#you know i have my priorities straight when when there is a choice between 'fave character's bd' and 'pocky day' i go with pocky day

[chenziee]

Snacks before Cake

[Read on AO3 or below the cut]

Ship: Law/Luffy

Words: 1406

Summary: Trafalgar Law wasn’t ready for what was waiting for him in his apartment on a certain November afternoon.

He had expected to find his boyfriend waiting for him so they could relax a bit before getting ready to leave for their friend’s birthday party. He wrapping paper everywhere, maybe even clothes on the floor from where Luffy tried to pick out their outfits. What he hadn’t expected was the mountain of colourful boxes on the coffee table.

AKA your regularly scheduled last minute Pocky Day fic.

-------------

Trafalgar Law wasn’t ready for what was waiting for him in his apartment on a certain November afternoon.

He had expected to find his boyfriend waiting for him so they could relax a bit before getting ready to leave for their friend’s birthday party. He had expected to find wrapping paper everywhere, maybe even clothes on the floor from where Luffy had tried to pick out their outfits. What he hadn’t expected was the mountain of colourful boxes on the coffee table.

“Luffy-ya, what the hell?” Law asked, voice flat as he dropped his bag on the floor next to the couch his boyfriend was sitting on.

“Oh! Hi, Torao!” Luffy paused his game and let his head fall back to look at Law behind him, a wide grin on his face, a stick covered in green chocolate held safely in between his teeth.

Law huffed at the sight of him craning his neck back at an angle that shouldn’t be humanly possible, before he caved in and leaned down to press a quick, upside-down kiss to the corner of Luffy’s mouth. Only the corner because fuck if he was sharing half-eaten food with anyone, even if the other person was his boyfriend. “So what’s with all the Pocky?” he asked once they pulled away.

“It’s Pocky Day,” Luffy stated, looking at Law as if he was stupid for asking the obvious.

Blinking, Law looked pointedly at the coffee table, doing a quick count. “Twelve boxes. Because of Pocky Day.”

Luffy’s cheeks puffed up. “I know. It’s so little—” he paused to gulp down the rest of the sweet stick in his mouth— “but with the birthday party, I forgot to stock up.”

Law took a deep breath, wondering why he was even surprised; it wasn’t like Luffy didn’t eat constantly even without any food related holiday. But twelve boxes? “You’re going to get sick,” Law noted off-handedly, finally walking around the couch to join Luffy.

“I don’t get sick,” Luffy announced proudly, as if having a stomach of steel and terrible eating habits was something to gloat about.

This idiot was seriously ridiculous. Law was glad he wasn’t his doctor. Hoped he wouldn’t be his doctor—although, at the rate he was going, Luffy was asking for heart problems a few years down the road. But no matter how many times Law would try to scold him or try to get him to eat better, Luffy was stubborn and absolutely refused.

He wasn’t above throwing Law’s caffeine addiction in his face either, so Law eventually gave up.

“Are you planning to finish all that before we have to leave for Zoro-ya’s party or…?” Law asked conversationally when Luffy reached for a new box.

Law automatically put his arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders when he scooted over, pink box in one hand, video game controller in the other. “Torao, are you underestimating me?” Luffy shot back in return, a snicker accompanying his words.

Shaking his head, Law wondered why he even asked. Of course Luffy was planning on eating it all in under the hour they had left, and probably also eating everything Sanji was going to bring to the party. He made a mental note to try to save enough of the cake so that the birthday boy would get at least a slice. Nami really knew what she was doing when she forbade them from helping with the preparations and Law had to wonder how many parties his boyfriend had managed to ruin before he and his friends even started high school.

Suddenly, something nudged at his mouth and Law looked down, coming face to face with Luffy’s bright eyes, his mouth stretched in a grin around a new Pocky stick, which he was sucking on like a complete savage. Law would never understand what was so fun about licking the chocolate off until the biscuit was all soggy and then gulping the entire thing down because what was the point if you weren’t going to snap it? Why was this man like this, and why did Law tolerate it? It was honestly probably because the barbarian was so cute while doing inhumane things like biting into whole KitKats and sucking on Pocky—and because Law was weak.

Always weak to those eyes.

“Why are you poking me with a Pocky?” Law asked finally, pulling away a little bit in an effort to stop the incessant prodding.

Luffy cocked his head to the side, his eyebrows furrowing together slightly in confusion when he replied, “Don’t you want one?”

Law’s eyes slid down to eye the pink stick that was still hovering uncomfortably close and made a face. Fucking strawberry. “No, but thanks,” he refused simply, stopping himself from saying anything more. God knew he ranted about artificial strawberry anything more than enough on the regular.

“Oh right!” Luffy cried a split second later, slapping his forehead. “Sorry, I always forget you’re weird.”

Law scowled. The person who couldn’t even eat chocolate on a stick properly had no right to tell him he was weird for disliking a flavour, no matter how widely popular said flavour might be. But before he could so much a click his tongue at his so-called boyfriend, Luffy moved away from him and towards his Pocky pile, putting the strawberry flavour aside in favour of taking one of the other boxes out and returning to Law’s side.

“Sorry, I ate all the matcha—” Luffy apologized when he settled under Law’s arm again, ripping the box open— “but I still have blueberry!” There was a wide, triumphant grin on his face when he pulled out the thicker, light purple stick and shoved it in front of Law’s face.

Law chuckled at Luffy’s enthusiasm before he looked him straight in the eyes and leaned forward, slowly licking his lips; he took great pleasure in the way Luffy’s eyes stared transfixed at his mouth, and he had to stop himself from smirking and ruining the show too early. He waited until he saw Luffy gulp in response to the way his teeth closed around the Pocky stick gently, and then… he quickly broke the stick, the beautiful, satisfying snap of it breaking Luffy from his reverie.

Law would never get tired of how quickly Luffy could go from happy to flustred, or how amazingly bright his blush was. It was incredibly rare to see Luffy either flail or blush, which made the experience all the more gratifying, and Law didn’t bother to try to stifle the laugh that forced its way out of his chest.

He was just so adorable, especially the way he pouted over Law’s amusement while folding his arms over his chest. Luffy was probably trying to look upset and reprimanding but he only managed to look like a puppy who was upset over not getting a treat. Law’s smirk only widened at the thought, and he couldn’t resist ruffling Luffy’s hair.

The way the younger man leaned into his touch was pretty puppy like, too.

He wondered what would happen if he voiced his thoughts, whether Luffy would growl at him or if he would whine, but he resisted the temptation. He could tease Luffy more later when they didn’t have a birthday party to attend. And so, he only pulled Luffy a little bit closer, pressing a quick, little kiss to his temple.

“Don’t tease me,” Luffy grumbled but seemed to melt at the brief touch, relaxing into Law’s side as he put the rest of the half-eaten blueberry Pocky into his mouth. “You know you’re the only person I share food with.”

Law felt a genuine, soft smile pull at his lips. That was probably as close to a declaration of love as Luffy would ever get and Law would be lying if he said it didn’t make him happy, didn’t make butterflies go crazy in his stomach, as cheesy as it sounded.

“And you’re the only person I let hand feed me their food,” Law mumbled back, and goddamn it, now he was the one blushing.

These indirect confessions were seriously more embarrassing then simply saying ‘I love you’ but… the smile he got in return was worth it. Was worth any cheesy and embarrassing sentence; this man really had him wrapped around his little finger but Law couldn’t say he cared.

