#nollie shove

[yuurivoice]

Hello, I have some ideas for the raccoons name:

Kickturn

Ollie

Jesus Flip

Backside Bigspin

Nollie Frontside 360 Pop Shove It

Crossbone

Tailbone

Sex Change

Plasma Spin

thank you

Buddy I don't know how to break it to you but I hate most of those and also I literally spent hours looking at names when I created Casper.

I got it. LOL

Edit: This reads so much bitchier than I intended it to be, sorry about that. What I SHOULD say is, the joke would get old really really fast with most of those names. If 90% of people are clueless that Casper is called Casper because it's a trick, maybe doubling down with another trick name is not the greatest idea, especially if 99% of them aren't even name shaped.

[weministertomonsters]

Une Amourette

The rain taps harshly against the window and I almost mistake it for someone's knuckles rapping against the panes; Mother Nature asking to be let in. The way I see it, she's wringing her hair over the roof of our cabin and already has one foot in the door.

Water is dripping everywhere and Sam and Jesse are doing a shit job of cleaning it up.

"Let go, you motherfucker!" Jesse bleats on the floor, flopping on his belly like a beached whale.

Sam straddles his back, pulling the wet towel tighter against his neck.

"How long can you last without oxygen?" Sam asks rhetorically.

"I. Said. Let. GO!" Jesse's face is turning blue.

"Will you two quit messing around and just clean the damn place up? And then patch the roof. Dad will have a fit if he comes home and everything is soaked," I sigh.

"The house is the only thing getting soaked that's for sure," Sam grumbles, shoving Jesse's face against the floor as he stands and resumes spreading the towel down and then squeezing it out over a bucket.

"Why don't you help?" Jesse asks, swiping under his nose to check for blood.

"Because I'm the only one who can cook?" I suggest, pouring another batch of pancake batter into the frying pan.

"Cook my ass, that's just pancake mix," Sam sniffs. "Smells good though."

"Fine, I'm the least likely to set the food on fire," I amend. "It's all we've got to eat for the rest of the week unless you two want to go to the store tomorrow?"

"Hell no!" They chorus back.

"That's what I thought," I mutter.

Tap.

Tap.

"Is that a fucking bird?" I demand. "I've been hearing that for the past two minutes."

"Then you're hearing things, Nolly," Sam says from the floor. "As usual."

Tap.

Tap.

I survey the window in front of me but all I can see is the long twist of Killer's Peak Road and the distant twinkling lights of the town. Everything looks normal until it doesn't.

"I swear if you say you see something-" Sam says, but I interrupt him.

"Yeah, I see something."

"Nolly!"

"Come and see for yourself," I beckon with the spatula.

Sam and Jesse crowd beside me and peer out the window.

"Is that a person?" Jesse asks.

"Is that a gun?" Sam asks.

"Yes, and yes." I squint at the shadow creeping through the ridge of trees along the road. "Looks like a man. A hunter?"

"Unless he's here to shoot you, weirdo, then he's probably hunting something else," Sam says, attempting to take a pancake out of the pan and cussing as the crispy-hot edges burn his fingers.

"But it's raining," Jesse wonders, leaning against the counters and crossing his lean arms. "Who hunts in this weather?"

"More importantly..." I smack Sam's hand to stop him from having a second go with the pancakes. "I don't hear the tapping anymore."

"That was just you," Sam says, petulantly rubbing the back of his hand.

"Maybe-" Jesse pipes up.

BANG.

The back door flies open and a man stumbles in and kicks the door shut.

"Hey!" Sam yells. "You can't just bust in here like you own the place-"

The man turns to face us and Sam's voice dies in his throat.

"Holy shit," Jesse breathes and the three of us stand there like rabbits in the headlights of an oncoming car and stare.

No one can blame us, because the man has half a sword sticking out of his chest. The ragged edges of the wound seep blood onto the handle of the weapon and it drips from there onto the floor.

"All three of you must be deaf," the man says. "I knocked more than once."

"Told you I heard something!" I exclaim. "Uh, who are you?"

"That's unimportant," the man says, striding over to the counters and pulling them open, moving surprisingly well considering how bad his injury looks.

"Are you in trouble with the guy out there?" Jesse asked.

The man tilts his head towards the window and looks like he wants to curse but doesn't.

"He will come knocking and ask if you have seen me," the man says, finally finding what he wants.

A clean dishtowel and the bottle of alcohol we keep for our frequent emergencies.

"And what should we say when he does?" I ask.

"Tell him you have no idea what he is talking about and ask him if he is hunting rabbits," the man says.

"And if we don't?" Sam dares to ask.

"Then he will kill all of you and come for me next," the man says as he strides across the kitchen, adding over his shoulder, "Out of the four of us, I'm the most likely to survive."

The man pauses in the hallway and pulls open the laundry room and the pantry, closing each door in turn. He pulls open the downstairs bathroom door and disappears into it while we stand and wonder what the hell is happening. I snap out of it when I smell smoke and realize the last shrunken pancake is turning black. I switch the stove off and open the window a crack to let the smoke out.

"Are we supposed to believe what that man said?" Jesse asks, scratching his head. "He does look like he is in some kind of trouble..."

"We're not taking any chances," Sam retorts. "The man out there has a gun. We can take the injured guy but none of us stand a chance against a gun."

"For the record," a voice floats from the bathroom, "you cannot take me."

"Jesus Christ," Sam says, amused and annoyed.

Tap.

Tap.

This time, I go to the door and pull it open, coming face to face with a wilderness of a man. He's wearing a crinkly raincoat over his clothes and he reeks of alcohol. His fuzzy grey beard has something like a bit of melted cheese stuck in it.

"Hello," he says. "You seen a man about this tall 'n wide with a sword in his chest?"

I do my best to look innocent. I don't have to try very hard because the man looks like he's half out of it. He fixes his yellowed eyes on me but the right one keeps slipping to stare off somewhere else for a few moments before he blinks and drags it back to focus on me.

"Well?" He grunts, trying to look past my shoulder.

I'm much taller than he is, so he can't see anything. I don't want to step aside and give him the idea that he can come in, so I turn slightly so he can see my brothers standing in the middle of the kitchen; Sam with his military buzzcut and pants hanging unbuttoned on his hips and Jesse who looks like an emo disaster someone fished out of the Goodwill bin.

"Hey man, are you a hunter?" Sam says.

"A rabbit hunter?" Jesse adds.

"Nah kid, I'm just flushing out one big bad wolf," the man says, stamping on the doormat, dislodging chunks of mud from his boots. "You sure you haven't seen a man?"

"Nope," I say. "But good luck finding him in all this rain."

"Eh, I didn't think he'd be here either. He'd never hole up with a bunch of kids. He hates 'em."

"We're not kids!" Jesse scoffs.

"That's exactly what a kid would say," Sam snorts, and Jesse tackles him.

Mercifully, they land on the couch, not the glass coffee table.

The man squints at me for a long moment. "Well, I'll be on my way," he says. "You got a gun?"

"Licensed, yes," I lie.

He waves a hand dismissively. "If you see a man as I described, shoot him. That just might save your life."

With that, he clumps off the back steps and hurries off into the rain. I close the door and then bolt it shut as an afterthought.

"I think he's dangerous," I announce to Sam and Jesse, glancing at the bathroom door.

"Which one?" Jesse asks.

'Our guy looks saner than the dude with the gun. Even though he should be dead by now," Sam says, trapping Jesse's head between his knees and ruffling his hair until he begins to squeal.

"Still," I take the gun out of its box on top of the fridge and check to make sure it's loaded and the safety is on. "Better armed than vulnerable."

"I am dangerous, just not to you," the man says.

I turn to see him descending the stairs and patting his hair with a towel, wearing clean, dry clothes that look familiar.

"Is that my shirt?" I demand.

─────────────── · · · · ✦

I suck at multitasking. I posted this on Patreon in March and forgot to eventually post it here (and on Wattpad). I don't know what I'm doing anymore, send help! Anyway, I really enjoyed writing this, even though my habit of writing new stories without finishing the old stories and not finishing those new ones because I've moved on to other stories is cursed AF.

｡ﾟﾟ･｡･ﾟﾟ｡ ﾟ。Pls love me anyway. 　ﾟ･｡･

[dzpenumbra]

8/10/23

Big day. Intense day.

