#poor Aero dude

[thatonepikminperson]

Aero, Gemstone Wraith (Mixed Wraith AU)

The Gemstone Wraith is one of the more rare Solid Wraith types, as they tend to cycle out old Gemstone Wraiths with new ones. It’s rare for the population of this Wraith type to go up. The Gemstone Wraith is small, smaller than the Oil Wraith (Which is like, half the size of the Water Wraith standing up.), and is square looking. Or rectangular technically. It has gems scattered across its body, the most common color would be the color of the past creature’s eyes, or just a random color. It’s also a grey dirt color, giving off the (Correct) impression that it stays underground.

These Wraiths are one of the few solid Wraiths that hope on the chance that another non Wraith finds them. They would lure them down to their cave, which has a lot of pretty gems, with, say it with me now, trance powers. (Man, these Solids sure do love those). They tend to be able to convince the poor creature to eat one of the gemstones in the cave, which as a result, kills the closest Gemstone Wraith and turns the creature that ate the gemstone into a Gemstone Wraith. As you might be able to tell, the obsession has to do with Gemstones. Luckily for every creature ever, the gemstones on the Gemstone Wraith’s body are not powerful enough to induce the same trance powers, only the ones found in Gemstone Wraith’s caves are. 

These Wraiths are affected by Lumiknolls.

(More art below, and also the story on how in the world THIS happened to our boi, Aero)

Aero is the fourth member to become a Wraith, and is the third one to lose their memories after becoming a Wraith. Yes, that can happen in the AU, it's quite common for creatures Wraith transformations.

After just losing three of their crew members, the rescue corps head to a frosty place (Valley of Repose.) So while some of the crew is looking around, Aero finds a small Wraith. It guides him over, almost convincing himself to jump in, but Aero snaps out of the daze and attempts to walk away. The Wraith goes into the cave, grabs a gem, and shows it to Aero. This is where Aero learns that these gems have trace powers! (YIPPEE) And he walks back over to the cave, and jumps inside after the Wraith drops the gem down the cave. This cave ends up being that small Wraith’s home, and Aero is already enthralled by the gemstone the Wraith had shown it before. He kinda loses himself for a bit, just long enough for the Wraith to deactivate things like the GPS, radio, all the important stuff. Aero looks up at the ceiling. They come in every color, from blue to red. 

Aero becomes entranced with the pretty colors for a few hours, before seeing a purple gem and suddenly remembering Pom. He ends up shaking himself out of it. Aero attempts to be smart for a second, looking down to try and get to where he’s going, but his plan is foiled after the Wraith puts some more gems around the cave’s next hole. And for the next couple of hours to Aero, and a literal night in reality, Aero just stares at the gems, and falls asleep. He has a dream, and Dream Pom (Not actually Pom) snaps him out of it. After almost falling under the spell again once he woke up, he decides to venture onward, already trapped in the small Wraith’s spell.

Aero lands on the last sublevel, and it’s got even MORE of those gemstones. Aero tries to not fall under, but after just a few seconds, he gives in again. He walks up to some on the wall, unable to stop himself from taking some. Aero walks back up, and then back down the winding path, taking more of the gems, mainly purple ones, and slowly falling into obsession with the lights. Once he reaches the end, Aero enters the final room, which has a low ceiling, and little lighting, letting the gemstones that are everywhere glow and take a hold over Aero’s mind. At this point, even if someone was to try and stop Aero, it is too late, Aero has fallen into complete obsession over these gems, and the small Wraith knows it. 

He collapses in front of the small Wraith, wanting and begging to stay. The walls of gemstones (Which are all past creatures who have fallen for the exact same thing he has) tell him that he can, and even if he wants to join them, he has to eat one of the many gems he has in his possession to become what he so desperately wants to be, a Gemstone Wraith. To Aero’s credit, at first, Aero is hesitant to ruin such beauties, but he eventually just gives in, and eats a small gemstone, which knocks him out. Once Aero awakens, he has become a Gemstone Wraith, and he just wants to stay below the surface in this cave for the rest of time.

Aero's personality changes, quite a bit. His mind only has one thing on it, and that is his GEMS. He obsesses over them, to a point where he'll zone out holding one, even IF he has his memories back! He's super possessive over his gems also, and acts like a crazy guy 90% of the time. The other 10% is him just being mad over other creatures trying to take him away from the loves of his life.

Aero has something special about remembering. When he does, it's only just Pom and himself at first. He slowly will regain the rest of what he's forgetting, but it will take awhile. In this state, he's super docile. He's very friendly, and will often just talk to people and try to be there friends!

Unless he sees bright, colorful, flashing lights. When he does, his mind shuts down, as he believes it's a gem. He kinda gets stuck in a state of staring at the lights until they go away and THEN SOME. Man's gets stuck in his own mind until someone can both block his sight with the lights and snap him out of it. It doesn't take much to snap him out of it, but it's still scary for the crew to watch him go back to the mindless Wraith he was before.

[decepticon-slick]

Bars are nice, until a band is playing and the bar turns into a concert!

Navigation gets hard (esp if you're short) so someone trips over you! And who else but a band member! Nice luck dude.

"Ow..!" Aero yelped, rubbing her arm that she fell on "What did i trip on?"

Disko crouched down and grumbled at Oil slick "Why you.. Watch where you're going-!"

"Disko! Its not the bot's fault i wasn't careful! Leave the little guy alone"

Disko scoffs and backs up. A lot of people are coming by, because another band member who is really pink jumps off stage and crouches next to Aero

"Aers you good? You're laying on the floor like you're posing for a picture!" She cackled

"Partylock! Hah!! Hey look at this little guy right here- i tripped over the poor dude.. ☹️"

The two bots look at you in awe as the minicon in the back looks appalled

"What the.." he grumbled

Aero and disko:

And Partylock:

Fragging... just trying to have a few drinks! He didn't mind the music but- slag, it was hard getting to and from the bar with all these giant bots in the way! Slick was nearly back when-

"Oof! Ah frag! My drink... what slagging half processored malfunction of a- oh. Hi."

Hi stared up at the other bot. "You owe me a drink, wings." Oil Slick was not backing down. He'd paid. He was owed a damn drink, whether these bots were famous or not.

[dogmomwrites]

Find the Word!

I was tagged by @houndsofcorduff to find the words deal, sugar, sneak, jaw, and image in my WIPs. This game is endlessly entertaining to me; I love to see the excerpts everyone posts! I can only hope mine bring the same entertainment!

Tagging @the-finch-address, @midnight-and-his-melodiverse, @gothamxwattpad, and @smzeszikorova, and keeping an open tag for anyone who wants to join! Your words are flame, stelliferous, chain, steed, and demand. If you can't find one, you have to include a fun fact about your WIP, your writing process, or one of your characters! (shamelessly stolen from @marinesocks, so blame her!)