He truly loved this idiot, bright smiles and a mountain of Pocky and all.

#one piece #lawlu #trafalgar law #luffy #monkey d. luffy #pocky day #modern au #one shot #fluff #domestic fluff #op fanfic #lawlu fanfic #katie pretends to fic #you know i have my priorities straight when when there is a choice between 'fave character's bd' and 'pocky day' i go with pocky day #always pocky day #sorry zoro i love you #sorry this was so last minute #i didn't even have time to read it yet #it's already past midnight here #gotta say i missed these '5 minutes past midnight' fic rushes #and i've been doing so good this year #i wasn't actually planning on writing anything for pocky day this time #but then i say there aren't any pocky fics in lawlu on ao3?? #and tumblr didn't give me any pocky lawlu content either?? #(tho that might be just tumblr being broken like usual) #and i just HAD TO #i had no choice #THERE WILL BE POCKY DAY CONTENT FOR THIS SHIP EVEN IF I HAVE TO MAKE ALL OF IT MYSELF #i'll try to at least proof it tomorrow xD #now i need to sleeppppp

[comicteaparty]

January 6th-January 12th, 2020 CTP Archive

The archive for the Comic Tea Party week long chat that occurred from January 6th, 2020 to January 12th, 2020.  The chat focused on The Demon Archives by Daniel Sharp (Author) and Sebastian Piriz (Artist).

Featured Comment:

Chat:

Comic Tea Party

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB START!

Hello and welcome everyone to Comic Tea Party’s Week Long Book Club~! This week we’ll be focusing on The Demon Archives by Daniel Sharp (Author) and Sebastian Piriz (Artist)~! (https://demonarchives.com/)

You are free to read and comment about the comic all week at your own pace, so stop on by whenever it suits your schedule! Remember, though, that while we allow constructive criticism, our focus is to have fun and appreciate the comic. Below you will find four questions to get you started on the discussion. However, a new question will be posted and pinned everyday (between 12:01AM and 6AM PDT), so keep checking back for more! You have until January 12th to tell us all your wonderful thoughts! With that established, let’s get going on the reading and the chatting!

QUESTION 1. What has been your favorite scene in the comic so far? What specifically did you like about it?

QUESTION 2. Who do you think Konstantin Yakovlevich’s benefactor is and what is their goal? Why exactly are they having him build death bots? Overall, do you think Konstantin’s choices to team up with them have done more good or bad for his community?

DaemonDan (The Demon Archives)

(oh hey, this is me)

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 3. At the moment, who is your favorite character? What about that character earns them this favor?

QUESTION 4. Do you think that Viktor will be able to recover from his brain damage as Tenzin did, or is it a lost cause? Regardless of which you deem most likely, how do you think that will affect him and those around him?

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 5. What has been your favorite illustration in the comic so far? What specifically about it do you like?

QUESTION 6. What moment of Tenzin’s PTSD stuck out to you, and why? What do you think this story shows us in regards to PTSD’s affects and the path it takes to heal? Ultimately, do you think Tenzin can overcome his PTSD?

RebelVampire

1) My favorite scene is probably when Jane and Viktor forcibly stop Tenzin from going out as the bait. It is a heart wrenching scene watching Tenzin being forced to stand idly by while the others take the risk for him. And I like that there is a mix too in whose side you should be on. Cause on the one hand, Jane and Viktor have logic on their side, but on the other hand I super empathize with Tenzin. And at the end, you wind up feeling angry, sad, and a slew of other emotions, and I think it really helps sell the scene. 2) I don't have enough evidence to make a good theory on who the benefactor is. However, I do feel the factions who are attacking Minerva are involved. It's just a little too convenient that they're suddenly attacking on the eve of Aegis taking a massive hit. Someone there knows something. As for the benefactor's goal, I assume domination. Cause this is really the only reason you build death bots, is when you want to murder a bunch of people and take over. I feel like Konstantin's choices have been more of a mixed bag then one way or another. There's a lot of "what ifs." Like, if he had rejected the offer, what would've happened without the supplies? Or "what if" he had rejected the offer, and everyone was killed because they were going to take things by force? At the end of the day, while I might think his choices have probably done more bad in the long term, there was probably no good that would've come from the situation regardless. Either way would've had bad results, which is really the shit thing about the world sometimes.

3) My favorite character at the moment is probably Tenzin. I really just like how he's this imperfect character. He cares deeply about people, but at the same time can be a major asshole. But at the same time you understand why he's an asshole cause he's dealing with a lot of bullshit and trauma. So all around, he's just this interesting and complicated character that I enjoy exploring. 4) I feel like Viktor's fate may be more bittersweet. Like maybe they'll be able to recover his brain somewhat to a degree that he won't be catatonic. However, I don't feel that he will ever recover as well as Tenzin, and probably be bed/wheel chair ridden for the rest of his days. Not to mention the obvious mental trauma he's gonna have to live through which is a whole other horrible topic. I feel anything less than a full recovery is gonna 1) cause everyone to lose some hope and 2) send Tenzin into a reckless rage where he just wanted to murder the enemy three times overkill. And that attitude will inevitably alienate him until the others can talk sense into him again. However, I think it will really force him to maybe address how he feels personally responsible for Viktor's condition, so maybe he can get some help. Maybe.

RebelVampire

5) My fave illustration is definitely this page https://demonarchives.com/chapter-4-page-18-shattered/ This is just the perfect use of exaggerated, distorted lensing to express both the horror and grief going on. Plus with the beautiful addition of the montage in a circular composition, everything is just tied together really well and puts you in the head space. 6) The moment of Tenzin's PTSD that stuck out to me the most was more just the overall fact/idea that his own reliving of the trauma was slowly killing him. I kind of feel like this was a direct, physical consequence of what trauma feels like it. Cause no matter how many years you put between yourself and certain traumas, you will always remember them clear as day. And if you're not careful, you can get lost in them and relive them over and over and over. So I kind of feel like this representation really caught that. As for whether Tenzin can overcome it, yes. But I think it will take years and not something we will see 100% until like...and epilogue chapter or something. Especially cause Tenzin is in a situation that is only going to bring more and more trauma. I do not expect him to get over anything anytime soon.

snuffysam

All right, a bit of catching up to do. 1) My favorite scene was the one where Jane first inserts herself into Tenzin's mind. It was a big moment that showed that no, she isn't just a cold, calculating machine. She really cares about Tenzin, and she doesn't want to be responsible for any more pain. 2) I think either Oculus is straight-up the benefactor (creating discord to give themselves more power in Minerva), or whoever is the benefactor is also controlling Oculus. Like, there's clearly something fishy going on there. 3) My favorite character is Jane. I just really like how... human she feels, and how she cares for others. Sometimes, I'm not sure if she's actually calculating all of the tactics she says, or if she's making some of the numbers up so she can act like she isn't clouded by emotions (e.g. giving higher priority to protecting Tenzin).

RebelVampire

@snuffysam I'm more in the line that Oculus is in control of the benefactor. Cause your henchmen don't have such menacing and vague replies unless they're working for someone else and using you. https://demonarchives.com/chapter-12-after-credits-4/

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 7. Which characters do you enjoy seeing interact the most? What about their dynamic interests you?

QUESTION 8. What do you think Commander Kubek of Aegis and President Smith of Oculus are up to (if anything)? What role do either of them have with the current attack and sabotage going on with Minerva?

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 9. What sorts of art or story details have you noticed in the way the comic is crafted that you think deserves attention?

