#and I feel like crap so my mental abilities are at about 70%

[keyrousse]

Did you know that in Poland, when it’s someone’s birthday, you say “Sto lat!” which means “Hundred years!”? This is our “happy birthday” :)

[rachelthompsonauthor]

What is social proof? It’s a marketing concept that we are all inadvertently, unknowingly contributing to every time we click on, retweet, like, reply or comment, and share any kind of social media, article, or blog post on the net. Technically, social proof, as defined by Sprout Social is:

The concept that people will follow the actions of the masses. The idea is that since so many other people behave in a certain way, it must be the correct behavior.

Social Proof and Me

As an author, social media is a hugely important part of my author platform, as it is for any writer or blogger. This is how we connect with readers now, even before the pandemic. Virtual, online events are now the norm. Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube Live video discussions are the new book signings. Twitter chats are weekly on any number of topics; I have two of my own, in fact, #SexAbuseChat every Tuesday at 6 pm pst/9 pm est and #BookMarketingChat every Wednesday at 6 pm pst/9 pm est.

All important for visibility, branding, and most importantly, connection.

However…there’s a limit. I reached my limit over the course of this past year. It didn’t come all at once. It came, little by little, reaching a peak this past month or so.

Why? How? Me, the so-called social media expert?

Access. Like many people, I have issues with the incredible level of access Facebook gives people once we friend them without our consent. PMs (private messages) are automatic, now with the ability for people to call, voice, and video message us, with no option to shut these options to OFF unless we unfriend the person (we can, however, mute a specific conversation). Technically, we do give them consent in the legal mumbo jumbo we all agreed to when we joined back in the 2010s.

I am not okay with this. And Facebook doesn’t care. Nobody cares. You’re probably thinking, “Geez, Karen. Shut up, already. Stop your whining, white lady.” I get it. I do. First-world problems.

I counter with: I hear you. It’s also part of my business. A huge part. Here’s why:

As someone who manages over 70+ various social media accounts as part of my BadRedhead Media business, plus my own accounts as well, Facebook requires I have a personal account in order to manage all those other Pages. I do understand why, particularly with all the ridiculousness of the past four years with the abundance of fake accounts, fake news, and such.

As a survivor of sexual abuse and stalking, this is ultra-concerning to me. So, what happened this past month or so? Suffice it to say, one person repeatedly tried calling me. I never pick up Facebook calls, especially if I don’t know you. Another left me a few voice messages saying they were offended by something.

Yet another left me another message in ALL SHOUTY CAPS that she didn’t find what I posted inspirational enough and she expected better from someone who is “supposedly on the side of authors.”

Oh, and there is the one lady who started replying on ALL my posts to the kind people who did comment that she didn’t think I replied often enough or to her satisfaction.

Well. I’ve been criticized before. You should read some of my 1-star reviews. There’s plenty!

But, for whatever reason, this struck a chord. I got up in my feels. I cried. I talked with one of them and we worked it out because we like and respect each other’s work in the mental health space. The others I blocked. It’s darn frustrating to donate hours of my time each week to helping writers solely because I want to, only to be told it’s not enough. Like, seriously? Fuck off.

My blood raged. My heart sank. Understandable, right?

But what really made me angry is that I put myself in that position by being available. I accepted that ‘it is what it is.’ This is what the social media platforms have given us, so that’s what I have to work within.

I’m too available. It’s too easy to leave me shitty messages. This is why people hire people like me – to handle this crap for them! So they don’t have to read these ridiculous criticisms from judgy people who apparently have nothing better to do or are having a bad day.

And I get bad days. It’s a damn pandemic. We’re all struggling. Where’s the damn compassion for one another?

I have a dislike/hate relationship with Facebook anyway, since about ten or so years ago when I discovered that a past love had died by suicide by going to his personal profile and seeing, “RIP dude,” messages there. We had spoken early that day. It still haunts me.

So…what to do? I’m claiming my time. I’m not posting to my personal Facebook profile right now. I’m ignoring it. I am checking my Pages and of course, my client Pages. When I feel like I can face it again, I will cull my ‘friends’ down from *checks real quick* 4385 people to maybe, I don’t know, the few hundred in my groups, many of whom I do know and treasure.

Social Proof and You

If you’re a writer, social proof matters. This is the world we live in. Publishing is not only writing.

You need to be ‘findable,’ not only on Google, but also on each individual social platform, so your readers can learn more about you and hopefully, buy your books. If you go the traditional route, publishers and agents want to know how many followers you have (easily upped by buying fake followers or likes from Fiverr or wherever). I suggest not doing that, because:

1) fake followers don’t buy books 

2) it’s usually pretty obvious when you have fake followers because they’re all foreign names, have questionable bios, and no tweets

3) do you really want to start your publishing career with a lie? 

They also want to know what you post, how often, and what your branding is. If you’re an indie author, honestly, the same applies. Social proof is about connection, building relationships, and authenticity. I’ve believed that since I started my business and writing career way back in 2011, and I stand by it now. Start slow, grow slow. It’s not a race.

I’m the furthest thing you’ll even find from a conspiracy theorist – I don’t believe in chemtrails, pizza parlor cabals, or that the earth is flat. However, I am a realist. Watch The Social Dilemma sometime. These huge tech companies share our data without our knowledge or consent (Cambridge Analytics, anyone?). Younger generations are so used to this, they don’t really care – ask them.

(My kids think having a chip implanted in their hands with all their data is a fabulous idea. “So much easier than having to talk and repeat everything over and over. Just scan me and be done with it,” says my daughter Anya (21). “Agree,” grunts my son, Lukas (15). Buy stuff, go to the doctor, whatever. Scan and go. Talk with any GenZ kid, you’ll likely get a similar answer. They’ve been tracked since birth everywhere. They don’t know life without a computer, tablet, or phone in their hands.)

Know that whatever we do, it’s all part of each platforms’ AI, and they share data, which is why that darling pair of shoes you just saw on Amazon is now showing up on Google, Facebook, Twitter, and every website you visit going forward. It’s all about the money, and they all get a piece of that affiliate link.

Every bit of every click is recorded, even when you’re watching videos on YouTube, or a subscription service like Netflix, or perusing goods on Amazon. It’s all connected. I’m not shocked or surprised by any of this, are you?

It’s Not Personal

What people say to us and about us is ultimately incredibly revealing about them. We know this, at an intellectual, psychological, and emotional level. Still, when people say mean things, it hurts. We’re human.

Does it matter in the overall scope of our lives? Who can say. It matters at that moment. It can matter when it comes to overall visibility when you’re marketing your book(s) or trying to get that book contract or interview. Only you can say if it matters to you.

Already a longtime fan of THE FOUR AGREEMENTS by Don Miguel Ruiz, I took a moment to reorient myself with this one agreement: Don’t take anything personally. I also stumbled across an excellent short and entertaining TEDTalk by Frederick Imbo. His main message to stop taking things personally is two-fold;

It’s not about me. Look at the other person’s intention and

It IS about me. Give yourself some empathy. Speak up. Ask questions. Pay attention to how you feel and be vulnerable with your needs.

I’m glad I was able to, inadvertently, employ point #2 and work out some issues with one of the people by telling him what he said made me cry. He apologized. I apologized. We talked it through and we’re still friends.

Ultimately, social media is what we contribute to it. What we make it. How much we allow of it into our lives. Social proof is going along with the tide. I’ve been in this space since 2008. Being connected to others is a big part of the work I do to help and support not only other writers, but also other childhood sexual abuse survivors. However, I’ve reached that point. I knew it was coming.

I’m not shutting my doors. I’m just adding a screen. With a strong lock.

***

Read more about Rachel’s experiences in the award-winning book, Broken Pieces.

She goes into more detail about living with PTSD and realizing the effects of how being a survivor affected her life in

Broken Places, available in print everywhere!

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The post What Is Social Proof and Does It Matter, Really? appeared first on Rachel Thompson.

via Rachel Thompson

[tessatechaitea]

Justice League Spectacular #1 (1992)

Just off-panel: Bibbo's ice cream truck.

I probably shouldn't be reading this or Justice League Quarterly before I read the Giffen/DeMatteis Justice League but what can I do? That's the order they were placed in the short box! It would be a different story if free will were not an illusion but since it is, my hands are tied. It's either read this or, um, I don't know. Die from a temporal paradox? I won't risk it! I was looking through a bunch of my old writing and art last week and discovered a bunch of the kind of sentimental and sort of intellectual crap young people write. It's the kind of stuff you hide away and never show anybody ever and hope that when you die, it'll just get tossed in a dumpster with your old porn and Magic the Gathering cards. But it got me thinking about how brave I am! So brave! The kind of brave you wouldn't hesitate to call some jerk who signed up for the military because he couldn't live as a civilian. No, no. More braver than that! And being this super brave kind of person, I thought that maybe I should share some of this old poetry with everybody! But not yet! You have to work up to being truly brave! So instead, I'll share this piece of artwork I did that was supposed to be the first in a lengthy and disgusting series. It's of Lord Fondlerot, a character I created for the Dwarflover online comic I used to do. He was really into fucking things and I thought, "Hey! I should do a series of drawings where he fucks every creature in the monster manual!" But instead of doing an entire series, I drew one picture and grew either bored or disgusted with the concept. So here's that one picture:

Lord Fondlerot fucking an Axebeak.

Now you're probably wondering just how terrible my poetry must be if I'm opening with that! Well, you'll see soon enough! This issue begins with Sue Dibny still alive and visiting a Florida theme park with her husband, The Elasticated Man. Wow, remember when Sue Dibny was killed and all the heroes freaked out about their secret identities and considered doing intense brain damage to every single person who ever knew any of their identities until they found out that The Atom's ex-wife Jean Loring had gone cuckoo for Atom's cocoa puffs? She wanted them back so bad that she began threatening and murdering the loved ones of all the super heroes. It was the kind of story DC sometimes does where you read it and think, "Well, the twist at the end of that mystery was definitely worth the destruction of the most stable marriage in the DC Universe and also the death of Firestorm and Captain Boomerang! So good!" I mean it doesn't make you think that. It makes you think the exact opposite. Tom King would eventually do pretty much the same thing in Heroes in Crisis but instead of Jean Loring fucking up by accidentally killing Sue Dibny and murdering more people to cover her tracks, Wally West fucks up and kills Poison Ivy and some others and then tries to cover his tracks. But at least Tom King's had all of those entertaining scenes where the heroes are doing therapy and we get to see how much they're all suffering from PTSD. That's always a fun aspect of super heroes we never get to read enough about. Dammit! I keep doing it. I meant it was the opposite of fun! Although I still liked it because sometimes I just like seeing other people in pain. Not in a sick perverse way where I pop a boner or something! Just in that way where you sit around all day thinking, "My life is terrible and everything is wrong and I hate my parents for bringing me into this wretched existence and the only thing that might make me feel better is to learn that Superman sometimes feels the same way." Oh, remember when Tom King was writing Batman and he had that two issue Booster Gold arc where we got to see how fucking insane Booster Gold was from living through all of those horrible, wretched, dark alternate timelines? And the only way he can deal with the trauma and the PTSD is by making a joke out of everything? I'll have to think of that as the canon Booster Gold when I'm reading Giffen and DeMatteis's Justice League. Maybe it'll make all of Booster and Beetle's inappropriate joking more appropriate. Back to the story, Sue Dibny, alive and well, and her husband Ralph "The Elasticated Man" Dibny are busy showing a bunch of European diplomats around the non-Disney World theme park.

See? You can tell they're European because they're all smart and shit.

The first stop in the park is to Alice's Wonderland where the diplomats are attacked by the Royal Flush Gang. They are a gang whose theme is playing cards and not expensive toilets. Their powers are the ability to ride on gigantic cards and to make poker puns.

If looking good in tight fitting costumes is also a power, it's my new answer to the question of which super power would I choose..

Ten's outfit reminds me of the days when nipples were allowed to show through tops without being erased away through some kind of editing software. The 70s were a wild decade! Sure, there were also nips on television in the 80s but the 80s, generally speaking, sucked and were a huge contribution to the downfall of America.

The King of Spades mansplaining their entire concept to the Queen of Spades.

It's true that the royal flush beats any other poker hand but I doubt Superman is going to surrender after this concept is explained to him because, in the end, they're not fucking playing poker. It turns out Maxwell Lord paid the Royal Flush Gang to make a little trouble so the Justice League could beat them up and get some media attention. But the Justice League has apparently broken up and The Elasticated Man just isn't hero enough to save the European delegates all by himself. He might have been if the Royal Flush Gang had done what they were told and not really fight back. But why would they do that?! Wouldn't they still be in trouble with federal agents?! Booster Gold finds Blue Beetle busy pouting in the old Justice League cave headquarters. Booster has decided to try to cheer his old buddy up although why wouldn't Booster just travel to a timeline where Ted Kord is already cheered up? Is that how time travel works in the DCU? Or did Booster already try that, it went horribly sideways, and now he's a little more fucked up in the head when he returns to the "real" timeline?

For some reason, Ice and Fire have also come down to the cave. Probably to accidentally go on a double date with Booster and Beetle. Booster and Fire and Beetle and Ice hear a news report about the Royal Flush Gang and decide to go save Ralph. Superman also hears about the situation and heads to Florida where he's almost immediately defeated by The Royal Flush Gang. Not because they're dangerous and competent super villains but because some mysterious benefactor has give them weapons capable of knocking out Superman's powers. Maxwell Lord is not that benefactor so who could have done it? Certainly not Guy Gardner, right?! What would he want with getting the Justice League back together. Isn't he busy being Warrior or something by this point? Power Girl, Metamorpho, and Guy Gardner all join in on the fight. The guy behind it all is that Weapons Master dude who is desperate to get a new weapon for his arsenal: a Green Lantern ring. The attack on the Royal Flush Gang fails to get him the ring so he decides to attack directly. But not in this issue! He has to wait for a regular series issue. Ice uses Guy's ring to contact Hal Jordan because somebody finally decided this Justice League wasn't really a big league Justice League. Everybody reading it knew it for years. But I guess Dan Jurgens was assigned the task to get a new, more believably powerful League together. So Hal Jordan flies around to pick up some new members to save the day. He chooses The Flash and Aquaman which seems about right. But he also chooses Crimson Fox which seems like sliding backwards into goofy Justice League territory. Not that I totally approve of Aquaman but I have to admit he's a "serious" choice for the League.

Doctor Light also joins the party. Although why she'd keep the name of a pedo, I couldn't guess. Just become Lightwoman or something. But no! Once some jerk earns their doctorate, they just have to demand to be called Doctor.

I'm sorry. I was too distracted pointing out that Doctor Light joined the fight and how her namesake was a pervert to comment on Metamorpho acting like a huge fucking pig. Crimson Fox beats up some guys dressed as cards and admits that she's a boring idiot whose favorite part of the game is shuffling the cards. I understand the need to think up some kind of goofy one-liner when you go into battle but shouldn't you at least try to think up one that doesn't make yourself sound like a pathetic asshole? Weapons Master's plan failed but he figures he has enough information to get Green Lantern's ring next time. He'll then sell it to a Dominator for a few bucks and maybe some slaves. The big hitters talk it over and decide they should start a new Justice League without the approval of the United Nations. Yeah! Who needs some stupid Earthly authority when you've got an invulnerable Kryptonian, an all powerful space cop, and the king of the seven seas! All they need is a Greek Goddess and a mentally ill furry with a long history of violent behavior and they'll have the big team back together! Booyah! I mean, without that stupid Booyah shit because Cyborg is basically a toaster at this point. Maybe. I don't know! What am I, Johnni DC, Continuity Cop?! The heroes make one more decision: split the group into two Leagues. So once again, they're forming Justice League America and Justice League Europe. How come I don't remember this shit?! Did the comics get canceled in '92 and then immediately fired back up? I don't seem to remember two different incarnations of these teams. Maybe I should have stored my comic books in chronological order so it would all make sense. Justice League Spectacular #1 Rating: C. I just read the letters pages and it looks like this comic book takes place between JLA #60 and JLA #61! So editorial decided the teams needed to be shaken up and the best way to do it was to disband the League in the regular series, have a special one-shot comic that gets them back together but with a different roster, and then send them back to work in the next issue of the regular series. I guess I should just shove this comic book into the middle of the regular series so when I reread it all again in my 80s, it'll make more sense! Let's close with the worst drawing of Aquaman I've ever seen:

Actually, he looks a little bit like Grunion Guy.

