#sun surf and mischief event

[avengersacademyarchive]

Misison: Throw Shade 2, part 2

Tigra: What did you do to my clothes?! Beach Humbuggery Loki: Where to begin? I stole them. I cut them up. I singed them on Ghost Rider's head. I covered them in shawarma. I threw them in the water. I froze said water. Tigra: This isn't over... Beach Humbuggery Loki: You're right. I forgot that Baby Cthulhu drooled on them, and Hulk used them to wipe his feet. It was complicated, but I take my mischief very seriously.

[arafilez]

SUMMER KISSES ㅤㅤㅤ☆ ㅤ —﹙ H.JS ﹚

WHEN ㅤ,ㅤ joshua coming home is a pleasant surprise ! check out amazing @flurrys-creativity for another surfer shua au

ㅤㅤ ᶻzㅤ( fem!reader ) 𓂃 ㅤ fluff surfer au ㅤ drabbleㅤ warnings kissing ㅤ⋆ ( 632 wc ) ㅤ❟❟ㅤ library ㅤ svt shelfㅤ navi

“Hey Red,” the voice reaches your ear like a fresh wave of salt air and summer hues. A smile tugs on your lips as you turn on your heels, look at him, and say, “Joshua Hong, are you finally back?”

His slight laugh hits you with nostalgia, hot summer days and the very infamous rivalry you two had. Even your nickname “Red” comes from there, you had experimentally dyed your hair “anime” red and let’s just say the results weren’t great, not because of the colour, but because your hair got spiked for the wrong material usage.

Joshua had a good laugh with it for two whole weeks.

History cannot begin to define the rivalry you two had on your surfboards. Who could get higher waves? Who could do more tricks? In addition, so many more bickering right up the sunny days of California. The gentle push and pull, silent tension, longing in each other’s eyes only heightened your spirits more.

“Seoul became too boring and you decided to come back?” you ask, a tinge of hesitance in your voice knowing the answer was never a “yes.” It was always a firm; resounding “no” like it has been forever. He is here for a vacation but looking at his black, tousled hair, surfing suit and the blue board under his arms you could feel the summer air of 2010 come back.

“For now, yes,” his awful smirk resurfaces at the shock on your face as you try to make sense of the situation. Did he just indirectly say yes?

A jolt reverberates through your spine as you feel his fingertips touch yours and you look up at the brown orbs and pretty smile you had dreamed of every day. Taunting air-kisses, playful nudges and unspoken feelings.

“What’s it like coming back to the sea?” your voice drops down to a whisper, eyes burning into his under your lashes and slow breaths heaving through the sea-air.

“Like coming home to you,” he replies with an easy smile as his head dips down slightly and your breath hitches. Sunny days, teenage crushes, longing eyes and a touch of heaven. You look at the sun-kissed boy, his messy and damp hair and you remember the day you felt screwed because all cliché has come down on you.

The day you realised you loved him. His laugh, the way his nose crinkles after every mischief, his free attitude and just him made you overwhelmed. The day you thought you teenage self was stupid. The day you didn’t find his presence annoying any more. It sprints in your head like a series of events.

When your lips meet with his in the lining of sea and the shore and the cold water touches your feet, lightly nudging on as a witness of you two, you feel nothing short of fireworks in your body. Your lips move in an electric haze, longing and desperation in the air you run your hands through his hair, his fingers slip down your waist to the bare skin and his touch, cold, to the contrast of the warm hue that has spread in your body.

When you part, his eyes sparkle with mischief and your purse your lips ready for anything the boy wants to give you. Madness, fury, love. “Still think you’re the best surfer around here?” his voice is hoarse, drunk in your love, no challenge under that tone but it makes you grin anyway.

“Guess you will have to find out, Mr. Hong,” you giggle pecking his lips and running off to the water as he runs behind you with the breeze hitting his face. When your laugh reaches his ears, he knows not one single word of that sentence was any less than the truth. You are his home.

ARA'S NOTES ㅤ,ㅤ omgomgomg this has been in my drafts for so long but finally it's out. do not forget to check out @flurrys-creativity 's ruthlessness because it's awesome !

ㅤㅤ ᶻzㅤ( TAGLIST ) ㅤ @slytherinshua @weird-bookworm @haneagerr @aaa-sia @yeosayang 𓂃ㅤ fill this or comment or ask to be added.

ㅤㅤ(ㅤㅤ© arafilez on tumblrㅤㅤ)

[albumofavac]

Iron Nips!

[sohin-ace]

Jolyne - No Ordinary Girl

Mermaid Y/N x Surfer Jolyne

Today was a particularly fitting day to go to the beach. Jotaro had taken Jolyne, Hermes and Foo Fighters to the shore. He mostly went for some observation and the girls decided they would take advantage of the nice weather for some surfing.

It was not long after they arrived and started installing themselves that Jolyne and Hermes' eyes fell into very familiar faces.

Annasui, upon seeing the group, walked towards the girls with a confident stance, making sure his long hair was flowing in the wind.

"Oh look who we have here. The ladies victory." Annasui exclaimed, before completely falling heart-eyed, his voice and tone softening, dreamy even, at the sight of his object of worship. "Hi Jolyne~"

"Oh! Weather Report's there! Hi Weas!" Jolyne called out to the older man arranging a parasol a few feet behind, her completely ignoring the pink haired-male that seemed to have come with him. He waved shortly at Jolyne in response.

