#Surefire Camp Universe

[randomness-is-my-order]

the pjo show’s cinematography is so warm and homey and clever and detail-oriented so i wanna compile a few of my favourite still shots because why not??

^this one had me smiling so hard, not because it’s a particularly beautiful shot but the framing of the three is so well done. the focus is on sally who is talking to grover (both prominently in the front of the shot) while percy – who isn’t a part of the conversation but a listener of it – is still properly visible through the glass of the door and like??? i just think it’s a super cool way of having a passive character in the shot that i haven’t ever seen before, in a way that percy is both highlighted and still so clearly in the background that it doesn’t take away from the focus characters. also percy’s sweater matching the colours on the door is the cherry on top!!

^next is this one. it’s so perfectly angsty and though not complete, the symmetry is still eye-catching. it encapsulates the feeling percy must experience in that moment–him, amidst destruction, knowing he’s the cause but not knowing how or why. he looks all of twelve with his haphazard hoodie and almost forlorn look. he is not gloating, he is not cheerful. though he doesn’t know the gravity of his parentage, it’s almost like the show is telling us that his powers–which cause the door to break, too btw–will always be a source of isolation for percy. he is a force of nature, a destructive one most of the time, and the fact that he is just a child who is confused will never matter because this world doesn’t care for childhood but godhood alone.

idk, this shot just evokes a very unsettling kind of sadness for me. i think it’s beautifully framed.

^i absolutely love this one simply for the fact that the sheer struggle of the fight is so prominently visible. and yes, i cheated, this isn’t exactly a still shot but like an action sequence screenshot but whatever, it’s too good to not mention it here. the way percy is, honest to gods, bracing against the spear for his dear life, the evident and overwhelming rage on clarisse’s face, the blocking of the scene – it’s perfect. clarisse is not playing and percy is genuinely in danger and i love how this shot and the whole scene really sold us on that fact.

^ i just think it’s extremely cool that we can see the minotaur howling in pain, percy having his mouth wide open as if he’s letting out a yell as he goes to plunge the horn and that as percy does this act–killing the minotaur–which is surefire source of safeguarding himself and grover, something that will get him to camp, we can see thalia’s tree in the background. there is no reason percy had to make the kill here, with the chaos of the fight, so the fact that this is the spot and this is the shot as he kills the minotaur makes me think it’s deliberate. having thalia in the background is so impactful because again, percy could have met a similar fate in some other alternate universe but here, he wins and he survives.

^ do i even need to explain??? the shot is pretty and beautiful and almost magical. percy, alone with a tin of fire, burning blue food and talking to his mother. maybe one thing i can point out is that the sally-percy bond has been heavily indicated through glowing lights since the start. if you recall, the “you are not broken” speech by sally was given in front of the warm, glowing headlights of the car and percy’s face was illuminated by that warmth just the same way it is illuminated by the tin-fire in the forest.

^ first, this is too fucking gorgeous. second, percy is wearing his red jacket again and this dream happened after he reached camp so in my opinion, this dream was initially a comfortable imagining of percy’s mind and was then hijacked by kronos but i could be wrong since i don’t clearly remember how they manifested in the books originally. nevertheless, it’s a great detail to have him wear the red jacket because even if he may not have it with him anymore, it’s still clearly something he holds dear – and might associate sally’s memories with.

also, the fact that percy seems to have alot of scenes with fire might be because as someone who can control water, fire can never truly be a source of danger for him and therefore, he can find comfort in its warmth unhindered, always?

^ how could i not love this epic moment? the trident is perfect, big and blue and grand and majestic. half the screen is water, obviously. but what makes this good shot a great one is that there is literally no one else directly near percy except annabeth. the campers are all far away and in this shot itself only annabeth remains close to percy, though she is fittingly on the land, observing the scene before her. remember how i said percy’s legacy promises isolation but this shot tells me that despite that, percy will have someone who he can count on to be by his side (also cool that even in the bathroom, annabeth was technically still near him, even if she was, well, stalking him) and maybe this is my delusional ass talking, but annabeth being here is foreshadowing for me. i just think it’s a choice to have this epic revelation where they could easily have had percy standing alone in the middle of the lake but no, annabeth is also there and not only because she’s the one who led to that revelation but because she’s someone who isn’t intimidated by percy’s parentage and still can be beside him.

^ i adore this shot because 1) it shows us just how young and tiny percy is and 2) it tells us that maybe that door is so fucking huge because it’s being inclusive of centaurs and other giants of their world. also, symmetry strikes again!!! the colours are so well balanced, not bright and vibrant but on the pastel side that indicates an aged feel to them.

and lastly,

^ i just find it funny that a private academy like yancy has an official vehicle that looks as beat up and terribly malfunctioning as this. 😭 like this half van was so out of place i literally goggled at the screen when it first appeared.

okay, i’m done for now. i also really liked the faceless sally scene in the start paralleling medusa’s eventual beheading but i already made a post about it. this legitmately only covers about 10% of the shots i wanted to talk about but these might be my favourites. this was long af so if you read the whole thing, mad respect to you.

[bestfamilytripdestinations]

Discovering Bliss: Unveiling the Best Family Trip Destinations for Unforgettable Memories

Introduction:

Planning the perfect family trip involves finding a destination that caters to everyone's interests, creating a harmonious blend of adventure, relaxation, and bonding. Whether your family craves cultural experiences, outdoor adventures, or simply some quality time together, the world is full of enchanting places waiting to be explored. Here's a curated list of some of the best family trip destinations, each promising a unique and memorable experience for every member of your clan.

Orlando, Florida - The Theme Park Capital: Nestled in the heart of Florida, Orlando stands tall as the ultimate haven for families seeking magical moments. Home to Walt Disney World Resort, Universal Studios, and SeaWorld, Orlando promises an immersive adventure for both the young and the young at heart. From thrilling rides to character encounters, this vibrant city is a surefire way to spark joy in every family member.

Queenstown, New Zealand - Adventure Playground: If your family leans towards the adventurous side, Queenstown in New Zealand is a dream destination. Surrounded by the stunning Southern Alps and nestled on the shores of Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown offers a plethora of outdoor activities. From bungee jumping and jet boating to hiking and skiing, this adrenaline-packed paradise ensures an exhilarating experience for every family member.

Barcelona, Spain - A Tapestry of Culture: For families with a penchant for culture, Barcelona is an artful masterpiece waiting to be explored. Marvel at the surreal architecture of Antoni Gaudí, wander through the historic Gothic Quarter, and soak in the vibrant atmosphere of La Rambla. Barcelona seamlessly blends history, art, and delicious cuisine, making it an ideal destination for families eager to immerse themselves in a rich cultural tapestry.

Yellowstone National Park, USA - Nature's Wonderland: Nature-loving families will find solace and wonder in the breathtaking landscapes of Yellowstone National Park. From the iconic Old Faithful geyser to the mesmerizing Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone is a natural playground filled with wildlife, hiking trails, and geothermal wonders. Camping under the starry skies or observing bison grazing in their natural habitat creates a serene backdrop for family bonding.

Kyoto, Japan - Tranquility Amidst Tradition: Kyoto, with its serene temples, traditional tea houses, and breathtaking gardens, provides a serene escape for families seeking tranquility. Explore the historic Fushimi Inari Shrine, participate in a tea ceremony, and stroll through the mesmerizing Arashiyama Bamboo Grove. Kyoto offers a perfect blend of cultural immersion and relaxation, creating an ideal family trip destination for those who value peace and connection.

Conclusion:

Selecting the best family trip destination involves considering the unique interests and dynamics of your loved ones. Whether you're seeking adventure, cultural exploration, or simply a tranquil retreat, these destinations provide a diverse range of experiences to create lasting memories. So, embark on a journey of discovery, laughter, and togetherness, as these handpicked destinations promise to be the backdrop for an unforgettable family adventure.

[pointreyesjournal]

Red Resurrects Ol' Blue Eyes : ep193

The surefire way to get anywhere in Monaco and not get lost is to just follow the grand prix racetrack. We’re at turn 17 “La Rascasse” and we need to get to turn 4, the Casino. It’s about equidistant if you go clockwise on the course up the hill through Sainte Devote and Beau Rivage to Casino Square, or go anticlock along the harbor to corners 16 through 11 past the pool complex, the tobacco shop, and the Nouvelle Chicane.

We opt for the anticlock route along the harbor. It’s a little safer on foot and there are tons of cool yachts to see. After 8pm the casino requires a jacket, and it’s not uncommon for concerts (even rock concerts) to be black tie. You might sneer at the opulence on display, but I for one welcome the idea that there’s at least one place left on earth where you can wear a tuxedo and look and act like you’re Sean Connery’s version of James Bond.

We reach the gardens in front of the casino and the time has come for the ladies to reveal their big surprise. I’m shocked and delighted to discover that Simple Red are performing a set of big band material to a black tie audience. It’s purely a coincidence that they’re performing while we’re here, but Cheyenne is so thrilled that she wraps her arms around me and we twirl around in delightful euphoria. On the Ferrari camping trip we discovered that Simply Red was “our band” which is unusual for Americans. Most Americans remember Holding Back the Years, but in fact, Simply Red have had dozens of hit songs, but mostly to a European audience.

I don’t care if it’s luck, serendipity, karma, or blind fucking chance, the universe is speaking to Cheyenne and I. From the first song to the last encore we’re on our feet singing along to every word. The big band set morphs into greatest hits and when the band plays “Stars” the singalong that started in the Ferrari returns, but this time we’re holding each other in our arms and looking joyously into each other's eyes as we sing “I wanna fall from the stars straight into your arms!”

By the time they play “Sunrise” (Simply Red’s reworking of the Hall & Oates song “I Can’t Go For That”) the entire theater is singing along at a volume that nearly drowns out the actual band. We’re singing and dancing mirthfully when Cheyenne gives me a nudge. She wants me to see something. It’s Henrik, the stoic Scandinavian Tech Titan himself, eyes closed, holding hands with Beri, wiggle-dancing like a teenager. It’s beautiful.

I look away before I get caught. I don’t want him to feel self-conscious. Henrik’s actually pretty famous, and the sight of him dancing would go viral on the internet. But there’s a strict “no paparazzi” rule in Monaco that creates a safe space for the rich and famous to blow off a little steam without getting lambasted by the fucking idiots on the internet. Free speech be damned under the umbrella of the benevolent dictator.

The crowd is teeming with energy through the first two songs of the encore, roaring with applause at the end of each song. Mick Hucknall takes a break to absorb the adulation, then introduces the band members. Then he launches into the final song of the night, a cover of Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.”

It’s the perfect send off. It’s emotional, majestic, heartwarming and poignant. Every single person in the theater sings along, and there isn’t a dry eye in the house. It ends with a roaring applause.

Fly me to the moon.

[apollopigeon]

Stuart Schultz, a former summer-camp director who, as Latitude Margaritaville’s head of residential community relations, serves as a kind of cheerleading pooh-bah, told me, “It’s like being in college, but with money and without having to study. You have a great dorm room, you never have to go to class, and there’s always a party.”

Buffett had already, as he put it, “opened that vein of the mine” with a Margaritaville bar and a T-shirt shop in Key West. Disney had shown interest in a partnership but hadn’t agreed to Buffett’s terms. The investor Warren Buffett, whom Jimmy had got to know after a Buffett-clan pilgrimage to a South Pacific island populated by Buffetts (a DNA test revealed no blood relation between the two), had advised him, Ask for what you want, and if they say no someone else will come along. Uncle Warren, as Buffett calls him, was right. That someone was Universal Studios. Buffett enlisted Cohlan to help him establish a twenty-thousand-square-foot Margaritaville restaurant at the entrance to Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park in Orlando.

It is impressive, in that American way, how Buffett steered from there to here—from struggling singer-songwriter whom no one ever called the next Bob Dylan to surefire arena act and hospitality conglomerateur. A poor man’s Gordon Lightfoot grows into a drinking man’s Martha Stewart, hardly having to change his tune.

Everyone in Latitude Margaritaville got around on golf carts, many of which were customized. (Rock Rotundo, the owner of Ace of Carts, one of Florida’s biggest cart dealerships, owns a home in the community.)

[blazewatergem]

Sweet Story - Trick or Treat

“Just a little longer, Bella baby, I gotta get it right.”

