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lifeofclonewars · 4 years

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Zoolffe, Stinker, Zoost, Gonet, and Glo Koon

Did someone say modern AU!Wolfpack? No? Here you go anyway. This is long than I originally anticipated. Part 4 of Pun Wars but, as always, can be read alone. AO3 link in the post below on my blog if you’d prefer to read it that way.

Summary:

Grr has renamed Curveball to Stinker

Stinker Hey!

Booster Seat You should’ve seen that coming, vod’ika

Stinker Maybe, but that doesn’t make me like it any more

In which Wolffe helps his buir watch over his brothers (including Boost) at the zoo, Sinker acts like the little brother he is, Comet gets lost, and Plo gets decked in glow sticks.

—–

Wolffe wanted to help his buir out, he really did. But his vod’ikase seemed to have doubled in mischief-making since he left for college ten months ago. Now, home for the summer after his freshman year, he could point out all the things that had changed in the months he’d been away.

Like Boost’s haircut. Were all fifteen-year-olds that moody and prone to shaving most of their hair and dying it red? Wolffe had always been grouchy— since he was a baby and likely would be till he died— so he couldn’t use himself as a base of reference. But seriously, what had Boost been thinking? It wasn’t even ginger or anything close to that. Nope, he had to go full-blown maroon.

Not that Sinker had been any better. The thirteen-year-old’s hair was silver. Upon seeing it, Wolffe had not been able to tell if it had been the result of a prank, dare, or just sheer free will. He had told Sinker it made him look like a tiny, old man. The brat had kicked his shin and told him it looked cool in retaliation. A few weeks later and he still didn’t know, and he didn’t plan on finding out.

Comet, thankfully, hadn’t changed his hair. But he was ten, so it was bound to happen in a few years. Rather, the little rascal had taken to playing more pranks, mouthing off often, tackling Sinker and Boost (and once, an off-guard Wolffe, not that he’d admit it out loud), and then acting like a total sweetheart in front of their dad. He wasn’t quite at the teenage-brat stage Sinker had begun and Boost was well into but it was on the horizon.

“Yes! We’re finally here!” Boost exclaimed, pumping his fist in the air. The car made its way through the parking lot while their dad chuckled from the driver’s seat.

Boost, Wolffe, and Comet sat in the back, allowing Sinker the passenger’s seat. A year ago, the teen might have boasted about it, but now it was automatic. Comet was still too young and, well…Wolffe and Boost hadn’t felt too good about sitting in the front since—

Now wasn’t the time to think about that.

The maroon-haired teen had been the most excited about the trip to the zoo. He had pleaded and pleaded and even made a presentation he proudly gave. Buir had entertained him and sat through it, then revealed the presentation hadn’t been necessary: he had already decided on a date for them to go. Now that the day had arrived, Boost was practically vibrating in his seat from anticipation.

“Yes, it appears we are,” their dad responded. “Look at all this pandamonium.” He parked the car under a little sign with a cartoon panda displayed. Groans rang through the vehicle. The puns had begun.

“Well, at least we’ll remember where we parked,” Sinker muttered under his breath. Wolffe rolled his eyes at his little brother. Thankfully, since he sat behind said brother, Sinker couldn’t see or react to it.

The five Koons clambered out of the car and headed for the entrance. Buir led the way and Wolffe brought up the rear, making sure his brothers didn’t stray too far from each other. Soon enough, tickets were bought and shown and bags were checked and the family was in the zoo.

At the first bench, they set down their two backpacks. “Alright,” buir stated, pulling out two things of sunscreen. “Let’s get this over with.” He handed one to Wolffe and they set to work, applying it to themselves and to the little rascals. After that, baseball caps were placed on heads, and sunglasses passed out. Wolffe took the backpack buir didn’t grab, and then they set off to see the Big Cats at Boost’s request.

“Tigers, lions, and bears, oh my!” Comet said as they approached. Since he was ten, he was starting to get the hang of some of the references his aliit made that weren’t strictly cartoons. He’d been eagerly adding his own to the mix. Sinker smiled at him and gently punched his shoulder.

“Oh my, for sure, though the bears aren’t over here. Just wait ‘til the dad jokes for this start.”

Not a minute later, buir, being dragged along by Boost, who had a firm grasp on his hand, turned to his other sons and said, “Why are tigers terrible storytellers?”

Sinker sighed and indulged him. “Why?”

“Because they only have one tail!”

Boost snickered, coming to a stop in front of the tigers. Without looking at the plaque with information, he began to spit out facts about the striped cats.

Buir listened, giving Boost his full attention. While Wolffe appreciated the care his dad was showing, that left him to make sure Comet didn’t try to climb up anything either. That was another habit he’d picked up. Most kids are little monkeys when they’re younger because they found it fun and were curious; Comet just liked to make things difficult for his ori’vod.

Instead of climbing on the railing, Comet had apparently made up his mind to try to dig his feet into Wolffe’s back and try to climb up him instead. Wolffe grunted when he landed a solid jab in his side but otherwise didn’t react.

The little monkey somehow succeeded and clung to his older brother piggyback style. How he did it around the backpack was beyond Wolffe. Comet thumped his forehead against the back of Wolffe’s head.

“Hey, hey Wolffe,” he said. “I wanna go see the penguins.”

Sinker perked up at that. “I wanna see the penguins, too!” It was the most excited he had looked yet.

Boost, having finished his ramblings, overheard his brothers. He frowned. “But I’m not done here!"

"I can take Comet and Sinker by myself,” Wolffe found himself offering. Hmm.

Now buir was frowning at him. “Are you sure you want to, Wolffe?”

“I can handle it,” he reaffirmed.

“Alright. Keep your phone on and stay together! Be safe, have fun."

"Yep, we got it, buir. Bye!” Sinker was now the one to grab Wolffe’s hand and drag him along. “C'mon, you big lump nugget."

"I’ll send you all the jokes!” Boost called out as they left.

Sinker grunted as he pulled Wolffe along. “I come up to your shoulder now, this shouldn’t be this hard!"

"Comet’s still on my back,” he reminded. Comet waved from where he was. It’s not like Wolffe was being particularly cooperative with the pulling, either. Sinker didn’t seem to register that, though.

“Oh.” He dropped his grip on Wolffe’s hand, giving up. He pulled a map out of who-knows-where, double-checking they were headed in the right direction.

“Stay in sight,” Wolffe reminded. Sinker nodded and moved to Wolffe’s right but didn’t take his hand. “Sinker.” Wolffe turned his head to look at him.

Sinker turned, eyebrows scrunched together. “What?” A beat. “Oh, right! The eye…” He switched to Wolffe’s left easily.

“That’s better.”

They continued on their way, occasional comments coming from Comet. Things like, “Wow, I feel so tall. Maybe I’ll be taller than you one day, Wolffe!” and “This is farther than the map looked.“ Once, even, "That cloud looks like Boost when he’s mad,” which got a few chuckles.

Wolffe’s phone buzzed twice when they were almost to the exhibit.

Chat: The Wolfpack

Booster Seat

Why don’t leopards play hide and seek? They’re always spotted!

Curveball

Wayii!

Wolffe shook his head at the messages and put his phone back in his pocket. The small group rounded the corner, and they came across a small building, appropriately decorated with various kinds of penguins. A mixture of photographs and drawings spanned the sign reading “Lina Soh Penguin Cove” and accompanying wall.

Comet jumped off his back and would’ve made a run for the exhibit, had Wolffe not managed to snag the collar of his t-shirt and hold him back. Together, they calmly made their way in, thank you very much.

Once inside, both Sinker and Comet took off their sunglasses. Sinker placed his on the bill of his cap, while Comet took them completely off and hung them on his shirt.

“Aren’t you going to take yours off?” Comet asked.

“Nope.” Enough rude people had openly stared at him already today because of the scar. He didn’t need the added attention a visible prosthetic eye brought.

“Oh, okay.” Wolffe patted his vod'ika on the back, then shifted his hand to Comet’s shoulder to make sure he didn’t run over the people in front of them. He struggled against the grip for a moment but stopped when Wolffe’s grip tightened a smidge.

Comet stopped in front of every single exhibit for at least a few minutes. He rooted himself to the spot when they reached the one that had a few rockhopper penguins— according to the sign on the glass— waddling around. His eyes brightened, jaw dropping slightly as he tugged on Wolffe’s shirt to grab his attention.

“Those guys are like Lovelace in Happy Feet!”

Sinker chuckled next to him. “Yep. I gotta say, that was not what I expected you to say.”

The youngest scrunched his nose, eyes narrowing at his silver-haired brother. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“It means you’re unpredictable,” Wolffe deadpanned.

Sinker made a face at Wolffe and answered Comet himself. “No, it means that movie is older than you so I didn’t expect you to make a reference to it.”

“You didn’t say anything when I referenced The Wizard of Oz earlier!”

“That’s a classic! Everyone knows it! But a movie from over te—”

“One of them is walking this way,” Wolffe interrupted. If the duo kept that up, he was bound to have a headache by the end of the day. Nevermind the fact he’d volunteered himself for this.

Comet and Sinker snapped their heads to the exhibit where, as per Wolffe’s word, a rockhopper penguin was waddling closer and closer to the glass. They gasped in unison and Wolffe couldn’t help but shake his head fondly at his vod’ikase. It was like they’d never seen one before despite what they had just been arguing about.

There was a small rock formation that served as a perch for the penguins to get close to the visitors. The glass was tall enough people couldn’t just reach in and steal a penguin or for a penguin to somehow hop their way out of the exhibit without a zookeeper there. The one Wolffe had pointed out had swum the small pool of water between the rocks to waddle along the perch. Comet waved to the flightless bird when it looked his way and it tilted its head.

Comet gasped. “Did you see that? He saw me!”

Sinker peered at the sign on the glass. “This says his name is Vandor.”

“Hi, Vandor!” Comet said. His smile stretched wider, bright enough it nearly melted the ice in the room. Sinker took out his phone, taking pictures of Vandor and Comet interacting.

It took them another forty-five minutes to make their way through the rest of Penguin Cove. After his interaction with Vandor, Comet demanded they stop in front of each exhibit and read the signs to learn each and every individual penguin’s name. From there, he would find where each of them was, call out their name, and try to get them to react to him. He was remarkably successful with a good percentage of them. All the while, Sinker took pictures and videos, undoubtedly sending some to buir and Boost.

Right before the exit, Wolffe stopped his brothers and made them put their sunglasses on again. Using the lull, Sinker announced, “Buir sent me a dad joke in response to the pictures.” Wolffe gestured for him to continue. “Why don’t penguins fly? They aren’t tall enough to be pilots.”

Comet burst into giggles. “Hey, that’s a pretty good one.”

“For buir’s standards, yeah, it is,” Sinker agreed.

Wolffe held back an eye roll. “Where do you gremlins want to go next?” he asked instead.

His question prompted Sinker to pull out the map again. “Hmm. Well, I want to go to the primate house but that’s a long ways away. We should go somewhere closer first, right?”

“That would be preferable, yes.”

Comet tugged Sinker’s arm lower so he could see the map as well. “The polar bears are close.”

“I’m okay with that.”

“Great, that’s where we’re headed, then.” Wolffe took the map this time and placed it in the backpack. His phone buzzed again as he slung the bag across his shoulders.

Booster Seat

What do you call an alligator who solves mysteries? An investigator!

“I guess we know where those two are now,” Sinker commented.

The group spent a decent amount of time at the polar bears, though not as long as the penguins. From there, they saw the bears, which were just across the way from the polar bears. Sinker and Comet made a wide array of comments. From “They look meaner than any teddy bear I’ve ever seen” to “That one looks like Warthog” (which got some strange looks since Warthog was their bulldog), to even “Why are so many of them sleeping?”

After that, Comet got restless. He began to fidget more and Wolffe’s worries he’d start to climb up something he shouldn’t increased. While reapplying sunscreen, the truth finally came out: he wanted to switch groups. Wolffe had to pull up the family group chat to ask.

Chat: The Koon Cocoon

Howl are you?

Comet wants to join your group. Where are you?

Buir

We’re by the hyenas

Howl are you?

He says nevermind then

Ghosty Boi

Lol

Buir

Would you like to meet up for lunch?

Howl are you?

I think my bag has all the packed lunches, so that’d work best

Buir

Great. How about the playground by the children’s zoo? Around 12:30

Hook, Line, and—

Works for me

Howl are you?

Sounds good

They had another half an hour to kill before they had to set out towards the meeting area. Sinker insisted they went to the wolf exhibit, “‘cause you gotta see your namesake, Wolffe!” and because it was conveniently on the way to the playground. With a sigh, Wolffe relented and they made their way to it.

Once there, they noticed none of the wolves were outside; rather, they had all gone to the indoor section of their exhibits. The “Lothal Wolf Lodge,” as it was so aptly named, had a striking resemblance to the outside of the Great Wolf Lodge water parks.

“I think they should rename it the Wolffe Koon Lodge,” Sinker said as they entered.

“We don’t have the money for a donation big enough for that,” Wolffe responded.

Sinker huffed. “Well, maybe I’ll become a millionaire so I can and I’ll tell them to name it after you when I’m older. It’s a pun! It has to be done!”

“I thought you didn’t like puns,” Comet said. “You always groan when buir says them.”

“That’s because they’re dad jokes,” Sinker replied. “Puns on their own are okay. When said by dads is when they decline.”

“You make puns sometimes,” Comet pointed out. “Which might make them dad jokes in the future.”

Sinker cringed. “Let’s not think that far into the future.” He turned to the first exhibit and ignored his brothers. Wolffe chuckled lightly and followed his younger brothers through the lodge.

After Comet and Sinker debating which wolf looked most like Wolffe and which one acted most like him, they agreed they were hungry enough to head the rest of the way to the meetup. Which was fortunate; had they taken any longer, Wolffe would’ve had to herd them outside himself.

Comet climbed up onto Wolffe’s back once again, but not before Sinker was handed the backpack. It must’ve been more comfortable for him but it meant Wolffe got more pokes to his head and shoulders as Comet distracted himself as they walked. There was no reason for the poking— he was just acting on his little brother instincts, it seemed.

The playground they met at had equipment that was styled after different African animals. Slides, swings, monkey bars, and plenty of picnic benches and grass. Given the time, the area was crawling with families of all sizes and ages. Shrieks, laughs, and the gentle murmur of talking floated through the air as they approached.

Looking around, no open picnic benches were available. Something waving out of the corner of his eye caught Wolffe’s attention. He turned left towards it. There was Boost, waving both arms as obnoxiously as possible at a table he and buir had managed to secure. Sinker took off, as fast as a hunting lion, excited at the prospect of food. He tore the bag off his shoulders and opened it, digging around for his lunch box with only a breathy “Hi” to greet their dad.

Wolffe walked over and set Comet on the ground by the time Sinker and Boost had found their lunches and started eating. “Hi, buir,” he greeted.

Buir smiled. “Hello Wolffe, Comet. Glad you could make it safely.”

“Hi, buir!” Comet exclaimed. “I have so much to tell you about what we saw!” Delighted, buir beckoned Comet over and they sat together as the ad’ika began to talk his ears off.

Soon enough, everyone had eaten their lunches and shared anecdotes of their day. Boost was ecstatic the day was turning out so well; it had been his idea, after all.

Shoving his scraps into the closest trash can, Boost raced back over. “Okay, so I looked it up and the next dolphin show takes place in about twenty minutes. That gives us the perfect amount of time to walk over there and find good seats in time for it to begin. What do you guys think?”

“A dolphin show? That sounds pretty cool,” Sinker said. Comet nodded his agreement.

“It’s settled then,” buir announced, clapping his hands together. “We’re all going to the show.”

The three youngest cheered. Once the table was cleaned up and back to how it was before they used it, the aliit set off. Once again, Boost and buir led the way with Wolffe in the back and the other two between them. Already, the afternoon was set up to be intriguing, to say the least.

—

The dolphin show had actually been rather fun. Boost had wanted to sit in the splash zone and had to be reminded they didn’t have any extra clothes with them. Apparently, the prospect of walking around in wet clothes wasn’t appealing, as he then advocated for two rows above the splash zone. They did sit exactly two rows above it, close enough for some droplets to hit them but no need for ponchos or a change. Buir made one pun, letting the zookeepers make the rest (there were plenty): this show is fintastic!

After that, the Koons had gone into the section of the Chuchi Aquatics Center to see the dolphins underwater. Along with that, they were also able to see seals, orcas, and a cute little otter family that waved at Comet and Sinker. On the other hand, poor Boost couldn’t get them to wave to him.

“It’s because you stink since you never take showers. They can smell it through the glass,” Sinker teased. Of course, that led to buir and Wolffe temporarily separating the two before they could start arguing.

While the aquatics had been fascinating, Wolffe’s vod’ikase were still a tad restless, energy levels high from their lunches. As a result, they walked back over to the playground they had eaten lunch at. Upon arriving there, Comet noticed the Organa Family Children’s Zoo and detoured them towards that instead.

