#i went kinda nuts with the sun symbolism on this one. even i feel like its hamfisted but like listen am i not going to self-indulge

[bytebun]

my piece for @thecodywanzine! thanks to the mods who let me go completely ham and cheese on this bad boy. this one's about living longer than you ever expected and not knowing what to do with it

[mjmacchio1991]

Grace! Got any Pietro hcs?

Hi Clove! It’s been a bit but I’m hoping you are well! I do indeed have some Pietro hcs and here are some:

-He takes the cap off of a pen or marker by using his teeth and then spitting the cap onto the floor because he’s dramatic.

-He loves to play pinball and go bowling.

-He loves to ride on motorcycles, but would never drive one and would rather let someone else, like Danny, drive.

-He comes up with lists of all the date ideas he has come up with for the gang to use in the future (ultimate wingman move haha)

-He is ace!

-He hates Dallas.

-He is the go-to getaway driver (in his pickup truck) for any of his friends crimes (when he doesn’t feel up to crime-committing)

-He keeps a bottle of sunblock in his utility belt because his depigmented skin is so sensitive to the sun.

-His favorite food is his mother’s homemade arancini (the gang can’t get enough of it as well so he fights to get at least one more than everyone else when she serves them)

-He is up to try any type of food from anywhere, like when he tried some of Vinces mother’s food and thought it was heavenly.

-His favorite color is lime green

-He likes to incorporate family traditions into the gang, like board games over a hot meal.

-He always tries to say that he is an adult even though he is only 17.

-His music taste comes from whatever is playing in stores or restaurants.

-He sometimes tells stories of Rhode Island if he wants to create small talk.

-He is the type to ice out people who wrong him.

-He doesn’t get cable at his house so he goes to diners and bars to watch when he is bored.

-He is impulsive with his decison making at times.

-He is willing to beat up anyone his friends don’t like (his adrenaline made him almost go after Darry once before)

-His go-to Halloween costume is a ghost since he can hide under a sheet (Dallas once said he should have been a cow for Halloween and Pietro went and sulked in a bush while eating hard candies)

-He thinks of his gang like his brothers and best friends (protective over them as well and will not stand for any slander)

-He likes to take Vince to the movies occasionally (bros night out kinda thing)

-He does the grocery shopping for the gang and his own family.

-Vents to John sometimes, but rarely since he doesn’t feel like his problems are a big deal compared to others.

-Him and Danny got ahold of spray paint one time and went nuts on the sidewalks in front of various locations, especially the Curtis house (they didn’t want to get caught trespassing but Danny got some symbols on the windows while Pietro was begging him to run)

-He loves jokes and puns (going off of that one tag I remember you saying about him and Vince joking around and I love that a lot!)

Those are some headcanons for my boy Pietro! Thank you for the ask Clove and have a good day/night!

[ruffboijuliaburnsides]

have you ever dressed up for halloween or for like a costume party? what's your favorite thing you've worn? do you like wearing jewelry? do you listen to podcasts?what's an interesting historical event you know a little about? when do you feel the most comfortable? do you have any piercings or tattoos? Are there any you'd like to get? what's one thing you're proud of?

Wow, All in huh??? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

1) Have I ever dressed up for halloween or for a costume party? NNNNNNNNOT REALLY. I wasn’t allowed to do Halloween after the age of like. Five? Because my parents got MORE religious than they’d already been and they decided halloween was evil. And then as an adult I didn’t have a lot of local friends or money so... not really most of the time. BUT! There was ONE YEAR when I was in my mid-20s, that my wife and I went to a Halloween party with some local friends. She was Death of the Endless, we dyed her hair black, I did her eye makeup, there was a cardboard-covered-in-tinfoil ankh necklace and everything. I that year dressed up as Delirium to go with her. I bought fishnets that I tore a couple holes in, had some clompy boots, bought a skirt and shirt at the thrift store, and dyed my hair... like Half of it was red, half of it was just random spots of bleached, blue, and green. (I actually went to a job interview the next day and frantically reassured the interviewer that I was bleaching my hair and dying it a more natural color later that week) It was very fun as a costume tho. OH tho last year for halloween I loaned my wife a purple dress I sewed for myself and we got her some white tights and a white scarf, and I dug out my purple henley and and jeans some bandaids for my face and fingers, and we went as Hawkeye for Halloween. She was Kate Bishop and I was Clint Barton. That was probably my favorite even tho it was so low-effort. 1.5) On its own line, I think this “what’s the fave you’ve worn” was meant to be about the costumes, which I answered above, but IN GENERAL the thing I’ve worn that’s my favorite has been

Do I like wearing jewelry? I do like wearing jewelry! I need to get new earrings bc the ones I had got lost, but I used to always wear like, small gauge horseshoe earrings with the balls that screw onto the ends? I just lost the balls on the ends. I also wear a necklace every day. And I used to have a wedding band but I don’t have one that fits currently and it drives me NUTS bc even years without it I feel  like I should have a ring on that finger.

Do I listen to podcasts? I listen to podcasts off and on! Mostly MBMBAM, The Magnus Archives, The Penumbra Podcast, and Faculty of Horror. We relisten to early WtNV to sleep sometimes, and I keep meaning to catch up on TAZ, but that’s not active yet.

What’s an interesting historical event I know something about? ...Gosh that’s hard. Like, I know some stuff about historical eras or cultures but EVENTS??? Hmmm... I. Fuck. I abruptly cannot think of ANY HISTORICAL EVENT AT ALL. I’m a fucking History Major this is embarrassing. Uh okay so... I can’t think of anything. I’m so sorry. XD

When do I feel most comfortable? When I’m curled up in bed and have Birdie pressed against my back with her arm around my waist. Bonus points for literally any of our other partners in bed as well, but that happens so rarely. :(

Do I have any piercings or tattoos? I DO! Piercings are easiest. I have my left lobe pierced 3 times (though all but the first might be closed) and my right 2 times (tho ditto), and the upper shell of my left ear once (but again, closed). TATTOOS gosh, ok I have, in chronological order: a) a sort of cross between a cross and a peace sign on the inside of my left ankle. I got it when I was 18 and still a Good Christian Girl, my church bff designed it, it stood for peace in Christ, and the only thing stopping me from trying to get a coverup is the fact that it’s REALLY heavy/thick black work, and the location which was really painful. b) the kanji 天使 (which translates to “angel”) on my right inner forearm, over self harm scars specifically. I got this when I was 19 and back living with my bigoted conservative family and suicidal and trying to remind myself that I was loved. I also picked it out of a book and was lucky that book had the right kanji tbh, but I picked it bc my parents wouldn’t be able to read it, and it meant “angel” which was Birdie’s pet name for me at the time, and she was living across the country from me. If I could go back, I would get a different angel-themed tattoo in the same place, but at least I have the proper kanji for it if I’m going to have an ill-advised Japanese tattoo. c) a little curled ivy tramp stamp I picked out of a book in a little tattoo shop on St. Mark’s Place in NYC at like 2am, do NOT ask, it was dumb. Thankfully easier to work into a larger piece if I ever have the money for a back piece. d) text that is now near-illegible (due to the delicate nature of the script and the time since I got it) on the back of my left shoulder. It says “the universe has been waiting for me” in Birdie’s handwriting. It’s a line from Donna Noble’s last episode of Doctor Who, and I had FEELINGS. e) text on the inside of my left wrist that says “alive or dead, the truth won’t rest.” specifically in courier new. It’s a quote from @seananmcguire​‘s book FEED, and Birdie has a matching tattoo on her wrist as well. f) A tattoo of Coyote and the Sun, with color, on the outer side of my right calf. It’s the only colored Tattoo I have. I plan to get a semi-matching tattoo on my left calf that is El-Ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inle doing sort of a yin-yang esque circle chasing each other. it’s a Trickster thing, tying animals commonly considered  to be Tricksters with stuff that is meaningful to me. Coyotes have always been important to me, I grew up in Arizona there were always coyotes about and I always loved them, and then Watership Down was a surprise true love of a book when I was a teen.