"Anyways, what are you guys up to?" Hermes asked, sipping on some lime flavored granita.

"Well, as you can see..." He pointed at the ocean, "We just wanted to take a day to work out a bit, but the waves are real nice today."

He leaned in not so subtly towards Jolyne, despite Hermes' evident judging gaze.

"But you know what else is real nice today?" He brought his hand up to cup Jolyne's chin, but before he could even say or do anything, Jolyne leaned away and pointed behind him.

"Oh wow! My dad's coming back with drinks!" She called nonchalantly, looking behind Annasui like he was more transparent than air itself.

"...! DRINKS?! DRINKS!!" Foo Fighter gasped, pushing the feminine man off to the side with such force, he fell and slid against the sand.

"Hey, Jojo," Hermes tapped her friend's shoulder, "Let's show these pendejos how girls ride waves."

The Asian American smirked, eager to show who's boss and always ready to follow on her best friend's mischief. "I'm racing you then."

"Pfft, I won't go easy girlfriend." The Mexican cracked her knuckles and grabbed her plank.

After surfing for long enough and being outran by Jolyne's stamina, Hermes decided to go back and sunbathe next to F.F's who was playing cutely with sand.

Jolyne glided full speed over the water, the wind and droplets of salty water refreshing her skin. More than competition, Jolyne loved the acceleration, the adrenaline, the sweet fresh air through her long hair. When she was surfing, Jolyne's heart lightened up and her mind purged of any negative thoughts, anxiety, fears.

She was at peace.

Before she could enjoy the sweet taste of her peace of mind though, she caught up to a blond surfer in front of her who she recognized as she got closer. Oh god, not him of all people.

"Oh, hey! Isn't that the sexiest surfer in all Miami?" Romeo teased, admiring the girl who gained up on him, "Not bad, look at you go! Who knew my little Jojo would be so talented, hot damn!"

Jolyne frowned and clicked her tongue. She swore if she wasn't so focused on staying in balance, she would drown him on the spot. He laughed obnoxiously, satisfied with being a disgusting excuse of a human.

"Romeo, I swear to fuckin-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, something, a gigantic fish tail appeared out of the wave and flicked itself right accross the blonde, slapping him off of his plank with a painful sound.

"HUAARGHH-" He screamed before crashing into the water with the splash and disappearing behind Jolyne.

"O-OH MY GOD!" She gasped, both surprised by the sudden turn of events, and incredibly scared for her life, thinking some kind of hostile shark was in the shore currently, which was to report immediately.

The moment she decided to take a turn and leave as fast as she could, warning the others to get the hell out of here, a shadowy form within the water followed her along the wave.

Foolishly curious, Jolyne looked at it, not without her heart hammering in her chest at the potential danger she was facing.

What she saw was not a sight she'd have ever expected to ever see in all her 19 years. Her legs shook at the shock and she almost completely fell over her board.

Gliding along the water right next to her, right inside the tall wave, was the figure of... a girl.

Or was it a girl? It couldn't be. She looked human at first glance, but the more Jolyne's gaze moved sideways she noticed the long and impressive fish tail replacing what were supposed to be legs.

Jolyne's jaw felt slack. She felt like she was hallucinating. Believe it or not, she had not smoked or taken any recreative substances beforehand, but she truly wished she had because that would have at least explained what her eyes were showing her.

The girl swimming and following her only smiled, waving cutely with webbed hands, as if amused by Jolyne's disbelieving reaction and wide eyes.

"W-w-w.... What the fuck..???" Jolyne finally spoke after rebooting her entire brain, "No fucking way-...! A mermaid??!! A real one??!"

Like a bad trick from fate, the wave Jolyne was trying her hardest to not get swallowed by, seemed to grow weaker and weaker, shortening in size.

Jolyne saw the mermaid slowly retreat away in an elegant swim, her form vanishing into the deep blue.

"Wait, no!" The surfer called, almost desperate to have such a mystical meeting and ethereal moment be so short lived.

She reached her hand out to the creature, unsure of what she was even trying to do, but the force of the current got the best of her, and Jolyne lost balance, falling forward with nothing to hang onto for purchase.

Jolyne splashed onto the water and the wave died with her hope of ever living such a dream again.

"Ooohh dang it! You were almost there!" Hermes called out from the shore, her voice booming enough for Jolyne to hear as she broke into the surface.

"Fuck...." Jolyne cursed, hanging onto her board.

She felt defeated. Not because she couldn't ride that wave to the very end as she was expected to with her skill level, but rather because she couldn't immortalize that beautiful moment.

She blankly climbed onto her board again and barely even paddled her way back to land, too out of it to do so.

Was that even real? That had to be, right? She saw the mermaid. She saw her hair, her skin tone shined-on by the sun. She saw the scales over her skin, the fins along her arms and tail.

She saw her attack Romeo, he must have seen her too, Jolyne pondered.

"Aaah the champion is back!" F.F cheered as Jolyne finally walked back, drenched and with her plank under one arm. "I made a sandcastle for our ocean queen!"

"Thanks Foo..." Jolyne's small smile didn't not match her quiet tone.

"Hey, what's up, chula ? You look like you've seen a ghost, or something? You did great back there, so why the long face?" Hermes fixed the straps of Jolyne's bikini top and removed some seaweeds from her hair.

"It's just... I saw something weird it the water and I don't know..." Jolyne hesitated, "Maybe I was dreaming or something."