Buir let the pups free once inside. The children’s zoo consisted of a building with multiple activities and an outdoor, fenced in-area with a petting zoo, a small aviary, and other outdoor games. Coloring sheets, a stuffed animal hospital, mini-classes, matching games, and more spanned the inside. Hopscotch, more lessons, and even a see-saw enhanced the outdoor experience.

Boost ran for one of the lessons, Sinker for the aviary, and Comet for some sort of puzzle.

Buir took interest in the signs on a bulletin board, announcing upcoming events. A multicolored, vivid poster caught his attention. He beckoned Wolffe over and tapped on the poster. “How does this seem?”

In tree-frog green read “Glow and Behold, a Fluorescent-Themed Event for all ages!” A quick scan through told it was happening tonight, after sundown, for guests who paid extra for passes. Zookeepers would be showing off the bioluminescent critters the zoo had, have glow-in-the-dark activities, and have a few presentations and shows along the same theme.

He hummed. “I think Boost will like it. Comet will like the excuse to stay up later. Sinker might want to go just for the glow sticks.”

Buir chuckled. “Yes, that was what I was thinking. Would you like to go?”

Wolffe shrugged. “I’m fine with it either way. But if it’ll make them happy, I’m more willing to stay.”

“I guess that means we’re going to go, then. I’ll just need to purchase the tickets. Can you watch your brothers while I go do that?”

“Yeah, that won’t be too hard in here. What are we going to do about dinner?”

“I’m sure we can find a reasonable enough restaurant somewhere in this zoo.” Buir took a picture of the poster, probably as a reminder of exactly what he was buying tickets for when he got to wherever was selling them.

“Alright, be safe and quick.”

Buir grinned at him. “Always, Wolffe. Keep your brothers out of trouble.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

With a pat on the back, buir left. Wolffe found an empty seat and sat down. He took the chance to look through the notifications that had built up over the day. He’d only been looking at the chat ones so far. His brothers kept themselves occupied. Even if Boost and Sinker may have been on the upper end of the age range the children’s zoo was aimed at, they nevertheless found things to do and methods to have fun. At one point, Boost convinced the other two to join him in one of the lessons. They came back over to Wolffe afterward, spouting fun facts about pachyderms.

Before he knew it, buir had returned, tickets safely tucked into his backpack. They spent a good hour more in the children’s zoo, leaving only once Boost got antsy to see the snakes and, as Comet put it, “other slippery, slimy creatures.” There, another dad joke was told: Why are snakes difficult to fool? You can’t pull their leg! Boost jumped at the opportunity to hold a boa constructor when a zookeeper offered. Sinker stayed a safe distance away and took pictures, laughing at some of the faces he caught on camera.

Snakes, then the hoofed animals such as zebras, camels, donkeys, and antelopes. More pictures, more sunscreen, more bickering. A stop by the giraffes, okapis, cheetahs, and wildebeests. Comet was shocked to find out what warthogs really looked like, outside of their dog’s name and Pumbaa. They even caught a short program in the lemur house.

Coming out of the program, everyone was getting snappy with each other. That could mean many things but, given the time of day, simply meant one: dinner time. Sinker pulled out the map and listed off the options at buir’s request.

“I want to eat there,” Comet said, pointing to a restaurant on the map.

Boost scrunched his face up. “But that’s so far away. We should just eat here,” he pointed to a different spot. “It’s a lot closer, which means we’ll get to eat sooner.”

“Both those options suck.” Sinker yanked the map away from them. “I don’t know if you guys can read or not, but those places only have stuff we ate for dinner the past few days.”

“So?” Boost snapped. “That just means I actually liked what we ate for dinner. Just because you’re such a picky eater doesn’t mean we all have to suffer.”

“I’m not a picky eater!”

Comet snatched the map out of Sinker’s hands as the bickering continued. Wolffe reached over and grabbed it himself. He handed it to buir. “Why don’t you pick? They’re never going to decide on anything and I don’t care where.”

Buir picked somewhere that satisfied Sinker’s food choices, still had options Boost and Comet would eat, and was different from the three restaurants that had been argued over. It was small compared to other eateries they had passed throughout the day but that, if anything, established a cozy, family-friendly atmosphere. The Savanna Shack— decorated with giraffes, gazelles, cheetahs, and more— replicated a pit-stop on a safari. The waitstaff dressed up as tour guides and their waiter even had a stuffed African elephant resting across his shoulders.

Bickering calmed as bellies were filled. The snappy bickering, at least. They were brothers: bickering happened twenty-four/seven whether they registered it or not. Everyone was content with the adventures of the day.

After dinner, the crowds thinned, more and more guests leaving as the normal closing time loomed closer. Only those with tickets to the presentation stayed scattered around the exhibits. All things considered, it was a decent number of bodies; enough for clusters at every exhibit but not the overwhelming presence that it had been.

At the Australian animals, buir somehow had a bucketload of jokes to tell. If Wolffe hadn’t known his dad had prepared them all the night before, he’d have thought he’d looked them up discreetly during dinner.

“Can a wallaby jump higher than a building? Of course, buildings can’t jump!” directed towards Sinker, who groaned. “Are you enjoying the koala-ty time?” was said to Comet, who smiled and nodded. “What do you call a lazy kangaroo? A pouch potato!” to Boost, who shook his head. “Are your brothers platypushing your buttons?” to which Wolffe held back a “No, but the puns are.” Had it been Boost, he’d probably have said it, but since it was buir…best not to.

Like all good things, the peace came to an end. “I want to go to the primate house,” Sinker announced. “I said so this morning but I still haven’t been able to.”

“I don’t want to go there,” Boost retorted. “I want to see the Arctic animals.”

“The three of us already went there,” Sinker said. “You missed out, boohoo.”

“I want to see the bison and buffalo,” Comet piped up because what is an argument without the youngest butting in with their opinion.

Wolffe sighed. “Guess we’re splitting up again. Same groups?”

That appeased them. Buir nodded his confirmation; the groups split off. Wolffe, Comet, and Sinker were sent off with one more pun. “Did you hear about the awful jungle party? Somebody forgot to bring the chimps and dip.”

“Alright, adike, bison and buffalo are first.” Sinker opened his mouth to protest and Wolffe held up a hand and continued. “They’re on the way to the primates. I promise we’ll see them.”

Sinker’s lips twitched downwards for a second but he nodded once and let them continue on.

Once at the exhibit, they learned that buffalo and bison are different, despite most people using the word interchangeably. Buffalo lived in Asia and Africa, bison in North America and Europe. Huh. Guess you learn new things every day, even on summer break during college.

“They don’t do much,” Comet said as he watched a bison chew grass in front of them.

“Most of the animals we’ve seen don’t do much when the zookeepers aren’t around,” Sinker pointed out.

“That’s not true. I got the penguins and the otters to wave at me.”

“You’re a special case. That doesn’t happen to most guests.”

“The otters waved at you and Wolffe, too.”

Sinker shared an exasperated look with Wolffe. There are some battles you just can’t win.

Somehow, Comet found a way to waste a full hour at the buffalo and bison. He took his time reading each sign, asking clarification for every word he didn’t know, and even some he did know. He tried waving at the buffalo, seeing if they’d look up at him. When they didn’t, he tried the bison, who also didn’t. Slow, small steps were around the exhibit as he moved to look at the individual animals. Why he was doing so was beyond Wolffe.

Soon enough, Sinker had had enough. “Why are you taking so long! Ugh, you little brat, let’s go already!”

Comet looked half-ready to either punch, bite, or tackle his older brother. Wolffe repressed a sigh and tried to intervene. “Sorry, Comet. We have been here a while. It wouldn’t kill you to move on, would it?” The expression turned from one older brother to the other. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Wolffe’s phone started a consistent beat of buzzes. “Wait a second.”

Pulling it out, he noticed an alarm was going off. It was his daily reminder to take his brothers on a walk, something he’d been doing to let buir relax after dinner, get some of his vod’ikase’s energy out, and as an extra way to hang out with them with what time he had. The alarm was easy to turn off, but as he went to put it away, a non-buzzing notification appeared.

Comet began to sidestep his way away from Sinker and back to the bison behind him. Coincidentally, he brought himself closer to Wolffe in the process.

“Hold still another second,” Wolffe ordered. Comet stopped. “Buir’s typing.” Sinker pulled out his own phone as the notification rolled in.

Chat: The Koon Cocoon

Buir

Calling all Koons

Howl are you?

Comet’s right next to me

Hook, Line, and—

Yeah?

Ghosty Boi

Buir

Hello, Boost

Ghosty Boi

Buir

Just a reminder to reapply sunscreen and that we’ll meet up again for the fluorescence demonstration

Howl are you?

Yessir

Hook, Line, and—

Yep yep yep

Ghosty Boi

👍

Chat: The Wolfpack

Curveball

Boost, aren’t you standing right next to him?

Booster Seat

Hmm maybe

Curveball

I can’t believe you

“Do we have to?” Comet grumbled when Wolffe pulled the sunscreen from the backpack. “The sun’s gonna set in a few hours, anyway.”

“You said it yourself, it’s in a few hours,” Wolffe replied, squirting some onto his hand and grabbing Comet’s arm to rub it on. “And buir said so. You don’t want to disappoint him and end up with a sunburn, do you?”

“No,” the ten-year-old muttered, scuffing the ground with his shoe but otherwise submitting to his fate.

“I’ve put on so much of this I’m faintly sticky,” Sinker remarked, rubbing some into his own arms.

“You’re not rubbing it in enough, you should know that.” Wolffe finished with Comet and moved onto reapplying it on himself. “You still have some visible on your neck, by the way.” Sinker scowled and rubbed at his neck harshly for a second before continuing on elsewhere.

Once done, the bottle took its spot in the backpack. “Primates?” Sinker asked, looking more optimistic than he had a second ago.

“Primates.” The teen set his feet. “No running.” Sinker rolled his eyes and settled for a brisk walk instead.

They made it to the “Sheev Palpatine Primate House” in record time. The structure loomed high, dark, and mysterious, casting a long shadow on everything around it. From the outside, there was no hint of the liveliness and cheer the rest of the zoo showcased. Had it not been for the sign, it could be mistaken for a large corporation’s administrative offices, or maybe even a sinister government building. Looking at it sucked the joy out of the atmosphere and forbode guests from entering.

Wolffe quirked an eyebrow at Sinker. “You still sure about this?”

He gulped, then nodded. “Yeah. The interior’s bound to be better than the deathtrap the outside looks like, right?”

Sinker took the lead into the building, Comet not far behind him. Through the doors and up some stairs— the architects must have planned carefully for this to work; bringing the rising reminder humans are primates, too— and they were in the exhibit proper. Inside, neither took off their sunglasses, nor their hats. Rather, they stared in awe at the sight before them.

Thankfully, Sinker had guessed correctly. Greenery spanned the open exhibit from floor to ceiling; lush and healthy, food and cover. Sturdy trees stood tall and proud, vines hung lazily across them. It was a snapshot straight out of a jungle. Rocks, both fake and real, climbed the walls, providing seating and exercise for the primates. Lining the wall was a path, extended out as a bridge over the middle of the expanse and connected to another wall-hugging path on the other side before disappearing into a smaller room. Educational plaques made their appearances at even intervals along the railing protecting the walkers from falling. A small stream circled its way around the edges of the floor. Windows, nearly the length of the ceiling and far wall, lit the habitat with a soft glow kissing every branch, human, primate, and structure it touched. And that wasn’t even touching the activities and range of primates at home around the building.

Who would want such a vibrant view so obscured and hidden from public eye?

Groups peppered the path. Some were smaller, a couple and their baby or a trio of friends. Others were larger, an extended family enjoying a vacation or a small summer camp group, energized and giggling.

If Wolffe snuck a picture of starry-eyed Sinker and Comet for possible blackmail or possibly because he wanted pictures of his brothers whether he’d admit it or not, nobody caught him and nobody needed to know.

Phones took pictures up and down the path, Sinker’s included. They moved along at a slower pace than other groups; many passed them before they reached a quarter of the way through. A grin rested on Sinker’s face the whole time, delighted he got what he came for.

Chimpanzees, apes, and gorillas interacted by the stream below. Food passed between a handful of them, like an interspecies picnic. Howler monkeys and baboons roamed the trees, rocks, and floor, passing each other nonchalantly. Primates of all shapes and sizes hung in trees with their young, cradling them gently, teasing each other, relaxing. A splash sounded as one small monkey pushed the one next to it into the stream; the interaction reminded Wolffe of Boost and Sinker at the pool.

Comet and Sinker paused halfway across the bridge. Leaning over the railing, Comet seemed to be trying to look under the bridge, causing Wolffe to drag him back by the collar before he fell in.

“I know there are nets, but let’s not test them out, okay?”

A sheepish smile made its way to the youngest’s face. “Sorry.”

Another group made their way closer to them, also stopping for pictures on the bridge. Thankfully, there was still a decent amount of room left to move. Behind them, Sinker snickered. Wolffe turned, Sinker now to his left, Comet now at his back. He raised an eyebrow but Sinker merely smirked as both their phones buzzed.

Curveball

Attached: primate-house-adventures.jpeg

The picture was of a pair of orangutans seated in a tree. To the side, not in focus but visible, stood Comet and Wolffe. The former, as happy and enthusiastic as at the penguins and leaning over the side; the latter, scowling out at something. Whether it was Comet or the monkeys wasn’t clear. One thing was clear, however: Sinker had taken it moments before Wolffe had pulled the rascal back.

Booster Seat

Lol, you good there Wolffe?

Grr

I’d rather not have siblings in nets, thanks

Booster Seat

Was he trying? Sounds about right

Curveball

Sure looked like it

Grr

I’d say I don’t think so

But he’s been doing stuff like that more often recently

Booster Seat

Lol yeah, he’s definitely got Fett blood in him

Sinker had enough of the bridge, evidently, as he started to walk off and to the other side, half paying attention to where he was going, half glancing at his screen. Wolffe began to follow after, certain that Comet was right behind them.

Booster Seat

Still:

Wolffe for #1 Brooding Face

Grr

Wow, thanks

Booster Seat

You’re v welcome

Curveball

Daily reminder that Wolffe is a grump yvw

Grr

I’d say you’re wrong, but…

Booster Seat

But…

Grr

Ever since I got home…

Booster Seat

Oh?

Grr

You’ve been the main reason

Curveball

WOW

Booster Seat

😂😂

Grr

Nope, that was directed at you, too, Booger

Curveball

BOOGER jfkdafj;ads

Sometime in the midst of the chaos of the chat, Wolffe idly noticed they had made their way out of the primate house. Sinker had paused here and there and looked up, Wolffe matching his pace. Outside the house, in the back and the opposite side of where they had entered, a small garden with a winding path presented itself. Looks had been deceiving in more ways than one with this building. Large boards along the path told more information about jungles and rainforests, including how an average citizen could help with conservation.

Despite this, the chat continued to buzz, a total disregard for where the brothers walked. They wound their way through the garden and towards the nearest bench.

Booster Seat

I, unfortunately, can’t think of a good comeback to that

Curveball

You can think of all those puns but you can’t think of a comeback

Booster Seat

Those were 100% Dad I thought that was clear

Grr

Can confirm. Watched him look them up last night

Curveball

Creepy

Grr

He was in the living room, di’kut

At a bench, they stilled. Comet hadn’t whined about not knowing what was going on, which was a bit odd, but not too concerning. Maybe he’d found himself some patience. Without looking up, Wolffe reached out his right hand to clasp Comet on the shoulder—

And only hit air.

Kriff.

He spun, head swiveling, unable to find what he was looking for. Oh, oh no. This was not good. This was not good at all.

His phone got turned off and shoved down his right pants pocket. “Sinker,” he said, somehow sounding calmer than he felt. “Where’s Comet?”

Sinker’s head snapped up. “I thought he was next to you. Is he not?”

“No.”

Sinker’s eyes widened. “Wait, so you mean—”

“Yeah,” he croaked out. “Comet’s gone.”

“Uh oh.”

“Sinker.” He gulped, Wolffe’s voice hardening. “I know it’s been a year, but do I need to remind you I don’t have a right eye? And that I need you to be my eye, which includes telling me if our brother has gone missing?!” Before he knew it, Wolffe was lecturing his younger brother. Out of nowhere, his thoughts crashed down violently as the desperation of the situation fully sunk in.

This was great. Just great. Splitting up was a bad idea after all. He should’ve known better. Buir always had good reasons to be concerned, why hadn’t he listened to him this time? He was really gunning for Worst Older Brother of the Year, wasn’t he? Why did he ever think he’d be able to handle this?

He took off mid-sentence, Sinker to his left and keeping up, headed back the way they came. His head stayed consistently scanning back and forth, looking for a clue, a hat, a pair of sunglasses, a laugh, a whimper, anything that could lead them back to Comet.

Why had he thought he’d been good to watch over two rambunctious brothers? He couldn’t even avoid a car crash after driving for a few years. It’d only been one since he lost his eye and Boost gained his scars. He had felt fine when he’d suggested it but this showed that he wasn’t as adjusted as he thought. He knew he only had half of his former vision, he lived with it every day. And yet, he still dismissed it when Comet moved into his blind spot, didn’t check in like he should have. Like he was supposed to.

