#BLJ anyone?

[chycoin]

HUGE SPOILER AHEAD!!!

Watch “TRASH FRIENDS” before reading. If you haven’t watched it and still read this, pls don’t say I didn’t warn you 🫠👍

Just watched “TRASH FRIENDS” and the thumbnail really made me think this was going to be an episode focusing on the way Mario has been treated by Smg4 and his friends (at least that’s how I see it) but I wasn’t expecting an episode about Smg3’s insecurities and fears (mostly insecurities)

I really was caught lacking because I was expecting something and I got the opposite lmao. I should be familiar with this guy’s content already and know that the only thing expected from these episodes is the unexpected xD, but anyways back to talking about the video.

In previous episodes we see that he gets a little bit of customers such as in the episode “You used to be cool” and “CEO OF RIZZ” but in this last mentioned episode he tries to advertise his café after Boopkins’s date works out in the end and so does the same in “SMG4’s NEWS.”

At first you think “Maybe he wants more than what he has” but after watching this episode you realize he’s actually struggling with his business and last weeks episode you change your view from his actions and see him as more desperate rather than greedy after watching this latest ep.

Constantly trying to get more people into his café and taking every single chance he can see to advertise no matter the place or time, like life depends on it.

And talking about chances ._.xD

(This goober losing the video to a basketball, I’m dead😭)

Smg4 comes to this guy’s café for his help to get his “Michael Jordan Endorsement Video” back because boi lost it and he wants Smg3’s help because their “FRIENDS”

Of course Smg3 saw this as a chance to advertise his café because HOLY SHIT MICHAEL JORDAD!!! A famous basketball player that anyone would want to have the chance to meet and that’s a chance that Smg3 is willing to take because it means his business would BLOW UP *someone throws them a chair*

Btw when Mario shows up to offer his help, I expected Smg4 to be more happy that he has his avatar buddy always trying to help him but instead…

Don’t get me wrong, I know they got a little weirded out about the fact that Mario is a regular around the Junkyard due to him eating at that location but still, that dialogue still sort of hurt me man qwp

But anyways back to my review of this episode and giving my acoustic povs that nobody asked for.

They arrive at the junkyard and after being there for 5 seconds, they find the legendary pokemon that goes by the name of “Michael Jordan Endorsement Video” (sorry for my weak ass jokes, I just woke up and my humor is a little broken rn)

After having the video on sight, Mario pulls a Yoshi and beats the crap out of the spaghetti plate where the video so happened to land on, in one go. Obviously, causing the other two to try and force the USB out of him but both failed as Mario did a BLJ through the trash and forcing 3 & 4 to dig through everything to find him.

Now… the part I was dying to talk about and hopefully I can let out my thoughts the proper way.

As the two spend an entire evening just digging through trash, they start a friendly conversation until Smg4 touches the Smg3’s CnB topic which causes Smg3 to get nervous and lie about everything being fine because he has something that every human being has unfortunately, ✨I N S E C U R I T I E S✨.

Which I understand because bruh, 3’s been seen as a bad copy of 4 who’s the total opposite of him for a good piece of his life, if not his ENTIRE existence and now that’s he’s going through a change in his life for the better, he’s going to face a lot of these insecurity episodes because he’s so used to being seen as the bad guy, the bad copy, The Villain. Always people seeing what 4 does and never looking what 3 does which got him into that dark path.

Is like the Sun and the Moon kind of thing. The Sun (Smg4) can shine the brightest while the moon (Smg3) is just a floating rock shining the least. I’ll bring this up again at the end of the review.

But yeah, Smg3 has insecurities and is more shown when they reach the entrance of Mario’s hiding spot.

-Part 2 🫠👍-

[fainthedcherry]

(Heads up I've taken this vegeta edit from this reddit post (CLICK ME / TAP ME, I did NOT draw or edit him myself LOL))

I HAD A LOT OF FUN PLAYING SM64 CO-OP WITH MY FRIENDS LAST WEEKEND. My friend Katsu was the only competent SM64 player, whilst Kobra and I fked around, and then we started moon-kicking each other and trying to figure out, how to do the BLJ KLDFGLÖFDHG

I MADE MY TOAD A LIL SPOOKI CREACHER. I LOVE HIM. HE'S MY SON. My friends tho were were the ones, with fancy mod-models LMFAO (HE. BELOW.)

We also played hide and seek. Let me tell you, I am the WORST seeker. They won SO EASILY against me man, FR 😂😭

Thought I'd share this silly doodle, bc I love meme-posting, in between grinding down my serious, owed art!!! (That doodle took me 10 mins FYI so no valuable time was spent on this)

Btw Dire Dire Docks was HELL on earth, the one sm64 level I WANTED to play, and its stilted controls were so finger-breaking, I am so sad, that keyboard controls make playing games so hard sometimes. SM64 and ASBR most definitely are bad-control-w/-keyboard candidates (understandably so, both are console games ofc)💀

BUT YEAH. I HOPE THIS AT LEAST MAKES ANYONE LAUGH LIKE WE DID. I fulfilled my purpose, by delighting my friends with this, so I hope, that I can do so for anyone else. :)

(Lmk if I have some mismatched/wrong tags if anything, again, I suck at tagging my art dfgkldfkld)

[plasticsandwich]

does anyone else read BLJs as backwards long jobs

[mvssmallow]

Bloodline, Part VIII

Previous Chapters Soundtrack: The Hills 

He probably should’ve known by the way his skin itched. There’s a looming chaos in the distance. 

