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twstarchives · 4 years ago

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Make the Most Out of Life

Card: Dorm Uniform - SSR Characters: Ace, Cater, Riddle, Deuce, Rook, Heartslabyul students

Chapter 1

—HEARTSLABYUL DORM - LOUNGE—

Ace: Cater-senpai, put the card you picked back into the deck and I’ll shuffle it well.

Now that they’re all mixed up, I’ll guess which one your card is. Hm~...

The card you picked… is a five of diamonds!

Cater: Ehh~! Wow! How did you know~?!

Ace: Hehe, I used mind-reading magic on you. …Just kidding.

This is a magic trick using the “key card” principle.

It’s one of the most basic card tricks to be able to guess which card your spectator picked.

Anyone can do it if they learn the trick. Well, I also think you kinda need to be good with your hands to do it.

Cater: You said that was really basic, right? So can you do any other tricks, Ace-chan?

Ace: Hm, aside from cards, I can do a few kinds of table magic using cups and coins and things.

Cater: Really? Show me how to do an easy one! Maybe something that could impress the ladies at parties~☆

Ace: Sure! ...Well, that’s what I want to say. But I can’t just show you one for free.

Cater: There’s the catch~ Ace-chan, you’re actually pretty underhanded.

Ace: Well, yeah. You gotta make the most out of life.

How about you take over hedgehog care duty for me one time?

Then I’ll teach you two card tricks and one cup trick, as detailed as I can ♪

Riddle: You two. You look awfully excited for some reason. Have you finished your homework yet?

It’ll be off with your head if you’re just messing around instead of doing your work.

Ace: Oh, Dorm Leader! Perfect timing.

Could you pick one of these cards?

Riddle: Hah? What is this all of a sudden?

Ace: C’mon, just go with it. Give us five minutes of your time.

A little recreation is important for students to bond more. Right?

Riddle: Honestly… I suppose. …Alright. I’ve picked a card.

Cater: Riddle-kun, let me see which one you picked. ...King of hearts, huh?

Riddle: And what was the purpose of doing this?

Ace: Now I’m going to guess which card you picked.

Riddle: Oh, I see. You’re practicing clairvoyance magic.

Cater: Mm~ This is a little bit different.

It’s a magic trick. Ace-chan’s really good at them.

Riddle: A magic trick? Hmm… I’ve never seen one before.

Ace: Put your card back on top of the deck. Then I’ll shuffle it really well.

…Hey, Dorm Leader. Don’t look away; watch my hands carefully.

Now that the whole deck is shuffled, I’ll let you hold onto it.

Riddle: Okay…

Ace: I’m going to snap my fingers and focus on the cards. And then…

The one you picked will appear inside my jacket’s inner pocket!

Make sure to tightly hold onto the cards with both your hands so they don’t escape.

Riddle: …I don’t believe these cards have magic cast on them. How would they escape my hold?

Ace: C’mon, just go with it. …Ready? One, two, three!

Riddle: …Nothing happened.

Ace: Heheh! You’d think!

But inside my inner pocket… Look! One of the cards got away from you!

Riddle: !

Ace: This card is… the king of hearts! This is the one you picked, right?

Riddle: Yes. That’s correct.

Cater: Amazing! That’s way more advanced than the trick you showed me earlier.

Riddle: And… he didn’t use magic to take that card from my hands?

Ace: Nope! It’s just a trick.

Riddle: How does this work? And how did you know which card I chose? At what point did it get inside your pocket?

Cater: Ahaha! Riddle-kun, now you’re so invested in it~

Ace: I reacted the same way when my big brother first showed me this trick.

Riddle: Oh? I didn’t know you had a brother.

Ace: I never talked about him with you? He’s a Night Raven College grad.

And he was in Heartslabyul!

There’s not a lot to do for fun when you’re living in a dorm.

So he just played around with playing cards to kill time, and ended up building his magic repertoire.

Cater: So your brother taught you magic tricks?

Ace: Sorta… He didn’t just nicely teach me how to do them or anything.

It was more like, I watched him do them over and over again and learned by copying him.

Cater: I get it. So you’re the “skill stealer” type.

You’re super good at remembering things, huh, Ace-chan? And you’re a quick thinker.

Ace: I guess ♪ For most things, I can copy them after watching them a few times.

Unlike a certain clumsy goody-two-shoes, I’m pretty advanced.

Riddle: Since you’re so proud of your memorization skills, why don’t you show us?

By memorizing the rules of the Queen of Hearts and the timeline of magic history.

Ace: Gegh… That’s a whole different story! I suck at memorizing facts!

Riddle: Next week, the freshmen have a magic history quiz, don’t they? Deuce told me about it.

If you get any red marks, you won’t be having a seat at our Unbirthday Party next weekend.

Ace: Man… I thought I could distract you with a magic trick, but we’re back to talking about school…

Cater: Distractions don’t work against Riddle-kun, Ace-chan.

Riddle: Ace, what is your answer?

Ace: Yes, Dorm Leader!

Chapter 2

—HEARTSLABYUL DORM - HALLWAY—

Ace: Hm hm hmm~♪ Hm hm hmm~♪

Deuce: You look like you’re in a good mood, Ace. You’re humming to yourself.

Ace: Well, you know~ Today’s the Unbirthday Party.

They’re serving way fancier food than they normally do, and our demon dorm leader isn’t going to nag us if we don’t do our homework...

It puts me in a humming mood.

Heartslabyul Student A: Haha, you’re right. But we also have to focus on getting ready for it.

Ace: The freshmen are in charge of setting up for the croquet match and painting the roses, right?

Deuce: Yeah. First we should feed the flamingos and hedgehogs and clean their pens.

Ace: Okay, I’ll go take care of the hedgehogs.

Deuce: Then I’ll take the flamingos. When we’re done, let’s meet up in the rose maze.

—HEARTSLABYUL DORM - LOUNGE—

Ace: Alright, time to hurry up and take care of the hedgehogs.

C’mere, food!

Here, your water!

Cleanup next...

‘Kay, I’m done.

Heartslabyul Student A: Ohh, there, there, widdle hedgehogs. Make sure you woll as hawd as you can for the croquet game today, okay~?

Hedgehogs: Chee chee!

Ace: Egh, that’s weirding me out. Quit baby-talking to the hedgehogs.

Heartslabyul Student A: Oh! S-Sorry, force of habit... This is how I talk to my cat at home.

Ace: Hedgehogs don’t understand human language. Isn’t it pointless to talk to them?

I mean, you can’t communicate with animals unless you use their specific animal language anyway.

Heartslabyul Student B: But the dorm leader talks to them with human language all the time.

Heartslabyul Student A: Yeah. Well, he doesn’t use baby-talk like me, but still.

Heartslabyul Student B: Even if animals don’t understand your words, you can still get across how much you care for them.

Heartslabyul Student A: Yeah! The dorm leader even said, “It’s important to have good communication with your hedgehog and flamingo in croquet.”

“You should regularly take care of them to build up mutual trust.”

Heartslabyul Student B: I often see the dorm leader taking care of the hedgehogs even when he’s not on duty.

Ace: Our demon dorm leader really does that? Hmm.

That’s great he’s got a little kindness in him, but why doesn’t he ever show it to us students?

Heartslabyul Students: A-Ahaha...

Ace: Anyway, are you guys almost done cleaning? Next we gotta go paint the roses.

Heartslabyul Student A: Oh. I’m going to throw out the trash from cleaning those pens, so you can go on ahead.

Heartslabyul Student B: I’ll help you take it out. Ace, could you lock up the hedgehog cages?

Ace: Okay~♪

—HEARTSLABYUL DORM - ROSE MAZE—

Ace: (Alright. Now we have to hurry and paint the roses...)

