#to constantly work hard and move forward so you don't get stuck in one spot and .. that whole theme carrying on for m.iguel through s2 (and

[proveagain]

no bc there's Something abt which episodes he wears that hoodie in and the fact that yellow symbolizes hope and optimism and positivity hear me out

[g8dess]

A Message From Your F/O PAC 2

Take a deep breath, focus on your selfship of choice and pick the picture/pile you feel most drawn to!

I'm not a professional, this is for entertainment only, take what resonates, leave what doesn't, it may be a message for someone else and in the end you still know the dynamic of your selfship the best. If you want to tell me in the tags or replies what pile you picked and how it resonated, your feedback feeds me energy to make more things like this! 😋

First pac here

Decks used: Phantasma Tarot Deck, Cosmic Oracle, Lovers Oracle, Own-made oracle decks.

All pictures used were taken by me!

OP is ProShip, don't like, don't interact

━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━

Pile 1 :

Hey there bestie,

Guess you never saw this coming, huh,

me, writing you a letter.

Well, I don't know how else to tell you, truly.

It's quite embarrassing to say out loud, but

seeing you two talking again made me a bit jealous.

I fought to keep you in my life

(Okay, maybe a bit of an exaggeration)

and I think I finally know why.

I mean, of course it's because you are just amazing, but

it's also because you're adorable,

you're the only one who makes me feel worthy.

And I know we've been friends for so long, but I'm losing my mind.

I think I'm in love with you

and I want a chance to love you fully, truly, like no-one ever has before.

Will you let me know your answer.

I'll be waiting in our usual spot.

Don't get lost again, squirtle.

See you soon,

Hopefully.

ー┄┄─┄≪ ༶❈༶ ≫┄─┄┄ー

Pile 2 :

I'm sorry for being so cross but I can't do it anymore.

You're just standing still, not moving forward.

And I don’t know what to do.

Sunlight, please.

Move on from them.

Start depending on me instead.

I want to be there for you.

But at this rate I can't.

And I get so riled up because of it.

You're avoiding me and your problems.

While you know it's life, to change and reinvent yourself.

Sunlight.

We can do this together.

Just let me in.

I don't want to fight for your attention anymore.

Don't let me stay here alone much longer.

ー┄┄─┄≪ ༶❈༶ ≫┄─┄┄ー

Pile 3 :

Take a picture and hold it close, because in only a couple months this current life will be so far gone.

You're working so hard on improving yourself, Munchkin.

It's amazing to see you like this.

Constantly learning about yourself and learning how to better cope with life.

We used to be one and the same, both stuck in anguish, both stuck in those spiraling thoughts.

But not anymore.

You've already grown so much, just by accepting you need to face your fears, by accepting who you are now and are meant to be later.

It's amazing, I said it before and will continue to say it again and again, it's true.

I wish I could be more like you.

You're actually working on and researching how to improve yourself.

Meanwhile I'm still stuck.

I want to be better for you, like you, but it seems I don't know how.

It's killing me inside.

I love seeing you grow, but I don’t want to be left behind.

It's okay for you to be harsh with me, if need be.

It's okay if we grow apart. But I hope I can be a better being before that happens.

Take care Munchkin.

ー┄┄─┄≪ ༶❈༶ ≫┄─┄┄ー

Pile 4 :

My beloved,

You know your adventurous spirit is often on my mind.

You run laps with your seemingly never-ending energy.

Constantly jumping from one creative idea to the next.

But alas.

Perhaps it's time to reign in that enthusiasm a bit.

I do not believe it is time for a new project when you have so many old ones vouching for your attention.

You can be quite impulsive,  but it's time to finish what you started.

My dear.

After, we can create plans for those new projects together.

I hope you finish them soon, my love.

As I yearn for your connection and have so much love to smother you in.

I love you, my precious.

Miss your kisses,

F/O.

ー┄┄─┄≪ ༶❈༶ ≫┄─┄┄ー

Pile 5 :

To the one I will always love,

My one and only,

S/I

I can see you're restless, stuck in indecision before two paths. It's okay to move and make mistakes, neither option is too horrible after all.

But you know deep down which one you want, which one is alligned with your inner truth. You have me supporting you, so go for it, my breath. Even if things don't go the way you planned them, it doesn't mean they are going wrong.

Don't mind what others have to say. They don't know you like I do. Take the step to let life carry you where you need to be.

It's okay to still be figuring it all out. It's okay to change your mind. Just make the decision alligned with who you truly are. I will support you through it all, my heart.

Missing you with every breath,

Yours forever,

F/O

ー┄┄─┄≪ ༶❈༶ ≫┄─┄┄ー

Pile 6 :

cw: suggestive

To my stinky S/I

Sweetheart,

Can you believe the audacity of the distance between us, keeping us separated so far from each other.

It's so infuriating.

If only I could cross it so I could share every little daily notion with you.

Life would be so much better.

I'm already blessed to love you through the multiverse but damn, it'd be so much better by your side.

We could experience every little change together too.

I'd happily fight for such a possibility, to get to know you more passionately, yes, also that kind of passionate too ;)

If only fate would step up and bring us that last bit closer.

I wouldn't let anyone else take you away from me.

But for now I'll take pleasure in knowing and loving you like this.

From my heart to yours,

F/O

ー┄┄─┄≪ ༶❈༶ ≫┄─┄┄ー

Pile 7 :

My better half,

Have I told you recently how proud I am of you? Probably not as I express myself differently, less so with words than with actions and gazes. Nevertheless I feel like this needs to be said.

I am very proud of you.

The way you stand your ground, taking the high road and not letting their words get to you. It's magnificent.

With each upwards and downwards spiral, you choose to learn, to reinvent yourself. Such transformation is brilliant to witness.

I wish to celebrate you, to celebrate us, so it's not just gazes you receive, but all other aspects of love as well. I have much love to give you.

Our complimentary balance is something we must take note of, how you complete me so like no other can. But tonight, let it be all of me that praises all of you.

Let's make this a memorable evening, my other half.

Yours truly,

F/O

ー┄┄─┄≪ ༶❈༶ ≫┄─┄┄ー

[sideshow-cellophane-blog]

Woah!!! Thanks!!!

I really love 4 (and/or 5), 7, 11 (and/or 12), 13, 16, 19...

Sooo A LOT, sorry 😅

Choose whatever and however much you like, it would still be cool to read anything with lee!Goe!!!

Sorry these took so long! I still have plenty more to go and plan on doing the other prompts too!

"Why are you giggling?" Fujiko's brow was raised before she looked up from her magazine. "Goemon?"

The salon lady was at his feet for their pedicures, struggling to scrub his sole. He was squirming and visibly struggling to not laugh with a nervous grin plastered across his face. 

"Be careful ladies, he's sensitive," Fujiko giggled. "He had his calluses removed the other day. Goemon, relax!"

"I will once thihis is ohover!" He covered his mouth with both hands and sunk low into the chair. His entire body shook with muffled giggles as the lady moved up to his toes, and even she laughed along as his forced delight filled the parlor. 

"We still have to do the other foot sweetie," The worker said. "You're doing such a good job holding still! I'm almost done with this one, then we do it again with the other!"

Fujiko could see how hard Goemon was concentrating to actually perform this feat (no pun intended). She reached a hand over to hold one of his and give it a reassuring squeeze. "You poor ticklish thing," She cooed. "You're worse than Lupin in here!" 

At least he wasn't flirting with the workers.

"You gotta be ticklish somewhere!"

"I am not," Goemon stated a little too quickly, but his face remained neutral. 

"Everybody is," Lupin stuck his tongue out. He was standing but holding Jigen's arms, who had stopped tickling only because Goemon insisted that their tickle fights could not really be fun. 

"Not me."

Jigen gave an experimental poke to Goemon's side. The samurai tensed his muscles, and he gave a look of annoyance to his partner. Jigen grinned and shrugged with, "Look at it this way. If you're ticklish and don't know about it, isn't that a weakness that could be exploited?" 

Goemon opened his mouth and paused, squinting his brows together. "...I have trained myself to endure great amounts of pain, but-"

"Tickling isn't painful big guy!" Lupin cut in. "Well, it can be if you laugh long enough. But it's fun if it's with someone you trust!"

"But you are forcing the other into panic and loss of bodily control. The smile is forced."

Lupin's face flushed. "That's really not what it's about. How about we show you?"

Goemon clung to his sword as his partners got on either side. He reluctantly gave it to Jigen when the gunman started to pull it from his grasp.

"For our protection," Jigen assured as he set it to the side. "It's easier if we sit."

So they sat on the run-down apartment's couch with Goemon in the middle, stiff and awkward. 

Grinning, Lupin started to poke at Goemon's ribs and sides experimentally. The samurai grabbed one of Lupin's hands as it moved towards his hip and tried to twist it away with a whimper. "Alright buddy, you gotta relax."

"Lemme help," Jigen lifted Goemon's arm and wrapped it around his shoulder, holding the hand as his own free hand wriggled in the exposed armpit. "Look, you're smiling already! Doesn't feel so bad, right?"

The attack on both sides made Goemon stiffen as instincts told him to cut them in half before they could kill him. With Zantetsuken out of his reach he felt vulnerable. With his partners' expert hands and soft teasing, he felt like it didn't matter. He kept his lips pressed together and leaned forward with quiet grunts, squirming or jerking when a sensitive spot was uncovered. His hand holding Lupin's wrist couldn't stop it from wriggling over his tummy, and something warm and bubbly rose to his chest. He suddenly understood why they tickled each other constantly. 

How often did they get to laugh in their lines of work?

The pokes and occasional scribbles over his torso made Goemon melt back into the couch. A wide, helpless grin and that bubbly warmness overtook him. Sputtering and awkward giggles joined their soft teasing. He had to let go of Lupin's hand to cover his armpit that Jigen was still playing with, and Lupin pinched a thigh.

"NO!" Goemon shot his hand back down to grab Lupin's and leaned forward again, snapping his legs closed.

"Ticklish?" Lupin couldn't help himself. He crept his free hand over Goemon's knees as Jigen followed his lead, and their partner's giggling turned into squeaks and actual laughs of delight. 

"Wait! Wahahait! NO! TICKLES!" 

"That's the point!" Lupin exclaimed, his smile matching Goemon's. "Is this your bad spot?"

"Sounds like it," Jigen nodded. He pulled Goemon into his chest as Lupin pulled their partner's legs up onto the couch and sat on his calves. Jigen wrapped his arms around Goemon's waist and started drawing circles around his side with a single lazy finger. 

Goemon was beet red by now, and he had no idea he was as prone to tickles as he was. The lone finger had him giggling until Lupin decided to attack each inner thigh with the enthusiasm of a monkey playing with a new toy, and the samurai melted into Jigen's chest with high-pitched squeaks and yells that he had no idea how to let out as laughter. 

"Yep," Lupin said smugly. "Who's a ticklish lil guy? Coochie coo!" He traced over the thighs, experimenting between swipes and grabs and pinches.

His eyes widened and his jaw fell open as cackling finally filled the room. Goemon's arms fell limply to his sides as he let out his hysteria, falling towards the floor before Jigen hoisted him back up. 

"Where do you think you're going?" Jigen took Goemon's hands in his own and squeezed them. "Hey Lupin! He hasn't said stop once!"

"SHA! GAHAAAAA! SHAHAHAT AHAHAHAP!"

"Adorable frigging bastard," He said endearingly. 