Are there any piercings/tattoos I’d like to get? Piercings not so much. Maybe an eyebrow one day idk. Tattoos tho, goddamn, I’ve got SO MANY PLANS. I want to get text tattoos - either part of a larger text-heavy design or separately - of “It’s chaos, be kind”, “You are not obligated to complete the work, neither are you free to abandon it”, and “Do good recklessly”. Other quotes I’m sure but those three specifically. Obviously the Watership Down/Rabbit the Trickster tattoo I mentioned. Also a design from one of the tattoos on one of the guards of the Pazyriyk ice maiden. Also ngl I kinda want to get the sigils for witcher signs on the backs of my fingers. Some people get “THUG LYFE” or “FUCK YOU”, I get “I WILL FUCK YOU UP (in symbolic form)” XD

What’s one thing I’m proud of? The fact that I’m alive. ...Seriously, I’m quite proud of that, I’ve had some shit years in my life, and I’ve nearly not made it more than once. I’m proud as HELL that I’m here. I’m proud that I’m in college. I’m proud that I’m writing again.

Thank you for all these questions! So many, lmao, but I loved it, thank you. ^_^

[yfere]

Shipping Calculus! Live Updates from C2E60

Hello, and welcome to episode 60, otherwise known as THE RISE OF YASHA SHIPPING. We’ve been waiting and waiting for it, and here it fucking is!! Masterpost here

+15 to Fjord/Jester as they gain many Flirting Points with cute little “Heys” at each other in combat, profferings of healing potions, that weird slightly in canon liminal area of drink sharing, winking madness, Fjord dedicating the dead jellyfish to Jester like he’s some kinda knight (+3 to Beau/Cockblocking for pointing out the disturbing murder of what was once a romantic Fjorester symbol). Jester asking Fjord if he’s okay and checking him for possession (Bonus points for Body Contact!) Points taken away for Fjord griping about Jester/Pets, saying “It’s not your pet, Jester!” while Jester shouts back that she doesn’t even like it, thank you, she likes animals but she’s not going to go gaga over a murder demon you absolute asshole.

+9 to Caleb/Caduceus as Caduceus continues his trend of enthusiastically supporting Caleb decisions that the rest of the party very much do not enthusiastically support. “Good call!” he says when Caleb goes to burn the bodies in the Bone Pit as an anti-jellyfish precaution. Totally down with Caleb murdering creatures down there as there’s “not anything good that’s living down there” and along with Yasha joining the Pro Caleb NPC Murder Club. Caleb very nearly setting Caduceus on fire as well but avoiding it through the power of luck love, being adorably distressed that Caduceus might have been hurt, relieved when he’s fine.

+6 to Caduceus/Fjord as Caduceus encourages Fjord to “Stick by me, and you’ll be fine.” Looking after Fjord’s welfare by encouraging him to stay in the Hut, and acting as dedicated translator for all of Fjord’s ridiculously curious needs. The pair of them same-hatting on asking every single person they happen to meet if they know of any answers to their god problems. Points taken away for Caduceus’ short term memory failing to recall the second of Fjord’s questions as he gets distracted asking about the Blooming Grove.

+32 to Yasha/Jester. Okay. Okay. So, trying to cooperate over turtle flipping: good. But the real thing. The real thing is. During Yasha’s first dream, Jester is the first body she sees after Mollymauk’s, the first and most important after him of the “somebody you’ve let in.” The only person she’s really willing to speak to after she wakes, despite her discomfort. The first person whose strength she thinks of when trying to break her shackles. The one she listens to, over Caduceus, when it comes to how to approach her god—to just try to talk to him, bring Jester and her friends along. The one she models when she tries to connect to the Stormlord—drawing a dick in the mud because if nothing else works, this has to, this is Jester. Jester being the most sweetly supportive of Yasha after her dream, even while Nott minimizes and Caduceus godsplains. Jester fucking….sleeping in the rain with Nott so that Yasha won’t be alone, enduring ridiculous amounts of discomfort and lost sleep just to be there for her. They are…..love. This is…..the true birth of  Jestasha.

+1 to Beau/Yasha as Beau accomplishes an epic battle move by sliding between Yasha’s legs (just not in the way she was hoping). Looking piningly at Yasha’s sleeping face. But, as has been decreed by the Shipping Gods they are two ships passing in the night, destined never to meet.

-10 to Yasha/Nott. Nott initiates cuddles, but Yasha is uncomfortable.

+17 to Fjord/Caleb as Caleb tries his damned hardest to use his spellwork to protect Fjord—and failing. But it leads to Body Contact nonetheless, and a terribly sweet “sorry, big guy” which only means more with every NPC under the sun (looking at you, Soorna) continuing to poke at Fjord by calling him “small.” More Body Contact with Caleb switching over to Fjord as his chosen squeeze while looking through Frumpkin. As with Jester and the jellyfish, Fjord looking towards Caleb to check if he’s noticing him Being Cool with the three point landing (Do I spy +1 to Caleb/Fjord/Jester?) Fjord as always putting way too much stock in Caleb knowing everything, all “Caleb, think of every blue fabric you’ve ever seen” as he attempts to CSI the riftmaking device. Fjord also as always being Caleb’s #1 Magic Fan, going absolutely NUTS when Caleb polymorphs the giant, ruffling his hair and screaming “YOU BEAUTIFUL WIZARD BASTARD” and probably coming close to fucking breaking the wizards’ concentration in the process. Points taken away as Fjord realizes just how scary the turtle still is and how this horrible snapping thing may still cleave him in half. But at the rate Fjord is escalating the Magic Love, you just know eventually Caleb is going to cast a spell and Fjord is going to get so excited he kisses the wizard.

+5 to Caleb/Being a Trendsetter as comically exaggerated pronunciations of Eldritch bleeeeeeeeehst are now officially the standard for all members of the party.

+10 to Travis/Dice Superstition as he picks new dice after rolling ones, runs dice competitions to decide which is worthy to play with, and Very Superstitiously dreading a 666 of failed wisdom saves from Fjord, Beau, and Caleb.

+10 to Caduceus/Excitement. “There’s something in the pit.” His head lowers and his hands shake when he gets stressed, but bless him his voice is as calming and monotone as ever.

-100 to Fjord/That Spoopy Shit as he spends most of the battle screaming his (average sized, thank you) lungs out

+2 to Caleb/Cat Shaped Creatures at Cat’s Ire was finally allowed to do its killing work!

+20 to Jester/Beau as Jester gives Beau a 7 for the holy hell she causes with her punching! To which Beau gives a funny little bow. But most, most importantly, Jester noticing Beau staying up reading and worrying to death, giving her a massage and Body Contact to calm down and sleep #TheyAreMarried and fuck Travis/Fjord’s Attempted Cockblocking because that was the most transparently and extremely romantic moment in the entire goddamn episode. Points taken away for Jester saying Beau’s drawing looks “kind of shit.” Maybe now that she’s granted permission for Beau to draw dicks she’s concerned Beau will start infringing on her Territory as the resident artist.

-1 to Nott/Detective Work. She did find the riftmaking device, but unfortunately it was circumstance that brought her back to the Bone Pit, and not her Keen Detective Mind remembering at that moment to investigate the area as Soorna’s stated origin of the demons and a trash bin’s status as an Excellent Hiding Place. More points taken away for Destroying Evidence when she shot the device and scattered the liquid inside to be lost forever.+12 to Nott/Gunslinging though.

