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all-things-succumb-to-decay · 2 years

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Pangolin grass type starter

Roots for ears and underside of tail Baby is Oblossum

It’s final evo is grass steel

Wooly bear caterpillar that turns into a cat moth cause Virgin tiger moth is what wooly bears turn into

Rhino beetle hyena big dark maybe?

It’s baby is a grub puppy

Water starter goes from like a leopard gecko to a ribbon eel dragon. Coral horns and bits. It’s sleepy and likes to put others to sleep water psychic final evo type

Fire ferret into fire couatamundi or what ever or like. Civet something long with a bit tail that’s fire rock with lava and rock making the tail stripes baby fire ferret tail is a sparkler

Spider with a grass knot or a tumble weed for a butt

Psychic beluga

Succulent ant. Succlant

Butterfly that is actually a carnivorous plant

Water grass type loch ness shape based on lotus flowers growing up above the muck

It’s baby form is just a little messy leafy plesiosaur or something

Fighting type babirusa 2 stage

Catnip cat

Shadow thing under blanket/coins/etc like has a mimic vibe it’s like mimikyu like u never see it’s true form it’s just little grabby hands that reach out from under the piles.

Thylacine fossil?

Coffee bean that is either grass psychic or grass dark

Because like. Idk man but coffee has dark effects on my body. Fast effects. But dark.

Grass fire incense Pokémon

Rat king three stage more rats? More rats.

Grackle to dragon pipeline final evo looks like it fucked a bedazzler

Honey pot ants that r like eevee. What ever they got in their butts is the type. Idk if it’s like. A evo sitch with three different elemental ants or if it is a gimmick Pokémon that just like. Changes type.

Anubit anubould

Tenneric poison electric pikachu clone

Psychic olm pseudo legendary dragon

pseudo legendary ‘mythic’ like celebi or victini that a cuttlefish that changed type depending on the environment or the weather effects so like it would completely wreck a team built around sandstorm it’s a kittlefish like it’s tails are like the tentacles of cuttlefish and it’s eyes are OwO eyes it’s a cute baby cat

Fairy flying golden heron 2 stage maybe ghost fairy because like. They’re said to carry souls to the after life?

Grass whale. It’s like a hump back cause they’re my fave two stage???

Two headed fawn that turns into the two headed unicorn like that one taxidermy

I want it to split apart and be connected by a spine and like ectoplasm and the girls get little ectoplasm unicorn horns and the boys get ectoplasm antlers

Lamb of tartary Pokémon 3 stage grass wife

I think I already have the grass wife trope but like. Idk I love grass types I’m sorry. I can’t help myself.

There should be a water fighting type based off of a betta and the adult evo can have different color patterns assigned at random like Spinda

Fairy rock konpeito

Water steel hippocampus the baby form is just a little pony but with a dolphin tail

Poison steel based on mercury

Pure steel type that’s just a mailbox. They’re delivery Pokémon. The little red flags are on both sides and are like. Puppy ears.

Scarab beetle that imitates luxury balls when baby form. Adult form is opulent very fancy black and gold bug rock type

Solid rock type Minotaur two stage. The baby is just a liddol calf very cute

Dark poison type two stage based on the shaggy inkcap mushroom

Also I want a fairy type that’s pure fairy because monotypes are actually p important to cannon Pokémon games anyway. Fairy type two or three stage that starts off as just a little deer but ends up like a big stag that looks like it’s made of wood and is covers in mushrooms. Like the ruff around the neck is just layers of oyster mushrooms or turkey tails

Flat normal type hedgehog into porcupine

Split evo spider one is bug fairy one is bug dark both jumpers just the fairy is a peacock spider the dark is a bold jumper

Fire steel red river hog two or three stage

I want a Pokémon that evolves differently if it’s in the wild vs if it’s caught and trained

And now that I’ve decided to make Pokémon based off my cats there we go like the base is normal and it’s a kitten like it’s a very small baby super baby tiny and if it’s caught as this baby and raised by someone it turns into a big soft normal flying but if it’s left to the wilds it becomes a normal fighting and it’s like. A Bamf

Hummingbird mouse griffin that’s flying fighting because grasshopper mice and hummingbirds are both so Aggro

Gold orb weaver that can use a move like pay day that gets you money it’s baby form is often mistaken for gold nuggets 77

Normal type that is a like. A harp like idk deer with harp antlers or something with strings between spines on its back idk idk

I kno I have a couple mushroom Pokémon already I think but like what about a lion with a lions mane mushroom for a mane tho

Like the region is already kinda apocalyptic feels so maybe it makes sense there’s a lot of mons that are kinda fungal. Idk. …

Make a quest beast that isn’t a giraffe

Mahoganbee. It’s not a bee it’s a mahogany wasp it’s a solo Pokémon and it’s bug and grass and it’s a friend

Water fairy solo Pokémon that’s a manga ray with like rainbow elements so like when it breaches the water it leaves like. The wrainbows in the air and idk I’m sleeping

An object Pokémon that’s a snake Made outta horse shoes. Solid metal but then the evo is steel dragon and you add spurs as spikes on the back to make it bulky and sharp

Also maybe a Capricorn cause like. Fish goat. Oh maybe a foil to the hippocampus

Grass type that is a lion with a mane made of peacock feathers

Shrimp horse

I already have Anubis so like I kinda wanna do set or like a typhonic beast so like the baby is pure dark and then the evo is dark electric or dark dragon

I Dont think there are any rock ghost Pokémon so like a ghost that is fused with a tombstone? Ough maybe a stego that has headstones as it’s back fins and it can have like a Celtic cross for its tail this isn’t a fossil Pokémon tho I don’t vibe with a fossil being revived just to be a ghost maYBE it’s Jersey Devil shaped. Like idk idk idk but I’m scheming this feels close

Regional variant one is a deaths head hawk moth and one is a Luna moth 94

Ok but a fire type that is a lava lamp like maybe a giraffe with lava lamp neck or a Fox with a lava lamp tail

Baby bat that is normal type that just has a big honking nose like big v shaped nose it can’t fly yet it’s head is like the size of the rest of the body it’s all shnoz and all ears the grown up form has like frilly wings like a parasol

European starling that is flying steel because the gold on the wings the end form is steel fairy or psychic? Something what ever it’s gonna be spacey

Wait another shark that is water ghost and it’s a shark with ghost fins because of shark fin soup

Psychic poison scorpion. The baby is bug poison. There’s eyes inside the claws and like the lore is that people use it as a psychedelic. Is that too much for a Pokémon game? Oh well I guess.

Rock water type that’s like. The baby is a grotesque and it’s just rock but the gargoyle is rock water because. Architecture. Idk.

The regional rodent is raccoon based and it gets more rabid looking as u go

A pair of pokes that’s like. One is a wolf in sheeps clothing one is a sheep in wolfs clothing

Pure water type that is a brittle star sea star that like. Walks around like u used to walk ur hand around U kno? Like it is just a little creachur

The grass wife will be oak based and the baby will be acorns and the adult will be oak tree based but there’s three kinds there’s live oak red oak and bur oak and all of them have diff leaf shapes and maybe the acorn babies are shaped dif too

Legendaries maybe growth and decay themed so the decay legendary is mushroomy and the growth is flowery ofc But like what animals the third legendary is based on like the pure core of life and I want it to have a crazy god particle feel it’s got like a double helix tail and maybe horns oh maybe it’s a kirin. The decay Pokémon is maybe named Endtrophy 116

Manticore Pokémon but instead of a human face it has a baboon face because I don’t like human mons and also baboons are cool as fuck

I want a shark Pokémon that’s fairy and very sweet because everyone loves dolphins and they’re shitty and sharks are good

Bug dragon that’s like. The frills of the face are the moth wings with like the eye spots like it’s. Complicated but it’s good it’s very cool ok I swear

Ghost psychic that is a chameleon that is like. Glow in the dark skeleton idk maybe it’s body and shape is like made of smoke like the gengar line

I want a white rabbit with red eyes that looks at first glance very fairy type but it’s actually dark type and it’s not a rabbit it’s a hare so it’s inherently rly fucked up the baby form of it is like a little puff ball dust bunny or mochi bunny or something that’s strict normal

Firefly shooting star Pokémon it’s bug lightning the baby is just a little sparkle star the middle is a uhhh it’s a rock like it’s a meteor u kno and yeah shooting star firefly

There is a sheep Pokémon that is the like. Poster child for Delta Pokémon it’s a normal type but at any point u can take it to a Modico station and change its type and form. Like froufrou or what ever it was called. It’s a sheep because of dolly the cloned sheep

I need a fire type that has spikes like maybe a stego? But basically the spikes are made of fire and like high intensity torch style flames so they look sharp

Abrice the ice psychic abra and koldabra there isn’t a third evo because the psychic power is dampened 129

The evil corp is called Modico Corporation

They front as a company of good will and change progress etc etc

The evil team people is called Team ChimeRNA

Cause like. DNA and rna like. And they’re doing gene splicing.

Some of the original canon pokes u can catch you can also take to a Modico station ‘modicubes’ that are like in Pokémon centers and stuff anyway u can take them and some you can change to like Entolian Forms and some you can just change their types. Not all can be changed like there will only be like 20 or so and the company says it’s because cracking the Genome of different Pokémon takes time because Pokémon vary so widely.

U can se delta Pokémon in the wild as well tho it’s not common. When a Pokémon is delta variant it has a different color or pattern so it’s like easy to see. It’s kinda like finding a shiny but it’s not that rare. They also don’t sparkle when u find them just different colors. If u breed a delta there’s a percentage that u can breed a delta. Some Pokémon can only get one delta type but some have like idk maybe three options. It’s not like. U can take any Pokémon and add any element. That’s what Modico wants but they’re not there yet.

The region is a series of islands. Not like Hawaii more like. Iceland and Greenland and like. A third idk. Anyway most travel is don’t by bird like that’s the fast travel mechanic and it’s by a giant condor themed bird that also takes flavor from bearded vultures. The babies are a bit stupid cute but useless. They’re dodos.

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Jake Reviews Stuff: Amphibia: Marcy at the Gates

Marcy arrives! The Plantars make it to Newtopia but first have to deal with a slight ant problem and a new addition to the family, as we finally meet the adorkable Marcy. Legs in two months under the cut.

So as you could probably tell by the tone the last few weeks, doing this has weighed on me a bit. While I do love talking about this show week after week, as well as having a recurring series here to bring in readers, the split quality of the Season thus far has been a challenge. Now when I say split I don’t mean like star vs season 3 where it was either really damn good and some of the show’s best writing or “oh god what have they done to marco’s character this time”, it’s more either really good standout episodes ore more forgetable average ones. See a good episode I can gush about, dive into big charcter stuff, motviations, that sort of thing. I defintley will with owl house at some point and have with other shows. A bad episode can be taken apart and taken to the cleaners, which I haven’t done much of but probably should and if you want any taken to task yourself, I do comissions. But self promotion aside, the point is a meh episode just dosen’t leave me with a lot tot alk about and hte recaps became really dry as a result as I just couldn’t find a lot of jokes, and having a busy few weeks on top of that didn’t really help, nor did the antipciation for this week and the intersting setting of newtopia.

Thankfully a combination of a really good few days, a better sleep schedule, and a really good episode this week, and a pile of scary go round collections for a dollar have reinvgorated me, so hopefully I can get back to doing what I love: Overanalizing children’s cartoons. So with that we can dive right into the episode. The keithdavidpocalypse is upon us! Pitter Patter! We open with Spring and Anne in the cart. Their close to newtopia, but Anne is worried they never found Marcy, while Sprig isn’t because her last friend turned out to be “Evil”... which Anne harshly rebuffs. And both sides are understandable: To Anne, Sasha was her friend.. a manipualtive and bossy friend sure but one who genuinely cared for her, she just may not know how to deal with people. To Sprig, Sasha is some asshole who abused his friend, tried to murder his Pop Pop, and works for a guy who tried to murder his whole town. It’s really understandable he woudln’t have the same warm fuzzy feelings Anne has.. insert your own Sashanne joke here. We also get our first actual look at Marcy who to my suprise, rather than be another form of manipulative.. is simply an awkward nerd, constnatly playing video games, reading books , cataloging shit, and trying to get her friends to play d and d. So me if I knew what d and d was in high school.

Anyways, the family finally DOES make it to Newtopia, impressive as you’d expect when the guard won’t let them see the wizard no way no how. Antique references aside, the guard at the gate actually has good reason for not letting them in as they have a tiny barbari-ant problem. A species Hop Pop is, in a nice touch, unfamiliar with due to the Valley not having them. We quickly see them in action as one approaches the plantars, basically a giant ant with ant-lers. Yes I used a pun there sue me. Anyway, our heroes ward off the ant they do find with some really cool team manuvering, and Polly showing she has spiked teeth. It’s a cool sequence. However they quickly find themselves outgunned, outplanned, outnumbered and outmanned. They gotta make an all out stand. Their gonna need a right hand man. Also I finally saw the film version of hamilton, as you can tell. Utterly magic.

Said Right Hand Man, er woman, er tween comes in the nick of time as a cloaked Marcy sprays some black goo and sets it ablaze, scaring the ants off, snatching a stalemate from the jaws of defeat, then rappeling down on a rope shot from a crossbow, also making polly want one because of course. She then.. Faceplants. Still a solid 8/10 entrance Marcy. Marcy is played by Haley Tju who you may remember from such shows as The Loud House. And that’s all I know her from but given Stella’s one of my faviorites and Haley’s performance is part of that, so it’s unsuprising she’s great here. Also fun fact I learned by looking at her trope page: She actually played a younger version of London, brenda song’s character, on the Suite Life I Pray for Death but Death Won’t Come.. or On Deck for those who’ve never watched it. But I like the fact two londons are now on the same show together.. and an actually good noe at that! Horay. But yeah Haley is a great VA and what little i’ve seen her in and a welcome addition. Marcy and Anne happily reunite once htey both realize who the other is, and hug and etc, before Marcy decends on the plantars, talking on and on and on about geeky stuff and how she likes the found family trope. ... I may really relate to this mediums sized child, as I too am a huge nerd with no filter and was probably a lot like her at that age. It’s also clear she very transparently sees this as a combinaton of a video game and a d and d session, but said skills have actually benifited her as rping a rogue allowed her to easily bluff her way into the kingdom’s good graces and now she’s a sworn agent of the king as we’ll find out. She quickly wins over the Plantars, measuring hop pop’s head, gushing over him being a farmer (which he almost instantly adopts her over and asks to point blank later), and then noticing Polly’s legs are about to come in and giving her the note seen in the review image, my faviorite gag. Sprig however is more out and out hostile and has his reasons we’ll get to in a second. Marcy escorts her new family and sorta girlfriend to the makeshift war room set up by three scholoary newts who quickly resolve their planning disagreements by beating the piss out of each other. Just like real politics.. and that’s not a cheeky jab between the actual caning in the sentate that happened once and the various duels in the revolutionary and early america eras.. yeah the only reason the preisdent hasn’t been shot for challening one of hte many people he hates for a duel without realizing he really can’t see through that squint too good is that it’s now illegal and not the kind of illegal he can hide like usual. Anyways after the Newts scoff at our heroes, but Marcy vouches for them and reveals that the ants are getting closer because i’ts gotten warmer....

Marcy has a plan though: Spread scentshrroms around that will release a pheremone which will drive them off, having throughly studied Amphibia’s various flora and fauna and thus knowing how to deal with them. I’ts something I like about the character and how she adds to the other huamns group dynamics. Alll three deal with issues diffrent ways; Anne has plans, but rarely thinks them through, Sasha does think hers through and is a master manipulator while Marcy is a ballance between the two: She does throughly think things out and have well thought out clever plans.. she just also tens to rush into things or go forward with a nose in a book or without a thought to how dangerous soemthing is. She’s prepared, she’s just not very aware of her surrondings, which is amood.

But Anne is nervous about her coming along as is sprig which sets up both’s conflicts with her for the episode: Anne wants to protect Marcy, since she just got her back and her only other remaning friend now clearly wants to stab her and she has a better option now love interest wise. However Marcy convinces Anne, 2nd capefire this episode nonwithstanding, she can handle herself. She also calsl her annabannna which is fucking adorable. The other conflict is that Sprig dosen’t trust her.. he has no rational reason not to give she’s a sweetie, but is a bit gunshy about another human girl working for a dictator popping up in their life. And while he’s probably wrong, while I think Marcy isn’t working for the best people probably she’s likely too oblivious to genuinely relaize she’s doing crimes if they have her doing them or was given a fake justification. I could be wrong, and will gladly eat crow. Metphorically i’m not going to bake a real crow. I don’t have the right seasoning. And i’d also be cursed but eh I doubt I can get poorer. But it’s understandable he has reservations, especially since while he dosen’t say it he’s likely worried Anne will get hurt again. He’s a good boy, he’s just being paranoid over probably nothing. Anyways onoto the plan: The plantars and new girl marcy are gonna:

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Okay phermone them whatever, the point is they head into the Ant Hole, witht he conflicts continuing as the plantars progress; Sprig is naturally suspcious and Anne is worried about her precious gurl. The group fight some more ants, and Marcy seemingly wonders off.. only to instead BLOW THEM A FUCKING TUNNEL with some chemicals from some flowers she found, then instant sprout a plant cage.. and accidently trap polly. NOOOOO.> Thankfully she frees her and tosses some plants on the ants, which is fun to say. We then get to our climax. OUr group find the queen who ihs horrifying.. a good mom as sprig points out but horrfing. Nice design though i’m just.. not an insect guy and sometimes this show leaves me in abject terror. this is one of those times. Our heroes plant the mushrooms, phrasing I know but this review is late as is and i’ve already used up my archer refrence for the day. Anne dives to Save a seemingly oblovious Marcy.. whose mad at Anne over it.. while Anne is udnerstandable Marcy wants her , NEEDS her to understand...