[thequietmanno1]

Thelreads, MHA 234, Replies Part 2

1) So, now Shigaraki is not fighting with 50% of his max power, he’s closer to 65-70% at worst. Maybe. “-It’s implied that whilst he can decay people with the two fingers remaining to him, it’s kinda like trying to force water through a hose with a value that can’t fully open- you get the same effect, but at lower speed and reduced potency, so his right hand is the one that can best use his power in the AOE effect, but perhaps he could train his left hand to improve on the ‘potency’ of his decay? It lacks the spreading effect but makes up for it in the ability to focus more ‘decay energy through those two digits, allowing him to dust single targets faster- that is, assuming, of course, that Ujiko won’t use some mad science to fix up his master’s protégée in the aftermath- we’ve seen how AFO apparently has a hobby of collecting handy spare hands, so maybe Tomura could borrow one of those- if his quirk is implanted, there’s nothing saying that he  can’t learn to use/focus it through body parts that weren’t originally his, if the quirk itself wasn’t originally his.

2) “Oh no, you guys really knew everything there was to know about them… Until that point, that is.”-This is why overestimating your opponent is always the better plan, rather than underestimating their capability and letting them get some lucky shots in. Good thing for Re-Destro that Shigaraki’s weakened left hand can only apparently use the slow-decay speeds he demonstrated agasitn Aizawa in USJ, or he’d have lost the finger or worse.

3) “Shigaraki’s not having a good day, at all, and it’s his duty to make sure everybody will know how it feels.”- Replace ‘day’ with ‘life’ and you pretty much have his character and motivations summarised right there.

4) “GODDAMMIT NO, AND NOW ITS HIS MOTHER, ARE WE GOING TO SEE EVERYBODY THAT WAS MURDERED?”-yep, even and especially, the dog.  

5) “Alright, so you are aware that the powers can evolve to never before seen levels, because it already happened in your ranks, and with Ice climber, from all people.”-I’m curious as to how Re-Destro, with his insane levels of power, suffered a burn severe enough that Genten spontaneously evolve their abilities on the spot to help him- and more-over, where he got said burn as I don’t see any scarring on him. Like, were the MLA fighting some flame-wielding quirk user opposed to them and Re-Destro let his guard down, enough to get a face-full of flame, or was it something mundane like he burned himself getting a pot of coffee and Genten’s just seriously overprotective of him?

6) “Oh yeah, now Shigaraki entered ~the zone~ he’s completely out of himself, only focusing in fighting and killing, and both of those things are directed to you and you alone, Hulk Bezos.”- Given his ongoing mental trauma and inability to properly sort out his mind through the mental and physical agony he’s in, Tomura’s ‘zone’ seems to be basically his conscious mind going ‘fuck this, I’m out’ and reacting on nothing less than his subconscious desire to kill and destroy everything around him like his own life was destroyed. It’s definitely an improvement in his fighting, since now he’s running on what is likely to ‘untapped reserves’ of the brain that people can summon in times of emergency, like mothers being able to life cars off their children and such, but it’s also come about because of all the sheer crap he’s been forced through by both Giganto and the MLA wearing him down to the point where his mind just can’t handle it all anymore and needs a minute to sort through his issues, even if Re-Destro won’t allow him that breathing room, so he just leaves his body on ‘murderpilot’ whilst he takes a minute to collect himself.

7) “Oh my god, dude, you’re really basing everything on what happened in Kamino? Are you kidding me? That was AGES ago, did you really thought that Shigaraki wouldn’t improve himself since then?”- In his defence, you can’t expect somebody to train and improve without a teacher to help guide them and point out their failings, especially not somebody as young and immature as Tomura and his gang, once bereft of AFO’s support, and without any ‘official’ news of the league coming into contact with heroes, Re-Destro can’t understand ‘where’ shigaraki would be getting the necessary threats to his life needed to improve his combat potential this much without alerting the authorities.

 Like everybody else, he assumed AFO’s empire was done in at Kamino, and there really shouldn’t be any resources or help left to Tomura to train him with afterwards, as far as he knows. He’s only just now realising that there’s more to what’s happened to Tomura and the league since they were last seen in the public eye than the MLA realises, and he can’t afford to get cocky taking him down with less than his full strength.

8) “Fuck me, Hulk Bezos is pulling a “This isn’t even my final form” bullshit.”- On the other hand, it makes sense for him to hold something in reserve until he can be certain that he’s crushing the real deal, since he already had above-average trouble dealing with just a clone of Tomura, and the actual version, even starting the fight with 7 shades of hell knocked out of him, is still a massive threat, so it’s best of him to hold back an gauge his strength until he can be certain that he ‘needs’ to use everything he’s got- and Tomura’s unrelenting desire and actions to attack and destroy everything around him no matter the personal cost have convinced Re-Destro that it’s time the kiddie gloves come off.

9) “The fuck am I even typing here, I don’t know, my mind is really tired, not even Shigaraki’s “oh fuck” face there can help me now.”-That’s not an ‘oh fuck’ face, Tomura’s mind has gone ‘bye-bye’ from all the damage and mental stress he’s in, and his body is running on autopilot- he probably doesn’t even ‘see’ the oncoming wave of manifested stress coming right at his face – which, btw, wonder what that feels like? Getting him with manifested emotions might cause said emotions to affect you too, resulting in Re-Destro’s targets getting stressed out as they’re smashed by his own stress? Won’t do anything for Tomura in his current state either way- but thankfully Tomura’s instincts have been honed enough by his life-or death fights with Giganto that he can tell what the most optimum solution is to make that best guarantees his survival without thinking about it.

10) “HIS GRANDPARENTS, SHIGAPA AND SHIGAMA, AND BOTH LOOKED SO LOVELY AND MY GOD THERE IS ONLY ONE HAND TO GO NOW”- Tomura is basically Mongo from Blazing Saddles at this point- Re-Destro persists in blasting him, but it only makes him more dangerous and unrestrained, whittling down the hands that hold him back until he’s left with only his father’s hand- the only hand he doesn’t quite feel the same way about like the others, able to crush it without remorse or guilt for destroying the memento of his family

11) “WE’RE ABOUT TO GET ANSWERS TO EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED. DID HE KILL EVERYONE, OR WAS HE ONLY LED TO BELIEVE HE DID?”- well, technically, both interpretations are correct at the same time, depending on whether or not the quirk is indeed his own, or a ‘gift’ from AFO, and even if it isn’t he’s still guilt-tripped into believing that the destruction that resulted was the result of his inherent desire to destroy everything bubbling up from being repressed and denied by his family for so long.

12) “Because I feel I know where this train of thought is going, and I’m not ready to see Shigaraki thinking about how he should’ve told them that he loved them before they died.”-Close, but no cigar. In yet another parallel between Izuku and Shigaraki, Tomura is unknowingly repeating the same words that Izuku was thinking about in chapter 1- about how all he wanted was for his family, or somebody, to tell him he could be a hero. Izuku was denied his dream because of his genes and lack of a natural quirk, yet still persisted in his dream, despite others throwing the uselessness of him achieving it in his face at several opportunities. Some part of him never stopped hoping and striving to be a hero, no matter the reality. Even when All Might also joined the ranks of the nay-sayers, Izuku’s heart was still set on becoming a hero, even when he tried to logically accept the impossibility of his dream, and ultimately, he was able to show All Might that he did deserve to be given a chance to reach his goals, with help from others around him. 

Tenko, however, was isolated and cut off from others, denied his dreams by his father, whose inability to reconcile his issues with his parental abandonment lead him to mercilessly crush Tenko’s hopes out of spite and disgust towards the very concept of heroics. Even then, there was a chance that Tenko might have been able to recover, only from the seed of hatred towards others that had been building in his heart the whole time to crystallise and harden in response to Kotaro’s abuse, reacting with his quirk and kicking off the slaughter that ensured. Both Boys were denied what they most wanted, yet the difference was that there was no compromise given to Tenko to allow him to try, and accept his desire to be a hero, even if it was almost guaranteed to end in failure. Ultimately, that repression resulted in the creation of Tomura Shigaraki, and even now, both characters are unaware of how similar they used to be as children, of how alike their paths in life have been to each other’s.

13) “The big guy is finally here… Oh ho ho, this is about to be good, right when Shigaraki managed to access all his memories…”- well, the situation has now officially placed these characters between a rock and a hard place- or a advancing Giganto as the case stands. Question is, is it Tomura that’s caught between them? Or Re-Destro?

14) “Oh that’s a badass shot right there. Shigaraki getting up from the rubble, ready to fight, but at the same time with eyes focused on the past, on his memories that are now finally open for him to see.”- Honestly, awakening or not, Tomura’s improved utility with his quirk that comes with accessing his recollection of what it can ‘really’ do if he doesn’t subconsciously hold back had better be ‘very’ impressive, since it frankly looks like standing up is all he can really do at this point- his left arm is busted all to hell and it looks like a gentle push or a stiff breeze will knock him over- and if he falls he probably doesn’t have it in himself to get back up again. Tomra’s got one card left in the deck to play before it’s game over, so It had better be a ‘really’ good one.

15) “He wouldn’t have the guts, it’s the same reason why I know that Mirio will get his power back. And I’ll ignore the stormy clouds circling around my house after tempting fate this hard.”- Horikoshi: you don’t think I have the guts? I’ve got guts galore! Here, let me show you what Tenko’s family’s insides looked like before he buried the house in a landslide!!!

@thelreads

[justmewoo]

Legacy [Avengers x Male Reader] Ch.5

____________________

I wake as if it's an emergency, as if sleeping had become a ticking time bomb. The memory of being waken up from the ice was still a very real one in my mind. It was the sharp knocks on my door that had woken me and I stared at it, taking a few deep breaths. 'It was probably just somebody from the team. Nothing to worry about,' I assured myself. With a yawn I called out "One second." A quick stretch later and I was sleepily opening the door.

I immediately straightened up when I saw who was there. It was Steve. And he had someone with him. I was about to ask for the name when I was saved by my father's old fashioned demeanor. "Good morning (Fake Name), sorry for waking you so early but me and Sam thought it would be a great idea to invite you on our morning run." I blinked a few times and looked back at the clock. It was 5:30.

"Oh um- good morning Steve, Sam," I nodded my head at him and then at the other man. "That sounds like a great idea. Just let me get dressed really quick," I uttered the words through a yawn, shooting them a smile before ducking back into my room and taking a deep breath, rubbing my eyes. Did I even have any clothes to exercise in? I dug through the dresser and found some socks, boxers and jogging pants, no doubt upon the courtesy  of S.H.I.E.L.D. My suspicions were confirmed when I opened the closet and pulled a shirt labeled with the agency's name and symbol from a hanger.

I rolled my eyes and chuckled as I put on all my clothes, finishing it up with a new pair of running shoes. They really went all out on my clothes. I couldn't help but wonder if my mother's involvement in the agency didn't help a little. With a deodorant, quick hand running through my hair, and two minutes of brushing my teeth I was ready to head out.  I opened up the door to see Sam and Steve waiting there. Steve was standing patiently, smiling when I exited whereas the other was on his phone playing games, giving a sigh of relief when I closed the door behind me.

"Sorry I took so long. It took me a bit to find everything," I said with a weary smile and stepped in the elevator with the duo, turning the running duo into a trio. "It's not a problem kid, just glad we got out of there before Tony woke up," Sam spoke up, surprising me with a genuine laugh. He seemed so cold before. Not anymore though.

They got down to the garage and Steve walked towards a simple black car, nothing fancy or flashy. "I figure that you don't want too much attention on you so I got the keys to the stealth car, plus neither of you are super soldiers so it probably isn't viable for us to walk there," he said, holding up a key clearly labeled 'DO NOT TOUCH. PROPERTY OF TONY STARK'. I took a step back but Sam patted my shoulder. "No worries kid. they do this to each other all the time," he rolled his eyes with a snort as everyone got into the car, letting Steve drive us to the park to run.

I didn't hear anything the two said the entire ride, far too focused on the world around me. I'm pretty sure that Steve took the long way to wherever we were going. I was grateful though. It gave me another chance to see just how much the world had changed while I was gone. I didn't linger on it too long, deciding to focus on what was still there. There were a few restaurants and shops, and most buildings seemed to have the same bones. When we finally got there we all lined up by a tree. Sam stood in the middle of us he looked over at Steve and then at me. "Three.. two... one... go!" he exclaimed and we darted off, racing.

____________________

It wasn't a secret to any of the Avengers that Tony wasn't always the most mentally stable man. He often wouldn't come out of his lab for days or heavily drank when something seemingly minor happened. And just like everybody else he had nightmares. He was on a good streak, no nightmares, no panic attacks, and no binge drinking. Apparently though his luck was spent.

After he had finished up the late night snack with (Fake Name) the tiniest memories of someone he used to know as a kid where coming back to him. Someone he decided not to tell anyone not even Pepper knows about this person. He had look both ways in the hallway before taking a step inside his bedroom. Tony slowly locked the door so no one would surprise him coming in. In all honest he wanted to be alone without any interruptions.

"Friday, engage code blackout in my room," he said, voice soft and vulnerable. His new AI seemed to sense his emotions and instead of a snarky response simply said "Of course Mr. Stark," before F.R.I.D.A.Y dimmed the lights, slowly plunging the room into a warm glow from a single lamp.

Tony walked over to one of his drawers where he kept his most prized possession under lock with a key. It wasn't any of his cars or even a gift from Pepper. It was something more important. He looked inside his jean pocket to find a set of keys that where a bit different than the others. He used a specific key that had some weird old 70's style look. On the key it had 1975 written at the top. He put the key inside the lock and turned it slowly unlocking it with a click that seemed to set him on edge. His heart began to beat fast with each movement he made. Taking a deep breath he slowly took the key back inside his pocket. He opens the drawer with shaky hands until slowly he saw a glance of an old antique wrist watch that he knew all well was covered in small particles of dust. The wristwatch had an old black texture to it. Clearly it wasn't made from this year but he can still remember what it took him to make the watch with the help of Howard and Jarvis. The image is slowly erasing its self because he can't seem to remember his brother's face all he remembers is his name. [Male Reader] He was never able to get any photo of him and all the old memories where thrown out the window when his parents died. 

He reached for the watch and held it in his shaky hands. Tony's scarred and calloused hands turned it over so he could see the inscription he knew was still there. A thumb brushed over it and he barely managed to hold back the tears threatening to spill from his eyes. With the dust wiped away he could finally see the writing. There it was, beautifully inscribed.

"[Male Reader] Carter..." He murmured before cradling the trinket. A token of times gone. Carefully clasping it to his chest, he sunk to his knees, leaning his head against the cabinet.

Soon tears were streaming down his face and he let out sob. It hurt, you could see the way he curled in further on himself. Like he could protect himself from his thoughts. Like he could go back and protect [Male Reader].

____________________

First Sam had tapped out of running and then a few laps later. We sat beneath the shade of a tree, watching Steve run laps, barely breaking a sweat. Sam stared at me for a few moments, both of us still trying to catch our breaths. "Damn kid... you do that same stupid thing that Cap there does," he pointed at the other as he lapped them again. "The 'On your right' or 'on your left' thing. How'd you get faster than me? I'm a superhero," he half joked, half questioned. 

I laughed at his question. "It just takes practice is all. I had always enjoyed running. Back in school I used to be in the trackteam so." I said remembering those days training at the camp.

"Speaking of super hero what power or ability do you possess? No one in the team knows yet about your powers." Sam asked curiously eyeing me. 

Crap. What am I supposed to say. That I have no powers or abilities and that I was in the army. How well I be able to come up with something believable. I hate lying to everyone about me.

