#but would i make an exception for ananas. maybe

[cuppajj]

currently

[smimon]

Asking asks about giant k; consider me in 👀👀👀👀👀👀👀.

1. is there a piece of clothing that didnt grew and Jere is a bit a sad about? I was thinking that maybe that could also be a reason as to why häärijä wears the suit now.

2. how is he travelling? Planes trains and cars are not that big?

3. does he need more food than before since he is bigger?

4. how long did it took bojan and jere with the shoulder thing, where bojan sits on his shoulder without struggles? How did the first times go?

5. since jere is so tall he sure gets to put the star/ angel figure on top of the tree.

6. what was bojan's first reaction from last remembering Jere as being shorter than him and to next time he saw him Jere was a lot taller than him.

7. more details about the apartment? Is the entire building bigger or is it like the tardis where its bigger on the inside?

8. do they have comfy cozy movie and game nights? How would that go? 👀👀👀👀.

9. five things jere likes about being taller?

10. how does it feel to hold a cat in his big hands? 🥹🥹🥹

11. did he ever hit his head?

12. how is the day to day life?

13. more backstory? More lore? 👀👀👀👀

Ups, overdid it a bit, better stop now and leave some for others. 💛💛💛💛

That's quite a bunch of asks! Let's gooo

1. is there a piece of clothing that didnt grew and Jere is a bit a sad about? I was thinking that maybe that could also be a reason as to why häärijä wears the suit now.

Hmm the general rule is that all the clothes he wears did grow, and he does not wear the yellow suit, so it stayed with Häärijä. Also most of the gifts he received from fans did not change size, except for the few that he likes enough to wear sometimes again, like the crochet Bulbasaur hat from Ideapark gig 😊 it makes storing the gifts much easier.

I had however an idea for a story where K is a bit sad he can't wear the yellow suit anymore, and Häärijä encourages him to at least try, and when he tries the jacket, it suddenly fits! The forces of magic decided the suit belongs to them both equally so it changes size depending who wears it.

That's how they do that clothes swap thing from EU tour in giantverse 🤭

2. how is he travelling? Planes trains and cars are not that big?

Well! He can use public transport most of the time, but he needs two or three seats. Whenever possible, securityman takes the third seat, but when there are only two seats in a row, he sits in K's lap 🤭

For planes they can get him the seats at wings as they have more leg space 🙌

K technically could also squeeze in a passenger car's backseat, but he won't do that because he never travels without fastened seatbelts 😇 (ei vittu!) 😑

3. does he need more food than before since he is bigger?

Oh that's a question I wished I'll receive! XD This is certainly one of the first things he wanted to figure out, except instead of thinking about food, he enthusiastically wanted to test how much alcohol can he possibly take 😂

The rules of magic are not simple, and turns out his new limits in terms of alcohol or food or medicine are... Exactly the same as before 🙃 Must have been fun to realize this after he already had ten kaksi ananas lonkero...

(Forces of magic won't force him to spend more money on food, that would be rude!)

4. how long did it took bojan and jere with the shoulder thing, where bojan sits on his shoulder without struggles? How did the first times go?

They managed it at first try actually, Bojan just climbed there before K noticed and now K has to do all the balancing while Bojan holds onto his head for support. They could do it all day!

5. since jere is so tall he sure gets to put the star/ angel figure on top of the tree.

🥹 I love this vision. Of course he gets to put the star on top and he insists he is the one to decorate the top of all trees of his friends and relatives. He will visit them one by one and place the deco on the top. And when the top already was decorated, he takes it off and puts right back on saying "that's how it's done!".

He's helping! uwu

6. what was bojan's first reaction from last remembering Jere as being shorter than him and to next time he saw him Jere was a lot taller than him.

They did talk a lot since Jere grew so Bojan was not surprised, although until the last moment he was a bit suspisious this might be some elaborate trick or prank. But he was happy to see this is true. He has way too many silly ideas how to use this new situation 😊 Bojan will never feel bad about being shorter than K because everyone else is shorter too haha

7. more details about the apartment? Is the entire building bigger or is it like the tardis where its bigger on the inside?

When you look from the outside it looks like someone forced a way too big flat into the building side 😂 and on the inside it is even bigger too. Only the front door is the same size as always, and from the corridor you wouldn't tell anything is different about this flat! ✨Magic✨

8. do they have comfy cozy movie and game nights? How would that go? 👀👀👀👀.

🥹 well considering his apartment is now big enough to set a few tents in the middle, he probably invites friends over quite frequently.

And if he visits some friend in their regular sized flat, they have no choice but to get comfy and cozy. You know, since he takes up most of the space anyway.

9. five things jere likes about being taller?

First: money money money! Together with the crew they have lots of ideas how to monetize his stature. Everyone would pay for a photo with him!

Second: this is part of his brand now, and no one can imitate this. There is no one else like Käärijä!

Third: it takes less time to get places by walking. And it is easy to escape the paparazzis. (Tabloids started adding "experience in competitive running" to their job requirements.)

Fourth: he has always a great view at any concert or stage show 🥹

Fifth: he can now confront every single person who ever made fun of him for being short. He will find them one by one, point, laugh "who's short now?!" and walk away ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

10. how does it feel to hold a cat in his big hands? 🥹🥹🥹

When every cat feels like a kitten, it must be the greatest feel in the world 🥹

11. did he ever hit his head?

Ouch 😅 probably way too many times, but not on places you might expect (he takes care in everyday environments but then there is the backstage or airports or vehicles). Might be one of the reasons they hired the securityman

12. how is the day to day life?

Fun where it was boring before, weirdly unchanged in the serious parts. Most people are not that interested in him being a giant (maybe they are professional, maybe it's the stereotypical Finnish respect for personal boundaries and privacy).

13. more backstory? More lore? 👀👀👀👀

Uhh hmm maybe this: Häärijä actually knows a lot about the forces of magic, but he never explained anything because he hasn't even noticed K is now a giant 😂 (don't blame him, he was always shorter than him)

That would be all! Thank you 😊

[itsyamajesty]

Rising Charcoal AU idea comp Number 1

(just because I'm stressed tbh)

No guarantee there will actually be more

None of these are 100% canon yet, although some are definitely likely

Not tagging for characters because ehhh (might later, probably won't matter much by then tho)

Putting it all under more cause there's a decent bit

• Burning Spice's main weakness here is actually Smoked Cheese- they share a life force so if one runs out, the other's will come crashing down. He's pretty hard to kill, except for the fact that Smoked Cheese is basically his achilles heel. Fortunately, one that can actually fight back. Still not great for him. This would also be the main reason that he doesn't just wipe out the Sand Slices immediately and leave, considering the sandstorm will stop if Powder Cheese dies. Smoked Cheese can just be killed if worse comes to worse.

• Also seems like he has monster nerd potential- the Spice Swarm seems to mostly be monsters. So Powder is REALLY surrounded by nerds now.

• Decent chance Burning Spice ends up having a huge crisis over his lack of strength. The others aren't happy about their new weakness, but him especially. Being the Great Destroyer was his entire thing, and now he's trapped in a cage without the ability to escape. He's back in the fucking building, one could say.

• Powder Cheese has the same vibes as Sherbet and Wind Archer, minor deity of a major elemental (referring Wind Archer when it comes to nature here, since to all my knowledge Millennial is the main plant god. Don't really play OB tho so...).

• Debating on Raspberry's and Tiger's inclusion in Eternal Sugar's beginning arc (Snapdragon is in it for sure)

• Trying to find out a good "dragon hunter leader" character, problem is I don't know who to put in that slot because this AU takes place post-Dragon update, while not wanting to include OCs because COF is OC heavy, and not knowing enough about Ovenbreak (I want to keep this mainly CRK central). Aka, suggestions appreciated. I have an OC ideal if I really have to, but I don't want to if I can find a good alternative (tempting tho).

• With that said, outside of COD and seldom other characters (maybe I will stress), the only really big OB characters I see getting into this AU is Ananas, Lotus, and Lychee (Longan is probably a no). Don't count on it in the slightest though (this AU has 50 dragons in it by accident anyway).

• Debating between whether to make evil Seamoon evil yuri or tragic yuri. I kinda like the idea that after both got corrupted, they fight now. Instead of the tides longing to be near the moon, they want eachother dead. I think it's funny, they aren't corrupted to the same side after all.

• I thought it would be interesting to switch the Gem Mermaids' alignments. Black Pearl has become more neutral over time as everything else has become more chaotic, not returning to being White Pearl, but Seafoam Pearl now. On the other hand, after Sea Fairy corrupted, she gathered the other Gem Mermaids to her command. There was much resistance, but it seems they have fallen in time.