I woke up after 3 hours. Yay. The upstairs neighbor's boyfriend is back, stompstompstomp creakcreakcreak at 8AM. And I couldn't fall back asleep. So I got up and ate some food and messed around with 3D modelling a bit... then did some work in Magic Music Visuals for a while. Eventually I got back to sleep and got another 3 hours, then stayed up.

I did yoga, the first yoga video I ever looked up... made for skaters. I still like it. It was a nice day out and I was kinda pledging to myself that I was going to go skate, regardless of my sleep. It had been raining for way too long, and I just... needed to get some wheels under my feet I guess. There's really nothing quite like cruising. I honestly would be just as fine going out and cruising and not going to a skatepark or learning tricks. I really love it. But it seems to be the one thing that non-skaters will sneer and shake a fist and call the cops on you for. Just fucking using a skateboard like it's a bike. Weird shit.

I was still very depressed. I was exhausted. But I mustered my energy, got some fruit in my system, got a shower in and forced myself to go to the park. The second I got out the driveway I was glad I went. I always am.

I got to the skatepark and it was fucking empty, in fact... pretty much the entire park was empty. And I had the earbuds in listening to Kristoff Krane's Kairos Part 1. I decided I really wanted to practice getting used to landing on a board that's doing a shove it rotation. I kept trying to really be specific to myself about what my fears there were, why I wouldn't commit to the trick. On snowskate, shove its are simple for me. They're my go-to trick. I just have to make sure I line them up well when I land, but I can shove it pretty much as well as I can ollie, and sometimes even better. But on skateboard... it just gets in my head, I don't know why. I still can't really figure it out. Like... I think I'm afraid of slipping out, but riding a snowskate on a packed surface is way more slippery than a skateboard on concrete. It just doesn't make sense.

I practiced nollie shoves over and over and over, because I'm more comfortable doing those, I have more experience from shoving out of nosestalls and nosemanuals. I don't pop them, but that's not really what I'm practicing. I wanted to practice the simple act of landing on a rotating board.

I am comfortable just riding with a board under my feet in many situations. I am comfortable ollieing down stuff, for the most part. I'm not up to big drops yet, but I could probably handle a 2 or 3 stair drop at this level. It's the ollie out to clear the gap that sketches me out. And ollieing up is a bit weird, but it's just lack of practice. I realized through this that most, if not all, of my tricks... my board stays with me. It never leaves my feet. Not fully. And in shove its, kickflip, etc.. the board leaves your feet and you need to land back on it. And I guess that is what's sketching me out. Not landing with the board at speed, not so much... landing on the board after being off of it, and quickly recalibrating my balance. Likely a problem because I never learned how to throw the board down.

So... instead of focusing on specific tricks and driving myself crazy because I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong... I'd rather focus on the concepts that I'm missing... like throwing a board down and hopping on, and normalizing that feeling... and jumping off a board and landing back on bolts. Then, adding in rotations and shit. Because it doesn't matter how high you pop your shove it, or how well you can eyeball the rotation every time... if you don't feel confident landing back on the board and riding away?... You're not going to land it. And that's just that. Simple, but very often overlooked.

So yeah, I felt much more comfy on my board today after practicing a bunch of nollie shoves. I was tempted to start practicing nollie shove off the angled box... and I was about to... when I noticed a person coming over to the skatepark. It was a woman, somewhere around my age.

I waved, she waved back. I wasn't really processing what was happening, I was used to there being people at the park. She just came right over and started talking to me. For 2 hours. She introduced herself, she started literally telling me her life story - well... more just stories about her ex/friend who... is kinda consumed by his demons, and honestly didn't sound like that good of a friend. She had an accent, I could tell she was from... what kinda sounded like a Central African country, but I'm not experienced with discerning those accents so I couldn't tell you a country. I could tell she really wanted to talk, and connect with someone who she felt understood her. So, I let her talk. All while we were both being eaten by mosquitoes and a small few were visiting and leaving the park. I would contribute commentary, I would insert my own take on things when it felt appropriate, but mostly I just listened and let her talk.

She did ask me a bunch of questions about myself though, like... about my spirituality? Because I was wearing a necklace with beads and stones. And honestly? I don't think anyone has ever asked me that. Likely because I never really hung out with religious people. She's a practicing Muslim, she was very open about that. I didn't know what to answer. In hindsight, I probably would have leaned a little heavier on the Buddhist side, but I felt my answer was fair and accurate. That I am a spiritual person, but I don't really subscribe to one camp. I study all spiritual beliefs - I wish I had leaned into this a bit more, because I really do, I spend a huge chunk of my free/work time studying all kinds of religions. I said I take bits and pieces from what resonates with me, and that I really try to focus on morality and ethics. Just... being a good person.

Is this the world I've been missing out on? Talking about personal spiritual beliefs within 5 minutes of meeting someone? The whole conversation was a whirlwind. I was very calm and cool through most of it, I didn't really get overwhelmed much in the moment. She was very funny and thoughtful, and she decided to just kinda hang out at the park until it got dark.

It was a bit awkward when she was asking me where I lived... and I had to tell her that I was an artist... but I was living in these apartments over here... and she knew how much the rent was here. And the rent is ridiculous. Like... absurd. So she knew within a few seconds that I live alone, I am a full-time artist and I live in these expensive apartments. And the question came... how do you pay for that? Yep. So I get to unveil that my wealthy parents help me with rent while I chase an art "career" that's never going to come to fruition. Fucking depression whispering that in my ear over and over the whole time. To the point where I was literally looking for job listings over dinner. -_-

Besides these two awkward moments... I guess there was one other thing. I could tell she was like... a mother figure. At least, she really identified with that. And... I told her about my leg injury. I told her that I was getting back into skating because I got an injury - I lied and told her it was from skating, it was really from a mosh pit at a metal show... I don't know why I lied, it just kinda made the story more coherent and less rambley - I told her that skating was my way of facing that fear and reconnecting with a sport that I love, a culture I love. But later on, she kept saying stuff like "break my leg, break your leg" over and over. Like anything skate related, I wanted to push myself and try a trick that was a bit outside my comfort zone... boardsliding a round rail for the first time (which I did, to little fanfare)... and she almost seemed like she was kinda... half trying to talk me out of it? Like "okay, don't break your leg." And... yeah, I really don't think this was on purpose, probably just an expression she was used to hearing... but yeah, that was a bit hard and confusing. I don't think she was trying to fuck with me, but I could have easily interpreted it that way.

I struggled to wrap up the conversation as she kept going on about her friend that is obsessed with using money as a way to prove his worth to people and shit, a very materialistic and manipulative guy. And I get she needed to get that out, and people do tend to treat me like their therapist a lot. It's a thing. Probably because I politely listen - like actually listen - and don't interrupt people or use it as an opportunity to talk about myself. But... it was getting dark... and I was worried about riding home in the fading light with cars and shit. And I really struggled to... end the conversation. I think she noticed, and we made our way there.

On our way out to the parking lot, we exchanged information. She asked for my number, which I gave to her, and I'm like 80% sure it was the right number, but when she tried to call me it didn't dial through for some reason... And she gave me her Instagram, which I was kinda leaning towards because I wanted to share my art. She expressed an interest in wanting to hang out more, like going downtown sometime. I just kinda nodded and smiled, I was kinda just exhausted and wanted to go home. I really didn't want to commit to plans or something, I was getting pretty overwhelmed. This was all so alien to me. So I just kinda said the hours I usually try to come to the park, and if she wants to chill she can hit me up. And that's that.

It's weird to have people want to spend time with me. It's been about a year since someone wanted to hang out, way farther than that since someone took initiative and asked me. And it's been almost half a year since I've even had social interactions more than in passing with someone that wasn't my therapist... It's really hard... and really embarrassing... to find a way to communicate that to people in a way they'll understand.

Like... this chick was talking about needing to get out of the house, getting stir crazy and shit. She has a 13 year old daughter, and I think either lives with her mom or lives close to her? And goes to bars and shit to try to socialize (though she doesn't drink or anything). And she's getting stir crazy. So... how likely do you think she's going to be to really understand what my experience is in that moment, when I haven't spoken to another person more than a handful of syllables IN A FUCKING WEEK. I've barely even spoken above a whisper in that time! And before that therapy session, was another week before it. And another before it... Like... the last social hangout I had that wasn't someone trying to get something out of me... or stupid condescending hypocritical fights with my mom... I think it was over a year ago? I really can't remember.