Cleona chuckles at the whine Bella gives out, and patiently waits until the toddler is no longer puffing her cheeks to continue putting on her makeup.

It’s Halloween night, and already the camp has done all the greatest hits - pumpkin carving, decorating, and baking Eleanor’s famous pumpkin swirl cinnamon rolls.

They even had breakfast outside by the lakeshore, enjoying the crisp air as Fall’s last stronghold fell to winter’s army.

Now, though, it was time to go out and get some candy. Which is why Cleona was currently doing Bella’s makeup, listening as the others got ready outside the bathroom.

“Kitty, why can’t you come with us?” Bella asks, and while she still has a pout on her face the rest of the makeup goes on smoothly.

“I can’t wear my Glamore for that long, little queen.” Cleona is careful when planting a kiss on her forehead, before setting the tiara on it, “It doesn’t work as well at night, and only in emergencies. Besides, you’ll be out with Charlie, Alex, Phil and the Marksman.”

That sure is a deeply dramatic sigh from a six year old, and Bella is happy to demonstrate such an act.

“Oooookkkkkkk.” She drones out, but is back to smiling soon enough.

“Think I’ll fill up my pail?”

“Totally, bumblebee.”

🎃

Cleona wanted to laugh at seeing everyone’s costumes. As much as she has always wanted to go out trick or treating - her body wouldn’t let her, she couldn’t fake anything, not like the others - there was something nice about staying home.

Bella was dressed up as a Queen Bee - a frilly, Victorian dress and crown on her brow with swiped Tinker Bell wings - while Alex was her Valkyrie guardian, complete with an armored dress, because Alex never does things in halves.

Sabella had instead decided to turn in early - the drop in heat was making her more and more tired, draining her energy like a slow leak in a boat.

Charlie…

There was no easy way to describe what Charlie was dressed up as. He was wearing his human disguise, which looked so fake he could pass off as wearing a costume. Tonight was one of the few nights he could pass it off instead of freaking others out.

Cleona always thought he looked like he was wearing someone’s skin - a mannequin styled creature, puppeteering itself - but hey, that works on Halloween.

The Marksman - an adult who no one has ever seen or properly heard - was wearing his cloak and mask like always. No big surprise.

Finally, Phil was dressed up as a game show host. He was a middle aged, kindly blond man with a sweet smile.

Everyone called him Old Man. No exceptions.

As she waved the group off, watching them head into the truck and off to neighborhoods beyond…

Cleona walks back into the camp boundaries, out into the forest, and runs.

🎃

Later, when she returns picking leaves out of her hair and burrs in her fur, Cleona sees the truck pulling in and smiles. No, grins. She loves a lot of stuff about Halloween —

But this has to be the best part.

Bella barely pauses when the truck door swings open, jumping out and sprinting for the front door, even tugging on it a couple of times before turning back and shouting wordlessly for Phil. He has to shut off the truck before joining her, letting Alex and Charlie out of the back seat.

They join Cleona in watching, Charlie slowly letting his human-suit plop off and Alex with his arms crossed, smirking.

“Old man is about to lose so much.”

“Oh, yeah? Good trick or treat night then, huh?”

“Hell yeah. You got a stick in your hair by the way.”

“Oh, dammit.”

🎃

The Halloween ritual between Phil and Bella goes as follows; After a long night of trick or treating, Bella brings her bag into the kitchen to be checked out. The candy is dumped onto the countertop, and Phil helps her sort through it.

The candy goes into three piles. One pile is for anything labeled King Size, or is considerably large enough to count as - Phil likes to eyeball it, Bella’s the stickler on these rules.

The second pile is any candy that is sugar free. This candy will be set off to the side, and not be counted.

The third pile is…everything else. The Reese’s, the Hershey’s, the Kit-Kats and Snickers. The gumdrops, the lollipops, the knock-offs and strangers.

Anything with sugar, really. Which, for the most part, Bella couldn’t eat without getting sick. It used to be such an awful thing, especially around holidays like Halloween. It wasn’t her fault, just part of her bee-like biology.

So, he came up with an idea. Which leads to the next part of the ritual, where Phil kindly puts all the pile three candy back into Bella’s bag, and sets it on a kitchen scale bought just for this.

He laughs, “Oh, dear, Bella, how’d you get this to…roughly ten pounds, love?”

She crosses her arms and smirks, a look he recognizes from none other than the golden-winged teen outside, “I got it myself!”

He dutifully doesn’t admit to seeing Alex and Charlie trying to shove their candy into Bella’s bag, or hearing her giggle at their exaggerated acting the entire way home.

“Well, then. That’s ten pounds of regular candy, plus…oh, look at that, five king sized candy bars. Look at that, buzzy baby, I think that’s more than last year!”

And thus, as Phil pats the girl on the head, he realizes with a sigh that - Yep.

She definitely likes this system just a bit more than she should.

🎃

The three teens look up, seeing the triumphant look on Bella’s face, and laugh when she holds one tiny child fist up with glee.

“I GOT TWENTY DOLLARS!”

[hermitcraftheadcanons]

(Submitting these all together, rather than my original plan to post them bit by bit as parts, since the reaction/addition thing seemed like it was wigging out on me a little bit. Treat this as a reaction/addition, if you can. :P)

Okay, so as there's a cut off now, you're getting my ideas together in bulk, so apologies for that. Some might be a little patchy, as i've not had much time to think over it all. First, though, I want to tell you how fun reading Scattered has been. Only discovered it yesterday, but its been great. Even if you're closing it now, I hope you either open it again in future or do something of a similar vibe.

Anyway, first on the list of random ideas is something that pertains to the changes some of the Hermits have gone through. At first, and for a long time, it seems as if its just Hermits who were stuck in death loops or in a single place for a long time and were forced to adapt who took on these traits... but after over a year of being stuck in the glitched world, it becomes clear its happening to everyone - those with extreme circumstances just had it happen faster.

The first time this becomes apparent is with Stress.

She and False managed to escape from both their coral situation and the months spent travelling - both on their own and with Keralis and Cleo - without any alterations, but after several months back at spawn... Stress begins to feel the cold in a way that she hasn't since Xisuma helped to fix her ice glitch at the start of Season 7. She knows this feeling, and she doesn't like it, but its not exactly the same this time. It feels more malevolent and structured than her free flowing chill was... almost like the powers of an Iceologer. It makes it clear that these adaptations aren't just adaptations. People are just overall reverting to states more reminiscent of the non-player mobs. Death and environment are just catalysts that speed it along. Soon or later, this begins to happen to everyone, to one degree or another.

Changing tack a bit (as I said, putting all my ideas together, now :P), the time they spent together led to them basically being each others' best friend in the glitched world (not shipping, FYI. I appreciate that's not allowed). This experience has changed them, the most explicit shift that Stress' sword skills come along in leaps and bounds under False's guidance. Even long after they reach spawn, if either needs someone to watch their back, they go to the other before anyone else.

Switching tracks again to the outside, as that's something else I still find interesting, I imagine the whole "people not noticing the Hermits are missing at first because they're as the name suggests" thing is exacerbated by this occurring between seasons of MCC (though probably not the current break). A lot of the community gets their news at events like this, so its only really the people who know the Hermits well who notice within a month or so. By the time MCC starts up again, the Legates and a few others are already convening with the Noxcrew to try and figure out a way to find out what's going on, but the first time the wider community catches wind of something being up aside from a Hermit non-attendance is when Noxite pulls Dream aside before the 2nd MCC of the new season - along with any other admins they can get a hold of - for help with a problem. The Dream SMP group are nervous when the green man comes back from that chat seeming rather worried.

Another point to the wider MC universe. If this glitched world issue becomes known, there might be concern that it could spread, depending on what the identified cause ends up being. There could be talks of containing it, only to realize too late that because it snatched inactive Hermits from other servers, whatever it is is mostly likely already out there in the wild.

Seeing a couple of the Sci-crafters end up on the gltiched server of their own will, and you wondered why they'd want the Infinity Portal to send them there, perhaps it was part of a group effort. The groups aware of the rough details of the situation made the journey to the Season 6 world and made a base camp there. Lots of different players pooling their skills and strengths, working together to try and use the Infinity Portal to rescue the Hermits. Mango and Methodz were just the two who volunteered to travel through the glitched world and let the Hermits know that there's a plan to free them. They know there's an almost certain chance they'll be trapped, but between saving their friends, potentially setting up a proper means of communication to the outside, and stopping whatever this is from spreading to other servers, its a sacrifice they're willing to make.

And that's about all the major ideas I have, I think. Wish I had more, and I did have the small thought of the glitched world phenomenon basically being almost like a natural disaster with no surefire way of stopping its effects - the best the Hermits and anyone else can do is damage control, and even that's difficult - but I hadn't given that massive amounts of thought.

In the meantime, i'd like to repeat that I really hope you open this AU again in future given the amount of potential it has, even if that reopening ends up being more of a continuation, with everything before set in stone. For now, though, i'd just like to let you know that i'm attempting to go through the master-posts and other content to put together a visual infographic meant to chart each Hermit's actions and journey through this AU. There's every chance I won't finish it, but given you said you'd still take art after the close time, i'm not going to rush it.

Regardless, this has been great. Thanks for putting this thing together. :D

[sluttyten]

Yuta Masterlist

fluff = ⭐️,  smut = 💋, angst = 😩

series

💋⭐️ best friend nakamoto yuta

⭐️ part 1 - yuta’s your best friend and he’s not too happy when you start dating winwin

💋 part 2 - this time when yuta walks in on you and winwin, things are a bit more intense than last time

💋 part 3 - a yuwin threesome OR once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, and three times is intentional. so when yuta walks in a third time, you decide maybe he just wants to join in

the poly series

11 parts + 3 drabbles, smut, fluff, and angst

full length fics

💋 golden - 3.5k, (for kinktober 2022), you learn that your boyfriend yuta is interested in seeing you desperate to piss, and that turns into involving it in your sex life

💋 going for the gold - 7.7k, Yuta’s an Olympic hopeful that attends your university. You work for the school paper, and when you’re assigned to do a story on the hot-shot athlete, you find a little more there than you bargained for

💋 dreaming of you - 3.2k, yuta brings you to sleepover at the dorm, taeil’s his roommate, and you wake up in the morning to the sound of taeil moaning your name

💋⭐️ wonder wheel - 2.2k, a summer night of sexy fun with your boyfriend Yuta at a carnival

💋⭐️ bleeding love -  2.1k, you’re on your period and yuta doesn’t mind a little blood. (it gets a little bloody, but then gets really soft and fluffy toward the end)

💋 our paradise - 4.5k, it’s yuta’s birthday, and you’re spending it away together on a tropical island. and what sort of birthday would it be if you didn’t give him birthday sex?