QUESTION 10. What do you think the attack on Minerva has to do with the APERs? Also, why do you think Jane and Tenzin are now deemed the biggest threat, and how will that affect the people around them?

RebelVampire

7) I probably enjoy seeing Tenzin and Jane interact the most of the characters. I feel they have the most interesting relationship since its this weird mix of being close and being antagonistic towards each other. But I also like seeing how the two kind of challenge each other in different ways and force each other to grow as people. So everytime they interact, I know one of them is gonna change in some small way, and who doesn't love character growth? 8) While I don't think President Smith is the big bad behind everything, I do think he helped the enemy in some regard and potentially manipulated things to make Aegis look even worse than they did. All in an effort to gain more power and steer diplomacy in a way he thinks is best. Meanwhile, I feel the Commander is using Tenzin somehow to ruin Smith's attempts at power. However, I also think he could care less about the actual stakes. I really think he's being driven by his own desire of power and keeping things squarely with Aegis. So in the end, I think together they're making everything worse because neither cares about protecting Minerva as much as they should, and that the attack and sabotage are made worse because they're solely focused on their own duel for influence.

9) I've really enjoyed all the little details in the world building. Like how people are getting essential things like food and water, how technology has adapted to suit the needs of the current state of the world, and even the small spiritual touches because of how dire everything is. Overall, there's just a lot of thought put both into the designs and additions here that really make the world feel all encompassing and like it's an actual place where people exist. 10) I do think the benefactor of the APERs has the factions under their thumb. So I think it was all an orchestrated thing to make sure Minerva's defenses were basically in shambles, thus vulnerable to attack. And the APERs were created to make domination easier since so far Tenzin and Jane have been the only effective force against them. As for why Tenzin and Jane are the biggest threat now, it's cause they're basic killing machines, but Tenzin and Jane have shown they can adapt as well to them. So of course, even if it's only two people, they're a threat to an easy path to takeover. Which sadly, I think they're gonna get people around them hurt and killed, cause collateral damage is a thing.

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 11. What do you think are this particular comic’s strengths? What do you think makes this comic unique? Please elaborate.

QUESTION 12. What do you think the story shows us about the dangers of AIs? What about the potential humanity in AIs? In general, do you think AIs like Jane and SOPKA are more useful or more dangerous, and what is your reasoning?

Comic Tea Party

QUESTION 13. What are you most looking forward to in the comic? Also, do you have any final thoughts to share overall?

QUESTION 14. With Minerva behind them, what do you think Tenzin, Jane, and everyone else will ultimately do? Or, in other words, what do you think will happen to them on their journey for answers? Also, how will events in Minerva continue to affect them?

RebelVampire

11) I think this comic's strength is a combination of the tone and character writing. As I mentioned in an earlier answer regarding Tenzin not being all good or all bad, I kind of feel this is present throughout the story. Characters are forced to make difficult choices because of the circumstances, and in general, none of these choices are really that optimal. Someone is always going to get the short end of the stick, someone is always going to be mad, and so forth. However, I think this makes the setting feel uber real, because when it comes to survival situations like this, there usually aren't good choices. So in the end, the consequences in the story have real weight, both on a character level and on a political scale, and it just makes for a worthwhile read since bad stuff can and does generally happen. 12) I think the story shows us that AIs or any similar program aren't a universal bad or a universal good. In the end, the scenario in the society is one I feel is the most likely. Some AIs will go rogue, some will find a way to understand humanity and even respect and emulate human traits, and others will remain machines focused on the purpose they were programmed for. In the end, though, I think Jane kind of reminds us maybe its worth the risk, since AIs can be our allies if we respect them.

13) I am looking forward to Konstantin actually. Especially cause at this point, he surely feels like things are his fault. And when people feel like things are their fault, they tend to do desperate things to make up for it. So I'm interested to see how that situation plays out. 14) I think Tenzin, Jane, and everyone else will first find the source of the APERs i.e. SOPKA but then change motivations to find the benefactor when they learn the thread of corruption runs even deeper. Obviously, the whole way they're going to be fighting death machines, but I also think Oculus might get more and more involved. I feel like ultimately, their journey is going to make them question if Minerva is worth saving a bit. It's kind of easy to forget a place, whether it be a country, city, or even a village, is more than just the people in charge - especially when you aren't there any more. So murdering a specific person become synonymous with killing the whole place. Granted, I do feel eventually they'll remember the people, but I think at the very least, their eyes will forever be opened to how easily corruption springs up.

Comic Tea Party

COMIC TEA PARTY- WEEK LONG BOOK CLUB END!

Thank you everyone so much for reading and chatting about The Demon Archives this week! Please also give a special thank you to Daniel Sharp (Author) and Sebastian Piriz (Artist) for volunteering the comic and creating it! If you liked The Demon Archives, make sure to continue to support it via some of the links below!

Read and Comment: https://demonarchives.com/

Daniel’s Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/TheDemonArchives

Daniel’s Paypal.me: https://www.paypal.me/TheDemonArchives

Daniel’s Gumroad Shop: https://gumroad.com/daemondan

Daniel’s Zazzle Shop: https://www.zazzle.com/store/thedemonarchives

The Demon Archives’ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemonArchives

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #book club #bookclub #webcomic book club #webcomic bookclub #comic tea party #ctp #demon archives #the demon archives #daniel sharp #sebastian piriz

[richincolor]

Interview with Dahlia Adler

When I was a teen, Edgar Allan Poe creeped me out, but in the most delightful way. I can't wait to dive into this new anthology His Hideous Heart. An amazing group of authors have re-imagined his stories and now the collection is out there in the world waiting for readers to experience the chills. Today, the editor and contributing author, Dahlia Adler, is here to share about this intriguing collection and her work in publishing. His Hideous Heart: Thirteen of YA’s most celebrated names reimagine Edgar Allan Poe’s most surprising, unsettling, and popular tales for a new generation. Edgar Allan Poe may be a hundred and fifty years beyond this world, but the themes of his beloved works have much in common with modern young adult fiction. Whether the stories are familiar to readers or discovered for the first time, readers will revel in Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tales, and how they’ve been brought to life in 13 unique and unforgettable ways. Contributors include Kendare Blake (reimagining “Metzengerstein”), Rin Chupeco (“The Murders in the Rue Morge”), Lamar Giles (“The Oval Portrait”), Tessa Gratton (“Annabel Lee”), Tiffany D. Jackson (“The Cask of Amontillado”), Stephanie Kuehn (“The Tell-Tale Heart”), Emily Lloyd-Jones (“The Purloined Letter”), Hillary Monahan (“The Masque of the Red Death”), Marieke Nijkamp (“Hop-Frog”), Caleb Roehrig (“The Pit and the Pendulum”), and Fran Wilde (“The Fall of the House of Usher”).

As a YA author, editor, and blogger with family relationships to maintain, could you share a few things you've learned about balancing many roles? The number one thing I've learned is honestly that balance is kind of a myth. There's no way to do everything perfectly and make everyone happy. What's worked for me is choosing what my priority will be at any given time and then backburnering things as possible. So, for example, when I knew I really wanted to finish writing a novel, I took a hiatus from blogging inasmuch was possible and took advantage of the fact that my in-laws come over every Sunday to see my child and put my butt in the chair for as solid a time block (usually 3-4 hours with of course some interruptions) on Sunday mornings as possible until I was done. When I take on extra blogging, it means writing is gonna get backburnered. Consistency is important and so is being firm on your boundaries. 