They stayed that way for a few more seconds before Lupin showed mercy and laid himself flat over Goemon's legs with his head on his lap. "Snuggle recovery!"

Goemon took longer to recover, but they stayed like this even after.

[shotorozu]

hello !! I'd rlly like to request Monoma if that's alright! I've had a huge soft spot for him for a while now and I'd love to see more content of him ;v;

anyway! we all know that superiority complex of his is definitely hiding some insecurities, but I also feel like he'd be quite touchstarved too bc of his peers seldom physically interacting with him due to his quirk, yknow?

with that in mind, I'd love to see how he'd handle an s/o who has "physical touch" as their main love language. they can give verbal praise/comfort, but they always get so shy abt it that they prefer giving physical affection to show their love. and maybe combining that with "quality time" being their second love language, they love to just cuddle him or toy with his hands/hair during quiet moments uwu

if you wanna do multiple characters, I'd love to request Shinsou, Midoriya, and Amajiki (separately) for the same idea, but if you'd rather do this with just Monoma then I'm okay with that !! no worries if you don't wanna do all four ♡

thank you if you do this request, and make sure to take care of yourself !! ♡

physically affectionate s/o

character(s) : monoma neito, shinsou hitoshi, midoriya izuku (i cut out tamaki for this one, sorry :[ but i’ll do another part if anyone wants it)

legend : [Y/N = your name] they/them pronouns used, strong quirk but the details aren’t specific, reader is a part of 1-A

headcanon type : fluff (and if you squint, then crack)

note(s) : yes i do agree :,) monoma should be getting a little bit more content, and i’m sorry that this came out so late! i was multitasking with other requests (because i took a 2 day absence,,) but this doesn’t mean i don’t read people’s requests

»»————-　♡　————-««

monoma neito

monoma 🤝 bakugou “the pros at sending mixed signals”

if there’s one thing he’s known for— then it’s for the persistent teasing, and his quite obnoxious attitude (especially at 1-A)

but he’s not a terrible person, he sure does have his reasons. and by now, people either choose to ignore him, or they simply knock the wind out of him

so, he was not prepared to encounter someone that was tolerant of him, AND also his type— like.. huh. that’s.. odd

and he was even more surprised when they accepted his wild love confession. there must be some catch to it, right?

so like i’ve said— monoma sends a lot of mixed signals. it’s either he’s complimenting your existence, or teasing you in various ways.

so— it’s just another normal day of monoma mouthing off to you, teasing you in a playful way, while you guys are hanging out this is way of making you remember him

but then, you just.. leaned forward and placed your hand on his head— not exchanging any words at all.

monoma’s first reaction is (・・?) because what?? someone is touching him right now.. wait.. someone is touching him!

honestly really shook, and at a lost for words— because everyone has refrained from coming into any physical contact with him? what a surprise! what even is this?

after said incident, you decide to speak “you had something in your hair.” and for once, monoma is the one that’s sitting in silence

“R-REALLY, Y/N? DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT WAS GOING TO W-WORK ON ME OR SOMETHING?” he questions in his usual mocking tone, but his cheeks are accompanied in a flushed red

he’d only experience field day when he realized that touch was basically your love language, with quality time in the second lead

so whenever you guys are spending time together, you’d,, actually go closer to him! this has never happened before, let him be

he doesn’t really like the idea of getting his hair touched, so you usually choose to fiddle with his hands— sometimes observing his details, and other times you’ll be comparing hand sizes

he’ll ridicule you for being so touchy— but he’ll ask if he’s “that irresistable?” while also moving you closer to him. he loves it a lot, okay?

don’t let class 1-b see this, he will flex on them because when he starts getting annoying again, they’ll use you as blackmail.

“monoma, i swear— if you do that, we’ll tell Y/N-”

“HAHA— ok, i’m sorry.”

shinsou hitoshi

he probably has the most chill reaction out of the bunch

again— another person that has been antagonized because of their quirk. he’s been perceived as villanious ever since his middle school days

kids have been told to keep their distance away from him at a young age so.. you’d bet that he’d be really touch starved

he never had any serious experiences with dating, and he never had any real friends— that weren’t cautious of his quirk

that was until he met you, which he just assumed you were another highkey stuck up person in the hero course

but, you were basically the opposite, and you were a real pleasure to have around. one thing lead to another, and now you guys are dating

he thought it was really cute whenever you got too shy to just sit in silence during dates, or to even give out words of affirmations

but hitoshi was surprised at first when he felt you pull yourself closer to him— resting your head on his shoulder. the concept of someone wanting to be in his presence is still sinking in for him

lucky for you! shinsou knows how to adapt to situations quickly, immediately slinging an arm around your shoulder, as he listens to you talk

he’ll be surprised when you start touching his hair, because golly!! are you guys close

but do it more pls, he loves it a lot— it sometimes makes him really drowsy.

if you play with his hands omg, his heart will do somersaults. he’s lucky that he’s able to keep himself composed.

loves watching you choosing to cuddle him, after briefly giving up on trying to form coherent words of affirmations.

it’s something he brings up quite often, but not in a teasing manner!

sometimes he’ll pat the free spot beside him, basically begging you to come closer to him.

eventually, denki notices on how touchy he’ll get whenever you’re around— but hitoshi will just shrug it off

“it’s always been that way.” he simply says, but he’ll turn around with this big ass grin on his face 💀

he’s whipped for your touch. so please, do it more

midoriya izuku

he’s also touchstarved. actually, all of them are really touchstarved, and for different reasons 💀

well.. it’s not like he had a choice from the getgo. he was born quirkless, and that lead to him becoming an outcase— and also the victim of bullying i wanna hug him

and being told constantly that he won’t ever be enough, or he won’t ever be a hero— it’s obvious that he doesn’t have any dating experience

but he didn’t think he’d be dating anytime soon— especially since he was ‘just’ pinning over you. he was convinced it was going nowhere

until you confessed. he’s surprised that he didn’t pass out

ever since you guys started dating, he noticed that you’ve been a little timid— not in the way that you feel awkward, more like,, you wanted to say something

or do something, because when you guys were studying together, you just suddenly sat closer to him— and started counting his freckles

he short circuited for a second.

he was reduced to a stuttering, and blushy mess— and you just laughed, telling him “you should continue what you’re doing!” as you ran your other hand across his shoulders

that night, he was wide awake in his bed— recalling your gentle and loving touch, running his hands along the parts of his hair, that you’ve touched

he loves quality time, because while he does like to ramble a lot— he does enjoy spending time with you in silence, but it’s the touches that makes him flustered

despite him being quite shy to initiate any sort of touch, you— on the other hand, were shy with saying praises. so you coped with physical touch, and quality time

man, izuku never gets used to it. no matter how much he tries to— he’s just.. needy, touchstarved.

he doesn’t realize how lost he looks when you’re sitting beside him, and not touching his hair or hands for once. please feel free to do so

oh, and since we’re on the topic of hands— he’ll tear up if you start playing/fiddling with his hands, and especially when you start tracing his scars. it makes him feel so warm.

okay but,, please give him a heads up if you’re going to act touchy in public. he’ll start stammering and blushing hard you might have to put him in rice or smth

the dekusquad talks about that quite a lot, especially when they accidentally witnessed it in the common room (for the first time)

in short— he adores it. sometimes he’ll initiate it, by asking you if you want to sit beside him, to play with his hair. he’s so inlove

»»————-　♡　————-««

likes and reblogs are appreciated, thanks for reading!

i do not own bnha/mha and it’s characters. boku no hero academia/my hero academia belongs to horikoshi kohei. i only own the writing, and i do not profit off of my hobby

do not plagiarize, repost, translate, or use my works for audio readings without my permission :))

[tundrainafrica]

a song recommedation: for me the biggest levihan song is Skulls by Bastille. i don't know if you've ever heard it (or maybe it's a basic song for every levihan fan out there and everyone collectively knows about it)...it sounds like they're having a conversation the entire time. especially these lines: "when all of our friends are dead and just a memory, we're side by side, it's always been just you and me" "i don't want to rest in peace, i'd rather be a ghost that annoys you"

Title: Milestones

Summary: 

“And just like with every loss he had ever felt, Levi would count down the hours, the days, the months and the seasons following the death, labelling them each as a milestone to trudge past. In that aspect, Hange’s death was no different.”

Levi has this habit of counting milestones following the loss of a close comrade.

Link to cross-postings: AO3

Notes:  Thank you for the song rec anon! I made it a little homework for myself to listen to this song today while I did some grocery shopping and this really screamed Levihan, so loud I got a little inspired and I came up with this small ficlet.

The grieving process had always been respected.  

Soldiers could easily request time off to mourn the death of comrades and loved ones. In the survey corps, one or two days after a mission were usually given as a little gift for those who had given their lives and for those left to pick up the pieces.

It was a generous gift at face value but for many who had experienced too many deaths to count, it had started to twist into something a little short of cruel. 

Soldiers who had experienced more than enough deaths after all, eventually realized that the losses only completely sink in when they finally go back to their routines. The largest and strongest waves of grief come when the soldiers are left to navigate their routines, changing around their daily routines to fix what the dead had left behind. 

For some cruel reason, losses were rarely felt in the losses and the memorials that celebrated them. They were felt in routines that followed.

Levi had survived one of the longest in the survey corps and had experienced more losses than he could count. Having to quickly go back to routines after dealing with losses and having had to navigate these same routines peppered with continuous losses of squad members and teammates, Levi had developed a little habit, something to occupy himself between expeditions and missions. 

As Levi quickly noticed, that habit had gotten a little out of control that time around. 

Of course it would, there was nothing else to do. Levi had made the decision to retire. There were no expeditions to prepare for. The government was more than eager to grant humanity’s strongest pension already. He was also certain he couldn’t fight like before anymore either. 

And that extra time and mind space had given his grieving brain a little more wriggle room and consequently, a little more power. Levi found himself scrambling for a routine. With that free mental space, that habit decided to take control again. 

Levi had nothing much else to do but let it take over. When he was at his most vulnerable, when he was at his most alone, that habit had ended up becoming his best friend. 

He allowed that best friend to guide him once again as he went about the daily routine of a retired soldier. As it did with every loss, that best friend would religiously remind him that time continued to pass. 

And just like with every loss he had ever felt, Levi would count down the hours, the days, the months and the seasons following the death, labelling them each as a milestone to trudge past. In that aspect, Hange’s death was no different. 

At the same time, Hange’s death was special. Possibly because they had been working together for five years. Possibly because compared to the other times when he had wanted to grieve, he was in no pressure that time to recover quickly or go back to a routine. 

There were no distractions that time to fall back on. Levi was left with memories, milestones and himself. 

First sunset without Hange. 

The sunset and the gradual flashes of colors from yellow to orange to red. Levi had always found sunsets beautiful. Objectively, nothing had changed about that sunset. Somehow, Levi couldn't help but notice that he was seeing less colors than before. 

First Monday without Hange. 

Levi hated the typical Mondays in the office. The paperwork always made it unbearable. He had always preferred expeditions and combat. He was retired though and Levi was sure the paperwork would be nothing more than a memory moving forward. But reflecting on that monday in particular, he was certain he would have given up the world for it. 

First Friday without Hange. 

Depending on who won the argument or bet of the week, Fridays could be either drinking or heart-to heart-in-the-office-over-tea days. That particular Friday, Levi made sure to do both. He wasn’t sure what she would have wanted and it’s not like he could have asked her. 

