#and also fewer chances to be just flat out objectively wrong

[scramble-crossing]

no please tell us your joshua thoughts i insist

You’ve hit me at a crucial moment of procrastination and utter dread. ON HIS BIRTHDAY.  Ideal circumstance to talk about Joshua.

Right off the bat though I’ve gotta say that a lot of this is probably not the most canon-adherent stuff and also only Josh-adjacent in some cases since I tend to focus on how he relates to other characters + the series’ worldbuilding over his actual self-contained character. I like him and all I just have the most fun using him as a narrative tool for the characters I like a little more ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

First of all, I usually put Joshua as having died and become Composer sometime between 1900-1920 following a near-and-dear headcanon that Kariya became a Reaper during the cultural shift of the 1920s with the advent of the salaryman lifestyle-if you’re going to sell your soul for guaranteed work it might as well come with the perk of being able to spend most of your existence lazing around the city instead of being boxed up in some itty-bitty cubical.

However this is mostly based on the assumption that Joshua predates all of the Shibuya Reapers. Otherwise they would recognize him, right? In opposition to this I really really love the headcanon that all trace of a person’s existence is erased from both the RG and UG upon becoming Composer (or any position higher than Conductor). In that case I think it’d be fun if Joshua came shortly after Kariya. They knew each other at some point.

^When Kariya confronted him and Neku in W2 Josh had a brief moment of “Holy shit does he remember me?” before Kari said he was alive and he got the biggest, shit-eatingest grin on his face. Yippiiiiie!!! Oily Josh has wriggled his way out of consequences once again!!!!

(Kariya is aware that there was a change in Composer sometime during his run as a Reaper. He sensed the city shift with it. The way it sings now, it’s almost…familiar? He doesn’t think about it too deeply, it saddens him a bit if he does)

Speaking of Josh & Friends, @starocide has a ton of very very fun ideas about Joshua and Coco being partners during their Reaper’s Game and it being the connection mentioned in That One Interview. That’s gonna be a whole separate essay one day, suffice to say for now that the Joshua from A New Day was reminiscent of the person he used to be, but twisted by Coco into a mocking caricature of himself.

(Coco doesn’t remember him, but she knows who he is. Joshua remembers her perfectly, but it doesn’t matter anymore.)

The Toxic Shithead Squad continues with Minamimoto. I have a LOT of thoughts about Joshua and Minamimoto.

By far the most interesting thing about W2 for me is just how much Joshua talks about Mina. Not just talks about, describes. He’s a math fetishist (rude) he’s an attention-seeker (rude…but fair) he’s the magic word I’ve been thinking about for the past two years: lonely. I think it’s incredibly interesting how many judgments of character Joshua makes about this guy despite the fact that we’re given no inclination to treat him as some sort of cat-whisperer or someone who’s in a position to understand Minamimoto at all. For the pure intrigue of it I like to see a lot of these calls as being accurate (idc if it’s cliche or corny, imply to me that Sho, somewhere in his heart of hearts, craves companionship and I will eat that shit up) but I also think that it’s equally interesting to question why Josh’s making these calls in the first place. Where's this stuff coming from? Why does he keep acting like he knows exactly what he's thinking?

I think Joshua sees a lot of himself in Minamimoto. Here’s a kid who’s deeply dissatisfied with the world around him, someone who thinks so little of other people that he, in his arrogance, is willing to reject every different thought, opinion, and action, shunning the people around him, treating them as little more than bugs he’s willing to step on in his all-consuming quest for the power to make something better than before: the world as it ends with him. Minamimoto isn’t just pursuing Joshua, he’s following his every footstep. Joshua sees this, recognizes it (though maybe not consciously) so that when he erases him he isn’t ridding himself of a potential threat or batting away this annoying little gnat that keeps interfering with his plans, symbolically he’s destroying himself. And if anything, isn’t that an act of mercy? Wouldn’t it be better to be dead than to waste away on his throne, watching a world he no longer recognizes slowly pass him by? Isn’t that what he wanted all along?

I think Joshua's story ended perfectly with twewy. I don't think there was anything left unresolved about it, and frankly I'm glad he barely had anything to do with the plot of neo. He made his choice. Was it the wrong one? Was there ever another option? Did he ever have a chance? Who knows! He's a walking worst-case-scenario and I love seeing how detached and apathetic he's become in neo, how he never let himself connect with Neku even though he gave him the chance (which was so, so much more than Joshua could ever have asked for), how Neku doesn't even seem to trust him anymore, how he's become little more than an anecdote in his life and the lives of is friends, a passing comment, a joke, a distant, sour memory. It's fantastic. I love Hachiko gang. I love fan content where they're all friends and Josh is this cryptic little sillyguy who has fun pushing all their buttons but is deeply unequivocally loved at the end of it all, but I hope that never happens in canon. I hope he stays a tragedy.

Happy birthday you little freak <3

[welcometophu]

Into the Split: Avalanche 3

Twinned Book 3: Into the Split

Avalanche 3

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“Come on.” Nikita grabs Nikolai’s hand, tugs him a few steps away from Seth.

He doesn’t reach out to grab onto his boyfriend, but it’s close. Seth’s his anchor, and he knows that he’s the same for Seth. If Nikolai feels at sea in this crowd, Seth must feel worse.

Seth glances over, nudges his glasses up his nose. “It’s okay. I’m going to go….” His voice trails off before he actually says where, but he gestures past the house, into an area of the festival they haven’t explored yet. It’s in the opposite direction from where Nikita seems to be dragging Nikolai.

“You sure?”

Seth grins, nodding. “I’m sure. It’ll be quieter over there. Fewer people, more animals from what I’ve heard. Unless some of the animals are actually people, which around here might be a possibility.”

It feels wrong to just walk away. Nikolai shakes off Nikita’s hand so he can approach Seth, frame his face with his hands and kiss him slowly. “I’ll see you back at the house later.”

Seth tilts his head into Nikolai’s touch. “Be safe,” he responds.

It’s almost as if there’s a string stretching out as they head in opposite directions, Seth walking with Alaric, Ethan, and Marybelle, while Nikolai follows Nikita. He feels the tug in his heart and his gut, and he does his best to shove down the way it twists inside of him.

“You two are a little co-dependent, aren’t you.” Nikita doesn’t say it like a question. “We’re all still here, right? He’ll be fine and you’ll be fine. No one’s going to let anyone get in trouble here, and it’s way too light for Shadows.”

“It’s not that.” Nikolai’s not worried about trouble. He places a hand flat on his chest, then draws it out slowly to point at Seth. “For the past two years—since my parents died, and we thought my brothers died, we’ve been stuck together like glue. We did everything together, because we were all we had. And we’re bonded, and you know what that’s like.”

“Not exactly the same,” Nikita points out.

“I think it’s more the same than you think,” Nikolai counters. He ticks points off on his fingers as he speaks, matching her pace while they walk. “You can’t sleep easily without her, right? You’re more comfortable when you know where she is. If you’re in the same room, you end up sitting together and touching. She settles you just by being there, and if she and Seth are both doing something Empathic, you can probably tell which one is Heather.” Nikita nods along with every statement, so Nikolai spreads his hands. “You see my point. You’re just new to each other. We’ve been just him and me—the only other people we’ve seen along the way have wanted to kill us—for years. Our bond isn’t just obvious to both of us, it’s the biggest thing we’ve got. I can’t remember him being that far out of my sight since… since before the fire. Even when we weren’t in sight, we knew where each other were. It was never far. We need to….” He stumbles, and admits, “We’re probably co-dependent, yes, and we need to learn how to be independent again. But it’s not going to be easy. It’ll take some time.”

“Well, where I’m taking you might help with that.” Nikita stops, and Nikolai stops right behind her. She points to the space where Carolyn is set up, her deck of cards on the table in front of her. She has no one with her at the moment, and she sits there, idly shuffling her cards while looking through a journal she has in front of her. “I think you should get a reading from Carolyn.”

Nikolai has no idea what that means.

“She’s Predictive. She’ll—” Nikita cuts off, her head tilted. “It’s not telling your future, or fortunes. It’s like, she’ll give you a reading about what your life is, and what some of your possible paths are. Where the world sees you going at this point in the right now. Tomorrow might be a completely different reading, so this is a thing that basically gives you something to think about about your choices in life in this exact moment. Okay?”

Nikolai’s never met someone who is Predictive, and to him it sounds more like storybook magic than Talent. Still, what has he got to lose? “Sure. Okay.”

He lets Nikita drag him over to Carolyn’s table, and goes when she nudges him into the seat waiting there. Carolyn stops shuffling and looks up, blinking at Nikolai.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” Nikolai looks at the cards under her hand, then the closed notebook. “Nikita says—”

“You should give him a reading.” Nikita sits on the grass with her knees bent and arms around her legs. “It’d be interesting to see what comes up, given everything.”

“Is this reading for him or for you?” Carolyn mutters dryly. She pushes the notebook to the side and shuffles the deck a few more times before handing it to Nikolai. “Go ahead and shuffle it, then cut it and give it back to me.”

“Him,” Nikita says. She holds one hand up, scrubs the air in front of her. “This has nothing to do with me.”

Nikolai thinks that’s a lie. They’re entangled in ways they don’t understand. They have to be, if they’re the same person from different worlds. He gets the feeling their futures are entangled as well, even if he doesn’t know how yet.

The cards feel large to his hands. It’s been years since he last played cards, but he remembers those being smaller. And fewer. These are awkward, and he drops them twice, needing to scoop them up and pat them back into a neat pile before he can try to shuffle them again. The motion comes back to him, something he learned as a child before everything went wrong, and after a while he realizes he’s still shuffling just because of that. Because it feels like a tiny hint to the past that he’s just reclaimed.

He sets the deck down, cuts it in the middle, and pushes the stack toward Carolyn.

She lays down cards on the table: two crossed cards, then four cards around those, then another four to their right, in a column from Nikolai to Carolyn. Nikita comes to her knees and leans up to look at them curiously.

The pictures are interesting, but they don’t mean anything to Nikolai.

Carolyn looks at the cards closely, running her fingers over them in the same order that she laid them down. She pauses occasionally and backtracks before moving forward. Her lips move, but there’s no sound.

Nikolai sits back and waits, not sure what to do next.

“Okay. So. These two cards are basically your current situation right now, and something that goes against that situation. Usually these two cards are in opposition, but not always.” Carolyn taps the first card, a picture with six glasses on it, upside down. “You’re in this space where you have all these pent up emotions about the past, but you’re starting to move past that. You’ve got a chance to start all over again, and you’re trying to pay attention to the future rather than lingering over what’s already happened.”