"Hum..." Hermes hummed in thought. "What do you think Féfé?"

"Maybe Mr. Jotaro can answer if you saw an animal? Damn, I'm thirsty." F.F stuck her tongue out, clearly expressing her thirst.

"Dude, there's water litterally everywhere here." The mexican grimaced before turning back to Jolyne. "But yeah, maybe you should ask your dad if that worries you so much."

"Uhh..."

Jolyne looked towards her father who was crouching somewhere next to some rocks, taking notes about mollusks, or so Jolyne guessed.

"Yeah, maybe not. It's fine though, no big deal." She smiled, waving her hand in dismissal.

Shrugging it all off, the girls decided to join Weather Report and Jotaro who brought food to finish the day at the beach with a relaxing touch.

And so, the day ended with an uncanny normalcy for Jolyne, who kept thinking more and more as the sun set, that it all had been in her mind. Mermaids didn't exist. It was probably a Stand user playing tricks on her.

That what she wanted to believe. When she thought of all the events that would follow, she truly wished she had spoken to her father about it. After all, if he had fought a very real vampire, then there would be no doubt that something as crazy as a mermaid could exist in her bizarre adventure.

Jolyne came back to the beach that same week. Alone, this time. She was careful to come by the time the sun started to lower in the sky and the temperature of the water and air dropped, knowing tourists and athletes would be gone by this time.

'What now?' She thought. Coming back out of sheer curiosity was a thing, but making sure she could attract the creature back to her was something else.

"Should I bring food? What do mermaids even eat? Does she like hot dogs...?" Jolyne thought out loud, looking around, secretly glad no one was here to hear her talk mad nonsense to herself like some insane crackhead.

She approached the water and drenched her feet in the small rocking waves, coming and going her way and gently splashing her. She hesitated for a moment, remembering that along with the legend of mermaids came the fact that these creatures were known to attract and enchant humans by their beauty, leading them to their inevitable death.

So maybe, Jolyne accepted, she was destined to die in the ocean.

Just as she came hip-deep into the sea, she felt a strange current shaking her legs, almost knocking her out of balance.

Before she could even process how strange it felt, she looked down into the clear water and saw no less than the same huge colorful fish tail she had seen that very day.

She gasped in realization and soon enough screamed as she felt calloused hands grab her thighs, the creature pushing herself out of the water to be met face to face with the human who had been, unbeknownst to Jolyne, her newfound fixation.

"Y-WHAAAAAHH!!!" Jolyne hollered, not expecting such a strong and surprising appearance.

The mermaid still halfway into the water, climbed and gripped up the girl's hips for leverage. She looked up at Jolyne's face, smiling wide and eyes glinting in both adoration and mischief.

"Greetings."

"HOLY CRAP-" Jolyne's voice cracked, "I mean- fuck yes! I mean-..."

Poor Jojo was completely out of it. But who could blame her, though? It was not everyday that one got to meet a real mermaid in the flesh. And certainly not such a handsy one.

She cleared her throat and mustered her most suave voice, pretending she wasn't completely flustered by the sheer beauty before her.

"Hi."

"I knew you'd come back..." The mermaid spoke, her voice almost ethereal and distant, "They always do."

Jolyne's heart wanted to stop. God, she felt burning hot and was sweating everywhere. Her voice stilled Jolyne to place in a way she couldn't explain. The legendary creature was so impossibly close to her, bodies almost touching.

She noticed she couldn't stay up overwater any other way than using Jolyne's lean body for leverage, her heavy tail anchoring her down. But the warm proximity between them and the sight of such a beautiful, rare and mystical creature right under her chest felt unreal and exciting.

Jolyne wanted to look her over for hours. Her hair texture, drenched and flowy, her skin tone glowing like gold, her holographic scales and fins shining like crazy diamonds.

"Why... Why did you...? Of all people...?" Jolyne questionned, now wondering if their first meeting in that wave was really a trick of fate, or if she was chosen in any way. "You attacked Romeo, yet you showed up to me... Why me?"

"I like beautiful humans." The mermaid smiled, her radiant features and smooth voice making Jolyne's legs weak, "You're beautiful."

The young surfer couldn't help her heart shaking and the wave of warmth spreading through her chest. If it was anyone else, she would boast her obvious beauty or maybe flip them off. But now she couldn't. Being complimented by a mythical being that was already the most gorgeous thing Jolyne had ever witnessed was truly something else

"What's your name?" Jolyne started.

"Call me Y/N."

Y/N, Jolyne's mind echoed. Cute. Even mermaids had names, she thought before realising that may be a very stupid thought to have. She didn't really know what else to expect.

"I uh, I'm Jolyne..." She looked down into the water, somewhat not daring to look at Y/N's adorable curious and sensual gaze. Oh god that was bad, she was entrancing.

"Not to be gay but...You look cute. Hot even. Can I say that? That's not weird, right? Since ya know... You're not exactly human, but you're not an animal either, like... I'm not gonna get arrested for this... I hope..."

"I'm not too familiar with human tongue, but I think Ms.Jolyne looks really pretty as well." Y/N moved to wrap an arm around Jolyne's waist, gripping her for better leverage and pointing at her chest, right in her reach. "Healthy mammals, great for feeding the young."

"Mammals...? Oh! You mean my boobs?" Jolyne glanced at her modest chest before grinning at the creature, "Aw thanks! Finally someone who likes them who's not some degenerate creep!"