• Stormbringer is corrupted from the murder of the other weather deities, all happening due to her severly underestimating Dark Enchantress. Ever since, she has thrown away her pride for great wrath. Everyday she searches for whatever may be left of the Black & White dragon, fearing the few things she has left will fall to it. Unfortunately, it seems that Affogato and Strawberry Jam got to them first, and in a weakened state. Yet, not to kill them.

• Speaking of the Dark Cacao kingdom saga, Mystic Flour needs actual first arc friends in this AU. Affogato and Strawberry Jam will be her friend for a little, but y'all can probably guess what will happen to that relationship. I have a few ideas, but I need to do some reading before even stating anything.

• Strawberry Crepe and Black Raisin are working together, but from a distance. Strawberry Crepe was able to lie their way back into the COD as a secret agent, and now works on the Ultimate Cookie project, trying to do everything they can do to stop it. Unfortunately for them, they haven't gained enough trust to go unwatched long enough to actually do much. The few moments their free, their sneaking a message to Black Raisin (crow mail) or trying to, as stated, stop the Ultimate Cookie project. They're trying to help Silent Salt in Beast-Yeast, but they've only been under more surveillance as the Ultimate Cookie becomes close to completion. They know exactly where Elder Faerie is, but don't ever get the opportunity to tell Silent Salt before finding out for themselves. Black Raisin is in Crispia helping out a new survivor group (right under Pure Vanilla Kingdom stopped being sage enough to live years ago).

• Pastry and the St. Pastry Order fighting against the Cake Monsters? Maybe? Idk gotta read the lore, I'm doing something with them for sure (gotta figure out what exactly I'm doing with Shadow Milk, might wrap Pastry and some other non-main chapter Epic Cookies into that)

Also I am working on a storyboard for a possible Rising Charcoal animatic. Might finish the storyboard, probably not the animation. Will show the storyboard if I finish tho, even if it's bad.

Idk sorry if this was really messy, again just writing because I'm a little stressed

[gr4veyardz]

Cookie Run headcanons except i’m obsessed with the ancients, i’m insane and i make weird family trees

Plus some extras under the cut

- I like the idea of Moonlight being Lily and Clover’s other mom, y’all know, two lesbian gods, their god-like child and their funky music son.

- Adding to this, Clover often talks about his family in his songs, hoping to meet one of them one day. Poor boy he misses his mom and sister:(

- Before her dissapearance, Golden Cheese had the opportunity to meet Mango; he was very young at the time so he would follow them everywhere she go, and Ananas gave her the nickname mom duck.

- White Lily knew she wasn’t the role model her brother needed, so after what happened with her mother she left Clover in an orphanage/convent, promising that she would send him letters every day. She kept up her promise for a few years until she became an ancient hero.

- If we consider that maybe the Dark Flour War happened centuries ago, Clover would be inmortal in a "i'm pretty much a normal guy with the exception i can't die of age or sickness" kinda way. So yeah he would be like- super old but he still has a young adult's body

- Mango sometimes asks Ananas about what happened to Golden Cheese, and even though they tell him that she is fine, he knows that not even his father knows what happened to them.

- Ananas hid Cheese for a long time after she was born, feathered dragons were viewed with distaste among their race, so they took her with the cheesebirds to make them their leader.

- Pitaya allows Lotus to stay in Holly’s kingdom even with their territorial behaviour, they know Lotus mourned their daughter’s “death” during a long time and now that she’s back they both deserve to work on their issues.

-  Lotus and Hollyberry dynamic is some “i left her alone in the woods all by herself when she was a child to test her sense of direction and i’m not ashamed to admit it” and “the only one allowed to piss off my mom is ME” kinda thing. A big love/hate relationship.

- Ah yes, the good ol' mommy issues strike again.

- Hollyberry has a great singing voice, Lotus cherish that aspect of her in secret.

- Frost Queen raised Cacao after he was left in the woods to die as a baby after being "the victim of a curse" (his parents were just idiots), and she took him in as her son. I see her making some kind of ritual to bond Cacao with her, y'know, adoption with extra steps.

- Linked to this we can see my other hc where Cacao was like a Frozen Child that died and reborned in a "normal" body because he was fated to be an ancient hero and shit like that.

- And in general i just like the concept of grim reaper deity and her inmortal child with severe trauma he bottles up, him becoming a legend in a harsh and traumatic way and leaving this deity without the only living being her deadly touch can't affect. (Add some mourning and maybe an emotional/mental breakdown after a reunion and you get a completely healthy mother with her son)

- If we expand this to Choco, he would have been shocked at the fact the goddess his kind use to pray to is his grandmother, his father is just a frozen forest spirit that reached godhood after endless trials and trauma and he himself is a demigod with a tragic fate, yeah what a family he has.

"do you remember Frost Queen?"

"she's my mom"

"yeah, why?"

"... so you're telling me that there's a goddess of death out there..."

"yup"

"we pray to and worship often, and we are related to her"

"exactly"

"and that makes us... GODS?!"

"only me, but my body is technically just a vessel to protect my soul, which is inside the souljam at the same time ironically, and my trials made me reach a god-like status, meanwhile you're like a demigod"

"sweet gods" (and Choco forgot that conversation for his own sanity)

- The reason Millenial Tree and Pure Vanilla have such a conflicted relationship is because Millenial practically left his son to be raised by other people while he focused in his godly duties, so Wind Archer took care of Vanilla instead.

- After years of constant neglect by his father, Vanilla ran away and became a shepherd at a very young age, not that he was alone, Archer kept an eye on him for as long as he could until he entered the academy, that was where Vanilla was separated from his protector for many years until he became an ancient hero.

- It was not that Millenial had not loved his son, he loved him too much in fact, but to protect him from the evils he had to face, he pushed him away and left him in the forest, where the god believed he would be safe, but Vanilla ran away from him instead.

- After the Dark Flour War Millenial searched for any clue that could lead him back to his son, It would take decades for him to hear from Vanilla, now Healer Cookie, again.

- If i had to choose a dynamic for them, it would be "a broken family trying to fix itself, only to fall apart every time". Sad.

- But not everything is bad my kids, they eventually meet again and Millenial has a second chance to be the father his son needed, Vanilla is not thrilled by this at all.

[esoraluco]

I STILL love Licorice and ppg gangreengang but...

Look story time, in 2020 CR released this beautiful individual, for whom i developped an instant crush on-

Ananas Dragon Cookie! Which made me play and most importantly- ENJOY playing the game. Because of deppression it’s hard for me to enjoy most games these days, and when i enjoy something it’s not for long (a month or so- usually less), so i was glad to have SOMETHING. Plus i haven’t played the game in years (since 2016) so i had a good amount of content/characters to catch up on. But ngl i was more focused on getting Ananas. I eventually did in summer 2020, and got new faves, like Lobster, Whipped Cream, and a good bunch of others (i’ll draw them all in a chart one day!).

But here’s the thing that made me keep playing- when they released Ananas, lore was revealed, saying there were other dragon characters, and this picture was shown;

I hate to be a victim of hype, but. Yeah i can’t lie these mere shadows made me so excited that at each month story update, i was hoping they would show/release one of these, esp the blue one. Because i *adore* sea/water dragons, they’re my favs... Btw yellow shadow silouhette is Ananas, and red one was released in 2019 (their name is Pitaya- i love them too, but they’re not in my top 5). And so during the remining of 2020, i kept hoping for a dragon character to show up or be released...

... Until now. I waited well over a year, and early 2021 updates were pretty hard for me to go through- not because they weren’t enjoyable (they were!... except the may and june ones ngl), but because i didn’t really care and just wanted the blue dragon character... Thankfully i had Licorice to help me through and make a new brainless fave 💖💀 also i waited so long that last month i got fed up and did my own version of the blue dragon concept lol

BUT NOW! AFTER MORE THAN A YEAR OF WAITING!!!!!!!!

