#hooray for meltdowns at work

[brood-me-daddy]

I had a one on one with my lead at work today and the topic of managing NDs/disabled people came up. He was like I've been trying to be more accommodating and I'm halfway through that article you sent (I sent it months ago) but nobody sees that I'm trying and you have to share more info about your needs (I've already shared more than I should have).

Me: I'm sorry, but no. Putting that on the person with the disability isn't fair. You have to make the effort to learn more and put in the work because there are plenty of resources out there now. If you're saying you've been trying and I'm telling you I haven't noticed and have seen absolutely no changes than you have to try harder. Like, if you saw a person in a wheelchair would you make them build their own ramp to a door?

Him: well no but at the same time that person would ask for help.

Me: so you're saying if you saw this person in their wheelchair you wouldn't automatically think oh I bet that person needs a ramp to get to the door?

Him: well... No.

Me: well that's a problem. Do better.

[asher-agere]

Baby Dazai and Caregiver Chuuya Christmas? 🥺

HOORAY ANOTHER CHRISTMAS REQUEST. A little late hehe but I don’t mind!

Little Dazai + Caregiver Chuuya CHRISTMAS EDITION

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

₊ ⊹ Dazai is between a toddler regressor and a baby regressor! His age range is around 2-5. When he’d like 2-3 he’s just a clingy little baby, he needs attention! All of the attention! However 4-5? Yup you guessed it. That’s a chaos toddler right there! Meaning how he acts around Christmas can differ greatly depending on what age he regresses to! Most of the time it’s chaotic in some way though, even in his adult headspace, even in his baby headspace he tries to be calm, but he gets upset very easily and when he’s upset he is upset

⛦ I think Dazai avoids his regression a lot, like a lot a lot. So for Mafia Era, Christmas is actually perfect! Dazai lives in a shipping container, there’s no heating, no insulation, it’s freezing 24/7. This encourages him to actually go to Chuuya! After all Chuuya’s house has heating. And insulation. And let’s face it Chuuya’s rich, he has an actual fireplace (Potentially an electric one just so he doesn’t have to watch it constantly…) Plus Chuuya has warm clothes and blankets! During the winter Dazai basically never leaves

₊ ⊹ Pet names! These depend on Dazai’s headspace age! If Dazai’s in a toddler headspace he denies that he’s regressed, if Chuuya babies him too much it leads to a meltdown. So Chuuya uses names like “Bud” the classic “Mackerel” and occasionally he can sneak in a “Daz” or “Zai”! However baby Dazai is to tiny to complain, he just registers Chuuya’s voice and tone really so Chuuya can get away with “Baby” “Sweetheart” and even sometimes “Samu”! That one’s pushing it a bit though. Dazai constantly denies how close they actually are, Chuuya using his given name? Surely they’re not close enough for that… But he’s allowed to use Chuuya’s given name obviously, Dazai owes no one respect

⛦ Baby headspace! Baby Dazai is so so clingy. This is only amplified by the cold winter weather! He’s so cold… He just wants to snuggle up to Chuuya to steal away the redheads warmth! Chuuya is like a walking furnace. Baby Dazai would prefer to just stay inside, snuggle up and watch Christmas movies, get some hot cocoa in his bottle, and dress up in warm Christmas clothes! Chuuya buys him so much stuff- There’s some clothes that he absolutely loves (Kitties covered in Christmas lights) and other ones he always complains about needing to wear (Any kind of cheesy saying, usually about being naughty)

₊ ⊹ Toddler age Dazai however is a walking contradiction! Yes he still hated the cold, yes he still gets cold really easily, but he loves going out to play in the snow! I mean it’s a free excuse to throw stuff at Chuuya. Why would he not love that? Dazai will make a huge stock of snowballs and if Chuuya points them out in any way he just says “Chibi no see ‘ose” So Chuuya usually starts building a snowman or something (Dazai doesn’t want a snowball fight. If Chuuya throws a snowball at him it’s tantrum time) Which Dazai then tackles! Chuuya has tried encouraging Dazai to decorate it instead. Dazai will take Chuuya’s hat, blue and brown buttons (Heterochromia Chuuya!) and make it look like Chuuya! Then of course he removes the middle snowball to make it the right height! This usually leads to them playfully wrestling in the snow

⛦ I feel like even when Dazai feels so tiny he can barely talk just babble, he can say a couple words! “Chibi” of course, a couple plushy names, “No” is a favorite. But around Christmas time “Elf” is definitely added! He loves calling Chuuya an elf, he’ll even attach bells to the redheads hat! It’s very very silly of him. Chuuya tries denying it but Dazai is set in his mindset. Toddler Dazai happily babbles away too! “Chibi go ‘elp San’a! Elf’s gotsa work!” Chuuya uses this to his advantage after some time! He can easily get Dazai’s Christmas list by claiming he’ll be seeing Santa soon anyway. And with Dazai it’s usually tough to get him to actually admit what he wants, so that’s huge

₊ ⊹ I think Dazai loves the idea of baking for Santa! Chuuya also likes this idea! What Chuuya doesn’t like is the idea of Dazai baking for Santa. Dazai is a disaster in the kitchen. He’ll randomly double ingredients he really likes, cut out things that sound yucky, eat things raw, it’s a mess! So instead they settle for buying packaged cookies, or at least premade ones that only need put in the oven! That way Dazai still gets to decorate! Dazai absolutely leaves Santa’s milk in a sippy cup, he claims it tastes better that way and it’ll help for when Santa’s flying around! Chuuya explains that would mean Santa would have to take it though, so Dazai scribbles a note asking him to return it! Sure enough the sippy cup goes missing for a few days before returning

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

HOORAY CHRISTMAS CHAOS TODDLER REGRESSOR DAZAI. I’m constantly torn between baby Dazai and chaos toddler Dazai… Specifically I think Mafia Dazai is more of a baby and ADA Dazai is more of a toddler? Does this make sense? Idk it does in my head at least

[northernyogurt]

Oh my gosh! I'd love to hear more of your thoughts on Finn/Jake/Piers please!

Btw I did a quick look and it looks like there's a fic for that throuple ship on AO3, so other people seem to enjoy it too! I really wish there were a lot more content for them though. 😭

They're such a good ship!

WHEN I TELL YOU. I RUSHED TO READ THAT FIC. I GOT SO SO EXCITED I'VE BEEN STARVING FOR FOOD FOR JAKINNIERS FOR LIKE TWO YEARS AND IT'S FINALLY HAPPENED!!!!! i seriousluy feel like im going to have a meltdown im so excited i've written several things of my own on these three i just never really finish things or get them to a point where i feel good enough to publish them? i have tons of things hidden away but one day maybe they'll be finished one i was working on was some sort of fun and whimsical lawyer-esque au? where the BSAA was actually a law firm located in raccoon city and were in the middle of a long lawsuit on albert wesker/tricell for medical malpractice/unethical practices or something akin to that. and chris had taken a few people from his team on a vacation in LA to keep spirits up and have some fun, and there finn and piers (being pretty close in the firm, at that point) would get lost and meet jake, a (currently) LA 'resident' thug who knew the streets pretty well and helped them get around. i still like the concept and i've been thinking of returning but jojo brainworms are overtaking me so it's been rough to do anything resident evil related (but i may return for a short while just to get some jakinniers shit out cuz i miss them) actual rambling under the cut v

but like as for in actuality, aka the string of events ive actually procured; in of course an everyone-lives au, i imagine finn to be the one to get jake and piers to set their differences aside and bring the three of them together, in a sense. piers and finn weren't super close before the ambush in edonia, though piers still cared for finn marginally as he would any other soldier. it wasn't until they were both in recovery in a BSAA-owned lab for rehabilitating bioweapons that they actually became close with one another. they're both in there until about 2014, thanks to jake's blood being the key to manufacturing some kind of "cure", or at least something to satiate or cut off the effects of the c-virus. finn has a lot longer to go than piers - seeing as he was hit with a more crude, destructive version of the virus - but they're both stable, and that's what matters. they attend the 2014 rewards ceremony for their bravery in edonia. finn doesn't see jake there-- sherry says he didn't want to go, didn't want to make the trip, which is.. fair enough. he's still upset for a reason piers cannot understand. but in 2015, chris holds a christmas party, which is something he likes to do often. by now, piers and finn are in some sort of weird situationship that finn wants to put a name to, but piers won't budge, unwilling to admit his fear of commitment to something like a relationship. regardless they attend this party together and, lo and behold, that ginger fuck shows up. piers is greatly upset, wondering how the hell he'd be allowed when he literally shot the host of the party in 2012, but chris actually seems okay with it, so he can push aside his anger for now and let it go, just wanting to get this social event over with, aaand great finn is going to literally talk to him. amazing finn actually just wants to thank jake for what he's done, and jake is like, reasonably a bit awkward and confused, having had his cute little character arc where he's like not a bad person now, but somehow the conversation turns and they hit it off. hooray! that's how that happens. now within a few weeks finn is juggling two odd situationships at once and loves both of them but can't exactly just admit that because that would mean "choosing", or at least that's how he sees it this is getting a bit long so im going to try and speed-explain: jake pops into finn's place at some point to give him something, piers is there. cue awkwardness and tension. something snaps, piers goes off, is very upset to see jake is hanging around piers's boyfriend-not-boyfriend-technical-situationship-thingy, they talk things out after an almost-argument and discover they actually aren't too different. relationships between the three of them develop over a few months, but nothing official because nobody is really sure how to go about this, then on a semi-drunken night jake is like "what if we were just all together at once i hate monogamy" and?? they just slowly start calling each other their boyfriend. of course they don't come out to anyone for a while (but everyone has known lmao) happily ever after huzzah! that's such a quick explanation of something that in my mind is so intricate i don't really know how else to squash that down while still keeping key points. there's so much to it and i imagine it'd be a VERY slow burn that all of them get frustrated about at points (especially finn, being the most eager to actually jump into an official title of their weird relationship, but the other two being a lot more on the fence about it) you just have to trust me might go into this more and if you have any specific questions i would LOVE TO ANSWER. i love talking about them very much and all the different aus/ideas i have in my head

[jujuberry136]

Juju in review

Some good things in 2024

Bought a place and now have 3 whole rooms (I added a dining room, which doubles as my home office - hooray no longer having the desk in my living room!)

Did some travel to new places for both work and pleasure. Went to Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, California, and Pittsburgh for work and went to Peru for fun! I had originally planned to go in 2020 (and then 2023), so it was really awesome to visit South America for the first time and Machu Picchu really lived up to the hype

Managed to sneak in a trip to see my BFF IN-PERSON for the first time since 2019!!! It was only a drive-by dinner, but SO MUCH BETTER THAN SENDING MEMES

Successfully kept up my goal of commenting more on fic and tumblr posts

Got into a new fandom pairing - the Bucktommy community has been a ton of fun in 2024

Went to my first concert by myself - and had a blast! None of my in-town friends are big Offbook fans (why they don't love Zach Reino and Jess McKenna is beyond me), so I put on my big girl pants and went by myself. New entertainment option unlocked.