(The dorm leader won’t see the back of the trees. So maybe I can just focus more on the places he can see.)

Riddle: Everyone!!

Deuce & Ace: Yes! Dorm Leader!

Riddle: Have you seen the hedgehogs anywhere near here?

Deuce: I haven’t... Did something happen?

Riddle: Every single one of them has disappeared from their cage.

Ace: Huh?!

Riddle: Whoever was in charge of taking care of them must’ve forgotten to lock it... Find the perpetrator! It’ll be off with their head!!

Ace: (No way, seriously?! The last person to lock the cages... was me...)

D-Dorm Leader! Shouldn’t our first priority be to find the hedgehogs?

Riddle: O-Oh... That’s true.

Hedgehogs are extremely cautious. It’ll be very difficult to track them down if they dug holes to hide in.

...What will I do if we never find them...?

Deuce: D-Don’t worry. We can find them... No, we will find them!

Ace: It hasn’t been that long since they disappeared, right?

Deuce: I’ll look around the croquet field!

Ace: I’ll try the other side of the dorm.

Riddle: I’m counting on you.

—HEARTSLABYUL DORM—

Ace: Crap... Is this my fault? No, I made sure to lock the cages... Didn’t I?

........

I don’t know! I wasn’t paying attention when I did it; I can’t remember...

If the dorm leader tries to figure out who the perpetrator was, he’ll find out I was in charge of locking the cages. And then...

Riddle: OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!

Ace: ...*shivers*

I-I have to find all the hedgehogs before Dorm Leader Riddle does!

Chapter 3

—HEARTSLABYUL DORM—

Ace: I-I have to find all the hedgehogs before Dorm Leader Riddle does!

...Or so I thought, but... where would the hedgehogs even be hiding?

I’ll search online using my phone... uhh, what does it say?

Hedgehogs are related to moles... They dig tunnel-like holes to nest in... Gegh!

So that’s what the dorm leader meant when he said they could dig holes to hide in!

They have timid temperaments... So maybe they ran somewhere without a lot of people. I’ll go try the woods.

—HEARTSLABYUL DORM - WOODS—

Ace: HEY!! ...Wait, would I put them even more on guard if I yell?

I remember at my friend’s house, their dog would come running at them the second it heard the sound of its food dish...

Well, I did bring some food. I’ll try making noise with the dish.

(Clatter clatter...) (Rustling!)

Ace: Ah!

Hedgehog: Chee chee!

Ace: That worked! I can’t believe the hedgehogs came out. I’m an absolute genius.

Now I have to catch it... Ah!

Hedgehog: Chee! Chee chee!!

Ace: Hey! Don’t run away!

Agh... It ran back into its hole in the ground! It’s so tiny, like a rabbit hole. I can’t even fit my arm in there...

Maybe if I gently poke it with a tree branch...

Hedgehog: Hiss~! Hiss!!

Ace: Oh no, it’s angry now. And it went further in!

C’mon, guys... Please? I’ll lose my head if I don’t get you to come back. And besides...

Riddle: ...What will I do if we never find them...?

Ace: Dorm Leader Riddle is really worried about you. He really loves you guys, you know?

So please, come back...

(They don’t understand human language. There’s no point in telling them this...)

(Rustling!)

Rook: You appear to be in trouble, Monsieur!

Ace: AGHH?!

Y-You scared me! Don’t start yelling out of nowhere! Anyway, who are you?!

What’s someone from another dorm doing at Heartslabyul?!

Rook: Hahaha, apologies for frightening you.

I’ve actually been behind you ever since you set foot into the woods. Perhaps I hid myself too well?

I’m the vice dorm leader of Pomefiore, Rook Hunt.

I had a reason for coming to Heartslabyul, but I’ve finished what I needed to.

I just thought I’d take the chance to watch the wildlife while I’m here, so I was in the middle of a stroll.

Ace: O-Oh, I see.

Rook: But then I encountered you—bent down on the ground, plagued by a grim resolve just screaming “Le miserable!”

Ace: So you saw everything... That’s embarrassing.

Well, I guess I don’t need to explain anything. I’m really busy right now, so could you go somewhere else?

Rook: Are you sure? I was hoping I could assist you with capturing those animals...

Ace: What?! Do you have any ideas?

Rook: Why don’t you try coercing them with animal language? Hedgehogs should be able to understand mole-speak.

Ace: You think I can speak an obscure language like mole-speak?!

You don’t even learn that unless you major in Animal Languages in university, let alone in high school!

Rook: I know a fair amount of mole-speak. I’ll teach you, so try to coerce them.

Ace: If you can speak it, please just do it yourself...

Rook: Non, non, Monsieur Heart. They’re very sensitive creatures.

Suppose I did get across to them—I’m still a stranger to them. They wouldn’t come out of their burrows for me.

Ace: (The party starts at 3PM. And it’s already a little after 2... Ahh, man...)

...Okay. I’ll do it!

I’ll try to learn mole-speak in one go.

Rook: Excellent spirit! Now, listen closely to how I pronounce them, and watch the way my mouth moves...

Chee chee! Jee jee chee! (Don’t be scared. I won’t do anything to you.)

Ace: (...He didn’t move his lips at all. That sound came from his teeth and tongue, like he was making a tsk! sound.)

——Alright, I memorized it. “Chee chee! Jee jee chee!” (Don’t be scared. I won’t do anything to you.)

How was that? Did I say it?

Rook: Marvelous! That pronunciation was truly wonderful. You really are capable of learning in one go.

Ace: I might forget it right after, so hurry and tell me what to say next!

Rook: Oui, the next phrase is...

Ace: Jee jeejee! Chee cheechee chee! (Come out. Everyone’s worried.)

Hedgehogs: ...Chee... cheechee.

(Rustling!)

Ace: I-It worked! The hedgehogs are coming out of the hole!

Rook: Oh, fantastic!

They could feel your passion in the words you spoke, Monsieur Heart!

Ace: One, two, three... Good, they’re all here.

Hah... Now I won’t be losing my head...

Um, Rook-senpai... right? Thanks a lot for your help!

Rook: Of course. Roi des Roses truly does have a fine servant.

—HEARTSLABYUL DORM—

Riddle: It’s already been two hours since the hedgehogs escaped... and we haven’t found a single one.

Ace: Dorm Leader~! Dorm Leader Riddle~!

Riddle: Ah...!

Ace: The hedgehogs were there! I found them all!

Riddle: Thank goodness...! You guys aren’t hurt anywhere, are you?!

Ace: They’re all safe. Ow, ow, hey! Don’t climb on my head!

Riddle: Hehe, they seem to like you very much.

I’m so glad you found them... Thank you, Ace.

Ace: ...Hah. I wish he’d smile more like he’s doing now instead of always being nagging and angry.

Riddle: Hm? Did you say something?

Ace: Oh, just that... something like this is no problem if I’m doing it for you!

‘Cause I ace everything!

#ace trappola #personal story #dorm uniform

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pixelpoppers · 4 years ago

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It's been four months since I posted about not really playing games anymore and I thought it was time for an update.

(First, a quick refresher on the old post: I theorized that a big part of my enjoyment of video games came from them enabling me to focus my attention in a way that I normally find difficult, so once I started taking focus-enhancing nootropics this advantage went away and video games became much less appealing compared to other activities. Instead I started spending my free time doing personal data cleanup and related tasks.)

