#apparently kai is only like 16 here

[scoutartzz]

fun fact i grew up watching ninjago (jay is my fav btw)

[zuko-always-lies]

Analyzing Zuko's Character in the Preproduction Avatar bible [Or how they transferred some key characteristics from him to Azula]

So, for those who haven't heard, the preproduction series bible for ATLA has been leaked. It's a very interesting document. We shouldn't take it as the "original" form of ATLA, since the bible itself is the result of years of brainstorming and revisions, but it does provide some interesting information on how the creators imagined the series as they approached production. In particular, there's some interesting information on Zuko.

Zuko is an incredibly focused, teenage Firebender who bullies and intimidates everyone around him. He is obsessed by only one desire – to capture the Avatar.

As much as the ATLA fandom ignores it, this is essentially consistent with how Zuko's character was written, especially in Books 1 and 2. Take note of the mention of intimidation.

Prince Zuko is the oldest son of Fire Lord Ozai, ruler of the Fire Nation, and the greatgrandson of Fire Lord Sozin, who conceived the war. He is the rightful heir to the Fire Lord’s throne, but when Prince Zuko is 14, he speaks out against his father and the Fire Nation’s conquest. To teach his insubordinate son a lesson, Fire Lord Ozai forces his son to fight him in an Agni-Kai – a traditional Firebender duel. The Fire Lord makes an example of his son in front of his royal army and leaves him with a prominent burn scar across his face. The message is clear. Regardless of bloodline, anyone who opposes the Fire Lord’s power will meet a terrible fate.

Not content with physical punishment, Fire Lord Ozai strips the Prince of his birthright to the throne and banishes him from his homeland. His father tells Zuko the only way he will allow him to return is with the Avatar, dead or alive. The next morning, accompanied by a small royal escort, Prince Zuko sails away on an old ironclad ship. For three distraught years, he travels the world in pursuit of a hopeless goal. But Zuko’s life changes when he learns of the Avatar’s miraculous survival. He vows to capture the Avatar, even if he dies trying, in order to restore his honor.

There's some interesting differences here, but most of this has already been known, such about 1/4th of the series bible was leaked in 2009. What I want to focus on is two things. First Zuko was exiled at 14 in the bible and is now 17, as opposed to being 13 and 16 respectively in the series. It's not clear if this is a deliberate or incidental change.

Second, Zuko's crew is classified as "small royal escort" here, presumably paid by and in the service of the throne.

Zuko’s relationship with his father is complicated. Zuko simultaneously hates him and longs for his approval. Like the Fire Lord, Zuko demands obedience from his servants. Though Zuko denies any similarities to his father, he is not above dropping Fire Lord Ozai’s name to get out of trouble. Periodically, Zuko honors his father with battlefield trophies like enslaved Earth Kingdom soldiers and the head of a giant sea monster. But Fire Lord Ozai rejects Zuko’s offerings as mere trinkets. Zuko also constructs great metal statues in his father’s likeness, but this only infuriates Ozai more. The Fire Lord accuses Zuko of wasting valuable metal and manpower normally reserved for shipbuilding.

Oh boy, there's so much here. Zuko constructing metal statues of Ozai and Ozai hating it is such an interesting touch. To some degree, this trait seems transferred to Azula, in a weird way. In Omashu, the Fire Nation was constructing a giant metal statue of Ozai, although they began long before Azula arrived, and she renamed the city "New Ozai" in an apparent effort to curry favor with him.

The "giving gifts" thing is also something you can see a hint of in the series at the very beginning, when Zuko says Aang's staff will be a good gift to Ozai, but Zuko takes it much further here, going so far as to enslave people and send them to dad.

Finally, Zuko name dropping Ozai to "get out of trouble" would be interesting. It doesn't really work in the dynamics of the series, because Zhao is the person Zuko gets in trouble with and name dropping Ozai wouldn't work on him, since he knows how little Ozai cares for Zuko. That might be why it was dropped.

Demanding obedience from servants is not at all inconsistent with Zuko's character in canon, but they didn't really emphasize it. Instead, they kind of made it one of Azula's traits.

Zuko is especially sensitive about his appearance. His scar is a constant reminder of his father’s scorn and he’s secretive about the nature of its origin. The more people know about his banishment, the less they’ll fear him and do what he wants. Zuko’s servants know not to stare at his scar too long or they might get one of their own.

We can kind of see the origin of Zuko's crew not knowing the story of the Agni Kai here. Far more interesting is that emphasis that Zuko deliberately rules through fear(which is also mentioned in a sperately section on Zuko's relationship with the Gaang). Ruling through fear is entirely consistent with how he was written in canon, particularly in Book 1 (see "The Storm," for instance), but they didn't really put a lot of focus on it. In Book 2, they kind of "transferred" the trait to Azula and put a lot of more emphasis, and by Book 3, the fact that Azula ruled through fear had become a sign of her mental illness, psychological derangement, and "mommy issues." Something which started out as a core characteristic of their male deuteragonist became a sign of "craziness" when transferred to his sister, a girl.

Also, "Zuko is volatile, prone to violence, and a threat to the people around him" is consistent with how canon Zuko was written as a character, but again they didn't make a huge deal out of it. It's not necessarily consistent with how Azula was written (she's more calm, empty threats than anything else), but that didn't stop the fandom from applying the trait to her.

Each day, Zuko studies Firebending with his Uncle, the Fire Lord’s brother. Zuko is a powerful Firebender for his age and he’s eager to develop his skills. But Zuko doesn’t know that Uncle is under strict orders from the Fire Lord to teach his son incorrect Firebending. It’s the Fire Lord’s insurance that his son’s powers will never surpass his own.

Zuko’s greatest weaknesses are his arrogance and impatience. He believes Firebending is the most dominant art and can never be bested by Water, Earth, or Airbending. When defeated by an opposing bender, Zuko blames his henchmen or Uncle, never himself. Zuko’s teenage overconfidence makes him believe he’s invincible. Zuko charges into conflict impulsively and without precaution. Over the course of time, Zuko realizes power is not in the bending, but in the person who uses it.

Again, most of this stuff was already basically known, including Iroh being evil. The interesting thing is in the last line, since I'm not sure it's something Zuko ever really learned in canon.

There is also an entire another section on Zuko's relationships with the Gaang, which I won't get into in this post, along with a synopsis of the entire series, which depicts Zuko as having a significantly different arc than canon. The last part was already known, due to the leak in 2009.

[russellbby]

Sometimes you just need your brother || Pt.2

Summary: After finding comfort in her brother’s place, it just seems too good to be true when her father knocks the door….

Makayla Verstappen (OC) x f1 grid

Part 1 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Makayla had fallen asleep with her head rested on Max’s chest. Max didn’t notice until he looked down and seen his little sister asleep.

The 3 other drivers were still at his apartment, Kelly and Penelope were due to come back any moment and that’s when Daniel, Charles and Lando would leave.

“I can’t believe he actually kicked her out.” Max said as the 3 of them looked up at him. “It’s awful, I really don’t understand him” Daniel said.

“She’s only 16 like,” Lando added. “Does he know she’s here?” Charles asked. “Probably, she can only go either me or Vic” Max told him.“You think he’s going to try and take her back?” Lando asked.

“I’m not letting him, I know how he’s been treating her and I’m not letting her go through that anymore” Max added as the door opened.

“Maxie!” Penelope exclaimed as she made her way towards him but stopped when she noticed Makayla there. “What’s KayKay doing here?” Penelope asked.

“I’ll tell you everything later okay? Just keep the noise down as she’s asleep” Max said as she nodded before running back to Kelly.

“We better be going, message any of us Max to update us. Remember we are here to help, Mack is like a sister to us as well” Daniel said.

Max moved his sister‘s head in his chest and onto a pillow before he walked to the door with his 3 fellow drivers. “Thanks guys, means a lot” Max said before bidding goodbye to them.

“Is she okay?” Kelly asked referring to Makayla. “Dad kicked her out, she used all her savings to get a flight over here” Max said. “He kicked her out? Who would that?!” Kelly replied.

“Him apparently, you okay with her staying with us for awhile? I know P loves her anyways” Max asked. “You don’t need to ask, she’s your sister and I know P loves her too” Kelly said with a smile.

“Thank you” Max added.

//

Makayla had woken up to see that she had fallen asleep on the sofa. “Hey sleepyhead” Max joked seeing his sister finally awake. “Shut up, I was tried” Makayla mumbled.

“Is KayKay awake?!” Penelope shouted and when she seen the girl awake she ran and jumped on the sofa with her. “Hey P!” Makayla said as she tickled the young girl.

“KayKay! Stop!!” Penelope giggled as she tried to get out of her grip. Kelly sat down by Max, the two had smiles on their faces seeing the two girls together.

