#source: Haus of Decline

[papermariosuggestion]

What did she mean by this?

X

[incorrect-sm-families-quotes]

*Not long after Sophocles was traumatized by a minior dying in front of him*

Sophocles' mom, regarding Molayne: I'm afraid we're gonna have to kill this guy, dear.

Sophocles' dad, grabbing on to a shovel: What a shame.

[incorrectsitresquotes]

Weiss: I think we're gonna have to kill this guy, Custard.

Custard: Damn.

[potatoesbasket]

Alex Horne and the Horne Section (feat. Greg Davies)

Comic source: Haus of Decline

[dopeanchordaze]

Source: Haus of decline

[angelofsmalldeath-codeine]

Hear me out… But please, please, please let’s use our text comprehension and critical thinking skills before dog piling on me. Thanking yous.

Note: this is NOT a pearl clutching post.

Rant below the cut.

TW: kink; kink in public; consent

We don’t kink shame in dis haus. The lawd knows we enjoy kinky stuff.

However, I gotta say that kink requires consent from everyone participating in it, either actively or as a voyeur. There are hard limits to be negotiated, boundaries to be respected, agreed safety systems for when things become uncomfortable/unsafe.

Hence kinky activities taking place in dedicated spaces (their home, pride, clubs, dungeons, whatever is your flavour) and with consenting adults. Now, when you take your kink into the public space, you are forcing everyone around you to take part in it. And children exist in the public space regardless of many people wanting them to never leave the house until they are 18 or something. Children cannot consent to be part of someone else’s kink scene. And no, this is not a “But think of the children” stances that fundamental evangelicals use to tear apart people’s rights.

The demonisation of sexuality and sex declined over time although it still bores influence on society’s thinking on what is ‘the norm’ and ‘acceptable sexual expressions’. This often led to criminalisation of sexuality and sexual practices which deviated from the established norm (heterosexual PIV for procreation purposes). Sodomy or masturbation were labelled sinful, which required an exorcism or other religious interventions (Tosh, 2014; 2017). Heterosexual sodomy was a crime in the UK until 1994 when the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act decriminalised it for adults. Check Buggery Act 1533 and the famous trials it’s brought us if you are curious. The Mental Health Act in the UK uses the same language to describe sadists in a consensual community and in the forensic setting of convicted serial killers. Thus, making it possible that a diagnosis of sexual deviance can be used to commit a person to a mental institution (Tosh, 2017). The DSM-5 conflates both and casts the assumption that everyone with a sadist or sexual deviant label is dangerous or a risk to commit extreme violence.

We cannot get on a high horse and scream that we are heavy on consent and respect when we take our kink to a fucking Ikea! Has anyone in that store consented to watch their Pup Play? Were there children around? My guess would be yes because it was a Saturday and they were in the restaurant. Children cannot consent to sexual activities. Even if it’s “just” light Pup Play with no sexual acts (I’m referring to touching, penetration, and such, don’t get smart on me now) happening in front of them.

We can be our own worst enemies. We cannot advocate to not being stigmatised, prejudiced against, judged for our preferences, yell from the mountain tops that we do consent better and turn around and force everyone around us to take part in our scenes. We can still be imprisoned and have our lives destroyed because of our preferences.

————————————-

I know the Daily Record is a steaming pile of shite of a newspaper. Don’t come for me on that one but this is where the footage came from.

Source:

Another example

[chromorbid]

by Haus of Decline, btw. y'all need to stop not sourcing shit just bc it's popular

Why did I only find out today that the “I think we need to kill this guy meme” was a fucking Steven Universe vs Hitler comic?????

I was just caught so off guard by this

[bang-bang-gang]

(source: haus of decline)

[servingcocoa]

🥧 last updated: nov 17th, 2023

Hello! I’m mod Servant, but you may call me Servant! My pronouns are he/she/bun/moon/fae (in order of preference), and I’m a young adult! I’m bisexual, non-binary, and I’m also autistic (amongst other unlisted mental silliness).

I label this as a kinhelp blog, but I am glad to do requests for anyone.

Open this post for my rules, DNI, sources, request types, whitelist and blacklist!

⛓ Rules

Please respect my DNI, sources and blacklist. This includes not using my edits if you’re on my DNI, either.

One request per ask, please! But feel free to send multiple requests.

If a request makes me uncomfortable for any reason, or I am just not motivated to do it, I have the right to decline it.

Whether requests are open or closed is always in my blog description!

Reposts onto other sites are fine IF credit is given to me!

Please like and/or reblog my edits if you use them.