Her fingers move to the card that lies across it, an image of a man walking from one circle to another. “The thing is, life isn’t as settled as you want it to be. There are complications, and magical changes because of—” She stops abruptly, frowning. “Okay, usually I don’t try to actually match a reading to life, but this one is just so obvious to me, I have to say something. This is a card about balancing two things that are in flux, and I think the big interruption is Nikita and our world impinging on your getting settled here in Havenhill.”

It’s funny how the card almost looks like he’s moving from one world to another. “You could say it means anything, though,” Nikolai says quietly.

“That’s why I usually don’t try to make it real,” Carolyn says. “I’ll tell the story the cards tell, and leave the rest of it up to you to figure out what you get from it. If we stick with that, you’re settled and moving on, and because of something twinned—some kind of balancing two objects in flux thing—you’re being pushed out of sync.” She inhales roughly, shakes her head and moves her finger to the next card. “Right. Moving on.”

The card is upside-down again, showing a man and woman standing in a cage made of swords thrust into the ground. “This is usually a dark card,” Carolyn says, “but because it’s reversed, it’s actually positive in this case. You’ve been in a kind of mental prison, maybe, which goes with the moving on from the first card. But if you focus on inner dialog, and listen to yourself, you can take steps to move beyond any fears you have. And beneath that, you have the Moon, which is your toolbox to be able to escape whatever mental block might have you trapped. That’s all instinct and intuition. It’s love and being able to lose yourself and be emotional. So trust those instincts and move beyond your fear.”

She touches the next two cards, surrounding the crossed cards to the left and right. “These are your recent past and near future. Behind you is Justice, reversed. You were in a place of chaos and prejudice, which, from what you’ve told us about this world, is pretty accurate. Ahead of you is the ten of swords, also reversed. And this is another one of those bad cards, but because it’s reversed, it’s actually positive. It means you’re going to hit rock bottom and start going back up. It addresses fears again, and trusting yourself that you can move beyond those fears. Just take things one step at a time and move forward. Even if you’re at the lowest point you think you could ever go, it’s not that bad, because moving forward means you’re climbing back up. It’ll get better.”

That’s positive? Nikolai supposes maybe it is, in that the message is about being able to get better. But the idea of hitting rock bottom doesn’t sound good, especially when she refers to it in the future, not the past.

He bites his tongue rather than put voice to any of that.

Carolyn moves on to the four cards in a neat line off to the right. “This is you. You’re balanced right now, right there on your toe, balanced neatly on those six swords. You’ve found your path, the way through. You think you’re all set and going in the right direction. And your family and friends are positive, too. The Ace of cups is a great card, all about joy and fulfillment and being able to relax into a safety net of having those you love around you.”

Right. That one is absolutely obvious.

“The thing to remember about this one is that having your anchor and being stable emotionally means you can have new beginnings in other directions, too,” Carolyn continues. The next to last card, when she touches it, doesn’t seem to mean anything to Nikolai. A woman stares out at him, yin and yang on her forehead, alpha and omega written before her.

“Balance,” he says, pointing to the symbols. “Are all your cards about that? It seems like your cards are encouraging it.”

Carolyn’s smile is slightly. “No, not all of my cards. Just the ones in your reading. Almost every card that talks about balance is on the table right now.”

Oh.

“That’s actually kind of chilling.” By randomness, Nikolai doesn’t think that should happen.

“I’m Predictive.” Carolyn taps the woman’s face. “And yes, this card is about balance again, in a way. She represents your hopes and fears in this reading. She’s a reminder to rely on your instinct and intuition to be able to use your Talent effectively. Your heart knows more than your mind, which ties back to your romantic and emotional connections.” There’s a faint flush in her cheeks. “Where the High Priestess is concerned, she also refers back to your sexual connections.”

Nikita snickers.

“Seth has my heart and my body,” Nikolai says dryly. “Are you trying to tell me that sex is a part of our Talent?”

Carolyn shrugs, the color high on her cheeks. “It could be, but I’m not going to get into that with you. Not my area of expertise. Maybe you just hope it is, or maybe you even fear it is, I don’t know. This is something for you to think about.”

“We were talking about that aspect of Dreamwalkers and Empaths,” Nikita reminds him, and Nikolai does remember that. “It’s possible having that connection on all levels—physical, emotional, and the dreaming—helps us stabilize and anchor each other.”

“What about this one?” Nikolai tries to redirect the conversation by tapping the last card. It shows a man wielding a wand and fighting of other wands, again upside down.

“That’s the final outcome,” Carolyn says. She rubs at one cheek, like she can erase the flush. “It’s a warning in this case, I think. It’s about being able to be a role model, but you’re resisting doing just that. It’s telling you to be careful and guard against being indecisive. Do the thing, don’t let yourself rest and be unmotivated just because things are easy finally. It’s all in your hands, and you can either fight the battle or let them win.”

When Nikolai sits back and looks at everything she said, it seems to come together well enough. He’s here in Havenhill. His life was shit, and it got better. He’s got his emotional anchor in Seth, and he’s got his family, and then he’s also got Nikita, barging in to disrupt everything. And he has a choice of just sinking into the safety of living here in Havenhill, or he can figure out how everything that’s safe helps him figure out all the things that aren’t safe at all.

He’s tempted to say he’s been set up, but the way Carolyn’s lips purse, her brow furrowed deeply as she runs her fingers over the card, makes him think this is all just happenstance.

“Carolyn’s really good at this,” Nikita says quietly. “I didn’t bring you over because I thought she’d be like listen to Nik, she knows what she’s doing or something, because I don’t actually know what I’m doing at all. But I thought the cards might say something interesting to you.”

Nikolai huffs, crossing his arms. “I don’t have to like what they said,” he grumbles. He’ll talk to Seth about this tonight, because he doesn’t want to think that anything is pushing them into doing something they don’t want. But at the same time, this implies that they might end up shoved out of their comfort zone whether they want to go there or not.

He’s not sure what to believe right now, but yeah. He’s definitely got something to think about.

Carolyn sweeps the cards back into a stack, shuffling them roughly. “I’m going to write that down,” she says. “Go get ice cream. Pretty sure this is one of those times.”

“What?” Nikolai barely manages to speak before Nikita is on her feet, dragging Nikolai with her.

“Ice cream! I forgot, they said they were making it, and it’ll be brilliant. Fresh milk, the winter preserves, such good flavors.” Nikita pulls, and Nikolai loses his balance, forced to follow after. “It’s the perfect thing after being dragged over the emotional coals, right?”

“I haven’t had ice cream since I was ten,” Nikolai says. “Maybe younger.”

Nikita grins, and yeah. She has definitely barged into his life and upset the careful balance that he’s been building. He just managed to get it all properly put together and here’s this person from another world, knocking everything over.

He doesn’t like to think about dead on that reading was.

“Then it’s time for you to have it again,” she says, and it takes a moment to remember that she’s talking about ice cream. “Come on, let’s go find Seth and Heather, then we’ll get ice cream together. Like the cards said—it’s time to move ahead and move on.”

Trying new things, rediscovering old things. Recreating his life, and trying to find balance. Stepping from one life to another. Yeah. Nikolai can do that. No fears involved at all.

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[allyourpets]

The Best Dog Collar: A Guide to Choosing the perfect collar for your best friend

Choosing the right dog collar for your dog is important, especially if you want to keep them safe and happy. Not all dog collars are the same! They can be made of a variety of materials and come in different shapes, sizes, colours, and styles. Collar types vary from buckle or snap-together collars to handcrafted leather dog collars. pet collars australia

 In this blog post, we will discuss what type of collars is best for your dog’s needs as well as how to measure your dog correctly before ordering their new collar online. You’ll also learn about the benefits of having a safety release clasp on a dog’s collar so that they don’t get stuck on anything while out walking or playing with other dogs. Something that dog parents need to consider when picking out their dog’s collar.

Functions of a dog collar

Dog collars are important for your dog’s safety as well as their emotional happiness. Not only do dog collars help to identify them from other animals in the neighbourhood, but it also immediately notifies the dog has an owner and is not a stray dog. Most collars include a name tag, a lost and found number and vaccination or medical tags.

It is believed that dog collars were originally created to protect dog’s necks from injury. In Ancient Greece the dog would be in control of a large herd of goats or sheep and the farmer would use a spiked collar around the dog’s neck to protect it from predatory animals such as wolves.

How to choose a dog collar

A good dog collar offers comfort, safety, and durability. While any old strap will do the trick for a while, you want to invest in something that lasts longer and keep your pet safe from injury or disease.

Materials dog collars are made of:

– leather dog collar

– nylon dog collar

Leather dog collars provide a fashionable way to attach your dog’s ID tags and they’re usually more durable than other materials. Nylon is easy on the skin and is often preferred by dogs with allergies because it reduces irritation from their fur getting caught in the strap while wearing it for long periods of time.

There are dog collars for every dog, just make sure you do your research before buying one on the internet because they can be expensive!

Measurements of dog collar:

– dog collar length

– neck circumference size

It is important to measure your dog properly. A poorly fitting collar can be dangerous to both dogs and humans in an outdoor setting. The wrong size will also lead to poor behavioural outcomes in training your pup. So, measure your dog’s neck! It sounds like a pain, but if you want to be 100% sure that what you’re buying will fit, there are usually sizing labels on most collars. A perfect fit is when you can slip two fingers underneath the flat side of your dog’s collar.

Most importantly, don’t forget about the safety release clasp on a dog’s collar so that they don’t get stuck on anything while out walking or playing with other dogs.

Type of dog collars

Martingale collar

Also known as limited-slip or non-slip dog collars. Martingale collars are the most popular type of training collar because they offer a perfect blend between comfort and safety. Tightening when your dog pulls but loosens up when he’s walking appropriately this style is designed to be both gentle on their necks yet efficient for getting them in line fast.

Is the chocker chain another name for a Martingale collar? No, the Martingale dog collar has two loops that tighten around the dog’s neck when they pull, but then loosen up once the dog starts walking in a normal fashion. A chocker chain collar works the same way but has no limit to how tight it can cinch and is not recommended for dogs with breathing or neck problems like pugs, bulldogs, shih tzus or other breeds that have short muzzles which may compress their airways if they pull too hard against the restriction.