Jolyne's chuckle died down and she finally took the time to look over Y/N's face. She ran a cold hand over her much warmer cheek, gliding it down to her gilled neck, mesmerized by her anatomy.

It truly was a one-in-a-lifetime meeting. Jolyne was slowly comprehending her luck to be met with a legendary sea creature like her. And a friendly one, at that.

How could this be even real? Our human knew that even though she was feeling relatively serene at the moment, the adrenaline would come down later and she would most likely cry herself to sleep.

"Hey uhm..." Jolyne was at a loss for words. There were so many things to say, but at the same time, she couldn't speak a word.

"Hm?" Y/N hummed and closed her eyes, enjoying the human's gentle touches.

Merfolks would express themselves via physical ministrations the most in the ocean, but she knew well a lot of humans did not share intimacies, or at least not before building a certain bond.

Glad that Jolyne was open to it, the sea-bound girl squeezed both her arms around the human's waist lovingly, forcing endearment on Jolyne, who felt her own heart tighten at the sweet and adorable embrace. The girls wanted to keep each other.

"Will we see each other again? I mean, I know you shouldn't be noticed by the public for your safety, but I don't know... Guess I took a liking to you or something." Jolyne mumbled, still resting her hands mindlessly around the creature's shoulders, fiddling with the ridges of her dorsal fin.

Y/N smiled, a smile that looked empty on her fish eyes, but sincere regardless. She let go of Jolyne who couldn't quite take her own hands off of her, clinging a little bit longer.

"Don't you know this, Ms. Jolyne? When human women die in the ocean, they relive as our kind."

"What? Really?" Jolyne let the mermaid get away slowly, ready to swim off to some unknown destination.

"If you want to see me again," Y/N called out cutely, waving her webbed hand like the very first time she saw Jolyne surfing, "Then perish in the ocean!"

She grinned, diving into the deep blue and splashing her tall tail strongly, giving herself a boost of speed, and disappearing away.

Jolyne could only stare into the horizon, darkening as the night arrived, stunned into place.

"...Ok, that was metal as fuck..."

H2O Just Add Water opening, but with Jolyne, Hermes and F.F

[oldsmobile-hotdogs]

Willex + ⛵️💍💫

ohoho bestie i had fun with this (also it’s almost 2k oops lol)

it’s also available on ao3!

may i present to you:

Two Ghosts... Having a Date on a Stolen Boat... They Might Kiss...

Alex had to admit: even for Willie, this act of delinquency was a lot.

When he’d first floated the idea of joyriding a sailboat under cover of night to Alex, albeit somewhat casually and hypothetically as they strolled along the pier during a mild June afternoon, Alex had gone along jokingly in that way you do when a friend asks who’d be eaten first if the whole group were trapped on a desert island.

But then Willie had brought it up again on their next- Date? Outing? Meeting?

(Alex was vehemently avoiding putting labels on their spending time together, just in case Willie were to put a different one on it to the one he ascribed it.)

And then on their next, next… hanging-out session… Willie had mooted a date for the grand theft boat and didn’t phrase it much like a question. And then he’d gently pointed out when the sailing class stopped for the night on said date: a Sunday, no less, so it closed before the sun even got close to setting, meaning anyone inside the little shed where they stored the paperwork and lifejackets would certainly be gone by the evening.

This wasn’t accounting for how objectively shocked Alex had been to learn that Willie knew how to sail, of all things. He knew Willie knew how to skate, though that was hard to miss, and he knew Willie had mentioned he used to surf a little when he was alive, but as far as Alex was aware, and he was sorting through all of their conversations just to be sure that he was sure, Willie had never mentioned he could sail.

-

In retrospect, that could have largely been because he couldn’t, strictly speaking. Alex had watched on in a strange mix of awe and terror as Willie had untied a small sailboat that lent itself easily to being pitied, if he was honest- all chipping paint and scuffs on the body and sunbleached sails- from its docking, and then suddenly he'd been yanked onto the vessel by his arm and made to crouch just behind Willie, close enough for the wind kicking up to whip his hair occasionally in Alex's face, and then Willie had knelt behind the sails and done something, Alex couldn't be sure what, that meant they were off. It was pleasant at first, which had surprised him immensely. Initially they were travelling relatively slowly, but still smoothly, not too far out from the shore, and the longer the joyride had lasted at this pace, the closer Alex had been to letting himself relax.

But then it had very quickly become apparent that Willie was somewhat out of his element: not majorly- he'd probably taken a few classes in a summer, maybe- but enough that he had psyched himself out. And whenever Willie felt psyched out, he turned reckless. Well, more reckless.

Despite the fact that he was a ghost, which meant that even if they had capsized they would have both been able to breathe, and that even if they had crashed no one would have been hurt and it would be physically impossible for the crime to come back to them, Alex had found himself with a white-knuckled grip on either side of the boat as it had picked up speed almost exponentially and began coasting erratically from side to side, the sail changing direction so obviously and violently that even an absolute novice, which Alex was, could have seen that something was wrong.

'You alright up there?' Alex had asked, even though "up there" was about four inches from his face.

'Yeah, I'm just- hold on-' And then Willie had let go of the tiller, which had filled Alex with the fear of God for a good six seconds, before rolling his shoulders back, shaking out his hands, exhaling a quick breath through his mouth and grasping it again. Willie must have gotten himself out of his Beserker state in that time because the boat had then begun moving in a relatively straight line again and, after a little while, had eased itself back down to a manageable speed. Alex would have to ask about that coping mechanism when he got the chance.

