#we already had to restart it because of the leeches

[emuwarum]

Who is murdering my snails and laying eggs in their shells

I also found this tiny white worm (light stripe on its head) is this the criminal (is it planaria??? or harmless cousin)

I also found some tiny black leeches in my other tanks, so I'm not sure if those eggs are from the leeches. I haven't seen any leeches in this tank yet but they were good at hiding, the shell with so many eggs is from one of the other tanks but I found more eggs in this one.

[king-of-confections]

_.:HISTORY TIMELINE:._

1982 - THE ARCADE OPENS.

TurboTime, one of the many arcade games that are set up at Litwak's, is finally plugged in and ready to recieve coins for a good race~ 🏆

These are known by Turbo as 'the glory days'.

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1987 - GOING TURBO.

We all know what this is. What made Turbo's name go down in infamy: getting two games unplugged for his own selfishness, and the rest is history.

The few things Turbo was able to salvage from his own home apart from his own code are: the twins' codes, and his game's mascot: Tyrus.

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1997 - A NEW HOME, UNINVITED.

Sugar Rush is plugged in!

After ten years of hiding, his code crying out to do what he was made for, a light in the dark tunnel, that he made for himself, appears for the homeless racer- a light that did not belong to him, but he would take regardless, because who wouldn't?

Sugar Rush' short-lived monarchy by Vanellope would get shoved aside by a new face, their true ruler- King Candy.

And because he wasn't able to save Tyrus' coding to implant into Sugar Rush as well, King Candy has had to attach Tyrus' character to his own, like a leech.

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2012 - THE CRASH.

Events of the movie ensue, up to Turbo's demise, which ends up causing his giant, old code box to explode within the code room, completely crashing the game Sugar Rush.

Upon restarting, Turbo regenerated along with the world and it's inhabitants (albeit accompanied by his cybrid form from which he can semi-control the ability to shift between that and his racer form), thinking he has full control over it- and still concerned about Ralph, Vanellope & co. ruining his game, the racer feels a new wave of confidence now that he has a more 'direct' form of putting a halt to things.

...Except he doesn't. Because there is no Vanellope nor Ralph to be found. In fact- the exit to Game Central Station isn't even there as it was supposed to be before! But, the citizens of Sugar Rush have no idea what their king is rambling on about.

Very few are aware of their king's peculiar ability to transform (with the occasional glitching back to a stranger racer form they don't reocgnize, be he is their ruler after all, so who are they to question it? Not that they'd know what to ask.).

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2013 - FAMILY.

Foolishly assuming he had full control over his cy-bug form with no consequences, Turbo neglects most of what his insectoid coding demands of him: kill, eat, multiply. This led to the monarch's already-volatile mood (especially with everything that's happened) to accentuate to the point where he: A) started to struggle to keep his racer form, making him unable to race more than once, and B) started to attack his own subjects, attempting to eat them.

Oh and, of course the unpleasant surprise to find out he could lay eggs. And the more he smashed each clutch, the more his bug-half would grow distressed and the more he would make- so... eventually, even the greatest racer ever had to accept defeat, since there is no winning against a virus' coding. Now he's the turbotastic father of 10 to 15 spawns, not much but hey- enough to get his stupid bug code to pipe down... some are humanoid, that end up being much bigger than Turbo himself in his insectoid form, others are cy-bugs that just never grow up but grow old mentally, though not all; some become self-aware and develop conciousness, other remain feral and stick to their coding, some remain perpetually babies that need to be looked after; both the gigantism and growth defects (mentally and physically) in them is due to the disastrous mess going on back in the code room.

As the not so rightful ruler of Sugar Rush, King Candy begun to take his bug-half a bit more seriously, if it means he'll be able to control it enough to be able to just race.

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2014 - WE MEET... AGAIN?

Of course, after the crash, once the chaos and initial shock of having died had settled a bit, King Candy tried to access the Code Room to see for himself more clearly just what was going on- safe to say he is barely able to access to the Program to nagivate through it- the Code Room has transformed into a glitching, disorganized malfunctioning mess. The entangled guts of his own code have spilled out into the game's untouched programming and now it's tainted; attempting to navigate through it not only is a difficult chore for the king, but it can end up harming him too if not careful! Pulling on the wrong wire can end up de-stabilizing his form into a jumbled mess of pixels...

Genuinely concerned about what this meant for the game itself other than just him, and after finally realizing that his original game's mascot that he'd secretly kept inside his castle had gone missing, King Candy would begin to explore the lands for himself. This led to the discovery of cy-bug infested areas, clones of himself running around- some so changed and warped by the program that they turned into completely different individuals, and... TurboTime.

An area of Sugar Rush, far away, just next to the Candycane forest... a small portion of the sweet land transformed into the racetracks of his original game, it had the audience, everything... even the Turbo Twins, his old competition- the game had programmed them in to regenerate.

He doesn't question it, he's not horrified- King Candy is nostalgic, he is in awe. But the twins don't recognize this strange monarch wandering alone...

That is, until his accidental glitching back to his original form out of excitement upon exploring TurboTime after so many years; 'His Majesty' is confronted by the twins, the initial shock eventually causing a scandal in front of the NPC pixelated audience, and some of the other cybrids, cy-bugs & other creatures watching from afar. This led to a rather indecorous fight between the three racers, and drama, probably the biggest one they've ever had since their game was plugged in.

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2017-2021 - LOCKED UP.

Turbo goes through a mid-life existential crisis. How long has it been? With nowhere out of Sugar Rush and no screen for a player... what is he racing for? He feels trapped, locked up to be forgotten, and begins questioning what it's worth to keep racing. But he couldn't stop, racing is his life.

He was made to be adored, the protagonist of his game. Players loved him, as they should- but now they aren't there anymore. If there isn't a screen... or an exit to Game Central Station, are they even inside an Arcade anymore? Night and day cycles in the game come and go, each new day they race- "it's for the players!" King Candy would reassure, but really it's just the one lie that actually benefits his subjects to avoid more chaos, there are no players to use them as avatars. There is no one to play Sugar Rush.

His attention begins to turn more towards his subjects- care for them? Not impossible, they're all he has left, their attention was better than nothing. Did the Twins count? Although they fought? Was it the nostalgia that spoke on that bit? Perhaps regret? It doesn't matter... attention is attention. And he needed it.

One mistake is all it would take to go down in history. And in the end he will be remembered.

He will be remembered, for centuries.

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2022 - REALIZATION.

Ten years. It took the ruler of Sugar Rush to realize after ten years that maybe... just maybe, he could have gone about things in a different manner if he hadn't acted so selfishly. He could've given Vanellope special treatment instead, and made her a racetrack all for herself to race, while still keeping up his lie...

But Vanellope doesn't exist in this world anymore. So why would it matter now? And why would anyone care what he chose to do? Him, of all people? The most important person is and has always been him, and that's all that matters. Besides- now he's got a whole kingdom to look out for, kids of his own and doubles of himself to deal with!

Vanellope Von Schweetz is no more. Now it's just King Candy.

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2024 AND ONWARDS - PRESENT DAY.

(you are here!)

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WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE ARCADE GAME KNOWN AS SUGAR RUSH?

Nobody knows for sure, at least... nobody that resides inside the game! After Turbo's demise in the Diet Cola Mountain, nobody would've expected the entire game console to completely collapse due to the mad racer's code, filled to the brim with junk, exploding within the code room shortly after his death; the console shut off by itself, taking everyone inside before restarting.

As far as the racers & candy citizens know... nothing happened at all, it's just another active day of racing in Sugar Rush. Their ruler is King Candy, and they often have to deal with a pesky glitch that causes problems for their race.

And as far as King Candy knows... well, he (and Sour Bill, a little bit) knows much more of course- he remembers what happened, he knows why it happened. The crash of the console seems to have irreversibly messed with the racers' memories and coding, believing King Candy to have always been their ruler instead of Vanellope Von Schweetz; his original code dating all the way back to TurboTime also has fused with the game, having recreated a setting of the game within another game, with some familiar faces... the cy-bug coding has unfortunately also taken it's toll on Sugar Rush, now these beasts have become native to the game! Although coding can be uh... messy, especially if a console is not restarted properly, which leaves the bugs often too messed up to reproduce properly, or they end up killing eachother by eating themselves after consuming candy, becoming candy, seeing a fellow bug that is made out of candy and... well, the cycle repeats. They mostly infest the candycane forest and underground fudge caverns.

But one thing just doesn't make sense... where has the exit to Game Central Station gone? Why has the screen from which the player can see the avatar disappeared? Are they still at Litwak's Arcade? Are they all dead? Is this some purgatory? For now... the only thing that's clear is that they actually have a space online to communicate, and perhaps interact with some other fellow racers?

[mirohtron]

first part. this is like 2.1k words long i'm so sorry 💀 i was stuck on the first draft for ages so i restarted it and suddenly i am writing 2k words in less than a week... it's a problem

cw for brief eye whump and a lot of injuries and shocking

—

Here's the thing, the hero was a good person. Actually. Even though they were technically a vigilante, even though there was no comic-book league controlling crime, so they could be as ruthless or cruel as they wanted, it was simply not in them. They were gullible and naïve and wanted to believe everybody was redeemable.

So, when a hand slapped them awake and the hero woke up drug-addled with a knife pressed to their throat, the first thing they said was, "This isn't you."

The sidekick laughed. It was a note too sharp to be amused. It sounded just as guarded as the rest of them. "How cute." They lowered the knife, which let the hero calm down, and they looked around. They were tied to a pole, in what looked like a basement, with pipes running through the ceiling like snakes and fluorescent lights humming. The walls were dull and grey and grime was starting to leech down from every corner. They tried burning their ties and the sidekick hushed them, wrapping their fingers around their wrists, snuffing out the weak flames like they were candles. "You wouldn't want to tire yourself out, I don't think."

The hero shivered, nauseous because the suppressors that had definitely been in their drink weren't doing a good job at stopping their powers but it certainly did weaken them, and then their stomach flipped because there was a putrid odour in the air and oh god is that what a rotting corpse smells like?

It must've been obvious, the terror in their expression, because the sidekick tucked two fingers under their chin and moved their face around. They'd done the same thing when they'd first met; the hero had thought it suspicion, and so they'd let them see their face. They didn't notice the calculation the first time. The sidekick didn't seem to get any joy from their terror.

"You don't—" the hero's mind was slowly, slowly drawing a blank, the only thing they could cling onto being the sidekick's absence of any cliché or classic sadism. "You don't—you don't have to do this. Why are you doing this?"

"Why can't I?"

"You're—children are being experimented on."

"I don't care."

The hero scoffed and laughed and tried to make their smile look—mean. Unsympathetic. Something. Just to get a reaction out of them. "It'll increase competition. Do you really want more criminals with powers? We're already so rare."

"It's not artificial superhumans I'm concerned about." The sidekick tilted their head up as they spoke. "It's that the villain needs to know who I am. What I am. That a little hit to the head won't stop me from doing what I want to do."

The hero felt downright hysterical. "So this is to feed your little ego? That's so original. You're going to stab Bates in the back too? That's ridiculous! You'll be on your own with more enemies than you can count!"

Abruptly, the sidekick took the hero's neck and shoved them back.

The hero tried to draw in precious air before their grip tightened. It wasn't too hard, but it was hard enough that it felt suffocating. "I can survive. I've survived for so long without him."

What were they talking about? The hero kicked and the sidekick made a noise of annoyance, like they were merely dealing with a child. They pushed past and settled between their legs, pressing the knife back against their skin.

The sidekick tilted their head, and their eyes looked terribly sad and resigned all of a sudden. "Do you know what it's like to be torn from someone who knew you inside out?"

The hero stared, cold seeping into their skin from the walls and the metal against their skin, drawing a blank in the panic. Then it clicked and they wanted to be anywhere but here. The hero laughed and it was too strained. "You—we can fix this."

The sidekick pressed the knife in deeper and the hero whimpered at the resulting prickle of pain. "Your villain looks at me like I'm repulsive. Do you know how unbearable it is to be looked at like that?"

The hero wanted to say, god, everyone looks at you like that—at all of you, but they wanted to scream because they knew it was different when it was someone who you knew or trusted, and they'd read newspaper articles and the sidekick and the villain had known each other for ages, twins conjoined at the teeth, orphans cut from the same cloth that made up their skin. Wreaking havoc on city after city, and then some accident happened and the villain was m.i.a for months and crime had taken a steady drop down.

The hero still had their suspicions, of course, when the villain asked them for help. But, god, they'd be stupid to have agreed to help if it was any other criminal. It was like they'd flipped a switch after that accident, changed personas.

The hero remembered when they were fifteen and saw the villain and sidekick's faces printed on paper, devilish and evil and lethal. Siamese twins. Two heads that shared the same neck. Then they'd seen the same faces at twenty-three, the villain more put together and the sidekick just... there. Staring. Black-and-white monochrome doing nothing to hide the void in their eyes. The hero and the sidekick were the same age, and yet the sidekick had never looked more old.

There was a spark in the hero's eyes, they knew that. They'd always known that. They'd seen it in the mirror, comparing their teen face to the sidekick's face, trying to see what was so different in the spark in their eyes and the spark in the sidekick's eyes that the two lived so differently. In the end, the hero found that it all came down to circumstance.

At their silence, the sidekick tilted their head. "No, you don't. You're too good for it."

The hero choked when the knife pressed in deeper, their jaw moving to try and say something. But they didn't have anything to stall the sidekick with. Nobody looked at them with horror or disgust or repulsiveness. Certainly not someone who’d saved them, once upon a time.

"I'm sorry." That was all they could say. All they could offer, because damn it there was nothing similar about them now.

"I don't need your pity," murmured the sidekick. The knife dragged, feather-light, and the hero wanted to yell and cry, do something, but their jaw set in fear and the sidekick let go of their throat to snuff out more flames. The hero shut their eyes tight. "It's okay, I'll make it quick, don't worry."

Then the blade dug in, and just as soon the pressure disappeared with a sound like metal breaking and the hero yelped in helpless fear. They could feel blood dripping down their throat, the way the wound began to burn as the adrenaline failed to numb it. A million little cuts on the curve of their neck.

Air wouldn't go into them, the hero realised, and they heard confused mumbling and the sidekick's yell, and that cut off into a scream as something hit the ground with a horribly loud sound, piercing the hero's ears. Their eyes flew open.

The sidekick was clutching their shattered, bloody leg, wheezing, panting for air through pain that was no doubt agonising. A huge piece of metal that was crumpled up like paper was beside them, and the hero glanced up and a chunk of pipes was gone, white steam escaping the metal in a low hiss.

The hero looked to the side, and there stood the villain, blood on their clothes and their temple and their cheeks and their arms and hands and clothes. They couldn't even stand properly; they were leaning against the wall on shaking legs.

Abruptly, the hero wished they were anywhere but here. Somewhere safe and nice and maybe their bedroom. How heroic of them.