+1 to Fjord/Detective Work as he continues to bargain and push for important information about the way the world works and what is happening from the people he encounters—gaining Soorna’s story in exchange for their efforts. He didn’t gain information immediately relevant to the Case, but it is good Detective Practice nonetheless

+5 to Beau/Detective Work as she finds the scrap of fabric in the Riftmaking Device—a solid Clue! Genuinely looking for links between the riftmaking device and her own vestments, comparing notes, looking for the black liquid and brainstorming with Caleb over potential motivations for creating Abyssal rifts. Points taken away for misidentifying beds as sarcophagi, which sort of casts a pall over her detectiving skills. 

+20 to Beau/Nerdom for being more interested in explaining books and theorizing to Caleb than actually fighting. It is something when you can stand next to Caleb and make him look like a jock in comparison to your nerdy antics. Never change, Beau.

+6 to Caleb/Lethality as unfortunately he has murder on the brain so much that even when he’s not trying to make things deadly, he still manages to incinerate a poor innocent little goblin, barely skirt blowing up Caduceus, and morph what he meant to be a harmless turtle into a killing machine.

-2 to Caleb/Jester. Caleb is a fan of Jester’s smart idea with the Tiny Hut. But between accusations of criminality and Jester’s extreme distress over Caleb’s Goblin Roasting, ‘twas not the best week for these two.

+2 to Nott/Jester. Beau may have gotten a 7 for battle maneuvers, but Jester gives Nott 8 points!!! Nott cuddling with Jester at night, waking with her to reassure Yasha. There’s the sense Nott went out into the miserable rain maybe a little more to spend time with Jester than anything else.

+12 to Nott/Being a Team Player as she throws herself into harm’s way to defend Fjord from Caleb’s horribly botched polymorph! She is too small to be much defense but damn if she’s not going to try!

-3 to Nott/Fantasy Racism as despite her conflicted feelings over goblins she attempts to respectfully lay Caleb’s murder victim to rest. +10 to Caduceus/Cockblocking for undermining the moment by sticking the whole goddamn corpse in his bag so he can question it in the morning

+5 to Caleb/Kooky Comparisons as he compares farming the Beacon for Luck potions to getting eggs from the golden goose. Caleb thinks almost entirely in terms of fairy tales and farming/peasant idioms, and one of these days someone needs to collect all of the little oddball things he says.

+50 to Kord/Midwifery “STRUGGLE. PUSH. STRUGGLE. PUSH.” Rhythmic, firm, supportive but also tough, which is exactly the kind of midwife you want during your existential rebirth.

[steve0discusses]

Yugioh S2 Ep 29: Everything Explodes, Cranes Fall, Everyone Drowns, Kaiba Gets Real Freakin Weird(er)

Happy Halloween everyone, I’m waiting for the trick or treaters that will never arrive at my house on a hill without any streetlights. As an adult, it’s not really a thing to go party hopping on a Wednesday (I don’t even know why we celebrate Wednesday Halloweens, they’re the very worst ones), so, lets talk about a ghost story tonight and recap a very long episode of Yugioh.

Bro was just steeped in excitement for my reaction on this one, because this is his favorite episode, I guess, and he did tell me “listen, this is peak Yugioh. It’s all downhill from here” and I was like “when were we uphill? Have we not been launched rapidly downhill straight from a Sonic-the-Hedgehog-style spinner since this series has started, whisking Yugi’s Grandpa’s soul through a VCR tape? Isn’t watching this series spiral out of control the whole point?”

Anyway, he gave me fair warning and I’m still not quite sure what happened this episode.

I mean I know what happened, I was here, I watched it, I watched it again to cap it, wrote some copy, edited it over with bro a bit, talked it out...

I’m still not sure what happened this episode.

Again, I get WHAT happened...it’s more...I don’t get...the laws of physics? Or Why certain people did certain things or...this episode, but that’s OK because it splattered all over the wall into this Rorcshach Test...and I don't know if the writers even want to bother explaining it. I mean...why bother at this point? We’re watching Yugioh. The main character is 50-99% definitely a ghost, don’t think about it.

First off, Marik’s boat.

Not pictured here: this room of this boat only has three walls. Marik is facing a steep drop into the sea, meaning that if there’s an rain or any waves or whatever, it just crashes directly into this room. If anything picks up the boat and kinda slams it around a bit, you just fly right out of this room and right out the back. I don't get this boat. I don’t get how you keep this room clean and free of nasty ass seagulls.

I don’t like boats and I don’t spend too much time on boats, so if this is normal and natural boat behavior, my bad.

In case you forgot, Joey is about to murder Yugi.

Every character on this show has run out of ideas and is onto their very last wit.

It’s just a whole lot of everyone pointing a card-shaped gun at each other and themselves and just shouting at the top of their lungs.

(read more under the cut)

And then the show does a sweeping half-episode review of every duel you have seen so far that had a Joey cameo in it. I mean...I guess it works. But it kinda feels like one of those filler episodes of Friends where they couldn’t come up with new content so they just did a “remember this cool thing that happened last season? haha, this isn’t a real episode” and so initially I was like “bro, I dunno if this episode is going to be as weird as you say it is.”

And so Joey decided he’s not going to kill his friend, but don’t be fooled, he’s still going to punch out many more people in the episodes to come, I am absolutely sure of it.

This is the first time Yugi’s decided to attempt to mind wipe someone without using Pharaoh. Aw. Kind of sweet, look at him grow up to be just like his Ghost Dad.

PS I just realized this, but why didn’t Yugi just mind wipe Joey!? It’s been heavily implied that he already has so many times--this seems like the one time Joey would have been totally OK with it. If I had a Marik situation in my brain, I would have been like, yes, please use the pharaoh ghost to break my brain into pieces, I’ll figure that whole recovery situation later, but at least I won’t be a murderer.

But whatever, they’re going to do it without magic, although Friendship is also magic in this universe. But the semantics are better.

Yugi uses his millennium cell phone signals to face chat with Marik. Kind of. This was probably just a visual analogy. I never know with this show, although Pharoah really did do a Shadow-world face chat with Pegasus last season like it wasn’t any big deal. Twice.

This whole 4 episode arc was just Yugi realizing last minute that Marik was wasting everyone’s time.

And once Yugi’s baited Marik into killing him before the time runs out, Joey lit up with bolts of crazy ass electricity as the Power of Friendship mindwiped saved Joey.

Almost half this episode is when the clock is at 30 seconds. There comes a point when you have to explain why your clock got stuck. Anyways, lets see what else we can do in 30 seconds:

So what will be the plan of Seto Kaiba, boy genius? What is this great master plan of the boy who can hack any system, who has a computer installed into every piece of clothing he owns down to his dockers and socks? The boy who once hacked a satellite and used it to crash all of the digital security systems in North America?

Blue Eyes’ only effective form: as a vehicle for a real nasty papercut. This will the only time I’ll accept a Blue Eyes win as canon.

I did a lot of math last episode that I don’t want to do right now, but how hard do you have to throw a card to do that much damage, and how fast would Seto Kaiba’s baseball pitch be, and how fast is that compared to the baseball pitches of My Hero Academia? I mean we have the stats on all of these things.

It’s a good thing for every one else on this cast that Seto Kaiba has never figured out what dating is. He would destroy them. Of course this is me saying that anyone on this show knows what dating is. Which they don’t.