So, what have I been doing since then? A few things. I have been continuing with minor tasks on my personal projects when I can come up with good ones. They're mostly not the sort of data curation or "gardening" tasks I talked about last time because I've run out of those (though the good thing about the debacle with Sony announcing they'd close the PS3/Vita/PSP stores (before backpedaling) is that getting my Vita and PS3 libraries in order was a great few-days-long gardening task). Instead, I've mostly been making small improvements to my various web projects. For example, yesterday I added entries for "fun pain" and "perfectible" to the game design glossary on the main Pixel Poppers site, which had been low priority on my to-do list for quite a while. Maybe next I'll update the site's mobile layout to put the navigation stuff in a hamburger menu instead of at the bottom.

This stuff requires more thought than the gardening tasks, so it's less relaxing, and I'm having to figure out new ways to relax. Video games have slotted back into my life as one of several ways to relax but I still approach them very differently from before. I no longer look for "go places and do things" games or seek to feel like I am occupying a world. I want the experience to feel contained and not take up space in my brain when I'm not playing it. I want it to be something I can easily pick up for a bit and have it not matter whether I ever come back to it. I've found that what works best is low-context arcade-style experiences (racers, puzzlers, twin-stick shooters, rhythm games, etc.) or story games that can be completed in a single sitting (short visual novels or walking simulators like What Remains of Edith Finch or Wide Ocean Big Jacket). Games that are based on larger-scale progression, exploration, or worldbuilding (RPGs, 3D platformers, probably open world games - which used to be some of my favorites) don't do much for me anymore and I've bounced off a few of them in the past couple months.

So it's still the case that games are occupying less of my mental real estate than before and I have less to say about them. I might still decide to post more stuff here - I have an idea file with about fifty seeds for potential posts, though I don't know how many of them are actually worth developing (does anyone care about the weird variety of ways Senran Kagura has handled DLC over the years, for example).

But the truth is... I haven't gotten what I've wanted out of Pixel Poppers for years. This could be a much longer essay, and it's one I've tried to write a few times, but in short: Back in Pixel Poppers's "golden age" when I first started posting regularly in 2009-2010, I got a lot of comments and discussion on my posts and I felt like I was actually part of a great community. I mostly stopped posting in order to focus on my job and by the time I came back in 2018, the internet was a very different place. I got a couple of comments here and there (more on Tumblr than anywhere else) but I mostly felt like I was talking into a void, which was terrible for my motivation to work hard on quality articles. My impression is that the game analysis community has almost all moved to YouTube and if I want to be part of it again I have to switch to making videos and chasing YouTube's mysterious and fickle algorithm and I just don't. want. that.

Please understand: This is not a dig on my audience or intended to make anyone feel guilty. You don't owe me comments or anything else. If you're reading this at all, I am grateful and I love you! This is just about me facing the reality of what I'm looking for and what I'd need to do to get it in the current landscape. And admitting that the advantage that I thought Pixel Poppers had over other projects - an established audience - is actually much smaller than I was considering it to be.

So I'm also thinking about switching gears to a different writing project, one focused more on things that are at the front of my mind these days. Possibly just a general thoughts blog (which, admittedly, would sometimes be about video games). Possibly a blog about what I do for a living. Possibly making more small games (I'm pretty happy with how Detectivania turned out, after all). Or possibly reviewing all 800+ episodes and films in the Star Trek franchise. Maybe more than one of these things, bouncing around with an irregular schedule, and even slotting in occasional Pixel Poppers posts along the way. And I have to decide how connected I want these things to be - part of me wants people who enjoy some of my projects to easily be able to find the rest, but I also like that right now I can have my identity cleanly compartmentalized and only attach my real name to some things (and thus it's harder for someone who dislikes my take on Dark Souls to doxx me and dig up my bad/outdated takes on other more widely-impactful things to fuel a harassment campaign or whatever).

That's where things stand today. I'm not dead. I'm still gaming a little. I may make small posts here every once in a while but I don't expect to invest a lot of time or effort into it in the near- to mid-term future. And I may or may not announce other projects publicly here. If you have feelings or questions about any of this, feel free to shoot me a DM or an email or whatever.

Thanks for reading.

#video gaming #neurodivergencies #meta #l-theanine

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randomrosewrites · 4 years ago

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H. A. W. K. S.

“There’s a certain kind of pain that follows denying your pleasures in life.”

A brief abstract piece on Hawks as a character.

Words: 2179

Rating: Mature

Read it on ao3

// Possible manga spoilers. No events in the manga are mentioned outright, but some things and aspects of Hawk’s past are alluded to.

Warnings: Blood + killing mention.

Enjoy.

H. A. W. K. S.

Act 1: Heights.

It’s raining tonight.

He’s always liked the rain. Maybe it made sense, with his quirk and all, but something about water streaming from the heavens soothed him.

He’s crouched on an arm of a crane, at the top right where the hook hangs 50 meters below him. His wings are hunched up, rain cascading down them like they’re made of glass, his coat and hair are lightly misted with a thin layer of water. Cupped between his gloved hands is a room-temperature can of instant coffee. He takes sips from it whenever he remembers to.

It’s a quiet night on patrol. The city has, graciously, decided it was going to be quiet for the night. He gazes out over the world, city lights flaring against the plastic of his visor. He pushes it up onto his hair. Rubs his eyes. Blinks. Drinks some coffee.

Nights like these were what he - in theory - enjoyed. Quiet. Serene. No one around to disturb or ask him anything. Perched at the top of the world, weightless and free.

But every time those graveyard shifts rolled around, without fail, an extreme sense of disappointment settled in.

He knows he should be happy. He should be savoring the precious moments of peace whenever he could, as they were such a rarity. But he couldn’t help but feel a sense of emptiness, a hole where he was expecting joy to fill it. Instead of feeling free, he just felt tethered to the ground, an invisible chain wrapped around his ankle.

He stares up in the air, being met with pitch blackness. He can’t tell the difference between cloud and sky.

Being alone meant there was...nothing. Nothing to do. No one to talk to. Nothing he had to be. He didn’t have to be anything - no one but himself.

Himself… who even is that person, if they even exist? The line between his hero persona and who he truly is blurs with every passing day that now he thinks - fears - there’s no difference. It’s just one blur, like the clouds in the night sky.

After the curtains shut (if they ever shut at all…) and he takes his final bow as Hawks, who is he?

He gazes out over the city, burying the multitude of thoughts he doesn’t have answers for far away from his mind.

Act 2: Apathy.

He never wanted to be in the top ten. But as most things in his life, fate had a different plan for him.

He doesn’t understand why he’s so popular. Ok, well, that’s a lie, he does partly. But he doesn’t understand what makes him good enough for the top of the pyramid. He’s not like All-might or Endeavor, who became famous for their pure strength. His wings are powerful, sure, but not that powerful.

If he had to take a guess, he’d bet the appearance of his feathered appendages were a big contributor to his fame. That and a mix between his speech and his looks (don’t even ASK him what his fans see in him, he has no idea. ) But in the end, the why isn’t important, but how he handles that fame.

He smiles politely at the people crowded around him. Sign this for him. Nod at that person. Take a photo with her. Thank this person. Laugh at this one’s joke. Let the kids tug on his wings. It’s all standard stuff he’s been trained to know how to do. Simple.

The hardest part is figuring out what people want. How much effort to invest in the conversations, how much he has to smile to make them satisfied, but not enough for them to get too confident. People and their emotions are easy things to figure out. It’s a formula. A pattern. Once you know what they like, it’s just a matter of providing that euphoria again and again.

Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a person who wriggles through the crowd, coming close to him. They appear nervous, maybe hopeful, wringing their hands out in front of them.

“Excuse me?” They ask.

Hawks finishes up signing something for a kid and turns to them.

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I…” As they pause, Hawk’s eyes trail lower. A red feathered charm hangs from a metal chain around their neck, resembling the feathers on his back.

He recognizes it. It’s one of his merch products from the latest jewelry line that came out. He showed it off in a recent photo shoot he did. The necklaces have been very popular, from what he’s heard.