Did not write "duel fuel" in my major report that was due today (I just think it's funnier/prettier than "dual fuel")

Kept up my tradition of meeting with my sister every other week; will be harder in 2025 (new nibling!) but going to figure out some sort of routine

Some not so good things in 2024

Had a cursed June/July. Got COVID for the first time, do not recommend. Knocked me on my ass for 2 week. Luckily no long COVID as far as I can tell. Then ran into a door handle face first while on work travel. When I got home, I then blew my nose with poison oak and had a very gross rash across my face. Then got stuck at the ATL airport during the whole Delta meltdown (yet more work travel, luckily I was able to throw the company's money at the problem and get home the next morning by switching airlines but I did spend the night on the airport floor)

Did not get as far back into running as I wanted, BUT at least I kept up my weekend baby runs and long walks? Some progress is better than none

Still said "no" to more friend things than I should have; need to continue to re-build the social battery...

[starlight-and-snowflakes]

Update on this. I changed my bedsheets! Unfortunately doing this made me realise even more why I never do it. Here's a complete list of the steps I went through.

1. I put all my pillows and stuffed toys on top of my duvet so I could carry them off the bed easily as per @onehundredpostlamps suggestion. There were simply too many of them though and so I ended up having to roll the whole thing off my bed instead. This already felt like a workout I was already tired. But this did work a lot better than taking everything off individually will do this again

2. Removed my base sheet from the bed! Hooray this step was easy!

3. Removed my duvet cover and pillow cases. A bit annoying to do.

4. Took my duvet cover, base sheet, and pillowcases downstairs. Easy enough. But I am already exhausted.

5. Sprayed everything with stain remover where necessary and put it in the washing machine. At this point I'm dreading putting the new sheets on but if I don't do it I won't have a bed tonight!!

6. Had a brief moment where I felt like I was just going to have a meltdown.

7. Put the new duvet cover on. This is also annoying to do.

8. Put the new base sheet on. Base sheet orientation with the bed should be a 50/50 chance on whether I get it right the first try but somehow I get this wrong 80% of the time. Today I got it right by some miracle.

9. Duvet on the bed.

10. Put the new pillowcases on and put every single pillow and stuffed toy back on the bed. I was so exhausted.

11. Bed finished!!! It did look and feel really nice so that was satisfying.

This was my first task of the day and it left me exhausted. Making it my first task of the day was the only way I got it done. I felt like I had done a whole workout by the time I finished. And I'm supposed to do that every week?? Insane

Changing bedsheets is my worst task. I know they're meant to be changed every week but I barely manage to change them once a month. The task feels so time consuming and like a workout to get everything off the bed and then get everything back on the bed. I hate trying to tuck base sheets in. I hate how big my bed is even though I love how big my bed is. I wish I was able to make the task easier for myself but I don't really know how to. I don't want to get rid of pillows or my stuffed animals. :(

[biigsh0t]

LOOKING 4 [[Admin permissions]]???

IVE BEEN [Request info] SO MAYB [Mutual benefit] IF [[Works for me]] 2GETHER?

So leaving the door open WAS a good idea!

The board has been rearranged a bit it seems. It also seems like Spamjo is indulging his old habit of smoking like a chimney and pacing. *"Y-YKN0W SPAMT... I DUNNO IF- IF THERE5 EVeN GONNA BE A- BE A- BE A- be- BE GGGGRRRRRRN G SON OF A $!^()!!" Spamjo slammed his fist into the board and let it fall to the floor. Hey! We worked hard on that! *"C4N IT YOu BIG- BIG-BIG- BIIGsH [[biigsh0t]]!!!" [[4 of ERROR:... CONGRATION! U DONE IT!]] Spamjo froze mid-meltdown, his jaw slacking open and letting his who- knows- what- number cigarette join the bulletin board on the floor. *"What...?"

U did the it! Hooray! But maybe you were right— we should move this party outside. It's starting to feel a bit cramped in here. *"...Spamt, can you help me move all my $#i! out here?"

[teruthecreator]

Hey... let’s play in the chaos Fitz space... I’m so curious how magic lessons with Festo would go now Fitz is aware of Chaos in relation to his magic...

anon idk what u were expecting when u sent this, but im sure it wasn’t a 1.7k drabble of fitzroy and festo having a lil chit-chat. that being said, though, this was incredibly fun to do so thanks for the suggestion!!! 

_______________________________________________________________

“I don’t want magic lessons anymore,” 

The question makes the fairy halt in their fluttering, staring at their pupil with a curious stare. Fitzroy hasn’t been the same since the centaur assignment, they knew that already. Word has made its way through the faculty about the barbarian’s outburst on the field; hushed whispers of concern that never seem to make it to either headmaster’s ears. Althea Song even came in to discuss with Festo about the future of Fitzroy’s lessons; what might be the safest approach to controlling his wild magic. 

Festo is well aware, though, that “control” and “wild magic” tend to not mesh well. 

This is the first time they’ve managed to get Fitzroy to come to a lesson since his return over a week ago. Usually they meet three to four times a week, practicing simple spells and focusing on how to channel the energy for larger ones. He used to be adamant on his distaste for magic, but after a while he began to warm up to the idea of understanding the arcane abilities he was granted. Snippers seemed to help with that warming, becoming less of a familiar and more of an emotional support crab when Fitzroy’s feelings would go haywire and seep into his magic. But, after the centaur assignment, they were advised to postpone a few of their lessons to give Fitzroy the space to recoup after being cursed (and whatever triggered his outburst). 

After that grace period, though, Fitzroy just became a no-show. No matter how many cheerfully threatening letters Festo would send, Fitzroy never came to a lesson. 

That is, until today, when they came into their class to find Fitzroy already seated in his usual spot; twiddling his thumbs anxiously as he looked down to the floor. Festo was hoping this meant Fitzroy was finally ready to get to work, but...it would seem that’s not the case. 

“...Is this why you’ve been hiding from Festo?” The fairy asks, seating themselves atop a stack of books so they can face the half-elf properly. Fitzroy refuses to meet their gaze, nervously scratching his neck as he nods. “Ah...I see…You do not believe in Festo’s teachings.” Fitzroy perks up at that, turning to them and vehemently shaking his head. 

“I-It’s not that, Festo, really! It’s just…” Fitzroy trails off, looking frustrated and caught between words. “I just...When I came to you first, Festo, it was because I didn’t know why I had been given my magics and, therefore, was unable to control the outbursts. O-Or, that’s why I felt these lessons were good--I know they’re required, given my schooling track, but--” 

“--Festo gets your point.” Festo finishes, not wanting Fitzroy to get lost in the semantics before getting out what needs to be said. He nods his head bashfully and continues. 

“Right, yes. B-But now that I...I feel like now--or, I know now why I have magic. When...When I got cursed? I-I, uh...I met someone…” 

“You met Chaos, yes?” Festo asks, simply. Fitzroy buffers for a moment, mouth sputtering as he attempts to grapple with the knowledge, and Festo snickers. “Fitzroy, did you think Festo did not understand where your powers came from upon first meeting you?” Fitzroy’s cheeks are tinged red as he opens and closes his mouth to try and retort. “Festo knew your magic was wild from before Festo even saw you! There are not many schools of magic that manifest in catfish transformation.” 

“I...suppose so. B-But Festo, if you knew where my magic came from this whole time, why did you never tell me anything?” 

“Because you never asked!” Festo answers cheerfully. Their response makes Fitzroy’s shoulders sag as he pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Also, it would not have been wise of Festo to give you such an answer when you were first learning your magic. Knowledge is not always key to understanding.” 

“I’d say it is!” Fitzroy bites back, his hand dropping from his face. “These powers were imparted on me to do evil, Festo! A deity has been watching over my every move, cheering me on whenever I goofed up severely and got people hurt!” The air begins to crackle with static electricity as Fitzroy gets riled up, anxiously running both hands through his hair and lodging them there. 

“I ripped a man’s hand off, Festo! That’s fucked!! I struck fear into innocent bystanders! A-And the worst part of it is th-that...I didn’t feel bad for doing it! The hand part, at least--I felt awful once I noticed how everyone was...was looking at me like some sort of monster. It’s terrible! I can’t sleep because of it, I don’t have an appetite anymore because anything I look at just becomes a hand or a shitty magic apple, a-and I can’t...I won’t do magic anymore.” He looks to Festo pleadingly, hoping they see his anguish and understand. “I-I can’t even summon Snippers anymore because I’m paranoid about him being a direct line for Chaos to watch me mess up! I-I don’t--I don’t want my magic anymore, Festo.”  

Festo sits there, watching as Fitzroy huffs and puffs on the verge of a meltdown. Then, after Fitzroy seems to have regained a little bit of his compuse, they get up and fly over to him, grabbing his right hand with both of theirs and flipping it over so it’s palm-side up. 

“Make a flame for Festo,” they command, not even bothering to look up and see the utter confusion and hurt on their student’s face. “Just do it, it will be fine. Have faith in Festo.” Fitzroy sighs, deep and long, before shutting his eyes and concentrating. In a few short moments, a small blue flame appears in his hand. Festo makes an affirmative noise as they study the flame. “How did that feel for you to do?” 

“Um...Fine? I guess?” Fitzroy replies, sounding unsure. 

“It did not hurt?” 

“No…” 

“Did not feel forced out of you?” 

“No.” 

“You feel confident that it was by your will that this flame came to your hand?” 

“Y-Yes, Festo, what does that--” 

“Then you are fine!” Festo states matter-of-factly. They push Fitzroy’s palm closed, thus extinguishing the flame. “You should not feel worried about Chaos’s influence!” They look up in time to see Fitzroy’s eyebrows furrowing. “You said yourself that the magic felt natural to you--it was not forced out of your hand or influenced by a force that was not your own brain, yes?” 

“R-Right…” Fitzroy responds. Festo flies up to his face and pokes their forehead with maybe a bit too much force than necessary. “Ow! What the heck, Festo!?” 

“Your magic may have been bestowed upon you by a being of influence, but it is you who controls how that manifests.” Festo explains, suddenly sounding wiser than normal. “Chaos can only influence your magic if you let them; other than that, they cannot control how you choose to use the gift they gave you. From Festo’s experience, they actually hate doing that, so you should not worry about being ‘controlled’!” Fitzroy’s eyes widen and he guffaws for a moment. 

“W-Wait, Festo, you’ve had experiences with Chaos?” Festo twirls around in a circle and giggles mischievously. 

“Not in that way, silly! Fairies are creatures of unpredictability; Chaos is one of our patron deities! Festo has had quite a few communes with them in Festo’s lifetime!” Fitzroy’s face scrunches up in disgust at the implication of their first sentence, making Festo laugh again. “You were the one who said ‘experiences’, not Festo!” 

“Right, but I was not implying you had sexual experiences with a deity, Festo. I really don’t want to be thinking about...really anything like that ever, thank you very much.” 

“You brought up sexual! Not Festo!” 

“Ahhh! I am covering my ears until this conversation ends!” Fitzroy screams as he slaps his hands over his ears. Festo rolls their eyes and kicks Fitzroy in the nose. “OW! Are you even allowed to hit a student?!”

“Festo has tenure, remember?” Festo chides, letting out a snarky “teehee” before flying a little further back so Fitzroy can look at them properly. “Now, do you still want to stop your lessons? Festo won’t make you do anything you’re uncomfortable with.” Fitzroy stares for a long moment, brows furrowing once more as he thinks. He doesn’t think for too long before squaring his shoulders and sitting a little more confidently in his chair. 