So... this kind of shit shocks my system. I can do it... but it's so... alien. So strange. I remember the first time I really felt like this was when I went thru-hiking on a big hiking trail for 2.5 days alone. No media, no phone, no music, just me and my pack and lots of fucking walking. By the end of that, I was so starved for social contact it was nuts. My tolerance has definitely improved over the decade since then.

So yeah, I don't know how to feel right now. I'm kinda just flooded from the experience, it was a bit too much. I really wasn't prepared. I was really just looking to get to the skate park so I could just not fucking listen to that creaking floorboard anymore. But instead, I was kinda... I don't know how to say this kindly... I want to say "used to meet their social needs." But I did give consent...

On the other hand, she was very kind and smart, she had a good attitude, though a few things I wasn't entirely onboard with. We were talking a bit about American culture and materialism and she was very adamantly pushing into this whole "you must work for what you have, that is what makes you appreciate it." And I starkly disagree. I believe that appreciation comes from within, that it's a deliberate action that we must take willfully. That it is, in its own way, a willful act of love. And I feel that understanding and valuing work for work's sake should be kept separate from that. I really, truly, don't understand why they are intertwined... short of "motivation" for people who would not otherwise labor. As though our possessions are awards for the work we do, a public demonstration of the worth we have provided for society... when I really feel like appreciating things is a deliberate act that we all need to take. You don't need to work to appreciate a sunset, you need to find the appreciation within yourself. But, you know, it's easy to have a shaming finger wagged at you for talking from a place of "privilege" like that, so I kept my mouth shut. More because I didn't want her to feel like I was... contesting her.

I'm also deeply aware of my fawning reflexes... which shone bright as the sun when I just... wouldn't skate because it would be interrupting her... and wouldn't go and pack my shit when it was getting dark because it would be interrupting her... So, I was trying to keep myself mindful that... there might be much more to what I was seeing than what I was being presented. Given that I have been fooled quite a few times before.

So... at risk of feeling like I'm being unfair to her... I'm staying a little skeptical... but it was definitely nice to meet someone who seems to be a kindred soul of sorts. I don't like how negative I'm painting this, but... I'm just trying to keep myself safe, I guess. She was nice and this could be a friend connection - hell, maybe even more down the line, who knows? - but I'm not going to do what I've done in the past and just swim in idealism and glaze over the bumps. I just did that a couple weeks ago when that "former friend" shot a fucking fox when we were on the phone... so, I do feel bad that I'm kinda keeping a bit of arms-length here... but I really need to keep a bit of an insulation layer in my process of acclimating to social interactions again, especially in-person.

That was another part... she mentioned being sick... or starting to feel sick... and it just sent Covid flashbacks blasting through my system. That was the #1 first thing that popped in my head. So, that definitely is part of why my guard is still up there.

Anyway, I'm absolutely fucking bushed right now. I just... I'm conflicted on how I feel about that. I was really happy when I got home. A bit embarrassed about the whole "my parents have money and they're helping me out in my mid-30's" thing... But I was happy that I made a connection who wanted to spend time with me. But the hours since have really just been... hashing over the details and dissecting nuance and... scanning for potential threats, I guess. Scanning for red flags. So, I'm stuck in that weird limbo state of feeling happy I made a connection, but hesitant and uneasy about whether it's truly genuine. I just hope I can be fair to others while I try to keep myself safe.

That's honestly been my day. I got home and made dinner and polished a few beads and now I'm here. So... off to bed and we'll see what happens with therapy tomorrow. Like 1200 things to cover in one hour... ugh...

[betterskatethannever]

Yuri Facchini // Double Up

[wallpaper-backgrounds]

Nollie F's Pop Shove It Skateboarding

Nollie F’s Pop Shove It Skateboarding

#Nollie #Pop #Shove #Skateboarding Guy Doung The Nollie Fs Pop Shove It خدعة لوح التزلج. ظهر منشور Nollie F’s Pop Shove It Skateboarding لأول مرة علــى موقعنا صور خلفيات. Nollie F’s Pop Shove It Skateboarding Explore and download for free tons of high quality Sports wallpapers and backgrounds! Customize your desktop, mobile phone and tablet with our wide variety of cool and interesting Sports…

[jacobfreestyle]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Jacob Whitt (@jacobfreestyle)

Uh. Nollie shove to manuel, to wall smack, to uh... manny around to space walk to... wall push fakie manuel fakie shove out??? Uhhh.... I just did a thing with wood, wheels and a wall. #mauiandsons #sk8kings #skateboard #skateboardingisfun #skate #skateboarding #freestyle #faketricks #freestyleskateboarding #elp #elpaso #texas #fun #balance @mauiandsons @sk8kingsskateboards #skatecrunch @drsk8board #tumblr https://www.instagram.com/p/CFQcP_1BSd9/?igshid=92h56db4m774

[ngame989]

“Été” - TGG SVTFOE Fanfic Collection Ch. 2

Writing: @ngame989​​

Art: @toxicpsychox​​ (make sure to follow him for bonus pics from the story!)

Editing: @bmc-nightfury​​, @seddm​​

Alternate fic links - FFnet, AO3

Summary: Summer is ending soon, and with the end of summer comes change, leaving Jackie Lynn Thomas feeling left behind. Can a certain pair of friends help her figure it out?

Comic Page

Masterpost

See below for the text, hope you enjoy!

“‘Mewni Welcome Soiree’, huh? The Echo Creek I know could never be this fancy, the fusion must already be rubbing off on it. It’s still no Paris, but c’est la vie.” Jackie grinned as her fingers traced the flier, one of many stapled haphazardly over the park, if not the whole town itself. All sorts of events and musical guests were outlined in shiny bold letters and pictures to get the message across as clearly as possible. The sweet laughter behind her was its own kind of music to Jackie’s ears.

Chlóe hopped over the back of the bench they had been sitting on to join her girlfriend’s perusal. “Surely it can’t be that bad?” she cautiously inquired, the French accent making itself especially pronounced when her voice lilted higher. “I’ve had a wonderful time in your city! And even if I don’t count you as part of that, it’s still been pretty fun.” Chlóe leaned into her as the two exchanged cheeky grins before Chlóe picked one of the fliers off the wall of the pavilion for herself. “Don’t be so down, there are some interesting-looking things here. Where else would I get to see The World’s Fattest Opossum on display?”

“Touché. It might be cool. What else have you got for us, Echo Creek?" The girls looked over their fliers, trying to find anything to peak their interest. Chlóe spotted a peculiar name under the "Bands" list.

"Looks like there's a concert, too. Mysterious Sonograms?"

Jackie's mind flew to the mediocre artists of said band. "It's the two guys from the taco stand and an otter… I think. Surprisingly less awful than you'd imagine, but that's a low bar."

"What about Infatuation Incarceration?"

"Oh yeah, that's the spin off band Love Sentence's head backup dancer started after their final breakup. They're… not really worth checking out though, to be honest. All their songs are just the dude angstily crying about how he's better off without them anyway."

Chlóe spotted the last name on the list. "The last act is a performance of… is this spelled correctly?"

Jackie scanned her own flier where Chlóe was looking. "'Faiurly Local'... someone typo’d it, but it's a good tune. Never heard of the cover band though, so I think I'll pass. Why don’t we head downtown instead? We can go scope out some new parkour spots!”

Chlóe stood up straight and softly grabbed Jackie’s shoulder, meeting her eyes with a concerned expression. “Tu vas bien?”

“Je ne sais pas.” Jackie leaned her elbows onto the back of the bench, finding it more comfortable to focus on the orange-purple evening sky than her girlfriend. “I’m just worried, y’know? About me, about us. I’m super glad you were able to get a flight home despite all this crazy stuff going on, don’t get me wrong, but it’s gonna suck without you here. The whole Earthni thing is cool and all, too - well, except for the name - but I’m just not up to celebrating it.” It was a wound that had been eating away at her, at both of them, for the last few days. Where would they go from here? Neither was really sure, and they’d avoided talking about it at all. Heck, it’s not like either didn’t know that it had to happen eventually anyway, Chlóe was only here for summer vacation, but it still crept up on them far too quickly to process.