First full moon without Hange

He didn’t even know he had built that habit of staring at the full moon until he looked out the window and felt time stop for a few seconds. In those few seconds, he was brought back to a time long ago, when Hange had been next to him, staring in complete awe at the full moon in front of them. He was too distracted by her then to have looked at the moon. 

Time started to move and Levi was reminded that he did not have much to distract himself anymore from the full moon in the sky. 

First spring without Hange 

Levi, when this war ends and I retire as commander, I really wanna explore the flora and fauna outside the walls. Let’s study them together!

He had tried to appreciate nature. He had tried to sit on the grass and just stare and touch the prettier or the uglier weeds that stuck out of the common grass. They were all weeds dotted with some flowers.  

Hange would have found them beautiful either way. He just found it mocking. 

First summer without Hange.

Hange loved ice cream. Ever since the first ice cream shop in Paradis opened. They made sure to get one as a treat after a hard day of work. Levi hadn’t gone back to the shop since he had last been there with Hange last summer. He wasn’t thinking of going back there either. 

First autumn without Hange. 

First autumn without Hange. 

Autumns were always special. The cool nights that only got colder and the days that only got shorter could have been depressing for most. Levi saw beauty in it because they built up to something else. 

They built up to her special day. That one special day Hange kept as a little treat for herself. She always decided what to do and she always made sure to rattle off her plans to him during down times between meetings and deliverables. 

Every year, she always had something she wanted to do and somewhere she wanted to go and every year, she always made sure Levi tagged along.

And as Levi thought back to their last conversations, he quickly figured out she had suggested one place she would have wanted to go with him. 

That passing thought she had shared during one of their conversations, that one night in the forest at least gave him direction. With her gone, Levi was the one who made the final decision to go there himself.

I came here for sanctuary

Away from the winds and the sounds of the city

I came here to get some peace

Way down deep where the shadows are heavy

In the first autumn after Hange’s death, In the forest glade where Hange had nursed him back to health, Levi had a small cabin built. Many could have concluded it as a capricious decision, even Levi himself. As he walked out and lay on the soft grass beneath him, he couldn’t help but think if he just closed his eyes and  focused on the familiar surroundings, he could imagine Hange next to him saying those words once again 

“Maybe we should just live here together.” 

I can't help but think of you

In these four walls my thoughts seem to wander

To some distant century

When everyone we know is six feet under

When Levi entered the newly built cabin and inspected it of any dust, he realized, maybe that was the first thing he had done for himself. He was already a retired soldier with nothing much to think about but himself. Levi was never one to constantly think of himself though, so he thought of everyone else.

When all of our friends are dead and just a memory

And we're side by side it's always been just you and me

For all to see

When our lives are over and all that remains

Are our skulls and bones let's take it to the grave

The cabin was cozy and there had been nothing much to clean. It kept the cool air of early autumn out and if he had been feeling a hint of self preservation, he probably would have stayed inside. His body was not as strong as it was before and even the night air of early autumn had him shivering. 

Self preservation had always been low on Levi’s priority list. Because of the lack of responsibilities that came with being retired, it managed to bump up to at least third. It was still the last thing on Levi’s mind though. 

The cold air and the rustle of the trees brought back countless memories at once. It brought back the faint pounding of the hammer, the swish of the bandages and her hitched breaths as she worked tirelessly as he slept. 

It evoked memories from times before that. 

Every year, when the wind was starting to get a little colder and the leaves a little redder, there was always one special day where Hange would take him out. 

To a place of her choice. It was that one day after all the commander would always spend for herself. The destination was always a different spot outside the walls. Sometimes it was a glade in the middle of the forest, sometimes it was a cave, sometimes it was a swamp. The places varied but the cool winds that came as the sun started to set were constant stimuli. The orange hues that stuck out of the green trees around him were also a constant view.

That night, Levi held his arms close to his chest, conserving warmth as the cool winds of autumn continued to barrel through his already battered body. He looked up at the trees around him, observing closely as some of the leaves started to stand out under the moonlight. The leaves were starting to take on a different shade and others were starting to fall off.

All those signs culminated into a scene and an experience Levi was all too familiar with. They were all heralding the coming of autumn

Hange’s special day always signaled the start of autumn.

Happy Birthday, Hange. That was the first birthday he’d be spending without her.

And his little habit made it so that he would never forget to spend it in the years to come. Even if he was painfully aware, he'd be spending every single one without her.

And hold me in your arms, hold me in your arms

I'll be buried here with you

And I'll hold in these hands all that remains

[joshua-flipping-washington]

EllieDina Week - Day 6: Redemption.

Shit, I apologize for this one being late again! But it got away from me, and ended up being my longest story yet. I hope that you guys enjoy .

Rating: Teen and up.

•○°●

Ellie stands stock-still on the worn front porch, the seafoam green paint that used to cover it in bright droves, was peeling off in little chips and flakes. Ellie raises her hand and closes it in a loose fist, her hand is shaking as she brings it forward and knocks on the dark blue front door. With a familiar three toned knock, she closes her eyes and takes a step back.

She counts backwards from ten, and draws in four big breaths and then exhales. Repeating until she feels herself start to calm down. " Dammit, Ellie- Calm yourself! It's just Dina and little Spud! We are just going out on a picnic, nothing too serious. " Ellie grimaced at her own words towards herself, she knew that she had every right to panic. Dina could have cut Ellie out of her and JJ's life, and just moved on. But she'd chosen to let Ellie prove herself, and Ellie would always be eternally grateful for that.

Ellie's green eyed gaze had drifted down to the porch at some point, so when the door went flying open she was quick to raise her head and brace for impact. She crouched down just in time for JJ to come barreling into her arms, giggling with delight as he wrapped his arms around Ellie. " El! I made yew something! " He excitedly moved back a bit, and presented Ellie a bracelet that was made out of twine, she smiled as she held her wrist out.

She watched him struggle for a moment with getting it tied onto her wrist, but once he did, she chuckled as he smiled proudly. His missing front tooth making it ten times more adorable than should be legal. Ellie turned her wrist over and examined the bracelet, it was covered in multicolored beads and had a few charms between a couple of the beads. She ruffled his hair, and grinned at him. " Whoa! This looks super badass, Spud! You made this all by yourself? "

" He made it at school. " Dina's voice suddenly sounded, making Ellie jump slightly and raise her head to stare up at the woman leaning against the door jamb with a loving smile on her face, and the basket for their picnic held in her hands. " He was asked to make a gift for the people who mean the most to him. " Dina raised the hand holding the basket, showing that she was wearing one as well.

Ellie looked back at the bracelet JJ had made for her, then she looked back at him. She sniffed, not at all oblivious to the tears that welled in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away, pulling JJ into a small embrace. " Thanks for the new piece, JJ. I will wear it with pride. I still- I can't believe that you are old enough to attend school! " She let him go, and slowly got to her feet.

JJ rushed back past Dina and inside the house as soon as Ellie had released him from the hug. " I forgot! " He shouted as he zoomed upstairs.

Ellie looked at Dina with her brow arched in confusion, but Dina just shrugged her shoulders. Letting her know that she had no idea what he meant by that. " He's a wild card, he could have meant anything. You know, he kind of reminds me of you, when you first came to Jackson. Not the stealing a whole bunch of jerky bit, but just your general personality when you opened up and started talking with me. "

Ellie's mouth fell open with a soft ' oh '. Her eyes shimmered as the memories all came flooding back, and she chuckled. " Well, looks like your work is cut out for you. Having to deal with a replica of tiny fourteen year old me. "

" Yeah, I guess that it is. " Dina said with amusement, she turned to face the stairs as she heard JJ come parading back downstairs. His backpack all packed up and clipped onto him, like he was ready for a weekend of adventuring. " Whoa! What's all that for, buddy? " Dina asked as she watched him walk back onto the porch.

" Nothing, it's a secret. " Was all JJ said, his missing tooth making the his S's sound like he was whistling. He marched down the steps and stopped at the bottom. " I'm ready! " He announced, looking at both Ellie and Dina expectantly.

" Well, alright- As long as it isn't another one of those mice from school. I told you that they are alive, and can't breathe inside of your backpack or pocket. " Dina spoke as she walked out the door, closing it behind her.

JJ gave a firm shake of his head. " No, is not a mouse, Mama. Promise. "

Dina let out a breath of relief, happy to not have to deal with THAT situation again. " Oh, thank god. "

Ellie looked confused at the mention of mice from school, and all it made her think of was shooting rats with a BB gun back in Boston. She walked down the stairs with Dina, gently nudging JJ's shoe with the toe of her boot. " Fine, keep your secrets, Spud! " She teased.

Ellie was trying really hard not to think about the fact that JJ was going to school every weekday and she was missing it, because she lived back where she used to. When Joel was still alive. The place brought back a lot of feelings, especially one's about all she'd done to fuck up her life. But thankfully, she wasn't ever home long enough to be constantly reminded of the past. She just longed for the days when she could cuddle with Dina and JJ in bed, forgetting all the horrors of the world.

JJ gently tugged on the sleeve of Ellie's flannel, pulling her out of her thoughts. " Let's goooo! I'm starving. "

A grin stretched across Ellie's face as the old joke came to her mind, and she couldn't resist. " Hi, starving! I'm Ellie. It's great to meet you. " She said as she shook JJ's hand with great force. Causing him to laugh and try to tug away.

" You are such a dork. " Dina said with a fond smile, beginning to walk in the direction towards the center of town.

Ellie follows after Dina, JJ trailing along beside her. His backpack making an awful lot of ruckus as he bounced around like the happy kid he was. She side-eyed the bag with suspicion, her mind practically teaming with curiosity. What on earth could a four year old have that's so big of a secret, it must be hidden in a backpack?

Dina stopped once they reached the front gates, talking to one of the guards on duty. She had talked with Maria before hand, just to make sure it was safe. But she still needed to let the guards know they were leaving out. She smiled brightly at them, grabbing Ellie and JJ's hands, and leading them out of Jackson's front gate.

Dina drew in a large breath, exhaling happily. " I know it seems dumb, but the air always smells so much more crisp outside the walls. " She laughed as JJ attempted to mimic her, she tickled his sides with wiggly fingers, causing him to shriek in delight.

Ellie couldn't keep the big smile off of her face, she gave a shake of her head in disagreement. " I don't think it's dumb, especially not when I know exactly what you mean. "

《 》

The walk to the picnic spot had been a rather uneventful thing, but JJ's excitement about every little leaf, critter and river definitely made it worth it.

Dina came to a stop right on a gorgeous riverbank, a field of small bright yellow flowers surrounded them. She smiled as she saw the look of awe stretch across her sons face, but she definitely wasn't surprised to see that Ellie was just as mystified. " Ah, I see that you two love the view here already! "

Dina set down the picnic basket and opened it up, pulling out the small fleece blanket she'd brought for them to enjoy their picnic on.

JJ ran around near the waters edge, laughing and giggling as the water splashed up and licked his feet. " It's cold! Ellie, come! Play with me! " He says in excitement as he crouches down and starts splashing at the waters surface.

" Coming, Spud! " Ellie shouts as she jumps over a fallen log and squats down beside JJ at the waters edge, watching as he concentrates on catching imaginary critters. " Look! I caught a big one! " He says as he holds up his empty fist.

" Whoa, nelly! That fish is as big as you were when you were just a little Potato! " Ellie says in excitement, miming the size of the imaginary fish and placing her hands on her head in wonder.