"Baby?" The villain's voice was soundless, softer than a whisper. Quiet and confused and hurt. The sidekick glared at them through their bangs, clear and unglazed compared to the villain's thousand-yard stare.

"You should be dead," muttered the sidekick.

"You should be with me."

"Liar." The sidekick threw a knife so fast the hero didn't even see it.

The villain crumpled. The hero screamed when the sidekick crawled to them next, and this time the sidekick groaned when the flames on the charred ropes didn't snuff out immediately.

"Don't do that." The sidekick took the hero's throat, and this time they put so much pressure the hero's vision blinked in and out. "Don't be a pain. This'll be quick, don't worry."

It wasn't true the first time, it wouldn't be true for the second, the hero knew damn well. Then the pressure was gone and the hero's head pounded and they heard a yell, a groan. Their vision blinked in and the knife was yanked out of the villain's thigh, several feet out of reach.

The hero pulled their charred ropes apart. Considered turning the steam to hot water. Freezing the sidekick's muscles until they were as hard as ice. They could focus on nothing.

"Why are you doing this?" asked the villain. "Why did you walk away from us?"

"You've changed." The sidekick's voice was still perfectly calm, but there was some anger in the syllables. Knives on their lips. "I see how you look at me. Like I should've stayed on the streets. Like you never knew me. Like it's not you who had a whole personality switch because of a hit to the head.” Their voice grew more unsteady, vulnerable and translucent and angry with each sentence. “Are you going to throw me into prison, you're so righteous? Save the children and get the girl, fuck the girl, 'cause you're so good and redeemed?"

The villain punched them. Hard. The sidekick laughed and it had some breaking, hysterical edge to it.

"I thought I knew you."

The sidekick laughed some more, humourlessly. "I thought you knew me, too. I really did." Then they took out another knife, and before they could do anything with it the villain shocked them, holding that hand down. The sidekick shouted and went silent as the shockwave passed, panting and hurt and furious.

The villain drew back. They trapped the sidekick's good leg under metal. "You're going to leave me here too?" asked the sidekick, and it wasn't anything like begging but it had all the audacity of it. "How poetic. You take me in and then you leave me."

"You left first."

The sidekick laughed, again, and it sounded like all the unheard begging was never there to begin with. "Let's not pretend you never betrayed me first."

The villain's fingers curled into a fist like they were going to punch again. They didn't. They crawled off of the sidekick's waist and came to the hero's side.

The hero didn't dare look into their eyes as the villain pressed a bright green hard drive into their palm. "Experiment records," they murmured. "I can't go up. My men will arrive soon, give it to my second-in-command, all right?"

"And you?" The hero directed their gaze to the sidekick, silent with their eyes covered. Two pathetic people in a basement with rotting corpses and a terribly hurt man. The villain's thumb brushed their cheek, stroked a dried track of tears, and the hero hadn't even realised they'd cried at one point. It just made them want to cry again.

"Tell them. Or don't. They'll find me anyway."

For a long moment the hero stayed silent, replaying the villain's words. Then they nodded and got up.

The hero padded through the bloody grass and saw the back entrance of the mansion, trailing with dead bodies and bloody handprints on the doorframes. The villain's men were there, crowding them immediately once they made it to the front, taking the drive. Jonathan Bates was there too, with a cut lip and a black eye, glaring daggers at the hero.

When they were left alone (almost alone—henchmen were still there, tugging along Bates) their mind wandered off to process. Like this was their first crime fight and they were going to go back to their apartment and pray no one found out their identity again. But they were barefaced in front of a criminal empire overlord and he was giving what remaining henchmen were left trouble. The lights of the garden blinked and hummed and flickered in and out. Pulled from the trunks of trees and shrubbery. The hero tried to imagine the fight. What the state inside the mansion would be like. If there was electricity thrumming like a warning, bloody metal encasing human bodies, pressing crushed bones down under. Completely and utterly lost in their thoughts.

They, of course, didn't notice when Bates tugged himself free and lunged. Or when the knife plunged into their eye.

[takohebi]

Serpentine Escapade

Pairing: f!MC/Yuu x Jamil Viper

tags: fluff, romantic tension || word count: 2431

Summary:  The NRC was hosting an extravagant Ball. Yuu wanted a few moments away from the party. A familiar snake slowly glides up to her.

Read on AO3

Fic under the cut- 

Yuu slipped away from the main hall quietly. The NRC Ball was a huge event, with student representatives coming from other colleges as well. Yuu was overwhelmed by the number of people on the dance floor, swirling together delightedly as the light music club provided music and entertainment. It wasn’t like she was lonely- she had already danced a lot, albeit clumsily with Ace and Deuce and even twirled an indignant Grim around a few times. Then Azul and the Leech twins danced with her, their movements elegant and graceful despite being mermen. And she had promised Cater and Lilia dances later. No, Yuu wasn’t lonely; she just wanted a short time away from the bright lights and the crowds. She may not be as asocial as Idia (who did not turn up today, although Ortho did) but big crowds still made her feel nervous and overwhelmed.

She retreated to one of the more reclusive balconies surrounding the humongous ballroom. There was no one around. She let out a sigh of relief.

Yuu stood in the wide balcony overlooking the immaculate Pomefiore gardens. The music was a dull rhythm in the background now, a comforting constant in the otherwise still and quiet night. Yuu sighed. It had been many months since she was whisked away by the carriage. She had essentially restarted her life here. New friends, new rules, new troubles, new...feelings. It was definitely an improvement from her old life, so much so that she continues to repress those memories when they inevitably intrude upon her life in Twisted Wonderland. Shaking her head to dispel the rising mix of apprehension and unease whenever she slipped and remembered her past, Yuu tried to focus her thoughts on the faraway beat, tapping her foot in cadence. It was a tried and true technique that kept her from spiraling and soon she was back to being herself again, eyes closed, body swaying gently to the music, her foot keeping the beat.

“Yuu? Is something wrong?”

A familiar voice jolted Yuu out of her focused distraction. Her eyes flew open to meet Jamil’s, her heart racing a mile a minute. Jamil walked casually towards her, his expression collected but maybe hinted with a slight bit of concern. Maybe. At any rate, Yuu didn’t say anything but watched him get closer, her eyes idly taking in his appearance, though not for the first time this evening. Jamil hardly wore shirts. His dorm uniform and gym clothes always consisted of a hoodie. So seeing him buttoned up in an elegant suit was a special treat. Jamil looked good in everything he wore, and tonight was no exception. The well-tailored suit accentuated his long legs and lean body, making Yuu’s breath catch with every stolen glance during the Ball.

Yuu realised she was attracted to the reticent vice dorm-head shortly after his overblot incident, when Kalim started inviting her over for dinners or mancala games. These sojourns almost always ended up with her staying back to help Jamil clean up and settle things in order and during these moments, Yuu came to realise 2 things: Jamil Viper was a very capable man, who balanced his duties, academics and hobbies perfectly and without complaint, which was pretty cool and admirable. And also, Jamil Viper was very handsome, alluring and physically attractive.

The second observation hit Yuu with the power of a speeding truck when she first saw him laugh at a silly story she shared with him as they were wrapping up after an evening of mancala. His mirthful expression combined with his voice ringing out in amusement dazed Yuu and she realised she was already in love with him for a while now, enjoying their small, quiet moments in each others’ company in the opulent Scarabia Dorm.

At present Jamil had reached her spot in the balcony, the worry on his face a tad bit clearer. “Hey are you feeling well? You look spaced out. Everything okay?” he asked, his voice laced with concern.

“Oh, I just wanted a small break from the crowd. I am fine. Needed a moment away, that’s all.”

“I get what you mean. The Ball is really grand and it seems with each passing year, more people turn up for these events. It’s just...I saw you leave the Hall and not return and-”

“Ha you thought I was going to run away? Away from the delicious desserts? No way!”

“- and was concerned that you might not be well.” he continues, eyebrows creasing disapprovingly at her feeble attempt at deflection. His annoyed face was adorable, Yuu thought to herself. But she refrained from saying it. It won’t be wise to annoy him further.

So she smiled and said “I am fine, Jamil. Thank you for asking. I do intend to return to the Ball before Lilia hexes me for spurning his dance offer."

She gave a shallow laugh as Jamil’s earlier words sunk in. Had she continued watching Jamil as she spoke, she might have seen his frown get deeper when she mentioned Lilia and her promise to the enigmatic fae. But Yuu now had other thoughts in mind.

So he had watched her leave huh? He had watched her leave. The idea of Jamil looking at her from afar made her insides flutter. She too, had been looking at him during the event, quite a lot in fact. She saw him dance with a lot of students from his dorm, Azul (though Jamil seemed extremely reluctant about it), Ace and Floyd. She was hoping to dance with him at some point too, making a mental note to ask him later. And now he is here, with her, under the waning moon, alone and away from the party. As she slowly started to think of how to phrase the question without being weird, Jamil spoke.

“Would you like to dance with me?”

Yuu’s head snapped to face Jamil. He was looking away, expression neutral but she swore he was blushing slightly, the same look he had on his birthday celebration, many weeks ago. She blinked rapidly, her mind blanking. She wasn’t mentally prepared for this!!

Jamil looked at her, his frown had returned. Yuu panicked for a moment before forging on.

“It’s fine-”

“YES”

“I want to dance with you Jamil. I mean it.” Yuu grinned, barely able to contain her excitement. She hoped the semi-darkness helped hide her blush.

Her heart hammered in her chest as Jamil wordlessly held out his hand, a soft smile on his face. Why was this man so beautiful?

Almost too eagerly Yuu took it, and Jamil pulled her into a slow dance, in perfect harmony with the distant, ongoing music.

Now as noted previously, Yuu had already danced quite a bit before but somehow this time, it felt more...personal. Was it because her partner was a man she’d been slowly falling in love with? Was it because right now they were away, separate from the rest of the school, rest of the world, tangled together in this moment of time?

At any rate, all she could think of right now was the feeling of Jamil’s hand in hers, his other on her waist and the proximity of their bodies, their breaths. It felt intimate and it made her forget to breathe. Her body followed Jamil’s mechanically, and she was happy to be led by him. It gave her time to drink him in. She could hear the soft tinkling of the bell in his hair accessory. It was a soft reminder of their closeness. Her eyes wandered more. She noticed his lashes were a kind of long, and his makeup for tonight seemed immaculate. Oh his ear had a small mole, how cute.

She continued.

The muscles in his neck flexed and moved slightly with their steps, the sight mesmerizing Yuu. Ha, Jamil didn’t need his unique magic to hold her captive. His lips were gently sloped into a casual small smile and Yuu could not believe her heart could beat any faster, but it did. Her eyes raked over his hands next- seeing their intertwined hands made her skin tingle with happiness and excitement. His other rested steadily on her waist and Yuu wondered how would it feel to let it wander. He smelled nice too. Some kind of soft cologne. Yuu was careful not to inhale too much, lest she forget herself and do something inappropriate. Ahh, she was enjoying this dance very much.

Though her eyes ravished his body and face, Yuu did not look into Jamil’s eyes. She knew if she did, she would do or say something stupid and or crass and she was scared. Scared of breaking this magical spell. The air around her felt electric and heady. And she wasn’t done with it yet. Just a few moments more...

Suddenly Jamil’s grip on her hand grew a slight bit tighter, breaking her indulgent thoughts and prompting her to glance quickly at him. He was again looking away, again frowning and looking a little...pouty?

“Hey are you okay?” Yuu asked, slightly panicky. Was she dancing badly? Is he bored?

He started. He probably squeezed her hand unknowingly. Odd. Jamil is usually pretty calculative of everything. Impulsive is not a word to describe him. He sighed softly, the action fanning Yuu’s hair and gently caressing her neck, causing her mind to go into overdrive. Focus! She has to focus! It won’t do to lose her mental faculties right when Jamil is about to speak.

“It’s not me, I am worried you are not enjoying this.”

“What?! Why would you say that?” Yuu asked with a laugh, the idea that she could possibly not be enjoying being held by Jamil seemed so absurd.

Jamil huffed, lips quirking, accentuating his pout. Lord this man can be so endearing! He seemed to be carefully thinking about his words. Hmm, he usually didn’t need to think so much.

“Earlier… when- hmm. When you danced with Ace, you were talking...laughing. You seemed more- enthusiastic. You can be honest with me you know? I have faith in my dancing but not in being an enjoyable companion.”

Jamil seemed to be picking his words slowly, cautiously. Yuu was not.

“Jamil! That was because Ace was constantly mimicking Crewel as we danced. His imitations are really funny. Well you know how Ace is, he is never serious.” Yuu laughed nervously but Jamil didn’t look convinced. Yuu’s brain raced, trying to find words and string them together.

Instinctively she tightened her grip on Jamil’s hand and leaned in, hoping her panic doesn’t show. “Jamil, I swear I am having the time of my life right now. I- I don’t know how to express it well. But I would rather be here dancing with you, than with anyone or anywhere else right this moment. I really enjoy your company and would have refused to dance if I really did not want to. You know that right? I am here because I want to.”

Jamil’s eyes widened slightly, his lips parted as if to say something but no words were spoken. Yuu realised she had done what she was avoiding- looking at Jamil’s eyes and with them being this close, she noted his eyes were a pretty grey, the light from the Hall casting a warm glow. Yuu felt her thoughts trailing to his lips again. They were right there. She glanced at them and wet her own. How easy would it be to accidentally lean in a bit and brush her lips against his. A small chaste kiss. She let out a breath and quickly shot a look at his eyes again. They were searing into hers and she could see him quickly work something out as he held her stare.

How and when she did not know but Jamil’s hand had now moved from her waist to her face, cupping it gently. His expression shifted to something a little cocky. The way he looked when he knew he was winning. Smug and certain. Yuu hoped her heartbeat wasn’t actually audible because right now, all she could hear was the roaring in her ears.

And Jamil’s voice. His silky smooth voice as he spoke in a lowered tone-

“Yuu. If it’s ok with-”

“YUU! THERE YOU ARE!!”

Ace’s voice cut through the moment, cleanly slicing the tension and Jamil instantly leaned back, face immediately resuming his usual stoic expression. Yuu loved her friend but right now she was angrily wishing she could use magic because she would very much like to curse him for a year. But the look of relief on his face as he ran towards the two softened her heart. A bit. Yuu was still pretty mad.

Behind him, Deuce appeared, a little out of breath, holding Grim. Evidently they were looking for Yuu. “We were worried about you. You could have at least told us before taking off y’know.” Grim said, a look of exasperation on his face.

“Sorry, I chanced upon her sometime ago but she wanted some fresh air so I was accompanying her.” Jamil replied, politely.

“Well we just didn’t want her missing out on the desserts. That’s all.” Ace said, crossing his arms. Sure Ace. That’s all. His reluctance to admit his feelings made Yuu smile. Her idiot trio were most definitely the cutest people in the campus. Uh, save for Jamil. And Kalim. Hmm maybe that title has a lot of competition.