💋 nanny cam - 3.9k, yuta is a single dad away on business. you’re the nanny he’s trusted with his daughter for the week. but when the nanny cam picks up something interesting, yuta decides it’s time he confronts you about his actions and your own

💋 driving me wild - 2k, yuta calls you names when he gets angry, and it only serves to turn you on. he has to punish you for being so naughty

💋 suck it and see - 1k, yuta’s angry with you, but you know one surefire way to get yourself back into his good graces in time to go shopping: a blowjob

💋 missed you - 991 words, yuta gets home, and you’ve both been missing each other terribly, so you quickly make up for lost time

drabbles/headcanons

💋 how you like it - this relationship is new, and when you first give yuta a blowjob, you ask him to tell you what he wants

💋 kink list

💋 play thing - you come home to subby yuta sleepy and hungover in your bed, and you wake him fully with an orgasm

💋⭐️ first night - you lose your virginity to yuta on your wedding night

💋 boobs - your husband yuta loves your boobs

💋 rock you - yuta’s a rockstar, you’re a fan that became a journalist, and after you interview him you get a more personal one-on-one moment

⭐️  burning - yuta tries to cook dinner for you, but it doesn’t quite work out

⭐️  drunk in love -- a yuta+mark drabble or yuta’s drunk and leaning on mark, endlessly flirting with him

⭐️  three times is fate -- once is luck, twice is coincidence, three times is fate or you bump into the perfect handsome stranger yuta three times

⭐️  his smile -- if there’s one thing you love most about nakamoto yuta, it’s his smile

⭐️  phonecall -- yuta loves everything about you

⭐️  painted nails and perfect love -- you’re painting yuta’s nails when he tells you he loves you

💋 subtle public humping scenario

⭐️💋 lightning love - a yuta+mark drabble or yuta and mark falling in love with each other and coming to realize it

💋 your sweet song - (gender neutral), you tie up your vaguely resistive sub yuta for the first time, and having him submit is a totally new experience for both of you

💋 call of the wild - on a camping trip, yuta just wants to have a little private time with you

💋 beach babe - yuta wants to have sex, but you’re on the beach, not that that’s going to really stop either of you

💋 hands-on experience -  you and yuta have sex in the practice room after he’s watched you dance for him

💋 tasty - you tease yuta while eating a popsicle suggestively until he has to feel your lips around him

💋 couple yoga -  you do couples yoga with yuta, and everything you’re doing is turning yuta on and feeding a new fantasy of his

💋 sex bunny - you’re having a foursome with johnny, yuta, and jaehyun, and you display your flexibility and insatiable lust much to their pleasure

⭐️ yours, mine, ours - you just want yuta to come cuddle you in bed

💋⭐️ relax - yuta’s been stressed and tired, but you finally help him relax

⭐️ slytherin yuta - a hogwarts au where yuta’s sorted into slytherin

⭐️ poly johnyuten drabble - just johnny manhandling his two boyfriends 

💋 sneaky - a yujae threesome OR jaehyun falls asleep and yuta tries to sneakily get you off 

💋 public - you let johnny, yuta, and kun pass you around in public

💋 you up? - sexting with yuta gets heated

💋 making out with yuta

💋 how he masturbates

⭐️ yuwinil poly relationship

taeil | johnny | taeyong | yuta | kun | doyoung | ten | jaehyun | winwin | jungwoo | lucas | mark | xiaojun | hendery | renjun | jeno | haechan | jaemin | yangyang | shotaro | sungchan

[ofashandofrose]

all these deep-dives made me realize I’d seen this article about Andy and Sid before and well ❤️

“Everything you need to know about him is right there, in his eyes.” We’re watching Crosby and his teammates go through a morning skate in Ottawa, pondering exactly how he does it. Lange’s observation is both accurate and pleasingly mystical: Crosby is indeed possessed of a black, burning stare like Maurice Richard’s, only seemingly directed inward. But to portray his success purely as a function of determination is to overlook the quantum leap he represents to ^ hockey history.

To perform that leap, Crosby had to forego the very kind Im of romanticism that tends to infuse ideas of how a star is made. While the Howes and Orrs who came before him plotted a course across frozen ponds and backyard rinks, Crosby is a hothouse specimen, a player built from the skates up to conquer a highly systematized game. Yes, nature supplied the raw materials of strength, character, vision and unheard of motor skills. But the assembly was performed by others—a hockey-playing father; instructors at high performance hockey camps; coaches at the Minnesota prep school he attended for a year. And the most important influence of all proved to be a soft-spoken Prince Edward Islander with some novel ideas about how to succeed at hockey.

Andy O’Brien remembers well the first day he saw Crosby. He was teaching at an elite hockey camp in Summerside, where young Sidney, just out of elementary school, was skating with boys two years his senior. “We’d been hearing about a player there who was said to be the best 13-year-old in the world,” recalls O’Brien, then freshly graduated from the University of Western Ontario’s kinesiology program. “But when I realized that this was the player they were talking about, I thought, ‘Good lord, this kid needs some work.' He was lumbering around a bit out there.”

So in the late 1990s, he devised a workout regimen to do just that. What he needed was a top-drawer player entering the most important phase of his development—a teenager whose neuromuscular responses could be super-programmed for maximum performance.

Enter Crosby and his parents, Trina and Troy, a working class family looking for someone who, at a modest price, would transform an uncommonly talented boy into a surefire NHL prospect. Thus began a five-year experiment that would eventually produce the best player in the world. O’Brien happened to be moving to Halifax, so the year Crosby turned 14, he was on hand to oversee the youngster’s daily workouts at the St. Mary’s University athletic centre.

and @al-the-remix needs to answer for the robot au that haunts my every waking moment because look at this shit:

“I think I’ve done a pretty good job keeping my emotions in check,” he told Maclean’s a few weeks after the Downey encounter. “But I am human. I play with a lot of intensity and there will be times when I get upset.”Should the league have solved the problem with some decent refereeing? Without a doubt. Crosby is universally regarded as the league’s crown jewel, a scoring machine with movie-star looks.

[nyabby]

15, 22, 24, 30, 32, 44, and 49 for the lesbian asks 💕💗💗💖💝💓♥️

15. Describe your dream wedding

wuhhh like honeslty in a meadow in the spring and theres lots of flowers and sun...... not big but not tiny either, with lots of yummy food and a beautiful wedding cake preferably one made by sylvia weinstock but idk if thats realistic. ill either be decked out in a princess dress or ill look bomb and butch af in a tux im not sure yet but one things for sure i will look SO frickin good. after maybe we’d go to the nearby beach (cuz ofc there would be one) and whisper to each other under the stars and then fall asleep together under a blanket. 

22. What lesbian stereotypes do you fit into, if any?

“man-hating” lesbian, CLUELESS LESBIAN, doesnt (or rarely at least) shave lesbian, fashion sense thats divergent from heteronormative femininity lesbian, sports lesbian

lol i had to google lesbian stereotypes to answer this one

24. If a woman wanted to woo you, what would a surefire way to accomplish that?

JFDKJFDKS umm honestly cuddles and flowers and food is a surefire way to my heart but molly you already woo me every day

30. What is your dream career?

either being an artist of some sort, a psychologist, or an astrophysicist! 

32. What is the most attractive quality a woman can have?

is okay with things not making sense, doesnt make sense themselves sometimes

44. Who was your first lesbian crush?

when i was 11 there was this beautiful girl at a summer camp i went to and literally anytime she was near me she held my entire attention. she was 13 and i never spoke to her but saw her a lot. didn’t realize this was a crush until maybe last year. that was definitely a gay thing but i feel like it counts less cuz i didnt realize it until recently and nothing couldve come of it. my first crush on someone who was not a boy where i actually REALIZED it was a crush would be you my freshman year

49. Talk about your dreams/aspirations for the future

i hope to graduate high school with close to a 4.0 gpa and i want to go to mcgill university in canada and study astrophysics (probably). i also want to play volleyball on their team as a libero, but if i cant make that happen ill play club. im definitely going to keep drawing and i hope to someday in the future create a story in a visual medium that’s successful. i also will for sure get a kitten in the future (probably multiple) and eventually a dog once i can support it. when im an adult i really hope ill be able to go out in nature a lot because it makes the good hormones in my brain u kno. i want to visit a lot of different places like greece and italy and france and iceland and tokyo. i hope to be fluent in french someday. i want to live close to the water. 

THANK U MOLLY U MAKE MY HEART GO DOKI DOKI💓💖💞💘💗💕💓💖

[idontneedasymbol]

13x22: Exodus

The best part of this episode? It's months before we get another Bucklemming episode!

--Actually the real best part of this episode was the brother hug. Short but such a sweet scene, just the capper that the angst of 13x21 demanded. (And that we didn't get in 12x02, and I am very glad season 13 managed to get back on the brothers train.) ...Also from what I've seen mentioned from the SPNUK con panels, J2 pretty much wrote it themselves, which explains a lot.

There was more I liked. Dean wanting to kill Lucifer dead on sight, yes, please. Make that happen. More importantly, Dean trusting Sam to handle Lucifer -- and not only saying so but following through. Him going through the rift first at the end there was one of the deepest signs of trust imaginable. (And I have no doubt Dean was standing by the rift back in the bunker, ready to dive back through if it started closing and Sam wasn't through -- but he waited, believing Sam would show, and then he did.) I was disappointed that Sam didn't get to stab Lucifer rather than just shove him away -- even if it wouldn't have killed him, would've been gratifying to see. But at least Sam got a moment. (As for the question of how they're going to get back to the AU with no archangel grace, @owehimeverything was guessing that Sam believed Jack could do it? But you'd think Sam could've swiped a little grace from Lucifer before he left.)(Just a little stabbing, is that too much to ask?)

AU!Michael is thoroughly unconvincing as a big bad -- we just have seen so little of him, there's no sense of what drives him or what he really intends to do. But damn that actor is smoking hot.

And I liked the rescue -- okay, it was pretty small-scale when you're talking about a world, but it was a good solution to Mary's dilemma, I like how quickly Sam thought of it and how quickly Dean jumped on board, and hey, I'm always up for saving people along with hunting things. (I do want to know how they apparently made it from Sioux Falls to Kansas in 2 hours, in a bus, on unpaved roads? Is the USA just smaller in the Apocaverse? It was pointed out that AU!Bobby’s camp wasn’t in Sioux Falls, and I’d forgotten the rift conveniently wasn’t in Kansas anyway but Kentucky. They are damned lucky everyone was so close, though. And also that they had one of those rare off-roading buses.)

Plus the boys riding in a Jeep gave me such Saiyuki flashes, oh man. (Minekura's Saiyuki, of course, which for those not in the know is a manga/anime series about four guys on a roadtrip through a demon-ridden fantasy land who have collectively about as much angst and tangled-up, agonizing and beautiful devotion as the Winchester brothers.)

The rest of the ep. Well.

As has been discussed much elsewhere, the whole conceit of everyone talking in vague terms to Jack about Lucifer being evil, without once specifying any of the many, many, many terrible things he's done, is just so absurd and so breaks the suspension of disbelief that it's mind-boggling. I cannot come up with a single in-character reason for it.

Maybe I can imagine Sam not being able to bring himself to speak of it, given that he hasn't ever really been able to talk about it with anyone. But him trying and going speechless would say a lot in itself. And even if Sam couldn't bring himself to do that much, Dean sure as hell could tell Jack about trying to pick up the pieces after Sam nearly shattered from just his memories of the Cage. Or what about Cas, who took Sam's pain and trauma then?

There's other things they could tell Jack too. Like about the many people killed when Lucifer tried to start an Apocalypse -- Jack is so angry about Michael, he needs to know that his father is the exact same kind of monster.

They could've played it that they try to tell Jack any of this and Jack refuses to listen -- it would be a bit OOC for Jack, but having everyone else be so wildly OOC is so much worse.

I wasn't sure how sympathetic we were supposed to feel for Lucifer -- whether he was meant to make you feel something at the end, or were you supposed to despise him for aping feelings he has no right to? Or just assume he's playing Michael? (Let's hope it's that last.)(Also I know he cried at one point but I have no idea why as @owehimeverything needed to get to bed so we did some fastforwarding. If anyone writes up a transcript of the ep I might read the Lucifer parts so I know what's happening, but no way am I going to subject myself to his dialog otherwise.)

Dean ordering Jack not to listen to Lucifer was just stupid -- come on, Dean's dealt with teenagers, he knows the surefire way to get them to do anything is to tell them not to do it. That's all I'll say about that because I'm running out of ways to express my frustration with the heroes being made into morons to advance the so-called story.

--No, I have more; it's also annoying because in some contexts it could almost make sense, if Lucifer actually were the honey-tongued snake he's supposed to be, Dean could be that desperate for Jack to just not listen to him. But that's not the case. The only reason Lucifer can talk his way out of anything is because everyone else's tongues were cursed. Like, Sam isn’t able to convince Jack not to go after Michael, but Lucifer can? No. That's just silly. No.

Also why is everyone ignoring Jack at the party at the end? They could all see he was getting close to Lucifer; it doesn’t occur to anyone that he might be distressed that Lucifer didn’t come through? Why is no one talking to Jack? They’re setting it up for Jack to take Lucifer’s side in the finale and it’s going to be sympathetic on Jack’s part because he’s getting so little understanding.

I still don't like Ketch, I don't understand why he's suddenly not a sociopath, I don't want him being slashy with Dean. Also did I miss it or was there nothing between Ketch and Mary, after her supposedly being a major motivating force for him?

I still don't like Bucklemming's love of torture, and having the boys/Dean especially gleefully torture someone. I also could not wrap my mind around why AU!Bobby would let them handle that interrogation rather than do it himself, as it involved his people more than theirs.

If Gabriel is really dead...what was the point of bringing him back at all? Did he contribute anything to the story? I guess his grace, once, but otherwise, why?