“Y’know what, Festo? I think...I think I’m going to keep at this magic thing! Show that Chaos who’s boss!” Fitzroy announces, his usual bravado back. Festo claps their hands as a shower of sparkles rains around them. 

“Hooray! Festo is proud of you for conquering your fears!” Festo cheers, making Fitzroy flush a little with the praise. “Now, to make up for your missed lessons, Festo wants you to come here every day for the next two weeks after your classes! This is non-negotiable!” At this, Fitzroy deflates, just as Festo expected. 

“Alright, I suppose I...deserve that for ghosting you for so long…” Fitzroy groans. 

“Correct!” Festo chirps, causing Fitzroy to roll his eyes. “Now, to pick up where we left off, show Festo how you’re doing with Mage Hand…” 

---

It’s later that night, when the school has settled and all the students have gone to bed, that Festo returns to their office. They pull a set of small candles from one of the drawers in their desk and lay them out in a pattern on the desk’s surface. With a flick of their wrists, the candles are lit in an iridescent flame, and they close their eyes to pray. 

Coming to, they find themselves in a familiar woodland clearing, looking unimpressed at the figure seated across from them. The figure, on the other hand, looks positively delighted to see them. 

“Festo does not want you meddling with Fitzroy anymore,” Festo says, their voice uncharacteristically serious. Chaos smiles and shakes their head. 

You, of all the beings in my court, should know I cannot do that. They reply. I have a special mission in mind for him, and I do intend on seeing it through to the end~

Then, the wind blows, and Festo wakes up back in their office in a circle of smoking candles. With a sigh, they put the extinguished candles away and leave. 

Futile as it seems, Festo is determined to give Fitzroy control over his powers, Chaos be damned. 

[laisai]

this maths out esp if you live in a suburb of a major city

you can cut some money if you have fewer vacations or children but...yeah. wont say how much but my mom basically had to get a job that makes so much more money than we ever had in our lives before

before we got anywhere near this kind of life

and im an only child, my college is cheap, and my parents only started going on vacations in the last four months.

we were technically "middle class" this whole time but now we're on the high end of it, and it's insane. i still feel weird about how much money we suddenly have. we're not millionaires or anything but it feels like we won a fucking lottery

like the amount of headspace i no longer devote to penny pinching is immense, i had no idea how much it was stressing me out, EVEN when i thought i was not stressing about finances.

[strongmumpunching]

A Year In Lockdown by Deborah Goldman

A year ago, I worked in a gym. The kids went to school. Life was normal.

Then BOOM!

I sometimes wake up and wonder if the pandemic really happened. Then I see a pile of schoolwork, strewn across the kitchen table, and the full force of reality rushes in.

I am sure that everyone has their own tale to tell, about how lockdown has affected them, and most likely how it has changed them, too.

For me it has been a total cliché – an absolute rollercoaster of a ride. I left my job during Lockdown One, built a gym in the garden (from nothing but a set of 1980’s dumbbells) and started my own Personal Training business. I have also learnt (whether I wanted to or not) how to add improper fractions and surprisingly, how to lay artificial grass.

I also found (and lost) love, during lockdown.

It is almost as if 10-years of my life has been condensed into just one, and the result is a weirdly eventful period of massive ups, and heart-breaking lows. There have of course been spells of abject boredom, along with gin-infused meltdowns (me, not the kids), but all-in-all, the pandemic has had a strangely cathartic effect.

Now however, the end is in sight (so too is the pub) and as we look back and reflect upon our individual journeys, we can also look forward to sitting in the pub garden, crying tears of joy, while we exchange hugs and drink huge jugs of Pimms and lemonade, in the sunshine – Hooray!

[darkestwolfx]

Long Haul - Re-Review #48

Okay, I think I managed to reply to most people yesterday, but I had over a hundred odd notifications to scroll through - so if I missed your comment, I’m really sorry! So, moving on to today’s review.

It’s all nice and steady, business as usual, and there’s even some lovely peaceful music until we get to the ‘duh-dun’ part and in comes trouble.

“All ships divert from bay 2:1 and await further instructions.”

“Bravo Two Four, I gave an order to divert.”

“Sorry control, missed that.”

Okay, it wasn’t their fault, as such, there’s very little you can do about radio interference, but these things will happen and cause chaos. At least it wasn’t deliberate for once!

“We hit something! How bad is it?”

“We’re going into meltdown!”

That bad is your answer, mate.

“Space Hub One, come in. This is International Rescue. Do you need assistance?”

“This is Controller Conrad. Our core is ruptured, the coolant unit is leaking, and we’re going into meltdown. Apart from that, everything is fine.”

Yes, that makes everything sound just peachy! I wouldn’t cool that everything is fine. Apart from what? Everything is dying on you basically. Meltdown is pretty... finite?

“Do you have an EVAC in progress?”

“Yes, I’m riding the power controls to buy time until everyone is out. But I’m only delaying the meltdown. I can’t stop it.”

“Alan, you reading this? You need to get up there.”

“FAB John, I’m on my way.”

Hooray for Thunderbird Three! Although, did Alan leave with any plan other than to get Conrad who was going to evacuate anyway? It seems like John was predicting a rescue would be needed here, which isn’t a bad thing, I just wasn’t entirely clear on the reasoning. On the one hand, you’ve got predicting something before it happens which is great; but on the other, you’ve got acting too soon, which then dragged Thunderbird Two up, when maybe Virgil could have just gone with Alan? I know it’s all for the sake of story, so I’m not going to dwell here for long.

“Conrad, time to get out of there.”

“Okay, I’m heading out.”

Apparently, according to the writers with their hands of God, you are not!

“Alan, Conrad was still on board when the comms went down. He was about to evac, but I don’t know if he made it.”

“If he’s there, I’ll find him. I got him! But he’s not moving, and life signs are very weak. One wrong more and the whole thing will break apart.”

Just to my penny’s worth in here, very cheery start to the episode! No, really, it was nice to see an episode which did just get straight down to business and save the humour for later, really heightened the tension. I do love episodes where we just get to dive right into the deep, there’s something rewarding in them me thinks.

“This is the duty log of Space Controller Conrad, Space Hub One. I’m running out of air and time. I don’t know if anyone will hear this... I hope everyone else made it out. This is all my fault, I should have spotted that cruiser. I’m sorry.”

I really liked this guest character! They gave us so much backstory for him too and the music! I just loved it all. I will be honest, teared a bit at that speech. It’s like he was leaving a message on the log, expecting it to be his last, expecting to die there, and still thinking of others regardless.

“Brains, how do I get into this thing?”

The music behind this conversation was also awesome!

“You can’t cut through. That chute is designed to withstand meteor hits and collisions with space debris. And I’ve got worst news.”

“Of course you do.”

“Oxygen levels have reached critical. Conrad is running out of air.”

Skipping a bit here and keeping the focus on these two, all alone in space - I really felt for Alan and Conrad here. They were so close an yet so far.

“Alan, I don’t want anyone else to be put in danger because of me.”

“Hey, we’re International Rescue. It’s what we do! And I’m gonna stay right here until we open the door.”

Alan really has grown. If this mission had been put on him in Series 1, I don’t think he would have been able to cope, what with his focus then on being able to go on missions, and being allowed to spread his wings. Series 2 for Alan is really an example of how he begins to balance his love and excitement for what he does, with a practical working attitude like his brothers. and actually, he is really good at in this episode.

“So, Conrad, how do you become a Space Controller?”

“You’re making conversation to try and take my mind of the meltdown, aren’t you?”

“Nooooo....”

He so is!

“It’s okay, I haven’t got anything better to do. I always wanted to see the world. I mean, really see it.”

Uh, perfect description of how John feels?

“Now all I want is to see my home again.”

“And where is that?”

“Slough. My family still live there. And they’re all heroes. My brother’s a firefighter, the other’s a paramedic, and my sister’s a police officer. Do you have any idea how much pressure that is?”

Uh, perfect description of Alan? Of course he knows what that feels like.

“I can try to imagine.”

“I just wanted to make them proud of me. I mean, space! That’s a pretty big deal right? And I blew it. I didn’t react fast enough.”

“It was an emergency situation. You responded as fast as you could and you got everyone out safely.”

“Everyone but me.”

One of the most emotional discussions in TAG? i think so. And it didn’t matter that it was involving a guest character, because they said everything which needed to be said. The Tracy boys may be our heroes, and they may battle with much higher levels to live up to, but there are families out there who have the same struggles. I really think this will have resonated with people out there. It’s hard to not resent elder siblings when you feel like they are constantly above you and we sort of saw Alan going through that in Series 1. Conrad was a good person for him to meet - this scene was thought-provoking, powerful, and reflective. Everything it should have been.

Now back to the whole Tracy Island interlude.

Personally, I love the silent moments we had which begun this scene. Virgil and Scott silently walking into the room, and the looks whilst they wait to find out whether they’re too late... I really felt that. Sometimes we don’t need words in a scene to convey emotions. I mean, did you see the way Alan’s shoulders dropped when he thought there wasn’t going to be an answer, and the way the boys looked at Brains? Said it all.

“Then we need a plan fast. The temperature is still rising and we’re running out of time before the whole thing blows!”

“Ok, Brains, give us a run down of our options.”

“I admire your optimism in thinking we have more than one.”

Brains, please try not to pessimistic for one episode? It’s hard, I know, and it’s ironic of me to ask him that, because I am also a pessimist so would probably be doing the exact same! Ironic, I know, but really, that got me.

“Without a working coolant unit, the power core will keep overheating until meltdown. But it’s too damaged for repairs. we need to replace it.”

“Ok, where do we get a replacement?”

“Right here. We use the same cooling system for the power system on Tracy Island. And I have a back-up.”

Of course he does, this is Brains we’re talking about! Always ready, like a Scout right? I wasn’t a Scout, so I might be wrong on that one.

“Great! Problem solved.”

I love how Scott was turning to leave, striding away all purposefully to go and get everything!

“It’s not that simple. That coolant unit is massive. The one at the space hub was transported bit by bit. It took weeks.”

“And we don’t have weeks. Is there a vehicle that could take it in one piece?”

“Thunderbird Three, but-”

And we all know what’s coming next!

“But disconnecting it from the hub means no life support for Conrad.”

Thank you, Scott.

“You said we had one option?”

Yes. Yes he did. Shall we find out what it was?

“Thunderbird Two could carry it.”

“Uh.. I think you’re forgetting the whole ‘in space’ part of the mission. Thunderbird Two is not a space ship.”

Listen to Scott, ever the obvious! No, really I love how ‘eldest brother’ he acted in this episode.

“I think it could break free of Earth’s gravity and make it to the space hub.”

“You think? We need to be sure.”

See, big brother! I really love it when he acts like that.

“I don’t know about this, Virgil, what do you think?”

“Well, Scott, I think Thunderbird two is going into space!”

Space, Space, Space! I feel like it’s a new catch phrase! Let’s see how many times I can fit the word into this next section of the Review.

“Hey Brains, when you’re done here, can you make Thunderbird Four into a spaceship too?”