Nope. No. No. Now was not the time to delve into those…issues. Focus.

Find. Comet.

He didn’t pop up along the way back to the exit of the primate house. Hopefully, that meant Comet parked it where he was. Speed up. They needed to walk around the building and go through the front. A glance left. Good, Sinker was still there, frowning at his phone. His own buzzed for the nth time in the past few minutes in his pocket and he ignored it. Sinker was probably texting one of the chats, updating them on the situation. They had more pressing matters at hand.

They rounded the corner and raced into the building, throwing the door open, skipping steps as they hurried into the exhibit. Wolffe barreled his way down the path, shoving past the few people scattered along the trail who didn’t get out of his way. He might have growled at one person who gave him a stink eye but that didn’t matter. No signs of lost little brothers along the path or the bridge.

He glanced down as he hurried across the bridge. “Good, he didn’t fall into the nets,” he said, only half-registering them as coming from his own mouth. “Keep up,” he barked at Sinker, who had been falling behind, about two steps behind where he had been.

Across the bridge, into the smaller exhibit and still no glimpses. He wasn’t where Wolffe had last seen him. He wasn’t in the section right past where he had last seen him. The end of the building, the stairs. Not on the stairs. Down the stairs, don’t trip, don’t fall, shove open the door. The door slammed open from the force and he raced through the frame. He turned to his right, and—

There was Comet.

Deep breath. The poor ad’ika looked frightened out of his mind, eyes taking in the sight of his brothers. Scanning him quickly, Wolffe couldn’t detect any injuries on him. Thank Force. Sunglasses gone, hat askew and clothes rumbled, but no signs of injury. His shoulders dropped ever so slightly and he stepped over to his vod’ika, leaning down so they were at approximate eye level.

“W-Wolffe,” Comet whimpered. Oh, poor child. “Wolffe! I’m so sorry! I was still looking at the monkeys and I thought I was next to you still but it turned out to be a guy who looks like you from behind and I tried looking for you but you were already gone and by the time I was out here, I remembered I shouldn’t move if I got lost but I didn’t want to go back inside the building and so I thought here was better than anywhere else, and—”

“Shh, we’re here, you’re safe,” Wolffe whispered, cutting off the ramblings that had sped up as he said more. Tears glistened in the corners of Comet’s eyes and the weight that had lifted off Wolffe’s shoulders resettled with twice the force. He reached forward and pulled the little rascal into a gentle hug.

“I was so worried you wouldn’t find me! An’ I lost my sunglasses but I’m not sure how. That was so much worse than getting sidetracked in the grocery store.”

His arms tightened. “Shh, it’s okay. I’m sorry, vod’ika. It’s not your fault. You did what you were supposed to do, that’s a good thing. It helped us find you. I’m so sorry. It’s not your fault, it was mine. I should’ve been paying more attention and I will pay more attention from here on out. I’m sorry. Don’t worry about the sunglasses; they’re replaceable but you aren’t.”

An idea popped into his head. “Ah, you’re too big for this, but screw it.” He lifted Comet off the ground and half-set him on his hip, one arm under his legs to hold him up, the other wrapped around his back. Comet latched on, burrowing closer and clinging. His head found the nook between Wolffe’s neck and left shoulder and buried in, arms taut across his neck and shoulders, hat knocked back further.

Sinker stepped up to Wolffe’s left, feet light, and pulled the hat from the black hair. With a glance at Wolffe, he opened the backpack and shoved it inside. Zipper pulled up, he hesitated, then threw himself at the duo. Arms tightened around both backs and the teen dipped his head near Comet’s ear, mumbling his own soothing words and apologies.

The three stood there, wrapped together for a minute before Sinker pulled away when the door opened and a small family shuffled out. Eyes flickered at them, trying to be respectful but also curious. Wolffe watched them scurry down the path and make their exit. Sharing a look with his silver-haired brother, Wolffe made his way through the gardens and around the posters himself, Sinker walking as close as he dared. At the exit, they stopped. Where to go…?

Glancing around, Wolffe noticed they weren’t too far from the playground they had eaten lunch at, the children’s zoo on the opposite end of the expanse of grass. He told his plan to Comet, who nodded stiffly against his shoulder. With his right hand, he reached out for Sinker. The teen complied quietly, who also nodded when Wolffe told him the plan.

Wolffe tried to walk as evenly and gently as he could, careful not to jostle Comet too much. His grip on Sinker stayed firm as they made their way to the park.

The equipment was much less crowded than last time. Normal closing time having long since past, the other families had to have been there for the presentation and were killing time and energy. Laughter and the sounds of childhood memories in the making still rang out but nowhere near the roar it had been earlier in the day. Only a handful of picnic tables were taken; ones that were held exhausted parents, the odd older sibling, and a grandparent here and there.

Picking the closest table, Wolffe sat down. “Gotta move your leg, bud,” he whispered to the boy in his arms. Comet let Wolffe swing his leg around and readjust him so they could both sit comfortably. The backpack was wrestled off and placed on the table, contents presumably jumbled up in Wolffe’s frantic search. He leaned his back against the table and Comet curled himself tighter around his ori’vod, legs across his lap and arms tight around his chest, face buried in his side. Wolffe’s left hand came up on its own accord and started rubbing soothing circles into Comet’s back.

Sinker gingerly sat to Wolffe’s right. He folded his hands in his lap and looked out at the children running around on the equipment.

At last, Wolffe was able to drag his phone out of his pocket and turn it on. No doubt, Sinker had been messaging one or possibly both chats while they’d looked. And the likelihood of Boost, being Boost, responding and goading in at least one of them was sky-high.

There were thirty-three notifications from the Wolfpack group chat. Ka’ra gaa'tayl kaysh. Opening the chat and scrolling to where he’d left off, Wolffe saw the last message he’d sent in his haste to turn off his phone and start looking for Comet.

Grr

Besides, I was goifjdaskljakldsa

Booster Seat

Uh, Wolffe? Why’d you…do that?

???

Curveball

Uh oh

We’re in big trouble now

Booster Seat

What happened?

Curveball

Comet’s gone

Booster Seat

Jfkldasjkldaj WHAT

HOW DO YOU LOSE HIM HE’S SO CLINGY

Curveball

Don’t tell buir

Wolffe’s reactions are kinda funny tho

Booster Seat

Do tell

Curveball

Well, besides the lecturing me part. That sucks.

He’s hardcore panicking rn

Guess we’re retracing our steps oop

Booster Seat

Is he gonna ask anyone if they’ve seen him?

Curveball

His brain cells are turned off so no

Booster Seat

Kjasdfk;klas;klfadskjadsfkl

😂😂😂

Curveball

Headed back through the primates now

OMG HE LOOKS LIKE AN ACTUAL WOLF

People are literally JUMPING out of the way

Booster Seat

Buir’s looking at me funny stooooop fdkjfkasjs

I’m trying my best not to cry laugh!!!!

Curveball

“Good, he didn’t fall into the nets”

Run Wolffe Run

Wait, no, wait for me!!!

Wayii, slow down!

Booster Seat

I’m dying. I’m dead. You’ve killed me.

I’m seriously gonna get in trouble with buir soon

But don’t stop

Curveball

We’ve found him

Please don’t tell buir

Booster Seat

I promise

There were many options Wolffe had to deal with this. The one he decided on probably wasn’t the best, or the most mature, but it was his favorite. Nothing like a little brotherly affection, right?

Grr has renamed Curveball to Stinker

Stinker

Hey!

Booster Seat

You should’ve seen that coming, vod’ika

Stinker

Maybe, but that doesn’t make me like it any more

Grr

:3 Suffer

Booster Seat

w h a T did I just see

Stinker

My eyes! I’m scarred for life now

Grr

Good. Suffer.

Booster Seat

I think I liked you better when you were at college

Grr

I liked you better then, too

Stinker

Great, now that that’s settled, let’s not lose Comet again

Booster Seat

Yeah, that’s pretty important, Wolffe

Grr

I hate you both

With that, Wolffe turned off his phone and put it away before turning to Sinker with a frown, who was pocketing his own phone. “That really was unnecessary, you know. Sorry for the lecturing, but the texts? Not needed to be done that way.” His now empty hand rested on Comet’s leg.

Sinker was smart enough to look slightly guilty. “It was kinda funny, though,” he mumbled. Wolffe leveled him with a stare. “But I won’t do it again and I’ll help you more next time,” he amended.

Wolffe nodded once. “I thought so.” Sinker continued to stare at the playground. A frown etched itself onto his face and he huffed to himself. Wolffe rolled his eyes. “Go swing or whatever, I don’t care. Just stay in sight.”

The silver-haired teen ran off like a cheetah with his brother’s permission. Wolffe turned his attention back to the little brother still curled around him.

“Wolffe, ’m really sorry,” Comet muttered into his chest after a moment of quiet. Or, as quiet as it could be with kids shouting on the playground a few yards away.

“You’re okay, vod'ika.” Wolffe ran a hand through Comet’s hair, ruffling it somewhat. “As I said, you did what you were supposed to. I’ll pay better attention in the future."

Comet propped his chin up on Wolffe’s chest and gave a tiny, sad smile. "Can I go swing with Sinker?”

“Yeah. Stick close to him."

He took off, leaving Wolffe at the picnic table with the backpack and thoughts and feelings to sort through.

—

When Sinker and Comet were finally ready to venture out to the rest of the zoo, they had time left for one more exhibit before they had to meet up with Boost and buir for the fluorescence demonstration. The sun had begun to set, casting long shadows and an orange glow over everything. Light jackets, tucked into the proper backpacks before the groups had split, were thrown on as the evening chill settled in.

Comet kept squinting, even with his hat back on, as they made their way to the birds of prey, which they had compromised on. Wolffe took off his sunglasses and gave them to Comet. He could handle more stares if it meant his vod'ika was more comfortable.

This time, Wolffe made sure he had a hand in both his brothers. Sinker to his right, Comet to his left. This way, even if he couldn’t physically see one of them, he still had the reassurance they were still there. Neither protested; Comet looked like he’d have grabbed Wolffe’s hand if he hadn’t offered it first anyway.

His phone buzzed again. "Sinker?” he prompted.

With his free hand, Sinker pulled out his own phone. “Boost sent another one of buir’s jokes.” He cleared his throat and put on an exaggerated drawl. “What’s the opposite of a fancy dog? A meerkat.”

“What’s a meerkat, again?” Comet asked, pulling himself closer to Wolffe’s side.

“Timon in Lion King is one,” Wolffe answered.

The lightbulb above his head was almost visible. “Oh, yeah. We passed by them earlier, didn’t we?”

Two nods in response. “Yeah, you were more eager to see the giraffes,” Sinker said.

Comet nodded to himself. The trio lapsed into silence until they were in sight of the “Yavin Birds of Prey Aviary”.

Silence accompanied the trio at this exhibit, the antithesis of the penguin cove. Had that really been that morning? Not even twelve hours ago. Force, what a long day it became. If someone had told Wolffe a few days ago that today would consist of splitting into groups per his own suggestion, losing Comet, finding Comet, a gazillion dad jokes, and a fluorescence demonstration, he’d have laughed in their face.

“Only the owls are really awake,” Comet noted, his voice ringing in the nigh-empty room.

Wolffe gave a low hum in acknowledgment. He leaned against some railing or another, watching the other two walk about. One other couple stood by the eagles, dead on their feet and swaying towards each other. Looks like it had been a long day for everyone.

The skylights drifted from deep orange to violet to navy to black, slow and delicate, soothing over the aches of the day like a worn, favored blanket. Had they been out in the country, a dazzling array of stars would have poked through the endless black, displaying the galaxy for all. So close to the city, the small pinpricks were satellites and planes, a backdrop to the skyline filled with lighted windows and blank spaces.

It was easy to lose track of time staring at such a sight. Time was an odd, fickle thing. Stretching anxious situations longer, shortening precious moments to a blur. Freezing in place when contemplating the world, galaxy, universe. All too much yet far too little.

“How much longer?” Sinker asked, sliding up next to Wolffe, snapping him from his reverie.

As if on cue, their phones buzzed.

Booster Seat

You guys need to hurry up this is amazing

Buir is DECKED in glow sticks

Grr

Proof or it didn’t happen

Booster Seat

Attached: Plo-more-like-Glo-Koon.jpeg

Stinker

Oh, I have to save that

Grr

Same

Stinker

What an icon

Booster Seat

He says thank you Sinker

Stinker

Lol

“With that amount of glow sticks, he’ll be easy to find,” Sinker commented.

Comet stood on tiptoe, trying to get a peak. Wolffe lowered his phone and showed him the picture. His eyebrows shot towards his hairline. “Woah. I didn’t know that many could even fit on a person.”

“He’s a giant, walking glow stick,” Wolffe agreed, putting the phone up and extending his hands to his brothers. Energy renewed thrummed between them again. They had a presentation to crash. “Let’s go.”

—

How do you find a giant, walking, glow stick of a dad? By having eyes. Given that it was a fluorescent show, everything was aglow in neon greens, blues, pinks, and oranges. But all of those in close proximity and moving? Easily buir, and a sight to see. Not even the trees had that many glow sticks on them.

“I’m glad you all decided to stick around,” buir greeted them. They all let it go, teetering on the edge of exhaustion that would be whisked away when the festivities began soon.

Rather, all but Sinker. “You’re my ride home, I had to stay,” he grumbled. The lights reflected off his silver hair, tie-dying it bright and eye-catching, hats and sunglasses having been taken off at the aviary. Groans rang out.

“Somehow he made it worse,” Wolffe caught Boost griping under his breath.

“How was the end of your day?” buir asked politely. “Boost and I had a zootastic time.”

Sinker gave a half-hearted shrug but responded, “Tiring,” when Boost nudged him in the ribs.

“It was a unique experience,” Comet replied smartly.

“We survived,” Wolffe said. Buir turned to him, and he stepped closer, addressing the perplexed expression. Making sure the others couldn’t hear, he expanded. “Something happened that might make Comet a bit jumpy for the rest of the night. We took care of it. It can wait until tomorrow when we aren’t so tired.”

Buir clasped him on the back. “Good to know. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

Wolffe let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. He turned back to his brothers. “What do you snots want to do first?” They all mocked offense and gave their answers, launching into a night of fun.

They quickly found out there aren’t many naturally bioluminescent creatures on land, and most of them were small and creepy crawlers. Glowworms and fireflies, and a certain kind of snail. Marine animals, on the other hand, there were aplenty. The ones the zoo did have were on display: a respectable aquarium for various fish and a glass case with the terrestrial ones. Zookeepers who had a penchant for acting put on multiple shows that were “fun and edumacational” for kids.

Worm-on-a-strings that glowed had been handed out, along with glow sticks. Every Koon had at least one glow stick bracelet on; Boost later sneak-attacked them into wearing some on their heads. Comet got a glow-in-the-dark penguin painted on his cheek.

Giant, glow stick tic tac toe. Making zoo animals out of glow sticks. Neon, bright bubbles that, when popped, left a burst of color on what it landed. One station directed how to make a firefly jar to— temporarily, they stressed— hold the bugs. Ring tosses with bracelets, glowing paints. A certain presentation involved tossing various glow sticks into the air as responses to what the kids learned.

Vivacious and vibrant in the dark, laughter and cheers filled the night as friends, families, and strangers shared a luminous evening to remember.

—

Wolffe stared at the picture frame in his hands. The frame was decorated with animals of all shapes and sizes, the small zoo logo in the left corner. Inside the frame rested a picture of the Koon brothers, covered in glow sticks and worn out but all with various sizes of smiles plastered on. His younger brothers had raced to the computer to print out the picture as soon as they stepped back inside their home. A better print-out, on photo paper and not copy paper, was to be printed in the next few days, but they had wanted Wolffe to have the picture as soon as possible.

“Now you’ll have something to take to college to remember today,” Comet had insisted. Boost and Sinker had nodded fervently in agreement.

Their last stop of the night had been at the small shop by the exit. Buir had decided to let them all get one reasonable thing as a memento, especially since their trips to the zoo were few and far between with their usually busy schedule.

Comet found a stuffed rockhopper penguin and immediately named it Vandor— it looked like penguins were setting up to be his latest obsession. Boost got a zoology book which, looking back at his actions throughout the day, made sense. Sinker wanted Wolffe to get a tiny wolf figurine but got it for himself when Wolffe told him no.

That had been the turning point. As much as Wolffe insisted he didn’t need to get anything, Sinker pressed that he did. Soon enough, Comet and Sinker had banded together with him. They scoured the shop for the perfect object. When they approached him with the frame and a picture picked out, he couldn’t say no. His vision might have blurred for a moment but they didn’t need to know that.

A knock at his bedroom door had him set the frame back down on his desk. He rose and opened the door. There stood Comet. “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep? It’s late, vod’ika.”

“I know, but I was having a hard time falling asleep. Can I sleep in here instead?”

After what they had gone through today, it was the least he could do. “Fine. No snoring.” Comet gave him a lopsided grin and slipped past him. He launched himself onto Wolffe’s bed, digging himself into the covers.