“Hey Kel, sorry didn’t see you there” Makayla said. “It’s alright, happy to see you smiling Mack” Kelly replied with a smile. “Mummy! Can Kay take me to the beach?” Penelope asked.

Makayla gave her older brother a certain look, that he knew he couldn’t say no to. “I hate when you do that look, just be careful you two okay? Be back before it’s gets dark” Max told them as Penelope cheered and ran to get her coat.

“You sure you’re okay with this?” Makayla asked, mainly directing the question to Kelly. “Mack, you I trust you with P. How many times have you watched her before this?” Kelly said.

“Just making double sure. Thank you, we won’t be long!” Makayla said as she got ready for the couple watched the two girls leave the apartment.

“I hate how he’s made her think she isn’t allowed to do or go anywhere..” Max mumbled. “She’ll be alright, Mack is a strong girl. We just need to make sure he stays away from her and not try and take her back” Kelly said.

//

makaylaverstappen

Liked by kellypiquet, maxverstappen1 and 227,629 others

makaylaverstappen: P💗

view all 2,527 comments

user16 Aww so cute!

user19 I adore their relationship!!🥰

user93 So cuteeeee

kellypiquet She loves you so much💗

makaylaverstappen I love her more💗

user72 Awhhh!

user99 P loves Mack so much🥹

user13 💗💗💗

user4 Adore them so much!!🥹💗

maxverstappen1 She likes u more than me!

makaylaverstappen well obviously😌

maxverstappen1 🙄

user63 lol Max🤣

user02 Max and Makayla >>

//

Makayla and Penelope made their way back to the apartment, the young girl ran to her mother while Makayla followed behind her after taking her shoes and coat off.

“I want KayKay to take me to bed!” She heard Penelope said as she entered the room. “I’ll do it Kel, c’mon P! Let’s finish that book off we were reading!” Makayla said as Penelope jumped in her arms as she carried her to her room.

Max and Kelly smiled at the pair before quietly following them and stood by the door watching the both girls. Makayla finished reading before kissing Penelope’s forehead and leaving to door to be greeted by the couple.

“Watching us were you?” Makayla joked as the three made their way back to the living room. “You are so good with her, she adores you” Kelly said. “I love her” Makayla replied with a smile.

The three of them started to watch a bit of TV, Makayla was on her phone a few times before it was starting to get late and they was about to make their way to bed, but there was a knock on the door..

“Makayla! I know you’re in there, you better come here before I phone the police!” They heard Jos shout.

The girl looked at her older brother with fear on her face, how was she going to get out of this? Kelly came over and pulled her into a hug, before Max started to make his way towards the door.

“Makayla, get here now!” Jos shouted.

[yamcha-thelonewolf]

💥THE GANG IS BACK!

[COLORED VERSION] 🎨

At least... Apparently DBS gave him his chance.

DRAGON BALL SUPER

Chapter 56: Warriors of Earth Assemble

Even the title is stunning. I mean... the gang is back! The original Dragon Ball isn't dead. But now look at him... In truth, he never stopped getting excited about fighting. Here he's the only one who seems purely motivated. A little reckless, but still cute. That's our good ol' Yamcha.

...how dare you, fools?! I mean, he's one of the very first Earth Heroes! No kidding!

Let him prove it.

Agent Yamcha? Well... It sounds really good. Finally someone who respects his role in this story! I mean... He was Lord Yamcha, the fearsome bandit of the Diablo Desert, one of the best students of Master Roshi, then King Kai, a memorable fighter of the Tenkaichi Tournaments, a loyal friend, a human who has crossed his own nature! I guess "agent Yamcha" is just the minimum... But we make do!

Well well well... Welcome back, Yamcha! You really seem to have remembered who you really are and you can be! You're let it get you down too many times for no reason and this has been your greatest weakness. The only one.

Take your revenge!

This is really touching. He never denied his most famous technique... The one and only Rōgafūfūken! Just look at his fingers put like a wolf fang. I can hear his unmistakable howl!

After all, generally he never denied himself. And his long hair too. I'm so glad they've come back. This is a really important point about his personality. Bulma tried to fix him in many things... Sometimes she has helped him, but other times she has only damaged him. I think Yamcha is slowly retracing his steps to create a better version of himself. Not just a parody.

Oh please... It had been a long time since I had seen him so proud of himself. Look at that cocky pose! Damn, how cute...

Got a real taste. He just realized he can still help and now no one can stop him. Well, sort of. The rest of the chapter doesn't show anything relevant about him. Except for a small part.

We can see Yamcha, but also Tenshinhan, Kurillin and even Chiaotzu, helping Goku with their energy. Like the old days. It's amazing they included them.

Okay, this one hurts a little. It's comforting that Toriyama didn't forget this detail... Yamcha's only wish has always been to get married. Since 1985, when he first appeared. Considering that this line dates back to 2020... It's been a long time, hasn't it? Back then he was a shy 16-year-old boy with many expextations for his future... Now he's a man, he lost so much, but his need for love never changed. So... Does he really have to ask Shenron as he wanted to do so many years ago?! Or worse, wait 1200 years...

Come on, Akira! He doesn't need the dragon balls!

Give him his real chance.

Guys... I would say that all of this is an incredible goal for Yamcha's fans.

He still exists.

He can still make a difference, even a tiny one.

He still can!

GOOD JOB, Yamcha-san! ✌️

[kashilascorner]

2024 Favorites, by yours truly - part 1. Reading

I didn't read a lot of manga or comics this year, so for the first time, I'm putting all together. The books here are very losely ordered by preference, with the manga just dropping wherever.

---

Un amor (Sara Mesa)

This is a book about obsession, about desire, about (not) belonging. I loved every bit of it and honestly felt like Sara Mesa was reading my mind at some points. This is a novel I would have loved to have written. First book I read last year, and also first 5 stars. It has been translated into English, with the same name.

Endurance (Alfred Lansing)

I loved this one, and I am convinced they were able to survive because they were silly about their whole ordeal in their first few months. These guys knew how to have fun, that's all I'll say. It's an incredible adventure and I only wish there was an epilogue to it. Also Lansing apparently made up some stuff but it's ok because he's a good narrator.

Young Mungo (Doublas Stuart)

This book was quite something when it released: I remember seeing it everythwere, specially in LGBT bookstores. I decided to read it because the audiobook (in Spanish) was available in my library and, having come back from a trip to Scotland, I felt like reading a story set there. What I found absolutely broke my heart in many little pieces. It is a beautiful, heartfelt, awfully realistic coming of age story set in working-class 90s Glawgow, full of very, very dark things. That being said, I do think a couple of the darker situations in the book could have been more delicately handled. Please look out the trigger warnings for this one.

Promising young women (Caroline O'Donoghe)

I foudn this on a second hand bookstore and had it sitting on my shelf for years (literally) but I thought it looked funny and decided to read it. Let me tell you: this book made me feel like I was watchign a good friend about to make the absolute worst mistake of her life, like watchinga train wreck in slow motion. It was darkly funny and then it becomes increasingly dark and even a little bit gothic. Absolutely loved this one. It is a coming of age story for your mid-twenties, it deals with obsession, loneliness, sexism and more.

A Camelot Triptych (Norris J. Lacy)

NOW THIS ONE. It's the arthurian retelling I've enjoyed the most so far: its short and sweet, its structure is a work of genius, it has a very limited scope and yet tells such a big story. There are layers to it. It is composed by three short stories, or chapters, the first from Merlin's point of view, second from Guinevere and third by Mordred. Absolutely fantastic. And very difficult to find so take your chance.

The tombs of Atuan (Ursula K. Le Guin)

The slow, beautiful second book of the Earthsea series coulnd't be more different in subject and tone from the first one. And yet it was perfect. Despite being so short, it's dense with symbol, heavy with meaning, and requires some patience to read it. This isn't a great fantary adventure. It is something differnt and yet so compelling, brilliant like great fables can be. This was my favorite thing from the novel (CAREFUL, it has spoilers).

Golden Kamuy (Satoru Noda)

This year I finally finished reading this manga, from volumes 16 to 31. Top 5 manga I've ever read. I love the mix of history, culture & nature, humor, adventure, thriller, and more. I love the characters, I love their design, I miss them already.

The Idylls of the queen (Phyllis Ann Karr)

Another Arthurian retelling, this one is so cleverly constructed, so keen on detail and threads so many things together into a very spcific moment of the story that I can only call it a work of genius. Want to see Sir Kay as a detective? Look no further! Ms. Karr really wrote one of my favorite Kays, one of my favorite Morgans and one of my favorite Mordreds and I can only say THANK YOU.