As I was about to open my mouth when another voice interrupted our conversation. "Come on Sam, stop asking him so many questions well, find out when the time comes." Steve lead me a hand and helped me stand up from the grass. 

"Thanks Steve, and its no problem. I actually enjoyed talking with him," I shot a genuine smile Sam's direction The hero held out a hand and I pulled him to his feet, "Thanks man. Now lets get back to the compound. I heard rumors of Vision making pancakes. For a robot he knows a hell of a lot about cooking," he said as we all got back into the car, them getting into the front and passenger seats while I sat in the backseat confused at Sam talking about a robot. It seemed like I was about to meet everybody. I took a deep breath and prepped myself. I couldn't mess this up.

____________________

After what seem to be a long drive back we arrived at the compound. I exited the car feeling a bit nervous at thought of finally meeting the rest of the team. Sam and Steve walked in front of me while I walked last inside the building. I take a quick glance behind me still amazed at the big space of each room in the building. Steve turned around glancing at me for a few seconds before patting my back to grab my attention. "You alright?" He asked with a low tone while Sam continued to walk ahead of us. I nodded and closed the door behind me before walking together with Steve. 

We followed Sam into the kitchen I saw the Avengers sitting in the kitchen table. Steve cleared his throat grabbing everyone's attention. Sam took a seat while both Steve and I stood up. "Guys this is [F/N] [F/L] he's the new edition to our team." He introduced me. 

"It's nice to meet you all." I said. Everyone smiled and introduced themselves to me. I got to meet Natasha, Wanda, Rhodey, and Vision. Tony wasn't in the room when they introduced themselves. What threw me off was that Vision looked different his face was red with a yellow stone on the top of his forehead. He wore regular clothings but I have to admit I was a bit scared shaking his hand but I soon found out via Steve's whispering that he was nice and not dangerous. Once the food was ready we all sat down to eat. I sat in between Natasha and Wanda, feeling a bit intimidated by them both. An internationally renowned spy and a powerful mutant were nothing compared to a half super-soldier veteran. 

"We are missing Thor, Clint and Banner. So this is all that's left of the Avengers after the situation with Ultron our team became a lot smaller," spoke Tony stepping inside the kitchen. From my peripheral vision I could see his eyes red even with his glasses on. 

Everyone suddenly stood quiet. I was the only one who made sounds with their forks while everyone had dropped them. I eyed them wondering what was going on. The atmosphere felt tense and sad. "Tony's right we're happy to have someone new in our team despite what happened." Wanda spoke as the team continued to eat again. 

"We thought we weren't going to meet you [F/N] since you avoided us last night for dinner." Said Natasha. I shook my head feeling nervous again. 

"Not at all, I actually wanted to apologize for that. I just wanted to rest a little bit and get used to this new environment. Vision your cooking is delicious this pancakes are amazing." 

"Thank you [F/N]." Vision replied back. 

"Almost forgot, thanks for the left overs from yesterday Capsicle they where good. I haven't had Chinese in a while. And [F/N] you owe me a burger next time." Tony said serving himself breakfast earning an angry look from Steve. Tony sat down next Rhodey and pouring himself a mug of coffee. I looked down at my plate feeling bad about the entire change in atmosphere, feeling Steve's harsh gaze. 

"Those where supposed to be your left overs [F/N], I told you yesterday about them. But you decided to eat burgers instead?" I froze under his glare, ducking my head like a child being scolded by his father, which wasn't far from the truth. "I- Tony offered them to me so I didn't-" Tony shot an even harsher glare at Steve. "Hey, buzz off Cap. He can eat whatever he wants, and so can I."

Everybody in the room seemed to invest themselves further in their food or prepared to hold either one of the two back in case something got out of hand. Before anyone else could say anything I stood up from the chair gaining everyone's attention. I turn to look at Steve. "I'm sorry Steve I should had eaten the food you where kind enough to safe for me and I shouldn't had accepted Tony's burger. It's just that it's being a very long time since I had eaten a burger and I should had said something to Tony about the left overs he ate. So I'm deeply sorry please don't get mad with him it was completely my fault. So if you all excuse me I'm going back to my room and take a bath. Thank you all for welcoming me and for the food." I turned around and left the kitchen, giving a half bow to them as was custom in Vietnam. I wanted to show that I still respected them. 

Everyone sat quiet not knowing what to say. "That kid has apologized for no reason. It shouldn't have been brought up and you should have left him alone. Do you know how much he even respects both of you to do that? If I were in his shoes I would have beat you both up. Apologize to him before I make you," threatened Natasha, getting up as well from her seat and leaving, only stopping to put her dishes in the dishwasher.. 

Steve and Tony both felt ashamed and the rest of breakfast was spent in relative silence, only the sound of silverware against food showed that others were still there. The team continued to finish breakfast and scatter to do their own things.

____________________

When I got back to my room I grabbed a pair of boxers and a t-shirt before going straight to the bathroom. The second I entered the other room my eyes widened. It was massive. The whole thing was gorgeous and worth more than any money I had ever had combined. In one corner there was a glass shower, the entire ceiling full of tiny holes for the water to come out of just like rain and big enough for more than one person to stand in and enjoy. The tub on the other hand was in the middle of the room.

It was built into the floor, you wouldn't have to step over anything to get in. Simply walk into it and soak in the warmth. I was sold immediately when I saw a small jar of what I recognized to be Epsom salt. I turned on the water, getting it to the point of heat where the steam would fill the room, and slipped out of my clothes. I sat next to the bath and took a deep breath

Staring at the big scar that starts from the bottom of my knee all the way down to the end of my ankle. The big scar was still a bit fresh. After getting stitch after the war the wound still made it painful and itchy to control. But this is something I don't want anyone in the team to see. I had to take a few deep breaths at the sight. Before the panic could creep up on me I looked away and grabbed the glass jar of Epsom salt, pouring the proper amount into the tub. Bracing myself on either side of the tub, I slid myself in. Taking a deep sigh and closing my eyes, I let the warmth of it take me in. For once, the water felt safe to me. I wasn't plunging into deep icy waters and being frozen for 40 years. I was relaxing.

[brightlotusmoon]

Quote:

"But too many people believe that where someone is on the spectrum is where they stay on the spectrum for good. Our place/functionality varies day to day and minute to minute. It is dependent on our ability to process sensory input. While I was fine a couple hours ago, able to speak, etc. I'm now wiping away tears and couldn't verbally answer a question if I wanted to. I've undergone a lot of stress in the last couple hours, since waking up, and my ability to "function" is diminished. By the end of today, if I'm not able to chill out and decompress, I will likely be hiding out under a blanket, sobbing and unable to process anything... including my ability to type. So for someone to try to label me as high-functioning or low-functioning as a catchall is a complete fallacy."

End Quote

Quote:

"Annoyingly the labels were previously used in the diagnosis setting to just 'simply' mean the difference between having developed language/communication at an 'appropriate age' or after that. Which is of course a stupid measure because it has NO impact on functioning whatsoever - there are those of us that develop language young and come across as seemingly 'higher functioning' but actually we might have a lot more difficulties and challenges than someone who was non-verbal until they were 10 (and vice versa). Some people have additional learning disability (IQ<70), but that doesn't mean those who don't are able to cope much better - more awareness often leads to more mental health difficulties.

But the problem is that a lot of professionals (and some parents etc) have taken these rubbish labels and tried to categorise their patient/child/students etc so that they can do pointless comparisons. I notice (at least in some places) that some parents almost see this as some sort of competition - either 'oh my kid is higher functioning than yours' or 'well my kid is low functioning, so yours can't be properly autistic/need help/have the same needs' etc. It's just ridiculous. I feel the same about using 'Aspergers' (or even worse, 'aspie' - ick) - I always just say autism now otherwise I get instantly judged to be able to cope and that I'm just 'mildly' autistic. Which is crap. I'd like them to see me mid meltdown, completely non-verbal and unable to communicate.

Autism is autism. Everyone is different, and we shouldn't be 'rated' by people who have no idea what being autistic is like..."

End Quote

[altean-plance-au]

How To Train Your Recruit

Submission by Aknazer. (Thank you again!) Find the first part to this series here. Table of contents for the AU in general here.

FanCanons - Shiro

Shiro Has A Past, and no, he’s not telling.

Shiro knows that Lance has inherent elemental abilities, despite the other trying to hide it. He also knows that without any (or very little) formal training, Lance is a hot (cold?) mess with them. Despite not understanding Lance’s obstinacy about admitting to them, Shiro respects that and starts leaving random instructional texts lying around for Lance to stumble over.

At twenty-seven deca-phoebs (years), Shiro is the youngest Captain of the Royal Guard ever. Despite the reservations of the Council, Alfor appointed Shiro to the post, and Shiro has worked hard ever since to prove that the King’s trust is well placed.

Shiro’s made a few questionable decisions - taking a half-Galra foundling under his wing being the most notable. Taking on an uppity kind-of-maybe-not-really noble with a history of insubordination was another. Introducing the two just to watch them fight was the third. 

Shiro has no regrets about assigning Lance to guard Pidge: he figures that his two biggest headaches deserve each other. 

“What do you think this is, a holovid? Stop charging me - you’re telegraphing every move in advance.” Shiro said, knocking Lance’s sword out of his hand with a practiced twist and slapping the pommel of his own blade against the younger man’s wrist. Ignoring the boy’s pained yelp, Shiro used the toe of his boot to kick the sword away. “Again.”

“Oh my gods, you are a slave driver.” Lance whined, shaking out his hand and glaring. “It’s barely a varga after sunrise!”

Shiro raised his eyebrow. “Uh-huh. And?”

“And you’ve had me out here since before that!”

“Good to know your eyes are working.” Shiro said mildly. “Now if only you would open your ears.”

“I hate you.” Lance grumbled, trudging over to where his sword lay in the dust.

Shiro ignored the insult, knowing that Lance didn’t really mean it. Well, he amended privately, perhaps he did right now - Lance was a lot of things (not all of them complimentary), but a morning person was not one of them. Before about 1000, the only thing Lance didn’t hate was his bed. (Coincidentally, Shiro had found that nearly 70% of his insubordination reports occurred before lunch.)

“Now,” Shiro instructed as Lance resumed his stance across from him, “let’s try that again - without the dramatic flailing this time.”

Lance gritted his teeth, eyes glinting dangerously, and Shiro repressed a grin. Good - he was getting to him. Without warning, Lance pushed off with his back foot, sprinting the short distance between them and swinging his broadsword into a short, overhead arc. Shiro blocked, letting the blade slide down and off his own before snapping his sword parallel to his body to block the short stroke aimed for his neck.

From here, he had two options: step back and slide their blades apart to prepare for the next strike, or step in and tangle their handguards, making it a contest of brute strength to hold onto the sword. Last time, he’d stepped in, and Lance had decided to try to overpower him.

Lance danced back as Shiro stepped in, sliding out of range with a scowl. He let Shiro knock his blade aside, using the momentum to bring the blade up into an overheard block as Shiro advanced.

“Good! You’re getting better at this.” Shiro praised, then brought his foot up and kicked Lance in the stomach, driving him back. Lance flailed as he lost his footing, sword dropping automatically as he stumbled and tried to regain his balance. Shiro moved aggressively forward, slotting his leg between the stumbling recruit’s and sweeping his ankle around to drag his foot out from under him. Lance hit the ground with an oomph, sword clattering out of his hand as his head hit the ground.

“Still got a ways to go, though.” Shiro observed, standing over the fallen young man. Lance glared, mouth twisting into a snarl, and Shiro’s eyebrows lifted as the air chilled around them. Not much - just a few degrees, but Shiro was familiar enough with elementals to recognize the signs.

Well, he thought faintly, how about that?

“Do you just drag me out here every morning to beat on me so you feel good about yourself of something?” Lance snapped. “There is literally no other reason for this.”

Shiro’s blinked, refocusing on the young man still sprawled on the ground in front of him.

“Sure there is. Someday, you’ll even figure out what it is.” He replied affably, knowing his genial tone would only annoy the other man more. “Now…again.”

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Shiro figured out pretty quickly that the best way to keep Lance out of trouble was to keep him occupied. And, barring that, too tired to be bored enough to look for it. For the first few weeks, Lance’s schedule had been split between drills with Shiro and diplomacy with Coran. Then Lance had been shifted to physical training four days, and diplomacy two. Finally, physical training five days in the morning, with guard duty in the afternoons and diplomacy on an as-needed basis.

It was, Shiro often reflected, like dealing with an okami pup - you had to wear their energy down to a manageable level before trying to teach them anything. Then you had to convince them that what they were learning had a purpose, and wasn’t just useless fluff. (And even if it was useless fluff, that they just had to shut up and do it once in a while.) Fortunately, Shiro had experience with dealing with distracted, disinterested cadets: it just took the right application of physical exertion, followed by mental exertion, and keeping their interest by keeping them challenged.

“What the heck is this?” Lance squawked, jolting upright as Shiro dropped a text in front of him.

“Olkari delegates are arriving next movement.” Shiro replied. “Study up.”

Lance squinted at him suspiciously, and Shiro knew he was trying to guess whether he would be actually escorting/guarding the delegation, or simply guarding the doors. Shiro had set him to both tasks, telling him to “study up” every time. Lance had neglected to do so before, and it had led to him making a fool of himself by offering the wrong salutation when he’d been unexpectedly assigned to escort duty after a week of guarding doors.

The embarrassment, Shiro knew, was a better goad than any reprimand he could have delivered.

Shiro sat down at his desk, flipping open his own book and pulling out a ledger to take notes with. The silence lasted for about twenty dobashes before Lance leaned back in his seat, groaning.

“This is boring…” He whined. “When is lunch? Is it lunchtime? I feel like we should have eaten already.”

“What’s the gesture to greet the Kahnzada Nawab Ishmuil?” Shiro asked without looking up from his book.

“Bow.” Lance replied. “Straight neck, torso bent to twenty degrees. Right hand on left shoulder, palm in.”

“Where do your eyes go?” Shiro asked.

“On the floor…no!” Lance jabbed a finger at him, grinning victoriously. “Trick question! I’m a guard, so I keep my eyes on his waist to watch for weapons.”

“Good to know Coran’s lessons are paying off.” Shiro chuckled.

“Um, no?” Lance scowled. “Coran was going over place settings for a Balmaran dinner party.”

Shiro blinked. “But…Balmarans don’t have dinner parties.”

“That’s what I said!” Lance threw his hands up in the air. “But did he listen? No! He was all ‘Tsk tsk, young cadet, I’ll have you know that I’ve dined with many a Balmaran noble in my youth and-’” Lance broke off, hand flapping in a universal blah blah blah gesture. “I’m pretty sure he was confusing Balmarans for Rephodians, but I don’t know how.”

Shiro snorted in quiet amusement, flipping to another page idly.

“So, what are you reading, anyway?” Lance asked. “I mean, you already know all that crap about the Olkari, budgets were done last movement, and your report - which I know you’re going to have me type up, stop lying - isn’t due for another three quintents.”

“Mm?” Shiro glanced up at him. “Oh, this? It’s a book on basic studies for elemental magics.”

Lance froze. It was only for a tick, and then he was leaning on one elbow nonchalantly, glancing at his book like he couldn’t care less. “Oh, yeah? What do you need that for? Got something to share with the class?”

Shiro snorted. “Not likely. No, Alfor’s niece is a budding Plant Master, and she’s driving her guards crazy.”

“What, is she throwing seeds at them?” Lance sniggered.

“I wish.” Shiro frowned. “No, she’s eluding them to try to train on her own. I was hoping if I gave her some more…benign exercises, she’d stop trying to escape.”

“Give her some houseplants.” Lance grunted, flicking a page over. “Problem solved.”

“We did that.” Shiro rolled his eyes. “Two exploded, one grew out of control, and one caught fire.”

Lance’s gaze snapped up, jaw going slack. “It…it caught fire? How do you even do that?”

“No clue!” Shiro groaned. “I was hoping that this book would give me some insight but… I think it’s too generalized. General exercises, and I think she’s blown through or overpowered the green magic ones. Huge section on water magic, but that does me no good.”

