#really? what region?

[lago-morpha]

apparently every time I don't know what to say on a conversation with my girlfriend I just go through the entire steamed hams skit how was I not diagnosed sooner. now that I think about this I've done it in the last 5 phone calls in a row?

[elodieunderglass]

Time for our regular reminder to people from New England that our native dialect’s charming slang for a small liquor store is a racial slur in the rest of the English speaking world.

Yes I know we don’t mean it that way. Yes I know we have no idea. Yes I know that people from Pakistan hardly ever visit New England let alone settle there, and it is 💯 innocently meant in New England.

It is extraordinarily unfair that the racial connotations of keeping a small corner shop means that it unintentionally doubles the impact of the slur.

It’s wicked uncool but there you go and now you know.

[inkskinned]

it is all chaos and entropy. the thing is that the chaos and entropy make it beautiful and lovely.

yes, it's true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is terrifying. i have lived through some of the unfairness - i got born like this, with my body caving into itself, with this ironic love of dance when i sometimes can't stand up for longer than 15 minutes. i am a poet with hands that are slowly shutting down - i can't hold a pen some days. recently i found a dead bird on our front porch. she had no visible injuries. she had just died, the way things die sometimes.

it is also true that nature and the universe are uncaring and unspecific, and that is wonderful. the sheer happenstance that makes rain turn into a rainbow. the impossible coincidence of finding your best friend. i have made so many mistakes and i have let myself down and i have harmed other people by accident. nature moves anyway. on the worst day of my life she delivers me an orange juice sunset, as if she is saying try again tomorrow.

how vast and unknowing the universe! how small we are! isn't that lovely. the universe has given us flowers and harp strings and the shape of clouds. how massive our lives are in comparison to a grasshopper. the world so bright, still undiscovered. even after 30 years of being on this earth, i learned about a new type of animal today: the dhole.

chance echoing in my life like a harmony between two people talking. do you think you and i, living in different worlds but connected through the internet - do you think we've ever seen the same butterfly? they migrate thousands of miles. it's possible, right?

how beautiful the ways we fill the vastness of space. i love that when large amounts of people are applauding in a room, they all start clapping at the same time. i love that the ocean reminds us of our mother's heartbeat. i love that out of all the colors, chlorophyll chose green. i love the coincidences. i love the places where science says i don't know, but it just happens.

"the universe doesn't care about you!" oh, i know. that's okay. i care about the universe. i will put my big stupid heart out into it and watch the universe feast on it. it is not painful. it is strange - the more love you pour into the unfeeling world, the more it feels the world loves you in return. i know it's confirmation bias. i think i'm okay if my proof of kindness is just my own body and my own spirit.

i buried the bird from our porch deep in the woods. that same day, an old friend reaches out to me and says i miss you. wherever you go, no matter how bad it gets - you try to do good.

[ganondoodle]

me: finally im able to cope with how much i hate totk and can fuel that energy into other things :)

nintendy: the shiekah tech just dissappeared and no one knows why or cares enough to investigate it lol. lmao. its gone bc the calamity is gone or something even tho it literally isnt bc ganondorf is right there haha lol, stop asking, why do you care. just forget it existed and look at that sexy goatman and glue instead!! glue! isnt that wild?? also its totally a direct, 100% same universe and exact same characters, despite them act totally out of character, sequel to botw-

[mollysunder]

For now, it's about 50/50 for whether or not these mysterious people that were included in the new trailer are members of the Gloriously Evolved. For fun, I'm going to break down why these people might be entirely unrelated to Viktor.

First, their bodies are clearly inlaid with gold, which does not replace their flesh. In the brief scene we get of these people the gold works as a conduit between their melodies and the magic around them. Meanwhile hexcore has entirely transformed Viktor's hand and leg into metal.

We know that Viktor's entire hand and leg have turned completely into metal because not only do his limbs make metal clinking noises and conduct electricity, but the animators on Bridging the Rift confirm it.

I've also seen some mention that the markings on the faces of these unknown characters represent Viktor's touch when he "healed" them. Upon closer inspection each character does have a five markings on their face, but they're detailed runes rather than Viktor's hand print, implying this may be related to a more intricate ritual rather than Viktor simply laying his hand on them and transforming them with the hexcore.

Really, these people have magic more similar to Mel Medarda. Mel is the one who appears to wear magical gold embedded in her skin to serve as protection magic. What Mel is doing with magic is likely far more simple compared to these people, but it's in the same vein. And that may be the entire point.

Viktor and his cult are the outliers. Whatever Viktor has done in season 1, and what he will continue to do in season 2 is a divergence (possibly perversion) of how magic should work/be treated in the rest of Runeterra, which makes sense! Viktor literally said he doesn't know what he's doing, he just keeps going.