The indifferent Stars above (Daniel James Brown)

Lovely book about a not very lovely story. Earlier in the year I had read a novel called The hunger which overall I liked but felt very lukewarm about the addition of a supernatural element to a story that in real life was extremely compelling but also absolutely horrifying on it's own right. This books follows one of the party members closely and narrates every (mis)step of the doomed Donner Party. Truly beautifully written.

The winter king (Bernard Cornwell)

Third and final arthurian retelling on the list. I was very hesitant about adding it here because I thoroughly enjoyed the first book but not so much the sequels, though I still like them and how the story progressess (I still have a couple hundred pages left of Excalibur, the third and final book so let's see how that goes). Basically this is grimdark arthuriana, but done well. I love Cornwell's style and Derfel, the narrator, is terribly funny. This is also one of my favorite Arthurs so <3

Special mentions: Cruzamos por el ras de la montaña (Maria de la Cruz), Papa told me vol. 1 (Nanae Haruno), The count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas), Parable of the talents (Octavia E. Butler), Thérèse Raquin (Émile Zola), Yotsuba vol. 5 (Kiyohiko Azuma), The lying life of adults (Elena Ferrante).

[valleykarate]

“you shouldn’t have seen that” johnny

GIVEN THE DRAMATIC REVEAL OF ETHAN'S ELDRITCH NATURE, JOHNNY WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT HE’S COMPLETELY CHILL WITH WHATEVER HIS SON-IN-LAW GETS UP TO, or the odd things that happen around him, because of him. ...except for he isn’t fully used to everything yet. he’s only human, after all. because of ethan's... outlandish quirkiness, johnny's started anticipating more & more weird shit to just start happening whenever it feels like happening. power outages, for one. it's why he's stocked up on those battery-powered camping lantern things in his apartment, & extra batteries. his fridge has an extra two gallons of drinkable water. but it's fine, because the power doesn't go out for long enough to have to resort any of that. (the reveal also explains the seemingly endless, pretty scary storms that continually rolled over the valley while robby was a member of cobra kai.) ethan's just a chaotic kid, & now that his 'locks' have been broken, the floodgates of ethan's genuine chaotic nature have well & truly been unleashed out into the world.

unlike larusso & his big freak out when the news of ethan's nonhuman nature broke, johnny's learned to accept it, support him, & roll with the punches, because johnny's life has been full of oddities. let's see... his best dude friend was dating his other best dude friend & best chick friend when they were growing up... & he had no idea until their wedding.

number two: his son figure, his biological son, & his daughter figures are engaged to a nonhuman entity - their rings were made by him with his powers. they double as silent eldritch panic alarms. number three: ethan's parents are badass karate fighters in this life, but also wade is apparently from a comic book on some alternate life & is deadpool, & vanessa, wade's wife, is the woman he loves in that same film, but they were all brought over here because of ethan. (ethan's very tight-lipped as to explaining why they decided to come to the valley, though, that little shit. he knows that, because he's asked miguel & tory repeatedly if he's said anything. according to tory, ethan won't even tell them why, so it must be super private, super important information.) lastly, but not least... ethan's earplugs? those are so he doesn't have to hear sounds that only his eldritch hearing can pick up on. so he doesn't destroy the universe.

...jesus christ. if he didn't feel bad about making fun of ethan's earplugs when he first met the kid with robby at his side, he sure as hell does now. potential destruction of the universe by a then '16'-year-old kid is too existentially terrifying for johnny to handle.

despite that, johnny can handle his son's fiancé being the third ever thing (ethan's words, not his) in existence. it's just another oddity added to the list. he's semi-processed that information. he's done his best to adapt to the weirdness of it all. he's trying to move on. it's no biggie.

yesterday morning, ethan dropped off a pretty neat present at johnny's front doorstep, without needing to even be there. it's what ethan proudly calls 'a shiny', something he'd mentioned to johnny while he was visiting ethan's apartment. ethan'd explained the gist while flapping his arms, sitting on robby's lap. & by that, he'd only said it was a good thing. nothing to be alarmed about. the 'shiny' at johnny's doorstep was a small, ankle-high animated, carved wooden stick figure of johnny dressed in an eagle fang gi fighting someone - silver, based on the silver ponytail, angry-looking chin & black cobra kai gai - repeatedly. no two animations were the same. every punch 'silver' threw, 'johnny' blocked or countered using a mix of miyagi-do, cobra kai & eagle fang techniques. it was honestly super impressive. johnny had been confused, but took the gift inside. & yes, it was made out of actual, high-quality grade wood... oak or some shit. he'd immediately dialed wade to ask what the fuck it meant.

wade'd laughed & likened it to a cat with a dead rodent walking up to its owner & putting its fresh kill at their feet. it's a symbol of trust for ethan, to gift these 'shinies', & a desire to show appreciation to him. it means ethan likes him even more than he did before, & that he's grateful that he didn't shun him.

score, lawrence.

hawk whistled once he saw the animations in a video johnny'd sent him, calling the animations fluid & something out of a marvel movie. the stick figure gift stops moving if johnny doesn't think about it, & it changes into whatever johnny wants it to. right now, it's a (real) photograph of carmen & miguel smiling at the camera. it's currently sitting on the island in his apartment's kitchen.

unfortunately, while johnny's used to the oddities of ethan, he's not too used to the whole body horror aspect of the boy's eldritch side yet. namely, the fact that the veins in his hands, arms & his eyes can glow different colors. the veins underneath & around his eyes can, too. he's also not used to the three sets of ink-black wings that sprout from his back whenever he feels like making them appear. & ethan's not a small kid, he's 6'6, so the wings aren't small either. the bones cracking, the glowing eyes & veins, the tar-black feathers just appearing out from nowhere… he’s not used to it yet.

it’s what johnny, sam, robby, miguel & tory are currently looking at right now. ethan’d gotten spooked by the fire alarm going off in the building next to his apartment & reacted defensively. (as opposed to offensively, thank god.) he’d sprung up from miguel’s lap, his hands immediately clasping over his ears, his wings sprouting, eyes glowing ink black. he snarls something in a non-human language johnny can’t even begin to understand. it just comes out of ethan’s human mouth as a series of oddly pitched hisses & clicks/pops. the lights in ethan’s apartment flicker a few times violently.

the action of ethan going from looking entirely human to suddenly not in an instant makes johnny take a single step back from him in surprise. that causes ethan to freeze up in pure panic. the wounds of almost everyone else’s recent rejection of his true nature still a traumatic, scary event for the eldritch. those wounds haven’t healed over, & johnny secretly doubts they ever will.

all of the non-human features melt away immediately, except for his ink-black eyes. ethan looks like he’s on the verge of either a panic attack or losing his shit… neither are preferable in this situation. tory & miguel are instantly pulling ethan by his hands away from everyone else, moving down the hall to calm the distressed boy down. the door to their bedroom slams closed with a sudden, powerful gust of wind that makes johnny’s hair blow back, even from where he is in the living room. he winces, then quickly glances over at his son with wide eyes. shit. he’d fucked up again. he didn’t mean to do that - it was just human instinct. his pulse is still hammering in his neck, & he struggles to speak for a few tense seconds.

@taughtpain breaks the silence. ❝ you shouldn’t have seen that. ❞

guilt hits johnny like a truck all at once. he wonders how many times that’s happened for tory & miguel to immediately know to calm him down. johnny quickly avoids eye contact with his son while running a hand through his hair. he looks back towards the front door of the apartment. ❝ shit. i didn’t mean to do that. i probably shouldn’t be here anymore. ❞ the man quickly blurts out. ❝ i-i’m gonna go, tell your fiancé i’m sorry. ❞

[rosemelodyshah]

I showed a friend somethings I'd written here and there and the wc at the end had 450 written in it but like that was so obviously false the thing was j what we were going through was my old composition nb and I'd always go over the word limit (which used to be like 150-300 words, or maybe 250-500 or the like, but only ever up till 500) which would lose me marks so the best thing to do was pretend I was j under the word limit or just a bit above-- though it never quite worked (but needs a must and one must try).

Anyway I used the most insane methods to get the wc down, but we weren't awake enough to count all the words so, down on calculator we used our mental maths and went back on the methods of faking the wc I used, which was essentially smashing a bunch of young words (3 one-letter word, two two-lettered together, often with one three-lettered word) into one and so the wc per line was 3 or 4. Then multiply that by way fewer lines than there were (the books would for example fave 22 lines, I'd remove two for top and bottom line left empty, and about 4 for 'paragraphs separators', even tho I never had 4 or 5 parahs per page, maybe three if the paras was small but no more) so I'd do 4*16*(pages used) and if that wasn't small enough I'd do 3*16*(no of pgs) and at times even like 3*12 just to fit the wc lol

But again we went through our heads and found the actual wcs, and it was like 2k-4.5k on all of my compo work, and my friend went "You weren't lying the last 20 minutes of the hour and half class really lit a fuse. You actually wrote thousands in the last 20 minutes! And was like always done before us asw!"