Also, off screen he threw himself at the mook who is prone on the bottom right corner there. Kaiba just went ape out of no where. He stood perfectly still for about 3 episodes and then he just completely lost his nut all for...Tea?

Because Mokuba’s like “We owe Tea a favor because she failed to climb a bunch of empty boxes?” Like uhhhh way to really awkwardly over-return that favorrrr

Like we have to address the elephant in the room here wearing about 9 belts on all four of his limbs and torso. Seto may have a God card now, but he’s so enamored by his dragon that he’s still in this awkward phase where he really wants to cosplay as his dragon literally all the time but he’s hoping he can pass it off as normal fashion and no one will notice. Kaiba is clearly more involved with his Blue Eyes than anyone else on this show is involved with any other card.

So, the hell is he doing risking his literally irreplaceable Blue Eyes that launched the events of the entire first season?

I’m sure the creators didn’t intend for this to happen. I’m sure they were like “and then he threw his Blue Eyes, because that would be funny!” but when you break this action down, it makes Seto Kaiba--who is supposed to be The Worst--outshine Yugi this episode.

Like first off--Tea? Yugi x Tea is supposed to be the flagship of the show. But Yugi’s kind of tied up right now, so instead, Seto saved her? That pairing just came out of nowhere. And I’ll be honest with you, Kaiba x Tea makes more sense to me than Yugi x Tea, and that is pretty wild that this show made me think about those two in any context.

I mean, it’s not going to happen, the writers would rather just toss a ton of explosions at it rather than leave any space for anyone to talk to each other and say “What the hell do you think you’re doing!? Did you just seriously do that?!” That conversation would have been absolutely hilarious, but it did not happen.

This crane blew up not once, but TWICE.

PS, we have more proof here that this chair was really just a kinky chair because um...look how easy it is to get out of that thing. This is not a real lock.

And second weird thing about Seto tossing his Blue Eyes...

This entire card arc was about Yugi giving away that puzzle to Joey as this beautiful symbol. Yugi said “Listen, Joey, I’ve known you forever, you’re my best friend and you are the sun and moon to me, have the most precious thing I own, even if you throw it into the ocean and destroy it”

But, then on the other side of the harbor Kaiba’s like “Listen, person who’s name I don’t recall, I don’t really know you, I don’t care about you at all, have the most precious thing I own, and I’ll just throw it out over the ocean myself, and on top of that--I’ll destroy one of my own helicopters, too.”

Makes Yugi’s sacrifice look real chump, I gotta be real. Again, I don’t think this was intentional on the writers part, but it sure is a thing that happened and is canon now.

And then no one thanks him. They thank Mokuba instead. No wonder Seto freakin hates them all so much.

And while I was watching, I was thinking “well, Seto’s doing all this because he needs to save Yugi to duel him later” much like Seto’s been trying to do for nearly 10 episodes, but that whole thing where Seto followed Yugi around and was like “I will be dueling you after this is over” is no longer a thing. He gave up on Yugi after saving Tea. No explanation.

You know it feels like every 20 episodes or so, Kaiba will do something real nice and then immediately run away from the situation and switch back to being a jerk again. He’s kind of like a reverse Bakura, but without the ability to force everyone to forget. He’ll be awkwardly hanging back here for the rest of the episode pretending like he doesn’t like these people while Yugi’s off being the worst on the other side of the harbor. 

Remember, that Joey’s just snapped out of it, and a low flying helicopter caused a crane to freakin explode behind Yugi without any explanation. Twice. The crane exploded twice.

And then Yugi throws a fireball at himself before the timer hit zero.

I guess he had to do something to show up Seto Kaiba and the only other option left was death.

It was very tragic, and for once, Pharaoh wasn’t there to say anything. I guess the Pharaoh batteries have finally run out, and I’ll be real, the lack of Pharaoh in this episode does more to make this sad than if he was there saying how sad he was. It really is just Yugi there at that moment and we rarely get to see Yugi as just Yugi. I guess that was the way he wanted to be remembered rather than just a vessel for a ghost.

To be clear, this took like ten more minutes and the timer was at like 3 seconds for all of that but in context of the show, he died riiiight before both were tossed into the sea.

So this is exactly Seto and Mokuba S1, right? Like Seto was like “I will jump off his ledge to save my brother’s life!” and Pharaoh was like “WHAT TYPE OF ASSHOLE DOES THIS!?” ya, just checking.

So, ways to defeat Yugi Muto:

Threaten to kill yourself, Steal his stuff mid fight, Rock Paper Scissors, or threaten to kill Joey.

I just want to note that before Yugi tossed that fireball, he finally took the duel disk off. He was like “I gotta die, but I don’t want to die in that.”

Joey, who was very upset by Yugi’s brash decision, desperately looked for a way to save both of them did something that I don’t understand at all.

I’m not sure why the Red eyes attacked Joey (I guess it was a special skill?) But--the game’s over! You can’t lose after you’ve won! What even is the rules of this freakin game?

Whatever, it didn’t matter, Yugi absolutely cannot get hit by fireballs, it’s a real weakness for him. He is out for the count and cannot reach his own key.

Serenity, sensing her brother’s bravery, whisks off her bandages, and this is the first thing she sees.

Ya so.........

..........Yugi’s great wonderful sacrifice of his own life.....

....didn’t matter. Joey went in anyway.....

And that’s how Yugi got upstaged by Kaiba, yet again, in the same episode.

At least the person Kaiba successfully saved is here to start screaming at the ocean instead of like...swimming

In Joey’s defense, he was not there for the long, detailed explanation of how the key system works. He didn’t really know it wasn’t a one key fits all situation.

He’d be the smallest Whole Set in the world but the kid cannot sink. Like look at this. Look at how high this kid treads water without even trying. He’s got his armpits out of the water even. Should have given up the cards and gone to polo.

I love how we went through all that work to get Tristan here and he didn’t even do anything. He jumped in, pushed Yugi a little bit (who as I said before is a natural floater, it’s very impressive), and then Serenity did all the heavy lifting because I guess no one else on this show can swim?

Don’t they live in Japan? An Island? Isn’t it a requirement when you live on an island that gets tsunamis every so often that you must learn how to swim? Like I live in California that only has one coast and we learn how to swim real good. Like we learn all about rip tides and water safety, and we all end up doing the part-time lifeguarding job at least once.

Every single one of these people should be in the water and going after Joey, what is this bystander effect nonsense?

Hey so........she’s fully healed now?

RIP Kaiba x Tea, it was a very weird 2 minutes.

Which, if this guy ever dated, would probably be the tagline of all of his relationships.

Yes, this really was the moment Joey realized his sister could see. AFTER she dove in the ocean to pick him out.

This is real nitpicky but I just noticed the pier that Tea was gone is absent in all of these shots. Maybe they didn’t want to draw the aftermath of what happened to that crane.

Seto doing that anime thing where he’s hiding his eyes because he’s gettin freakin emotional in the back.

He’s all over the place this episode...I don’t know what happened.

And then to cap it off, they decided to watch a romantic sunset at the place where they got abducted, held in a warehouse, possessed by a cult, strapped to a bunch of bondage death devices, and then were nearly murdered at.

Also that ghost ship is still there and way spookier at night. Only Yugioh would be like “a perfect happy tapestry for friendship!”

Not only is Pharaoh still inexplicably here, but so is Kaiba. I guess he decided to hang out with them for like an hour until, at the first instance of Duke saying “CAN WE PLEASE JUST EAT DINNER LIKE NORMS!?” Seto very quickly spun on his heels and ran away as quickly as he could.

Ah, so the tourney continues tomorrow...it’s...this wasn’t the finale? Sure felt like it.