After what felt like maybe ten more minutes of sailing lightly around, but may have been quite a bit more, spent mostly in comfortable silence, Willie had pulled clumsily back into where the boat had previously been docked and Alex had clambered out from the little space he had been guided to originally and had remained in the entire joyride, tying the rope back around the little wooden pole that tethered it to the beach. Sailors' knots Alex could do. He'd been so afraid of getting lost in the woods one spring when he was a child, although an opportunity had never presented itself for him to go into the woods, that he'd read a Boy Scouts handbook cover to cover to the point where, even now, if he closed his eyes, he could see the passage on how to sterilise river water laid out in front of him.

'When you're done come back onto the boat. I wanna sit here for a little bit.'

Alex had looked up from his handiwork to meet Willie's gaze. His eyes had been bright, filled with the leftover mischief from their escapade, and a soft smile which had made Alex wonder if Willie had something else up his sleeve had played on his lips.

'Okay, yeah, I'll be back in a second,' he had replied, leaning down one last time to tighten the knot in the right places.

-

Willie had genuinely expected Alex to tell him to stop at some point, but the more Alex had gone along with what was originally at least partially a joke, the more Willie had wanted to see if he could actualise what had previously only ever been a poorly planned pipe dream. When everything started more or less crashing down around them, however, and their outing previously slated as some dangerous, blockbuster-level adventure had fizzled out into the anticlimax of the season, Willie couldn't help but worry that he had done something to threaten what the two had going for them, which would be poor timing, considering.

Now sitting sideways on the boat together, ghost legs phasing into the shallow water below, hands in touching distance if one of them just worked up the courage to splay their pinky finger a little more, Willie was getting nervous. A little giddy, too, at the possibility of this going right, but mostly nervous.

'Alex?' he began, a little embarrassed, though he knew that was needlessly so, at how his voice hiked in pitch from the nerves.

'Yeah?' Alex responded, his eyes suddenly fixed on him. Willie felt his face grow warm at this, and hoped the relative darkness afforded him some ability to hide the blush he knew was developing.

An added problem was that now Willie had no idea what to say next. He was great at listening to people divulge their emotions, sure, but he always struggled a little with expressing his own, preferring to offer solutions to the other people in his life's struggles and pretend like his own feelings weren't always too close to overflowing for comfort. Willie was suddenly hit with the overwhelming urge to backtrack as quickly as was humanly possible.

'No, never mind, actually. It's not important.' Willie attempted to sound casual, but was unsure of how successfully it actually came off.

'Well, see, now I definitely wanna hear what you had to say,' Alex retorted jokingly.

‘No, it’s stupid. Really.’

‘No, it’s not,’ Alex was now looking Willie pointedly in the eyes. ‘I don’t think you’ve said a stupid thing ever-’ Willie opened his mouth, ready to counter him- ‘Not when it counts.’

And it’s not like that admission of blind faith in Willie made the next words out of his mouth any easier, but they were now propelled from hiding by an added energy that wasn’t there before.

‘Okay, so I went to Tokyo a few weeks back-’

‘You- ...okay.’ It was obvious that this anecdote would have Alex wanting to throw himself into one of his crises about the afterlife and ghost powers and the limitations of poofing, but he was, so far, very valiantly, in Willie’s opinion, holding back. ‘You’ll have to tell me about that later.’

Willie couldn’t help but giggle at how resigned Alex sounded. ‘Oh, I will, hotdog, don’t worry.’

'Anyway,' Willie began again, more confident now that the conversation had taken on some humour. 'So I went to Tokyo, and I was walking down a street with a bunch of vendor stalls, and I saw this one stall and I, uh.' He paused a little, taking a few gentle breaths to build up the courage necessary to continue. 'I remembered my Mom telling me about these, uh, these rings.' Willie could almost feel Alex's eyes widen as he drew out the small, purple pouch that kept them safe from his hoodie pocket. He rushed to clarify. 'They're not- it's not a big thing in Japan. They're not like promise rings.' Alex audibly exhaled. 'Yeah, don't- I wouldn't... spring that on you.'

'No, yeah, I didn't... think you would.'

A silence came over them, uncharacteristicallly awkward, and Willie felt a little hopeless to save the moment.

Eventually, it was Alex who broke it. 'So, these rings?'

'Yeah,' Willie quickly responded. 'I stole them.' Alex chuckled under his breath. 'They're called couple rings, and people- well, couples- they buy them to mark the fact that they're- well, that they're couples.'

'Seems simple enough,' Alex joked, evidently warming to the idea.

'Oh yeah, very simple.' Willie could feel a smile spreading across his face. 'And there's no implication that you're gonna, like, do anything else later on either, which I like because, I mean, we're ghosts.' He gestured at how their legs became translucent where they dangled into the water. 'And that's probably already enough thinking about "forever" on its own, without the added pressure of any big promises.'

'Yeah, I agree.' Alex let out a sigh.

There was a beat of quiet before Willie continued.

'But obviously actually seeing them and putting them on is the main event, so I'm going to get them out of the pouch now, finally,' he joked, pulling open the hole in the top and lightly shaking two thin, silver bands out onto his hand. He then placed them gently onto the edge of the boat, and turned them so that Alex could see clearly what they looked like, or as clearly as was possible at this time of night.

'They've both got this line engraved in them almost the whole way 'round, and then one has a star stamped into it, and the other has a moon,' Willie explained, the nerves returning now that his gift was out in the open.