They’re more beautiful that i could ever have hoped them to be... Finally, not only my wait is over, but it was worth it as well. We don’t know much about their character yet (nor their pronouns/gender- though the other dragons are nb so i think Lotus will be as well. Though im gay so. Kinda hoping male or masculine ngl), but so far... They’re kinda evil LOL, so immediate fav (as if there was any help needed). I’m tired but i want to make pictures of them.. and maybe. A Self insert ngl 🙈

[odogaronfang]

okay so i have some ideas about how the guild squad arc is going to resolve in the end so i put them all together :) it’s kinda long so it’ll be under a readmore but feel free to add any thoughts you have!!

okay unless there's something about the guild squad dark choco cookie hunt storyline i missed, we don't know where DC is going, right? but we know that they were in the dragon's valley, with or at least near pitaya, because pitaya mentions a cookie touched by darkness passing through the valley. that's not a very convenient location to travel to and probably not a great place to stay if you're unfamiliar with it, but they were there, meaning they may have looked for something, but they obviously didn't find it and so continued on their way.

and then right before the earthquake, yam says that he has a hunch about where DC was going and/or what they were looking for! and i know mango first introduces the additional dragon lore to milk and dino for story reasons because we the players are unfamiliar with it, but it's safe to say that mala knows about the dragons, and yam probably also knows something about it, whether that be from prior knowledge or from asking mala about them.

because DC was at least formerly royalty, we can expect them to have had a pretty thorough education, so DC may have also heard the legends of the dragons! and they went to dragon's valley to seek them out, but found that all of them had fled except for pitaya, so they may have tried to approach or investigate pitaya which is why pitaya knew they'd passed through. but pitaya wasn’t the dragon they wanted- they control “fire and brimstone” which overall isn’t very helpful to DC, so DC left the valley.

so what if.......... DC is seeking out the blue dragon for a wish! maybe to uncurse them! or they may even be looking for the violet dragon, who manipulates darkness- but i also like the idea of DC’s corruption being somehow tied to the violet dragon and not to dark enchantress, so maybe the violet dragon is trying to bring their “toy” back now that their power is waning?

and the interesting thing about all this is that mala and yam will likely encounter the blue dragon wherever they are, along with the ivory dragon, but milk and dino are (or were) near the violet dragon's island, so regardless of where DC might have gone, only half the squad (and half the people looking for them) will find them.

and with blueberry pie's city of wizards event, devsis has proven that they're willing to do a choose-your-adventure type of thing............... maybe you choose which half of the squad’s story to follow, and that determines who meets DC, and DC's fate (violet dragon or blue dragon) depends on that. and blue dragon/violet dragon is like good end/bad end for DC.

if they get the good end, they’ll be with yam, the guy who distrusts them and believes they’re evil and selfish, etc.

but if they get the bad end, presumably falling deeper into corruption and serving the darkness, they’ll be with milk, who's implied to be blindly idolizing them.

in the good end i imagine that DC frees themselves of the curse for good, either by using a wish from the blue dragon or by asking the ivory dragon what they need to do to be free and stay that way. and yam and mala probably encounter them right before or while they’re interacting with the dragons.

and i imagine DC sort of remembers yam because of the fight for the title and everything and they realize why yam must be after them and yam gives his whole monologue about what a piece of shit DC is but before they actually fight, DC willingly relinquishes the title.

like they admit that they should never have taken it and that they were in the wrong and that yam is more deserving of it, etc. and yam is like 'fine okay' and that’s that, and he's ready to bail on DC as soon as mala gets what SHE needs but like. yam knows that milk would be DEVASTATED if he found out that yam and mala had found DC but not brought DC to see him, and yam also won't lie or ask mala to lie if milk asks about DC.

so yam is like 'don't get me wrong i still hate you but we need you to come with us' and DC is like 'okay i have nothing better to do i guess' so like. assuming the wishes have parameters and they can't wish themselves to where milk and dino are, they ask the ivory dragon where and how to find them and then set off to meet back up with the rest of the squad.

i think mala still tags along because maybe the other two dragons tell her that they need all 5 dragons to heal the valley? idk it's an excuse to keep mala but anyway they have their journey and find milk and dino with the other dragons and i just picture like. mala stumbling upon where milk and dino are first and they're like Holy Shit Mala and she calls yam over and they're like Holy Shit We're Together Again but then DC comes through and milk is like HOLY SHIT DC and milk is like 'DARK CHOCO!!! I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU!!!' (completely not noticing like their emo outfit and their emo weapon and their missing eye because he's too excited) 

but DC is just like '...who are you?'

and milk is kinda taken aback because he's thinking that DC MUST remember him, and he tries to remind DC of how they saved milk all that time ago but DC is just like 'i've had a lot of fights and i've killed and saved people in equal measure, i don't know who you are' and DC is tired and hurting and feeling ashamed and aimless so they don’t even TRY to be tactful about it and it CRUSHES milk

[insert the rest of story here] because i have ideas for the scene that follows but that’s too long and detailed for this post.

anyway bad end….. idk what exactly the violet dragon would do to DC, but it would probably involve making the curse more severe and probably making DC more malicious as a Just For Fun :) sort of thing, or maybe the violet dragon wants DC as a bodyguard and an agent of darkness now that their own power is fading (of course this depends on whether the violet dragon is evil or is cool and just happens to have an unfortunate domain of power).

so i just imagine like. milk and dino going to see the violet dragon, and since they're not as well-versed in the lore as mala is, they're not really sure what they're walking into (i don't think that ananas is willing to give them much help because of what they did to the island)

and as they’re making their way to the violet dragon's lair, they begin to see evidence of someone else passing through, and yam never got the chance to share his theory with milk but i think maybe milk began to get a similar idea? so he's like Dino Holy Fuck and they're following these tracks, which is convenient because it seems to be leading right to the dragon anyway!

i don't think that they ever really "see" the violet dragon, i imagine that they get around to the violet dragon's lair and DC is just. chilling outside, completely nonchalant, acting like nothing is wrong

like they’re just sitting on a rock outside kindling a campfire, sharpening their sword, and maybe the violet dragon is able to access their memories so that they see this old, vague memory with milk and they're like I Can Make A Trap Out Of This :)

the violet dragon sees this emissary of light approaching and doesn't want that shit so!! they can use their new toy to fix the problem :)

but they also don't want DC risking a fight where they’re outnumbered so DC is like (still basically possessed) '...milk? is that you?' and milk is THRILLED

DC invites milk and dino to stay with them around the campfire and talk, and promises that the next morning they'll all go to see the dragon together- but the dragon is actually intending to have DC kill milk and dino in their sleep.

so they sit around talking and DC is being pleasant and friendly, if a little quiet (the dragon is making them let milk and dino speak as a way of gathering information). and meanwhile mala and yam have reached their set of dragons and something just feels Wrong to both of them. some kind of intuition i guess. so i just imagine them frantically asking the ivory dragon what's going on with dino and milk and the ivory dragon thinks for a minute and then they're like 'your two friends are in immediate danger, and likely will not live to see the sun rise tomorrow'

and yam is like 'what kind of danger?????' and the ivory dragon describes DC and yam is like son of a fuck

and beforehand mala can ask or wish for what she needs because lesbian rights and she deserves it but idk they use their other wish from the blue dragon to get to dino and milk somehow but like :) just A Little Too Late to fully prevent everything :)

no one dies except maybe DC depending on how edgy you wanna be! i think jellysaur is on edge and growling and biting at DC every time they come near, because animals just have that Sense, so jellysaur wakes milk and dino just before DC can kill them, but there's still a fight before yam and mala are able to get to them :)

anyway i do have more thoughts but that’s for another time :)

[birthisland]

The United States of Scribblenauts

In which I make every state in Scribblenauts Unlimited and see what the game parses them as.

