlines the flaw in Alice's plan: christmas spirit isn't given by taking and Alice realizes Agnes only got taken in the first place because she was there. Baba encourages the mice to give instead of recive.. and that forgivness dosen't come in the bxo and if you'll excuse me i'm cryin a bit because this is geninely touching.. especially since burt somehow got a camera in the mice's lair, or bugged his grandma. Either one wouldn't suprise me.

So christmas morning comes with all their lost things returned, and the cats in turn gifting the mice the woman's phone to give them a bigger tv and some cheese crackers, while Elvis gifts Natasha a sewing kit, natasha him bandages nad for Lupin a cats cradle. It's a war mmoment capped off with one final bit of swetteness from the mice and cats, now friends

And to take us out we get one final bit of cheer with thomas and sophie, and after sophie has spent the whole time treating Tommy as announace instate d of her brother, roomate and friend.. we get this truly heart melting moment

WIth that christmas is done, and with a few more strips, year 2 is too. As I said it's a year of expansion, with most of the space being dedicated to storylines, and not in a bad way: the four story arcs here really help flesh out the world, allow us to view Tommy's apartment and thus meet sophie. With our main cast mostly solid, with any further changes mostly coming from evolving as time goes on as most great comic strip characters do, Georgia felt free to expand and said expansion , while not as rapid, will continue next time as our station gets an intern. Until then thanks for reading.

[beelovesnct]

𝐛𝐨𝐲𝐬 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩 [𝐞𝐩 𝟐]

— episode 2

The episode continued where it left off, with Defconn's inspection of the various members' bags.

The time came when it was Aiko's turn.

Her bag was a big leather satchel backpack in the color brown. There was a joke asking if she was actually camping, as her bag looked like she was going to stay for more than one night and two days; Aiko brushed off the teasing, stating that what she brought were her essentials, and since some members didn't bring a lot (she side-eyed Jaemin), she was tasked with bringing it for them: this included snacks and hygiene products.

Unto the actual unpacking:

Aiko's bag checking

The first few items that Defconn pulled out were Aiko's essential gadgets: her iPad, her switch, and her phone—together with charging cables and ports that came with them. (In fact, she even brought her own extension chord just in case there weren't enough outlets in the house—the dreamies couldn't stop cackling with the host's bewildered reaction, as it was a very normal scene for all of them).

When asked why she brought so many gadgets, she answered that she has different uses for each one: her iPad for her e-books (and Renjun's canvas whenever he doesn't bring his own iPad, like now), her switch mostly for her games, and her phone for contact and social media purposes.

The next item that caught Defconn's attention was a large gray hoodie, one that looked very comfortable. Aiko admitted that this was her favorite hoodie as of late. Renjun perked up at this, and nudged her, so she ended up confessing that it was a gift from him on her 20th birthday. Renjun had a smug smile on his face then, though it fell the moment Aiko confessed that Jaemin's probably gonna borrow it for the entirety of the show.

Then there came the vital item that wasn't in any of the boys' bags, one that Defconn badly searched for: snacks.

Everyone rejoiced when the snacks were brought out from her bag, when asked about it she stated that "I have really specific taste buds that give me the knack for choosing good snacks, so these people just toss me that responsibility."

There were a few ramen noodles from the best brands, with a few chips and candies as well.

Then Defconn moved on to her hygiene products (which weren't all that interesting except for the excess facial wash that Aiko admitted Jaemin uses). When asked about perfumes, however, Aiko answered that she doesn't use anything specific, and just follows whatever the make-up staff told her to wear (which made Renjun groan out in frustration as he acknowledged that Aiko smelled so good regardless—like a vintage bookstore during winter; Renjun your artistry is showing).

Finally, the host dug into her wallet, which alarmed Aiko. Mark, who was beside her, silently asked if there was anything she didn't want to be revealed then he'd try his best to stop him, but Aiko shook her head with a grateful smile, "No, it's fine, it's just something cheesy." She responded in a whisper, making Mark internally coo as he patted the girl's head (earning a small grunt in return).

Defconn let out a sound of amazement, finding 120,000 won (about 100 dollars) in her wallet. Aiko stated that most of the time, it was her emergency money that was used for the whole group, so she always makes sure to have a lot wherever they went.

They also cooed at the pictures found in the front of her wallet: There's her family picture taken in Osaka, there's the NCT 2018 group picture, and an NCT Dream group picture—the one they took at the beach while shooting for the music video of We Go Up.

"Just, in some way, my wallet is my identity, and I couldn't imagine who I am now without the people in these pictures."

Her sincere confession caused Haechan to lunged at her, cradling her head in his arms as he spouts on about how adorable she was currently being, the other members either laughing or cooing with him.

The bag inspection for every member finally finished.

On the topic of room assignments, all the dreamies raised their hands when asked if they wanted to be paired with Aiko. The reason usually was that she was silent, and she never had a roommate before so it was a nice change of pace.

Since Chenle wasn't there, Aiko ended up rooming with Mark, Jisung, and Renjun; while Jaemin, Haechan, and Jeno roomed together (Haechan whined a lot).

After changing to their uniform, the dreamies went on to eat lunch, telling stories about their trainee days as they did so.

One story was about the foreigners' move to South Korea. They talked about how Chenle didn't know any Korean so having Renjun in the team really helped a lot.

For Aiko, she told everyone that it was Mark that helped her. She explained that when she moved to the country when she was thirteen, she could only speak English and Japanese at that time, hence, Mark was a really great help. (This also revealed to the fans just how their friendship goes all the way back, despite their sometimes lacking on-screen chemistry).

Another story was about Haechan's Kimchi Jiggae, with the dreamies revealing that the reason they made up that day was because of Aiko. It was really either they apologize to Haechan, or the cat-like member would have eaten everything despite not liking spicy food at all.