The fan clears their throat and finds their voice. “I just wanted to say thank you for all that you do. I love you so much and I think you’re amazing.”

A confession? He feels like laughing. Wow. It’s not the first time he’s had one of those, and it certainly won’t be the last.

He smiles good-naturedly at them. “Thanks! I’m grateful for all the support my fans give me.”

They flush, just happy to be able to talk to him. He wishes he could feel bad. Or feel anything for all these people fawning over him.

But he doesn’t. He feels nothing.

You don’t love me, he thinks, you love the idea of me.

Act 3: Wings.

“What a great quirk you have! I bet you’ll be able to become a super-strong hero with it!”

“You’re so lucky to have a powerful quirk!”

“I’m so jealous of you!”

“Wow...look at them!”

...things like that were what people told him all the time as a kid. How lucky he was, how blessed he was, blah blah blah.

He’s lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling of his apartment. He’s shooed most of the feathers out of his wings, leaving just little whisps on his back. It’s still a bit uncomfortable and feels a tad annoying when they press against the sheets of his bed, but he doesn’t mind. Sometimes that ache is good.

The rest of his feathers flit about the room. Some stick to the walls or ceilings, others hover around, suspended in midair. A few zoom around, disturbing the others, but most just kinda lay around.

Mighty wings. That’s the name they gave his quirk. A more accurate term would be mighty feathers, but it’s not like he cares about the technicalities.

He rubs a dead one between his fingers. The barbs are frayed and the edges are bunched together.

It was always his quirk that got him attention. It was always the wings that people noticed and remembered - not the man who controlled them. Without them, would anyone even recognize him? Or was he just a pretty face that went along with them?

He glares at the feather in hand, crushing it carelessly between his fingers. The crack of the stem as it breaks echoes through the room.

So yes, what a great quirk he was born with! It was so good, they decided his life for him.

Act 4: Kill.

His wings always felt heavier when wet. Sadly, he found out it didn’t need to always be because of water. Blood also weighed them down.

It was his first time in a mock battle. Back when he was...7...8? Something like that.

Well, anyway, he’d been up against an opponent that was a lot stronger than he was in terms of physical strength. It wasn’t an important fight, it was just a casual sparing match. But they’d both fought like their lives were at stake. At the time, his feathers weren’t as strong or large as they are now, so he didn’t have much to work with.

During some point in the fight, though, he remembers getting a nice cut on his opponent. Right along the arm on the meaty part of the tricep. The feather jerked through the skin, cutting a jagged, wobbly line into the muscle.

When he felt it, he shivered.

Afterwards, he cleaned himself up in the bathroom, washing away his own blood from the cuts and scrapes he gained. When it came time to do his feathers, he’d thrown away the bloodied one, taking an hour to carefully preen and scrub the rest of his dirtied feathers.

Back then, it felt easy to get the blood off of him.

Now, things are much different.

How long do you have to wash your hands before the blood goes away entirely? He ponders to himself one night. Does it really ever go away? Or does some of it stay behind permanently in microscopic percentages?

He stands over his sink, shoulders hunched, head hanging. The faucet is on, sending a gush of water down the sink. Wasteful, he chastises himself.

Blood trickles from his nose in slow, steady drops, twirling down the drain. He’d gotten careless, a bit too sloppy, and the consequence had been him landing face-first into the ground. It wasn’t broken, thankfully, it just hurt like hell.

He stares at his hands, gripping the edges of the sink. They’re spotless - not a drop of blood or a spec of dirt on them. He’d worn gloves after all. It made cleanup easier.

The wings on his back twitch. They’re red. Even though he can tell when there’s blood on them (it’s always just a bit darker) who knows for certain if they’re entirely clean? Maybe the blood just stains them, slowly changing the colour of them, layer by layer.

He stands there for a minute, before pumping a few squirts of soap into his hands, and viciously scrubbing them together.

No guilt. Just the need to be clean. Though he knows that it’s pointless to think he’ll ever be it.

Act 5: Sorrow.

There’s a certain kind of pain that follows denying your pleasures in life. It’s not a sharp pain but a slow scrape, like someone is tearing your heart apart tissue by tissue, leaving behind nothing but a cold pit. It creeps up on you, seeping into your body, sucking the life out of you.

Most people hated Mondays. They're the first day of the business week, always the hardest to come back from after celebrating the weekend. For Hawks, it’s always the opposite. Fridays are the hardest for him.

All around him, he sees people living their lives. Excited students going for karaoke, exhausted business owners going for a relaxing night in, clusters of friend groups going out to eat at a restaurant.

Everyone is having fun, they’re existing, relishing in the pleasures of life.

But for Hawks, those weren’t things he could take part in. He’s always busy, tied up with one thing or another that the higher ups needed to be done. An endless, to-do-list that only lengthens the faster he tries to go.

Sometimes he wants to scream. Or cry. Or slam his fists into the ground. Rip his throat raw until he can't speak. He felt the need to do something to ground himself, something to treasure himself that he was alive. Because half of the time, he feels like he’s not really living.

Every day is the same. Different day, sure, and different tasks, but the same routine. Like a loop. He gets up, works, goes to bed exhausted, wakes up exhausted, and repeat.

Over and over and over.

And what is the point of it all? He’s only...what, twenty-two? And yet, he feels like he’s lived enough for a lifetime and not long enough simultaneously.

He wants to go out and see the world. He wants to curl back up in bed and sleep for a solid three months. How can two oxymorons both be true?

He tears his gaze away from the window and the people walking in the streets of Tokyo, shutting the blinds and taking a seat at his desk.

Even on his darkest days, even when he feels like he can’t handle being himself for another second, he always calms down. Without fail, he always picks himself back up, piece by broken piece, and looks forward to the future.

It’s the only thing he can do.

H. A. W. K. S.

He’s barreling forward in life, flying faster than his wings can take him.

One of these days, he’s going to trip and fall. Maybe he’ll slip further than he can catch his mistakes, or maybe he’ll reach his nonexistent limit and throw in the towel, but inevitably, one of these days he’s going to come down.

“Hawks.” A woman in a plain black suit and dark sunglasses says to him. “The meeting is starting now. Are you fully prepared?”

When that does happen, there’s no doubt it’ll be painful and ugly and hurt like all hell. He’ll fall through the sky, crashing and burning, hurtling towards the ground where he’ll collapse in a trembling, pathetic mess.

But until that point, he’ll keep flying on. Because it’s the only thing he knows how to do.

He smiles, ready to compromise himself over and over again.

“Yup.”

Hawks. A man who’s too fast for his own good.

#hawks #bnha #keigo takami #its not exactly the most cannon hawks imo but ehh #hes hard to write for #writing #my writing #fanfiction #bnha fanfiction

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demonicintegrity · 5 years ago

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Okay so I made this post last night about how the FNAF series is taking on a new story now. Talked about how the dead children was story 1 and that was closed off and concluded in pizzeria sim yadda yadda.

But these stories still take place in the same universe so I still want to look at the connecting dots.

Obviously, this starts with Fazbear Ent.

Now when Henry and William first open the family diner and some of the old locations, I doubt either of them truly expected to be started a corporation. I say corporatation because in current times there is cannonicaly multiple locations someone could build up (Pizzeria Sim), a horror spinoff (Fazbear fright), and two games canon to exist in the FNAF universe (VR and AR). A pretty large operation I doubt they were expecting when they first opened a location to entertain families.