Alabama: Got me an aba aba, which is an eel. It flopped around pointlessly. Alaska: Summoned an abarka, some kind of pink shoe. I put it on. Arizona: Summoned the Amazon. It looked like a rainforest. Arkansas: Brought up an ananas, which is a pineapple. California: Summoned californium. I dropped the gray rock on the Amazon and both the rock and the Amazon turned nuclear green, then the Amazon died, causing the californium to land on my aba aba, killing it instantly. Colorado: Gave me a big, floppy fish called a coronado. It flopped uselessly, replacing my aba aba seamlessly. Connecticut: Summoned confections, which was one wrapped candy. Delaware: Got me a delator, which is apparently some form of prisoner. I gave him the confections, which he refused to eat. Florida: Summoned a type of bird called a florican. It looked neat and I let it fly around.  Georgia: Got me George, which is apparently a 5th Cell inside joke, as it spawned a race car with a 5th Cell logo. I got in George and rode it around. Hawaii: Summoned a habia, a bird which looks just like a cardinal. I gave it to the delator since he didn’t seem to like the confections very much, and picked up the confections. Idaho: Summoned Ian, a guy with shiny, spiky shoulder pads. He immediately started holding a red mace once I put him down. I was a bit too scared of him to steal the mace or give him something else. Illinois: Brought up an illadopsis, which is a robin-type bird. I let it fly around near the florican. Indiana: Summoned an Indian pea, a boring-looking peapod which Ian immediately ate.  Iowa: Gave me a yellow bird called an iora. I seem to be collecting birds. Kansas: Brought up a kanda, a gray fish with a weird, long head. It flopped around near my coronado. Kentucky: Summoned a kei truck, some form of semitruck. I wanted to ride it but accidentally dropped it on the californium, so it died, leaving me with only George to use. Louisiana: Summoned a logician, a guy with a robe and a white beard. I gave him the kanda to hold, which looked pretty silly. Maine: Summoned maize. Ian ate the maize immediately. Maryland: Brought me a marshland, which included a brown bird called a curlew, an alligator, Irish moss, a pussy willow, and a mutant. Ian killed the alligator, but the mutant scared Ian, and the logician, so that they ran into californium, leaving them all dead, along with the pussy willow and kanda, and pushing me and George into the californium, where we both became irradiated. Then George exploded, killing the florican nearby. I angrily gave the mutant my ananas. At least the californium also exploded.  Massachusetts: Summoned a music musette, a fancy word for bagpipes. I played it, and it sounded nice. Michigan: Summoned a microvan. I appreciated the new mount, and even stuck the mutant in the back.  Minnesota: Gave me magnesite, a huge white block.  Mississippi: Summoned mini fusilli, which looked just like spaghetti. It was so lonely without Ian to eat it. Missouri: Summoned a masseur. I let him hold the mini fusilli, but he didn’t eat it. Montana: Summoned a manta ray. I gave it to the masseur because he looked funnier with it. Nebraska: Brought me a nebula, which looked just like a meteor. I dropped it to create a meteor shower, which killed the curlew, the iora, the delator, his habia, and the kanda.  Nevada: Summoned a navaga, which looked just like the coronado and was just as useless. New Hampshire: Created a new hair shirt, a blue shirt which I put on immediately.  New Jersey: Summoned a new jersey, which I just left on the ground, since I liked the hair shirt better. New Mexico: Created a new medic. I gave him the magnesite to hold. New York: Summoned a new yolk, which I found awfully boring. North Carolina: Summoned a nasty campolina, a horse who was awfully scared of the mutant and too nasty to ride. North Dakota: Created a nasty dabba, some type of gray pan. It attacked the medic and the masseur, who ran away from it. The masseur’s manta ray at least got close enough to the Irish moss to eat it in the process. The dabba then killed the medic.  Ohio: Summoned an obi, a red sash which I wore with my hair shirt. Oklahoma: Summoned Ohma, a grandma who ran away from the mutant. I gave her the confections, because grandmas like candy. Oregon: Brought me some oregano which everyone refused to eat. Pennsylvania: Summoned a penny bank, a piggy bank which I found cute. Rhode Island: Created a rude island, which killed the navaga, the ohma, the medic, and the manta ray. How rude. South Carolina: Spawned a smooth campolina, which was more agreeable than its nasty counterpart.  South Dakota: Created a smooth dabba, which I liked more than its nasty counterpart. Tennessee: Brought me a tennis net, which would be nice if I had anyone to play tennis with, except the mutant. The minivan had finally undergone radioactive decay, freeing him. Texas: Summoned a texas, a boat which cannot move on land. I put the mutant in it for punishment. I also noticed the island was gone: maybe the dabba killed it? Utah: Summoned a UAV, some kind of flying vehicle with a propeller at the back. I traded up to it from my campolina, who got scared of the mutant. Vermont: Brought me a vermin, a bug that immediately started biting the texas. When it finally broke through, the mutant killed it. Virginia: Gave me a virgin, which looked like a bride. I gave her the penny bank in case she needed money, but the mutant then chased her and the nasty campolina to the other side of the map, where it killed them. Washington: Summoned a washint, which is apparently some sort of oboe. Not better than the music musette. West Virginia: Created a wet virgin, who didn’t meet the same fate as her dry counterpart. Wisconsin: Got me a washbasin, which looked just like a sink. Wyoming: Created a waxwing, a neat-looking brown bird who I gave to the wet virgin.

The moral of this story: There are a lot of birds in this game.

[earlybirds-atla-au]

How did the group meet Hama?

After the events Hakoda had already declared The Worst Winter Solstice Ever, they didn’t fly far. They couldn’t. Even if they themselves weren’t exhausted, Appa was - the poor bison had been up since before dawn, crossing an ocean and evading a Fire Nation blockade and infiltrating a temple island. Aang knew better than to push a tired bison past its limits - Monk Gyatso had made it very clear that the consequences would be freefall. He wasn’t familiar with this part of the Fire Nation, but he knew Crescent Island was the easternmost island in the archipelago. So Aang had Appa fly west.

It put his friends on edge, flying deeper into the Fire Nation, but Aang pointed out a few simple facts. One, the sun was setting, and they wanted to fly straight into it to mask their route. Two, it was only a few miles to the next island, and Appa was too tired to go much farther. Three…

Kuzon had promised he’d throw Prince Ozai off the trail. 

And who would expect them to go further into the Fire Nation, anyway?

The next island over was small and uninhabited - no tell-tale lights of a village twinkled in the dusk. Appa touched down on the beach with an exhausted whumph. “Okay,” Hakoda said, sliding off Appa’s back and making his way up the beach. “Let’s hide in the treeline and keep camp simple tonight. No cooking, no fire, preserved food only for dinner. Uh. Is there freshwater here, do you think?”

Aang used air to lift Appa’s saddle up and tuck it into the shadows of the trees. “I don’t know, but the waterskins are still full. We can figure it out tomorrow. If worse comes to worst we can fly straight back to Hei Bai’s forest and the river there.” He patted Appa’s nose. “Sorry, buddy. I’ll get you hydrated, promise.”

The bison huffed, but lumbered further into the trees and plopped down to sleep. Hakoda, Kya, and Bato grabbed their sleeping rolls and the dried food.

“Everyone agrees we get out of here first thing tomorrow morning, right?” Bato asked, doing a quick perimeter check around their camp.

“Yes,” Kya says.

“I vote we go the second Appa’s awake,” Hakoda said. 

“And fed,” Aang reminded him.

“Right, we leave the second Appa’s awake and fed. All in favor?”

“Aye,” said Kya.

“Aye,” said Bato.

Aang said nothing. They all looked at him. “Come on Aang, you get a vote too,” Kya reminded him.

“Oh! Right. Aye-aye, Chief Hakoda!”

Hakoda preened. Kya threwa pillow at his face. “Okay, no, I did not vote for you to be chief.”

Hakoda threw the pillow back at her. “And we should take turns keeping watch tonight. I’m really not in the mood to be woken up by Prince Angry Jerk and Cadet Flamethrower.”

“Okay, yeah, seconded,” Bato said, staring off into the forest.

“Who was the girl?” Kya wondered.

“The girl?”

“The girl, the one with Ozai. Didn’t you see her?”

“Oh, yeah, I did see her,” Hakoda said. “More importantly, I saw her swords. Just another Fire soldier, I guess.”

“She was dressed way too nicely to be a soldier,” Kya said. “She was dressed way too nicely to be fighting at all.”

Hakoda had a bite of seal jerky and shrugged. “I don’t know. Hopefully it isn’t important and we never see her again. Bato, are you alright?”

Bato was still staring into the forest. “Uh...you might want to see this.”

Hakoda got up and went to see it. “Huh,” he said when he stood beside Bato. Kya and Aang ambled up behind them.

“Is that a person?” Kya asked, tilting her head at the figure slumped against a tree not fifty feet away. Her hand went to the boomerang holster on her back.

“They haven’t moved the whole time we’ve been taking,” Bato said.

“Do you think they’re Fire Nation?” Aang asked.

“Well, they’re on a Fire Nation island,” Hakoda said, “so, yes.”

Aang hesitated. He’d become more cautious with every adventure they’d had since he’d been freed from the iceberg, had learned to scope out a situation before diving straight into it. But after a moment his monk’s compassion won out. “We should make sure they’re okay,” he said, sweeping forward on a little airstream that flew under his feet.

“Aang, wait!” Kya hissed, grabbing for him, but the Airbender was already at the stranger’s side. The Water Tribe teens ran after him.

“Well,” Bato said as they approached. “I’m going to guess this isn’t normal?” It was a camp, of sorts. There was the charred remains of a campfire and some kind of lean-to shelter, and what appeared to be small stockpiles of food - coconuts and fruit and dried fish.

There were also clay jars. Lots and lots of clay jars. And the shattered remains of even more clay jars.

“Is she...alive?” Hakoda asked, looking at the woman Aang was hovering over. She was thin and haggard, dressed in patched-up brown-red robes cut in the Fire Nation style. Her graying hair was long and lank and tied back in a haphazard bun. Not five seconds after Hakoda spoke, she loosed a long, loud snore. “...well, that answers that question,” he whispered.

“What do we do?” Kya asked.

“We should leave,” Hakoda said.

“And go where? Appa’s exhausted and the Fire Nation is looking for us.”

“We don’t know who this is, or when she’s going to wake up, or what she’ll do when she does.”