What should we be expecting with His Hideous Heart -- mild creepiness, full on terror, or something more in between? It really does run a gamut, in the same way I don't think everyone realizes Poe's story did. In addition to the Gothic horror he's known for, he's also called the father of the modern detective story, and of course some of his works were far more melancholy than terrifying. I think all of his different facets are captured really well in the collection. Certainly, though, even in the ones with happy endings, you're not gonna find sunny beach reads! Why do you think Poe's stories continue to fascinate readers after so many years? Because his themes have never stopped being relevant or interesting. They're so many of the darkest parts of humanity that we don't necessarily get to live out; they're some of our worst fantasies. Getting to live them out through literature, getting to take action against someone who drives us nuts or mourn ourselves into oblivion, is both a safe and satisfying way to explore them. It takes a brave writer to put that out into the world and I think it takes brave writes to adapt them and say, "Here's how we're still feeling those things in our current world."

How did you choose which story you would re-imagine? Well first off, I took a backseat to the others, because they're all masters of dark fantasy or thrillers or horror and I am...not exactly known for any of those things! So I was only selecting from what they did not. And then from there, "Ligeia" was such an easy choice, because I knew I was going to stick my romantic contemporary strengths as best I could, and I saw immediately how that story would play out if I did. It didn't even feel like a selection process; the idea was just...there, waiting for me to grab it.

What were some of the challenges and rewards of editing an anthology? It's always a challenge to corral that many authors, and it's just logistically complicated. There are a lot of contracts and payments and agent negotiations and I don't think people realize that it's very rare for editors not to be responsible for that (as opposed to publishers). So that in itself is a lot of work before you even get to the editing, deadline enforcing, mapping over everyone's copyediting and proofreading corrections, etc. But I have so much natural curiosity about the industry, especially as someone who's been working in it for over a decade, that I really wanted to learn how more things on this side work, so that was actually a big reward for me! As, of course, is getting to read all these amazing stories early and working with such amazing authors. I really could not have asked for better.

What was the process for finding contributors? This actually half happened on Twitter, where the idea arose and people I think are fantastic in these genres chimed in that they'd be interested, and then half happened in email, when I realized this project was actually going to happen and I wanted to make sure it had as many of my favorites as possible. Honestly, creating lineups is my favorite part of anthologies, so I just went straight to the authors I absolutely love who write in Poe's genres and asked them to join up. It was thankfully easy!

Could you share a few books you've been recommending lately? ALWAYS. I've had a lot of reason to recommend By Any Means Necessary by Candice Montgomery, which has the college setting I know a lot of YA readers are looking for, plus a killer voice, great romance, awesome friend group, and covers really relevant topics. Another upcoming favorite is The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake, which is a Sapphic reimaginging of Twelfth Night that I always pitch as perfect for fans of The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum and How to Make a Wish by Ashley Herring Blake, both of which I love. As part of my Patreon for LGBTQReads, I have sort of a "book concierge" service, where I help readers find the perfect queer book for them, and so far Tell Me How You Really Feel by Aminah Mae Safi and Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan are in the lead over there; all hail the f/f YA Rom Com! And, obviously I've been getting some Horror/Spooky requests too, thanks to both His Hideous Heart and the fall season being upon us, and my standby faves there are The Girl From the Well by Rin Chupeco, Mary by Hillary Monahan, Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, As I Descended by Robin Talley, and Wilder Girls by Rory Power.

Just for fun, since you are involved with publishing in a variety of roles, would you share one of your strangest experiences in the industry? Oh man, it's really hard not to respond to this with anything I...shouldn't. But I'll go with an embarrassing one that also involves one of the only times I have ever lied at work. My first job out of college, I was an Editorial Assistant at Simon & Schuster. There was an event for an Entourage book, by which, yes, I do mean a show based on the horrid show I was extremely into once upon a time and that fully influenced the character of Josh Chester in my Daylight Falls duology, but I digress. Anyway, I went to the event, which was about 10-15 blocks away from the office, and I reallllly wanted a signed copy, but I also reallllly didn't want to take more than an hour for lunch because I was terrified of my boss. And since I worked there, I knew the name of the editor on the book, and I maybe used that to pretend I was her assistant so I could skip the whole line and then get my book signed. MAYBE. I cannot confirm or deny.

Thanks so much for sharing with Rich in Color. We look forward to reading these shivery tales. Thank you so much for having me!!

Dahlia Adler is an Associate Editor of mathematics by day, a blogger for B&N Teens and LGBTQ Reads by night, and an author of Young Adult and New Adult novels at every spare moment in between. Her novels include the Daylight Falls duology, Just Visiting, and the Radleigh University trilogy, and she is the editor of the anthologies His Hideous Heart (Flatiron Books, 2019) and That Way Madness Lies (Flatiron Books, 2021). Dahlia lives in New York with her husband, son, and an obscene amount of books, and can be found on Twitter and Instagram at @MissDahlELama.

[bunnyandbirb]

Birb’s Summer 2017 Sports (Anime)

My first distinct memory of trying to play sports involves trying to win a game of soccer by ignoring the ball and repeatedly kicking the opposing players in the shins instead.

During four years at my basketball-crazed college, I never went to a single game (my priorities were with Overwatch and figuring out how to survive the rest of the month on two dollars.) I remember once going to watch the Denver Nuggets play, and then waking up when it was all over. So yeah. I might not be a “sports person.” That being said, I fucking love sports anime. They’re super straightforward, feel-good shows and I’m a sucker for underdog stories. I would call them a guilty pleasure, except I don’t feel guilty about watching them at all. Of course, that doesn’t mean they’re all good.

I watched all of the sports anime that debuted this summer (in one night) and here are my sleep-deprived opinions:

Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun (Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun) Studio Hibari

Aoyama is a freshman in high school, a genius soccer player, and has a crippling obsession with cleanliness. I was very into the premise of this show when I first read the description, which is why I watched it first. I’m still glad that I did watch it first, so I could get my disappointment out of the way faster. Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun isn’t a true sports anime, more like a comedy anime with sports. The pacing in the first episode is pretty atrocious, barely introducing the main character before suddenly getting into a game with an enemy team (that I think I’m supposed to care about?) and then wrapping it all up in less than ten minutes. Basically the whole thing is a series of setups for jokes, and if they don’t make you laugh, it’s a little bit awkward.

The ‘clean freak’ joke started getting stale near the end (and it had only been one episode). There was even a moment where they actually tried to take it seriously (it’s so TRAGIC that he wants to play SOCCER when he’s a GERMAPHOBE), and that just made me confused. Aoyama also looks suspiciously similar to Haru from Free!, and it doesn’t help that they both have that quiet, unfazeable, non-personality.

I don’t even remember the names of the other characters, because they weren’t particularly interesting. There was an angry guy who was always angry that Aoyama didn’t want to be a dirtyboi, generic side characters, and then some girl who stalks the MC because he talked to her once. The best part of the show was the ending, which was an obvious nod back to old-school sports anime and was pretty entertaining.

The show’s art/animation isn’t that bad, which is a shame because I’m never going to be watching more of it. I’d say this is a mediocre show that I can see people liking if it matches their sense of humor. I’m not someone who finds gag comedy particularly funny, which doesn’t make me the right audience for this kind of thing.

Ballroom e Youkoso (Welcome to the Ballroom) Production I.G.