"Noona was really funny at that time, her face was so red and she was tearing up but her face was still full of Kimchi Jiggae. The staff noonas and hyungs were already scolding her to spit it out, but noona simply ate faster; she told them she wouldn't stop until Haechan hyung comes back." Jisung confessed while trying not to laugh.

"We were scolded, so we had no choice and made up soon after, everyone apologized to each other while Aiko was stuck in the bathroom." Another wave of laughter ensues, though there was a grateful and almost adorning glint in Haechan's eyes.

Defconn then went on to praise the member and asked if she's the peacemaker in the group, to which Aiko vehemently denied. "As you can see, I'm a—, I don't talk a lot so I don't communicate properly either, so that causes misunderstandings sometimes." She shyly confessed despite the resting face she had on.

The episode ended with the usual mental chant, as the dreamies proceeded to the next activity.

[not-ur-normie]

Cristal witches, aka Sasha making headcanons for the world of Eldarya

I have this idea since forever at this point, so I figured it wouldn't hurt a fly to talk about it a little. It comes from years before when I wanted my OC to not be human but some kind of magic creature, so here we go.

English is not my first languange, so I am apologizing in advance.

Note: Throughout the post, the timespan is after the Blue Sacrifice, but I will talk about that too later on.

Who are cristal witches?

Cristal witches are witches who hold power connected to maana.

The bigger maana surronds them, the bigger their powers get

The reason they are called cristal witches is because they can form a connection with the Crystal

They are creatures with big potencial to play big roles in Eldarya, but that is exactly the point where things go wrong

More about witches

Most cristal witches are women, it's really rare when a male is born and inherits magical power, but there are cases when it happens

There were never any worry about them dying out, since the genes are VERY strong

When a male and female cristal witch have a child who is also one, they turn out way stronger then the others who only have one parent being one

Don't get me wrong, one parent makes the kid already strong as it is, but two parents are just a whole new level

Cristal witches all have tattoos, all in different colors. Most of the time the colors don't have anything to do with the powers they can hold, but lighter colors indicate lighter powers, meaning: lighter colors can't use magic that requires bigger maana usage, like black magic, or healing magic

(If you play the game, you sure know the voodoo outfit, I based the tattoos on those tattoos, so you can see the colors if you google it)

Since cristal witches are a heavily mixed community thanks to the overload of women, there are times where kids inherit both of their parents specific genetics

It's rare tho, because of the witch genes mixing up with other races' is not that common

But when it happens, it always gains attention

Cristal witches are not just cristal witches because they are connected to the Crystal, but because they literally have crystals all over their body

These crystals are mostly small ones and has the color of the tattoos

They are really human-like, so if they can hide their tattos and crystals they can perfectly blend in, which did come handy at some point

Their lifespan is about 150-200 years

They are able to open the portal to the human world

(here you can see the children of my OC [Chrystal] and Ezarel, who were lucky enough to inherit both of their parents genes, so they are witches with elf ears.)

How did they live?

Back then cristal witches lived in small communities, mostly small villages, but there where some communities living a full nomad life

Since they live so long, there were not many of them to begin with

These smaller communities lived close to each other way back then, but the nomad communities started to move around after a while

These are highly spiritual communities, especially that they are fully able to communicate with the Oracle if they wish so

They had special type of education, where witches were learning to use basic magic, while non-witches who lived with them learned alchemy

They had strict rules, that everybody needed to follow, they weren't allowed to use their power randomly

They needed to get an approval to use magic that requires more manna than your basic magic, and also to use dangerous or risky magic

If somebody went against this rule more than 5 times, they got their magic taken away

They choose new leader every year, although if a leader was good, they sticked with them and kept on picking them

The leader was not leading alone, although they made the final decisions

There were many smaller position available next to the leader, which are also chosen by the other witches

Overally they are really pieceful, so the conflicts are not that common

Cristal witches are able to do many things with magic, but it takes a lifetime to gain a really controlled power, so older, well-educated witches are highly respected and the leader was chosen from them most of the times

Some really strong witches are even able to bring back people from the death, but only if they're right there when the death happens

The Blue Sacrifice

The reason that Cristal witches were never part of the council that planned out the Sacrifice was that the races forming the council agreed that Eldarya could need them in the future (and they were damned right)

Before the Sacrifice taken place, witches were not that strong than after it happend

I imagine it the way, that once the sacrifice was made, Eldarya alone had more maana than when the two worlds were one and since witches' powers are mostly maana based, it made their powers grow way stronger than before

(I hope this makes sense lol)

Where things went wrong

As I mentioned before, they are creatures with big potential

When the Blue Sacrifice went wrong, the races in Eldarya needed the witches help the most

Almost every community, town, villige, whatever had at least one witch living with them to help out whenever there were high need

The problem is, that there was always high need; as we know Eldarya was in trouble

With the help of the witches it was easier to go for supplies to the human world, although only those communities could do this who had stronger, more experienced witches

There were even witches who were able to cast spells and make the field able to grow some edible plants

And this is exactly where things went terribly wrong

Since cristal witches have a high value, there were many who hunted them or tortured them for their powers

Why? Well, I know all the above reasons would be enough, but there are more to it

Cristal witches' blood is able to make the lifespan of whoever drinks it longer

And not just that, but it can completely function as food, it stops hunger for longer periods of time (weeks, sometimes months, depending on power) and makes the immune system 100% healthy

It was also used for really expensive medication

You know what else is really valuable? The tears of witches.