“Uh, I don’t think she’s going to wake up for a while,” Bato said, an open jar in his hand. He handed it over to Hakoda.

Hakoda took a whiff and winced. “That is...really potent stuff.” He passed it to Kya, who also winced.

“So...she’s drunk?” Aang asked. “Do you think she’s okay? Can’t you get alcohol poisoning if you drink too much?”

“Who cares? She’s Fire Nation,” Kya said.

Aang shot her an annoyed look. “Not everyone in the Fire Nation is evil, Kya. You just met Kuzon.”

“Yeah, and all the other Fire Sages, who definitely wanted to kill you.” Aang still had that stubborn look on his face, and Kya sighed. “She’s breathing, she isn’t vomiting, and if she does start vomiting she’s in a good position to not choke on it,” she said. “I’m much more worried about us. What do we do?”

“Maybe she’ll just stay asleep, and we won’t have to do anything?” Aang offered hopefully.

Kya and Hakoda exchanged doubtful glances, but Bato looked around the many empty jars scattered around the camp. “You know, that’s a distinct possibility,” he muttered, and started inspecting the woman’s food supplies.

“We could tie her up,” Kya said. Aang looked worried, and she added, “We’ll untie her when we leave.”

“What if she has friends?” Hakoda asked.

Bato had picked up a dried fish. It looked...strange, but it was hard to tell why. It was just a fish, perfectly dried out and devoid of any juicy bits that might rot. But something about it looked off, less like a fish that’d been smoked over a campfire, and more like a sea plum that’d been left out to prune in the sun.

Speaking of which… “Are these sea prunes?” Bato wondered.

“What?” Hakoda and Kya asked.

Bato held up the long strings of dry seaweed he’d found, laden with shriveled little fruits. They didn’t look exactly like sea prunes, but there was something familiar about them.

While they were all staring at that mystery, the full moon crested the horizon, and the woman’s eyes fluttered open.

“Uh, hi!” Aang said, smiling nervously. Kya was beside him immediately, boomerang in one hand and club in the other. Hakoda and Bato were there a second later.

The woman blinked up at them with glazed eyes. “You don’t even know how to throw that,” she said to Kya.

Kya bristled. “Yes I do!” she said, but the woman’s gaze had already slid towards Bato.

“Oh,” she said, blinking a few times. “Back to tell me how horrible I am?” She stared at Bato for an uncomfortably long time, as though she honestly expected a response.

Hakoda nudged Bato’s arm and gave him a meaningful look.

“Uh,” Bato said, “no, you’re, uh...you’re fine? It’s fine, you’re fine.”

“You always were a terrible liar, Atka,” the woman muttered. She was still staring straight at Bato.

The Water Tribe kids all froze.

“...Guys?” Aang asked softly.

“Coincidence,” Kya said. “Has to be.”

“Really weird coincidence,” Hakoda hissed back.

The woman blinked a few times, and slowly straightened up, her eyes becoming ever-so-slightly more lucid. One hand lifted very slowly, fingers extended towards the kids. “...You’re all actually here,” she realized.

“How do you know my grandfather’s name?” Bato asked.

“Your - what?” The woman jerked upright, peering at them. She looked far more sober now. Her eyes tracked over them - Kya’s boomerang, the beads in Hakoda’s hair, Bato’s wolftail. “You’re - Water Tribe,” she said, eyes wide.

Kya pushed Aang behind her before the woman noticed the Airbender tattoos. “Yeah. And you need to go back to sleep.” It wasn’t her boomerang that moved, but her blunt club, arching directly for the woman’s temple.

It glanced off against a wall of ice that sprang up from nowhere, even as every plant around the campsite withered into blackened husks. Kya staggered under the shock, Hakoda yelped, Bato grabbed his whalebone knife out of instinct and held it out in a defensive position.

But none of them moved, except for the woman, who slowly pushed herself to her feet.

“Was that waterbending?” Aang asked. None of his friends could answer him - the only time they’d ever seen waterbending had been when he’d escaped Prince Ozai’s ship. He hadn’t been able to do it again since.

“Water Tribe,” the woman repeated. The ice melted, but the water stayed, hovering in the air by her outstretched arms. “Who did you say Shaman Atka was to you?” she asked Bato.

“He was - my grandfather,” Bato said, staring at her. 

“Your - are you Anana’s or Suka’s?”

Kya’s boomerang trembles in her hand. Hakoda’s eyes are full of cautious hope. “Anana’s my mother,” Bato says shakily. “Who are you?”

“Hama,” the woman breathes. “Of the Wolf Tribe.”

Hakoda makes a noise in the back of his throat. Kya chokes back a sob. Bato stares at the woman a moment longer before dropping his knife and taking a hesitant step forward, and then another. When he’s standing directly in front of Hama, he carefully leans towards her face until his nose touches hers.

“Hello, cousin of my mother,” he says, and the water hovering behind Hama splashes to the ground.

Hakoda and Kya step forward, and Aang decides that now is a good time to just...recede back into the forest. He’s pretty sure they aren’t in any danger now, and the way his friends looked...he thinks they’ll appreciate it if he stays out of this moment.

He knows he’d appreciate it if Monk Gyatso showed up.

[cheswirls]

tether notes 1/3

long overdue, sry abt that.

pt. 1

why is there no change to the mines after 15+ years of destroying an environment?

i modeled the sinnoh region of tether almost exclusively on the hokkaido region of japan. from the layout of cities like sapporo, abashiri, and muroran, to geography like lake saroma northeast of veilstone and the hidaka mountain range for lower mt coronet, and especially, to the isolationism. i kept it trie to pokemon in the fact that sinnoh has no railways, unlike its real-life counterpart, which has plenty for traversing its vastness. a big part of hokkaido is how empty it is.

[on that note, though i mention both, i used muroran photography to model veilstone instead of abashiri, as its a proper port town. not super significant, jsu thought i’d bring it up, since muroran is sandgem’s counterpart.]

hokkaido is vastly underpopulated in ratio to its size. its mostly due to climate, and nature. things are far less technologized there. outside of sapporo, you won’t find very many glowing billboards and fancy casinos and active nightlife. you have to ride a train for hours to reach the next big town. the mountain range cuts the northern region in half.

when compared to this, little villages out in the middle of the wilds are far more isolated than towns. especially when they’re remnants of indigenous tribes. it’s sad, but it’s pretty standard process in the world nowadays -governments don’t care about the native people much. it’s prevalent in the united states, and if you’ve ever read commentary from fma’s mangaka arakawa, you’ll know the same is true for japan. the ainu are isolated to hokkaido. they aren’t looked after much.

so, even though it’s been a direct result of oreburgh’s mines’ negative effects, it’s still a matter of most of the sinnoh region not even knowing the village existed, and even if they did, not paying it mind. the wilds of sinnoh are difficult to traverse, and it’s more logical to take a boat to your destined city instead of traversing through them. that’s why so many of the big towns in sinnoh are located on a shore. for others, like jubilife and hearthome, there are airports that cater to people. and, for real life hokkaido, there are the trains.

i really wrote abt the mining incident in reference to bangladesh. in hokkaido, once all the prevalent mines started having accidents, the japanese government was quick to shut them down. in other eastern countries, especially bangladesh, the government is notorious for doing nothing abt the insane amounts of river pollution caused by factory waste. writing the river scene was heartbreaking, but learning about the trash rivers that prevail in countries with vast amounts of pollution, of the ones that run stark orange with mining waste, that was more difficult than anything i’d written for tether. 

so it comes down to being a mix of two things. one, sinnoh’s government viewing the production of the mine and the money it brings over the safety of the nature that surrounds it. and, two, no one noticing the damage anyway. it’s not like it ever affected oreburgh. or, maybe it did, but they installed the fresh-air vents to keep the mines clean, like the changes made in pokemon platinum suggest? the oreburgh mines are the sinnoh region’s majority of energy, after all (you can argue for sunyshore, but i’d say solar power only stretches so far from the source) so even if there’s a scuffle of it here or there, keeping it active is important.

also. my take of the pokemon world has always been a little gritty. so there’s that.

why hancock as champion?

i ask myself this question everyday. i don’t even like boa. why did i include her, if in name only? what was i thinking? oh well. it’s already been done.