Noooo discourse! Especially not about me using she/her pronouns for Chihiro, and double-especially about the inclusion of anything on my blacklist and/or DNI. This includes asking why something is on my blacklist and / or DNI.

⛓ DNI

If you are a Nazi, pedo, bigot, truscum / transmed / ‘enby skeptic’, or a pro-shipper

You think bisexuality isn’t inclusive of trans / non-binary people (I’m not a ‘battleaxe bi’ or whatever panphobes call themselves; I just hate biphobes)

I also block freely! Please do not ask why you are blocked, if you are. You probably made me uncomfortable somehow. It’s nothing personal!

⛓ Sources

Main sources: Danganronpa (1, 2 and 3), Professor Layton, Pokemon, Doki Doki Literature Club, The Owl House, LEGO Monkie Kid

Minor/selective sources: Luca 2021, Scratchin’ Melodii, Splatoon, MILGRAM, Bug Fables, Animal Crossing, She Ra (reboot), Smile For Me, Helltaker, Bad End Theater

⛓ Request Types

Icons (pride or regular)

Reply icons

Headers

Phone wallpapers (specify dimensions!)

Aesthetic boards

Layouts (specify if for Twitter or tumblr!)

Playlists

⛓ Whitelist

Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Mondo Oowada, Chihiro Fujisaki, Gundham Tanaka, Kazuichi Souda, Izuru Kamukura / Hajime Hinata and Nagito Komaeda (Danganronpa)

Pearl, Agent 3 and Agent 8 (Splatoon)

Raymond and Isabelle (Animal Crossing)

Angela Ledore, Henry Ledore, Randall Ascot, Hershel Layton, Emmy Altava and Luke Triton (Professor Layton)

Bede (only if you don’t kin him), Gladion, Lillie, Hop, and Hau (Pokemon)

Leif, Kabbu, and Mothiva (Bug Fables)

Hunter, all of the Blight siblings, and Luz Noceda (The Owl House)

Red Son, Macaque, Mei, Sun Wukong and MK (LEGO Monkie Kid)

Lovecore, softcore, cozycore, plushies / soft things, domestic love, pink and/or brown-heavy aesthetics

⛓ Blacklist

(Please trust that all of the things here have a good reason behind them! I do not owe you an explanation.)

Pedophilia, abuse, incest or rape (themes of recovery from said things is okay!)

Toxic or otherwise abusive ships (again, themes of recovery is okay!)

Lusamine or Chairman Rose (Pokemon)

Shadow Weaver, Hordak or Horde Prime (She-Ra)

Teruteru Hanamura, and Nagito Komaeda paired romantically with women (Danganronpa)

Belos or Odalia Blight (The Owl House)

Yanderecore

Bede edits for people who kin him (comfort character requests are okay; sorry!)

[archduchessofnowhere]

Hello! You have information about Josef Graf Hoyos-Sprinzenstein. Thanks.

Hello! Not much really. He was Crown Prince Rudolf's friend and confident and they used to hang out a lot. More importantly for us, he was at Mayerling the night Rudolf and Mary Vetsera died, and was one of the first persons in finding their bodies.

Hoyos wrote a memorandum in which he recorded his experience in Mayerling and deposited it in the Haus-, Hof-und Staatsarchiv (aka really old Austrian archive). This memorandum has been a great source for the Mayerling incident, for instance Penny Wilson and Greg King quote it a lot in their book Twilight of Empire. In their book they also said that:

A few days after the tragedy at Mayerling, Rudolf’s friend and frequent hunting companion Count Josef Hoyos had an audience with Franz Josef, in which he generously offered to say that he had accidentally shot the crown prince in a hunting accident—an offer the emperor declined. Stephanie never blamed Hoyos for her husband’s misadventures or death: Two weeks after Mayerling, she wrote to the count, thanking him for his “true and sincere friendship, both in happiness as well as in sorrow” and asking that he “only recall the happy days” he had spent with “my beloved Rudolf.”

I can't really say more about him (there doesn't seem to be a lot of personal information available either). Hope that I could help you!

[voroxpete]

Here is a Jewish podcaster and his Jewish journalist guest talking about how "The definition of what is or isn't anti-semitic" is an incredibly problematic concept that very often gets used to include "Absolutely any criticism of the state of Isreal no matter how mild":

This sucks. It sucks, especially, for Jewish people trying to live their lives free from hate. Because the reality is that most "Jewish advocacy" groups are actually "Isreal advocacy" groups. Another thing they discuss in that same podcast is how much money these groups funnel back to Isreal, and how much work they do to promote Isreali settler colonialism as righteous and just.