Shiro leaned back in his chair, grasping the bridge of his nose in mostly-feigned exasperation. “I’m heading to the canteen. Want anything?”

Lance hummed thoughtfully. “The usual.” He held out a few losa, but Shiro waved them off, closing his book and setting it on the edge of his desk.

Lance stayed in the office.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Shiro couldn’t check out too many tomes outlining elemental magic studies without arousing suspicion. Luckily, there were a plenty available within the city’s markets, and Pidge was happy to direct him to ones that she had found useful. And if they happened to find homes in his office shelving, well, that just made him look more official to the people who thought looks mattered.

And if some of them disappeared after he’d finished reading them, Shiro pretended not to notice.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

“You’re going to what?”

“Introduce him to Keith.” Shiro repeated patiently. 

“That’s what I thought you said.” Matt swirled his ale in his mug as he regarded his friend steadily. “The way you say this leads me to believe that you don’t mean over a nice cup of mead, or a friendly hologame.”

“Correct.” 

“And the reason for this is because…?” Matt asked, rolling his wrist, gesturing for his friend to continue. 

“Lance isn’t really being challenged anymore.” Shiro sipped his drink. “I’m too busy to take him on daily like I was at first, but he’s good enough that he’s giving my lieutenants a run for their money. Which, don’t get me wrong, is good - it keeps them on their toes, but also means that I need to find a better challenge for him.”

“So your solution is to haul in Kogane.” Matt said.

“Not ‘haul in,’” Shiro huffed, “his detail on Javnil is almost up, and he’ll be back soon anyway.”

“You’re going to put your no-nonsense, super-serious, I-wouldn’t-know-humor-if-it-bit-me pupil in a ring with Lance.” Matt repeated.

“Why do you make it sound so crazy?” Shiro muttered rebelliously. “Keith is one of the best and he’d definitely provide a challenge for Lance. And Keith does have a sense of humor.”

“So set him to a new weapon! Rotate him into sparring with the rest of the troops. You don’t have to keep him on broadsword and with the Guards.” Matt rolled his eyes. “You know this - I know you do. So, the logical conclusion is… you’re looking for an excuse. You want Keith and Lance to meet. Stop obfuscating and fess up.”

“Pulling out the big words now.” Shiro muttered. “Alright, fine, full disclosure: I think that the SpecOps unit isn’t doing Keith any good. Not physically-” Shiro waved Matt off as he opened his mouth, “Physically, he’s in his element. I mean…he’s more withdrawn. Less social, if that’s possible, even amongst his teammates. It’s weighing on him.”

Matt leaned back in his chair, studying Shiro closely. Shiro let him, knowing that Matt was every bit the bright mind his father and sister were. Processing time was a part of that, before brilliance emerged.

“You’re an idiot.” Matt said bluntly, ignoring Shiro gaping to take a long draw on his mug. “I know what you’re trying to do. And putting Keith and Lance in a ring together might work out in your favor - Lance may indeed prove to be a valuable foil to Keith’s seriousness, and the two might eventually become fast friends. But they might also tear each other’s throats out before they get around to reconciling their differences.”

“Well,” Shiro shrugged, “I guess we’ll see.”

[vivumfunus]

Demon-Alien DNA Mutation

ALRIGHT FOLKS ( mostly @retributiion and anyone else that bothers to read my crap lmao ) LET’S SIT THE FUCK DOWN AND LEARN SOME ALIEN DNA BULLSHIT SHALL WE?

Okay so as y’all know, Reily’s DNA, post accident, consists of half human and half Transylian DNA and body parts. It’s almost completely a 50/50 split tbh but the Transylian is slightly more dominant than the human thus why she’s got so many issues and abilities. Because Transylian’s are based off the Frankenstein monster my personal HC about this alien species is that their DNA is very prone to mutations when exposed to other types of DNA. Example being Reily herself and how her body adjusted to having alien body parts replacing her human ones that were destroyed.

Her new Transylian DNA adapted and changed itself to best suit Reily’s needs, no matter how detrimental they ended up being to her mental health as a whole. Her new powers also came with drawbacks.

She gained a regeneration ability -> It works much faster on her right side than the left, throwing her whole healing process off balance.

She can survive temperatures well into the negatives -> Her body can no longer withstand any heat above 70 degrees F without causing her body to fall apart and seemingly rot from the outside in.

She has little to no feeling on her right side, therefore she’s able to take serious injuries without ever flinching -> Her left side is doubly sensitive to all forms of touch, pain especially.

She has no blood running to her right side, therefore she can actually take severe injuries without much worry -> If she’s injured on her left side she’s twice as quickly/likely to suffer from the affects of blood loss than a normal human.

As you can see, she has several mutations that aren’t seen normally in Transylian’s. Now as for how this highly adaptable DNA would mix with a Demon’s DNA when making a child? It could do quite a lot.

As @retributiion said, Demons aren’t born winged, but the Transylian DNA had to adapt to this new Demon DNA that was being introduced to their kids. Demons, in Reily’s dimension, aren’t common as far as I know. Yes, there’s magic and mana, as well as users of said things, but as far as the B.en 10 world goes, there are no Demons that have been seen. So with new DNA to work with, Reily’s Transylian DNA had to find a balance between those two things and the human DNA they both have.

Damien and Serena are born winged because it’s simply a mutation that was deemed needed to ensure their DNA stayed balanced. Each child will more than likely develop stitching across their bodies as well as they get older but it will be less prominent than Reily’s. I doubt Damien and Serena will be able to use any kind of magic either without needing a kind of middle ground item like an amulet or a typical magic staff. They could have Reily’s stitching abilities, but that would mean they inherited Reily’s unstable body type. That wouldn’t be balanced, now would it?

As far as the stitching goes it will only be surface level for Damien and Serena. They’ll likely inherit a small regeneration ability, their wings ( obviously ), surface stitching that’s purely looks and not anything like Reily’s where it could be weaponized, resistance to most illnesses and drugs tbh, possibly a slight resistance to the cold, and maybe a few other things that can be added by Krystal.

Also as for Rix and his “I’m not a good father” bullshit, Reily is having none of that lol She just looks him in the eyes, points to their kids, and just:

“They are going to love you no matter what they hear. Know why? Because my parents taught me someone’s past never defines who they are as a person. It’s how they act in the present and how they’re going to act in the future that makes up who they are. The past is used to learn, the present is for living, and the future is something you look forward to with a smile. My mother told me that everyone deserves to show their true colors, Arixis. You’ve shown me yours, and I feel in love with them so deeply that I let you see mine just as much. Those two are going to adore you, Rix. No one from your past can change that, because your present has a stubborn girl who’s willing to fight tooth and nail to show you’re one of the best people she’s ever met.”

[snkpolls]

SnK Chapter 99 Poll Results

The chapter 98 poll closed with 1,751 responses. Thank you to everyone who participated.

RATE THE CHAPTER 1,722 Responses

On the “awful” to “awesome” scale of 1-5, nearly 70% of respondents rated “Guilty Shadow” with a “5″, making it the highest rated chapter since we started polling. Well done, Isayama!

On that day, Marley received a grim reminder... this chapter woke up the obsessed snk fan in me, finally JESUS CHRIST

SNK has always been a wild ride, but I don't believe I've ever been this excited and frustrated that I don't have the next chapter in my hands RIGHT NOW- if only to satisfy the itch of knowing which half-hidden face is who from Paradis. And also to figure out what they've done to Porco, Pieck and Zeke to neutralize them while Eren gives Reiner the most uncomfortable tableside chat.

My heart was pounding throughout the entire chapter. The last time that happened was chapter 84 and I gotta say, I finally feel like this whole Marley arc has been worth it. What an adrenaline rush it's become! Now that's now Attack On Titan is supposed to be. I can't wait to see everybody else again and proceed to reach the climax of the story.

The hype for SNK 100 is too real. Everything will explode

I need Ch100 right now immediately. Waiting another month is going to be torture. In the meantime I hope Porco and Pieck enjoy their time in the pit. If it turns out that Helos is Levi I will eat my own platform boots

It was amazing. Really great story.

I'm so glad this chapter is fake and SnK ended last month with everyone having a huge pizza party!

....is it December yet?

  DID THIS CHAPTER SHOOK YOU? 1,711 Responses

To not be excited by this chapter was simply not an option, but I’ll assume that those who voted “Yes”  are slightly more subdued than the majority of us who shouted “AW YISS”.

omfg hype for next chapter!!! How does Eren not have a leg, it really should've grown back, this doesn't make sense. Why is he even there, I feel like I missed something but it's probably just this manga's bizarre structuring. I've been selling my soul the past few months. There is nothing more to sell.

Kill me now The hype is REAL. I had a feeling issue #100 would be THE BANGER. This issue (#99) however set the stage for the next one. We have potentially Connie and Jean going undercover, we have Willy's solution that is just about to be revealed, the Asian woman's sudden leave, etc. I am really excited to see what will happen next month. Just need to add: seeing Eren's hand cut to threaten Reiner and Falco was such a power move, I had chills all over.

Boy howdy this was crazy I'll tell you what

Holy crap I love isayama. What a genius!

God help me I cannot wait another month

Endgame right here, brothers.

#shooketh

  WHAT SIDE CHARACTER MOMENT DID YOU MOST APPRECIATE? 1,720 Responses

The giant red chunk that wins this question  is the “All of the Above” option with 26.4% of the vote. “Every character with a partially hidden face” was second with 23.8%. There was plenty of excitement around Trapdoor-kun. He came in third with close to 20% of the vote.

I hope the SnK world has a heaven or some shit, because then Bertolt can maybe be finally happy together with his dad at least ;-;

ANNIE IS ALIVE AND FREE CHAPTER 100 HYYYYYYPE

I love moment with Trapdoor-kun/Connie (I hope it's him). He promised Reiner in Utgard Castle that he'll return the favor and I want to see their reunited. Maybe Connie will save Gabi and the other kids in this shitstorm. Please Isayama! Connie needs his personal moment!

  ON THE SCALE FROM “FLUFFY KITTEN” TO “ACTUAL PENNYWISE”, HOW CREEPY WAS EREN IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,727 Responses

Eren’s creep factor was strong! More than 70% of us picked a 4 or 5 on the “Actual Pennywise” scale.

Eren is 100% savage. Damn I'd be lying to myself if I said I didn't like him. His meddling works so well with his bitter ass and his sense of entitlement over making all these fuckers taking his freedom away disappear and get their comeuppance (read: the whole world). Fucking human worms.

Eren using Falco as a hostage makes me cry

Eren gave me fucking chills of fear

I'm loving this Eren alignment shift. Lawful Good boy is changing and I am HERE for this.

Eren's "Same reason as you" and "I don't have a choice" are the single most savage moment in the series.

I don't like Eren at all... Poor Reiner

Eren is frickin INSANE

  ON THE SCALE FROM 1 - 420/69, HOW MUCH DID EREN ACTIVATE YOUR HARDENING ABILITIES IN THIS CHAPTER? 1,713 Responses

The creep factor and hobo hair didn’t hurt Eren’s attractiveness for the majority of the fandom since 36.1% would love to be locked in the basement with him right now. The second most popular choice was the extreme opposite. 22.2% selected “ewww no” on the question about Eren’s attractiveness.

why did y'all have to write "Lock me in your basement, Hobo Daddy!"

Protect Reiner Braun You've made me have sexual thoughts about long haired Eren, damn you pollster!!!!

Eren made both my jaw and panties fall straight to the floor. It's finally getting somewhere.

my mom called eren hobo daddy o__O"

Eren being so chilled out and yet so chilling at the same time...how does one being so cold make the room seem a lot hotter than it actually is?!

I want to officially shame Eren for telling Mikasa to cut her hair during training and now he could model for   L'Oréal (I love his hair but he is a hypocrite)

EREN FUCKING JAEGER. I want to say he's cool... but I feel so strangely conflicted. I'm turned on by his loony face but at the same time fucking terrified that it's all going to crumble. He'd grown so much. I can't believe the kid that we used to adore has turned into such a beast.

eren would be a 4/5 if he shaved his facial hair imo

  WHAT WAS EREN’S MOST CHILLING MOMENT? 1,717 Responses

Again with the “All of the above” as top pick. The most popular write in was “Reiner. Sit”. We clearly made a mistake when we forgot to include that.

Reiner. Sit.

His eyes all the time, they're like windows to hell

Everything! Eren was so chilling and bad this chapter, I love love loved it!

The fact that he's still missing a leg, it should've grown back, does he just keep cutting it off?

Messing with the head of an already mentally unstable Reiner

Eren did not come to play. Cutting his hand was a power move and then when he said "same as you." I can't wait to see him transform into a Titan. Reiner wasn't ready for this. He looks like he's gonna pass out.

I never thought i needed psycho!eren and badass!eren in my life. But then i read this chapter and HOOOOOOLY SHIT!

  WHICH OF REINER’S TORTURED FACES WAS YOUR FAVORITE? 1,707 Responses

I’m borrowing a quote from a friend who said, “Reiner had enough panels of his sanity crumbling like pie crust to fill a photo album”. We thought so too and had a hard time limiting ourselves to just these six. The look of horror on page 20 was Reiner’s expression as Eren told him, “I’m the same as you. I didn’t have any other choice.” It was the winner with 44.5% of the voice.

Note to Isayama: If you want to torture a character, hands on the face is the way to go (even when those hands are strangely tiny.)

Don't freak out, Reiner, your buddy Eren has come to save the world just like you've always wanted.

I wonder how bad  will Reiner's strabismus be when Eren ultimately touchs the Bertolt and Annie subject.

Someone please protect Reiner D: (and maybe give him a hug)

ISAYAMA STAHP TORTURING REIGNER!

#stopreinerabuse2017 >:) 

Reiner is the true victim here man

If Reiner didn't have a drinking problem before he sure has one now

I really don't like seeing Reiner looking so scared... It makes me feel so bad and helpless because I can't do anything. ;-;

I’m expecting Reiner to go full insane next chapter. Seriously, he can only be pushed so far!

I absolutely love Reiner's suffering faces :D I also loved how shocked Falco was. I have a feeling that something bad is going to happen, that why Eren told him to stay. He wants to save his life. I only wonder what will happen with the other kids.

reiner has baby hands

  CAN YOU PINPOINT THE EXACT MOMENT FALCO’S HEART SHATTERED? 1,700 Responses

This was not a fun chapter for our poor little bean. There was no shortage of moments with him looking on with wide-eyed horror as the situation was unfolding.  His expression on page 35 was the landslide winner. It’s the moment Falco realized Eren must’ve met Reiner during his time on Paradis.

My boy Falco doesn't deserve this.

DONT HURT BABBY FALCO 

Calm the f down Eren! You’re scaring Falco!

Falco is too precious for this messed up world

  WHAT IS RANDO MCSOLDIER WHISPERING TO MADS? 1,709 Responses

We have a poll meme now and don’t think I wont use it! Thank you to the 29.1% of you for playing along. We were a close second. Thank you also to everyone who took the question seriously. One respondent suggested they might be whispering about the fact that all the warriors were missing. I love that thought.

Yes. There's sour cream in Marley.

For the question of what Rambo McSoldier whispered, I'm actually kinda wondering if he's whispering about someone being missing from the crowd. (I.e, Reiner.)

how much farther is my sour cream joke going to go

I do NOT trust Eren one bit and we still do NOT know if there's sour cream. Crazy stuff man.

This wasn't an option for the question about what the soldier was whispering to Mads, but I thought it had to do with that panel where the guy on the rooftop said to "report it" no matter how small it is. The Marley soldier was relaying that report, whatever it is.

The lack of concern over the disappearance of all the Warriors from the audience is alarming...unless it's part of their plan, which removing the fighters from the crowd sounds like something inline with what Paradis would be attempting if they're about to hijack the play.

  CHARACTER ALLEGIANCES! WHICH SIDE DO YOU THINK EACH PERSON IS ULTIMATELY SUPPORTING?

So much uncertainty here! We are truly divided over Willy, Zeke and Kiyomi’s loyalties.