The park fell silent as bittersweet memories washed over her, amplifying her anxieties. Skate camp, before 9th grade - that guy left early for a family road trip before she ever got a chance to get his name, compliment his nollie technique, and see where it went from there. When Marco had so obviously left half of his heart in a different dimension, it sucked then too, but she knew they’d both be happier apart. And now Chlóe was hopping on a plane and going an entire world away. Jackie had always considered herself pretty adaptable, able to just roll with whatever life tossed at her, so why was this particular situation affecting her so much more?

She were interrupted by a soft, fleeting kiss on her cheek and a soothing chestnut gaze as Chlóe took her hand. “Let’s at least get some food first. I heard there’s a stand with hot sauce so spicy that they pay you for it. Vaut le voyage, non?” Jackie shrunk into herself a bit and nodded in what she hoped was a convincing affirmation before strapping on her skateboard helmet, and the pair took off through the park.

Earthni was pretty cool, Jackie had to admit. It was as if some guiding hand lovingly melded them together like clay, taking care to keep all the essential functionality. All the moons were placed in the sky in such a way that the net effect on the tides had remained unchanged in the week since the event, cities and towns and even individual buildings still retained their infrastructure, and the sky had a radiant beauty at all hours of the day and night. Come to think of it, from what she’d gathered secondhand, Mewni did seem eerily similar to Earth in a lot of ways; it was as if there was some special connection that allowed them to flow so harmoniously into one another.

Her muted awe was finally morphed into a much more visceral shock, however, by a more metaphorical union of the dimensions that caught her eye as they skated past the concert. She motioned for Chlóe to stop as she dismounted without looking away from the sight in front of them: Star Butterfly and Marco Diaz just dancing their hearts out to some mediocre pop cover like it was a chart topper sweeping the nation - OK, maybe it technically was one since all the monsters and Mewmans were absolutely enraptured by it. To any other observer, there wasn’t even necessarily anything special about what she was seeing - Chlóe’s perplexity was proof of that - but Jackie knew. Maybe what she had with Marco was never the most serious thing in the world, but she knew him well enough to understand the way he looked at Star as they twirled each other and grooved to the beat. Even Star accidentally tripping him and toppling the pair into a heap on the ground didn’t curb their abundant joy. Jackie quickly pulled out her phone and snapped a picture after they’d gotten back on their feet; she couldn’t help but capture the scene.

No sooner had she lowered the phone than Star dipped Marco down and gave him a quick peck on the lips; what phased Jackie far more was that Marco took it entirely in stride. During their time dating, they could barely even hold hands without him becoming a flustered mess. Heck, even just a few weeks ago he was a nervous wreck over their history. It was already obvious what - or who - had enacted such a change, but Jackie still wanted a closer look.

She signaled Chlóe to stay put and dove into the fairly sizable crowd to find a stealthy route to them. Ducking and weaving through the mingling humans and monsters, she found an open space only a few feet from them. Almost… almost… now! Jackie pounced forward, hoping to catch them off-guard, but mistimed it and collided with Marco right as Star spun him out of her embrace. He squealed at the impact and virtually launched himself backwards, sending Star to the ground in a fit of uproarious laughter. “Oh, Jackie, it’s you!” he said, eyes still wide from the shock.

“Jackie? Hi!” Star jumped up and forward to hug her, unconsciously lifting her in the air; that girl really didn’t know her own strength, did she? “How’s it going?”

“I’d rather ask you two that question,” she replied expectantly as she was set back on the ground. Star and Marco grinned and intertwined their fingers with far less hesitation than she would have expected. Well, there was the direct confirmation she sought. “Let me guess, you two had something to do with the whole Cleaving thing.”

Marco rubbed the back of his neck and glanced down at the ground sheepishly. “It’s a bit of a long story, but, uh, yeah, after-” His attention quickly snapped back to Jackie in a panic. “Oh man, your skateboard! And helmet! I’m so sorry Jackie, I just left it at the portal and then Star was there and I didn’t even think to grab it-”

“Dude, it’s fine, my uncle works for the company, remember? I care way more about hearing this story of yours, but that can wait. I should probably, uh, get back to my girlfriend and let you get back to yours.” As soon as the words left her mouth, the previous anxiety crept back in. She tried to shove it away with a casual wink, but her momentary wince didn’t go unnoticed. As she was walking away, she glanced back over her shoulder. “Well, I’m off to get food, see you guys later,” she said with an uneasy cheeriness..

Marco and Star exchanged a quick glance before they hustled over, the boy putting a hand on Jackie’s shoulder. “Hey, is everything OK? I think I’ve seen you not be totally chill, like, one time ever…”

“Eh, could be better.” A brief moment of silence ensued as she centered herself; of the things she’d taken away from her relationship with Marco, being able to admit that stuck with her most. “Chlóe’s heading back home soon and I’m just pretty bummed, you know?”

He took a moment before responding carefully. “Do you two want to join us? We were going to eat soon, too. I’m pretty sure I brought more than enough nachos for four people,” he nodded in the direction of a picnic basket behind him and chuckled. “It’s kind of our first date, or, um, our first ‘official’ one, anyway. I might have gone a bit overboard.”

“Classic Diaz,” Jackie sniggered. Star rolled her eyes affectionately while nestling into his side and wrapping herself around his arm.

“Don’t worry about it, guys, seriously. I don’t want to intrude, you two have probably dealt with enough heavy stuff lately.”

“Pfft, don’t worry about that We’d love to hang out with you guys! It could be, like, a casual double date or something!” Star chimed in while Marco casually leaned his head against hers.

“If you’re up for it,” Marco hastily added on.

Maybe this was what she needed. She’d spent enough time inside her own head lately that she wasn’t sure she’d be able to enjoy time with Chlóe unless something dragged the fun right out of her, and there wasn’t anyone better at that than these two. “Sounds like fun, I’ll go ask her. Given the legends I’ve heard about Marco’s nachos, I don’t think she’ll need too much convincing, though.”

***

“OK, wait, dude, back up a second. Janna hypnotized you to make you hate nachos? I don’t know if I can associate with someone who’d deprive someone else the joy of Mexican cuisine,” Jackie mock-sternly asked between bites. An assortment of dips and toppings in insulated containers were spread between the four teenagers as she reached over to restock her plate. Chlóe sat beside her with her legs out to the side, enjoying the dinner more than anyone. Echo Creek’s Mexican restaurants clearly didn’t stack up to this, and Jackie’s heart warmed at the sight as much as her queso heated her throat.

“Yeah, but she undid it just a few days ago. Did I mention that she called me her friend?”

“Are you guys sure she’s OK?”

“That’s what I said, Jackie!” Star mumbled out between cheeks comically overstuffed with chips.

“We just saw her yesterday, she’s fine. Well, whatever ‘fine’ is for Janna, anyway. She was happy we were together because it meant, and I quote, ‘so many more ways to blackmail’,” Marco groaned and plopped backwards onto the grass, rubbing his temple in frustration.

Star efficiently scooped up the last of the salsa on her plate with one last chip. “Anyway, I guess that’s the whole story. Weird how this feels normal in comparison.” She motioned down to the rest of the town from their vantage point on top of the hill, where they could see a monster family - easily a few stories tall - having a picnic of their own at least a mile away. Humans were lined up for blocks trying out some Mewni corn stalls that had sprung up around town, and Mewmans for their part had been putting almost every Earth shop at maximum capacity nonstop trying to experience their new world’s culture as well.

“Thank you for dinner, Marco and Star. It’s different having Mexican food that isn’t spicy pain, but I love the flavors, c'était magnifique.”

Jackie leaned back on her hands, thoroughly satisfied from the meal. “Yeah, Diaz, these lived up to the hype. Star’s a lucky girl.”

Star giggled as she helped a blushing Marco upright. The pair began to put away the empty containers into the basket when Star peeked inside with a quizzical expression. “Marco, what the heck is this thing?” She shoved one arm inside, clearly trying to grip something large. Her tongue hung out as she shook the whole basket until a large red disk came out.

“Star, dude, do you not know what a frisbee is?”