*Watch as Brains’ face literally lights up, and then Scott proceeds to crush his dreams. Payback for Gordon and the Panda?*

“Uh, let’s not get carried away here guys! Besides we need Thunderbird Four standing by as a submarine!”

“FAB. But could you blame a guy for asking?”

“Right!”

Look at those faces! Scott is sick of it already.

New version of the countdown? Love it.

“Thunderbird Two is go-ing into space! Woo-hoo! Going into space! Going into space! Going into space! Going into space!”

Virgil has been to space before, this is nothing new for him... except it’s in Thunderbird Two and that must be like his absolute dream! It’s one thing to go in Thunderbird Three with Alan as a co-pilot, it’s another thing entirely to take your own ship up, and on a maiden voyage of sorts. I love the excitement in this scene - and I’m a little surprised Scott didn’t admonish the whooping over the radio!

“Ok, but keep monitoring. Closely.”

Oh, wait, that’s why, he’s too busy worrying his every last nerve! Fairly so though, I think I would have done the same.

“Come on, old friend, you can do this.”

And the faith here? I don’t think I could ever have as much faith in technology and machinery as these boys do and I think that is a testament to them, what they do, and their equipment. Connections really do mean everything, and I know we had this discussion in one of the comment sections, but I think it really is possible that these 2060 epic works of machinery are sentient.

“Only a few thousand metres to go.”

“We made it!

And we have lift off! The dream is a reality.

“You have pizza?”

“No, I was joking.”

Meanie. Alan took you seriously. Although why I don’t know!

And the rescue is pulled off with success! Back to Earth we go, after another ‘Thunderbird; debate;

“This way, I get to ride in Thunderbird Two. I mean, it is the coolest Thunderbird.”

“Right?”

New catchphrase for Virgil?

“I’m choosing to ignore that.”

“Virgil, it’s your heat shields! They took took much damage on launch. Thunderbird two is going to burn up on re-entry!”

“Virgil, I’m coming for ya’!”

“It’s too late, Alan. Thunderbird Two is caught in Earth’s gravity.”

Yes, Scott, just shove Brains out of the way! I must admit I love that scene.

“Virgil, you guys have to bail out in the pod.”

“Negative, Scott. Can’t do it.”

“We can build another Thunderbird Two. We can’t rebuild you!”

That line still gets me. It’s so poignant.

“Eject, now!”

Virgil won’t do that. He’s a go down with your ship kinda guy.

“He’s right.”

And that is Brains’ way of saying that he should have thought of that! Really, Conrad is actually very, very smart. I think he should have been offered a job on the spot. I mean, that’s a pretty good interview performance, right?

“Conrad’s plan just might work.”

“Might?”

“It might definitely work!”

“I hope so.”

So do we all, Scott.

“Come on Thunderbird Two...”

And Thunderbird Two does. Hooray! The underwater landing was quite entertaining as well.

Now for a happpy shot.

“I should have reacted quicker.”

Stop being so hard on yourself! I think he’s one of the good ones.

“Hey, your quick thinking up there saved us. And Thunderbird Two.”

“So Conrad...”

Little shoulder bump! Love it.

“What’s next?”

“I’ll drop in and see my family in Slough and then it’s back to the Hub.”

He’ll have one heck of a story to tell.

“Hey Brains, how long would it take to re-fit Thunderbird Two to take Conrad back up to the Hub?”

“Thanks, but this time I’ll get a ride designed to go into space. Alan?”

“And which Thunderbird is the coolest?”

“Thunderbird Three is the coolest.”

“Yes, it is.”

He deserved a visit to the Island after saving Virgil’s (and his own of course) life like that. He seems like a really smart, switched on kid who just got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time in a tough situation. I love episodes like this one because it reminds us that everyone on this show is human - even those in the Tracy family.

P.S. Shall we have the coolest Thunderbird debate? Now seems like a good time since the boys have instigated it. Stick your thoughts below if you want to!

[the-ghost-of-jason-todd]

Dark Klaus Fic Summary/Synopsis

So this is going to be long and Weird and I’m writing fast so I’m sorry about the quality, rip.  Anyway, basically it’s an exploration of Klaus’s powers and how he might cause an apocalypse.  It starts the night of the rave with Luther, after Klaus dies for the first time, when Klaus tells Ben that he died and came back.  Then it jumps to the main story, which is canon-divergent from S1E10 onward, and specifically splits off at the bowling alley where the commission agents are shooting at them.  Klaus is shot.  He gets in the way of Luther and Diego when they’re going to attack Vanya.  Vanya and Allison have their moment.  The shooters come.  Vanya protects them, and then finishes the concert and passes out, the world still intact.  But Klaus is still shot--he dies.  But he’ll come back, right?

Yes.  But because the bullet has to work it’s way out of his body first, he doesn’t come back before they autopsy him and bury him.  He comes back in his casket--which is iron, because [spoilers] daddy dearest suspected this power and specified that he be burried in an iron casket.  So there’s Klaus, buried alive.

Meanwhile the family is trying to deal with everything.  Pogo is dead, Grace is offline (though Five is trying to fix her), Klaus is dead, and Vanya is unconscious.  The house gets rebuilt, and they all use it as a sort of home base, sticking close.  Five is obsessive.  Tensions run high a lot.  It’s not good.

Then there’s Ben.  He’s still sticking around, and he’s not quite sure why.  Five figures out that the cold spot in the house is Ben and they develop a sort of twenty questions system, with yes or no answers.  And then, one day... Ben feels Klaus come back, his powers (which always emanate a spectral energy, when he’s alive and not high) coming back online.  And Ben is like FUCK and tries to get Five to help, but Five just isn’t asking the right questions.  He can’t figure it out.  So Klaus is stuck in the ground for... a while.  

He talks to god a lot, and comes back a lot, and dies a lot.  Like a LOT.  It’s gruesome and not fun, and also god is an ass who won’t let him see Dave.  But eventually, he manages to astral project out of his casket, scaring the shit out of Diego.  The family realizes that Klaus is still alive and dig him out, and they have their brother back, hooray!

Cue Klaus realizing that he’s... a little different now.  He has better control of his powers, but his temperature is colder and his body is different and he feels divorced from life.  He doesn’t know what to make of that yet.

And then... enter Daniel.  The reincarnation of Dave.  He’s been having dreams about Klaus calling him Dave for a year now (coinciding with the date that klaus travelled back in time to vietnam) and he’s finally like fuck it, I’m talking to this guy I keep dreaming about.  And so he does.  And it’s weird, because Klaus is different than his dreams but he’s also the same and Klaus is like thirty/thirty-one but Dave is only twenty-two, and if god brought him back why did she do it like this?

Klaus meanwhile is having nightmares.  He has a really bad one where his powers go to MAX and he basically opens a portal into the afterlife through his own body, and the ghosts on the other side are crowding through trying to get out.  The house nearly freezes.  It’s bad.  So the family (and Dave) starts looking through what’s left of Dad’s notebooks, finding all kinds of shit.  Like stuff about Reggie’s theories about all the kids and the mausoleum and stuff.  Klaus finds one about contingencies about what to do if Klaus went off the rails.  He steals it and shows no one.

From there it’s a slow slide off the deep end.  He and Dave have a fight.  Klaus has a lot of nightmares and a few meltdowns, and he starts to feel this distant pain and he knows he’s going to die again, he feels it coming, but he doesn’t do anything to stop it.  He doesn’t want to fight anymore.  

But he doesn’t die.  The others realize something is up--it’s his appendix, and they save his life.  Diego realizes something is wrong and brings his concerns to Five, who is just like ‘I’ll look into it’.  

Klaus takes a few days off, and then he approaches Diego like I know you still go out on vigilante missions.  And Diego is like SO?  And Klaus is like take me with you.  Me and Ben.  And because Five is preoccupied and Diego thinks having a purpose might help Klaus, he lets him.  But then he realizes that Klaus has no regard for his own life, like he LETS himself get in the way of attacks and dies and comes back.  And Diego doesn’t know what to do.

Ben, though... Ben has figured out about Dad’s journal.  And he’s like Klaus, tell the others or I will.  And Klaus is like nah, and stops corporealizing Ben to talk to the others.  So Ben goes back to twenty questions with Five, and this is the second time that someone has come to Five with concerns about Klaus and he’s starting to put the pieces together.  Klaus is causing a cold spot on the map, one that he suspects might turn into an ice age as ghosts cross over from the other side, more ghosts than living people, the channel between the afterlife and the human world wide open.  Klaus will literally freeze the world in a cold, awful death.

So he calls a family meeting and they all go, including Klaus and Dave, and they figure out that Klaus’s powers are like... a rot, a cancer, inside of him.  The very first time he died, it took root.  And the kicker?  He died as a baby.  Stillbirth.  He’s always been like this.  It just accellerated after the casket incident.  So they have dear old dad to thank for that.

So they’re trying to figure out something to do.  And Five is like okay... what if I use time travel to rewind your body back before you first died?  And the family is like that is... not ideal.  They have no idea what that will do to his mental state if he’s trapped as an infant.  So they make a compromise--they reverse him in time to before his second death, an OD that happened when he was 19.  And he’s back, babey!  Just a little colder than average, a little touch of death, you know how it is.  And he and Dave are now only three years apart, look how that worked out.  

[thehyperkraken]

EDIT: yall idk why the actual fic isnt showing up in the tags but this shit is, bc thats literally the opposite of what i wanted, but for the love of god read the fic first and/or instead, that’s the thing i spent more than 20 minutes on: [link]

Hey random idea dump for that one fic i done did yeehaw... it’s almost longer than the fic itself but jesus christ i need to get these ideas out of my head and throw them into the internet ether, seriously don’t read this its a goddamn mess

So ghjkdf the actual plotty part of that fic came from that one b99 bit... the Bone one.....u kno

Arthur: Come on, Dutch. The O'Driscolls thing isn't the problem. You're in a bad mood because you've been so busy planning this heist that it's keeping you and Hosea apart. You two just need to bone. John: Oh no... Dutch: ...What did you say? John: Don't say it again! Arthur: I said you two need to bone. John: Oh my god... Dutch: (with barely contained fury) Hhhhhow Dare you Arthur Morgan, I am thIS GANG'S LEADER!!! You have NO RIGHT to comment on my sex life— (5 minutes later) Dutch, standing on top of a table screaming: BONE?!?!?! (10 minutes later) Dutch: What happens in my bedroom, son, is NONE of your business— (20 minutes later) Dutch, jumping up and down on the table: BOOOOOOONE!!!!!!!!! (40 minutes later) Dutch: And don't EVER speak to me like that AGAIN! (storms off) John, sunken down in his chair in horror: Why the hell did you do that? Arthur: (shrugs) They need to bone. John: Gross, Arthur! That's our dads!

And then like a day later gfdhkg

John: Oh hey Dutch! I know you don't want to talk about Hosea, BUT, I had an idea— Dutch: No need, John, it's all good. John: So... your fight with Hosea is over? Dutch: Yep. John: Because you finally figured out a plan for the heist...? Dutch: Nope! Arthur, excitedly: Because you guys—? Dutch: Yyyyep! Arthur, looking smug: Knew it. John: Ugh... Arthur: (leans down close to him) See, what happened is, our dads had sex— John: UGH, SHUT UP!