Deal, taken from Castle in the Ice

“You two okay? How’s it looking in there?” Cadara asked, taking in their sudden tiredness with a small frown. She had seated herself in a chair to talk with the nurses, who’d told her everything that had happened.

“We’re fine, thanks.” Jay waved a hand at her. “But I don’t know how it’s going. You know how he is.”

“He’s a jerk,” Caleb clarified, just in case anyone didn’t know. He turned to the doctors. “Is there a spare bed you’re not using around here that I could borrow? I just slept a few years, but after dealing with Toby for five seconds, I could use about ten more years.”

Sugar, taken from my unnamed WIP (this scene in particular is one that needs some rewriting but it's one of only two uses of sugar RIP)

“I’m starting to regret this,” Cooper said.

“I’d walk if I could,” Jimmy said, only somewhat apologetic. “But we’re only about a mile away.”

He heaved a sigh, packing it as full of regret and weariness as any sigh Jimmy had ever heard. “How do you know about this place? Have you actually been to Hawaii before?”

“I saw it when dog and I were on the cliff looking for Riley. I remember because they had something in particular I knew my mom would like a lot. Something she would accept as a surprise gift from across the country without question.”

He wouldn’t tell Cooper what it was, instead sidestepping the question with other questions that derailed the topic. He learned that Cooper was not born on the island as all the rest of his team, but on the mainland, and not all that far from where Jimmy’s own family lived. He also learned Cooper had a young daughter, and that Cooper was unwilling to introduce her to Jimmy, stating, “You’re good with kids, yeah, but you’re a terrible influence.”

His bluntness was amusing, and Jimmy had to agree. His favorite thing to do with young kids was to teach them bad habits and then give them sugar before leaving all responsibility with their parents.

Sneak, taken from Castle in the Ice

“There you are,” a voice right behind him said.

He jumped, his heart pitching into his throat. Spinning around, he stepped back, prepared to run. Then he saw who it was. Aero laughed at him and didn’t seem to care that he was now glaring. Nuka let out a huff as he stalked down the hall, away from him.

“Wait, wait. Hold up,” Aero said, trying to smother his laughter. He wasn’t succeeding all that well.

“Don’t sneak up on people,” Nuka grumbled.

“I was not aware I had snuck up,” he said when he had caught up and walked beside him. “I was in the hall long before you were, so if anything, it would be you that snuck up on me.”

Was he right? The logic seemed sound. Nuka became even more irritated when he realized that. “Sneaked,” he said in a sullen tone.

“What?”

“It’s sneaked. Snuck isn’t a real word. My mom says it’s poor man’s slang.”

Aero huffed. “Your mother sure knows how to make a person feel good about themselves.”

Jaw, taken from unnamed WIP

“This wouldn’t happen to be Don Callione the mob boss, now would it?” Riley said, his tone pointed. And ignored. “Same bastard who got you hooked on cocaine when you were fucking thirteen?”

“Dude. That was like, six years ago. Get over it.”

“Jimmy, you’re twenty-one.” He watched Jimmy count up the extra years and sighed. “You skipped too many school days.”

“Fuck you, my grades were fine. Better than fine—I was offered a scholarship.”

“Not for math.”

“My grades were fine all around!” Jimmy snapped, and shot him a glare for good measure.

“Including your cocaine grades?” Riley asked. He received a hard shove for it and let out a groan, gingerly touching the bruises from landing on the wood and stones.

“Just shut up, Riley.”

“Same Don or not?”

Jimmy stopped and faced him. His green eyes flashed with annoyance and his jaw was set. “Do you wanna deal with your car? Chat up the cops and tell them everything that happened? All the paperwork from firing your gun?”

“I was aiming at the tires,” Riley cut in.

“Do you want to?” Jimmy demanded, growing forceful with irritation.

“No,” Riley snapped. “No, I don’t want to fucking deal with that, but I also didn’t wanna get shot or have my car driven off a goddamn overpass today! Everything hurts! But you always manage to turn something as basic as a trip to visit Thomas into this kinda shit anyway, and we haven’t even gotten to his apartment yet! So just do whatever the fuck you want, you always have. No matter who gets shot along the way.”

Image, taken from unnamed WIP

Aaron looked into his eyes. The man didn’t turn away. His mind was different than any other Aaron had ever encountered. He couldn’t discern any distinct thoughts. Instead, there were blinding flashes of light, like lightning, and the rest of the mind was dark and seemed foggy. The man’s mind gave him the vague impression of steel plates in place of any walls.

Slowly, Aaron started to make out images in the flashes of lightning. It was too bright to look at, and went dark too quickly for him to be certain, but he thought the lightning held the man’s memories.

The room was completely silent for a minute before the man spoke. “Hello, Aaron,” he said, and Aaron frowned. “Yes, I know your name. I have your file. Acquired it recently. I’ve read some very interesting things about you. Yes, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.”

There was a moment of silence as he waited for Aaron to respond.

When he didn’t, the man said, “You’re probably curious. That’s alright, I can explain. I don’t mind monologuing. Evil scientist trait, I suppose.” He chuckled to himself as he turned to pull the chair a bit closer.

[hilarioushilarity]

(not) lost in translation pt. 2

{I am a lying liar who lies, 2-3 days my ass. You can read Part 1 here.}

The second time Alexei meets Kent Parson is at the All Star weekend that season.

When Mama and Papa had flown back to Russia, Alexei had rapidly realised that he was effectively a thousand miles away from everything he had ever known, and that:

1) Nobody around him spoke Russian; and 2) He couldn't speak English.

Alexei hates English. With a passion. He's not stupid enough to tell anyone this particular fact, but he thinks it every time he sits down for his English classes and wrestles with prepositions and adverbs, or heaven forbid, attempts to conjugate a verb. Every rule had a million exceptions, so what was even the point of the rule? English as a language was just unfair, he had decided, and he tells Mama this over the phone one month in.

She is sympathetic, in her typical Spartan manner. "You'll learn," she tells him. "Practise for at least three hours every day."

Alexei is appalled. "Mama, when am I meant to get three hours of practice each day?"

"There is always time."

He honestly doesn't know what else he expected. "Okay Mama," he says, and then turns the conversation to how stupidly big portion sizes were in America. Criticising the diets of North Americans was always guaranteed to catch her attention.

To his dismay, his father just laughs at him.

"Papa." Alexei may or may not be whining.

"Your Mama told you to just find time, didn't she," he says, when he's finally stopped cackling for long enough to take a breath.