What's likely happening in this scene is that some sect of mages, maybe they're acolytes of the mage that saved Jayce have become aware of the magical shenanigans in PnZ... and it's bad.

Then again, I haven't seen the leaks. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think this is all worth pointing out. (This is not a solicitation to tell what happens in the leaks).

[front-facing-pokemon]

[mothsakura]

UI............................. i need UI................. watcher dlc better have UI lore.................................. i want UI lore................... video cult, if you're hearing this, tell us more about UI.......... please....................................begging.......................................... UI :( :( :(................................................................................................ i need-

[canisalbus]

Not dog related but have you been to Kuopio? My wife and I are planning to move there in a few years and I’m just curious what your thoughts might be as someone who actually lives in Finland. Also do you enjoy a cold dip after sauna or is that not really your thing?

I used to live in Kuopio! Spent my early childhood there. I still visit several times a year, it's one of those home-away-from-home places for me.

I don't enjoy cold, I rarely swim and I barely ever go to sauna (it always makes me feel sort of light-headed), so not my thing really :'> But if you think you might enjoy, like, the temperature shock and the adrenaline rush go for it.

[fauvester]

absolutely in love with the cardassian babies

they DO purr and they DO knead and they DO have tails and they LOVE the baby sling

THE CHILDREN, THEY LONG FOR THE SLING!!

Oouuuuh in my head they're just like lizardly cats. Little guys that want to stay warm and comfy. Unfortunately they do get very sharp hard claws pretty early on and it's hard to stay on top of trimming them!

All those evolutionarily adorable instincts probably disappear eventually, but maybe as a treat we can say that they re-emerge uncontrollably in a narrow range of situations like extreme satisfaction and comfort.

[thistransient]

I have a heinous sunburn, my tailbone region is bruised and abraded, my stomach issues resolved after 800mg of anti-dysentery pills, I have a newfound and passionate appreciation for hot water and paved roads, and we finally made it back to the city today. This was probably one of the most unwise yet exhilarating things I've ever done in my life. Also I saw more yaks.

[monards]

I feel like this it’s an incredibly important time to reiterate that where you live in the united states DOESNT dictate your political, moral, or ethical values. And anybody in the South can be a Democrat, just as anyone in the North can be a Republican.

[bookshelfdreams]

americans learn what the middle ages are challenge

[bearimba]

Johto Culture/Worldbuilding Headcanons

Since the New Bark Town kids are out of the way, I figured I'd do some basic worldbuilding stuff before we start covering more characters. There's more I'll cover later on, but to start off with, let's go over the general culture of Johto!

As a whole, the people of Johto lean towards more "traditional" values such as putting family first, a sense of obligation towards their communities (national pride/patriotism is very strong in older populations), an emphasis on respect towards elders, etc.

That being said, Johtonians are also very private---typically, what happens behind closed doors stays behind there for better or for worse. That doesn't mean people aren't extremely nosy, just that they wouldn't actively disrupt the public peace with their gossip.

Joint families are the most common form of family unit, though nuclear families have become more prevalent in cities such as Goldenrod due to limited living space. Houses tend to consist of one main living space (usually living room/kitchen/dining room combined) with bedrooms and bathrooms accessed through either a side hallway or a second floor. Sometimes (usually in downtown areas), a family business may be on the first floor while living/private spaces will be located on the second floor.

Similarly to Sinnoh, Johto's history is considered very important and conservation efforts are taken very seriously across the region. However, those efforts are mostly aimed towards preserving current knowledge instead of actively discovering the past, meaning there is still information that gets forgotten and lost to time.

Due to this (and also partially because of the burning of Brass Tower), Ho-Oh receives much more reverence than Lugia. Before, they were considered the twin guardians of the region and protected the balance between people and pokemon, but now, Ho-Oh has been deified while Lugia is sidelined and nearly forgotten.

Johtonians have a very distinct accent, mostly since they're a bit more secluded compared to other regions. Goldenrod and Saffron City have a stronger mix of Johtonian and Kantonian accents mostly due to tourists and commuting workers on the Magnet Train.

Johto exports a large amount of artisanal and handmade goods, especially woodcrafts such as cabinets or other large furniture (it's much more heavily wooded compared to other regions), but the region also has a very successful maritime industry that could almost rival Hoenn's.

Johtonians receive their ID card on their 13th birthday. At that point, they may opt in to take the gym challenge. If they do, they will receive a trainer card that contains information pertinent to the gym challenge on the back, which is then updated with every gym the trainer beats. They will keep the same ID their entire life regardless of whether they complete the challenge.