Another inspiration I had was John Mulaney’s bit about zoning out for John with adhd,,,,, the part where he’s like “the doctor was reading me the results of a blood test, it was IMPORTANT that I LISTENED, but NO, I zoned out, I was like, I’m just gonna stare at the wall and think m��thoughts” that’s why I wrote the part where John was like “ehhh attention deficient something something disease” bc it made me laugh gjhggdjh

Dutch: so the doctor says you have ADHD John: (thinking about minecraft) what?

Also unrelated but blease consider Arthur teaching John to drive like

Arthur: are you watching the road? John: ........I am looking through the windshield Arthur: John: .......and I’m not gonna hit anyone...... Arthur: John: ....but no. I’m thinkin’ about minecraft

(Also I don’t know anything about ssb I’ve played it once and hated it, minecraft is my og video game love, but Abigail beating John at ssb is funnier, I’m a fake gamer boy :^( rip)

ONE MORE INSPIRATION THAT ONE VINE ITS MY FAVORITE VINE

Arthur: are you drinking coke for breakfast? John: yeah, what did you have for breakfast? Arthur: ........nothing John: (sipping his drink) I’m doing better than you, then

Anyway onto ACTUAL IDEA STUFF HOORAY

So when Dutch and Hosea decided to adopt, they agreed they wanted to take in kids who needed good homes the most, so they were specifically looking for older kids who would probably age out of the system and wind up on the streets

They met Arthur who was a clearly depressed and gender non conforming thirteen year old who hated everyone and everything and wasn’t getting the Love he Deserved, and Dutch was like “I want THAT ONE, with the SAD EYES”

Arthur tried to push them away at first, cuz he absolutely didn’t trust anyone, and some part of him believed they’d just give him right back up for adoption if he disappointed them in any way. But he eventually learned that they were good guys who really just wanted to help him, and they weren’t gonna abandon him if he wasn’t the perfect kid they always wanted

(he probably told them about this fear eventually and Hosea just snorted and was like “if we wanted a perfect kid we woulda got a cabbage patch doll. something that wouldn’t scream or make a mess” and Dutch was like “yeah! or like a 27 year old with a job and their own house and kids of their own. pre-made grandkids” and Hosea was like “or a cat” and Arthur was like “...okay”)

Anyway it took a loooong time but Arthur eventually trusted them enough to come out to them as trans, without really knowing the proper words for everything, just knowing that He Is A Boy And That’s That. As much as Hosea is the one the lads go to to talk about stuff and get comfort and Wise Dad Advice, he probably told Dutch first bc he was more uncertain how he’d respond and he wanted to get it over with in the worst way possible.... like, if they were gonna react badly, heap all the bullshit on in one fell swoop

I imagine he did it off the cuff too, in response to something Dutch said, like Dutch was like “u get back here right now young lady” and Arthur was like “first of all I’m not a lady, I’m a BOY, and second of all FUCK you, I do what I WANT” and Dutch was like “groovy. you’re grounded.” Arthur was like (offended) “don’t say groovy... don’t try to be hip” and Dutch was like “no it’s totally tubular that ur a boy. It’s absolutely funky. You’re fucking grounded though”

Then he went and told Hosea like “congrats! it’s a boy” and they helped him transition and they didn’t tolerate a single person misgendering him the whole time. Like before he’s even begun transitioning, they’re literally at the doctors office to discuss it w/ their doc for the first time, and a nurse is like “ms. morgan?” And Dutch is like “INCORRECT” and the doctor is like “what seems to be the problem (deadname)?” and Dutch is like “FOOL! THIS CHILD WAS LABELED INACCURATELY, WE REQUIRE A GENDER RETRACTION” and Hosea’s like “please stop yelling”

Anyway probably about a year later they got John when he was ten and Arthur was fifteen. Arthur was a little bit jealous like, wow, am I not enough kid for u, but Dutch and Hosea always planned on getting at least two bc they wanted them to have siblings, and they know John came from a pretty abusive situation, so Arthur can’t be too mad at him. At least until he met John and realized what a fucking brat he is

Since John was younger and way more desperate for affection, he immediately loved Dutch and Hosea just bc they were nice to him, he was ready to call them his dads within the month but he was nervous that it was too soon and they’d be weirded out. But I imagine he got triggered by something and had a meltdown and they got to see just a glimpse of what he’d been through, and Dutch and Hosea were falling over themselves trying to comfort him and tell him they love him and now I’m making myself cry :’^(

Anyway... from that point on John was like “these are the only dads I’ve ever had and I would kill a man for them.” He gets in trouble quite a bit bc he’s Naughty, but Dutch and Hosea always make sure to punish him fairly and never yell or be physically intimidating with him or permanently take away his stuff, like they make him do chores to earn back the right to use the xbox or something. And they always explain to him exactly what he did wrong and why he’s being punished and talk to him about how he can make it better or what he can do next time, or if there’s a root problem, like he’s acting out bc he’s overwhelmed with school work or smthn, how they can help him. Especially after he gets diagnosed with ADHD

And of course they do all this with Arthur too, but they make a special concerted effort with John bc he’s The Baby :^) and Dutch somehow maintains an attitude of “idk what ur talking about, John has never done anything wrong ever in his life” every time he gets in trouble meanwhile Hosea is like “what do you MEAN, he’s a GREMLIN” fjfjfhhf

Arthur was probably diagnosed with depression and anxiety at some point... it was probably a long process to get him to even admit he had a problem bc he didnt wanna bother anyone... Arthur also probably came from an abusive situation from the way canon Arthur talks about his dad, but Arthur is much more the type to be like “i’m gonna keep all my feelings inside, and then one day, i’ll die” whereas John is like “i will SCREAM if i get a papercut”

[EDIT: i woke up in a cold sweat at 4 AM with this in my head so now i’m putting it here

Charles: So, Arthur... Do you wanna talk about your feelings? Arthur: No. John: I do! :) Charles: ...I know, John. John: I’m sad! :) Charles: I know, John.

i’m sure it’s been done before but it’s so good. ok now back to our regularly scheduled programming]

In regards to Arthur being trans, John doesn’t really Get It, Arthur tried to explain it to him once and John couldn’t care less, all he knows is Arthur used to be a girl or something, there’s tea involved probably, and John is thinking about minecraft again... he has 2 am thoughts about it sometimes and comes to Arthur like “what IS gender” and Arthur’s just like “hm. big mood”

Dutch is “Dad” and Hosea is “Papa” or “Pa” or “Pops” or “Dad, No Not You, The Other One” or “Other Dad.” Hosea really doesn’t mind at all, he wouldn’t care if the kids called him Hosea or mom or anything else, it truly isnt important to him. But Dutch Loves being Dad. Every time they call Dutch Dad he grows three times stronger and 10 years are added to his lifespan. Dutch is an Alpha Parent, he 100% goes to every parent teacher conference and bake sale, he’d go to every game and concert too if either of his kids had a single athletic or musical bone in their dumb little bodies. I guess the school probably hosts art galleries sometimes to display art the kids make, Arthur always has a drawing in one of those, and Dutch will absolutely go just to brag about his cool son.

Dutch is the Fun Energetic Dad who embarrasses the boys in front of their friends but can always be talked into taking them out to get ice cream. Hosea is the more quietly anxious dad, he makes sure they do their homework and keep their rooms clean and shit, and he's the one the kids always go to talk to when they’re having problems... like Arthur will rant for an hour and a half about high school drama and Hosea will patiently listen to all of it and when he's done he’ll offer to kick the other kids’ asses for him, and Arthur’s like lmao but Hosea Means It.

Hosea is also the one the kids go to for help on their homework because Hosea and Dutch have five brain cells between them, and four of them belong to Hosea. Dutch is like “suddenly I don’t remember basic math, time to make shit up” and Hosea is like “I must become an expert on 1820s Chinese history in two days for my beautiful sons”

I have NO idea what either of their jobs are, I wanna say Hosea is a lawyer or smthn but idk, Dutch is probably like......................a used car salesman LMAO...... they clearly make a lot of money (or maybe STOLE SOME) bc I gave them a huge house w/ a pool gjhkdhg

Anyway more about THE KIDS

They go to a school that is a combination middle school and high school, bc that’s what my school was like

Mrs. Grimshaw is the strict and irritable principal with a secret soft spot for kids, Mr. Pearson is the cafeteria cook, Strauss works in the office, I wanna say Rev. Swanson is a weird but friendly janitor or something lmao. Uncle is Dutch & Hosea’s annoying forever-drunk neighbor who everyone barely tolerates fjfjhfh

Micah is The School Bully but like bc this is a cutesy high school au and I can do what I want, he’s not actually like a violent racist or anything he’s just a bad mad sad kid who is a huge dick

Bill is Micah’s Bully Henchman, he’s generally not as much of a dick as Micah is, but he punches whoever Micah asks him to bc they are the closest thing to friends that either of them have

Trelawny is a new student who just moved from another school and he’s that fucking Weird Magician Kid who can’t hold a conversation longer than five seconds without saying “wanna see a magic trick,” tried to do some unimpressive card tricks for the school talent show, unironically wears a cape, etc.... Arthur stood up for him when he was getting pushed around by Micah and Bill so now Arthur has +1 more weird friend

Karen is the Popular Girl who somehow knows everyone, is probably a cheerleader, everyone is either extremely intimidated by her or thinks she’s gonna be a stuck up bitch, but she’s actually just super fucking chill and nice, WILL stab a man for her friends, she won’t hesitate bitch

Tilly is Karen’s bff who was getting bullied by *shakes fist* those dang foreman brothers.... Karen stood up for her and Tilly was like “no don’t u will get hurt!!” and Karen was like “ha... fool... cheerleaders cannot die” and whooped ass with her gymnastics skills and somehow got the foreman brothers expelled. So now Tilly is like “I owe u one (1) Life Debt” but Karen is like “nah it’s chill just come to target w/ me & we’ll call it even.” Tilly is just tryna get shit done and do her damn homework but everybody else is going on adventures and being nuisances so of course Tilly has to go too bc come on....... who do you take her for, some kinda two-bit GEEK? NO WAY

Mary Beth is a quiet nerdy girl who’s always reading or writing and never talks in class or anything. Karen and Tilly became her friends thru sheer brute force, Karen just sat by her one day n was like “sup” and Mary Beth was too shy to ask her to leave. They were surprised to discover Mary Beth is actually pretty nice and funny when you get to know her and also the Biggest Lesbian Alive

Sadie is a BAD BITCH... NOBODY fucks with Sadie, not even Micah, Sadie is the girl who when some dipshit boy spreads a rumor that he had sex with her, she agrees and tells everyone she pegged him and he cried after, she hasn’t given a fuck since 2007. she climbs on the roof to get lost frisbees. one time she got the gym coach to agree to give her an automatic A in the class if she did 100 push ups in 5 minutes. Then she Did That. She might have pulled several muscles in both of her arms but She Did That. Karen, Tilly, and Mary Beth (but mostly Karen) approached her like “damn that was sick” and Sadie was like “yea i know” and then they were friends

I literally don’t know anything about Sean I’m sorry...... maybe he’s a transfer student who becomes friends with John, they play Minecraft together and Sean boobytraps the houses John builds. Sean is the only living human being who understands how redstone works and he uses his powers for evil

Molly is going to a nearby community college and is working at the high school part time as a TA and she is like 19-20 or smthn so the kids all think she’s The Hottest Shit,,,, like they think she’s just the coolest hippest person alive, but also she is Very Attractive so fuckin everybody has a crush on her, most specifically Javier and Mary Beth. She ineptly tries to flirt with Dutch every time he comes to a parent teacher conference bc she’s dummy thicc and thinks it’s friendship goals that Dutch lives with and has adopted children with his Best Bud Hosea

The teacher Molly is TA for is Charles Chatenay, an all-grades art teacher who takes his job WAY too seriously, like dude chill they’re high schoolers. His class is where Arthur met Albert, bc Arthur loves drawing and obviously Albert loves photography. They were both like “wow he’s cute” but were too shy to talk to each other for more than basic pleasantries, until one day Albert’s Big Project was ruined a day or two before he was gonna turn it in, and Arthur helped him fix it.