Alexei hangs up on him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Papa says, when he calls back a minute later. The wheezing laughs have stopped, which is a relief.

"Okay," Alexei says warily.

"I mean it." His father is abruptly serious. "I'm sorry for laughing, you're in a tough situation right now. English is not an easy language to learn." They both know that his father never truly gained fluency in it - never had the chance to need it.

"It's really hard, Papa." He doesn't think he's just talking about English anymore.

"Things worth doing usually are, Alyosha," his father says gently.

Alexei chews his lip. "I don't know if I'm doing anything right."

"Are you playing good hockey?" Papa asks.

"Yes, Papa."

"You aren't bullying anyone on the ice?"

"No -"

"Working hard? Doing your English lessons? Going to all your practices on time, practising anything your coach says you need to work on?"

"Yes -"

"Then you are doing it right. And I am proud of you."

His father's voice is warm, and it curls around Alexei. He suddenly, desperately, wishes he could hug his father tightly. "Okay Papa."

"Now go and practice your English," Papa says, and Alexei does.

So hockey is the only thing he has besides torturous English lessons, and he devotes himself to it. He racks up goals and assists every game, plays a clean defensive game, and keeps his stats glowing. English smalltalk remains his nemesis but he's getting there, one pleasantry at a time. Before he knows it, he's being invited to the All Stars Weekend. He dithers over the invite for a few days, until the head of Capitals PR eventually corners him on his way out of the locker rooms.

"You should go," LaRue tells him. "It's good for building up your fanbase." He continues to go on at depth about social media presences and ticket sales. Alexei dutifully nods his way through the lecture, and ends up promising to go just to escape.

For some unknown sin in this life or a past one, he is roomed with a D-man from the Aeros who talks loudly and snores louder than a chainsaw. Alexei realises this on the first night when he lays in bed, staring at the ceiling as the red digits on the bedside clock tick over from 11 to 12, then 1. There's a snore once every three seconds, accompanied by whistling through some gap between teeth. Alexei kills half an hour searching up English sayings to describe snoring and deciding that his roommate "snores like a foghorn" before he finally gives up and rolls out of bed.

The hotel they've been put up in has an indoor gym and swimming pool. Alexei slings on a towel, sneaking out of the room before taking the lift down. On first glance, the gym is deserted, because any sane person is currently asleep. Alexei, running on no sleep, does not qualify.

Except, when he's halfway through his reps on the elliptical, a quiet voice behind him says: "Um. Hi, Alexei?"

Alexei turns around and comes face to face with Kent Parson.

What they are is nebulous at best. More than acquaintances - Kent Parson had talked to his Mama and Papa and his Mama had said Kent was a Very Nice Person. But less than friends, certainly. After the draft, Kent had gone west to the Aces and Alexei had gone east to the Capitals. He hasn't really kept track of Kent's career, but he would have to be under an actual rock to not know Kent is the only other rookie at the All Stars weekend and the NHL's current leading scorer.

"Hello," Alexei replies. There's a drop of sweat slowly rolling down his face and he's painfully aware that he probably stinks a little.  Meanwhile Kent Parson looks fresh as a daisy at one in the morning. The limits of his smalltalking abilities in English remain breathtakingly small despite the benefit of six months of English tutoring, so he kind of hopes Kent takes pity on his poor, sweaty form.

Kent does not. "It's been a while. Good to see you."

Goddamnit, they're smalltalking. "Good to see you, too."

Kent looks unbothered at the lack of scintillating conversation. He rolls onto the balls of his feet, fiddling with the strap of the duffel slung over his shoulder. "So uh. How's your mum?" he says, then immediately blanches. "Shit. I didn't mean - I just -"

"Good," Alexei says, mostly to put him out of his misery. "She good."

Kent looks earnest. "Oh, that's really good to hear." And then he seems to waver a bit.

"How is family?" Alexei says, when the silence stretches on. "They come visit after draft?"

"Ah yeah." Kent visibly brightens up. "They did! It was great, we had dinner and hung out a bit, and I gave my sister your mum's autograph - she's so cool by the way, but I bet you already knew that - I'd love to thank her again."

There are just - so many words. Alexei takes a few seconds to work through the sentence. "Glad to hear sister like. Maybe you see Mama again at game with Aces?"

"Definitely," Kent says, and Alexei's heard so many people say that over the past six months, but he thinks this time he could believe it. "So, uh. What's keeping you up?"

Only the loudest snorer on the entire American continent. "Roomie." Alexei searches for the words. "Snoring like foghorn."

Kent winces. "Jeez, I know what you mean. Did you try poking him to get him to roll over?"

"To scared to poke," Alexei admits. "Big guy."

"Who are you rooming with?"

"Winkler?"

"Fuck, yeah, he's a big dude. Better not poke him."

Alexei sighs. "Snore so loud - and whistle too. Like train." At Kent's blank look, he tries: "Choo choo?"

"Choo - oh god, you mean like a steam engine?"

Alexei pulls out his phone in answer. "How spell that? Steam engine?" He dutifully plugs in the letters Kent rattles off, and hits translate. "Oh. Yes. He steam engine."

"Heh," Kent says. "I double dog dare you to say that to him." He must catch the look of utter incomprehension on Alexei's face, because he quickly backtracks. "Not up with the slang yet? Sorry. I meant, you should tell him that."

"But why?" Alexei doesn't want to get punched.

"As a joke," Kent adds hastily. "It's funny, because we know it's stupid so we wouldn't do it."

English was just ridiculous. "Okay," Alexei tries. "Double dog dare you cycle on elliptical, see who faster."

"That's not..." Kent trails off. He smiles, then shakes his head. "That's not how it works. But we'll work on it," he assures Alexei, with a firm pat on his shoulder.

It's worlds away from the way the Caps' coach tends to roll his eyes heavenward when Alexei goes left when he should go right, or his English tutor, who is nice enough but is prone to banging her head against the table a little when Alexei fumbles the conjugation on a verb. "Not now," Alexei says. "Later?"

Kent checks his watch and he actually looks surprised, like the complete lack of other people didn't clue him in. "Wow, it's pretty late, isn't it?"

Unbelievable. "Why you up?"

"Got caught up practising."

Alexei sideeyes him. "Practising?"

Kent flushes a little. "Practising my stick handling. Shooting accuracy."

Alexei can't help but boggle at him. "You practising? At 1AM?"

"I couldn't sleep," Kent says, a little defensively.

"You crazy," Alexei decides, but there's a lot of fondness that must be apparent to even Kent, who looks less offended than he does a mildly grumpy, like the family cat when he accidentally stepped on her tail as a child. "But you wipe ice with everyone, so you champion crazy."