And I said it's only a bit of writing and she looked as if I'd electrocuted her, and she showed me my published fanfics-- only 3 broke 1k and only 4 additional broke .5k (though the point of Microfics were to get small ideas out of my head anyway) and yeah

Over 1k is definitely not as easy as I'm making it seem but I never have been a wc checker/counter (as evidenced by the gross overwrite on all my assignments lol) and when ur j writing the way I do hitting 1k or 3k or even 5k is j a natural oh alr

And also I always simplify terms so like 1019 is in my head ten-nineteen (only do this with empty numbers, not otherwise usually), or 5947 is five-nine-forty seven, or 30796 is thirty-seven-ninety six or 13076 is thirteen-zero/nil/zilch-seventy six or 100506 is a hundred-five-nil-six or 1200000 is twelve-hundred-thousand and the like, so it ends up seeming very little anyway and apparently I've been undermining/unappreciative of myself? Bc Remsha sh found out (my friend really went to complain to her😭) and she's gone and told the rest of my circle and so not everyone (except Inkypad, but that may or may not be bc her mssg aren't working or bc she's gearing up a proper attack at me *genuine fear of the second one being it*) is up at me for being degrading?!?!?

It's not even degradation I j view empty no. differently luv. It j makes the like 100000 becomes a hundred-thousand or hundred-hundred-nil and 1000000 is a thousand-hundred-nil or ten-hundred-thousand and so it feels like baby numbers!

It's not even my fault my body has been programmed to make stuff easier on me kay I naturally churn stress into laughter or tiredness or hunger and all sorts of other stuff and do things for other stuff too-- I j go for easy route end of story it's not even on me like blame my... something else not ME!

[changesinattitudes]

In the Bahamas, well almost.

April 28, 2025

Little Shark River was wonderful. We didn’t go into the “official” anchorage but rather dropped the anchor about a mile from shore in 6’ of water. The wind was brisk from the east so we were in the lee of the mainland and far enough from shore that we had no bugs. We had wonderful dinner and slept soundly that night.

The dogs are acclimating to life on board, sort of. Sandy remembered almost immediately where the bathroom was. Eddie remembered but is protesting. If we lead him forward to the bow pee pad he puts on the breaks and refuses to go about any business. If we ignore him he will sneak up to doo doo and poo but he doesn’t want us to know.

We had been following a boat from PGI since we both left through Yacht Club channel. Saga is a Nordic Tug and cruises about the same speed as us. We anchored close to the same places the first two nights. I finally hailed them leaving Little Shark. The owners are former sailors, as we are, and have cruised extensively. They are on their way to the Bahamas as well but are going to make the crossing from Biscayne Bay. I wished them fair winds and following seas as we were heading to Marathon.

The trip to Marathon was delightfully boring and uneventful. The only interruptions were the numerous crab pots. Dodging them is kind of like the old Asteroids video game. They are deployed in a random fashion, the current doesn’t always mean your heading will miss them and after the field you have to return to your desired course until the next batch.

Marathon has always been one of our more favorite destinations with Faro Blanco and SH Marathon our typical stops. To our surprise there were more boats from Punta Gorda! Three sailboats from the Punta Gorda Sailing Club had made it to Marathon. Teir original destination was the Dry Tortugas, but the weather had dictated a change in plans. So, they were here instead and living large in Marathon. We have several friends that are in this club as well as the Mariners and it seems the PG Sailing club does a lot of cruising.

The first evening we walked to Burdines and got a surely server and lackadaisical entrees. The experience was out of character from what we had on previous visits. The next evening dinner was at Florida Steak and Lobster and that meal was amazing.

Marathon is about as bike friendly as a town can be with US1 as the main drag. So, Saturday  we rode our bikes to Publix and picked up a few items we thought we might need. But mostly we did it for the exercise.

Sunday we left with the original destination of Rodriguz Kay to prepare to cross the Gulf Stream on Monday. But as we traveled it became more apparent that Sunday was the better weather day. So we made a right turn, crossed the reef and became blue water sailors again.

The seas we a bit rough at the start but calmed as we approached the stream. Our speed over ground went from 7.5 kts to 10. We were flying! It would normally take close to 16 hours the cover the 120 nm to Bimini from Marathon, we did it in 14.

Last night we arrived around 10. The marina we want to go into is closed, and since we have not been here for years we anchored just outside the entrance channel in 15’ of water. It was a bit rolly but with the fresh breeze sleep came quickly.

This morning we are trying to go into the marina. Yesterday I emailed them and called to make a reservation. The phone tree said they were closed on Sunday and to leave a message. So I did. This morning there have been crickets. So I called again and left another message. I called on the VHF radio. Still nothing.

It’s the Bahamas, mon.

So as soon as I post this we will weigh anchor and head on in in hopes they are glad to see us.

Or not.

CIA Out.

[asoulofatlantis]

We wish! Like by the time Kai comes out, this has happened over 8 years ago. 8 freaking years! Okay... not 8 but 7 or so. Maybe 6 1/2 but my point still stands, how are you two not married yet? Why aren't Killika and Zin not together yet and how on earth is it possible that this girl, that is 12 years old at the moment, has a higher chance to get married soon than the other two ships? AAAAAHHHH! WHY FALCOM?! WHY?!

XD Well... I guess if she is that freaking slow in getting it, we shouldn't be surprised that she is that freaking slow in getting married... ^^'

Oooooookay guys! Timeout!

And then Erika shows up out of the blue all off a sudden and makes a big deal out of the guy that has protected Tita while she was god knows were that damn Bitch...

I mean I get it. She is a mother and Tita is so cute its easy to think some older man could exploit her innocence and all but if anyone has proven he absolutely adores Tita and would NEVER EVER harm her in any way shape or form, its Agate. Heck, he has the courtesy to have that stupid "hands-off" approach after she started to mature. Which man with ulterior motives would do that, given how Tita is not hands-off with him at all?

*achem* Sorry. Uh... yeah... I... how do I put this? Erika is a... seriously awful woman for one reason or another and she is the only freaking anti-shipper in this damn game even tho she has no right to be! That pisses me off!

I am a bit teary-eyed here after Joshua and Estelle offer Tita to be their big brother and sister. It was so cute.

Oh look! Its the man who hasn't asked Killika to married her yet...

I am on a roll today with the shipping stuff, huh? XD

*achem* Its nice to see you again Zin. Tho I have to admit it didn't feel that long since we last saw each other given that it hasn't been that long since I finished Kuro 2 just yet ^^'

Look! We have Tita and Agates first meeting! (Isn't it quite amusing that in this short amount of time if somewhat had the chance to complain/gush about 3 different ships who are all in this game... and in the meantime, Kuro hasn't given me anything but heartache and pain! I mean... granted the heartache and pain worked out for Swin and Nadia and I am glad about it, but other than that? I stay with it, The Kuro games are truly loveless...)

Granted... it was not the best first impression. But he will make up for it, trust me!

If you ever search for a secret evil person in a Trails game... looking out for those random people you just seemed to be running into over and over again for no apparent reason but pure utter coincidence... that would be the man... or woman. Trust me.

He seems harsh here... but he was right and Tita will prove that later on.

Now we could agrue that this would not have happened if they would have taken Tita with them from the get-go, but then they might have captured and used he as yet another hostage and we would not have gained anything either, because someone likely would still have gotten hurt trying to free her. Not to mention they would have had to chose between saving her or the Professor which would have still caused Tita to feel responsible and... you get me, right?

He slapped her, but love hurts sometimes...

All that aside... the plan failed because Tita did not listen to Agate and now she is standing here whining about its failure even tho it was her fault. The slap... was kind of deserved. Especially by the guy who had to take a bullet for her.

This whole time it was of course not just about the job or the professor, it was also about her own safety.

Now thats just adorable XD "Mister Agate" *lol*

Because this is the exact moment were your life is going to change for the better. Because somehow you made that girl utterly fall in love with you. And while it does start out as a crush on her knight in shining armor who is cool and older and all that. Even when she is 16 she still learns to cook better, just for you. His your sails my man, because this is exactly the moment your ship got permission to sail XD

This mess is absolutely essential for the Relationship between Agate and Tita but it means I have to go into THAT cave to save him. Urg...

[40sandfabulousaf]

大家好! According to tradition, ren ri (humans day) is everyone's birthday and we celebrate it by feasting. Pa and I decided to have jiao zi (steamed dumplings); because they're shaped like ingots, they're believed to bring wealth and prosperity. We ordered prawn and pork as well as vegetarian dumplings and walloped them all. Gosh, they were so delicious!