I just realized...the only thing you get is the chance to win a bunch of cards and just a title--a title that Yugi already owns, so if he hadn’t gone into the competition, then you’d have two people with the same title.

Like...is this entire tourney just a honeypot? But for cards? Is this whole tourney just a honeypot tourney?

Kaiba really is a cop.

Anyway, if you just got to these reviews, here’s a link to read them from Episode1 Season1, knock yourself out, it’s Halloween on a Wednesday, I know you’re not doing anything else.

[inikavulpixelreviews]

Let’s Talk About Pokemon - Arceus

493: Arceus

Here we are. The end of Gen 4, and here at the most ultimate Pokemon of them all. Yes, a bunch of Legendaries have magical powers, mythology, and are even deity-figures. But Arceus here is basically PokeGod himself. Creator of Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and the whole stinkin universe. And you can capture it and make it do whatever you want. Pet it and feed it muffins and beans all you'd like. Name it Mr. Wiggles and it can't say no. Little did we know the Pokemon protagonists are god-controlling, godless omnipotent monsters themselves.

But beyond all that, you can also give Arceus a set of items unique to its own use, 17 plates for all the non-Normal types to turn it into any type in the game you wish. Interestingly enough, the Z-Crystals for the respective types from Sun and Moon have the same effect. Whether that's a gameplay thing or some lore implications is yet to be known. Maybe we'll find out in those Sinnoh remakes everyone's clamoring for. But yes, each one change's Arceus' color scheme slightly to better reflect which type it currently is.

I think Arceus is a design that works only within the context that it is the God of all Pokemon. It's pretty extraneous and overall really “holy” looking to a point where it's dangerously close to looking out of place for Pokemon, but it just barely manages to not look weird in the wrong ways. And I love that the God of Pokemon gets to look like this. It looks and feels angelic and serene, but in a really strange and otherworldly way. Which is of course all the more befitting for something that apparently existed before the universe did. It's odd and fleshy, and even if its base design is clearly that of a horse or goat, it still looks like nothing from that plain of existence.

And easily the most eye-catching part of its design is that big halo around its midsection. The main object that changes color in the presence of a Plate or Z-Crystal, and basically the symbol of Arceus itself. So much so that once another Pokemon got a similar-looking pattern on it, the theory crafting just went absolutely nuts. And I kinda like that honestly. Arceus is getting closer and closer to 10 years old now, and there's still such an air of uncertainty around it. And that's even after we were given a mythological story about how it created everything. Out of all Pokemon, it's the most deserving of the title “epic.”

Personal Score: 10/10

Spooky

As per usual, there’s going to be a slight break between now and the Gen 4 recap. See you then!

[Archive]

[itsclydebitches]

Summary:

Just days after Balem returned to his adult self, Jupiter is thrown head-first into another adventure - one she, frankly, really doesn’t have the energy for. But when has the universe ever taken her desires into account? Mysteries, promises, and desperate moves forward; bees, splices, and awkward family dinners. It’s enough to make even her seasoned head spin.

…which doesn’t even include the chance to play at ‘Mother’ once more. Only question is: will Jupiter take it?

(DIRECT SEQUEL TO “ROCK THE CRADLE”)

Fandom: Jupiter Ascending

Words: 18,708 so far

Warnings: Will eventually mention previous neglect/abuse of children

Pairings: Jupiter/Caine

Where to Read it: Below the cut or on AO3 (AO3 recommended for formatting)

Chapter Ten

Jupiter walked up into the Aegis and promptly felt like she’d entered an episode of the Twilight Zone. It was so disconcerting that she reached out, steading herself on one of the cold, metal walls.

“Easy there, Your Majesty.” T’sing’s hands came around Jupiter’s bare shoulders. “Do you dislike it?”

Dislike it?

Jupiter didn’t know what to think of it, because she’d expected ‘it’ to be the sterile, high-tech ship she’d traveled on months ago, the futuristic wonder that had saved her ass on more than one occasion. Instead, Jupiter had walked straight into an old-fashioned living room.

Not even a living room, her living room.

“I just feel vaguely like I’m having a stroke,” Jupiter said. She missed T’sing’s chuckle, moving out of her embrace to step tentatively into the room. It was, impossibly, exactly like Vassily’s home, down to the drab walls and thin layer of dust. Jupiter’s heels sank deep into the carpet, which correctly looked like it needed a good vacuuming—he might live with three cleaners, but they weren’t much for free work and Jupiter was sure her cousin hadn’t picked up a duster himself in decades. The couch was appropriately ratty and when Jupiter pressed her face to the old throw draped across it, she could smell mothballs and her mom’s cheap perfume. It sent a pang of homesickness through her that she wasn’t expecting. Which was stupid really. She’d seen them just last night.

It was all different now though, wasn’t it? They still saw Jupiter Jones, their daughter and cousin, toilet scrubber extraordinaire, which was great in some respects... but she also couldn’t deny that she was just as much Queen Jupiter, collector of lucky breaks and bureaucratic insanity. Jupiter looked down at her gown and felt another pang. She didn’t look like she fit in here either.

“Whoa, get a look at this!”

Kiza came barreling up into the ship, dressed now in a clean pair of jeans and a pretty white top with lace sleeves. She’d pulled her blonde hair into pigtails and the whole effect was to make her look young—younger than she already was, anyway. Jupiter saw the unmistakable outline of a blaster under her shirt and wondered if that wasn’t half the point.

Caine and Stinger followed with identically raised eyebrows. Guano brought up the rear, her wings momentarily blocking out the sun. T’sing let out a happy exclamation at spotting her and as the two women embraced Kiza skipped over to Jupiter, snapping pictures that must have been blurry.

Honestly, Jupiter wasn’t that photogenic. What ever happened to ‘three, two, one, smile’?

“Loving the contrast,” Kiza said. She pocketed her phone and made a frame of her fingers. “Title: Gorgeous Queen in Hovel. What is this place anyway?”

“Your Queen’s home,” Stinger said dryly and Kiza’s eyes almost popped out of her head.

She slowly lowered her hands. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.

Jupiter just shook her head, oddly feeling better now. “Don’t sweat it. You’ve only seen the kitchen and our bedroom, right? The living room has always been a little more... shabby.”

It was true, though Jupiter hadn’t realized it until she said it aloud. They splurged on the bedroom because that was their place of rest and if you were cramming three women in there together it had to be comfortable, as soothing as possible and nice to look at. The kitchen, meanwhile, was the embodiment of their family—the space for food and conversation, the remnants of their culture after living here. But the living room? That was just a room on its own, a housing space for old furniture and toys no one played with anymore. It was a hodge-podge of things, colors, and textures. Jupiter ran her hands over the table she and Vladie had hung out at and acknowledged how random this space was.

Especially when it showed up in a spaceship. Fitting.

Jupiter spread her arms. “What is going on?”

Guano grinned at her, running past and launching herself onto the couch. It was like a tornado combined with an earthquake and Caine absently pat Jupiter’s hair back into place as went to set his weapons aside. Guano stretched out and got comfortable. She arched up to look at T’sing.

“It’s an interrogation room, yes?”

Jupiter stared. “You think my living room is that bad?”

“No, no Your Majesty.” T’Sing raised her hand imploringly while Guano cackled. Stinger just shook his head.

“Standard warship fare,” he explained. “Or police force, I suppose. Now that you’ve been demoted from the front lines.”

T’sing made a rude gesture his way. “This is my retirement, I’ll have you know.”

“You poor thing,” Kiza muttered.

Stinger tweaked her ear. “Like I said, Your Majesty, standard equipment. Space, as you know, is somewhat vast,” he adopted a vaguely sarcastic tone, “and it often takes a long while to transport criminals from wherever they've been apprehended to the nearest police post—if, of course, that post even falls within your jurisdiction. So, much of the work needs to be done in-route."