All of which forces us gentiles into the position of having to be extremely critical of "What Jews consider to be anti-semitism", because when we see a graphic like this we have no idea if the data was sourced from actual Jewish advocacy groups trying to fight hate, or from groups that are essentially propaganda arms for a genocidal apartheid state that uses the very real existence of hatred against Jewish people to justify their own acts of hatred.

In fact, the data in that specific panel (#4) is sourced from the AJC, or American Jewish Council, who in 2011 were trying to get candidates from both US parties to agree to a pledge that "now is the time to reaffirm that Israel's well-being is best served, as it always has been, by American voices raised together in unshakeable support for our friend and ally."

There should be absolutely no such thing as "unshakeable" support for a regime that engages in acts of genocide. So yes, I as a gentile, am almost certainly going to find myself disagreeing with the AJC on what is, or isn't anti-semitism. For example, the AJC are one of the authors of the "Working definition of anti-semitism", which includes "Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis." as a definition of anti-semitimitic speech.

By their definition, drawing any comparison whatsoever between the holocaust and the nakbas is anti-semitic. It doesn't matter how many hospitals Isreal bombs, it doesn't matter how many children they starve to death, it doesn't matter how many civilians they shoot in the streets. If you compare the actions of the state of Isreal to the actions of the Nazis, you're being anti-semitic, even if you understand that Jews are not the state of Isreal, and the state of Isreal does not represent or act on behalf of even the majority of Jews.

Again, please go listen to the podcast linked above, they go into all of this in a lot more detail than I can, and from a far more worthy perspective than mine.

As a queer person I understand what it is to live your life in the face of hatred. I want to be here in this fight with you. But when I see you citing "Facts" produced by genocide apologists, I have to step back. Jews deserve better than to have the cause of fighting anti-semitism forever tied to the actions of a genocidal state... But only Jews can solve that problem. We can't speak for you on this.

When it comes to fighting anti-semitic hate, I will continue to look to and support the work of Jewish anti-zionists, and I hope that they will eventually be successful in disentangling the rights of Jewish people from the actions of the state that uses them as a prop and a shield.

These info graphs are by flatbushgirl in Instagram

I thought these were some important facts to share since a lot of people don't know any of this

[jsands84]

Overhill Campaign

I’m going to make my first attempt as a DM/Storyteller. It’s going to be an urban horror game using the New World of Darkness but a setting of my own creation, as described below. The campaign will be a small one - just the two players - and probably a fairly short arc. I’m mostly posting this to see if this sounds like an interesting premise/setting for a campaign and to hear any thoughts, questions, or suggestions (for the setting or DMing in general).    

You live in the large suburb of Overhill (est. 1806, current pop. 16k). Overhill is a fairly rustic town, its old-fashioned sensibilities struggling to ward off progress. The time period is near-modern (think It Follows) with technology closer to the early 90s: Computers and cell phones exist but are still clunky, expensive devices, hardly everyday items yet. While this setting isn’t intended to delve overmuch into modern politics, it is an analogue of our world and many major figures probably exist and most major historical events likely happened. Unfortunately, racism, sexism, and homophobia do still exist as well. 

While there isn’t an official curfew in Overhill, it is unusual to see much activity after-dark. Most stores have “seasonal hours”, overlapping with nightfall and few events are scheduled to take place in the evening. Traveling alone at night is not recommended. 

One of the key differences is this world has a supernatural underbelly, where magic and monsters can be found if you know where to look for them (or, if you’re not too careful, they will find you). 

Key Inspirations for this Campaign: Guillermo Del Toro’s work, The Magnus Archives podcast, and Studio Ghibli’s aesthetic/sensibilities. 

Local Points of Interest Overhill Shopping Mall - Built little more than a decade ago and already starting to decline. A third of the storefronts are empty and others seem likely to follow. The owner, one Charlie Warren, seems desperate to revitalize the property. Young people have been known to sneak into the mall after hours for assorted shenanigans (drinking, smoking, the occasional impromptu rave). 

Overhill Community College - One of the earliest  interracial and coeducational colleges in the country and the primary source of new blood and social progress in Overhill. 

Machen Public Library - While the current library building broke ground in the early 1900s, parts of the collection date back to the town’s founding. It has an extensive collection of texts pertaining to folklore and the occult as well as an art gallery featuring artists such as Arthur Rackham, Emerson Blackwood, and Maxfield Parrish.  The library property overlaps with Rackham Park. 

Rackham Park - Just over 8,000 acres of semi-national park, formerly the estate of the wealthy Rackham family now preserved as a mostly public park. While a third of the park is well-maintained and curated, with the old manor, an arboretum, greenhouses, and a hedge maze populated with a changing display of topiary animals, the rest is largely untamed aside from a few hiking trails. There are camping areas near the park’s visitor center but visitors are discouraged from camping in the wilder areas. The region is populated by larger predators (including bears, wild cats, and coyotes) and disappearances have been known to occur. 