" Alright, enough fishing you two! It's time to eat. " Dina calls out to them from her seat on the blanket, she had been watching them bond for about ten minutes, a loving smile on her face. Despite all they'd been through, Dina knew that Ellie was the missing half that JJ needed in his life.

Both JJ and Ellie rush over to the blanket, laughing as they flop down onto it.

Ellie was amazed by the amount of food that tiny basket had been able to hold, it was packed with fruit, cheese, fresh bread and jam preserves, beef jerky and a big thermos of water. " I have no idea, how you managed to bring this much stuff. But oh man, this is a feast built for a king. "

Dina shook her head with a snort, gently shoving Ellie by the shoulder, before handing out the plates. " Shut up, you dope. It's normal sized picnic basket. "

Ellie stuck her tongue out playfully at Dina, earning a slight kick from the other woman's foot. Oh… How much Ellie had missed this, just spending time and being in the here and now with Dina and JJ.

Dina served all of them the fresh fruit, bread with raspberry preserves, the cheese and jerky as well as a glass of water. They all sat in silence as they ate, listening to the sounds of the forest. The soft babbling of the river, the leaves brushing against each other as a breeze blows through them.

JJ was seated in Dina's lap, he was munching on a piece of apple, while talking excitedly about something he'd learned in school. And Ellie was just beyond herself, head over heels in love as she watched Dina listen to him speak with such patience, love and understanding in those beautiful brown eyes.

The sun was reaching that beautiful golden peak in the sky, and it cast it's golden rays on the both of them. It was a moment Ellie wished she could preserve forever, Dina's freckled face as she laughed and tickled JJ's side.

" I love you. " Ellie blurted out in a firm, matter-of-fact tone. " And I always have, I never stopped. Even when it seemed like I had, and I lost myself. I love you, and- I want things to be like they used to be. I want to wake up in the bed beside you, and prove to you… How much you mean to me. I want to be a constant in JJ's life, I don't want to watch him grow up from the sidelines. " Ellie sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose.

" And I know, I have no right coming out and saying all of this- But I've been talking about it all with Dr. Monroe. And- And I just needed to get it off my chest, I know that it's stupid- And that all of that is probably the last thing you want, after all I've done. " Ellie didn't realize that she was tearing up until one of the sneaky fuckers slipped down her cheek.

Dina stared at Ellie in shock, her brown eyes flashing with so many different emotions as she searches Ellie's green eyes for any hint that she was fabricating something, anything. But when she saw none of that, and only a look mixed with fear, adoration and love. " Ellie… "

Could Dina let Ellie back into her life like that? Part of her was so unsure, and felt that same fear creeping back up. But she shoved it back down, and told it to shove it. Ellie had been working for two years, to earn back her trust. And… Dina couldn't lie, though she still shielded herself and JJ. Ellie had earned that trust the second she started truly working to fix things in her life. The things that ran deep, and cut to the bone.

Dina's eyes softened as she reached her hand forward and gently caressed Ellie's cheek. " Ellie, you stole my heart the moment I met you. I can't say that it doesn't hurt, when I think back to that night. But- I think that with time, we can mend those wounds. " She leaned forward and pressed a loving kiss to her lips.

JJ giggled and scrambled out of Dina's lap, flopping down onto the blanket in between them. He pulled his backpack off and opened it up, pulling out a small sketchbook that Ellie had found for him. He opened it up to a page it seemed he knew by heart, and proudly showed it to the both of them. It had the words ' My family ' scrawled across the top in typical toddler fashion.

Ellie furiously wiped at her eyes as she observed the drawing, then she laughed and pulled both JJ and Dina into a hug. " Ugh, I love you both so much it physically pains me- Would be a shame... If you were stuck with me. " Ellie said as she pulled back and looked Dina in the eyes. " Dina… I never thought I'd find myself ever saying these words- Especially now. But- What better time than now. Marry me? You wonderful, gorgeous woman. I want to spend the rest of my life, with you and JJ. "

Dina really didn't think that she could be more surprised than she was at Ellie's confession. But she certainly didn't expect to break down in tears, voice thick with emotion as she answered. " Yes, I wouldn't want it any other way. You… Complete us. "

JJ was still a little to young yet to completely grasp the concept, but he was happy because his Mama and Mom were. They spent the rest of the day just spending time together, talking and laughing. They had been given a second chance to grow together as a family.

[snapdragon-mina]

Sunflowers and Snakes

Pairing: Dabi x Reader x Hawks

A/n: Written for the Bnha spring time event. Hi @amaamajiki , I'm your anon! I really hope you like this lmao.

Word Count: 2.25k

Warnings: Sorta spoilers for bnha, swearing, blood mention, Suggestive themes(Very very minor)

For the first time in about a month, You could go home on time. The restaurant you worked in constantly asked for you to work overtime. The only reason you continuously agreed was for that sweet sweet paycheck. Fortunately, everyone else was at work and did their jobs, so you were free to go home and cuddle the shit out of your dog. 

When you got home, all you could hear was the sound of paws on wood before your life flashed before your eyes. Seems your dog missed you a little too much because he pounced, knocking you off balance, and eagerly started licking your face. 

"Okay! Okay! Hey let's make a deal. If you get off of me, I'll give you a surprise?" You held your dog away from your face with one arm, while wiping off the sheer amount of dog slobber that was on your face with the other. The dog paused as if he were thinking before moving off of you and sitting down with a sharp bark. 

"That's a good boy." You smiled at him before turning on the TV for background noise. You walked into the kitchen to fix your dog's food. After pouring the food into the bowl, you stuck a lil treat in there. Boom! Recipe for a happy Schnauzer. The moment you sat the bowl down, he shot forwards and barely gave you back out of the way. 

Shaking your head, you walked back into your living room and sat on the couch. Moments of complete peace were hard to come by. After the fall of All Might, nobody was really safe. I mean, Endeavor doesn't give a shit about his fans, so why should you trust him to protect you? 

From what you gathered, the number two hero, Hawks has actually started searching for his soulmate. When asked to show off his tattoo, he refused. Something about "The thrill of the hunt". 

Tattoos are typically two of a kind. Only two people would have the same tattoo. Speaking of soulmate tattoos, Yours was a Snake winding around a single sunflower. It was actually huge, since it covered your entire left arm. It was a really cool design when you think about it.

A small whine managed to shake you out of your thoughts. You got up, grabbed the yellow leash, and hooked it to the matching yellow collar your dog wore. "Come on pretty pup, it's been awhile since I've had time to go on a walk, huh?"

He barked in response as his stubby little tail wagged rapidly. You opened the door and locked it behind you before letting yourself be led by your dog. Around five minutes into the walk, you felt your arm grow warm. Apparently your soulmate was close. It was like a game of hot and cold until you bumped into a guy with a black trenchcoat. Your arm felt extremely hot, so you looked at him. 

"You gonna apologize? You were the one that bumped into me." He had a relatively bored tone of voice. He was eerily calm for someone to be in this scenario. It felt like his eyes were staring deeply into your soul.

"Yeah uh, sorry… But-" You couldn't even finish your sentence, because he walked off with a dismissive wave. You wanted to follow after him, but your dear dog had decided he wanted to shit right then and there. You were forced to wait on him to finish. 

After cleaning up and disposing of the waste, you just decided to go back home to get some much deserved rest.

•••

Two weeks later, you had a day off and it was really nice outside, so why not go for a walk through the forest? You went through your typical morning routine and got dressed. You fed your dog and took him out for a bit. "Alright pup, I'll be back soon, okay?" You blew a lil air kiss and left the house. 

After roughly 15 minutes, you reached a clearing in the forest. It was peaceful and nothing seemed to be out of place. There was a river a few steps away from you, and all sorts of flowers blooming. The trees actually provided very nice shade. You wouldn't mind living out here or at least somewhere just as peaceful as it was out here.

You took a deep breath and sat on a nearby stump, just taking in nature. You didn't get to enjoy the peace for long, due to the sudden burn on your left arm. Your soulmate was quickly approaching your location. You glanced around, but didn't see anyone. Yet your arm was getting warmer and warmer. 

Suddenly, a voice spoke out. "You're the person from that night, right?"

You recognized that voice. You focused on where the sound came from and fixated on where he was standing. He was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed. "Yeah, I am. Hey can I-"

"I'm not your soulmate." He interjected. You shot him a confused look. There was no way you were wrong about this. "Don't believe me? I don't even have a tattoo." He held up both of his scarred arms. 

This only served to confuse you more. "Yeah no, I'm right. There's no fucking way I'm wrong." You shot back. He raised an eyebrow at you. 

"Are you sure about that? People are born without soulmates, y'know." He said.

"Let's say you aren't my soulmate. Why the hell did you follow me here?" You sighed, already annoyed that he ruined your perfectly peaceful moment. 

"Because I know who is." 

"Why would you help me? You don't seem like the type to help someone just out of the kindness of your heart." You narrowed your eyes and he laughed. He laughed at you. 

"Oh trust me, I'll be getting a pretty little payment for this," His eyes shone with amusement. "Follow me."

He walked off. Bold of him to assume you were gonna follow him. You stayed put for a moment before ultimately realizing it was useless. You had to speed walk to catch up to him. He walked out of the forest and towards a building that was pretty much hidden from view. 

Your arm was still extremely warm, due to you being close to the strange man. Hold on. You don't even know his name and yet you followed him to some secluded building where he's probably gonna-

"Dabi." 

The statement broke you out of your train of thought. That was… weirdly coincidental. He suddenly announced his name just as your mind began to wander. "Yeah… I'm Y/l/n Y/n…" 

He just hummed in response, as he continued to lead you through the strange building. Eventually the two of you came to a stop. The both of you stood in front of a door that had been painted red. He didn't even bother knocking and simply opened the door, revealing none other than the number two hero. 

Hawks' head perked up at the sound of the door opening and grinned lazily. "Hey, thanks again for bringing her." He had a glint in his eyes. Like he knew something you didn't. 

"Mhm. I'm expecting my… you piece of shit." Dabi trailed off before there was suddenly emotion in his voice. It definitely wasn't a good one. Had something happened between the two of them? Should you leave? Yeah… you definitely should. Dabi seemed extremely hostile and you were getting bad vibes. You went to take a step back but paused when you felt a hand tightly grip your wrist. 

"Huh?"

"You aren't going anywhere" His eyes were still focused on Hawks. Nobody moved for a moment before suddenly, the hostility drained from the air. Dabi let go of your wrist and walked out of the room. 

"Hawks-"

"Call me Keigo."

"Okay, Keigo… can you explain to me why I'm here?" The past like 5 minutes was a trip from start to finish and you really wanted answers. Keigo patted the spot next to him, so you took a seat and waited for him to start. 

"Your arm still feels really warm despite Dabi no longer being in the room, right?" His feathers ruffled slightly as a breeze drifted through the window. You nodded, unsure of what to think before it hit you. His grin got wider and he removed his jacket. "Well, Y/n, we're soulmates." He held out his left arm for you to see. Low and behold, The exact same tattoo was covering it. 

You felt extremely happy that you'd found your soulmate, but still extremely confused. How did your tattoo still burn in Dabi's presence if Hawks was your soulmate? It didn't make sense. 

"I should probably explain Dabi since he won't do it himself, and you're probably hella confused. Dabi is also our soulmate." 

That… that actually makes sense. You nod as Hawks explains everything and suddenly he gets to a topic that you'd been curious about for a while now.

"Because of his scarring, he no longer has the tattoo. But nature had him covered because he developed a telepathic connection to both of us. Aka, he can very easily read our minds."