No not that erik. That, much like Anne herself, Marcy’s grown and changed over these past three months. She can handle herself now and she needs her ot see that. Also sprig gets attacked by an ant baby, which not only wakes up the queen, who can hear but can’t see but now knows something’s arry, but causes said queen to unleash a hoarde of ants. Marcy however naturally has a plan: She’ll dive into the queen’s belly and get sprig, the plantars will hold them off and Anne finally trusts her lady enough to fiht off. I don’t have a lot to say I just really like this character arc and Marcy’s character: She’s a bit oblivious, ab it obessed with nerdy things which again relate.. but when push comes to shove she’s also clever, a master planner and has clearly studied her ass off about this world and knows it well. She’s throughly likeable. And that likeablity finally gets through to sprig when she gets him out and swings him. Trust earned, anne’s faith in her gained and the mushrooms go off and send the ants running. Misson Complete. With the mission complete our heroes finally enter Newtopia and meet the mysterious Lady Olivia, whose been sending Marcy on her missions, and is likely her spymaster. Not that i think Marcy realizes that but Marcy’s love of midevil fantasy means she blends in well with thier courty apperance and introduces anne and co to her.. Olvia isn’t impressed but is cordial about it at least.. even with Sprig breaking shit. And yeah , Amphibia has a king over all of it, as Hop Pop puts it “We aren’t savages”. It does make sense it woudln’t come up every day though, it’s not as if the king really cares about the valley... but more on speculation about him in a minute. Hop Pop wisely gives the two “Friends’ some alone time, and the two talk things over: Anne explains how she found sasha.. and it didn’t go great, and Marcy vows that the two of them can go their own way now. Maybe iwth tounge. we dunno. The two then look over anne’s phone while anne recounts her anne-tics.. and we get to the king. And it’s KEITH DAVID BITCHES AS WAS PROHPISED A FEW WEEKS AGO. And he has myserious plans and wood carven figures of both our heroines and possible gaybies. “The game can finally begin. “

Final Thoughts: This was a really damn good episode. Whiel I summarized more than usual , both conflicts were great, all the plantars got to shine, there were gags a plenty, an intriguing new member of the main cast and a mysterious new antagonist. I mean given it was revealed the Newts were behind Toad tower a few episodes back, I figured Andidas wouldn’t be a good guy, even if he’s played by upstanding gentleman and god among men keith david, , but it’s a question of what his end goal is, how the girls got here, and what his plan ofr them is that i’m curious to see play out as the season goes on, as well as see if Marcy is a pawn or not. Newtopia also looks intresting and i’ts nice to have a new solid setting to build on now we’re here, as well as new mysteries to unlock> Ther’es also the honest possibliity marcy, who claims to have found bubkuss, might simply want to stay in a world where she gets to live out her dreams and isn’t picked on or bullied. Again we’ll see all speculation but this episode was damn good. For now this is the clear highlight of the season and i’tll be intresting to see where it goes from here. Until next time courage.

#amphibia #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #hopidiah plantar #sprig plantar #polly plantar #marcy at the gates

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biorust-art · 6 years

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I'd love to hear about your symbolism for the three tarot cards you drew, especially The Tower! (I read tarot, and I love seeing how people interpret the messages into their own drawings ❤️)

:0 ! okie- most of its fandom based so you kinda have to read Satan and Me (if you dont already) to understand it fully but! ill try my best.

First of all here are the pics to ref back too:

okay here we go

Tarot cards Symbolism-

Characters-

The star- is Lucifer for obvious reasons- his face is hiddenin all the cards I drew for him and the main feature is his wings – except thereare only two pairs instead of three. He is falling, and out of his hands are MichaelmasDaisy which symbolizes ‘Farwell’.

The Moon- is Michael, I chose him for this one (in stead oflike- the Sun) because of his close relationship to the Star. He is flying andout of his hands are Iris flowers called ‘Lucifer’. He is holding his heart symbolizingthat he’ll never really let him go- even if he is shown literally letting theflowers fall. His bralettes are like cuffs.

The Star and the Moon. – I put these two together for areason- A) because im mean like that. B) notice how their hands are both facingupward, this symbolized how they’ll never agree (this is directly contrastingthe High Priestess and Devil card- in which Natalie’s hand is downward aka-they can take each other’s hand. Lucifer is in the bottom corner while Michaelis in the top – represents the position that they are in- in a literal and metaphoricalsense – Michael will always see himself as above Lucifer. Both of their backgroundsare sunsets- representing the end of an era/ relationship.

- The flowers I used to represent these two are asfollows-

- Alstroemeria- devotion, friendship

- Basil- love, hatred

- Columbine red anxious/ folly

- Lavender devotion/ distrust

- Thyme strength courage

- Violet faithfulness

I use the flowers in both an ironicsense and a more face value sense- to kind of mark the confusing relationshipthey have with each other and the mixed feelings after the fall.

The Tower- This one is Lucifer’s soul (this is gonna beconfusing if you don’t read the comic rip) I chose him for the care bc he isliterally on a tower and for the fact that this Literally is Hell. To be there,to see Lucifer’s soul would mean that the worst has happened and has yet tocome. This also echoes the fact that Lucifer’s soul itself had to endure millenniaof torture. However there is a lighter side, he is looking off into the edge,with a life line holding him down- so he can’t be touched by the other soulsbelow him. On his back there are two scars (spoiler alert) it’s a call to Lucifercutting off his wings ->A drastic change as happened- for better or forworse- who knows.

Background for the Tower

The ‘milky way’ a cross the sky also symbolizes Lucifer’scut wings and how whats happening does effect hell. The stars are red andusually paired together to act like eyes / to give hell a more creepy vibe and,the falling stars are new arrivals into Hell.

Continuing with the Victorian flower symbolism- children’sgraves were usually placed near Oak trees- a reference to how Natalie signedaway her soul (and died) while she was still a child (the tree is a manifestationof her contract in hell) as well as how Lucifer’s soul looks like a child. Thereare tally marks carved into the tree to mark the ‘days’ that lucifer has beenwith the tree.

Mushrooms represent both rot and regrowth and, while alsobeing fitting for the environment, represents how a soul can change rapidly etc.Most of them are parasitic or poisonous including ‘destroying angel’ and ‘angelof death’. They are also the color of the rainbow (see- lucifer’s wings)

The boarder- Sorry you’ll have to compare the rest of my Tarotcards to see the pattern but! All the cards have basically the same boarder witha few significant differences.

- The color of the column- basically it representshow close the character is to heaven- the marble/gold in the Star and Mooncards vs the black in the Tower.

- Markings- the Tower has eyes at the top – aka-hell is literally peaking out and there are hand markings on the column once againto emphasis hell’s influence.

- The gate- Lucifer’s gate is open while Michael’sis closed while Lucifer’s soul has none at all. This can be a number of things –like the openminded-ness or loss of virtue (not in the sex way) while in hellthere are little morals left. Can also represent the gates of Heaven- openmeaning they will never hold Lucifer again while Michael is locked behind it. (onceagain- no gate in Hell)

- The stained glass. There are little circles atthe top and on the gates- notice that there are 8 of them – one for each colorof the Archangels + Lucifer. Due to the fact I put the layer on Opacity, theTower’s stained glass is only red/magenta >;}

- The skys beyond the gate. Each card was different.In the Star- it’s a rainbow of colors not only going back to his wings but alsohis family and, some of the stars are falling while others stay still. In theStar’s is only shades of blue- aka- Michael’s colors (and only Michael’scolors) and, the stars are not moving. The Tower is a direct continuation of thebackground with the same red star pattern described before.

Thank you for the ask! I know it was a flood gate, but I do appreciateit and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading haha

The original post is HERE (original tarot set HERE) and Satan and Me can be read HEREor on TAPAS

#satan and me #asks #thank you!#long post

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otdderamin · 5 years

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Transcript: Characterizing the Bright Queen's cycle of retaliation – TM for CR C2 Ep63 0:34:41

The Mighty Nein mischaracterized their last meeting with the Bright Queen. They felt she was bloodthirsty, not interested in peace, and out to kill everyone in the empire. It struck me as harsh, too, at first, but I think the Bright Queen is more nuanced and neutral than that. It's not far off from Taliesin's comments on Talks about Caduceus' philosophy.

"[Caduceus] is not a pacifist. I know he gives the vibe of a pacifist. He's… a naturalist? […] He wouldn’t have had a second thought about grinding them into paste if it had come down to it because nature is cruel and indifferent to such things. […] I mean, you watch a nature video, there’s a whole Nature is Metal subreddit that is just like, 'Oh wow, yeah, that happens in the world.’ […] And you’re like, 'Oh my god!’ But accepting it and letting that be part of it along the lines of flowers are beautiful, mushrooms are fascinating, rot is beautiful, and the swamp smells great. Also, alligators fucking eat a baby. And you’re like, 'And it’s all part of the tapestry.’” (TM for CR C2 Ep59 0:20:37)

Bright Queen: "Because life is pain for many. Jealousy, strife, some need to conquer. There will always be those that will do whatever it takes to get one over the man, or woman, or otherwise to their left and right."

Caduceus: "Are you talking about yourself or the Empire right now?"

Bright Queen: "I'm talking about anything that draws breath. And it is our duty to acknowledge that and try to keep those base designs at bay. But one cannot bow down when others to not show that same will of understanding or else we will lie slaughtered."

The Bright Queen means approximately the same thing as Caduceus. Life is inherently pretty selfish because it has to be to keep going. Vegan or carnivore you still kill other organisms to sustain yourself; that's the essence of eating. Even plants fight for territory, sunlight, & mineral access. Life takes what it needs if its faster or stronger or smarter than other life. It's immutable that something will take too much at some point and need to be beaten back. People are no different than alligators at their base instincts, but we're at our best when we override those instincts with a desire to not hurt others. There will always be people not checking those impulses, who do seek to dominate and take what they want at any cost. You either have to fight them or die. That's the cycle she's talking about.

She says, "The cycle cannot be broken until there is nothing living. All we can do is our best to keep it slow." She doesn't mean all life or everyone in the Empire needs to be eliminated, which is what TMN were afraid she meant. She means, you have to learn to live with this reality and be prepared to defend yourself. By "keeping it slow" she means try to negotiate peacefully as long as possible with the understanding that one day it will be impossible.

She says, "This will continue until one side cannot retaliate, and we hope that with a swift enough and well-planned plot laid out with this information, perhaps we can keep them from being able to retaliate for some time." She means, if they can overcome the armies of the Empire swiftly, they'll be able to end the war sooner with many fewer lives lost than a protracted battle.

Think about how old she is: 1200 years. In our time she's have witnessed every cycle of peace and war since Charlemagne in the early Middle Ages. I believe she hopes for this war to end as swiftly as possible, for peace to reign for a long time, but eventually that peace will be broken again. That's what she means by not being able to break the cycle.

It's like trying to stop natural disasters. You do what you can to mitigate their damage, but their causes are so much larger than what you can control. Trying to prevent them entirely is a foolish waste of time and energy. All you can do is protect those you care about the best that you can and do what you have to when it happens.

There are two ways the war can end: Fight until one side is too weak to hit back and has to surrender to keep from being destroyed or fight until both sides agree to stop retaliating. Most likely it'll be a combination: fight until both sides don't think they have a clear upper hand and negotiate both of them stepping back.

Destroying the Cerberus would greatly weaken the Empire making it more likely they'll yield to the Kryn. I don't know what that looks for either nation. I don't think Leylas Kryn is a cruel woman, but she is determined to protect her people from a nation that has been a problem for hundreds of years. The Mighty Nein are going to have to decide how much they trust the kindness she has shown them vs. the hardness she's shown the Empire.

Scene runs:

1. The cycle of retaliation 0:34:41 to 0:38:44

2. TMN review the meeting 0:43:07 to 0:44:34.

1. The cycle of retaliation

0:34:41 Beau: "If I may offer one more word, my lady, being of the empire, what we can for sure tell you is they don't take kindly to being bested or embarrassed, and they will retaliate with the full force of everything they've been working towards."

Bright Queen: "If I am correct in my beliefs, this is retaliation for our retaliation."

Beau: "Yes, it's a lot of retaliation."

Bright Queen: "This will continue until one side cannot retaliate, and we hope that with a swift enough and well-planned plot laid out with this information, perhaps we can keep them from being able to retaliate for some time."

…

0:36:59 Caleb: "And I know I am retreading past ground, but I hope as you protect your people and your kingdom you will consider, instead of utter destruction, there are people on the other side of those mountains who are not happy with the ones running the show. Use us. Use us for your ends. Use us to find this other missing relic. Use us and our contacts to help supplant the Cerberus."

Beau: "We can help you break the cycle."

Bright Queen: "The cycle cannot be broken until there is nothing living. All we can do is our best to keep it slow."

Jester: "Why can't the cycle be broken?"

Caduceus: "Are you talking about yourself or the Empire right now?"

Bright Queen: "I'm talking about anything that draws breath."

Caduceus: "Hm."

Bright Queen: "And it is our duty to acknowledge that and try to keep those base designs at bay. But one cannot bow down when others to not show that same will of understanding or else we will lie slaughtered."

0:38:44

2. TMN review the meeting

0:43:07 Fjord: "I would hope there would be more of an audience for reason. I mean, in a fight, if you can take away the weapons of both sides, you're forced to use alternate means to resolve your differences. The Cerberus Assembly is a weapon I would prefer to attack that then wipe a nation of it's people."

Caleb: "Correct. We are agreed."

Jester: "Was she saying she's gonna kill everybody in the Empire."

Fjord: "She's saying until no one else draws breath."

Caleb: "She seems very bloodthirsty."

Beau: "And mentioned them not respecting the life? What does she, what does the meant by that?"

Fjord: "I dunno. That's a very wide, wide net she's casting."

Jester: "What if everybody, you know, in the Empire, like, bends the knee. That's what they say, right?"

Nott: 'I've heard that recently."

Jester: "What if they all do that and then they're part of Xhorhas, and then she doesn't have to kill them. And then is all one happy, happy country."

Beau: "It felt like that that's what she was alluding to, but not necessarily bending the knee to her. Bend thing the knee to their beliefs, their Luxon is what it felt like."

Fjord: "Yeah."

Beau: "You know, if they believe in this cycle, believe in their intrinsic attachment to the dodecahedrons I could only imagine they could only benefit from having more people attached to that, right?"

Fjord: "Well, we're just guessing at this point."

0:44:34

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thdorkmagnet · 5 years

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Chapter 2: When Star Met Marco

Summary: His whole life Marco Diaz has been raised by monsters, living under the cruel rule of their leader, Toffee. But one day Marco escapes into Mewni where he meets a magical princess and Mewman like himself, who begins teaching him all about her world. Together they will learn about life, love, and the lights within each of them, as they change their world forever.

Chapter Synopsis: Marco, now on his own, wanders through the woods, feeling lost and confused, until he meets a pretty blond girl with a magical wand.

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Disclaimer: Star vs and all its characters are owned by Daron Nefcy and Disney. All rights go to them.

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Marco had been walking for what felt like hours. He had no idea where he was, or where he was going, just having to blindly follow the path he had eventually found himself on. The sun rose into the sky, turning night to day and still Marco walked on. He felt miserable as he trudged on, his legs and feet sore and aching from the long trip, heavy bags hung thickly under his tired eyes, and the fresh scars from Toffee still stung his arms and back.

But the thing that seemed the worse for him were the thoughts that troubled his tired mind. Buff Frog's words looped through his head over and over again. He had no idea what Buff Frog had been talking about, but if what he said was true then everything Marco had ever known was a lie. That apparently the monsters that had raised him since birth had been lying to him about their true purpose and intentions. Marco felt lost, both literally and figuratively, and now he was completely on his own, there was no one here to help him figure out what he should do. Marco had never felt so alone.

Marco stopped, letting his sore legs rest for a moment, looking on at the unending path in front of him. He was in some kind of forest, but on what dimension he had no clue. He could be anywhere and he wished more than anything to know where exactly he was. Was this what Buff Frog wanted? he wondered. To bring me to this place and then let me walk forever. Is this my punishment for disobeying?

The boy sighed, rubbing his sore eyes with the palms of his hands, softly whispering to himself, “What am I supposed to do?”

Suddenly, a loud explosion shook the silence of the morning. Marco screamed and jumped at the ear-splitting rattle, tripping over his own feet and falling to the hard, forest floor. Marco swerved, looked over in the direction he had heard the sound, only to see a giant, rainbow-colored mushroom cloud rising into the air just a short distance away.

To say Marco was in shock by what he was seeing was an understatement. Marco felt a mixture of different emotions rush through him at once, fear, curiosity, awe, wonder, fear again, excitement, his whole body petrified, as he lay there on the forest path, unable to do anything but stare in wonder at the colorful phenomenon that now invaded his frazzled senses.

And just as suddenly as it had come, the puff of color-coded smoke was gone again, disappearing into the morning sky, leaving Marco panting for breath, his heart hammering away in his chest. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision from the spots that now coated the majority of sight, his mind trying to make sense of the wonder he had just witnessed, almost unable to believe it had been real. Finally, he managed to calm his breathing and racing heart, as he stared intensely at the sight of the explosion, waiting to see if anything would happen again.