T'sing nodded. "It's not uncommon for the accused to go through the entirety of their trial by the time we dock. These ships are normally outfitted with lab technicians, judges, even civilians to choose a jury from." She gestured expansively to the otherwise empty ship. "It's a nice deal for them: the chance to explore space for the price of a public service they'd need to perform on their own planets anyway."

"But dangerous," Caine added. "They're rich fools looking for adventure. Then they sue when, shockingly, the police cruiser gets shot at."

Guano laughed and T'sing adopted an, 'well yeah, there's that' expression.

"The point, Your Majesty, is that this is indeed just a standard holographic system, though one designed specifically for interrogations. It's capable of re-creating any environment from the user's memory," T'sing laid a hand on her own chest, "and we use it to enhance our routines, create a sense of unease in the accused—or relaxation. Some simulations are even able to trick them into thinking they've escaped, or its all been just a dream. Humanoids will spill a lot if they convince themselves they're safe."

"And they want to convince themselves," Guano said, a rather evil smile gracing her features.

Jupiter wandered over to the far wall where T'sing pointed. There, inside the cabinet that normally housed all their old board games was some sort of machine, no bigger than a toaster. It actually looked a bit like a toaster too: square, silver, though ingrained with alien symbols and tech she could never hope to decipher. Jupiter reached out a hand to touch...before thinking better of it.

"That still doesn't explain why you want to interrogate aliens in my living room," she said.

T'sing blinked. "Oh. I don't, Your Majesty. I only thought that this would help your family feel more at home. I saw this room briefly during our... negotiations with that Chicanery fellow and thought that it would be a more welcoming sight than the normal bridge..." she trailed off, looking around at all the averted gazes. "Ah. They're not coming."

"Nope." Jupiter shrugged in self-criticism. "I 1000% chickened out in that regard and honestly? Don't regret it for a second. Yeah. I know. Mom and everyone need to get the low down at some point, especially with the Keepers scrambling their brains every few weeks, but at least I'm not dealing with them on top of Kalique and weird Encroacher people—"

"Encroachers?" T'sing said sharply. Even Guano sat up, looking worried.

Stinger rubbed at his forehead. "I'll explain on the way. Come, we'll be late as it is."

As Kiza gave them the lowdown on her theory T'sing moved to the front of the living room, to the door that normally lead into the kitchen. When she opened it though there was a familiar windshield looking out into the cornfields and a series of complicated buttons that Jupiter recognized as the Aegis' steering. For a second she thought her mind was playing tricks on her until T'sing lifted a hand and suddenly the whole view changed from vertical to horizontal. The door was still there, it had just... shifted.

"Okay," Jupiter said. "That's cool."

"That's technology," Kiza countered. "You humans are so behind. Kinda like our cell service, Dad."

"Would you stop with that already, you're driving your Queen nuts."

Kiza leaned into Jupiter's side, rising up on tiptoe to whisper: "Am I driving you nuts?"

"A little, yeah."

"Awesome."

Of course, Jupiter wasn't an idiot. She knew what they were doing. Easy banter. Lighthearted questions. Let's move away from the topic of family, shall we? And Jupiter did appreciate it. She knew she wasn't being fair to Mom or her cousins anymore... but she was also getting a sense of how much she could handle. Tonight was for a rather different type of family.

If 'family' was even the right term. Jupiter wasn't sure anymore.

At least there was family right here. That Jupiter could swear to. Guano tossed her a soda from the ancient mini fridge next to the couch and Kiza forced her to make room, fussing over Jupiter's hair and begging her not to spill Dr. Pepper on her dress. Stinger went to speak with T'sing—who kept the illusion up the whole time, for Jupiter's sake at least—and filled her in, as promised, on all the strangeness that had been going on—how none of them trusted Kalique as far as they could throw her. Caine kneaded Jupiter's thigh and confirmed that this was despite the fact that they could, in fact, throw her pretty damn far.

A pang ran through Jupiter at that. Just the thought that she might have been wrong...naive in how much progress she'd been making with her and Titus causing an ache in her chest. If they were truly up to something, it would be a lot like losing Balem all over.

Jupiter pushed that thought down though, stood on shaky legs, and went back over to the cupboard. The games were still there behind T'sing's tech. Ignoring mind boggling thoughts about what she was touching if this wasn't really there (or what she’d been drinking from that soda), she selected something to pass the time.

"Yes," Kiza breathed as Jupiter set the box down. "Hell yes!"

Guano snatched a card and sniffed it. "What is it?"

"Something you said you'd teach me," Caine murmured. Jupiter nodded.

"An ancient and beloved Earth past time. Well, not ancient, but definitely beloved. Brutal too. Prepare for civil war, guys."

Caine looked intrigued. Guano was practically bouncing in her seat. Jupiter called Stinger over and got T'sing to put the ship on autopilot. She set the box out on display at the front of their little half cirlce—Cards Against Humanity.

"Gimme the freaking 'Bees?' card," Kiza muttered, trying to sort through all the white as Jupiter slapped her hands away.

As she'd suspected, it was an excellent distraction. A memory to return to sometime. A little over three hours flew by and it was while Jupiter was trying to decide on an answer for "10% of adults admit having an addiction to..." that she looked up, catching sight of the planet ahead of them. The cards dropped from her hands.

"Wow," Jupiter whispered.

T'sing hummed. "Yes, Your Majesty. Welcome to Dithor IV. Wealthy, gorgeous... the perfect paradise."

"There’s no such thing as perfect," Caine said and Jupiter nodded. It certainly looked stunning from way up here—

—but then, it was hard to see imperfections from so far away. An easy enough fix.

“Let's get closer."

[takerfoxx]

“Fires of the Sun, Part 4″ Thoughts

I really need to go back and re-edit IM one of these days. Just rereading Fires of the Sun is making me cringe by how many mistakes there are. No, it's not a Deep Within scene! Why does it begin with a Deep Within?

Anyway, if I recall, that opening bit with Rumia was intended as a touch-base sort of thing. I had noticed that once Rin had let her go, she had started to fade into the background, and given her importance before that, I didn't want her to just slip off completely. I think her bit with getting threatened by Sakuya was partially created to at least give her something to do, even if it was more as a prop than anything. But it's been months so I don't really remember. At least it helped remind everyone of those bugs Wriggle sent out for help, so it's not like it was completely filler.

Funny thing about writing crises though: you kinda need them to keep going until you've hit that climatic finish. Which means any solution that would solve the crisis for the characters prematurely needs to be denied in some manner. That's honestly what that conversation between Sakuya and her allies was at least in part about: them reviewing any possible path that would cause the readers to go, "Wait, why don't they just do such-and-such?" and come up with a reason why they can't. Or have them try one workable idea only to slam the door in their face. Characters are annoyingly tenacious at times, and on occasion you do have to go the extra mile to herd them. Though if I recall, Kurumi did present some issues in that her vampiric needs had to be addressed frequently. Can't go into sunlight? Okay, that makes for a good reason for them not to flee through a window. But she's probably blood starved and I do not want her jumping onto one of the other kids and sucking them dry. Well, Sakuya probably came with some blood prepared, and she's likely to be empathetic toward vampire children, so that solves that. But yeah, part of writing these big scenes with lots of moving parts is foreseeing issues that'll get in the way and counter them ahead of time.

If I recall, I was constantly annoyed by the Dragon battles, and only went back to find some new way to keep them at bay. And I'll admit, it did get a little sloppy at times. I don't know what it says about me that I found writing a gigantic battle between Dragons and plant monsters to be tedious. I guess I just like my violence up close and personal.