Der Waffle Haus - The only 24-hour restaurant in Overhill, a German-themed diner of average quality.  Aside from their character sheets, I asked them to fill out a brief profile for their character, just so I can get a better sense of who they are and what situations to put them in.  CHARACTER PROFILE  Name:  Nickname:  Age:  Pronouns:  Write a full physical description of yourself:  You might want to consider factors such as: height, weight, race, hair, and eye color, style of dress, and any tattoos, scars, or distinguishing marks.

Occupation:  Hobbies/Interests:  Religious Beliefs:  Fears, Phobias, Superstitions: 

Immediate Family or Pertinent Extended Family:  Where do you live now, and with whom? Describe the place and the people/person:

Describe an exceptionally weird experience you’ve had (as a child or young adult): 

[thechicchicsagency]

Hedi Slimane's First Bag for Céline Pops Up on Lady Gaga  

PARIS, France — American singer-songwriter Lady Gaga was spotted in Paris carrying Hedi Slimane's first handbag for Céline, the LVMH-owned label where he took the creative reins as artistic, creative and image director in February 2018, replacing Phoebe Philo.

Images of Gaga at the Louvre Museum in Paris holding the black leather handbag were first spotted and posted to social media by fashion writer Pierre A. M'Pelé. Gaga's stylist Tom Eerebout confirmed to BoF that the new design was, in fact, by Slimane.

"He gifted her the bag and it's the first one from his new collection," said Eerebout, who has been part of Haus Of Gaga, the artist's creative team, since 2016. According to the stylist, the handbag will be presented as part of Slimane's first collection for Céline in September at Paris Fashion Week.

Representatives for Céline declined to comment.

Source: Instagram/@hedislimaneworld

"Lady Gaga always supported Hedi at Saint Laurent," continued Eerebout, referring to Slimane's tenure at the Kering-owned house Yves Saint Laurent. "They're really close friends and they have been since he photographed her for 'The Fame Monster' album cover."

This is not the first time Gaga has been first to promote Slimane's designs. Back in 2012, she was the first celebrity to wear a full look from the Saint Laurent's Spring/Summer 2013 collection by the Los Angeles-based designer, just a week after the runway show. In 2016, she was again the first to wear a gold sequin mini dress with exaggerated puffball shoulders from Slimane's final couture collection for the brand.

The singer, referred to as "Mother Monster" by her fans, has amassed a large following of "Little Monsters" (a phrase which she has had tattooed on herself) and has over 29 million followers on Instagram alone.

LVMH has major commercial ambitions for Céline, which is nearing €1 billion in annual sales. Slimane is set to launch new product categories — including menswear, couture and fragrance — as well as a more robust digital strategy could help to double that figure.

At Saint Laurent, Slimane's creative directorship from 2012 to 2016 divided critics, but his LA youth culture-driven collections drove stellar financial results for Kering: in his first three years, the French brand more than doubled annual sales revenue to ��707 million in 2014 (about $787 million), up from €353 million in 2011. But Slimane unexpectedly exited the house in April 2016

According to Eerebout, Gaga has "a massive archive" of Slimane's work for Saint Laurent.

[dopeanchordaze]

Source: Haus of decline

[pokeau]

Moon - Welcome to paradise (Ch. 1)

Read from the start

Characters: Pearl, Renee/Emmy, Kukui, Lillie, Hau, Hala, Melba

AN:

bro do i have to add a summary i cant do this. anyways pearl goes 2 alola and chooses a pokemon hell yea

~~

Despite the comforts of the plane, Pearl felt thoroughly jetlagged once the plane had landed. She kind of had a headache, and just wanted to take a nap on the ground.

After deboarding the plane, Pearl looked around for Melba, who had texted her that she would be waiting for her at the airport.

“Pearl! Pearllllll! Over here!” a woman’s voice called out.

Pearl looked around to try and find the source of the voice, and her eyes met with Melba’s waving arm. Pearl made sure to wave back to indicate she had seen her, and sluggishly made her way over to the woman. Melba offered Pearl a hug, but Pearl politely declined.

“How was the trip here?” Melba asked. “I can’t imagine 12 hours in a plane would be ideal even if it was some big fancy plane.”

“I’m just… tired. I feel like I could use a nice, long nap.” Pearl replied.

“Haha, well, I’ll get you out of here and home as soon as I can, then you can rest. I’ve already gotten your room ready for you so you can crash as soon as we get there!”