I do not think that Zeke would be on Paradis side, he had that chance and discarded it as an idiot.

The Warhammer Titan seems to know so very much about Paradis and the truth (and Eren's name) that I think it's no coincidence he looks like an adult long hair Armin.

Willy was such a sweet pie in this chapter. I wish he joined the Team Paradise.

Why did the Asian lady wish Willy good luck and then immediatly got away from the play as fast as she could? The plot thickens...

Everyone need to calm tf down and stop being huge mega douchebags on the whole warriors vs paradis sides of the fandom Ima lose my goddamn mind let yams tell the fucking story. This fandom is killing me far more effectively than yams ever could, crying Reiner or no!

The Asian lady and the rest of the Azumabito definitely know something, as they didn’t stay for Willy’s play, and she said that “she hoped he’d play his role ‘safely’”

What is Willy's game? With so many important people there, it is setup for a massacre. But, why tell the truth beforehand? There is a part of me thinking that it is all a setup to Willy simply saying we're all going back to Paradis.

  WHAT ALLIANCE DO YOU THINK IS MOST LIKELY? 1,697 Responses

EZ and REZ feelz so strong! A sizable percentage think Kiyomi is also a part of the alliance.

I love/hate how much Isayama plays with us (?).. this is the worst who is with  who and why and when and how is it its 99 chapters and i am stiff as confused as when i watched the first anime chapter in 2013...

Yeah, I still believe in Reiner + Zeke + Eren alliance. Grim Reminder won't happen and I will be a happy, happy fan." İt's amazing!

I think Willy is working with Armin, whereas, Eren is working with Zeke. Isayama did say they were going to split.

I think Zeke is helping Eren for the time being but I also think it is only a temporary alliance. He will double-cross Paradis like he did the Restorationists and Marley before the end, and he will be a sizable end-game threat to both Paradis and Marley.

"Lady" Kiyomi of the Azmabito family seemed like she was teasing Willy before his performance, since he was so nervous. But then, she said "you're very brave. And you know our family very well", she seemed like she was threatening Willy

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE CRAZY EREN. I think he's gonna offer an alliance with Reiner so they can both save the Eldians. I hope the SC will appear next chapter!

I'm willing to bet 'The Owl' Eren knew Willy and the Asian chick when he was still living.

  WHY WERE PORCO AND PEICK SEPARATED? 1,715 Responses

62% believe Porco and Pieck were captured to keep them from meddling. An even larger majority believe Zeke was in on it. Hmmmm....

about porco and pieck. I think they will be locked somewhere. But not to take their titan. Well, it's good opportunity to take their titan but... who wants do that anyway? Jean, connie? I think not.

PLEASE SAVE PIECK

"We done fucked up" -peick and porco

My favourite panel is Pieck looking at 'springer, not a shower' whilst falling into the sin bin. Wow, she's perfect.

Porko remains oblivious

  WAS ZEKE PART OF THE PLOT TO SEPARATE PORCO AND PEICK? 1,701 Responses

That would be a solid “yes”.

Zeke does seem to comply with too much questionable activity to not be working secretly with someone. He doesn't question being separated from Pieck and Porco, he's the only one not facing the guard that summons them, he let - encouraged- Reiner to go with Falco right as the ceremony started, and the baseball mitt Eren had likely had something to do with him. The Zekeret is still a wild card though so it makes all this hard to pinpoint.

  WHO IS THE SOLDIER THAT TOSSED PORCO AND PIECK INTO THE BALL PIT? 1,691 Responses

Nearly 80% of the fandom thinks Connie is  parading around Marley as a very tall Marleyan soldier. The write in responses on this were insane!

A pikupork shipper

Hajime Isayama

The Plothelping Titan

If Pieck knows him, the most probable option is Connie, buuuut... Is he even taller than Porco? He used to be really short, has he grown up?

When I first read the chapter and found similiarities between Connie and the trap-kun soldier I was like "what the fuck?!" And than I thought Connie being that soldier would be absolutely LIT.

I don't think any of the background characters are people we know. We saw how Isayama does that with Amputee-Kun, he appeared several chapters before the official reveal and there was no doubt once it was done. Trapdoor-kun, Helos Cosplayer, anyone else? Nope. as expected of pieck, she figured out the soldier was an impostor

Personally I really hate how people are making these predictions and analyzing details like chin shape in attempt to recognize him. We simply do not see enough of his face to tell who it is so it's pointless that people are arguing about it so vehemently. It could be Connie. I could be Levi. It most definitely isn't Armin. It could be a whole lot of people but right now at least half of the people will be wrong about it so arguing is going to get us nowhere. End of rant.

Zofia from the future, who traveled through paths

  DID PIECK PASS A MESSAGE TO THE SOLDIER SHE HUGGED? 1,717 Responses

Yes. As expected.    WHO IS THE HELOS COSPLAYER? 1,703 Responses

Jean trounced this poll question with 64.4% of the vote. “No one important” was second with 18.4%. 8% are hopeful it’s Levi.

A Majestic Stallion

A member of Paradis Team, but it is too early to say who

Jean dressed up as Levi aka the REAL Helos (Deja Vu).

Kenny "The Ripper" Ackerman rides again!

I want the Helos cosplayer to be Hange, but if it's not, Armin would be interesting.

  WHAT ARE YOU MOST HOPEFUL FOR IN CHAPTER 100? GO NUTS AND CHOOSE AS MANY AS YOU WANT. 1,718 Responses

1,161 (67.6%) Seeing the rest of the SC

1,134 (66%) Annie. Please. It’s been 84 years,

1,027 (59.8%) Information about character loyalties

1,013 (59%) Learning Willy’s “one solution”

875 (50.9%) The Warhammer Titan

788 (45.9%) Eren wreaking havoc

781 (45.5%) More Reiner suffering

747 (43.5%) RIP everyone sitting in the audience at the play

652 (38%) Grim Reminder

565 (32.9%) Action with the Asian Clan

534 (31.1%) Overwhelmed Falco turning into a falcon and flying away

Seeing the rest of the Survey Corps is our dearest wish, followed by a sighting of Annie. The most common write-in was simply “Levi”.

RIP Gabi and everyone else in the audience. But mostly Gabi.

I'm saying it now - there won't be another Grim Reminder. It would be the worst possible move to make. However, I can see some sort of staged assault happening.

What if chapter 100 is just an elaborate reenactment of the finale of shrek two where shrek and the gang ambush the castle with a collosal gingerbread man whilst fairy godmother sings. Honestly I would pay good money to see willy start singing 'i need a hero' with a choir behind him make it happen isayama I believe in you.

I am going to sell my soul for chapter 100

All the pieces are being set in place. It is about to begin. We don't know for sure what will happen but things are about to get wild. Prepare the feelingstrain cause we're all hopping aboard

  HOW BADLY DO YOU WANT TO RETURN TO THE ORIGINAL CAST ON PARADIS? 1,712 Responses

No matter how great a chapter is, we remain desperate for the original cast. Last month 34.5% select “5” on the poll. This month that number was up to 38.1%.

And gimme some of that paradis crew daddy yamyams ✊️💦✊️💦😩

I'm severely lacking in Ackervitaminz

I'm tired of Marley to be honest. I hope next chapter shakes me, because this chapter didn't at all.

i still wanna know what the little miserable gremlin man is doing and my badass child Hanji

I loved the Marley chapters, but GOD I NEED MY PARADIS CREW THE SNEAK PEAKS ARE KILLING ME

while I haven't really been in any rush to return to the main cast, I'll be really excited to learn that they've all infiltrated Marley in this way, and for some final smack down to begin soon.

It's just a setup chapter I just want my Mikasa fix.

GIVE ME MIKASA AND ARMIN  BACK. I MISSED MY BABIES. I WOULD SELL BOTH OF MY KIDNEYS TO SEE THEM WELL AND HAPPY AGAIN. JUST GIVE ME THAT WISH ON CHAPTER 100 ISAYAMA. AM I ASKING TOO MUCH?

  WHICH CHARACTERS DO YOU GENERALLY ENJOY THE MOST 1,717 Responses

Cries forever for my vets.

Nearly 100 chapters in and I feel like I'm losing my damn mind. Oof. Isayama...amazing. PS: I will continue to select 'The Vets' even long after The Vets are gone!!!

(fist bumps you, my friend!)

   WHERE DO YOU PRIMARILY DISCUSS THE SERIES 1,695 Responses

Last month this question was 40% Tumblr and 48% Reddit. This month Reddit was most active on the poll with 56.8% of the responses. The other platforms remained consistent.

"Where do you primarily discuss the series" giving 4chan the silent treatment?  Although I guess what they do doesn't really count as discussing.

  ANY OTHER CHAPTER THOUGHTS YOU'D LIKE TO SHARE? We had 360 write-in responses and some were essay sized in length! Thank you all for your enthusiasm! Here’s a portion of the comments.

  EXTRA DANCC

It's about to be lit fam

NERD-SQUAD TO THE RESCUE! Nothing but goosebumps for that entire chapter thankyou.

If Helos is actually a lie created by Marley and Tybur, then was the devil of all the earth a lie too? Or did it exist in reality? Will it return? And how the hell could Tybur know of Kenny and Uri sitting in front of that lake? Does he have some spies on Paradis? All this stuff is just becoming more and more fishy...

I want everyone to die.

Is it just me or did Reiner lose weight? Not aroused. Isayama sensei please try harder.

Pieck grabbing Zophia's shoulders. 100%. A+. As expected.

Okay, so, we've been speculating like mad on how Eren arrived in Marley. Reiner asked the same thing. And Isayama, through Eren's words, answered us: "is that really what you want to ask first?" LIKE DAMN, at this point I'm sure Isayama reads our blogs. At least he answered the "Why", kinda...

for god sake. reiner's suffering have to stop TTTTT-TTTTT

Bertl deserve this world.

Isayama has officially changed his icon to Reiner. Protagonist confirmed. It was Reiner's story all along. We were just along for the ride. The very traumatic ride.

I love the parallel between Reiner and that old man that hanged himself back in Paradis. I'm quite sure that Reiner, like the hanged-man, is looking for judgement. Cool to see how Bert nightmares played a big role in the end.

sc stans are insane I wonder how bad  will Reiner's strabismus be when Eren ultimately touchs the Bertolt and Annie subject.

needs more porco

Is Eren gonna sacrifice himself for the sake of saving the world as a scapegoat? Will his death be the only meaningful one in the whole series??

I hope to God Armin has a different haircut.

Learning that we're getting ova of Lost Girls and reading this chapter was the best way to start my week. I love you I wish Isayama hadn't made Reiner so hot. Too hard to focus on everything else going on =\

if reiner wants to get judged maybe he should look to judge judy for judgement, that'd be lit

I love my shifter kids, but they're fucked.

I don’t personally think there will be a Grim reminder 2.0, Paradis people, ie Armin, Hanji and all, usually don’t fight fire with more fire, they plan better shenanigans. Also, how they would be considered better than marleyans if they did the same stuff? They won’t play this low, they also know that Grim reminder™️ Is everything but effective.

Isayama why it's great that we have all those informative, descriptive chapters but something need to happen. I hope that next chapter will be full of action.

SHOW ME MIKASA AND LET HER AND EREN  BE MARRIED. And let annie be alive and well and dont make reiner any sadder. #chap100 No

Soldier, who are you? Willy, what are you really trying say? Eren, will you start causing some trouble? Levi, come out!" AAAAAAAAAAAaa!!!!

Pieck was actually exactly right! I always loved her design and oppressed but trying her best herb merchant aesthetic. So cool that she saved the lives of Reiner and Zeke, her influence on character relationships and the plot.

In RtS I wanted Reiner dead. Half to end his suffering, half to be vindicated for the things he'd done, but I guess it was Berty Beetle's turn.

I miss Levi so much, it's been such a long time since we've seen him and all I want is for him to keep his promise to Erwin and obliterate Zeke.  I can see him now, sitting with his arms crossed as Zeke enters the room.  "Been a while, you piece of shit.  Not so tough now when you're not ripping a bunch of people in half with rocks, eh?"  He cracks his knuckles.  "I will destroy you.  I will make it hurt.  Because you killed Erwin Smith and I promised him, I *promised him* that I would end this fight for him." Ahhhh please Isayama. <3

CHAOS FOR THE CHAOS GOD The slow build has been so worth it, we're all going to hell and I can't wait

Annie is alive. That shouldn't be a point of discussion anymore,

Please make my children happy, they suffered enough

I really think Jean is the Helos cosplayer because of face/mouth shape. That might be wishful thinking though :') Also DAMN EREN REALLY IS HOBO DADDY

ISAYAMA CAN YOU PLEASE DRAW BERTL FAMILY OR PHOTO OF HOOVER HOUSE OR WHAT SO I CAN REST IN PEACE I WANNA BERTL AGAIN I DONT CARE WITH OTHERS 

I just want to say that the chapter 99 pre release megathread on /r/ShingekiNoKyojin was one of the best things to ever happen, and i'm proud to be a part of it.

Now i just want to see jean What if we're all just too hopeful and in reality the helos cosplayer and trapdoor-kun are just normal people. If Annie isn’t coming back I’m rioting honestly. Also where TF is mikasa?!

I LOVE PIECK SO MUCH she is becoming one of my fave characters. Also hopefully nothing happens to cause Reiner’s mental state to become worse than it is right now. CAN’T WAIT FOR NEXT CHAPTER I think the Asian woman is Mikasa. My evidence to support this claim is that after she talked to Willy, she said ‘let’s go’ to her body guards. As if she knows what’s going on.

Seeing Pieck being smart and quick-witted made me like her even more. I'd be very sad if she ends up being killed or if Porco and her never truly meet the original main cast. Give us those warriors/soldiers interactions Isayama.

Annie...please...it has been too long now...

Regarding Eren he ackwonledged that Reiner and co. were just clueless kids trying to save the world when they destroyed the Wall. And he is stating that he as well has been forced in this role. I think he is trying to bring Reiner to his side as well as to remove a Warrior (and Falco) from the stage where things will soon go wild.

This shit was lit lit lit!!! I need war!

If the marley arc was a dubstep song, this chapter was the part where the song builds up in speed and frequency and ends right before it levels off and the beat subsequently drops. Ya feel? Warriors, come out to plaaaaay.

IMO PIECK IS ON EREN'S SIDE AND SHE ACTED IN FRONT OF PORCO

I want to know who works with who (especially ZEKE), how they arrived in Marley, I want the SC but also I really love the Warriors, asdfghjkl I really don't know what to expect but I love the way Isayama keeps us on this subtle line between ""OMG"" and ""WTF MAN"". I want some answers!  AND I DEFINITELY WANT ANNIE BACK

I hope Sasha is in Marley too. She needs pizza.

Too few panels of Marco's death. 😠

i miss zeke memes

PATHS

I love the art in the recent chapters. I will forgive slow pacing for good art.

Karina is a bitch

Isayama give Reiner a break or kill him already, end the suffering pls

And lastly, the Rick and Morty copypasta meme made it's way into our poll. I laughed!

To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Attack on Titan. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Eren's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily from Narodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Attack on Titan truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Zeke's existential catchphrase "As expected of Pieck 👉😶👉," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Hajime Isayama's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have a Reiner and Historia tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.

Thank you also to those left nice comments about the poll. We appreciate it!

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·         The game lights up and audio cues blast

·         I feel like a champ

In any case, actually I've lost $0.70 in general. The idea of halfway successes is elite to gambling machines. All things considered, you don't see a baccarat or roulette game give you $3 back on a bet of $10. Be that as it may, fractional successes actually should be tended to on the grounds that spaces are the most mainstream gambling club game. Also, more players monitoring the mental impact behind these little successes implies less card sharks exaggerating. Examination recommends that audio effects following a success are what give individuals a bogus consolation that they're winning cash. On the off chance that you can disassociate the victorious sounds from a losing generally speaking twist, you'll be vastly improved at not succumbing to fractional payouts.