Flat collar

Also, known as a basic dog collar. It is worn around the dog’s neck and has a buckle in front for easy adjustment. The flat collar is usually made out of nylon or leather, and they are popular with people who want to show off their dog. A basic collar can be a permanent accessory for your dog. They should be a comfortable loose fit.

Head Collar

Head collars are also called head halters. They have a loop that wraps around the dog’s muzzle and there is usually an adjustable strap on each side of their neck to control where they turn by steering them in the direction you want them to go.

A dog with severe behavioural problems or one who has had surgery may be prescribed this type of collar for safety reasons, but it should not remain on your dog all day long as it restricts airflow through her mouth which can cause respiratory issues over time.

Prong collar or Pinch collar

A dog collar that has aggressive spikes on it. Prong collars are never advised to be used, even for severe dog behavioural issues because they can cause harm and injury to your dog’s neck and throat if worn improperly or too long.

When it comes to pinch collars, the risk is not worth the potential benefits. There are so many other training methods that can be used on your dog for them to stop pulling, and if you have any doubts or concerns then you should avoid using this method at all costs.

Smart collars

This dog collar is used as a training device, and they are also called electric dog collars. The purpose of this type of dog collar is to provide reinforcement when an unwanted behaviour happens, but not get your dog in trouble if the desired behaviour occurs without it being prompted (i.e., sit). It then sends out vibrations or electrical pulses with these correction signals that make dogs move back into position so that you can correct them before anything gets worse.

Even though this type of collar has fewer chances of physical harm to your dog, there is a greater danger of long-term anxiety and dog behavioural problems, and so it should only be used by a dog behaviour specialist who is very familiar with the risks of this type of dog collar.

Dog show collars (‘P’ Leash)

Used to show dog breeds at dog shows, dog training competitions and performance events. This is more of a hybrid of collar and leash together.

Show Collars are a type of collar that is typically made out of braided material like leather or nylon. They should not be confused with chain slip collars. The collar portion slips over the head and tightens when the lead is pulled. A plastic clip type of object is placed on the leash to keep the collar in place.

It is important to have your dog walk with you without pulling or lunging. Now that you know the basics of dog collars, we hope this article helps in your decision-making process.

For More Info :-  Pet accessory shop near me

[mosylufanfic]

Signs of Trauma

Written for Killervibe Week, Day 6 - Future

Well, this is extremely near future, but it’s still future at the moment. Earlier this week, I woke up with this concept in my head and thought, Awww, that shouldn’t be too hard to write. I can knock it out in about 500 words.

2.5k words and no fewer than three rewrites of the ending later: Fucking hell.

It’s also a loose sequel to Forgiveness (you can’t imagine) so there’s that.

Signs of Trauma

When Cisco opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was Caitlin sitting at her computer.

He was always shocked by her pale hair, even though he'd been looking at it for two and a half months now, ever since she'd come back to Central City. It always seemed as if she should be able to shed it like an unflattering wig and be old Caitlin again, dark reddish hair and no powers at all.

But she couldn't, of course. This was who she was now.

She held something in her hands, rubbing her thumbs over it.

He shifted in the bed and couldn't stop the groan of pain. Everything hurt. Everything. Especially his head. Man oh man, why could his head never win a game of Skull vs. Concrete?

Caitlin's head jerked around, and then she got to her feet, dropping the thing she held next to her keyboard. It was something on a chain, slithering silvery out of her fingers. "Stay still," she said, checking things on the machines he was hooked up to.

"Not a problem," he mumbled.

She reached out toward his face. He jerked away and then wished he hadn't, because it made his head bang like a drum, and her face had gone curiously still.

"Your fingers are cold," he said, although she hadn't managed to touch him.

"Yes," she said. "They are."

She dropped one hand to her side and lifted the other a little higher, with the penlight in it, flicking it into his eyes. Checking for uneven pupils or delayed dilation. He held very still even though he wanted to flinch again.

She clicked the light off and dropped the penlight into the pocket of her lab coat. "Do you know your name?"

"Francisco Armando Ramon," he recited. "I'm on Earth-1, in Central City at Star Labs. The date is October 12, 2017. I'm in my right mind."

A year ago, she would have sniped "Debateable" if she'd thought he'd taken a ridiculous risk, and it was always her opinion that his risks were ridiculous when they got him hurt.

Now, she just said, "Anything else hurt besides your head?"

"Yeah, but not in the broken bone kind of way."

"Just in the general bounced-off-the-street kind of way?"

"Uh-huh."

"I'll get you some pain meds."

He glanced over at the sliver of the cortex he could see. It looked like evening, or the middle of the night. He frowned, which made his temples throb. "Hey, how long was I out?"

"Over three hours."

He gulped. "That's not good, is it?" The longer you were out after hitting your head, the more of a chance you wouldn't wake up. He knew that after Dante -

Well, anyway. He knew that.

"Better now that you're awake," she said. "But I'm going to be monitoring you." She stepped out of the room, and he heard her sternest voice say, "Five minutes."

Barry and Wally both swarmed in, talking like speedsters, apologizing, asking how he was doing, telling him how awesome he'd been in the fight before he'd gotten bounced off the street. All that was pretty nice, but it was making his head throb again, so when Caitlin glared her iciest glare and they both left, he breathed a very small sigh of relief.

"Pain meds," she said, and handed him two pills and a large glass of water. He gulped both down, praying for them start working ASAP.

She took the glass back. "Do you want me to contact Cindy?"

The water had hit his stomach like a bowling ball. Maybe chugging it had been a bad plan. He rubbed his belly. "How? She's on 19."

"I don't know. Don't you have ways?"

"Yeah, opening a breach. And I don't think that's a good idea right now, do you?"

"I'm just saying, I think she'd want to know that you got hurt."

Cisco tried not to clench his teeth. She hadn't been around for most of Cindy's time on Earth-1. Why was Caitlin acting like she knew his girlfriend now? "She has her ways of knowing when I'm in real danger. Actually, the fact that she's not here is a good sign."

"Oh, is it?"

"Mmmhm. I'll let her know what happened later, when my head's better."

She held her hand out. He put the glass in it. She took it away.

He rubbed his stomach some more and scowled.

The thing was, he had a gadget in his lab that could toss a targeted message in a bottle through the dimensions. He always felt the effect of it, like a brief gnawing on his brain stem, and it would probably be worse right now. But he could do it.

He didn't want to worry Cindy, though. She was tracking a rough customer right now, and he wasn't about to distract her in the middle of that. Like he'd told Caitlin, if he was in real danger, Cindy would know.

He ignored the thought of how pissed off she'd be when he finally did get around to mentioning it.

He glanced at the door, then slipped off the bed. For some reason, he was incredibly curious about what Caitlin had been looking at when he came to.

It sat next to her keyboard, a dark-blue enameled Star of David on a sterling silver chain that squiggled around it like a moat.

He caught his breath.

He'd bought it at a farmer's market, one day when they were cutting through for - actually, he didn't remember. He did remember her pausing at the jewelry stand, lingering over this pendent the longest before saying, "Come on, we'll be late," and setting off again. He'd delayed long enough to buy it before chasing after her.

She'd said, "Oh, Cisco!" and "No, it's too much," and he'd finally gotten around her objections by reminding her that he'd forgotten to buy her a birthday gift the previous year. She'd taken it and put it on then, and for the rest of the afternoon, she would touch it with two fingers and a little smile.

Her voice said, "You shouldn't be out of bed," and he jerked. The necklace slithered out of his fingers and fell to the floor.

She crouched to pick it up. He stared at the side of her head, at the ice-white curl that had escaped her barrette and fell against her cheek. There was a wound turning to a scar on the side of her neck, livid against the pale skin. It hadn't been there when she came back, but it had appeared not too long after. Every time he asked what had happened, she suddenly developed temporary deafness.

The six-pointed star swung from her fingers, a holy pendulum twisting in the air.

"I didn't know you still had that," he said awkwardly.

"It was in a drawer," she said. "Back in the corner. You must have missed it when you cleaned out my desk."

"I - " he said. "We didn't know when - or if - "

"I didn't ask," she said, and put the necklace back in her top drawer.

He turned his back and went to the bed, climbing in, deliberately not lying down because he was doing just fine even if the pain pills had only cut the headache in half.

He watched her check numbers and make annotations and seethed with a resentment he didn't completely understand.

Of course she hadn't asked why they'd cleaned out her desk. Just like she hadn't asked why they hadn't contacted her when Barry went into the Speed Force, leaving him and Wally trying to keep a lid on Central City all by themselves. Or why Cisco hadn't told her mother what had happened or where she had gone.

She didn't ask for anything anymore.

"So, why were you looking at it?" he asked in a hard voice. "Were you praying or something?"

He didn't know why he said that. She hadn't been very observant even before Killer Frost, and that wasn't what it was for anyway. Maybe something about the way her head had been bowed.

She shook her head. "No," she said. "More like having a word."

He frowned. "With - ?" He pointed upward.

She looked at him sidelong as if to say, Who else?

He digested that. "So, what was the word?"

"It doesn't matter."

"The logical scientist having a word with the man upstairs? No, I think it matters, actually."

"Fine," she said. "If you must know, I was giving him fair warning that if you died, I was going to rip down the gates of heaven to get you back."

He didn't know what to say.

He settled on, "Oh." And then, "Will you need to?"

She looked at her numbers. "No, probably not."

"Good to hear."

She fussed with something on her desk. How often had he watched her fussing with something just like that? How many times had he waited for her to crack and tell him what was wrong?

That was before, though.

He said, "Caitlin - "

She said, "You can forget I said that if you want."

Then he really didn't know what to say

She shut down her computer. "I'm going to work in the next room."

"I thought you were going to monitor me."

She held up her tablet, where all his machines fed her data. "Hit the button if you need me," she said, and stepped into the next room.

He sat on the bed for awhile, feeling the pain in his head ebb like the outgoing tide. He kept hearing her voice, promising to bust him out of the afterlife when they barely even talked most days.

He slid off the bed again and went to the door between the two rooms.

"You know," she said without looking up. "I don't say things like you should be in bed and stay in bed and you need your rest to exercise my vocal cords."

"You need to give me time," he said.

She did look up then, staring at him out of those familiar root-beer-colored eyes. He'd seen them awash with tears and wide with horror and crinkled with laughter, but now they were a stranger’s eyes, flat and unreadable.