In the evening, N and I caught up for some red wine and shared lamb, escargot, mozzarella balls with cherry tomatoes, spinach and bacon, as well as margherita pizza. In case I haven't mentioned it earlier, he's half French and very in tune with his Western roots. So when we hang out, Western cuisine is what we usually have, partly also because he loves meat and cheese. N told me he's developed feelings for me and mentioned the L word. I'm deeply fond of him but am not sure if it's L yet; thank goodness he's willing to gimme time to figure it out!

Sunday was kai gong (open for business) lunch with Grace and Douglas. The couple brought in pen cai from Malaysia at a much lower price than it costs here and I bought yu sheng (lo hei) with additional Hokkaido scallops and tobiko. It was a lot to eat for 3 and we were stuffed to the brim! The meal was pretty healthy though, with plenty of veggies and seafood. After that, they gave me some homemade jiao zi (dumplings) to take home with me.

Haven't eaten duck in awhile and apparently, it's the red meat with the lowest amount of vitamin K. Duck breast when done well can be yummier than chicken breast and I requested for it, as well as a braised egg. The protein and veggies sat atop deliciously QQ thin yellow noodles and the meal came with a small bowl of tasty winter melon soup. All this goodness for $5.20. Why eat pasta when the price of 1 can get me about 4 portions of nutritious local fare?

So far, I've held off saying firmly that the war in Gaza is genocide. However, Palestinians are perilously close to a starvation crisis as there isn't enough aid flowing into the devastated area. If a famine occurs and results in massive numbers of deaths, I'll be pushed into saying this war, in my view, is genocide. Only pushing for a ceasefire can save these innocent lives and I'll continue to pray very hard for them. 下次见!

[chronicallylatetotheparty]

Perfect Paradise Ch.16: Can We Work it Out? Can We Be a Family?

Summary: A dream fulfilled.

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

A sigh left Marinette as she leaned back, the last outfit of the main line passing inspection. Her team was experienced and capable. She should really trust them more but Marinette preferred to double check. Needed to double check. To make sure anything that could conceivably go wrong wouldn't.

She took a breath.

Marinette had gotten a better handle on her anxiety as she got older. But the whole divorce really drained her. So here she was triple checking dresses that didn't need it.

Turning her catastrophizing into an asset was a skill that served Marinette well as Ladybug.

Like with the akuma victim earlier that day. Ladybug always had a backup plan... Except, it was Viperion's plan. Viperion's successful plan.

For years Marinette told herself that was different! Viperion didn't just see the future he experienced it. Several versions of it. Luka had more information than her that's why she let him take point sometimes. That was all.

...

Marinette's eyes ran along the contours of the dress. Black, sleek, with lines of green accentuating it's form.

"Ma'am?" Marinette's assistant spoke up. "If that's done we still have the-"

"Actually... I think we're done for the day. I'll leave it in the team's capable hands." Marinette stood and began heading for the door.

Her assistant stared for a second before hurrying to catch up. "Oh-kay? Um, the models are ready for practice runs."

"Tell their supervisor to contact me if there are any problems."

"... Jen and Dina are fighting again."

"I will fire them if they can't act like adults."

Marinette saw the surprise flicker across her assistant's face. "What? I mean, I am the boss. I can delegate."

Apparently it was a day for uncharacteristic boldness because her assistant replied: "Yes, we know that ma'am but we were wondering if you did."

Marinette's eyes narrowed. "Who's this 'we'?"

"... No one!"

"Uh-huh." Marinette smirked.

After almost twenty years her employees were painfully aware of Marinette's micromanaging habits. They were saints about it but more permanent progress on Marinette's part was overdue.

They passed the traditionally inspired lines of clothing. Accepting that Marinette wasn't as up to date on Chinese fashion as she hoped had been a bitter pill to swallow. But she had quickly rectified that. Hiring talented designers from her mother's country and powering through the embarrassment of the foux pas.

Her assistant stopped walking as a notification pinged her tablet.

"C'mon, we'll finally have you home at a decent hour," Marinette teased, walking towards the front doors of her building.

"Ma'am!" Her assistant held out her tablet. It was the gossip section of the evening news. A muted video of Nino sprinting into a cab to escape the paparazzi played. With the headline: "Adrien Dupain-Cheng's New Husband Refuses to Deny Cheating Allegations".

Marinette felt her jaw drop as she stared at it... What the fuck? She turned her head back to the exit. Now that she was looking there were at least two news vans visible past the glass doors. Probably more.

"Fuck that." Marinette marched to the elevator. "Call the hovercar."

Her assistant's fingers blurred over the tablet as she sent instructions. "But you said that was only for-"

"This definitely counts!" Marinette hit the button for the roof. Pulling out her phone and holding it to her ear.

There was a click as her best friend answered.

"Alya!"

"I'm guessing you saw," Alya replied distractedly. Voices and movement audible on the other side.

"Did you know they-"

"Nino mentioned it. Fucking gossip channels are eating into our viewership! I'm gonna need interviews from Adrien and Nino to get ahead of this bullshit... God I hate that."

"You didn't tell me?"

"Marinette, girl, I love you. But it wasn't really my place to say. Was it?"

"... I guess not."

Alya seemed to pause what she was doing. "Where are you?"

The elevator dinged open just as the hovercar pilot was starting the engine.

"On my way home."

(Continued on AO3)

[daydream-comet]

Thats. Thats literally vforce in a nutshell. Like one moment you're howling with laughter and then the next moment you're just like "jesus fucking christ what the actual fuck was that. What were they thinking". Pure cutesy psychological horror (alright that one is a pattern on my part. I have a liking towards cutesy animes which screw with my psyche *cough* madoka, YuYuYu *cough*)

Yea I do feel like vforce was indeed setting up something for zeo but then dropped it (we do know the movie was supposed to be the original opening for s3 before being replaced by grev) and like the only scene we see him after that is like. One frame. In that special final ending. (Though, like I mentioned previously, it seems zeo found some solace in his hobby of playing the violin)

I did read the entire manga and know of the leon/zeo arc. And yep, Zagart's way worse there. Like forcing your younger child to basically swap identities and act like your dead elder child? Sheesh. (Also, funfact: the anime's plotline with Zeo being a robot was supposed to be the original one before Aoki-sensei decided to replace it in the manga, probably due to an editor's recommendation I think?)

Zagart's definetly way better off in the anime. (Also wished they expanded on the beef between him and daitenji. And wow vforce surprisingly gave us daitenji lore. Wow he's a scientist/researcher apparently. Still not very responsible with kids tho.)

Psykick definitely existed just for that. And knowing it was a different organisation working for zagart, without involving zagart, yea. And like it was run by that purple haired weirdo what-was his-name and that crazy old dude.

And yea I've seen uh, questionable stuff, too. Literally walked myself into one too like a naive sweet summerchild. Never should've search for beyblade doujins, thinking I'll get cute wholesome stuff like those touhou doujins. I did find a cute kairei one but that was it. And yea that makes me feel a lot better. Maybe its only my opinion but like sure you can find them pretty and attractive (I literally had a crush on kai and mao/mariah as a kid) but don't.....don't do that...to them? I'll still accept if its like aged up with them being adults and properly tagged. But um, not with minors. That's disgusting. Especially if its non-con. And no, them being 16-17 ish in grev does not qualify on that. And also, *points at the 'asexual' part on my bio*

Oh and please do watch the movie! Its a good watch imo, no cinematic masterpiece but its a good watch nonetheless! I have like a lot to talk about the movie but um, i uh um kinda get nervous about dropping it all in here because um, anxiety disorder that even the internet can't save me from!

OH YEAH :3 i'm curious. what are your favorite parts of v-force/2002? i'm personally big on the digital sacred beasts (or atleast, that plotline from yuya onward, the first 15 eps of the season are kind of a blur to me) and.. ok i can't say zeo's plotline was pulled off Well but i love zeo as a character they are SO fascinating to me.