They’re so sweet on each other it’s unbearable, they’re both Soft Boys so they fuckin blush if they make eye contact...... the most bold either of them get is when Arthur is feeling insecure about his body and Albert gladly tells him how perfect and handsome he is in every way, and he wishes he was half as gorgeous as Arthur is, and Arthur is like (offended) um, excuse me, how dare u insult my beautiful boyfriend in this way?? They both wanna grow beards so while they’re still going thru Changes they excitedly bond over their facial hair......... they run up to each other at school like LOOK AT MY NEW CHIN HAIR and the other one is like WOW!!! GOOD JOB

Javier has a big lovely family who spoil him rotten and tbh love to spoil his friends when they come over too, his parents are in a constant and devastating game of dish-gifting with Dutch & Hosea, Arthur and John have eaten more of Mr. & Mrs. Escuella’s tamales than any other food, neither Dutch nor Hosea are very good cooks but luckily Javier has plenty of aunts and uncles and cousins who are happy to occasionally take one of their unimpressive lasagnas or cakes from a box mix

Lenny’s cool dad in canon is the high school au dad of Charles and Lenny, he and Charles’s mom amicably divorced and he got remarried to Lenny’s mom, who is a Cool Stepmom to Charles. Charles and Lenny go stay with Charles’s mom all the time, in fact she was around so much when they were younger that she practically helped raise them both. maybe she gets a gf and Charles and Lenny have so many moms and are so loved & cherished like they fuCKIN DESERVE

Kieran is the weird horse girl at school, he’s Lenny’s age, they become friends when they’re forced to sit next to each other and they’re both too awkward and shy to say anything until they’re paired up on a project together bc everyone else in the class already paired up and they were the only ones left gjkhfd.... John wants to dislike Kieran bc Lenny is HIS friend now, but Kieran is a sweet lad with a mean dad.... His dad is Colm O’Driscoll, Dutch & Hosea’s other neighbor and Dutch’s sworn enemy

Dutch expects Kieran to be as shitty as his dad, but he is a SWEET BOY, and as soon as they realize his situation, they tell Kieran he can come over whenever he wants and spend the night any time, he doesn’t have to ask or anything, but Kieran is super respectful and always asks permission and always tries to come over when John or Arthur are there so he can go under the pretense of hanging out with them, bc he doesn’t wanna intrude...

Once he came over when Hosea was the only one home and he was like “hi Mr. Matthews are John and Arthur home” and Hosea was like “no sorry they’re out” and Kieran was like “oh... ok sorry I’ll just go then” and Hosea was like “absolutely not” and brought Kieran in and made him snacks and wrapped him in many blankets and watched a kids movie with him until he fell asleep on the couch... when Dutch came home he was like “??? new son ???” and Hosea was like “yea I guess. oops”

When Kieran gets older they help him become an emancipated minor and get a job and his own place (even tho he knows they’d let him stay with them if he wanted) and he changes his last name to his mom’s maiden name Duffy... Colm and Dutch glare at each other over their fences and Colm is like “enjoying stealing my son?” and Dutch is like “my son now” but Colm really doesn’t care bc he’s an asshole... and even tho they don’t legally adopt him, Kieran’s like “I’m more of a Van der Linde than an O’Driscoll” and oops i’m making myself cry again :’)

And yes Abigail does eventually teach John how to play stupid super smash bros. She’s Pro Gamer level of competent at nearly all video games and John has the biggest heart eyes for her, the end thank u for listening

[recentanimenews]

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL NARUTO REWATCH Hunts a Rogue Shinobi in Episodes 106-112!

  Welcome to the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! I'm Paul Chapman, and I'll be your host this week as we make our way through all 220 episodes of the original Naruto. Last week, we covered Episodes 99 - 105, where Tsunade faced the first challenge to her authority as Fifth Hokage and Team 7 took a mission to the Land of Tea. We continue this week with Episodes 106 – 122 and the conclusion to the Land of Tea arc, as well as some shocking shake-ups for the youth of Hidden Leaf Village.

  This batch of episodes was an emotional roller coaster, and we witnessed Naruto and Sasuke's rivalry boil over into a deadly duel, Sasuke decide to abandon Hidden Leaf Village in order to seek power from the villainous Orochimaru, and Sakura confess her love in an effort to convince Sasuke to stay! (Also, some dude won a footrace in the Land of Filler.) It was a heck of a ride.

  Now, let's see what the Crunchyroll Features team thought of this week's episodes!

    How do you feel about the conclusion to the Land of Tea arc? Does the fact that the local daimyo was already gathering intelligence to dethrone the wicked Wagarashi Family downplay the accomplishments of Team 7 in their efforts to help Idate win the foot race?

  Kevin: Hooray, it’s done! Now back to the actual plot. Honestly, I cared so little by the end of the arc that I barely even registered that the lord did anything beyond making a counter excuse to ensure the good guys won.

  Joseph: The final episode of this was probably the best one, and not just because it marked the ending of a pretty dull arc. With that said, I’m with Kevin in that I clearly didn’t think deeply enough about the resolution and how it affected the efforts of Team 7!

  David: I recognized that and it didn’t bother me at all. The reason being, this last episode had an unexpected payoff for me: we finally get to see the kids overcoming an enemy and achieving their mission without something going horrifically wrong requiring the older, stronger ninjas to step in. Silver linings.

  Jared: I don’t think it takes away from what Team 7 does as they were still able to outsmart and defeat a powerful foe. The lord was just a stickler for the non-rules and had to make sure that a made up deal wasn’t enacted. Even without that, I don’t think what Team 7 had done would’ve dethroned that family anyways, so it makes sense to have the lord come in and kick them to the curb for good.

  Danni: Honestly I just walked away from that arc thinking it was funny they had to make Sasuke get injured so that the next arc could still pick up with him in the hospital.

  Noelle: I didn’t really feel it. I understand what the arc was trying to pull off, but I still didn’t have much of an investment in it to get an emotional reaction in the first place? It wasn’t terrible, but it didn’t do too much for me.

  Kara: I was kind of ambivalent about it. I didn’t hate it, but it didn’t get me as jazzed to watch each day as other episodes have. And now with Danni’s comment on re-injuring Sasuke, it’s just funny.

  Carolyn: I’m of the camp that was just glad to see the arc end. It was a little odd to end the whole thing with a race, that felt almost anti-climactic.

    The hospital roof confrontation between Naruto and Sasuke was pretty spectacular. Were there any specific details about the fight that you found especially thrilling? How do you feel about the fight’s resolution?

  Kevin: The conclusion of the fight, specifically seeing the damage that Rasengan and Chidori did to the water towers is one of the images that I remember whenever I think about Naruto. As for the fight, I found that it was amazing on paper, and okay in practice. The choreography seemed a bit off, like trying to translate the manga panels to animation revealed some continuity errors or something, but when the fight was good, it was great.

  Joseph: This is such a pivotal fight, and I loved all the raw emotion conveyed through it. Beyond the battle itself, that moment when Sasuke feels victorious only to see how the Rasengan would have basically torn his body asunder is *chef’s kiss*.

  David: I agree with Kevin about the fight itself. Watching Sasuke somehow hold his own against a whole bunch of shadow clones is cool, and I’m always down for the hand-to-hand combat in this series, but the execution was messy. The conclusion, of course, is wonderful and incredibly important, and the good moments are great, so it’s not like I’m down on the whole thing.

  Jared: The fight does a good job of showcasing just how much powerful both Sasuke and Naruto have gotten in the past 100 episodes, especially by the end. I think it also did a good job of showing Sasuke’s jealousy coming through fully as the fight continued. Having it be interrupted and leaving it unresolved isn’t bad, since you know they’ll have some huge fight sometime in the near future.

  Danni: The visual execution left a little to be desired, but I liked seeing Sasuke’s taijutsu prowess up against Naruto’s barrage of shadow clones. The tension between the two was portrayed really well, and the conclusion with the water tower was the icing on the cake. I can’t wait to see these two have it out for real.

  Noelle: I loved it. Overall, it’s pretty short, and it could’ve gone better, but I think that what it sets up was really, really good. The two of them may be friendly, but here they were completely out to destroy each other, and that meltdown was something I enjoyed.

  Kara: I think the reasons behind the fight were what got me going even more than the fight itself. We had all this time of Naruto feeling like he was stuck in Sasuke’s shadow—like literal months of that, both in-show and in the show’s pacing. Then we flip the script and Sasuke gets a taste of that, and it’s interesting to see how he takes it. Granted, he’s got that paired with a long-standing vendetta, so there are mitigating factors as to how hard he takes it. But their very different reasons beyond wanting to fight were not lost on me.

  Carolyn: I think my main quibble was with the way they prompted the fight in the first place. There didn’t seem to be much of a valid reason for Naruto and Sasuke to end up there. But once they got going, I thought it worked out fine.

    In the past we've criticized how Kishimoto treats his lady characters, but it's worth exploring how the physical prowess of characters like Naruto and Sasuke is contrasted against Sakura's moral fortitude and emotional strength. How do you feel about Sakura's evolution from a selfish brat into the conscience of Team 7?

  Kevin: Sakura easily has the most emotional development of the three, but I really wish that she was given more to work with. Basically keep everything the same, but have her be the one to directly intervene in the fight (like Kakashi did) instead of running herself into danger and all of the emotional weight is still there, but the audience also gets to see that she is on the boys’ level, just in a different way.

  Joseph: Yeah, it might have been better to have her stop them rather than run out as a potential casualty of the fight, but I don’t think there was any way for anyone other than a character at Kakashi’s level to successfully intervene. Sakura’s emotional moments are some of the most powerful here, though, and I love the interaction between her and Naruto when he promises to get Sasuke back. There’s a mix of sorrow, gratitude, and frustration at the fact that she can’t do it herself.

  David: The scene where Sakura tries one last time to stop Sasuke from leaving is still one of my favorites in any anime. She really has gained a lot from their misadventures together, and it’s soul crushing to watch her desperately attempt to keep their dysfunctional little family together. So I guess the answer is, yeah, I am pretty on board with Sakura’s arc so far. She’s changed a lot, for the better.

  Jared: I was honestly expecting her to get hit at the end when Naruto and Sasuke were going at each other with their respective attacks as she ran to stop it. She definitely is trying to keep the group together, but there’s still so much more you could do with her character, but she gets constantly pushed to the sidelines.