It’s an anime about ballroom dancing. The first time I heard of this, I immediately thought this was coming out to snatch up the audience of Yuri on Ice. I still don’t think I’m wrong, but Ballroom e Youkoso feels both similar and very different from both that show and Haikyuu!!, another product of this studio (and one of my favorite shows in this genre.)

Our main character is Tatara Fujita, a kid (supposedly in eighth grade, clearly doesn’t look it) with no hobbies and no idea what to do in life. He almost gets beaten up but is saved by Sengoku, a professional dancer and owner of a nearby dance studio. He eventually gets a lesson and then watches a video of Sengoku dance, which gets him hooked on dancin’ (at least it isn’t drugs.)

To understate it a bit, this show is VERY DRAMATIC. Maybe I should have expected an anime about dancing to ham it up a little, but this was a level of drama that I haven’t seen in a sports anime in a long while. They stretch limbs like nobody’s business to emphasize the ‘fluidity of dance’ or something (I don’t really know) and I laughed out loud at how silly some of it looked. Not to the say that the animation is bad. The whole CLAMP-esque rubber limbs syndrome is clearly a stylistic choice, and everything looks pretty good when they’re not dancing.

But it’s not just the animation. The plot is also VERY DRAMATIC. The entire show is a lot heavier than a lot of other sports anime, and all of the characters are way more passionate about dancing than I’ve ever been about anything. And honestly, I did get a little caught up in it. The music in this show is pretty good, and definitely contributed to how invested I got in the scenes. The characters are likeable so far. There is a bit of fanservice every now and then, which is annoying but I’ll deal with it. This is a true underdog story, and while I can predict how the rest of the show will go by watching these first five episodes, I’m sure I won’t be bored following through with it.

Dive!! (Not-Free!) Zero-G

Okay, so the alternate name isn’t really Not-Free!, but it should be. This show is mostly boring and a little hilarious (for unintentional reasons.) Dive!! is an anime about… diving, and is centered around a middle schooler named Tomoki Sakai. His combined middle/high school diving club will shut down unless one of its members can get into the Olympics within a year, which is totally reasonable.

Where to even start with this.

It’s almost impossible not to compare Dive!! to Free!, because it begs you to compare them. I can imagine they had a list of how to one-up Free! and, judging by the show, came up with this:

MORE ABS. Everyone gets a 10-pack.

Swim jammers? Pussy shit. Speedos only.

You like high schoolers who look like college students? We got some that look like they’re 12.

Add another exclamation mark in the title, that’ll really get ‘em going.

I’m not exactly sure what Tomoki’s character is supposed to be. In the first episode, he is walking to the diving club with his girlfriend. She starts talking to him, trying to engage him in a conversation… you know, the thing people in relationships have sometimes. He only gets like three sentences through before he starts zoning out completely and has an inner monologue about how much he loves diving. THEN when she confronts him, he looks past her, sees his beloved senpai and BLUSHES. IS THIS A BL SHOW??? IS THIS GIRL A BEARD?? But really, watching this pissboi interaction was probably the funniest thing in the entire show.

The animation is serviceable, but if they wanted to compete with KyoAni’s work on Free!, they might as well have not tried at all. All of the characters are forgettable as fuck except for one, who isn’t even a main character. Actually, I take that back. The main character’s emo twin brother is also pretty memorable, only because he spends every waking moment trying to steal MC’s girl. The majority of the show is straight-up boring; Unlike Ballroom e Youkoso, I didn’t feel any sense of tension or urgency no matter how much they tried to get me to care.

In conclusion, Dive!! sucks. Don’t watch it.

Nana maru san batsu (Fastest Finger First) TMS Entertainment

This might not be considered a “sports anime” in the traditional sense, but I would argue that’s exactly what it is. Koshiyama Shiki is a nerd enters high school and is drafted into the “Quiz Study Group”, where he learns the joys of competitive quiz bowl. So yeah, it’s basically a show about people answering trivia questions on a timer.

I’ll be honest; This show isn’t that special. It’s predictable, the characters are generic, the dialogue is pretty trash at times, and the art is decent. Pretty much everything aside from the actual tournaments crawls by at a snail’s pace, and by the third episode I was skipping past most of the scenes that didn’t have to do with quizzes. There also is some random fanservice (really? In a quiz bowl show?) and sometimes the character artist draws their heads too big for their bodies.

Despite all that, I will keep watching this show until the end. I’ve had a lot of fun learning about quiz bowl, mostly because I didn’t know anything about it before this. I’m a big fan of trivia, and I feel like I can just watch the show for that and still enjoy it without caring about whether the characters die in a fire or not. I’ll just ignore the repetitive conversations and weak romantic subplot in between tournaments.

Okay, so the two shows I said were my faves of the bunch are about ballroom dancing and quiz bowls. But my three all-time favorite sports anime are about tennis, volleyball, and football, so I’m just saying my preferences are based on the qualities of the show, not on the fact that I’m a loser.

Well, that’s it for now. Hopefully we’ll see some more quality sports anime in the future... or I’ll just wait for the next season of Haikyuu!!.

~Stay tuned for more nonsense~

- birb

#thisisbunnyinthetags #i think namaikizakari is the best sports anime and i will fight you on it #mostlycusshoujosaretheshit #tuesday #birb #anime #nana maru san batsu #dive!! #ballroom e youkoso #Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun #summer anime 2017 #tuesday trash #bunnyandbirb #sports anime #long post #text post #reviews #opinions #blog

[shenanigumi]

Hello! My question follows one of your recent responses. You mentioned that your favorite 'husband' is Okita (yes! I share it completely), your favorite pairing is HeiChi (for solid reasons) and your favorite character is Kazama due to his complexity. If you want, could you expand this statement? Why is Kazama so complex in your opinion, what are the possible reasons of his complexity (his inner conflict, his motives etc)?

Ohhhh man… ‘If I want’? I’m always down to talk about my faves. You’d best be prepared for a goddamn characterization essay, because I love Kazama to death. Also, it’ll be good practice for getting started on an actual essay, so I thank you for this wonderful way to wake up the brain!!

I’m throwing this under a read-more for those of you who can see it, because wow I talk a lot:

First off, let me get one thing straight: I hate Kazama. I don’t hate him in the same way or as much as I hate Kaoru; my ‘hatred’ for Kazama is rooted more in awe (e.g. “Wow, that was badass, but what an asshole”) than in genuine dislike (e.g. “I AM GOING TO SKIP ALL YOUR TEXT AND THEN KILL YOU”). By no means is Kazama a good person, but one doesn’t have to be a good person to be a good character.

Admittedly, I think the games could have handled Kazama’s characterization a lot better, and hopefully some of it has been resolved in Shinkai. Though I’ve made the connections that fit all the different sides of his personality together, and will hopefully be able to prove it below, I feel like it should have been more obvious in canon. He’s so different between routes that unless you spend a lot of time thinking about him and his character, like I apparently do, it can be pretty jarring.

Since I’ve already practically written an essay on the wiki I made, I’m going to be lazy and use my four fucking paragraphs I wrote on Kazama’s personality as a basis for analysis. The wiki-entries are as objective as I could make them, but I’m gonna give a warning for possible speculation/headcanons re: how I interpret them. Basically, I’m gonna try to explain my perception of Kazama’s characterization, which is pretty self-explanatory as far as why I like him is concerned, but I can’t guarantee that there’s any solid evidence. These are just the conclusions at which I arrived after considering what I have seen in canon:

Kazama is proud, selfish, domineering, and often cruel. He is severely prejudiced against humans, and even more so against furies. He refers to them almost exclusively as “fakes” or “abominations”, and sees it as his duty to dispose of them. Having little respect for those incapable of adapting to changing times, Kazama asserts his superiority of race and cause whenever possible. He is fatalistic and detached from his own violent actions, regarding them as proof of humanity’s frailty without ascribing any agency to himself. However, though Kazama maintains a clear dislike of and disdain for all humans throughout all routes, he strives to keep his emotional distance and remain aloof.