It can fasten healing and was used for many medication as well as their blood

But only tears that hold heavy emotions count, since the tear drops turn into little crystals

These informations spread real fast after a while and witch hunts became so serious that at one point several communities started to think that it would be better to sacrifice them as well so maybe Eldarya could gain its full balance [the Guard of El also wanted this, just in case you were curious]

Witches would've 100% sacrificed themselfs if they got asked by the time the Blue Sacrfice happend

But after all the terror they went through, their trust was completely broken

They did not want to die for all these selfish folks wanting to murder them, not thinking about their race for a single second

So one day they completely vanished

Nobody knows how exactly, the common guess was that they opened the portal and moved to the human world, giving up on their magic

I mean everything was better than dying for your murderers

After the vanish

Of course, not all of the witches vanished, but the witch communities that lived together

Those who lived in certain places helping out stayed there

Back then the Guard of El had a witch with them too

Sadly, they got scared of her possibly gaining control over the guard, since she was very much loved... So they decided to kill her [yes, they wanted to sacrifice her, and then killed her, way to go]

The last known cristal witch was a male, living with the Fenghuangs, but he died just before The Origins' story starts

But... Are they really all gone?

Okaaaay soooo I bet there are stuff in this which doesn't exactly fit the story and/or I remember incorrectly, but it is what it is.

On the very first art you can see my OC named Chrystal. Well, she arrives to Eldarya the same way Erika did in the original story, the main difference is that she turnes out to be a cristal witch and this fact leaves the guard in a numb shock. Suddenly the only living cristal witch is with them and that is changing their situation entirely.

I am sure I will write down Chrystals story with illustratons and whatnot, but currently I am working on my Moonligh Lovers' OC's illus, so that will take some time.

Anyway, this will have another part, I wanna at least introduce Chrystal so you can see a cristal witch in action, hurray.

Ah, yeah, if there are facts from the game messed up, feel free to tell me, I am not biting. You can also use this idea for your ocs, I don't mind. Hugs<3

[terubakudan]

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi - Book Review and Impressions

(light reflection) Perfect :D Hoping Tumblr doesn't flag me for this xD

Ok, I'm going to start this off with 'this is probably the first and only book review I'm going to do' xD Because I rarely do read books now, and just as rarely buy them. Also, I would have preferred to buy the English version but alas they only had the Chinese version in stock ^^"

Stumbling upon this on the Internet, I was immediately compelled to buy this, as if I knew I would love it and that Nagata's story would resonate with me.

【Short Version】 I can't recommend this book enough, it doesn't matter what sexuality you are or from what culture are you. Nagata makes sure to tell an honest and 'naked' (without embellishments) portrait of her own personal experiences. How she herself is a college drop-out (having only graduated from high school), pushed herself to live/work while struggling with depression and eating disorders, not being sure of what she wants and feeling that she doesn't 'deserve' things, realizing her own sexuality in that she likes girls, and just not feeling 'good enough'...all through her cutesy and unassuming art style.

I will say again though, cutesy art style aside, the book deals with some very heavy topics. Nagata is very honest and doesn't shy away from the gritty details, and I admire her all the more for doing so. Many yaoi and yuri comics often portray an unrealistic and fetishistic view of the LGBTQ+ community whereas Nagata's story is much more grounded and sincere. This is not an easy read, but it's not an overly depressive one either. Nagata literally struggled for years with her mental health, but ultimately found light on the other side. Not mainly through the help of others, but through her own choice to forgive and love herself.

5/5⭐ Definitely recommend and would read again. And if I could, I'd give Nagata a big hug and a heartfelt 'thank you' for sharing her story.

【Long Version】 While it's written primarily from an Asian (particularly Japanese) perspective, Nagata's experiences are ones that should resonate with anyone who has been through the same or similar things, regardless of one's personal background. And I myself, while being fortunate enough to not have gone through eating disorders or self harm, am no exception.

I grew up in an Asian (Taiwanese/Chinese Filipino) household, while my parents weren't Tiger Parents (no offense but fuck Amy Chua for thinking that's a proper way of raising your children), they still had certain expectations on their children: to find a good husband/wife, have a good education, have a 'stable' career, etc. And while I love my parents very much, I'd be lying if I said there weren't any times where I felt they were smothering me, there weren't any times where they kept on nagging and bugging me for very trivial details. My biggest pet peeve: guilt-tripping me just for wanting to spend time alone.

"For me, my parents' opinion of me is absolute." (NOTE: While I won't be providing exact translations of the excerpts I used here, I'll do my best to summarize the gist of them.)

At the same time, I cared very much about their opinion of me. I made it a point to do well in school, to do things according to their wishes, and just like Nagata, I didn't know what I wanted. This even extended to caring about others' opinion of me, more than my own. In my freshman year of college, I 'went along' with being friends with someone, who while was nice to me, turned out to be a manipulative bitch skilled in passive-aggressiveness xD Being half-Taiwanese/half-Filipino, it was hard to fit in since people always treated me differently, it didn't occur to me I could be choosy with friends, I thought as long as they were 'nice' to me, that would do.

Asian culture is largely a collective one, where we define ourselves by our relationships with others, compared with Western culture (primarily America, I'll be using America as a reference point) where individualism is absolute, where you define yourself as you like. In Asia, it's also normal for children to still live in the same house as their parents well into adulthood, compared with Americans who are expected to move out the house once they finish high school or start college, and they're quite literally 'on their own', having to pay their own tuition, rent, etc. Where I live (Taiwan), it's normal for adults to continue relying on their parents financially well until college. Nagata for instance, while saying her parents really make her feel so pressured, is grateful that she still had a home to stay in (and she's 28!).

If you ask me though, neither a collectivist culture or an individualist culture is absolutely good nor bad. Each have their own pros and cons, and both Asian culture and Western culture could learn a thing or two from each other.

After going through quite a few job applications, one of the interviewers tells her "Ganbatte!" (You can do it!) after Nagata tells her what she really wants is to be a manga artist.