We fastforwarded through most of AU!Cas -- did he have a wacky accent or was I mishearing that? Why would either the angel or the vessel have an accent? And why was he in the same vessel as in our world, when no other angel has been?

And now AU!Bobby and AU!Charlie are back in our universe. Where’s that going? The show knows it can’t just pick up where it left off as if those characters never died, because these are completely different people -- it knows that, right? Right??? (Besides, I still want to know what happened to our Bobby’s soul, off in Heaven’s jail or wherever...)

Also they have achieved their reunion, everyone at home and safe until Michael and Lucifer show up. I admit, I am mildly curious where this all is going, because I don’t have a clue (even the major spoiler most of us know about is difficult to fit in with what we know, much less imagine where it goes from there?)

[junker-town]

Our WNBA 2021 season preview with title predictions, MVP picks, and more

Our huge WNBA preseason roundtable includes predictions for all of the league’s big questions.

As the WNBA enters its 25th season, it feels like the league has never had more talent than it does today. It is hyper-competitive just to make a roster on each of the 12 teams. At this point, it fees like the W could add several more teams via expansion and still have plenty of star-power to go around.

The WNBA returns to home arenas this year after spending last season in the bubble wubble. The Seattle Storm enter the year as defending champions, and will be searching for their third title in four years. Storm forward Breanna Stewart is on her way to becoming one of the most accomplished players in the history of the sport, while veteran point guard Sue Bird remains a steady floor general as she enters her 18th season.

If the Storm are the favorites, there are no shortage of competitors. The Washington Mystics, Las Vegas Aces, and Chicago Sky are becoming popular picks to win it all at the end of the season.

Before the 2021 WNBA season gets underway, we asked our staff to predict how this year will go. Picks are being made by Sabreena Merchant, Sydney Umeri, Ricky O’Donnell, Brady Klopfer, Cat Ariail, Zack Ward, Eric Nemchock, and Jim Savell. For continued coverage of the WNBA all season, follow our excellent women’s basketball community Swish Appeal.

Which team will be the must-watch this year?

Cat: The Indiana Fever. Yes, the team that finished last in Swish Appeal’s preseason power rankings. However, if everything breaks right, Indy could emerge as a super-fun, young team. There’s a scenario where Kelsey Mitchell is a surefire All-Star, Teaira McCowan makes the leap many have been waiting on, Victoria Vivians strokes it from deep, Kysre Gondreszick shines like a lottery pick and vets Jantel Lavender and Danielle Robinson provide steady leadership, and just enough defense. The alternative scenario — where the Fever’s talent deficit resigns them to the WNBA cellar — is still intriguing. While I think we all want to see Tamika Catchings succeed as general manager, a disappointing season has to raise questions about the direction of the franchise. Will Indiana stand behind Catchings or make changes within the organization’s decision-making structure?

Sydney: The Las Vegas Aces. They are looking very strong this season, and they’re a team you won’t want to miss. Last season they were runner-ups to the Seattle Storm, and they didn’t even have everyone available to play. With Liz Cambage back after opting out of the 2020 season and Kelsey Plum fully recovered from her achilles injury, they will be fun to watch. They are also returning their core including, Tamera Young, Dearica Hamby, and A’ja Wilson; not to mention, they now have Chelsea Gray.

Ricky: The Chicago Sky. Chicago already had one of the most exciting teams in the league even before adding Candace Parker in free agency. Veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot is the league’s top facilitator, Diamond DeShields feels primed for a breakout season at age-26, and Azurá Stevens is an inside-out scoring threat in the front court. The Sky have a great mix of established veterans and burgeoning young talent, and it feels like Parker could be the missing piece to tie it all together.

Jim: The New York Liberty. Sabrina Ionescu and Asia Durr playing together combined with the arrival of Natasha Howard make the Liberty quite an intriguing team. The Liberty shot 602 3-point shots last season and that should continue to be a part of their offensive gameplan. If they make more than the 27 percent they did last season, the Liberty might find themselves in the playoff hunt.

Sabreena: Any team that has Chennedy Carter, Aari McDonald, and Courtney Williams in the same backcourt is must-see for me. If anything, the fact that the Atlanta Dream lost their head coach less than two weeks before the start of the season makes them more interesting because Carter and McDonald are just going to be given the ball and asked to go to work. The Dream also have LaChina Robinson and Angel Gray on the League Pass broadcast, so they’ve got everything going for them.

Brady: The Chicago Sky. The Sky have every ingredient you want for entertainment. Candace Parker is one of the best players in league history, and still good for numerous highlights a night. Courtney Vandersloot is the best passer in the league, with an assist rate in 2020 that nearly doubled the next-best player. Diamond DeShields might be the best pure athlete in the league. Beyond that, they have dynamics that could fill up the drama, entertainment, and intrigue bars. Parker’s an all-time great, but her teams have had their fair share of off-court stories and tension in recent years. Vandersloot and her backcourt partner, Allie Quiqley, are married. Many predicted a Sky breakout last year, but they finished just 12-10. It’s easy to envision the Sky ending the regular season as title favorites, or as a disappointing middle of the pack crew. And they’ll be must-watch TV the whole way.

Zack: The Chicago Sky. Candace Parker on her own makes any team worth watching with her passion and leadership. The story of her returning to her hometown of Chicago is so compelling. She has a big personality and fit in in Hollywood, but her return to her roots has revealed a different, humbler side to her. As a player, Parker proved doubters wrong last year by making the All-WNBA First Team and winning Defensive Player of the Year after struggling with an injury in 2019. She has a chip on her shoulder to prove she can still be one of the best at age 35. And Courtney Vandersloot must have a chip on her shoulder too after all these years of being kept out of the MVP discussion because she’s a point guard. She is a unique talent as the only player in the league who can pile up assists at a prolific rate and her teaming up with Parker just makes Chicago that much more interesting.

Eric: The Atlanta Dream. Granted, Atlanta is a bit of an unknown quantity entering the season, with former head coach Nicki Collen accepting a job at Baylor University in the middle of training camp and an overstock of ball-dominant combo guards making the Dream’s potential rotation a complete enigma. It’s that rotation, however, that makes Atlanta so tantalizing: 2021 No. 3 overall pick Aari McDonald, who became a national star during Arizona’s improbable run in the NCAA Tournament, joins budding stars Chennedy Carter and Courtney Williams on a team brimming with vibrant personality. The jury’s still out on whether or not the Dream will be any good, but they’ll be League Pass favorites regardless.

Which player will be a household name by the end of the season?

Sydney: Mark my words Charli Collier will be a name to remember by the end of this season. Though it’s her rookie year, and there might be a bit of a learning curve, Collier is extremely talented. She was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft coming out of the University of Texas as a junior. She is a center/forward with the ability to stretch defenses and knock down threes when needed, but is also a force on the glass, finishing with a combination of power and finesse around the rim.

Eric: Kysre Gondrezick. The Fever caused a stir when they drafted Gondrezick at No. 4 overall, but they clearly see something in her that they like, so it’d be surprising if she doesn’t get plenty of opportunity to carve out a spot for herself on a rebuilding Indiana team. She’s already signed a contract with Adidas - according to ESPN’s Nick DePaula, Gondrezick will be the face of Adidas Basketball moving forward - and she’s spoken at length about the importance of branding and influencing future generations. Gondrezick has yet to play a single minute of WNBA basketball, but she’s already on the fast track to widespread visibility.

Ricky: Chennedy Carter. Carter didn’t win Rookie of the Year last season (the award went to Crystal Dangerfield), but the 5’9 guard did establish herself the future face of the Atlanta Dream with a terrific all-around debut in the W. Carter is a dynamic three-point shooter, and should be freed up to work off the ball at times with the arrival of top draft pick Aari McDonald. The Dream might be in disarray after head coach Nicki Collen bolted for Baylor, but Carter will give fans something to cheer about.

Sabreena: Am I too late on Napheesa Collier? It feels like the hype train for Collier is so much softer than other big-name Connecticut prospects. She won Rookie of the Year in 2019, was second-team all-WNBA a year ago, and almost makes you forget that Maya Moore isn’t in Minnesota right now. Collier feels like she should be the biggest up-and-coming player in the W other than maybe her podcast co-host A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart, but Collier is damn good, and if the Lynx exceed preseason expectations, she’ll be the reason why.

Cat: Brianna Turner. In the latter half of her sophomore season, Turner served as a needed spark for the then-floundering Phoenix Mercury, with her relentless effort and energy translating into All-Defensive honors. She proved especially prolific in grabbing rebounds and swatting shots. Yet, Turner is overshadowed by the multiple starry names on this Mercury team — Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Kia Nurse. However, if Phoenix approaches their championship aspirations, expect Turner to be integral to their success. Turner also deserves more shine as an incisive voice on matters of racial justice.

Zack: Courtney Williams. Williams made a bit of a name for herself during the 2019 WNBA Finals when she was a member of the Connecticut Sun, but look for her to become even more well-known this season. She doesn’t often get talked about as one of the best players in the WNBA, but numbers suggest she had a case to be in Swish Appeal’s Top 30 players. With career-best averages of 14.6 points (2020), 7.2 rebounds (2020), 3.8 assists (2019) and 1.4 steals (2019), she deserves more respect and should put up even bigger numbers at age 27 for a Dream team that is looking for other members of its deep roster besides Tiffany Hayes and rising star Chennedy Carter to step up and give them a legit big three.

Jim: Ezi Magbegor. The 2019 first round pick of the Seattle Storm from Australia played her rookie season in 2020 and played 13 minutes per game. With Natasha Howard off to New York, there will be a hole at the center position. The young 6’4” center scored 17 points in 19 minutes in the Storm’s preseason game against the Phoenix Mercury, showing that she is ready to compete for the starting spot.

Brady: Napheesa Collier’s game isn’t quite as flashy as it is valuable, but if you like watching elite-level players play, there are few people who can hold a candle to her. She’s been under-appreciated early in her career as Minnesota tried to retool on the fly for the post-Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen era. But I suspect the Lynx will be title contenders this year, with Collier on the short list of MVP candidates. And I expect both of those things to be true for most years for the next decade or so.

Who will lead the WNBA in scoring?

Eric: Arike Ogunbowale. Dallas may be more balanced offensively than it was last season, but the roster is still very young, and it will probably be Ogunbowale’s team until proven otherwise. She’s posted massive usage ratings thus far in her career (over 30 percent in both 2019 and 2020, according to Basketball Reference), and that was with the Wings playing at a relatively slow pace. If head coach Vicki Johnson emphasizes early offense in her first season at the helm, Ogunbowale will get that many more possessions to put the ball in the hoop.

Cat: Breanna Stewart. On first instinct, the answer is Dallas Wings’ scoring dynamo Arike Ogunbowale. Yet, the 2021 Wings have a deeper suite of scorers. While it should be expected that an improved Satou Sabally will get more touches on offense, rookies Chelsea Dungee and Dana Evans also have the potential to fill it up. In contrast, Breanna Stewart will have to assume a bigger scoring burden on a retooled Seattle Storm squad that features a supporting cast of younger, still-unproven players and past-their-prime vets. With Jewell Loyd as the only other consistent bucket getter on the Storm, Stewie should turn in many big scoring nights.

Ricky: Arike Ogunbowale. Ogunbowale led the WNBA in scoring at 22.8 points per game inside the bubble last season, and she will be expected to carry the Dallas Wings again this year. While Ogunbowale put up big numbers, her scoring efficiency — 41.2 percent from the field, 33.6 percent from three — leaves her plenty of room for improvement going into this season.

Sabreena: Arike seems like the obvious pick, but I’m going to go with DeWanna Bonner. She was third in scoring last season, but now has a year of playing in Curt Miller’s system under her belt. Bonner will have more offensive responsibility without Alyssa Thomas available and potentially more space to work with now that Jonquel Jones is back, too. Conditions seem ripe for the league’s 19th-leading scorer of all-time to grab her first scoring title.

Brady: Breanna Stewart. Full disclosure: Ogunbowale should be the odds-on favorite, but Stewart has a very strong case after finishing third a year ago in her first season back after tearing her Achilles. On what figures to be a bad team with a lot of rookies to develop, it wouldn’t be a shock if Ogunbowale sees a slight decrease in minutes and role, as the Wings try and build up her teammates so they can be competitive in 2022. Stewart, on the other hand, will be given the key to the Storm’s car, and also their other car, as well as their courtesy car and golf cart.