Whenever Kazama must do something he considers unpleasant, he tries to find a way to further his own enjoyment in the meantime, up to and including using Chizuru as an excuse to toy with the Shinsengumi. However, though he initially considers this a game in which he holds no real investment, he eventually becomes genuinely intrigued by the humans and their ideals. In Hijikata’s route, Kazama is unable to reconcile his existing values with his newfound attachment, and—once Amagiri confronts him about his errant ways—finally abandons his title and status in favor of engaging them. Thus, though Kazama has an extreme sense of responsibility and loyalty to his clan and people as a whole, he “[sees] no charm in command”, and is willing to step down from his position and pursue his own agenda if he finds a purpose he perceives as more worthwhile.

First and foremost, I love Kazama because he is not the person he is trying to be. Even though his development is never directly focused on, and in fact I’d actually argue that he develops the least on his own route, that little tidbit is an enormous driving force in his side of the story. Kazama’s Thing™ is that he’s an Honorable Demon, and tries to live Honorably, but he just doesn’t have the temperament to keep his distance. He’s too naturally curious, too easily driven to anger, too arrogant and drunk on power over humankind, and he knows it. He simply doesn’t care until these tendencies cause him to become completely entangled in the Shinsengumi’s affairs. Although this doesn’t happen on every route, the foundation for that frustration is there in all of them.

Essentially, Kazama is in pursuit of an ideal he cannot obtain for as long as he continues acting the way he does… and eventually, his behavior gets him to the point where he must either change that ideal or change himself. Each time he hits that crisis point, Kazama has opted to change his ideal, and that speaks volumes about his strength of will and character. Rather than ‘improve’ his flaws and conform to demonic expectations, Kazama would rather change what he is fighting for. Sometimes, his new goals do change him in turn—but his shifting priorities always precede his development in any direction. (More on that later.)

Kazama is persistent to the point of obsession when he wants something, demonstrated most prominently in Saito’s route, in which he turns his back on his previous concepts of good and evil, joining forces with Kodo for the sake of marrying Chizuru. Similarly, once his pride has been wounded, Kazama will stop at nothing to get revenge, and does not consider tipping the odds in his favor to be morally dubious. This is most evident when (in Hijikata’s route) he procures his family’s legendary sword, the Demonslayer, to vanquish Hijikata. However, despite his willingness to ensure his victory by any means necessary, Kazama has his own brand of honor in that he views lying as beneath him and will always tell the truth as he sees it. Though he may twist situations to his advantage or omit certain information if his own interests demand it, the few direct lies he tells are obviously identifiable. This applies to even the smallest matters, such as insisting that he rested during the night when in fact he was tending the fire.

Kazama is the voice of the conscience, and of radical reason (which I use in opposition to emotion in this case). I love Kazama because he’s never wrong. There are a lot of things you can say about Kazama, but you can’t exactly say he’s wrong. Humans are weak in comparison to demons? Absolutely right. They don’t know what they’re doing? No, they don’t. Furies aren’t supposed to exist? Indeed they aren’t. His methods may not always be sound, and I certainly don’t always agree with them—but his statements are generally true, if harsh.

Despite his aforementioned inability to live up to expectations of aloofness, Kazama is still duty-driven and follows a very strict, largely self-imposed code of honor. This also says a lot about his character, since it does not allow for direct lies, but it is extremely flexible since it is wholly unconnected to his sense of responsibility to his clan. Rather, it centers around whatever he has chosen as his goal—and, once he gives up on the idea of staying out of human matters, his code relaxes. Once Kazama no longer tries to maintain his distance from humans, he becomes more comfortable with acting based on his emotions. Through his fixation on humans, Kazama seems to become more human himself (and his choice to use the Demonslayer is incredibly ironic for exactly that reason).

Now, to circle back around to priorities… In his own mind, Kazama is always fighting for demonkind. If he cannot keep his distance as is expected of him, then he chooses to discard that notion and instead dispose of furies (in Hijikata’s route) or even dispose of humans (in Saito’s). No matter what his goal is, Kazama never abandons his self-identity as a demon or his wish to live an honorable life. He may change his definition of what exactly that means route to route, but no matter what he perceives as the right way to go about fulfilling it, he still centers himself around that idea.

In both Hijikata’s and Saito’s routes, Kazama concludes that it is impossible for him to operate within his current boundaries and chooses to pursue a new ideal, each one still rooted in what he believes to be a cause worthy of the demon he is… even if his people openly disapprove. However, even though anger plays no small part in Kazama’s decision to seek revenge in Hijikata’s route, he thinks of that decision as built more on moral righteousness: a fake spilled demon blood, so of course he should die for it. There is still a rationale for his actions, and while Kazama demonstrates and acts on his anger more freely, he maintains his morals (however gray). His mission is specific and personal, so all his wrath—as uncontrollable as it may be in the moment—is deliberately directed at Hijikata.

However, on Saito’s route, Kazama demonstrates what happens when he stops fighting his emotions altogether, and instead allows them to rule him. Because his goal is now to resurrect the Yukimura clan by marrying Chizuru and to eliminate all humans, his mission becomes less focused, and so too do his feelings. He no longer has a singular cause to fight for; he’s simply thrown in his lot with Kodo. He loses his conventional moral compass somewhere amid his natural arrogance, exacerbated by these loftier ambitions. Since Kazama still believes that the end justifies the means, and this end requires more power and the exercise thereof, it’s little wonder he abandoned his usual reluctant restraint. The only thing that changed was the ideal he chose to pursue, and that in turn altered his behavior almost beyond recognition. The potential was always there; his new goal just turned him inside out.

(Again, I think the game should really have made this connection clearer, because the consistency in Kazama’s motives between Saito’s route and all others is a tad indistinct.)

…And lastly:

Though Kazama’s attitude is cold, direct, and serious by default, he does have a sense of humor, which is dry and sarcastic and usually manifests at others’ expense. He also readily displays scorn, anger, and conceit, all of which appear impossible for him to fully conceal. However, Kazama finds it difficult and/or unpleasant to openly admit more sentimental emotions such as affection, sadness, gratitude, or even agreement.

Yeah, so let’s not forget about the sense of humor, since it’s a more prominent (if somewhat shallow) reason why I love him. On Heisuke’s route, their sass battles are legendary, okay. Plus, on Kazama’s route, some of his one-liners are pure gold. And speaking of humor, as a postscript, I’d also like to point to my previous essay about Kazama and Shiranui’s similarities, which everyone has probably seen by now, but which further my point that he’s really an interesting character. Anyone who can be so similar to another character yet so strikingly different is A+ by me.

Okay, I think I’ve talked enough, considering I just spent two hours putting this mess together. Hope that actually answered your question!!  

#answered #kurokiorya #characterization essay #kazama chikage

[takecarehair]

How To: Natural Hair Sew-in Weave Start to Finish

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Helloooooo, babes! I’m here to show you how I do my kinky curly sew-in weaves on my natural hair. I hope you enjoy this sew in weave tutorial! SUBSCRIBE ▸ http://bit.ly/thebrilliantbeauty *Help me reach 300K on my birthday (January 8 – TODAY)!