'I can see that,' Alex responded breathily, leaning a little closer to the rings. 'Willie, these are- they're beautiful. Thank you.'

'I thought you could be the star,' Willie suggested, the arm of his that was further away from Alex reaching up to rub at his neck, lightly avoiding how to respond to Alex's gratitude.

'Okay.'

Gingerly, Willie closed the gap between their hands and slipped the band onto Alex's ring finger, and then donned his own. Neither of them spoke for a little while, both stunned into silence and afraid to break this air of closeness they'd achieved. Once again, Alex was the first to move.

'So, this definitely means we're dating, right?'

Willie flung himself backwards into the hull of the ship, his hair somewhat cushioning his head as he landed, his legs sticking up over the top, now opaque. 'Ugh. Yes, hotdog, we're dating,' he called back up in fake annoyance.

'Cool, just checking,' Alex called back.

[shinu-avengers-academy-help]

Callback Day! #2

Sun, Surf and Mischief! Or, more commonly known as, the Beach Event!

This is in all of its worth, the Very First Event Ever in the game. And up to date, the only event that didn’t imply someone attacking the school and our heroes actually Enjoying activities. (There’s also Pepper’s events, but in those they don’t enjoy, they actually just work for Pepper–)

A week of relaxation for our students to use the new brought Beach. Or it would have been, if it hadn’t been Loki the one who had the idea of going to the Beach (or bringing it). Suspicious, the other Students refused to go to this mysterious beach with Loki, except Two care free souls, Jan and Tony. It didn’t took long for Natasha to discover that the sand in the Beach was enchanted by Loki, to make those who stepped in it be drained of their powers, and wouldn’t want to leave the Beach ever! She rescued Tony and Wasp, gave a good Scolding to Loki, and everyone got to keep their beach!

The event was fairly simple. Everything event related costed Beach Balls! (And a couple coins) To get Beach Balls, you had to do the missions from the board. That’s all. You were rewarded with how many Beach Balls you got, being able to buy the Beach, upgrade it, buy Wasp’s, Loki’s costume, and a bunch of decoration! Wasp’s was the very First Event outfit, and Tony’s as you can see, was the very first Premium event outfit. The event also had one of the most majestic conversations ever… as Jan looked for people to join her and Tony in the beach… we got the first glimpse of Hawkeye in the actual game, and the mention of Lucky too!

The event was held at a time when the game barely had fans! There was very little fan groups or news, so there’s actually not much information out there, but the Wiki is there if you wish to check the conversations at least! http://avengers-academy.wikia.com/wiki/Sun,_Surf,_and_Mischief!_Event?comments_page=1

The Beach is Academy History! And I honestly would love a part two of it, just as simple, with people like Enchantress, Black Widow, Captain, and even other of the later game characters getting costumes. It would be so fun. Please keep your beaches clean!

[onthegoinmco]

This fall, guests are invited to Gaylord Palms Resort to experience a memorable family vacation by enjoying the resort’s Goblins & Giggles celebration, occurring weekends September 11 through October 31, 2020.

Goblins & Giggles Getaway Weekends offers a wide array of family-friendly activations from spooky animal encounters and a Halloween-themed scavenger hunt to wicked pool fun and a meet and greet with Spookley the Square Pumpkin. Most of the activations take place Friday through Sunday.

In celebration of Goblins & Giggles, the resort is offering a special package starting at $189. The package includes overnight accommodations, a Hide and Seek Scavenger Hunt booklet and tickets to the new Castillo de San Marcos ALIVE! Ghost Experience. The package excludes resort fee and parking.

Weekend events and activities include:

NEW! Castillo de San Marcos ALIVE! Ghost Experience features live storytellers who recount real-life ghost stories for all who are brave enough to listen. Guests will explore the fort’s stone walls and encounter the spirits who remain trapped within. Includes an imaginative walkthrough experience transporting visitors of all ages through a world of Halloween Jack-o-Lantern fun.

NEW! The resort’s haunted hideaway SpookEasy offers spine-chilling craft cocktails and a spooky collection of terrifying, ghostly artwork procured by owner’s past. *This haunt is PG-13 due to graphic spooky activations inside.*

NEW! Meet and Greet with Spookley the Square Pumpkin at a fun photo op. ​One day in the pumpkin patch, the strangest little pumpkin hatched. Spookley the Pumpkin was different. All the other pumpkins teased him, until Spookley proved that being different can save the day.

Spooky Animal Encounters provides guests with the opportunity to conquer their fears by getting up-close to live animals and learn about common myths surrounding some of the world’s most misunderstood creatures.

Guests, young and young at heart, can explore the resort during a Trick-or-Treat Expedition, with stops throughout the resort for some deliciously spooky treats​.

Seth the Sea Turtle, Ava the Alligator and everyone’s favorite Adventure Kid Sophie explore Florida’s creepier flora and fauna during Adventure Kids: A Spooky Celebration.

Families can hang out poolside with the Halloween host with the most Jack O’ Lantern ​for some Wicked Awesome Pool Fun in the sun.

Spend the evening at Moonlight Movies watching family-friendly movies on the resort’s pool screen at Cypress Springs Water Park.​

Daily activities include:

The Hide and Seek Scavenger Hunt featuring Spookley the Square Pumpkin​. Spookley found eight spooktacular hiding spots at the resort for his game of Halloween Hide & Seek. Guests solve puzzles to find each clue’s missing word and then use the clues to find Spookley​. 