Pearl followed Melba through the airport, and once the two finally reached the exit, a blast of humid air hit Pearl as the doors opened in front of them. Pearl was familiar with humidity and tropical environments, as Hoenn itself was semi-tropical, but it had only now just hit Pearl that she was truly on a tropical island.

The two navigated to Melba’s car, and once Pearl got in the shotgun seat, she slumped over and pulled out her phone. As it would turn out, Pearl had a couple missed texts from her parents.

>We miss you already, Pearls!

>The airline’s website said your flight just landed, hope you’re doing well!

>IMG_78735.JPG

>Someone in particular misses you a lot..

The attached image was a picture of Izzy laying down by the front door. While she was exhausted, the picture made Pearl crack a smile.

>>i miss you too. in the car to the new place right now

Pearl sighed and stared out longingly at the orange sky - the sun was just beginning to set in Alola.

Melba drove just outside of Hau’oli city, and after a while, pulled her car into the garage of her house on the outskirts of the city. Pearl almost absent-mindedly got out of the car and followed Melba inside, and was greeted by Melba’s pet meowth upon entering the house. Pearl let the pokemon sniff her hand, but aside from that, she seemed too tired to interact with it much more.

Melba led pearl to her room, and Pearl took the time to examine it a bit before collapsing on the bed. She didn’t even bother to change her clothes, Pearl just laid down, got comfy, and slowly drifted off.

--

Pearl awoke to humid air surrounding her. She was still groggy, but her headache was gone, at the very least. Pearl stretched for a bit to wake herself up, and looked out the window that sat above her new bed. She opened the window up, and stretched her arms out, taking a deep breath of the sweet summer air outside. She could smell the ocean, the trees, the flowers - all the smells seemed so intense.

This was a new world for Pearl, and it was all so vivid.

Suddenly, Pearl remembered something she had forgotten to do the night prior.

>>hey hau!!!! i’m finally in alola!! i kind of passed out last night when i got here so i forgot to text you lol

Pearl had to wait a bit for a response.

>Oh nice (*°▽°*) Sorry, I’m a bit busy right now with grandpa! But we were supposed to meet with the professor later so we’ll finally be able to talk in person then!!!

>>that’s alright! i’ll ask the lady hosting me for more info :o i’m excited to see you soon though!!

>Same same! Alright sorry I gotta go now! I’ll talk to you later!!

And with that, Pearl stretched one last time before rubbing her eyes and hopping out of bed. She checked the time on her phone to see that it was around 11am, which wasn’t the worst time to wake up.

As Pearl exited her room and entered the general living space, she could see Melba was there cooking what she presumed to be lunch.

“Goodmorning Pearl! How did you sleep?” she asked.

“Alright. Was I supposed to meet someone today?”

Melba stopped stirring and looked to Pearl for a second.

“I’ll fill you in, why don’t you sit down at the table? I’m almost done making lunch.”

So, Pearl sat down and waited in silence for a couple of minutes, scrolling through social media on her phone. Melba’s meowth came up to her, and happily accepted some pets from Pearl - it seemed to have warmed up to her fairly quickly.

Eventually, Melba set down a plate of some kind of curry in front of Pearl, and sat down with her own plate at the opposite end of the table.

“So, here’s the deal -” Melba started, taking a bite of her food before continuing. “You and your buddy were supposed to meet that Professor in about an hour and a half on Mahalo trail. You can use the map on your phone, it’s not very far from here, if you walk you should be able to get there with some time to spare.”

“Mhm…” Pearl mustered to say while chewing.

“But when do I get my pokemon?”

“Well, I’m assuming you’ll get your pokemon once you meet the professor? He’s the one who has them after all.”

“Yea that… makes sense. Guess I gotta eat fast then!”

“Don’t rush yourself too much! You’ll be able to make it there in good time no matter what.”

Despite what Melba had said, Pearl did rush her eating a bit. She was excited to meet the Professor and Hau for the first time. She scrambled to get her bag together with all the essentials she’d need for the small hike, and just as she was about to leave for the door, Pearl got a text from Professor Kukui.

>Heya cuz! Just texting to let you know that you might make it to Mahalo trail before me - Hau’s grandpa and I are busy with prep for a festival that’s happening later this evening, so when you get to the trail, look for a girl in a white dress and hat! She’s my assistant, and she’ll keep ya company until I get there!

>>alright, thank you!

With a confident huff, Pearl said goodbye to Melba and opened the door to her brand new world. It took Pearl a little while to find the trail to Iki town, but once she found it, things were pretty straight forward until she hit town.