“What?” he asked cheekily when Wolffe turned to look at him.

Wolffe rolled his eyes half-heartedly. “I’ll go get ready for bed. No drooling on my pillow, either.”

Comet gave him a mock salute as he went to brush his teeth.

Twenty minutes later, Boost came in to grab something from his desk. He paused when he saw Wolffe lying on his bed, Comet draped across his left side on his stomach, arms and legs sprawled out. Wolffe was scrolling through his phone, the lights off. Boost opened his mouth to say something but Wolffe glared at him and put a finger to his lips. “He just fell asleep,” he whispered.

Boost hesitated. Instead of grabbing whatever he came for, he grabbed his pajamas and started to get ready for bed. When done, he walked over to Wolffe’s bed. “Dogpile!” he exclaimed softly, before flopping straight down onto the mattress and his older brother. Wolffe let out an “oof” at the impact but otherwise didn’t react as Boost settled in.

Ten minutes after that, Sinker slinked into the room. “Wolffe?”

Wolffe grunted and moved a hand from his face which belonged to a still awake and very annoying Boost. Sinker took that as his cue to come over. He was already in his pajamas and his eyebrows furrowed as he took in what was happening.

Boost had positioned himself on his side against Wolffe’s right side, right under Wolffe’s elbow which was bent from holding his phone up. He’d taken to bugging Wolffe by throwing his hand out and letting it rest wherever it landed and waiting to see if Wolffe would move it or not. It got old real quick.

“Uh,” Sinker looked unsure how to continue. “I was gonna ask if you knew where Comet was since he wasn’t in his bed, but it looks like you’ve got an extra blanket there.”

Boost lifted his head slightly. “It’s a dogpile now. Join us!”

“More like a wolf pile,” Sinker quipped with a smirk.

Siblings have to make things harder than necessary, of course, so Sinker climbed over all three of his brothers, lifted Comet to be even more on top of Wolffe, and squished himself into the space he made. “G’night, guys,” he mumbled. He made himself comfortable and was out like a light.

Wolffe and Boost shared a look. “You better fall asleep that fast,” Wolffe said, nudging the top of Boost’s head with his elbow.

“Only if you get off your phone.”

“Deal.”

Little did they know, as buir went to check on his boys like he did every night before heading to bed himself, he felt the need to check on the older two’s room first. The door had been opened a smidge, the lights off. He knocked gingerly and cracked the door open more.

There were his boys, all cuddled up and fast asleep, somehow all fitting on the twin bed. Warthog had wandered in at one point and was curled up against their feet. His chest filled with warmth as he observed the sight. He took a picture or two, smiling to himself. On his way out, he made sure to close the door. What a sweet sight after a draining day. It was begging to be shared in the Fett parents chat.

—

Chat: Fett Dynasty

Think Outside The Fox

Jate vaar’tur, my lovely aliit

Attached: wolfpack-snuggles.jpeg

[Multiple people are typing]

Werewolf? There Wolffe!

N O T A W O R D

[37 new messages]

Mando’a Translations

Buir: parent

Vod’ikase: Little brothers (plural)

Aliit: Family

Ori’vod: Big brother

Wayii: Good grief!

Vod’ika: Little brother (singular)

Ad’ika: Little one, son, daughter

Adike: Plural of Ad’ika (see above)

Di’kut: Idiot

Ka’ra gaa'tayl kaysh: Stars help him.

Jate vaar’tur: Good morning

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it. Congrats on getting to the end!

#b writes #pun wars #plo koon #commander wolffe #boost #sinker #comet #star wars #clone wars #star wars the clone wars #star wars clone wars #sw: tcw #sw: cw #writing #modern au #lost child #WKatMAM

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intobarbarians · 4 years

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The acrylic paints are a whopping forty percent off. Kuwabara fishes the package out of the discount bin. Twenty-four colors, the back says. Brush included. Great for beginners!

Beginner describes his six year old perfectly.

Kuwabara throws the package into his cart. He’s not thinking about how kids need something to paint on.

***

It’s five-thirty in the afternoon, and there’s a sunrise in his daughter’s bedroom.

He should have probably checked on her before he started making dinner.

“Surprise!” Auwin says.

Kuwabara stills in the door way. “It’s beautiful, honey. Just one question: how’d you reach up so high?”

Auwin skips over to the dresser. “I climbed.”

Kuwabara nods. “Ah.” That explains how the sun takes up two thirds of the wall when his daughter isn’t even four feet.

“Daddy?”

Oh, he’s panicking. The dresser could have tipped over and his little girl could have been crushed under it. Hiei is always reminding him, “She’s a demon. She’s not going to be so easily hurt like a human child would be.”

Kuwabara doesn’t want to find out from first hand experience how breakable Auwin is. “Don’t climb up there anymore. Okay, honey? We have a ladder. It’s safer than the dresser.” He’s going to the hardware store and anchoring the damn thing into the wall.

Auwin readily agrees. “Okay, Daddy. Can I use the ladder for the other walls?”

He walked right into that one. Kuwabara looks around the room.

It’s not in complete shambles. While Auwin ruthlessly cleared the top of her dresser to make it into her ad hoc step stool, she pulled her chest of toys and giant stuffed panda across the room. Nothing has paint on that shouldn’t have paint on it.

Including the wall, Kuwabara concedes.

He retrieves a couple of printer pages from the office. It’s not the right kind of paper, but-- “How much more paint do you have?”

Auwin smiles.

***

Hiei comes home to stir fry for dinner and an old bed sheet covering the rug in the living room.

Kuwabara hands him a plate and kisses his cheek. “Welcome home.”

The pleasure of those words is as vibrant in his heart as it’s ever been. “What is on your face?”

A streak of blue highlights Kuwabara’s nose. “Paint,” he informs his husband serenely. “Speaking of, we have a little surprise for you.”

Kuwabara gingerly presents Hiei with two paintings. Both of them are portraits of their little family.

Hiei handles them with care. “You’ve gotten quite good.” Kuwabara usually makes Hiei do all of his sketches whenever they go on research expeditions to Makai.

“I didn’t do that one. I did that one.” He points to a painting of smiling blobs.

So the one that actually bears some resemblance to them is made by their daughter.

“Auwin,” Kuwabara says gently, “you know how your Aunt Yukina makes all of those sculptures you love?” Hiei basks in his husband’s affectionate gaze. “Well, your papa is pretty good at art, too.”

***

Auwin demands to see his drawings. “Please show me, Papa! Please!”

Yukina makes her living as an artist. Their cupboards are filled with her ceramics, cups and plates and bowl all crafted by her loving hands. The park down the street has featured her work in public art installations; she is frequently commissioned by clients in both realms. Always, she is in her studio, working with clay and firing her kiln.

It seems inadequate to call his work ‘art’ compared to his sister’s passion. Hiei merely draws occasionally.

Kuwabara pulls out his notebook, because his husband is a traitor. “Your papa drew all of these.”

Auwin wiggles into his lap for a better look. “That’s Mukuro’s house!” It’s a messy, ink sketch, something he spent ten or fifteen minutes on at most.

Kuwabara grins. “Isn’t he good?”

“He’s the best!” She squirms around until she can hug Hiei. “Please paint with me sometime, Papa!”

He places his hand against her back in a gentle embrace. He feels her heart beat slowly in time with his.

***

Yukina is Auwin’s idol.

“As she should be,” Kuwabara says.

The two of them spend hours in Yukina’s studio. Auwin loves to press the pedal of the pottery wheel and watch it spin.

His sister laughs when he quietly asks if they’re intruding on her time. “It’s no trouble at all, Hiei. I always feel so inspired after she visits.”

Yukina’s specialty is ceramics, but she paints, too. “I have plenty of materials for all four of us to paint together.”

Kuwabara hurriedly bows out. “I’ll leave it to the professionals.” He smiles at his husband and daughter to let them know he’s talking about them as much as Yukina.

Kuwabara is too generous. Hiei has never painted. When did he have the opportunity? He made drawings in the dirt with a stick as a child, little, ephemeral gestures in the earth to be stamped out by the heel of his foot or the rain.

He envies Yukina’s versatile skills.

She surprises him by saying, “I wish I could draw like you do.”

Why?

“You should see yourself draw, Hiei. You just--” she mimes quick, efficient scribbles. “Five seconds later, there’s a perfectly lovely rendering of a mushroom or a lake or Kazuma petting on a cat on the sidewalk.”

He can’t tell her about his other, more obscene drawings of his husband, can he. Those sketches he luxuriates in. Kuwabara on his back, with their bed sheets low around his hips makes Hiei itch for a pen to illustrate the moment, to keep a piece of it forever in his hands.

The mention of a cat gets Auwin’s attention. She tugs on Hiei’s pants. “When are we getting a cat?”

He fields this question a hundred times a day from both his child and his spouse. “When you’re older.”

She pouts, in spite of having expected this answer, and goes back to picking out paint colors.

Yukina is all softness when he turns back to her. “I think you better paint her a cat.”

#yyh #my fic #hiei x kuwabara #self-indulgent but i miss them

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borderlandscast · 5 years

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btb: leave no vault unturned (epilogue) preview, part three

hi! here’s another snippet of what’s currently in the works! zoeya and saberial buy a farm, move in and promptly adopt fifty chickens, plus a very special rooster.

—

Saberial is home. Once she’s rested up, Zoeya drags her off to the neighboring farm, a good ten minute flight by ship. They’re having a whispered argument by the show pens.

“You may have one chook,” Saberial hisses at her.

“But what if she gets lonely?” Zoeya whispers back, her gaze pleading. She’s already eyeing a white hen pecking at the ground, several chicks clamouring for attention and food underfoot.

“Fine, two chooks.”

“But what if they hate each other?” Zoeya needles.

“Alright, four chooks, which is enough because there’ll be a social buffer.” Saberial smushes the guilt at Zoeya making a face at her proposal.

She reminds herself that she isn’t letting Zoeya walk out of this place with thirty chooks, and then it happens. That’s two roosters, plus a horde of their hens, and five baby chicks that she couldn’t bear to separate from their mother.

On the way out, Zoeya carefully pushes a hover trolley with all her chosen, new tenants comfortably packed into sturdy, ventilated transport containers. She stops at an enclosure off to the side, eying the lone occupant with a curious tilt of her head.

“Why’d you stop?” Saberial takes the trolley from her.

Zoeya crouches by the pen. A Junior sized rooster forlornly pecks at the dirt by the coop, scratching with his spurred feet. She checks the sign hanging from the enclosure. “Aw, he’s been put here because he’s a weird one!”

“Weird one?” Saberial pulls the trolley over, also intrigued.

“He doesn’t want to have any kids, fights everything and everyone, and he’s a bit of a nuisance to people, apparently,” Zoeya reads off the sign.

“Babe.” Saberial closes her eyes, already knowing that Zoeya wants them to bring home this strange little rooster, even if they already have two.

“Come here, lil guy!” Zoeya digs in her pockets for some leftover scratch mix. She tosses some at her feet, through the wiring. The black rooster cocks his head, considering her. He marches over to nibble at the scratch mix. He watches her, staring at her through the gate with stern, brown eyes. “He’s not very noisy either. Is he sick?” Zoeya pushes a finger through the wiring. The rooster snorts, still watching.

“It says here that he doesn’t crow.” Saberial spies the tiny print on the sign. “He doesn’t cost that much either.”

“Please?” Zoeya puts on her best Boner eyed look. Saberial sighs, waving to the owner.

The owner spends twenty minutes chasing after the rooster, eventually herding him into his own transport box. The rooster lets out a blood-curdling scream when he’s shut in by the panting farmer. He’s still screaming (albeit it’s muffled) as Saberial gives the box to Zoeya to hold.

“Little guy’ll do that a lot. Won’t crow for dawn, or dusk, but he’ll sure scream up a storm when he feels like it.” The farmer shakes their head.

“Why’s he by himself?” Saberial hands over the money.

The farmer wipes off their sweat with a greasy handkerchief. “He doesn’t do so well in flocks with other chaps. He’s got too much charisma.”

“Charisma?” Saberial watches Zoeya bite her lip, trying not to laugh. Zoeya’s cooing at the rooster through the lid.

“Never seen a rooster strut his stuff so well that the other lads get jealous and attack him. Never backs down from a fight either. Lost a few tail feathers, ripped his fair share out, but he’s always come out kicking and screaming.” The farmer uneasily eyes the shaking box in Zoeya’s arms. “No refunds when it comes to this troublemaker, sorry.”

“Gosh, he’s so tiny but feisty!” Zoeya beams. The rooster keeps screaming, occasionally stopping for breath.

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Saberial says as she powers up her ship.

Zoeya risks peeking into the box on her lap, which is now giving off a sullen air. She drops another handful of scatch in, hearing an excited scuffling followed by enthusiastic pecking. “He’s alright, he just needs some time and tender loving care. Don’t you?” Busied clucking answers her.

Saberial lands the ship by one of the barns. The farmhands unleash the chickens. Saberial supervises; she can’t pry Zoeya away from the tiny rooster, not until all the chickens have been shut into their new barns to explore and adjust to their new homes.

Zoeya sets the box down. Impatient knocking against the sides ensues. “I’m gonna let him out!”

“Wait, shouldn’t you name him first?” Saberial crouches, keeping her distance.

“You know, he reminds me of Ravs.”

“You can’t name him after Ravs!” Saberial lets out a horrified and amused laugh.

“He’s got the charisma to live up to his namesake!” Zoeya argues.

“What if Ravs visits?”

“I think he’ll be mega pleased that we thought of him,” Zoeya states, then pulls up the lid. “Lil guy, your name is now Ravs,” She announces.

Ravs puffs up his hackles upon seeing her, eyeing her suspiciously from his corner. His tail feathers brush the top of the box. He opens his beak to scream– Zoeya presents some scratch, which he eagerly devours from the palm of her hand.

She shuffles back, letting him free. He struts out, his head swiveling to take in this strange, new place. The watching farmhands giggle behind their hands at his size. The other roosters are twice his height. Ravs eyes them for several heartbeats, then promptly turns on his heel and strides back into the box, sitting down to face the back wall.

Saberial swears on Panda’s eleventh eye that he’s sulking.

“Ravs!” Zoeya admonishes. “Don’t you want to explore your new home?” A sulky cluck answers her question. “Nobody’ll laugh at you this time!”

Saberial sighs. It’s a sign that she loves Zoeya so deeply that she’ll tolerate Zoeya sweet talking a chicken out of sulking.

Ravs turns, shuffling towards the opening and sticking his head out. It’s almost like he’s glaring at the farmhands, who’re still grinning and tittering about him. He takes one step out, ruffling his feathers as he straightens up. Zoeya delivers another handful of scratch. He ignores it, flapping his wings and charging towards the farmhands, screaming murder.

Saberial lets out a shocked and hysterical laugh as the farmhands collectively shit their pants and scatter. She can hear the other roosters screaming alarm behind the wooden doors as Ravs chases one farmhand down a dirt path. He soon returns to Zoeya, head held high with a satisfied twinkle in his eyes.

Zoeya is on the ground, gasping for air. Tears run down her cheeks.

“You sure picked a real winner,” Saberial dryly says.

No longer screaming, Ravs sets off to check out the freshly ploughed fields as Saberial helps Zoeya get to her feet.

#borderlandscast: writing #borderlandscast: extras

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paulisweeabootrash · 5 years

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New Year’s Cleanup: End of 2018 Mini-Reviews

It’s a mini-review pack!

Sometimes I watch shows that I have something to say about, but I don't feel like writing a real review of them. Let's close out 2018 with some short appraisals of a few shows I watched this year that fit that bill. Happy New Year, nerds!

-----

1. Chu-Bra (2010)

(based on 3 episodes)

I found this show purely by scrolling alphabetically through VRV's catalog of Crunchyroll shows. The synopsis sounded like a total disaster, so I clicked on it, and it pretty much is, but surprisingly it's mainly because of the execution, not the premise. This school life comedy follows Nayu Hayama, a middle schooler who aspires to design underwear. It seems like it's trying to use an otaku-friendly mindless fanservice format as a vehicle to sneak in some endearing friendships and surprisingly informative information about puberty, ordinary adolescent insecurities, and, uh, how to properly fit bras. But if you want that, just go watch Please Tell Me! Galko-chan instead. It is a much better show that won’t leave you feeling nearly as uncomfortable afterwards.

Classic W/A/S: 2 / 6 / 7

Weeb: There's a little bit of particularly Japanese attitudes and references that pop up regarding how others react to Nayu, but anyone who has gone to school with judgemental classmates or teachers should understand.

Ass: Brief actual nudity, plus tiresome levels of conveniently-timed gusts of wind and/or pratfalls lifting skirts, and groping that is played for laughs but ultimately pretty uncomfortable, especially because of the age of the characters.

Shit: The "ass" score, and how it’s executed, is closely related to why the show falls apart for me. The whole show just felt icky.