"I look at you," he stuttered. "And I - I see both of you. Caitlin, my best friend, and - and - "

"Killer Frost," she said, when his words lurched to a halt. "The monster who tried to kill you and all your friends on multiple occasions."

He swallowed. "It's not fair. I know it's not. But I can't stop seeing both of you, and it's like those old-timey 3-D movies, where you had to put on the special glasses, and if you didn't there were these two pictures just a little offset, in different colors, and they sort of gave you a headache and they sort of made you motion sick."

"Always nice to hear that you induce nausea," she said.

"You need to give me time," he said again.

She rested her head in her hand. "What do you think I've been doing, Cisco?" she asked, and her voice wasn't the cool, detached, occasionally sarcastic voice she'd been using ever since she'd returned. It trembled, as if tears nibbled at the edges of her throat. "I've been giving you nothing but time."

He shook his head. "Not true. You've been giving me space, too. Way too much. It feels like you're on the moon even when you're two feet away." And I miss you.

"What else should I do, when you can't even stand for me to touch you?"

He remembered flinching away from her earlier, and bit his lip. "Not just physical space. You're doing that turtle thing you do. Closing yourself in. And I - " This was hard to admit. He had always been able to do this. “I don’t know how to coax you out again.”

"Are you sure you want to? Or is this just misplaced sentimentality for the person I used to be?"

"Cut me a fucking break," he said impatiently. "You've been busting your ass for this team. People have done worse to us than you did, and we still worked with them even when they didn’t so much as say sorry. We're tender-hearted idiots who believe in people. It's our thing."

"But you never trusted them. Not really."

"None of them were you. And Caitlin - even if we never talk anymore, even if I'm still struggling with reconciling the two pieces of you - listen to me. I'm not lyin' here." He looked her in the eyes. "I'd still rip down the gates of heaven for you."

Her eyes widened. She closed them and swallowed. He watched the swallow move down her throat, flexing the mysterious scar.

She opened her eyes again. "I want to believe you," she said. "But I'm not the person I used to be. That person was your friend, and I'm - "

"Different," he finished. "Yeah, I know. But we never signed an oath in blood that we'd stay exactly the same for the rest of our lives. That's not a condition of friendship. How much have I changed, just since we met? A lot, I bet."

She worried her bottom lip. God, how familiar was that little tic?

He wanted to see her, he realized with a jolt. The real her. Not his memories of Killer Frost or of old Caitlin. Both those women were gone. Maybe forever. And this woman here in front of him - she was who had come back. And he wanted to learn who she was.

"Come back in the lab," he said. "Hang out with me for a little while. We'll watch a movie or something, I don't know. Just let me get to know the person you are now, because I have a pretty good feeling I'll like her."

For a minute, he thought she was going to stay where she was, stuck in her chair, too far away. And he didn't know if he had the strength to drag her out the way he had so many times before. All those times, the chasm hadn't been between them. This time, it was.

Then - "Okay," she whispered. "Okay."

FINIS

[zephrbabe]

I guess I’ve always had a soft spot for Darcy being a BAMF SHIELD analyst/agent. I’m also partial to the occasional fic with the STRIKE guys when they’re still pre-Hydra-reveal where we can pretend we don’t know they’re actually neo-nazis. *sigh*

So this woke me up at 5:30am.

Debriefs normally went much better than this.

Normally she stood in front of the group of STRIKE agents seated around a horseshoe table in the conference room and went over the mission details. Normally they took notes and added comments, and it was such old hat that they could often finish in less than an hour.

But today Agent Rumlow just would not. Pay. Attention.

He was mission leader, Alpha Team Leader, and general STRIKE leader; she knew he knew how to be professional. Instead of his normal attitude- that of intimidating competence- today he was just being intimidating. He didn’t interject pertinent mission details or offer understated praise to his subordinates. He just sat coiled taut in his seat, flicking his pen over his knuckles like he’d rather be holding a knife. And he was staring at the back of her head with the intensity of a thousand burning suns, leaving her to direct Alpha Team’s frankly rambling mission account feeling like a bug under a microscope.

It didn’t help that the mission hadn’t been totally smooth. The team had gone in to shut down some kind of chemical warfare lab, only to find that Darcy’s intel wasn’t up-to-date. The placed had been cleared out; all the scientists gone, along with most of the equipment. There had been booby traps, which had mostly been deactivated instead of tripped. Agent Denisovitch had been sprayed with a mild corrosive, and was in medical. That was the sum total of casualties, which was far fewer than some STRIKE debriefs Darcy had had the displeasure of attending.

Darcy didn’t enjoy debriefs. She was pretty sure no one did. She was tired; they were all tired. Catching a couple of hours of sleep on a sofa in the Incident Room while the team were en-route back to base wasn’t her idea of well-rested. So when she fumbled the hard-copy mission images (thank you, cutting-edge spy company, for keeping the hell that is photocopiers in my life), and had to crouch down in the middle of Agent Yuan’s account to pick them up, Rumlow’s muttered, “Jesus” was the straw that pissed off the cat.

She rose from her crouch and whipped around, the photos clutched in her hands. Darcy would have been proud of her grace under anger if she hadn’t been feeling so self-conscious under Rumlow’s full glare. “What is your damage, Agent?” Darcy hissed.

Agent Yuan’s mouth audibly clicked shut in the taut silence of a room full of STRIKE agents on high alert.

Mortification was heating her face, but Darcy couldn’t stop herself now. She could feel all the perceived  professionalism drain away from her. And fucking Brock Rumlow (who names their kid Brock?! Do they want to end up with an asshole in the family?) just sat there, tension in his forearms and jaw, and said nothing while she lost her shit.

“Was there some aspect of my handling you think was lacking, Team Leader? Would you prefer it if I were a full field agent? Is the fact that I can’t crush a man’s skull with my thighs critical for mission support? Or maybe you found fault with my tech skills? I’m sure you could spare one of the A-Team to tinker with every new computer system you find, instead of me doing it remotely; I’m sure it’d only take them a few extra mission hours to get past any encryptions. Was that it? Maybe that’s not it; maybe you just object to my appearance or the quality of my photocopies. Perhaps you’d prefer to run this debrief yourself.” She was running out of righteous anger in the fraught silence of the debrief room, but refused to let him see it. “I repeat: What is your damage?” She loomed over him as best she could in her sensible flats and barked, “Speak.”

“I haven’t been able to think about anything but bending you over this table since the second you walked through the door.”

So that was what a dead silence sounded like.

No one seemed to breathe, least of all Darcy. Agent Rumlow clenched his jaw as though shutting his mouth more firmly could pull what he’d just said back into nonexistence.

Darcy recovered first, though she staggered back a step. She couldn’t- didn’t dare- look away from Rumlow’s face. What she’d brushed off as a stoic and closed-off expression of annoyance and disgust seemed to be, now that she was actually looking at him, a full-blown attack of lust. His dark eyes were fully dilated, and his mouth was shiny and pink where he’d been biting his lip, apparently behind her back.

“Rollins?” Darcy called softly, briefly frozen like a prey animal when they sense a predator. “Are you sure Denisovitch was the only one who tripped a chemical trap?”

Rollins cursed expressively in Farsi, which seemed to bring some animation back to the gathered STRIKE agents. “I’m sorry, Agent Lewis,” he rumbled ruefully. She could hear the slump in his shoulders. “He said it must’ve been a dud.”

Darcy felt like cursing, herself. Thor save me from macho military-types. The professional mien she’d briefly lost seemed to flow right back into place, and she straightened her shoulders. She didn’t turn her back to Rumlow, however. Mimicking the tone of voice Agent Hand used on everyone under Level 7, Darcy said, “Debrief will be in recess until 1400 hours. Get some rest. Dismissed.”

The awkward, near-silent shuffle of STRIKE Team Alpha leaving the conference room was significantly different than the way her mission debriefs usually ended. They’d left all their paperwork behind, too, she was sure, so she’d have to reserve the room until they could come back to finish the debrief in six hours.

She felt Rollins close at her side. Thank Thor- she didn’t want to be alone with Rumlow in an altered state, especially when he looked like he was holding himself as taut as a piano wire. “Agent Rollins, be so good as to escort Agent Rumlow to medical. I’ll alert the lab we may have a 725-c situation.”

“Sex pollen? Why not 725-a, truth serum?”

“Besides the dilated pupils, elevated breathing, and the fact that he hasn’t looked away from me in the last five minutes?” Darcy quipped, keeping up the eye contact with Rumlow even though she could feel her cheeks reddening. “I think the fact that he said he wants to fuck me on a table kind of gives it away.”

Rollins expelled a breath of air that might have been a laugh. “That’s exactly why I though it had to be truth serum.”

The heat of Darcy’s embarrassment turned instantly into a heat of another kind. She suddenly had the urge to press her thighs together for a little relief. Rumlow must have clued in somehow, because he jerked in his seat, leaning towards her and gripping the table.

Never let it be said that Darcy Lewis didn’t know when to be professional. She didn’t let this revelation about her nominal boss, or her reaction to it, bleed into her words when she crisply addressed Rumlow,

“We’ll let medical determine what exactly you were hit with. I’ll expect you when we resume at 1400.”

He stood carefully, in just the way he had that time he’d been thrown into a wall on a mission; he moved like he was ignoring significant pain, and only controlling his muscles with pure determination. There didn’t seem to be anything physically wrong with him; Darcy gave him a once-over to make sure, but her eyes snagged on the one small difference (ok, not small, not small; Jesus, Lewis, the man is having a medical emergency, stop gaping) to how he normally appeared.

She glanced up and, Thor damn it, he’d caught her looking. The way his lip curled was probably supposed to be a leer. He was too tense to really pull it off, and Darcy was a little amazed how good it looked on him anyway.

There was zero chance she was willing to attempt witty banter with either agent. She was tired, stressed, and now she was horny to boot. Darcy needed them gone, like, two minutes ago.

She figured a direct order had worked on him before; wouldn’t hurt to try one again: “Go to medical. Now.”

Brock turned to leave as soon as the words left her lips. He seemed to relax a tiny bit once he’d stopped staring at her.

Turning to Agent Rollins, she said, “I’ll call ahead, so they know what to expect.” Rollins’ craggy face seemed on the verge of a grin. Darcy refused to let this bizarre turnabout get to her, since she’d already blown up at someone today. She schooled her face into the neutral mask all the probies had literally practiced in front of mirrors the second week of training. “If it’s a 725-a, he’ll be able to return to debrief before it wears off. If it’s a 725-c, they’ll probably have an antidote ready, and he’ll be able to return to debrief as scheduled.”