"Damn straight I'm the champion crazy," Kent says, planting his hands on his hips like a dork. "Yeah, laugh it up, I'll definitely be wiping the ice with you."

Alexei pretends to cower. "Okay, Kent Parson, I try best not cry on ice then."

"You will be bawling your eyes out," Kent says with promise, and then looks so affronted when Alexei just doubles over, breathless with laughter.

"I believe you," Alexei says to the ground, from where he's still bent over trying to catch his breath. "Cry many tears."

"You better," Kent says, but then he's laughing helplessly too, dropping his duffel. "Oh god, I really am champion crazy."

Alexei reaches over to pat him on the back. "Is okay, still like, even if Kent Parson practice hockey at one in morning."

"You don't think I'm too crazy?" Perhaps it's meant to be joking, but Alexei can't help but look up sharply.

"Never. You think Crosby best because he slack off?"

"I don't think he's ever stayed up until 1 because he was nervous about All Stars," Kent says, then bites his lip.

"You nervous?" Alexei asks. Kent hesitates. "Why you nervous?"

"I just - it's been a lot," Kent finally says. He's looking to the side, staring at the elliptical. Alexei waits, and Kent says in a rush: "I feel like I have to be the best, or - or else -"

"Not have to say what," Alexei says gently. "Not make you say."

Kent scowls. "It's stupid. Everyone's thinking it, they just don't say it. That I'm the second choice."

At the Draft, Alexei had known vaguely that Kent Parson and another boy called Jack Zimmermann had widely been slated to go first and second - in either order. It was true that every analyst had put the latter in first place, and that when Aces called Kent Parson's name there had been a slight pause in the audience's murmuring. Kent's smile had been strained as he left their table.

Alexei's stood across from Kent on the ice before. He's watched countless hours of tape of the Aces' play and by proxy, of Kent. Kent Parson on the ice is a force of nature, skating circles around defence and sinking pucks into the net as easy as breathing. And in his heart of hearts, he thinks the margin between first and second had been far smaller than most people thought.

But now, under the harsh gym lights that highlight the remaining softness of his jaw and the dark patches beneath his eyes, Alexei realises that Kent's still just a kid. Alexei's just a kid. They're both just teenagers. And there's very little of the player who had breezed past Alexei at the last Caps game with the Aces, or of the player who had mercilessly crushed their four game winning streak without batting an eye. Under the padding and past all the hype, Kent was far from the figure he cut on ice and as vulnerable as any other human.

"Even if people say second choice, what matter?" Alexei says. "You first. You here now. Play well. Maybe bit annoy on ice but not bully. And seem nice, polite to Mama. Thinking of sister even at draft. Get autograph for her. That matter. Not other people."

He hopes he hasn't overdone it - perhaps Kent wasn't looking for a heart-to-heart in the hotel gym at 1AM. But instead of taken aback Kent looks - a little watery.

"Why you cry?" Alexei is horrified.

"I'm not crying," Kent sniffs. "I'm not."

Alexei bites his tongue. "Uh okay." He politely looks away as Kent wipes his eyes.

"I'm not saying I can't cry," Kent begins, which Alexei takes as his cue that it's safe to look back at him. His eyes are just slightest bit red, and even that's only if you know what to look for.  “I just try not to cry in front of others.”

"Okay," Alexei says cautiously.

Kent takes a deep breath. "Thank you."

"Welcome," Alexei replies automatically, then says: "But. For what?"

Kent stares at him. "For - listening? For not being an asshole about the fact I'm still some nervy rookie?"

Christ. People thanked each other for things like that in America? "No need thank," Alexei says. Then, desperate to change the subject, he adds: "So we agree! No need for nervous! You real KVP."

"The what?"

"KVP." Alexei gestures. "I see on Twitter - they calling you 'the Real KVP'".

"That's not - " Kent splutters. "That's my name, Alexei."

Alexei tries not wince. "Oh. Oops, sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Kent brings out his phone, thumbing at something on the screen. He eventually holds out his phone, open to a websearch. "See? It's a joke on MVP. That's 'Most Valuable Player'."

"Oh," Alexei says again. "Make sense. Sometimes miss reference - thank you for explaining."

Kent stows away his phone, corners of his mouth twitching upwards again. "You've only been in the US for what, six months? Your English is great. If you put me in Russia I would probably just turn around and go back to the US."

"You miss good food then," Alexei tuts. "Russian food is best food."

"Hell no, I've seen what you guys count as soup. I'm not touching borscht with a ten-foot pole."

"Borscht is best soup!" Alexei tries to sound outraged.

"Look man, all I'm saying is that anything that pink should not be eaten."

Blasphemy. "You try pirozhki then? Small, baked -" He gropes around for the word, then gives up and calls up the translator app on his phone. "Dumpling."

"I've never had that," Kent says, but he at least looks intrigued. "What did you call it? Pay-roz-kay?"

His accent is actually appalling. "Pirozhki," Alexei corrects.

Kent frowns. "Poe-roz-ki?"

"Pirozhki"

"Poh-rosh-ki?"

Alexei nods in approval. "Good, sounds good."

"I like the sound of baked dumplings," Kent says. "Mm. Pirozkhi. I might go see if there's any places that do it in Vegas."

"Let me know if yes." Alexei nudges him. "I come try when Caps play Aces."

"You got it."

Alexei cuts off any further conversation with the embarrassingly loud yawn that escapes him then.

"Shit, it's like 1:30AM." Kent winces. "We have to get up at like 7 tomorrow - today? Holy crap we better go to sleep."

Alexei levers himself up, gathering his towel and bottle. "Hope not fall asleep on skates tomorrow."

"How about I check you if I see you dropping off," Kent suggests, then snickers at Alexei's raised eyebrow. "Bad idea?"

"Sure can check me?" Alexei makes a show of looking Kent up and down. He holds his index finger and thumb about ten centimetres apart. "So small."

"You asshole," Kent says, but he's laughing. "I'm not short, you're just a giant."

"If say so," Alexei shrugs. They start towards the elevator banks. "If help sleep at night."

"Fuck you, I sleep really well at night," Kent says petulantly. Alexei eyes the shadows beneath his eyes.

"I believe, I believe," he says instead with his best shit-eating grin. They get in the lift. "Okay, floor?"

Kent reaches over and pushes the button for 15. "You?"

"Twelve. Thank you." Kent nods, and they start moving up.

"So see you tomorrow, yes?"

"Yeah." Kent shoulders his duffel a little more firmly. "Be prepared to cry like a baby."

Alexei flaps his hands, just as the lift doors open on his floor. "Yeah, yeah, I cry so much."