And sometimes that's all we need really, a small gesture or kind remark can do wonders. Even if there's no base or reason for it, it's something worth believing in.

I often have doubts if I'm doing what I really want, if I chose the right major for college, if I'm doing the right thing, if I'm 'good enough'. I didn't grow up with much self-esteem as a kid, and often derived my value from others. But even at my lowest times, a 'you're doing ok' was very reassuring to me, be it from family, strangers, or people I care about. Sometimes that's exactly what we need, it may be small but it could be the difference between continuing to wallow in depression or re-evaluating and choosing to be better to oneself.

I find it's really important to know, that however alone you may feel sometimes, there are other people out there going through the exact same thing. It's something universal, and while a lot of things are really unfair in life, each person has their own lot or burden to deal with. I have a Taiwanese friend who, while being more financially well-off than me, has terrible parents. And I mean parents who are quite so literally toxic, unsupportive of her, and would outright say the worst things to their own daughter.

How depression and anxiety can feel sometimes, we can literally feel like it's impossible to breathe and be in a state of disconnection from the world.

"The sounds that invaded my ears occupied my empty brain, making me unable to think at all."

If you only did what your parents asked you to do, wouldn't days like those be very painful? In the end, only you can understand what you really want.

Nagata's art style is one I would describe as simple, cute, and effective. I personally think had her story been drawn in a more serious style, it would have been even harder to read, much less finish. It's also a choice that has artistic appeal to me, serious subject matter juxtaposed with a 'kawaii' art style.

Nagata also depicts very well her mental state and thoughts throughout her struggle and journey to self-actualization. Depression is a really tough thing to deal with, and sometimes we don't even realize that we have it or if we do, refuse to acknowledge it. In Asian cultures especially, mental health has always been something of a taboo subject and there is a very heavy social stigma associated with it. Nagata herself even said that her parents seemingly refused to acknowledge that their daughter's mental health was in a state of distress. In Japan, there is a concept called gaman (我慢), which is described as 'enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity', and while it is portrayed as an ideal virtue that inspires perseverance, it can be a source of heavy pressure for others. Gaman also means that you are expected to suppress whatever emotion or negative feelings you have, often for the sake of others and no matter how tough the situation becomes for you. And while I agree that through gaman you can become more selfless for others, it shouldn't have to come at the expense of your own well-being.

I was quite fortunate to have grown up in a more liberal Asian household, but even when it came to mental health, our family also adopted the same kind of attitude towards it, by carrying on as if nothing was wrong, or just not talking about it. And to be honest, there were numerous times I wished we had been more open about what was bothering ourselves at that time. Talking and being open about your feelings is not a 'weakness' but something incredibly brave to do, and it's my wish for that to slowly become more acceptable in Asian cultures, which I know is kind of a stretch, but it doesn't hurt to hope.

Nagata makes the decision to clean herself up, by taking a bath everyday, habitually exercising, and no longer wearing worn-out clothes.

Depression especially can be a bitch. It deprives you even of your physiological needs, like your need for food. Nagata had to struggle with that on top of eating disorders for a long ten years. She ate so little and even felt that she didn't 'deserve' to eat, and at one point, anorexia became hyperphagia, and she would feel so guilty for eating almost expired/expired food. Things that would otherwise be simple to do also end up becoming difficult/impossible to do, like taking care of your personal hygiene, getting up from bed, doing simple tasks etc.

Thankfully, after Nagata realizes that she never truly 'valued herself', she starts to turn over a new leaf. Even just starting with cleaning herself up, she takes this as a form of 'valuing oneself' and her mood starts to improve, which her family also points out. In the end, taking care of yourself is not a selfish thing to do, it can even make you a better person who is there for others.

Nagata meets up with the female escort she hired, as a means to experience human sexuality, which she had always repressed her curiosity for and treated as a taboo subject. (NOTE: And I'm glad that she met a really nice girl for her first time too!)

Sex and sexuality is also a subject that I feel is hard to talk about sometimes, which I think also owes itself to most Asian cultures being relatively conservative about it. I myself have only recently identified as bisexual, which I attribute to internalized homophobia, not wanting to admit I was into girls too. And to be honest, 'coming out' is something I'm still uncomfortable about, because I don't want to risk my relationship with my family and it's still something I would choose to be selective about with colleagues and friends. I'm grateful though that as crazy the Internet can be sometimes, it can be quite accepting and tolerant towards things that we wouldn't otherwise discuss with even the closest people in our circle. Nagata's memoir ended up capturing the hearts of many readers ever since she first published it on Pixiv.

Exploring your sexuality doesn't have to be scary, it should be something exciting and liberating. Nagata decided to take matters into her own hands, and while the days leading up to the encounter made her really nervous and she even considered not going through with it at all, she willed herself to continue, because she wanted to do this for herself, it would be pointless if she gave up after coming so far in her decision to value herself.

And it's these series of actions that she decided to do that ultimately led to her life turning out for the better, it gave her the courage to do what she always wanted: to be a manga artist, which lead to the publishing of this autobiographical memoir, something she wanted to create that would 'make people want to buy this book' and from her own preference for reading stories that 'speak of secrets people wouldn't want to tell others'.

Nagata mentions what she calls 'honey': something that varies from person to person. It could be your reason for living, that thing that drives/pushes you, or even your sense of belonging. It may not be something permanent, but you can always find yourself a new one. (she mentions the last time she had her 'honey' was during her high school days, and while she has grown apart from the friends she made, she has found her new 'honey' in the form of being a full-time manga artist.)

Nagata stumbles and trips a lot on her way to being a better version of herself, but who doesn't? She admits to things not necessarily being smooth, but at least she's doing better than before. And it's that decision to at least try that counts. We don't have to be perfect, we're all human after all.