So how did the Fazbear Ent. we know come to be? Henry was the one in Pizzeria Sim, but if I recall correctly he didn’t ever mentioning stating he was in charge of a whole lot. Not actually too odd despite being a co-founder, after the initial murders and just a couple years of working in the business Henry probably was more than ready to retire. William went off and made Afton Robotics (sister location) so I wouldn’t be surprise if Henry was Done™️ as well. Also, with literally murders surrounding the company the only way to win back a public’s trust would be to say “we’re not in charge of it anymore.”

But the thing is, I don’t recall having a single hint as too *who* took over afterwards. I don’t know if Fazbear was given to a senior employee, or if it was sold off, or some combination of the two. Point is tho, it’s in new hands and they have taken the Corp. into some very new territory.

Regardless of who has it and what they’re doing with it, we saw there first attempts at business in FNAF 3. They were aware of the haunted past and first tried to capitalize on it with a horror attraction. Weird idea, but it would have some basis in some nostalgia and appealing to a growing interest into the paranormal the public has been having.

It fell through though. Quite spectacularly tbh. Any company with a decent amount of money would’ve probably invested in a cleanup crew and a safety inspection sooner on. That should’ve prevented the whole vent and fire situation. So that makes me think that whoever was in charged wasnt entirely sure what they were doing and didn’t have a ton of money upfront.

Then we don’t hear from Fazbears until pizzeria sim. Which is a couple games ahead and a considerable gap in our knowledge considering how big it appears to be by the time we reach pizzeria sim.

So what the hell happened inbetween all that???? How do you go from a failed horror attraction to multiple franchises and the money to create illustrated tutorials to your employees??? So idk if the new person got smart or changed hands with someone who knew more but they busted their ass ngl.

I’m guessing they opened more locations with the rockstar animatronics. Familiar faces but updated enough to look new. This paved way for the mediocre melodies to have a place, probably Fazbear’s way of testing the water with new characters. Don’t think they did that well but hey, at least they tried.

Then in VR it’s stated the company paid for FNAF 1-4 to be made. I’m assuming it was done around the time they were opening new locations when they realized there were people who grew up with the haunted locations. They held skepticism towards the place and likely to the new owner(s) and something needed to be done.

Boy oh boy, the intern who decided to commission a “maniac” to make the games and thus dismiss the claims must of gotten one helluva promotion. It also generated significant income which led the company to make the VR! Not only as further income, but to hopefully get a new generation of fans to be interested in the company for a totally different reason.

“Ooo look, this animatronics are haunted! Hahah isn’t that something? Here, go play with them and see how ~scary~ it would be! Isn’t it a hoot?” And judging by the amount of toys and DLC made, it must’ve been a hit! People took to it and thought it was cool, new, and fun. Hey look at this game! It pokes fun at some old company thats haunted! Isn’t that weird and yet likable in a toootally unironic way??

Well hey, these new kids like the creepy “story” that was “made up.” Wouldn’t it be cool to use all this new tech we have and some old suits we found to deliver the pieces of rusted metal to them?

Yea idk how that found base in the company meeting either, but it worked somehow. And apparently the company is big enough and driven purely by money to be able to not give a proper damn about the consequences.

So not only was Fazbear Ent. able to poke fun at and dismiss the original story as just a story, but now they essential have the chance to do whatever they want with the characters now. They got a boatload of money.

I guess this is where the glamrocks come in. They got people to ignore the murders. Guess they figured to try and push their way into the mainstream as something hip and cool for the teens to be into. What better way than a mall/party scene for teens to hang out at? Lmao. Points for originality I guess.

Didn’t expect this post to be this long jfc but it is now.

TL: DR: Fazbear Ent. is now owned by people solely concerned how to milk a lot of cash outta the franchise that’s dismissed its haunted past. Whew capitalism?

#fnaf #fnaf vr #fnaf ar #fnaf security breach #five nights at freddys #fnaf theory #fazbear entertainment #long post

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nighttimepixels · 6 years ago

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Heyhey Night! I have a buncha questions after seeing all your animations and they're just so cool so! I hope this is ok!! Can u animate normally too, or only pixel? Not that that's bad, just wondering! What's ur preferred kinda animation? Do u prefer lipflaps or lipsyncs? What's the hardest part of the animation process?? What's ur favorite?? Any part u don't like? What's a thing people don't see that u put a lotta time into? Do u have a fave animation u've done? Thank u btw for all ur art!!

Oh stars, okay, yeah- I’m happy to answer all these!! I’ll break them up so it’s easier to read X) And awww geez thank you so much for your support, sweet anon! It really makes my day when people say they like anything I’ve made, and stars knows it’s all the more true with the sweet sweet time sink that is animation (´•̥̥̥\\ヮ\\•̥̥̥` )

I’ll also put this under a cut since it gets a bit long :)

Can u animate normally too, or only pixel?

This one cracks me up a little, don’t worry about it XD I totally can! In fact I enjoy it a lot - and... gods, animation software is a nightmare and a half, to be honest. That’s the biggest hurdle.

I do just straight up love pixel art and the aesthetic I can achieve with it, but I do at times miss ‘normal’ (non pixel?) animation, heh. Especially sound-syncing! I do all my pixel art in Asesprite which imo is the best pixel art program, not to mention made by an actual pixel artist - buuuut it doesn’t have a sound file option. Which makes sense! Er, frankly, most pixel artists wouldn’t... use it to animate like I do? More for games, or for looping gifs? So I can’t complain much, it makes a lot of sense that it’s a low dev priority.

Now, when it comes to other animation programs... I’ve tried a lot. Unfortunately, the ones that are preferable for the feel I like are either way out of budget (stares at TVPaint in the distance) or... well, have too high a learning curve for my single-person workflow, really. (OpenToonz, sigh...) And a lot of the free programs are good for getting a start in animation, but once you get to a certain point you really feel the limitations (whether it’s workflow, sound import, exports, trying to make something more finished than a rough...).

Then... there’s animation programs I just don’t like, and a lot of those are angled towards bone-style animations (nothing wrong with those, they just don’t fit my style? and are too much time investment for a single artist to output more quickly...), or are, well, freakin’ Adobe Animate.

I... gods, I do not like Animate (formerly Flash). And I made a whole 2 minute+ animation in it a couple years ago! (It’s very rough and bad and doesn’t make sense, pfff, not gonna link it XD) It’s... clunky, and vector oriented, and freaking lines don’t go where I want them too, and it tries to predict too much?? It’s hard to put to words, gah. For me, my animation style would be much more... raster oriented. Flow, hand drawn inbetweens, yaddayadda. Animate’s great for... plenty of things, but not for that kind of animation. There are far better animators than I who make it work with freakin’ aplomb though! So really, it’s just my taste, haha.

.... Er, that got long! I’ll cut off more rambling about animation software and tl;dr boil it down to “I love animating period, but turnaround is something I have to keep in mind as a freelancer, as well as budget, and my current focus is pixel animations for a number of reasons.” X)

What's ur preferred kinda animation?

I’m not exactly sure what this one means! Between pixel and non-pixel? Er, they both have their pros and cons, so I couldn’t say! But if I have to break down my current animations into categories, I’d say I have cutscenes, loop environments, and the broad game-like animations...

The first would be something like this animation feat. teasing Edge, the second would be something like this one with skesgo’s Starlan and Cinnamon, and the third is... everything else! From headsprite loops to ‘small’ characters running and so on.

Honestly, they’re all a lot of fun for different reasons! Cutscenes are generally the most challenging, but they give me the chance to push my limits and try and pull off something cool, whether I’m having to conserve frames (to keep the cost of a commission down) or whether I’m going more all out (which is a pricey commission, or a fun personal project, lol).

Loop environments are their own challenge - it may not look like it, but I put a lot of thought into how to make them look as natural as possible! From timing of talking characters, to where to place a blink, to exactly how many frames it’ll take to ‘soften’ a motion (so people aren’t just snapping between major poses) and so on - it takes... a lot of time to animate even simple scenes well, so I do a lot of mental math on how I can keep things affordable when someone approaches me for a commission. And frankly, I totally undercharge;; but I do my best!