On a similar note, the age of majority is 20, which is a bit older than most other regions (Sinnoh/Kanto are 18, Hoenn is 17, etc etc.)

Children typically get their first pokemon (also referred to as their starter pokemon) at a very early age. This is to help teach them responsibility and respect for pokemon, and it provides them protection when they're unsupervised.

Public schooling is free up to 13 years age, at which point they can choose to pay to go to a private school, take a break to go on a pokémon journey and take on the gym challenge, or quit altogether.

Far more often than not, children will take about a year to go on their journey and then go back to school. Upon their return, they generally have the option to skip certain classes (both the ones they missed and future classes) if they're able to put together a decent report detailing their experiences and what they learned on their journey.

Nontraditional scenarios include students returning from their journey earlier or later than a year, students going on their journey and not returning to school, or going on their journey/dropping out of school at older than 13 years (there is technically no upper age limit at which the gym challenge can be started).

Crime rates are pretty low (especially major crimes such as assault, burglary, kidnapping etc.), which is part of the reason why children are allowed to roam the region unsupervised. This is mostly due to heavy restrictions on which/how many pokemon are legal to own, with and without certain permits. Additionally, the maximum number of occupied pokeballs a person is allowed to carry at once is six, although the average person will own at most three pokemon. Such laws are common in other regions, but Johto is more strict about their regulations.

Additionally, since taking care of children is often a community undertaking ("it takes a village to raise a child"), many adults will keep a close eye on nearby kids and keep them out of trouble regardless of whether they're related.

Since traveling trainers can’t hold down a steady job, a common way to earn money is just to pop into local businesses and ask if they need help. It’s not guaranteed to work, but most businesses will either find something small for them to do or recommend a different business to ask.

Pokemon centers will often allow trainers to sleep overnight in the lobby, though it's frowned upon to stick around for more than a day or two---camping outside or getting a room at an inn is better for longer stays.

Also, because pokemon centers are so widespread and well-recognized, they're often used as a meeting spot for social gatherings (though again, loitering inside isn't welcome. it's like meeting up with friends in a hospital lobby). As a result, many businesses---mainly third spaces such as restaurants and recreational spots---will compete to establish themselves as close to pokemon centers as they can.

Live performance tends to be the most popular form of entertainment across the region, including traditional/ceremonial productions, theater, and music. Historical enactments are also very popular during festivals. This is in part because oral storytelling used to be the region's main form of chronicling its history. (There are a few exceptions, such as the Dragon's Den containing extensive records of the Dragon Tamers and the local area, but unfortunately, access to those records is generally very limited.)

Slowpoke tails are somewhat of a local delicacy, but because Slowpoke farms are few and far between (there's strict laws on humane treatment such as how many Slowpoke can be kept on one farm, the space and amenities required to keep them, harvesting methods, etc.), they tend to be quite expensive and typically have to be sourced from the farms themselves. Trying to export them in large enough quantities is even more expensive, especially before the shipping methods are modernized, so for a long time the tails remain purely a Johtonian cuisine.

[makeste]

How do you feel about certain events which may have happened in a really really recent chapter of Japanese sky high with a hint of Naruto in it in which our main character is a green boi

I'm only partially spoiled because I was only trying to keep tabs on the major stuff, so I would still have something to react to when I catch up again. so I feel like I'm not really qualified to give an opinion just yet, because there's a lot of nuance and buildup and context I'm probably still missing. I will say that in hindsight I'm glad I'll get to read the for-reals final battle binge-style rather than week-to-week, both because I think it'll read better that way, and because if I'm being fully honest, the one thing I don't miss about doing weekly reads is weighing in on each new story controversy of the week. XD

granted I will admit this is a particularly spicy controversy lol. and not necessarily what I was hoping for, BUT at the end of the day it's Horikoshi's story and he can do what he wants. and if this really is The End For Real, it's nothing a few fix-it AUs can't handle if it comes to that. I do want to wait and see what the next few chapters hold before I give it an official star rating or anything like that, though, because I feel like there's still a lot of stuff that hasn't been fully resolved and/or addressed. so I'm withholding all final judgments for at least a few more weeks.

[beemovieerotica]

may i suggest davidusjoneium manumos for your bacteria name poll

a;sldkjfal;sdk okay so POTENTIALLY i could name it something really weird but i will absolutely need to have a justification to my boss for why it is named that thing. also this is fairly far off in the future / not 100% certain because i still have to do all the shit required of describing a new species

[linka-from-captain-planet]

wellp I gave DA:Inquisition another shot this weekend and now I’m obsessed and have to care about the new game