Sure enough, after a few moments of silence Marco was rewarded with another loud boom that seemed to rattle the forest itself, a thick, pink blast, immediately spreading outward in a large shock-wave, forcing the flora and fauna to blow against their normal current and instead bend to its powerful will. Marco was overtaken by the pink energy, feeling a hot breeze on his face as rocks and dust scattered around him, shifted around by the force of the wind. Then just like before, the wave passed, the forest returning to its normal, silent state, any evidence to the contrary nonexistent.

Marco breathed, his eyes shining with wonder at the strange experience, his mind reeling with new, unanswered questions. What was that? Marco thought, his thoughts quickly spiraling out of control. His curiosity overwhelmed him as a deep burning rose up in his chest, feeling an intense need to learn more about this strange, unknown occurrence. But at the same time, Marco knew going toward large explosions was probably a bad idea. He thought carefully for a moment, weighed his options back and forth, battling between his safety instincts and his burning curiosity. Finally, he came to the conclusion that while the explosion was dangerous, it was the first sign of life he had seen since he had arrived here. And besides, he rationalized. What other options did he have? Keep walking with no clue where he was or where he was going?

Marco took a deep breath, before rising to his shaky feet and heading off in the direction of the two previous explosions. As he crept forward he heard the tell-tale signs of another explosion before the forest was engulfed in a bright pink light, that left Marco blind for a few seconds. A few moments later, he heard the sound again this time accompanied by a sweet smell, that reminded him of pancakes. Marco's stomach growled and he became suddenly aware of the fact that he hadn't eaten any breakfast yet and he pushed on a little faster this time.

As Marco continued on through the forest, accompanied only by the sound of explosions, he found the tree line thinning more and more as he went, the passage become much clearer as he walked. Eventually, the boy made it to a small clearing, a bright, shining lake surrounded by tree stumps and burnt grass, probably due to all the explosions. Marco quickly hid behind the closest tree to him as he finally saw the source of the loud, dangerous racket. A girl.

She had long, golden hair that seemed to shine whenever the light caught it, pretty pink hearts beneath her bright, sky blue eyes that seemed to sparkle with her sweet, carefree smile. She wore a green dress with a little pink creature on it that Marco didn't recognize, purple and orange leggings and stylish purple boots. As Marco watched the girl, he found himself entranced by her, as his heart hammered away in his chest and his eyes shined with wonder. He had never seen a girl before but he was sure they weren't supposed to be that pretty.

To Marco's amazement and confusion the girl turned on her heels, holding out a small pink and purple wand with a star crystal in its center. She began waving the colorful object around in the air, a pink energy gathering around it. Before Marco could ponder the meaning behind it, the girl stopped, holding the wand directly in front of her, and shouted, “Super Rainbow Explosion!”

Marco's mouth dropped open as a rainbow came streaking out of her wand, zipping high into the air, before crashing down on a unknowing tree, disappearing into a colorful explosion that closely resembled the one from before. Marco was frozen in shock, unable to believe that this pretty girl was capable of such violent destruction. He had never seen magic before and he had no idea what he was supposed to do now that he had.

But the girl seemed unaffected by the fantastic, yet destructive, display, as she continued to shoot off more spells, blast after blast being released from her magical stick, each more impressive than the last. Rainbows, lasers, cupcakes, pineapples, flowers, kittens, and even some kind of aquatic creatures she called “narwhals” came flying out of the wand, decimating the forest around her. At one point the girl lost her balance after shooting off a spell she called, “Super Rainbow Kitten Explosion Nightmare!” falling uncomfortably to the floor. Marco flinched, wanting to run over to her and help her up, but finding himself frozen in place.

The girl stood with a groan, looking at her wand with uncertainty. But she took a deep breath, trying a much easier spell, still looking a little hesitant doing so. The girl continued on for a while, getting into a steady rhythm as she sent narwhals, cupcakes, and all manors of adorable destruction hurtling around the forest, her body moving with a delicate grace.

Marco began finding it harder to keep up with the girl as she continued her magic show, her movements often taking her out of sight from the curious boy, who remained crouched behind the tree. He began to feel impatient not wanting to take his eyes off the girl, some strange, unknown emotion overpowering him. Finally, he pushed aside his safety instincts, quickly hauling himself up the nearest tree branch.

He climbed up a few branches, until he had a good view of the clearing and, more importantly, the Mewman girl. The blond flung spell after spell into the air, looking happy and carefree, and Marco couldn't help but smile along with her. His eyes shined with wonder as he followed the girl's every movement, studying her intensely, his twin suns glowing softly without his knowledge. For a while, the two seemed content in that reality, the girl flinging colorful spells into the air, Marco watching her from a safe distance in the tree, and for a bit Marco felt blissfully attached to the girl, all his worries forgotten, his universe reducing down to just the two of them.

Finally, the girl stopped, lowering the wand to her side, taking deep breaths. She ran a hand through her flowing, golden hair, letting it dance around her fingertips. As she did, the early morning sun reflected off the lake, making the whole girl's body seem to glow. Marco unknowingly leaned forward on the branch, wanting to see the girl's face, needing to look into those bright, blue eyes, his stomach flipping uncontrollably. As he did though, he shifted his weight too much and the branch, now overwhelmed, gave a loud snap. Marco heard the noise, but before he had time to ponder what it meant, the branch caved and the boy found himself free-falling to the hard floor below.

He released a scream as he began his descent, his body hitting some of the branches on his way down, messing with his scars and causing them to begin their cycle of pain all over again. Finally, Marco hit the hard, forest ground and he felt the air rush out of him, his whole body throbbing. He struggled to regain his breath, giving weak little coughs as he tried to fill his lungs with oxygen once again. He shakily sat up, rubbing the back of his head, his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to fight through his pain. He opened his eyes, giving a deep sigh, only to freeze seeing the girl staring at him with a surprised look on her cheerful face, her blond hair still blowing freely in the breeze.

Marco felt his cheeks grow bright red at both the embarrassment at being seen and the strange feeling he got as the girl's sky blue eyes focused solely on him. He panicked, not sure what to do now, this was his very first encounter with a Mewman and it wasn't going great so far. So, in his embarrassed state he did the only thing he could think of, he jumped to his feet and ran, ran as far away from the girl as he could, trying desperately to escape from both her and the strange feelings that seemed to have been brought on by overexposure to her.

He heard her call after him but he didn't slow down, his cheeks still burning from his blush. He was confused, he had never felt that way before. Was it because of the girl? Or was it just him? Marco kept running, turning to look behind him, making sure the girl wasn't following. But suddenly Marco's foot slipped and he turned just in time to see he had reached the top of a rocky hill.

His arms flailed wildly, as he tried desperately to regain some sense of balance, but it was to no avail, as the cruel force of gravity took its hold over him and sent the boy falling over the edge. Marco screamed as, for the second time that day, he felt a moment of weightlessness, before he crashed hard into the rocky surface, releasing a loud grunt. He rolled quickly down the hill, his body seeming to collide with every rock possible before he finally reached the bottom.

Marco released a pained groan as his whole body throbbed with discomfort. He lay there for a moment waiting for his weak, fragile body to recover from his wounds, filling sick as the world spun around him in an unending loop, the only comfort his sluggish mind could find in that pain-filled moment was that Toffee's scars were currently the least painful part of his body at the moment.

“Are you okay?”

Marco jumped at the sound of the voice above, instantly regretting the pain that accompanied the quick movement, and he looked up to see the girl from before staring down at him from the top of the hill, concern on her cute face. Marco felt his cheeks burn once again, his mouth clamping shut, all thoughts frozen in his mind, as he squinted up at the girl with a shocked stare, admiring the light still dancing off her blond hair. The girl, seeing Marco wasn't going to answer her, leapt forward, sliding down the hill (more gracefully than Marco) landing lightly on her feet, close to where Marco lay.

Marco immediately began backing up away from the girl, his pain subsiding immensely, the strange feelings he was experiencing confusing him and making him skittish. The blond turned to the frightened boy, confusion shining in her blue eyes, as she took a few steps closer to him. “Are you hurt?” she asked, looking him up and down, her eyes focused on him and him alone.

Marco said nothing, his back hitting the cliff-side, realizing too late that he had literally backed himself into a corner. The girl, either not noticing his strange behavior (or most likely) not caring, continued forward bending down to the boy's level, making his blush worsen. “Here let me see,” she said, holding her hand out.

Marco eyed the outstretched hand, suspiciously. The girl gave a small smile saying, “I just want to help.” The boy, however, didn't seem convinced, pushing himself farther against the cliff as he could, ignoring the stinging in his back, keeping a weary eye on the blond's hand.

The girl was surprised by the boy's reaction to her, but kept the smile on her face as she softly whispered, “I'm not going to hurt you.”

Marco felt shivers run down his spine as the girl spoke and he finally looked away from the hand, his eyes immediately catching her own. The two were both thrown off guard as brown met blue, both surprised by how vast the others eyes were, finding themselves easily able to get lost in them. “I'm Star,” the girl continued, putting her free hand to her chest, a bright smile on her face, her eyes remaining locked with his. Marco just stared at her for a moment, studying her stunning face, until it clicked in his brain that he was supposed to say his name back to her. Words failed him as he tried desperately to remember what his name was and how to say it, the girl's stare burning into his skin.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, he took a deep breath, trying to ignore the feelings in his gut and heat in his cheeks as the girl continued to smile at him. “I'm Marco,” he said, his voice a small squeak. He flinched at the sound of his voice cracking, really wishing the ground beneath him would just open up and swallow him whole.

But Star, to Marco's surprise, didn't seem to notice and instead smiled at him, the brightest smile he had ever seen, her eyes shining with unparalleled joy. “Oh, you can talk,” she said excitedly, as if this was the best news she had ever heard. “I was starting to be afraid you couldn't. But I guess you can, huh? You just must be shy.” As she spoke she slowly closed the distance between the two, their faces just inches apart.

Marco lowered his head in embarrassment, conforming Star's suspicions. “Aww, you don't have to be shy. I don't bite,” she said, giggling a little at her own joke. Marco couldn't help but smile, this girl's laughter was contagious, in fact, it occurred to Marco that Star's happiness in general seemed like it was infectious.

“Look at that, I got you to smile,” she exclaimed clapping her hands together in joy. She stood to her full height, offering Marco her hand once again. Marco eyed the hand, unsure if he should take it or not, his safety instincts making him cautious once again.

“C'mon,” she said in a soft, soothing voice. “I can't help you if you won't let me.” Marco looked up at Star, her bright, smiling face making his heart skip a beat. Slowly, he reached his hand out to hers. He hesitated for a moment, before taking her hand into his own. Marco was instantly surprised by how soft Star's hand was, finding a bizarre comfort in her touch. But before he could over-think it, Star pulled him to his feet.

Once he was standing and steady again, she let go of his hand and he instantly missed the warmth it had brought. Marco let his hand fall to his side, his fingers tingling from her touch. “So what exactly were you doing in that tree?” she asked, her voice with just the slightest hint of suspicion.

“I-I was just trying to get a better look at you,” Marco stuttered, his eyes darting around looking at anything except Star.

Star gave him a suspicious look, suddenly put off by the boy. “Why?”

“I'd never seen anyone so pretty before,” Marco admitted, his voice without a hint of hesitation as he voiced his thoughts aloud.

Star gave him a deadpanned stare and Marco could feel himself sweating, suddenly unsure what he had done to upset her. “Are you hitting on me?” she asked with a clearly annoyed tone.

“What, no!” Marco panicked, waving his arms up and down, his voice clearly distressed. “I'd never hit you! Why would I hit you?! I mean, we just met!”

There was a short, awkward moment of silence between the two, Marco with his hands still raised in gesture, grimacing at his new companion, and Star just staring at him with a surprised look on her face. Oh boy, Marco thought. Here it comes. She's gonna hate me now for sure.

Instead, Star burst into laughter, her cute, smiling face making her look cuter than ever and making the confused Marco blush even harder. He was at a complete loss for words, this girl kept flip-flopping so much, Marco had no way to keep up. One moment she was mad, now she was laughing. Marco had no idea what he was supposed to do now. The girl continued to giggle, tears now welling up in her eyes. And now she's crying. Marco really didn't understand Mewmans at all.

Star finally managing to overcome her giggle fit, brushing the tears out of her eyes, gasping out, “Man I really needed that. I haven't laughed that hard in years.”

“Sooo your not mad,” Marco asked, hesitantly, bracing himself in case he upset her again.

“Nah, it's all good,” she said, putting an arm around him. “You don't seem like a creep or anything. So it's fine.”

“A creep?” Marco whispered in confusion, but Star didn't hear him, looking around now for any signs of life other than them.

“So do you live around here?” she asked, still scanning the area

“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “Actually I'm kinda lost. Do you know what dimension this is?”

“Uh, Mewni, of course,” Star said, confused, raising a skeptical eyebrow at the boy.

“W-Wait I'm still on Mewni!” Marco exclaimed, looking around at the lively jungle.

“Yeah, of course,” Star said, pulling away from the boy, staring into his eyes with a questioning gaze. “Why would you ask?”

“Uh, guess I just got kinda turned around,” Marco said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Oh, well, my town's just a little ways off from here,” she added, pointing off into the distance. “Maybe your home is back that way.”

“No I don't really have a home at the moment.” Marco said hesitantly, not meeting Star's eyes.

“Oh,” Star said, unsure what to make of the new information, feeling the awkward tension that had sprung up between the two. “Wellll, maybe we could look around and see if we could find your parents,” she suggested, her voice unsure.

Marco flinched, his eyes filling with hurt and loss, as Star instantly regretted saying anything, her awkward smile vanishing as she took in the sad look on the boy's face.

“My parents are... dead,” he said, his eyes slowly drifting down to the floor, each word feeling like a stab to the gut. Star stared at him silently, her eyes filling with sympathy.

“I'm so sorry,” she whispered softly, bending down so she could look into the disheartened boy's eyes. Marco merely shook his head, his eyes welling up with tears and that was all Star could take.

Without another word, she closed the distance between the two, wrapping her arms gently around the crying boy. Marco stiffened as she pulled him in close to her, burying her head into his shoulder, her warmth suddenly blending in with his. Marco felt his heart rate speeding up rapidly, his blurry eyes now shining with the strange, confusing emotion that seemed to be radiating off the girl. “I'm so sorry,” she whispered softly into his ear, in the most comforting voice she could manage. Marco felt a warmth fill him, as the girl held him close, trying to comfort him in his fragile state. The two stayed like that for a moment, Star comforting him, running a hand gently up and down his back, Marco slowly relaxing underneath her soothing touch. Finally, she pulled away from him, staring deep into his brown eyes.

“Are you okay?” she asked, taking his hand into her own, once again, giving it a gentle squeeze. Marco nodded, wiping his eyes free of tears. He gave her a thankful smile, which she easily returned, her eyes drifting down to their intertwined hands. The blond gasped and Marco quickly followed her gaze to the scar Toffee had left the day before. He panicked, quickly covering the wound from her sight, but she pushed his hand out of the way, drawing his arm in closer to her for inspection, Marco feeling more nervous in that moment, then he had ever felt in his entire life.

“Oh, Marco,” she gently breathed, and Marco felt his stomach twist with guilt. This is it, Marco thought. She's going to know how useless and disobedient I am. She's gonna hate me forever. Marco closed his eyes, awaiting her scorn and scolding. “Your hurt!”

Marco's eyes flew open, staring shocked at the girl, who had tears in her sky, blue eyes. “You poor thing. I knew you had to be hurt after falling so many times.” Marco just stared at her in utter confusion, barely able to process her words. “Come on, you can come home with me! We need to get that looked at.”

“W-What?” Marco stuttered, flushing bright red again as Star began dragging him behind her. “But we just met.”

“Aww, that's okay. I can tell you're a good person, Marco,” she said over her shoulder, giving him another soft smile, all signs of sadness or worry gone, replaced with an infectious joy once again.

“O-Okay,” Marco whispered, allowing Star to lead him away to some unknown town. Maybe it wasn't the safest choice but he saw no other option and if he was being honest, he wanted to be around this strange, pretty girl. As they walked, Marco couldn't help but look down at their intertwined hands. Was this the first Mewman he had ever really interacted with before? He had never met any others, all his interactions consisting entirely of Toffee and the rest of the monsters. Was Star really his first Mewman, was she the first one to ever hold his hand or smile at him? The very thought of it made Marco's hand tingle, the warmth of his new companion's own hand making his heart pound. He smiled, glad to be around this pretty, yet strange girl, content in being in her presence.

…

As the two finally exited the forest, still hand in hand, Marco got his first glimpse of town. He stared wide-eyed at the medieval-esce town, taking everything in as Star led him quickly through the crowded streets. It was early morning so people were up and about, heading off to work and preparing for the long day ahead of them. Everywhere Marco looked he saw Mewmans, young and old, pushing past in the crowd, carrying carts of trade able goods and all manors of magical objects for bartering. As Star led him through the chaotic streets, he quickly noticed that everyone was stopping to stare at the two, watching their every move as they passed. Some people even bowed their heads, not daring to look either of them in the eyes. Marco, with his limited knowledge of Mewman ways, was unsure if this was normal behavior but he felt quite uncomfortable being the center of everyone's attention. Star didn't seem bothered, though, staring straight ahead, keeping a firm grip on Marco as she pushed her way through the crowded streets, giving everyone she passed a small smile.

Soon the crowd began to thin as Star led him to the very edge of her town, now walking along a small dirt road leading to a very large building, towering over the rest of the village. Marco stared in disbelief as he slowly took in the complex, beauty of Star's home . Unlike the small houses and huts the other Mewmans had seemed to live in, this house was huge, a large purple structure towering over all to see, its regal beauty almost blinding, its towers and pillars reaching so high, clouds covered some of them. A wall also wound its way around the structure, separating it even more from the lesser buildings in town, the only entrance in being a large gate, which the two were currently heading towards. There was no doubt about it, this building was a castle.