Deuce was on his phone, maybe texting someone. Ace was talking, “-yeah tell Ruggie that we found her and she’s fine. Hang on, maybe don’t tell him. He still owes me for cheating me out of my lunch the other day…” As Deuce elbowed him and the bickering started, Yuu’s idle thoughts were interrupted by a pressure on her hand. Her heart skipped several beats when she realised Jamil was holding her hand throughout this even if they broke apart the moment Ace spoke. Yuu slowly glanced at him and saw him stare at her friends, with a blank expression.

“When the light music club performs “Buzzing Currents”, come back here, I will be there. We have a dance and other...things to finish. I’ll be seeing you.” Gently letting go of Yuu with a final squeeze, Jamil strode away, citing some excuse about disciplining his dorm. As she stole one last glance, he looked back, a cheeky smile on his face and eyes narrowed in what looked like amusement. He looked like a cat that got the cream.

Yuu couldn’t wait to be eaten.

[anomander-dragnipurake]

Possessed Part 2 Chapter Two: Stuck

Just a heads up content warning for ‘attempted murder that looks like attempted suicide’.  It's pretty graphic, definitely the most graphic thing I've written in years, so if you'd prefer not to read it, read up until King Boo says 'Actually, maybe I don’t need a painting of you after all.’ and then skip to the 'Two weeks later' break.

We should go to E. Gadd. Luigi finally suggested.

‘No, absolutely not!’ King Boo would rather do almost anything else.

Even stay stuck like this? It had been well over an hour since they’d found out about their predicament and all King Boo had done was pace around in his bedroom – if it could be called that when it didn’t have an actual bed – and occasionally try to free himself from Luigi’s body. Failing every time and causing nothing but pain and discomfort for both of them.

‘I’ll figure something out.’ What though? He’d never possessed a living being before. He hadn’t known it was possible to get stuck in them, if he had he probably wouldn’t have attempted it. … Luigi would’ve far preferred that.

What else can you try? E. Gadd’s an expert on ghost stuff, I’m sure he can find a way to fix it. And if that’s how the problem got solved then Luigi would be… No, he shouldn’t think about it because then King Boo would know the thought too. … It was too late though, wasn’t it?

‘Yep. I’m not giving you up yet. I’ll find a way to fix this and then… Actually, maybe I don’t need a painting of you after all.’ Even before completing the thought, King Boo reached into his suit pocket to pull out a butterfly knife he’d stolen from someone the other day because he’d wanted to ‘play with it’. The most surefire way to free a soul from a living body was to kill the body.

He flipped it open and… Out of sheer desperation and fear Luigi somehow managed to stop it a few inches away from his neck. That was all he could do though. His hand shook as he held it there, pointed at his throat, straining against King Boo’s control.

King Boo growled out loud and internally. Luigi was leeching off his magic to fight his will; how dare he? … Luigi had no idea how he was doing it, nor did he really care right now, he was much more concerned with not dying.

‘You’re going to die whether you like it not!’ King Boo started pushing harder, pushing his will against Luigi’s.

Luigi managed to hold it there for several seconds but… King Boo was strong and determined and…

‘You’re pathetic! You know you can’t win so stop trying!’ It was King Boo’s voice but it was the kind of thing his anxiety would say to him because well, it was true. There was no way he could win this battle when it took everything, he had to just hold the knife still.

He whimpered internally as the knife inched closer. King Boo’s rage at Luigi being able to fight him even this much and leeching off his magic to do it radiated from him in a way that felt almost physical, heightening Luigi’s fear and distress. … Maybe if Luigi could move his other hand over to help push the knife down… Nope, trying just gave King Boo more leverage to overpower him.

His will broke as soon as the knife touched his flesh; he’d never been very strong. Hot blood gushed around his hand as King Boo pressed the knife in as deep as it would go, going for the jugular because even he knew that was a weak point for the living.

It hurt unbearably so but not with the all-consuming pain he’d have imagined a fatal blow to be. It quickly grew so much worse though as King Boo started dragging it across his neck. It was sharp but apparently not sharp enough; it met a fair bit of resistance that King Boo had to force it through before reaching the other side and finally pulling it out.

‘That should do it.’ Even in his own head, King Boo’s voice sounded distant behind the pain and the blood gushing from his throat as he struggled to breath. His body barely even reacted though; King Boo was in control and he wasn’t going whine about a little bit of pain even if it was bad enough now to make him uncomfortable too.

Blessed blackness ate at Luigi’s vision. He welcomed it but… King Boo didn’t. Pulling on his magic enough to make crown glow brighter, he pushed it away because… he wanted Luigi to suffer for fighting him and leeching off his magic and because being stuck in his body for any length of time was rage inducing. … Luigi could only whimper at that and at the sight of his front as King Boo looked down. There was an awful lot of blood soaking into the once white suit, some of it leaked down his throat too; hot and uncomfortable, drowning him.

Please… please… just… make it stop… please.

‘No. I’m going to tell Mario about this next time I see him. I want a good story to share since I won’t have my painting.’ And he was curious about how long it would take for Luigi to die and what it would feel like for him when it happened.

That was even worse. Please… No amount of begging would get him anywhere though so with the last bit of willpower he had left, he made himself stop; he didn’t want to give King Boo any more satisfaction.

 -

The next… however long was absolute torture. Effected by the body’s weakness as blood poured out of it, King Boo did soon end up lying down on the couch.

All Luigi could do was moan and whimper internally as overtime his entire body grew numb and cold, adding to his discomfort and misery. It wasn’t dignified, he’d rather go out in stubborn defiant silence but that was far too much to ask from himself. Instead he found what small comfort he could in the fact that it annoyed King Boo.

But despite how annoying he found it, King Boo didn’t complain as his rage faded over time. He didn’t even say anything; he could let Luigi have his misery while he was dying. It was a shame but nothing else could be done, better him dead than King Boo trapped forever in his meat suit.

Except… death never came for him. What had to have been hours passed and yet Luigi was still alive and King Boo was still trapped in his body. He even actively tried to escape again, several times, all to no avail. Even using his magic to manually repress Luigi’s erratic off rhythm heartbeat did nothing, it just restarted as soon as he let go of that magic.

‘You don’t seem to be dying,’ King Boo finally broke the silence. ‘I’m not even sure you’re losing blood anymore.’ A lot of blood had soaked into his clothing and the couch beneath him, filling the air with an unpleasant coppery smell. How was it possible for someone to lose that much blood and still be alive, let alone conscious? He wasn’t even really breathing anymore, how was he still alive?

Unable to form a coherent proper reply, Luigi whimpered again. He still felt like he was dying but didn’t seem to be. Why? Probably something to do with King Boo possessing him, right?

‘Yeah, probably. It’s not something I have control of though because I would really prefer you die already.’

Luigi wasn’t in total disagreement. He wanted this torment be over, if that meant death then so be it. But as in all things in his life now, he didn’t have a say in it.

King Bow scowled. ‘We’ll have to figure something else out then.’

Two weeks later

From the car, King Boo glared at E. Gadd’s lab. He really didn’t want to go to him of all people for help but he was the only ghost expert either of them knew of. King Boo had tried to find another one but failed at every turn. He’d even tried killing Luigi a few more ways, none succeeding.

Just go in already. Luigi was tired and frustrated and just wanted this to be over with. He wasn’t even sure if any of the anger he felt was truly his own or if it all came from King Boo. It seemed to get harder to fully separate their emotions with each passing day. It was scary and made them both increasingly desperate to be free of each other.

‘We could try jumping into a pool of lava.’ … What if that destroyed him too though? It would certainly destroy his crown; it helped him channel and even amplified his power a little so he’d prefer not to surrender it unless he absolutely had to. So… E. Gadd it was. His anger about that warred with Luigi’s hope for rescue.

With a disgusted half growl half gag, King Boo exited the car at last. Scowling, he slammed the door shut before starting up the driveway, crossing his arms.

Can I…

‘Yeah, fine, whatever, you can talk to him. I don’t fucking care.’ And he’d rather not ask one of his arch nemeses for help anyway.

Luigi wanted to be fully happy about that but King Boo’s grumpiness made it hard. On the bright side though, said grumpiness was dampened by his feelings. King Boo wasn’t completely in control of this situation anymore.

He rang the doorbell this time. When no one answered after several seconds, King Boo pressed it again. Still nothing though so… King Boo started spamming it. If E. Gadd didn’t answer the door soon, he was going to…

Loud barking came from the other side followed by E. Gadd’s muffled voice shouting, “I’m coming, I’m coming, hold on a sec.”

King Boo would’ve kept ringing the bell out of spite but Luigi asserted a bit of his will and made him stop, pulling his had back to clinch in a fist at his side. Whatever was going on between them allowed Luigi to access some of King Boo’s magic as he’d discovered two weeks earlier and it had only gotten easier to do since then. Which of course made King Boo mad but there was nothing he do about it so he could suck it up.

‘My will’s stronger though. So if it came to a fight for control, I’d win every time.’

Luigi wasn’t sure about that. King Boo wasn’t fully sure of that either though; he was just trying to be intimidating. It would’ve worked a few weeks ago but not anymore, not when Luigi’s normally fragile confidence was bolstered by King Boo’s tendency to be overconfident.

Before King Boo could try to regain some intimidation, the door opened at last. E. Gadd gasped and flinched at the sight of them, before his expression settled into an angry glare. Polterpup stood at his feet, growling.

“You’re back,” E. Gadd said. His face was still a little bruised, considering how long it had to have been, that had to mean it was really bad before. “What do you want this time?”

“I-I’m so sorry professor,” Luigi said, instinctively taking control even as King Boo let him. His voice was a bit rough and it hurt to speak, the wound on his throat was rapidly healing but it was still there. He didn’t care right now though, he needed to apologize.

E. Gadd’s brows’ rose as Polterpup’s growling faltered. “Luigi?”

Luigi nodded as he grasped the doorframe, sagging into it. E. Gadd jumped up and babbled incoherently for a second or two before rushing inside, gesturing for Luigi to follow.

Inside, the monitoring room was still a mess, it was least essential though so of course it would be fixed last. Luigi didn’t have time to follow E. Gadd into the lab proper to see how it was though before E. Gadd was rushing back out of it with a chair.

“Have a seat sonny, you look worn out,” E. Gadd said, particularly vibrating with excitement.

Fighting the strong desire to stay standing that came from King Boo, Luigi sat, sinking into it. He almost felt like he might tear up with exhausted relief; this was the first time he’d been in full control of his body since King Boo had initially possessed him. … If he did start crying King Boo was going to take that control away though because as long as they were stuck in the same vessel together, there would be no physical tears, they were gross.

“How did you do it?” E. Gadd asked. “How did you banish King Boo from your body?” He clarified when Luigi gave him a blank stare.

“Uh… I didn’t.”

“Oh! You wrested control from him then! I didn’t think you had it in you to best him, good job.”

“Uh… I didn’t really do that either.” ‘And couldn’t if you tried.’ Hush! “It’s more uh… he doesn’t want to talk to you so he’s letting me. I… uh… we need your help. He’s kind of stuck in my body and wants out but can’t get out on his own so… here we are.” Should he say anything about whatever their thoughts and emotions were doing? … No, no one needed to know about that unless absolutely necessary. … And Luigi didn’t want to talk about the whole attempted murder, resulting in finding out he apparently couldn’t die now thing either so that was all he was gonna mention for now.

E. Gadd’s excitement died down for a few seconds before his borderline evil scientist grin returned. “Really? I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a phenomenon. To be fair though, I don’t think many ghosts or boos possess the living, especially for so long. We’ll have to look into it. Come along!” He hopped back and dashed back towards the lab proper, clearly expecting Luigi to get up and follow him.

With a tired sigh, Luigi looked down at Polterpup who was staring up at him. “Puppy?” he said, reaching a hand out towards him in an offer for pets. Polterpup snuck closer and sniffed at it hesitantly. He apparently didn’t like whatever he smelled thought as he growled softly and backed up again. … He smelled like boos and King Boo specifically, what more did he expect? … Probably a fair point, especially considering their last interaction.

“Get in here!” E. Gadd said as he poked his head back into the room.

Holding back a groan, Luigi forced himself up and into the lab.

It was still a mess. Luigi flinched at the sight of it, trying not to feel King Boo’s pride over it. It was obviously on its way to being cleaned up and fixed but… it would take a while, most of everything was still little more than rubble.

It being such a wreck will probably make it harder for him to help us. … Oh, King Boo hadn’t considered that. That would’ve been a valid reason not to come and continue to seek other solutions. … It was too late now though. … If he couldn’t help them, King Boo would kill him after all.

No, absolutely not! Luigi wouldn’t allow it. … That battle for control might become a thing after all then.

And I’ll win. They thought at each other in perfect unison; it didn’t even feel like separate thoughts but one shared thought. … Neither of them liked it and would rather never do it again.

‘Stop thinking and feeling the same things am I.’ King Boo growled internally. ‘I want you out of my head.’ Luigi couldn’t agree with that sentiment more with the added bonus of wanting King Boo out of his body.

A loud snap right in their face pulled them both back towards the outside world.

“Look alive sonny, we got tests to run,” E. Gadd said, stepping back. “Lucky for you, one of the first things I fixed is the scanner equipment. I was modified it to keep track of where you were. I lost you for while but then but you came right back to my door. With a few more tweaks to it, I might be able to figure out what’s up with King Boo being stuck in your body.” And knowing that, hopefully be able to fix it. If he couldn’t then… that wasn’t something either of them had any desire to consider.

[jarmes]

Beating Pokemon Sapphire with (almost) no damaging moves

Last year, I decided to beat Pokemon Leafgreen without using any damaging moves. It was hard, but doable. A few weeks back, I decided to try and find out if you can beat Pokemon Sapphire under the same ruleset. The answer is no. You can’t. It is physically impossible. Let me explain why.

I started the game up, fast-forwarded through the introduction, and chose Mudkip as my starter. Unlike Leafgreen, which features Bulbasaur, one of the best stall Pokemon in Gen 3, all of the starters in Hoenn are terrible for this run, lacking any real way to stall. I went with Mudkip because it’s the most defensive. Tackle is a damaging move, so Mudkip is unable to use anything but Growl. Fortunately, the Poohcheyana is programmed to run away before it beats you.

I named Mudkip GarbageBoyStinkman (technically GBSM because of character limits) and traveled to Route 103 to meet with May. Having no way to deal damage, I ran from all wild Pokemon along the way. Unfortunately, this is the point the run becomes unwinnable.

You cannot beat May without dealing damage. It cannot be done. None of the starters have any moves that can take out opponents through status moves. Now, you may be thinking, what if I caught another Pokemon on the route? Well, you can’t. You can’t buy Pokeballs until after you beat May. And you can’t trade because you only have one Pokemon. We can’t beat May because her Torchic takes us out in a few hits, and we can’t level up before May because all of the wild Pokemon around do the same. So, the run is over. Game over.