TL;DR My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness is a honest, down-to-earth, and ultimately hopeful memoir about the struggles of mental health and learning about one's sexuality. It's an amazing book, and very much worth the buy.

A big thank you if you read through all of this too. I know it's a mess and writing isn't exactly my strong point, but hopefully I've convinced some people out there to give this book a read! Please feel free to share your thoughts and I'd appreciate it very much too if you reblog/like this post.

[the-grub-hub]

Heyyyy~~

Wattup bitches, how's life? Shit? Same sis

Ok seriously i came back because some points weren't clear and didn't get answered,so I'll just do it by points or whatever

Do all trolls have these "grub scars" like all humans have belly buttons or are some different and how?

I still don't understand how names exactly work,how are they different from human names?how are they made? Are they random or just work with their signs?

And also what's the difference between the english language and the troll language if there's any

What kind of food and drinks do trolls eat?i need to know what things they need when they hatch or whatever?

How does troll anatomy work?is there things i should be aware of?and how do trolls express emotions ond actions basically?

Do trolls of different bloods need different ways to be raised?as one needs to sleep in a hotter temperature for that reason,ect?

How do i tell if a troll is psychic? And is there a spectrum of how powerful of a psychic a troll can be?or is it just one psychic one isn't?

What's the difference between normal trolls and mutation ones, especially with their psychic powers and/or the way they look or how their blood can be different?

Anywayz,sry this is so long

- Steve

XOXO with luv

S’ah dude it’s Kazabe

You asked in points so I’ll answer with points

Yes, all trolls have grubscars, they’re the same color as their blood

On Alternia trolls have six-letter first names and last names. There’s basically no system and it doesn’t correspond to anything. Your kid also doesn’t need to have a six-letter name. If you want your kid’s name to mean something, that is always valid. You can also name them Sloomple or Fuckwad or some shit. Doesn’t matter.

Honestly dude the troll language is just the font Oblivion upside down and backwards. Don’t ask me how I know that. Also your kids won’t know how to speak it if they didn’t grow up around it.

There’s really not a lot of difference between the troll diet and the human diet. Uhhhh just a sec...okay so Luxane says that after they come out of their cocoons they will need food, a bath, some clothes, and LOTS of rest. Busting out of that shit is really hard. She also says that their first meal should have lots of protein? So like...nuts and meat and shit.

Trolls and humans share a lot of the same anatomy. Just think of your kids as humans, but with stronger bones and sharper teeth. Also your violet kid is gonna have gills on their neck and fins around their ears but that’s about it. About expressing emotions, trolls hiss when angry or upset. Other than that it’s basically just the same bullshit that humans do...we have the same expressions and we cry and stuff. (We do cry in our blood color for some fuckshit reason that I couldn’t tell you)

So, the kids closer to the red and green end of the spectrum will be weaker, less violent, and more...breakable than the ones closer to the blue and purple end of the spectrum. Trolls closer to red and green also have hotter body temperatures, which means that they will get cold easier. Your Violet kid will be much happier and healthier with access to water, but they don’t, like...need it to live. They have lungs and stuff. And they’re also so high up on the blood spectrum that they’ll live for a stupidly long time anyway. These are the differences you can expect - but it’s going to be really important that you love them all equally.

Only a few of the troll castes are even capable of being psychic. I know Luxane posted this whole Guide to the Hemospectrum, so if you’re curious about any of your kids, you can look under their blood color. But I’ll give you a quick rundown of what the typical power sets are anyway: BURGUNDY trolls are telekinetic, BRONZE trolls can commune with animals, GOLD trolls can do a fuck ton of weird shit but mostly just blast things and throw shit around, LIME trolls can sense, manipulate and soothe emotions, CERULEAN trolls can read minds and, in more extreme cases, control people, and PURPLE trolls can hypnotize and influence people, usually through dreams. Also, yes, some trolls are more powerful than others. I know you have a Lime baby and a Cerulean baby, so I’ll let you know that weaker Limes can only soothe emotions without being able to, like, sense them, and weaker Ceruleans are only able to read minds without controlling them. Also you know your kid’s psychic when they start using their powers, that’s about all I can tell you.

Uhhhhhhhhhh honestly the whole, like, definition of a mutation is that they’re pretty rare and unique. Sometimes you’ll get a weird blood color, sometimes you’ll get an extra eye, sometimes you’ll get wings...most of the time you can tell before they like...cocoon up. So I don’t really know what to tell you. Also, most mutations are caste-common. Only Golds can get voidrot, only Jades can become vampires, yada yada yada. I wouldn’t worry about it.

Anyway, hope this helped! Also life kinda has been shit over here so, like. Thanks.

Uh I hope that this was clear and that it helped. I asked Luxane for help on some stuff and everything. But she was kind of busy so...

Let me know if you have any follow-up questions, answering this shit gives me something to do lmao

[lokaneiscanon]

Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder rant

Seeing Natalie Portman returning to reprise her role as Jane Foster, nevertheless wielding Mjolnir, finally getting the treatment this character deserves, was surreal to say the least. I had just started reading Lords of Midgard, the 8th issue of Mighty Thor (2015 - 2018), and had fallen in love already. But I didn't suspect at all that Taika Waititi would pull this card in Thor: Love and Thunder, considering Jane was barely mentioned in Ragnarok. The news about my favorite actress portraying one of my favorite characters coming out of the blue - you can imagine the excitement. Alas, I quickly remembered what the fandom thought of that comic (at least on tumblr) and imagined it now growing tenfold, cuz not everyone in the MCU fandom reads comics but pretty much everyone wants to watch another Thor movie. And yes, many fans weren't ready for this step, still recovering from Sam Wilson getting the shield in Endgame. Which is completely fine. We're not obligated to like everything Marvel throws in our faces, we're allowed to criticize and express our opinion on the internet or wherever. What is not okay is mindlessly hating, and even worse - using false facts to support said opinion.