The smile Kent gives him is small, but very real. "Good night Alexei."

"Good night," Alexei says, stepping out and turning to wave goodbye. The doors shut on Kent's smile, and Alexei stands there for a second, the airconditioning cool against his slightly sweaty neck.

"Hopefully not cry too much," he says to himself, before heading back to his room.

[ivanaskye]

So I finished KH3.  Some thoughts, in a bullet-point list, because my brain isn’t quite working well enough for connected prose:

There… wasn’t a lot of signaling to the audience about when the game would start ramping up to end.  Specifically, there was no middle game—there was plenty of low-consequences world-hopping and gallivanting, right up to the point where suddenly we’re rescuing Aqua and then everyone’s talking about a final battle and then oh heck it’s over.

Lots of things could have made this better, but the most glaring omission was an actual *final checkpoint* before heading onto the last battle.  Previous games had huge doors you had to pass, which would actually say “there is no turning back from this point, do you want to proceed?”.  This game didn’t, and it really could have used it (especially since there were some false endings before the actual final ending.)

Similarly, keyblade power levels didn’t ramp up quite enough as the game went on—yeah, there were some pretty powerful ones, but there wasn’t really an equivalent to Oblivion as an actual late-game keyblade.  There also didn’t seem to be a lot of form-changes with minor teleportation abilities other than Rage Form—and since those were the most powerful form-changes in BBS, it’s what I would have expected as a signal for “okay, we’re almost at full power, the game will end soon.”

Actually, just… the transition directly from a disney world to the freaking Keyblade Graveyard was.  Not a good idea.  A full location in between as buffer would have been really nice.

ALSO, some of the final -ga spells, and freaking glide, only got obtained in the Keyblade Graveyard!  That really implied that either the Graveyard would be larger than it was, or that there’d be something after it, or… something.

Pivoting thoughts here, the treasure chest situation was the best the series has done since the very first game—you actually had to work to find some of these, which was always one of my favorite parts about the first game.

The lucky emblems added to that a lot too.

Although every single time I found a lucky emblem, I screamed and/or groaned.  “REALLY?  THAT PILE OF BARRELS IS MICKEY TOO? HE’S EVERYWHERE!!”

Ratatouille is adorable and I love him.

But cracking eggs is apparently not one of Sora’s skills.

Actually, Sora pretty much has no skills other than hitting things with a big key.  Literally everyone teases him for this.  All of Sora’s conversations seem to end in him getting ROASTED, which is hilarious.

But of course, the best roast in the game was from Woody to Xehanort: “You’ve never had friends, have you?”

As always, there are just so many Xehanorts.

But unfortunately, despite that one speech about how if the world starts over maybe there’ll be less darkness(???), his motivations are still pretty unclear.  “Yeah I time-traveled a lot and recruited a bunch of people and created all these heartless and put in decades of work…. because uhhhh…. there will be more light in the world if it starts over!”

Meanwhile, Eraqus: “lol dude, #AtItAgain I see, you should probably stop trying to end the world, but then do you wanna hug?”

Speaking of characters, THE WHOLE GANG WAS HERE.  Literally basically everyone made an appearance.  Which I really liked!

But… the villains who had whole worlds to introduce their return in (Larxene, Marluxia, Evil!Riku, Vanitas, Luxord) didn’t have full-scale battles in those worlds.  Which would have been fine if they had them later!  They were, each of them, set up to become a bigger deal as the game went on… and then barely re-appeared between their introduction world and the Keyblade Graveyard, in which you didn’t even fight them one at a time, but three at a time, like each was suddenly inconsequential or something?  TBH, Luxord probably got the best deal of the bunch, because at least you kinda do fight him one-on-one in the carribbean.

Poor Demyx, though…. dude only had two scenes…

Even/Vexen was also kinda sidelined, but in a way that worked better (especially since he’s had plenty of spotlight earlier in the series)

HOWEVER, as a general thing, the return of LITERALLY EVERYONE was super cool!  I screamed in excitement when Ienzo showed up.  NEVER had I even DARED TO HOPE that he might get a moment in this game, and here he was with several!

THE IENZO + EVEN + AELEUS + ANSEM THE WISE (+ DEMYX???) REFORMED EVIL SCIENTIST CROWD.  I LOVE THEM.

See also: Xion’s return, THE SAIX THING, pretty much everything to do with Axel, Namine…

On the other hand, I kind of wanted more content for most of these groups.  I didn’t really expect it, but come on, if this game can’t throw me the bone of EXPLAINING IT’S MAIN VILLAIN’S PRIMARY MOTIVATION, it can at least distract me with more drawn-out side goodies…

I haven’t even talked about the gameplay yet

Bullet lists are hard

ANYWAY THE BATTLE SYSTEM WAS GREAT, and basically had everything I wanted???  Good motivation to use a LOT of magic, frequent form-changes(!!!), other cool/weird ways to do damage (focus lock, attractions), and of course the usual attack mechanisms.  Some form-changes even gave ways to attack at range!

(I ended up using ranged combat whenever possible, wearing three cufflinks at once for ALL THE HIGH MAGIC.  I avoided using cure pretty much always so that I could keep up the magic, lol.)

(On that note, I used a LOT of aero and water in the early game, because I got those cufflinks first, but unfortunately, like always, Thundaga eventually replaced almost all other magic as the clear most powerful.  Sigh.)

Also!  Wall-running and flowmotion!  Those are pretty much literally just The Things Sora Did In The Final Battle of KH2, but now he can do them All The Time, which really shows the character power progression even though due to video game mechanics, he had to start over at level 1, lolsob.

Speaking of Sora progression, he kind of has character development now!  I sort of finally care about him!  And then he just disappears forever lmao

Having ALL the characters back together really highlights KH’s tendency to have, basically, RECURSIVE TRIOS, which is kind of cool even though I kind of wish that maybe ONE of these trios could have two+ girls instead of one or none??? Please???

Speaking of sexism, Aqua saying “it’s my time to shine” and then immediately getting thrown across the room for Ventus to save her was… uh, classic.

Otoh Anti-Aqua was one of the coolest villain designs of the series

There were Not Enough worlds.

HOWEVER, The Caribbean in this game was the best KH world in the franchise’s history, IMO.  GORGEOUS underwater scenery, also gorgeous above-land scenery, AND SO MANY ISLANDS TO EXPLORE.  Completely non-plot-relevant islands!  That you could just go to!  And look for treasure in, like a pirate!  (There was a lot of treasure… that one sunken ship had, what, five chests in one place?  It was the ideal pirate aesthetic.)

Also the Caribbean had the best BG music.

Sora DEFINITELY has a crush on Jack Sparrow.