She immediately recoiled and flung the disk to the ground, but Marco quickly snagged it before it could roll away. “Sorry, thought you said freezbee. Their stings give you hypothermia. I wonder if they made it to Earthni…” All four teens collectively shuddered at the thought.

“Nah, it’s a disk you can throw at people. Back at skate camp, we had this game where everyone would be in the bowl and you’d have to throw and catch it while in the air. Bonus points for any fancy tricks you pulled off, it was totally sweet. But it’s still fun without the boards, wanna try?” Star nodded at Marco, who flicked the disk to her with a bit of a wobble in its flight. She planted her feet with a burning resolve, her tongue hanging out a bit in concentration. When the disk finally drew near, she jumped and plucked it from the air, whipping it in a frenzied overhead toss aimed directly at Chlóe, who gasped and nimbly pivoted to the side to avoid it, their eyes all bugging out of their heads when they noticed the massive dent in the earth left in the frisbee’s wake.

“I win at frisbee!”

The sun continued its trek towards the horizon as the four tossed the disk around, chatting and laughing and occasionally wiping out on the grass. Marco had shaken off the rust and Star was getting the hang of it once it was properly explained to her, but Jackie still found herself able to go into autopilot and still keep pace. She was going to miss moments like this, just casually enjoying the company of her girlfriend, after over half a year of being together almost all the time. Was this how Marco had felt that summer? She’d already known as much at the time, but feeling some inkling of it stirring inside her gave her a fresh sense of what it really meant, and it just downright sucked. But still, she was glad they were able to enjoy this time together and do something different.

Jackie finally realized that she hadn’t been tossed the frisbee for a few minutes, snapping her out of her rumination. Momentarily disoriented, she looked around until her eyes settled on Marco trying to help Star with her throwing technique. He stood behind her, hands gripping her wrists as he took them through the motions. After a few tries, though, it was pretty obvious that Star was just enjoying being held, and Marco seemed to be in no hurry to finish the lesson himself.

“OK, Marco, all this technique stuff is cool, but check this move out!” Jackie turned towards Star shouting the last few words as she tightened her arms in preparation for a throw. “Spinning Sonic Hug Throw!” She let out a grunt as she whipped the disk as hard as she could, letting her entire body spin on her toes a few times before stopping herself by latching onto Marco in a fierce embrace that almost knocked him off his feet. Marco giggled and returned the affection as Jackie and Chlóe cooed at the adorableness in front of them.

When the hug ended, the two gazed into each other’s eyes until Marco suddenly blinked and looked around. “Uh, Star? Where’s the frisbee?” A soft gasp came from Chlóe a moment later, and everyone followed her line of sight only to find the frisbee stuck in the upper branches of a massive red tree.

“For corn’s sake…” Star facepalmed. “Why do boxing elders have to be here? Like, I know everything from Mewni is here, but why here here, really...” her grumbles trailed off. Wait, did she mean box eld- right, never mind, everything on Mewni is some flavor of weird. Jackie shrugged off the disbelief and took a closer look: the red specks weren’t leaves, they were… boxing gloves? Of course they were.

“I want to climb it.” The voice of her girlfriend shocked her out of her disbelieving stare. She’d been introduced to the wild world of Star Butterfly mere days ago and she was already charging headlong into it?

“Uh, are you sure that’s a good idea, Chló? I don’t know that much about Mewni but if I had to guess, it probably can actually punch you.”

“They have mean left hooks,” Star affirmed nonchalantly.

“It’s covered in those things, dude, how can it have a left- wait, where’s Chlóe?” Jackie looked and saw her girlfriend running over towards the tree with determination etched into her visage.

“OK, my dad has fought enough of them that he’s basically an honorary tree at this point so I’ll go help Chlóe,” Star said before scrambling after her.

Jackie and Marco were the last to jog over towards the base of the tree, stopping a bit short of the base and watching their girlfriends navigate it. Chlóe deftly leapt from branch to branch, dodging all the flailing comically oversized gloves, while Star just kind of clambered up the trunk like a koala batting away all obstacles. Honestly, Jackie knew she should have expected it; Chlóe was fiercely competitive with her parkour, scoffing at the idea of a challenge left uncompleted. Her effortless maneuvering around all the physical hurdles of the Mewnian tree reignited some of her anxiety from earlier in the day.

“Hey, Marco, can I ask you something serious?” Jackie sat down on the grass, hugging her knees to her chest unconsciously, her eyes never leaving the action in front of her, although not out of fear: she was fully confident they could handle themselves.

He joined her on the ground. “Yeah, what’s up?”

“I know this sounds weird, since I was, like, there for all of it, but how did you deal with Star leaving?”

“I, uh, don’t really think I did. Remember that cape? Turns out it was just Star’s dad’s meat blanket the whole time. I don’t even know if he’d washed it first…”

“So that explains why you smelled like a sketchy diner that whole summer!” She finally looked over at him and jabbed his side with her elbow with a smile. “But how did you and Star figure everything out, or whatever? What’s gone through the ole’ Diaz noggin? We were always pretty terrible at the mind reader game, y’know.”

Marco leaned back on his hands and kept his gaze steadily focused on the tree with a loving grin; Star had, seemingly, tamed one of the thicker branches and was valiantly riding it into battle against the others while Chlóe watched incredulously from a safe spot near the top, frisbee in hand. “Honestly? I don’t really know. I- I don’t even think we do have everything figured out. But I guess I felt like… whatever life was going to be, I wanted Star in it more than anything, and just went from there.”

All at once, the truth about why this time was different hit her. She couldn’t say how serious it was, or exactly how she felt. She liked Chlóe a lot, and knew she’d be sad without her there, of course. But she was sure right now that she wanted to put in that effort to make things work, in whatever form that would have to take.

Star’s rapid-fire dialogue quickly became audible as she reapproached with Chlóe in tow, huffing deep breaths between each excited line. “Seriously, Chlóe, how did you even get up there so fast? You would’ve been so famous on Mewni! I guess you still could be now, heh.”

“It’s just parkour, it’s not that amazing.”

“Thanks. This helped, a lot. You’re a pretty good friend, Diaz,” she spoke quietly so only he could hear as the other two drew nearer.

Jackie stood up and shook out the numbness in her legs when the four reunited. The sun was starting to descend behind the horizon when Chlóe leaned her elbow onto Jackie’s shoulder. “Do you think we should leave soon?”

“Actually… I think the concert is still going on. Wanna go check it out, for real this time?”

Marco’s eyes lit up mischievously as he turned to Star, offering her his hand. “May I have one last dance tonight, milady?”

“Just because you’re cute when you say it doesn’t give you a pass, Marco,” Star fumed, still taking his hand anyway. Her face went a bit red when she remembered their friends were still there. “So, anyway, um…”

“Don’t wait up, we’ll be a bit still,” Jackie said, ignoring the suspicious look Chlóe was giving her. “We’ll definitely have to hang out more. Stay amazing, you two.” Jackie gave them each a hug before they turned to walk away.

“Bye Jackie! Bye Chlóe!” Star exuberantly waved at them as she and Marco departed hand-in-hand.

“Au revoir!” As soon as they were out of earshot, Chlóe stepped back and folded her arms, staring Jackie down with a sympathetic expression. “Are you sure you’re fine? You’ve been off all day.” Jackie’s vision roamed their surroundings, avoiding the soft yet piercing orbs trained on her from under her furrowed brow. Finally she found a crude stone bench near the edge of the hilltop, no doubt not from her own dimension. She cautiously took Chlóe’s hand and led them over to it, sitting down and looking over the wonder of the town in the sunset. Jackie lost herself in the splendor, finally feeling able to wholeheartedly enjoy the view, still keeping their fingers laced together.

“About earlier… it’s gonna suck being so far apart. I don’t think anything’s going to change that, really.” Chlóe slowly nodded, letting the words sink in as they both were finally coming to terms with the inevitable. Her eyes sunk to the ground before shutting entirely. “But I think that’s OK. I was all, like, worried that everything would go wrong just because of that, but… I don’t think that’s true, or at least I don’t want it to be.” She nervously laughed, brushing aside a stray hair from her face and finally met Chlóe’s eyes that had not wavered from her during the speech. “It’s not like I was ever thinking about breaking up or whatever, don’t get me wrong, Chló. Just took a while to figure out what I really needed to say, I guess.”