2 – Jumping into Skill Games without Enough Research

A few speculators scorn the possibility of messing around like openings, roulette, and baccarat, where they have practically no influence over their outcomes. This is the place where ability based club games come in on the grounds that they allow you to control your fate. Blackjack, three-card poker, and video poker are instances of house-banked games where you use ability to bring down the house edge. The technique for these games is static and can be dominated by any player. Day by day dream sports (DFS) and poker are talented base games where you're going up against human rivals. These are harder to beat since human rivals are definitely more modern than a static house edge.

FOR EXAMPLE

A no-restriction Texas hold'em player can change their system dependent on how others are playing. In any case, whether or not we're discussing player-versus.- player or house-banked games, numerous card sharks lose cash since they don't do what's necessary examination. A typical situation includes an easygoing card shark going to the gambling club with his/her companions. Their amigos begin playing blackjack, so they take a seat at the table, despite the fact that they've won't ever play. This isn't just difficult from the point of view of learning the standards on the fly, however it likewise harms your odds of winning.

Here's a model.

·         Player A will be a gifted blackjack player who's confronting a 1% house edge

·         They'll hypothetically win back $99 for each $100 bet

·         Player B is an amateur who's confronting a 5% house edge

·         They'll hypothetically win back $95 for each $100 bet

·         Player A will procure $4 more than Player B consistently

Fortunately system for all the games examined above can be effectively found on the web. As I referenced, house-banked games can be dominated on the grounds that the methodology doesn't change. However, know that it takes far longer to dominate games where you're playing human rivals. Truth be told, you can never do what's necessary exploration for these types of betting.

Whatever you do, however, invest some energy investigating procedure for ability based gambling club games prior to playing.

3 – Failing to Understand Volatility

The house edge is a vital part of betting in light of the fact that it insinuates the amount you remain to win long haul. On the off chance that you wager $100 on a game with a 2% house edge, you remain to win back $98. In any case, dreadfully numerous card sharks neglect to represent anything past the house advantage. In particular, they don't consider what instability can mean for their momentary successes. Unpredictability alludes to how much outcomes go astray from the factual normal. In gambling club games, this implies how likely it is that your momentary outcomes will vary from the house edge. The lottery, gaming machines, and video poker machines are among the most unstable games in betting. The motivation behind why is on the grounds that they pay out a wide scope of prizes, including big stakes.

Here's an anecdotal gambling machine pay table to show this.

·         Big stake = 10,000 coins

·         5 unicorns = 1,000 coins

·         5 leprechauns = 500 coins

·         5 monsters = 100 coins

·         5 pixies = 50 coins

·         5 little persons = 1 coin

Suppose that you wager one coin on this game. Clearly, your odds of winning can't be anything near half because of the payouts going from 50-10,000 coins. Gambling machines should compensate for the enormous payouts at the top by offering low win recurrence. This is the reason the normal space just pays around 10%-15% of the time per line. This doesn't imply that the drawn out house edge changes. However, your bankroll will experience more highs and lows when playing high-unpredictability games. A few players don't disapprove of this, as long as they can pursue gigantic payouts. Be that as it may, on the off chance that you have a little bankroll and don't have any desire to face a lot of challenge, consider low-instability games like baccarat, blackjack, craps, Pai Gow Poker, and roulette.

4 – Believing That Bad Luck Has to Turn Around

Probably the greatest snare that players fall into is accepting that their karma needs to change during a losing streak.

NOTE:

The explanation is basic: on the off chance that you have almost a half possibility of winning a wager, your losing streak can't in any way, shape or form keep going excessively long. This is when players make greater bets or potentially bet longer than they initially arranged. They feel that by consolidating bigger wagers with the possibility that their chances are ensured to improve, they'll win back misfortunes. However, actually chances don't change in light of short-or long haul streaks. Here's a guide to clarify my point. I have a 46.36% possibility of winning a blackjack hand. I've lost four hands in succession. It appears to be that I should win the following hand, thinking about the new occasions. I twofold my wager fully expecting winning. However, what I neglect to acknowledge is that the club actually has a 53.64% possibility of winning the following hand. A few players will say to themselves, "The chances need to try and out in light of the fact that I've lost a few hands in succession." In any case, these equivalent individuals don't have a clue what sort of streaks worked out at the table before they plunked down. Everyone could've been on a genuine hot streak previously. Quick version, chances will level out eventually, yet there are no assurances in the short term. Besides, you can't use past outcomes to direct what will occur on fixed-chances games.

5 – Using Negative Progression Betting Systems

The two principle qualifications between frameworks are positive and negative movement methodologies. A positive movement framework alludes to procedures where you increment wagers following successes. These are basically innocuous in light of the fact that they don't approach you to bet more cash when you're losing. All things considered, you're simply gambling transient rewards for a more noteworthy prize. The lone potential misfortune is your successes from past turns.

NOTE:

Negative movement frameworks, then again, are far more hazardous. These approach you to wager more when you're in a losing streak. Part of the motivation behind why negative movement frameworks are so well known is on the grounds that they really work in the short run. An ideal model is the Martingale, where you twofold wagers after each misfortune.

Here's an illustration of the Martingale.

·         You wager $10 and lose (bankroll at - 10)

·         You wager $20 and lose (bankroll at - 30)

·         You wager $40 and lose (bankroll at - 70)

·         You wager $80 and lose (bankroll at - 50)

·         You wager $160 and win (bankroll at +10)

Here, you've both switched a losing streak and wound up with a $10 benefit – in spite of just having won 1 out of 5 wagers! This appears to be a fantasy framework in principle. Be that as it may, the Martingale and other negative movement methodologies will in the long run bring about a bad dream losing situation. The greatest restriction to the Martingale is that you'd need a boundless measure of cash to make it work. Players will at last run into as far as possible or lose the entirety of their cash (with no wagering limit) on the off chance that they keep utilizing this framework. In case you will utilize a negative movement framework for no particular reason, I propose the Mini Martingale, where you quit multiplying wagers after 3 misfortunes and get back to the first stake. This at any rate keeps you from hitting as far as possible or potentially losing a lot in one losing streak.

6 – Playing for Comps

Club offer players comps to hold their faithfulness and keep them betting. Furthermore, it's totally fine to get amped up for acquiring these gifts. However, the issue comes in when players fixate on comps and stretch out their play just to procure more. It's critical to comprehend that these prizes aren't actually "free." Instead, they're worked into the gambling club's base cutoff, with the house actually making a sound benefit from comped players. Generally on the web and land-put together club just comp players with respect to somewhere in the range of 0.1% and 0.2% of their bets. This implies that you need to wager $500 to $1,000 just to get $1 in remunerations. Gambling clubs don't give players almost enough comps to neutralize hypothetical misfortunes. You can see this in the following scenario involving craps.

·         A casino comps blackjack players at a 0.1% rate

·         I make $10 bets (1% house edge)

·         I play 60 hands per hour

·         60 x 10 = $600 bet per hour

·         600 x 0.01 = $6 in losses per hour

·         600 x 0.001 = $0.60 in comps

No sane player would continue losing money at 10x the rate of their comps if they did the math. But this is exactly the problem: players don’t know the math behind how bad comp deals are. These gamblers are often surprised to see how much they’re losing in the pursuit of rewards. This is why you never want to force gambling action just to earn a certain comp.

[jonboudposts]

1990s

My reasons for hating the 1990s as a decade are intertwined across a number of fields; the personal, the political and the cultural sum it up best as categories.

On the personal note, this was a time that gave me a great deal of mental trauma that I have never really fully reckoned with.

On a cultural note (and also a personal), I thought the culture of much of the 1990s was dire (and for sometimes/always deeply political reasons).  Even the alternative was always trying to prove itself; how clever it was written and underappreciated in it's smartness – like Brian the dog from Family Guy, a classic 90s archetype who is 'smart' for no reason, as it does not change anything.  

On the political front, we saw the take over of our daily lives by management culture.  There was no more ideology we were told; just 'what works'.  This showed itself in the crushing of working class representation and power and all that would happen now is the present order would be managed in mildly different ways, which were in fact only surface value.  Politics became a performance that you were excluded from and had no ability to influence.  

To protect from this political wasteland, irony became a weapon and a shield of protection.  Individuality was emphasised but the removal of real creative opportunities and no alternative to the economic status quo meant everybody became the same.  Today, we see a virtual inability to produce anything original; everything is a variation of the same in culture and until the recent resurgence of the left (and vicious attempts to suppress it), in politics and power.  This suppression and attack is characteristic of the left overs from this era; claiming to be beyond ideology but seeped in it to the point of immobility.  Their hatred of the left so severe they character assassinate one of the most moral politicians Britain has ever seen; their inability to see their times have passed, they live in constant nostalgia.    

Everything in the 1990s was managerial and performative and carried no real power.  Feminism became corporate on one end and reduced to behaviour traits on the other; individualised in other words.  Now you could drink and fuck like the boys but still lack economic independence or fair pay.  Neo-liberalism dominated and destroyed everything.  Now Blair could display a half-female cabinet to the press, but they were all ideology-checked so none were going to cause him problems and little interest was shown in real equality, just representation. Exploitation was not challenged; public participation shrunk; unity was cheapened at best to 'patriotic' crap that gave us nothing.  

Now how you chose to review this time can be varied – you could just put it down that this was a decade full of shit music, smarmy culture (smarmy because it was powerless) and things that look like no one bothered while slapping themselves on the back for their originality and cleverness.  There was still great stuff and artists who knew how bad it was; many produced art that reflected and satirised this; low-stakes action by people unlikely to last into the next era, if there was one.  But certainly it was not universally embraced, but resistance was mostly de-toothed.  The everyday reality culturally in The End of History was we ground to a halt and slowly rolled backwards.  

Britain in particular acted like it really had reached the end of everything, so the only thing to do was pilfer the past and present it in flashy ways like you invented it. The 1960s was raided to prop up the present times and hope no one noticed how little was happening. While there was still possibilities for working class people to get a foothold, this era laid the groundwork for our times now where we have been all-but removed completely from cultural production that is allowed entry into a wider sphere.  Meritocracy was sold; you could only get to the top if you tried hard enough and harder than the next bloke – and if you changed that accent, kept your opinions to yourself if they did not fit the mainstream and made sure you embraced a notion of manners that must never, ever be broken.  

The 1990s seemed to be the first decade of over-educated people working in crap jobs at best and feeling rather lost and wasted in their educational endeavours.  This is something that has been normalised today.  Also the notion that working class people were well represented in the 1990s is a lie.  At best people were laughed at (Lad Culture, the emergence of the nasty 'Chav' caricature).  At worst, we had middle class people pretending they knew what hard times were and dressing in expensive copies of cheap clothing, while everyone pretended to be hard.  

From the 1980s until around five years ago, we have been subject to the complete hegemonic dominance by one way of life, with no options to break the stranglehold.  Our ability had been removed from us and the culture reflected that.  The 1980s was the assault; the 1990s was the cementing of the damage done; where the vicious abnormality of the previous decade was solidified, made the only reality.  Disagreement and protest was dismissed, could be dismissed and overlooked.  The 1980s made it possible to remove so much history of resistance and alternative, but not everyone was willing to go quietly.  The 1990s used all these new cultural powers to wipe out even the resistance you had lived through and commodify the output.  

The last meaningful youth culture was (still is) rave, which had upset the establishment to the point of making laws against it.  Of course, they realised it was better to take it indoors and charge a fee, then let a gaggle of record flippers become 'superstars'.  This de-toothed manner ran into politics, where everything became too much of an ask, even basic needs and decency.  Our working rights were curtailed and our lives sold the the lowest corporation to abuse at will.  

The 1990s was so intolerant of difference and ruthless in attack that it became difficult to even like the good stuff while it was happening; instead feeling in a constant state of siege.  In the early 2000s, I was only just getting into Elliott Smith and realising that Public Enemy's Muse-Sick-N-Our-Mess-Age was actually a really good album (where it had sounded tired in 1994 to those of us suffering the dredge of the decade).  For all the new film makers of the 90s I loved, it was still their older work or older film makers I loved more (and return to occasionally today).  

That state of siege I describe culturally is now the economic life of the majority; zero hours nowhere-life of bullshit jobs that make it impossible to even build the most basic human needs (like housing) or desires (like bands worth listening to that get played somewhere that allows you to find them).  It seemed like at least the terrible decade had a little less of the intense stifling of the 'end of history' but again, this is a product of that time – not the good, but the less-terrible.  

Not everything I did like then I hate now however, nor is diving back into older culture – like musicians you missed the first time perhaps because you were not born – is inherently bad; far from it. It has as much relevance as anything that can still inspire someone to make great work themselves and is just plain enjoyable, which is never a bad thing. I also enjoyed loads of stuff at this time.  I watched a lot of films, listened to quite a bit of music (again, mush of it old).

I must admit that many things from this time do have a triggering effect on me.  The 'wrong' song can send me into a spiral that effects my mental well being for some time.  I forget so much that has happened since this time; forget I have managed to keep employed for twenty years or have maintained some meaningful relationships.  I immediately return to being the unemployable loser from suburbia who knows nothing of any worth and cannot function properly.  

This was the decade directly after the working class had seen a terrible war waged upon us.  Deindustrialisation was so extreme there is a case to argue it caused PTSD to entire communities.  The places referred to in Britain as 'left behind' were purposefully deconstructed and desecrated.  

In the US, the deindustrialisation was no less savage.  Bill Clinton sided up to Newt Gingirch in the House and they preceded to cut welfare, attacking the poorest and most vulnerable people.  They bragged about kicking so many people off the welfare roles, while no one seem to ask where they went next.

They privatised the airwaves, giving us a model for endless terrible music to be pumped out all day with no alternative.  This was a model wholly embraced by Britain, where today the majority of radio pap is an endless cycle of shit (and cheep) songs from the 70s, 80s and 80s and 90s that attempt to lull you into a living coma.  This is the sound of the end of history; Heart FM and Magic tell you there is nothing better, so just put up with this.  

The 1990s was a decade of self-aggrandisement and ignorance; looking back and failing to look forward.  The arrogant ruled with zero talent and this was reflected in what was produced.  Nothing was ever really new – even the good stuff.  Everything was horrible, yet was determined to force you to see it all as 'nice'.  All of this is true and yet most of it can be over-ridden and ignored.  

We get lost in a downward spiral and cannot moor ourselves with the one identity that best described us all in some way – class identity; because it was eviscerated during the 80s and 90s while everyone was telling you to have a good time.  Now when a white cis man gets angry about his life, he has less options to turn to except those on the right doing the worst kind of performative politics – pretending to be the victim when they have all the power; pretending to be the outsider when they are the centre.  

The 1990s was a decade that denied the future.  Everything we suffer from today comes from the great terror of the 1980s and the inertia of the 1990s and 2000s.  Britain is a moribund culture and while it seems to be the opposite of the times I discuss here, Brexit makes perfect sense as the final conclusion to all this.  A country ignoring it vile history and puffing itself up as the great imperial power of a new era, while in fact it is a broken, bitter land of spiteful failures incapable of imagining the future.

[cpeacephoto]

Going through photographs I can’t help but notice how often we make life harder for ourselves. When we’re young it’s so important that the people we’re with are one of the “cool kids”, or that our parents approve of them. There is so much pressure to ensure our lives are perfect or horrible things are somehow going to happen.

Take these images for example. These people were all doing the color run. The whole marathon isn’t being physically fit. It is not about coming in first, running the fastest, raising money for some charity, or anything else. It is just a bunch of strangers who showed up to make it to the various color stations and do something that just made them happy. They did something that for a moment in time, was a moment. They got to have an experience. In some ways they got to be a little vulnerable and they got to be apart of something.

Maybe it’s just the time of year. But it has me thinking about life, and relationships. How we make our lives harder.

I don’t understand why we make life harder. Why everyone tells you what you should do like there’s some sort of logic to it. Or like it’s somehow divine wisdom. A bitter medicine that you just need to choke down and accept.