He’s escorting Mrs Lee, his 87 year old osteoporotic patient, out his clinic room when his neck itches. Just as his fingers reached up to scratch it, he notices the blurry blob of gray through the window panel of the clinic’s back door and well, shit, his stomach just drops. 

He pauses to mentally thank every God out there that his consult room is right out the back and the closest one to the exits. Hardly any of the staff bother to venture this far, which means it’s easier to smuggle Alleged Criminals in and out without being seen. 

Not that he’s thinking of doing that again but still, he’s grateful for the location. 

None of that gratefulness does anything to stop that rush of adrenaline, tinged with both hopeful anticipation and panicked dread. He’s not prepared for this. 

But when is he ever?

There’s a haze of smoke and where there’s smoke, there’s fire. In the back of his mind, that old clichéd saying floats around, mocking him with its cloying melodrama. 

Smoke. Fire. Jiwon. 

Yeah, that’s sounds about right. 

“You can’t smoke here”. 

So many things to say and that’s what comes out. It’s what his arrogance, ego and pride lets him say. Self Preservation wraps around him like a suit of armour because maybe he’s not prepared for this whole conversation but he will damm well make sure that he’s not gonna walk away with another wound this time. 

He sees Jiwon’s smile, downright feels it hitting his gut, before he sees the rest of his face, which remains shrouded in the gray fabric of one of those oversized hoodies that’s somehow too familiar by now.

“Gonna call the cops?”

Don’t take the bait, Hanbin. Don’t play with this. You’re a goddam professional remember? He knows he’s glaring pointedly while his head screams loudly at him but still, it can’t drown out the involuntary stuttering of his logic or the way he just wants to shake Jiwon’s shoulders and ask him where the hell he’s been for the last 3 weeks or how he still finds Jiwon’s presence so intoxicating in the all the best and worst ways...

“What?” Jiwon asks with a smirk, taking a slow drag of his cigarette before blowing the smoke towards the sky. “Smoking a crime now?”

Gathering whatever frayed nerves he has left, he feels his arms crossing over his body in a move he knows is defensive. “Not if you put that out.”

Another smile; wide, knowing, amused. Like this was playing out just as expected. 

There’s no protest though, just the stupidly arrogant roll of broad shoulders and crack of a neck as Jiwon snuffs the almost new cigarette against the wall of the clinic. It leaves behind ashy specks of grey that float to the ground like dead snowflakes and his eyes follow them for a moment before looking back up and locking straight into the fire of Jiwon’s eyes. 

He really wants to punch that smirk off his face. Stitches and scars be dammed.

“What are you doing here?” 

And just like that, the arrogance slides right off the face in front of him. He really should’ve known. The pit of ‘badness’ in his gut is rarely wrong.

“Just wanted to ask you a question.” Jiwon looks somewhere off into the distance and shrugs, the action could’ve been interpreted as casual or uncaring but Hanbin dares to let himself think otherwise, as stupid as that is. 

“Okay?” He says warily.

“The antibiotics you gave me didn’t really work. They did shit all actually.” 

Oh. This is about medicine. Of course it is. Why else would Jiwon be here?

“Are you still sick? I could-”

“It’s not me.” Jiwon interrupts harshly. “They weren’t for me.” 

There’s a frustrated grumble that he really doesn’t expect and a grimace that he does. The words are ground out of Jiwon’s mouth so emphatically and miserably, as though they’re taking a whole lot of effort and sacrificed pride. 

He immediately thinks of the worst things because negativity is his preferred mode these days. Maybe it’s Jiun. Maybe it’s a friend. Maybe it’s that girl-

“It’s my mum.”

Shit. 

That’s even worse. 

It’s probably comical really, how stupid and dumbfounded he looks with his mouth open, poised to say something that he can’t quite decide on. But just then, the clinic’s back door clicks open behind him and every muscle in his body tenses into hot panic. Jiwon takes a step backwards, hand suddenly reaching for something in his hoodie pocket, posture locked and loaded, ready to either fight or leave. 

Shit. 

“Er, Dr. Kim? Could I have a word?”

Jin. 

Relief floods through him in an exhilarating rush. Okay. It’s just Jin. He can deal with Jin. Maybe.

“Sure. Of course.” He replies, keeping his voice as civil and neutral as possible. 

Jin shoots him an equally neutral expression, nodding once before ducking back inside and closing the door. 

Letting out a loud sigh, he turns to Jiwon with an apologetic look. “Give me a minute? I’ll be back.” 