Game-like animations are just fun. They range, they’re silly, to intense (I’ve animated fight animations before for game concepts), to indulgent, and beyond! Headsprites are always a delight, especially if I get to push the expression X) and I love tiny things (I mean... I am a pixel artist...) so getting to make lil tiny babs even just walking can be fun - and also, a lot more time consuming than you might thing, esp if you wanna make it smooth, like this lil Frisk I did last month or so:

Do u prefer lipflaps or lipsyncs?

oTL

B... both??

Okay, lipsyncing basically is very time consuming. AND, I freakin’ love it. I love puzzles, and when it boils down to it, that’s what super fun & expressive lip syncing is (some Ghibli animations are the heckin’ best for this)...

and, I’m a pixel artist, without sound-syncing capabilities in her main art program oTL Yeah, I can export frames and line them up and check but... gods, it’s so time consuming. I’ve tried it out of desperation - but for even five seconds of sound (sayyyyy a lil Vine...) that’s hours upon hours of transferring back and forth just to check.

So even though I love lipsyncs, they’re too time-consuming (and ergo, if I’m being commissioned, often too expensive) to do often! Someday I’d like to get back to doing them more often, but for now, practically I stick to/’prefer’, in the loosest terms, to do lipflaps. For the layman, this is that ‘two frame’ (maybe three) open-closed style of animating mouths- however, I’m working on ways to keep that style, but make it more expressive! It depends on the project - and in commissions, I’ll pretty much always prioritize giving the client a little more body animation than mouth animation, unless it’d really fit what they’ve requested.

What's the hardest part of the animation process??

.... damn, this is a tough one! Sometimes I’d say it’s the initial concept work - but it depends on what I have to work with. Sometimes that parts a breeze - and honestly freeing, bc I can take the time to try and push what I’ll do with it!

Roughing is one of my favorite parts, tbh. It can be tricky, sure, but getting to go from keyframes to in-betweens & smears to adding the flairs of secondary motion (think hair swishing, or coats flaring, etc) is so exciting and satisfying.

From there it’s all refining, and tweaking...

Hm. Honestly, the hardest is probably the initial cleanup and lining. It’s cool to see it come together, but it feels so much slower, and it can drag - and then you find bits that actually don’t translate well from the rough stage, so you have to go back and rework, and oof it can just drag in this phase, heh. Plus, I’m always tempted to add more frames, but it’s not always realistic - I’m a perfectionist, to say the least, so I’m constantly having to leash myself back so I don’t turn a project into a half-a-year undertaking, pff.

What's ur favorite??

Probably gave myself away talking about the roughing stage X) It’s just loose and fun and free! But seeing it all come together is also damn satisfying too, so that’s not to say I don’t like the refining portions either...

Outside of that, I also really like the beginning of the color stage! .... Before having to translate shadows/highlights to each and every frame *shudders*. That gets tedious, but it’s so critical! Anyways, though, I heckin’ love colors. I always have a rough palette in mind at the start of the process, but I go ham and play with it as a little break and a true test when I get to actual slap together a full frame with full color, highlights/shadows included! It’s exciting, like a preview of the finished product, basically :D

Any part u don't like?

Heh, by the time I get to shadows/highlights, I tend to be getting impatient, I suppose. It’s not that I don’t like it - I definitely highly value it, and if it was the only thing I was working on in an animation that’d be different, but as a one-woman team I’m just raring to be done at that point; it’s very nearly the last thing I do, after all, so it’s a struggle to focus. X)

I suppose one that always gets me is more complicated backgrounds. It’s a work in progress, as I’m getting better and finding the fun in them for sure! But I’m still not where I want to be in translating ‘background concept’ to ‘finished background’ - it feels more stiff than my animations, I guess. So it’s a frustrating part... but hey, it’s part of it! And learning to embrace the challenge is a big help.

... I just always have to make sure I have a big cup of coffee and a good jam playlist going when I sit down to do ‘em, in the meantime.(=▿= ||||)

What's a thing people don't see that u put a lotta time into?

Definitely the coloring. This goes for both backgrounds and the animated characters themselves. It’s... never as simple as it looks? It’s time consuming, and while some parts of frames can be copy-pasted, I also put subtle work into the animations that mean that some pixels are off so it ends up being marginally faster to just recolor, but then there’s shadows, and working in pixels means that if I miss one then there’s a flickering pixel mid-animation, and sometimes there’s an unconnected line and then you bucket fill the whole damn thing, and gods know I’ve got colored lines so I have to be exacting with keeping the same ratios highlighted vs darker in shifting frames...

*deep breath*

... Yeah, basically the coloring is super time consuming. And balancing bg coloring with animated elements in the image itself is a whole extra challenge on top of that. For 99% of my animations, I can damn near guarantee I’ve spent at least twice as much time coloring it as I have animating it.

Do u have a fave animation u've done?

*looks at my goblin hoard of animations in horror like I’ve been asked to choose a favorite child*

... Stars above, I can’t choose! I love them all, and at this point a good portion of them are commissions- it wouldn’t feel right to choose!

*...carefully covers the hoard’s metaphorical ears*

... also, that said, I can admit a soft spot for any of them that involve humor. I tend to get to do extremely expressive faces and action there, even if I have to ration the frames, so it turns out really fun X)

And though rough and I’ve definitely done stuff I’m more proud of, I still crack up at this one I did a while back of the nonsense ‘ass’ joke between Red & Stretch... their faces were too much fun XD I’ve gotten waybetter since then though, Big Oof, I see so many things I can fix; might go back and redo it someday.

Honestly, though, I just freakin’ love animating! They all have their ups and downs andI always put a lot of love into them and find a way to have fun with it and try to push any emotion/theme (when applicable). I like to think it shows, but idk, that’s something I have to leave up to you guys X)

#night answers #about animating #phew there were a lot-!#thanks so much for your interest #hope these answers made sense! :D #Anonymous

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johnnypovolny · 5 years ago

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Paracas/Huacachina/Nazca

Thursday June 6th

Took a morning bus to Paracas, a fairly typical beachside town of touristy seafood restaurants along a promenade that borders a sandy beach and a pier, and checked into Kokopelli Hostel. The hostel this sprawling sort of walled complex with a pool area, a large bar/restaurant with tables, hammocks, and a little couch nook, and then a gate that exits out to the beach. Worked next to the pool all day and then participated in a beach cleanup (free beer and getting to feel superior). Chatted with a British surfer named Wilf while we cleaned up trash. After the cleanup, he and I went and got dinner at a sort of rasta themed restaurant with a big painted lion on the front door and then headed back to the hostel to drink. I met an English guy named Andrew and his Irish girlfriend Sandra who I really clicked with- we had a bunch of really interesting and provocative conversations about real topics, rather than the Big 2 that I get so sick of (“Where are you from”, “where/how long are you traveling”). Andrew and I entered a fusbol tournament that we immediately got knocked out of (literally first round), and then we all just drank and hung out talking in the hostel bar.

Friday June 7th

Got picked up by and went to go organize gear the guys from Peru Kite (Scott, a British expat who owns the school and Memo, a Peruvian kiting instructor, and Max, a local kiter/college kid). We drove into the reserve to go to Laguna Grande. I had a little bit of a challenging day, so I’ll describe the reserve/spot in tomorrow’s entry (because I have better memories from that day)- but one thing to remember is that one of the bays we passed early on had this gorgeous turquoise color. I basically felt really out of kiting shape/practice, and also think I was too overpowered for the wind we were riding: I had so much trouble staying upwind and I felt like I was struggling the whole time to not get pulled off my board or hurt myself. At the end of the day, I actually took a big fall, lost my board, and ended up floating for like 45 minutes trying to find it, before giving up and coming to shore. Luckily, Scott was able to take my kite and his board and go find mine, so everything ended well!