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2. Love and Lies (2017)

(based on 4 episodes)

A complicated love story set in an alternate present where Japan decided to boost its birthrate through algorithmically-enforced matchmaking. Drama ensues as a forbidden romance between a couple who are not matched to each other, Yukari (who, by the way, is named after the Yukari Law — the law that authorized the matchmaking system!) and Misaki, gets cheered on by Yukari's assigned wife, Rinina. It's a beautiful and engaging work of speculative fiction and criticism of overconfidence in automation with varied, believable, and lovable characters and please just go watch it.

Classic W/A/S: 3 / 3 / 1

Weeb: There are some very distinctly Japanese allusions, most commonly and notably the "red string of fate", but if you're watching the subtitled version, anything likely to need explanation is explained on-screen. The most foreign concept to an American audience might be the idea of a government agency that is widely trusted and assumed to be competent.

Ass: Brief partial nudity and allusions to sex because of course there are, the show is about romantic relationships. Little that's fanservicy or gratuitous, though.

Shit: The only complaints that come to mind are a few off-looking facial expressions and the weirdly variable competence of the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare — not in their matchmaking, but in their ability to find Yukari in a park at midnight but not find Misaki's legal address. But maybe that's intentional, and it seems almost in character, given their supreme confidence in the perfect system and obliviousness to anything being wrong with it.

-----

3. KADO: The Right Answer (2017)

(based on entire series — 12 episodes)

Speaking of great works of speculative fiction you need to go watch, this is that, at least for most of its run. Watch Ministry of Foreign Affairs negotiator Shindo Kojiro accidentally become humanity's ambassador to a radically-non-human alien while he's trying to go on vacation! Explore the social and political implications of sufficiently advanced technology indistinguishable from magic! Ponder the disturbing implications of being unaware of higher spacial dimensions but still existing in them! Then nosedive into a poorly-set-up, literal deus ex machina ending that defeats most of that development and speculation and exploration!

Classic W/A/S: 1 / 1 / 3 for most of the series, then suddenly 9 at the end. Seriously guys this ending is baaaaad.

Weeb: Not so much Japanese as just very sci-fi geek. Not in references, but in topic. This is a show for the committed sci-fi fan.

Ass: I watched it pretty early in the year and wasn't actually planning on reviewing it, but I don't remember any nudity or innuendo or anything at all. If the mere mention of sex is too much, that’s the only thing I can think of justifying a point of Ass for this show.

Shit: Other than the terrible ending, my biggest complaint complaint by far is some aspects of the CGI. The entire show is 3D rendered, which makes the intricate and shifting surface texture of KADO, the alien craft, look incredible (and suitably alien), but the human characters often end up looking oddly robotic, maybe due to a failure by the animators, maybe due to the software itself. It’s frequently unpleasant to look at, but the story was so interesting I wanted to keep watching!

-----

4. Magical Girl Ore (2018)

(based on entire series — 12 episodes)

A couple of aspiring idols, Saki and Sakuyo, become magical girls... who are ridiculously muscular men after they transform. A love triangle immediately ensues, with Sakuyo crushing on Saki, Saki crushing on Sakuyo's brother Mohiro, and Mohiro only returning Saki's feelings when Saki is in her transformed male form. The rest is an over-the-top parody of magical girl shows, full of twists on or outright subversions of the usual tropes of those genres and frequent tangents and fourth-wall breaks. But I think I've seen a lot of these jokes before in Excel Saga (which is such an old favorite of mine that I really should review it sometime), Pop Team Epic, or both. A somewhat-surprising plot twist later and we're at a climactic showdown with the Big Bad.

Classic W/A/S: 7 / 4 / 3

Weeb: Jokes may still work in a "lol so random" kind of way, but are much funnier if you get the references. The show relies heavily on familiarity with not just magical girl shows but several anime in other genres, the formulaic expectations set up by recent anime across genres, and even to some extent the animation industry. This is a show by otaku for otaku.

Ass: Most questionable content occurs in the context of occasional parodies of fanservice — spun not to be genuinely sexy but to laugh at the way typical anime fanservice portrays women by treating male bodies the same way. There's also quite a lot of partial male nudity in the obligatory hot springs episode, which is treated sexually because of the aforementioned love triangle. (Psst, anime writers and directors: more fanservice shots of men in other shows, plz.)

Shit: A lot of gags are kinda just low-hanging fruit of "haha, look at this, it's a thing you recognize from other shows". The things that aren't are pretty well developed, and a few things that appear to be art errors turn out to actually be part of the joke.

-----

5. Polar Bear Cafe (2012–2013)

(based on 6 episodes)

This mellow slice-of-life follows a group of humans and surprisingly-realistically-drawn animals, focusing on the patrons of Polar Bear Cafe (run by — surprise! — a literal polar bear named Polar Bear), especially on the terminally-lazy Panda's attempt to work part-time as a zoo exhibit. Its slowness is a nice part of the atmosphere, but it's also not a show suitable for binge-watching. You might end up falling asleep, and the running jokes get grating after a while. Watch only an episode or two at a time when you need something happy and relaxing.

Classic W/A/S: 5 / 0 / 1

Weeb: Polar Bear constantly makes puns that only make sense in Japanese, which are explained as on-screen notes, but seeing a pun accompanied by a note is not nearly as funny as actually getting the pun. I don't think I've ever seen an American show from any time period or genre that is similar to this show's format or pacing, so I'm also going to maintain that "mellow slice-of-life" is itself a concept that deserves a few weeb points.

Ass: Near-constant nudity... by the non-human characters. Seriously, guys, this show is far more innocent than your typical Disney movie.

Shit: I'm sure there's something wrong with this show, but I'm blind to whatever it is because it's so cozy.

#weeaboo trash #mini-reviews #chu-bra #love and lies #kado: the right answer #magical girl ore #polar bear cafe #happy new year #anime review

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garywonghc · 6 years

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The Natural World

by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

If there is one area in which both education and the media have a special responsibility, it is, I believe, our natural environment. This responsibility has less to do with questions of right or wrong than with the question of survival. The natural world is our home. It is not necessarily sacred or holy. It is simply where we live.

It is therefore in our interest to look after it. This is common sense. But only recently have the size of our population and the power of science and technology grown to the point that they have a direct impact on nature. To put it another way, until now, Mother Earth has been able to tolerate our sloppy house habits. However, the stage has now been reached where she can no longer accept our behaviour in silence. The problems caused by environmental disasters can be seen as her response to our irresponsible behaviour. She is warning us that there are limits even to her tolerance.

Nowhere are the consequences of our failure to exercise discipline in the way we relate to our environment more apparent than in the case of present-day Tibet. It is no exaggeration to say that the Tibet I grew up in was a wildlife paradise. Every traveller who visited Tibet before the middle of the twentieth century remarked on this.

Animals were rarely hunted, except in the remotest areas where crops could not be grown. Indeed, it was customary for government officials annually to issue a proclamation protecting wildlife: Nobody, it read, however humble or noble, shall harm or do violence to the creatures of the waters or the wild. The only exceptions to this were rats and wolves. As a young man, I recall seeing great numbers of different species whenever I travelled outside Lhasa. My chief memory of the three-month journey across Tibet from my birthplace at Takster in the East to Lhasa, where I was formally proclaimed Dalai Lama as a four-year-old boy, is of the wildlife we encountered along the way.

Immense herds of kiang (wild asses) and drong (wild yak) freely roamed the great plains. Occasionally we would catch sight of shimmering herds of gowa, the shy Tibetan gazelle, of wa, the white-lipped deer, or of tso, our majestic antelope. I remember, too, my fascination for the little chibi, or pika, which would congregate on grassy areas. They were so friendly. I loved to watch the birds: the dignified gho (the bearded eagle) soaring high above monasteries and perched up in the mountains; the flocks of geese (nangbar); and occasionally, at night, to hear the call of the wookpa (the long-eared owl).

Even in Lhasa, one did not feel in any way cut off from the natural world. In my rooms at the top of the Potala, the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas, I spent countless hours as a child studying the behaviour of the red-beaked khyungkar which nested in the crevices of its walls. And behind the Norbulingka, the summer palace, I often saw pairs of trung trung Oapanes blacknecked cranes), birds which for me are the epitome of elegance and grace, that lived in the marshlands there. And all this is not to mention the crowning glory of Tibetan fauna: the bears and mountain foxes, the chanku (wolves), and sazik (the beautiful snow leopard), and thesik (lynx) which struck terror into the hearts of the normal farmer - or the gentle-faced giant panda (thorn tra), whi.ch is native to the border area between Tibet and China.

Sadly, this profusion of wildlife is no longer to be found. Partly due to hunting but primarily due to loss of habitat, what remains half a century after Tibet was occupied is only a small fraction of what there was. Without exception, every Tibetan I have spoken with who has been back to visit Tibet after thirty to forty years has reported on a striking absence of wildlife. Whereas before wild animals would often come close to the house, today they are hardly anywhere to be seen.

Equally troubling is the devastation of Tibet's forests. In the past, the hills were all thickly wooded; today those who have been back report that they are clean-shaven like a monk's head. The government in Beijing has admitted that the tragic flooding of western China, and further afield, is in part due to this. And yet I hear continuous reports of round-the-clock convoys oftrucks carrying logs east out of Tibet. This is especially tragic given the country's mountainous terrain and harsh climate. It means that replanting requites sustained care and attention. Unfortunately there is little evidence of this.

None of this is to say that, historically, we Tibetans were deliberately 'conservationist'. We were not. The idea of something called 'pollution' simply never occurred to us. There is no denying we were rather spoiled in this respect. A small population inhabited a very large area with clean, dry air and an abundance of pure mountain water. This innocent attitude toward cleanliness meant that when we Tibetans went into exile, we were astonished to discover, for example, the existence of streams whose water is not drinkable. Like an only child, no matter what we did, Mother Earth tolerated our behaviour. The result was that we had no proper understanding of cleanliness and hygiene. People would spit or blow their nose in the street without giving it a second thought. Indeed, saying this, I recall one elderly Khampa, a former bodyguard who used to come each day to circumambulate my residence in Dharamsala (a popular devotion). Unfortunately, he suffered greatly from bronchitis. This was exacerbated by the incense he carried. At each corner, therefore, he would pause to cough and expectorate so ferociously that I sometimes wondered whether he had come to pray or just to spit!

Over the years, since our first arriving in exile, I have taken a close interest in environmental issues. The Tibetan government in exile has paid particular attention to introducing our children to their responsibilities as residents of this fragile planet. And I never hesitate to speak out on the subject whenever I am given the opportunity. In particular, I always stress the need to consider how our actions, in affecting the environment, are likely to affect others. I admit that this is very often difficult to judge. We cannot say for sure what the ultimate effects of, for example, deforestation might be on the soil and the local rainfall, let alone what the implications are for the planet's weather systems. The only clear thing is that we humans are the only species with the power to destroy the earth as we know it. The birds have no such power, nor do the insects, nor does any mammal. Yet if we have the capacity to destroy the earth, so, too, do we have the capacity to protect it.

What is essential is that we find methods of manufacture that do not destroy nature. We need to find ways of cutting down on our use of wood and other limited natural resources. I am no expert in this field, and I cannot suggest how this might be done. I know only that it is possible, given the necessary determination. For example, I recall hearing on a visit to Stockholm some years ago that for the first time in many years fish were returning to the river that runs through the city. Until recently, there were none due to industrial pollution. Yet this improvement was by no means the result of all the local factories closing down. Likewise, on a visit to Germany, I was shown an industrial development designed to produce no pollution. So, clearly, solutions do exist to limit damage to the natural world without bringing industry to a halt.

This does not mean that I believe that we can rely on technology to overcome all our problems. Nor do I believe we can afford to continue destructive practices in anticipation of technical fixes being developed. Besides, the environment does not need fixing. It is our behaviour in relation to it that needs to change. I question whether, in the case of such a massive looming disaster as that caused by the greenhouse effect, a fix could ever exist, even in theory. And supposing it could, we have to ask whether it would ever be feasible to apply it on the scale that would be required. What of the expense and what of the cost in terms of our natural resources? I suspect that these would be prohibitively high. There is also the fact that in many other fields-such as in the humanitarian relief of hunger-there are already insufficient funds to cover the work that could be undertaken. Therefore, even if one were to argue that the necessary funds could be raised, morally speaking this would be almost impossible to justify given such deficiencies. It would not be right to deploy huge sums simply in order to enable the industrialised nations to continue their harmful practices while people in other places cannot even feed themselves.

All this points to the need to recognise the universal dimension of our actions and, based on this, to exercise restraint. The necessity of this is forcefully demonstrated when we come to consider the propagation of our species. Although from 'the point of view of all the major religions, the more humans the better, and although it may be true that some of the latest studies suggest a population implosion a century from now, still I believe we cannot ignore this issue. As a monk, it is perhaps inappropriate for me to comment on these matters. I believe that family planning is important. Of course, I do pot mean to suggest we should not have children. Human life is a precious resource and married couples should have children unless there are compelling reasons not to. The idea of not having children just because we want to enjoy a full life without responsibility is quite mistaken I think. At the same time, couples do have a duty to consider the impact our numbers have on the natural environment. This is especially true given the impact of modern 'technology.

Fortunately, more and more people are coming to recognise the importance of ethical discipline as a means to ensuring a healthy place to live. For this reason I am optimistic that disaster can be averted. Until comparatively recently, few people gave much thought to the effects of human activity on our planet. Yet today there are even political parties whose main concern is this. Moreover, the fact that the air we breathe, the water we drink, the forests and oceans which sustain millions of different life forms, and the Climatic patterns which govern out weather systems all transcend national boundaries is a source of hope. It means that no country, no matter how rich and powerful or how poor and weak it may be, can afford not to take action in respect of this issue.

As far as the individual is concerned, the problems resulting from our neglect of our natural environment are a powerful reminder that we all have a contribution to make. And while one person's actions may not have a significant impact, the combined effect of millions of individuals' actions certainly does. This means that it is time for all those living in the industrially developed nations to give serious thought to changing their lifestyle. Again this is not so much a question of ethics. The fact that the population of the rest of the world has an equal right to improve their standard of living is in some ways more important than the affluent being able to continue their lifestyle. If this is to be fulfilled without causing irredeemable violence to the natural world-with all the negative consequences for happiness that this would entail-the richer countries must set an example. The cost to the planet, and thus the cost to humanity, of ever-increasing standards of living, is simply too great.

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recentanimenews · 4 years

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FEATURE: 7 Anime Birds for Your Turkey Day Celebrations

Although many countries have Thanksgiving holidays, the way people celebrate in the United States is a distinct cultural phenomenon. Nevertheless, anime has no shortage of bird and bird-adjacent characters, and so we here at Crunchyroll felt this is the perfect time of year to be kind to our fine-feathered friends. Below, please find a short list of bird characters (in alphabetical order) to make your Thanksgiving festivities worth two in the bush.

Chuntarou from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

The only sparrow among a cadre of messenger crows, little Chuntarou also has the misfortune of being assigned to Zenitsu Agatsuma, an extremely dramatic Demon Slayer whose heroic qualities only manifest when Zenitsu is asleep or knocked unconscious. Like any good hero, Chuntarou persists, and his plucky attitude is a welcome relief in a world overrun with man-eating demons.

The Chickens from Hitoribocchi no Marumaruseikatsu

While Bocchi Hitori — a young girl with severe social anxiety — struggles to befriend the members of her homeroom class, a pair of roosters kept in the school's chicken coop occasionally appear to wax philosophical on their lives, their backgrounds, and their present situation. For a paltry pair of poultry, the chickens make for a surprisingly punchy series of comedic interludes.

Condor the Ninja Ostrich from Naruto Shippuden

A harbinger of misfortune and strange filler episodes, the inexplicably named Condor the Ostrich makes several appearances in Naruto Shippuden, and each time the irascible animal seeks only one thing: freedom. By the time of Condor's final appearance, the irrepressible ostrich has learned how to speak and how to perform ninjutsu techniques such as the creation of Shadow Clones. Condor considers Naruto both a worthy foe and also the instrument of his captivity, and this is a slight that no ostrich will take lying down.

Cocco-kun from ZOMBIE LAND SAGA

The man, the myth, the legend, the mascot for the Drive-In Tori restaurant in Saga Prefecture, Cocco-kun is a local hero to fans of delicious grilled chicken. His overwhelming charisma and undeniable avian appeal are almost too much for the girls of Franchouchou in ZOMBIE LAND SAGA, to the point where the equally legendary Tae Yamada can't resist trying to take a bite. Shine on, o glorious Cocco-kun! May the wings of liberty never lose a feather!

Inko from Toradora!

A parakeet that shares a home with Ryuji Takasu — the male lead in the romantic comedy anime Toradora! — Inko is not so much romantic or comedic as just plain weird. The bird has a bit of a potty mouth and a bizarre disposition, but in a story full of small characters with big personalities, Inko stands out even among the human characters.

Kokopo from Utawarerumono The False Faces

A pack animal resembling a horse-sized pigeon, Kokopo becomes an affectionate supporter and stalwart companion to Haku, the amnesiac protagonist of Utawarerumono The False Faces. Ironically, in a fantastical setting resembling medieval China populated by people with animal features, Kokopo comes across as a pretty ordinary individual, and she's also surprisingly useful both as a mount and as a bodyguard. Don't mess with Kokopo.