“You live in a castle?” Marco asked, unable to believe he and Star shared this rather strange thing in common.

“Of course,” Star replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe. “Princesses usually do.”

“Wait! You're a princess!!” Marco exclaimed, suddenly in awe of the blond girl his hand was currently intertwined with. Well, more than he already was.

“Yep, I'm Star Butterfly, magical princess of Mewni!” she said, giving her free arm a wave in front of her for emphasis, her wand creating a rainbow over the two.

“Whoa,” Marco whispered in awe, a grin on his face, not noticing the rainbow behind the two catching fire as they walked.

“So should I bow or something?” Marco asked, suddenly unsure what to do next, now that he was in the presence of royalty.

“Nah, you don't have to be so formal with me, Marco,” she said giving him a gentle push. “We're friends.”

“We are?” Marco asked in confusion, unsure how they could be friends after they had just met.

“Of course,” Star replied, almost sounding offended at the idea of them not being.

“Huh,” Marco said softly, deep in thought. “I've never had a friend before,” he admitted, looking at Star with the corner of his eye. Star gave him a look of sympathy.

“Well, now you do!” she exclaimed, squeezing his hand a little tighter, giving him a brain-numbing smile, which Marco returned.

“Now come on!” Star shouted, taking off at a faster pace, practically dragging Marco behind her.

…

Once the two reached the gates, Marco saw two guards standing at attention, holding large spears up, staring out at the rest of Mewni with blank, alert stares. They looked down at the two, hearing them approach quickly shouting, “Halt, who goes there!” They crossed their spears, glaring down at them, coldly. Marco, suddenly frightened, moved a little behind the girl, watching the two guards wearily.

Star, however, didn't seem put off at all over the two's behavior. “Hi Jak! Hi Dex!” she yelled, waving at the two with a smile.

“Princess Star!” the two exclaimed, immediately dropping to their knees, Marco jumping at the sudden action. “We're so sorry for not recognizing you right away, Your Majesty!” Jak said, keeping his eyes on the ground.

“Did you enjoy your trip into town?” Dex asked, giving her a smile. Jak immediately hit his friend and Dex recovered, staring at the ground once again.

“Yep,” Star said, giving a cute little nod. “And I found a friend. He'll be staying with us for a while, right Marco?” She turned to Marco, who stiffened as the guard's narrowing eyes came to rest on him and him alone. Marco gulped and hid further behind Star.

The two guards raised their eyebrows in confusion, turning to Star. “He's shy,” she explained. The two exchanged a look, before shrugging, the gates suddenly swinging open behind them. They stood at attention on either side, giving a salute, as they provided passage into the castle. Star dragged her new friend past the two, the boy eying them wearily, keeping himself as close to Star as he could.

The two continued on into the castle, hand in hand, the two guards watching them all the way.

Jak sighed turning to his companion. “Another orphan,” he said, shaking his head in sadness. “What's this world coming to?”

“I know, right,” Dex said, shaking his head in unison with his partner. “Those rotten monsters just never seem to stop. I don't know why the King and Queen don't just kill all of them and get it over with already.”

“Well at least the princess is still doing her part, bless her soul.”

“Yeah, keeping everyone's spirits up, taking in all those orphans, and now with the King and Queen off trying to resolve the monster issues, she's practically ruling Mewni all by herself.”

“And don't forget she just inherited the wand!”

“Man, that's gotta be tough.”

“I don't know how she does it.”

“Thank goodness for the princess, that's all I gotta say.”

The two were silent for a moment, each lost deep in their own thoughts.

“Seems like Star's the only light left in Mewni,” Jak whispered, Dex nodding in agreement.

…

Star left Marco alone in his new room, while she went and got the doctor. The moment the two parted, the door closing shut behind the blond, Marco felt lonely, already missing his new friend. Marco had no way to explain it but he felt a longing for her, wanting desperately to be in her company.

Marco sighed and looked around his new room. It was a fairly comfortable layout, the furniture well-furnished and, unlike his old room, it was more bright and colorful, giving him a warm, cozy feeling. Marco could see himself easily considering this place home, his worry and tension suddenly melting off of him, as his exhaustion finally caught up with him, his body still sore from the extremely eventful last twelve hours.

Marco walked over to the bed, running a hand along the comforter, admiring how soft if felt under his touch. He let out a deep yawn, feeling his whole swaying, barely able to keep himself standing. The bed suddenly felt like it was calling to him, begging him to envelop himself in its warmth. Marco did his best to stay awake, but he suddenly had no more energy to spare. He fell onto the bed, losing himself in its warmth and comfort, as he drifted off to sleep.

…

“He's right in here, doctor,” Star said, leading the doctor into Marco's new room. As they entered Star was surprised to find Marco was already asleep, his whole face peaceful, his body spread out on the bed, on top of his covers. The two just stared at the boy for a moment, an awkward silence filling the air.

“My,” the doctor finally said, adjusting his glasses. “He must have been through quite the ordeal.”

Star remained silent, just staring at the boy, as the doctor quickly went to work, examining his patient. He took his blood pressure, checked his heart and lungs, examined his scars, the whole process. After a while, Star took a seat at his desk, watching the medical professional at work. After about ten minutes or so the doctor finished his inspection as he began to put his instruments away. His movements were slow and Star noticed he seemed very worried about something. She felt fear overtake her as she slowly rose from the chair, coming to stand beside the distressed medic, with a questioning gaze.

“So doctor,” Star began slowly, her face the picture of worry as she addressed the doctor. “Is there a problem?”

“Well, he should be fine, he'll be sore for a while, but the injuries should heal in a few days. I'll prescribe some medicine to help with the aching,” the doctor spoke in a very professional manner, keeping his voice steady as he continued to pack his tools away into the small leather bag. But his face was still clearly unsettled, his professional demeanor still not able to mask his obvious fears.

“But...” Star said, urging the doctor to continue.

The doctor turned to her, he seemed hesitant but finally, he snapped his bag shut and asked, “How exactly did you say the boy got his injuries?”

Star was surprised by the question but she quickly replied, “He... fell out of a tree. Why, is there something else wrong with him?” Her voice cracked with fear, as she held the wand tightly up to her face, her eyes brimming with worried tears.

“While there are signs of simple scratches that could be caused by what you said, it's this one that worries me,” the doctor said pointing to a large scratch on Marco's arm, the one Star had spotted earlier. She looked at it closer, unlike the others it seemed to be in a more identical pattern, three long marks running across his skin, but Star saw little wrong with it. “What about it?”

“There is also one almost identical to it on his back. But from the looks of them they weren't caused from his falling. They seem to be... claw marks.”

“Claw marks!” Star screamed, before putting a hand over her mouth as Marco shifted uncomfortably in his sleep.

“It would seem so,” the doctor continued, adjusting his glasses.

“Like from a monster,” Star said, fear lacing her voice. Every Mewman knew that the monsters were dangerous killers. With every passing year they became more violent and destructive, openly opposing and killing them. No one was safe: man, women, or child. Star looked at the sleeping boy and couldn't help but fill a need to protect him, his mysterious past making her sympathetic and concerned. He had said he lost his parents, was this how. Had they died at the hands of horrid monster.

“Not just any monster,” the doctor said, his tone dark and Star waited with a held breath. “These claw marks could only be the work of Toffee.”

Star felt sick. “T-Toffee.” Every Mewman knew the name of the monster's feared leader. Fourteen years ago he had started a personal assault on the Mewmans and had killed an unimaginable number of them, pronouncing that they would pay for the deeds of the past. Everyone had grown to fear his name, any who faced him were guaranteed death. “But... that's impossible. No Mewman has ever come face to face with Toffee and lived.”

“I know, it confuses me too,” the doctor said, removing his glasses. “But I've examined hundred of bodies and the markings match up perfectly. It is definitely Toffee. I have no doubts.” Star went silent looking at the young boy, sleeping peacefully next to her. He looked so sweet and innocent, it made Star sick to think that he had not only lost his parents, to the monster's, but that he had come face to face with Toffee himself.

“It's also possible that the trauma could be causing memory loss, and from what you've told me this seems to be the case, it's best to distance him from anything that might trigger uncomfortable memories, best to allow them to come back on their own.” Star nodded but remained silent, staring at the boy. “On the other hand,” the doctor continued, more hesitant and Star turned to him. “He is the only Mewman to ever encounter Toffee and live, whatever information he has could prove-”

“No!” Star exclaimed, suddenly making the doctor jump, Marco moving in his sleep once again. “Marco has been through enough,” she continued, more quietly this time, but her voice still intense. “He doesn't need everyone getting into his head, making him remember things he doesn't want to.” Star's voice drifted off, her face suddenly sad, her eyes lost in a distant memory. “Nobody deserves to have their worst moments thrown back at them.”

The doctor watched the distraught princess realizing his mistake. “Forgive me, princess,” he said, bowing. “That was unacceptable behavior.”

Star gave him a wain smile, her eyes still glossed over with hurtful memories. “I-It's okay,” she said, her voice strained with hurt. The doctor, feeling it best to leave, rose once again and exited the room taking his bag with him. Star called to him just as he began stepping out the door and he turned back to his future ruler.

“Keep this between us. This conversation doesn't leave this room,” Star said, authority in her voice.

The doctor nodded. “Of course, princess,” he said, before closing the door, leaving Star and Marco alone. Star's eyes remained glossed over with pain, as she looked down at the snoozing Marco. She couldn't help but smile at him, finding the boy irresistibly cute. He seemed to be content in his sleep, a smile never leaving his lips. Star walked over to him, her facial features relaxing as she watched the boy breathing softly. After a moment, she reached a hand down and pulled the covers over him, tucking them in around the boy's slumbering form. Her hand lingered near his face and she gently smoothed out his messy hair. Unknowingly, the boy pulled into her touch and she felt a sudden urge to kiss his cheek. But she held it back, they had just met after all, she didn't want to rush things. Still there was something different about him, something Star wanted to learn more about. She felt close to him already, content in his presence, despite the fact they had known each other for less than an hour. But he was so easy to get along with, his wide-eyed innocence making him comfortable to be near, her normally forced cheer, feeling far less forced the more she was around the boy. Star wanted to spend more time with Marco, she wanted to get to know him, felt herself seeking his friendship.

Finally, she leaned in closer to him, whispering softly into his ear, “Don't worry Marco, I won't let anything happen to you. I'll take care of you.” Star's eyes shimmered as the boy subconsciously smiled at her words, not noticing her twin hearts shining bright pink in the early morning light. “I promise.”

#star vs #star vs au #My writing #Light of the Sun and Stars #Starco

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kontextmaschine · 7 years

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in the newest entry in “kontextmaschine is at least not young anymore”,

I did hella weeding in the side yard, like, I’m proud, after 3 years of this almost all the serious shit was gone there’s just these two harmless things, this one with leaves with 3 circular pods and a white flower stem in the middle

(I garden in the true pioneer folk fashion and make up my own name for everything, these are “starbases”)

and this one (”purple tab false mushroom”) that looks kind of like clover on an elongated stem until it starts getting purple tabs that grow into flowers and quickly catch pregnant, then dry and brown in place with the leaves pointing downwards looking like a bell-capped mushroom

and they’re types that take quick to loose disturbed soil, like where I took out the worse stuff

(there’s a part over there that I’m letting rougher stuff stay and anchor root the soil because it’s essentially a dune, I was like “why is this ground so sandy” and eventually my neighbour said that was where the last owners got a big dumpoff of sand and just left it. which was weird until I connected the dots to the Disney stickers on the spare bedroom door that the halfassed “raised bed” in the back yard was actually an overgrown sandbox)

anyway I cleared out a 240-liter green bin and a 30 gal plastic can worth of them, and then seeded the ground with (sun/sun&shade/shade mix) grass seed, hopefully this’ll be the last year of any effort and it’ll just be cleanup and mowing from there on

anyway think about all the bending over and all the hauling those bins, including semi-moist soil that stuck to the roots past a few shakes, and I was SO SORE

and I earnestly tried soaking my feet in Epsom salt bath for the first time

(interestingly, looking it up I got *more* woo about the power of the salt than I did in my SE Pennsylvania upbringing, where it was explained as “your skin lets things out easier than in so putting your feet in salty water makes homeostasis wick fluids out”)

and it felt good but I don’t know how good as vs. just elevating feet above the heart and it was tough to do both at once

that’s the part where I’m not young anymore

hey remember back in mid-2000s I Blame The Patriarchy where 2/100 posts would just be Twisty bitching about raising horses?

#gardening

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tumbalumps · 7 years

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Monsoon vs Bladewolf

Another pile of shit I wrote when I was high

Monsoon never could have predicted that such a mundane task like shopping would trigger such extraordinary events. It was early evening as the cyborg strolled around Lidls doing his weekly shop. His basket was almost full of his usual items - magnet polish, tooth whitener, hair straighteners, scrap metal, tarantulas and some oil to fry them in... There was only one more thing, perhaps the most important thing, that he needed to get. He turned into the alcohol aisle and spotted a lone flagon of white cider; the last one in the store. At the opposite end of the aisle was Bladewolf who had also been shopping for his essentials. His robot dog eyes were on the cider too. Sensing he may have competition, Monsoon decided to take no chances and dismembered himself to launch his speedy tornado move to get straight to the prize. Bladewolf launched into action and bound down the aisle with his artificial tongue flopped out. The pair collided inches away from their goal creating an explosion of spilled shopping items and Monsoon's body parts. "This cider's mine!" Monsoon declared pulling himself together and clasping a hand on the flagon. "Negative," Bladewolf responded in his monotonous robot voice as he wrapped his tail around the neck of the bottle. They exchanged deathly stares and did the only thing they knew how: fight. Monsoon pounced on him but Bladewolf was no easy prey. He tail whipped him in the face and flipped him off and soon they were rolling around the supermarket floor grappling for the cider like a pair of amateur wrestlers on Money in the Bank. During the struggle a strange feeling of Deju vu came over them and it dawned on them that they had met before. Ten years ago, in the early hours of a Saturday morning, they had just so happened to bump into each other whilst drunkenly staggering home from a club. Memories were vague but weird sexual activity had taken place in a phone box that never would have happened if they had been sober. Ashamed of themselves, they had gone their separate ways and repressed it as deeply as possible, never seeing each other again. Each wondered silently if the other was thinking the same and decided not to mention it, in the hope that they had forgotten. Meanwhile, the scuffle had attracted the attention of the security guards. Two stern looking cyborgs stood over them with their arms folded. "What's going on here then?" the first asked, raising an eyebrow. They yelled at the same time drowning each other out with their childish squabbling and resorting to hair and tail pulling. The security guards looked at each other and shook their heads. "If neither of you are willing to back down then you will have to share." "No way! I have won this!" "Negative. Failure of this mission would violate tonight's objective." The guard spoke firmly, "If you do not agree to share we'll have no choice but to ban you both from the store and report you to your bosses." It dawned on Monsoon that the consequences of this would be dire. Not only was this the only shop for miles but he did not want Armstrong to know he had been wrestling an AI dog on the floor for three litres of white cider. Regrettably there was no choice in the matter. They begrudgingly glared at each other and nodded.