After the session, I got to thinking: what a waste of a day: I feel that part of the reason I rode more frantically/less smoothly and controlled was because I spent a lot of time worrying about the fact that Max was so much better than I was even though we’ve ridden for similar amounts of time. I think that’s dumb- not only do I have no idea how much he’s ridden, gotten professional instructions, etc- but more importantly, the point of doing something you enjoy is to enjoy and progress yourself, not worry about other people. And my own inability to relax and focus on just having fun meant I wasted my time and money that day- I resolved to have a better attitude tomorrow. That day in general prompted what I’m trying as a new approach: getting really invested mentally in the success of others when they’re doing the same activity as I am (I like to pretend I’m their coach)- that way my natural competitiveness works on my behalf because I get to enjoy their successes instead of feeling jealous. It becomes us against the challenge, not me against them. It’s honestly been really transformative, allowing me to be excited about watching other surfers and learning from them instead of being angry that I’m not there yet! Talking to my counselor that evening also helped give me some perspective: digging into the idea that a lot of what I’m doing lately (work, kiting, surfing, etc) are all things that require mental and physical effort. None of them is truly relaxing, so my brain sometimes gets exhausted- I’m going to work on building in more mental rest time.

I got back to the hostel and the day really started looking up. Met up with Andrew and Sandra and we had a blast that night- Andrew and I entered a beer pong tournament and ended up winning the whole thing. I love playfully trash talking during games like that and the last shot I joked around to the crowd about making it and then just sank it dead in the heart- the bar gave us a free drink and a tee shirt from the hostel (it’s my impression that they don’t usually do that, but one of our opponents was a staff member and liked playing with us). I enjoyed playing with and talking to this pair of British friends (Lamar, a black guy with dreads and a warm, friendly smile, and his other buddy who’s name I’ve forgotten but who was Middle Eastern, tall, and really tranquil).

Saturday June 8th:

This is the kiting day I was hoping for! Scott had me jump in a van with some people from another school and they took us out to Laguna Grande again. I was really excited because while we were loading up I could see the flags snapping and the sun shining (apparently unseasonably, but I got nothing but sun all weekend) and I just felt excited by the opportunity to come at the day with a better attitude. We drove out into the reserve with the driver Jose Luis bumping a mix I’m pretty sure he burned himself- mostly Shaggy, meaning I heard Wasn’t Me and Angel both about 6 times that day. Both are uptempo, funny, and a little nostalgic, providing the perfect adventure backdrop. We took a different route out to the Laguna, one that brought us much closer to the incredible golden dunes of the reserve and the backdrop of blue ocean in the bays we passed. I was hanging out the window singing along to Shaggy and drinking in the gorgeous sunny day as we crested the ridge that looks down over Laguna Grande and saw whitecaps on the surface- I was so excited to get back on a kiteboard (still am, sitting here in this Lima cafe thinking about Ecuador in a few weeks..). We drove down to a spot a little closer to the end of the bay, parked the car (still bumping… you guessed it- Angel), and started setting up our gear. Laguna Grande is incredibly beautiful and unusual- the whole Paracas national reserve is known as “Where the Desert Meets the Sea”, and from what I’ve seen, this spot is the crown. It’s a wide bay of flatwater that in many spots is only a few feet deep so as you kite you’re racing over submerged seaweed, sand and rocks visible through the clear sometimes-dark-blue sometimes-jade water. The backdrop is a single huge golden dune dominating the horizon like a volcano and towering over a cluster of buildings and boats used by the local fishing community as a sort of staging center for their operations. I spent the day just exulting in adrenaline- started getting some really good control on larger jumps based on advice Scott had given me, practiced my backrolls, toe side riding, and downloops. At the end of the day I crashed the kite and it burped out all the air and got waterlogged, which was a little challenging, but I was able to gather it up and wade back to shore without anything getting permanently damaged. It wasn’t my favorite way to end a day, but I’d already had so much fun that I wasn’t too frustrated.

Back at the hostel, things were in full swing. It was Saturday (a night when they play dance music at an entirely earsplitting volume), so lots of locals and visitors from other hotels had come to party (I get the impression that the hostel is something of a local hotspot). There was a bachelorette party there that I had fun chatting and dancing with and I had a blast talking to a toweringly tall Swiss girl who reminded me a lot of friends and family in terms of the funny, crazy, unselfconscious energy that I enjoy.

Sunday June 9th

Caught a morning bus (after about 2 hours of sleep) to Huacachina. It’s a small town nestled around an oasis lake in the middle of 2 shockingly tall dunes. I was sitting on a bench, exhausted from the lack of sleep, when I was approached by one of the hawkers that sell tours and expeditions in every town like this in the world. I tend to usually brush these people off because I hate being “sold to” and would rather approach a tour company myself when I’m ready. But rather than the normal frantic “Hey buddy- Tours? Quad bike? Sandboard? BUDDY” that I’ve come to expect, this guy just gently approached and said hello, asked me some questions, talked a bit about how much he’s enjoyed the paragliding lessons he’s been taking, and actually made me feel a rapport of a real human conversation. I ended up describing what I’d like to do with the day and he talked to me a bit about options. I felt really comfortable with him, so I went and signed up for a few tours, and then he gave me a recommendation about where to go get something to eat (a delicious menu of coffee, a broth soup with lime and aji, and then rice with carne seco, served by someone I’m still not sure was a man or a woman but either way was very sweet to me). The first tour was quad bikes and it was laughably terrible- I was hoping for a quad bike tour of the reserve like I got to do in Namibia and instead it was basically a sandy junkyard where I road quad bikes in a circle for a hot, boring hour with these boorish, irritating, entitled Spaniards in their late 30s who were everything I hate about guys who go to Vegas in groups. I didn’t mind that much because I knew I’d still get to take the dune buggy tour later and it was only 20 bucks, but the sheer terribleness was pretty funny. I went back to town and sat by the lake to video chat with Amelia for a while, then picked up my sandboard and went to practice. I’m glad I did this because the view from the main dune above town was spectacular- a patchwork of dunes with buggys roaring through them and out into the reserve with other areas of fields, stone, and cities (including the nearby main city of Ica which has a solitary dune sticking up right out of the city itself). I tried sandboarding down this and then another nearby dune- on the first run, I think I tried to carve too much and got bogged down (it’s not like snow because there’s so much more friction and weight so you can’t take big wide S turns) and on the second one I’d wiped too much wax off before descending so I just slid to a halt. Later on the sand buggy tour I figured out how to ride better and it was pretty fun (especially my last, longest run from the dune where we watched sunset) but nothing to write home about- I’ve always wanted to try this out of curiosity but I’ll definitely stick to snowboarding, it’s way more fun and lasts for much longer. The sand buggy tour was pretty cool- for part of it I got to sit up front, and it was fun flying up and down the dunes (especially after sunset when everything was dark and you’re powering through the desert lit only by the lights of the car. And it was cool getting to see the groups of buggies parked on the ridges with everyone milling about taking photos- the buggies are this huge multi-seat contraptions with exposed engines, neon-painted roll cages, and aggressive names and racing stripes, so seeing a bunch of them together in the desert made me think of Mad Max. Overall, I think my favorite part of the day was the view from the top of the dune when I climbed it- it was the most dramatic view and I got to enjoy it with far fewer people. After the dune tour got done, I shared a taxi back to Ica with Gustavo and Jem, two Peruvians from my buggy tour- we grabbed a rushed meal and I got on my bus to Nazca.