Chlóe put her free arm around Jackie’s shoulder. “Life goes on, you know? But I understand, I’ve been feeling the same way. We can make it work. You’ll have to come out to France sometime, I’m sure there’s all kinds of weird new things we can explore there, too.”

Jackie squeezed her girlfriend’s hand, reciprocating the comforting affection. “Heck yeah, we can. So, wanna go check out that concert?”

“Maybe not anymore. That tree climb was much tougher than I thought it would be, I’m exhausted.” They strapped on their helmets and grabbed their boards again, beginning their slow cruise through the park.

“Dude, you made it seem so easy, you just zoomed up to the top. You’re way too good, I still don’t know how you do it.”

“Merci, merci. But I’m still jealous of all the fancy tricks you can do on that board, so I guess we’ve even. Your friend Star, though, she’s special. I got to see someone tame a punching tree! Nothing in France could beat that,” she laughed in that squeaky way of hers that Jackie always found adorable.

“Marco, too. They’re both something else.”

As they neared the periphery of the park, they passed the concert one last time. The crowd had thinned out, leaving only a handful of the Mewmans and monsters behind. The schmaltzy ballad that the singer was warbling honestly offended her ears a little bit, but the crowd seemed to be mostly ignoring it except the two people she’d been looking for. Star and Marco were far enough from the main stage that Jackie was almost certain they could barely hear the music. If they’d been employing any sort of formal slow dancing technique, they’d long since abandoned it. Marco held Star’s signature horns in his hand, his chin resting on her head buried in his chest as they casually swayed. Jackie thought about waving goodbye, but they wouldn’t have noticed it from their own little world. And if they could still find that happiness together, despite everything, then maybe she didn’t need to worry that much; it would all be worth the trip.

[vulpinmusings]

Letters from Buxcord #3 - Bayou Basilisk

Mystery 3 of my group Monster of the Week campaign (See Episodes 1 and 2 here) concluded last night, wherein we had a most unpleasant experience in the local bayou.

Samantha,

I’ve struggled over whether or not to write this letter for weeks, uncertain if it’s worth the effort if I can’t even send it or the previous ones to you.  I just decided to keep carrying on for two reasons: because I know you’ll want to know my stories once I return and I’ll appreciate having these letters on hand as notes, and because writing them will make me retain a hope of returning eventually.  

I make a promise, I will get back to Taryn.

I just don’t know if it’ll be through my own efforts.

So, why was I so down?  I went to see Madam Weaver to see if she was as informed as her note claimed.  She lives in a somewhat run-down part of Buxcord, but her own house is in great shape.  Weaver’s an older lady and definitely well attuned to the ways of magic, although I can’t quite place what her personal style is yet.  She gave me some insight into this universe’s magic, and apparently the streams are individually far more potent than I’m accustomed to using, so my issues are less a matter of mis-aligned Weaving than creating overloaded Weaves.  That’s going to take a fair bit of time to adjust to; I may have to unlearn everything I’ve assumed about the ratio of strings in a Weave to the power and versatility of spells.

It could also be a result of magic not being as widely used here as it is in Taryn or most of the ‘verses along the Chain, or part of the fallout of recent events. Madam Weaver told me that not too long ago, but before I arrived in this universe, there had been an explosion of magic on the scale of a uranium bomb which had caused a kind of “refreshing” of the magical energy in the world.  That wave I suffered through prior to the incident with the pig-faced murder ghost might have been an aftershock of that explosion; if so, it’s the first one to have occurred.

None of that is what distressed me though.  What did it was Madam Weaver’s knowledge of inter-universe portals.  To summarize, if I wanted to create a stable portal to Taryn from Buxcord, I would need to sacrifice something that originates from my destination universe. Something more… substantial than some of my cards or other personal possessions. I’d have to give up part of myself.  The only other option right now is to sit tight and wait for someone – be it Rubia or that skvetchte Raposinho that got me into this mess in the first place or our friends at the end of the Chain – to figure out how to pinpoint my location in the multiverse and cast a portal my way.  And that without any of you actually having this letter in front of you to inform you of my situation!

Also, “True Name” magic is apparently more than just a charlatan's facade for coercion techniques in this universe.  I haven’t had any reason to question my defenses against such things here yet, except for the fact that I did get mind-controlled that one time by a form of magic I still don’t fully grasp...

Bah re...

Might as well put what just happened into this letter, try to end it on a more upbeat note.

Although magic is not a commonly accepted reality around here, I’ve managed to establish enough of a reputation as a solver of problems to pull in enough money to afford the rent on an apartment.  You’d laugh to see how empty it is, but I at least managed to acquire a couch so I have somewhere soft to sleep.  A few days after moving in, I was awakened by a knock on my door.  It was a young man leaning on a cane, one of my new neighbors who goes by Rocky.  He asked me for my help in locating his missing twin brother, William, who had left the previous evening claiming a sudden need to test one of the new boats at Bayou Boating, and had not returned.  Always eager to be doing something, and needing a bit of a refresher to the finances, I set off immediately.

My first clue that things were going to be more interesting than a simple missing person’s case was bumping into the ever-uncanny Nollthep just outside Bayou Boating.  Once again, the fellow was on an errand for his mysterious boss, who wanted a mage to lend them a hand.

I must admit, I’m growing slightly suspicious of Nollthep.  Last time we worked together, he was seeking a Wiccan, and after the pig-face was dealt with I saw Penelope Clemonte’s name on the official list of its victims, when I know she was in perfect health.  Now, here Nollthep was looking for a mage and being very intent on the word “hand.”  Partly out of my ever-honest nature and partly out of a desire to try and protect any innocents, I volunteered that I am a mage.

We went inside the Bayou Boating storefront to find the last member of the unofficial “Buxcord Weirdness Magnet” trio, Lea, observing the company’s boss, Fitz, dressing down two of his employees over a missing boat.  When questioned, none of them knew where William was but were willing to believe he was responsible for the missing boat.  Fitz had already called in the police and was in a very bad mood, so it took a lot of fast-talk and at least one dose of Lea’s charm magic to convince him to let us go out into the bayou with another of his precious fan-driven boats.  He only agreed on the condition that one of the employees, Piper, came with us and drove the boat.

Nollthep, in his usual straightforward style, dragged poor Piper out to the boat and hacked the mooring rope apart before anyone could make a move to untie it properly.  As we started out, following the usual route used for testing new boats, Piper and Lea realized they knew each other from early childhood and spent a while catching up.  I didn’t pay them too much mind, being more focused on looking for signs of William and his boat.  I don’t recall what I said, exactly, but some comment I made to Nollthep’s rambling prompted him to pull out his own eyes and swap them around, much to Lea’s horror. Somehow, Piper failed to notice the trick. How Nolly’s managed to last so long with next to nobody suspecting him of not being human, I may never know.

As we drove by the second of many islands in the bayou, we spotted a boat upturned on the shore.  Piper brought us in for a closer look, but after a thorough search of the island we found no signs of William or any other human presence.  As we boarded our boat, I saw Rocky in the near distance in a small motor boat, so we went over to ask him what he was doing.  After all, he’d asked me to do the bulk of the foot-work.  As Piper was helping him onto our craft, Lea spotted something moving in the water and floored the accelerator, nearly knocking the rest of us off our feet, and ramping off the back of the 20-foot long python that was starting to breach the surface.  As she was not sitting in the driver’s chair, Lea’s control over the boat was lacking, and we ended up whirling around and crashing into the snake and throwing everyone but Rocky into the water.  Nollthep sank like a rock and stayed under for a few seconds before teleporting himself back onto the boat.  As for myself, I managed to call up a swell of water to shove the snake back long enough for Rocky to drive over to us. Nollthep locked eyes with the snake and froze for a crucial moment before throwing a handful of his exploding powder, buying enough time for Piper to get out of the water.  As Lea was trying to follow suit, however, the snake charged in and slammed the boat, launching Lea into the air, where she proceeded to defy gravity until Rocky hooked his cane around her ankle and pulled her in.