…On the other hand, if I’m gonna mention worlds I DIDN’T like, the plot in San Fransokyo was so cheesy I almost died.

Olympus was great though!  It had such good design!

Corona made me desperately want it to be summer, it was great.

IT’S TOO COLD OUTSIDE FOR ARENDELLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN SORA DOESN’T HAVE A COAT— but it was really, really pretty.

Axel’s “Don’t you know how popular I am?  I have tons of fans rooting for me!” was one of the funniest lines of the series.

There is not enough Winnie The Pooh content and that makes me really sad.

It’s even WORSE in that Sora actually SAYS, “oh, I’m losing my connection to Pooh, and I think I know why,” and then just… leaves, like that’s fine??? IT’S NOT FINE, SORA.

IT’S NOT FINE

Also idk if that cat plushie is a character from some FF game, but they’re the Worst Possible Version of Mandos.

(Cute, but. Hmmmm.)

ALL THAT SAID…

I have yet to mention the most important part of the game.

WHICH IS THE FLANTASTIC SEVEN.

They… are pudding.

They wiggle!

They ask you to play games with them!

They’re so cute!

They’re into vore!

I LOVE THEM!

.

Tl;dr: The game felt like it ended too suddenly, which made me sad because it was doing so much to fight my depression.  But I loved playing most of it, and I really need a flan plushie now…

[bunnygirlheart]

chrono trigger ...liveblog? i guess kinda? it was when i was doin the first part in alice’s message box at least cx

Major spoilers under here, play the game before you read this (and . please Do play it if you can, this game is great i do recommend it)

So I just kicked dalton’s ass, and he ran away, and then i saved at the thingy and it says ‘lavos beckons’ and i am Concerned.

ah, hm. mm. queenie’s makin a mistake, methinks.

This place is weird. Neat statues though?

Also Ayla can just pick dudes up and chuck em into the air to deal massive damage when they land?? hot girl shit

hm. this looks fine. nothing going wrong here folks

lmao the scouters keep trying to make my team sleep and it keeps missing but finally they targeted robo and somehow it worked. sleeby robot

dalton stop being extra and just look me in the face when you talk to me pls,, Ah. Well, you did turn around at least, but only to be More dramatic. Also, hiding behind your toys, cmon man,

lmao cheese strats. I equipped the mail and vest for lightning and im only using lightning moves. Copycat is very exploitable,, Poor frog though, got toasted :((

...well. Hello to you too, Lavos. And guest. Ah, magus, of course of course.

oh nooo it didnt work :((

h. holy shit. Crono just got dusted. alright.

oh man, the whole place is falling outta the sky..

...I gotta load a save so I can see everyone’s response to all this. Especially Lucca,, Holy wow.

ah,,

‘’please don’t hate mother, or our kingdom’‘ wow big ask much? Mm.. I can excuse invoking calamity but I draw the line at mistreating your children

oh ouch. luccaaaaa 💔

what an ass haha. oh hell yes lucca just deflected his fireball that was sick!!! ... ah. well it was still sick.

Ooh~ the blackbird. Fools didn’t secure the vents hehehe

This was a neat area. Uh. Golem Boss was kinda sad. Poor dude couldnt even focus up here on the wing. I sorta feel bad

Hm,, Aero-dalton.. this guy is Terrible at naming things huh?

Oh damn they literally just jumped onto. alright. cool cool cool. no fear of heights in this party. Welp, Dalton was once again not a challenge. Rip birdie lmao good job everyone, nice buttons

oh!! this is the . heck nah i wont fight you lets goooo

oh i like that its frog that gets to make this call though lucca was at the front of my party but it put him in front for this scene, ‘cause he has personal reasons to fight magus?

aaaa precious, reunited,,

...

yknow, this thing looming over everything in every time period is mighty unsettling

lmao i see i see thats why this part’s called The Time Egg. time egg time egg time egg

oooh death peak!! was wondering when that would come up again. Makes sense it’d be now,,,,

heck. Magus wrecks everything huh? I mean, appropriate. The dude certainly kicked My ass back when I fought him haha

... gdi. robo got confused or w/e and attacked the wrong thing randomly, which triggered lavos spawn needle and wiped everyone out. thats kinda unfair. Ah well. A minor setback I guess.

egg time

okay that was a sick rescue actually. cant believe that creepy clone doll from the fair actually came in handy lmao

this is a nice shot ^

...sorry im just laughing at magus standing there all awkwardly at this heartwarming reunion

Anywayyyy now that that’s done I went to check out the . desert cave?? and wow is it irritating. Not that the enemies are that tough -- magus’ ice destroys em well enough, but uh. the ground, really hate that.

Took a few tries ouch, but I managed to down retinite. Cool boss. first couple attempts i didnt realize taking out the core first was a Mistake oopsie

yessss robo tending to the forest!! thats so sweet. This is great!

lovely celebratory camp. Cozy. fascinating discussion. ah, hm. a time lucca would go back to, huh? ...

wow she changed huh? ... what’s with the sound effects,, loud gate.

holy Shit that was stressful i totally didnt reload a few times to manage it

worth the trouble 💜 good job lucca youre amazing! aww robo’s gift for her, that’s so sweet as well

im ... almost done i think?? like, isnt this just a ‘‘wrap up sidequests prepare and go fight the big bad’‘ moment? Seems like. guess i know what im doin tomorrow. referring back to that list of sidequests time grandpa gave me and then ... big fire. I really should get some rest now, though. So the rest of that will wait.

[bibleofficial]

DUDE i feel u talking about areo... i was so poor but for like xmas or my bday sometimes my family would get me some clearance hoodie or t shirt from aero and i would wear that shit everyday of my life i felt so cool

RIGHT !!! babe u were the cooliest - TRUST 😭❤️

[spellyjane]

Big Island Splash, Mash, Dash!

Belated Aloha, forgive me for taking two weeks to write this!

I thought we had landed on the moon as I descended the plane stairs onto the island of black volcanic rubble. After nine plus hours of flying I had arrived at Triathlon Mecca, Kona, a little town on a wisp of land in the middle of a massive ocean, noisy with wind and hot as hades.

Hawaii is halfway between Sydney and Chicago so provided the perfect location for a rendezvous with my Dad whom I had not seen for over a year. (Aww, thanks for coming and sharing this with me Dad. ×××)

“Downtown” Kona is small and super cute but that week was COMPLETELY overrun with compression-wear trussed, trucker hat clad, slightly weather beaten, uber athletic types. I almost fit right in.

