#go explore and get lost

[astearisms]

but it ain’t called love without a little tragedy 🍁

[naomiruthwrites]

When I was working at The Barnes & Noble Hell Edition any time someone called for directions and I was working, they would transfer the call to me, because I was the only one who knew:

1) how to give directions in a way that made sense

2) knew seven+ ways to get to and from TB&NHE, including road names/approximately mileage/landmarks.

This is because I was very good at internally mapping, and was partially because I am good at nap reading, but was ALSO because I spent a lot of time driving around without a smart phone, without a GPS, and only route names jotted down onto a sticky note.

I recently moved to a new area which is verra verra Small Town Vibes. The area is Not Complicated, but I have done a TERRIBLE job at internally downloading a map of the area.

This is partially because The Agoraphobia Tendencies are a thing, so we have been driving less, but ALSO I am convinced it’s because we have been relying on our smart phone/Google maps. We don’t pay as much attention to our surroundings/roads/rods names/landmarks when Google Maps is running. Because we don’t have to.

So I very much agree with this idea of (safely) getting lost and exploring. It’s why I knew so much of the tri-state (NY/NJ/PA) area So Well. It’s why I was able to get un-lost in the suburban hellscape of just-outside-DC.

Now I’m going to go think about ways we can (safely) wander about & explore to start internally mapping our environment again~

I'm fascinated by your take on map/directions apps! Is there something besides the location tracking issue that makes you dislike them?

Warning for cellphones are the devil and thomas edison was a witch type thoughts but I think that people are worse at navigating than they used to be.

Map-reading and navigation are important skills but they're skills you need to practice in order to maintain them. But also I think it's important to learn your environment and I think that navigation apps discourage exploration and experiencing the area around you.

IDK I just think that it's an extremely good idea to go out and get yourself (safely, don't do this in a forest or a desert) lost and find your way out of being lost through trial and error every couple of months. You gotta wander around and look at stuff. You gotta find out what walkways are blocked off by chainlink. If you don't practice getting yourself unlost you're going to have a much worse time of it if you end up actually lost and I genuinely think this is an important troubleshooting skill that was extremely common fifteen years ago that is much less common today.

To be fair: people having trouble navigating is ALSO something that I found concerning before the iPhone was invented (did you know that people used to call up restaurants and businesses on the phone and ask for directions to your place of business? Have you ever tried to get someone unlost over the phone?) but also I've seen enough people express concern about how they would get home without a phone that I can't help but worry that they're serious.

I don't think that everyone needs to be able to read a map or to go orienteering - I'm aware that there are disabilities that make things like map reading and identifying cardinal directions extremely difficult and I do think it's good that there are tools that can help with those things - but I do think that getting lost and unlost is also a good survival skill/coping mechanism/mental puzzle/way to ameliorate anxiety/bonding activity that more people should be comfortable experiencing.

[tagarilaghost]

I SWEAR CELEBI'S THINGY IS COMING SOON BUT I REALLY WANTED TO POST THIS ALRIGHT

yeaah... future trio got me too...

and Darkrai is there too, because of course he is.

hey look i drew a cute Drifloon :D

...ignore the rest

whatever started at Darkrai doodles ended in brainrot of future trio + darkrai and I'm blaming @scribz-ag24 for this

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[OLD ART ALERT] A COLLECTION OF SCENES FROM THE GILLIONS CATSCRATCH ARC THAT BROUGHT ME GREAT JOY. i love fishy chips especially when its just gillion being delirious and violent and hostile

[nobigsecrets]

It was later, after the medal ceremony was over and Buck took Tommy to the loft, after they had some amazing sex wearing nothing but their shiny new medals, after discarding of them eventually when they got in the way of Buck fucking Tommy into the mattress.

It was later when they were enjoying the afterglow lying next to each other in bed--

Buck inched closer and straddled Tommy's legs. He took the medal out of Tommy's hands, intending to put it back around his neck--

Instead, he caught Tommy's wrists with the red band.