The snake – basilisk, rather, for that’s what I soon determined it was – tried to wrap me in its coils as I struggled toward the boat, but Nollthep caught it around the neck with his chain of handkerchiefs, freeing me to climb back aboard and give the basilisk a perfunctory fireball in the face. Piper took control of the boat and whipped us around to head back to the docks at speed.  The basilisk made chase as Nollthep threw his cards at it to try and convince it to leave.  It didn’t break off, though, until Rocky leaned against Nolly for balance, raised his cane, and channeled a beam of ice magic through it at the basilisk.

I do seem to be attracting all the local mages as hoped, albeit slowly and sporadically.

The police still hadn’t arrived when we returned, and Fitz was none too happy to learn we’d basically accomplished nothing of note.  William was still MIA, the stolen boat was still marooned, and there was skvetchte big snake swimming around Bayou Boating’s tour area.  Actually, the snake bothered him far less than it should have, since he declared he fully intended to open the tours in two days’ time as scheduled, man-eating snake or no man-eating snake.

As we stepped outside to discuss our next move, Nollthep unexpectedly blinked away for about a minute and returned with a white dove that took an immediate and insistent interest in me and Rocky.  Nollthep claimed the bird, which he called Sven, was a new friend, but he seemed nervous and more jittery than usual with it around.

I wanted to consult with Madam Weaver about how to deal with the basilisk, to confirm its weaknesses and find out where to obtain what we would need, but I was uncertain about introducing her to Nollthep just yet, so I convinced him and Lea to let me go alone.  The Madam informed me that basilisks are fatally allergic to weasel blood and griffon tears and that the lab that had produced the Santa-squatch and not-deer from back around Yuletide might be able to provide the materials.

When I returned to Bayou Boating, I found Lea yelling at Nollthep about him attempting to kidnap Rocky via teleport and misplacing the man.  The police had also arrived in my absence and Lea had barely managed to convince them there was a dangerous snake in the bayou, so they were waiting on Animal Control rather than heading out in their own boat.

After assisting Lea in brow-beating Nolly into teleporting around town to find Rocky, Lea and I made our way to the lab.  Nollthep popped into the lab well ahead of us, much to the annoyance of Professor Thomas, before rejoining us just outside and proceeding to annoy the professor again via the intercom.  I shoved Nolly aside and told the professor our reason for coming, and he invited Lea and me in.  Nollthep had to stay outside, as Thomas believed he’d done something bad to the former Professor Case.  So, that was another mark against Nolly…

As it turns out, Professor Thomas’s lab holds a wide variety of tissue and fluid samples from all kinds of creatures, mundane and Mythic, explaining where Case had acquired the materials to make his Christmas monsters.  Thomas handed over a vial of weasel blood without much comment, but was hesitant to give up his only sample of griffon tears, as he was hoping to use them to save the beasts from either current or eminent extinction.  We managed to come to an agreement: I could have the tears in exchange for bringing Thomas a sample from the basilisk, Nollthep, or both.  It was a fair enough deal.

Back at Bayou Baoting, Lea went inside to work her magic on Fitz so we could take a boat out again. While she was doing that, Nollthep got the bright idea of building a boat of our own using the wood from the docks.  He ripped out a good part of a pier before I managed to stop him, and he only did a half-baked job at fixing the damage, all the while twitching under the stare of the dove that I’m sure is not actually a dove which was still insisting on using me as a perch.

Lea came back with Piper in tow, and we launched back into the bayou.  As we neared the island where we’d found the basilisk the first time, Nollthep saw something hanging in a tree and swam over for a closer look.  As the boat drew nearer, I saw Rocky’s cane floating in the water, fished it out, and then looked up to see that it was Rocky himself stuck in the tree.  I tried to levitate him down, but I must have over-corrected for the power difference because the spell fizzled quickly.  Lea jumped out to catch Rocky and wound up floating under her own power again.  As I held out the cane for them to use to haul themselves back aboard, the basilisk’s head emerged from behind the tree and locked eyes with me.

Some say the stare of a basilisk is instant death, but I can say with authority that the Buxcord variety at least merely instills a partial paralysis.  Lea panicked and tried to fly away, dropping Rocky onto the boat and drawing the beast’s attention.  It lunged at her as Nollthep, who had teleported back to the boat, tried to hit it with his explosive powder and only succeeded in momentarily blinding everyone on board.

While I struggled to overcome the double disadvantage of sluggish muscles and abused retinas, the basilisk bit Lea in the leg and pulled her into the water. She she reacted by causing a nearby tree to slam into and ensnare the snake.  As Lea climbed aboard the boat, Nollthep lassoed the basilisk to try and pull it closer and I applied a Tangler to twist its head around for a dose of weasel blood and griffon’s tears.

Lea, in a panic and maybe a bit delirious from basilisk venom, attempted to fly away.  Nollthep pulled her back to the boat so he and Rocky could attempt first-aid. Nollthep revealed a rare moment of actual knowledge in attempting the method of sucking the venom out of Lea’s wounds, which he actually managed to do.  He then swallowed the venom, revealing the incompleteness of his knowledge.  Rocky’s contribution was to try and seal the bite wound with ice.

As this was going on, I was force-feeding the basilisk.  The weasel blood and griffon tears didn’t kill it immediately, but it still had a violent reaction. Convulsions and blood from the mouth, all that good “dying from the inside out” stuff.  Lea and I sped the process up via another tree slammed into the basilisk’s back and an explosive fireball to the head.

Meanwhile, Nollthep tried to expel the venom from his system as quickly as possible and shed around half his skin in the process, much to Rocky’s disgust.

I grabbed a floating chunk of basilisk from the water and bit of Nolly hide, figuring there was no sense in not giving Thomas both of the things he’d requested if they were both available.

Once we got back to shore, Rocky and Piper loaded Lea into a golf cart and took her to the hospital, adamantly denying Nollthep’s request to join them.  Once the two of us were alone, putting aside that creepy dove, I took the opportunity to lay out a long list of advice for Nollthep regarding his erratic, uncanny, and decidedly not-human behavior.  He thanked me for the input, and we went our separate ways.

I had pegged Nollthep for a non-human from the start, and that engendered a feeling of camaraderie with him, but I find myself starting to question the wisdom of treating him as an ally.  Even ignoring his version of normal behavior, which has grown harder and harder to excuse over the months, there have been two instances of people who Nollthep has shown high interest in and survived encounters with dangerous entities only to later come to harm.  Once is chance and twice is coincidence, but if something happens to Rocky or someone at Bayou Boating…

I’m not sure what I’ll do, yet, but it probably won’t end well.

So much for upbeat endings.

- Ash

[lujsnatic-blog]

Aldo Guerrero “Nollie Shove- It”, Sullivan CDMX. 

[mirei-sk8]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by mireisk8 (@mireisk8)

ノーズ・マニュアル・ショウビット・アウト からの～ フリースタイル・ノーリー・360ショウビット Nose Manual Shove-It Out to Freestyle Nollie 360 Shove-It #moonshineskateboards #moonshinefreestyle  #xsunified #xsunifiedjp #lipsandtips #nuevo #アスリートヘルスtoruza #ladyshine_official #shigarakidyaya #信楽茶屋 #vayorela #bombers #skateslate #lineblog #skatergirl #freestyleskateboarding #NSSU #日本ローラースポーツ連盟 #JRSF #東京都ローラースポーツ連盟 https://www.instagram.com/p/B3ZQiL7hqgZ/?igshid=1v6rp0uq9g9q8

[cigarettesandcoffee]

"Do ye ever think about it? About him?"

A voice, naturally rugged, gruff even, was hoarse, stained from dryness, inflammation brought on by stress; screaming. Waking nightmares followed by an episode of sleep paralysis had left him more than shaken; it was the fourth in a string of nights filled with the occurrences. And it was clear that it was having an affect on his mental stability, his peace of mind. He'd called one of the only people who would understand.

Perched on his window sill, legs folded pretzel style, cigarette in hand, Sicily rubbed her makeup-less face; in her pajama shorts and a tank top, having woken up to rush over to her brother's home. A soft sniffle as she fiddled with the smoke between her fingers.

"Yeah. I think about him sometimes." She admitted, staring down at Nollaig's folded hands as he sat on the edge of his bed. "I can remember the day we were pulled out of there like it was yesterday." She added meekly, bringing her cigarette to her lips to take a drag before flipping it about and offering it to her sibling.