The Wildlife Rescue Experience guides guests throughout the resort to track down endangered species and help ensure that they are monitored for their protection. The virtual adventure highlights indigenous animals from Florida and, with the magic of augmented reality, brings them to life before the participants’ eyes.

From the comfort of their guest room, families can enjoy two interactive Halloween videos: Bedtime Stories with Morgana, a treat-making witch from Spooksville, and Monster Mash Bash with Vlad the Vampire.

The Phantom of the Atrium Light Display is a haunting masterpiece filled with mystery, mischief and, of course, magic in the St. Augustine atrium sky.

Guests can relax and unwind at Cypress Springs Water Park & Resort Pools, which feature a zero-entry swimming pool, multi-level water playground, racing slides, a drop slide and a FlowRider surf simulator. The pool experience, an exclusive amenity for hotel guests has been upgraded to implement new cleanliness and social distancing measures, while balancing the aquatic experience guests have come to love. In addition to spaced seating, guests can rent a private cabana for the day including shaded seating, a flat-screen television, refrigerator, and snacks. Premium guaranteed pool seating is also available for purchase.

In accordance with Marriott’s “Commitment to Clean” practices, the resort provides enhanced cleaning technology, hospital-grade disinfectants, attendants dedicated to sanitizing frequently throughout the day, social distancing protocols, and hundreds of new cleaning processes to take care of guests while they enjoy the resort’s amenities. 

For more information or Goblins & Giggles events and overnight room packages, visit GaylordPalms.com.

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The post Gobblins & Giggles Returns to the Gaylord Palms appeared first on On the Go in MCO.

[mredwinsmith]

Is the USAU Triple Crown Tour Improving Ultimate?

The 2018 USAU Triple Crown Tour has just concluded with the National Championships. This year’s championships were held in Southern California, 20 miles or so north of San Diego. Pool play and early placement rounds were held at the Surf Cup Sports Complex in Del Mar. 5 of the semifinals and the 3 finals were held at the Mira Mesa High School Stadium. The Surf Cup fields are the grass remnants of the former San Diego Polo Club and started in excellent condition and remained playable for the entire duration of the tournament. The school stadium field turf was in excellent shape as well.

At the tournament, I was able to chart 15 selected games in detail. I’ll present that data a bit further down.

Triple Crown Tour Review

For those of you who are relatively new to the game at this level, here’s a quick history of the Triple Crown Tour (TCT).

Prior to 2013, club teams would attend various random tournaments in preparation for Sectionals. Teams would decide which tournaments they wanted to attend and then some tournaments would extend invitations to certain teams. This idea worked well for many years but it soon became chaotic with some tournaments being scheduled on the same dates. Some tournaments became team gender specific as well as competition grew. For teams, the decision of which tournaments to attend became more difficult.

USAU studied the situation and implemented the TCT starting in 2013.  In its current configuration, the 700+ active USAU club teams are grouped into 4 Flights for each team gender.

The 4 Flights are:

Pro Flight Top 8 teams from last year’s Nationals

Elite Flight Next 8 teams from last year’s Nationals

Select Flight Top 4 teams from each region who did not make Nationals

Classic Flight Everybody else

The largest pre-TCT tournaments were chosen to host the special tournaments in the TCT series. Some of the early tournaments were held in multiple locations based on team gender. As currently configured the series looks like this:

Regular Season

Pro-Elite Challenge

Select Flight Invite

U.S. Open Club Championships

Elite-Select Challenge

Pro Championships

Post Season

Sectionals

Regionals

Nationals

Winning the “Triple Crown” consists of winning the current season’s U. S. Open, Pro Championship & National Championships.

Analyzing the TCT Data

Analyzing the TCT requires access to data. The guaranteed amount of data is limited. When comparing current and historical, the situation is just a limited. Very little information was saved in the early days.

Available information:

Location

Time/Date Stamp

Team Names

Team Scores

Game to Score (inferred)

Team Gender

Seeding (sometimes)

Calculated Parameter

For this article, I’ll make use of the existing recorded data and calculate the metric Aggregate Performance Index (API) for game comparison purposes.

API = (Total Points Scored) / (2 x Game to Score)

Examples:

Team A 15

Team B 12

Game to 15

API = (15+12)/(2×15) = 0.90 = 90%

Team C 9

Team D 6

Game to 13

API = (9+6)/(2×13) = 0.58 = 58%

You can see that the API metric yields a way to compare games played to a different number of points and still produce a rough estimation of game quality.

2018 TCT Tournament Performances

For comparison purposes, the following TCT tournaments are included.

Pro-Elite Challenge

Select Flight Invite

U.S. Open Club Championships

Elite-Select Challenge

Pro Championships

Nationals

I did not feel that Sectionals & Regionals were consistently representative of the sport at the highest levels.

Here are the API’s of the selected 2018 TCT tournaments:

Comments:

Somewhat surprisingly, the US Open had the highest performance of all the 2018 season tournaments. In spite of its name, the Open is an invitational tournament and includes the best teams from the USA and around the world.

The National Championships had the second highest performance, edging out the Pro Championships. The difference is so small however that it may not be statistically significant; I haven’t done the calculations.

As expected, the Select Flight Invite has the lowest performance.