That made even more sense. But that doesn't explain why he refused you as a soulmate. You shook off that thought and decided to get to know Hawks a little better. Eventually the two of you came to an agreement. Since you liked to cook, and he liked eating, sometime this month, you'd bake or fry chicken for him. 

It was starting to get dark and your dog probably missed you, so you decided to try to find Dabi. 

Dabi did not want to be found. It took you 30 minutes to finally get to him, and when you did he ignored any small talk you tried to initiate. Eventually he grew tired of your shit. "Look, I'm not your soulmate. Leave me alone."

"Yeah? Bullshit. Hawks explained everything to me. Why are you brushing me off?" 

"I don't fucking need a soulmate. Certainly not someone like you or Hawks." He snarled, turning on his heels to walk away. 

"I don't care about what you think you need. You need us, you can't deny that!" You argued back. You were really starting to get sick of this.

"I can and I will." 

And with that, he walked away. You balled your hands into fists tightly. You would've stayed, but your dog needed someone to take care of him.

•••

Almost a month had gone by since that argument, between you and Dabi and you hadn't heard from him since. Hawks moved in and actively bothered the hell out of your dog. He would complain about him biting his feathers, but you would often catch him sleeping with y/d/n curled up at his side. 

You were in the middle of baking cookies when a crash could be heard from within the house. You grabbed a kitchen knife and went to investigate the sound. It couldn't have been the dog, he was asleep when the crash was heard. Silently walking into the room the sound was heard from, you were kinda shocked to see him. 

He had numerous cuts in various sizes on his body. All of them were bleeding. "I just need somewhere to lay low for a bit, I'll be gone by morning." 

"Dabi…" Your heart ached at the sight of him, but you refused to be someone he could walk all over. "Get out."

It seemed like he was too preoccupied to listen to your thoughts, because your words shocked him. "...Out? Y/n, it's me." 

"I know. But you said you didn't need us, yet here you are." You stood your ground and he stared up at you for a moment. He was analyzing you, seeming like he was studying you for a weakness he could exploit. 

He let out a sigh and spoke under his breath. You raised an eyebrow at this and he cleared his throat before speaking up. "...I'm sorry. I just… don't want the two of you dragged down with me."

"Elaborate." You demanded and he nodded. 

"I'm a villain, you're a civilian, and Hawks is the number two hero. Being associated with me is like killing your chances to actually do something with your life." He hissed out. Seemed like the pain from his wounds was getting to him. 

You helped him up and led him into the bathroom. There, you cleaned up and bandaged his wounds. He studied your face carefully and you worked. "No hard feelings?" 

"No hard feelings. But Keigo should be getting home soon, so you're gonna have to relay your little speech again." You snorted as you finished up. He stood up and walked out of the bathroom with you trailing behind him. 

The two of you walked into the kitchen. You pulled the cookies out of the oven and offered one up as a peace treaty. He rolled his eyes and pecked you on your lips as a peace treaty. 

A minute or so later, Hawks walked in. He noticed Dabi sitting on the counter with a chamomile flower crown on his head. How you managed to get him to wear that is unknown to humanity. 

"Yeah, I'm gonna live here from now on. And no, you won't be topping."

Hawks rolled his eyes as you laughed. "At least you're not being a pussy about soulmates anymore."

"Fuck you too."

[mister-maiden]

Pikmin 3 Is a Wonderful Gem

Pikmin 3 was one of my most anticipated games for the Nintendo Switch. I didn't have the good fortune of owning a WiiU, so I never got to experience the third game for myself. After spending 60 dollars on the title, fixing myself up for a long weekend, to my surprise I beat the game in two days...but was I disappointed?

Absolutely not. 

Gameplay: Pikmin 3 forces you to take control of three captains who had crash landed on the planet of PNF-404, a planet encompassed with dangerous fauna, familiar faces, and delicious fruit. Using the captains to form smaller groups of Pikmin, you can effectively multitask across each of the diverse maps available. 

Several puzzles force you to use this feature by giving you the ability to flung captains alongside Pikmin, effectively allowing you to reach new areas both high and far. This ability is best used with small groups performing tasks across the map. Having one captain destroy a gate while another keeps charge of pikmin harvesting berries. Meanwhile you can have your final pikmin harvesting the corpses of enemies to make even more pikmin! 

In this regard, you can play in anyway you want. If you want to keep your pikmin together to keep an army of 100 so you may overpower all in your path, you are certainly free to do so..you may just be hurting a bit on time in comparison to if you divided and conquered. To add onto this, there is a familiar special ability which allows you to split your army apart into the specific elements at your disposal so you can clearly choose the best group for the job.

The objective of the game as you quickly find out is to gather as much fruit as you can to bring back to your home planet of which is having a rather serious issue: starvation. So you'll be looking in every nook and cranny for each piece of fruit you can find to juice and bring back home. 

The fruit are finite, and each gives you a specific amount of juice for fruit. Some fruits have enough juice to give you two days worth of sustenance while others barely give half. It is certainly a welcome change from the first game's finite time limit. It allows players to be rewarded for how well they are performing instead of giving them a deadline. This is a huge gripe many had with the previous installments as well as other games with a similar time limit (Dead Rising comes to mind)

Alongside the fruits, powerups lay hidden amongst the maps which give you certain abilities. I won't dive into this as not to spoil it for any of you new players, but all I'll say is it is worth it to check every corner. To retrieve these treasures, you will have to use a specific amount of pikmin for each item. You can use a bit more than the maximum per treasure to make the journey back to the ship far more quicker. During this time, I recommend traveling with your pikmin so none shall perish to the random hazards of elements and enemies that may have slugged in the way of the path. 

With a lot of multi tasking and pathing involved in this new installment, it seems the developers worked more with the pause menu. A map allows you to see the areas you have explored and seen, marking a small green blip for each creature you spot. This was done intentionally so the player would be unaware of what lay in a path and to determine their best plan of action. To walk through the shorter parh with several blips and pray they are not too dangerous, or go around. A new feature with the mapping system also works alongside how you will be controlling three captains. You can now go to your map, scroll to an area, and press where you would like your captain to walk to. This will trigger whatever captain and pikmin group you have selected to automatically path to the point you selected. This allows for large scale multitasking in which you can have two captains traveling to destinations while your third deals with an entirely different task. A very welcome development for people such as I who want to use their time as wisely as possible.

Combat is roughly the same as the previous installments: overwhelm by sheer number while also avoiding the attacks that have a potential to wipe your armies. Picking the right pikmin for each battle is crucial...but to be honest I felt like this game gave me a bit too much leniency for making mistakes. For instance, there wasn't too much punishment for throwing an incorrect pikmin at an opposite element. You can just whistle them before they perish and all will be okay. Maybe it's my new game wisdom I have earned from thousands of hours of gaming, but I don't remember pikmin 1 being so easy.

Pikmin 3 also brings back the system in which you can slay your enemies...and use their bodies as mulch to grow your garden empire upon.

Your empire is stored in a pikmin bulb! In previous games you would have several bulbs, each being a different color representing the different pikmin types. In this game, there is only one bulb which is chromatic and swirls with different colors. Although I miss the triple pikmin bulb threat and getting violent/white pikmin from the ship, this is a welcome change since it allows the player to quickly populate a group instead of wasting time going to each bulb. 

You can carry the corpses of creatures you kill with your pikmin to their bulb to create even more pikmin! It's always been my favorite part of the pikmin games because it rewards you for playing intelligently and conservatively. 

An interesting development from Pikmin 1 and 2 to this new game is the replacement of the C stick directing agility of the pikmin to a new ability which allows you to send your pikmin forward all at once with a ravenous screech of war. It's great to quickly swarm an enemy, or to feverishly collect fruits and other valuables by surrounding them. While I shall miss the previous agility to accurately create a tendril like construct with my pikmin, I absolutely love the new battle rush!

Each pikmin, as the previous games, have their own situations they are best in. Reds are best at fighting situations, when things get heated up. Yellows for digging and reaching high spaces. Blues are good at swimming...yeah. Then this game introduces two new pikmin at the cost of two of the previous types introduced in Pikmin 2. Stone pikmin and flying pink pikmin replace the fat sumowrestler purple pikmin and toxic white pikmin. Stone pikmin are best when cracking open the defences of enemies or crystal rocks found around the maps. Hell these are my second favorite pikmin because of how they attack. Rather than use their leaves utop their hard heads, they just RUN INTO the enemy as hard as they can. It's amazing. Then my favorite: pink pikmin rule the sky..though they are the weakest in combat (though never underestimate the swarm >:] ) you can have up to 100 total of a combination of the pikmin. My personal favorite is 20 of each, as something special happens as you walk with them.

Spicy berries and bombs make a return in this game. Shrouding your pikmin in a special dust created by the planet's berries gives them a special buff that lets them go mad with energy, moving quickly and hitting harder. What's important in pikmin 3 is that the berry mechanic is much different than the previous games. This game allows the process to be automated. Berries are grown back in minutes, so pikmin can constantly move back and forth from the ship to the plant to harvest more juice in comparison to the previous games where once you harvested a berry plant, it was done for the day.

Bombs allow you to do 'tons of damage'. Throwing a pikmin with a bomb makes the pikmin drop the bomb and run in terror to avoid the massive blast. These are typically used to take down the toughest of obstacles- be it wall or wild creature, nothing shall stand in your way.

These bombs allow you to go forward so you may find shortcuts to shorten your time traveling...and now the final feature I would like to mention is the time system. Each day you are given a specific amount of time to explore the map before day changes to night...and the nocturnal predators awaken from their hungry slumber to feast. Before this time, you must gather your pikmin up as they are helpless without you. If you are unable to gather all of your pikmin, at the end of the day alongside a cinematic of you leading your pikmin to safety, you will have to watch the pikmin you left behind consumed by the hungry beasts of the night...it's rather sad and I would recommend to take track of each pikmin you send out. I have heavy attachments to even these little guys and it pained me just to lose one :c...BUT!

To combat this sad ending, the developers did something wonderful and added a brand new feature to your ship. You can walk to your ship and select a massive whistle option which will attempt to call back EVERY single pikmin on the map granted they can path their way to the ship. This was such an excellent feature as I always had one or so random pikmin in each map getting caught on something random and being stuck. With this tool, it gets rid of a lot of the stress of poor npc pathing which plagued the games before. Sure the pikmin can still get caught, but now there is a proper solution.

Also: there are missions and side content to do if youd like. I enjoyed it! Certainly felt alright...but i still enjoyed the main story more. I never was a huge fan of these types of side missions...didn't really feel like Pikmin.

I also understand there are harder difficulties, but truthfully I hate having a difficulty meter review, so I typically play on normal.

VISUALS and AUDIO 

The Pikmin series has never looked so beautiful. It still holds the familiar cartoon wonders we all loved. Those small moments of captains sticking their eyes out in surprise or pikmin expressing themselves in cute little squeaks of joy or terror. The water is gorgeous, the plant life is vibrant, and the wildlife is horrifying. Seriously, the creatures in this game have never looked so revolting yet adorable at the same time. 

You can take pictures of the world with the camera feature which is nice. It gives you a complete POV from the captain's point of view which is quite hilarious to see pikmin right in front of your face. Adorable little things just staring at you both full of wonder and waiting for direction. I really don't know what else to put here since I can't describe the game by any point except cute since the game isn't about its visuals in the slightest, so I'll leave it at the game absolutely nailing what it was going for.