Rollins shrugged and moved to follow his CO, who was already in the hall, partway to the elevators. And walking with a slight hobble, she noted.

“Agent Rollins?” He paused and cocked his head in her direction. Darcy steeled herself and modulated her tone into Coulson-level neutrality, “If it’s a 725-c and they don’t have an antidote on hand, please advise them that Agent Darcy Lewis is the volunteer contact.”

A brusque nod, and he was gone.

Everyone thought Brock Rumlow was scary. Everyone. Including Darcy. On top of that, she answered to Agent Rumlow on missions. She was the best tech for their team, and she’d earned the respect of everyone on STRIKE, including Rumlow’s. Telling Rollins that she was willing to hump the everloving daylights out of his boss in the name of medical health could potentially compromise her professional standing with the team.

Problem was, she was more than willing. Problem was, she’d seen how beautifully he’d reacted to those two measly orders she’d thrown out, and her imagination was running rampant with all the possibilities of a man that skilled and hardened and… and hard obeying her every lascivious whim. Problem was, knowing he was under the influence of a mystery compound didn’t dampen her interest in the slightest.

As she locked up the conference room and made for her quarters, Darcy found herself hoping that Brock Rumlow was in the grip of a 725-c with no known antidote, just so she could see exactly how unprofessional they could get.

[katzenkrieg]

“Your Armory Is Not Enough”

A nameless man wakes up and goes through his own pockets for clues.

He has a lot of pockets.

If you read my Disco Elysium fic, you've already read a version of this as written for a role-reversal AU version of Kim. But I wanted to steal the scene (can you steal your own material?) for my original universe, too. So here's another version.

Lem (POV character here) is transmasc. Because I’m writing for myself, so queer is just how it goes.

You can read this on AO3 here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31716535

The series so far is here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2328056

----------------------------------

You have no idea what’s beyond this room, but you know - you feel, deeply and inarguably - that it will disappoint you. Before you leave, you need to prepare yourself to face that.

And being prepared is something you seem to be very, very good at.

You were wearing most of your clothes when you came to, but you’ve collected the few pieces that you weren’t and gone through them meticulously, even to the point of feeling through the linings. Nothing sewn into those, but you did manage to locate twenty pockets, both concealed and obvious. Your boots have pockets; your belt has a pocket (and the fact you even considered looking for that one leaves you with hope you retain some memories - surely thinking to look there is something only residual memory could explain).

Every single pocket has something in it.

You examine everything you’ve retrieved, laid out carefully on the worn beige carpet in front of you.

Five hundred in cash. It’s all in bills, folded away tidily into small sets scattered throughout your clothing. Were you afraid of theft? Afraid of ever being without money? Did you anticipate that you might be incapacitated and in need at some point? (Have you been incapacitated like this before?)

A set of keys. One of them is to the door of this apartment; the others are a mystery, though one has a black plastic cover with what looks like a brand symbol imprinted into it. The keyfob is silver and worn black leather, a loop imprinted with "GP" in stylized letters, the P smaller than the G and skewed sharply forwards.

An unopened packet of tissues.

A small refillable cologne atomizer, full. The scent of cedar, with other, deeper notes you don't have the knowledge to identify. It’s a warm scent, masculine but not unctuous or overbearing. It's familiar, comforting. You hold one wrist at a time to your face, inhale. If you regularly wear this scent, it's worn off; there's no trace of it. You reapply it almost guiltily, as though someone might catch you imitating someone else's ritual.

A pair of latex gloves. Why do you have these? What do you do with your hands that you might need these at any time?

Three empty sandwich-size resealable bags. Again, practical, but why?

A small measuring tape.

A pocket sewing kit. Can you sew? You feel like you might be able to.

A pocket first aid kit.

An old all-metal lighter. Are you a smoker? You haven't found cigarettes in any of your pockets, but you have yet to do a truly thorough search of the apartment. Still, you wouldn't identify yourself as a smoker either by sight or sound. You certainly don’t have the voice.

A book of waterproof matches. Because the lighter, apparently, isn't enough.

A pair of earplugs. Do you work in a factory? Go to loud concerts regularly? Thinking about the latter gives you a small spike of reflexive pleasure; maybe that is something you do.

A tin of mints.

A packet of mixed nuts. (You've already opened them up and are working your way through them as you take inventory.)

A penlight.

A roll of black paracord. Seriously. Are you a prepper? Are you kinky?

A long slim folding knife. It’s sharp and well-maintained.

Two expensive refillable pens. A few chips in the finish, but also well-maintained. They’re either secondhand or you’ve had them for years. That kind of wear only builds up over time.

Two pen refill cartridges.

A small soft-covered waterproof journal, maddeningly blank.

Three multitool devices:

A flat card.

A set of paramedic-style shears with fold-out tools in the handles. (Maybe you’re a first responder of some sort? That might make sense of the intense preparedness.)

A small heavy knife with only slightly fewer tools than the shears.

This is it. This is you. This is what you valued enough - thought you needed enough - to carry with you at all times.

It doesn't tell you anything.

In fact, there's every chance what you're seeing isn't individual objects you value, but an overall image, your personal arsenal of transmasculinity. You may have lost your memory, but you haven't lost your essential sense of what's it like to take step after step towards yourself and struggle to make the world see you as you want to be seen, the novel, fragile joy of each small victory. These objects could be talismans, trappings of competence and self-mastery - everything laid out in front of you may be meant to help you in your struggle, in shoring up your self-image, in taking each step forward. (It may also be meant to fill all of those hard-won pockets.)

So there's that possible self-knowledge. At least. You suppose.

But there's nothing else. No name (unless - "GP" - are those initials?), no date of birth, no address (are you in your own, incredibly empty apartment or someone else's space?), no photographs of friends or family - or even pets. No phone numbers. (No phone.) No occupation. No hobbies. (Unless the illusion that you could take apart and reassemble just about anything held together with screws is a hobby. Or unless that paracord and those latex gloves point towards certain recreational activities.)

What are you going to--

The knock at the door breaks your thoughts. Has you scrambling to put everything away, stuff it all into whatever pockets are closest to hand. It takes you longer than you'd like, and by the time you're finished, the knock's already repeating itself.

You've got to get away. You don't know why, but you have to. Someone might see you - and you're not sure why that's such a terrible thing or who it is you're thinking of when you think 'someone' - it's not a generality, it's a specific set of people, the possibility of a number of someones - and you don't want that to happen.

You're on the ground floor. You haven't looked out any of the windows yet - they're covered by vinyl blinds and you haven't opened them - but a set of French doors leads *somewhere.* Just get out there, find somewhere else to be--

You open the doors.

And stop.

There's something wrong with the sky.

[alexamartin1992]

Cat Sprayed In The Face By A Skunk Surprising Cool Ideas

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Spraying Cat With Vinegar Water

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There was just something that may cause your feline the behaviors can help put an end to the point of view.Pet urine, cat spray areas of their defining physical features of the bad behavior and reward it.Germinating takes about 2 ins, and place a few more bucks on another microchip that will grip your home: It is depending on you to control the pet cat then realized how different they really were.There are some that are worse, most of the clawing process of removing the cat can kick out of the eyes and tail.If bleeding gums, dirty teeth, bad breath in your mind.

Of course you don't want them on your bed; one day it may attract your feline friend, then here are is a list of all that boredom causes:As such, most modern societies practice prevention to ensure that it feels like your problem, just multiplied a hundred times.Carpeted posts often encourage the cat food.Litter-kicking will not be left on the internet or by including an enzyme detergent.Cats are naturally curious and observant.

The best towels to increase the likelihood of successful treatment and minimize the stress of a cat:Most of the anti-fleas solution disappears with the box, because the box is chosen in an apartment or home centers.Use the similar and different impressions about how to use it as needed.If you're worried about your cat's health either.Set aside a lot don't tend to be given to them.

Tom Cat Spraying Repellent

For this step you could buy an indoors humidifier which can seriously disturb your pet misbehaves, the owner objects to scratch your funiture or walls is not as cheap as regular nail clippers are a variety of products.Cats don't like each other, attack each other at a foreclosed house will smell the urine and neutralize the aroma.There are two key factors involved in scratching behavior in cats.Keep food that is required so that it was their idea and it is easy as collecting a sample from your furniture.A brush with soft carpets and furniture, clothes and carpets.

If using flea collars, oral treatments, flea spray might be no different that introducing feline strangers.To stop your cats are given up to 1 year of age and temperament of your pet.This natural way will ease a lot of sprays on the railing of our misery.Most dogs and cats have a strong pine scent soon faded when it feels threatened, it feels like his territory every time you see your veterinarian.This will mean that urine smell can become a habit to clip your cat's urine contains this substance and the wrong.

[aurelliocheek]

A Year of Rain: The Last Reward

How to bring the environment to life.

When our team at Daedalic Entertainment were approached and asked on who wanted to write an article for Making Games magazine, I was not late to raise my hand in excitement. Even though I’ve never done anything like this, writing an essay for anything, to be honest. I opted to do it because I love challenges, and as a game developer, we face new challenges every day. So challenge accepted!

At the beginning of March 2019, I got the great chance to join the art team of A Year Of Rain. A skilled team which I’ve learned a lot from in the short amount of time I’ve been here. What does it mean to join a group so late in the production? Well for starters missing out on the pre-production state, meant that I needed to work efficiently and smarter to get the results before delivering our game.

How can we do that and at the same time keep a visual curiosity and fidelity all through the game? By using a technique called modularity.

Modularity in games is about the creation of an asset (or texture) that can be used repeatedly with itself or another modular asset.  If you take a look at the thumbnails I have provided for you, you may notice that a lot of the units share one or more things in common. Roots, flowers, mushrooms and stones, those are some of the pieces that bring fraction units together, creating the illusion that they originate from the same place.

There are, of course, pros and cons to this method of working. We already mentioned that it’s an excellent approach while also being very time efficient. Another massive advantage of working this way is to save memory, improve loading times and streamline the production. However, the downside to this workflow could be that it feels repetitive. That is one of the issues that many artists face when creating tileable textures and props that must be scattered all over the place. For example, one can consider vertex painting. It is a simple way to paint colour onto an object, by directly manipulating the vertices rather than the textures. This way, you can construct more complex scenes with the same piece by adding or removing details from it, making it look different from the same part that is next to it.