Monsoon's apartment was bigger and the closest so they agreed to go there. Bladewolf planned to share a little with him then swipe it when his back was turned. Monsoon had no intention of sharing any at all (not with Bladewolf anyway). The first thing Bladewolf noticed about Monsoon's apartment was that it was one of a kind. His jaw dropped when he saw the living room. The carpet was invisible under a sea of what to the untrained eye looked like scrap metal. There were bits of tank, helicopter, car parts and set aside even some motorcycle parts. Some of them had the creepy purple Lorentz aura about them. The leather sofa was covered in them too leaving only a small space for a single person to sit down. Plant pots were dotted around in random places and numerous Richard Dawkins and Hendrik Lorentz pictures hung on the wall as if Monsoon worshipped them as gods. The last thing he spotted was propped up in the corner: that damn, godforsaken, unholy Wheel. He would stay as far away from that thing as possible. The so called living room appeared as nothing more than a magnetic scrap metal lab. Bladewolf concluded that it most definitely deviated from the social norms he was programmed with. Monsoon spied the stunned look on his face and explained, "It's simply the way things are; this way I know where everything is so it’s easier and more efficient. It's who I am see. All is as it should be." "We shall be needing some glasses. Do you think you could find some amongst all your weird shit?" Bladewolf shot back, realising that perhaps he had been learning too much of Raiden's vocabulary. Monsoon grunted and reluctantly fetched two half pint glasses. He would permit Bladewolf to that before he booted him out of his house and kept the cider. He also permitted him to sit on the only seat in the room, but only so he could creep him out by sitting on the ceiling. To his annoyance, Bladewolf did not seem phased by this, he was an AI afterall. An uncomfortable silence fell on the room, which Monsoon broke by disconnecting his hand and rifling through Bladewolf's shopping bag. "Let's see what you got, shall we," he grinned snidely at him. "Ooh a squeaky toy, a dog dish, Pedigree Chum... What's this? A leash, dog collar, a Brazillian edition pot noodle and WKD! Tell me: what would a dumb AI dog want with those?" "I see no reason to share my objectives with you," Bladewolf answered coldly. "Do as you please!" yelled Monsoon angrily as he necked his cider in one. "I've got my own objectives to attend to." Rattled, he threw the shopping bag down purposely spilling all the contents and scurried into the kitchen, which was also covered in various vehicle parts leaving only a small space on the worktop and cooker. There was something that bothered him about Bladewolf's shopping list. He put it down to nothing more than paranoia and began making preparations for dinner: fried tarantulas with crickets as a garnish - they were a delicacy in Cambodia. He only made the effort to cook on special occasions or when entertaining guests. All he had to do was get rid of Bladewolf before the said guest arrived. Bladewolf padded into the kitchen curious about what the unusual smell was. Tarantulas! What the hell! But that was not the only odd thing he noticed; "I calculate that the portion sizes are inadequate for just a singular meal. Are we expecting company or is this strange concoction for me?" "I see no reason to share my objectives with you!" Monsoon shot back sarcastically. Bladewolf scowled and headed back into the living room as the smell of fried spiders became overwhelming. He figured the extra meal probably wasn't for him and he dreaded to think what kind of people Monsoon mixed with. If they were anything like him then the situation would become even more awkward; one was bad enough. He may have had some weird tendancies, however he wasn't stupid and had taken all necessary precautions to guard the precious cider in keeping it right next to his fryer amongst bits of magnetic scrap. A distraction was needed. Heading back into the so-called living room, Bladewolf pondered over tactics. For reasons his giant intellect could not fathom, he got a weird kick out of antagonising the cyborg. He found him strangely intriguing: a worthy opponent. He was drawn to one of the plant pots, (which looked oddly out of place amongst all the mechanical equipment) to see what he was growing. There were some pretty pink flowers alongside some psychodelic looking mushrooms that were probably best avoided. Bladewolf smirked and pushed the pot off the ledge. Monsoon heard the smash and came dashing in, "What are you doing you stupid clumsy mutt?" Bladewolf replied with a hint of smugness, "Oh erm.. I apologise. I seem to have broken one of your Pol Pots." "What did you say?" Monsoon snarled. He was very sensitive about the traumatic childhood he had spent on the killing fields. "Plant pots." Monsoon gave him a death stare that was invisible from underneath his dome. A fake smile appeared to mask his plotting, "Oh, I must have misheard you. I suppose it’s OK I've got loads more." Bladewolf looked at him suspiciously. Why was he suddenly being nice? Monsoon's grin spread, "How about we try and be amicable towards each other seeing as we will be sharing this cider." "Your terms seem acceptable." "Good doggy. How about we play some fetch?" he said whipping out the stick he'd stolen from his shopping bag. Bladewolf's tail wagged furiously; he was a sucker for a game of fetch. The fact that Monsoon was willing to play it with him almost made up for how obnoxious he had been earlier in the supermarket. He happily followed him into the garden jumping up and down in excitement. Monsoon had a huge grin on his face that was difficult to read without seeing his eyes. Was he wide-eyed and full of joy or scowling sinisterly? Was he to be trusted? He tossed the stick far into the garden and it disappeared into a bush. Perfect; it was the ideal cover for him to perform his stealth attack... Bladewolf fell for it hook, line and sinker; he darted across the garden to the shrubs, only to find that the stick had been replaced by one of Monsoon's detached legs, which swiftly sprang into action and booted him in the face. Damn that crafty cyborg! He decided he had to up his game... Monsoon retreated back into his kitchen, chuckling maniacally to himself as Bladewolf lay whimpering and injured on his side. His fried tarantulas were almost cooked to perfection. The timing was perfect for his date were due to arrive very soon. Nevertheless a quick codec call to make sure he was on his way wouldn't hurt. 'Good evening my love. I trust you are on your way. I have prepared an exquisite meal for us. I am looking forward to seeing you.'

Meanwhile, in a nearby motel room, Jetstream Sam sat up in bed and wiped his brow after enjoying a steamy session with Raiden, who lay flat out exhausted next to him. He reached over to the bedside table and discreetly checked his codec. It had only been abandoned for a mere hour but already had several messages left on it. He sighed - it was hard being as popular as he was. It was even harder still to satisfy the tremendous sex drive he had... No singular cyborg, human or animal had managed to fulfill it, which is how he justified enjoying them all. "Who's calling you?" Raiden mustered up the last of his strength to ask. "Don't worry, nobody as good as you, pretty boy," Sam smiled, playfully running his fingers through his hair. It was true, Raiden held the largest place in his heart (still that didn't give him the right to be so possessive!) but there were things he craved that he just couldn't satisfy. That was where Monsoon and Bladewolf came into it... He had dates with both of them lined up. Monsoon harboured some of the kinkiest freakiest fetishes that not even the darkest XXX website catered for, while Bladewolf would be his loyal unquestioning servant and do anything he wanted just like the obedient dog he was... And the beauty of it was none of the three were likely to speak to one another so he could use the same puny excuse to get away and have each think he was their one and only. "You know I have VR training to go to," he smiled at Raiden. "I know," Raiden said glumly. "Same time tomorrow though?" "Of course. I'm missing you already." He kissed him and departed for Monsoon’s place, smiling to himself, “I’m just getting started!”

Bladewolf padded back into the house after escaping the rogue limb, his pride literally dented. Analysis of that damn Monsoon, who stood frying his tarantulas with that infuriating grin on his face, concluded that he really was a smug, creepy weirdo and it was just as well that he had that big thing on his head to contain his ego. But it was OK, he would have the last laugh. For now he would let him think that he had the upper hand while he planned his next move. In the living room, in pride of place above all the junk and hanging on the wall were Dystopia, Monsoon's precious Sais. It was where he hung them when he was at home and not ripping people to shreds on the battle field. If there was a way of getting to him, then this was certainly it. So... Monsoon wanted to play fetch? If he was going to get treated like a dog then surely the only thing to do would be to act like one! He tore them from their throne and pinned them down with his metal paws like a hungry predator going in for the kill. It was in a dog's nature to maul and chew things of value. A regular dog would go for things like furniture, slippers or newspaper but he was a cyborg dog with razor sharp metal teeth that could tear up much more. The Sais were infused with Lorentz, which made them a little tough, nevertheless he managed to leave some jagged teeth marks as he slobbered and savaged them as if they were a bone. Monsoon would be furious... On hearing the feral growling from the kitchen, the cyborg dashed in to see what destruction he was causing. It was to his complete and utter horror that his beloved Dystopia were being mauled by that vile mutt! "What the hell do you think you are doing? How dare you!" he bellowed. Bladewolf looked up a sweet look of satisfaction upon his face to see the enraged Cambodian launch himself at him. He should have expected a revenge attack! Yet again, they became embroiled in a whirlwind of metallic body parts grappling at each other on the floor, hair and tail pulling like children. Once again the feeling of deja-vu swept over them. The claws of Bladewolf scraped down his attacker’s face, slicing one of the few human parts he had left. Monsoon’s artificial heart thudded and his skin tingled. Obviously, he felt more pain to his actual flesh than his cyborg body would permit and the scratch gave a jolt to his senses and made him feel alive! A desire he could not understand nor control took hold of his senses and in the grip of its vice he pinned Bladewolf onto his back and ran his tongue along his snout. Bladewolf’s eyes widened with curiosity and the same unknown feeling took hold of him too…

Drawing ever closer was Jetstream Sam, after taking a quick shower to erase the smell of he and Raiden’s bodily fluids from their earlier encounter. He felt as fresh as a daisy but of course it wouldn’t last if past experiences with Monsoon were anything to go by. He was a kinky devil and such an attentive lover! His hair slick back in his usual ponytail he walked up Monsoon’s street with a cocky swagger in his step and a cheeky grin on his tanned face. What sort of fetish would he be indulging in today? He tapped the heavy front door but there was no response. Strange noises could be heard inside: rhythmic grunting and moans… Sam was intrigued so tried the handle. Monsoon usually left it unlocked when he was expecting him although he liked to knock just out of politeness. However the door was open. Nothing could have prepared Sam for what he was about to see.

There was Bladwolf being pinned to the ground by Monsoon who was holding him by the scruff with one hand while violently fisting him with the other. A twisted expression was upon Bladewolf’s face as he yelped and Sam was unsure as to whether or not he was enjoying himself or just in vast amounts of pain. There was no such doubt with Monsoon though; his sadistic grin was spread ear to ear. It was at least a minute before either of them noticed that they were being watched but Sam was more than happy to watch the show. “Ahem…” Sam said clearing his throat. The interruption startled them. Bladewolf was mortified – he had genuine feelings for Sam and did not want him to think of him as being disloyal. On the other hand, Monsoon could not have cared less because he had no interest in being in an exclusive relationship, or any kind of relationship for that matter other than a sexual one. “Sam… why are you here?” Bladewolf asked. “I could ask you the same question,” Sam said, intrigued. “This stupid mutt was helping me warm up for you,” Monsoon grinned. “He was just leaving.” “Well, let’s not be too hasty,” Sam said, the corner of his lips curling into his own cheeky grin... "Let's dance!"

#monsoon #bladewolf #jetstream sam #fanfiction #cider

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ginnyzero · 4 years

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Completely Harmless Ch. 34

Completely Harmless An SSO SilverGlade Re-imagining Story (Or Fix it Fan Salt fic) By Ginny O.

When Lily and her friends wanted to buy horses and were directed to the Silverglade Manor and its myriad of problems, they didn’t expect to start a revolution. They were just a bunch a stable girls. Completely harmless. Right?

A/N: Things are only canon if I say they’re canon. Pre-Saving the Moorland Stables compliant for the most part. Posted in its entirety on my website. Posted in 2000 to 4000 word bits here. Rated T for Swearing Word Count 177,577

Chapter Thirty-Four Elizabeth Sunbeam Vs. Baroness Silverglade

They had a ton of mail the next day. Derek moaned how many letters he had to deliver and why couldn’t someone help him. There’d be a nice reward in it for them. He smiled in what they guessed he thought was in a charming way.

“Oh, fine,” Lily rolled her eyes. Derek passed her a bunch of letters. She split them among the girls and they took off to all parts out of the county taking the transports to make it faster. Lily delivered one to the Baroness herself. The Baroness read it and snorted. “That old fool,” she said with a fond smile. “Let me write him back.”

Lily waited and the Baroness gave her a card to give to Jasper. Lily wasn’t sure she wanted to know when Jasper lit up like a light bulb.

Lily returned to Silverglade Village and waited. The other girls came back laughing hysterically at the cards they’d delivered.

Derek pretended he had secret admirer packages for each of them. No one believed it for a moment. They were lovely bows in red. He got a string of kisses on his cheek that made him blush a deep red.

Kate snagged them while they were finishing up with Derek at Silverglade Village. She gave Derek a look. “What did you do to him?”

Lily shrugged.

They trotted off while Derek tried to attend to the next customer.

“That rainbow has been crashing everywhere!” Kate hissed. “Didn’t you see it yesterday?”

“Yes. We did.” Lily said.

“I mean, like every half an hour, all over the county!” Kate waved her hands.

“Have you caught Brogan?”

“You mean the little red guy. Yeah, we found him in the Mirror Marsh. He wanted honey. Then he took off, the little sneak.”

“We’ll keep an eye out for both things,” Lily said.

They stayed long enough to take selfies at the selfi wall. They’d forgotten yesterday. Then it was on to Firgrove and the Red String Trail Ride.

They gathered at the fire at the end of the trail and several muttered about appropriation. There wasn’t really much they could do about it. With Lily and Pauline in the lead, they headed up the trail. Hidden among the flowers and bushes were little foxes.

It started to shower lightly.

As they came to a bend in the path, a cow rested under a tree with their legs folded under them.

Before any of them could do or say anything, a silvery flying disc whipped around the mountain, the bottom opened shining light on the cow and it was sucked up into the UFO mooing helplessly.

“I hope no one important owned that heifer,” Pauline said.

“Um,” Lily gestured.

“Have you seen the UFO yet above the North Paddock?” Pauline asked. “It’s a trip. I’ll have to take you up there. Like, some people believe that Aideen was really the leader of these horse aliens and the horse aliens became what started the Jorvik Warmblood Sport line?”

“So, starbreeds?” Lily asked.

“Anyways, the aliens gave up most of their sentience to trap this squid like alien that had fallen to Jorvik with a meteor into a plane of existence where he couldn’t hurt anyone. Aideen was the only one left and she took on human form and started the druids and found four girls to be her champions naming them soul riders. They control the special powers of the Light in case the alien squid ever broke free.”

Regina knew the reference. “You mean, like Cthulhu. You know H.G. Wells made him up, right?”

“You mean, like Garnok,” Lily said.

Pauline shrugged. “It’s a bunch of stories that the druids believe.”

They turned around a sharp corner.

Lightning struck the path ahead of them. They stopped. The mountain shuddered and a bunch of rock came tumbling down.

“Are we sure this is safe?” Melody asked.

They waited until it was clear and started again.

They path climbed upwards and the rain faded away. Linda and Alex were looking down over Firgrove Forest from the path.

“Hey!” they said.

“We’re headed to the top,” Lily wrinkled her nose.

Elsa piped up. “Obviously.”

“Want to ride with us?” Lily asked with a glare at Elsa.

Elsa grinned at her.

“Sure,” Linda said.

As they headed up, Linda and Alex talked a bit about the ride.

More stones blocked the path, the only way forward was across a large broad tree trunk.

“Hmm, one at a time,” Alex said. “Tin Can and I will go first.”

Tin Can readily hopped onto the log and carefully walked across.

“See, safe as houses!” Alex called back.

The girls rolled their eyes and took the tree trunk one at a time. There was more path on the other side, and it took a shallow dip before heading upwards.

A shallow dip full of sheep, that is. The black and white sheep bawled their lungs out, the bells on their necks chiming as they headed down the hill. Behind them, Andy waved at the riders.

As the path turned, there was a huge ring of mushrooms that they all carefully avoided.

They approached the top and tied red strings to the long lines left for them to do that.

Linda and Alex didn’t think it was the same without Lisa and Anne.

“We’ll find them,” Lily said. “You’re part of our sisterhood now.”

“And we get things done.”

“I mean, we’re stable girls.”

“Horse girls.”

“And horse girls make armies.”

“Completely harmless armies.”

“Yes, completely harmless.”

Lily grinned as the girls chirped up in turn. She nudged Linda. “It��s too late to back out now.”

Linda grinned.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, Lins, one day, you’re going to write the story about us and how we forged friendships and protected Jorvik from unspeakable evil.”

“James?” Lily teased.

Alex shuddered, but she did grin. “Little brothers are evil.”

“He’d say that about big sisters,” Linn told her.

Linda grinned.

“Well,” Alex stretched. “I’m ready for cake!”

“Me too,” Grace agreed.

Meteor whuffled.

Linda laughed. “Meteor is always ready for more food. You’re a greedy beast, my friend.”

Meteor turned his head and nuzzled Linda’s knee. She patted his nose.

After taking pictures of the lake below them, tsking about how even from here they could see that the water was green, they headed back. Curious about the blocked off trail, Lily went down it. Linda went with her. Over the curve of the mountain she could see twisted branches surrounded by white floating lights.

Carefully riding up the side but not going over, Lily looked over the edge. “What’s that?”

“I think it’s a primeval tree,” Linda said and pushed up her glasses. “I’ve seen references to them in books. They’re as old as Jorvik itself.”

Lily carefully backed her horse down. “You mean Aideen planted them.”

“Or her power caused them to appear,” Linda shrugged.

“I’m glad you came with me,” Lily said and fished the seal out of her pocket. “I found this hidden in Fort Pinta.” She passed it to Linda.

“That’s the seal of the Sun Circle.”

“It’s the symbol on Elizabeth’s robes.”

“The Sun Circle is one of the sections of the druids, or the Keepers of Aideen,” Linda said. “I also don’t know much about them. That wasn’t my talent.”

“Lisa?”

“No, Anne actually,” Linda examined it. “I can research this if you like.”

“It was under the Governor’s statue hidden behind the name plate.”

“Not very well, then,” Linda mumbled.

“Not at all,” Lily agreed.

They reached the fallen rocks and turned their horses down into the little valley under the tree and were able to reach the main path from there.

Linda tucked the seal away. “Don’t tell anyone about it until I find out what it’s for,” she murmured.

“Didn’t plan on it. Plus, we’re a bit busy. So, have you been up to see the UFO?”

Linda sniffed. “If it’s been identified, it’s no longer a UFO.”

Lily grinned.

“But has it really been identified?” Tyra asked. “I mean, the metal is like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

Linda rolled her eyes.

Between Firgrove and Valedale at the lake, the rainbow crashed. It didn’t precisely put a damper on doing the ‘Trail of Love’ around the lake. Since, all the piles of dirt were along the trail. It certainly made it a bit more interesting. None of them had beaus to do the Trail of Love decorated with rose swags and rose arches and plenty of balloons with after all. So, they were able to joke about it.

On the excuse of looking for piles of dirt for rainbow gold, Lily was able to get close enough to the Dark Core site to see that they didn’t actually have any papers posted. The guard warned her off.

Lily left. There wasn’t anything to be done about it now. They had sturdy fences too with barbed wire. Those were going to have to come down.

Returning the gold to Chaun they went down the trail to the other side of Valedale and the Hollow Woods.

The craft tents to make rose wreaths had been set up across from the Championship and behind the house of one of the druids. They made wreathes of yellow roses and went across the bridge to the stable to claim their charm from Claire.

And as they did, a very familiar car pulled up. Godfrey parked it, got out of the driver’s seat and buttoned his suit jacket shut before opening the back door and holding out his hand. Baroness Silverglade took it and slid out of the back with her feet appearing first and then the rest of her.

Lily approached her. “Good morning, Baroness.”

“Is it?” The Baroness asked with a raised brow.

Lily blinked. “That depends on how it has been going, I suppose.”