Jiwon’s gone back into Evasive-Mode again; his eyes dark and dead, his face an unreadable blank slate, his posture staying tense, even the hand in his hoodie stays there, seemingly unable to relax or let down its guard. 

“Jiwon?” 

Shutters boarded up, head already shaking, body already moving away. This is all too familiar. No no no, not again. 

“Jiwon? Can you wait a few minutes?.”

“Nah, it’s okay. I’ll come back later. I gotta go pick up Jiun anyway.”

His watch tells him it’s 1230pm. School doesn’t finish until 3pm. So now they’re back to lying to each other again. It’s just so stupid and futile. Every conversation just goes round and round, like a dog chasing its tail or water circling down a drain. He wonders why it’s only him that’s getting frustrated by this. 

“I’ll only be a few minutes. Please....just wait.” He huffs out, tone accidentally more irritated than he intended it to be. Jiwon opens his mouth, probably to protest, but no, he’s not going to wait to hear it today. 

“For God’s sake, not everything is about you okay? Think of your mum and just wait for me! You came all his way, you can wait for 5 minutes!” 

Shit. Too far, Hanbin. Too far. There goes his professionalism. 

There’s a brief glaring-contest. Fire meets Fire again. But then, the last thing he expects to happen actually happens; Jiwon shakes his head, shrugs like he doesn’t give a shit and sits back down on the steps in silence. 

“Thank you.” He sighs in annoyance.

“Whatever.” Jiwon mutters, quietly but equally annoyed. 

He turns quickly, making his way inside before anything else happens.

“Are you seriously right now?!” The corridors are empty but Jin appears out of nowhere to hiss at him as soon as the back door clicks shut. “What the hell is he even doing here in the middle of the day?! Donghyuk is in his office! He could’ve seen you!”

A painful grip closes over his elbow as Jin drags him into his consult room and shuts the door. 

“Before you say anything-”

“Oh no! Don’t start with me! I’m talking first!” Jin interrupts, face livid with disapproval. “Deal with whatever he wants fast. He can’t be seen here and you’ve got three people waiting for consults. You are not fucking up your career and job for him. You’re not. Okay? I’ve seen this shit before and it never ends well. They’re all the same, Hanbin. You know this. Stop thinking with your dick on this one.”

He flushes with both embarrassment and indignation. “That is not what I’m doing!”

Jin just rolls his eyes and fixes him with a terrifying parental glare. “I’ll stall the clinic for 5 more minutes but after that, you’re on your own. Fix whatever he wants then tell him to fuck off or come back at 6 when everyone else has gone. I swear to god Hanbin, he’s doing this shit on purpose to piss us off. Since when has he ever come here early anyway? I swear to GOD!”

Jin yanks the door open, still ranting under his breath as he makes his way back out towards the front of the clinic. 

He rubs his eyes tired, willing his heart to slow down and his nervous system to chill the hell out. None of that actually happens. 

He half expects Jiwon be gone by no, there he is, still sitting on the back steps of the clinic and staring into the parking lot with a hypervigilant look on his face. 

“He yell at you?” It comes out gruff but oddly sympathetic. 

“Something like that.” He replies in resignation. “Listen. I need to get back to work but what do you need me to do for your mum? If she’s not well, I can see her here for an appointment? After hours if you want.”

Jiwon shakes his head. “She can’t leave the house. She’ll freak out.”

He doesn’t do house visits, especially not in this part of town but....

“Do you want me to see her at home?” It’s blurted out before he can stop it.

“No.”

“Then what?” He pushes, tired and anxious about the minutes ticking by. 

“I don’t know! Isn’t there anything you can give her? She’s coughing every fucking night and Jiun can’t sleep so he turns the TV on full blast, which means nobody is sleeping either so he’s missed three days of school and I can’t keep babysitting him instead of working.” 

For a moment, Jiwon sounds like a normal guy just trying to do his best for his family in the face of a bad situation. It’s so raw and honest and endearing that something thaws inside him. The coiled ball of irritation in his gut unravels in one fell swoop. Jiwon is just a guy. Like any other guy. 

Just a guy. 

But stupid, stupid, stubborn guy who might be good at killing and crime or whatever else they accuse him of but he’s useless with everything else. Hanbin doesn’t fully trust him, he’s still on edge and doesn’t feel completely safe yet but the dark shadows of worry that flashes across Jiwon’s face, for barely a second, is just enough to help him make his decision. 

He takes a pen and piece of crumpled paper out of his coat pocket and holds them out in front of Jiwon’s shocked expression. 

“What?”

“Write down where she is.”

“What? No. You’re not-”

“I’m not asking. Just do it. I have to get back to work.” He drops the items into Jiwons hands and wills his legs not to shake too much. This is so unprofessional. You’re an idiot Hanbin. 

Jiwon looks down at the pen and paper before standing up and making to give them back. “Look, I get you wanna help or whatever but I think she just needs some different tablets-”

“And you’re not a doctor.” He interrupts bluntly, folding his arms across his chest to stop them from trembling. “If you didn’t want help then you shouldn’t have come. So what’s it gonna be? Write it down or just leave Jiwon. I’m not standing here arguing with you all day.”