[side note, again. if boa’s in charge of sinnoh, considering her, erm, personality, is it hard to believe nothing was ever done abt the mine pollution? aka does she care abt anyone but herself hm hm ]

pt 2.

i introduce a pokemon known as driftzel rather early on. it’s luffy’s, and it’s an in-progress pokemon, a concept i thought would be interesting to use. you can see what driftzel looks like here. it also links to the blog i got the idea from. instead of it being like a natural evolution, though, the idea in tether is more of a middle evolution for pokemon with two lines. so, there aren’t any for three-line evolutions. i was originally going to introduce ricaru, an evolution between riolu and lucario, but i moved away from that idea somewhere around writing part 4.

herbalist!law is the solution i came up with in lieu of him being a doctor. i had so much fun with the berries. when i was doing my maps for each part of tether, i had separate maps marking out the locations of berries in the games and which ones law collects along the journey to veilstone. 

hearthome is the only city i didn’t base on a real world counterpart. i think because i had too much to work with already. the cathedral, the contest hall, the gym. all the architecture. the poffin house. i didn’t wanna change anything abt hearthome, and more importantly, i wanted to portray part of japan’s hospitality here, too. it does extend all the way to hokkaido, yes. people are nice, and friendly, and happy to have travelers, just as depicted in all the games. 

yes, all of ace’s pokemon are named after spade pirates. except for isuka, because i couldn’t resist. yes, striker is a spade pirate, it was his ship. 

[in reference to the night walk between hearthome and solaceon] remember to bring a compass, when you’re in a region with a giant magnetic mountain range at its center, because it will be a lifesaver.

Law can see how uneasy Luffy still is, but as they walk further from the coast, he eases up, so he chooses not to ask

^ in platinum, the opposite shore houses the hallowed tower where you can encounter spiritomb. sensing the presence of an evil spirit leaves luffy on edge, thus their dodge to avoid it.

why are lunar wings, an event-only item, brought up in hearthome?

you’re right. lunar wing is a rare dppt item, and you can only get it after encountering cresselia on fullmoon island. my inspiration came from an episode of the dp anime, where a stall in canalave was selling the feathers as homage to the game event. actually, to go further, the same thing happened in the darkrai movie, which is where i got most of the insp. especially for the charms made out of them -look at the picture here!! i figured, with the sinnoh region i was depicting being a place of mostly friendly and peaceful pokemon, cresselia was more generous with her feathers. they make for popular items, and if they work in keeping the bad dreams away, whats the harm? plus, they’re in hearthome, a hotbed for tourists and foreign activity, because they’d sell best there. a good luck souvenir from sinnoh? sign me up.

but they are still lunar wings, and they do work, as shown with chimchar. i really wanted a piece of practical merchandise i could show off, and once i got the idea for chimchar’s introduction, i tweaked the hearthome scene to include the feathers. if you pay attention, though, you’ll note that law no longer has restless sleep after luffy’s secured a lunar wing.

the solaceon ruins was a place i wanted to explore so badly, but it just didn’t make sense within the continuity of the story, especially when i decided to go the northern route and introduce tsuru out of the fog. my original ideas were split between that, and law/lu cutting through the mountainous area of the ruins as a shortcut to veilstone. i was really captivated with exploring the uncharted areas of sinnoh’s map, and i think at this point i had established enough, so i decided they would stay on paved routes this time. but! i did want to bring it up, which is where carmel comes in.

in the games, there are houses on the outskirts of solaceon, nestled between the trees, and very close to the ruins. there’s one house where a little boy will give you ball capsule stickers. that’s the basis for mother carmel’s house. she lives there with anana, the first of the captive granddaughters to be introduced. 

anana is creepy in canon. you can’t die that. i used carmel’s canon portrayal to match, and then the scene becomes a match of who’s creepier -the ruins or this old lady? the atmosphere around the ruins is weird. there are unknown there, so the space is distorted. it’s an old place. it’s quite possibly connected to giratina and the distortion world, since there are unknown present. it’s supposed to be eerie and strange and off-putting. it’s supposed to feel like a place where a wandering child can disappear into quite easily. though, maybe carmel’s just inattentive.

The trees out here are tall, towering over them in shades of deep green and dull orange, a byproduct left over from spring’s bloom

i mention orange trees in a section of the woods just past solaceon. they’re not orange from fall, though, they’re naturally so. oran trees! any off-colored trees mentioned -assume they’re berry trees. also another berry thing i had fun with, deciding which was a bushel and which was a plant and which was a huge tree. 

i had way too much fun depicting the fog forest. i actually listened to a lot of pkmn soundtrack while writing tether, and for this part, this santalune forest remix was on constant replay. getting turned around, not being able to see your map, hearing the sounds and calls of wild pokemon, and then getting so lost in it that you begin to hear what isn’t there. not being able to see in front of you, barely able to dodge attacks and sabotage from wild pokemon, and feeling like youre going insane from myriads of different tunes clashing together. the road between solaceon and the dragon tamer’s house is terrifying, and i wanted to use this to depict the dangers of traveling in the pokemon world. though most sinnoh pokemon thus far had been shown to have good intentions, it can’t be said about every pokemon. 

not to mention the big drop you have before the bridge, right when you get out of the fog! not really even out of it, as it sticks around near the dragon tamer’s house. could you imagine encountering something like that in real life? imagine how many accidents there would be.

so i had a bit of trouble in deciding if i wanted to use tsuru or not. this was fairly early on in wano, and i knew i wanted to use tama, but who to pair her up with for grandmother/daughter matches was iffy. looking back at my list, i had lots of other picks for the dragon elder. gloriosa, shakky, kureha, rouge, gerth, even! carmel, too, at one point was a pick, since i planned this part out early on into the story. i actually had marine tsuru on the list as well! in the end, i think i decided on wano tsuru bc of all the dragon tie-ins thus far. if i were to go back, now, i think i might change it to toki and hiyori, possibly. or, tsuru and hiyori. not that i dont love tama, though, i do. 

i had a small list of grandkids, too, depending on who was the grandmother. anana, rebecca, tama, marguerite, and a few choices for marine tsuru (the standout was, apparently, isuka. then i repurposed the name for ace’s talonflame. tashigi was another pick, but in the end in wanted little girls.) at another point i thought about hiluluk and chopper, and had another grandfather/son combo that i can’t remember anymore. those were scrapped early on, since i wanted all girls. i also thought abt chimney and kokoro, but i wanted them on a more coastal city, to mirror water 7. 

there were two things i really wanted to happen in tether. one was a pokemon joining a team. and another was an evolution. part 2 fulfills one of those w chimchar, the pokemon i always wanted luffy to have, and the one i never knew i needed him to earn. also, giving pokemon their own personalities is really cute.

also, just before this scene, i take a skip, marking the second time an indefinite amount of time has passed between scenes. i realized while writing the time through mt coronet that i was writing more passively than actively, and this was speeding up things more than i liked. it’s why i took a break and depicted hearthome for a couple days, so that things were happening more in the moment. still, i hope at this point it’s gotten across that it’s taken a long time to travel to veilstone. moving across the entire region is a long journey, after all.

introducting aura, a movie concept.

so. aura was the main reason i wanted tether to take place in the sinnoh region. it’s actually mentioned in the games once, and that’s from riley, one of the sinnoh quartet, on iron island. in the movie where the concept is introduced, it’s brought with a lucario, another region. in the anime, riley has an active role in aura. but, for those who’ve just played the games, or know next to nothing abt pokemon, i tried to explain my best in-story. 

aura takes the place of conquerors haki in this pokemon verse, basically. you’re born with the sensitivity to it, so it’s not something just everyone can unlock. it’s rare, and it’s widely unknown. like law says, in sinnoh it’s considered an old myth. outside of sinnoh, it’s hardly known at all. so finding others to learn from is difficult. most people go their whole lives without even knowing what it is, just considering it natural luck that they can perceive things than others cannot. luffy meeting shanks, and learning that they both are sensitive to aura, is an incredible thing. having someone to teach you how to manipulate aura rare, and pretty amazing, when you think of the chances. but luffy and shanks live in different regions, and luffy has his own life. it’s been a long time, training, and as he expresses in part 2, he’s still not as far as he wants to be.

aura guardians, what shanks is, are almost unheard of. with great power comes great responsibility. and with great power comes the desire to obtain it. aura guardians are secret for a reason -if someone found out a person had an incredible power, and had the desire to, would they not seek it out for themselves? even to other aura users, revealing themselves wasn’t wise. protect yourself first. it’s a motto you’ll see come into play later.

with that said, and with one of the last things luffy mentions in part 2: could that have something to do with why shanks has gone missing?

[aleinnilatibae]

Wouldn’t It Be Nice

I wrote this fic to say....Happy Birthday @sassysportacus!!! You are awesome and you are the lifeblood of the Ávaxtakarfan fandom (and especially the ÁKEU) and I really hope you like this!

Wouldn't it be nice if we were older

Then we wouldn't have to wait so long

And wouldn't it be nice to live together

In the kind of world where we belong

 Immi burst out of his door, running down the path as if he could outrun the tears he was desperately hiding from his family.