Well my favorite plotline from the season itself would be Zeo's one, while if we're talking about vforce as a whole then the movie's. The movie had a interesting plotline, and revealed a lot of info about the sacred beasts as well, though not everything was fully disclosed, it seemed they were heading somewhere with it but with grev sorta diminishing the presence of the sacred beasts I think it was dropped. Oh, and the cave scene. I....have a lot of talk about that one, I'm a bit too crazy and delusional about that particular scene to the point it'll need a separate post if its own (if I ever overcome my social anxiety and copy paste everything here)

Zeo is definitely one of my favorite characters in vforce (its the hair that started it I swear I want his hairstyle so bad) and surprisingly he was like one of the things I vividly remembered from my childhood when I was rewatching the series (now that I think about it, my fuzzy memories of beyblade as a child were mostly 60% vforce, 30% season 1 and 10% grev. Mainly because i think i missed a lot of grev as a child when it was airing and mostly caught onto the other two seasons). And yea while i do think if like the writers would've been given more time Zeo's arc along with the other arcs wouldn't have been so rushed, but still i think they did a good enough job, because I was definitely hooked during the final arc. Zeo is also an interesting character to analyse, like he was like first character to give the team a sense of normalcy because throughout the entire season everyone they had met was out for their asses and they couldn't catch a break nor could they have a normal beybattle like they used to without significant consequences. Also wished we got more of Zeo's existential crisis, how it affected and changed him and how he recovers from it and accepts himself (we see in that slideshow final ending in grev with Zeo looking through the window holding a violin. So it seems he found comfort in his hobby). Also that Zeo finding out about his true identity also helped him grow and mature in a sense (a person can't grow up without having to endure hardships, can they?). Like when we see him later on he's stronger and smarter.

Like here Zeo knew exactly what to say to get under Takao's skin (and Takao's emotional attachment to Zeo amplified the impact, along with Takao still trying to grasp as to why Zeo is doing this) and that Zeo is right here in a sense. They didnt interfere due to multiple justified reasons (they wanted to, but couldn't. And even if they did, not much would've changed), but it didn't change the fact that they didn't do anything, and Zeo just rubs some salt on the fresh wound. And in the jp voice acting, while it was faint, Zeo kind of sounded sad when saying "no one will come to help you". If we think about the situation Zeo is in, its....true. no one really can help Zeo even if they wanted to, all they could do was offer words of consolation and comfort. And Zeo was doing all this for self preservation (and I guess daddy issues, Dr. Zagart is....incredibly questionable), but deep down i guess he knew that there really wasn't much he could do to become human, become the 'real' Zeo who died long ago. He just didn't wanted to live his life as a phony, it was all just an act of desperation (just look at him breaking his arm and still going on, isn't that a good example?). And like at the finale while Takao does offer closure to Zeo, the fact remains the same that Zeo can't become someone else and must learn to accept who he is, which he slowly starts to embark on (and if Takao, or anyone really, would've said that earlier it wouldn't have had the same impact, Zeo needed to find his way on his own terms)

And as to the impact Zeo had with his words on Takao, he's literally repeating Zeo's words here and musing over the complicated and conflicting scenario for the majority of the episode while everyone is rightfully shocked to see it coming out of his mouth, not really aware of that little exchange he had with Zeo previously.

All in all I love Zeo, I love the small moments where vforce really gets to shine, I just wished they got more time to expand and explore the entire storyline they were working upon into like two seasons instead of dumping it all into one season. I am, uh, understandably kinda crazy over this show and won't stop overanalysing it. This post is pretty much word vomit and probably doesn't make much sense. Uh. Bye.

[pokejstor]

Excerpt from The Journals of Warden Nobori: A Glimpse into the Mundanities of Hisuian Life.

Part of Sinnoh Historical Society Digital Collections.

Klio Mizuki

Documents of the late Hisui Era, vol. 16, no. 10.

Once again, I find myself in the infirmary, though despite Warden Yūgao’s insistences, I feel that the reason this time is far less frivolous than usual. Unfortunately, the injury is far more serious- it is likely that I will be unable to walk far for quite some time. I have been told that my pelvis is fractured. This is not surprising, but it is painful and irritating. Still, I believe it was worth it.

I was sent to forage in the icelands. While I was told of the Alpha Garchomp that makes its territory in this area, I believed that I was outside of its range- unfortunately, I was not. At first, I thought I was rather lucky, as it did not seem to notice me, but it was not good luck for me. Rather, it was bad luck for some poor Gligar, who the Alpha Garchomp was focused on defeating, presumably to eat. While I am no longer squeamish about hunting and butchering Pokemon for sustenance, something about seeing a Pokemon that normally sports a distinctive grin no longer “smiling” wounded my heart.

What I did next was foolish, I will admit. I should have thrown snowballs to stun the Alpha Garchomp. I was not thinking. Instead, I ran directly to it. The next time I see Warden Hamarenge*, I will be sure to thank him, though he may not appreciate the implication that his self defense lessons emboldened me to punch an Alpha Garchomp in the snout. This did work to temporarily stun it, and the Gligar immediately took the opportunity to flee. I was not as quick as him. The Garchomp grabbed me in its mouth and, to tell the Truth, I thought that I would die right there. Thankfully, the Gligar had not fled far. Perhaps he felt indebted to me, because he attacked the Garchomp, causing it to drop me.

The two of us were able to flee, if only barely. The cold atmosphere of the icelands seems to slow even such a swift Pokemon as Garchomp, and a mixture of Mud Bombs and snowballs eventually convinced it to leave us alone. As I write this, he clings to my shoulders, watching as if he can read the words I am writing. He was wary at first when Warden Yūgao began to inspect my injuries, and became angry when it became apparent that her treatment was causing me pain, though I managed to calm him. I shall have to remember to ask her what is in the poultice that she applied to the bite mark, though I am certain that she will tell me anyways, considering my track record with injury.

If nothing else, it soothes my heart to finally have a Pokemon as a companion. While it is not all that common in the Pearl Clan, I have often felt jealous at the sight of Clan Leader Kai^ with her Eevee, or Warden Yūgao with her Bidoof. Perhaps, wherever I was before Hisui, I too had a Pokemon as my partner. Perhaps they are even wondering where I am. I am uncertain if the naming of Pokemon is a common practice here, but it feels right to me to do so. I feel that I should consider the matter more carefully, but for now, when I look at this Gligar’s smiling face, only one name comes to mind: Em. Perhaps this shall suffice.

*[This is the Hisuian name of the Warden known as Gaeric.]

^[This is the Hisuian name of Clan Leader Irida.]

[The translators do not recommend punching any wild Pokemon, let alone an Alpha. Warden Nobori’s actions were reckless and should not be imitated.]

[yamcha-thelonewolf]

💥THE GANG IS BACK!

At least... Apparently DBS gave him his chance.

DRAGON BALL SUPER

Chapter 56: Warriors of Earth Assemble

Even the title is stunning. I mean... the gang is back! The original Dragon Ball isn't dead. But now look at him... In truth, he never stopped getting excited about fighting. Here he's the only one who seems purely motivated. A little reckless, but still cute. That's our good ol' Yamcha.

...how dare you, fool?! I mean, he's one of the very first Earth Heroes! No kidding!

Let him prove it.

Agent Yamcha? Well... It sounds really good. Finally someone who respects his role in this story! I mean... He was Lord Yamcha, the fearsome bandit of the Diablo Desert, one of the best students of Master Roshi, then King Kai, a memorable fighter of the Tenkaichi Tournaments, a loyal friend, a human who has crossed his own nature! I guess "agent Yamcha" is just the minimum... But we make do!

Well well well... Welcome back, Yamcha! You really seem to have remembered who you really are and you can be! You're let it get you down too many times for no reason and this has been your greatest weakness. The only one.

Take your revenge!

This is really touching. He never denied his most famous technique... The one and only Rōgafūfūken! Just look at his fingers put like a wolf fang. I can hear his unmistakable howl!

After all, generally he never denied himself. And his long hair too. I'm so glad they've come back. This is a really important point about his personality. Bulma tried to fix him in many things... Sometimes she has helped him, but other times she has only damaged him. I think Yamcha is slowly retracing his steps to create a better version of himself. Not just a parody.

Oh please... It had been a long time since I had seen him so proud of himself. Look at that cocky pose! Damn, how cute...

Got a real taste. He just realized he can still help and now no one can stop him. Well, sort of. The rest of the chapter doesn't show anything relevant about him. Except for a small part.

We can see Yamcha, but also Tenshinhan, Kurillin and even Chiaotzu, helping Goku with their energy. Like the old days. It's amazing they included them.

Okay, this one hurts a little. It's comforting that Toriyama didn't forget this detail... Yamcha's only wish has always been to get married. Since 1985, when he first appeared. Considering that this line dates back to 2020... It's been a long time, hasn't it? Back then he was a shy 16-year-old boy with many expextations for his future... Now he's a man, he lost so much, but his need for love never changed. So... Does he really have to ask Shenron as he wanted to do so many years ago?! Or worse, wait 1200 years...

Come on, Akira! He doesn't need the dragon balls!

Give him his real chance.

Guys... I would say that all of this is an incredible goal for Yamcha's fans.

He still exists.

He can still make a difference, even a tiny one.

He still can!

GOOD JOB, Yamcha-san! ✌️

[patamonstan]

Ninjago Age Headcanons

I can't find the post I made on them a few months ago, so alas here I am. Making it. Again.