Vertex painting is also a convenient workflow to use when building the environment. For example, vertex painting can be used on the ground that the player walks on. It’s an excellent way to paint a tileable grass texture on an otherwise very dull stone road. This way, you get an incredible variation in the environment. I could list many more examples of how we could use vertex painting, but that would go beyond the scope of this article.

The assets in this picture have an unknown origin, but because of how our mind works, we understand that they are structures or buildings of some sort.

Developing Readable Shapes  Creating an RTS (real-time strategy) game is immensely challenging itself, and creat-ing assets for the genre is not an easy task. Our concept artists sketch many concepts which need to be distinct and clear from a top-down perspective. That means iterations upon iterations until the silhouettes are readable. One of the hardest challenges in working with an RTS game (or any game) is the need to simplify shapes to their essential core, because of the view being further away from the player. It is not a simple task. We have to remove as many details as possible from the asset while keeping it exciting and visually tasty. To do this, we explore several types of forms that adapt to the “Shape Language” already established by our art director. What does that mean? It means that every fraction and unit have a distinct look and just by playing, you will come to understand how each character fits their respective fraction. The shapes that we create has either elements, patterns or rhythm in them that chains them to each other.

Shape language and readability are the two key points we look at whenever we execute a concept in 3D. A strong shape language can help to push a character’s appeal and personality.

Stylised RTS “So you are doing another one of those cartooney RTS games”. Yes, and there’s an easy answer to why. Being a gamer myself, I can’t help but feel that most of the games played in the RTS genre use this type of art style. So what are we aiming for when using stylised art? One simple word. Exaggeration! We have the freedom to scale our characters almost to the same size as our buildings, without that it is looking wrong. We can do this so that our characters stick out more.

In my opinion, trying to achieve the same result with a more realistic art style would look a bit strange. One of the most significant advantages of going for a stylised look is that you can push your asset’s forms and colours to be more quirky and exciting. The second advantage is that you work only with primary and secondary shapes when doing a prop. The silhouette mostly stays the same with minor deviation. One thing that we do with our assets is to taper them in the lower part of the mesh. It gives the mesh an illusion of being more extensive at the top. The real challenge with doing stylised game art is conveying to the player that the assets and environment are using fewer details while emphasising the shape, colour and form.

A small peek of the Work in progress meshes taken in-game. We can suddenly see that there are huge differences in contrast and colours.

Forming and Sculpting the Concept  One of the essential parts, before we start doing any heavy 3D work, is to begin col-lecting references, for both stylised and realistic art. We use references together with concept art to know how assets are to be built. When we have enough references, we start by analysing our object. What are the characteristics of the asset? By pinpointing the required details, we can create them in 3D to mimic our asset at hand.

I’ve mentioned silhouette earlier in the text, but I can’t emphasise enough how important it is for readability. It is crucial for every asset, character or environment that we find a suitable shape. You must be able to recognise an object, even with objects that don’t have a specific background. Our team is always hard at work, trying to create new and visually satisfying shapes. We start by blocking out a silhouette in our 3D engine or sculpting software and throw it into our game engine to check its readability. The reason for this procedure is to iterate continuously, so the asset fits into the shape language of the game. When everything seems fine, we start to sculpt the asset to our liking, forming it and giving it details that can be appreciated in-game. Sculpting can be incredibly fun and yet is also very time-consuming; sometimes, we need to stop and ask ourselves if the features we are putting down are necessary or visible, and if not, we need to dial back on them. We often ask other artists to look over the iterated 3D asset, and this way, we can get constructive feedback and make the necessary changes. This procedure is not only crucial for your growth as an artist; it also ensures that the mesh fits with the overall look of the game. What I tend to do after I’ve gotten thumbs up with the sculpt that I have made, is decimating it and testing it in the game engine to see that everything is still readable.

The retopologize phase is to take our high-density mesh and build a cage around it, which captures the silhouette but have much lesser density.

Give Me Some Colours, Please We are moving on from sculpting to re-topologize and painting. Yes, the fun part! Retopologizing means taking a mesh with a high density of polygons and redefining the 3D mesh at a lower resolution. Just imagine a plane with 50×50 gridlines and picture the same plane as one big plane with four vertices (4 points). That makes the plane less noisy, visually speaking, but more importantly, it makes it more comfortable to paint on. A stylised object usually has fewer details but larger shapes, which can make it feel like it is easier to paint and create. However, working with unlit textures means a lot more work that will have to go into painting ambient lighting, colours, shadow and highlights. You can bake out maps to use as a guide before painting over your mesh. Three maps we tend to use for speeding up our workflow are ambient occlusion, curvature and sometimes a normal map. These are applied as an overlay or multiply layer in our painting software before we start to paint over it.

To make sure that everything turns out the way we wanted it and to save ourselves time and trouble, we start our textures with just some base colours. The flat coloured mesh is then imported into our game engine, to see if it fits the overall look and matches the rest of our game. We can make some minor changes to the colours in case something feels off. Finally, we start adding more contrasts and colours on our mesh, bringing it to life while continuing to test it in the game engine, so that the visual fidelity stays the same.

Shape language is important for all the assets that are being created. Here you can get a taste of two work in progress beasts that are created by one of our 3D artists, Denice Wagner.

Pieces of Advice Make sure to collect and figure out your references before starting. Collect as much information as you can. I usually collect pictures for primary, secondary and tertiary shapes. When sculpting, I begin with the most significant form and work myself down to the smaller details. Collect references for textures, sculpts, colours, shapes and structure.

Breakdown of your assets, character, environment and your textures. Make sure you understand what you are seeing relative to how things are constructed in real life. Knowing the context and background of your objects will most definitely save much time during the creative process.

Blockout your shapes before going into detail. Figure out if there’s a possibility to be more modular with your workflow. Get your most prominent forms down on the canvas, maybe even adding a black material to it to see if the silhouette is readable and engaging. Make the changes that are needed and keep on iterating until you and/or the team are satisfied.

Import it into a game engine. Does it fit into your environment? If it does, move on, and if not, take it back to the drawing board.

Iterate. Don’t be afraid to iterate on your mesh and diverge from your concepts. Sometimes it is necessary that we have to do small changes to make it more fitting to the game’s world and lore. It can be as little as just a change of colour or as radical as scaling down the head of a character while scaling up the eyes.

When sculpting, Wisam always start with the big shapes, to find the most important landmarks of the structure before moving on and adding details.

Use constructive critique/feedback to your advantage. A constructive critique will make you grow as an artist, and it will help you to understand what you can improve and prevent mistakes in the future. If you are working with an environment for a game or just a portfolio piece, I would recommend joining an artist forum and ask for C&C (comment and criticism).

Give constructive critic! If you can help a fellow artist in need, give a helping hand. Many artists can get stuck in bad habits, I for one can work on details for hours, Luckily I have an Art Director that pinpoints that (often), and then I move on.

Challenge yourself. To grow as an artist, we need to challenge ourselves every day. Sometimes we need to do things we’ve never done before to improve, even if it is just by a little bit. Here at Daedalic Entertainment, we challenged ourselves by creating a game in a genre; we haven’t done before.

Have fun. I can understand that working with the same mesh or environment for days or weeks can be tedious and feel like you are not progressing. However, those are the moments where you are growing the most. Working on the same asset for an extended period can drain your energy, and a lot of artists have a massive list of unfinished game projects. However, pushing through at that time is when you will learn the most.

Believe in your ability to perform. Nothing comes easy in this business, but believing in your knowledge of thriving can push you beyond your limits. An artist never stops learning; we learn new skills every day. If we limit us to doing the same thing, every day, we will get the same results every time.

The 3D artists are working closely with the art team to carry out the aesthetic vision for the game.

Finalising We made all the assets, characters and environment. Now we start putting every-thing together. At last, our world starts to live and breathe. Here is where the final-ising of our game starts. The small fixes, like colour correction, scaling and even set dressing. Polish the visuals of the game to the point where everything falls in place like Tetris parts.

So everything feels like they derive from the same world and lore. Finally, our last reward is seeing our creation come to life.

I want to thank Making Games for the opportunity to write this article, but also a huge standing ovation for the art team at Daedalic Entertainment who’s been working very hard and doing their best at creating the art for A Year Of Rain.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article.

I will leave you with this great core message I found on the internet “The art is the preliminary vision of the final product. It has to support the project narrative at all times. More importantly, art is the language you use to communicate those ideas that will determine the final product”.

Wisam Petros Odish Environment and Prop Artist

Wisam is an environment and prop artist with the responsibility to bring the undead fraction in A Year Of Rain to life. Before getting an excellent opportunity of joining Daedalic Entertainment, Wisam worked as a freelance 3D artist for smaller game companies, creating props and environments for mobile games. Daedalic Entertainment is his first massive experience in the game industry.

The post A Year of Rain: The Last Reward appeared first on Making Games.

A Year of Rain: The Last Reward published first on https://leolarsonblog.tumblr.com/

[completeautoloans]

How to Plug a Car Tire (The Easy Newbie Guide)

Have you just noticed a slow leak in your car tire but can’t fix it because you don’t have a spare in your trunk? Perhaps you noticed this problem while driving to an important business meeting and you can’t risk getting late by driving to a tire shop for a replacement. However, if you know how to plug a tire, you’ll arrive safely and on time.

How long does it take to plug a tire? It will take you approximately 10 minutes if this is your first time. So, sit tight and learn how to plug car tires like a pro!

For other great tips see:

How to Fix a Flat Tire (Even If You’re a Newbie)

How to Fix a Broken Car Window

1. Three important questions about plugging tires

1. Is it safe to plug a car tire?

Yes, it is because it prevents slow leaks from turning into flat tires. A slow leak is dangerous because it brings about instability. A car with uneven wheels has a high chance of tipping over when negotiating sharp corners because the bad tire causes uneven weight distribution.

A slow leaking tire forces your car to use up more fuel when carrying weight in your trunk. Why? Because the irregular shaped tire requires more energy to rotate compared to a good one. Adding weight puts more strain on your bad wheel.

When should you plug a tire? If the car tire is new or covered less than 50,000 miles. Avoid plugging car tires with holes larger than a quarter inch in diameter. In addition, tires that already have plugs need replacements.

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2. Is it better to plug or patch a car tire?

Tire plugs only provide temporary relief. You’ll still need to get a new tire once you receive your paycheck. Plugging cannot address problems affecting the inner walls. Such as a higher rate of wear and tear on the inner part due to friction between the tire’s walls and rims.