Fortunately, Rin and Yuuka provided plenty of that. Rin's thoughts in that first clash mirrored my own, in that it felt so gratifying to pound Yuuka's face into pulp. I swear to God, the problems I've had with that character. To use a pro wrestling metaphor, she's that big star that's a huge draw and will guarantee sell-outs for your venue, but is just a whiny, spotlight stealing diva behind the scenes that you almost hate yourself for giving into them all the time, and yet you keep bringing them back because they sell tickets and try to make them look great. But then you finally get some leverage and don't need them anymore, trick them into a match that makes them look like a chump, and smirk from behind the curtain when your new top guy roughs them up. That's what that whole bit felt like. Yuuka really did help put this story on the map. She was by far the easiest character to write for, and any scene with her in it just felt…bigger. But oh my God, it drove me nuts the degree in which she would take on a life of her own and dominate the whole damn story. That kerfuffle with the robots was definitely the most egregious example, but there were others. I do feel I was able to get her character under control in the latter half of the Retaliation arc. Her breakdown after Marisa's death definitely helped. But even so, and even though I'm not yet done with her, this felt good.

I will admit to one bit of lazy writing though. According to my own rules, you can't send messages through magic when the Sirens are around. So…how did Rin control her duplicates? I did acknowledge this problem, but couldn't come up with a good reason and sort of brushed it off. Nobody really cared, but if I'm going to do a full look back, I might as well nitpick.

That gloriously pompous fly (I think I copied his speech patterns from the Helmacrons from Animorphs) though, that was another investment paying off. That whole thing with Wriggle's bug buddies came about because I had preplanned that tense scene with Elly trying to cut Wriggle's hair a way's back, didn't get a chance to use it, and wanted to stick it in before it was too late. The bugs crawling out her hair happened because I thought it was funny, then later, when Yuuka had captured them, I remembered them and figured I could do something with them. So, the bugs were out there, and I kept that (along with about a hundred other loose ends), and when the time came to spice up that garden battle, I remembered them and decided to pull the trigger. Downside? Dragons are fucking useless, okay!

After that was when I really cut loose with Yuuka lovecraftian roots. Like I mentioned in that chapter, I was playing a lot of the Dragonborn DLC for Skyrim around that time, and loved the eldritch scenes with Apocrypha, and decided to have Yuuka take some direct inspiration. So, slime, eyes, and tentacles. I swear to God, I don't know why eyes are such a recurring motif for me. I mean, I chose my avatar because I like Elfen Lied and it looks cool! I swear I'm not actually thinking about people's eyeballs day and night, they just keep popping up!

Illuminati confirm…

Righty then.

Anyhoo, Jun being a dog became unexpectedly handy. I got curious and looked up wolf behavior to see if they practice infanticide the same way lions do. Turns out, nope! Alphas protect the pack, the cubs, and the only infighting issues are usually with upstart young males! So, whenever Sakuya cracked a little more and wanted to get rid of the kids, it made sense for him to be uncharacteristically unselfish and step in. Having a big, hulking mass of angry muscle is useful for deterring murderous maids with slowly deteriorating mental states.

I…can't really remember if this was the point I had decided to have Sakuya threaten Rumia's life, if I had already decided that, or just have her take notice of Rumia as a way of making another investment, but regardless, that was where that scene started taking shape. I'm pretty sure it was something I had already committed to at that point thought, and was then planning on ways to relieve them of the kids and get rid of the rest of her team, allowing her to go completely rogue.

I did want the battle to end with Rin using Flandre's power to blow Yuuka to bits from the beginning though. So, what better way to pull that off than for Flandre to suggest it, thus planting it as a possibility, Rin to try and find it not working, only to bring it back when it was time? Because it's one thing to blow shit up. It's another to chuck bombs at shit, have them not go off, only to explode them later at a more suitably dramatic time.

For the four Yuuka scene though, I think the initial plan was actually for Rin to fight ten of them, grievously wound one for Elly to find later, and then just kyuu the rest to end the thing. It was cut down to four to simplify things a bit. Besides, it's been established that Yuuka gets weaker with each division, and Rin would probably have torn through ten with little difficulty. Besides, it lent itself to some symmetry, given that Rin was already using Four of a Kind, which I got a tremendous kick out of by having it time out like Touhou spellcards do. After all that distinctly non-Touhou-esque violence, it just tickled me to reintroduce the classic rules in the middle of a fight and have them be an inconvenience.

What? It made me laugh. Sue me.

Bringing back Kaguya and Mokou was a hoot as well. I really do miss those guys and all their bickering. And in my grand tradition in breaking up something horrifying with something silly, we have Rin's constant use of Phoenix Fire giving Mokou an itch. Though I think I brought them up here mainly because their later cameo in the next chapter was preplanned from way back and I didn't want their appearance then to be too out of left field.

And then I got to make up for my previous sacrilege by having all of those religious icons turn on Yuuka and burn her crispy. Like I've mentioned a few times before, my personal relationship with religion is a little complicated at this point. Regardless, I've never much cared for militant anti-religious attitudes, so this scene was sort of to make up for having those symbols perverted and destroyed earlier, as well as Yukari's previous trash talking of the Judeo-Christian faith in general. Having Remilia's spear (or Odin's. Whatever) be the first made for a nice bit of symbolism as well. Though it might have been stronger without Sariel directly commenting on it and offer an explanation as to why all those gods were suddenly taking notice just now. A little mystery goes a long way, after all.

Though I think at one point I was going to have Rin skewer the burnt Yuuka with Remilia's spear before dropping her into that hole. And maybe also sticking her into that broken crystal out of revenge. Can't remember why I didn't go through with it though. Hell, whatever happened to that spear anyway?

[satanistwhodeviatedtogod-blog]

Euro 2018

it’s fun and games until we hit the epilogue

one more sleepless night Then book the cheapest flight

earlier this month (may) we went for a short trip to Europe. We planned it for a year. we went there for educational purposes, which is Euromun. It’s a United Nation conference simulation.

We went there as a group that consist of 4 person

my hyperactive friend, J

my wild but religious friend, Ali

my grumpy bitch, Bella

and of course me

4/5 of us are selected from a very tight selection to represent Universitas Diponegoro in Euromun. With a year of preparation and well not that much time to meet and get to know each other because we have our own activity, we finally make it to Europe.

We went into separate flight. Me and Bella went there on Monday, J and Ali went there on Tuesday. too bad. It was around 10 PM from Soekarno Hatta International Airport and we went to Turkey for transit. Having a glass of coffee and a cig then straight to Schipol Amsterdam.

after we arrived, Bella and i store our luggage at the airport and we go straight to Amsterdam Centraal. Not surprised that the smell of weed everywhere. giting terus bosku!