We are excluding Pilot because I believe that they are the same age as season 1.

SEASON 1:

In order for this to make sense, the Ninja must have begun in their early/mid-teens, then later became older, except for Lloyd, who started as a child.

I've seen many headcanons of Jay and Kai being the same age, I'd have to agree, it does make a lot of sense.

Zane I'd say, from what he's aware - he'd be one year older, while Cole - who was the leader when Lloyd wasn't around - is the eldest, standing 2 years ahead of Kai and Jay.

Nya would be one year younger than Kai, but with how enamored Jay was with her, I'd say the maturity difference wasn't as huge - unless Jay is a creep at heart. I will admit - some things Jay has done or acted like, were kinda creepy, but not the kind of 'I go after people who are obviously far younger than me.' And I think we can all agree that Kai would kill Jay if that were the case.

So I'd say the answer is pretty simple.

Cole: 16

Zane: 15

Kai: 14

Jay: 14

Nya: 13

Lloyd: 7

SEASON 2:

Obviously, this is still within the same timeline, maybe a few days after season 1 finished - so I'd say they remain the same. Except for Lloyd, who once gets hit with the tea - is much older physically, but mentally remains 7, just becomes much more mature, unfortunately. I'd like to think that Nya and Lloyd first gave off older sister, younger brother vibes, but now gives off twin terror vibes, so Lloyd would physically be the same age as Nya.

Cole: 16

Zane: 15

Kai: 14

Jay: 14

Nya: 13

Lloyd: Physically - 13, Mentally - 7

SEASON 3:

I'd say that this takes place a few months if not a year after the overlord is defeated, so of course, the Ninja are older now, just by one year, why Wu would ever have them teach at this young you may ask? Well, he never really did make sense, did he?

Cole: 17

Zane: 16

Kai: 15

Jay: 15

Nya: 14

Lloyd: Physically - 14 Mentally - 8

SEASON 4:

I'd say this takes another year later, the first few seasons appearN to have lots of gaps between them, but then the newer ones tend to happen quicker together in my opinion.

And now finally one of our ninja is a legal adult! Woo! And with PIXAL starting to make quite the appearence after rebooted, I must say, she should be included too, I'd say her body is very young, but mentally shes about the same age as cole. She doesnt have a body at the moment, so until she does, theres no body age.

Cole: 18

PIXAL: 18

Zane: 17

Kai: 16

Jay: 16

Nya: 15

Lloyd: Physically - 15, Mentally - 9

SEASON 5:

possession is a very dark time for Lloyd, but judging by how everything is and by how Wu's tea farm seems to be quite new - I'd say that only a few months have passed and that they all remain the same age.

Cole: 18

PIXAL: 18

Zane: 17

Kai: 16

Jay: 16

Nya: 15

Lloyd: Physically - 15, Mentally - 9

SEASON 6:

I'd say that the Ninjas are all older now, but only by one year. (The legal age of consent in Canada is 16 so I'm trying to make it better for my poor disgusted mind by Naddikans actions towards Nya.) And Zane has joined the legal adult train!

Cole: 19

PIXAL: 19

Zane: 18

Kai: 17

Jay: 17

Nya: 16

Lloyd: Physically - 16, Mentally - 10

SEASON 7:

I like to think, that after Jay wished it all never happened in season 6, that season 7 ends up taking place as opposed to season 6. So therefore, all the Ninja remain the same age. AND PIXAL HAS HER BODY REVEALED! But I'd say that she had already had her body for about a year or so, just kept hidden.

Cole: 19

PIXAL: Mentaly - 19, Body - 1

Zane: 18

Kai: 17

Jay: 17

Nya: 16

Lloyd: Physically - 16, Mentally - 10

SEASON 8:

OUR BOY LLOYD IS GROWING! Its been a year now since season 7, and therefore, guess whos joined the legal adult train! Kai and Jay! And apparently it was Lloyds pubertys time to shine! (All my brothers had hit ouberty heavily between 10-12, so Im going off of what I know from them lol)

Cole: 20

PIXAL: Mentally - 20, body - 2

Zane: 19

Kai: 18

Jay: 18

Nya: 17

Lloyd: Physically - 17, Mentally - 11

SEASON 9:

Obviously season 8 and 9 are very closley connected, so I would say they remain the same age, and Kai mentioning how they are all teenagers, I'd say that he was just being nice to Cole in the moment, whom has already entered his 20s, and was no longer in his teens.

Cole: 20

PIXAL: Mentally - 20, Body - 2

Zane: 19

Kai: 18

Jay: 18

Nya: 17

Lloyd: Physically - 17, Mentally - 11

SEASON 10:

Final part to the 3 season oni trilogy, so obviously they remain the same age.

Cole: 20

PIXAL: Mentally - 20, Body - 2

Zane: 19

Kai: 18

Jay: 18

Nya: 17

Lloyd: Physically - 17, Mentally - 11

SEASON 11:

They become lazy for a year. Theyre ninja, and yet, they let themselves slip, smh, they really decided to ditch what beautiful abs they had on the dark island. Nya has hopped onto the Adult train! Lloyd is now physically an adult! But hes still a child in the others eyes obviously - but still their leader!

Cole: 21

PIXAL: Mentally - 21, Body - 3

Zane: 20

Kai: 19

Jay: 19

Nya: 18

Lloyd: Physically - 18, Mentally - 12

SEASON 12:

I'd say that this doesn't take too long after season 11, as the time difference between the realms must have made season 11's mission actually quite quick.

So I would say they're all the same age still.

Cole: 21

PIXAL: Mentally - 21, Body - 3

Zane: 20

Kai: 19

Jay: 19

Nya: 18

Lloyd: Physically - 18, Mentally - 12

SEASON 13:

I'd say it's been another year or so, and we FINALLY got a Cole season! So you know the role call, +1 to all the Ninjas ages! Most of the Ninjas are now old and in their 20s!

Cole: 22

PIXAL: Mentally - 22, Body - 4

Zane: 21

Kai: 20

Jay: 20

Nya: 19

Lloyd: Physically - 19, Mentally - 13

SEASON 14:

Judging by how the season starts off, I think that it's only been a few months since season 13, so the Ninja remain the same age, will they ever catch a break?

Cole: 22

PIXAL: Mentally - 22, Body - 4

Zane: 21

Kai: 20

Jay: 20

Nya: 19

Lloyd: Physically 19, Mentally - 13

SEASON 15:

Bless their poor souls, suffering after Nya's sacrifice. For a whole year, they were separated, just like after Zane defeated the overlord. And bless Lloyd's poor soul for giving into his Oni side. Now all of them are physically in their 20s, but Lloyd would have started high school.

Cole: 23

PIXAL: Mentally - 23, Body - 5

Zane: 22

Kai: 21

Jay: 21

Nya: 20

Lloyd: Physically - 20, Mentally - 14

[wellthebardsdead]

Clockwork heart pt17

Part 16 here

———

Inigo: *riding on Roach, the horse Wyrm bought him with the little gold he had left so he wouldn’t have to walk* You are the dragonborn my friend?

Wyrm: *riding on Naomi, Taliesin hugging his waist with one hand and holding the reigns with the other* apparently…

Kaidan: *up ahead on Wyrms horse* apparently my arse, No normal person can move mountains with their voice like you can.

Taliesin: Or absorb the soul of a dragon like you did.

Inigo: well, I’m extra glad I did not kill you then.

Wyrm: you may as well have, something will eventually… *sighs* it doesn’t matter anyway. Once I’m home I’m never leaving again… making me the dragonborn surely must be one final cruel joke by the gods, I’m no hero or adventurer, I can’t even fight off some dogs or brandish a blade… *sniffles* papa was right about everything…

Taliesin: *strokes his hair* shhh, enough of that. You just need some help and practice is all.

Wyrm: I don’t even have two working arms…

Taliesin: … *looks up ahead at Kaidan* Kai, can I see the map please?…

Kaidan: Why? Think I’m leading us in the wrong direction?

Taliesin: no- *trying to hide the anxiety already building inside* a-are there any marked dwemer ruins nearby?

*several hours later*

Kaidan: *carrying Taliesin out of the ruins of Mzulft* Deep breaths you’re alive you’re not dead.

Taliesin: *coming down from a panic attack* we- are NEVER GOING IN ONE OF THOSE AGAIN!

Inigo: *carrying out a bag of loot* Is it a good book?

Wyrm: *holding the Lunar Lorkhan* I don’t know but… it feels strangely important given everything that’s happened to me recently… hm? *blinks spotting a building theyd missed* …Kai?? That key we couldn’t find a lock for, do you have it?