  Danni: I’m glad to see her grow emotionally, but really all it translates into is her crying and needing someone else to step in and do what she can’t. She deserves better than just being Team 7’s den mother.

  Noelle: While I do appreciate the development that Sakura has, it still isn’t really enough. For one of the protagonists, it sets her up to be sidelined once again, to cry over the boys, and that’s a real shame! She has a lot of potential here, and it’s a huge emotional burden for her to take, but instead of exploring that, Kishimoto falls flat. Sakura really does deserve better than this!

  Kara: It’s another version of what I call the Super Robot Wars Effect. Games I love very much, but that have a tendency (with exceptions like Gunbuster) to cast female-piloted units almost exclusively as healers. It falls to the woman to be the “healer” for the men, which is a very traditional storytelling mechanism and not inherently awful in and of itself—I have occasionally seen it done well. But Naruto as a whole kind of has this underlying idea of like. Boy ninjas are for these things, kunoichi are for those things, which only surfaces once you’ve forgotten that it was there the last time. I have no problem with Sakura being Team 7’s conscience, since God knows they need one, but I’d prefer a more “tough love” approach.

  Carolyn: I wasn’t very happy with Sakura’s pleas to Sasuke, to be honest. It felt so desperate. She’s been pining over him the entire series and now she’s just outright begging a boy to stay with her. I understand this scene is bigger than just her crush, but it was pretty disheartening to see her cry and beg just for Sasuke to call her annoying … and then thank her! Kind of emotionally manipulative, that.

    Charismatic villains such as Orochimaru and Itachi often sprinkle grains of truth in their evil schemes, and Sasuke's thirst for revenge does seem incompatible with the values of the Hidden Leaf Village. What are your thoughts on Sasuke's heel turn? Are you excited to see him take on an antagonistic role?

  Kevin: Without spoiling anything: I really like how they set up Sasuke as a villain, and will have many things to talk about when we get much later in the Rewatch.

  Joseph: This and the arc it kicks off is my favorite part of the 70 or so percent of Naruto I’ve read. Sasuke’s turn has been a long time coming, and it seems like the most logical step for the character. I can’t wait!

  David: Considering literally everything he has said or done has essentially been setup for this, yeah, I’m excited for it to finally pay off.

  Jared: It feels strange to think that we’re over 100 episodes in and I still kind of felt like it could’ve happened a bit later, but Sasuke turning heel was gonna happen eventually. I’m more curious to see just how he handles that new role and whether it’s just going to be him consumed with jealousy and revenge or with we start to see a new sinister side to him emerge.

  Danni: I’ve been waiting for Sasuke to go full Vegeta, and am thrilled with where this is going. I especially liked that it wasn’t so much a full heel turn as it was a real conflict brewing inside him. It really did hurt him to leave Team 7 behind, I thought.

  Noelle: No spoilers from me, but this had definitely been in the works for a while. It still is upsetting, but mm, it does have its payoffs.

  Kara: This was absolutely coming. I came into this knowing minimal stuff about the series as a whole, but there was no way Sasuke was going to not go Dark Side on us. Heel turns are a personal fave of mine in stories (see also: Sailor Mercury in live-action Sailor Moon), so I’m excited.

  Carolyn: I also love when good guys turn bad, even for a little bit. I feel like it’s somewhat more realistic than the perfect, never-faltering hero.

    I was surprised when Shikamaru was the sole applicant elevated to Chunin status, but his actions as the head of the Sasuke retrieval squad demonstrate that his leadership and problem-solving skills are a cut above his peers. What qualities do you think separate the Chunin from the Genin, and who do you want to see promoted next?

  Kevin: They actually touched on that back during the Chunin Exam. Shikamaru was better than everyone else because he was able to correctly evaluate the situation he was in, even during combat, and realized his own limitations. By that metric, probably Sakura or potentially Neji would be the next to be promoted.

  Joseph: I suppose the exact qualities demonstrated during episode 112 are what separate the Chunin from the Genin. I love Shikamaru’s balance of extremely capable and extremely bothered to be doing anything, which in some cases is definitely a front.

  David: Comparing Shikamaru to every other member of his ragtag Sasuke retrieval team, the difference in temperament and patience is very clear. I thought most of his choices when Tsunade asked him to put a squad together were bizarre and felt more like plot necessities, but when he explained their formation it went together so well I couldn’t complain. Later when they are stuck in the rock igloo, I found most of the episode to be kind of dull, then Neji explained how every action and order Shikamaru gave were part of a careful plan to figure out how to get out, and it ended up being incredibly satisfying. I remembered Shikamaru being the ‘smart tactics guy’, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to be reminded of stuff like Legend of the Galactic Heroes while watching him do his thing. As for promotions, Neji is definitely the strongest genin right now, but he can be hot-headed in his own way which is probably the main thing holding him back.

  Jared: It really seems like having the ability to think under pressure is gonna separate your traditional Genin from a Chunin. Shikamaru clearly demonstrates that when the group gets trapped and also with how he’s able to come up with an opening strategy before they leave. I’m assuming at some point we’re gonna see Naruto get his promotion since he’s already done things that would put him on that kind of level in terms of fights.

  Danni: Shikamaru’s level-headedness and intellect really seem to be his greatest assets as a Chunin. Obviously Chunin are in command of any Genin working underneath them, so the ability to lead and strategize is a must that few of the other Genin seem to share. I assume Naruto will be promoted next for plot reasons, but the most logical promotions I can think of are Shino and Neji.

  Noelle: As you’ve said, strategy is definitely key. The exams were designed to test people on more than just combat, and Shikamaru seems to have been the only real choice that had qualifications beyond that. Leadership, for sure, but also analysis, being able to keep your cool in a drastic situation, and putting the needs of the mission over yourself. As my colleagues said, Neji seems like a good candidate, as long as he cools off a little.

  Kara: Shikamaru knows what he’s doing and acts like he can’t be bothered, which is a downright diabolical combination. He had us fooled for the first several episodes, too! Along with what everyone else said, I think what he has going for him is that he’s (at least for now) the one with the least emotional baggage. Compared to people like Naruto, Sasuke, and Gaara, who are all still motivated by personal issues, Shikamaru can focus up on the task at hand and isn’t bringing anything personal into the mission. That’s valuable for a leader.

  Carolyn: I think part of the reason Shikamaru seems lazy and bored is simply that he’s thinking so far ahead of everyone else. He’s just sitting around waiting for everyone else to catch up with him. I think Sakura would make a great choice, given her own intellect. Naruto definitely deserves some recognition for his incredibly fast learning ability.

    And finally, what are you personal high points and low points for this batch of episodes?

  Kevin: High - Sasuke in the hospital. Admittedly, this high point is a bit more of a “what could have been,” but seeing Sasuke trying to come to terms with simply not being good enough, and comparing himself to Naruto, was honestly far more compelling than I thought it would be. In another world, the depression and inferiority he was feeling might’ve turned into character motivation and development later. Instead… we’ll get to that. Low - Lee’s recovery. Lee deciding whether to go into surgery or not was quite possibly the single heaviest emotional side plot in the show. Then, over the course of an episode or two, through two or three scenes, Lee says that he’ll take the chance, then next time we see him he’s with Neji, who’s congratulating him and talking about when he’ll get back to training. Welp, so much for that tension and emotional resolution.

  Joseph: High - The resolution of the battle between Naruto and Sasuke and the moment Sasuke makes his own mind up to leave the village and acts upon it. Low - I don’t know, I guess the end of the Land of Tea story? Aside from that these episodes are all pretty spectacular.

  David: As I said earlier, the scene between Sakura and Sasuke as he is leaving the village is one of my favorites in anything, so that’s definitely my high. I’ll also give an honorary mention to when Naruto assures a crying Sakura that everything will be OK, giving a thumbs up, which then reminds Lee of Guy, inspiring his trust indirectly as well. It’s one of those great scenes that show Naruto’s latent leadership abilities, and I didn’t get to bring it up elsewhere, so here it is. Low point is the first episode of this batch, not that it was actually bad or anything, but being the conclusion to a subpar arc just pales in comparison to everything else going on here.

  Jared: High point would be finally getting see what Sasuke and Naruto could potentially do in a fight with the tease of what that fight will ultimately end up being. Sasuke’s heel turn was also good. Naruto putting on a brave face for Sakura and pushing away his own feelings was really well done. Low point was the non-surprise that Shikamaru makes his babyface team and it’s just dudes after his misogyny rant a few weeks back.

  Danni: The low point for me was all the nonsense about the curse mark and its phases. The more logic and details they try to add for how it works the less sense it makes. The high point for me was most certainly Kakashi’s final words to Sasuke. I realized that we still know surprisingly little about Kakashi, despite him being one of the show’s most interesting characters. I’m looking forward to finally learning his backstory and what makes him tick. Runner up goes to Shikamaru’s encouragement of and faith in Choji. It’s nice seeing him get some respect for once. Runner runner up was Shikamaru standing up for all the curvy wife guys out there.

  Noelle: High point, Naruto and Sasuke dropping the act and having a giant brawl. Short but sweet. The emotional breakdown in that portion was honestly so satisfying . Low point, I’d have to say the filler arc, because Sasuke leaving the village was really emotionally charged, and contrasted greatly from the filler.

  Kara: High point is absolutely Sasuke’s Heel Turn. You know he’s all in when a bunch of strangers go, “Don’t worry, we won’t kill you, we’ll let you only kinda die, trust us, we work for Orochimaru,” and he’s like “Seems legit.” I’m excited to see where this goes. Low point was probably the Land of Tea resolution being this kind of comedy of errors thing. “Hey, that’s illegal! You’re disqualified!” “It’s not illegal, and also we knew you guys were up to no good!” Eh. Glad to see the end of the Land of Tea.

  Carolyn: I mean, anything with Rock Lee is great. But Rock Lee overcoming adversity is especially sweet. I think my low point would have to be the Land of Tea conclusion or Sasuke’s reaction to Sakura trying to get him to stay.

    COUNTERS:

Bowls of Ramen: 6 bowls

“I'm Gonna be Hokage!”: 0

Shadow Clones Created: 3 + 2 uncountable scenes

  Total so far:

Bowls of Ramen: 42 bowls, 3 cups

“I'm Gonna be Hokage!”: 52

Shadow Clones Created: 343

  And that's everything for this week! Remember that you're always welcome to join us for this rewatch, especially if you haven't watched the original Naruto! Watch Naruto today!

  Here's our upcoming schedule:

- Next week, on May 10th, CAROLYN BURKE will give us the deets on the Sound Four.

- May 17th, we'll visit the Valley of the End with JARED CLEMONS.

- May 24th, NICOLE MEJIAS plays referee for Naruto vs. Sasuke, Round 2!

  CATCH UP ON THE REWATCH!

Episodes 99-106: Trouble in the Land of Tea

Episodes 92-98: Clash of the Sannin

Episodes 85-91: A Life-Changing Decision

Episodes 78-84: The Fall of a Legend

Episodes 71-77: Sands of Sorrow

Episodes 64-70: Crashing the Chunin Exam

Episodes 57-63: Family Feud

Episodes 50-56: Rock Lee Rally

Episodes 43-49: The Gate

Episodes 36-42: Through the Woods

Episodes 29-35: Sakura Unleashed

Episodes 22-28: Chunin Exams Kickoff

Episodes 15-21: Leaving the Land of Waves

Episodes 8-14: Beginners' Battle

Episodes 1-7: I'm Gonna Be the Hokage!