Once Pearl was in Iki town, she was almost constantly staring down at her map to try and figure out where to go. Eventually, Pearl made it to the trail, but there was no one to be seen, much less a girl with a white dress and hat. So, Pearl waited on a bench in the hot summer sun, waiting for someone to come.

Whether it was curiosity of the beckoning shade of the trail, Pearl sighed and got up. She looked around, to confirm that nobody was there, and started to make her way down the trail.

The trail was cooler than the parking lot in front of it, thanks in due part to the heavy foliage overhead. Bird pokemon were singing loudly, and the entire area smelled earthy.

After walking for some time, Pearl eventually came across a clearing with a bridge connecting two sides between a river. She also quickly spotted the girl she was told to look for - white hat, white dress, and squatted on the ground; her arms outstretched and beckoning to what looked like a pokemon on the rickety old bridge.

Was it a pokemon though…? It didn’t look like anything Pearl had seen or heard of before.

Pearl called out and waved to the girl, who turned to Pearl nervously, but didn’t give a response. Pearl looked closer at the situation and could see that a trio of spearow were tormenting and striking the creature on the bridge. Pearl assumed the girl was afraid of the pokemon, so Pearl walked up to her.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this!” she said, and before the girl in white could protest, Pearl started making her way across the old, rickety bridge. She held her arms out at her sides to try and keep balance, and was easily able to scoop up the weakened and scared pokemon in the middle of the bridge.

But as the weight of the two settled in one place, Pearl heard a snap and a yell from the girl behind her, and her heart dropped.

The rotting bridge had snapped.

Soon enough, Pearl and the pokemon she was holding began plummeting towards the rapids below them, and as much as Pearl kept telling herself to just teleport out of this, she couldn’t concentrate the focus to do it. She kept bracing herself for the shock of hitting the water, but it never came.

All of a sudden, Pearl could feel herself being carried - though she was still too afraid to open her eyes. In no time at all, Pearl and the pokemon she was holding were set down gently on the grass where the girl in white had been standing in a panic. Pearl opened her eyes, and the only glimpse she got of whatever rescued her was a blurred electric shape as it dashed away.

“Are you okay?!” the girl in white gasped out as she ran towards Pearl.

The strange pokemon Pearl had rescued on the bridge squirmed out of her arms and bounced towards the girl happily, and the girl just sighed and gave it a pat on the head.

The girl and Pearl just stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Pearl spoke up.

“Yea I’m… alright? That was wild, huh?” Pearl said, but the girl in white didn’t respond. Pearl had trouble making eye contact, so she looked to the ground as she spoke.

“Uh… my name’s Pearl! Are you by chance Professor Kukui’s assistant? Why weren’t you at the meeting spot?”

The girl had a blank expression before her thoughts came back to her.

“Sorry…! My friend Nebby escaped from me and I couldn’t just let them out in the open… but you saw what happened… I’m sorry.” the girl paused and adjusted her hat.

“My name’s Lillie. I’m sorry that you nearly…”

“Died? Yea, well, hey! It’s alright now, no need to keep apologizing! I would’ve been able to get myself out of it anyways.” Pearl replied.

“What do you mean?? How could anyone save themselves from a situation like that?”

Pearl remembered she wasn’t necessarily supposed to disclose she had powers to strangers.

“It’s… a long story. Anyways, what WAS that thing? And more importantly, what IS Nebby? I’ve never seen a pokemon like that before in my life!”

Lillie looked a bit nervous and didn’t respond right away. She instead kneeled to the ground and unzipped her pokeball-motif bag and beckoned for Nebby to hop inside. Nebby seemed reluctant at first, but quickly hopped inside the bag with a ‘pew’ noise.

“I… don’t quite know what that thing that rescued you was… but Nebby is a special pokemon. Don’t tell anyone you saw them, alright?” Lillie replied, standing back up.

“Okie-dokie, whatever you say. The professor is probably waiting for us, we should get go-” Pearl’s words trailed off as she noticed something glittering in the grass.

“What is it?” Lillie asked.

Pearl picked up the object and examined it. It was a reflective white rock that sparkled many colors in the sunlight.

“It’s a fancy rock… type of thing my uncle would like. We can keep moving! I’ll just put this in my bag.” Pearl said as she dusted herself off.

Lillie nodded, and the two headed down the trail back to where they had come from.

A few minutes into the walk back, the pair saw a man and a lab coat and someone Pearl could indistinguishably identify as Hau. Once Pearl saw him, a huge smile spread across her face as she called out his name and ran towards him.

The two friends met in a hug, for after knowing each other for two years, they finally met in person.