Hence the “almost” in the title. Because May is impossible, we’ll try to beat the game without attacking anyone else. It takes four tackles to take out her Torchic. Technically, because criticals do double damage, two criticals could take May out in two hits, setting our minimum attacking moves at two. Getting two crits in a row only happens one percent of the time, but it is possible. I opted for four hits because the battle was already a wash and moved on.

Birch gives us five Pokeballs and we finally have a little breathing room. Our best strategy, for now, is going to be stalling until enemy Pokemon struggle themselves to death. Mudkip lacks the bulk needed to take a few dozen hits and would end up struggling before the opponent, so I need to get some reinforcements. I caught five Zigzagoon: Chocolate, Caramel, Taffy, Lolly, and Liquorice. Full party in hand, I marched to Route 102 and ran into Youngster Calvin, a six-year-old with a single level five Zigzagoon.

Calvin is the hardest trainer that I’ve ever beaten in any challenge run. Calvin is so insanely difficult that he made me question if the run is actually possible.

At level five, Calvin’s Zigzagoon knows three moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, and Growl. Combined, these two moves have 75 PP, meaning I need to stall for 105 turns before the Zigzagoon will struggle. Growl and Tail Whip are fine, but Tackle deals damage, and my team needs to shrug off 35 of them, plus however many struggles it will take for the Zigzagoon to knock itself out.

Even when my team has used Growl six times and Calvin has avoided all uses of Tail Whip, Calvin’s Zigzagoon can take a member of the Candy Squad out in five hits and GBSM out in six. Now, looking at those numbers, it seems that Zigzagoon should just barely be beatable. Unfortunately, it isn’t. Cal’s Zigzagoon is able to take out the first two of its brothers before they minimize its attack and tail Whip lowers the number of hits we can take. Plus, Struggle does just as much damage as Tackle but only does half as much in recoil, meaning that, if my math is right, it’ll take ten struggles for it to die, meaning that even in the absolute best circumstances, we’d need to survive 45 hits when we only have enough HP to take 36.

Now, there are a few random factors that make me think this battle may be technically possible at this point. Zigzagoon chooses its moves at random, meaning that it could in theory save all of its Tail Whips until after wasting its Tackles. And, as previously mentioned, Tackle can miss, which gives us a free hit to survive. But, at the same time, Zigzagoon can get criticals which effectively doom us. After two more tries, I decided that this battle wasn’t winnable, at least not yet.

So, we can’t beat a level five Zigzagoon. But, the question is, can we beat a level two Wurmple? Because if we can beat some wild Pokemon on Route 201, we can get some EXP and become strong enough to beat Youngster Calvin. Unfortunately, my team right now is just barely too weak to survive a single battle.

Fortunately, I bought a couple of potions. If I use a potion right before the Wurmple can take out Mudkip, I can just barely survive. Now, I only had a few potions, but I wasn’t too worried. After each battle, Zigzagoon has a 10% chance to give a random item after battle, including Super Potions, Rare Candies, and things like Nuggets and Full Restores that I can sell for money. With five Zigzagoon, I had a ~40% chance of getting an item after each battle I won.

But, luck wasn’t on my side. By the time Mudkip reached level eight, I was completely out of items. And Mudkip still wasn’t tough enough to survive a battle without a potion. Game over.

So I completely restarted. This time, I was smarter with my Pokeballs. Instead of throwing them willy nilly and having to buy ten more after running out, I saved and reset until I caught five Zigzagoon using the five balls Birch gave me. I also avoided Calvin until I was ready for him, because losing to him wasted money. The extra money this run gave me was enough to start my grind with ten potions instead of three. Also, I made sure that all of the Zigzagoon I caught were level three this time, hoping that the one extra HP would help. I made a save state and started grinding.

I also switched to hunting Poochyena instead of hunting Wurmple. They deal the same damage at level two and don’t know string shot, which made things go quicker. After my first Poochyena defeat, one of the Zigzagoon picked up a Full Restore, which I was able to sell for five extra potions.

Finally, after hours of grinding, Mudkip hit level ten and was able to survive a battle without a potion. I was ready. I marched up to Calvin and stalled. The battle came down to the wire, with Mudkip being the only team member standing when Calvin started struggling.

And then I ran out of Growls. I could not switch out, I could not attack. I was at full health from the last potion, so I could not use another. Calvin was struggling and I was without any means to beat him. Fortunately, one of the Zigzagoon picked up a Revive while I was grinding and I was able to use it to revive a Zigzagoon and switch to it. Still, I came dangerously close to losing.

After Calvin was defeated, I knew the run was possible. There were half a dozen trainers between me and Petalburg Woods, but fortunately, all of them could be avoided. Petalburg Woods contains two things that were useful for me: Cascoon and Silcoon, who only know Harden and can be trained on easily, and Shroomish, the first member of my actual team.

I caught the Shroomish with an Ultra Ball one of the Zigs picked up and named it Plus Ultra. Shroomish didn’t have any status moves yet, but it did have the ability Effect Spore, which could in theory be used to poison opponents. Effect Spore was too unreliable to rely on, though. I trained Shroomish up to level ten, where she learned Leech Seed. Finally, I had a consistent, controllable means to deal damage. Leech Seed drains one-eighth of the target’s health each turn, giving me a way to slowly whittle down opponents. It doesn’t work on grass types, and it’s slow, but it works well enough for now.

I stormed my way through the early game, beating Roxanne without issue. In Dewford Cave I got the TM for Flash and taught it to Shroomish. Flash is actually a decent stall move; the lowered accuracy does wonders to help Plus Ultra survive while waiting for Leech Seed to kill. I also grabbed the Everstone and gave it to Shroomish to keep her from evolving. Brawly was tough. His Pokemon hit hard, especially after a few Bulk Ups. I managed to get lucky and beat him on my second attempt. All of what I’ve said so far happened in a single six-hour play session, by the way. After beating Brawly, I saved the game and went to bed.

I booted up the game the next day and, for some odd reason I was back in Odale town. That’s weird. Also, I didn’t have any badges. And I didn’t have Shroomish. And all of my Pokemon were as weak as they were before the grind. That’s really weird.

I’m sure I saved after Brawly, but for some reason, it didn’t go through. I reverted to my last save before that. So, naturally, I did the only sane thing: redid everything until I got back to Brawly. It was...fun.

I went through Slateport without much issue; I ran out of Leech Seed PP against a Marill in the Seashore House and had to struggle it out, but that only took an eternity. North of Slateport I caught a new team member: Tex Mex the Gulpin. Gulpin had a decent bulk and comes with Poison Gas and Yawn, giving me a second way to take out opponents and a way to deal with Grass types.

I ran into a trainer with a Roselia on Route 110 and was reminded that Grass/Poison Pokemon are nightmares. Fortunately, I was able to walk around her. I mean, in theory, I could either take a Roselia out with a Zubat that knows Supersonic, by struggling it out, or getting it to kill itself by using Mega Drain on Gulpin because of her Liquid Ooze ability, but none of those plans are worth the effort.

May was, like before, annoying. I took out her Wailmer and Numel easily enough, but her Grovile took out Gulpin with Quick Attack. Fortunately, it poisoned itself thanks to Effect Spore. I made my way to Mauville, grabbed the Mach Bike, and made my way to the Day Care. I abused the Day Care to get both of my main team members up to Level 28. Gulpin evolved into Swalot and gained the new, fantastic moveset of Toxic/Poison Powder/Encore/Amnesia.

Leech Seed and Poison Powder both kill in eight turns. Toxic kills in five, making it our new method of taking things out. Also, I kept Poison Powder because it has a lot of PP making it a good move to waste time with.

I also evolved Mudkip, hoping the new Ground typing would help me beat Wattson. I ended up not needing it, because Shroomish and Swalot took him out with ease. I kept moving through the game until I reached a roadblock on Route 112. An unavoidable trainer with a Roselia. Fortunately, I had a plan.

In the Fiery Path, you can find wild Slugma. Slugma has the ability Flame Body, which has the ability to burn your opponent if they hit you with a contact move. The roadblock Roselia knows Poison Sting, which is a physical move. So I caught a Slugma and named it Sheers. Unfortunately, it has Magma Armor instead of Flame Body. So I caught a second one and named it Sheerz. It also had Magma Armor. The third Slugma, Shers, did have Flame Body. I took it to the Roselia, let it get pounded by Poison Sting, and...it fainted. Turns out Poison Sting doesn’t do contact.

So anyway I released the three Slugma and struggled out the Roselia. On Route 113 I caught a new team member: Punji the Skarmory. Skarmory is a famously bulky Pokemon, with great defensive stats, fantastic typing, and access to the interesting combination of Spikes and Whirlwind. Unfortunately, it doesn’t learn Spikes until level 42. And I caught it at level 16. So, he’s going to be wearing the EXP share and working as a tank for a while.

I stormed through the game until reaching Lavaridge. Lavaridge features cheap herbal medicine, which I used constantly throughout this run. Flannery’s fire Pokemon were a nightmare for Shroomish and Skarmory, but Swalot saved the day, using Amnesia to boost her Special Defence and tank Torkoal’s Overheat. After Flannery, I ran to the desert and grabbed the Sandstorm TM, which I taught to Skarmory to give him a way to deal damage. Sandstorm kills in sixteen turns, which isn’t great, but it does give us a way to take out Roselia. I also caught a Baltoy. I named it Tick because the first two I tried to catch Self Destructed. Baltoy doesn’t learn any status moves until 31, so I taught it Flash and kept it on the bench for a while.

Norman was tough. Poisoning his Pokemon allows them to decimate me with Facade, so I was forced to rely on Leech Seed for damage. Even then, he was able to use Focus Punch flinching, making the battle brutal. Fortunately, Truancy gave me time to heal my team and Norman eventually went down.

I ignored Wattson’s pleas for help and made my way to Fortree City. Along the way, I picked up an Absol I named Obama. His only good move at that point was Taunt, meaning that I had another near useless Pokemon to babysit. Wiona was tough, but Skarmory’s bulk and Swalot’s toxic helped me survive. I had my new Absol Taunt her Altaria to keep her from spamming Dragon Dance. Her Skarmory ended up being the most frustrating one to take out, because it kept killing Shroomish before I could get a Leech Seed off.

After Wiona, Baltoy learned Sandstorm and I taught it Reflect and Light Screen via TM, giving it a use. I caught a Duskull and named her M87. She started with Confuse Ray and Disable, making her a good Pokemon to shut down opponents while waiting for Toxic to kill them. Tate and Liza hit hard, but they only had two Pokemon, both of which Swalot was able to Toxic before going down. At the end of the battle, only Duskull and Baltoy were still standing, but the twins were down. I saved the game and ended another lengthy play session.

And I ended up back at Norman. It was at that point that I learned a fun quirk of my emulator. If you make a Save State, then play for a few hours, then make a battery save, it deletes the battery save and instead opens the save state next time. This also explains the weird issue with me ending up back at Odale Town.

This time, I didn’t have the patience to go through the game fighting trainers. Instead, I snuck past trainers until I caught Absol and Duskull again then abused the Daycare to get all of them up to level 42. This left the team without EVs, but I considered it a good sacrifice for not having to sit through dozens of slow battles.

After my Day Care abuse, I had a few new toys to play with. Duskull evolved into Dusclops, learning Will-O-Wisp and Curse along the way. Baltoy learned Cosmic Power and evolved into Claydol. Finally, Skarmory learned Spikes which, when combined with the Roar TM, gave him a reliable damage method. I also taught Obama Protect from a TM. I stomped the rematches against Wiona and the twins and made my way to the undersea cave.

The Undersea Cave was annoying, both because I had to leave Claydol and Absol behind for HM requirements and because the grunts kept using Taunt. Archie revived Kyogre and I went to Sootopolis to defeat it. Kyogre, the monstrous God of the sea, went down in four turns thanks to Dusclops’s Curse.

Wallace’s Milotic’s spamming of Recover was annoying, but I taunted it and stalled it out. With my eight gym badges, I was able to take on Victory Road. But I wasn’t ready, not quite. The late game battles had been getting harder and harder, so I decided to do a bit of prep work. I fought one hundred different Marill to give my team some HP EVs. I was going to do the same with Cascoon/Silcoon, but decided that I value my own time too much. I grabbed the Focus Band from Meteor Falls. I also made my way through the Ruined Ship because I remembered that the Leftovers were located in a trash can; they aren’t, they’re on the boat that you unlock by beating the Elite Four. Finally, I went back and fought some of the trainers I skipped so I could get money for healing items. My prep work done, I marched through Victory Road.

The trainers were tough, but beatable. I did have to keep leaving to heal my team at the Pokecenter, which was annoying. Waiting at the end of Victory Road was Wally. He sent out his Roselia, that devil, and I took it out with Dusclops’s Curse. I did some quick grinding before the Elite Four and Absol learned the move I caught it for: Perish Song. Perish Song essentially allows me to automatically win if I can get an opponent down to a single Pokemon. Going into the Elite Four, this was my team:

Plus Ultra (Shroomish)

Leech Seed/Flash/Stun Spore/Toxic

Tex Mex (Swalot)

Toxic/Amnesia/Protect/Attract

Punji (Skarmory)

Spikes/Sandstorm/Roar/Sand-Attack

Tick (Claydol)

Sandstorm/Cosmic Power/Reflect/Light Screen

M87 (Dusclops)

Will-O-Wisp/Confuse Ray/Disable/Curse

Obama (Absol)

Perish Song/Double Team/Taunt/Protect

I started out my battle with Sidney with some Spike/Roar comboing from Skarmory. After Skarmory went down, I switched to Swalot and took out a few Pokemon with Toxic. His last Pokemon, his Absol, went down to my Absol’s new Perish Song.

Phoebe’s team of Ghosts abused status moves, forcing me to keep switching out Pokemon. None of the team was knocked out, but the whole team had to step in to get rid of Phoebe.

Glacia was a challenge. Her super effective Ice Beams and Shadow Balls cut through my team. Worse, she managed to freeze Swalot twice. Her Walrein hit like a truck and would have taken out the entire team without Perish Song. At the end of the battle, all I had left was a red health Absol.

My plan for Drake was to have Swalot use Toxic then switch to Claydol. Unfortunately, I was out of Toxic when the battle started. Shroomish managed to take out Shieldon, but was one-shotted by Drake’s Flygon. I sent out Dusclops to use Will-O-Wisp, which missed three times in a row. Dusclops went down to a super effective Crunch, but I revived it and took out both Flygon and the Salamence with Curses and heal item spam. Altaria went down to a Perish Song, opening up the Champion battle, but I knew I was far from ready.