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Okay… so! A few things you should know: I am not a professional hairstylist………………………yet I didn’t cut the wefts unless necessary for the hair to lay flat ✔️I used the foldover method with the wefts in the back of my hair I didn’t wash the hair beforehand, b/c I’m using a trusted BSS brand ✔️I need to re-dye my hair, so it can be an exact match #itwasstillcutethough ✔️Maintain this hair! Twist it up at night, do a pineapple, whatever is necessary. I used conditioner and water to detangle & define the curls every few days to keep the curls poppinnnn’ ✔️I wore this hair for about 2 weeks.

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— BIZ — For business inquiries only, I may be contacted at [email protected] *I don’t take hair appointments

*Video is not sponsored. The following webpages are going to walk you with obtaining dreadlocks the DreadHeadHQ way. That‘s significant to know that dreadlocks are certainly not a one measurements suits all kind-of-thing. The methods I make use of and also instruct on this website will certainly allow you to create strict apprehensions of any sort of measurements and also shape, yet I intend to allow you know that these are actually certainly not the only strategies that exist … they are simply the most effective I’ve found. There are lots of various other concepts about how dreads need to be actually expanded … actually, what makes up “excellent looking” fears differs from team to group. I do not have the tendency to take edges – I don’t think it’s my spot to, as well as I believe every person is actually qualified to their very own inclination.

The concentration of the website is to aid you achieve whatever kind of hates you wish. I‘m thinking you have some suggestion from what you would certainly like your hates to resemble -size, shape etc. I’ll give you the tools and you could utilize all of them to generate your masterpiece. There are actually those that opt for certainly not to get involved – they allow their hair perform whatever it prefers as opposed to being actually component of the procedure. Of course you possess that choice as well. I cannot predict the end results you’ll get, but I understand that if your principal top priority is actually that your hates create (or partially kind) by themselves, without any help off you, after that you’re more or less limited to only waiting … I presumed that was needed to make a message along with a small amount from relevant information that might be essential for you before you start. If you’re on the fence, this should aid you choose.

Dreadlocks, to start with, could be a great deal of work. They’re visiting do just what they would like to perform as well as if you make an effort as well as battle all of them, effectively … all the best keeping that. I’ll clarify – every collection of dreadlocks is actually other, you can easily get dreadlocks, but you may not get dreadlocks identical to a musicians, personalities or close friends specified. This is actually merely certainly not possible. Everybody has other coloured hair, various density, curly, straight etc etc. You possess some command over exactly how body fat they’re heading to end up being if you begin with a technique apart from the overlook method. (If you go forget then the only thing you may do as for shaping all of them is actually tearing the fibers apart to quit huge fears creating). Thus, you recognize you do not possess as much management over them as ‘normal’ hairdos, as they’re visiting secure and increase nonetheless gravitation and several abrasions regard as fitting.

Backcombing Advantages: Hair resembles dreads the same day and gets to maturation quicker compared to various other methods. You could regulate the dimension and form of the fears, anywhere from thick as well as hassle-free to thin and alluring. This is actually an all all-natural method. Backcombing will definitely operate on all hair lengths 3″ as well as much longer. Disadvantages: The initial fearing has a couple of hours as well as is actually very labor extensive, nothing at all a friend or 2 cannot handle. The most ideal method to back comb is to take your opportunity and create the fears as smooth and strict as feasible. Guidelines: Initial segment the hair right into squares. Square parts make round fears. In between 1″ and also 2″ squares operates well for many people. Much smaller segments bring in thinner hates. The sections may be gotten momentarily along with rubberbands. After the hair is actually sectioned utilize an apprehension comb to brush the hair back. Beginning near the scalp, not over an inch out. Brush consistently to the scalp. At some point hair will certainly begin to evacuate at the origins. That is certainly not required to turn the hair. It is practical nevertheless to spin the hair you are storing in between your hands a while you are backcombing. Continue backcombing, slowly functioning in the direction of the ends of the hair, creating the dread as tight as achievable as you go. When you get to the ends you can easily get the apprehension along with a rubberband. One more rubberband on the roots will assist the apprehension keep tight at its base. The rubberbands could be actually gotten rid of after the dread has an odds to grow. After the rubberbands are actually related to each apprehension the fears need to be waxed along with a hate wax that carries out not consist of petroleum. An excellent hate wax will certainly tame loosened hairs and help the hair hate a lot a lot faster.

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[itdisneymatter]

Day 01 - Magic Kingdom

Instead of a summary this time around, I'll try to sum up the day in a few words and sentences with a TLDR (too long; didnt read). Mostly to save me from repeating myself too much but also means you can skip on me droming on about nothing.

So the TLDR for today: Magic Kingdom. Custom t-shirts. Magic Bands. Really worth it. Got a good few rides in and hit 2 out of 3 of the mountains. Went for lunch at Belle's castle. Hot, hot, hot. Seen the 3pm parade. Missed out on a few rides but we'll get them in on a return. Everyone really enjoyed it and kicked the holiday off really well. Didnt hit dinner till late. Caught in a thunderstorm on the way home. Soaked.

And now...

First things first, or is that now second. Anyway,  I may have missed one or two details in my less than awake state which had an impact on todays events. We had planned, all going well, that we would head to Disney Springs (previously Downtown Disney) to get some Magic Bands - a watch-y thing that replaces your park ticket making it easier for Fast Passes and the like. With all the delays and the tiredness of yesterday it just wasnt a thing we were able to do. Ah well, best laid plans and all that. It meant however that we now had to try and pick them up when we hit the park today, pushing out our plans slightly. 

Some of us got personalised t-shirts made up (with our name and a specially selected Disney character), so today was a perfect opportunity to wear them.  We skipped on breakfast, and didnt have any bottled water to make a coffee (normally eek but ok for this morning, strangely). Not too hungry anyway so headed to my mum and dad's hotel to pick them up. They are in the same hotel as my sister, so its really convenient as a meet up point as my brother was picking them up in his car and its between both of our hotels. We were pretty spot on time for it being the first day so off we set for Magic Kingdom.

Parked up and within five minutes we stumbled upon a wee gift shop that sold Magic Bands - woohoo!  They have different colours and design so Ann picked up a nice wee 45th Anniversary Limited edition number. Patrick went for Sorcerers Apprentice (to match his tshirt.) Robert went for Up (to match his tshirt AAAND favourite Disney movie). Grace went for Orange Bird, who is a wee orange bird (funnily enough) who used to appear is old, Disney animations. We picked up a cup one time on the first visit to Disney (in 2013) and that cup had Orange Bird on it, and Grace has had an affinity with the character ever since. I went for Aladdin. Mum and Dad picked some funky coloured bands and we headed off to the park entrance. Spotted some of the other party (the ones in the second car) in their custom t-shirts so sped up to meet them just in time to board the ferry to the Magic Kingdom entrance. Tshirts already coming in handy with finding peeps, so colour matching tees in the way to go for future outings I think! Ferry was lovely and all of the kids were getting really excited.

So me trying to Facebook Live the Magic Kingdom entry was a complete and utter failure. I didnt even know how to start the thing - I should be as ashamed, calling myself a techie. Though I did get slightly reprimanded taking my phone out as they had a no selfie policy at security, prior to going in. He had a gun, so I pretty much did what he said and put my phone away. I fell back on my trusty Go-Pro (that I havent used since last time, but how hard can it be, right?). Video to follow as my laptop is ancient and I can barely run wordpad nevermind a full 1080p video clip. 