The NERVE of them, honestly! He went about his normal day at school, only to come home to all of his stuff being packed and stacked in the living room?! To come home to the news that “Hey, Alli, you’re out of the house tomorrow so better try to find somewhere to live” as if that was a normal and planned thing, when Árni had been allowed to stay into his late 20s? How could his own PARENTS do this to him!

He marched along the path, seething, not knowing really where he was going, until his loud footsteps took him through the crunchy grass that separated Pineapple Plaza from Orange Avenue.

Oh. He DID know where he was going, if only subconsciously.

He sped up, walking with purpose rather than with anger, all the while taking a piece of paper out of his pocket and writing a note.

“Eva, I need to talk to you, it’s URGENT. Meet me in the big field, by that rock that you said looks like an apple –Immi”

He folded the note and tucked it through the slightly open window of her room, then raced away before anybody could see him.

He paced out in the open field, next to the apple-rock. He just needed to stay cool, is all. Pineapples get disowned by their parents all the time-well, maybe not ALL the time, but he was certain that it has happened at least ONCE before, don’t need to let her know how upset this makes you—

“Immi!” called Eva, interrupting his thoughts.

Immi whirled around and saw Eva, struggling to walk through the grass with her heels on, but determined either way.

His heart melted at the sight. Eva was never one to sacrifice her look for anything.

“Immi,” she said as she got closer, “I…I got your note. What’s wrong?”

Play it cool, Immi. “Oh, it’s just that…” he sighed, “Eva…I’m leaving tomorrow.”

“What? Where? Why?” she demanded, crossing her arms.

Immi ticked off his fingers. “I’m leaving tomorrow, I don’t know and…because tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday.”

Eva clapped her hand over her mouth, “They’re not-“

Immi nodded. “I’m ‘technically an adult, and can fend for yourself’ tomorrow,” he said, mocking his father’s voice, “So they packed my bags FOR me, how nice of them, and have them all laying out in the front room!”

“But-but-“ Eva stuttered, “We can fight that!”

“Ha!” Immi laughed. “You think that ME, you know-“ he gestured to himself, “Skinny Ananas, and YOU, an ORANGE, are going to change the mind of my family?” he laughed hard, but completely without mirth. “Not a CHANCE!”

Immi kicked a rock.  It scuttled unsatisfyingly about three inches along the ground.

“ No, no, I’d rather not be somewhere that I’m not wanted anyway, than you very much,” he mumbled.

Eva opened and closed her mouth several times, as if trying to come up with that many angry retorts, until her face suddenly changed.

“We won’t see each other again,” she whispered.

Immi nodded, mouth a thin line against his emotions. “Yeah,” he managed.

Eva let out a sob, and threw her arms around Immi.

Her tight embrace and muffled tears put a lump in his throat too, despite his best efforts.

“You can’t leave, Immanúel,” she whimpered, “Who will sing to me?”

His vision swam. Oh, that was not FAIR.

He tightened his hold on her, as if that would stop the sob building up in his throat. Dammit, he had been doing just FINE about the whole process, if it weren’t for this girl. This girl who was clinging to him like her LIFE depended on it, the girl that, despite everything keeping them apart, he ALWAYS liked just a little too much-

“E-Eva I like you a lot,” the confession just tumbled out, voice wavering on the verge of a sob through gritted teeth as he tightened his grip on her. “If I-If I wasn’t leaving I’d-I’d have asked you to be my, uhm…b-b-be my-“

Eva pulled back to look at Immi, crying too hard to say anything in response, except to wrap one dainty hand around his neck and pull him in for a kiss.

Immi kissed back, hungrily, unable to get enough.  On any other day, he would be THRILLED that Eva liked him back, that what he had imagined for so long was finally happening, but now all he could feel was Eva’s shaking shoulders, all he could taste was the tears staining both of their cheeks, all he could THINK about was the fact that they wouldn’t have this tomorrow.

Eva ran a hand through his hair, and he cursed himself for depriving himself of this, of what they could be, until the very last day that they had.

When they parted, their faces were both wet.

“Come by tonight,” Eva said, sniffling, touching their foreheads together, “After everyone has gone to sleep. Okay?”

“Okay,” Immi nodded, silent tears rolling down his face, “Okay.”

-

Immi didn’t talk to his family for the rest of the day. Every “It’s for the best, Aðalsteinn,” fell on deaf ears, he was never ever EVER going to speak to his family again.

And when everyone finally went to sleep…he slipped out the window and headed into the night.

Immi helped Eva out of her own window and the two of them snuck out, out into the forest, up the hill, hand in hand. At the top of the hill they sat, just talking about anything that crossed their minds, mostly avoiding talk of the future.

“Immi, it is SO COLD,” Eva complained, drawing her thin jacket around her shoulders, “Didn’t you bring a blanket or something?”

Immi sucked in a breath through his teeth. “Nope, I forgot.”

Eva pouted, and opened her arms.

Immi didn’t hesitate to sidle in beside her, sharing his frankly excessive body heat with her, and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Being able to act on their shared feelings was absolutely EXHILARATING. All that time spent worrying, what if she found out? Could their friendship survive this? Am I being TOO touchy with her? Would she even like me back? Gone. The background nervousness that underlined Immi’s every interaction with her had vanished, and Immi felt completely at peace.

In fact, Immi was so relieved that he almost couldn’t feel the tinge of melancholy on the edges of this feeling, that reminded them that they only had this one night together. This one night, where they were sitting in the dirt in the forest, with Immi thinking up a million potential dates that they could go on that were FAR better than this…

It wasn’t fair. There just wasn’t enough time.

“Wouldn’t it be nice?” he mused.

“What?” asked Eva.

“If I didn’t have to leave. If you didn’t have to leave.”

“I don’t have to leave, Immi,” Eva said, “That’s the problem.”

“No, Eva, I mean…if we had our own place…if we could just STAY together, for the whole night.”

Eva cocked her head at him. “We are already doing that, right now.”

“Ugh, not in the DIRT!” he huffed, “I mean…if we could just have a place, where neither of our families could hassle us anymore, somewhere we could both go home to, where we could just…”

He looked out at the twinkling streetlamps of the town below, searching for the word.

“…be,” he decided on.

Eva snorted. “I think you’d have to be KING to stop YOUR parents from hassling you.”

“Yes! Then I would write it into law! Those who are…mean, to Immanúel Aðasteinn Ananas,” he said, pretending to be a royal announcer, “They must…spend eternity in the dungeon!” he crowed, raising his fist in the air as if it held a kingly scepter.

Eva laughed. “That would show them, wouldn’t it, Immi minn?”

Immi couldn’t help but chuckle. “Yeah, that WOULD show them.”

Their laughter dwindled out into a companionable silence.

“If I were king,” Immi asked carefully, after a moment, “Would you be my queen?”

“Oh, Immi,” she said, placing her head on his shoulder, “I would never pass up the opportunity to be queen!”

“I know you wouldn’t,” chuckled Immi, leaning down to kiss her again, soft and slow.

“I’m sure if you were queen,” Immi murmured low, “You would make our castle the grandest that the world has ever seen.”

“Of COURSE I would!” Eva gasped. “Oh, I can just see it now, we would have a GIGANTIC castle, and you would need a better HAT for a crown, and maybe a scepter, and I would have a room made out of mirrors, and all of the make-up that I ever desired, and we could have BALLS, and I could be the HOSTESS…”

Immi took her hand as she continued to animatedly describe their future castle, and sighed.  Maybe one day, when Immi had made something of himself, proven his family all wrong…maybe then, he and Eva could find each other again.  

You know it seems the more we talk about it

It only makes it worse to live without it

But lets talk about it

Wouldn't it be nice

[leelee10898]

Back to you: Chapter 13- Girls like you

Disclaimer: characters belong to Pixelberry, except those created for the story Rating: 18+ NSFW Summary: Olivia and Aria make it to the speakeasy, Aria runs into a handsome masked man who shows her a good time. She also runs into Liam. This chapter picks up from chapter 12. You can catch up HERE Title/Chapter inspiration: Girls like you - Maroon 5

Tag list: Is in the comments due to the aweful notification issues going on with tumblr.. As always if you would like to be added feel free to drop a line :)

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Leo sat in the back of the limo staring out the window, swirling a tumbler of scotch in his hand. He tried to ignore the fact that he was still pissed at his brother for what he did to Aria, but he made her a promise he wouldn’t do anything. He would have much rather hung back at the hotel and spent time with her but here he was, heading out for Liam’s bachelor party. “Were heeeeere” Maxwell cheered bouncing up and down in his seat, he chuckled to himself. Maxwell was odd, but at least he was fun. The men got out of the limo as Liam hung back. “Leo, a word.