On impulse, he pulled it tight, looped it around itself between Tommy's wrists, effectively cuffing them. Buck felt his eyes go wide, he wasn't sure what had made him do it but boy, he liked the look of the red ribbon smooth against Tommy's skin--

Tommy took a sharp breath and Buck looked up from his bound wrists to meet his eyes and holy shit! He wasn't prepared for the dark and needy look he found there, but it didn't leave any doubt that Tommy seemed to like it, too.

Experimentally, Buck gave a light tug to the band he was still firmly holding in his own hand and was rewarded with the way Tommy's breath hitched again and he didn't miss the soft twitch Tommy's cock made in response.

--

[boanerges20]

Lost & Found

[kacievvbbbb]

I’ve been rereading this lovely fic by @erinyra (it’s great I seriously recommend) and I’ve been doing some thinking and I do think Mihawk should get sick and it could be just like a passing illness or bug but something that lays him out for a bit and while yes I think a sick Mihawk would be adorable and terrifying and I love that for me.

I also think it’d be a way for Shanks to confront his probably latent issues with illness and seemingly untouchable people. After all his captain was as untouchable as they come, literally king of the pirates, but he still got sick and that ruined Shanks life. And here it is happening all over again. Mihawk probably the strongest most unflappable person he knows is sick with some unknown disease (not really his anxiety riddled mind just can’t process what Hongo is saying) And Shanks is not handling it…..well.

Shanks can withstand many things; any manner of injury or bodily harm to him and his loved ones that’s fine they can walk it off. but illness? he does not fuck with illness…

[lorebird]

Continuing my “Cynthia is Volo after chilling out and transitioning” propaganda: Consequences Edition

[ikaishere]

[befuddled-calico-whump]

more characters who are technically from T$$ (lore under the cut)

So Lis/Lisbet (more commonly known as "Lu", her codename) was one of Vic's first victims when he started working on his own. At the time, Lu was a secretary at a law firm. Unbeknownst to her, her bosses owed money to a local mob boss, and Vic was hired to "apply pressure". By pure coincidence, Lu was the unlucky target. Her torture was recorded and sent to the firm, and it was roughly three weeks before the money was coughed up and she was released.

Her captivity resulted in the loss of her right hand and most of her left leg, and a pregnancy. With Lu not being in a healthy emotional or mental place, the baby was raised by Lu's sister and her husband. Meanwhile, Lu decided she was sick of feeling like a victim and began devoting her time to training, getting physically stronger, and hunting down Victor Shepard.

While her family was very supportive for the first few years of her recovery, most of them were horrified by her desire for revenge. Despite being raised in a close-knit Catholic family and being religious herself, Lu quickly became disgusted at her family's urging to forgive Vic and move on. The only relative who didn't shy away was her cousin Adrien (also known by his codename, "Uriel")

The two were close as children, and Adrien wanted revenge for Lu as much as she did. He not only listened to Lu's violent fantasies, but encouraged them, offering ideas of his own. As a former Marine, he had training to back him up, and helped Lu on her own journey, swiftly becoming her second in command and the most trusted person in her life.

Through the years, Lu tried to maintain routine visitation with her child, but the visits always felt strained, and gradually her goal took over and she came over less and less.

Years later, Lu's son (then going by Leo) sought her out. His aunt had warned him that Lu was going down a dark path, but he was desperate to form some kind of connection with her. He knew the basics of what had happened to his mother, but at her own request, he'd always been told that his father had passed away before his birth. Lu welcomed him aboard, finding it easier to foster a connection when he could be viewed as a soldier and not her son. When he came of age, she welcomed him into her group officially, granting him the codename Gabriel.

Though Vic is her target, Lu and her angels also chase after people like him, capturing and killing them in the name of avenging those who have been lost or had their lives destroyed.

In canon, Lu briefly captures Vic, but he escapes before she can do any real damage. However, in this AU, she manages to contain him, and gets the revenge she's sought for so long.

[nelkcats]

Martha Masters

Martha Wayne maiden name was Masters. Before she married Thomas, she was known as the heiress of a well-known cheese factory, but that was not the life she wanted.