“The pictures on Jorvikgram have been very illuminating,” the Baroness said. She turned to face the waterfall. Her jaw clenched slightly. “Nice hat,” she said.

Lily twitched. It was a complete and total non sequitur. “Thanks.”

Folding her hands in front of her, the Baroness strode off to Elizabeth’s cottage.

Lily followed her on her horse. She wasn’t about to forsake the high ground or let the Baroness face Elizabeth alone. Not that Lily thought the Baroness expressly needed her help.

“Ms. Sunbeam,” the Baroness said.

Elizabeth smiled, but it was frosty and polite. “Baroness Silverglade.”

“Let’s dispense with the pleasantries. We’re civilized people. Tell me, Ms. Sunbeam, what are your plans for dealing with the corruption of the waters that has risen on your watch of this village?”

Elizabeth paled. “I’m not at fault here.”

“You’re the de facto leader of this village, and I’ve allowed it as this is a small place without the necessary population for a representative council. The druids have long made their home here in Valedale and I have respected your ties to this town. This,” the baroness gestured, “is a gross abuse of that trust.”

“That is to be blamed on Dark Core, not upon us.”

The Baroness took a step forward. “When were you going to tell me about this? Why did I have to hear about it from a third party?”

Elizabeth’s eyes flicked to Lily.

“It wasn’t Lily’s responsibility,” the Baroness said voice hard. “This was happening before she learned about it. This is going to affect half the Barony, more, if it gets into the water table. There’s a duty of care towards these people, the people in your village.”

“I tasked Avalon,” Elizabeth started.

“Avalon,” the Baroness’ voice turned sharp. “That dreamer,” she gathered her skirt in one hand and stalked down the hill and over the bridge.

Elizabeth hurried after her. “Baroness,” she said.

“Avalon,” the Baroness barked. “Your attention in this realm of existence, now.”

The druid pacing back and forth in front of his house stopped. “I am here and now. It’s very hard to contemplate and concentrate with all these people tramping about.”

The Baroness stopped in front of him. She met his eyes. “The waters, Avalon. Ms. Sunbeam says she tasked you with taking care of it passing on responsibility.”

“Hmm, well, I was going to convince them to leave, but the girls wouldn’t help me,” Avalon said in a low voice.

“What he means,” Lily spoke up, “Baroness Silverglade, that he wanted Kate and the other girls to drug the Dark Core members and then they’d be compelled to leave.”

The Baroness trembled. “For as long as the drug lasted. Do you truly believe that Mr. Sands would give up that quickly?”

Avalon hummed.

The Baroness shook her head. “Their fear of him is stronger than any drugged suggestion by you. And asking young women to do your dirty work, Avalon, that’s beneath your honor.”

“I have much,” Avalon started.

“I don’t want to hear it,” the Baroness’ voice was like a slap. “No one,” her voice rose, “is to drink from the Silversong until this is sorted out. We will have to bring in water from Dundull after it has been tested to be safe.” She turned to Elizabeth. “I will deal with this, and consider yourself on probation, Ms. Sunbeam.” The Baroness stalked past her.

Elizabeth glared at Lily.

“And don’t blame Lily,” the Baroness said over her shoulder. “You brought this on yourself when the first thing you did was nothing. Also, you’re three times Lily’s age and know better. If you are going to say you’re Aideen’s shield, be Aideen’s shield, and defend Jorvik.” The Baroness said and was then out of earshot.

“You’re going to bring trouble down on all of Jorvik,” Elizabeth said.

“Trouble has already knocked down the gates.”

“You’re not the one to take it on.”

“You’re waiting on someone? That’s all Mr. Sands has to do to win is continue to move while you wait for someone, I take it, special. You have a hammer, Ms. Sunbeam. Unfortunately, not every problem is a nail.”

Avalon choked.

“If Mr. Sands and the G. E.D. are going to do business in the real world, business that you also do in the real and mundane world. They’re going to have to deal with what the mundane world requires. If Mr. Sands is as old or older than I believe he is, then he knows this and his neglect to follow procedures is a sign of his absolute arrogance and self-assurance that you will do nothing to hinder him. And so far, he’s been right.”

Lily’s horse sneezed into Elizabeth’s face.

“If you had gotten to it quickly, you could have used your hammer, Ms. Sunbeam,” Lily said. “Now, we’re going to require a crowbar. It is much easier to stop something before it starts, then to get rid of something that’s been entrenched. Dark Core are entrenched on that mountain with one way in and one way out.”

Elizabeth pressed her lips together and refused to budge.

Lily didn’t care. Her horse cavorted around Elizabeth as she rejoined her friends on the other side of the bridge. They had a special orienteering exercise to do and a harpist to listen to.

They did run into Brogan again. His cauldron was stuck in some briars. They got it out for him and away he popped before they could snatch him up by the collar.

Little pest.

Listening to the harpist calmed Lily down and they decided to spend the rest of the afternoon back in Firgrove listening to the talent show Mr. Wetton was using to recruit new talent.

Sure, most of the performers probably weren’t going to be the greatest, but the air was warm and the grass soft.

Also, the rainbow crashed in the field nearby more than once.

It was by all accounts, an idyllic afternoon.

That evening they headed out to Dundull for their bonfire trail and then the romantic lake side ride after it. They braided leather headbands and bracelets and made earrings out of feathers collected in Dundull forest. A handsome ranger was the one to hand out charms much to the giggles of most the girls.

Mistfall was an extremely tranquil, if a bit manicured, forest. The rainbow decorations stirred slightly in the breezes and the trees that had white bark and red leaves were quite romantic. Lily could see the appeal.

Not that she wanted to leave Silverglade Equestrian Center. They were invested.

FOR THE ACCOMPANYING IMAGES PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE MY WATERMARK AND CONTACT INFORMATION. THANK YOU. I get it. Some of you might get excited and want to see this stuff in the game, especially the clothes, tack, and pets. However, the only way I want to see this in the game is if I get paid for it. If I see it in the game and I’m not paid for it, there will be hell to pay. You think I’m salty. I’d be angry. Personally, I’m not going to send this info to SSO. If you do, leave my contact information there! Don’t give them any excuses to steal.

Now, I’ll know you haven’t read this note if you leave me comments about how ‘salty’ I am about the game and if I hate it so much I should do something else. I am doing something else. It’s called Mystic Riders MMORPG Project. Mystic Riders however is a very baby phase game. You can check out our plans on the game dev blog. (Skills, Factions, Professions, Crafting, Mini-Games, 25+ horse breeds!) If you know anyone who would be interested and has money or contacts about game making, direct them to the blog.

#star stable #sso #star stable online #fan fic #jorvik reimagined #star stable salt #completely harmless #rainbow week #silverglade reimagined #many nods to ruth westside #a wandering plot appears

0 notes

lins-fandom-hub · 5 years

Text

weird asks thing

from this post

okay here we go

1. coffee mugs, teacups, wine glasses, water bottles, or soda cans?

Tea cups and coffee mugs! Not that I’m a firm collector. I just happen to have them is all.

2. chocolate bars or lollipops?

Chocolate bars.

3. bubblegum or cotton candy?

Cotton Candy!!

4. how did your elementary school teachers describe you?

Hyper, not very cooperative, loud

5. do you prefer to drink soda from soda cans, soda bottles, plastic cups or glass cups?

Soda bottles, though I wouldn’t mind glass cups.

6. pastel, boho, tomboy, preppy, goth, grunge, formal or sportswear?

Huh? I...tend to go casual, and the colour scheme doesn’t matter to me much. I’d say tomboy if I have to pick from this list though.

7. earbuds or headphones?

Headphones--if I could find a nice pair.

8. movies or tv shows?

Movies. I don’t know any TV shows.

9. favorite smell in the summer?

Freshly cut grass after mowing the lawn.

10. game you were best at in p.e.?

Don’t even talk to me about P.E. The only thing I remember from it was the stress that dodgeball brought around.

11. what you have for breakfast on an average day?

Eggs, bread, oatmeal. Nothing too fancy. Sometimes I actually make a breakfast sandwich with avocados and cheese, but if said items weren’t in the fridge...

12. name of your favorite playlist?

Windows Down 2k18. Has tracks from many different artists and eras that I actually like to listen to. No classical though, that’s another playlist.

13. lanyard or key ring?

Lanyard. Can’t get enough of them back in university.

14. favorite non-chocolate candy?

Fuzzy Peaches.

15. favorite book you read as a school assignment?

The Magician’s Nephew by C. S. Lewis.

16. most comfortable position to sit in?

Mermaid pose? On the floor, at least.

17. most frequently worn pair of shoes?

A pair of black Adidas shoes my mom recently bought this year for me and my sister. Turns out that my sister wears the white pair more while I wear the black. Not that I mind.

18. ideal weather?

Sunny with no chance of rain.

19. sleeping position?

Mostly on my right side all curled up.

20. preferred place to write (i.e., in a note book, on your laptop, sketchpad, post-it notes, etc.)?

Depends on my mood. Sometimes my computer for fanfic novels. Sometimes my notebook if I have secrets to spill.

21. obsession from childhood?

Does Disney count?

22. role model?

Idina Menzel.

23. strange habits?

Talking to myself (a lot), singing at my desk (or humming), twirling my pencil too much.

24. favorite crystal?

White Calcite.

25. first song you remember hearing?

Ummm...the wheels on the bus? I can’t remember.

26. favorite activity to do in warm weather?

Walk around the park and catch Pokemon (in Pokemon GO).

27. favorite activity to do in cold weather?

Go ice skating!

28. five songs to describe you?

“Speechless” - Naomi Scott

“Blown Away” - Carrie Underwood

“I Dare You” - Bea Miller

“Bless Myself” - Lucy Hale

“Can’t Be Tamed” - Miley Cyrus

29. best way to bond with you?

Walk through the park with me. Or talk about stuff with me. Anything, really, so long as it doesn’t bore either of us.

30. places that you find sacred?

Any place that holds a tall temple.

31. what outfit do you wear to kick ass and take names?

a pair of denim shorts and a black t-shirt. or if it’s in the winter, a pair of jeans and a comfy hoodie.

32. top five favorite vines?

I don’t watch vines. Welp.

33. most used phrase in your phone?

Welp.

34. advertisements you have stuck in your head?

For a while it was this Liberty ad I remember watching while I was in the States, but that’s pretty much it...

35. average time you fall asleep?

On school nights, 12 am or so, maybe 2 am at latest. Right now, about 10 pm or so.

36. what is the first meme you remember ever seeing?

anything involving grumpy cat.

37. suitcase or duffel bag?

Suitcase! Makes things feel more official.

38. lemonade or tea?

Lemonade.

39. lemon cake or lemon meringue pie?

Lemon meringue pie!

40. weirdest thing to ever happen at your school?

At least once a term it’s turned into the biggest Humans vs Zombies war zone ever.

41. last person you texted?

my mom

42. jacket pockets or pants pockets?

jacket pockets!

43. hoodie, leather jacket, cardigan, jean jacket or bomber jacket?

Hoodies!

44. favorite scent for soap?

Anything floral works.

45. which genre: sci-fi, fantasy or superhero?

Fantasy.

46. most comfortable outfit to sleep in?

my pyjamas!

47. favorite type of cheese?

Havarti. But that’s because I eat it so often.

48. if you were a fruit, what kind would you be?

Probably a grape. Or a bunch of grapes.

49. what saying or quote do you live by?

“When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” ~Thomas Jefferson

50. what made you laugh the hardest you ever have?

Any GIF from Hamilton the Musical.

51. current stresses?

Job searching and updating stories on Wattpad.

52. favorite font?

Comic Sans--NOPE. Tahoma or Verdana, I guess.

53. what is the current state of your hands?

Fairy smooth, I guess? Though the nails are misshapen due to my horrendous attempts at cutting them, and my pinkies are curved due to genetics passed down from generations past. Whee.

54. what did you learn from your first job?

I learned that not everyone will treat you with the same respect, and that you have to look past that flaw to give them a chance.

55. favorite fairy tale?

The Goose Girl.

56. favorite tradition?

Anything Chinese New Year related.

57. the three biggest struggles you’ve overcome?

Depression in the wake of my grandfather’s death; lack of confidence after my parents’ condemning; lack of concentration following a head injury

58. four talents you’re proud of having?

Playing the piano, playing the violin, singing on pitch, and opening bottles with lids screwed on too tightly.

59. if you were a video game character, what would your catchphrase be?

“Don’t even try to mess with me.”

60. if you were a character in an anime, what kind of anime would you want it to be?

I don’t even know the first thing about Anime, so I don’t even know how to answer this.

61. favorite line you heard from a book/movie/tv show/etc.?

“That’s my girlfriend, you numpties!” ~Ron Weasley

62. seven characters you relate to?

Anna - Frozen

Rapunzel - Tangled

Katniss - The Hunger Games

Tris - Divergent

Rowan - HPHM

[insert 2 other characters here]

63. five songs that would play in your club?

“Turn Down for What” - DJ Snake ft Lil John

“High Hopes” - Panic! At the Disco

“Dance, Dance” - Fall Out Boy

“Victorious” - P!ATD

“Kill This Love” - BLACKPINK

64. favorite website from your childhood?

Webkinz.com or Poptropica.com

65. any permanent scars?

One on my right knee from an unfortunate slip on ice in the winter four years ago.

66. favorite flower(s)?

Daisies, lilies, or tulips.

67. good luck charms?

depends on whatever holds more sentimental value. For now, it’s a little Niffler that I crocheted off a YouTube tutorial (and its name is Nuggets.)

68. worst flavor of any food or drink you’ve ever tried?

I typically don’t like anything too spicy, but I really hate the taste of mushrooms. Not the Asian ones--Baby Bellas, specifically. Just...no.

69. a fun fact that you don’t know how you learned?

Currently not applicable.

70. left or right handed?

Right handed.

71. least favorite pattern?

Huh?

72. worst subject?

Gym.

73. favorite weird flavor combo?

I’ll get back to you on that.

74. at what pain level out of ten (1 through 10) do you have to be at before you take an advil or ibuprofen?

7 or 8.

75. when did you lose your first tooth?

I was...five or six? Still fairly young.

76. what’s your favorite potato food (i.e. tater tots, baked potatoes, fries, chips, etc.)?

Anything that’s a mix of fries or tater tots! Those are just--mm.

77. best plant to grow on a windowsill?

I’m not much of a plant-grower but any small plant works fine.

78. coffee from a gas station or sushi from a grocery store?

Sushi from a grocery store, please.

79. which looks better, your school id photo or your driver’s license photo?

School ID photo.

80. earth tones or jewel tones?

Jewel tones.

81. fireflies or lightning bugs?

Fireflies. What are lightning bugs??

82. pc or console?

Console--and here I wish I still had one!

83. writing or drawing?

Writing.

84. podcasts or talk radio?

Talk radio.

84. barbie or polly pocket?

Barbie--mostly because I didn’t know Polly Pocket existed until I was like 10 or 11.

85. fairy tales or mythology?

Fairy tales.

86. cookies or cupcakes?

Cupcakes! Cookies! Can I say both???

87. your greatest fear?

People stabbing me to death with nothing but words of betrayal on their lips.

88. your greatest wish?

Hey, if I told you that, it wouldn’t come true.

89. who would you put before everyone else?

My little sister.

90. luckiest mistake?

Haven’t had any recently.

91. boxes or bags?

Boxes.

92. lamps, overhead lights, sunlight or fairy lights?

Sunlight!

93. nicknames?

Never had any, though someone in an old English class I used to teach thought it’d be funny to call me Crayola.

94. favorite season?

Spring!

95. favorite app on your phone?

Pokemon GO for now.

96. desktop background?

A picture I took last summer of a monarch butterfly landing on a pink flower.

97. how many phone numbers do you have memorized?

None? Okay, like, 3, but mostly because they’re really important numbers.

98. favorite historical era?

Music speaking, the Classical era. Otherwise, I don’t know, I haven’t studied that extensively into history.

#this took me way too long #rip #about clara lin #about me #legit though

0 notes

mechagalaxy · 6 years

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Mushroom Cloud

Smurf Platoon vs Defenders of Bunny

The sign of the mushroom cloud in the sky means that weapons of mass destruction have been employed. Usually nukes, but sometimes it is not the combination of fissile materials like plutonium and beryllium, but sometimes less stable materials can be used. Smurfs and Bunnies for instance.

The Defenders of Bunny landed offset of the beacon, because their dropship was tracking an inbound warship on a converging course. Dropping hot from high orbit, the Defenders fell into a tactical dispersal with Rathar and Johnny and Little John arrayed across the front to sweep for foes.

Tactical feed from the Strike Cruiser Asgard was lost in the howl of jamming as its shields started to take hell lance fire from a larger but slower Battlecruiser on converging course. The two vessels were tearing blazing paths through the upper atmosphere as they desperately clawed for separation as their race towards the drop zone left them in danger of passing close enough for their point defense weapons to actually range each other. Before her feed cut out, Alyssa could see a smaller, tighter drop pattern from the battlecruiser was also on its way in towards the beacon, offset west to her north. They would be converging on the target, even as their warships seemed intent on actually colliding above. Punching a communications laser to the Asgard, Alyssa demanded a sitrep before they clawed for orbit.

“Bunny Actual to Asgard, whose ship is that? Confirm ID on the drop.” Before the reply came, all the EM spectrum howled in protest as the two great ships passed at well beyond mach one so close that their powerful shields actually touched, and the flare of a Strike Cruiser and Battlecruiser’s shields shorting out against each other blew communications circuits and sensors in pretty much everything. “Awesome start to the drop.” Alyssa cursed silently and began rerouting her sensors and communications links around the damage. She hadn’t even ID’d the enemy or got to the ground before things went sideways.