Part of him thinks he might’ve pushed this way way way too far today, his words coming out harsher and more aggressive than what he actually feels like on the inside. If Jiwon wants to stab him in the gut just for pissing him off then yeah, he probably deserves it. 

After a long pause, it comes as a shock to him that Jiwon just grunts out a quiet ‘fuck!’ under his breath and scrawls hastily on the piece of paper before turning so they’re looking at each other again.

Fire meeting Fire. 

“Here!” The crumpled scrap of paper is pushed against his chest. 

Jiwon’s gaze doesn’t shift from his. The once dark and dead eyes are now shiny and so sharp in a way that he didn’t know was possible to see in a human. 

“You heard about me?”

"What do you mean?”

“You heard about me.” Jiwon repeats. It’s not a question. More of a statement. “You know about me.”

“I don’t....” He shakes his head, his argument suddenly weak and not convincing anybody. “It’s just rumours...”

Jiwon laughs but the mirth doesn’t each his eyes at all. They’re still hard and piercing right into him. “You heard about me. So I don’t have to tell you what that piece of paper means do I?”

He swallows the lump in his throat and shakes his head, letting go of the charade. Yeah he knows. Yeah he’s heard all about Jiwon at this point but whether there’s any truth in the stories and myths remains to be seen.

“Alright then.” Jiwon nods, stepping back. “Come alone. If you think you’re being followed, just go straight home. Okay?”

“Okay.” 

The order terrifies him for some reason and a sick dragging feeling of unease settles into the pit of his stomach again. 

“Don’t fuck me over.” 

A violent shiver tears down his spine. There’s no politeness in the statement. No consideration spared. Whatever niceties they’ve exchanged before is forgotten. There’s nothing here now but menace and intimidation. 

It works. 

And in that moment, the cold, sobering, fucking terrifying realisation finally hits him: the rumours are true. This is Jiwon at ‘work’. This is what he does. 

He can’t even speak after that. Jiwon is still staring sharply at him in expectation and it’s not until he forces his head to nod that Jiwon regards him one last time before turning to walk away without saying anything at all. 

He doesn’t stop shaking for the next five consults and is so nauseated that he skips lunch altogether. Jin is still pissed so he’s left to have his mental breakdown alone in his room. 

The crumpled piece of paper burns a hole in his pocket and by the time 6pm ticks by, he feels the heavy, draining exhaustion right in his bones. He doesn’t even bother to stop his hands from shaking as he pulls the paper out to read the messy scrawl. 

Fuck. 

Here goes nothing. 

[the-breloominati]

"game-breaking bug" honey game-breaking bug (bad) or game-breaking bug (fun)

[writeranon69]

Kel knows how to blj irl but just doesn't tell anyone

He's only taught Sunny how to do it

[exit-path]

Yo I didn’t tell anyone, but on July 8th I beat Super Mario 64 for the second time in my first-ever speedrun!

I did a 31-star speedrun (which involves backwards-long jumping on stairs in the lobby that makes you build up so much speed that you pass through doors that check your progress, and you skip 57% of the game), and I got a 1:55:03. Pretty shabby, considering 120th place on the leaderboards has a 1:05:40, so I’m probably not getting a leaderboard-worthy record anytime soon.

I think I got such a bad time because I was stubborn to actually do speedrun strats, I didn’t care about getting a fast time enough to even go to the basement after getting the basement key to even access the levels and stars there.

My main priority was to beat and master all the levels in the castle lobby first floor (BoB, PSS, BitDW, WF, SA, JRB, and CCM, in that order), and I didn’t care about getting any caps so I just skipped the ones I couldn’t do without strats (the Wing Cap star in BoB; the jet stream star in JRB).

I died a bunch of times on the Frosty Slide in CCM, which killed a bunch of time, and when I was BLJ-ing up the Infinite Stairs I accidentally warped into Wet Dry World, for the first time in my life. (Apparently this happens when you’re moving so fast that you clip through the wall? floor? and you end up above the floor triangles of the WDW painting, which warp you there no matter how high you are above them.) That killed even more time, because while it was hard enough that I BLJ-ed far enough that I even got to the Infinite Stairs, now I had to BLJ back.

I wanted to play for fun, but in terms of everyone speedrunning this game, I think I took it a bit far. If I’d actually been wanting a leaderboard-worthy run, then of course I’d use the strats that everyone there uses, and I wouldn’t get stars that would only waste time in a speedrun setting. I don’t think my quote-unquote “strats” would even be acceptable in a 120-star speedrun, where you try to get all the stars in the game and go for 100% completion! (Spoiler alert, surely enough, they do far from what I do. They BLJ into BitDW first, use cannonless on both stars in WF that require a cannon, use owlless on that one star in WF, do a speedrun strat in PSS twice, clip into the side of the JRB ship when it’s still sunk, go into BoB after getting the Wing Cap, use a speedrun strat on the Frosty Slide, and get the 100 coin star while in the slide.)