I have seen some people using the argument that it is one of Marvel's worst selling comics. Which has already been proven wrong by multiple sites, including Comichron, just Google it, as I did myself. I read multiple posts, ones saying how good Jane is doing as Thor in sales, others disproving this, so I checked for myself the numbers at the site mentioned above month by month to be sure. The comic truly had its downfalls as the story progressed but in my opinion it's normal for the 1st issue to have more sales than the 21st. If we compare it to Unworthy Thor, which started running a bit later and followed the now unworthy Odinson, the data shows the latter had more sales. But then again, while Might Thor was at its 17th issue, Unworthy Thor was at its 2nd. Also, they later crossed paths, shared comic issues, it's fair to say they go hand in hand and Jason Aaron, the author, probably doesn't want us to compare them, as they complete and compliment each other's stories. Still I decided to check the comic that made Thor unworthy in the first place - Thor: God of Thunder (2012 - 2014), which seemed to me more "comparable" to Might Thor (2015 - 2018). *I keep putting the years it was being released so as to not be confused with previous Mighty Thor issues, whole Odinson was still Thor, please bear with me* So yes, the numbers were pretty close, but from what I saw, Mighty Thor had the upper hand if we compare first issue to first issue and so on. (In defense of Odinson, we have to take into account that this data is only from the US and does not include digital sales. Also, he's been around since the 50s. We could argue Jane was a breath of fresh air that some Marvel fans were indeed ready for. As a non-American, and also a person without a hint of knowledge in economics I cannot take into account inflation and whatever else has prevented or enabled Americans to get their hands on the comics or has affected prizes through the years. Bear that in mind.) Moreover, from what I saw on Comichron, both comics had much competition - God of thunder was released along with Avengers vs the X-men, the Uncanny X-men, pretty popular at the time, and the Goddess of Thunder faced Civil War 2 and DC Universe Rebirth (yes, DC is in the game too), also dominating with tremendous sales for the longest time. Yet I stick with my original statement - both Thors are valid and shouldn't be put against one another regardless of profit. Because at the end of the day what will matter the most is the story. And boy, what a story it is.

Now, I haven't read the Thor: God of Thunder, but as I was doing research I found one very well written summary and explanation of Thor's arc and his becoming unworthy and I will post a link below, because I honestly feel I wouldn't be doing this comic a favor by describing it without having read it. Which I plan to do in the future, tbh. It's a fantastic prelude to the Mighty Thor (2015 - 2018) that I've come to love. First, I'd like to ask you all to stop hating on the comic without having read it first. It doesn't make any sense and being petty for the sake of being petty won't benefit neither you, nor anyone, really. Now, about the comic itself - the art is magnificent. It's just gorgeous. Mighty Thor isn't , thank all the gods, sexualized, she is pretty buffed and generally looks like a warrior. As it is with the other characters, I dare say. The background truly captures the essence of every world Jane finds herself on. Action scenes are just the right amount and balanced with dialogue well. On a side note, it's pretty funny to read/listen to in your head the Shakespearean English cursive in which Jane talks as Thor. The plot line branches beyond this comic, starting from Thor: God of Thunder and leading to the War of Realms. And it is elaborately built in every issue. You don't know what to expect, yet it makes sense when it happens. Which leads me to the characterizations. My God, what a treat Loki is in this. Clearly, my opinion is kinda biased, since he's my favorite character, but you never know which side he's on. What his motivations are. And it just feels so... Loki. His writing is brilliant. Almost makes me forget what the MCU did to him. Also, he gets some daddy time with Laufey (not as kinky as I make it sound). Frigga/Freyja is just as awesome as in the MCU, even more, at least in the comics she calls Odin out on his shit, who btw is I guess an asshole in every version and universe. Malekith, the main villain, is unbearably despicable, I want to tear every page he is on. He really was mishandled in the Dark World, if you want some true action with the dark elves, you are welcome to enjoy. I saved the best for the end - Jane Foster/ Might Thor. Now, if you think Dr. Foster spends her time boasting about her worthiness and how Odinson is just called Thor, but she is Mighty Thor, you are horribly wrong. She just... does her job. Because the hammer chose her. Because there's no one else to do so. That's it. If you think there's some feminism involved, yes, there sure is, but it certainly isn't the reason Jane became Thor in the first place. It was not the creators going SJW because it's trendy, as such a mindset is honestly offensive to any descent creator with any self respect, but a well thought out story arc, which, I repeat, you have to read the comic to understand. Jane is not at all whiny about the hate she gets in-universe, not only from foes like Odin and who-not, but from Shield and generally people whose asses she's saving. Her having cancer is not something they pulled to provoke sympathy and make her look like a victim - on the contrary, she is a damn hero and a victor. I don't want to give out spoilers, but her being Thor is actually a giant sacrifice that no one really appreciates (both in-universe and in the fandom). She is not Thor to prove she can be, or just to prove "women can be heroes" - she doesn't have to. She is simply needed by the realms and so she does her job, even though she is called a thief, persecuted and generally hated. All that matters is that the hammer finds her worthy - the beauty and simplicity of that fact you will find out, for the last time, if you read the comic.