I was pleased to get up and out of the hype on my first night, having a home cooked meal with my dear friends Ben and Lillian at their B&B located on a flower farm way above Kona. Ben and Lillian are a fab couple I met running in Jersey City. I laughed off their prediction back in 2013 after my first 70.3 that I would one day race at Kona, thinking of course that will never happen because I will NEVER do an Ironman. I was beyond flattered to receive a message from these guys on my return home from IM Texas with my IMWC slot secured, telling me that they had booked their flights to Kona! Just wow.

At the suggestion of a friend I had signed up for the big charity Underpants run. Yes! Why not? It is for charity, I figured that if I had to endure running along behind ironmen in their tighty whities, well it would be worth it, for the charity of course. I wore a pair of huge granny dacks sporting a kangaroo waving an Aussie flag on the butt and dragged my poor Dad to the start line. He did not run, just observed… (that sounds way more creepy that it really was.) I met up with some friends Mike, a seasoned Kona participant and Jeff a green Kona rookie just like me.

We had a hoot, Mike and Jeff were happy to be stuck behind the Coeur Team girls, how shallow, I mean really? Post run “analysis” and breakfast at Evolution hit the spot. Oh a tip for Underpants Run rookies I gleaned from post race observation: sweaty tighty whities may leave you exposing a whole lot more than you anticipated.

Simon arrived on the Thursday. We had decided to leave the kids solo in Chicago… just kidding, our friends Alex and Theresa stepped in there. Theresa was so super cute, she called the schools to make sure the boys got there ok, drove the boys to their after school triathlon sessions and gave up their whole weekend too! What a load off our minds, we were so grateful.

I was able to squeeze in some down time. Dad, Simon and I spent Thursday afternoon sitting on the lanai of our apartment sipping a beer, watching the sun go down, taking a million photos and solving the world’s problems. I don't get to chill with my Dad too often, spending time with my Dad like that has left a warm little glow in my heart. It was one of my favorite moments of the trip. (My Dad hates being in photos, but I do manage to snag him in a few pics on this trip.)

As amiable and easy going as you all know me to be, I knew I would be prone to a little pre Ironman World Championships fretting. I did not want to expose my loved ones to my potential dragon lady side so I sent Simon and Dad off to explore Volcano National Park on the other side of the Island on Friday. A rather unwelcome visitor arrived on Friday, perhaps the best euphemism I can use is “Aunt Flo”, what a cow, she was not invited and I was not expecting to see her. She threw me in a bit of a spin, but I pulled it together and added dealing with that to my race plan.

I got my race gear together, checked my bike and checked in. What an awesome hype! I had forgotten that I had listed my occupation on the Ironman registration form as “Secret Agent.” As I walked down the red carpet to check in they called me out, “Here is Kelly Phuah, she is competing in the women’s 45-49 age group…” [pause] “she is a secret agent!” Haha, cover blown!

I was welcomed into Transition by my very own volunteer escort, Craig. Craig and his wife,  from Seattle, have been coming to the big Island for the last 10 years to volunteer for IMWC!

Whaaat!? I know right? Gulp, I felt a little overwhelmed at that moment. I racked my bike, hung my transition bags.  Then I stood for a few moments on the red carpet, I let myself feel special for being there before heading off to eat and find an air conditioner!

I found my friend Mike and we talked race stuff and spectator logistics tips while sipping protein shakes with our feet up. It was the perfect pre race afternoon.

Dinner that night was right down in the middle of all the action at Honu’s, overlooking the athlete area and swim start with Ben, Lillian, Dad and Simon. There was much discussion over the spectator plans and I shared my hopeful race splits to help them know where I would be at certain times. I was worried about how the day was going to be for everyone who had come all that way to watch. I knew it would be a long hot day for them too.

I had to have the Hawaiian Pizza, oh wow, caramelized pineapple and kalua shredded pork, It was awesome!

I got antsy all of a sudden in the middle of dinner when I realised that I was doing a freaking Ironman the next day. I rushed our farewells with Ben and Lillian and dragged Dad and Simon home. I have no clear memory of going to bed or how I slept, my mind just leaps to Simon and I driving down Alii Drive at 4am!

Race Day

Goal: under 11hrs.

Gosh, how much detail can you handle? Do I make it sound epic and glamorous? I guess if you are reading this then you are either a really good friend or a weird triathlon junkie so I will just give you the ugly truth.

Treading water with 600 other women waiting for the start canon was crazy. Everyone was apologetically kicking each other. I looked back at the crowd on the shore and the pier and let the swell of excitement pick me up. I sighted the 1st boat and wiggled a little closer to the front. The cannon boomed and we turned from polite and apologetic to tiger sharks. I was kicked, swam over and grabbed, I had to restart my watch 3 times because the stop button was kicked. I am quite sure I did my fair share of kicking others too, it was impossible not to. And at one stage I found myself laying completely on top of another athlete, I have no idea where she,came from!

I found my rhythm eventually and was able to start really swimming. By about half way I could feel my speedsuit cutting into my neck and throat as I was sighting and turning to breathe. It left quite a good chafe and I looked like I had been strangled. I snuck a peak at my watch as we made the turn at the boats, I was happy to see I was on schedule for my goal of a sub 70min swim. I was enjoying the water, it was clear and fairly calm. I could see the bottom. I picked out a blue swim cap on the bottom and wondered if it’s owner was down there too. I made the last push to the pier and grabbed the stairs, I ripped off my speed suit with glee and made my way around to T1 on wobbly legs.

1:09:42

I rinsed off my face with some fresh water, grabbed my bag and dove into the tent, and with the help of another volunteer it was suit off, socks on, shoes on, glasses on, food in pocket, loo stop #1 and out to my bike. Helmet on and go go go.

4:44

Yay!! Spotted my posse as I took off on the bike.

Lol, my Dad showing me the way to go…

I settled in and got out onto the Queen K thinking ok Kona, show me what you’ve got, bring it, do your worst.

I had a plan, hold watts for an IF around .68-.69. Yeah, naa, that just did not feel right. I was hot and pushing those watts just felt a little more taxing than it should so I backed off a little and kept a closer eye on my effort than my watts. I guess the wind was kind because even at the lower watts I was still on schedule for a 5:40 bike.

The best tip from Mike, stay wet all day. So at every aid station I was grabbing a cold bottle of water and pouring it all over my body, it was keeping me relatively cool.

I was keeping an eye out for girls in my age group, I passed a few and but noticed as we got closer to the finish that we were all getting a little feisty and not letting each other get too far away.

The climb up to Hawi was the first time that I really felt good, not being familiar with the course had made me a little reserved but when I hit that climb I felt like I just had this one hard bit and I was more than half way. I made the turn for home at the top and launched myself down that descent with a mission. So much fun! I was ticking down the miles and aiming to be out on the run course in under 7hrs and that kept me on the gas all the way back into Kona.