I arrived in Nazca around 9:30 and exhaustedly got a cab to my hostel. I intended to go to bed right away, but when I got there, I walked in through basically a london-bridge tunnel of the staff salsa dancing in the lobby, who all greeted me like family “Oh you must be Johnny, WELCOME!”

They invited me to share a drink and a joint and we sat talking and getting to know each other for a while. One of the guys was a Turkish kitesurfing instructor who pumped me up the most on how fun Ecuador is going to be- telling me how much he loved the town where I’m going, how the wind is amazing in August, and how I’m probably going to see humpback whales! I salsa danced with a beautiful German girl named Kaija and finally dragged myself away from the group to put in my earplugs and crash into sleep.

Monday June 10th:

Today was my flight over the Nazca lines! We packed into a small airplane (8 seats including the pilot/copilot) and took off on a perfectly clear, blue-sky morning. The pilot circled and banked for about 30 minutes as the copilot pointed out each of the figures. Some of them were really beautiful, particularly the birds (the hummingbird, the condor, and the gannet) and it was cool to see the precision with which they were built (especially the huge triangles- it’s impressive that the sides meet up perfectly). However, honestly I enjoyed the flight itself just as much as the lines- the views of the jagged brown teeth of the surrounding mountains were beautiful and it was fun to be in a small plane- it’s a more raw experience, like being on a motorcycle compared to being in a greyhound, where the experience of flying feels more immediate, noisy, and intimate.

After the flight was over, I headed home, got a delicious menu at a restaurant on the main square, and then napped for like 4 hours. It was so nice taking a leisurely daytime nap after how crazy work had been the previous weeks. After I got up from my nap, I walked around town a bit with two French Canadian girls from the hostel- we got dinner at another restaurant in the Plaza de Armas area (another customer welcomed us in as we looked at the menu and then started joking to the woman who owned the place that we were her family and she should treat us well), and then we searched for a long time for picarones (never found them, they got cake instead and I had my first emoliente- a hot spiced drink that comes in lots of varieties of herb and fruit infusions, delicious). After dinner, I went and jumped on my night bus back to Lima!

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riveramcdougall68-blog · 6 years ago

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Basic Methods For Increasing Your Natural Garden

Natural gardening can be a wonderful passion to enter into, no subject how a lot information or ability you have linked with it. There is more to organic gardening than numerous people consider. Go through by means of these guidelines to see the fun and enjoy the delightful positive aspects that can be had with this calming hobby. If you would like to create an eye-catching fall backyard with a lot of top and contrasting colours, try planting spiky plants like the New Zealand flax, the yucca or tall ornamental grasses. Insert drama with texture and color by including chartreuse vegetation like the Golden Spirit smoke bush or the Tiger Eyes sumac. To contrast the chartreuse coloration, plant purple crops along with the chartreuse vegetation like the Black Lace elderberry or Loropetalum. When you boil or steam vegetables for cooking, enable the drinking water awesome and then use it to h2o your backyard. 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Often normal pesticides are more productive than the synthetic pesticides you can purchase. However, since of their biological make-up, when you use botanical insecticides, they often decay very swift and are likely to vanish rapidly. If you have aged pantyhose that you are contemplating about throwing away, keep them. You can use them in your backyard garden to make garden ties. In addition, they can be used to bag your cantaloupes that are growing on trellises to give them much more help. Utilizing pantyhose can be a cheap, inexpensive way of aiding you in your backyard garden. As was formerly said, natural gardening can be a wonderful passion for anyone to get into. It normally takes a tiny understanding to find out the fundamentals so that you can begin developing your backyard correctly, but you will not have to turn out to be an specialist to do so. Just maintain those tips in thoughts.

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manuelclapid · 6 years ago

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February 12, 2019 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Are you new to the party? Welcome. This is a very special issue, so you subscribed at the right time.

Distinguished subscriber of record? You're about to paste a big smile on your face.

You Can Be DT's Next Model!

Ladies, how would you like to be a model for Duluth Trading? If not you, maybe your daughter, grandchild, or a friend? They make fantastic clothing for both men and women.

I have some of their clothes on right now including their amazing Buck Naked underwear. Sorry for that not-so-pleasant graphic image, but let's move on.

Don't sell yourself short! I'd absolutely apply as you have NOTHING to lose. I don't think DT is looking for the next Christy Brinkley as they want to appeal to all women.

CLICK HERE and apply. Let me know if you make it. I'll be SO PROUD of you!

Speaking of Grandchildren....

I'm a Grandpa! Yep, the first time.

Kathy and I are so happy and proud. Our little bundle of joy arrived a week ago today.

Our daughter Meghan had a tough time and required a 3-day stay in the hospital. The baby is fine and healthy and Meghan is making progress each day.

You may have been wondering why there was such a sense of urgency to get their new home started so late last year. This is but one reason.

I didn't want to share any news about the birth until I was confident of a positive outcome. Kathy and I raced up to help out our son-in-law who had not slept in 48 hours. We stayed around for two days to help cook and get the new family settled once Meghan was discharged from the hospital.

If you send good wishes our way, please accept this thanks in advance as I'm sure I'll be unable to answer each incoming reply. I hope you understand.

Our new granddaughter is one beautiful young lady, I can tell you that. I forgot how tiny newborns are. Wow, it was crazy to hold that little gal!

Three New Videos For You

I got a short break on Saturday afternoon while up helping with the newborn. I think Kathy wanted me out of her hair too. I raced over to the new house and recorded three new videos for you.

MANY MORE are in the works. I'm starting to make a list now and I could use your help.

CLICK HERE and tell me what you'd like to see me explain in the new house.

NOW is the time to capture this video as the house has just been framed.

I'm talking about SHORT videos explaining one small aspect. Think of things I might be able to explain as you see me do BELOW in the three new videos.

Please don't make a request like: Show step-by-step how to install shingles. Show step-by-step how to install plumbing

Those are two-hour full-blown shows, not three-minute micro-slice videos.

Here are the three new videos. Click the image or the title above the video:

How To Winder Stairs

Attic Truss Design

Cast Iron Drain Pipe

New Basement Bathroom

Three days ago, Ryan hired me to draw plumbing plans for a new basement bathroom he's installing at his home.

He rented an electric jack hammer on Sunday and started to break through the concrete floor. I've done that countless times. He quickly ran into water.

Lots of water. So much water he may have to wait until July to resume the project. Another option is to invest in a high-capacity water pump to lower the water as he installs the new plumbing.

I don't know if his house was built on a slight slope, but IF IT WAS and part of his land was LOWER than the bottom of the foundation footing, he's not have a drop of water under the slab.

You stop water from collecting under a basement slab by installing a sleeve or two or three through the footing. Look at a few of the sleeves I had installed at my daughter and son-in-law's new house so they'd NEVER HAVE standing water under their crawlspace slab.

The red arrows point to 4-inch plastic pipe sleeves. They do not hurt the integrity of the footing.

Did You Discover Something New Today?

Did I share something here in the newsletter that helped you save time and money? If so, maybe you want to treat me to a pecande or two or three. CLICK HERE for some fun!

LE Johnson Adventure on Sunday!

In just five days, I'll be in touch again. You're going to see some outstanding eye candy full of design ideas for your home.

If you're thinking of doing some painting or moderate interior remodeling this spring, then you'll absolutely want to CLICK EACH AND EVERY LINK in Sunday's newsletter.

I've got to go call my daughter Meghan now to see how the little one's doing!

Tim "Gramps, Grumpa, Grandpa" Carter Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com Certified Organic Baby Cleanup Stuff - www.StainSolver.com Morse for Infants - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

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thegregorybruce · 6 years ago