So what I’m doing is just weird then. No one even does 31-star speedrun anymore (It’s a category extension! Not some sub-category of the main list!), and I’m still trying to act all “orthodox” about it? I’m like “oh, look at me, I’m getting the Chain Chomp star without a bomb clip! I’m doing PSS while going the whole length of the slide! I’m doing WF without abusing the invincibility I get while ground pounding! (Like what does that even mean?) But BLJ-ing? Pftt! Nah. That’s not on the list. It’s fun, and I’ll allow myself to do that.”

So this all sounds pretty stupid. But I’m pretty happy with all that I’ve done anyways.

(ID: a photo I took on July 6th of the first time I beat SM64, also with 31 stars.)

[thethousandyearwitch]

The Show Must Go On! - A Youtuber AU you didn’t want and didn’t need

Hisoka Morrow, italian Makeup Youtuber, enjoys his life in the comfort and occasional drama of his profession. But nothing brings more drama into his life than the eldest son of the Zoldyck fashion magazine empire.

Meanwhile, aspiring australian Twitch Streamer Gon Freecs forms a special bond to a Speedrunner commonly going by "Kil".

Chapter 2

FF.net link - AO3 link

Gon Freecs had started his twitch account mostly for fun. After he had saved enough of his money from summer jobs to afford a computer for himself, the young boy had discovered the vast world of video games, diving headfirst into whatever flash games or free steam games he could (Until Mito caved and gave him some redeemable online gift cards as a present). Pretty quickly he started making connections over some of those games, getting invited to discord groupchats, and developing friendships with people he’d frequently play with.

One Day, his friend Leorio, a medical student from France who Gon had met through one of those groupchats, asked if he wanted to join his Sunday Stream. He explained that they’d just team up for a couple of rounds of Fortnite, and Gon could leave whenever he wanted to if he ended up not liking the Twitch experience. Leorio did not admit to the fact that he only asked Gon because his usual partner bailed due to a bad hangover, and he himself was too hungover to manage a stream by himself. This resulted in a lively evening filled with banter, excited yelling, and only minor technical difficulties considering Gons location further out in the country. Leorio ended the stream, thanking his viewers, signing off, but he stayed on call with Gon.

“Thanks so much for jumping in today, I owe you!” His French accent wasn’t too thick, but it still curled around his words.  

“Its no problem! It was actually pretty fun, so if you ever need another stream-pal...” The young boy trailed off as he started to feel faint traces of sleepiness creeping up on him. His computer screen was the only light on in the room, and it wasn’t exactly gentle on his eyes.

“About that actually; Have you thought about trying to stream for yourself?”

“Huh?” Gon could hear the tell-tale creaking of Leorios chair as he reclined back. “I mean, you’ve definitely got the energy for it, you’re not half bad at playing video games; Though that’s not really a requirement...Point is, I think you’d have fun with it.” Gon let the thought of it roll around his mind like a marble. He did have a lot of fun livestreaming this once, and there wasn’t anything that exactly spoke against it, except maybe that his sleep schedule could suffer under it. But that may as well be expected of a boy his age.

“Do you think people would really come to watch me play video games?” He finally asked, voice lined more with curiosity rather than insecurity. “Are you kidding? My chat loved you! Everyone loves a cute kid whose always one victory royale away from changing his legal name into his gamer tag and develop an addiction to monster energy.” Gon giggled in reply, “I’m not even allowed to drink those.” “Thank God you aren’t, if you had any more energy than you already have, you’d probably explode on the spot. Those things are loaded with junk anyways.” Gon decided not to bring up the infamous Redbull-pyramid that always lingered in the corner of Leorios videos. He could always use that another time if Leorio tried to lecture him about healthy living habits.

“Well, I guess I could try it out this week…But I think I’d need a guide to help me set the whole thing up…” Gon grinned to himself, hearing the familiar creaking again as Leorio sat up straight on the other end.

“I mean, I did say I owe you, and who would I be to leave a kid struggling with modern technology. And since my chat seemed to love you, I may even host your first stream, get you some exposure, y’know?” Mission success, Gon fed into Leorios ego and ensured that he wouldn’t have to struggle with stream setup by himself. He was quite thankful for the older mans (by stretch of that word) help and friendship, almost like an older brother, switching between caring protectiveness and friendly torment.

“Now, isn’t it time for you to get some shut-eye?” Busted. Gon glanced at the clock in the corner of his screen, 12:13 am. They said their Goodbyes, and the young boy settled into bed almost as quickly as he fell asleep.

The coming week, as promised, Leorio had helped Gon figure out his stream setup, settling for his channel name ‘Foxbeargaming’. With each passing day and conversation about the topic, Gon felt the static inside him build up, excitement and anticipation mixing in his bloodstream, until that long-awaited Friday.