Overall:

I really enjoyed this game, no matter how little time it took to finish it. It was a happy gift to my childhood in which I got to experience another mouthful of happy juice. It was something I was really looking forward to and I have a certain someone out there who can attest to that. 

Nintendo did a fine job in tuning the nobs of the game in a way that made it better yet still paid respects to the previous installments. I can't explain just how quickly I was taken back to my childhood with the familiar Pikmin themesong that I could sing at any moment on the spot because of how many times I've heard it. I think we all have those sensations that bring us back to moments when we were kids...mine always seemed to be sounds and music, be it the login music of Runescape to the Pikmin themesong. I almost have tears listening to some tracks...but regardless!

Pikmin has always been one of those games I can look at and just say "yeah. that's fun". I love the ability to command troops, make friends, and explore, and this game did all three in a cutely brutal way that I can respect. While I found some disappointment in how short my journey, nothing shall ever beat my love for Nintendo's Gem that has been in my memories for years. I highly recommend you give this game a shot.

[euphoriacrossing]

So while I sit here trying to get normal balloon spawns...

I may as well write a blog. I am using a guide post on how to catch normal balloon spawns to try and get more cherry blossom recipes. Well I am only half using it.. I am camping on the beach waiting for normal balloon spawns instead of going there every 0/5 ending minute. I'll share the guide on here after this if I remember, but I already got one new cherry blossom recipe just by camping on the side of the beach that balloon spawns are coming from and ignoring the bunny day balloons, so I think this could work, too.

Anyway, now story mode is over, but I still have so, so much to do that it's not even funny. I am making it my main priority to save miles up to buy all the different paths and stuff. I think I have three left to buy so roughly 6,000 miles to earn. But saving miles means making less bells as Nook mile trips are where I made the most, I think. And now I can't take them because I have no miles/am saving miles and so I don't have the bells to pay off my house or to build a new bridge or any of the things I am saving for. But in part the fact it is harder to save bells just makes it feel like I have more to do and that is comforting in a way. I want the appeal of this game to last forever but I know my brain doesn't work like that. Still for now it's the best distraction I have and I'm grateful for it.

Having the ability to make paths is tough because it's just another million decisions to make and hope I get it right or can redo it better or whatever, so that Euphoria becomes the island I dreamed it could be. Right now I have a lot of dirt paths and I think they look okay. But I plan on redoing them someday with either custom paths or maybe just the arched tile ones... I like that path style. Still I started when I just had dirt so I just kind of kept going that way.

It looks alright, I think, especially at the entrance. I haven't finished a lot of the paths on either the right (residential) side or the left (wooded area/orchard) but I have mostly finished the center which is shops and such.

(So far I've gotten a normal balloon spawn every 5 minutes! So it works to just hang around the beach and then look for the spawns at every 0 and 5 ending minute. Edit: Aw, nope just didn't get that last one... I am probably doing something wrong then. Oops Edit2: Definitely doing something wrong. Didn't get a spawn again. Oh well I'll check the guide again once I finish this post. I am also watching for wishing stars so it won't be a total waste.. though I haven't seen any of those either. Last edit: Guide said spawns don't happen every time AND I just got another regular balloon, so maybe I'm fine? I hope I am not just wasting time.)

I am moving most of the houses before I do the paths on that side which is ANOTHER expense for sure, but after seeing a couple of my friend's islands, I knew I could make the houses probably a bit straighter and I decided I want them not quite as closer together as I want everyone to be able to have a yard. One of my friends has houses that are PIN straight and have little yards to them. I don't think I can accomplish that. But I do think I can space them out far enough to fence them in and have little yards.

So I started with the last to move in which was Marina. I put her in a space both by the beach, and by my house because even though she just moved in we're absolute besties. No but honestly, I love her. She sings like everywhere she goes and it's adorable.

I would move Beau next but I think he might stay close to where he is. Unfortunately if I have to move him a little bit I first have to move his house out of the way and then move it back because you can't move buildings just a tad, you have to find a whole new spot. This is why I had to move the whole museum to a new spot as it was slightly out of line and i couldn't just move it to where it lined up. I wish i had known this when i put things there. I didn't take care placing anything because I knew it could be moved. I only ASSUMED it could be moved a small amount as well especially since I assumed correctly that you were paying for it. But no, so oh well, now I have to come up with new spots for things, that's fine. Luckily both Nook's Cranny and the Able Sisters I got in perfect alignment with resident services like I wanted to so they're all on one straight path.

Anyway, I hope I can get it looking like i want it to. I thought that decorating it how I wanted would be the hardest because I still need to find all the furniture. But the paths might give that a run for it's money when we talk about difficulty level if you include trying to get all the houses in the right position and such.

But as hard as I've been "working" (it's definitely still fun or I wouldn't do it) I have found plenty of time for play as well. Yesterday morning I visited a friend for her KK Slider concert. I luckily have a good group of friends from a discord I'm part of and a lot of them are from other countries so they experience stuff before I do and things like that. So a bunch of us visited her for her KK concert and we did some of that...

And then things got a little wild...

Lol, it was fun. I thought for a second about the state of the world but I didn't panic thankfully. I just saw a bunch of us coming together from across the globe, some of us in quaratine, almost all of us at least ADVISED not to go out unless necessary. The world is a scary place right now, but the fact we could still come together from across the globe to be silly and enjoy a game together makes me feel like everything might be alright. I mean, it would still be cool even if these things weren't going on, but the fact they are abd socialization is becoming more difficult than ever, it's cool to see an alternate means of that in action.

I can't believe I took no pictures of her super straight houses, ugh, if I go again, I will have to, they are literally perfect.

And the weirdest thing about all of this to me is how included i feel in all of this. We're all on a small AC discord together and it seems like a lot of them have maybe known each other a while. But unlike a lot of other places it doesn't feel cliquey to me. I've always been welcome to come to their islands, and they have always been very courteous when any of them have come to mine. They act as happy to see me as they do anyone else. And I've only known them a short time so it would usually feel strange to call them "friends" but it doesn't. Now obviously they could feel differently but if they do they don't show it. I am incredibly grateful to have found them. I really couldn't ask for a better group of people to play with.

I actually was invited from this tumblr. Likely after I made some kind of post about not feeling like I belonged in the AC community or something similarly emo and whiny, I'm sure. So I am surprised I was invited at all, but I am so thankful I was. It was just what i was looking for in the AC community.

(Yes! I learned cherry blossom umbrella! Balloon hunting is going fairly well considering I only had like two of the cherry blossom DIYs total before I started and now in about an hour I've doubled that.)

I do have some facebook friends and such I have play AC with, and I am also grateful for them as well of course. It has brought us closer together and I am thankful for that. I have one friend who we constantly send each other gifts like if we accidentally got two of something or a DIY we already have or just if we think something is cool, it's really fun. I enjoy mail as much in game as I do in real life.

But yeah, I was nervous when this game first came out that I would be stuck playing just with my sister. And don't get me wrong I love playing the game with her, we always have a good time. But sometimes you need socialization beyond your own family and I really saw this as my one chance to connect since I'm not very social, I am very anxious, and I just struggle with these things. I may have been right about it being my best chance at connection because I can hide a lot of the awkwardness in game. Very thankfully though, I found people who accept what I can't hide in game. And who accept me. For some reason that's just been really hard to do. Every community I am a part of I feel like an outsider until now. But yeah, I am looking forward to a continued friendship with these people and continuing to enjoy the game moving forward.

I guess I've rambled enough. I still need to get more balloons, but I can't write here forever. Though... I frequently do write far too much here and I wonder if it get read. If it doesn't I don't blame ya. But yeah. I will leave you with this adorable pic I took while Marina was singing... you can't really tell she was singing, but still, she's adorable either way.

(And don't you love this dress? I have it in I think 4 different colors, I just love it.)

[disasterjones]

Jarrett. Give us the tea my dude

Jarett: Describe your worst boss or teacher you've ever had.

my time has come,, 

this is obscenely long, apologies

okay so I used to work at a credit union (it’s basically a bank but they push this concept of “community” and “we’re not like the banks” except that they are, do not be tempted by their honeycomb claims, they’re as fragile as they are sweet) and I worked in the quality assurance department

we were tasked with everything from balance inquiries to opening accounts to being the equivalent of loan servicers (without the capacity to actually craft the loan agreement for underwriting, because then what would the loan officers do)

my boss, we’ll call him Bob, had two assistant managers, we’ll call them Jenny and August, who were probably the pacific northwest equivalent of Stepford Wives, with Bob being the superficially-agreeable gentleman that welcomes the unaware into the compound for assimilation

so anyway I joined this job through a temp-to-hire position and it was great for the first six months or so (as it turns out, even jobs have honeymoon periods), I made friends with coworkers, I established a presence and something of a reputation for being the friendly-and-decently-quick-learner, which I would later find out was to my detriment, because they took the “quick learner” concept and thought that translated perfectly to “teacher,” and about a year in they gave me a temp to train

the temp was never a problem, although she did sometimes like to be on her phone when we were in the middle of a call, but I’m just an employee that’s giving pointers, I’m not a boss nor am I her mother, so I don’t bother to give her too much hassle about it. she still manages to keep decent call times for a newbie and is able to navigate our systems after a little bit of repetition

this was the beginning of my issues with Bob, as he wanted me to be more strict and adhere as closely his own inflexible schedule as possible. problem is I can’t force a person to learn faster, nor had I asked for the responsibility of training someone in the first place. why hadn’t they asked someone with more experience? sure I’d learned the ins and outs of the programs okay, but i hadn’t developed the tools to quickly de-escalate angry callers yet, hadn’t even been given access to several systems I was expected to use to train this temp, but being behind was my fault no matter what I said

I’d already been dealing with some subtle snideness and condescension from Jenny and August on top of that, and it took me ages to realize it’s because I was the only person that didn’t engage in makeup culture (partially bc I can’t afford that shit lol) and that was literally the reason why: I wasn’t “put together” or “company ready,” even though I never personally interacted with members or anyone on site beyond people in my immediate department

so a year and a half of this, of subtle underhanded remarks and difficult demands, of having constant rising expectations and quotas, told at every turn that our goal is to have as many new members as possible, all the while a broken record of lie, just repeating constantly that “sales don’t matter, it’s about the community” 

(EXCEPT GET ALL THE ACCOUNTS DON'T LET THEM SLIP THROUGH YOUR FINGERS YOU FUCKING FAILURE YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN THEM 3 ACCOUNTS YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN THEM A GOOD RATE ON THE NEW CREDIT CARD IF THEY JUST SIGNED UP BUT REMEMBER WE DON’T WANT TO SELL THEM ANYTHING)

finally it’s Christmas time and I’ve been busting my hump for the whole year and it’s my second year so I’m eligible for a bonus and I’m literally gonna burst I’m so happy... until Bob and Co. announce that, despite all our stellar efforts this year, despite that we are ahead of company projections by a 15% margin across all departments, despite that I personally (and by proxy our department) was responsible for the acquisition of an account worth over 1.3 million, we were told our Christmas bonuses were actually going to be a bit sparser than they were the year prior, my first year, the year I got a $75 Fred Meyer gift card in