The two were talking over each other in a muddled mess of words, describing what had happened to them while they were out for the day. Hau talked about how he was helping his grandfather out for preparations for a festival later that evening, while Pearl went on about her encounter on the bridge.

After some moments of spilling words, the man in the lab coat interrupted the two by offering his hand to Pearl - and after a moment of looking at his face, Pearl was able to tell that it was Kukui.

“Hey, Pearl! Pleasure to meet ya in the flesh!” he said as he shook Pearl’s hand.

“I see you’ve met my assistant, Lillie, too! Right on! Since we’ve already got out introductions done, why don’t you two follow me on down to Iki town’s plaza and we can get on with the opening ceremony!”

Pearl cocked her head a bit.

“Opening ceremony for what?” she asked.

“It’s for the festival me n’ Grandpa were prepping for! A buncha new trainers get their first pokemon and battle each other!” Hau spoke up.

“He’s right - it’s an awful nice coincidence the time you left for Alola coincided with Iki town’s summer festival of battles. It also marks the start of the season for the island trials!” Kukui said.

“Island trials? Like Hau mentioned? Hold on, I’m a bit confused, everything’s kind of being thrown at me all at once.” Pearl said, shaking her head a bit.

Kukui put his hands on his hips.

“It’s alright! Everything will be explained when it has it’s time. In the meantime, let’s get ourselves moving on to Iki town so we can get you two a pokemon!”

Hau happily exclaimed, and the group began moving back towards the town’s plaza. Pearl noticed Lillie had been awfully quiet the entire time and tried to strike up a conversation with her on the way back, but she only seemed to give one-word replies.

It was crowded at the plaza, but Kukui helped Pearl and Hau find their way to where they needed to be while Lillie sat behind at some bleachers to watch.

That’s when Pearl met Hau’s grandfather - Hala.

“Oi, Kukui!” he called out, waving his hand from among the crowd. The old man spoke with a gruff but kind voice, and smiled when he saw Pearl and Hau.

“Ah, you must be Pearl that I’ve heard so much about! It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

“It’s nice to meet you too! I’ve heard a lot about you too, yea.”

“Haha, hope Hau hasn’t been too harsh on me!” Hala paused and flipped through some papers on a clipboard he was holding.

“Say, if you wanted to get your pokemon first, you could sign up as Hau’s battle rival! What do you say, Pearl?”

“Yeah!! We should totally be rivals, Pearl!” Hau said, striking a sort of pose.

“Well… doesn’t ‘rivals’ sound a bit harsh?” Pearl replied.

“Well, not to me. Rivals don’t always have to hate each other like in anime! We can be… friendly rivals! And watch each other grow!”

“When you put it that way, I really can’t NOT sign up. Hand me that clipboard, Hala!”

Hala smiled and handed Pearl the clipboard, where she signed her name next to Hau’s. In the moments that followed, she impatiently waited for the moment that Hau and herself were to be called up. The anticipation seemed to be high all around her too - as the fellow trainers about to get their first pokemon as well were jittering with excitement.

Eventually, Pearl and Hau’s names were called, and while she was nervous about being in front of a crowd of strangers, Hau assured her she’d do great.

Pearl and Hau stood side-by-side as Kukui greeted them once more.

“Alright, I got three special pokemon for you to pick from! Go on, take your pick!”

As he finished speaking, Kukui tossed 3 pokeballs in the air, which popped open to reveal 3 pokemon;

Rowlet, the grass quill pokemon!

Litten, the fire cat pokemon!

And Popplio, the sea lion pokemon!

Pearl and Hau’s eyes were full of sparkles. There they were - 3 adorable pokemon, and one of them was going home with them. Pearl’s eye’s met with the popplio’s, and in that moment, she felt like it was fate.

Pearl let the popplio sniff her hand, and when it showed it was comfortable with Pearl, she picked it up from under the flippers and lifted it up in the air. The popplio playfully smiled, and Pearl did as well.

“Wow, looks like you already found your soul pokemon!” Hau said, smiling.

“Hmm… I dunno, I’m pretty torn, but I think I’ll have to go with… you! Litten!”

Hau picked up the kitten pokemon and scritched behind its ears, causing it to purr in delight.

Kukui recalled the remaining pokemon to it’s pokeball, and handed Pearl and Hau each their respective balls.

“Congratulations, cousin! You’re now officially a pokemon trainer as of today! With that, why don’t you two feel like having your very first pokemon battle?” he said.

Hau and Pearl didn’t exchange any words, they simply smiled at each other and nodded. The two stepped up onto the battle platform in the plaza on opposite sides.

As soon as Hala called the start of the match, Pearl quickly called for her Popplio to use water gun on Hau’s litten. She had been practicing this moment in her head for years, and she felt like she knew exactly what to do.