Zack: Breanna Stewart. She has the edge over Ogunbowale with her ability to post-up and score as a frontcourt player as well as a guard-like perimeter player. Both are incredibly gifted with stellar moves and this is a close call. But expect 2021 to be the year of Stewie and expect that to include the scoring title.

Sydney: Arike Ogunbowale. She was the leading scorer last season, and it doesn’t look like anyone will stand in her way and slow her down anytime soon, not even the new additions to the Dallas Wings roster. She is very efficient and ultimately a guard that can accurately read defenses, take advantage of missteps by defenders and finish at a high percentage whether she’s slashing to the rim, pulling up in the lane, or from beyond the arch.

Jim: Breanna Stewart. The Storm’s roster has changed quite a bit from last season and the other top five scorers from last season (Arike Ogunbowale, A’ja Wilson, DeWanna Bonner, and Diana Taurasi) will have more scoring options. Stewart was coming off of an Achilles injury in 2020 and still managed to finish fourth in scoring. Look for her to be a prime number one option for the Storm.

Who will be MVP?

Sabreena: WNBA voters have a very clear “best player on best team” pattern when it comes to awarding the MVP. Not since 2015 has the MVP come from a team that wasn’t the No. 1 seed, and even then, Elena Delle Donne played for the second-seeded Sky. This really might come down to who has the best record, and I think that will be the Storm, who are projected to clear the field by three games by FiveThirtyEight. That means Breanna Stewart should be the MVP for the second time in her career. It’s already been three weeks since Stewart added a trophy to her case as the 2021 EuroLeague Final Four MVP, so it’s past time she added another one, right?

Eric: Candace Parker. Let’s be honest: MVP is largely a narrative-driven award. Parker may not be as individually dominant as Stewart, Delle Donne, Wilson and other popular MVP picks at this point in her career, but she proved in 2020 that she still has plenty left to contribute to winning basketball. Parker brings defense, rebounding, playmaking and experience to a Chicago team that needed every bit of her diverse skillset; if the Sky take the leap many are expecting of them and finish near the top of the WNBA standings, Parker will likely have a compelling case for MVP.

Jim: I think it comes down to Breanna Stewart and Candace Parker. Stewart will have the stats and, although I think the Storm are generally weaker as a team than they have been recently, the Storm will be near the top of the standings. Eric’s argument about the award being narrative-driven is compelling. If the Sky finish third or better and Parker remains healthy, look for Parker to take the award.

Ricky: Breanna Stewart. Stewart might be on track to become women’s basketball’s GOAT by the time she retires. Still just 26 years old, Stewart is already incredibly accomplished and seems to be firmly in her prime. She successfully recovered from a torn Achilles last year, and immediately led the Storm to a WNBA championship in the bubble. Elena Delle Donne and A’ja Wilson will push her, but Stewart is still the best player alive.

Sydney: Candace Parker. She’s in her hometown, with a new team and a new system, but I feel like this will be a dominant year for her. Thirty-five years old and having spent the past 13 seasons in LA, her change to Chicago shocked the basketball world. I feel like Parker, though a veteran, will continue to amaze us on her new team with many dominant MVP caliber performances. I think she’ll remind us that the young players are great, but even as a veteran she’s still one of the best in the game.

Brady: Breanna Stewart. Stewart is the best player alive, on a team with a solid chance of being the best in the league. That’s a pretty strong formula. Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson could make a push, but her usage might drop a little with Liz Cambage’s return. Elena Delle Donne has the skills to win, but is already hampered by back injuries. Others like Candace Parker, Napheesa Collier, Nneka Ogwumike, Brittney Griner, and Jonquel Jones all have cases, but also obstacles. Stewie has the most straightforward path while, again, already being the best player in the world.

Cat: Napheesa Collier. With A’ja Wilson and Liz Cambage stealing votes from each other on the Las Vegas Aces, Breanna Stewart on a Seattle Storms team that likely will not match last season’s heights and the Washington Mystics’ Elena Delle Donne working her way back from offseason back surgery, there is a potential MVP void. As the Minnesota Lynx are poised to be near the top of the standings, Napheesa Collier, who finished fifth on last season’s MVP ballot, is a strong candidate to fill it. Even as the Lynx have bolstered their roster, it is Collier, with her ability to credibly play three positions on both ends of the floor, who unlocks the versatility that makes the Lynx a dangerous, championship-caliber team. Collier also should post the raw numbers and impact metrics requisite of an MVP.

Zack: Breanna Stewart. There really couldn’t be a more perfect storm for Breanna Stewart right now. She’s a little quicker than Elena Delle Donne, who is arguably the second-best player in the world, and more youthful at age 26. She eliminated any thoughts that the Achilles injury in 2019 would lower her level of play by averaging 19.7 points and 8.3 rebounds last year en route to a second-place finish in MVP voting. Expect her to win the award for the second time this year.

Let’s talk defense. Which team will finish No. 1 in defensive efficiency? Who will win Defensive Player of the Year?

Ricky: A’ja Wilson for DPOY. Aces finish with the top defense. Wilson won MVP last season, and is unquestionably one of the top overall talents in the league. The Aces’ defense only finished behind the Storm last year, and they’re getting Liz Cambage back this season. All signs are pointing to the Aces being a powerhouse, and their size inside is going to be a big part of a dominant defense.

Sabreena: At the risk of repeating everything Ricky just said, the Aces will have the best defense in the league. They have the bones of the defense that finished atop the league in 2019, and getting Liz Cambage back in place of Carolyn Swords/Emma Cannon/whatever was happening at the 5 last year should help them get back from second place to that perch. As for defensive player of the year, let’s just say it will go to someone who will also appear on one of the league’s all-defense teams.

Brady: There are a million and one good options for DPOY, but I’m choosing Natasha Howard. The last time Howard wasn’t fighting for minutes and spotlight next to Breanna Stewart, she almost unanimously won DPOY. She’ll have a tall task righting a Liberty defense that was last in the league a year ago, but if she can, she’ll be in pole position for the award. As for team defense, I’m going with the Lynx. Minnesota wasn’t a good defensive team last year, but they were lacking Sylvia Fowles for all but seven games. With a hopefully healthy Fowles, the additions of Kayla McBride and Aerial Powers, and a year of growth from Napheesa Collier, they could be elite on that end of the court. Most Cheryl Reeve teams are.

Cat: Sylvia Fowles. In her brief time on the court last season, the longtime Minnesota Lynx stalwart flashed DOY form. This season, with less of a burden on offense, Fowles should be able to devote her energies to anchoring Minnesota’s defense. In 2020, without Fowles, the Lynx’s defensive rating was nearly seven points worse than the league leader, a departure from season after season of being within two points of the league’s best defense, if not at the top. With a healthy Fowles, the Lynx should be back in their more familiar defensive stratosphere, and Big Syl might have earned more hardware.

Zack: Elizabeth Williams best defensive player. Lynx best defensive team. To me, Williams was the second-best defensive player in the league last year after Alyssa Thomas, who will miss all of 2021 with a torn Achilles. Thomas made more disruptive plays, but Williams provided sound fundamental defense on a consistent basis. She also averaged 1.4 blocks per game. The Lynx return nine-time All-Defensive player and three-time Defensive Player of the Year Sylvia Fowles from a calf injury to a team that was fifth in the league in defensive rating last year. The trio of Fowles, Napheesa Collier and Damiris Dantas in the frontcourt is formidable defensively and I’ll give it the edge over the backcourt duo of Briann January and Jasmine Thomas in Connecticut.

Eric: The Las Vegas Aces are looking pretty tough defensively. Losing Angel McCoughtry to a knee injury is a big hit for their perimeter defense, but they should remain an excellent defensive rebounding team, and if they lead the WNBA in opponents’ free throw rate by as wide of a margin as they did in 2020, their overall defensive efficiency will once again be excellent. As far as Defensive Player of the Year, I think this is Napheesa Collier’s year to be recognized; her versatility and basketball IQ on the defensive end of the floor are unparalleled, and if Sylvia Fowles can stay healthy enough to contribute her usual stout interior defense, Collier will have all the room she needs to wreak havoc elsewhere.

Jim: I like the Minnesota Lynx here with Napheesa Collier to take the Defensive Player of the Year award. The Lynx were fifth last season and I expect the teams who finished in front of them to regress defensively based on roster changes and injuries. Minnesota plays great team defense and Collier is a versatile defender and should have the statistical argument to back it up by the end of the season.

Give me one bold WNBA prediction

Brady: Is it bold to say that Sabrina Ionescu will be one of the best players in the W? After being one of the most highly-touted prospects in league history a year ago, Ionescu struggled with ankle injuries and played just three games. In essence, she’s still a rookie, but she won’t play like one. I’ll say she makes an All-WNBA team.

Cat: The Atlanta Dream will earn a top-five playoff seed. It’s been a good year for interim head coaches in the ATL. (Shout out Nate McMillan!) Despite all of the unexpected turnover within the Dream organization, interim head coach Mike Petersen and lead assistant coach Darius Taylor inherit a team with a ton of talent. Last season’s oft-injured core of Chennedy Carter, Courtney Williams, Elizabeth Williams, Monique Billings and Shekinna Stricklen will welcome back Tiffany Hayes, with No. 3 draft pick Aari McDonald and free agents Cheynne Parker, Odyssey Sims and Tianna Hawkins highlighting the new arrivals. If Petersen and Taylor can get all these unfamiliar faces to coalesce into a team, the Dream should be in the middle of the playoff picture.

Eric: Teaira McCowan will win Most Improved Player. Though the criteria for this award aren’t exactly clear, the young Fever center seems like a good candidate to earn it; she struggled to stay on the floor in 2020, but her per-minute stats remained impressive, and with Indiana overhauling its frontcourt in free agency, McCowan seems to be in line for more minutes and a consistent starting role. If she improves her defensive mechanics enough to stay in the good graces of head coach Marianne Stanley, McCowan could realistically average a double-double, which would give her a good argument for Most Improved honors.

Zack: Dallas and New York make the playoffs. Charli Collier, Awak Kuier, Chelsea Dungee and Dana Evans will all make impacts as rookies with Collier and Kuier becoming stars. It’s not unprecedented in the WNBA for top two draft picks to do so in their first seasons. Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally will also play well and Dallas won’t have any weak links. Marina Mabrey will remain an X factor. Meanwhile the Liberty will see a big three form with Natasha Howard, Betnijah Laney and a Sabrina Ionescu who lives up to expectations. Howard will be in contention for an All-WNBA spot and Ionescu’s distributing abilities will make the Liberty offense run smoothly so that they are able to bounce back from a 2-20 campaign.

Sabreena: The Mystics fall off. The expectation seems to be that Washington will be right back in the contending class now that all of the players who opted out in 2020 are back, but I don’t think it’ll be that easy. Elena Delle Donne won’t be ready to start the season, Emma Meesseman won’t be coming until after the Olympic break at the earliest, and Alysha Clark won’t suit up at all. Tina Charles is a damn good consolation prize with all those players at less than full strength, and Natasha Cloud has shown the ability to lead a championship team, but there’s enough uncertainty that I don’t think the Mystics can be penciled in alongside the Storm, Aces, Sky, or even the Lynx depending on when Collier gets back.

Jim: The Indiana Fever finally make the playoff leap. The Fever have drafted some of the best young talent to leave college over the last few years. However, that potential has not translated to success on the court, averaging just 8.5 wins over the last four seasons. As head coach Marianne Stanley enters her second season, look for the Fever to be much improved and fighting for spot in the playoffs.

Ricky: Dallas makes the playoffs. The Wings have missed the postseason each of the last two seasons, but they’re too talented to do it again. Dallas has one of the league’s top scorers in Arike Ogunbowale, while 6’4 forward Satou Sabally could turn into a star in her second season. Dallas also had three of the first five picks in the 2021 draft, adding Charli Collier and Awak Kuier to the front court, and Chelsea Dungee to the backcourt. They’re ready to crash the playoffs.

Sydney: The Atlanta Dream will make the playoffs. This is definitely a bold prediction considering that the team is in flux. They are under new ownership, have an interim head coach since Nicki Collen took the head coaching job for Baylor women’s basketball 11 days before the start of the season. The road to the start of the season hasn’t been a straight shot for the Dream, and yet I feel like this team has the heart to do what most people think they can’t. From Chennedy Carter to Aari McDonald, Elizabeth Williams, and the whole squad, I think there’s a chance for them to make the postseason despite their circumstances.