I had been looking forward to a cash bonus and had worked my ass off for it, had been damn near guaranteed it during a number of team/personal reviews with the managers, but surprise! three days before christmas, all I have to look forward to is $50 to a place that I can reasonably get a single pair of shoes from (and maybe some socks)

it’s a month or so later that the Big Change happens, and the entire building of employees moves across town to a new location. some people get let go in the shuffle, including one of my close friends I’d met there. financially stressed though she was, I could see how much happier she was to be out of that place, and I started to get inklings of leaving as my mental health began to deteriorate. another result of this change is that the parking availability for employees is cut down to a third of what we used to have, except it’s even less because most of the spots at the new building are intended for members, so everybody’s carpooling or riding bikes or bussing

side note: carpooling is all well and good in a green initiative, but do you have any idea how difficult it is to coordinate more than two people for a carpool? either you can make us carpool or you can have us in on time, you can’t have both

a bit of advice for anybody new to the job circuit or who might have trouble deciphering “appropriate” social gestures: no matter how open they say you can be, no matter how friendly or amenable they appear to be to mental health struggles, don’t fall for that trap and think you can show any moment of weakness. it’s true that not everyone will react the way my managers did, but don’t take the chance if you can help it. on the surface, they understood. on the surface they said they were with me.

i would go on to walk in on those same people mocking my symptoms and talking about how it can’t be that bad, that I must be trying to get attention.I was labeled unprofessional, and no matter how much they encouraged open communication and preached how “life happens and things get rough for people,” I was still an acceptable target. 

so I took my complaint to HR, who at first seemed taken aback at the notion that, of anybody, BOB could be engaging in such careless and callous behavior. “Oh, he’s such a nice man! I’m sure he didn’t mean those things.” and because he wasn’t the one saying them, but rather laughing along with them, and because it was my word against theirs, it was unlikely to go anywhere

time crawls on and it’s about march or so when everything finally snaps in my brain. getting out of bed feels like selling my soul and going to work feels more like torture than a paycheck. on The Dawn Of The Day That Broke My Back, I was up and ready, out in front of my apartment and chain smoking to keep myself awake, when I realized that no matter when my carpool shows up now, we’re going to be late

I try to keep myself in decent spirits, not be a grumposaurus on the way in. I feel prepared for the day, got my coffee and my lunch in a bag and a nice outfit and I feel like maybe today won’t be as bad as the rest of the month has been, even though we’ll be late

we arrive about 10 after, but I’ve got Jenny and August’s numbers in my phone, so I’ve sent them messages ahead of time to let them know that the carpool was a bit late because traffic has been troublesome. I don’t remember how true it was, but the point is I did my part to let them know ahead of time that we weren’t no-shows, just a bit delayed. as I’m walking in (mind you, following and followed by a number of other individuals just as late as me), Bob singles me out, pointing first at me and then another aggressive point in the direction of a closed office space 

fun fact: with the new change in locations, he no longer has his own office, in fact he now sits directly adjacent to me and close enough to hear me speak under my breath, something I had to be constantly aware of

he ignores the confusion on my face as soon as we’re inside and immediately begins to accuse me of slacking off, saying I’ve been skipping out on and coming late into work constantly, and I need to “get it together” or I’ll be out of a job. I try to express that I’m not trying to shirk my responsibilities, just that I’ve been dealing with a lot of personal stuff and it’s affecting my focus. He doesn’t care, his frustration continuing to escalate, and every time I offer a response or rebuttal to an unfair statement, he gets angrier and changes what he’s upset about.

Finally it happens. 

“You were late! 10 minutes late! You need to be in your chair at your desk and ready to sign in and be ready to take calls BY 8:00!!” 

I have grown tired of him yelling for no reason, and the backbone that had crumbled away over the last two and a half years suddenly snaps back into place hard as steel. 

“I would like to know why this is all aimed at me specifically, when you saw me enter with the remainder of my carpool, the carpool that you all made us set up in the middle of construction season, which of course is happening on the only road that leads here. 

“I would like to know how I’m supposed to control the environment or lives of the other people I am stuck riding with every day for this job that supposedly cares about us, even though it doesn’t seem to care about the extra expenses or time  crunch we now have to endure as a result of this change that miraculously doesn’t affect you. 

“I would like to know who put that stick so far up your ass that you thought it was necessary to yell at your employee about 10 damn minutes. If you don’t mind, I have a job to get to.”

And I go and sit at my desk. He fumes quietly in the office for a while before coming out to his desk, returning to whatever he was doing before he pulled me aside to treat me like a child.

Not a few hours later, I get a call from a member that had been working directly with Bob (big ordeal that needed a manager a few days prior, so he was the go-to for this particular account), and they wanted to speak with him, claiming it was urgent. I hold the call and stand up, trying to get Bob’s attention quietly since there’s other calls happening around me. I call his name quietly, saying “phone for you, it’s [member’s name]” but he doesn’t seem to hear me because he doesn’t respond. So again, I whisper his name, this time leaning more towards him to hopefully catch his eye with the movement, but he cuts me off before I can get the member’s name out

He starts yelling. Like, at the top of his voice, yelling. In a small room, to a person less than 5 feet away, audible to everyone both on a call and not (I would later find out it was also audible over the phone! a member asked what the yelling was about. but I’m the unprofessional one)

“CAN’T YOU SEE I’M BUSY? WHATEVER YOU HAVE TO BOTHER ME WITH CAN WAIT. GET BACK TO WORK.”

The resolve I’d summoned earlier didn’t stay with me, and this was the final straw. It’s one thing to be berated to and humiliated one on one, it’s another to be on the receiving end of it in the presence of 20 other people. I get back on the phone and tell the member, “I’m very sorry, he’ll have to return your call. He’s unavailable at the present.” and hung up, because I was about to cry and I needed to get out. I log out of everything, lock my computer, pick up my belongings and wave to one of my carpoolmates as I walk out and down to HR

they wound up convincing me to stay for a few more weeks, especially after they fired Bob (who it would turn out was going through a divorce, his second in four years, and I just happened to be the punching bag he needed that day), but eventually I left and never went back

[ Critical Role Ask Meme ]

[suzanneshannon]

In Search of a Stack That Monitors the Quality and Complexity of CSS

Many developers write about how to maintain a CSS codebase, yet not a lot of them write about how they measure the quality of that codebase. Sure, we have excellent linters like StyleLint and CSSLint, but they only help at preventing mistakes at a micro level. Using a wrong color notation, adding a vendor prefix when you’re already using Autoprefixer, writing a selector in an inconsistent way... that kind of thing.

We’re constantly looking for ways to improve the way we write CSS: OOCSS, SMACSS, ITCSS, utility-first and more. But where other development communities seem to have progressed from just linters to tools like SonarQube and PHP Mess Detector, the CSS community still lacks tooling for deeper inspection than shallow lint rules. For that reason I have created Project Wallace, a suite of tools for inspecting and enforcing CSS quality.

What is Project Wallace?

At the core, Project Wallace is a group of tools that includes a command line interface, linter, analysis, and reporting

Here’s a quick rundown of those tools.

Command Line Interface

This lets you run CSS analytics on the command line and get statistics for any CSS that you feed it.

Example output for projectwallace.com

Constyble Linter

This is a linter designed specifically for CSS. Based on the analytics that Wallace generates, you can set thresholds that should not be exceeded. For example, a single CSS rule should not contain more than 10 selectors, or the average selector complexity should not be higher than three.

Analysis

Extract-CSS does exactly what the name says: Extract all the CSS from a webpage, so we can send it over to projectwallace.com for analysis.

Reporting

All analysis from Extract CSS is sent over to projectwallace.com where a dashboard contains all of the reporting of that data. It’s similar to CSS Stats, but it tracks more metrics and stores the results over time and shows them in a dashboard. It also shows the differences between to points in time, and many, many more features.

A complexity analysis generated by projectwallace.com

Analyzing CSS complexity

There aren’t many articles about CSS complexity but the one that Harry Roberts (csswizardry) wrote got stuck in my brain. The gist of it is that every CSS selector is basically a bunch of if-statements, which reminded me of taking computer science courses where I had to manually calculate cyclomatic complexity for methods. Harry’s article made perfect sense to me in the sense that we can write a module that calculates the complexity of a CSS selector — not to be confused with specificity, of course, because that’s a whole different can of worms when it comes to complexity.

Basically, complexity in CSS can appear in many forms, but here are the ones that I pay closest attention to when auditing a codebase:

The cyclomatic complexity of CSS selectors

Every part of a selector means another if-statement for the browser. Longer selectors are more complex than shorter ones. They are harder to debug, slower to parse for the browser and harder to override.

.my-selector {} /* 1 identifier */ .my #super [complex^="selector"] > with ~ many :identifiers {} /* 6 identifiers */

Declarations per ruleset (cohesion)

A ruleset with many declarations is more complex than a ruleset with a few declarations. The popularity of functional CSS frameworks like Tailwind and Tachyons is probably due to the relative "simplicity" of the CSS itself.

/* 1 rule, 1 declaration => cohesion = 1 */ .text-center { text-align: center; } /* 1 rule, 8 declarations => cohesion = (1 / 8) = 0.125 */ .button { background-color: blue; color: white; padding: 1em; border: 1px solid; display: inline-block; font-size: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; }

The number of source code lines

More code means more complexity. Every line of code that is written needs to be maintained and, as such, is included in the reporting.

Average selectors per rule

A rule usually contains 1 selector, but sometimes there are more. That makes it hard to delete certain parts of the CSS, making it more complex.

All of these metrics can be linted with Constyble, the CSS complexity linter that Project Wallace uses in its stack. After you’ve defined a baseline for your metrics, it’s a matter of installing Constyble and setting up a config file. Here’s an example of a config file that I’ve pulled directly from the Constyble readme file:

{ // Do not exceed 4095 selectors, otherwise IE9 will drop any subsequent rules "selectors.total": 4095, // We don't want ID selectors "selectors.id.total": 0, // If any other color than these appears, report an error! "values.colors.unique": ["#fff", "#000"] }

The cool part is that Constyble runs on your final CSS, so it does its thing only after all of your preprocessed work from Sass, Less, PostCSS or whatever you use. That way, we can do smart checks for the total amount of selectors or average selector complexity — and just like any linter, you can make this part of a build step where your build fails if there are any issues.

Takeaways from using Project Wallace

After using Project Wallace for a while now, I’ve found that it’s great for tracking complexity. But while it is mainly designed to do that, it’s also a great way to find subtle bugs in your CSS that linters may not find because of they’re checking preprocessed code. Here’s a couple of interesting things that I found:

I’ve stopped counting the amount of user stories in our sprints where we had to fix inconsistent colors on a website. Projects that are several years old and people entering and leaving the company: it’s a recipe for getting each and every brand color wrong on a website. Luckily, we implemented Constyble and Project Wallace to get stakeholder buy-in, because we were able to proof that the branding for our customer was spot on for newer projects. Constyble stops us from adding colors that are not in the styleguide.

A color graph proving that our color game is spot on. Only a handful of colors and only those that originate from the client’s styleguide or in the codebase.

I have installed Project Wallace webhooks at all the projects that I worked on at one of my former employers. Any time that new CSS is added to a project, it sends the CSS over to projectwallace.com and it’s immediately visible in the projects’ dashboard. This makes it pretty easy to spot when a particular selector of media query was added to the CSS.

"Hey, where did that orange go?" An example diff from projectwallace.com.

The CSS-Tricks redesign earlier this year meant a massive drop in complexity and filesize. Redesigns are awesome to analyze. It gives you the opportunity to take a small peek behind the scenes and figure out what and how the authors changed their CSS. Seeing what parts didn’t work for the site and new parts that do might teach you a thing or two about how rapidly CSS is moving forward.