And it was worth that wait. Gon spend a good 3 hours that day streaming Fortnite, at first in Teams with Leorio and his usual stream-pal Zepile, and later a few single matches. He hadn’t even realized how easy it came to him to interact with chat, leisurely talking about what came to mind, joking about events in the game, and just basking in this new way of releasing his bubbly energy. Leorio had warned him that he may feel exhausted after the first stream, but that’s not at all what the young boy experienced; After turning everything off, he was still beaming with joy. When he nestled into bed, he curled to his side, trying to repress his smile, though it would still take a good hour before he had calmed down enough to drift to sleep.

That joy he had experienced was enough to drive him to continue to stream at least once every 5 days, not consistent enough to build a schedule, but often enough to slowly gather a fanbase, loyal viewers who started tuning in whenever he announced a stream. It took a couple of months before people started posting his stream highlights to YouTube, and after that only a few weeks before someone offered to do official edits for him, on his own YouTube channel. A YouTube channel ended up drawing even more attention to him, people in Twitch-chat mentioning they found him through compilations and highlights.

Of the people whose attention was caught by the bright faced boy, one appeared for the first time in chat while he was streaming Super Mario 64, a palate cleanser from his usual Fortnite streams. The first message had been inconspicuous enough, provoking, but not too much out of the ordinary.

“KilCat666: try a BLJ lol”  

This however prompted Gon's entire chat to egg him on to try various speedrun tactics, until the rest of the stream was spent attempting (and failing) a “Lobby Backwards Long Jump”. Gon took it well and promised chat that if they wanted to he’d try to practice again on the next stream, asking for tips in his Discord chat. Speedrunning wasn’t really his way of playing games, he was too impatient and would rather experience the game as intended, but it shook things up, and was a surprisingly great way to regain focus after playing a different game for too long. Soon enough, the Server started bubbling with tutorials, tips, and heated discussions about optimal routes. Gon read through the chat, enjoying how everyone seemed to get into the topic, while also mourning his dwindling attention span as more and more messages came in. With the overflow of information, his brain felt like it was thrown into a deep fryer (Though maybe he was just hungry). Defeated, he dropped his head on his desk. Maybe he bit off more than he could chew. How was he supposed to take all this information in and actually learn it in time for the next stream? This was worse than school. Maybe he should ju-

Bloop.

Gon raised his head from his desk, greeted by a new private message. It wasn’t anyone from his friends-list, but that wasn’t too unusual, a lot of people from his Server would DM him, and he didn’t mind talking with anyone who had something to say to him.

“Kil: Yo.”

“Kil: do you need like help with SM64 lol”

The young boy adjusted his tired eyes to the screen, trying to find recognition into the profile picture of a white cat, but not finding it.

“GON: Hi!! :^D I’m taking tips right now if you have any!”

“Kil: your inputs were really sloppy lol”

Ouch, though true.

“Kil: but you’ve got morale at least”

“Kil: I made a short guide on my channel, if u wanna check it out?”

Attached to the last message was a link to a YouTube video, and just as announced, it was a eight minute tutorial on “LBLJ”, with text overlay explaining the various steps. What stood out more to Gon however, was the view and subscriber count to the Channel ‘Kilcat666’. After scrolling through the channel a bit more, and following another link to an adjacent Twitch channel with the same name, it dawned on him; This guy was a pro.

“GON: WOW :^O you are really good at this!!!!”

For a while, Gon thought that’s it. He browsed through a couple more of this kid’s videos. He was usually just referred to as ‘Kil’ or in rare instances ‘Killu’, and there wasn’t much on him as a person, just a short bio: “Kil, 14, him/his, Yorkshire area. SM64 0 Star contender.”. His streams of attempting to break the World record for any given game got a reasonable amount of viewers, with a steady fanbase that would spam inside jokes and cat emojis in chat. And in no single video did he ever show his face, or even speak. The only real communication he seemed to do with his audience was the occasional answer in chat, or text-overlays in his YouTube videos. Gon thought about how he was a little honoured to have another well known streamer actually give him advice and watch his stuff, though obviously it seemed that Kil wasn’t interested in keeping more in conta-

Bloop.

“Kil: Thanks uh, if you’d want to, we could like make a deal?”

“GON: What kind of deal? :^O”

“Kil: I could show you some tricks for casual speedrunning”

“Kil: And maybe if you want to you could show me how to get better at fortnite lol”

Gon was beaming. He wasn’t sure why, but he was grinning from ear to ear, and it didn’t even register to himself that he was already typing up a response until he hit the enter button.

“GON: Sure!!!!!! :^D!!!! Have you ever played before? We can team up with a friend of mine for the first couple rounds!”

  Killua was never a child with many friends. Or any friends. Growing up sheltered by his family, with the mindset of one day inheriting a multimillion-dollar company, it was taught to him that acquaintances were convenient, friends were distractions.

When he got pulled out of school and put into home-schooling, it was because his friends at school were distractions.

When he snuck out to play with other kids in the country, he was placed on supervised house arrest, because he had been too distracted.

When he noticed his brother appearing in some weirdos YouTube video, he had to be told “That man is not my friend, he is a work associate.”