What’s your Finals prediction?

Sabreena: Until it happens, I can’t see the Storm being beaten. They have Stewie, and that’s a better starting point than anyone else. Here’s hoping they get to play the Aces in a rematch of both teams at full strength.

Eric: Mystics over Aces. Washington may struggle out of the gate with Elena Delle Donne recovering from a back injury and Emma Meesseman competing internationally with Belgium, but if both of those players are back in the fold by the time the playoffs roll around, the Mystics will be balanced, skilled and experienced. The contrasting offensive philosophies and amount of star power would make this a tremendous series to watch, and assuming both teams will be at their strongest, I think Washington will have the firepower to win it all.

Sydney: The Aces win it all. I know, we haven’t seen that happen before, especially since this franchise is just four years old, but their talent cannot be denied. It’s not to say that other teams aren’t talented, but I can see the Aces getting hot late in the season and being hard to cool down as long as they stay healthy.

Ricky: Storm over Sky. Seattle is the betting favorite for a reason. The Storm have won the title two of the last three years, and will be going for back-to-back championships for the first time in franchise history. Despite a couple questionable offseason moves, this is still a stacked roster led by Stewie, the best player alive. They remain the team to beat.

Cat: Mystics over Aces. The Washington Mystics may not finish with the league’s best record during the regular season, but, as long as Emma Messeman returns for the second half of the season and Elena Delle Donne remains healthy, DC has the ingredients needed to survive what promises to be a hyper-competitive championship chase and claim a second trophy in three seasons. With a do-it-all superstar in EDD flanked by numerous “stars in the role” with playoff experience — headlined by Messeman, Tina Charles, Natasha Cloud and Ariel Atkins — Washington has the intangibles characteristic of title-winning teams.

Brady: Storm over Lynx. I can see a path to the Finals for eight teams, which is part of what makes this league so fun. But the Storm have the strongest case, and the most Breanna Stewarts on their team, so I give them the nod to repeat. Choosing an opponent is harder, but I love the construction of Minnesota’s club. The pieces fit together seamlessly, there’s talent at every position, and they’ve got a budding superstar in Napheesa Collier. They’re deep and experienced, and led by an all-time great coach with plenty of postseason experience.

Zack: Aces over Mystics. Despite Angel McCoughtry being out for the season with a torn ACL and a torn meniscus, the Aces are still the most talented team in the league. The Mystics will prove doubters wrong by being a Top 2 team, but the Aces will have too much firepower with A’ja Wilson, Liz Cambage and Chelsea Gray in the Finals.

Jim: Aces over Lynx. With Liz Cambage back, the season-ending injury to McCoughtry can be weathered. Additionally, the rest of the Aces team has improved after making the WNBA Finals last season. After getting swept, look for the Aces to be on a mission. I like the Lynx to make a big jump this season. The Storm, Mystics, and Sky will be on the cusp but I like the defense of Minnesota to carry them to the finals but come up short to Las Vegas.

[ourmodernzen]

Here is How Many Calories You Can Burn During Yoga

Yoga is often an efficient workout that incinerates calories long after you allow the mat…or it is often a sage-scented nap. counting on who you ask, there are anywhere from eight to twenty-eight different sorts of yoga—and all of them offer varying degrees of calorie burn. If you're wondering what percentage calories yoga burns, the short answer is 50 per hour, on the low end, and 1,500 on the high end.

"Yoga isn't traditionally considered to be within the same category as calorie-burning sweat-inducing activities, like running or high-intensity camp classes," says Alex Carneiro, a private trainer and therefore the founding father of Modevo Fitness in Lakewood, Colorado. "That said, the number of calories you'll burn during a class will differ from person to person and sophistication to class."

Ultimately, not every sort of yoga is made equal, and therefore the yoga that burns the foremost calories depends on an entire bunch of factors: the poses, the duration of the category, your size and muscle mass, your experience level, and your blood heat, among others. Still, yoga is all about setting intentions—and if you intend to burn calories, there are many ways to accomplish exactly that. Here's everything you would like to understand about using yoga to kick your calorie burn into overdrive.

What sorts of yoga burn the foremost calories? Hatha and Vinyasa yoga styles burn the foremost calories, while Restorative and Yin styles burn much less.

"Hatha Yoga on the average will burn around 200 calories," says Carneiro. "Vinyasa Flow is typically related to the very best number of calories burnt with a mean of 550 calories per hour."

Vinyasa yoga offers the foremost promise from burning off yesterday's drunk nachos because it is the most aerobic form, and strings together a spread of athletic postures typically mentioned as a "flow." Power yoga may be a bit like Vinyasa yoga but is more athletic. the 2 forms are different, of course, but are similar therein they're both rooted more in fitness than meditation. Both forms also come under attack for that very reason (and for the very fact that they are more injury-prone, too).

Hatha yoga may burn fewer than half the calories that Vinyasa does, but it also presents a gentler, lower-risk option—and that's essential to think about. After all, getting injured may be a surefire thanks to pushing your calorie burn levels off a cliff.

What yoga poses burn the foremost calories? Yoga postures that need strength, balance, and stretching burn more calories because they force the body to multitask, says Michelle Thielen, a yoga instructor and therefore the founding father of YogaFaith. as an example, complex poses (like a dancer, extended side-angle, warrior II, and boat) will burn many more calories than restorative ones (like a corpse, happy baby, child's, and hero).

woman performing yoga dancer pose An experienced yogi performs the dancer pose. Shutterstock Regardless of the pose, the longer you hold it, the more calories you'll burn—but that does not mean holding a pose for an eon is usually an honest idea. Holding calorie-burning postures for extended periods of your time requires a complicated level of skill and, again, presents a greater risk of injury. This weight-loss hack should be utilized carefully by experienced yogis.

"The caution here, like any physical activity, is we do not want to compromise form or function if fatigue is present," Thielen warns. "Don't hold a posture if your body is misaligned, or if you're having difficulty balancing."

The heat helps—but not the maximum amount as you'd think. Beyond Vinyasa and yoga, Bikram, and other warm and hot versions of yoga burn the foremost calories far and away because they utilize many calorie-burning poses during a sweltering room. Bikram classes typically happen in rooms around 110 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas warm or heated Power or Vinyasa yoga is often anywhere from 90 to 110 degrees. (Any yoga hotter than 115 degrees is dangerous even for expert yogis.)

Some sources state that hot yoga can melt anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 calories off of sweaty participants. Though both Thielen and Carneiro acknowledge that's possible, research out of Colorado State University found that, when men and ladies did 90 minutes of Bikram yoga at 105 degrees, women burned 330 calories and men burned 460 calories on the average.

The upside of hot yoga could also be slightly overstated, but it isn't a complete myth either. Extra energy wont to cool the body with sweat burns extra calories, and hot sorts of yoga further maximize gains by promoting strength, stamina, and endurance. (Yes, it is a win-win-win.) Hot rooms boost cardiovascular health and lung capacity by understanding respiratory and circulation systems, say both Thielen and Carneiro.

Of course, Bikram and other hot yoga styles accompany the danger of—you guessed it—injury. Dehydration is a clear concern, but hot rooms increase flexibility. And, while which will be great for pushing certain poses to the limit, rookies are more susceptible to overdoing it—and stretching too far.

"Often, you are feeling like Gumby during a hot room and may overstretch a muscle or tendon that can't be repaired to its original state," Thielen notes. (If one thing's needless to say, it's that Gumby knew squat about counting calories.)

Other factors are live. Style poses and temperature are all important for maximizing the number of calories you'll burn during yoga, but there are other variables to account for. Size, muscle mass, pulse, effort, and even what you eat before class can have an impact on what percentage of calories you burn. as an example, larger, more inexperienced people need to exert more energy during yoga and can burn more calories as a result.

"Traditionally, if you are a novice in yoga, your body may burn more calories, since it isn't won't to the movements and patterns of holding the poses," Carneiro points out. "As you get more advanced, your body will conserve more energy, and therefore the number of calories you burn will decrease."

Expert yogis may look cool holding their headstands for ages, but they're burning fewer calories because their bodies have acclimated. So, beginners, have that going for them!

Yoga is for losing weight, not for burning calories. Even though there are many ways to burn a gazillion calories during a yoga class, yoga experts agree that that's not the purpose of getting to class. it is vital to notice that, albeit yoga doesn't prioritize the burn, multiple peer-reviewed studies suggest that yoga helps people reduce. Now, this is not because yoga burns calories, per se, but because it teaches mindfulness.

"The benefits of yoga transcend the mat and flow itself, which means weight loss is additionally achieved off the mat," says Caleb Backe, a private trainer and a wellness expert at Maple Holistics.

Mindfulness comes from the meditative side of yoga, and it means the power to remain present within the moment. Mindfulness has been linked with better sleep, improved psychological state, and healthier eating habits, all of which cause weight loss that folks can maintain without ever having to count calories.

"These are things which will allow you to burn calories even after you've finished your yoga workout," Backe says. "With this in mind, burning calories is more of a byproduct than a goal of doing yoga."

[blazewatergem]

Cleaning - Surefire Camp

Spring cleaning at Surefire Camp! Mostly happy, one angsty section for poor Bella, and me kind of ribbing myself for misspelling her name so many times before :’D for the record: it’s BellA, not BellE. Even if it says that on her character ref - yes, I got it wrong there too 😭

Please enjoy! This actually came out more than DOUBLE the words than the first one!

Spring cleaning. One of the most hectic times of Surefire Camp. While most of the cabins lie empty, the ones with living occupants did need to get picked up every so often. The deep clean that comes with spring, though, always felt far more refreshing.

It was also a great time to get to see what the other kids were up to. Seeing how the adults focused on their main lodge, the group got to bounce between their own places and…mildly rub each other on what was up with their stuff.

The first, of course, was Cleona’s.

🧹

“Hoooooo, Cleona, that’s a lot of blankets.”

Alex whistles, staring at the growing mound as Cleona pulls out fluffy blanket after blanket from her cabin. And then pillowcases. And then sheets. At some point, he’s pretty sure it should be two piles and not one.

“Yeah, well, I kind of need them.” She lifts one up, gesturing back towards herself, “Most of my cabin is bed. I use them to set up a den, for the most part, and let’s be real - I’m always the one hosting sleepovers.”

She’s started to use her back as a basket, draping the blankets over herself to help carry them.

Alex starts picking them up too. “Yeah, that’s because yours is the coziest. Nice and big so we all can have fun. You don’t share with anyone.” He winks at the end, making her laugh.

It was the truth. Sabella lived in the lake, for the most part, and Bella still slept in the main lodge - for safety reasons - while Charlie and Alex shared a cabin.

“You try getting enough space with a body like this. Beds are small, sofas are small, I can’t sit in chairs.” Cleona is giggling all the while they lug her stuff to the laundry and back again. It’s a comfortable feeling, doing it together.

On the way back, Alex looks around. “You seen Charlie?”

“Yeah, he’s on floor duty.”

“Eh?”

He understands the minute they get back into Cleona’s cabin. While a majority of it is carpeted, soft and well-worn with time, there’s still some regular flooring near the door and into the area that works as a dining room.

Charlie was currently in puddle mode, roaming like a roomba across said flooring.

“My dude,” Alex states, “the fuck.”

A head appears in the middle of the green pool.

“I’m helping!”

🧹

Charlie and Alex’s cabins were next - and things were going smoothly!

Until Cleona got into the fridge.

“How the hell are you two alive?” She chuckles, pulling out so many half drank water bottles, “There’s, like, no food in here. Oop, I take it back -“

Triumphantly, she raises a single pack of bacon above her head.

“Found some.”

She outright laughs at the offended looks she gets back.

“Hey! I do most of my cooking in the dining hall, better and bigger kitchen there.” Alex defends, “Stuff here is just for, like, quick cooking or cravings, y’know? D-Don’t think I didn’t see what was in your fridge!”

Cleona’s cat ears press against her head, and she ducks a bit, “Yeah, yeah, I get it.”

Having a shit ton of raw beef was a pretty strange sight to the guys. And milk. A lot of milk.