Thank you for joining us for the Great Crunchyroll Naruto Rewatch! Have a great weekend, and we'll see you all next time!

Have anything to say about our thoughts on Episodes 106-112? Let us know in the comments! Don't forget, we're also accepting questions and comments for next week, so don't be shy and feel free to ask away!

  -----

Paul Chapman is the host of The Greatest Movie EVER! Podcast and GME! Anime Fun Time.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[andzensome]

How I Manifested My New Life In Five Days

Hi Friends! (Disclaimer... this story is TRUE.) It has been a crazy couple of months for me and I'm sure many people can relate. It is not my first time being in a low - so I know what to do and how to fix it. I do a lot of manifestation but wanted to see how quickly I could really accelerate it. I figured I want my life to change, so I might as well give it a shot. 

First of all, let me start out by addressing the issue that needed fixing: EVERYTHING. Primarily the city I lived in and my job. I knew I wanted to move but I had to wait until January for my lease to be up and then of course I was concerned about where to go and whether or not I would like it there. Finances are always an issue too. How do I know I can get another stable job if I locate to a new city? My stress was at a high. So I said the magic two words - "F*** IT" and started to create my ideal life. 

Step 1: Figuring out your next step. 

I was attached to the idea that I wanted to move to South Florida...no Arizona... no New Mexico... you get the point. And the problem with having so many dreams at the same time is the Universe has no idea what you want. If you don't know what you want how can the Universe ever help you get there? So the hardest part is figuring out a linear plan. For me that is somewhat impossible so I at least chose the next step and picked a city to live in. Once I picked a city, I started noticing people around me helping me in small ways: offering boxes to move, offering to help me search for apartments, offering to show me around the city. I was amazed at how one decision already helped me feel like I was moving there. But there was one issue - I didn't tie up loose ends! So that brings me to... 

Step 2: Wrapping up the last chapter. 

Ok so I didn't have a lease signed... So I knew what I had to do. And on the night of the Sagittarius Full Moon, I said those two magic words again and wrote my landlord. My lease did not end til January - but I said I can't wait that long! Is it impulsive or irresponsible? Maybe, but they ended up negotiating and allowing me to close off on the lease early and even adjusted some terms on the lease. This brought more clarity, more direction forward, more action, and inspired the universe to help get me to where I'm going - not stay where I am. 

Step 3: Power of thought, words, and prayer. 

Rewind... Two days before the full moon (the day I made the decision on where I wanted to be) I had looked at apartments all day. I didn't see any I liked and that's because I still was struggling to figure out what I wanted. I named the city, but I didn't know how else my life should look like. So after having a meltdown and eating my feelings in sweet potato fries (hooray for vegan bar food), I said you know what - let me just put this out there. I said "I am coming back here in four days. The next place I look at is going to be the apartment I sign. I'm gonna have the gut feeling when I walk in there and I'm just gonna know. And then I will look at a few other places after, but I will revert back to the first place. Now the Universe knows it and so do I." 

I kept this affirmative thought in my mind. I told everyone I spoke to that same thing. I got some "okay rae" eye rolls, but I knew it would work. 

Step 4: The Power of Magic and imagination. 

On the night of the full moon, I wrote that same idea down on paper. I told the moon exactly how I wanted to feel when I stepped inside. I told the moon exactly how I wanted the apartment to look like. I told the moon the price I was willing to spend... I kept my Citrine crystal close as it holds no negative energy to prevent me from reaching my dreams, and it is the ultimate manifestation crystal. 

The law of attraction only works when you create a clear image of what you want. If you ever wake up in the morning and say "I hope it doesn't rain, it looks like it's going to rain, I don't want it to rain..." The universe hears "RAIN RAIN RAIN!" If you say, "it doesn't look like it will be, but i want a sunny day! I want clear blue skies and sunshine." The universe says "oh okay, sunshine! I know what that looks like too." (We can't control weather but we can try.)

SO this is why I told the moon and my crystal: affordable, clean, safe, washer and dryer, pet friendly, a pool, an OPEN LAYOUT - I was excessive maybe...

Step 5: Let the magic happen - and notice when it does. 

When I came back to visit, I called my list of rentals and I said "what time are you available - just give me a time." They all coordinated and I let the universe do its thing. I walked into the first apartment and it was EXACTLY. WHAT. I. WANTED. It was exactly what I described, it was exactly what I had manifested, I felt the way I wanted to feel when I walked in. Keeping an open mind, I did of course look at the others and they even had better reviews but they all ended up being horrid. I noticed signs like I'd fall over, or the tour guide was giving off an uncomfortable vibe. So I signed my lease, and made plans to move to the new city.

I guess what I can say is sometimes you feel hopeless - like no amount of anything will work. The law of attraction sucks sometimes when you are down. The law of attraction takes time, patience, and clarity (and I and many people I know do not have ANY of those things.) However you must FORCE yourself to believe that it will work... it worked for me in just five days. And now I am ready to create the life that I designed for myself and the universe helped me achieve. Thank you for reading - happy manifesting!

[mimiplaysgames]

Adventures in Writing Fluff, Pt. 2

For a struggling writer. A tale of passion and woe (yes. It happens to all writers at some point. All of us. For the night is dark and full of doubt.)

Day One

Well... I don’t know what it is like to be a 12-year old boy.

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

Approaches partner, who is working on complex Javascript algorithms for his PhD dissertation.

Asks, “what’s it like being a 12-year old boy?”

He flashes me a look as though he wants to know why I am asking such a random question.

But we have been together for six and a half years and he knows to expect any sort of question from me at any hour of the day and night, so he doesn’t bother asking because my answer is going to be, I’m curious.

His answer: “Random erections with no arousal.”

Wtf? This doesn’t help me.

Researches pathology of 11-12 year old boys.

Rereads Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Day Two

The one-shot is finished.

Except there is no point to it, so how is this considered decent?

Jesus Christ.

Remembers that I have seven absolutely amazing readers that I know for a fact read my stuff and I love y’all to death thank you for keeping me going and making me feel like I have something of worth and value to give you and you are the main reason why I keep writing and why I haven’t given up yet and many of you probably will never read this but if you do you know who you are! that I know are waiting for something from me, and I need to do good or else I’d be a disappointment.

Shit.

Remembers that I have to face nepotism as a nobody writer and that the odds are actually against my favor. #hooray #confettiparty

Shit.

Meltdown triggered. (no joke)

Distracts with Spongebob.

The man who created this was totally high when he did and he turned out okay.

Day Three

Asks partner to beta read for me (I never have my work beta read. He has only done it for one other chapter that had made me very nervous, but I felt like I needed it this time).

Can hear him chuckle and see him smile while he reads.

What the hell does that mean?

Asks him what’s wrong with it.

He doesn’t understand the question.

He tells me that I should be proud that I am determined to continue despite my *deluded* perception of failure. It’s a virtue.

No it isn’t, it’s a FLAW. I am stubborn enough to continue despite that it could totally ruin my record, my delicate standing in this fandom be damned. #writerproblems #mentalillness #funtimes

Update: Yes, I’m being self-deprecating here, but please take my amazing rollercoaster ride writing this fluff as a source of useless entertainment. This is really a natural part of the writing process for anyone who is serious about making this a craft. I have stopped myself from deleting this fluff - twice, actually. But it will be published - it makes no sense to work on it and then see it go down the drain. It just needs to go through a couple of more edits before I am ready to share.

[squeemcsquee]

Anime Central 2018, Day Zero

Live and learn - that was sorta the unofficial motto of this year’s Anime Central for my group. We ended up with more folks in the room than intended - 6 in a 275 sq ft king bed room - I do not recommend. We traveled in a way we arranged the week before the con. We forgot things. We stressed and grumbled and still had a crazy amount of fun. At least, I think we did. I know I did.

What did we learn from Day Zero?

First, travel together can be fun but hectic. We all rode in a 7 passenger van, crammed full between us and our gear. We ate in said van on the way up, which led to a minor disaster on my part (mustard + shirt = not fun). FYI, I recommend either getting non-messy car munchies or just maybe stopping for the 30 minutes it’ll take your group to eat. I mean, we did fine, but if you have the time to spare, use it.

Second, no matter how nice and spacious a hotel room looks in photos, once you get crammed in, it feels teeny. But it was a very nice room and we (mostly) made it work without major meltdowns or grumblefits. And of course, I remembered to take photos for TraffickCam.

We were at the Doubletree and I don’t think any of us ever remembered or asked for the free cookies. I know they weren’t offered when we arrived.  Also, thank goodness @lechevaliermalfet and I brought our own towels. We had listed 4 people for the room, so we expected 4 towels, and requested 2 extra on top of that, as well as 2 extra pillows. We got the 2 extra pillows...but only 4 towels.

A thing to note about these rooms as well: If you are using the sofa bed, you are going to be moving furniture to get it out, and there isn’t much extra room there once you do. Like, even if it had just been 4 people, this room probably would’ve felt a bit cramped. As it was, we had the king bed, the sofa bed, and 2 camp cots.

Third, Anime Central staff were great with helping with registration issues. I’d forgotten to let @someoldmemory know she’d need ID for badge pickup. ACen staff let her use a photo of her ID. @lechevaliermalfet was getting the military discount, and they found a hiccup with the software that wouldn’t apply the discount. They got him taken care of. 

Fourth, more of a personal lesson for me: It’s ok to cosplay for badge pickup, even if you’re only maybe going to be there for 30 minutes. I was super excited and edgy about it, because I love cosplay but I was also just going “am I a big dork? A-Cen reg doesn’t take the time Otakon’s does, etc., etc.”

Here I was:

And then I saw other people cosplaying, was relieved and my little anxiety brain got educated. Check out this awesome Pokemon cosplayer!

And here were others, chilling and waiting:

After getting our badges and our bags, we headed back to the hotel. Speaking of badges/bags...

We didn’t get to do Giordano’s, so I still haven’t had them. But we still got deep-dish pizza at a different pizza place. So hooray!

Fifth, if you have to run around town to try to find things you forgot to bring, even if just to Target, it can wear you out. Or maybe that was just me? 

Sixth - You think you have time to maybe play cards, etc - but you may not. Maybe if we had gotten delivery. Or if we’d all had better sleep in the lead up to the con. Who knows? What I know is I took Munchkin up to A-Cen, and I brought it back home, and we didn’t need it all weekend.

All of my Anime Central 2018 Coverage:

A-Cen 2018: Day Zero

A-Cen 2018, Day 1 Cosplayers, Part 1

A-Cen 2018, Day 1 Cosplayers, Part 2

A-Cen 2018: Day 1 Cosplayers, Part 3

A-Cen 2018: Day One

A-Cen 2018: Day 2 Cosplayers, Part 1

A-Cen 2018: Day 2 Cosplayers, Part 2

A-Cen 2018: Day 2 Cosplayers, Part 3

A-Cen 2018: Day Two

A-Cen 2018: Day 3 Cosplayers, Part 1

A-Cen 2018: Day 3 Cosplayers, Part 2

A-Cen 2018: Day Three