Since both pokemon were so weak, the battle didn’t last very long - Pearl’s popplio was easily able to K.O. Hau’s litten, thanks to type advantages. Still, it was exhilarating for both parties, and when Hala called Pearl as the winner, both Pearl and Hau couldn’t help but have huge grins on their faces.

After the battle, the two went to a kiosk to get their trainer cards printed, and both of them made the biggest smiles for their pictures - Pearl even held up her new pokemon for the camera.

After leaving the kiosk, the two were approached by Kukui and Lillie.

“Pearl! Hau! That was amazing, you both did so well for your first time battling!” he said, giving a thumbs-up.

“Thanks prof! Even if I did lose, it was still pretty fun!” Hau said, putting his hands up behind his head in a comfortable position, while his healed litten was purring and rubbing at his leg.

Lillie peeked from behind Kukui to speak.

“It was short, but I thought it was a good battle too. I could really see the both of you give it your all.” she said quietly.

The group talked some more before Pearl checked the time and realized she should probably head back home.

“Awh, I wanted to show you the best malasada place in town - I think it’s still open!” Hau said.

“It’s fine, you can show me later! Plus, I’m tired and all sweaty, it’d be nice to get home and rest.” Pearl replied.

“Alright! How about we meet at that malasada shop tomorrow to talk about the island trials? I can text you the location and time.”

“That sounds good! Alright, I’m off, I’ll seeya tomorrow!”

With that, Pearl walked backwards while waving before turning around and heading back home.

--

Pearl was laying on her bed, mindlessly scrolling through social media before she went to bed. Her popplio was at the foot of her bed, and every so often, Pearl would fix her posture to reach the pokemon and pet it.

“I should name you…” Pearl whispered to herself. “How about Azul? That’s a cute name for a cute pokemon… yea… Azul works.”

[creativehaus]

Main Street Design

When Americans think of "Main Street", they think of a center of traditional retail consisting of local shops that represents the interests of your everyday citizen and small business owners. Main Street is a common concept that most Americans are aware of. However, over the past few decades, they have been in decline due to the push in favoring automobile transportation, eventually creating strip malls. For this week, Creative Haus went back to the drawing board to re-design our previous site - the southeast corner of Park Row and Cooper in Arlington, TX. 

(Site visit pictures are located in previous post)

Location - Cooper and Park Row

UTA/Arlington High Main Street

North Cooper Street - Arlington, TX (Before)

Proposed Main Street Sketch (After)

The southeast corner of Park Row and Cooper is currently automobile-focused like the rest of Arlington is. The issue here is that this area has more walkers than other areas throughout Arlington due to being in close proximity to UTA and Arlington High School. The area is dangerous to walkers because they typically have to cross seven lanes of traffic to get from the school to the plaza, and the sidewalks are very close to the streets. Additionally, the strip mall itself is a huge parking lot that is only used partially. The above design gives the land back to the people instead of the automobile. The three-lane traffic going north of Cooper has been turned into two, with the protected right lane being dedicated to bicyclists in addition to public transportation. With the area being in close proximity to UTA, their bus routes can add an additional stop to this area to provide access to services and stores for students, and in turn, bring more density and economic benefit to this area. This intersection has also had its problem with speeders in the area, and their previous ways to resolve it has been lowering the speed limit from 40 to 30, and implementing more police to monitor. However, there are still a lot of speeders in the area due to the wide lanes. The proposal not only dedicates a lane to public transportation, but also narrows the lanes, which has been proven to be safer as cars are inclined to go slower versus faster in wider lanes. The road diet also allows for bigger medians, which are safer for pedestrians. In addition, rain gardens are placed throughout the medians as Arlington’s drainage system are not effective as they should be, causing many streets to lightly flood during rain. The extruded curb at the crosswalks provides a barrier between pedestrians and cars, and allowing vehicles to be able to see walkers easier. Large trees are placed between the sidewalk and street to allow for a physical barrier and reduce traffic noise. The parking lot is converted to commercial lots to give back land for local shops and services such as coffee shops or convenience stores. A permanent spot is reserved for a farmer’s market to provide students easy accessibility to fresh produce, alleviating food deserts for UTA students. The rest of the strip mall is a continuation of my design in “Redesigning Strip Mall” blog, where there are various segmented residential/commercial lots and the concrete area is turned into green space to allow walkability and increase density within the area. 

SOURCES: 

https://www.wri.org/blog/2016/12/bigger-isnt-always-better-narrow-traffic-lanes-make-cities-safer

Sketch, diagram and paragraph written by: Cindy Nguyen