It’s wrong to plug a hole that’s on or very close to the tire’s side walls. The constant expansion during tire rotation will force out your tire plug. If it goes unchecked, this hole turns into splits. It’s also unsafe to plug a bald car tire because wear and tear make the tire very thin. You need a thick tire to secure your plug firmly.

Tip: Is Your Credit Score Affecting Insurance Rates?

What is patching? It’s a process of repairing holes and slow leaks on car tires using pieces of rubber smeared with special adhesives. Patching is better than plugging because it helps you to spot any internal damages to your car tire. Unlike plugging which is external, patching a tire requires you to remove the rim to assess and fix damages.

3. How long can you drive on a plugged tire?

A plug is just a temporary fix to get you to the tire shop. That’s why a police officer will want to know when you’ll get a tire replacement. A good plug will help you cover at least 2,000 miles. However, this varies with the age of your tire. A new car tire will cover more than 3,000 miles.

Tip: Simple Tips to Help You Save Money on a Road Trip

If you’re driving in an area that’s hot and dry, you should cover fewer miles because the high temperatures make the tire expand a lot. This heats up the adhesive holding your plug together and leads to further expansion.

Tip:

New or Used: Which Car is Right for Me?

Short Term or Long Term Loan When Buying a Car

Should I Finance a Car or Pay Cash?

Common Auto Loan Eligibility Requirements

2. 5 Steps to plugging a car tire

1. Remove the bad tire

Find a safe area to park your car. If it’s on the road, pull over and switch on your hazard lights

Place your hazard signs in front and behind your car. Especially at night to enhance your visibility

Brace the good wheels with rocks or wheel wedges

Use a car jack and jack stands to raise and support your car while you remove the tire.

2. Remove the foreign object

Wear a pair of work gloves. You need protection against sharp objects or wires sticking out of the tire.

You might need a friend to hold your flashlight while you closely inspect the tire for piercing objects

Gently rotate the tire while inspecting the threads and spaces in between. Use your fingers to feel for any protruding objects.

Remove item with a pair of pincers or pliers.

3. Check whether the damage requires a plug

Car tires that are bald need replacements because a plug won’t solve internal wearing.

If the car tire has trouble with the valve stem then you need a new tire.

If the car has unusual swellings, plugging might not work because the tube already has serious problems.

A tire that has a diagonal cut requires patching since the plug will only widen the puncture.

4. Get a tire plug kit

This kit contains a tire plug and tools used to fit this plug into your punctured tire.

It contains a plug made from leather sandwiched between unvulcanized rubbers. You need scissors to cut it into strips.

It has a corkscrew that helps you to push your plug inside the car tire.

You’ll find tire plug kits at your nearest auto mechanic shops ranging from $30-$50.

5. How to use a tire plug kit

Use the provided corkscrew to make the hole more circular by inserting and turning it in a clockwise direction. Makes sure your tire is completely dry. Use moderate force to avoid tearing nearby treads. Take out the plug material in your kit and straighten it using a pair of pincers. Do this by pressing the plug at least three times. This makes it easier to insert into the puncture.

Apply the adhesive provided in your kit all over the tire plug. Before doing this, your tire plug should be dry. It’s advisable to wear a pair of latex gloves to help you smear the adhesive evenly. Put the plug on your corkscrew’s tip then push it down the hole in your tire. Keep a firm hand on your tire to maintain stability while inserting your plug. A shaky grip might cause you to accidentally tear the treads.

Once the plug is inside, pull out the corkscrew fast. This prevents your plug from sticking with the corkscrew.

3. How to plug a tire without a plug kit

1. What tools do I need?

An old tire

A pair of work gloves

A sharp pair of heavy-duty scissors

A pair of pliers

A set of screwdrivers

Air compressor

Gorilla Glue

2. Spot the piercing object

Wear the protective gloves to feel for any nails or screws protruding from your tire. Do this in a well-lit area because the nail head might have snapped making it less visible. Use your fingers to feel the spaces between tire treads if you have new tires. Check the area near your tire for any broken nail heads or scattered nails.

When you find the object, rotate the tire so that you can pull out the object easily. Use the pair of pliers to gently pull out the nail or screw. If it’s deep inside, use a flathead screwdriver to pry it out. You might need an extra pair of hands to hold down the tire for extra support.

3. Improvise a tire plug

Take your pair of heavy-duty scissors and cut small strips of rubber from the old tire. The strips should be thin enough to fit inside the tire puncture but have enough thickness to retain stability during motion. Cut the strips from parts that are still intact. Avoid cutting tire strips with exposed wires, bumps, or patches. Then, smear a little glue on both sides to ensure it sticks firmly inside the puncture.

from Complete Auto Loans https://ift.tt/2OgnQc6 via IFTTT

[joe-verwatch]

Memoirs of a Mercy Main

CHAPTER 3: TEAM CHAT

“It's nice to be appreciated.”

Overwatch is a game about balance. It is about composing a team of characters that play to each other’s strengths and to the weaknesses of the opposing team. Any shortage of healers, resilient tanks, or damage dealers can spell doom. Every member of the team matters.

That was Blizzard's goal, anyway. Truth be told, there have been plenty of times one character was enough to carry the team. At the end of every match a series of score cards comprised of members of one or both teams pops up with a few of the best player's greatest achievements. Players from both teams then get to vote anonymously on who they believe was the most valuable player. It doesn't affect gameplay in any way, but it's nice to be appreciated.

Needless to say, with Mercy arguably being the most efficient healer in the game at the time, her card is almost always up on the board at lower tiers. Unfortunately, her efforts are often overlooked.

It's understandable. Overwatch has more in common with Blizzard's absurdly popular World of Warcraft games than Call of Duty. Every character has a role to play, and victory isn't always won by scoring eliminations alone. On the surface though, it's still a first person shooter, and FPS games are about violence. Therefore, whomever deals the most death is typically the one who gets the recognition, even though there was usually someone behind them keeping them alive.

(You're welcome.)

It shouldn't have gotten to me. Objectively, we usually won. Winning means experience. Experience means loot. Loot is its own reward. However, it continued to nag at me. I may not have been racking up kills, but that didn't mean I wasn't busting my butt. I could ride a payload as Bastion from dawn 'til dusk and everyone cheers. I incessantly fly across the battlefield, ensuring that my team mates are alive and well, and literally allowing them to play the game: nothing. It was disheartening.

I contemplated what was wrong with me while I did the dishes. I didn't play Mercy for glory. I played Mercy because I cared about my team. I thought more about it as I vacuumed. All I wanted was for my team to win, and we were winning. What else did I need? I did laundry, dusted, bought groceries, took out the garbage. It was selfish to seek recognition for doing something selfless. Arrogant even.

My wife came home and I made us dinner. We ate next to each other on the couch as she took her turn with the game. Uprising wasn't her thing. For that matter, neither was quick play. She was a master Sombra in Capture the Flag though. Victories in a minute flat or your money back. She'd play for a bit, we'd get ready for bed, and then we'd say goodnight. The next day our routines started over. I took care of the house. She took care of business. Those were our roles. We'd originally intended to split up house duties, but I quickly took over. My wife would offer to help on occasion, but it would either slip her mind or else I assumed it would slip her mind and do it anyway. She worked all day, so she deserved a chance to sit and rest. Not to say I didn't. It was just that if I could afford to help her why wouldn't I? I would much rather prioritize her needs over mine anyway. That was all I was good for. Sure, there were times help would have been appreciated. Maybe a thank you. It would have been nice to have some sort of recognition for the work I put in. Some sort of validation to let me know that I was okay. That I was doing something right. That she cared. That I mattered.

It took about two weeks for the irony to dawn on me.

We still had a couple cheap headsets from back when my wife and I played Red Dead Redemption and GTA Online together from our respective houses. I decided to plug one in as an experiment. It was a risk. I didn't know what the online community was like in Overwatch. I'd never listened in on chat before. I assumed that it wouldn't be any different from any other game, or forum, or High School cafeteria and that I would get singled out and bullied immediately. But, as my hero Laguna Loire from Final Fantasy VIII once said, “We won't know until we try. And those who never try will never know!”

I was immediately up-voted after my first game. I didn't ask for it, but I was communicating throughout the match. I directed my team when necessary, called out the directions enemies were coming from (something that's very easy for Mercy to do since she's not constantly focused down the site of her gun), and generally amused people with my panicked G-rated swearing. Before, my team didn't know the effort I was putting in because they weren't watching me running around the stage flapping my arms the whole time. Once they did they showed their appreciation. I felt validated. I even made some new friends.

I decided to plug my headset into the console that was my life and received similar results. My wife and I talked about how I was feeling. In return she told me about how she was feeling. We managed to reach a mutual understanding and agreed to be excellent to each other the way the great heroes, Bill and Ted, would have wanted. Not all of our problems had been solved in that first talk. It took constant vigilance to maintain our relationship, and will continue to for the rest of our lives. But it's worth it. We're closer now than we've ever been. All it took was a little communication.

In one of my last Uprising games before the event concluded, I had an interesting match. As my confidence with Mercy grew I began branching out towards other heroes. I was one game away from unlocking an item that came from beating Uprising with all four characters. All I needed was a win with Reinhardt.

There was a kid on my team who was also on mic, and he, much to his displeasure, and gotten stuck on Mercy duty. He apologized in advance, explaining that he didn't play support, but I tried to encourage him. As we marched into battle I gave him a brief rundown of Mercy's abilities and when to use them. Using the heads up display in the top left corner (that really should be implemented in quick play) I was able to let him know which of our team mates were in need of his immediate assistance and he voiced his appreciation as he admitted it was a little hard to focus on where everyone was. At one point he commented on his disappointment in regards to getting fewer kills than everyone else, to which I replied, “Don't worry about it. Your job is more important. They're only able to get kills because you're keeping them alive. So, really, every kill they get is yours.” It seemed to put him at ease. At the end of the game I gave him my vote. He said that he never realized how hard it was playing support.