A large international company based in the Netherlands once had more than 4,095 selectors in a single CSS file. I knew that they were growing aggressively in upcoming markets and that they had to support Internet Explorer 8+. IE9 stops reading all CSS after 4,095 selectors and so a good chunk of their CSS wasn’t applied in old IE browsers. I sent them an email and they verified the issue and fixed it right away by splitting the CSS into two files.

GitLab currently uses more than 70 unique font sizes. I’m pretty sure their typography system is complex, but this seems a little overly ambitious. Maybe it is because of some third party CSS, but that’s hard to tell.

A subset of the 70+ unique font-sizes used at GitLab.

When inheriting a project from other developers, I take a look at the CSS analytics just to get a feel about the difficult bits of the project. Did they use !important a lot? Is the average ruleset size comprehensible, or did they throw 20+ declarations at each one of them? What is the average selector length, will they be hard to override? Not having to resort to .complex-selector-override\[class\][class][class]...[class] would be nice.

A neat trick for checking that your minification works is to let Constyble check that the Lines of Code metric is not larger than 1. CSS minification means that all CSS is put on a single line, so the Lines of Code should be equal to 1!

A thing that kept happening in another project of mine was that the minification broke down. I had no idea, until a Project Wallace diff showed me how a bunch of colors were suddenly written like #aaaaaa instead of #aaa. This isn’t a bad thing necessarily, but it happened for so many colors at the same time, that something had to be out of order. A quick investigation showed me that I made a mistake in the minification.

StackOverflow has four unique ways of writing the color white. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it may be an indication of a broken CSS minifier or inconsistencies in the design system.

Facebook.com has more than 650 unique colors) in their CSS. A broken design system is starting to sound like a possibility for them, too.

A project for a former employer of mine showed input[type=checkbox]:checked+.label input[type=radio]+label:focus:after as the most complex selector. After inspecting carefully, we saw that this selector targets an input nested in another input. That’s not possible to do in HTML, and we figured that we must have forgotten a comma in our CSS. No linter warned us there.

Nesting in CSS preprocessors is cool, but can lead to buggy things, like @media (max-width: 670px) and (max-width: 670px), as I found in Syntax.fm.

This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Project Wallace. There is so much more to learn and discover once you start analyzing your CSS. Don’t just look at your own statistics, but also look at what others are doing.

I have used my Constyble configs as a conversation piece with less experienced developers to explain why their build failed on complex chunks of CSS. Talking with other developers about why we’re avoiding or promoting certain ways of writing CSS is helpful in transferring knowledge. And it helps me keep my feet on the ground too. Having to explain something that I’ve been doing for years to a PHP developer who just wanted to help out makes me re-think why I’m doing things the way I do.

My goal is not to tell anyone what is right or what is wrong in CSS, but to create the tools so that you can verify what works for you and your peers. Project Wallace is here to help us make sense of the CSS that we write.

The post In Search of a Stack That Monitors the Quality and Complexity of CSS appeared first on CSS-Tricks.

In Search of a Stack That Monitors the Quality and Complexity of CSS published first on https://deskbysnafu.tumblr.com/

[itsitatech-blog]

Garmin's Vivosmart HR investigated: Don't purchase a Fitbit before considering this band The $150 generally useful tracker might not have Fitbit's cutting edge outside, but rather its internals are solid.

Garmin is not kidding. The most devoted outdoorsmen and competitors seek its tough items for following everything from laps in the pool to hazardous climbs in remote spots. Presently the organization is getting more genuine about heart rate with the $150 Vivosmart HR, its first wristband movement tracker with a builtin optical heart rate screen that the organization created itself. It sports a large portion of the elements Garmin put into its other universally handy trackers, including step, separation, calorie, and rest following, cell phone warnings, and music and activity cam controls. Everything interfaces with the recently upgraded Garmin Connect application.

Other than the heart rate screen, there's nothing remarkably new about it. Be that as it may, the Vivosmart HR is an essential item for Garmin. Not exclusively will it contend with the imminent Polar A360, in any case, more imperatively, it's pursuing Fitbit's $150 Charge HR with an exhaustive arrangement of elements that both tenderfoots and no-nonsense competitors will appreciate.

Configuration: Don't settle what isn't broken

The Vivosmart HR resembles a marriage of the Vivosmart band and the Vivofit 2. It has a module with a 1.00 x 0.42-inch,160 x 68-pixel touchscreen that sits on the wrist, with a solitary physical catch on the correct side of it. It's inserted into an adaptable, silicone band that impersonates a general watch strap, yet this has rectangular steps instead of little openings. That inconspicuous change makes it super simple to modify and attach, so you can make it as free or as tight as you need contingent upon when you're wearing it (you'll need to have it on really tight when you anticipate utilizing the heart rate screen intensely).

On the underside of the gadget is the optical heart rate screen and the four little hubs for charging. The charging link has an odd clasp on it that you need to fit the band into with the goal for it to control up by means of USB. The hubs are not attractive either, so I frequently needed to tinker with the charging link before I at last adjusted it properly correctly.Despite the show's fundamental, monochrome style, I truly enjoyed it. The numbers that demonstrate the time carefully are enormous and simple to peruse, and the whole show is super evident in direct daylight also. In the Garmin Connect application, you can pick on the off chance that you need its somewhat blue backdrop illumination on dependably, never, or just amid action and when tapped. I ended up wishing the backdrop illumination was brighter, yet that is an issue most Garmin gadgets have had for a very long time. It likewise times out before long in the event that you have it set to just turn on when woken by a tap or action following, so I would propose keeping it generally on the off chance that you have eye inconveniences.

The Vivosmart HR is water-safe up to 5 ATM, or around 50 meters. That is superior to the practically identical Fitbit Charge HR, which is just sprinkle safe. The band should last up to five days on a solitary charge, and my band was down to around 20 percent battery amid my fourth day of utilization.

Setting up the gadget is sufficiently basic: simply download the Garmin Connect application and take after the matching directions after you sign in or make a record. The Vivosmart HR sets through Bluetooth to your Android or iOS gadget, and it does as such amid setup from inside Garmin's application as opposed to in the Bluetooth settings on your cell phone. I didn't have an issue setting up the gadget, yet it had incidental adjusting issues. You can start a match up by opening up the application or by tapping the adjust symbol on the band; here and there the band wouldn't consequently synchronize when I opened the application.

A Garmin agent instructed me to refresh the Vivosmart HR's product to check whether that would settle the issue. To do as such, you should associate the gadget to your PC by means of its USB charger and match up it with Garmin Express, which you can download from Garmin's site. It's fundamentally a gadget administration framework that is generally useful for programming and firmware refreshes. Beyond any doubt enough, my Vivosmart HR should have been refreshed to the latest programming, and after I did as such, it matched up to the application rapidly and effectively. (I ought to likewise specify that Garmin was doing upkeep on its Connect application while I surveyed the Vivosmart HR. This backed me off as it disturbed matching up, however after the support was done, things backpedaled to normal.)Features: The typical suspects, with a precise heart rate screen

Garmin is absolutely attempting to take Fitbit's Charge HR head-on with the Vivosmart HR. It tracks steps, calories, remove, floors climbed, and rest, which is precisely what the Charge HR does. A note on rest following: the Vivosmart HR screens profound and light rest, and in addition the quantity of times you awaken every night. Amid setup, something you need to tell the gadget is the time you normally go to bed every night and the time you get up every morning. The tracker utilizes those circumstances as rules. It naturally accept you're sleeping when it detects no development in that window of time, and it additionally quiets the vibration cautions on the band so any telephone action won't wake you up.

One of the new measurements followed is "power minutes," which piggybacks on the proposal of associations including the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Heart Association that you ought to get no less than 150 minutes for each week of extraordinary action. As indicated by Garmin's Vivosmart HR manual, you can pick up power minutes by taking an interest in "10 continuous minutes of direct to energetic force exercises."

The greatest new element is Garmin's Elevate optical heart rate screen implanted in the wristband. It constantly screens your heartbeat, taking in your normal heart rate after some time. I like having the capacity to check my heart rate whenever by swiping to the proper page on the show, and seeing my normal heart rate puts the constant number into point of view. I checked my heartbeat various times each day along these lines and tried the screen's precision the way it was done in the good 'ol days: bringing my heartbeat with my finger over the corridor in my throat. Each time the screen was inside 5 bpm of my perusing.

The heart rate screen is on when you work out too, and the readings will show up when you swipe the show while following an exercise. With runs, you can swipe through time, separate, calories, heart rate, and clock screens, and on the off chance that you simply need to have the capacity to look down at a particular metric while you're preparing, you can simply swipe to that page and abandon it there. Heart rate and separation are what I get a kick out of the chance to concentrate on when I run, so I frequently kept the show demonstrating those. I likewise like that when you quit following an action, you can spare it or dispose of it—this makes it super simple to sift through any exercises that may have been hindered for reasons unknown or only ones you're not especially content with.

There's additionally communicating mode for the heart rate screen, which imparts your heartbeat to an associated Garmin ANT+ good gadget, for example, an Edge cycling tracker, the VIRB activity cam (which you can likewise control through the Vivosmart HR), or even a Vivoactive smartwatch which can track swimming. Polar's up and coming A360 wristband can do a similar thing, offering your heart rate data to other Polar items that don't have screens as of now in them.

While the Charge HR demonstrates you call and text-based notifications, the Vivosmart HR shows every one of the warnings your cell phone gets including writings, calls, messages, logbook occasions, Facebook, Twitter, and then some. It's one of those groups that just surges your wrist with notices, regardless of the possibility that your cell phone doesn't illuminate with them. I don't incapacitate any warnings on my iPhone 6, however some don't awaken the show since they aren't sufficiently imperative for me to need to see instantly. Indeed, even those alarms come through on the Vivosmart HR, so regularly I would look down at my wrist and see only an irregular warning that a companion had checked-in at Shake Shack on Swarm. On the off chance that you need to handicap any warnings from coming through on the band, you'll need to go into the settings on your cell phone and impair them for your gadget too.

In the drawer of different elements, the Vivosmart HR has music controls on its show, giving you a chance to delay and skip forward and backward between melodies while you work out. The main application I could utilize it in was iTunes, however, so Spotify and Google Music clients are stuck between a rock and a hard place with this. In the event that you've been slumming it on the love seat or at your work area for 60 minutes, the band will vibrate to instruct you to move a bit. However, the element I utilized more than I'd get a kick out of the chance to concede is the discover my-telephone highlight: tap the telephone symbol in settings, and the band will send a jingle to your cell phone on the off chance that you've lost it.Garmin Connect: striking overhaul, yet a bit of befuddling

Garmin as of late updated its application, Garmin Connect, which is the versatile partner for about the greater part of its wearables. It used to have a tasteless, card-like configuration (which the Web form still has), however now it wears a darker, chic look with an electric edge. The landing page is plain as day: two circles overwhelm the highest point of the screen, demonstrating to you your action objective advance up until now and how much rest you got the previous evening. Underneath that are little tiles that show dynamic calories (or the calories you've used), exercises recorded for the day, remaining calories you need to consume, power minutes, floors climbed, and, on the off chance that you've matched MyFitnessPal to the application, calories consumed.Tapping on either circle will give you more data about your movement and rest, including things like separation voyaged, floors climbed and dropped, and profound and light rest terms. From the landing page, swiping to one side will indicate you pages committed to every Snapshot you chose when you first set up the gadget. These are quite recently brisk get to pages that you can use to take a gander at the details that are most vital to you.