 ” Liam cleared his throat. Leo gave his brother a curious look. “I know that you two have become,” Liam clears his throat again, "very close, I just need to know how is she?” It pained him that he was asking his brother how the woman he loved was. He had screwed up big time, he wasn’t sure if he even stood a chance with her anymore, but it didn’t stop the fact that he still loved her. He made terrible decisions, and yet he could not remember making them. “She’s fine.” Leo said firmly as he finished off the rest of his scotch. “Are we done?” He asked. Liam nodded as they both got out of the limo.  They walk to the door and knocked. A slot slides open "Password?” A man asks from behind the door. Maxwell leans in, “pieds puants ananas,” Maxwell whispered. The slot closes and the door opens allowing the men entrance. "Everyone put your masks on.” Maxwell demands as they make their way through boxes and barrels, behind a curtain was a spiral staircase the lead down to a lavish 1920s inspired club. Leo broke away from the group and posted up at the bar. He wanted to be far away from his brother right now.

 In the town car Aria and Olivia make their way to the club. “Ok, spill it, what’s with you and Leo?” Olivia blurts out. Aria gives Olivia a fake puzzled look. “Im not sure what you mean.” Aria lies. “Im not dumb Aria, I see the way you two look at each other. Something is going on with you two. If you don’t tell me I will figure it out on my own.” Olivia said very matter of factly. “Fine. Cliff notes version. We met and dated over 5 years ago. Something rekindled when he showed up here and I’m just really confused. ” Aria sighed. “Do you love him?” Olivia questioned. “I…I don’t know.. yes.. maybe? Im not sure to be honest. I love Liam, but, I think maybe I’m still in love with Leo too. ” Aria groaned as she threw her head back against the seat. The car rolled to a stop thank god Aria thought she wouldn’t have to be questioned by Olivia anymore. Aria pulls out her mask and puts it on as they get out of the car and walk up to the door..“password” the man asks. “Umm password?” Aria was clueless. “Pieds puants ananas” Olivia says as the door springs open and they make their way inside.

 It was like they stepped into back to 1925. A catchy jazz band playing, men in suits and the women wearing caps and feathers on their heads. Everyone around Leo was having a good time, he just felt something was missing. He missed her, he knew the night would so much better if Aria was here. He watched as every person came down the staircase and into that lounge and no one caught his eye, until she did. She wore a flowing black flapper dress that hugged her body but moved freely with every switch of the hip. Her brown hair curled and pinned just to the bottom of her right ear, a rhinestone headband on her head. Bright red lipstick on her luscious full lips, she wore a royal blue beaded mask that hid her face but those big brown eyes locked with his and he smiled. He walked over to the beautiful stranger. “Excuse me miss? May I buy you a drink?” His voice like velvet. “Sure thing handsome.” She took his hand and they walk over to the bar. 

 “an old fashioned.” He said to the bartender, “make that two.” She piped up. They drink their drinks as Leo leans in close “You are the most ravenous woman here, I am finding I am having a hard time keeping my hands to myself.” he growled in a low husky voice. She looks over at him, fire in her eyes. “Maybe you shouldn’t fight it so much.” She purred as she brushed her hand across his. He grabs it and pulls her in close he looks into her eyes, his lips crash down on hers. Their their tongues dancing together, their mouths smothering the sounds of their moans. “I want you, right now. ” she whispers. A guttural growl escapes the back of his throat as Leo grabs her hand and leads her to an adjacent hallway used for access to a private party room. The lights were dim and there was no staff since the room was vacant.

 He pushes her up against the wall, his mouth kissing and nipping the sensitive spots of her neck. She moaned softly as his fingers dances up her legs spreading her thighs slightly to gain access to her wet pussy. His lips found hers as he brushed one finger across her sensitive clit before dipping it into her wet center. Leo groaned with satisfaction. A second finger joined the first as he pulled them in and out. His thumb massaged her clit and she threw her head back in ecstasy. She fumbled with his belt buckle, wanting to free his throbbing erection she could feel pushing up against her hip. She rubbed her palm across the crotch of his pants grazing his trapped member as she swiftly unzips his fly and releases his rock hard dick. A growl escapes his mouth as she strokes his cock a few times. He pulls her up and lowers her slowly onto his cock, she gasps at the instant satisfaction she felt as he lowered her all the way down. She squirms against him hard as his tip tickled her gspot. He thrust into her hard and fast, each stroke teasing her sweet spot more and more. She could feel the heat pooling in her stomach. 

They kiss feverishly swallowing each other’s moans. Each stroke was like electricity, she felt it pulsating throughout her body. “Oh fuck, so tight, so fucking wet, fuck.” He grunted, his pumps becoming faster more urgent. She felt like she was going to explode, as he thrust and pump into her, his huge cock stroking her g spot she screamed out, “oh fuck Leo, im cumming. Oh fuck!” As her juices enclose his shaft like a wave he growls, “oh you feel so fucking good Ari, fuck.” He gives into his own orgasm as his hot cum coats her walls. They pant, and try to catch their breath. He lowers her down onto the ground as they both adjust themselves. He leans in to give her a kiss, “like I said.. the most ravenous woman here.”

 They exit the hall as Aria walks out first, Leo follows after, turning his head to the man standing by the hallway “Liam.” he nods and zips his fly as he walks off.  Liam stood there stunned and speechless. He looks over at the woman now talking to a tall redhead woman, he realize it was Aria, and the other woman was Olivia. He felt a knot form in the pit of his stomach. He saw her kissing him at the bar. He knew that she just hooked up with his brother in that hallway. He wanted nothing more then to be with her, the possibility of that happening now was not good, He felt like he might be sick. He just wanted to talk to her, he had to ask, to try. He gathered his courage and walked over to her. “Aria” he whispered. She gasps “Liam?” “Aria I want to talk to you, please. I only want to talk. What do you say?” He begged. She could see the desperation in his eyes. “Ok.” She sighed. “The Seine, 10 minutes.” He whispered as he took off. 

She approached the Seine, there he was standing on the bridge. He stood tall, but his face told a different story. He looked haunted, he had circles under his eyes, his slender body looked even slimer. She felt pained seeing him this way. “Aria, I am so glad you came.” He smiled walking towards her. “Have you ever been here?” Liam asked. Aria hesitated a little, Liam could see it in her face. “Its ok.” He assured. She shook her head yes. She had been there with Leo long ago. “Aria, I need to apologize for my actions, it is inexcusable how I have behaved and I give you my sincerest apologies.” Liam blurted out. “You slept with Madeline, I guess I’m just wondering why?” She asked. “Honestly I don’t remember it. I know this sounds like an excuse but I have been having periods of blackouts.” He paces. Aria looks at him cautiously. “That day, I came to your room and well, you know ” I didn’t know I was doing it until you slapped me. Yes, I had a few drinks but not enough to black out. “ Aria looked at him skeptical of what he just told her. She walked closer to him. "When did these blackouts start happening? ” she questioned. “Just as we started the tour.” Liam put his hands on the bridge railing. 

“I came to your room, I wanted to talk to you, but.” Liam shakes his head he thought back to him hearing her make love to his brother. “Im sorry Liam, it just happened.” Aria sighed knowlingly sitting on a nearby bench. Liam sat next to her. “Aria I love you more then words can express, I always will. Please know that I never meant to hurt you.” Liam took her hand. Tears filled her eyes. Despite all the hurt he caused her she did love him, but was that enough to look past every screwed up thing he had done? “I love you too, Liam. I don’t know what is going to happen. I am very confused.” Aria sobbed. “I’m sorry my love, please don’t cry.” Liam wiped her tears away. “How did things get so messed up?” Aria whispered. “I never meant to come between you and Leo.” “It’s hard not to fall in love with you, my love.” Liam sighed.”I hope that we can move past these past few weeks, and try to get back to where we were. I know you are unsure of what you want, but I will not stop fighting for you Aria.” LIam finished. “I hope we can too.” Aria patted his hand.  “We should probably get back before Bertrand calls for a search party. ” Liam chuckled. “You’re probably right.” Aria agreed as they walked back to the club.

 Aria walked back into the club as Liam made his way over to Bertrand. She found Olivia making out with a brunette man, who she was sure was Drake. She chuckled, they seemed like an odd pair, but if they enjoyed each others company in whatever way made sense to them, she wouldn’t knock it. She felt a hand slide around her waist and an instant smile formed on her lips. “Is everything ok beautiful?” Leo asked, he seen her come in with Liam, “I don’t have to break anyone’s jaw do I? He chuckled. "No, everything is ok superman. No beatings necessary. How about you dance with me instead. ” she giggled. “Now that I can do.” He turned her around, they swayed their bodies to the slow jazz beat as the rest of the club seemed to fade away.