Penguin from Polar Bear Cafe

When one's primary companions are a terminally lazy panda bear and a polar bear that is addicted to puns, it falls to the flightless bird in the room to play the role of the “straight man,” and Penguin from Polar Bear Cafe is always present to provide a snappy comeback when the situation strays into the absurd. With an acerbic sense of humor and an unflappable personality, Penguin may be unlucky in love in his own romantic pursuits, but he's guaranteed to steal the audience's respective hearts.

And there you have it, a neat little list of anime bird characters to enjoy during a Thanksgiving holiday. There were plenty of honorable mentions that didn't make the cut, especially if you consider characters such as Crested Ibis from Kemono Friends or bird-human hybrids such as Papi the Harpy from MONSTER MUSUME EVERYDAY LIFE WITH MONSTER GIRLS, but we tried to stick with pure bird as much as possible.

What do you think? Who are your favorite anime bird characters? Who do you think should make the list? How much turkey do you plan on devouring this year? Let us know in the comments section below, and have a safe and happy Turkey Day!

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

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digitalcraftsin · 4 years

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How to improve ecommerce Seo Traffic ?

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snowydreamposts · 4 years

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Nepal has pulled in trekkers from around the globe since the 1960s when Col Jimmy Robert’s composed the primary business trek. Trekking has been the main action of visitors in Nepal and thousands take to the Himalayas, some doing a couple of long periods of climbing while others take on a month long trek through valleys and high mountain passes. Two of the most mainstream trekking areas are the Everest and Annapurna where a wide range of trails can be followed while the other well known treks are in the Langtang and Kanchenjunga locales. The most testing is the Great Himalayan Trails, a broad path framework that spreads Nepal from Humla and Darchula in the west to Kanchenjunga in the east. The assorted variety of trekking trails in Nepal can’t be found in some other piece of the world. Truth be told, the absolute bottom in Nepal is 59 m above ocean level in the Tarai locale while the most elevated point is Everest, 8,848 m above ocean level, the two focuses being just 200 kilometers separated from point A to point B.

A greater part of guests to Nepal come in by means of the Tribuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. It is in Kathmandu that trekkers need to secure their licenses and other documentation, either from a trekking operator or from the proper workplaces. These archives will be checked along the trekking course. For those with brief period on their hands, there are half-day climbs from Kathmandu to observe stunning Himalayan perspectives.

Trekking in Nepal today is totally not quite the same as that of the 1960s. In all the principle trekking regions, the National Parks and Conservation Areas lodges have been set up where trekkers can discover convenience, nourishment and meet different trekkers and local people en route. A dominant part of the path are very much kept up and as a rule are sign-posted.

The hotels are very much selected and have offices for charging batteries and the bigger towns regularly have email offices. The length, the trouble and timing of the treks change enormously and to add to that once outside of the primary trekking regions, transport turns out to be increasingly risky and frequently includes in any event two excursions made on residential planned flights. Numerous treks in Nepal start with a household trip to the beginning stage and many are in remote regions with no street get to. A few days of trekking is required to arrive at the higher mountain regions from the neighborhood places of populace and organization.

Nepal has six particular and various vegetation zones going from Tropical beneath a 1,000 m through Sub-tropical 100m – 200m, Lower Temperate 1,700 m – 2,700 m, Upper Temperate 2,400 m – 3,000 m, Sub-elevated 3,000 m – 4,000 m and Alpine 4,000 m to the snowline, over the snowline it is a Himalaya tundra like wild. The higher elevations are home to the slippery Snow panther, Himalayan Thar, Musk deer and other uncommon species.

Despite the fact that the well known treks in Kanchenjunga, Everest, Manaslu, Annapurna can give hold up convenience, the less frequented treks in those zones and furthermore in different zones west of Annapurna will for the most part require outdoors style trek support.

Trekkers can discover a path whenever of year. The southern regions of Nepal get more significant levels of precipitation. Be that as it may, a few courses along the Great Himalaya Trails lie in the downpour shadow, a dry region on the leeward side of a mountain specifically Mustang toward the north of Annapurna and Manaslu, Dolpo toward the north of Dhaulagiri and the most distant west of Nepal toward the north of Saipal Himal. Post storm the climate will in general be more clear. Winter is acceptable yet colder with shorter days and spring can be influenced via occasional downpour and blizzards. Summer is short and is immediately trailed by the storms. Storm treks are for the most part in the dry Manang and Mustang territories.

Be that as it may, the downpours don’t pour 24 hours every day and they breath life into dynamite blossoms. It is likewise the ideal time to consider one of the areas in the downpour shadow which ordinarily include a progressively desolate Tibetan sort view rather than the greenness on opposite side.

It is significant for voyagers to realize that the fundamental pay producing movement of the individuals from the slope districts is the travel industry, and they ordinarily win compensation filling in as trekking watchmen or aides. Procuring a doorman doesn’t imply that you are frail, it implies you esteem the Nepali culture, you are furnishing an all-encompassing Nepali family with a salary and simultaneously you are making a companion and trekking with a nearby individual who is knowledgeable in the neighborhood societies, celebrations, and the various issues that can transform a decent trek into an extraordinary encounter of a real existence time.

It is conceivable to trek alone or without a Nepali guide, yet you would not realize what to do in a significant tempest, no ability to see and plunging temperatures at potentially 5,000 m? Ensure you have all the licenses required, and be ecologically and socially mindful.

Rara Lake at 2,990m, is the most profound lake in Nepal and furthermore one of the most immaculate. Encompassed by green slopes on all sides, canvassed in juniper trees, one can camp by the shimmering waters of the lake. Go sailing free waters, climb to close by slopes for a closer perspective on the mountains and lake, get to know the beguiling neighborhood individuals, or simply stroll around the huge lake keeping an eye out for wild blossoms or an uncommon feathered creature en route.

The recreation center is encompassed by elevated coniferous vegetation and offers an agent test of the area’s widely varied vegetation. In excess of 500 various types of blossoms, 20 types of well evolved creatures and 214 types of winged animals can be seen in the Rara National Park. With respect to life in the lake, the snow trout is one of the fish assortments recorded here up until now.

The rich vegetation of the recreation center backings various types of untamed life including the imperiled red panda, musk deer, Himalayan mountain bear, panther, jackal, Himalayan tahr, Yellow-throated martin, wild canine, wild hog, basic langur, rhesus macaque and the regular otter. During winter the recreation center possesses large amounts of flying creature assortments like coots, incredible peaked grebe, dark necked grebe, red peaked pochard, mallard, regular greenish blue, merganser and gulls. Vagrant water fowl and gallinaceous winged animals can likewise be seen during specific seasons.

Rara in the far north western piece of Nepal is the littlest national park in the nation, while the Rara Lake is Nepal’s greatest lake. The lake is 167m profound at certain spots, and depletes into the streams Mugu Karnali through Nijar Khola. Chuchemara Hill at 4,087m is the best vantage point to appreciate wonderful perspectives on the dark blue lake, the forested slopes and the snow topped pinnacles.

The excursion starts with a departure from Nepalgunj to Jumla, from where it is a 2-3 days climb to reach Rara Lake. Jumla is known for its fine apples and strolling through these plantations can be a fascinating encounter.

The trek leads through remote wide open toward the Tibetan outskirt. An excursion into the Jumla district and the excellent Rara Lake is likely one of the most intriguing treks in the Himalaya undisturbed by crowds of trekkers as one finds on other trek courses.

The best time to visit the recreation center is in the spring, summer and harvest time. As more individuals are presently visiting the recreation center, visitor administrations and foundation have created throughout the years. Nonetheless, for an incredible encounter, it is as yet fitting to act naturally adequate in the event that you are voyaging alone. Lake Rara is likewise a well known journey site for Nepalis.

MansuluConservation A perfect trekking circuit, this trek permits you to hover around Mt. Manaslu, the world’s eighth most elevated pinnacle. Trek along the less voyage trails through provincial Nepal with epic perspectives that must be found in the entirety of their wonder. With not many guests experienced en route, this district offers an altogether different encounter from treks in the Everest and Annapurna areas which get the biggest number of trekkers.

Manaslu (8,152m) is a chance to appreciate a calm time trekking in unadulterated delight away from the boisterous trappings of the advanced world.

The trek on an antiquated path along which you appreciate credible Nepali culture and neighborliness, guarantees stunning perspectives on Manaslu and other Himalayan pinnacles consistently on the foundation. You find a good pace societies and the practically medieval way of life of the individuals as you trek up north towards the pinnacles.

Protected from modernization and commercialization, the nearby individuals’ way of life has changed minimal throughout the hundreds of years, in this manner holding their immaculateness. So your trek to Manaslu will be much the same as time-travel. returning in time. The path has teahouses en route for a night end, however one could pick an outdoors trek and rest under the stars.

There is web access, and telephones just as other electronic gadgets can be charged at the teahouses along the path. The trek makes for an extraordinary photograph opportunity so you will have something to reclaim home to think back about. All you need is a better than average camera.

Manaslu shares quite a bit of its way of life and history with its neighboring region, Tibet. Buddhism is the significant religion here as displayed by the Buddhist religious communities, the design and conventions as far as possible.

The locale, which was authoritatively opened to remote sightseers just in 1991, falls in the Restricted zone and vacationers must obtain a Trekking Permit from the Department of Immigration notwithstanding the TIMS card to enter this district.

Upper Mustang Trekking

To trek in Upper Mustang is an uncommon benefit. Here you will encounter a lifestyle of genuine mountain individuals, who for a long time, had almost no contact with the remainder of Nepal and held their rich social legacy. As of not long ago their ruler was formally perceived by the Government of Nepal.

From numerous points of view, a trek into Upper Mustang is like trekking in Tibet, as geologically it is a piece of the Tibetan level. The locale of Mustang was, until 1950, a different realm inside the limits of Nepal. The last lord, the Raja of Mustang, despite everything has his home in the old capital known as Lo Manthang.

Horse’s last official kiing Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista’s castle in Lo Manthan, Upper Mustang.

Upper Mustang was opened to non-Nepali trekkers just nearly fifteen years back and even today, get to is still exceptionally limited. To enter Upper Mustang, that is to travel further north of Kagbeni, trekkers need an uncommon trekking grant and should be joined by an administration selected authority.

Upper Mustang, being in the Himalayan downpour shadow, is one of the districts in the nation appropriate for trekking in any event, during the rainstorm. During this time, the upper Kali Gandaki valley is still very dry with just periodic precipitation.

The banks of the Kali Gandaki River in Upper Mustang.

The Mustang trek isn’t especially troublesome, the most noteworthy point came to being just 3,800 meters, yet the conditions on occasion can be exhausting. Colt is cold in winter and is constantly breezy and dusty as the year progressed. Winter treks are best stayed away from because of brutal climate.

There are not many convenience offices accessible above Kagbeni, so bunches must be completely independent, particularly in fuel. While watchmen are accessible in Jomsom it is desirable over go through donkeys to convey the heaps to Mustang. These pack creatures are accessible locally and are progressively efficient, and surely more earth agreeable than watchmen.

The tough desert landscape of Upper Mustang is commended by sprinkles of green vegetation for farming and fields.

The Mustang trek isn’t especially troublesome, the most noteworthy point came to being just 3,800 meters, yet the conditions now and again can be exhausting. Colt is cold in winter and is constantly blustery and dusty as the year progressed. Winter treks are best kept away from because of brutal climate.

There are hardly any settlement offices accessible above Kagbeni, so bunches must be completely independent, particularly in fuel. While watchmen are accessible in Jomsom it is desirable over go through donkeys to convey the heaps to Mustang. These pack creatures are accessible locally and are increasingly efficient, and absolutely more naturally cordial than watchmen.

A trekker to Mustant motions his experience in the midst of the background of Himalayan pinnacles.

Lo Manthang, the old capital, is come to in four days and at any rate one additional day ought to be spent here to absorb the sights and hints of this extraordinary walled settlement. Horses are accessible for procure on the off chance that you so want. The arrival outing can either follow a similar course as the one you took to enter or take an elective course along the eastern bank of the Kali Gandaki.

Annapurna Region

The incredible Annapurna locale is the most different and mainstream trekking region in Nepal. From the full three-week Annapurna Circuit, which extends into the noteworthy Mustang area to short three-day treks, there’s a trek appropriate for everybody here.

Mountains and Rivers in the Annapurna Region

As the name proposes, the focal point of this piece of Nepal is the scope of mountains that incorporates Annapurna I, the first of the 8,000 m tops to be ascended. Likewise remembered for this area is one more 8,000 m goliath, Dhaulagiri, which is found west of Annapurna I.

Between these two mountains lies the valley of the Kali-Gandaki River, the most profound crevasse on the planet. Trekkers experience the intriguing Thakali individuals right now. They are known for being acceptable in undertakings and their home cooking is savored by the two visitors and the Nepali individuals when all is said in done.

Perspectives on lavish, prolific farmland and undisturbed regular backwoods, snow-topped mountains, and experiences with a blend of numerous ethnic networks, all indicate an assorted scope of encounters that make the Annapurna trek one of the most fulfilling treks among all goals in Nepal.

The Annapurna chain of mountains lies inland, causing an enormous territory including Manang and Mustang to fall in the downpour shadow, where the perfect time for trekking is during the storm as there is no precipitation and temperatures are moderate in these zones.

These parts are significantly drier than the southern slants of the mountains. This prompts a parched scene that is desert-like and totally different from districts drop down where there are green fields and ripe farmland.

Jomsom Muktinath

Jomsom is an incredible spot to begin trekking. The different scene and culture found along this trekking course give magnificent knowledge into the lifestyle of Nepali individuals of different ethnic gatherings.

The feature is a trek through the most profound chasm on the planet cut by the Kali Gandaki River, which starts in the Tibetan level to in the end stream into the Ganges in India.

Not very a long way from Jomsom, you discover Muktinath, the renowned journey site for Buddhists just as Hindus. To Hindus, Muktinath is a hallowed spot of salvation. They accept that washing in the waters here ensures salvation in the afterlife. The Hindu god, Brahma, is said to have lit the interminable flares that consume at Muktinath.

To Buddhists, Muktinath is where the incredible sage Guru Rinpoche (Padmasambhava) who carried Buddhism to Tibet, came to reflect.

The region is an ideal spot to discover fossilized ammonites, referred to locally as Shaligram, which are discovered up and down the upper spans of the Kali Gandaki.

This piece of Nepal is occupied by Gurungs and Magars in the lower locales of the Kali Gandaki, Thakalis around Jomsom and individuals with solid Tibetan roots, the Lopa, around Muktinath and up in Mustang.

Their traditions and clothing are particular and this trek is perfect for watching the decent variety of the ethnic gatherings and their traditions. Hinduism overwhelms the lower parts while as one ascensions further up, Tibetan Buddhism prevails.

On the off chance that you happen to be in Muktinath toward the beginning of September, you are probably going to be in time for one of Nepal’s one of a kind celebrations, the yearly steed race known as Yartung. This is seven days of some genuine pony hustling, Tibetan style, and some similarly genuine fun.

A large portion of the course along the Jomsom trek frames a piece of the Annapurna circuit and Annapurna lower region treks. The standard beginning stage is Naya Pul on the Pokhara to Baglung street and from that point, by means of Ghorepani and Tatopani, into the crevasse of the Kali Gandaki.

Among Tatopani and Lete Khola, there is a sensational difference in landscape. Pine timberlands swarm in on the path and the towns take on a very unique appearance.

The format of the towns and the plan of the houses are novel to this region. The houses are intended to shield the occupants from the solid breezes that explode the valley regularly from late morning onwards.

These breezes are brought about by contrasts in barometrical weight between the Tibetan level and the lower compasses of the valley. The best case of the one of a kind design of this district is found in the town of Marpha which is a two-hour stroll down from Jomsom.

The stone hailed roads with productive underground waste framework and the level roofed houses with a focal yard make an appealing spot to go through an additional day resting. Utilize the extra time to test apple results of this locale from the lavish plantations up in the valley.

Jomsom is most popular for its air terminal that offers a brisk passage or exit to the valley with ordinary every day flights from Pokhara. The solid breezes that explode the valley keeps flights from taking off from Jomsom after 11 a.m. Jomsom can likewise be viewed as a spot to use as a base for investigating the upper piece of the Kali Gandaki district. There are various convenience choices including another high-class resort complex.

An option to Jomsom as a

These breezes are brought about by contrasts in barometrical weight between the Tibetan level and the lower ranges of the valley. The best case of the novel design of this area is found in the town of Marpha which is a two-hour stroll down from Jomsom.

The stone hailed lanes with effective underground seepage framework and the level roofed houses with a focal yard make an appealing spot to go through an additional day resting. Utilize the leisure time to test apple results of this locale from the rich plantations up in the valley.

Jomsom is known for its air terminal that offers a brisk passage or exit to the valley with ordinary every day flights from Pokhara. The solid breezes that explode the valley keeps flights from taking off from Jomsom after 11 a.m. Jomsom can likewise be viewed as a spot to use as a base for investigating the upper piece of the Kali Gandaki area. There are various convenience choices including another high class resort.