She ran away from home regardless of the consequences and gave up everything that had something to do with her former family. Sadly she couldn't keep in touch with her older brother and her nephew, little Vlad sure would grow up to be a great businessman but she wouldn't see it.

When Bruce Wayne took a blood sample from "Dani Phantom" he didn't expect their DNA samples to match as family (excluding the weird Lazarus Waters readings), when the girl got bored and confessed being a clone his suspicions got worse, did he had another lost son? A Lost brother perhaps?

Bruce analyzed Danny Fenton and Vlad Masters (Dani told him their identities, mostly because she was sure he wouldn't win against Danny, and bother Vlad was fun) , the family resemblance with the teen was undeniable (Blue eyes, black hair). Ironically, Danny had nothing to do with him, and the truth was that Vlad was his cousin; of course, that wouldn't stop the millionaire from getting suspicious about his supposed lost son.

[ganondoodle]

to be honest i liked the zonau more when they were a barely if ever mentioned mystery and a meme in the part of the fandom that watched theory videos

i know their designs are neat but i think their sudden introduction was pretty unnecessary and robbed us of more interesting concepts than it gave us new ones

[fruityumbrella]

guy who never reads major character death fics bc thats too sad: bro what if i wrote a fic where a major character died

[opens-up-4-nobody]

...

[maburito]

So I did take that advice...and no matter what i see on the guide i can't fucking tell which missile tank i am missing. At least the energy tanks i know...

So now I'm currently going back through all the fucking zones in which missiles tanks might be with the guide

[pergaminaa]

Modern au:

When Dorian started dating Manon, he was able to see a few things in her that made him suspect something was off. At that point, he was able to see the pressure her grandmother put her under and he felt helpless in the face of that kind of thing.

Manon was really going out of her way to make sure everything is perfect and yet her grandmother kept scrutinizing her.

At formal events, he got to see that first hand. Manon would be super stressed, it would get worse about 2-3 days prior where her anxiety is at it’s peak; she won’t be able to sleep, and can’t keep anything down.

Dorian can see all of her effort and yet her grandmother’s responses are a variety of

“Don’t embarrass me,”

“What a disgrace,”

“This is worthless,”

And it really angers him.

But that was nothing compared to what he saw when they moved in together.

Prior to that, Manon was able to maintain her mask of aloofness and perfection. It was only when they lived together than Dorian saw how she struggles with insecurity and abandonment issues.

He learned of the long months she’d spend at boarding school, her grandmother wouldn’t allow her to return home if her grades are anything below a 100%. She’d call her an embarrassment and let her spend the holidays studying and making up for those grades.

He also saw how she struggles with boundaries sometimes. Moreover, he noticed that she instantly panics whenever she thinks that she made a mistake. Like forgetting her jacket on the counter, or leaving some of her work behind on the coffee table.

Dorian hates hates hates how her grandmother turned her into this person. She honestly believes that as soon as she commits the tiniest mistake, Dorian is going to leave and find someone better. He told her time and again that he doesn’t want anyone else, better or worse. He wants only her and nothing will ever change that.

But of course, his reassurance does nothing to elevate those issues that have been there for two decades. All he can is promise to always be there, that no matter what happens he isn’t going to leave or find someone else.

Now another issue is their families. They attend the same social circles and their families no each other. Chaol is against their relationship because he wants someone other than a Blackbeak to be with his friend. Aelin doesn’t care much, she tries to get along with Manon but the two of them don’t spend any time together to have any sort of relationship.

Then there are his parents; Georgina wants to pick her son’s lifelong partner. The fact that he’s with the Blackbeak heir infuriates her to no end.

Now normally he would ignore everyone and does as he pleases. However, now that he lives with Manon and knows exactly how vulnerable she is, he had a meeting with his parents and Chaol.

He sat them all down, and told them in no certain terms that if he brings Manon over for a visit, if any one of them make her feel unwanted, he’d get her out of there immediately and never return back there.

Dorian is serious, she’s been though enough and he sees how she struggles. That the perfectly put up woman is hiding a lot of things underneath and he hates how he can’t shoulder some of those things. All he can do is love her through it all and hope that one day it will be enough.