“B-But I’m the only one in there! There’s two of you here, shouldn’t you have more? Especially with Charlie’s biology.” It was a good point. If Charlie ever lost a lot of himself, eating or drinking can help make up for it.

Considering he was always losing bits of himself, the poor teen was just…always hungry.

Like right now, where she could see him quite literally shoving himself into a bag of chips.

“We keep snacks in the cabinets,” Alex explains, putting the victory bacon back, “Trust me, we use the fridge.”

“For what —“ In a practiced move, Cleona starts opening the drawers in the fridge to check through those. She doesn’t really expect to find anything.

But she does.

The two of their bickering goes silent as they stare down at the ketchup packets. Just…just a shit ton of ketchup packets. Cleona can see different labels of where they’re from - most from fast food places, but there was a few from local diners.

They fill up the entire. Drawer.

“…Hey Alex?”

“¿Qué?”

“I think it’s my turn to ask what the fuck.”

“Probably.”

“…Well?”

“Hmm?”

She gestures towards the drawer, “Wha-I-the- what do you MEAN hmm?! Bro, the fuck?!”

Alex looks at the mound of packets, and shrugs. “I dunno, seems easier than drinking it from the bottle.”

“WHAT —“

🧹

They’ve masked up. They’ve got gloves on. Cleona has even wrapped bags around her paws to keep them and the fur up her legs safe.

Charlie’s room. Their next destination.

“We ready?” Alex’s voice is muffled a bit, the teen having found and put on a gas mask.

“Yeah.” Cleona adjusts her goggles, mop in hand, “We got this.”

As they unlock the door and step in…

They reel back, stunned.

Everything’s clean.

Charlie didn’t have much. A bathtub - with the drain and any piping removed - for a bed, some clothes for particularly hot days, a mini fridge for liquids, and a tablet made to be waterproof loaded up with books and games and things.

But not a smidge of dirt or grime anywhere.

Where they expected mass amounts of dried slime, goo, and stains there’s none. Even mold or just in general use is…not there.

It’s pristine to the point of creepy.

“U-Uh, Charlie, buddy?” Alex calls out, “You’ve been sleeping in here right?”

The slime in question slinks up to them, looks in, and nods.

“Yeah! But why are you two going in? I don’t cause any mess.” Charlie starts, and then continues after their dumbfounded looks, “My slime dissolves dirt and stuff. Plus it doesn’t stain or dry up - it just kinda evaporates. Y’know, poof.”

…

“You’re cleaner than we are.”

“Charlie, that’s so cool!”

🧹

Before heading to the main lodge, the three go towards the lake to help out Sabella with the lake.

Most of the floaties they just. Leave floating in the lake so they’re always available. From unicorn donut tubes to giant parkour setups - one they all begged for and got one beautiful Christmas - they drift along the clear crystal waters.

What makes a difference now is bringing them up on the shore for Eleanor to check over. She knew how to fix this stuff, so they save it for her.

Something about not trusting anyone else with a needle.

Which is where they find this awful predicament.

“Charlie! Try - try leaning!” Cleona tries not to laugh, she does, but seeing just how stuck he was…it was hard. She could barely make out his panicked face as the floatie he was on started drifting away.

It’s a little kid one, and it looked like a pirate boat.

For some reason this is important to her to note.

“If I lean ‘m going in!!” Charlie yells back, “Please!! I CAN’T SWIM!” He’s so concerned.

Alex is laughing, “Yes you can! We’ve seen you do it before!” They had, and Charlie was - actually - a really good swimmer.

That does not stop his weak flailing.

“BUT THE LAKE WATER FEELS WEIRD IN MY SLIMEEEE!” He cries out, before falling backwards with a yelp. He sits back up, and smiles at the sight of a long, long scaly tail wrapped around his tube, tugging him to shore.

“Thanks Sabella!” The alligator girl laughs at him, shrugging as she drifts.

“No worries, Charlie.”

🧹

While the others head towards the dining hall, ready to eat, Cleona heads towards the main lodge. She knew Bella sometimes needed some…extra love, with cleaning day.

The little girl was very convinced that getting rid of stuff hurts said stuffs feelings, and thus needed to be reassured it was perfectly ok.

Which is how she enters the office room - a front in case anyone ever came by, wanting to stay at Surefire Camp, only to be informed the main campgrounds and cabins are ‘closed for repairs’.

Only to find a fretting Eleanor.

“Miss Eleanor?” Cleona stops on her way to the living spaces.

“Oh! Cleona, great timing, can you go check on Bella?” The older woman frets, fiddling with her many bracelets, “We were going through her room, and-and when Phil brought a letter in - for Bella, not me - she got upset and begged me to leave!”

She sighs, silver and brown hair falling from her bun - almost like an emphasis on the woman’s low mood.

“I didn’t want to push her, so I did. But she hasn’t come out, and it’s been a while…”

Cleona nods, “Yeah I’ll go take a peek. Don’t you worry, I’ll get our bumblebee back to buzzing.”

She hopes.

🧹

The crying she could hear through the door was not promising.

“Bumblebee baby?” Cleona says, “You wanna open the door for me?”

“No!” Is the sobbed out answer, “I don’ wanna!” Oof, ok, definitely gonna need a light touch here.

“Honey bear, you’re worryin’ me. What’s going on?” Cleona settles down just outside the door, lying down and crossing her arms. It’s a few minutes later, but a piece of paper slides under the door. A quick pick up and glance over it reveals everything.

Dear Belle,

Don’t write anymore.

It wasn’t even signed, but Cleona knew who it was from. While the teen has lost most of her faith in humans - along with most of the people living there - Bella had always wanted her parents to still love her. So, sometimes on her own in little red crayon, sometimes with the help of Phil or Cleona herself, Bella would write letters to them.

They never responded until now.

Cleona feels the paper crumple under her tightening hands. She drops it and knocks again at the door. The crying has…lessened.

“Bella, please open the door.”

There’s soft footsteps, the click of a lock, and then the steps go away. Cleona opens the door to a pastel daydream turned dark.

There are ribbons, frilly dresses and light colored clothes strung up in different areas. The closet, Cleona knows, was turned into a little reading nook and appeared to currently be occupied by the big stuffed bunny they had won at the state fair. The bed was overstuffed, piled on pillows and blankets.

A pile on the floor looks like Bella was sorting through her toys when the letter came in. Now, the girl was crying into a Squishmallow…which, Cleona is pretty sure that one is hers, but that’s ok.

“Oh, baby, it’s gonna be ok.” Cleona starts, gently rubbing the other girl’s back. The child cries harder.

“Th-they didn’t even geeet my nameee right!” She’s abandoned the Squish for hugging Cleona, hiding her face in the teen’s shoulder.

Cleona…can’t give her the right words. So, she drops her voice, and purrs. Purrs and purrs and purrs, holding the toddler close to try and soothe the pain.

Cleona just wishes this would be the only time Bella is ever let down, but she knows better.

All she can do is be there for her. For all of them.

🧹

The night ends with s’mores, a insisted upon tradition. As Cleona holds Bella, eyes still a bit puffy and face smeared with marshmallow, she wonders if she’d rather things were different.

If any of their parents could have accepted them, would they be better off? Then again, some of them weren’t there because of that. Besides, watching Bella munch on another s’more - it’d be her last one for a few days, to avoid adding to the sugar meter in her body - Cleona…really wouldn’t change anything.

They’re a family, no matter who leaves or joins. She’s happy to support them through thick and thin, no matter what.

[spicynbachili2]

Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. Impressions – IGN

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A courageous new world of questions.

By Brandin Tyrrel

After 20 hours spent within the West-Virginian wasteland of Fallout 76 through the now-concluded B.E.T.A. (enjoying on Xbox One X, when you’re curious), I’ve been left with an overarching sense of curiosity. Primarily, I’m curious why Fallout 76 exists.

That’s not meant to be a criticism. With so many parts working collectively and towards each other, I ponder why that is the subsequent Fallout recreation that we’re enjoying, versus one which leans more durable into the standard story-driven single-player expertise or a full-fledged multiplayer survival recreation set within the Fallout universe. Because it stands now, Fallout 76 is neither of these issues – it’s caught in some unusual Appalachian limbo between two factors.

“

Fallout 76 seems to be one other very competent tackle what we’ve come to count on from a Bethesda open world.

That’s to not say I believe Fallout 76 is dangerous – I don’t. And this isn’t a assessment by any means, as I nonetheless have loads of hours to go browsing post-launch servers. However to date, 76 seems to be one other very competent tackle these parts we’ve come to count on from a Bethesda open world.

There’s an enormous, virtually exhaustively open, open-world to discover. Each construction is loaded with containers to go looking and junk to select up, flip over, and scrap to assist the as-vast-as-ever crafting system. That pervasive ambiance – the one which guarantees one thing extremely cool might be in the midst of nowhere – is as thick in West Virginia because it was in DC and Boston.

All these parts are in Fallout 76, and I’ve discovered myself – even now after enjoying for six hours straight – serious about small shacks, concrete asylums, and seemingly haunted cabins that I didn’t get an opportunity to tear aside in quest of secrets and techniques. I wish to return.

“

I’ve a specific smooth spot for the sound design in Fallout 76. There’s a satisfying thud if you join with a bullet, and firearms ship sharp cracks echoing throughout the open world.

And West Virginia might be attractive. I’ve repeatedly gone backwards and forwards between whether or not Fallout 76 graphically seems higher or worse than Fallout four, however the reality possible lies someplace between.

The artwork route in Fallout 76 is nice: the moody lighting and haze over a marsh might be tremendous creepy, and streaks of solar filtering via autumnal branches within the forest is a gorgeous scene.

Regardless of that potential magnificence, there are a small military of graphical points – forgivable since it is a beta – like textures loading late or under no circumstances, a draw distance that causes complete parts to fade into existence when zooming via a scope, corpses that merely disappear proper earlier than your eyes, and extra. Hopefully many of those points will likely be addressed – I think about lots of them received’t be, however we’ll cross that bridge within the assessment.

I’ve a specific smooth spot for the sound design in Fallout 76. There’s a satisfying thud if you join with a bullet, and firearms ship sharp cracks echoing throughout the open world. The directional thump of a brilliant mutant lumbering someplace above you, and the wheezing taunts of a Scorched within the subsequent room provide you with each data and aural shade. Fallout 76 is a pleasure to hearken to (however be cautious of drive-by screaming from different gamers with open mics and no disgrace.)

None for All, and All for None

However for all the pieces I discover that’s proper with Fallout 76, there are a selection of disjointed parts. At the start is the multiplayer. For the primary time, a traditional-esque open-world Fallout recreation is accessible to a number of gamers occupying the identical digital shard of the post-apocalypse directly. On paper, this looks as if a simple win: a vault opens, the survivors pour into the unknown and hijinx ensues as they devolve into roaming bands of leather-chap-clad warriors, or band collectively to rebuild society that after was.

My frustration with the multiplayer is that these eventualities might very effectively be true. Maybe by the point we attain stage cap the methods to work together with each other will likely be extra significant than the primary 20 ranges, however I don’t know for certain. What I can converse to is my expertise with different gamers to this point, which often boils all the way down to watching one other participant run via a zone, or constructing, earlier than going again to what I used to be doing.

“

Fallout 76 by no means actually seems like a social expertise. It’s quiet and interacting with different gamers are completely non-obligatory.

Actually, different gamers in Fallout 76 look like the least impactful change made to the collection, not less than to date. The framework in place makes it clear Bethesda needs gamers to work collectively: You may share your perks with different members of your staff, you possibly can can freely quick journey throughout the map to somebody in your group (fairly than spending just a few caps to teleport to a landmark you’ve found,) and there are public occasions that throw fleshy mountains of monsters at you or process you with escorting a robotic via a military of ghouls that seemingly require a number of gun-toting survivors to finish.

In that very same breath, Fallout 76 by no means actually seems like a social expertise. It’s quiet and interacting with different gamers is completely non-obligatory. There’s no actual centralized social area to work together in (as soon as you permit the beginning areas). Granted, there doesn’t have to be. The world is so huge and so dotted with locations to entry your stash, commerce, restock, or promote gadgets (together with your cellular camp/workshop) that you simply’re as self-sufficient exterior of city as you’ll be in a single.