I'm not making you read the comic or watch Thor: Love and Thunder. I myself don't know what to make of this film yet because there's barely any information about it. I only know it will be based on the comic so that's a reason for my hopes to be up already. On the other hand, since I didn't like Loki's characterization in Ragnarok, I'm not sure what to expect from Taika. There are valid reasons to not like the idea of Jane returning to the MCU as Thor, which you are entitled to. However, reasons such as "why does everything have to be political these days" are not. Because if I had to make a list of everything politically related in the MCU, it would take forever. Steve Rogers kills nazis is the most blatant example. Make of it what you want. But I think we're far enough into the 21st century to realize art and real life are not that separable. It's undeniable that art affects people and that is to say, people everywhere. And they all have different opinions and aren't gonna like everything media is offering to them. And I wish I could simply tell you not to watch the movie but I'm a Marvel fan too and I understand that I can't just take away Thor from you because I want Mighty Thor as well. But none of us can stop Marvel from producing it. So, to quote an image I saw recently, I don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people. Let the rest of the fandom enjoy what they want to enjoy. Yes, ik I can play around with the tags and avoid posts that unnerve me but, for example, I'm looking up Mighty Thor fanart, which obviously isn't anti-Mighty Thor, yet I get attacked in the comics for anticipating a movie that doesn't even have a full cast yet. Ik I'm not asking for too much when I wish to get the same internet experience (not only tumblr, but also insta, YouTube, Twitter, any site) as the Thor Odison fans, for example. I'm aware I cannot stop all the toxic fans and the trolls but I hope this post has inspired those of you who simply can't envision Jane as Thor, or don't like Natalie Portman in the role, or whatever eles personal preference that doesn't involve political issues and isn't harmful to the community, not to attack every post on your dash with hate. The movie is called LOVE and Thunder, for God's sake. (on a side note, is a franchise that is too afraid to show LGBT characters for more than 1 minute so as to not lose profit from China, THAT politically correct)

Anyway, that was a veeeery long rant, sorry to whoever reads this but, like, please, I put effort into this, hoping this time around I won't be the only positive reviewer of a movie, like I was with Solo: a Star Wars story (yes, I'm still bitter about this), which was boycotted for no apparent reason but was a decent film in reality, and I'm only bringing it up because it has a similar experience to Love and Thunder for getting hate before even being released. I'm not defending a billion dollar company that flopped in box office once, I'm defending the viewer's right to media they are interested in. If you don't like the character, remember - that's your opinion, not a fact that the character sucks. Kudos.

Not very easy to navigate, I advice you to do the research month by month individually for comics you'd like to compare. Also, if you happen to find more reliable data, pls say so in the comments.

Here you have the summary and explanation of the greatness of Thor: God of Thunder, Jesus, I'll go bankrupt if I buy this one too.

Yes, I want to end the sales dispute once and for all, I'm tired of seeing it on my dash. This guy probably explains it better than I did.

@awesomejenlawrence you said you'd like to read this and I delivered

[zealoptics]

Journey South: A Loco Chile Adventure

Words by Summer Fenton

Images by Summer Fenton and @vivachile

“Traveling isn't always as easy or glamorous as it sounds or looks. Sometimes it’s challenging, and you're put in situations that break your cool. But it’s all good because that’s part of the thrilling adventure, unforgettable memories and experience of the journey.” 

As I took my last steps on American soil to board my flight to the southern hemisphere, I couldn't help but feel the traveling jitters as I embarked my first journey to Chile. I finally got the opportunity to check it off my bucket list of places to snowboard. The terrain looked like a snowboarder’s dream- so many endless opportunities. Without the World Cup event happening in New Zealand this year, I realized this was the perfect moment to ride and explore a different country. But don’t worry New Zealand; I will be back in a heartbeat. A lot of people asked me “where are you snowboarding in Chile? or “what are your plans down there?” And honestly, I had NO idea. I knew two things: I’d be filming with Powanoia members Fancy and Christine for the last bit of our movie project (coming this October) and that we would be cat boarding at Ski Arpa with Steep-N-Deep Tours  the day after I arrived. We were on a mission to chase the snow and let it flow; little did we know that we were about to hop on a crazy ride with lots of bumps along the way.

It all started to feel surreal as I packed my backpack for the upcoming day with avalanche gear and snowboarding essentials. I felt so lucky to be cat boarding at Ski Arpa, a private mountain in the shadows of Aconcagua Mountain (highest mountain in the Americas) on my first day back on the board. Our friend, Ian, told us that our fifteen-passenger van would be the biggest vehicle to ever drive up the Ski Arpa road. I didn't realize how serious he was until I saw the extremely narrow dirt road leading up to the mountain. There were no guard rails and barely enough room to make the switchback turns with this massive van. With each turn it was a huge drop off. Our van struggled to make it up this road and at some points we didn't have enough momentum to go up anymore, so we would have to roll back down the road in hopes of getting enough momentum to make the turn. The smell of the clutch burned my nose, and I squeezed my crystals for protection. Every time we rolled back it felt like we wouldn't brake in time and just slide off the road and tumble down.I kept my eyes closed for the majority of the ride until someone said, “we made it!” I was so relieved that I didn't die on my second day in Chile.  Instead, I got to ride a private mountain with open, long runs with five of my friends and the luxury of getting cat rides up to the top. The bumpy, nerve-wrecking drive was SO worth it!

Photo: @vivachile || From left to right, Monica, Christine, Fancy & Summer (Me) 

A snowstorm closed down the roads to Portillo (mountain resort) so we decided that our next best move was to get that fresh powder. From opening to closing, it was a blue bird, powder day where we found fun wind lips and scored a lake run just as the ropes dropped. As I was on the narrow traverse next to the lake, I couldn't help but feel so grateful for this moment and this view.  

Photo: @vivachile || Rider: Summer (Me) enjoying Portillo

But it was time get moving to pick up our filmer Keith who had just flown in and picked up the rental car for us. It would finally be time to start filming for Powanoia! Within ten minutes of meeting up with Keith, putting our bags in the car, getting stoked to film for the movie and going inside the gas station to use the free Wi-Fi to book an Airbnb for the night, the security guard at the gas station tapped on our shoulders. We had no idea what he was saying because none of us spoke Spanish. After some hand motions and following him out the door, we saw the tragedy. Our rental car windows were smashed in and Keith and Fancy got $10,000 worth of belongings stolen. Frickity frick!! This is not how I pictured the trip going.