An option to Jomsom as a base for the trek is the town of Kagbeni which is a two-hour stroll up the valley. Kagbeni isn’t as marketed as Jomsom and absolutely a lot calmer. This is the furthest trekkers are permitted to go towards Upper Mustang without an extraordinary license and a going with Environmental Officer.

For subtleties, see the depiction of Upper Mustang treks. From Kagbeni to Muktinath is a three to four hour trek and trekkers can decide to do it as a day outing or remain at one of the numerous teahouses accessible at Muktinath.

base for the trek is the town of Kagbeni which lies a further two-hour stroll up the valley. Kagbeni isn’t as popularized as Jomsom and positively a lot calmer. This is the furthest trekkers are permitted to go towards Upper Mustang without a unique grant and a going with Environmental Officer.

For subtleties see the depiction of Upper Mustang treks. From Kagbeni to Muktinath is a three to four hour trek and trekkers can decide to do it as a day excursion or remain at one of the numerous teahouses accessible at Muktinath.

Kathmandu Valley Trek

Find antiquated sanctuaries and landmarks in the valley of the Gods where Hinduism and Buddhism coincide in impeccable agreement. Find out about the fantasies and legends that formed the way of life of Nepalis for a considerable length of time, since antiquated occasions.

Appreciate customary Newari nourishment cooked on wood broilers while you walk around the enchanting little back streets around the Durbar Squares of the three urban communities of the Kathmandu Valley; Bhaktapur, Patan or Kathmandu.

Purchase handicrafs from craftsmans who despite everything work as per old conventions that return hundreds of years. Respect the fine design and impeccable woodcarvings of Newar experts whose creative splendor are exhibited around the three urban communities as sanctuaries and landmarks fabricated hundreds of years prior.

Painstaking work of the Kathmandu Valley

Watch how the individuals of the valley despite everything utilize their sanctuaries to rehearse ceremonies that have been passed down from age to age. Appreciate the beautiful celebrations of the valley that include Gods and Goddesses including the Living Goddess Kumari on a few events. Follow the chariot parades that arrange the thin roads of old Kathmandu.

Visit the 7 landmarks assigned as UNESCO World Heritage Sites around Kathmandu in 48 hours.

There is a well known society story that discussions about the foundation of Kathmandu Valley. Some time in the past, during the Pleistocene period, Kathmandu Valley was a tremendous lake – an excellent display of sea-going greenery. Around a similar period, when Manjushree, a heavenly Buddhist Saint from Tibet, saw a delightful lotus bloom coasting in the focal point of the lake, vast profound respect began to develop inside his heart, which evoked his commitment to hold and love the blossom.

Chobar Gorge – Where Manjushree depleted the Kathmandu Valley

He at that point cut the Chobar Hill which currently can be viewed as a profound crevasse, letting the lake water channel out, leaving a fruitful valley for human settlement. Later the settlement turned into a notable terminal for differing individuals: for aficionados the two Hindus and Buddhists, Tibetans and Indian shippers, craftsmans, sovereigns, travelers, antiquarians and the sky is the limit from there.

The Kathmandu Valley has consistently been a mixture of different societies, religions, expressions and artworks. The Gopala and Kirat administrations managed during the most punctual periods, trailed by the Licchavi (300-879 AD), who, correspondingly, built up the city with an energy, conventional workmanship, and strict convictions.

Kumari the Living Godess of Kathmandu

The numerous lines that governed the valley have left a rich inheritance as social and strict concordance. The different Hindu sanctuaries and Buddhist religious communities have been remaining alongside one another for quite a long time. Kathmandu appreciates different ethnicities, vivid celebrations, and endless festivals.

The Kathmandu Valley is involved three notable urban areas – Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur, which were once autonomous states administered by Malla lords, who governed the urban communities from the twelfth to the eighteenth hundreds of years and rivaled each other to praise their rule by building landmarks and sanctuaries that displayed the craftsmanship and compositional abilities of Newar craftsmans. It was when even the compelling Mongol Emporer Kublai Khan employed remarkable specialists from Kathmandu Valley to commend his domain.

The renowned Pagoda style engineering is a blessing from the Kathmandu Valley to China. Presently the valley is home to seven locales which make the valley an UNESCO Cultural World Heritage Site, a token of the brilliant period of Nepali engineering.

Mount Everest Region

Khumbu – Take the transport to Jiri or fly to Lukla then climb up to Namche, capital of the Sherpa lands at the foot of Everest.

Everest Base Camp (EBC) Trek/rising of Kalar Patar – Visit the Buddhist Tengboche religious community for the Mani Rimdu celebration in November. Investigate the Gokyo valley with its holy lakes and dynamite perspectives on four 8000m pinnacles. Or on the other hand a circuit of the locale crossing the high passes or Cho La and Renjo La.

Three Passes Trek – Similar to the EBC Trek however more and accentuating goes in the locale. EBC itself should be possible as a side-trip.

Island Peak Trek (Trekking Peak) – takes in probably the most fantastic landscape in the Himalayas.

Mera Peak (Trekking Peak) – During the climb of Mera Peak (6461m), appreciate all encompassing perspectives on Mt. Everest (8,848m), Cho-Oyu (8,201 m), Lhotse (8,516 m), Makalu (8,463 m), Kangchenjunga (8,586 m), Nuptse (7,855m), and Chamlang (7,319m).

Makalu Barun is the fifth most noteworthy mountain on the planet at 8,481 meters above ocean level. Makalu Base Camp, at 5,000 meters, can be arrived at utilizing tea-house convenience. This trek offers the chance to see rhododendrons, orchids, snow panthers, red panda, musk deer, wild hog, wild yak, and Himalayan thar.

Rolwaling Valley Trek Gaurishankar Conservation Area

#trekking in nepal

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theeverlastingshade · 5 years

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Merriweather Post Pavilion- Animal Collective: 10th Anniversary

While it may have seemed evident for the first time in their career up to that point where Animal Collective would go on their next LP given the sounds of their brilliant, and game changing previous record, Strawberry Jam, and Panda Bear’s landmark third LP, Person Pitch, Merriweather Post Pavilion presented another remarkable departure for the band, bringing them as close to cultural ubiquity as they would ever get. In continuing within the progression from SJ that found them ditching their guitars for samplers, alongside Panda Bear’s newfound adherence to crafting loop-based jams over working within traditional song structure parameters on PP, MPP was unlike anything in their discography. It was by far their most approachable album, but thankfully despite the heightened emphasis on melody and danceable rhythms they don’t compromise an ounce of their singularity, ability to distill a myriad of disparate influences seamlessly, or otherworldly strangeness. Even at their most inclusive Animal Collective sound like no one but themselves entirely. Ten years later MPP still stands as a towering piece of work that sounds like one of the most compelling albums to legitimately, inadvertently bridge the gap between the underground and mainstream this century.

Throughout their career Animal Collective toured their new material, work shopping the songs in real time in front of audiences, before they were properly released, and the material on MPP was no exception. After the release of SJ Deakin left the band due to a combination of touring fatigue and undisclosed personal reasons, and so Avey Tare, Panda Bear, and Geologist set out to record their following LP without him throughout the following winter. The demos for MPP began circulating in an email chain between band members throughout 2007, and while songs for the record would seep into their live sets that year they didn’t formally reconvene for recording until February 2008. Without Deakin in the mix it was a given that guitar would play a markedly diminished role in the recordings, and working with Ben H. Allen as a producer helped further heighten the populist sensibilities that had always existed within their music, albeit usually buried under heaps of noise. As a result, MPP is noticeably cleaner sounding, and far more bass heavy than any other their records, but thankfully just as dense and mesmerizing. The previously unprecedented emphasis on a thick low-end, coupled with cleaner production, and brighter, richer harmonies than they had ever attempted resulted in a bewildering level of immediacy that wouldn’t have been fathomable five years prior.

Everything about Animal Collective’s work following their remarkable 2005 LP Feels has been informed to some degree by PP. It’s importance on their subsequent work simply cannot be overstated. Their music has always been defined by hyper-saturated textures and sonic exploration, but from Spirit They’re Gone, Spirit They’ve Vanished through Feels they were still working within the parameters of rock instrumentation, despite the arrangements being so bathed in effects that they at times hardly seemed to suggest their origin. On MPP, instead of recording themselves playing these arrangements on traditional instruments they repeatedly sampled themselves, and then spliced up the various samples, looping them together in a dizzying array of colorful sound. The songs born from these samples are more meticulously assembled than anything that they had attempted prior, and like a few of the songs on PP, they seem like they could go on forever with samples occasionally shifting shape while the overall composition continues to ride on the maximalist repetition. Despite the complexity of their construction, the songs on MPP shine with an impeccable melodicism that had been unprecedented to that degree within their canon.

Though not overtly presenting as one, Animal Collective have been a pop band at heart since STGSTV, and here they unabashedly embrace that impulse while continuing to evolve and challenge themselves. Much in the way that SJ was Avey Tare’s record, as it marked a shift away from the sun-streaked, blissful psychedelia of Feels to something more visceral and manic, MPP is a return to the band’s tamer side, and is undeniably Panda Bear’s record. A few of the songs existed in demo form while Panda Bear was touring PP, and even after having been fleshed out into proper songs by the rest of the band, they still retain his vibrant melodic touch. Despite Geologist’s stunning sample work that consistently envelopes these songs with plenty of indiscernible sound to latch onto, the band’s tunefulness reaches its peak here. Both Avey and Panda’s voices are relegated to a much higher place in the mix than than usual, which further heightens the distinctiveness of each while amplifying their anthemic qualities. While their voices had never rung clearer, they’re also both consistently lathered in a thick coating of reverb which ensured that it wouldn’t be quite as obvious which one of them was singing when presented in tandem with one another, despite their singular inflections. While it’s easy to lament the sharp contrast, particularly in regards to the absence of Tare’s feral shrieks, the seamless interplay between their vocals is an absolute marvel throughout, and it’s never sounded as tight, before or after.

It seems only fitting that the album of theirs up to this point that contained the most otherworldly, synthetic sounding compositions was equally defined by their most endearing, human lyrics to date. Avey Tare and Panda Bear had both gotten married a few years beforehand, Panda Bear had just become a father, and Geologist was in a relationship that would lead to marriage by late 2009, so the lyrics throughout touch on themes of family, responsibility, sense of self, discovery, and healing. “My Girls” finds Panda Bear singing about his desire to simply provide for his family “I don’t mean to seem like I care about material things/Like a social status/I just want four walls and adobe slabs, for my girls”, deeming anything in addition to sustainability an afterthought. “Guys Eyes” details Panda’s longing for intimacy while on tour “I really need to show to my girl that I need her”, while “Daily Routine” unpacks the minutiae of the newfound habitual schedule that emerged since Panda Bear became a father “Make sure my kid’s got a jacket/And keys and coat and shoes and hat”. “Bluish” explores a moment of pure bliss that Avey experienced with a lover “I’m getting lost in your curls/I’m drawing pictures on your skin”, while “Taste” explores issues of identity and how we manage to define ourselves “Don't let your temper rise, don't get a bitter face/Don’t judge me on my kind of taste”. While the music splits the difference between dense complexity and all-encompassing immediacy, the writing succeeds in achieving a delicate balance between sincere simplicity and universal human experience.

While the production throughout MPP provides the songs with a level of approachability that previously eluded the band, there are still a few songs here that rank among the best that they ever wrote. “Taste” stirs to life with ambient samples that seem to approximate the buzz of insects before a massive kick drum, delicate synths, and the gorgeous back and forth vocals of Panda Bear and Avey Tare slide into the mix. It’s one of the finest displays of their vocal interplay to date, and despite just how dense the mix is, it doesn’t detract from what’s handedly one of their strongest melodies to date. “Daily Routine” begins at a crawl with brief organ stabs before Panda Bear’s voice descends upon the mix alongside the now iconic organ riff. Shortly before the halfway point the riff is perpetually looped, and alongside breezy guitar strums and droning new age synths that creep along the periphery of the mix Panda Bear’s voice soars above it all as he provides the grandest delivery in their discography “Just one sec more in my bed”, the mix practically trembling with catharsis. Even as the record veers toward unrelenting maximalism, “Bluish” comes in to provide sensory relief in the form of a tranquil comedown. Though still steeped in a hypnotic array of texture, the tempo, vocals, and instrumentation are as subdued as the band have allowed since Feels, and their restraint pays off immensely as Avey delivers one of his most tender vocal performances to date.

As accomplished as these songs are, the crown jewel of MPP is the final song, “Brother Sport”. Equally uplifting and heartbreaking, “Brother Sport” was written by Panda Bear as a balm for his brother Matt to help him cope with their father’s death “I know it sucks that daddy’s done/But try to think of what you want/You’ve got to open up your/Open up your/Open up your throat”. It’s the song that most resembles something that could have wound up on PP, and the ingenious pacing of the samples allow the song to end in a much different place than where it began with the transitions sounding as effortless and natural as breathing. “Brother Sport” begins as an afro-electronic rave that continues building steam before transitioning into an explosive, full-blown psychedelic freak-out that’s bursting at the seams with Panda Bear’s jubilant vocals, frantic tribal drums, blaring synths, and a bounty of hazy texture.

While “Brother Sport” was the furthest that they’ve strayed from their psych-folk roots up to that point, and the closest that they’d come to reaching a full-on embrace of club culture, it’s still far from a shameless cash-grab. “Brother Sport” comes off like the peak of a summit that they’d been climbing since STGSTV. It’s the natural culmination of their progression up to this point and it incorporates much of what they’ve made their calling cards through their career (angelic harmonies, unrelenting noise, tasteful use of space and repetition, infectious, complex polyrhythms, and heaping doses of unorthodox texture) while looking decidedly toward the future of where they could take their idiosyncratic sound. It’s a perfect conclusion to the record, and while sonically and thematically cohesive with respect to everything that precedes it, it’s more impressive than everything else here.

While not necessarily their best album, MPP is nonetheless the record of theirs that’s all but guaranteed to stand the test of time longer than anything else that they’ve done for everyone outside of the hardcore faithful. It addition to capping off a decade of brilliance with a career arc that was more consistently compelling and unpredictable than that of any other band this century, and changing form on an album to album basis from the lo-fi psych-folk of STGSTV up to the maximalist electronic art-pop of MPP, they rewrote the rules for how musicians would most commonly operate throughout this decade. Although the shift was truly kicked into gear initially by Panda Bear on PP, MPP without question cemented the “ditch the guitars for samplers” approach that became so commonplace for the the acts that were lumped into the chillwave scene, as well as the hypnagogic pop acts, and the bands that drew from psychedelia that all emerged this decade.

So much underground pop music today seems unfathomable in a context that wasn’t preceded by MPP, and yet it still sounds like the work of no one else. Even with the existence of their disappointing subsequent LP, Painting With, MPP still sounds like an utter anomaly within their canon. Later in 2009 Animal Collective would release the stellar Fall Be Kind companion EP, which marked the last time that they were nearly unanimously regarded as a critical favorite in addition to their brief brush with the mainstream. The following albums of theirs never reached the highs of their work throughout the last decade, with their solo work (deservedly) largely eclipsing their proper albums. While I’d love to believe that Animal Collective have at least one more great album left in them, they’ve already given us far more than we deserve. Regardless of the future quality of their music, MPP will continue to exist as a triumph of the human spirit; a beacon of perseverance, warmth, and the miraculous achievements that are possible when you dismiss your inhibitions and the expectations of others in favor of keeping your head in the clouds.

Essentials: “Brother Sport”, “Daily Routine”, “Taste”

#Animal Collective #merriweather post pavilion #domino records

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superheroshome · 4 years

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Superheros home Best Anime of 2019- Top 15 Anime you can watch

Whether or not you’re searching for one thing with superhero aptitude, a horror-inspired thriller, or a romance with a bit comedy blended in, 2019 has all you want. To whittle down the seemingly countless collection of animation that the 12 months already has to supply, we’ve put collectively a listing of the very best anime exhibits of the previous couple of months.

Also check: Best Anime to Watch – Top 30 Anime of 2018

The very best upcoming 2019 anime embrace reboots of classics like Fruits Basket and Boogiepop Phantom, new seasons of fantastic exhibits like Mob Psycho 100 and Chihayafuru, and all-new variations of sizzling manga like Osamu Tezuka’s 60’s traditional Dororo, in addition to the newer sequence, The Promised Neverland. It doesn’t matter what you are in search of, there’s one thing to get hyped about on this 12 months. So, with out losing any extra time let’s begin the present!

15. Aggretsuko (Season 2)

Rarecho and Fanworks’ Aggretsuko was a breakout hit when it premiered on Netflix early final 12 months. A lot in order that we’re now handled to yet one more new season, this time crammed with much more pleasant surprises and twists than the primary.

After we final left Retsuko, our plucky steel karaoking crimson panda protagonist, it appeared as if she was in a reasonably great spot between her work-life and precise life. Certain, her job as an accounting clerk nonetheless sucks and her love life — or lack thereof — might depart one thing to be desired, however Retsuko got here out of the challenges of that first season a stronger, wiser, and extra assured younger girl keen to say her price, converse up for herself, and extra keen to behave on her personal wants and wishes.