Rathar, Johnny Hammarburg and Little John were sweeping a broad front as they approached the drop beacon, going passive as they knew that there was an enemy in front of them someplace, on a converging vector. Communication discipline was tight, but not for long, as the first sign of the enemy was not from any drone, seismic sensor, or reactor signature; no it was from that damned song.

Rathar heard something, and began to tune his scanner. He flashed an alert to Little John, but the more experienced Bunny scout had a terrible feeling about the signal, and switched his scanner off, and punched in a known frequency hopping sequence, a shared communications protocol from long ago, and sure enough the signal blossomed into horrible life. “La la, la la la la, sing a happy song. La la, la la la la, SMURF the whole day long! »

Little John swore his way through three languages before keying his communications to the company channel and passing along the bad news. “Bunny Actual this is Lima Juliet One, OPFOR is the Smurf Platoon. I say again, opposition force is the Smurfing little blue wierdos!”

Coming from a man who had himself genetically modified to grow bunny ears, the wierdo comment was questionable, but the fact that he had ID’d them meant Alyssa had made a mistake. Any other foe would be scouting and moving cautiously to contact as they were, but the Smurfs would be charging headlong at the beacon, and hell take the hindmost. If she didn’t get her little bunny butt in gear, they would take the key terrain first.

Switching to tactical push, she punched a signal to all her troops, maximum power to make sure they all got it through the weird atmospherics still warping things from the cruiser collision. “All Bunnies, form on me and move at maximum speed for the bridge at Azriel”

There was one crossing of the River Gargamel that could take heavy mecha traffic, and if the Smurfs got it first, they would be able to take the key terrain features and force the Bunnies to come dig them out. Tactical defense, strategic offense, and generally the way to win a close fight.

The signal must have reached more than her own troops, because a return signal came from the enemy faster than her own troops finished acknowledging.

“Bunnies! Yay we have Bunnies to play with. Smurftastic! Hello Bunnies!”

Alyssa laughed before replying, it was hard to be mad at the little blue maniacs, they failed to take war seriously enough to be bothered by it, even though they were awfully good at it. “Hey bluebutts, how they smurfing?” She called back happily as she charged pell-mell towards the bridge. She wasn’t fast enough. Two squads held the bridge at each choke point. Red Iron and Water Strider each placed 950 tons of blue badass to hold it. On this side of the bridge was a Double Rainbow Gate, which Alyssa sent Robert Flowers to take, but surely Peli would have someone defending his end. Somewhere here was a single gate, and Jenn Khor was already using her gate sweeping software to hunt, but who knew how long that would take.

Alyssa looked at the crossing and swore. The Smurfs chose well, her lighter troops would be bled badly trying to force that, and in the time it took to punch one end, the other would be reinforced. The Smurfs had stolen the initiative, and the Bunnies would have to take risks to get it back.

Little John found a rail bridge downstream, but it could take no more than twenty tons, and offered an infiltration route only, not an assault path. She pushed her scouts across, but the main push would have to be over the bridge. Alyssa punched her 950 ton lineup through both ends of the gates, then had the rest shuffled forward as Panda held open the bridge behind her. It took too long, and the Smurfs were using that time to harass her forces and swamp any of the lighter companies she sent forward. Once her main was together she punched straight through the Smurf line, taking Kai and Peli both in sequence as she followed the command signals back to source to pound them. It brought enough time to get her troops across and begin her own offensive. With luck, she would be able to break their line and drive to the beacon. Shock could overcome the initial advantage, if she could make the Smurfs want to back off, she could still pull out a win. Cresting the hill as her machines struggled to finish autorepair from her clash with Kai, Alyssa saw all hope for a Smurf withdrawal die. The Beacon was a freaking Mushroom. Say what you will about the Smurs, and most do, they will die before giving up their Mushroom. The Defenders of Bunny were smurfed on this one. She would fight on, but there was no chance the Smurfs would break.

John T Mainer 28840

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weblistposting-blog · 7 years

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New Post has been published on Weblistposting

New Post has been published on https://weblistposting.com/fantastic-mario-run-hits-android-rolls-out-model-on-ios/

Fantastic Mario Run hits Android, rolls out model on iOS

First rate Mario Run hit Android a day early. At first anticipated today, March 23, in step with Nintendo’s in advance assertion, the sport arrived on the Google Play Save yesterday as an alternative, at the side of an update on iOS. The iOS one-of-a-kind ran for 3 months, and brought the app over seventy-eight million downloads, the gaming company said all through its profits in January.

Of those players, extra than five percent purchased the game, bringing in $fifty-three million in revenue for the identity. That greenback quantity within reason high, given the $10 buy fee so as to free up the entire version. And it finished better than analysts had anticipated given its top dollar price factor – many games that best charge a dollar or for in-recreation items convert less than five percent of their users.

But Nintendo had was hoping for conversions within the double digits, Leader Government Tatsumi Kimishima had said.

Now on Android, it’s exciting to word that Nintendo didn’t try to tweak the sport’s sales version. It’s still a free download which requires a one-time in-app purchase of $10 to release the ranges beyond worlds 1-4.

However, the most outstanding a part of the replace to model 2.zero on iOS is that Nintendo has made extra of the sport loose to play, the App Keep description says. Now, if users whole one among Bowser’s challenges, they can unencumber the formerly locked direction 1-four. Plus, if you clear the publications 1-four, you’ll get greater courses to play in Toad Rally.

model 2.zero changed into simultaneously released to the Apple App Shop while it hit Android. The replace additionally brings new playable characters, which include distinctive shades of Yoshi. Plus, you may play Toad Rally with a Yoshi of a selected coloration to get more Toads of that color. And the game is adding new buildings, making it less difficult to get Rally Tickets inside the Bonus recreation Residence, and adjusted the ease of play in some areas, among other tweaks.

However, it is going to be interesting to see how Awesome Mario Run’s Android launch impacts Nintendo’s sales – particularly given that iOS customers have a tendency to spend extra cash on video games and in-app purchases than those on Android.

On the time of its release, there was pent-up demand for Brilliant Mario on the cell, which is what allowed the app to surge to the top of the App Shop after its release, earning five million downloads on its first-day stay. That demand within the marketplace has been at least partially satiated now, and many everyday gamers determined they completed Mario in a count of days.

Fantastic Mario – Seeing that the beginning

Mario is without difficulty one of the maximum recognizable faces to pop out of Nintendo, But did you know his original call became Jumpman? That is proper, in 1981 Mario first seemed in Donkey Kong, However then, he went by way of the call of Jumpman, However Mario was used as his name in some promotional fabric.

This recreation surprised Nintendo by means of its excessive fulfillment. To check the recognition of Mario, Nintendo launched an arcade recreation called Marion Bros., which protected Mario and his brother Luigi. This game was a huge success for Nintendo. Because of the fulfillment of both Donkey Kong and Mario Bros., in 1983, whilst Nintendo launches the NES (Nintendo Entertainment Machine), additionally they release Excellent Mario Bros.

References to his unique name appear in a couple of Mario games, consisting of in Paper Mario: the Thousand-Year Door, when a target market member refers to Mario as Jumpman before a struggle, and in Mario Hoops three-on-three, wherein his nickname is “The Jumpman.”

Mario’s appearance, even to this current day, may be blamed on the limitations that were positioned on the programmers and artists returned in the early 80s with the aid of their contemporary technology.

The programmers couldn’t animate Mario’s hands whilst he moved without making them disappear, in order that they gave him overalls and a stable shirt color.

in addition, they did not have room for a face or ears, and couldn’t animate his hair so that they gave him his mustache, sideburns, and a baseball cap. Shigeru Miyamoto, Mario’s author, has stated in interviews that Mario wears a baseball cap because he unearths it difficult to attract hair.

Mario’s surname or remaining call is also Mario, which explains using Mario Bros. As sports titles, because Luigi is Mario’s brother, so they have the same ultimate name. turned into first used inside the Awesome Mario Bros. Wonderful Display, and on the other hand in 1993 in a movie called First-rate Mario Bros. Nintendo as a whole has never officially confirmed it, However, it turned into placed up on Nintendo of Europe’s reliable Mario Megasite.

Ever Considering the fact that Mario has been popular he has been the unofficial mascot of Nintendo. He has been extraordinarily and probably over-merchandised along together with his one-time rival Sonic the Hedgehog, who came to be Sega’s mascot within the early 1990s.

They competed fiercely till 2001, while Sonic Adventure 2: war got here out for a Nintendo console because of Sega’s new third-party status. Despite the fact that Sonic and Mario were now on Nintendo consoles, they nevertheless competed with each different, although not as plenty as before.

It hasn’t been until these days, that they’ve been seen operating collectively inside the newly launched Mario & Sonic At the Olympic games for the Wii. They may additionally appear in First rate Destroy Bros. Brawl collectively as properly.

Mario is a five foot tall, portly plumber from Brooklyn, a Big apple who lives in the Mushroom Kingdom. He is considered to be the maximum well-known video game man or woman in history, and his series of games has bought over 193 million copies.

Mario has not best appeared in platformers, However in other genres as properly. The alternative genres consist of accomplishing, with Mario Kart, sports video games inclusive of Mario Tennis, and RPGs which includes Amazing Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars.

Despite the fact that Mario’s said the profession is being a plumber, he is sort of by no means visible doing any actual plumbing. With the exceptions being in Mario & Luigi: Movie star Saga and within the authentic Mario Bros. Pipes have nonetheless remained a method of transportation, However, Despite the fact that the motive as to why might not be clean. However, within the authentic Donkey Kong games, Mario, who become still called Jumpman, turned into actually a chippie.

Mario has also regarded as a medical doctor in Dr. Mario. He has even been shown as an archaeologist in the sports Boy sport, Mario’s Picross.

Mario’s preferred interest seems to be saving Princess Peach, and Mushroom State. different methods he spends his time is combating villains, particularly Bowser. in the role gambling video games, Mario is given a heroic repute for saving the Mushroom Kingdom so often. In Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, he and Luigi are called “superstars”, which essentially manner big celebrities.

Ever Due to the fact that his first look in a video game, Mario has been given the function of the hero, destined to save the damsel in misery. within the authentic Donkey Kong, he needed to rescue his lady friend, Pauline from Donkey Kong. Pauline manifestly did not live inside the series, as she became replaced via Princess Peach, who turned into At first referred to as “Princess Toadstool” or just “the Princess” inside the English releases, in Wonderful Mario Bros.

In 1993, with the discharge of Yoshi’s Safari, Princess Peach was eventually used in an English release of a Mario game, But it nevertheless wasn’t used as extensively till the discharge of Superb Mario 64 for the Nintendo sixty-four, three years later. Pauline has most effective been visible twice because of the unique Donkey Kong, once within the remake for the game Boy, and as soon as in Mario vs. Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis, in 2006.

She has Considering the fact that been defined as Mario’s friend, now not a female friend, as that appears to be Peach’s function. Mario has received a kiss from her limitless times after on every occasion he’s rescued her, however, the actual popularity in their courting has never been officially found out, most likely to keep away from the problems experienced with Pauline, But there’s manifestly affection shared between Mario and Peach.

maximum of Mario’s abilities come from the objects that he collects and uses. within the platform video games, there may be the Fantastic Mushroom, which makes Mario double in length. He’s called “Tremendous Mario”, while He is in this nation, and he also gets an additional hit factor.

other examples of items consist of the Hearth Flower, which turns Mario into Fiery Mario, or simply Hearth Mario. This allows him to throw fireballs at his enemies. Any other item is the famous person, which makes Mario absolutely invincible, and permits him to defeat all enemies with an unmarried touch.

In different versions of Mario platformers, there are different particular items, consisting of the Raccoon Leaf, and the Cape Feather. The Raccoon Leaf turns Mario into Raccoon Mario and permits him to fly quick distances with the aid of whipping his tail around inside the air, type of like Tails from the Sonic the Hedgehog games.

The Cape Feather glaringly turns Mario into Cape Mario, which allows him to whip his cape at enemies to attack , and additionally lets in him to fly. In Great Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Cash, Mario can pick out up the Electricity Carrot, which transforms Mario into Bunny Mario and makes his falling pace decreased.

glaringly, Mario is a very famous character, who has been in many video games and has even stimulated indie video games and online flash video games, which get tons of hits and plays because they’re loose. With the growing call for brand new games, you can search for Mario to preserve evolving and try out the waters in new genres as properly. The future remains as vivid for Mario as it becomes 20 years in the past.

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supplementhoundblog · 8 years

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Best Supplements for Endurance & Stamina – 2017’s Top Endurance Boosters

Last Updated: Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Increasing Endurance and Stamina

You woke up this morning refreshed and ready to start your morning workout routine. You are going to hit that five mile goal this week! Eagerly you start your warm-up routine, making sure you take the time to stretch properly. Plugging in your iPod, you find some music to start you off gently, and your run begins with a smile.

See also: 10 Best Stress Fighting Supplements

The first mile is great, the adrenaline starts flowing, the sky is clear, and the music kicks up a notch. You are in the zone now and looking forward to the rest of the four miles.

And then it happens – three miles into the run and you just ‘run’ out of energy. You just can’t push yourself any further to complete the run and you have to stop and walk.

What happened?

The first thing you evaluate is your pacing. Did you run it too hard, too early? Is this pace still too much for you?

Next evaluate what you did this morning. Did you have a large meal this morning, more than 200 calories? Many athletes need one or more hours after a full meal before starting their workouts. Did you have a snack, smoothie, protein bar or something 30 – 60 minutes before your run? Maybe you still need more time to digest even that snack.

Also check yourself to be sure you had enough water. According to a Human Kinetics excerpt from their book “Sports Nutrition,” “Exercise performance is impaired when an individual is dehydrated by as little as 2% of body weight. Losses in excess of 5% of body weight can decrease the capacity for work by about 30%”

Maybe it has been a week or longer since your last run or any training? Many runners find that their time and/or endurance can be reduced by a minute or more per mile if they have taken a week or longer off from training.

If you are reviewing these potential detractors from your performance and you don’t see a glaring issue, then maybe you should evaluate your supplementation routine to make sure you are taking the best supplements for endurance and performance.

Top Supplements to Increase Endurance/Stamina

10. Quercetin

What is it:

Quercetin is a naturally occurring flavonoid present in a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and spices. It seems to benefit human health through its antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, anti-inflammatory, and cardioprotective properties.

The US National Library of Medicine in their article, “Quercetin and endurance exercise capacity: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” states that “On average, quercetin provides a statistically significant benefit in human endurance exercise capacity (VO(2max) and endurance exercise performance), but the effect is between trivial and small.” This means that, although Quecertian supplementation can help increase endurance, it is only by a small margin and other methods and supplementation need to be employed. Quecertain mixed with other supplements may be of a greater benefit than the Qucertain alone.

How to take Quercetin:

There are two common ways to take Quercetin supplements. One is the traditional form of taking about 500mg a day in a capsule. Some supplements add Bromelain for quicker absorption.

There are some sports drinks that have been hitting the market with Quercetin in them and this would be the second way of getting supplemental Quercetin. These drinks generally have other supplements in them, providing more benefit in one bottle.

Recommended Quercetin Buy NOW Food’s Quercetin – $13.03 Lowest Prices on Amazon.com

9. L-Arginine

What is it:

Arginine is one of the 20 most common amino acids and it found in dairy products, meat, seafood, wheat germ and wheat flour, nuts, seeds such as pumpkin, soybeans, and chickpeas. Arginine’s many jobs include assisting in cellular division, immune function, release of hormones, and wound healing. Other potential uses of Arginine include reducing blood pressure and treating people with high levels of stress and anxiety.

Tip: Sunflower Seeds are a great source of Arginine

Since Arginine may increase blood flow, it may then increase oxygen supply and performance. However, a recent series of studies by multiple sports journals are questioning the increase in endurance in athletes, at least on its own vs. with a combination of other supplements.

How To Take Arginine:

Arginine is also referred to as L-Arginine and can be taken in a capsule at 1000mg a day or in a powder form at 4600mg a day. There are some health warnings that need to be observed if supplementing with L-Arginine.

Recommended L-Arganine Buy NO3 Chrome – $23.94 Top 10 Arganine Supplements

8. Rhodiola

What is it:

Rhodiola rosea, which has a variety of alternate names such as golden root, is a plant in the Crassulaceae family that grows in cold climates (think Siberia). Rhodiola is being used to improve mood, cope with stress, and alleviate depression, however is still being studied for some potential side effects.

Rhodiola is also being used to improve physical and mental performance and reduce fatigue. The conclusion of a study done by the Department of Health Sciences, Gettysburg College, Gettysburg, PA, Titled: The Effects of an Acute Dose of Rhodiola Rosea of Exercise Performance and Cognitive Function states that – “Acute ingestion of 3mg of R. rosea resulted in a decrease in heart rate during submaximal exercise… it also appears to improve endurance exercise performance…”

How to take Rhodiola:

Rhodiola rosea is available in capsules in dosages ranging from 250mg to 1000mg. It is also available to take in an herbal tincture formula.

Recommended Rhodiola Buy Rhodiola Rosea – $23.89 Lowest Prices on Amazon.com

7. Eurycoma

What is it:

Eurycoma is a flowering plant in the family Simaroubaceae. It can be found in some of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos. It has different names in each of the languages in these countries. The plant parts have been used for its antimalarial, aphrodisiac, anti-diabetic, antimicrobial and fever reducing properties.