After a couple days of helping our friends with police reports, translation issues, insurance calls, and embassy runs, I was itching to ride. It was hard explaining such a devastating situation to my family back home when I really wanted to tell them about our rides & adventures. My expectations for the trip were to ride & film but we were running back & forth between the airport terminal, hotel, and embassy. In hindsight, I realize that it was most important to put my expectations aside temporarily to be there for Fancy & Keith even though there wasn't much Christine and I could do to help Fancy and Keith with their stolen goods.

We were handed a pretty challenging situation, and I knew the only way to make this situation better was to get back on my board and ride it out. Christine and I headed to La Parva, about 45 minutes outside of Santiago with our amigo Pedro, while Fancy and Keith went to the black market in search of their stolen belongings (they were able to recover half of what they’d gotten stolen!). When we got to La Parva there was still snow left over from the last storm. We decided that we should hike up and ride a steep chute called La Chiminea. I’ve never ridden a chute before, so I was up for the challenge. As the adrenaline pumped through my veins, I felt readier than ever to drop. The entry to the chute was a sketchy drop off where you had to hold onto a ski pole to get down to the starting platform. Once you got on the platform, there is no turning back – only moving forward. It was a steep, icy ride, but I was all smiles at the end of the chute. It was so rewarding after being cooped up inside the previous couple of days. La Parva gave me hope and reminded me to live in the moment. I accepted the situation I was in and what I couldn't control. Nothing was going to ruin the trip.

Photos: @vivachile ||Top: Summer (me) slashing the wave. Bottom: La Chiminea  

When we got back from La Parva, Fancy and Keith said that they would be heading out on the next flight to the U.S.. I was bummed to hear my friends were leaving, but I understood that they wanted to get home. Christine and I thought hard about if we should stay or go since we weren't going to film like we had hoped.

After weighing our options, we figured we were already there, so we shouldn’t give up on beautiful Chile and just make the best of our remaining days. We came to Chile for one reason and that was to snowboard so the Chilean adventure must go on! We spontaneously took a 10hr overnight bus south to the lovely town of Pucon, and there just so happened to be a storm hitting Villarrica (active volcano). When we got off the bus at 7am, we dragged our board bags down the road to the cutest hostel called Chili Kiwi. The smell of the overnight bus on our clothes, our sweat covered bodies and sore hands from carrying our heavy board bags probably gave the impression we were transients, but we didn’t care – we just wanted to explore and ride Villarrica. 

We quickly threw our belongings into our hobbit hole room and walked 10 minutes up the road to start hitch hiking up to the volcano which was pretty exciting because Christine and I had never hitched hiked before. We stuck out our thumbs and waited but no one was picking us up. Finally, this lady in a tiny car stopped for us. She didn't speak English, and we didn't speak Spanish but we tried our best to communicate with her. We assumed she was going to take us up to Villarrica because we had our boards but instead she dropped us off on the side of the dirt road very far from the mountain resort. We looked around and everything around us was closed and there was no one to be seen. We saw a sign that told us it would take us about an hour to walk through the lava fields and dirt road. We were about to start walking down the hill when these three old men gave us the peace sign, picked us up and brought us to the mountain. They didn't speak English either, but we were somehow all still laughing and smiling the whole drive up. It might have been because Christine and I had the biggest old dude, with his massive fur coat, sit in between us. 

Summer (Me) trying out this hitch-hiking thing

When we got to the resort, it was extremely flat light, snowy and we couldn't see the top of the volcano. We were one of the five cars in the parking lot, but we just laughed it off. At least now we know how to get to the mountain. We decided to get a ride back down with our three new amigos, since we weren't sure who else would be able to bring us down. We realized that hitch hiking is great but maybe not the most convenient for us, especially when there’s a language barrier. 

After our long travel day, I was able to get in contact with Pucon locals, Tomas and Pato, over social media so that Christine and I would have a better plan for the next day. In the morning, Tomas picked us up from our hostel to bring us to the volcano, so we could ride the powder we weren't able to see the day before. Pato hooked us up with lift tickets for our time in Pucon – Thank you Pato for your generosity! When we got to the bottom of the volcano to pick up our lift tickets, we realized we only got one. Our friend Tomas said, “two for one.” We were a little skeptical but went along with it. Every time we would have to show our lift ticket to the lift operator, we would shrug and say “dos por uno.” The lift operators were confused just like we were, but it worked! We linked up with Pato later on in the day, and he showed us all the fun, natural terrain Pucon had to offer, like gullies and wind lips. With it just being Christine and I, the natural terrain made it easier for us to build a quick feature.Our time in Pucon was pure bliss; starting from the kind people to the great snowboarding terrain. I wish I had more time to stay in this small lake town overlooking the snowcapped Villarrica volcano, but it was time to head home and get back to work.

Chile was quite the adventure from almost missing every overnight bus (there are too many terminals), lugging board bags on the overcrowded subway, getting electrocuted by my adapter twice (taking the power out of half of the hostel), to Christine breaking seven, full wine bottles and getting our car broken into. Speaking Spanish would have been helpful, but hey, at least I got to ride, get creative with the natural terrain that the volcanoes and mountains had to offer, and I could order empanadas and menu del dias. It might have not been the trip I initially had in mind but shit happens and plans change. You have to make the best of the situations that you can’t control and give the universe permission to fill the empty space with magical opportunities and experiences. There were a lot of lessons learned along the way, and I felt that I really grew as a traveler from this trip. Till next time Chile! Chao!

Click to check out the recap video!