Like we wear makeup because we’re told it’s what people do. We buy her flowers on valentines because we’re told it’s supposed to matter and be the right thing to do. We’re told adults like to drink coffee, beer, and whine. When something horrible happens you’re supposed to drink. You’re supposed to hook up, party, date around, play the field, and sow wild oats. You’re supposed to see other people. You’re supposed to have one night stands and enjoy strip clubs and dirty movies. When you break up you’re supposed to hate that other person. You’re supposed to never talk to them again and when you talk of them it’ll only be badly. You’re supposed to never look back. You’re supposed to know or at least feel that they are “toxic” or a narcissist, and it’s all a part of some grand evil ploy to have power over you and hurt you. They’re supposed to like your friends and vise verse

They tell you things like you’re supposed to let go, move on, and forget them. That relationships are supposed to be easy, just magically and effortlessly work. And that if you still care about other people or if you’re trying to make things work that somehow something is wrong with you. That you need medications and therapy. Particularly if you care for someone more than yourself, or if you care for someone that clearly doesn’t care about you. That you just need to date other people, sleep around, get drunk. That you’re supposed to pretend they didn’t exist. Throw away all the things that remind you of them like gifts and photos. Block them across all social media. Put out restraining orders. Anyone looking back is a stalker, and obsessive. That you are attention seeking. You only miss the idea of them. That you’re only interested in what’s familiar because it’s easier than doing the work of becoming familiar with someone new. That if it didn’t work before it didn’t for a reason so don’t go back. That you’re only interested because you’re lonely. Because you're scared of turning 40.

Everyone else seems to know exactly how you should think and feel. That if you deviate, or if other people involved deviate, that there’s something wrong with the person deviating.

I don’t understand that.

By living on everyone else’s rules we make our lives unnecessarily hard, and painful. We end up missing out on experiences and people that we wouldn’t have had to. We begin to doubt people, look for reasons why they shouldn’t be around. Resent them.

Yes, there’s plenty of fish in the sea. And yes, there’s nothing that says you have to be with anyone at all. Lots of adults don’t end up with their first, second, or even fifth choice and lots of adults spend their entire lives alone. But why push people away unnecessarily? Why is it some rite of passage to hurt people we don’t want to? Or ourselves? Why listen to the crowd when they aren’t the one that hurts or misses out because of it? If someone makes you happy on some level, is it worth keeping them around? Even if just on that level and maybe not another?

When we listen to the crowd we end up creating an expectations of how things should be. “I’m not pretty unless I’m in makeup”. Which isn’t true. You’re pretty just the way you are. “I’m a boy so I have to buy her flowers on Valentine’s Day, or else I’m not trying”. No, you don’t. She may not like flowers. And it shows a lack of really knowing what interests her.

This false expectation of what should be causes us to value things that aren’t really relevant, or even realistic. Like the approval of the crowd. That relationships should be easy, pain free, and just not require work. That someone who isn’t making you absolutely happy 100% of the time somehow isn’t worth it. That someone has to be something specific like have a certain job or financial income, look a certain way, and not be someone you’ve known before.

 I can’t help but think my generation is doomed. Trained to believe in false and unrealistic expectations by movies, television, and the ability to basically shop for friends, sex, and love online. 10 seconds to make a decision if it’s worth the effort of sending a less than 140 character text message or not.

Humans have been around a long time. Relationships have been around a long time. Mental illness has been around a long time. Even everyday ordinary anxiety, depression, and other feelings have been around a long time. Every human that has ever existed was basically making up life as they go. Reacting to what they thought they needed to survive based on an ever growing complicated and artificial environment.

When I think back to our grandparents generation there’s so many stories of people celebrating their 50 or 70th anniversary. They found their partners young in life and they stuck to it. The stories are not fairytales of happily ever after. There’s anxiety, fear, doubt, pain, and disappointment in there. But there’s also love, respect, appreciation, kindness, loyalty, humility, and forgiveness in there. When you look at their stories you find 2 people who like all those before and after them, were making it up as they go. They didn’t know if they found “the one”. And they didn’t know what they were doing about anything. Themselves, their relationships, what the future would bring, what they’d do for work, how they’d survive. They didn’t know what it was like to be married or what it meant to be a parent.

But they worked at it. Every day. Some days they failed. Someday they really hated each other. Sometimes they lost their job and were scared to tell their spouse. Sometimes they yelled at their kid and just felt awful about it later. Sometimes they felt like parenting should just be easy and come natural. Sometimes they’d have a partner who was moody for days. Sometimes they didn’t really feel like being intimate. Sometimes people felt like they wondered if there was a better fish out there if they had just waited long enough. Sometimes they had spouses who fell into addiction, or made poor choices of investment or legal troubles.

Yes real relationships have fights. Sometimes knock out, drag out, fights. That don’t get fixed overnight. And while no one should ever go looking for a fight, and too much fighting IS a problem, having fights even hard fights doesn’t mean everything is bad. Or that it means it’s not meant to be. You’re not just the couple, you’re still you. There’s still miscommunication, your needs, their needs, expressing yourself. The fight isn’t the problem. If you can have that fight and still deeply love them, champion them, feel the world is lesser without them, then you do the work.

People aren’t perfect. But the generations before us worked it out. Over time they grew to know that someone who kind more times than not is valuable. Someone who does things because they are concerned about you matters. Like someone who hates sleeping on the left side of the bed but does it for you. Or who buys the occasional strawberry just for you. Someone who sleeps on the couch just to not get you sick, or wears an ugly sweater around people who are your friends and not theirs just for you. They learned to be patient with each other and themselves. They learned to own their mistakes and say sorry, as well as to forgive the other person. They learned that it wasn’t wrong to be mad, hurt, or sad from time to time. The other person really wasn’t going anywhere. They learned to appreciate someone who really wasn’t going anywhere. They put in the work. They made it work. Together.

Why is that wrong? Why is that labeled now as mental illness? Or “toxic”? Why aren’t you supposed to care for people you used to know? Why does the crowd have to approve?

If you care for someone, you care. It shouldn’t matter what others think or feel about it. It shouldn’t matter what the expectations should be. It shouldn’t matter if this person measures up to the voices of the crowd. Life is a long time. At the end of the day school, work, and politics, don’t really matter. That one thing they said or did a million years ago over nothing shouldn’t matter. When all is said and done, if they make you happy isn’t that all that matters? If it’s someone who accepts you when you’re not feeling your best, forgives you when you make them mad or hurt them, is happy to just be in the same room with you. If it’s someone who at the lunch line always makes sure to take care of you too. Then why does any of this other crap matter? Why do we have to build up rules, expectations, myths, supposed mental illnesses, to make life harder? Why do we have to take this “all or nothing” and “never look back” mentality? It’s never too late for hello. Why do we have to deny ourselves joy and people in our lives? Why is it now wrong to just be happy, or to put the work in like our grandparents did?

Life can be summed up in three words: it goes on. Regardless if you want to participate, regardless if the crowd approves, regardless if you lived by the rules of others. Regardless what happens in our lives. That also means people live their lives. Be it fully, happy, etc., or not.  Life is going to go on regardless how you live your life. People change over the course of their lives as they adapt the environment they live in and the choices they make. And people stay the same based on how they truly think and feel. People are by definition, imperfect.

But I can honestly say that yeah, in some ways my life has moved on. However the parts of me that I think mattered, have stayed the same. And there are certainly people in my life who I’d give anything to reconnect with on some level. Because despite being told it’s wrong or all the other rules…I still care. And I still want to care. I’m not going to apologize for that. I still think putting the work in was always and always will be, worth it. Even if it wasn’t always fun or pain free. Even if it wasn’t going to be the same. Because that’s just who I am. Despite all I've been through, all the places I've been, all the people I've met. After doing all the things the crowd told me I had to do, find myself always back at who I am. I'm the guy who when he said forever, meant it. When he said no matter what, meant it.

And I don't want to talk to them about the past, or to talk about pain. I don't want an apology, or to spend my time apologizing for things long gone. I don't want to ask them how they are with new people. Only a fool waits 20 years to talk about somebody else, or to talk about something that was blown way out of proportion over nothing.

I just want to talk to them about their day. See if they're still doing art and tell them how wonderful that art is. I want to know how they're thinking or feeling about life at the moment. Know they're okay, and happy. I just want to be who I've always been. The guy who liked them for them. Forever and always.

 https://youtu.be/ODocRLIVV6k

[whipplefilter]

You seem like an adventurous person! XD but do you have an tips for someone who goes on solo adventures??? (because sometimes friends are not able to venture out with you :( )

(This is a weirdly over-involved answer, like way way more than anyone really needs it to be, but it’s a post I’ve been wanting to write up outside of Tumblr for a bit, so please bear with me!)

When I travel solo, I like erring on the side of caution, because I like being alive and maximizing my chances of staying that way. In most contexts and in most places, solo travel is not dangerous, but staying aware of your situation and having the ability to adapt to potential dangers is even more important when you have no one to pick up your slack (and no moral support if things go sideways). 

Chances are, nothing is going to happen, and everything will be fine. Even if you abide by literally NONE of these guidelines–except for the one about water–you will probably be totally fine!

1. Know Your Car.

Take your baby in for an oil change, check-up, that sort of thing.

Pay attention to your car, too. Listen to him! This is especially important if you’re driving in unfamiliar weather/terrain conditions, or you think you might have damaged your car in medias res.

2. Abide by the ¼ tank rule.

#2 is basically just know your car. You don’t want to run out of gas. It’s tragic, time-consuming, and potentially dangerous for any number of reasons. So why risk it at all? Obviously if you’re someplace urban this doesn’t matter. But if you’re not, gas stations are not always plentiful. And sometimes they’re out of gas. And high winds, weird temperatures, etc. can be witchcraft when it comes to your fuel economy. So I always plan to start looking for a place to fill up when I’ve got about a quarter tank left. In my car, in the summer, on the highway, that gives me 100-150 miles of wiggle room. USUALLY, you are at least 150 miles from a gas station. Even in Nevada.

3. Know Your Place.

You don’t need to get your PhD in Carsland (or wherever it is you’re traveling), but you should have some idea of what the laws are, what the weather’s like, what the crime rates are like, what the wildlife is like. Are U-turns legal? Is this state strict about its passing lane (i.e. Kansas)? Its speed limits? What is single-lane, one-way bridge etiquette like? Can you be in X part of this city at Y time safely? Are there bears? Will you need a bear box/container? Do you know how to deal with a mountain lion? What about a hippo? Ticks? Is the water potable?

If you’re traveling internationally, do you know where to get the appropriate currency and do you know the conversion rate? Do you know how emergency services works, and what numbers to call? Do you know where the consulates are? Do you know what’s going on in that country right now/are there political events, etc. that you should be aware of? Make a copy of the contents of your wallet, especially your state-issued ID and your passport/visa.

4. Plan Your Route.

I know I was just talking about unplanned roadtrips, but generally speaking, plan your route. XD At the very least know when/where you’re starting and when/where you plan to end for the day. Depending on how comfortable you are with your trip, you can either make a literal itinerary or leave it at that. It’s helpful to know approximately where you’re headed for the day, though–whether that place is “this exact campsite where I already have a reservation” or “idk somewhere along I-70 I guess.”

The main point of your itinerary is to that you can leave it with your emergency contact, and they’ll know to come find you if you don’t check in. Don’t be like my sister, who never checked in and didn’t leave an itinerary and my mom thought she was dead but it turned out she was actually just in Arizona.

5. DRINK WATER!

Bring it. Drink it. Keep an emergency jug in your car, in addition to the 2+ liters you plan to actually drink/cook with. Bring double the amount you think you’ll need if you go hiking. If you’re backpacking and that’s not feasible, drink small amounts at intervals and pay attention to how much you have (and how far away the next water source is). Dehydration is not something you want to risk alone.

6. Why stop at gas? Overprepare, generally speaking.

Basically, when traveling alone, you want to minimize the likelihood of crap going down whenever possible. So double up on everything and do your homework. Got a GPS? Cool. Make sure you have analog maps, too. Make sure you can read an analog map. Have a mental picture of where you’re going and what the directions are before you start out, so you can tell if you’re about to get hideously lost before you get hideously lost. Make sure you’re ready for the elements, and potentially being stuck in them. Even if you’re only going for a day hike, bring your flashlight; your first aid kit; some food; some kind of jacket/shelter from elements; money; your ID.

7. Don’t drive at night if you don’t have to.

This is just me. Some people don’t mind it. But it’s harder to find your turnoff in the dark, particularly if the place you’re headed isn’t well-marked–or again, is someplace rural, and all you’ve got are your headlights. You’re also less likely to hit large wild animals in the daytime. And if anything happens, it’s less creepy during the day and it will be more likely that you’ll be able to find someone around who can help you if it’s not 2AM.

8. Say hi.

This applies more if you’re camping/on the trail than in other contexts, but it’s trail/camp courtesy to at least say hi, even if you don’t really want to get all bff with strangers. This way if something happens to you, people will remember you, and the authorities will be able to construct a rough timeline of where you were before you disappeared. The people you say hi to may also be the ones who report you missing, if you don’t return to basecamp. In less dramatic situations, they may be the ones who have the can opener you forgot, or extra money in their meter, or whatever.

9. Always have food.

I mean, you don’t want to be hungry! I like having a store of napkins and condiments absconded with from various restaurants or grocery stores. Places like HyVee or WinCo or any grocery store with a deli area probably also has little packets of mayo, mustard, salt, pepper, sugar, etc. that don’t require refrigeration. “Have food” isn’t a solo travel tip, per se, but pouches of tuna + a mayo packet can take you far in life when sitting down to eat a meal isn’t really as interesting as it would be with travel partners.

10. Pack smart.

Make sure you actually know what you’ve packed and where you’ve packed it. It will make transitioning from car to motel or car to campsite or car to day hike, etc. that much smoother, and in the event of emergency you’ll know what to grab and where it is. The way you back for a backpacking trip is not going to be the most convenient way to have your things packed if you’re driving in your car, etc. Keep a flashlight in the front seat/in an accessible place when you’re away from your car. Make sure your first aid kit is readily accessible. Make sure it’s OBVIOUS so that it’s accessible even if you’re not the one using it on you. Instead of stuffing it under the seat, for instance, place it on top of everything else. Make sure it looks obviously like a first aid kit. If you’re out hiking, go ahead and just clip it to the outside of your pack. Where is no point in bringing it if you can’t get to it under duress. XD

11. Bring die-casts!

Because little metal friends add to the spice of life, obviously.

[apieceofpoetry]

92 questions

tagged by @thunder-lightning-strike again. Not a shocker! ;) thank you <3 (And also @herz-eleid​ and @hea-hoa-hoa​ when I still had this in my drafts)

LAST:

1. Drink: Pear Cider 2. Phone call:  Jimmie, a friend. 3. Text message: Robert 4. Song you listened to: Mutter - Rammstein (Paris Live version) 5. Time you cried: Yesterday, and a lot. 

HAVE YOU:

6. Dated someone twice: No 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: Yes 8. Been cheated on: Yes  9. Lost someone special: Yes 10. Been depressed: Yes, diagnosed with depression a few years back.  11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: No

LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS:

12. Dark red 13. Turquoise 14. Black

IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU:

15. Made new friends: Yes 16. Fallen out of love: Yes, in the hardest way I could ever imagine.  17. Laughed until you cried: Yes!  18. Found out someone was talking about you: No 19. Met someone who changed you: Remains to be seen. 20. Found out who your friends are: Not sure, but I am pretty sure on who they all are.  21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: Yes. 

GENERAL:

22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Pretty much all of them. 24. Do you want to change your name: Not my first name but my last name. 25. What did you do for your last Birthday: I had university scheduled for most of the day, handing in the final draft for my student paper, a start up lecture for my next course and after university I went to a evening course at the teachers union. I was busy all day and exhausted when I got home. No celebrations.  26. What time did you wake up: Today at 06.00 am at first and then I turned around in bed and went back to sleep until 09.00 am.  27. What were you doing at midnight last night: I had just got home after a day at work and then I had been at a friends place until late, so yesterday was a long day.  28. Name something you can’t wait for: A new Rammstein album would be great. My graduation. Being happy again.  29. When was the last time you saw your mom: About a month and a week ago.  30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: My mental health at the moment. 31. What are you listening right now: Everything I Am Is Yours - Villagers 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Maybe…. 34. Most visited Website: Tumblr and Youtube. And probably Ao3 since I discovered that (sometimes) goldmine of entertainment. 