And like a drop of water can gradually tear through stone, the constant echoing of this rule tore through Killuas head. He still didn’t want to overtake the family legacy, but he knew better than to endanger others with his efforts of finding friendship. Instead, he decided to find solitary distractions, and found those in video games he first borrowed (or rather, took without being noticed) from his older brother. Gradually, he got more and more invested in video games, how they work, and the cultures surrounding them. That is how he found out about Speedrunning and streaming. Speedrunning was fascinating to the young boy. The effort to clear a game as fast as possible, faster than anyone else, past all supposed limitations a game would present casual players with. Specific tricks would look messy and incoherent to untrained eyes, but the hidden inputs were mechanical and exact. This is a distraction worth investing in.

At first, he didn’t care much about streaming or even recording his attempts. However, as he was slowly approaching Regional and World Records, there was hardly a way around it if he wanted to get verified records published. So, he started a Twitch Account, opting to go for his shortened name “Kil”, a half-assed attempt at keeping his family off of his tail. And as his collection of Top-3 Records grew, so did his audience when he was streaming attempts. When he got used enough to a game, he learned how to read chat while playing, even occasionally taking the time to answer questions, followed by a wave of excited cat emotes.

These are not friends, they are fans.

If he could continue to justify this, keep these people at a distance from him, it would be fine. Minimal interaction. No attachment. Easy enough.

It should have been easy enough.

But when he went through active play sessions of Super Mario 64 on Twitch, and he chose to tune into the first stream that popped up, it stopped being easy. It stopped being easy when he found himself laughing along with the cheery voice of the young streamer.

He wasn’t sure what he expected when he sent that first discord message. A small part of him hoped that this Gon kid wouldn’t reply. That way he could have just written him off as some vain lowtier streamer who isn’t worth Killuas time.

But of course he replied. And of course he would reply so kindly despite being contacted by a random stranger. Killua could feel something pull in his chest writing back and forth with Gon. This was just friendly- no. This was normal banter between two streamers who were exchanging helpful information. Two young, up-and-coming professionals in video game streaming, who can communicate like professionals.

Like work associates.

Work associates help each other out. They make deals. So, it would be okay if Killua would make a deal with Gon. Maybe get to know him in the progress, just a little, just enough to get a sense of his personality.

The pull in Killuas chest subsided when Gon agreed to his deal. But it would come back the first time they were on a call together, the first time Killua let someone else online hear his voice, hushed through a shitty in-ear cable headset, careful that he wouldn’t draw attention if someone were to walk past his room. And it subsided again when he heard Gon laugh at every bad joke he’d tell, loosened even more when he let himself laugh with him. Gon would try his best to follow any instructions he’d been given to learn speedrun strategies, and in turn Killua would let himself be guided through fortnite battles and aim-lessons. They worked well together, as if they had known each other for years, falling into a natural rhythm of jokes and casual conversation. This rhythm would continue for weeks, always coordinating when to call, taking turns with the games they would play.

Slowly, they started branching out to more games to play with each other. Slowly, Gon introduced Killua to his friends. Slowly, Killua got used to speaking on stream, just so Gon and he could guest-star on each other’s streams.

Through this gradual process, Killua felt like he was trapped in a pot of water, and the heat was being turned up just slow enough that he wouldn’t notice until its too late. Until the pull in his chest would threaten to tear him apart.

And then it did, as his mother raised her voice at the breakfast table, “You’ve been spending an awful lot of time on your Computer, Killua.”

“So is Milluki.” He tried to keep his voice unwavering, desperately trying to keep all of these gathered secrets behind it.

“We are just concerned of what you are doing on there; The internet has a lot of dangerous sides..” Kikyo Zoldyck was awfully good at turning her voice into a wail at any given time. Killua could feel his phone in his pocket vibrate from what he was sure was a message from Gon.

“..Maybe we should put some restriction on your use of it. Before it can start distracting you.”

[trainzelda]

Super Mario 3D All-Stars games rated by trainzelda

My copy of Super Mario 3D All-Stars came today and I got the chance to try out everything on it. This is a release I was really looking forward to and I went in with high expectations so I thought it might be worth sharing my experience to anyone who might be on the fence.

Super Mario 64

This game looks so crisp, you could cut yourself on the edge of each of Mario’s polygons. The text is actually legible now. Unfortunately that’s everything good I can say about this port. The lack of BLJ glitch is a disappointment to speedrunners everywhere. They changed the camera controls for seemingly no reason other than to force you to unlearn years of muscle memory. The display doesn’t fill the screen in either direction in handheld mode. It’s still fun, but it feels sloppy. 

5/10, mostly decent port but loses points for no gay bowser

Super Mario Sunshine

This was my favorite Mario game of all time. The first video game I ever owned. Don’t even touch this one. The controls are so fucked up it’s literally unplayable. Soft R and hard R press are now 2 different buttons. FLUDD’s controls are backwards now too so good luck aiming at anything. And again, just sloppy. Like the dialog icons are still images of a gamecube B button, with the letter B just replaced with an A. Dive has been moved from B to Y to make room for the absolutely nothing that they had to put on B. The changes to this game are mostly the same ones as in SM64 but they feel so much bigger in a game where aiming and diving are vitally important mechanics. I know it sounds nitpicky but it’s a big enough deal that it cancels out any fun

0/10, what have they done to my boy???