I used my Rare Candies I’d collected over the run, thanks to my Zigzagoon, to get a few last minute levels in. Shroomish finally learned Spore. I took off the Everstone and my boy finally evolved into Breloom. Would it have been easier to just forget about Spore and evolve at 23, as opposed to carrying around a near useless Shroomish for half the run? Yeah, probably. But whatever, I wanted the cool 100% sleep chance.

So, how did my fight with Steven go? Well, I recorded it and uploaded it here.

By the ingame timer, this run took 72 hours. But, I used superspeed. In reality, it only took 17 hours, mostly done during college lectures. I enjoyed this run, it was a fun challenge. I’ve already started on another run, this time in a much more difficult Pokemon game, so look forward to that. Thanks for reading.

[tdblakmitm]

Stray Kids Reaction - You Ask Them Out

Bang Chan

- Who's confused? This boi right here

- He's been planning to ask you out for a while and then you just had the bright idea to pop the question

- The answer was yes ofc

- A speechless boi, but a happy boi

- Thought about crying but decided against it

- Probably does a really cringey, yet adorable, happy dance

Kim Woojin

- An actual teddy bear, like please love him

- He's never said yes louder, probably disturbing all of his members

- can he be more adorable

- he's an excited bear

- plz love him

Lee Minho (Lee Know)

- Windows XP has crashed, plz restart

- he would probably be all type of confused

- you asked him out of the blue and he didn't know what to say

- plz save him, he's drowning in feels

- tried to hold in his excitement but fails miserably

- he said yes after a few moments of rebooting

Seo Changbin

- Shook Binnie

- He gets really excited and forgets to say yes dat boi

- You have to remind him to answer you and he becomes all serious because he’s dark we all know that’s a whole lie

- He wants to go now, like let's get food

- Best smol Binnie I mean dark Changbin ever

Han Jisung (Han)

- A very happy boi

- Please make him be quiet, all of SK wants to kill you now what have you done 

- He’s so happy he latches onto you like a leech and won’t let go

- Screams yes as loud as possible

- Plz someone save SK from this loud asf boi I mean yayyy happy Jisung 

Hwang Hyunjjn

- Ok can we take a moment to thank who created this universe for granting us the privilege to see the handsome asf boi

- Eye smile-activated, he’s so happy he could dance . . . and that’s exactly what he does omg just imagine hyunjinnie doing a little happy dance 

- He pouts a little and is like, “why didn’t you let me ask you tho?” 

- “Cuz your lazy behind took too long to do it.” “Valid.”

- The yeses are beautiful, you might as well have asked him to marry you then and there.

Lee Felix

- This meme boi will act like a human and show much love to you

- He’s never said yes faster his Adam's apple was going a mile a minute

- He’s probably stuttering trying to form a complete thought poor baby

- Just love him and his strange self plz

- All he wants is the loves so give it to him or I kill you

Kim Seungmin

- A baby, my god he’s never looked more squishable.

- Would probably be confused at first but he’ll say yes eventually

- Y’all so fluffy he’s gonna die, like please love his beautiful heart

- He is an actual angel sent from God himself, you’re lucky to have him tbh

- #ThanksForLivingSeungmin

Yang Jeongin (I.N.)

- Look guys this boi is shy, like actually a smol child

- Of course, the answer is yes because finally an opportunity that he didn’t need to create that would have been awkward for the smol baby, spare his soul plz

- Is it just me, or do you picture him winning his girl some cheesy lookin stuffed animal at the local youth fair or somethin cuzz

- He is already a fun loving baby so he will make life great

- Love his adorable self okok???

~ Admin Lawl

*Do not repost without permission*

*gifs aren't mine*

[krupptonaru-blog]

Phoenix / Kojiki

Duh!

Whoa, is this really a manga from the guy who wrote Astroboy? 

Is this Tezuka?

Anyway, this was an interesting read. It was definitely humor packed, but there were a lot of small references that I didn’t necessarily understand. There was a lot of breaking of the fourth wall, like when they acknowledged that Saruta was melting, or when Uzume came out without her makeup and Nagi says that it would only happen in comics. 

With that being said, the overall feeling of the manga is... pretty dark. I mean, really there aren’t a lot of punches that are pulled. And I would say it definitely makes the story more interesting. We have basically a ‘get out of jail free’ card in the phoenix, and so we (or maybe it’s just me) expect that card to actually be used. In fact, I’m almost not willing to comment on the characters that have died so far because I don’t totally believe it wasn’t used. But using that card also feels like it goes against the main theme of the story? Insofar as the story goes, I think it would be most fitting if Nagi and Saruta stay dead. But it’s strange to follow these two characters throughout the whole first thing just for them to die at the very end. It’s like, “are you really going to develop their characters to this extent to just restart at the beginning of the next?” If he did, it would definitely set up some sort of theme for the rest of the story. I wouldn’t expect Saruta to come back but Nagi... but on the other hand Nagi is the one person we see that’s lectured by the phoenix, and the phoenix didn’t seem like it particularly cared to give away immortality. There was one person who wanted the phoenix (Himiko), two people that wanted it for other people (Saruta, Em Dee), and two people who had no interest in it (bowman, that one guy). Nagi also wanted the phoenix, but I’m not sure why he wanted it. The desire for immortality is a pretty common theme for stories, so I feel like the first two types of characters aren’t surprising. But the last two (and especially bowman) are interesting. Bowman could’ve had immortality (assuming the phoenix is telling the truth), but he turned it down. He just wanted to shoot some things and he was fine with death coming whenever. I’m not sure if there’s much of a message in all of this besides that no matter how you struggle in life we all die in the end. 

The whole pride thing was kind of sad. First Himiko died because she was too prideful to reveal a sickness (not that sad), and then Saruta and a ton of other people died because he wasn’t willing to listen to the bowman (sadder). But that ending kind of felt unavoidable considering some of the facts that Tezuka had included earlier. Other than that I feel like there are themes I should be picking up on, but nothing is really popping out to me. Nagi had a bit of Stockholm syndrome there. Saruta  had a bit of Lima syndrome. Em Dee’s whole story is bizarre. Falls in love, betrays everybody leading to a slaughter, still feels entitled to the benefits of marriage. Hinaku going crazy is understandable, but also why? Did he (Tezuka) really need to make her lose a ton of babies? And what kind of character is the phoenix anyway? Also, no offense to the phoenix, but it’s pretty easy to preach about how things should embrace their death when you can’t die. 

I’ve already typed a bit, so I’ll only make a small comment here and there about the Kojiki. Kind of weird that it was paired with today’s reading. I mean I saw some of the references (e.g. a couple of names, when Himiko sealed herself in the cave and the sun disappeared) but otherwise it seemed like they weren’t that similar in topic. Also I know that the Kojiki is super old, but some of the things in there... the woman made the first move so when they had children the first was a leech and the second was foam. Susano-o somehow won (was it even a contest??) so he just goes on a crazy rampage. What even is a backwards skinned horse? And more importantly WHY? And then the weaving maiden is shocked by it so she strikes her genitals and literally dies. When Susano-o basically took a family’s daughter as tribute (before killing the 8 headed snake) he turned into a hair comb. ?????. The Kojiki is just wild. Maybe all of these things have more symbolic meaning, but if you don’t know what those symbols/meanings are then whew... wild. 

[bloodborne-on-pc]

So, I decided to finally tackle Bitterblack Isle last night

Took awhile, because I restarted.

Multiple times.

I recall making a post about how I was going to make an Assassin and Mage duo. Which I did, and got bored with. So then I created a Mystic Knight and Ranger - that was pretty fun, but I started getting jealous of the cool shit my Ranger pawn could do. Plus, I’ve never been big on shields. Currently, I’m a Ranger, with a Sorcerer pawn. And of course, I’ve started getting envious of the insane shit a Sorcerer can pull off. So there is actually a chance I might restart again. Dunno what my pawn would be, though - I was thinking either a Strider or Fighter.

Anywho, back to the main topic. I finally decided to really explore Bitterblack Isle - I made a very brief excursion there as the Mystic Knight, but left because I forgot poison curatives, and had gotten poisoned. So, this time, I brought a bunch of curatives, as well as a pawn with High Halidom.

It was still pretty fucking hellish.

It wasn’t too bad, at first. The wargs were kinda challenging, but not as bad as I thought it would be. I also somehow managed to avoid the motherfucking Grim Reaper holy shit

I just kind off ran off - I didn’t want to fight it in a room with hobgoblins, so I planned on fighting it somewhere that was already cleared. And, it just kind of disappeared. I was little bit disappointed - yeah, I probably would have died, but I would have liked a chance.

So I killed the goblins (and a cyclops) without too much trouble, and continued. Nothing of much note happened for awhile, except for the Giant Undead, and all I did was spam Advanced Trigger to burn them to shit. The Giant Skeletons were a pain in the ass, though.

The next memorable thing was a huge room, with a massive fucking cyclops chained up - didn’t even try to mess with that fucker, especially with the skeleton mages sniping my party with fireballs. After taking care of those assholes, I had to fight a gargoyle.

I remember fighting them in the Post-Grigori Everfall during my first playthrough. I didn’t think they were all that bad - but then again, I level 50 something. My Ranger is like 33.

That fucking gargoyle took for-fucking-ever. One of the support pawns managed to pin it, and I must have spammed Hundred Kisses for a minute or more - then it escaped, because yes, it was still fucking ALIVE.

Barely, but STILL HOYL FCUK.

Then my main pawn cast Bolide, and it got smack by a meteor and finally fucking died. I think I got like 1750 experience - I don’t know how accurate that is, but it was a lot.

Incredibly enough, I still refused to turn back, and grabbed the Void Key. On the way back, I went through the hallway where the Giant Undead were - except I had a Skeleton Key, so I could open the locked doors and get some loot. Of course, a Skeleton Knight popped up and beat our asses - and two skeleton mages spawned outside the room, blasting us with lightning. I could barely get outside to kill them, and then still had to take out the knight - which wasn’t bad, since we were no longer crammed in a tiny room.

So, I opened the one door with the key, and got beat up by some huge ass leech things - leapworms or whatever, which are tougher than they sound.

Then I ran into a room with hobgoblins and a cockatrice. After it killed me via petrification, I left and returned with some curatives to help prevent that. Of course, I didn’t have a lot, and ran out. One of the pawn actually got petrified in a pretty hilarious position - she had fallen down on a small slope, and just her legs were sticking out. Sadly, a hobgoblin(the hordes of which never seemed to end) broke her before I could take a screenshot.

Eventually, there was only me and a hired pawn left (a chubby little mage named Fat Princess - she had a squeaky voice and I loved her). I had managed to pop the cockatrice’s throat sac, to prevent its petrification breath. So I was fighting the cockatrice, and hobgoblins, and occasionally reviving Fat Princess. I may have even been able to win.

But then

The screen flashed red

And huge fucking BEAST appeared out of nowhere and fucking destroyed us.

When the game reloaded, I left Bitterblack as fast as fucking possible. I saved on the dock at Cassardis, and stopped for the night.

Tl;dr I restart a lot and Bitterblack Isle is fucked up.

[itscompletelytoasted-blog]

Learning the Hard Way

I come from a family of people who are very much intune with energies. My mom senses spirits whenever they’re present, has dabbled in tarot readings, and has the ouija board that her grandma used when my mom was growing up. She raised me and my sister in a spiritual setting so we were able to increase our sensitivity to the other worldly as we grew up. My sister heavily practices Wicca with a specialization in tarot. With her being an empath, her power in tarot is so strong to the point of being terrifying. 

I stopped contact with energies that are unseen for almost a year now. By growing up in a home where spirits were welcome and being intune with that, I had gotten used to the feeling of never being alone. I never created boundaries or realized that I should until I actually needed to do so. 

The summer before coming to Northern, my friends and I began using my great grandmas ouija board. We liked to use it deep in forests and see if anything was able to communicate. We were reckless with this and something became attached. As the summer continued we realized that one energy was the only one that would communicate with us. Sometimes impersonating someone else, but quickly falling back into the same patterns of communication that it knew. We believe this thing first attached itself to the board but then us as well. This attachment scared me and I cleansed the board and we stopped using it. 

My friend Sheldon didn’t stop though. He loved the adrenaline rush he got by the danger. He purchased another board from a thrift shop and continued communication. Whenever we were all hanging together, there would always reach a point when Sheldon would whip out his board and beg us all to play as well. I would refuse, I didn’t want to mess with dark energy but others eventually would give in because Shelly can be pretty persuasive. Although it took them awhile, my friends finally realized the energy that took over my board was now like a leech stuck on our group.

Sheldon moved to a new house near the end of that summer, and this is when he realized he may have gone too far. His new house already held a weird and not so good energy so bringing in another dark one wasn’t that great. Sheldon had discovered that the previous owner of his new house had been sent to prison. That’s why his mom was able to get the house at such a good price. But the police had a search warrant out for this guy and ended up busting into his house to take him away. Now we don’t know what he did for sure, but from what we can get the crime involved minors and the internet. So, not only did is house have an off vibe, but the animals felt it too. Personally, I would be able to ignore bad energy and chalk it up to me being dramatic but as soon as animals react to bad vibes, it solidifies its existence. His animals began staring down empty hallways and cowering away from things only they could see. Sometimes waking Sheldon up in the middle of the night by growling and hissing. 

After he told me about what he was experiencing, I got my sister involved. Her first answer was the same as mine, sage the place, but his mom has bad allergic reactions to smoke and burning things so that was off the table. I asked for any other way to cleanse Sheldon and his home. She said give me like 30 minutes, so I left her alone to do her witchy things. She eventually came to me with a spray bottle now filled with Dragons Blood, Sage powder, black salt, and other ingredients that I have forgotten about. This seemed to do the trick though because things slowly went back to normal in the Smith household.

When I left for college, that dark energy was the last thing on my mind. But slowly things began to happen. Now, I’m used to the random spirit every now and then crossing my path. In high school one inhabited my room, I called him Don, he liked that named whether it was his real one or not. He enjoyed to pull out the yellow books on my shelf and blow out the candles. But all in all he had a good energy too him and he eventually left to continue his journey elsewhere. But a presence began making itself clear that filled me with unease. The first contact was when I was vacuuming my dorm and had stopped to empty it. I was leaned over the trash can facing the bathroom door. Music had been blasting and I felt a finger roughly poke into my back. I turned around thinking it was my suite mate only to be met with nothing. I stood there completely still for I don’t even know how long. The feeling was so real. I was confused because I hadn’t actually sensed an energy, I didn’t feel it’s frequency or anything. I brushed it off so I could sleep for the night. 

Fast forward to the winter semester, I’m in a new dorm laying in my lofted bed. I hear someone walk through the bathroom and open my door. I’m just chilling thinking it was Steph or KT and wait for them to say something. My name was said, not a yell but there was urgency so I said yeah and sat up to see who it was and what they needed, Being met by empty space yet again was deeply unsettling. Because I received the same feeling as the previous incident, I connected them and assumed it was the same energy. Although this time I could feel a presence, I’m not saying it felt human, but it felt as if there was matter attached to this energy. 