However the advantages of grouping collectively are mechanically middling, so I by no means discovered a dire must band along with different gamers exterior of companionship. On this means, Fallout 76 may be very lonely social recreation. There’s a way that so as enchantment to the broadest set of participant kinds, Fallout 76 is a jack of all trades, however a grasp of none.

“

Even the significant side of preventing different gamers is relegated to the suitable time and place.

Even the significant side of preventing different gamers is relegated to the suitable time and place. You may assault different gamers, dealing absurdly lowered harm till they determine to combat again, at which level it’s recreation on… however you’re depending on their approval for homicide. I’m not a bloodthirsty form of participant, however I do wish to have the choice to kill somebody with out asking permission in a multiplayer recreation the place a player-versus-player component A) exists, and B) is marketed like a fascinating portion of the expertise. To this point – and possibly it comes into focus extra at larger ranges – I’ve found a public occasion that promotes PvP, and an opt-in hunter/hunted-style minimode. I’m certain there are extra choices on the market, however as of now, the specter of participant violence isn’t a lot of a risk in any respect.

The hazard of getting killed by different gamers, or killing them, merely doesn’t exist in my expertise. At present, I’ve taken to attempting to dive in entrance of gamers’ bullets like some form of absolute moron within the hopes one clips me and I can lastly empty each of my shotgun barrels right into a fellow vault dweller. I’ve received another concepts on easy methods to recreation the system, however the truth that I must concoct ridiculous plans to kill others reveals that Fallout 76 is stretching to dip its toes in each the cooperative and aggressive swimming pools, with out ever taking the plunge in a single or the opposite.

“

I used to be ambushed by gamers who sliced at me whereas strafing in a small circle like a homicidal interpretive dance squad.

From a design perspective, I do perceive that it really works the way in which it really works for a motive. Having well-equipped teams of absolute savages roaming the hills in quest of contemporary meat and straightforward pickings is a surefire method to flip gamers off of the Fallout 76 expertise earlier than they even get began.

At one level I used to be ambushed at an airport by three gamers with machetes who sliced at me whereas strafing round in small circle like a homicidal interpretive dance squad. I laughed for ten full seconds earlier than the novelty wore off, completed my looting of a derelict airplane’s cockpit, and walked away. About midway down the runway they should have received bored too, as a result of the sounds of metallic scraping towards my pores and skin stopped. I didn’t hassle to show round to look. It didn’t matter.

I can admit that had I been killed from behind by these knife-wielding pseudo-dancers whereas I looked for tremendous glue and free screws I’d in all probability be fairly pissed within the second. However proper now I’ve but to discover a method to decide into the prospect of actual, post-apocalyptic wasteland-style hazard from different gamers. Ideally, I’d like to see a checkbox as as to whether you’d like to hitch a no-mercy server that removes the PvP buffer, or the present construction the place preventing between gamers is systemically supervised.

Chasing Ghosts

My different primary curiosity about Fallout 76 is the dilution of the story construction and supply. In contrast to previous video games with a great deal of characters, branching dialogue choices, and quests to undertake, Fallout 76 is a principally follow-the-trail-of-breadcrumbs expertise. For some motive Bethesda has determined to take away the standard non-player characters – possibly for technical causes, possibly for simplicity – and as a substitute has us interacting with robots, languishing AI constructs, and listening to holotapes to get the knowledge for the subsequent crumb within the path.

Taking part in via the story makes me really feel like I’m chasing ghosts. The start story arc is to observe a collection of recorded messages from plenty of useless characters, with the aim being to both put the ending touches on no matter they have been engaged on earlier than their loss of life, or to simply discover the subsequent holotape journal entry. Sometimes there’s an AI machine that speaks at you, however these too are merely extra elaborate voice recordings. The message I hear would be the message you hear would be the message another person hears as a result of there’s no choice to work together, solely obtain.

“

Satisfaction in Fallout 76’s story comes from patching collectively bits of the lore of the world, fairly than your exploits.

On this means, satisfaction in Fallout 76’s story comes from patching collectively bits of the lore of the world, fairly than your exploits. It’s like watching a film or studying a guide. You’re interacting with an account of one thing that occurred, fairly than making it occur: the shadow of a narrative. My hope is these shadows turn out to be extra fascinating. As you uncover extra data and department out into the fringes of West Virginia, you begin uncovering factions and extra concerned fragments of what occurred right here as The Nice Struggle swallowed America.

Now, this isn’t as detrimental because it may appear. Bethesda typically and the Fallout collection particularly has excelled in its environmental storytelling, and that’s no totally different in Fallout 76. You’ll discover a skeleton mendacity in mattress clutching a model (oh my), or a skeleton within the stairwell of a highschool with cigarettes scattered across the physique. These staged parts inform enjoyable, small tales that at all times make me chuckle.

“

Due to Fallout 76’s past-tense nature, this environmental storytelling is as necessary as ever.

However due to Fallout 76’s past-tense nature, this environmental storytelling is as necessary as ever. There’s a unified theme of automation sweeping via West Virginia changing a human workforce that I discovered referenced in a dozen or extra locations all through the B.E.T.A. Memos to jail guards stating they’re being fired in favor of safety droids efficient instantly, picket indicators demanding their creators’ jobs again, and AI constructs that talk to an effectivity and optimization past their human counterparts. These kinds of tales are alive in Fallout 76 with out the necessity for characters to disclose them, and to date, they’re probably the most potent type of storytelling right here.

The place Nation Roads Lead Subsequent?

Fallout 76 is a wierd beast of a recreation. Its ambition and scope is admirable, however we’ll have to attend and see if Bethesda fleshes out the numerous parts all politely making room for each other as we transfer into larger ranges and the endgame.

And regardless of my wariness of how Fallout 76 interacts with itself, I’m a little bit dissatisfied I can’t get again in instantly and uncover extra of it. Perhaps Fallout 76 is a type of uncommon circumstances of a recreation being greater than the sum of its components. I actually hope that’s the case. We’ll know extra when the servers return up on November 14, however till then, I’ve received a dulled optimism that Fallout 76 is greater than a watered-down single-player expertise with compelled cooperative parts, and I’m trying ahead to discovering that proof someplace in West Virginia.

Brandin Tyrrel is IGN’s Xbox Editor. You will discover him on Unlocked, or chat over on Twitter at @BrandinTyrrel.

The post Fallout 76 B.E.T.A. Impressions – IGN appeared first on SpicyNBAChili.com.

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Here's How Many Calories You Actually Burn During Yoga

Yoga is often an efficient workout that incinerates calories long after you allow the mat…or it is often a sage-scented nap. counting on who you ask, there are anywhere from eight to twenty-eight different sorts of yoga—and all of them offer varying degrees of calorie burn. If you're wondering what percentage calories yoga burns, the short answer is 50 per hour, on the low end, and 1,500 on the high end.

"Yoga isn't traditionally considered to be within the same category as calorie-burning sweat-inducing activities, like running or high-intensity camp classes," says Alex Carneiro, a private trainer and therefore the founding father of Modevo Fitness in Lakewood, Colorado. "That said, the number of calories you'll burn during a class will differ from person to person and sophistication to class."

Ultimately, not every sort of yoga is made equal, and therefore the yoga that burns the foremost calories depends on an entire bunch of factors: the poses, the duration of the category, your size and muscle mass, your experience level, and your blood heat, among others. Still, yoga is all about setting intentions—and if your intention is to burn calories, there are many ways to accomplish exactly that. Here's everything you would like to understand about using yoga to kick your calorie burn into overdrive. What sorts of yoga burn the foremost calories?

Hatha and Vinyasa yoga styles burn the foremost calories, while Restorative and Yin styles burn much less.

"Hatha Yoga on the average will burn around 200 calories," says Carneiro. "Vinyasa Flow is typically related to the very best number of calories burnt with a mean of 550 calories per hour."

Vinyasa yoga offers the foremost promise from burning off yesterday's drunk nachos because it is the most aerobic form, and strings together a spread of athletic postures typically mentioned as a "flow." Power yoga may be a bit like Vinyasa yoga but is more athletic. the 2 forms are different, of course, but are similar therein they're both rooted more in fitness than meditation. Both forms also come under attack for that very reason (and for the very fact that they are more injury-prone, too).

Hatha yoga may burn fewer than half the calories that Vinyasa does, but it also presents a gentler, lower-risk option—and that's essential to think about. After all, getting injured may be a surefire thanks to pushing your calorie burn levels off a cliff. What yoga poses burn the foremost calories?

Yoga postures that need strength, balance, and stretching burn more calories because they force the body to multitask, says Michelle Thielen, a yoga instructor and therefore the founding father of YogaFaith. as an example, complex poses (like a dancer, extended side-angle, warrior II, and boat) will burn many more calories than restorative ones (like a corpse, happy baby, child's, and hero). Regardless of the pose, the longer you hold it, the more calories you'll burn—but that does not mean holding a pose for an eon is usually an honest idea. Holding calorie-burning postures for extended periods of your time requires a complicated level of skill and, again, presents a greater risk of injury. This weight-loss hack should be utilized carefully by experienced yogis.

"The caution here, like any physical activity, is we do not want to compromise form or function if fatigue is present," Thielen warns. "Don't hold a posture if your body is misaligned, or if you're having difficulty balancing." The heat helps—but not the maximum amount as you'd think.

Beyond Vinyasa and yoga, Bikram, and other warm and hot versions of yoga burn the foremost calories far and away because they utilize many calorie-burning poses during a sweltering room. Bikram classes typically happen in rooms around 110 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas warm or heated Power or Vinyasa yoga is often anywhere from 90 to 110 degrees. (Any yoga hotter than 115 degrees is dangerous even for expert yogis.)

Some sources state that hot yoga can melt anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 calories off of sweaty participants. Though both Thielen and Carneiro acknowledge that's possible, research out of Colorado State University found that, when men and ladies did 90 minutes of Bikram yoga at 105 degrees, women burned 330 calories and men burned 460 calories on the average.

The upside of hot yoga could also be slightly overstated, but it isn't a complete myth either. Extra energy wont to cool the body with sweat burns extra calories, and hot sorts of yoga further maximize gains by promoting strength, stamina, and endurance. (Yes, it is a win-win-win.) Hot rooms boost cardiovascular health and lung capacity by understanding respiratory and circulation systems, say both Thielen and Carneiro.

Of course, Bikram and other hot yoga styles accompany the danger of—you guessed it—injury. Dehydration is a clear concern, but hot rooms increase flexibility. And, while which will be great for pushing certain poses to the limit, rookies are more susceptible to overdoing it—and stretching too far.

"Oftentimes, you are feeling like Gumby during a hot room and may overstretch a muscle or tendon that can't be repaired to its original state," Thielen notes. (If one thing's needless to say, it's that Gumby knew squat about counting calories.) Other factors are live.

Style poses and temperature are all important for maximizing the number of calories you'll burn during yoga, but there are other variables to account for. Size, muscle mass, pulse, effort, and even what you eat before class can have an impact on what percentage of calories you burn. as an example, larger, more inexperienced people need to exert more energy during yoga and can burn more calories as a result.

"Traditionally, if you are a novice in yoga, your body may burn more calories, since it isn't won't to the movements and patterns of holding the poses," Carneiro points out. "As you get more advanced, your body will conserve more energy, and therefore the number of calories you burn will decrease."

Expert yogis may look cool holding their headstands for ages, but they're actually burning fewer calories because their bodies have acclimated. So, beginners, have that going for them! Yoga is for losing weight, not for burning calories.

Even though there are many ways to burn a gazillion calories during a yoga class, yoga experts agree that that's not the purpose of getting to class. it is vital to notice that, albeit yoga doesn't prioritize the burn, multiple peer-reviewed studies suggest that yoga helps people reduce. Now, this is not because yoga burns calories, per se, but because it teaches mindfulness.

"The benefits of yoga transcend the mat and flow itself, which means weight loss is additionally achieved off the mat," says Caleb Backe, a private trainer and a wellness expert at Maple Holistics.

Mindfulness comes from the meditative side of yoga, and it basically means the power to remain present within the moment. Mindfulness has been linked with better sleep, improved psychological state, and healthier eating habits, all of which cause weight loss that folks can maintain without ever having to count calories.

"These are things which will allow you to burn calories even after you've finished your yoga workout," Backe says. "With this in mind, burning calories is more of a byproduct than a goal of doing yoga."