Noll glanced up hesitantly, but accepted the smoke, taking a long drag himself. Sicily watched him through somber eyes, picking at the pilling on her shorts absentmindedly. There was another long pass of wordless quiet, only the sound of the analog clock on the wall broke what would otherwise be silence.

A breath of hesitation, and thought, but Sissy finally spoke up once more, "Something brought this on, didn't it?" She rhetorically inquired, dropping her eyes back down, "You don't have to tell me what, but I-"

"We caught Crowley keepin' two young girls locked in'at fuckin' pissant shithole he called a fuckin' mansion." Nollaig bluntly informed her, licking the inside of his cheek. "McCullough got a tip, found...fuckin' tapes in'is bag at't office. Labeled wit'er fuckin' ages written on'em." He grinded his teeth, his leg beginning to bounce as his frustration rose. "All I fuckin' saw in those girls' eyes was everythin' Phillip had done't ye and Arleth." He all but grunted as if it physically pained him to spit out the words.

"They didn't even seem phased anymore, Sis, like they had accepted it. Made me fuckin' sick. He was under our fuckin' noses, and we all turned a God damned blind eye because he was linin't IRA's pockets enough fer us apparently not't give a fuck who's money we shove down our fuckin' pie holes anymore." He raked a hand back through his hair and shook his head, "How many fuckin' times am I ganna fail't protect't people around me?"

"Nolly, you couldn't have known what that bastard was like." Sissy interrupted, getting up to take the cigarette from him to put it out before kneeling in front of him. "And you were just a kid when Phillip did all that shit." She added, taking his free hand with both of hers.

"I was the oldest then! I could've done more't keep him away from Arlie and ye and I didn't. I was bigger - had more power't stop him an' I just-... I fuckin' failed the lot of ye." He choked, avoiding eye contact as he brought his spare hand to cover his face as the corner of his eyes singed with the threat of tears. "I keep seein' Arlie's face when he grabbed her by the neck an' I just laid there-"

Sissy propped up on her knees and wrapped her arms around her brother's shoulders, pulling his head down into her neck to hold him close, stroking his hair soothingly. "Don't you fucking dare. You did everything you could to protect us, Nollaig. You let him beat you near unconcious so we could escape, none of what happened after is your fault." She adamantly opposed, kissing his head, "You taught me how to use a knife, you taught me how to fight back. We would have never gotten out without you being our brother. And those girls would have never gotten out without you giving a shit and taking action."

She squeezed him tighter, "You'll always be my hero, okay?"

[powellperaltaskateboards]

Out in Idaho at Jerome Skatepark with a solid crew: Charlie Blair, Brad McClain, Scott Decenzo, Ben Hatchell, Brodie Penrod, Gavin Bottger, and Hollywood Martinez

Brodie Penrod - Flatground 360 Kickflip then Kickflip down the drop

Scott Decenzo - Backside Tailslide Shove into the ramp

Scott Decenzo - Kickflip Backside Noseslide to fakie

Brodie Penrod - Backside Crooked Grind, Nollie 360 Kickflip into the ramp

Ben Hatchell - Early Grab over tabletop, carve corner, backside revert, halfcab nose manual into nosegrind backside 180 into the ramp, half cab frontside blunt stall, then frontside smith grind spine transfer to fakie

Brad McClain - Hurricane grind, frontside air, backside lipslide

Charlie Blair - Ollie then ollie again

Charlie Blair - Spine Transfer air

Gavin Bottger - Slob Plant to fakie

Gavin Bottger - Frontside Boneless 360

Hollywood Martinez - Frontside Hip Air

Hollywood Martinez - Backside Bluntslide yank in to fakie

[ardenkostcas]

Service

Last week I went skateboarding and taught my friend how to nollie frontside shove it on a hip. This is quite an advanced trick as it requires sufficient switch board control. After telling him to lean forward and to go a bit faster immediate progress was observable. After a half an hour of attempts he got quite close and soon he landed it. He even managed to get it in a line. This service improved my teaching skills.

[betterskatethannever]

Kai Kishi // introducing April skateboards

[elcubocr]

Fin de semana por @cdmx_oficial #chipotle #tour #2022 🌶🇲🇽 Foto 1: El crew en las pirámides de Teotihuacán. Foto:2 @dcarnival Back tailslide shove it. Foto 3: Chillin’ after sesh. Foto 4: @ricardogutierrezs Crooks. Foto 5: @dcarnival 360 flip. Foto 6: @ricardogutierrezs Nollie front heel. Foto 7: @ricardogutierrezs Stressed!!! Foto 8: @garrettsadystical Flip! Foto 9: @ricardogutierrezs Backside heel. Foto/video: @carlopoveda Edición: @snake_and_dragon_studio (at Ciudad de Mexico CDMX) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfK2gZvu8s7/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[novipedia]

How To Heelflip 59

The heelflip can open the door for other versatile moves, advancing your skate game and taking it to the next level. Be patient and practice the right timing, the correct front foot position to get the perfect flip of the board as well as how hard you need to kick the board.

360 Inward Heelflip Skateboarding Wiki FANDOM powered

To perform a varial heelflip, your fingerboard needs to rotate 180 degrees or.

How to heelflip. How to do an impossible on a skateboard. In the 1980s, skateboarder rodney mullen brought about the age of flip tricks. You want to slide your front.

You want to place your front foot just behind the front bolts with your toes hanging off the edge. Ride in nollie stance and take your back finger off the board to pop the board up 90 degrees, then use your back finger to heelflip and land. Learn how to bring your heelflip to ledges and rails with tech master manny santiago.

How to video number 3: With an inward heelflip, your back foot isn’t as important as you think. While doing the pop for the heelflip, the difference between the two moves arises.

Learn how to land it. Steps to do a successful heelflip are: Like the kickflip, the heelflip should start out feeling like an ollie.

Now let’s move on to step by step technique to learn heelflip: He teaches you the skills to make this impressive trick comfortable, starting small and working your way up to ledges and rails. The heelflip!just a little overview of how i do heelflips.

While a kickflip requires you to push your front finger down on the side closest to you, a heelflip requires you to curve your front finger while flicking it down on the opposite side of the nose to cause it to flip away from you. What is lip trick thps? For those of you guys who have tried landing a heelflip or don't know how to do them, here is an easy guide on how to heelflip.

I hope it helps someone.like i said in the video, if you need more help o. How to grind and do lip tricks. How to do a casper flip on a skateboard;

A heelflip is done by pressing left + flip (square/x) in goofy, and right + flip in regular stance. Save time learning this awesome tech combo trick with manny’s pro insights. Get everything you need to learn how to skateboard at brailleskateboarding.combecome a member of braille army+, the.

After the heel of your front foot has left the nose, the board starts to flip or rotate. Keep your eyes focused on the area around the nose of the board and get ready to see your board flipping underfoot. Give the board a clean, hard pop!

The heelflip trick is an important move for every skater to master. While popping the skateboard into the air, you will need to kick the heel of the foot in the front, forward. Your body and your shoulders maintain a forward facing, upward trajectory during the execution of the heelflip.

Your front foot should be in your normal heelflip position, but a little lower down on your board. The heelflip is a skateboard trick in which the rider's front foot heel flicks the deck, making it spin along its axis. Before you learn how to heelflip, you’ll want to know how to ollie at least a foot, since you need some height for the trick.

In order to perform this trick, you need to be able to land both a heelflip and a pop shove it successfully. Land on the deck (after a rotation) keep practising; An inward heelflip is the opposite of the trick above in a way.

Set up your feet with the ball of your back foot on the tail. How do you heelflip the kicker gap? Once your front foot is off the skateboard, you point your toes up to the air and kick your front foot outwards completely in front of you, while flicking the skateboard with your heel.

The heelflip is one of the best in skateboarding, but also one of the most difficult. A varial heelflip is a combination between a pop shuvit and a heelflip. Some people find it easier to stick their toes further off their board, but this is something you’ll have to experiment with.

Press triangle on ps4 or y on xbox one when you’re approaching a horizontal edge to begin a grind.lip tricks require the same button, but you just need to skate up to a. This will make it flip with the kick of your heel. How to rock to fakie on a skateboard;

A heelflip is executed similarly to the ollie, and like the ollie has become a defining trick of new school skateboarding [citation needed].