The last thing that caused me to decide to create a barrier with myself and energies that wanted to contact me happened when I was once again in bed. Me and Steph had developed a habit of knocking on the wall when we wanted to talk or just see if the other person was in bed. The cement wall created a distinct noise that was very much concentrated in the area that was being knocked upon. Well I heard a knock, so I knocked back, and I received another knock. She wasn’t home. 

Though I did not have many experiences, the ones that I did have left me with a very bad feeling. It felt as if the energy was growing and continuously trying to reach out to me, not to communicate but to make me uneasy. This made me feel like I needed protection. I began saging. Saging is a form of protection I utilize daily. Being in full control of what is in my space and asking negative energies to leave is powerful. Through this practice, I no longer have daily battles with energies that wish to communicate with me or are just passing through. Sage basically hits the restart button in any space, and man am I thankful for that. 

[housingandhomelessnessla-blog]

Gentrification in the United States

by Ileana McDonald and Emily Echeverri 

Gentrification

The issue of gentrification is not something new to the United States, but it is something that is in full swing in large cities, such as New York and Los Angeles, at the moment and it is taking a toll on those who have lived in these areas for their whole lives. Although the idea of gentrification may be nice to those who benefit from it, the effects it has on those who aren’t are very impactful on their lives. Cities such as Boyle Heights in Los Angeles and Bushwick in New York are being hit the hardest during this competitive time in the market and minorities are being hit the hardest. Gentrification can be a good thing, but all the chaos it brings to the less fortunate weighs out anything that could be potentially helpful to a city.

Explain it to me like I’m 7:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfOqmSXDAD8&feature=youtu.be

By definition gentrification is, “the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste.” (Merriam-Webster) It primarily benefits those who are affluent and able to afford high prices of living and forces the struggling working class people to have to relocate. Gentrification is one of the telling signs of the growth machine, in that it promotes growth at an cost, even the cost of people losing their homes and their ties to their neighborhoods. Peter Dreier refers to the fuel of gentrification to be the competition of affluent people against poor people for scarce housing. It is obvious, of course, that those who are benefitting from gentrification are white, and they seem to be washing away all the culture and charm of the neighborhoods they are moving into. The rich history these neighborhoods hold is being stripped away from people who have spent decades trying to preserve it.

Boyz-N-The-Hood :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BadSZDpvq-s#action=share

Gentrification not only impacts those who rent or own homes in the areas already, but it also affects those who are looking for homes. In Los Angeles especially, home prices are increasing at a rate in which only those who are financially stable upper middle class can afford homes. According to LAHSA, the average rent price in Los Angeles has increased by 32% since 2000 compared to the median income of the renter household which has decreased 3% since then. The amount of housing combined with the high prices and low income levels of manual laborers is what is driving those who rent in gentrified areas to be kicked out of their homes. Gentrification hurts those who have worked their entire lives for a home and makes them not be able to afford it anymore. The housing crisis is also what contributes to homelessness in competitive  cities such as Los Angeles and New York because people spend their whole lives in one place and then are expected to just leave once they get kicked out, which is something that harms them emotionally. Gentrification just adds to the whole idea of the growth machine and helps those who are in charge.

One of the reasons that certain urban areas are considered to be appealing for land development and gentrification is because of how ample the culture is in that area. This is due to the fact that these inner city and lower income areas are majority minority populated. Cities filled with years of history rich in culture from generations of minorities building cultural legacies are actually beautiful. Neighborhoods that do possess an abundance of black and Latino culture attract white people who lack these cultural aspects in their own neighborhoods. The beautiful music, people, murals and street art along with the delicious food are enough to attract the bravest of white folks even considering the fact that the storefronts are nearly destroyed and crime runs rampant in the neighborhood. They still move in, and begin to leech off of the culture that the neighborhood provides. Thus begins their effect on the neighborhoods, and the articles titled “Top 10 Restaurants in LA You Didn’t Know About” flood in, along with the white people. Eventually renovations follow, as well as higher prices and new businesses.

As much as white people love black culture, they do not love black people nearly as much. When they move to urban areas they can appreciate the street art and good food, but do not want to enroll their kids in public schools with mostly black kids, even if the schools are high performing. This results in a decline in enrollment in public schools, inevitably resulting in the school being shut down. This is where the major harm in gentrification takes place aside from white people being absolute culture vultures. Schools get shut down and big banks open up where small businesses used to be. The businesses that manage to avoid being bought out end up shutting down anyway due to not being able to afford the rent. And eventually, families can’t afford the rent. People who have lived in the same neighborhood for decades are suddenly struggling because their rent went from $1,500/month to $3,500.

After a few years of this, many of the people of color in the community have moved, if not due to unwanted displacement, then due to the fact that they no longer feel welcome or happy. The old barber shops and restaurants that had been there for years are now banks and boba tea spots. And just on the outskirts of town is the same poverty that always existed, horrible schools, and people of color who have to restart their lives all over again

One of the reasons racism runs so rampant in society is due to stereotypes being reaffirmed or seen in real life. What we need to understand is that literally every disadvancement and struggle that black Americans face can be traced back at the fault of White America. The effects of gentrification on people of color are some of the reasons why people of color are so marginalized and disadvantaged in American society and have to work twice as hard as white people to get half as far. Gentrification takes a massive toll on people’s lives and is a huge problem not just in the United States, but worldwide. Gentrification has been especially rampant in New York, but other cities that are especially affected are Boston, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington D.C. (Huffington Post). To support not only the American economy, but also the American people, we must combat gentrification and resist displacement of marginalized people. Unchecked capitalism only leads to deadening abject poverty which means that we have failed our citizens and failed as a democracy.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Stabrowski, Filip. “Social Relations of Landed Property: Gentrification of a Polish Enclave in Brooklyn.” American Journal of Economics & Sociology, vol. 77, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 29–57. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/ajes.12216.

Reese, Ellen, et al. “‘Weak-Center’ Gentrification and the Contradictions of Containment: Deconcentrating Poverty in Downtown Los Angeles.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, vol. 34, no. 2, June 2010, pp. 310–327. EBSCOhost,

Doi:

Dreier, Peter. “Who Benefits From Gentrification?” KCET. September 2017. https://www.kcet.org/shows/city-rising/who-benefits-from-gentrification

Pastor, Manuel. “Gentrification Is About Power, so What’s Community Got to Do with It?” KCET. August 2017. https://www.kcet.org/shows/city-rising/gentrification-is-about-power-so-whats-community-got-to-do-with-it

Carroll, Rory. “Are white hipsters hijacking an anti-gentrification fight in Los Angeles?” The Guardian. October 2017.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/oct/18/los-angeles-gentrification-boyle-heights-race-activism

REESE, E. , DEVERTEUIL, G. and THACH, L. (2010), ‘Weak‐Center’ Gentrification and the Contradictions of Containment: Deconcentrating Poverty in Downtown Los Angeles. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 34: 310-327. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2427.2010.00900.x

Short, Kevin. “The Top 10 Gentrification Capitals Of America” Huffington Post. November 2013. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/07/most-gentrified-cities_n_4234239.html

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291468-2427/issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BadSZDpvq-s#action=share

[clubwholesaleweb]

Fall Walleyes

Fall Bago Eyes

By: Kyle Sorensen

What a summer it has been! We have sure had some fun times here on the Winnebago System. The fish have been hungry this year, and the younger year classes have certainly been showing up in addition to the normal targeted sizes we find on the system. I have seen some big fish in the net, but I have also seen hundreds of the 10”- 13” Walters dangling on the end of my line. There are certainly some fantastic years of fishing ahead of us!

The dog days of summer have come, and they are now slowly slipping away into the cooler nights. The algae which had painted the surface of the water is now receding as we approach the last leg of the open water season. During this time, I’m sure some of you are making preparations in the woods as the buck bug grows and starts to nibble. While some have already switched out the open water gear for camo and their bow, keep those rods in the boat and at the ready as the fall walleye bite is here!

If we look at how the Winnebago System produces year round, we know fish can be caught in 30 FOW, all the way down to a couple feet, at any given time. Have you ever sight fished for walleyes under the ice in a few feet of water? It’s a blast, but it’s also a key area to take note. I am not going to tell you that to be successful you need to fish a reef during this time, and I’m not going to say you need to fish the deep mud flats. I’m going to tell you that you need to keep all of your options available and be prepared to sometimes switch things up when the current tactic or location isn’t producing.

If you saw the live broadcast I did on the OB Outdoors Facebook page while on the Fox River in Oshkosh, you saw a very nice two-man limit in the livewell. You also saw something that sums up fishing on the Winnebago System – a ton of rods with a lot of different rigs. Some days, fish are holding to weedbeds while sometimes the mud bite is phenomenal. This can go back and forth so we need to be ready. Let’s look at some important aspects of the range of bites on the Winnebago System during the fall time as each area can be useful at any given time. An important area to start on is the weed bite.

Whether you target submerged weeds or emergent weeds, it’s no secret; walleyes relate to both types here on our system. Some of the factors involved with a successful weed bite depend on forage, wind, temperature and oxygen levels. As we transition into the fall bite and the temperatures begin to drop, weedbeds that can normally hold fish begin to die off. As they die, they begin emitting less and less oxygen into the water. With less oxygen, the small bugs that the forage base consumes begin to die off and/or they move in search of a more desirable environment. With the bugs and forage moving, so do the ‘eyes. Knowing this, the only thing left to assume is that we need to target live, active weedbeds. This, however, can sometimes be a trick in itself as the season gets later and later.

When we fish weeds, jigging crawlers and leeches on the lightest possible jig head can certainly produce some great results while running the edges with the bow-mount. Plastics have their time and place in the weedbeds and due to their composition, they can allow us to rig the worm, leech, grub, whatever, in a way in which it produces less hookups with weeds. Depending on fish activity, sometimes anchoring and running slips on the outside edges can work. On a totally different side note, I have sometimes switched gears completely from ‘eyes to pannies while running slips on the edges. This becomes an absolute treat after a few hearty gills start dropping corks…

The next area of focus is the river systems. There are walleye on the system that never leave the river of their choosing during their entire life. As with springtime tactics, jigging minnows, crawlers, even leeches, all hold value in this topic. As I mentioned in a river jigging video I did this spring, looking for contours in the river channels is an integral part while targeting these fish. When I am jigging, you will always see me using the lightest jig possible to present my bait. By utilizing my bow-mount, I am able to slow down my drift speed and work each area longer before the full drift of the specific area has been completed.

The rivers are a unique environment by themselves. Some species spawn in the rivers, which in turn offers a hatch ripe for the chomping. With this happening, it not only brings in the jigging aspect but also the fly pulling tactics of springtime fishing. When we pull or pump flies, we are mimicking baitfish. With some hatches happening at any time into the fall bite, pulling flies yet again can create some amazing results. Our electronics can show these baitfish balls or clouds, and in a river system, you would be hard pressed to not see strong marks under and around these sometimes massive collections of forage. When you see one, it’s time to mark it and fish it good!

During the start of the fall bite, a lot of the spring forage has grown but some species have continued to spawn throughout the summer months as previously discussed. While crankbaits work throughout the year on our system, and crawler harnesses are a killer tactic on the system during the summer months, more and more anglers trade in the harnesses for cranks during this time. This coincides with a primary source of food for our walleye: the gizzard shad.

Gizzard shad have a very high fat content, and they are a slower moving object of prey. It’s a perfect combination for these ‘eyes as they begin to stock up. As with other species of fish in the system, the shad have a variety of year classes (many sizes) which allows for the various year classes of walleye to pick and choose what they want to fill their guts with. Because of the forage, the crankbait trolling bite sees an absolute spike during this time, and as always, we match the hatch. By doing this, we can select shad patterned cranks and run them slow to mimic the movements of the shad. Because Berkley’s Flicker Shad somewhat matches this movement, these are always a good starting point!

In my last article, we talked about trolling cranks out in the mud on Winnebago. This is still a tactic that will produce into the late fall so be sure to keep it in your arsenal.  If you want to check out that article, it’s available for free on Badger Sportsman’s online archive at http://ift.tt/2i6VuSK for all of you subscribers!

The mud is not the only place on the Winnebago System that shows results while trolling cranks. The shorelines (especially around active weedbeds), mid-lake structures (reefs, humps, breaks) and rocky points all show great promise. With the cooling temperatures, fish remain in all areas of the water column as turnover takes place. Turnover is when the different temperatures collide in the water column and the water column becomes one… in so many words. As I previously stated, walleyes on our system can be had year round in the shallows to the deep trenches of our rivers. Because of this, I certainly do not see a huge impact that turnover presents to our walleye fishery here on the Winnebago System as there are always active fish here somewhere.

The last area I will cover is live bait rigging off of bottom bouncers. I love using bottom bouncers because they stir up the bottom and I also know exactly where my rig is running. The one aspect I do not like is the efficiency: usually only using one rod to cover the water area. This is a tactic that usually emerges in the early summer and pushes into mid-fall in my boat.

Growing up I was doing this in northern Minnesota, and now, I am continuing to utilize this technique here on our system. A leech or crawler “harness” can be deadly when all else seems to fail. As the rig options are endless and constantly changing, I will say that more often than not you will see some type of float on my setup. While sharp breaks coming from the shoreline, various reefs, or even rocky points are some great areas to target for this tactic, do not limit it to just those. This is a very versatile technique because it allows the angler to slow down and work a specific area in great detail while trying to coax a timid eye into snatching up the rig. With that said, my favorite area to start in is water around reefs that hold deep water.

As we all know, wind plays a huge role on fish location and activity. When running one of these rigs, you will see me starting on the windblown side, making an elongated “S” as I creep deeper and deeper into the main portion of the lake before restarting or jumping to a new structure. As the bouncer ticks bottom, I usually keep the speed between .5 – .8mph, sometimes even a slower drag. This is all dependent on the blade of the rig (if I even use one), the hardware, etc. A little pulse of the rod can sometimes warrant a strike, while other times the “S” turns being made suffice within themselves.

I have heard of some letting line out when a fish hits or even just waiting to set the hook. In my opinion, this is not good in any way shape or form, unless you are fishing with a single hook rig (leech, slow death, etc.). We have so many smaller ‘eyes (and goats) in our system that if you are running a two or three hook harness, those guys are going to swallow at least one of them. Are you going to keep a 10” ‘eye (or the bigger ones that are hooked badly), or do you mind having to clip a hook off of your harness? I don’t like the thought of those scenarios so I set the hook with a nice sweeping style when I feel the fish hit… No ifs ands or buts!