Full of smiles we headed in and once we stocked up on some water, a first visit badge for Emily and the others picked up their magic bands, we had 20 minutes to get to to our first fast pass - Splash Mountain in Frontier Land (good job I knew the way :P). Bypassed some rides as well as an opportunity to get Dole Whip (marked down on our initial plans), but we made the ride with 5 minutes to spare - phew!

Magic Kingdom Mountains 1 & 2... check!

Splash mountain. All of the family (save for my Mum, Alessio and Isabella) hit up the ride and it was AWESOME! Grace was quite panicky so was a little clingy (even though she'd been on it before) but Emily and Corrie both first timers absolutely loved it. And for our efforts, our first family ride photo! :D

Then we headed to Big Thunder straight after - ended up riding on my jack jones which was arite though as I go pro-ed the whole thing (our party's reactions, not the ride itself). We did also get a video for our memory maker which we have never had before but its a really fantasticly amazing this to have (even if the photographers does make you hold invisible fairies and set you up in a variety of cheesy poses).

On a role, we then hit Haunted Mansion, It's a Small World (GG's personal fave), Mickey's Philharmagic AND Peter Pan all before lunch. Not bad, for running an hour or so later off plan.

Be. Our. Guest!

Due to availability and a LOT of pre-planning, our wee family were the only ones booked in to Be Our Guest today. We said our goodbyes to the rest of the party and after arranging a meet up point and time we set off for a now, very much needed, lunch. We decided on some really nice menu choices, including a monster Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Barbequed Pulled Pork. The guys also got the infamous "Grey Stuff" for dessert, which seemed to be the kids favourite course of the day. However the star of the show for me was the French Onion Soup which was sublimely awesome (I'd eat this every day and I'm really really not a soup guy!).

We caught back up with the rest of the party after lunch just in time for the 3pm parade, which was only listed as a might-do due to time so really impressed we managed it. Time to get the zoom lens out! :D A side note on cameras - last time we were here I opted to take a reasonably good performing compact camera instead of my main SLR, for accessiblity purposes. While it was good, I always missed the feel and added control of my main camera, so this year its the exact opposite - Im gonna be a packhorse. Quality over comfort! The parade was really colourful and with the smaller kiddos were put up on shoulders so they had a perfect view (however I must add, its quite difficult to take quality photos through a 70-200mm lens mounted on a 5D with a flashgun, I'll have you know).

After cycling through most of the main Disney Princess movies in the Parade (except Frozen, which was kinda dissapointing, mainly as *I* wanted to see Elsa), Mickey and Mickey signed off the show to resounding cheers and waves and applause.

ROARRRRRRR!!!

A little time to go before our last listed Fast Pass of the Day - Seven Dwarves Mine Train, so we queued up for Enchanted Tales With Belle beforehand. The main premise is that kids (and some adults), volunteer to get chosen to reeact a little scene with Belle. For one of the main roles, The Beast, kids must roar their loudest and Grace got chosen! (though I shouldnt really be surposed by that). She was all chuffed and kept saying her and Robert had switched roles from last time with Robert now playing the part of the mighty steed Snaggleforp, or whatever the horses name is (its late and and I'm not going to google Belle's hor..., right fine... its Phillipe). Patrick, Robert, Corrie and Emily were also picked to be part of the show. Even Kevin was picked as a Knight in shining armor - which he played brilliantly (mostly it was about standing still, but still, brilliantly). They all got presented with a little bookmark as a small token, at the end for taking part.

By now, everyone was feeling a little drained so decided after Seven Dwarves that we would head for home and grab a bite to eat. We are going to be back at Magic Kingdom at least one other time when we can prioritize Tomorrowland, so everyone was on board. Seven Dwarves, I ended up on my own again after having lost my little sidekick Gracie (who opted out of the ride). I didn't mind though as I had my Gopro already to go again. I was slotted in on the first seat with a lady, who immediately asked my name and introduced herself (as Martha?... maybe, it was loud and after two attempts of saying 'what' you just need to go along with it). She just started chatting away all through the ride. In fact, just today loads of people just started up full blown convo's with me out of the blue - I mustve been rocking a approachable/chatterbox vibe in my backward facing hat and camera loadout. Those of you who know me, know me as anything but (listen I try, but I'm the first to admit I'm pretty terrible with words and interesting conversation at times). That being said, it was great to chat with so many different people around the world and just goes to show how friendly and amazing this place really is.

A wee cheeky ride on the Speedway for a few folk, a quick tee shirt pic in front of the castle and we headed home.

An absolutely amazing day with Splash mountain being the clear favourite for most of the kids. And although we missed out on a section or two, we still got loads of rides in and everyone was content with general flow how the day. With everyone on the same wavelength I think its gonna make this holiday a really magical one (sorry for the being soppy, Im getting tired, but we're nearly there).

Thunder and Lightning, very very frightening.

Michael & Sarah-Jane decided to grab some dinner and get an early night so we said our goodbyes for the day. We headed out to the shop after getting back to the hotel to grab so Beers and water (in order of priority obvs), as well as a few other bits and pieces. We then met up with my Mum, Dad, Kev, Pauline and Emily to go for a bite to eat (I just realised I havent formall introduced everyone in the party, Ill get around to that tomorrow, promise). With it being a Saturday most places were pretty packed and after checking out a few places (unsuccessfully), we ended up in Johnny Rockets (which Robert pointed out was where we went the second night the last time after failing to find a place - kids memorys are scary at times). We got seated but the service was SLOOOOOW! I can fault our waitress too much though, she brought me over a freee refill pretty much as soon as I finished my first drink. It instantly reminded me of Steve Buchemi's in that infamous Diner scene at the beginning of  Reservoir Dogs...

Mr. Pink: Look, I ordered coffee, alright? And we been here a long *bleeping* time and she's only filled my cup three times. When I order coffee I want it filled six times.

Ok, so it wasnt six times, it was one time, and it wasnt coffee (mmm coffee, I really shoulda went with coffee now that I think about it), but it was the single good thing about the service and one that warranted the tip even if it didnt meet Mr. Pink's stringent tipping criteria.

I actually haven't had an appetite since those prissy little sammiches on the plane. Even at Belle's castle and I wasnt particulary hungry even when we sat down at Johnny Rockets. But hey, do they mak a mean burger! Opted for a Smokehouse, which included some Bacon-y goodness and crispy onion rings - good stuff and nearly worth the wait, nearly... but then again it was a long wait. So the whole experience was fairly ok but then it took a big huge nose dive to round off the night...

When we left the restaurant,  its was bucketing it down. I know coming from Scotland we should be used to a little rain, but this was torrential, and we got huge flashes & bangs of thunder and lightening thrown in, in good measure. Big Rain as Grace so eloquently put it (shes just brilliant with words). Our hotel was right across the road, which was handy, but we had to leave the other guys to struggle to their hotel which was pretty much a mile away :( 

Ok, I'm delivering this really late and have no time to edit so apologies, I must try harder during the day in future. The images are also taking an age to download, so might not have all the ones I want in by the time this goes up, though Ill try to add more later in maybe a weekly slideshow or something. See you tomorrow for Day 02 - Epcot which will which will likely being unofficially subtitled - Battling The Storm!