Ugh, triathletes are disgusting, the visor on my helmet was totally aero but also saved me from taking a snot rocket the face. “Dude!!” I shouted as I passed, he looked really sorry, but still, look over your shoulder before you launch. Same goes for the girl taking a wee. Being splashed by someone else's piss is not cool either.

My guts were feeling a little sketchy nearing the end of the bike, I took a couple of Imodium hoping to hold off the horrible tummy cramps etc I seem to be prone to on the run.

I came hurtling down the bike finish chute, eyeballing my volunteer bike catcher, I dismounted like a swan gliding in for a landing on a lake while seamlessly passing my bike to the catcher. They will probably be playing that footage in the Kona highlights, because it was so  freaking pro.

5:38:48

Into T2 in my socks, grabbed by bag, ripping off clothes as I ran, sort of like Superman - until my arms got hopelessly snagged in my super tight bike jersey and I resembled something more like a mad person trying to escape a straightjacket.  Yay for those volunteers. So, shoes on, race belt in hand, loo stop #2 and off on the run.  

4:33

Bahaaa, happens every time, my body rejoices for the 1st 2 km and I am lulled into a false sense of, “Oh hell yeah, I am going to be so amazing.” A quick glance at my overall time on my watch had me out on the run course in under 7 hours, yessss. I felt so confident that I was going to make that 11hr goal.  All I had to do was manage a 4 hr marathon. Then at about kilometer 3 it began to suck.  I saw my posse again at around this point, Simon and Ben ran alongside, giving me my position in the field and who was where, at that moment, they could have told me that there was a lion chasing me and it would not have made the bit of difference to my pace.  

I ran on in misery, downing a couple more Imodium for my increasingly cranky gut.  I had been taking salt tabs every hour, I had had mucho electrolytes and fluids on the bike and about 200 cals/hr all tried and tested and to plan.

Anyway, my mood began to shift, the discomfort in my gut was relieved for a little while.  I was given a huge piece of ice at an aid station. I sucked it, rubbed it on my body, down my legs and sides, down my arms and over my face, I bit little pieces off and when it was small enough it put it down my top. (My gosh, that almost sound erotic - it quite possibly was!) By the time I was heading back along Alii Drive and saw my posse again, I was a different girl.

I got down to business, thinking, tidy posture, keep hydrated and wet.  I was sad to see a few girls in my AG glide by but just kept to my own race and reminded myself that a sub 11 hr race was my goal and that racing someone else's game was not smart. There were 2 more loo stops on the run course, the last being out on Energy Lab road with about 16k / 10miles to go.  After that I was feeling much better. I made it up out of the Energy Lab climb and headed for home gritting my teeth to hold on to that 4 hr marathon but intermittently smiling because I totally knew I was going to do it.

I was surprised to see another friend Liz cheering me on as I turned off the Queen K down Palani rd. Eek, that downhill was ugly, ouch, I felt like a robot, horrible form that I just could not fix at that point. I nearly cried when Simon told me I had a mile to go. A mile! Oh just make this OVER! Finally I entered the finish chute with an idiotic grin, feeling emotional, tired and proud. I punched the air 2 times as I crossed the finish line.

3:58:44

Total time: 10:56:31, 16/88 F45-49 

So much room for improvement!

A friend asked me that night if I was keen to do it again, it only took one sleep for that answer to go from no way to yeah, I need another crack at that.

I got to spend another couple of days with Dad before we took off to opposite sides of the earth again. I was glad we got to see the town transform back into the cute little town it is 51 weeks of the year.

Mahalo!

I am surrounded by really hard working and intelligent people, people who inspire me to push myself and to be humble. (Well, I try with the humble bit.) I don't know many people more hard working and intelligent than Simon, he blows me away with his own dedication and humility and I live my life struggling to keep up with him. He is my biggest fan and I would not be doing any of this without his support.

My race experience was made really special with the support and fun with Ben, Lillian, Dad, Mike, Jeff, Liz and and Simon. Oh guys, thanks a million.

The online messages and texts from my family, my INTENT team mates, and friends were wonderful!! Pre race pep talks from my very good friend Jeff kept me in check. Much love to everyone who was following my race online and cheering along at home

My coach Rick Schopp at INTENT is also one of those inspiring people, I have put myself into painville at his instruction so many times but I am still here, I am still keen and I am getting faster. He has shown me that the pain pays off. Sending me the Urban dictionary definition of whinge when I slightly lost my shit during my second last intense training week leading into Kona was just the kick in the pants I needed.  

(That sounds rough, he may have added a few additional kind words in there too.)

Much love to Alex and Theresa for taking great care of our boys while we were away.

Many thanks to the volunteers who gave their time and to the super cute little town of Kona for letting us take over!

Mahalo xo

Now I count down just a few weeks to Ironman Cozumel before we pack up and make the very exciting move to Denver, Colorado!  Two more years in the USA before we head back to Australia.

Pic credits: Thanks Ben, Lillian and Simon

[bienmoreau]

Dude! Chapter 12 tho! Dear lord please let someone explain the internet to Gus. And ten points for that very clear explanation of how ace-/-aero works.

ALSO like omfg. Can we just acknowledge how ridiculous the ‘How to’ guides are!!? Like seriously! I might have to go back through when I’m done and collate the utter nonsense of some of them!

BUT GUS IS SUCH A SWEETHEARTED FOOL! Poor poor Gus.

“Hey I like your hair and your tattoos and you face and your personality.”

Darling boy.

I'm on chapter 13!! So we are close. And omg yes I'm so happy with the ace rep. I can't wait until they have an actual conversation about it.. it will be amazing. Honestly any conversation to help clear things up for Gus would be awesome. Especially a conversation about not trusting stuff online. Oh, by the way, I am the same anon who was reading Cut and Run. I'm halfway through Part and Parcel but the sexual stuff was too much so I decided to pause it until I missed the characters enough.

YO! Hullo again! Sorry abt P&P! honestly the only thing I really remember abt that book is all the emotional angst around Eli and the boys finally getting all their shit out in the open between each other and finding resolutions. (And that Abi gave us explicitly stated ace rep for two of them).. sorry I didn’t give you any heads up abt it but well done for getting that far tho! And I hope you enjoy the rest of it when feel comfortable going back to reading it.

But anyway! That’s so cool that we’re pretty much in the same place with it! I’ve only got one day off this week which sucks but I’m gonna try to read more today ‘cause I have a gap in the middle of the day. And YES OMG hopefully hopefully someone can help Gus out a little and him and Casey can talk about being ace and he can explain what that means for him to Gus. The poor guy needs some clarification on a lot of things at this point. 😆