We briefly covered A LOT of different areas and topics here. Why? Because, like I have said over and over, the Lake Winnebago System is so versatile in the fact that any of these tactics (and more) could be the golden goose at any given time. When you fish the fall walleye bite on our system, be sure to come prepared for anything and keep trying different locations and tactics until you find the one that’s working for that specific day… or even hour! Before we know it, ice will be here and so will some fun videos that I can’t hardly wait to release! I hope you are able to finish the season off with a bang, and as always, until next time, “Tight Lines. Stay Dry.”

The post Fall Walleyes appeared first on Morning Moss.

Fall Walleyes posted first on bestfishingreview.blogspot.com

[toddkelly2]

Fall Walleyes

Fall Bago Eyes

By: Kyle Sorensen

What a summer it has been! We have sure had some fun times here on the Winnebago System. The fish have been hungry this year, and the younger year classes have certainly been showing up in addition to the normal targeted sizes we find on the system. I have seen some big fish in the net, but I have also seen hundreds of the 10”- 13” Walters dangling on the end of my line. There are certainly some fantastic years of fishing ahead of us!

The dog days of summer have come, and they are now slowly slipping away into the cooler nights. The algae which had painted the surface of the water is now receding as we approach the last leg of the open water season. During this time, I’m sure some of you are making preparations in the woods as the buck bug grows and starts to nibble. While some have already switched out the open water gear for camo and their bow, keep those rods in the boat and at the ready as the fall walleye bite is here!

If we look at how the Winnebago System produces year round, we know fish can be caught in 30 FOW, all the way down to a couple feet, at any given time. Have you ever sight fished for walleyes under the ice in a few feet of water? It’s a blast, but it’s also a key area to take note. I am not going to tell you that to be successful you need to fish a reef during this time, and I’m not going to say you need to fish the deep mud flats. I’m going to tell you that you need to keep all of your options available and be prepared to sometimes switch things up when the current tactic or location isn’t producing.

If you saw the live broadcast I did on the OB Outdoors Facebook page while on the Fox River in Oshkosh, you saw a very nice two-man limit in the livewell. You also saw something that sums up fishing on the Winnebago System – a ton of rods with a lot of different rigs. Some days, fish are holding to weedbeds while sometimes the mud bite is phenomenal. This can go back and forth so we need to be ready. Let’s look at some important aspects of the range of bites on the Winnebago System during the fall time as each area can be useful at any given time. An important area to start on is the weed bite.

Whether you target submerged weeds or emergent weeds, it’s no secret; walleyes relate to both types here on our system. Some of the factors involved with a successful weed bite depend on forage, wind, temperature and oxygen levels. As we transition into the fall bite and the temperatures begin to drop, weedbeds that can normally hold fish begin to die off. As they die, they begin emitting less and less oxygen into the water. With less oxygen, the small bugs that the forage base consumes begin to die off and/or they move in search of a more desirable environment. With the bugs and forage moving, so do the ‘eyes. Knowing this, the only thing left to assume is that we need to target live, active weedbeds. This, however, can sometimes be a trick in itself as the season gets later and later.

When we fish weeds, jigging crawlers and leeches on the lightest possible jig head can certainly produce some great results while running the edges with the bow-mount. Plastics have their time and place in the weedbeds and due to their composition, they can allow us to rig the worm, leech, grub, whatever, in a way in which it produces less hookups with weeds. Depending on fish activity, sometimes anchoring and running slips on the outside edges can work. On a totally different side note, I have sometimes switched gears completely from ‘eyes to pannies while running slips on the edges. This becomes an absolute treat after a few hearty gills start dropping corks…

The next area of focus is the river systems. There are walleye on the system that never leave the river of their choosing during their entire life. As with springtime tactics, jigging minnows, crawlers, even leeches, all hold value in this topic. As I mentioned in a river jigging video I did this spring, looking for contours in the river channels is an integral part while targeting these fish. When I am jigging, you will always see me using the lightest jig possible to present my bait. By utilizing my bow-mount, I am able to slow down my drift speed and work each area longer before the full drift of the specific area has been completed.

The rivers are a unique environment by themselves. Some species spawn in the rivers, which in turn offers a hatch ripe for the chomping. With this happening, it not only brings in the jigging aspect but also the fly pulling tactics of springtime fishing. When we pull or pump flies, we are mimicking baitfish. With some hatches happening at any time into the fall bite, pulling flies yet again can create some amazing results. Our electronics can show these baitfish balls or clouds, and in a river system, you would be hard pressed to not see strong marks under and around these sometimes massive collections of forage. When you see one, it’s time to mark it and fish it good!

During the start of the fall bite, a lot of the spring forage has grown but some species have continued to spawn throughout the summer months as previously discussed. While crankbaits work throughout the year on our system, and crawler harnesses are a killer tactic on the system during the summer months, more and more anglers trade in the harnesses for cranks during this time. This coincides with a primary source of food for our walleye: the gizzard shad.

Gizzard shad have a very high fat content, and they are a slower moving object of prey. It’s a perfect combination for these ‘eyes as they begin to stock up. As with other species of fish in the system, the shad have a variety of year classes (many sizes) which allows for the various year classes of walleye to pick and choose what they want to fill their guts with. Because of the forage, the crankbait trolling bite sees an absolute spike during this time, and as always, we match the hatch. By doing this, we can select shad patterned cranks and run them slow to mimic the movements of the shad. Because Berkley’s Flicker Shad somewhat matches this movement, these are always a good starting point!

In my last article, we talked about trolling cranks out in the mud on Winnebago. This is still a tactic that will produce into the late fall so be sure to keep it in your arsenal.  If you want to check out that article, it’s available for free on Badger Sportsman’s online archive at www.BadgerSportsman.com for all of you subscribers!

The mud is not the only place on the Winnebago System that shows results while trolling cranks. The shorelines (especially around active weedbeds), mid-lake structures (reefs, humps, breaks) and rocky points all show great promise. With the cooling temperatures, fish remain in all areas of the water column as turnover takes place. Turnover is when the different temperatures collide in the water column and the water column becomes one… in so many words. As I previously stated, walleyes on our system can be had year round in the shallows to the deep trenches of our rivers. Because of this, I certainly do not see a huge impact that turnover presents to our walleye fishery here on the Winnebago System as there are always active fish here somewhere.

The last area I will cover is live bait rigging off of bottom bouncers. I love using bottom bouncers because they stir up the bottom and I also know exactly where my rig is running. The one aspect I do not like is the efficiency: usually only using one rod to cover the water area. This is a tactic that usually emerges in the early summer and pushes into mid-fall in my boat.

Growing up I was doing this in northern Minnesota, and now, I am continuing to utilize this technique here on our system. A leech or crawler “harness” can be deadly when all else seems to fail. As the rig options are endless and constantly changing, I will say that more often than not you will see some type of float on my setup. While sharp breaks coming from the shoreline, various reefs, or even rocky points are some great areas to target for this tactic, do not limit it to just those. This is a very versatile technique because it allows the angler to slow down and work a specific area in great detail while trying to coax a timid eye into snatching up the rig. With that said, my favorite area to start in is water around reefs that hold deep water.

As we all know, wind plays a huge role on fish location and activity. When running one of these rigs, you will see me starting on the windblown side, making an elongated “S” as I creep deeper and deeper into the main portion of the lake before restarting or jumping to a new structure. As the bouncer ticks bottom, I usually keep the speed between .5 – .8mph, sometimes even a slower drag. This is all dependent on the blade of the rig (if I even use one), the hardware, etc. A little pulse of the rod can sometimes warrant a strike, while other times the “S” turns being made suffice within themselves.

I have heard of some letting line out when a fish hits or even just waiting to set the hook. In my opinion, this is not good in any way shape or form, unless you are fishing with a single hook rig (leech, slow death, etc.). We have so many smaller ‘eyes (and goats) in our system that if you are running a two or three hook harness, those guys are going to swallow at least one of them. Are you going to keep a 10” ‘eye (or the bigger ones that are hooked badly), or do you mind having to clip a hook off of your harness? I don’t like the thought of those scenarios so I set the hook with a nice sweeping style when I feel the fish hit… No ifs ands or buts!

We briefly covered A LOT of different areas and topics here. Why? Because, like I have said over and over, the Lake Winnebago System is so versatile in the fact that any of these tactics (and more) could be the golden goose at any given time. When you fish the fall walleye bite on our system, be sure to come prepared for anything and keep trying different locations and tactics until you find the one that’s working for that specific day… or even hour! Before we know it, ice will be here and so will some fun videos that I can’t hardly wait to release! I hope you are able to finish the season off with a bang, and as always, until next time, “Tight Lines. Stay Dry.”

The post Fall Walleyes appeared first on Morning Moss.

from Morning Moss http://morningmoss.com/fall-walleyes/

[javleech-blog]

New Post has been published on Jav Leech

New Post has been published on https://javleech.com/mac-usually-booting-into-safe-mode-here-are-approaches-to-troubleshoot-it/

Mac usually booting into Safe Mode? Here are approaches to troubleshoot it

  macOS has a characteristic known as Safe Mode that you can use to troubleshoot your Mac. You boot your Mac into Safe Mode; to do that maintain down the Shift key when starting your Mac.

Samir Sitaula has a shifty problem, he thinks. His Mac continually appears beside into Safe Mode He writes:

The Shift key receives pressed robotically simplest [on my MacBook Pro] at some point of startup, and it starts up to Safe Mode. After that, the Shift works.

The problem can’t be a motive force problem with the keyboard because the pc comes with an integrated. If the Shift key worked inconsistently or continued to seem to be depressed after startup, then you definitely might want to clean or replace the keyboard.

If you’ve got any outside USB gadgets plugged in, however, eliminate the ones and restart to peer if the problem persists.

Try resetting the NVRAM (or PRAM on older Macs) and then the SMC (System Management Controller). Apple has instructions.

If that doesn’t paintings, it’s possible that a system-level setting becomes changed, however not going that is probably. Apple has a help web page that explains several approaches to applying the NVRAM command-line application to adjust behavior at startup while you can’t connect a keyboard to your Mac (see the lowest of this FAQ).

You can force a Mac to start in safe mode by using the use of this command at the set off within the Terminal app (and entering your macOS password when brought about):

sudo NVRAM boot-args=”-x”

You can opposite out of that through getting into, which disables Safe Mode:

sudo nvram boot-args=””

Try that series after which restart to see if it clears the state. If now not, I’d truly now permit verbose mode to your Mac along safe mode by using coming into:

sudo nvram boot-args=”-x -v”

and restarting. The verbose mode dumps gadget startup and diagnostic messages, and it would let you know if some thing’s incorrect that’s causing your Mac to constantly begin up in Safe Mode.

Ask Mac 911

We’ve compiled a list of the questions we get requested most often in conjunction with solutions and links to columns: study our high-quality FAQ to peer if your query is covered. If not, we’re continually searching out new problems to clear up! Email yours to mac911@macworld.Com which includes screen captures as appropriate. Mac 911 can’t respond to—nor put up a solution to—every question, and we don’t offer direct troubleshooting recommendation.

You Need To Choose The Right Task Management Software

In the short paced global of the age of connectivity, it is greater than possible that your enterprise works the maximum of the time on computers and you’re a probable retaining song of a whole lot of what is going on, for your Smartphone, in particular in case you are constantly at the circulate. It could make perfect sense if you have been looking then for a machine that fitted in along with your business style and which saved you updated and knowledgeable you of all of the responsibilities which you had to do. The right task management software might be your answer.

Benefits Smartphone users too

It does not in reality count what your selected operating style is, you may discover lots of task control software programs that allows you to select from. Each of these programs will boast functions that will vary from the very simple simplicity functions to the greater mind boggling complex capabilities. But you may discover something in an effort to healthy all your needs, in your specific office necessities. Your fine desire in searching for the right mission control software might be to use some thing which you are pretty familiar with already, for instance, some thing like Microsoft Outlook. This is a specifically popular one with most of the Windows customers. You would possibly love this one or hate it, however, the fact is, Outlook has honestly turn out to be the selection of hundreds of agencies out there for the process of handling emails, and also the default tool to deal with duties. This does not simply suggest that what Microsoft offers lacks luster. No, Outlook has all of the features and is honestly simple to apply. And the surprising component about Outlook is that it syncs in very easily with the proprietors of clever phones.

When all is said and carried out, all of Microsoft’s task management software would not continually just have the same popularity as with those individuals who are Mac users, because they have a bevy of other packages that provide the customers purifier interfaces at the same time as at the same time, also being in sync with other applications as properly.

Differing software

You can pick one of a kind undertaking management software program consisting of Remember the Milk, Toodledo or Google Tasks and on Windows, you may opt for MS Outlook or My Life Organised. On Mac, you may find software program known as Things or OmniFocus. Based on studies from a number of the user polls and unbiased web sites, the above call came out the maximum famous names and have been effortlessly selected for his or her ease of use, as well as flexibility; get entry to form structures for example via syncing or cloud computing, cellular programs and other exciting functions. Other correct capabilities of the software were the balance as well as receiving the desirable assist from the builders.

Ultimately whichever software you operate, or whether or not it’s for your personal adapted gadget, your own best application might not be the remaining software program that has hundreds of capabilities to be had to it. It would possibly also be some software that you are already the usage of to your own computer. Take as an example Outlook. It has plug-ins from Jello and Netcentrics. The other famous applications like Remember the Milk or Toodledo have Firefox extensions. These build aid into your net browsers and they may be equipment that makes it clean so as to modify your responsibilities, turning out to be very effective for you.

Some humans nevertheless love paper and pen

If you spot that your favorite utility is not listed above, don’t worry; they are simply generally apps that have worked for other people. You should well locate favored other software that suits you first-class and as many others decide upon, you would possibly ultimately opt for the humble however surely amazing paper and pen technique.

[clubwholesaleweb]

Fall Walleye Success

Fall Bago Eyes

By: Kyle Sorensen

What a summer it has been! We have sure had some fun times here on the Winnebago System. The fish have been hungry this year, and the younger year classes have certainly been showing up in addition to the normal targeted sizes we find on the system. I have seen some big fish in the net, but I have also seen hundreds of the 10”- 13” Walters dangling on the end of my line. There are certainly some fantastic years of fishing ahead of us!

The dog days of summer have come, and they are now slowly slipping away into the cooler nights. The algae which had painted the surface of the water is now receding as we approach the last leg of the open water season. During this time, I’m sure some of you are making preparations in the woods as the buck bug grows and starts to nibble. While some have already switched out the open water gear for camo and their bow, keep those rods in the boat and at the ready as the fall walleye bite is here!

If we look at how the Winnebago System produces year round, we know fish can be caught in 30 FOW, all the way down to a couple feet, at any given time. Have you ever sight fished for walleyes under the ice in a few feet of water? It’s a blast, but it’s also a key area to take note. I am not going to tell you that to be successful you need to fish a reef during this time, and I’m not going to say you need to fish the deep mud flats. I’m going to tell you that you need to keep all of your options available and be prepared to sometimes switch things up when the current tactic or location isn’t producing.