Kaidan: hm? Oh yeah- *unceremoniously drops Taliesin on his ass and fumbles around his bag for the key before handing it to him* here.

Wyrm: th-thank you. Tali are you okay?

Taliesin: *on the ground hyperventilating* I- I-

Kaidan: don’t worry I’ve got him. *pats Taliesin on the back* keep breathing you’re fine.

Wyrm: I… I’ll be right back. *watches him with growing concern before walking off to the building and opening the doors to find a store room inside* oh?… *looks around at the rows and shelves of spare pottery, parts and more* ohhh! *grabs several gears, metal plates, bolts and ingots placing them in his satchel before passing another door and immediately back pedalling as something blue catches his eye* what?… *places the key in the door and steps in as he unlocks it to see a strange shard of what he can only describe as blue glass* wow… *slowly touches it and feels his whole body seize in shock as another memory clouds his mind*

???: Aetherium? But sir we only have a limited supply left, and with the dwemer gone we don’t know how to harvest anymore, we should not start such a grand project if we are without means to finish I-

Sotha Sil: we do not need the aid of our deep elven cousins. I am aware of their methods and how we can obtain more if needs be. But in order to create my vision for our people’s future, I must first make the gateway to the plain where it shall take shape.

Wyrm: *let’s go of the shard and staggers back as he regains control of his mind* ughh- *rubs his face* Aw- shit. *huffs and rights himself* I wish that’d stop happening… *looks back at the shard before nervously poking it in case another memory sparks before quickly putting it in his satchel too and exiting the building*

Inigo: *leaning against the entrance* Anything interesting?

Wyrm: it was just a storage room but I found some gears to repair my arm!

Inigo: that is great news my frie-

Taliesin: *having a coughing fit after hyperventilating so hard he started crying* I can’t breathe- I can’t breathe-

Kaidan: *at a loss on how to help him* T-Taliesin calm down! You’re outside now you’re safe-

Wyrm: *hurries over and shuffles his way into taliesins lap hugging him and taking his hands* shhh, it’s okay, it’s almost over now… *pulls his handkerchief from his bag and wipes his face* y-your makeup is running, it’s alright Tali I-I’m sorry you went through all that just for me…

Taliesin: *sniffles and rubs his face choking back another sob* I’m- im fine- I’m fi- *coughs* w-wanted to make you happy again- I forgot h-how horrible those dreadful r-ruins are-

Wyrm: *keeps drying his face just letting him ride it out knowing how hard anxiety like this is to stop and how similar they are to his sensory overloads* I-I’m so greatful you went through it for me, y-you didn’t have to. *takes his hand to move it from his face only to feel the larger elf squeeze it a little tighter than he’s comfortable with but not in a cruel way* … *squeezes back* I’m here.

Taliesin: *breath uneven and in short bursts as he begins to steady and ground himself feeling the weight of the small dunmer in his lap, his hand in his, the sweet smell of citrus in his hair mixing with the smell of sandalwood from his robes* I… I’m… I’m okay, I think- *clears his throat and sniffles back tears* I lost myself for a moment there-

Wyrm: it’s okay to lose yourself, so long as you come back to us eventually. *smiles and dries his face cleaning his eyeliner up* I-I don’t blame you for being frightened, that centurion had you cornered, if inigo didn’t jump on it when he did I don’t think Kaidan could have stopped it in time.

Inigo: the hero again~ *snickers walking by*

Taliesin: I… *sighs rubbing his face* I’m just glad to be out of there… I only wanted to help but…

Wyrm: m-maybe next time we avoid going into dwemer ruins.

Taliesin: *nods and laughs softly* y-yes, that. That sounds like a great idea. *smiles warmly at him as he finally calms down, feeling oddly at peace as he stares at Wyrms sweet smile and gentle face* I… *finally realises Wyrm is just sitting in his lap* I- um. *clears his throat and lifts him up as he rises to his feet* d-did you find anything you can use? *sets him down*

Wyrm: yes! I should be able to fix my arm now. Thank you Taliesin. *suddenly gives him a hug before running over to the horses leaving Taliesin standing there stunned*

Kaidan: *pats him on the back* Smooth.

Taliesin: Bugger off.

Kaidan: Hehehe~

*that evening*

Wyrm: *seated at a table in the Braidwood inn as he tinkers with his arm, the group having decided it’d be best for all of them to avoid windhelm and it’s unwelcoming inhabitants* just- go- I- *pauses watching the bolt he was trying to fit into place pop out of its position and fall off the table and onto the floor* Aw biscuits… *shifts and reaches down to get it only for Taliesin to grab it for him*

Taliesin: you should be in bed little moth. *hands him the bolt*

Wyrm: th-thank you. I will be soon I just- wanted to get my arm fixed tonight… it’s just a lot harder without mr wrench to help me…

Taliesin: Mr? Wrench?

Wyrm: oh- *blinks suddenly making his Pearl eye glow and a projection of a tiny dwarven spider suddenly appearing from it* one of my-… well… I guess he’s my only automaton now… I built him from scraps and he helps me build things.

Taliesin: *staring at the projection in amazement* I?! How?! How are you doing that??!

Wyrm: huh? Oh, i-it’s one of its enchantments. I’m very good at enchanting things, I can store memories in it, it’s, like a lexicon but very small. But it mainly just helps me see. *blinks making it disappear* it’s just magicka made visible, like fire or lightning for a destruction spell or an illusion spell. I keep memories that make me happy in case I’m sad… *looks down slightly before shyly blinking again making a projection of taliesins tear stained eyeliner smudged face appear* thank you for making me happy too.

Taliesin: *visibly blushes feeling his heart skip a beat* I- I you’re welcome but did you really have to pick that- I look dreadful!

Wyrm: *giggles*

*a few hours later*

Wyrm: *sharing a bed with Taliesin as Kaidan & inigo bunk together on the other* mnn *shifts uncomfortably as the hay pokes him and the old furs itch his skin*

Taliesin: *blinks open his eyes, too uncomfortable to sleep as well* itchy?

Wyrm: *nods* yeah…

Taliesin: *shifts and gets up pulling his thalmor robe from his bag*

Wyrm: t-Tali put it away you’ll get arrested if someone sees-

Taliesin: *suddenly turns it inside out and lays it over the hay and furs* nobody will be able to tell. *smiles and lays on it, gesturing for the small dunmer to shuffle closer*

Wyrm: *gladly does as he’s asked, wanting more so to cover it with himself in case somebody comes in and sees it* th-this feels much better.

Taliesin: *yawns and nods* I agree. If all else fails we always have our bedrolls.

Wyrm: *nods and shuffles a little closer resting his head against his chest* I-I never thought I’d miss my bed so much when I left home… but anything is better than the sleeping arrangements here…

Taliesin: *visibly blushes feeling the dunmer so close* Then we’d best get you back home as fast as we can so you can rest c-

Wyrm: *blinks wondering why he paused* Tali? *looks up at him to see him frozen in place* …Tali?… *notices he can’t even hear his heartbeat anymore* … *gets up in a panic only to see Kaidan frozen mid snore and inigo mid stretch* Wh-what- what’s happening?… *looks around the room before stepping out to see the inn and it’s patrons frozen in time, the fire unmoving, the bard mid strum of her lute, a cork from a bottle of wine halted in mid air* I- *jumps and spins around feeling something touch his shoulder but unable to see what’s there* h-hello? *reaches out and feels nothing beyond a sudden and painful headache* th-this happened in saarthal too- before- before- before- *grabs the bar as his mind flashes images of the orb and the memories of creation, the throbbing of his head pounding like a drum and beating in tandem with a heart he’d seen shot into the sea* p-papa- I-I’m- dying- it- hurts- it- hurts- it- *falls silent as cool metal touches his face, a hand, elegant in design, and a now familiar, kind face smiling back at him beyond a white void… sotha sil* y-you…

Sotha Sil: *smiles warmly at him, his very presence bringing him a strange comfort* shhh… you’re not dying… You can’t die.

Wyrm: I-it hurts- it hurts my head hurts- my heart it’s so loud- wh-why m-me- why are you killing me?

Sotha Sil: *bearing a look of immense sadness and hurt on his face that his means of protecting him would cause him pain* Kill you?… impossible… *shakes his head* No matter. I won’t allow them to use you for their plans. Please bear it for a moment longer…

Wyrm: u-use me? W-who? Wh-what do you mean impossible?

Sotha Sil: *smiles* You can’t kill a god.

“Sahloknir, ziil gro dovah ulse!”

Wyrm: *gasps as he comes back to reality, only to find himself no longer in the inn, but standing atop the hill near the settlement, his nightshirt and trousers drenched from the rain… and the world eater glaring down at him as he brings forth his ally from the earth* …I’m going to die…