LOST QUESTIONS

35. Mole/s: Yes 36. Mark/s: A few scars. 37. Childhood dream: A lot of them. To become an archeologist at one point. To be a famous rockstar (still happens…).  38. Haircolour: At the moment brown. (Coloured).  40. Do you have a crush on someone: RZK, like crazy. I can´t and won’t stop.  41. What do you like about yourself: My lips. And my eyes. My ability to put things in order. (This is so hard, I need to start working on this).  42. Piercings: Three ear-rings on one ear. Three matching ones on the opposite ear and also two more higher up on my right ear. (My way to rebel against my family a little bit, piercings kinda not allowed, and I listened unfortunately).  43. Bloodtype: No clue. 44. Nickname: None used by more than one person.  45. Relationship status: Single (but kinda dating someone, maybe, it is kinda new and very slowly happening because of what has happened this year) 46. Zodiac: Aries 47. Pronouns: She/her mostly.  48. Favorite TV Show: Supernatural. House. Doctor Who. Orange is the new black. Girls. Shameless (US), and probably more. 49. Tattoos: Not yet. Working on that.  50. Right or left hand: Right. 51. Surgery: No.  52. Hair dyed in different color: Red, mahogany and brown.  53. Sport: I used to play soccer, badminton and did troupe gymnastics once. Nowadays I generally avoid it in every form but has recently convinced by colleagues to join their “no-effort-just-for-fun-we-all-suck soccer team.  55. Vacation: Would be great, like right now. I´ll just go on my own to like Barcelona or Berlin and walk around exploring. Would be great.  56. Pair of trainers: I have a pair for everyday and walking, and a pair for the gym. 

MORE GENERAL:

57. Eating: The last thing I ate was pizza. I deserved it after this long Saturday.  58. Drinking: Everything except alcoholic beverages.  59. I’m about to: Watch youtube and fall asleep.  61. Waiting for: For me to feel better and overcome all of this crap that has been lately.  62. Want: Everything to be alright.  63. Get married: Not planning to, but if I meet the right person.   64. Career: Teacher/Teaching. 

WHICH IS BETTER

65. Hugs or kisses: I like them both.  66. Lips or eyes: Eyes…. and a bit of lips.  67. Shorter or taller: Taller. 68. Older or younger: Older. I have always had a thing for older.  70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Arms. Especially the ones that makes you feel safe.  71. Sensitive or loud: In between probably. (What is this choice, those aren´t opposites?) 72. Hook up or relationship: Relationship I think. But I would not mind hook up.  73. Troublemaker or hesitant: A mix. Depends also what you mean by troublemaker.

HAVE YOU EVER:

74. Kissed a stranger: No 75. Drank hard liquor: No, or yes I have tasted it but not swallowed. (This is a hell of a long story).  76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: Sunglasses yes. (*sobs*) 77. Turned someone down: Yes. 78. Sex in the first date: Yes, and before the first date. ( I have never really been on a date though) 79. Broken someone’s heart: Yes. 80. Had your heart broken: Oh God, yes.  81. Been arrested: No 82. Cried when someone died: Yes 83. Fallen for a friend: Yes?…

DO YOU BELIEVE IN:

84. Yourself: Depends on the day.  85. Miracles: Sometimes, when university life surprises me.  86. Love at first sight: Kind of… 87. Santa Claus: No 88. Kiss on the first date: If it feels right. ( I have never really been on a date though) 89. Angels: I don´t think so. 

OTHER:

90. Current best friends name: I have a few. But Jimmie is one of them.  91. Eyecolour: Grey, Blue and Green. (It´s called “melerade” in Swedish.) 92. Favorite movie: Pride and Prejudice (2005), The perks of being a wallflower, What if, and probably a few other I actually don´t remember the name of now.  I tag @ilovetillsmoobs @nonbinarygeek @followthecreeper @penetratethevibe  @sturmxundxdrang @antigonemaia @horsemeth @ichbin-diestimme  and everyone who wants to do this. 

[n33t-o]

Tagged by @madicaw

THE LAST: 1. Drink: Coffee 2. Phone call: I don’t use my phone to call people lol 3. Text message: 

Got a bunch of new maps 4. Song you listened to: 

Anything from this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCuLUOYc3tI&t=60s 5. Time you cried: Yesterday HAVE YOU: -6. Dated someone twice: Nope 7. Kissed someone and regretted it: Nope 8. Been cheated on: Sort of 9. Lost someone special: Yeah 10. Been depressed: All the time, my dude, all the time 11. Gotten drunk and thrown up: Nope LIST 3 FAVORITE COLORS: 12-14: Faded dark blood red, any shade of orange, & pastel pink   IN THE LAST YEAR HAVE YOU: 15. Made new friends: Yeah, a few tumblr acquaintances & Hnai who is a v good fren now  16. Fallen out of love: Yeah 17. Laughed until you cried: Lol yeah, I say weird things and laugh at myself because im hilarious  18. Found out someone was talking about you: Oh yeah, tons of times 19. Met someone who changed you: Totally 20. Found out who your friends are: Yep, lets hope they stay. 21. Kissed someone on your Facebook list: lol he doesnt have FB GENERAL: 22. How many of your Facebook friends do you know in real life: Most, but I’m not close with most of them 23. Do you have any pets: A meatloaf of a cat and a very curious beta fisho 24. Do you want to change your name: Nah 25. What did you do for your last Birthday: Had friends over and ice skated 26. What time did you wake up: About 9:30 27. What were you doing at midnight last night: going to sleep and trying to not have The Midnight Depression(tm) 28. Name something you can’t wait for: My main frens to get online and give me attention, to see if Tailchaser’s Song ever does get a movie, KissAnime to be back up 30. What is one thing you wish you could change in your life: That i wouldn’t get confused and overreact about the simplest things, and some other things that are personal   31. What are you listening right now: Vaporwave stuff 32. Have you ever talked to a person named Tom: Yeah, an ex-best friend’s dad’s name was Tom 33. Something that is getting on your nerves: Manipulative people, lying, genetically incorrect Warrior cat family trees, people not replying 34. Most visited Website: Tumblr, YouTube, DeviantArt, Picmonkey 35. Mole/s: Nope 36. Mark/s: Scars on my wrist from a dog  37. Childhood dream: To be a dog, probably 38. Haircolor: Faded dark but light brown 39. Long or short hair: Chin length, short in the back 40. Do you have a crush on someone: Yep 41. What do you like about yourself? My pretty frequent confidence, drawing abilities, writing abilities, being able to pull myself out of mental crap no matter how long it takes, some other stuff I can’t think of right now 42. Piercings: None, maybe something when I’m older 43. Bloodtype: no clue, forgot 44. Nickname: “it” & “forehead” 45. Relationship status: Dating my best friend 46. Zodiac: Don’t like zodiacs, but my Myers Brigg’s is ENTJ/INTJ 47. Pronouns: She/her or they/them, I am a female but I don’t care if you use they 48. Favorite TV Show: Steven Univserse 49. Tattoos: I draw on myself all the time, but I’ll probably get vines all up my arms when I’m older, I feel somewhat emotionally connected with plants in a way 50. Right or left hand: Right 51. Surgery: Idk 52. Hair dyed in different color: When it was down to my waist I dyed the ends red for a long time, when it got really short like now I stopped 53. Sport: Volleyball  55. Vacation: With Bongo/Marley’s family, church camp, and with my actual family this summer 56. Pair of trainers: Idk MORE GENERAL: 57. Eating: Struggling to eat lately, it’s hard. But there’s a sandwich sitting in front of me 58. Drinking: Water 59. I’m about to: Not know what to do after this, check skype to see if people are online and get stupidly nervous when I watch them type even though nothing is happening  61. Waiting for: My very good neighboor to not be sick, Wednesday, to have a stable eating schedule  62. Want: To be motivated to draw  63. Get married: Hopefully, we’ll see, though 64. Career: Artist, writer, or mortician  65. Hugs or kisses: Both, but I like my hair being pet more 66. Lips or eyes: Eyes 67. Shorter or taller: Both, idc 68. Older or younger: Idk 70. Nice arms or nice stomach: Idk 71. Sensitive or loud: Both? 72. Hook up or relationship: ???  73. Troublemaker or hesitant: Hesitant, i like to think so that my actions won’t hurt anyone  HAVE YOU EVER: 74. Kissed a stranger: No 75. Drank hard liquor: Nope 76. Lost glasses/contact lenses: Thankfully no 77. Turned someone down: Not sure 78. WHY, NO, GROSS 79. Broken someone’s heart: I hope not, I’m so so sorry if I did 80. Had your heart broken: Yes and no, I grew and learned from it 81. Been arrested: No 82. Cried when someone died: Games, movies, books, shows, it’s not often but yeah 83. Fallen for a friend: lol yeah, my current best friend boyfriend DO YOU BELIEVE IN: 84. Yourself: Most of the time 85. Miracles: Depends 86. Love at first sight: No, unless it’s a character from something, though lol 87. Santa Claus: nope 88. Kiss in the first date: no 89. Angels: Yes OTHER: 90. Current best friends name: Fynn & Bongo/Marley (can’t say her actual name on stuff ) 91. Eye color: Light grey blue 92. Favorite movie: Nemo or Mockingjay Part Two

Idk who to tag but aye it’s done

[kartiavelino]

How badass Brie Larson buffed up for ‘Captain Marvel’

Brie Larson turned heads final month when she posted an Instagram video that confirmed her pushing a Jeep uphill together with her again. The 5-foot-7 powerhouse received completely ripped to play Carol Danvers, an air power pilot who features alien superpowers throughout an accident within the new “Captain Marvel” film, out Friday. The Oscar winner instructed Ellen DeGeneres that she was motivated to carry out the superhuman bodily feat due to an ongoing joke together with her coach Jason Walsh. “Captain Marvel can transfer planets, so I used to be like, ‘I simply need to have the ability to push your automotive,’ ” Larson, 29, defined on the present. “If I might push your Jeep, then I’ll really feel like I used to be prepared. So it occurred.” Walsh provides his star shopper reward for the now-viral vehicular victory: “This can be a 5,000-pound machine. Give her some credit score,” he tells The Put up. Nonetheless, the coach isn’t sometimes taken with such eye-catching social-media moments. “It’s a bunch of crap to be sincere,” he says of utilizing strikes just like the Jeep stunt to get match. “I don’t practice individuals like that. We don’t flip tires. We don’t do burpees. Please don’t take [pushing a car] as part of our coaching. We’re sensible right here.” The 43-year-old Walsh, who has remodeled the our bodies of Hollywood stars comparable to John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Alison Brie and Emma Stone, favors a long-term “systematic” strategy that builds energy whereas avoiding overuse accidents. And it clearly works. After 9 months of working with Walsh, Larson was in a position to deadlift 215 kilos, do 10 pull-ups, hip thrust 400 kilos and carry out most of her personal stunts, together with falls — a feat that made Walsh extremely proud. “That’s epic. It doesn’t occur — particularly in Marvel films,” he says. “The stunt coordinators and everybody round her was blown away with how athletic she grew to become.” How did they do it? By going again to fundamentals. ‘The stunt coordinators and everybody round her was blown away with how athletic she grew to become.’ Earlier than his shoppers are allowed to even choose up a weight, they should excellent basic strikes comparable to hinging on the waist, squatting, lunging and even crawling. “This was the best way we had been innately born to maneuver, however as we become old, by means of sitting, unhealthy coaching, postural stuff and accidents, it will get us away from these foundational actions,” he says. “Individuals don’t need to do the groundwork. We do the groundwork. “I make individuals earn the power to do bad-ass workout routines. You must be actually good on the technical facet earlier than we put weight into your palms.” As soon as his shoppers grasp these actions, he provides in numerous variables comparable to heavier weights, extra reps or quicker tempos. This can be a philosophy Walsh realized from his earlier profession coaching faculty athletes and NFL gamers. The Missouri native has a level in train and sports activities science from the College of North Carolina, the place he grew to become a energy and conditioning coach for the faculty’s athletes. He then labored below NFL energy coach Luke Richesson and ready soccer gamers for the league’s mix. In 2005, he went to Los Angeles as a result of “I met a lady, and he or she lived in LA,” he says. “It sounds so cliche.” Whereas visiting the showbiz metropolis, he checked out the health scene and was shocked by the shortage of innovation. “There was no actual, true science being utilized. It was like physique constructing, aerobics and peculiar s – – t. I mentioned, ‘There’s a possibility right here.’ ” Brie Larson gained 15 kilos of muscle for the movie, and has been exhibiting off her glossy physique on the purple carpet, selling the movie in Captain Marvel’s robust, patriotic hues.Getty Pictures; Reuters His hunch panned out large time. Watch almost any motion, superhero or sci-fi flick, and also you’ll spot a bod sculpted by Walsh. (Walsh created two weeks’ value of free exercises impressed by Larson for the app Playbook.) And so when Larson landed the function of Captain Marvel, she tapped him due to the work he did with Emily Blunt for “Fringe of Tomorrow,” a film that required the British star to put on an exoskeleton costume that weighed greater than 70 kilos. “Brie instructed me she was so impressed by the best way Emily regarded in that film,” he says. “Emily educated very very similar to an athlete.” Larson began on daily basis — even when not coaching — with creatine, a complement that’s purported to assist enhance muscle energy and athletic efficiency. “Each morning, I had her take a teaspoon of creatine, put it on her tongue and wash it down with water. That’s the cool solution to do it. The creatine is our model of the ‘Rocky’ uncooked egg,” says Walsh. She adopted a paleo-esque weight-reduction plan, however as her coaching progressed, she added in wholesome carbohydrates comparable to rice and candy potatoes. “She grew to become ravenous,” he says. “When you’ve got a greater engine, and you might be performing very well, it’s a must to gasoline the physique.” In keeping with Walsh, they labored up to sweating 4 instances per week, with two periods a day. Jason Walsh demonstrates a entice bar lifeless elevate.Joe Kohen Along with energy coaching, Walsh added in bursts of “conditioning” strikes, designed to boost the center fee and work the entire physique, comparable to pushing a sled or squat jumps. He additionally prescribed the 30-minute courses at his Rise Nation studio in West Hollywood. It’s a non-impact exercise finished on a VersaClimber, a machine that retains the person upright and mimics a vertical climb, to dance-worthy beats. Over the 9 months she educated, Larson placed on about 15 kilos of muscle. “As we began ramping up the coaching course of into excessive gear, she grew to become stronger and heavier. She gained muscle weight however grew to become smaller,” he says. “Her physique actually tightened up. She would go to the costume becoming, and so they had been freaking out and getting pissed off, as a result of they needed to hold taking the swimsuit in.” Nonetheless, even Captain Marvel wants a confidence booster. “She has to carry herself in a approach that’s like, ‘F – – okay yeah, I’m robust. I’m a superhero,’ ” says Walsh. And there’s one transfer that he thinks does simply that, each bodily and mentally. “Pull-ups are my favourite. It’s the one train that folks say, ‘I can’t do it.’ I file that away, and when [we’ve progressed enough,] I say, ‘All proper, let’s do that.’ And when they can carry out their first pull-up, that’s epic.” It took Larson about three months to achieve that milestone, which Walsh says was a turning level of their coaching. “When the physique begins performing, it’s a factor of magnificence and an artwork kind,” he says. “You’re instructed you possibly can’t for so lengthy, however then whenever you do it, that’s whenever you begin to actually consider. That’s highly effective.” Share this: https://nypost.com/2019/03/04/how-badass-brie-larson-buffed-up-for-captain-marvel/ The post How badass Brie Larson buffed up for ‘Captain Marvel’ appeared first on My style by Kartia. http://www.kartiavelino.com/2019/03/how-badass-brie-larson-buffed-up-for-captain-marvel.html