We had a really nice Italian Pizza for breakfast. Strolling around Amsterdam was so much fun. It was unexpectedly warm there, and we wear a jacket. lot of jacket gosh

after strolling around centraal, we went back to Schipol to take our luggage and go to Maastricht. it’s a hell of a atmosphere. No traffic jam, very clean environment, and bikes everywhere. not a long after we arrived, we got picked up by our host parents there. Shout out to Mr. Untung and Mr. Adriyan!

the next day, Bella and I went for a walk in the city of Maastricht. It’s like a city for student, but sure it’s waaaay different from Tembalang riot city. We’re not actually walking but we ride bikes, just like locals.

this place is lit. even thought there are less attraction than Amsterdam, this place it’s a good place to live.

the conference start 2 days after we arrived. we gather all our stuff, research, but not our brain. kiddin’. it’s located in MECC. it’s a really good place for a conference, since it’s provide so many room that big enough to provide all the participant. I’ll be represent India in ECOSOC council under the topic of Globalization and gig of economy. I met a lot of cool person there from France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and even Israel. Surprisingly they’re so nice and very friendly to me even thought i have a very different background from Indonesia. Cheers to all of my friends there! hope to see you soon. #ecoshot

after all those exhausting day in the conference, we went to Paris. the funny thing is, we haven’t book any place to stay. But hey, where’s the fun part if we already plan everything correctly right? joke. it’s no fun at all.

we went to Paris by bus. but before that, we went to Belgium first because why not. Lots of chocolate there. too bad we went there while the avengers went by. all the roads its like on renovation, F!

oh and we went to Comic Strips Museum. we met Asterix & Obelix, total classic. when we want to get back to the bus, we almost got left behind. We went to the wrong station and have no idea which train to take. after trying to figure it out, we finally make it literally on time. living on the edge huh?

so Paris. the city of love where everything is art, including steal things. Just like Jason Mraz album. there’s so many spot that we want to see, but 3 days and 2 night are not enough. So we only went to the mandatory places such as Louvre, Eiffel, Arc de Triumph and other shit. its one hell of a adventure.

First on the list is Louvre. Because its the nearest and most reachable. There’s a lot of people there (no shit deto). We took a couple of shot and then we went to the nearest and one of the coolest cafe, Cafe Kitsune.

I even bought a mug! #kenaikanstratasosial #cheapestthingicouldafford

then we stroll to do some thrift

l̶i̶f̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ shopping. It’s kinda took time because it’s far. but worth the time. I got some Yankees tee for only 1€! what a bargain. then we had some kebab. safest food we could eat.

Tired of shopping, we went back to our list. We went to the Arc de Triomphe. its so crowded. Lots of car. Cooler version of Simpang 5 #semarangjugakeren.

Enough taking picture and embracing it, We went for a religious trip to Notre Dame. it was a really good looking and ancient cathedral. Everyone was very friendly even though we are Muslim. There are a lot of terrorist attack that triggering bigotry, and yet the security of Notre Dame still smiling and say hi to us. There’s a preacher talking inside and also people attending for a regular religious activity, and yet it remind us its time to taraweh back in Jakarta hahaha.

right beside Notre Dame, there’s a really cool river. And just so you know, that’s where Rattatoullie drowned and decided whether he want to act as a chef or just live his life as a rat. Yes. I know. Not important but still.

after that we went to the last spot. looking for a cool place to enjoy the sunset. the symbol of Paris. yup. where else. It’s the Eiffel Tower. we also meet several Indonesian there. It’s easy to recognize them. we arrived in Eiffel at around 7 pm, and the sun are not yet tired shining. The first thing we seek are toilet. The toilet are disgusting if you don’t really look. after we found the proper toilet, it was very modern and breathtaking. All automated thing makes us believe that one day the terminator will took over the world.

The Eiffel tower was amazing. lots of family, friends and also couple hanging out to enjoy the dusk. No soulmate, no problem. I still got my friends! #denialkampret

Eiffel at night are the best. All those cool lamps and the cold vibes are beyond amazing. Also with my old friend, Gudang Garam Kretek, the nights are perfect. We sit together, we gaze the star, we talk nonsense and enjoy the night like there’s no tomorrow.

after strolling from Paris, we went back to Maastricht. One funny thing that keep happen, we always get on the bus literally on time. Means that once we hop in, the bus drove away. No. That’s not a good thing.

It’s our last day in Maastricht. One more chance to live the fullest in here. No lol kidding. None of our friends from other Indonesian uni still here. So we just rest, looking for ticket to Frankfurt, Germany and go to the city for one last time. I know there are nothing there but still, Maastricht is an interesting place to discover.

we went to the bus station at noon. it was quite a long trip. we arrived around midnight with no f-ing clue which bus or train or any public transport we should take. sitting for a few minutes on the street, trying to figure out which one is our ride to Ginnheim. we’re staying at my aunt’s. Special thanks to Tante Sila & Om Jabrik. they also lead us (patiently) how to get there.

in the morning (its almost 12pm) we go to the city. we went to one and only place that we’ve been craving, Primark. There like a shitload of cheap with decent quality product that worth to buy. Wont hesitate to spent so much money there. Tired of shopping, we went to a cafe on top of a building. We can see the whole city from that point of view. what a way to spent the afternoon.

the next morning, we stroll to the city again. but its weekend, means that all the shop are closed. so, no shopping day. so we took a walk around the city. that day was a special day for frankfurt. the night before, Eintracht win against Munchen and gain victory for the German Cup since 1988. the whole city celebrating. drinking beer, marching around. everyone’s happy and surprisingly no vandalism.

later that day, we met Ale from Brawijaya to hang out. We also meet several Indonesian who live in Frankfurt. We hang out in a park enjoying afternoon with beers and fries. Also smelling other people smoke weed which is nice.

It was Ramadhan so we look for breakfasting. We went to Chinese restaurant. You know, no rice means haven’t eat. After getting fueled, we went to a bar to spend the night. it was real fun. and also cold. Never forget the cold part. We went back at 3 am. No more trams, subway and buses. Well we also cant walk tho. Strolling around for a while, thinking how to get back home, we finally manage to find one last bus that headed to Ginheim. fyuh

The next day we went to Rudesheim. Caca and Ale invited us. it was a really nice small town for a quick escape. Like Cisarua hahaha. It takes around an hour and half. We hop on a cable train. It has a wonderful view. the cable cara leads to Niederwald Monument. Strolling around Rudesheim feels like hanging out in Diagon Alley. its so chilling seeing people from young age to an elderly hanging out and dancing to a cheerful music.

After an exhausting day, we went back to Frankfurt. Catching for some dinner because you know, stomach asking for a refuel.

The next day is our last day in Frankfurt. it was Monday, means that all the store are open. Working days, but holidays for us. We go straight to the city, buying things we don’t need and spending money we don’t have. We split and go nuts for goods. We went back before dark, because later that night we need catch bus straight back to Amsterdam. We have our last dinner and saying goodbye to the Tante Sila and family. Time flies.

We also meet our local frankfurter for the last time before we hop on the busses. See you when we see you!

Earlier in the morning, we arrived in Amsterdam. we want to go to Amsterdam central to end our happy holiday. But shit happens. We bought the wrong public transportation ticket, so we can’t use it for the trains. farts. after that, we hop on the bus. Its a little bit detour but why not. Its a fancy busses and not mikrolet. The whole city of Amsterdam looks like a human size miniature. Very well coordinated. long story short, we arrived in the Amsterdam Centraal. We store our luggage at the train station and go straight to the city. Getting lost in Amsterdam for one last time.

First we need to get fuel. We stop on another kebab restaurant and have pizza for dessert. Every corner of Amsterdam smells like weed. which is wrong. and nice on the same time. Also, we look for several souvenirs to take back home. Funny things are, we only spent like only a days in Amsterdam and 16 days in Europe. Amsterdam its like Netherlands main attraction, but we don’t have times although we’re like 16 days here. There are also a lot of street artist who drew alll those vintage shops in a vintage building. Very classic. We also went back to the Red Light District for a quick stroll. Because why not right. We also want to visit Anne Frank Museum and explore the canals by boat. but we don’t have time and have a plane to catch. later that day, we went back to the airport and call it a day. Me, Ali, and Bella took a same flight. J have a solo flight. So long!

It was super amazing trips. Good friends, Good times, Good company. All leads to breathtaking memory.

ps: if you’re lookin for how i ended up with bella, just ask her. i dont even have any clue.