Validation at last. If only I had applied my lesson to real life sooner. First - Previous - Next

[mysticwxllow-blog]

barefoot pink moscato

Barefoot SKINNERS We all know how we sense after using footwear to get the best area of the working day; achy, throbbing, painful are a few that put into my thoughts. We spend our times strolling on flat and difficult surfaces inside of and pounding on concrete and tarmac outside the house. We wear footwear to shield our own selves from resulting in ourselves critical injuries, but wearing tight sickly-fitting boots quit our ft . from functioning properly. Perhaps you have taken your footwear off after having a extended day and merely sat back again for a moment and went Aaaah. A wonderful sensing when you are able feel the feet once again, clear of those small, challenging, pointy shoes or boots. It can feel very good to be able to wiggle your feet and only to be able to truly feel everything close to you again. Picture sensation such as that on a regular basis. Would you take off your footwear when you enter your house? Many people have you get rid of your footwear when getting into their property and for a few people it is actually a societal tradition. If you live in apartments then your additionally area is you will possess happy those who are living listed below you. If you are in your house you wish to be comfy, you wouldn't chill out in your house with the work outfits on along with your higher heeled boot styles then why not get without footwear and savor your time and effort both at home and loosen up effectively. There has been lots of investigation about the advantages of walking without shoes. Lots of us walk barefoot inside our houses. It presents our toes the chance to inhale and exhale. Professionals state that walking or operating barefoot builds up muscle groups from the hips, hip and legs, calves, upper thighs and ft, leading them to be more powerful. These are body parts which can be constrained in shoes or boots. It will likewise improve and stretch out your calf muscle tissue consequently which will improve how you will walk or operate and you will definitely have greater harmony on account of having even more of your foot on a lawn while without shoes. Wearing higher-shoes is most likely the source of back pain but wandering without shoes can relieve this also as the weight is similarly dispersed through the entire thighs therefore much less strain on your back. However if you suffer from particular severe health problems like poor flow then its essential you wear footwear. Spend some time and picture running around barefoot outdoors in the backyard about the grass once you had been a child, or experiencing damp yellow sand involving the feet while wandering alongside a beachfront on a break. There's little that may defeat that feeling. Choosing a shoeless look isn't up against the law possibly, you may go shopping, eat at restaurants as well as push without shoes in the event you so wished to. Shelling out some time without shoes is a good means of permitting them to recover. Strolling barefoot fortifies your toes and your feet; it will also help protect against any deformities in the toes from establishing. After some time you may have more joyful more healthy feet and when you have satisfied toes you may sense more relaxed. Should you be thinking about giving wandering without shoes outdoors a go, it is going without the need of saying that wandering or running exactly where there might be prospective risks including glass, rocks or other distinct objects is a major no no. For starters you need to go for a five second stroll per day to become accustomed to the numerous surfaces as well as ready your ft for the fantastic outdoors. This will likely strengthen your lower-leg and ft . muscles that are not used on a regular basis and harden your skin layer on the bottom of your respective foot. Over the months start to slowly and gradually increase the time you walk or run without shoes, take a stroll inside the park your car or nip for the part store. You won't have to worry about controlling or running with your higher-heels. So long as you utilize your common sense and remain free from jogging barefoot in places where you can be wounded, this could turn into a pleasurable experience for yourself and advantage your state of health simultaneously. It is just one of those things you can do very little or around you like, everything depends upon how comfy you really feel. Summertime is a good time and energy to start this but don't overlook to use sun screen lotion on top of and the foot of your toes to guard them through the direct sun light. Walking without footwear in summer season is an excellent means of retaining the feet great too. Wandering without shoes on natural types of surface including lawn can be very helpful if completed on a regular basis. A few of the rewards are; Wandering without footwear helps to protect against foot deformities It may help with flow difficulties by going around bloodstream through the entire body effectively Wandering without footwear outside can help you unwind and feel more rejuvenated and fewer worn out Wandering without shoes is a superb fix for level ft, in some cases it can help get over this concern Strolling without shoes presents your feet a good restorative massage result It strengthens foot and toes It cools down ft . in summertime It becomes you even closer to mother nature therefore invigorates your mind and body and helps simplicity stress and pressure in the day Increases your power amounts Jogging barefoot aids push blood straight back to the heart which happens to be valuable for those who have problems with varicose blood vessels Much less aches and pains brought on by wearing shoes It strengthens muscle tissues leading to greater overall flexibility and reduces accidents It is important to be sure you scrub your toes soon after wandering without footwear exterior to get rid of bacterias and walk where it can be harmless. You can find health threats from strolling barefoot and using boots can safeguard from reductions, bruises and sharp things on the floor. But putting on shoes or boots can reduce the range of motion of your own ft. One-fifth of the world's population never wears footwear by any means. We need to no less than try to move without footwear around the house whenever possible. Your shoes will last longer when you commence to put them on less and also getting a good massage free of charge when taking a go walking without footwear about the lawn. What do you have to get rid of? Your toes need to be within their all-natural condition to keep in working order and jogging without shoes ensures such a thing happens. You ought to be without footwear a minimum of 12 hrs or higher per day everyday. Kick away your boots whenever possible. Some individuals believe it is unhygienic to wonder around in uncovered feet. Your feet will receive filthy if you move exterior however you can clean your toes nearly as much as you clean both hands, there's nothing wrong using that. Within just truth, shoes can be dirtier than going without shoes. As soon as your ft . perspiration, the moisture is held in the shoes which offer a moist and dark setting for fungi to cultivate and as we don't scrub our footwear usually, can you visualize all of the germs dwelling within them?

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barefoot pink moscato

Barefoot SKINNERS We all know how we sense after using footwear to get the best area of the working day; achy, throbbing, painful are a few that put into my thoughts. We spend our times strolling on flat and difficult surfaces inside of and pounding on concrete and tarmac outside the house. We wear footwear to shield our own selves from resulting in ourselves critical injuries, but wearing tight sickly-fitting boots quit our ft . from functioning properly. Perhaps you have taken your footwear off after having a extended day and merely sat back again for a moment and went Aaaah. A wonderful sensing when you are able feel the feet once again, clear of those small, challenging, pointy shoes or boots. It can feel very good to be able to wiggle your feet and only to be able to truly feel everything close to you again. Picture sensation such as that on a regular basis. Would you take off your footwear when you enter your house? Many people have you get rid of your footwear when getting into their property and for a few people it is actually a societal tradition. If you live in apartments then your additionally area is you will possess happy those who are living listed below you. If you are in your house you wish to be comfy, you wouldn't chill out in your house with the work outfits on along with your higher heeled boot styles then why not get without footwear and savor your time and effort both at home and loosen up effectively. There has been lots of investigation about the advantages of walking without shoes. Lots of us walk barefoot inside our houses. It presents our toes the chance to inhale and exhale. Professionals state that walking or operating barefoot builds up muscle groups from the hips, hip and legs, calves, upper thighs and ft, leading them to be more powerful. These are body parts which can be constrained in shoes or boots. It will likewise improve and stretch out your calf muscle tissue consequently which will improve how you will walk or operate and you will definitely have greater harmony on account of having even more of your foot on a lawn while without shoes. Wearing higher-shoes is most likely the source of back pain but wandering without shoes can relieve this also as the weight is similarly dispersed through the entire thighs therefore much less strain on your back. However if you suffer from particular severe health problems like poor flow then its essential you wear footwear. Spend some time and picture running around barefoot outdoors in the backyard about the grass once you had been a child, or experiencing damp yellow sand involving the feet while wandering alongside a beachfront on a break. There's little that may defeat that feeling. Choosing a shoeless look isn't up against the law possibly, you may go shopping, eat at restaurants as well as push without shoes in the event you so wished to. Shelling out some time without shoes is a good means of permitting them to recover. Strolling barefoot fortifies your toes and your feet; it will also help protect against any deformities in the toes from establishing. After some time you may have more joyful more healthy feet and when you have satisfied toes you may sense more relaxed. Should you be thinking about giving wandering without shoes outdoors a go, it is going without the need of saying that wandering or running exactly where there might be prospective risks including glass, rocks or other distinct objects is a major no no. For starters you need to go for a five second stroll per day to become accustomed to the numerous surfaces as well as ready your ft for the fantastic outdoors. This will likely strengthen your lower-leg and ft . muscles that are not used on a regular basis and harden your skin layer on the bottom of your respective foot. Over the months start to slowly and gradually increase the time you walk or run without shoes, take a stroll inside the park your car or nip for the part store. You won't have to worry about controlling or running with your higher-heels. So long as you utilize your common sense and remain free from jogging barefoot in places where you can be wounded, this could turn into a pleasurable experience for yourself and advantage your state of health simultaneously. It is just one of those things you can do very little or around you like, everything depends upon how comfy you really feel. Summertime is a good time and energy to start this but don't overlook to use sun screen lotion on top of and the foot of your toes to guard them through the direct sun light. Walking without footwear in summer season is an excellent means of retaining the feet great too. Wandering without shoes on natural types of surface including lawn can be very helpful if completed on a regular basis. A few of the rewards are; Wandering without footwear helps to protect against foot deformities It may help with flow difficulties by going around bloodstream through the entire body effectively Wandering without footwear outside can help you unwind and feel more rejuvenated and fewer worn out Wandering without shoes is a superb fix for level ft, in some cases it can help get over this concern Strolling without shoes presents your feet a good restorative massage result It strengthens foot and toes It cools down ft . in summertime It becomes you even closer to mother nature therefore invigorates your mind and body and helps simplicity stress and pressure in the day Increases your power amounts Jogging barefoot aids push blood straight back to the heart which happens to be valuable for those who have problems with varicose blood vessels Much less aches and pains brought on by wearing shoes It strengthens muscle tissues leading to greater overall flexibility and reduces accidents It is important to be sure you scrub your toes soon after wandering without footwear exterior to get rid of bacterias and walk where it can be harmless. You can find health threats from strolling barefoot and using boots can safeguard from reductions, bruises and sharp things on the floor. But putting on shoes or boots can reduce the range of motion of your own ft. One-fifth of the world's population never wears footwear by any means. We need to no less than try to move without footwear around the house whenever possible. Your shoes will last longer when you commence to put them on less and also getting a good massage free of charge when taking a go walking without footwear about the lawn. What do you have to get rid of? Your toes need to be within their all-natural condition to keep in working order and jogging without shoes ensures such a thing happens. You ought to be without footwear a minimum of 12 hrs or higher per day everyday. Kick away your boots whenever possible. Some individuals believe it is unhygienic to wonder around in uncovered feet. Your feet will receive filthy if you move exterior however you can clean your toes nearly as much as you clean both hands, there's nothing wrong using that. Within just truth, shoes can be dirtier than going without shoes. As soon as your ft . perspiration, the moisture is held in the shoes which offer a moist and dark setting for fungi to cultivate and as we don't scrub our footwear usually, can you visualize all of the germs dwelling within them?