If you saw the live broadcast I did on the OB Outdoors Facebook page while on the Fox River in Oshkosh, you saw a very nice two-man limit in the livewell. You also saw something that sums up fishing on the Winnebago System – a ton of rods with a lot of different rigs. Some days, fish are holding to weedbeds while sometimes the mud bite is phenomenal. This can go back and forth so we need to be ready. Let’s look at some important aspects of the range of bites on the Winnebago System during the fall time as each area can be useful at any given time. An important area to start on is the weed bite.

Whether you target submerged weeds or emergent weeds, it’s no secret; walleyes relate to both types here on our system. Some of the factors involved with a successful weed bite depend on forage, wind, temperature and oxygen levels. As we transition into the fall bite and the temperatures begin to drop, weedbeds that can normally hold fish begin to die off. As they die, they begin emitting less and less oxygen into the water. With less oxygen, the small bugs that the forage base consumes begin to die off and/or they move in search of a more desirable environment. With the bugs and forage moving, so do the ‘eyes. Knowing this, the only thing left to assume is that we need to target live, active weedbeds. This, however, can sometimes be a trick in itself as the season gets later and later.

When we fish weeds, jigging crawlers and leeches on the lightest possible jig head can certainly produce some great results while running the edges with the bow-mount. Plastics have their time and place in the weedbeds and due to their composition, they can allow us to rig the worm, leech, grub, whatever, in a way in which it produces less hookups with weeds. Depending on fish activity, sometimes anchoring and running slips on the outside edges can work. On a totally different side note, I have sometimes switched gears completely from ‘eyes to pannies while running slips on the edges. This becomes an absolute treat after a few hearty gills start dropping corks…

The next area of focus is the river systems. There are walleye on the system that never leave the river of their choosing during their entire life. As with springtime tactics, jigging minnows, crawlers, even leeches, all hold value in this topic. As I mentioned in a river jigging video I did this spring, looking for contours in the river channels is an integral part while targeting these fish. When I am jigging, you will always see me using the lightest jig possible to present my bait. By utilizing my bow-mount, I am able to slow down my drift speed and work each area longer before the full drift of the specific area has been completed.

The rivers are a unique environment by themselves. Some species spawn in the rivers, which in turn offers a hatch ripe for the chomping. With this happening, it not only brings in the jigging aspect but also the fly pulling tactics of springtime fishing. When we pull or pump flies, we are mimicking baitfish. With some hatches happening at any time into the fall bite, pulling flies yet again can create some amazing results. Our electronics can show these baitfish balls or clouds, and in a river system, you would be hard pressed to not see strong marks under and around these sometimes massive collections of forage. When you see one, it’s time to mark it and fish it good!

During the start of the fall bite, a lot of the spring forage has grown but some species have continued to spawn throughout the summer months as previously discussed. While crankbaits work throughout the year on our system, and crawler harnesses are a killer tactic on the system during the summer months, more and more anglers trade in the harnesses for cranks during this time. This coincides with a primary source of food for our walleye: the gizzard shad.

Gizzard shad have a very high fat content, and they are a slower moving object of prey. It’s a perfect combination for these ‘eyes as they begin to stock up. As with other species of fish in the system, the shad have a variety of year classes (many sizes) which allows for the various year classes of walleye to pick and choose what they want to fill their guts with. Because of the forage, the crankbait trolling bite sees an absolute spike during this time, and as always, we match the hatch. By doing this, we can select shad patterned cranks and run them slow to mimic the movements of the shad. Because Berkley’s Flicker Shad somewhat matches this movement, these are always a good starting point!

In my last article, we talked about trolling cranks out in the mud on Winnebago. This is still a tactic that will produce into the late fall so be sure to keep it in your arsenal.  If you want to check out that article, it’s available for free on Badger Sportsman’s online archive at http://ift.tt/2i6VuSK for all of you subscribers!

The mud is not the only place on the Winnebago System that shows results while trolling cranks. The shorelines (especially around active weedbeds), mid-lake structures (reefs, humps, breaks) and rocky points all show great promise. With the cooling temperatures, fish remain in all areas of the water column as turnover takes place. Turnover is when the different temperatures collide in the water column and the water column becomes one… in so many words. As I previously stated, walleyes on our system can be had year round in the shallows to the deep trenches of our rivers. Because of this, I certainly do not see a huge impact that turnover presents to our walleye fishery here on the Winnebago System as there are always active fish here somewhere.

The last area I will cover is live bait rigging off of bottom bouncers. I love using bottom bouncers because they stir up the bottom and I also know exactly where my rig is running. The one aspect I do not like is the efficiency: usually only using one rod to cover the water area. This is a tactic that usually emerges in the early summer and pushes into mid-fall in my boat.

Growing up I was doing this in northern Minnesota, and now, I am continuing to utilize this technique here on our system. A leech or crawler “harness” can be deadly when all else seems to fail. As the rig options are endless and constantly changing, I will say that more often than not you will see some type of float on my setup. While sharp breaks coming from the shoreline, various reefs, or even rocky points are some great areas to target for this tactic, do not limit it to just those. This is a very versatile technique because it allows the angler to slow down and work a specific area in great detail while trying to coax a timid eye into snatching up the rig. With that said, my favorite area to start in is water around reefs that hold deep water.

As we all know, wind plays a huge role on fish location and activity. When running one of these rigs, you will see me starting on the windblown side, making an elongated “S” as I creep deeper and deeper into the main portion of the lake before restarting or jumping to a new structure. As the bouncer ticks bottom, I usually keep the speed between .5 – .8mph, sometimes even a slower drag. This is all dependent on the blade of the rig (if I even use one), the hardware, etc. A little pulse of the rod can sometimes warrant a strike, while other times the “S” turns being made suffice within themselves.

I have heard of some letting line out when a fish hits or even just waiting to set the hook. In my opinion, this is not good in any way shape or form, unless you are fishing with a single hook rig (leech, slow death, etc.). We have so many smaller ‘eyes (and goats) in our system that if you are running a two or three hook harness, those guys are going to swallow at least one of them. Are you going to keep a 10” ‘eye (or the bigger ones that are hooked badly), or do you mind having to clip a hook off of your harness? I don’t like the thought of those scenarios so I set the hook with a nice sweeping style when I feel the fish hit… No ifs ands or buts!

We briefly covered A LOT of different areas and topics here. Why? Because, like I have said over and over, the Lake Winnebago System is so versatile in the fact that any of these tactics (and more) could be the golden goose at any given time. When you fish the fall walleye bite on our system, be sure to come prepared for anything and keep trying different locations and tactics until you find the one that’s working for that specific day… or even hour! Before we know it, ice will be here and so will some fun videos that I can’t hardly wait to release! I hope you are able to finish the season off with a bang, and as always, until next time, “Tight Lines. Stay Dry.”

The post Fall Walleye Success appeared first on Morning Moss.

Fall Walleye Success posted first on bestfishingreview.blogspot.com

[toddkelly2]

Fall Walleye Success

Fall Bago Eyes

By: Kyle Sorensen

What a summer it has been! We have sure had some fun times here on the Winnebago System. The fish have been hungry this year, and the younger year classes have certainly been showing up in addition to the normal targeted sizes we find on the system. I have seen some big fish in the net, but I have also seen hundreds of the 10”- 13” Walters dangling on the end of my line. There are certainly some fantastic years of fishing ahead of us!

The dog days of summer have come, and they are now slowly slipping away into the cooler nights. The algae which had painted the surface of the water is now receding as we approach the last leg of the open water season. During this time, I’m sure some of you are making preparations in the woods as the buck bug grows and starts to nibble. While some have already switched out the open water gear for camo and their bow, keep those rods in the boat and at the ready as the fall walleye bite is here!

If we look at how the Winnebago System produces year round, we know fish can be caught in 30 FOW, all the way down to a couple feet, at any given time. Have you ever sight fished for walleyes under the ice in a few feet of water? It’s a blast, but it’s also a key area to take note. I am not going to tell you that to be successful you need to fish a reef during this time, and I’m not going to say you need to fish the deep mud flats. I’m going to tell you that you need to keep all of your options available and be prepared to sometimes switch things up when the current tactic or location isn’t producing.

If you saw the live broadcast I did on the OB Outdoors Facebook page while on the Fox River in Oshkosh, you saw a very nice two-man limit in the livewell. You also saw something that sums up fishing on the Winnebago System – a ton of rods with a lot of different rigs. Some days, fish are holding to weedbeds while sometimes the mud bite is phenomenal. This can go back and forth so we need to be ready. Let’s look at some important aspects of the range of bites on the Winnebago System during the fall time as each area can be useful at any given time. An important area to start on is the weed bite.

Whether you target submerged weeds or emergent weeds, it’s no secret; walleyes relate to both types here on our system. Some of the factors involved with a successful weed bite depend on forage, wind, temperature and oxygen levels. As we transition into the fall bite and the temperatures begin to drop, weedbeds that can normally hold fish begin to die off. As they die, they begin emitting less and less oxygen into the water. With less oxygen, the small bugs that the forage base consumes begin to die off and/or they move in search of a more desirable environment. With the bugs and forage moving, so do the ‘eyes. Knowing this, the only thing left to assume is that we need to target live, active weedbeds. This, however, can sometimes be a trick in itself as the season gets later and later.

When we fish weeds, jigging crawlers and leeches on the lightest possible jig head can certainly produce some great results while running the edges with the bow-mount. Plastics have their time and place in the weedbeds and due to their composition, they can allow us to rig the worm, leech, grub, whatever, in a way in which it produces less hookups with weeds. Depending on fish activity, sometimes anchoring and running slips on the outside edges can work. On a totally different side note, I have sometimes switched gears completely from ‘eyes to pannies while running slips on the edges. This becomes an absolute treat after a few hearty gills start dropping corks…

The next area of focus is the river systems. There are walleye on the system that never leave the river of their choosing during their entire life. As with springtime tactics, jigging minnows, crawlers, even leeches, all hold value in this topic. As I mentioned in a river jigging video I did this spring, looking for contours in the river channels is an integral part while targeting these fish. When I am jigging, you will always see me using the lightest jig possible to present my bait. By utilizing my bow-mount, I am able to slow down my drift speed and work each area longer before the full drift of the specific area has been completed.

The rivers are a unique environment by themselves. Some species spawn in the rivers, which in turn offers a hatch ripe for the chomping. With this happening, it not only brings in the jigging aspect but also the fly pulling tactics of springtime fishing. When we pull or pump flies, we are mimicking baitfish. With some hatches happening at any time into the fall bite, pulling flies yet again can create some amazing results. Our electronics can show these baitfish balls or clouds, and in a river system, you would be hard pressed to not see strong marks under and around these sometimes massive collections of forage. When you see one, it’s time to mark it and fish it good!

During the start of the fall bite, a lot of the spring forage has grown but some species have continued to spawn throughout the summer months as previously discussed. While crankbaits work throughout the year on our system, and crawler harnesses are a killer tactic on the system during the summer months, more and more anglers trade in the harnesses for cranks during this time. This coincides with a primary source of food for our walleye: the gizzard shad.

Gizzard shad have a very high fat content, and they are a slower moving object of prey. It’s a perfect combination for these ‘eyes as they begin to stock up. As with other species of fish in the system, the shad have a variety of year classes (many sizes) which allows for the various year classes of walleye to pick and choose what they want to fill their guts with. Because of the forage, the crankbait trolling bite sees an absolute spike during this time, and as always, we match the hatch. By doing this, we can select shad patterned cranks and run them slow to mimic the movements of the shad. Because Berkley’s Flicker Shad somewhat matches this movement, these are always a good starting point!

In my last article, we talked about trolling cranks out in the mud on Winnebago. This is still a tactic that will produce into the late fall so be sure to keep it in your arsenal.  If you want to check out that article, it’s available for free on Badger Sportsman’s online archive at www.BadgerSportsman.com for all of you subscribers!

The mud is not the only place on the Winnebago System that shows results while trolling cranks. The shorelines (especially around active weedbeds), mid-lake structures (reefs, humps, breaks) and rocky points all show great promise. With the cooling temperatures, fish remain in all areas of the water column as turnover takes place. Turnover is when the different temperatures collide in the water column and the water column becomes one… in so many words. As I previously stated, walleyes on our system can be had year round in the shallows to the deep trenches of our rivers. Because of this, I certainly do not see a huge impact that turnover presents to our walleye fishery here on the Winnebago System as there are always active fish here somewhere.

The last area I will cover is live bait rigging off of bottom bouncers. I love using bottom bouncers because they stir up the bottom and I also know exactly where my rig is running. The one aspect I do not like is the efficiency: usually only using one rod to cover the water area. This is a tactic that usually emerges in the early summer and pushes into mid-fall in my boat.

Growing up I was doing this in northern Minnesota, and now, I am continuing to utilize this technique here on our system. A leech or crawler “harness” can be deadly when all else seems to fail. As the rig options are endless and constantly changing, I will say that more often than not you will see some type of float on my setup. While sharp breaks coming from the shoreline, various reefs, or even rocky points are some great areas to target for this tactic, do not limit it to just those. This is a very versatile technique because it allows the angler to slow down and work a specific area in great detail while trying to coax a timid eye into snatching up the rig. With that said, my favorite area to start in is water around reefs that hold deep water.

As we all know, wind plays a huge role on fish location and activity. When running one of these rigs, you will see me starting on the windblown side, making an elongated “S” as I creep deeper and deeper into the main portion of the lake before restarting or jumping to a new structure. As the bouncer ticks bottom, I usually keep the speed between .5 – .8mph, sometimes even a slower drag. This is all dependent on the blade of the rig (if I even use one), the hardware, etc. A little pulse of the rod can sometimes warrant a strike, while other times the “S” turns being made suffice within themselves.

I have heard of some letting line out when a fish hits or even just waiting to set the hook. In my opinion, this is not good in any way shape or form, unless you are fishing with a single hook rig (leech, slow death, etc.). We have so many smaller ‘eyes (and goats) in our system that if you are running a two or three hook harness, those guys are going to swallow at least one of them. Are you going to keep a 10” ‘eye (or the bigger ones that are hooked badly), or do you mind having to clip a hook off of your harness? I don’t like the thought of those scenarios so I set the hook with a nice sweeping style when I feel the fish hit… No ifs ands or buts!

We briefly covered A LOT of different areas and topics here. Why? Because, like I have said over and over, the Lake Winnebago System is so versatile in the fact that any of these tactics (and more) could be the golden goose at any given time. When you fish the fall walleye bite on our system, be sure to come prepared for anything and keep trying different locations and tactics until you find the one that’s working for that specific day… or even hour! Before we know it, ice will be here and so will some fun videos that I can’t hardly wait to release! I hope you are able to finish the season off with a bang, and as always, until next time, “Tight Lines. Stay Dry.”

The post Fall Walleye Success appeared first on Morning Moss.

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