2018 TCT Compared to Past Years

If we combine all the Tour data into a single API we get this for the Tour each year since its inception:

Comments:

Don’t be distracted by the years 2013 & 2014, the Tour was still in its infancy and not all the current teams, team genders & skill levels were included. As the Tour became more inclusive with time, the performance values dropped and became more representative of the performances across the sport.

Once the Tour events stabilized, the growth within the sport becomes apparent.

Winners & Losers

The TCT chart above is the aggregate of both teams in any logged game. We can gain more insight into how ultimate is growing by separating the data by the performance of the winners (WPI) & the losers (LPI).

Comments:

There is a 20% performance difference between winning and losing teams. Most future growth in the sport will come from making weak teams stronger.

TCT Compared to the WFDF

It’s always interesting to compare the growth of the sport nationally and internationally. Here’s how the USAU TCT performance stacks up when compared to the WFDF Worlds:

Comments:

WFDF Worlds data is quite sensitive to tournament location. Remote, more remote locations attract more local & regional teams with less attendance by the more distant world powers, hence the dips & spikes in the WFDF data.

I did not include past USAU tournaments. It would have been too controversial to select certain tournaments in an attempt to recreate a proxy TCT season. I would have introduced a bias in the data which would bring question into its veracity.

It’s still too early to tell for sure, but the world may be catching up to the USA.

Passing vs. Scoring

I’ve been collecting detailed passing and scoring information since 2010 when I started traveling with Sockeye. I continued collecting data after I moved on and started youth coaching. Since that time I have personally recorded 226 games from all different skill and gender levels.

Here’s a chart of that data:

Comments:

Green dots are winning performances.

Red dots are losing performances.

The data represents Club, College & High School games.

I’ve added a hand-drawn trend line at the split of probably winning and probably losing.

You can see a pattern of performance emerging.

I need more data as I am beginning to see other trends within the chart.

Recipe for Success

To be successful at ultimate you need to achieve 2 things:

Passing at a greater than a 95% completion rate.

Being aggressive enough downfield such that you can score greater than 70% of the time whenever you pick up the disc.

Specific Tournaments

For selected games at the 2018 USAU Nationals I recorded passes, turnovers and scoring.  I recorded these games:

Winning Team Score Losing Team Score Revolver 15 vs. Sub Zero 11 Sockeye 14 vs. Doublewide 11 Mixtape 15 vs. Jughandle 7 Riot 15 vs. Ozone 10 BFG 15 vs. No Touching! 8 Ring of Fire 14 vs. Doublewide 10 Fury 15 vs. Wildfire 8 Drag’n Thrust 15 vs. Mischief 12 AMP 15 vs. Spaceheater 14 Revolver 15 vs. Ring of Fire 14 Brute Squad 15 vs. Molly Brown 11 Fury 14 vs. Riot 13 AMP 15 vs. Mixtape 8 Fury 14 vs. Brute Squad 13 PoNY 15 vs. Revolver 7

  With the 2018 Nationals data superimposed on the passing vs. scoring chart, this is what you see:

Comments:

The recorded 2018 USAU Nationals games follow the trend line nicely.

WMUCC

Next I thought I’d highlight the 2018 WMUCC games I recorded in Winnipeg.  This is what I recorded:

Winning Team Score Losing Team Score Sun 15 vs. Quantum 5 Johnny Encore 15 vs. Mexico 7 Johnny Encore 15 vs. Quantum 5 Johnny Encore 15 vs. Torque 2 Johnny Encore 15 vs. Sun 7 Johnny Encore 15 vs. Iron Crow 3 Johnny Encore 15 vs. NSOM 11 All Bashed Out 14 vs. Johnny Encore 13 Johnny Encore 15 vs. Rest Stop 6 Boneyard 15 vs. All Bashed Out 8 iRot 15 vs. Mu-Syozoku 11 Molasses 15 vs. 512 13

Comments:

My son was playing for Johnny Encore, hence so many Encore games are represented.

International play follows the trend line as well.

Conclusion

Ultimate is improving in the USA.

Ultimate is improving around the world.

It is unclear if the world is catching up to USA Ultimate

With the limited amount of seasons available, it is still somewhat unclear if the improvements in USA Ultimate are due to the Triple Crown Tour.

The post Is the USAU Triple Crown Tour Improving Ultimate? appeared first on Skyd Magazine.

from Skyd Magazine https://ift.tt/2F3pnyy

[avengersacademyarchive]

Mission: Throw Shade 1, part 1 Beach Humbuggery Loki: The Bug-Woman has inspired me with her random insanity. I too will take some time for myself. Black Widow: Your entire life revolves yourself. Beach Humbuggery Loki: But now I'm in a bathing suit.

[avengersacademyarchive]

Mission: Throw Shade 1, part 2

Beach Humbuggery Loki: Relaxing on that representation of the Midgard Serpent gave me a newfound appreciation for reptiles and amphibians. The Lizard: That'sss niccce to hear. Perhapsss you'll ssstop making jokesss at my expenssse. Beach Humbuggery Loki: I mossst cccertainly won't. I could, however, use your help with an experiment. The Lizard: Why would I possssssibly help you? Beach Humbuggery Loki: I just assumed you'd be looking for a distraction from your horrific existence.

[avengersacademyarchive]

Mission: Throw Shade 2, part 1

Tigra: I came as fast as I could! Beach Humbuggery Loki: For what? Tigra: This fashion emergency. Beach Humbuggery Loki: I've mostly left you alone to this point due to your unfortunate condition, but now it's on...