Eurycoma longifolia is purported to increase virility in men by increasing testosterone. This potential endurance enhancer is for men only. It has also been tested to decrease stress and increase mood, which also helps with endurance. Tradionally, an increase in testosterone has been coorrelated with an increase in endurance, both in athletics and in other aspects of life.

How to take Eurycoma:

Eurycoma is extremely bitter if eaten from the plant. It is currently available in tablet form, under the name Tongkat Ali as for men only (which also boosts testosterone naturally), and has a list of warnings to be considered.

Recommended Testosterone Buy TestoFuel – $65.00 Top 10 Testosterone Boosters Full Testo Fuel Review

6. L-Carnitine

What is it:

According to the Wikipedia, “Carnitine is a quaternary ammonium compound biosynthesized from the amino acids lysine and methionine.” Carnitine can be found in high levels in red meat, and dairy products, and in lower levels in nuts, seeds, legumes, many green vegetables, fruits, cereal grains, bee pollen, brewer’s yeast and carob. Carnitine may play a role in aging / anti-aging, cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes, HIV, and renal disease.

L-carnitine is reputed to increase athletic performance by turning fats into energy, facilitates the metabolism of carbohydrates, and enhances energy production. Some users report that it acts like a stimulant for them. Other uses of Carnitine in relation to endurance include alleviation of fatigue and increase in cognitive performance, decrease in blood glucose, reduction of muscle damage and soreness, and fat reduction.

Tip: Avacodos are a great source of L-Carnitine

How To Take Carnitine:

L-carnitine supplementation dosage ranges between 500 – 2000mg and is available in capsule, tablet, liquid and powdered formats. These dosages may be taken daily.

Recommended L-Carnitine Buy Carnitine Core – $15.88 Top 10 L-Carnitine Supplements

5. Eleuthero

What is it:

Eleuthero, also known as Siberian Ginseng, is a small woody shrub native to Northeastern Asia. It is not to be confused with Panax Ginseng, which belongs to a different plant genus. Eleuthero has been used in Chinese herbalism long before Westerners discovered it. It has been used for angina, neurasthenia with headache, insomnia, and poor appetite.

Increased endurance, anti-fatigue, memory/learning improvement, anti-inflammatory, and anti-depressant effects have all been attributed to Eleuthero. Competitor, an online running magazine, reports on a study in the Chinese Journal of Physiology that “(2010) found Eleuthero extract (800mg/day for 8 weeks) to improve cycling performance, including a 3 percent improvement in both VO2 max and fat-burning capacity. Interestingly, subjects were able to maintain an increased workload (as measured by heart rate) at a lower perceived exertion during supplementation with Eleuthero — suggesting an improvement in your ability to “go hard” during prolonged exercise.”

How to take Eleuthero:

Eleuthero can come in the form of tea, herbal tincture, and capsules with a broad range of dosages. In the previous report, the daily dosage was 800mg a day. People on high blood pressure medications should not take Eleuthero.

Recommended Eleuthero Buy Now Foods Eleuthero – $7.85 Lowest Prices on Amazon.com

4. Cordyceps

What is it:

Cordyceps are a parasitic fungi that live mainly off of insects and arthropods. This fungus is a medicinal mushroom in traditional Chinese and Tibetan medicines. Cordyceps are being used to help with the side effects of cancer treatments like chemo, to help with anti-aging, and to treat conditions like Hepatitis B, asthma, liver disease, renal failure, bronchitis, and more.

One conclusion of a study by the the US National Library of Medicine suggests that supplementation with cordyceps improves exercise performance and might contribute to wellness in healthy older subjects. It is being touted by athletes as a natural energy booster. Some people use corcyceps as a stimulant, a tonic, and an “adaptogen,” which is used to increase energy, enhance stamina, and reduce fatigue.

How to take Cordyceps:

Cordyceps comes in a variety of dosages and forms, including capsules and extracts. Suggested dosages include 3 to 9 grams daily of fermented cordyceps. There are some known side effects with cordyceps.

Recommended Cordyceps Buy Pure Cordyceps – $28.96 Lowest Prices on Amazon.com

3. Energy Gels

What is it:

Energy gels are carbohydrate gels and are commonly used in endurance events like marathons and triathlons. They can also be called endurance gels, sports gels, and nutritional gels. Some of the gels include supplements like herbs and/or caffeine. They even come in a variety of flavors like banana, raspberry and chocolate.

These gels are an easy-to-digest source of carbohydrates and can help to delay muscular fatigue, raise blood sugar levels, and enhance performance. Some say the psychological boost can happen in as little as five minutes after taking the supplement.

How to take Energy Gel:

Gels must be taken with water for proper absorption and digestion. Not taking the energy gels with enough water could actually result in a decrease in absorption and even impact endurance and performance negatively. Most of the gels have about 100 calories and 25 grams of carbs. Most athletes who use energy gels find that taking one per hour of physical activity is what works best.

Recommended Energy Gels Buy GU Original Energy Gel – $29.92 Lowest Prices on Amazon.com

2. Iron

What is it:

Iron is an element that is now known to be an important mineral to the body. It is traditionally used to treat anemia, an iron deficiency that results in fatigue. Women athletes are especially at risk from iron deficiency.

Since iron deficiency results in fatigue, it is only natural that supplementation would combat this and improve endurance. The US National Library of Medicine study: Impact of iron depletion without anemia on performance in trained endurance athletes at the beginning of a training season: a study of female collegiate rowers – found that nearly 10% of the rowers became iron depleted during the collegiate rowing season. It is suggested that female athletes test themselves regularly for iron depletion.

How to take it:

Iron can be given in pill, liquid or intravenous forms. It is important to research the source of the iron and type of iron. Non-ferrous iron can decrease the absorption of other drugs and supplements. Some forms of iron don’t absorb as well and can lead to gastrointestinal issues. Overdoses of iron can be fatal to children and adults, so any supplementation above the recommended dosage on the iron supplement container should be monitored by a doctor.

Recommended Iron Buy Nature Made Iron – $6.09 Top 10 Iron Supplements in 2017

1. Pre-workout Supplement

What is a pre-workout:

A pre-workout supplement is pretty much what it sounds like: a combination of supplements, usually taken in powdered form, that are used to increase energy, reduce fatigue, increase short and long term energy stores, increase blood flow, and increase oxygen delivery. Many of the formulas available include one or more of the previous items on this list. Most of them also include stimulants like caffeine.

All of the physiological results from a pre-workout supplement help to increase endurance and performance.

How to take a Pre-Workout Supplement:

Most of these supplements are in a powder form and should be taken with water about one half an hour before your workout. Check with a doctor before using these kinds of supplements and don’t take them with any other stimulants like caffeine.

Recommended Pre-Workout Product Buy Pre-Series BULK – $49.00 Top 10 Pre Workout Supplements

Wrapping Up

This has been a countdown of the top 10 supplements for endurance, there are even more supplements on the market that can help with athletic endurance, many of whom are pared with items from the list in combined supplements.

Increasing endurance requires a multifaceted, sometimes referred to as a holistic, approach. Your training regimen, sleep, what you eat, your health history, and what you supplement with all play an important part in helping you be a better athlete.

See also: Top 10 Intra Workout Supplements for the Gym

When using supplements, review them and their ingredients so you understand their effects before use. Read any medical warnings. You should also consult a medical professional before beginning any supplement regimen.

Link to this article: http://supplementhound.com/best-energy-supplements/

The post Best Supplements for Endurance & Stamina – 2017’s Top Endurance Boosters appeared first on Supplement Hound - Supplement Reviews for 2016.

from Supplement Hound – Supplement Reviews for 2016 http://supplementhound.com/best-endurance-supplements/

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touristguidebuzz · 8 years

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6 Reasons to Hang Out in Detroit (Yes, Detroit)

Even diehard Detroiters admit the Motor City’s golden age ran out of gas decades ago, leaving a deeply troubled city that’s become a synecdoche for the decline of American manufacturing. But beyond the easy jokes, non-Michiganders are finally starting to realize that there’s a lot to be celebrated in a city that’s never lost its sense of itself; that continually embodies the best American values, like determination and inclusion; and that is finally regaining its well-deserved sense of pride. Renaissance City, indeed.

The next time you’re booking a vacation, think of Detroit as more than the airport you have to fly through on the way to more obvious destinations. Consider sticking around a day or two to explore this unsung Midwestern metropolis, hitting a few of our favorite spots while you’re there. Here’s why this bustling city is worth a second look.

1. Get Your Fix of Urban Art, Food and Fun in The Belt

So-called hipster neighborhoods — and, really, isn’t that phrase just a way of denoting urban gentrification with an emphasis on local culture rather than McMansions? — are popping up around Detroit like mushrooms, from Jack White spearheading the transformation of the Cass Corridor with his Third Man Records, to the Victorian homes and trendy bars and restaurants of Corktown, and even to the socially and environmentally conscious farmers bringing life back to the abandoned lots of the East Side. But The Belt stands out for turning that most vilified of city features, the dark and creepy alley, into a brightly colored public art space. Artists both local, like Tiff Massey, and international, like Shepard Fairey (of Obama “Hope” poster fame) have created works for The Belt, and a stroll through the downtown walkway is an absolute must. The Belt has also attracted galleries, bars, restaurants and even a bowling alley to the block, meaning that after your tour of thought-provoking street art, you can take a load off with a martini and a frame or two.

Get some perspective in The Belt, Detroit’s art alley. Image by the author.

2. Tap Your Toes at the Motown Museum

When the history of sound is written a million years from now, our historian descendants will note that the high point of their annals began on an unassuming boulevard in the LaSalle Gardens neighborhood in 1959, the brainchild of Berry Gordy Jr., a grocer’s son turned songwriter turned record producer and canny entrepreneur. Hitsville, U.S.A., may have stopped being a working recording studio in 1972, but Gordy’s sister Esther Gordy Edwards converted the house and its neighbor into The Motown Museum in 1985 — it’s presently due to undergo a $50 million renovation that will turn the entire block into a 50,000-square-foot tourist destination.

It’s almost easier to name major American artists of the ’60s and ’70s who weren’t part of the Motown family than to try to list them all: Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, the Temptations, Martha and the Vandellas, Rick James, the Four Tops, Lionel Richie, the Commodores — and the list goes on and on. You’ll hear about all of them on the hour-long guided group tour ($15 per person) that takes you back through time to tell how the grandson of a slave helped change the face of music — and incidentally became the man behind the most successful African American-owned business in the US. You can also see the iconic white glove Michael Jackson wore for the 1983 performance of “Billie Jean” (where the King of Pop first introduced the world to the Moonwalk); carefully preserved rooms from the Gordy family’s apartment and the original Motown offices (including the vending machine where a pre-adult Stevie Wonder indulged his hankering for Baby Ruth bars); and Studio A, where some of the most beautiful music ever created was made immortal — you’ll probably end your tour joining your guide in singing “My Girl” in the same spot the Temptations recorded it.

Gordy didn’t get to where he is today without zealously protecting his intellectual-property rights, so photography inside the museum is strictly prohibited — the security guards manning the ubiquitous cameras will discreetly inform your guide if you so much as take too long checking your cell phone for the time. Gordy’s also clearly painted as the hero of what more cynical visitors will consider an interactive hagiography — you won’t hear mention, for example, of the musical or movie Dreamgirls, in which the thinly veiled Gordy character comes off as far from noble. Still, even hardened skeptics with an ounce of melody in their souls should make sure the Motown Museum is high on their Detroit must-do lists.

Get mo’ Motown at the Motown Museum. (That’s what you want.) Image by the author.

3. Indulge Your Inner Bookworm at King’s Books

This Corktown institution touts itself as the second-best used bookstore in the world, but with all due respect to the undeniable gorgeousness of Venice’s Libreria Acqua Alta, John K. King Used & Rare Books deserves the crown by almost any other measure. The onetime glove factory is home to over a million lovingly preserved tomes of every imaginable variety, spread out over several seemingly endless floors that you sometimes have all to yourself or sometimes have to share with other hushed-toned lovers of the printed page. The shelves are organized by the bookstore’s own uncrackable logic, complete with handwritten signs and arrows that lead seemingly nowhere, so it’s best to go in with the intention of getting lost. You may find poring over a complete set of pulp Westerns starring a blue-eyed half-native woman in increasingly revealing buckskin bodices, an early copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, James Ellroy’s trilogy on a fictional conspiracy behind the Kennedy assassination, or decades’ worth of the minutes of Midwestern city council meetings. There’s an ocean of books at King’s, and every time you come back in, you’ll discover something new.

John K. King Books Used & Rare Books stacks up against the best used bookstores in the world. Image by the author.

4. Shop at the Historic Eastern Market

Detroit’s Eastern Market has a special place in the heart of its citizens, serving as the unofficial base of Lions tailgaters, hosting weekly farmers markets, the beloved Flower Day (always the Sunday after Mother’s Day) and serving as many area families’ primary grocery store for generations. Beyond the main sheds, its 43 acres — which make it the largest historic public-market district in the US — include a number of shops, restaurants, bars, galleries and studios, as well as non-retail businesses and offices. You could easily spend an entire day exploring, but be sure to get a kickass black-on-black Detroit vs. Everybody t-shirt by Tommey Walker; peruse all the floors of the historic DeVries & Co. 1887 specialty food shop; find out what a “coney” is, exactly, at Zeff’s Coney Island diner; satisfy your nut fix at the Germack Pistachio Company; then recharge next door at its sister business, the Germack Coffee Roasting Company.

Point your compass toward Eastern Market. Image courtesy of Danielle Walquist Lynch via Flickr.

5. Discover Detroit’s Burgeoning Food Scene

Conventional wisdom says New York, Chicago and northern California share the limelight when it comes haute cuisine, SoCal rules when it comes to tacos and fast food, the South hogs up all the quality barbecue and everyone else has to settle for more obscure regional specialities at best. So, what’s that leave Detroit with?

Well, pretty much everything, it turns out. The city’s chock-full of ambitious restaurateurs making their hometown over into a destination food city. If you’re already in the Eastern Market, stick around the neighborhood for one of the nation’s best pizzerias, Supino Pizzeria — if you’re ambitious, order the smoked-turkey pizza with smoked Gouda, cherry peppers and roasted garlic. Or, if you’re in a more classy-dinner mood, make reservations at Antietam, where you can have incredible duck-fat-fried almonds, bacon rillettes and classic cocktails in an Art Deco masterpiece of a space.

Still think barbecue has to come with a Southern accent to be worth a trip? Over in Corktown, Slow’s Bar BQ has upended Northern expectations with its nationally acclaimed Yardbird pulled-chicken sandwich and heavenly macaroni and cheese. Angelenos can try the lobsters-and-scallop tacos at El Asador Mexican Steakhouse in Springwells Village and finally shut up about how they can’t find any decent tacos more than hour from the Pacific. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Just know that when you come to Detroit, you ought to pack an extra stomach.

A drink and a meal at Antietam can make warring friends civil again. Image courtesy of Antietam.

6. See How Dearborn’s Islamic Culture Lends Global Flavor to the Midwest

Detroit’s metropolitan area has one of the largest populations of Muslims in America, surpassed only, perhaps, by New York City. By itself, the adjacent suburb of Dearborn has America’s largest Lebanese population and one of its largest Arab-American communities, while Hamtramck recently became the first American city with a majority-Muslim city council — its Muslim population has boomed largely thanks to an influx of Yemeni and Bangladeshi immigrants. Detroit is a truly international city that reflects the heritage of its variegated citizenry.

There are countless ways to enjoy and celebrate the Islamic culture of the region, including tours of the Islamic galleries of the Detroit Institute of Arts or visits to Hamtramck’s coffee shops and festivals, but the tastiest is undoubtedly making the short trip to Dearborn’s Al Ameer, which in 2016 became the first restaurant in the state to win a James Beard Award. The Lebanese eatery is famous for its welcoming waiters and waitresses, paprika-infused sujuk sausage, and luscious shredded lamb, but no matter what you order, be sure to try out the divinely light hummus, get extra baskets of hot, fluffy pita, and opt for at least one of the fresh raw juices — if you’re treating yourself, share the Al Ameer Specialty, a tower of chunks of strawberry, apple, banana, cantaloupe and pineapple in mango juice, all topped with raisins, pistachios, honey and the sweetish, soft Lebanese cheese called ashta (kind of like ricotta). It may be on the juice menu, but you’ll probably want to save it for dessert.

Dessert after the main course? Nuts to that! Image by the author.

What are your favorite places to visit in and around Detroit? Tell us about them, below.

Featured image courtesy of the author.

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card

Even after the introduction of the Chase Sapphire Reserve, the Chase Sapphire Preferred is still a fantastic choice if you want to avoid the Reserve’s $450 annual fee, earn 2x on all travel & dining and earn a 50,000 point sign up bonus.

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More Things to Know

Earn 50,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening. That's $625 toward travel when you redeem through Chase Ultimate Rewards®

Named Best Credit Card for Flexible Travel Redemption - Kiplinger's Personal Finance, July 2016

2X points on travel and dining at restaurants worldwide & 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

Earn 5,000 bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening

No foreign transaction fees

1:1 point transfer to leading airline and hotel loyalty programs

Get 25% more value when you redeem for airfare, hotels, car rentals and cruises through Chase Ultimate Rewards. For example, 50,000 points are worth $625 toward travel

No blackout dates or travel restrictions - as long as there's a seat on the flight, you can book it through Chase Ultimate Rewards

Intro APR on Purchases

N/A

Regular APR

16.49% - 23.49% Variable

Annual Fee

Introductory Annual Fee of $0 the first year, then $95

Balance Transfer Fee

5.00%

Recommended Credit

Excellent Credit

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