Super Mario Galaxy

This is probably the strongest port considering the controls are pretty much exactly the same. It’s just the same game with a better picture. There’s still some awkwardness collecting star bits and such if you play handheld or with a pro controller, and some weird motion-control holdovers from the original that I would rather them have provided an alternative to, but I’m not really gonna hold it against them when those problems were present back then as well. Maybe the other two games aren’t so bad if you’re new to them but if you’ve played all three before, this is the only game worth playing on 3D All-Stars instead of original hardware.

9/10 A solid port but im docking a point because I was just never that fond of this game in general

All 3 games soundtracks:

7/10 Idk it’s just sounds. There are a lot less music tracks than you’d expect. I’m still never using my switch as a music player so who cares

[benjicake]

cat my old job i worked with alot of older ppl stuck there cause they been in there for so long they lose like vacay days and retirment money, so i literally had nothing to talk to them with except for work and the few times the cultural streams cross(my 50 something year old coworker was really vibing with the arcane imagine dragon songs)

so when i quit that job and started my new job was glad that most of my coworkers are relatively young or not to old than they dont engage with hobbies i do, but the thing i can talk with them about is fucking sports, i hate sports its the one loser gamer highschool/middleschool nerd part about me that literally has and will stay the same. I know its a trait from my childhood that hasnt changed cause i still find an exception for basketball.

BUT EVEN THEN i still hate sports, fucking oh no you fucking hate this person for supporting the new york piss eaters going against your new orlands shit takers, even though both of you are born and raised in delaware and live in plano. dude came into my store saw my coworker’s cowboys jersery and just started yelling “WE OWN THE COWBOYS YES SIR THE PACKERS FUCKING OWNED THE COWBOYS” and than left, idk if he even bought anything. also american football is boring to watch, can tom brady fucking blj????? can anyone on the cowboys do sidewinder loops??? no all they do is fucking run in a line and than get a concussion and than take 20 breaks so ads can play, and than they’ll get shit from football fans who work an office 9-5 and dont fuckign work

[byljones]

Are you fed up with your hair? Do you want it to be healthier but have no idea what to do it where to start? Want to learn how to do professional hairstyles from a professional hair care specialist! . Join BLJ ACADEMY where you'll get professional advice and guidance on how to care for your hair at home. Even if you see a hairstylist regularly, home maintenance is very important for your hair care journey, so these courses are for anyone who needs help learning how to do their OWN hair. . The membership includes several step by step tutorials that teach you how to get the salon look ANYTIME! Or, you can also only get the courses you want. . Once you join the membership you'll have access to several courses immediately and new material is added monthly. You control your own pace and can go as fast or as slow as you want! . Get the membership for $25 by heading to www.byljonesproducts.com and click hair courses them blj academy (at Pelham, Alabama) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4K6wxwlN6q/?igshid=euicxfhne3z6

[mvssmallow]

FINALLY 🎉 you admitted BL jiwon is cute😂❤️ more you think about him more you find him cute, i never find him scary, maybe that’s why hanbin could connect to him

I love and hate talking about BLJ because I don’t want anyone to know anything about him until he’s ready to say it himself. He’s cute because you guys don’t know enough yet. I guess I have other reasons for finding him cute. *tapes mouth shut*

[byljones]

Anyone can do a bun! If you have short hair you can BUY one and pin it! No one will ever know (just get the same color as your hair). Throw in some earrings and BOOM, you look great! Three things you'll need to get the perfect bun every time are: 1. @byljonesproducts Whipped Honey Foam Wrap 2. @byljonesproducts Hair Growth Edge Control 3. @byljonesproducts satin scarf Full step by step tutorial at www.byljonesproducts.com (click hair courses, then click BLJ ACADEMY) This bun was done by: ME (using the products listed above) Makeup done by: @kyss2makeup (at Birmingham, Alabama) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4AfxjIFzqu/?igshid=19p9zpdefg8d8

[byljones]

Are you fed up with your hair? Do you want it to be healthier but have no idea what to do it where to start? Want to learn how to do professional hairstyles from a professional hair care specialist! . Join BLJ ACADEMY where you'll get professional advice and guidance on how to care for your hair at home. Even if you see a hairstylist regularly, home maintenance is very important for your hair care journey, so these courses are for anyone who needs help learning how to do their OWN hair. . The membership includes several step by step tutorials that teach you how to get the salon look ANYTIME! Or, you can also only get the courses you want. . Once you join the membership you'll have access to several courses immediately and new material is added monthly. You control your own pace and can go as fast or as slow as you want! . Get the membership for $25 by heading to www.byljonesproducts.com and click hair courses them blj academy https://www.instagram.com/p/B3592WClJzP/?igshid=1pae8xh0p6q4v