Season 2 finds Retsuko tackling new, albeit acquainted challenges within the type of Anai, an aggressively hypersensitive intern below her tutelage, the intrusive helicopter parenting of her personal mom who insists on her discovering a accomplice and settling down, and a brand new love curiosity with a stunning background. An immensely satisfying continuation of the primary, Aggretsuko Season 2 is one in every of 2019’s must-watch sequence.

Launch date: June 14 Director: Rarecho Animation manufacturing: Fanworks Watch Online on: Netflix

14. Rilakkuma and Kaoru

Rilakkuma and Kaoru follows Kaoru, the present’s titular 20-something workplace employee, as she navigates the challenges of her job, residence life, the expectations of her household and friends, in addition to the imprecise however palpable expertise of melancholy and ennui that accompanies younger maturity, all whereas caring for Rilakkuma, Korilakkuma, and Kiiroitori, two anthropomorphic bears that starting dwelling with Kaoru and her pet fowl, respectively.

The present is notable for being one of the vital current and distinguished examples of stop-motion animation in anime, a method too typically marginalized to a distinct segment inside the anime trade, however no much less expressive and spectacular. A captivating slice-of-life comedy with coming-of-age components, each the sequence’ writing and animation are glorious. It is hardly stunning provided that the previous is credited to Naoko Ogigami, an award-winning Japanese comedy writer-director, and the latter to key animators comparable to Katsushi Bouda and Shigeru Okada, lauded stop-motion artists.

At its coronary heart, Rilakkuma and Kaoru is very similar to Netflix’s 2018 sequence Aggretsuko: taking the beloved mascot of a industrial model and centering them on the coronary heart of a honest and affecting exploration of the inherent loneliness of younger maturity and the worth of real, persistent friendships. For this alone, Rilakkuma and Kaoru shines as top-of-the-line anime of 2019.

Launch date: April 6 Director: Nobuyuki Takeuchi, Kunihiko Ikuhara Animation manufacturing: MAPPA, Lapin Monitor Watch Online on: Netflix

13. Sarazanmai

Let’s minimize straight to the purpose: Sarazanmai is one in every of, if not essentially the most weird, idiosyncratic, visually audacious, and thematically evocative anime to air in 2019. Describing simply precisely what the hell Saranzanmai is to somebody who has by no means seen an anime directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara (Revolutionary Lady Utena, Pengiundrum, Yurikuma Arashi) is about as tough as it will be to explain the idea of ‘water’ and what the hell it means for one thing to be ‘moist’ to an alien.

However, put merely, the present follows three middle-schoolers — Kazuki Yasaka, Kuji Toi, and Enta Jinnai — as they’re remodeled into kappa, amphibious beak-faced demons, after releasing Keppi, the guardian spirit of Asakusa, from the statue containing him and by chance insulting him. To return to human type, the three are tasked with exorcising “kappa-zombies,” malicious poltergeists, by performing elaborate dance numbers in a liminal dimension to steal the zombies’ shirikodama, magical spheres representing human want, by forcibly eradicating them from their anuses. That’s the tamest, most perfunctory description of what Sarazanmai is about, and it solely will get stranger from right here on out.

Ikuhara is understood for writing exhibits with socially-conscious premises powered by avant-garde visuals laden with labyrinthine ranges of subtextual depth, and Sarazanmai isn’t any completely different. Even realizing that, nothing can fairly put together you for the surprises this present has to supply. If nothing else, know this: It is likely one of the most daring, earnest, and empathetic sequence to air this 12 months, and save for having watched one in every of Ikuhara’s works up to now, you received’t see anything fairly prefer it.

Launch date: April 6 Director: Nobuyuki Takeuchi, Kunihiko Ikuhara Animation manufacturing: MAPPA, Lapin Monitor Watch Online on: Crunchyroll

12. Fruits Basket

Natsuki Takaya’s Fruits Basket is a perennial favourite amongst followers of shojo (i.e. ‘younger girl’) manga for its charming slice-of-life storyline, empathetically rendered characters, engrossing relational dynamics, and earnest, offbeat humor, and the sequence’ early ’00s tv adaptation much more so.

This 12 months’s reboot, produced by TMS Leisure and directed by Yoshihide Ibata (Kill La Kill, FLCL Progressive), is a meticulous and loving tackle the supply materials that champions its dedication to telling the unique manga’s story in full. Fruits Basket follows the story of Tohru Honda, a hardworking and optimistic excessive schooler who’s taken in by the Soma clan, a reclusive household whose members every carry the reincarnated spirit of an animal from the Chinese language Zodiac.

Whereas balancing the calls for of faculty and her new function as a surrogate member of the Soma clan, Tohru grows as a younger girl whereas inadvertently facilitating the expansion of every of the family members, tightening bonds that vacillate between the familial and romantic. 2019’s Fruits Basket is a disarmingly endearing romantic comedy with simply sufficient twists on the method of the style to drag in newcomers whereas satisfying longtime followers of the unique.

Launch date: April 6 Director: Yoshihide Ibata Animation manufacturing: TMS/8PAN Watch Online on: Crunchyroll, FunimationNow

11. My Roommate Is a Cat

My Roommate Is a Cat is the anime model of Rooster Soup for the Soul if there ever was one. The gist of the plot is baked into the present’s title, however this slice-of-life goes above and past in delivering heartfelt, entertaining life classes that concentrate on “the feels” with predatory accuracy – particularly for those who’re a fan of cats.

Subaru, a 23-year-old author with agoraphobic tendencies, occurs upon a stray cat whereas visiting his dad and mom’ graves. He brings her residence, drawing inspiration from her for way over only a novel. Typical hijinks ensue, however My Roommate Is a Cat seeks to elicit extra than simply the occasional snicker or smile. The present cleverly switches between the views of man and cat, shedding mild on how they interpret the world, and heartfully shows how particular person actions can so strongly have an effect on others.

Collectively, they develop and be taught, turning into extra empathetic towards one another and the individuals of their lives. Don’t be stunned if you end up laughing, crying, and soul-searching throughout a single episode.

Launch date: January 9 Director: As Futatsuya Animation manufacturing: Zero-G

Watch Online On: Crunchyroll, VRV, and Funimation

10. Boogiepop and Others

The newest anime adaptation of Kouhei Kadono’s influential early aughts mild novel sequence, Boogiepop and Others, is an anthology swirling round Boogiepop, a vigilante alter-ego of excessive schooler Touka Miyashita that possesses her physique in moments of mortal disaster within the battle towards a cadre of otherworldly creatures with ties to a shadowy entity recognized solely because the Towa group.

As a sequence, Boogiepop and Others could possibly be finest described as a slow-burn supernatural thriller thriller dotted with adrenaline-spiking sequences of horror, motion, and suspense set towards a backdrop of gorgeous metropolitan vistas. As an adaptation of not solely the primary novel in Kadono’s sequence, however a number of of the sequence’ different celebrated entries comparable toBoogiepop at Daybreak, Boogiepop Returns: VS Imaginator, and Boogiepop Overdrive: The King of Distortion, the sequence is a must-watch for longtime followers of the Boogiepop and a super level of entry for anybody new to and curious concerning the franchise.

If that is not sufficient to maneuver the needle, the sequence is being produced and animated by the identical director and workforce answerable for 2015’s satirical superhero smash-hit One Punch Man.

Launch date: January 4 Director: Shingo Natsume Animation manufacturing: Madhouse Watch Online on: Crunchyroll, FunimationNow

9. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Tailored from Koyoharu Gotōge’s ongoing Shonen Bounce manga sequence, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba follows Tanjiro Kamado, a younger charcoal service provider turned demon slayer, as he units out on a journey of discovery and revenge to not solely avenge his household’s grisly homicide, however to discover a remedy for his youthful sister Nezuko, who survived their household’s assault solely to be remodeled right into a feral half-demon with an aversion to daylight. Ufotable is maybe finest recognized for his or her work on the Destiny franchise, a byzantine darkish fantasy sequence famend for its dazzling battle sequences and digital animation; happily, these qualities carry over to Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Whereas the present won’t be as thematically-nuanced or poignant as, say, Dororo, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a powerful shonen journey sequence in its personal proper and is bound to attraction to any fan of Naruto or Black Clover and stands as one of the vital well-animated fantasy chanbara sequence to return out this 12 months.

Launch date: April 9 Director: Haruo Sotozaki Animation manufacturing: Ufotable Watch Online on: Crunchyroll

8. MIX: Meisei Story

Tailored from Mitsuru Adachi’s 2012 ongoing shonen baseball sequence, itself a semi-sequel to Adachi’s 1981 sequence Contact (which acquired its personal critically-acclaimed anime adaptation in 1985), MIX: Meisi Story facilities on the journey of two step-brothers, Touma “Tou” and Souichirou “Sou” Tachibana, who, following within the footsteps of Contact’s Tatsuya Uesugi, aspire to guide their middle-school baseball workforce to win the nationwide Kōshien baseball match.

Although not solely other than what one would anticipate from a run-of-the-mill shonen sports activities sequence, MIX shines amongst its contemporaries on the advantage of its charming solid, stunning animation, and creative implementation of fourth-wall breaking transitions and tongue-in-cheek narration. Tou and Sou’s dogged dedication to see their approach to victory is earnest and provoking in a means not not like that of a season of Pokémon — not stunning, given the truth that MIX’s primary author, Atsuhiro Tomioka, is understood for his previous and ongoing contributions to a number of seasons, movies, and specials of the Pokémon sequence.

When you’re searching for a wide-eyed enjoyable, inspiring, and visually spectacular sports activities anime this 12 months, and are not essentially sport to attempt to make amends for over 100 episodes of Ace of the Diamond, MIX: Meisi Story is an ideal selection.

Launch date: April 6 Director: Odahiro Watanabe Animation manufacturing: OLM Watch Online on: Crunchyroll

7. Midnight Occult Civil Servants

Miyako Arata is a younger civil servant newly transferred to a seemingly inconspicuous division within the Shinjuku Ward Workplace. Although led to consider his job might be an earthly and bureaucratic one, the unsuspecting Arata quickly realizes that the obligations of his new function are something however.

Assigned to the Nocturnal Group Relations Division, Arata and his coworkers Sakaki Kyouchi and Himezuka Search engine optimisation are tasked with appearing as liaisons between the world of people and the world of the “Anothers,” otherworldly beings imperceptible to those that lack an intuitive aptitude for the supernatural.

With a likeable solid, engrossing moment-to-moment drama, and an aura of thriller full with a handful of peculiar twists and revelations, Midnight Occult Civil Servants is an entertaining city fantasy-meets-workplace drama nicely price carving out the time to look at.

Launch date: April 7 Director: Tetsuya Watanabe Animation manufacturing: Liden Movies Watch Online on: Crunchyroll

6. That Time I Got Reincarnated as Slime

5. One Punch Man (Season 2)

The comic-heroic saga of Saitama, a self-proclaimed “hero for enjoyable” who possesses the absurd superhuman capability to defeat any adversary with one punch, was an near-instant hit amongst anime aficionados for its outlandish animation, breathtaking battle scenes, and unflappable deadpan humor.

Ever because the first season of One-Punch Man premiered and blew everybody’s face off in 2015, followers have been eagerly anticipating the following, and after a 4 years wait, it is lastly right here. Followers and critics of the primary season have been curious as to how the change between manufacturing studios and workers from Madhouse, who selected as a substitute to supply this 12 months’s Boogiepop and Others, and J.C. Workers would have an effect on the general high quality of the present’s animation. To make sure, the absence of director Shingo Natsume and the deft skills of animators as Sejoon Kim and the legendary Yutaka Nakamura are definitely missed right here, however contemplating the season’s tortured manufacturing and limitations, J.C. Workers nonetheless handle to ship a serviceable follow-up that strives for the over-the-top bombast and comedy of the primary season and misses by only a hair. Nonetheless, extra One-Punch Man continues to be extra One-Punch Man, and for those who’re a fan of the sequence, it is definitely price using out this season if solely to wash in its flashes of superior spectacle.

Launch date: April 9 Director: Chikara Sakurai Animation manufacturing: J.C. Workers Watch Online on: VIZ, Hulu

4. The Promised Neverland

The Promised Neverland follows 11-year-old Emma and her finest buddies, Norman and Ray, three of 37 orphaned kids who reside on a mysterious walled property known as the Grace Area Home. Below the watchful eye of their caretaker recognized merely as Mother, the kids are afforded the very best that life can supply.

Gourmand meals, plush beds, immaculate white outfits, and ample play time whereas they wait to someday be adopted by a loving household. Nevertheless, the quiet idyllicism of Grace Area is swiftly shattered when Emma and Co. bump into a darkish secret which underlies the Home’s very existence. Horrified by their discovery, the three conspire to flee with the remainder of kids into the surface world, because the machinations of each their caretaker and Grace Area’s mysterious benefactors transfer steadily to completion.

With a premise that feels like a cross between From The New World and Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel By no means Let Me Go, The Promised Neverland is an engrossing fantasy thriller with deft animation, savvy modifying, and a taut environment of mortal horror juxtaposed towards a disquietingly cheerful exterior.

Launch date: January 11 Director: Mamoru Kanbe Animation manufacturing: CloverWorks Watch Online on: Crunchyroll, Hulu

3. Kaguya-sama: Love is Struggle

Within the “contest” of romance, the one that falls in love first — or “catches emotions” as the children say these days — is the loser. Or at the least, that is the premise of A-1 Photos’ Kaguya-Sama: Love Is Struggle. Tailored from the favored ongoing manga of the identical identify,

Love Is Struggle follows the story of Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya, two genius-level college students attending the illustrious Shuch’in Academy, who quietly harbor emotions for each other. To this point, so boring. However there’s a twist: As a result of an ill-fated mixture of entrenched class consciousness, emotional immaturity, and poisonous adolescent satisfaction, neither Shirogane or Shinomiya will acknowledge their emotions for the opposite.

Fairly than healthily course of these feelings and discuss issues out like, y’know, adults, Shirogane and Shinomiya as a substitute elect to orchestrate an elaborate sequence of public conditions to drive the opposite to admit their emotions first in a bid to save lots of face. The result’s a romantic comedy infused with the depth of a psychological thriller that’s equal elements hilarious and infuriating for all the proper causes.

Launch date: January 12 Director: Mamoru Hatakeyama Animation manufacturing: A-1 Photos Watch Online on: Crunchyroll, Hulu, Funimation

2. Mob Psycho 100 II

Coming sizzling on the tail of the sequence’ breakout debut in 2016, Mob Psycho 100 II carries the torch of its predecessor’s pedigree as one of the vital hilarious, kinetic, and aesthetically eclectic anime to air in current reminiscence, pushing that envelope even additional in its second season.

With most, if not all, of the unique workers from the primary season returning for this outing, together with animator Miya Sato, whose masterful “oil on glass” animation has distinguished so lots of the earlier season’s stand-out sequences, the adventures of layabout con artist Reigen Arataka, his formidably highly effective protege, Shigeo “Mob” Kageyama, and their poltergeist sidekick, Dimple, proceed to ramp up as Mob journeys via adolescence within the face of ever-more perilous stakes.

Other than its adventurous animation, whip-sharp comedic timing, and spectacular motion sequences, Mob Psycho 100 II is a touching coming-of-age story of the connection between a mentor and his pupil, and the way the 2 assist every to develop into extra mature, earnest, and better-adjusted people. Come from the pyrotechnics, keep for the waterworks.

Launch date: January 7 Director: Yuzuru Tachikawa Animation manufacturing: Bones Watch Online on: Crunchyroll

1. Dororo

Within the midst of a horrible plague on the top of Japan’s Warring States interval, Lord Daigo Kagemitsu of the Ishikawa province enacts a pact with 12 demons so as save his area and safe a path to a way forward for wealth and energy. In alternate, every of the demons gather on Kagemitsu’s debt by taking physique elements from his newly born son — his limbs, his eyes, his tongue, his pores and skin — till the child is rendered right into a horrifying testomony to his father’s sins.

Years later, the boy, having survived his father’s try and get rid of him out of disgrace, grows as much as develop into an itinerant swordsman named Hyakkimaru with a prosthetic physique, swords for arms, and the extrasensory capability to “see” demons.

Tailored from Ozamu Tezuka’s authentic manga and anime from the late ‘60s, Dororo tells the story of Hyakkimaru’s quest to slay demons, regain his humanity, and be taught to like and divulge heart’s contents to different individuals in a time of immense cruelty with the assistance of his companion, an orphaned thief by the identify of Dororo.

Produced by Studio Mappa (Youngsters on the Slope, Yuri on Ice, Banana Fish) and directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi (Rurouni Kenshin, Hunter × Hunter ’99, and Cellular Go well with Gundam Unicorn), Dororo is an anime as viscerally violent as it’s heartbreaking, and a sequence that shouldn’t be missed.

Launch date: January 7 Director: Kazuhiro Furuhashi Animation manufacturing: MAPPA, Tezuka Productions Watch Online on: Amazon Prime

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