#GO READ LITTLE SCRAPS

[quartergremlin]

i've been very sick, but Little Scraps of Wisdom has been keeping me company in my moments of lucidity

transcript:

Leo: I want to go naked!

Xander: why?

L: I'm a turtle.

X: He has a point...

[l0ve-letter-4-u]

dumping AM thoughts in tags

[the-valiant-valkyrie]

pokemon partner headcanons for as much of the nfb cast as i can justify giving pokemon to. loosely inspired by this post by @chrswlls. and by 'inspired' i mean i was thinking abt a pokemon crossover in my own time and then i saw the post and then i said "oh well now i have to make my own post about it"

[MILD SPOILERS FOR DAY 296 AND BEYOND]

JEREMY has a male zigzagoon named Scout. Despite being his partner for a long time, Scout's never been much of a battler, so he's never evolved. His extra inquisitive nature and eye for sleuthing has made him the perfect partner for a flourishing news anchor, and Jeremy doubts he would have ever uncovered the Hamilton-Mann scandal if it wasn't for the help of his pokemon partner. Generally, he has a rather lax demeanor when he isn't snooping around for secrets, and tends to be as scruffy and personable as his trainer is.

JENNY has a female minccino named Gingersnap- or just Ginger for short. She first adopted her to have some company in her empty home after the death of her late partner. She was supposed to be a pokemon exclusively for home, but it turns out she's just as helpful at home as she is at Channel 1. Ginger is always astute, keeping an eye out for anything (or anyone) in need of tidying in between ad breaks and cutaways. She has a very sweet temperament, though normally won't leave her perch on Jenny's shoulder.

MEGAN has a female sneasel named Opal, who she took in a while after she gained notoriety as Channel 1's culture correspondent. If she's being honest, a part of her thought it would help bolster her popularity- maybe increase her chance at rising through the ranks of her career… Jeremy and Scout always made quite a pair, after all… Perhaps there was a method somewhere in there she could exploit. She doesn't really know if it worked or not, but she ended up growing quite attached to the sly little devil as time went on. It's unclear who's personality rubbed off on the other's first, but Opal acts quite like her trainer, able to switch from professional and demure to dangerously sharp at a moment's notice.

PATRICK has a male watchog he never gave a name to. Much like Scout is to Jeremy, Watchog is an astute observer that greatly helps Patrick out when he's on the field- be it during a Sportsboard game, or a more serious news related outing. The two of them end up bickering quite a bit, but when they really hone in on what they're focusing on, they can get some pretty significant work done. Watchog did his fair share of sleuthing on the Hamilton-Mann case as well- although Patrick tends to take the majority of the credit for it.

FRANCIS has a bidoof named Flapjack. Or, at least, he was named Flapjack... But after she was forced to assimilate Patrick's position after his disappearance, her pokemon partner had to do the same in Watchog's sudden absence. After a while, the two of them fall into the swing of things, but Flapjack was never really meant to be a work pokemon, let alone for the news of all things... He never really grows out of his sense of camera shyness the same way Patrick inevitably does.

ROBYN has a male midday lycanroc named Cadburry- or just Caddy, for short. Technically, he was the family dog, but out of all of her siblings, Caddy had the closest bond with her. He was her partner ever since he was a little rockruff- helping her to sniff out stories good enough to earn her position at the Swinstead Middle School Enquirer. He doesn't do as much sniffing now that he's older, but he's a great conversation starter, and a big help in luring in potential bystanders for public opinion interviews.

BOSEMAN has a female mabosstiff named Brutus. He didn't check to see what her gender was before he named her, and by the time he figured it out she wouldn't respond to anything else. She's a scruffy family pokemon he doesn't often bring with him to work. He needed something that wouldn't be too dangerous to leave at home- and especially something that wouldn't trample his daughter when he wasn't looking... She never hurt a hair on Petunia's head, though. The two of them are practically inseparable.

JULIA has a female bewear named Sherbert. They've known each other since Julia was a little girl, although she didn't evolve until a little while after she became Prime Minister. If you were to ask her, she would claim that a bewear is a perfect way to represent Advance's values; loving like a mother, powerful like a bear. For the most part, Sherbert upholds those values, and is rather docile and well behaved in public... Although those who don't trust Advance question whether or not there's any darker potential to owning such a powerful pokemon.

PETER currently has a male timburr named Chipper. He took him on a little after he started Just the Job, and the charismatic creature quickly became a mainstay on the show. He wasn't quite as vocal as Chizzel was, though, it was rather obvious he was more popular than him. He was always handy with a tool, a drink, or a bark of caution when sensitive equipment was getting too close to the edge of the table... And he always put Peter's tools in the exact spots he liked them best in.

... Peter used to have a different pokemon, though. A gorgeous mudsdale named Axel- raised it from a humble mudbray when he was younger. When he went to war, it came with him. Someway or another, it didn't survive the slaughter in Konislava... Peter doesn't like to talk about what exactly happened on that expedition- let alone the specifics regarding Axel. Some people think the toxic gas did him in. Others assumed he was simply shot amidst the chaos. Sometimes, rumors go around that he and Ivan ate the pokemon to escape starvation in that abandoned cellar. He really doesn't take kindly to those sorts of rumors...

ALAN has a natu named Pandora- though he doesn't have enough knowledge about birds to know whether its male or female. Generally, he has an extreme distrust of any and all psychic pokemon ("they're a psionic instrument wielded by the government to invade our minds"). Pandora, however, is his singular exception to this rule... How is he supposed to protect his mind from psychic assaults without a psychic pokemon? It's a give and take.

During routes where Jeremy dies during the Heatwave broadcast, it stays a natu for its entire life. However, when encountering Jeremy post his initial escape from Betterment, the raw potential he has to alter the course of the future is enough to force it to evolve into a xatu. Jeremy doesn't know enough about pokemon to know what that means but he has a feeling its. bad.

DAVE 'had' a rotom that went by many names. "Bastard", mainly. Sometimes "Bugger Off" and "Cut That Out". And when I say 'had', I mean it just sort of started haunting the equipment in the broadcast room one day, and he never cared enough to catch the thing or shoo it away. It's a completely wild rotom, just a particularly passive one (he likes to claim he 'tamed' it with pizza and crisps). This also means that after Alex takes his job, the rotom becomes 'theirs', in a strange sense. Although it definitely prefers Dave to Alex. Sometimes it'll cause havoc in the broadcast room if it thinks they aren't doing a good enough job editing- swapping cameras on its own accord and so on.

[ehlnofay]

Efri thinks she’s found the library.

“Woah,” she says, letting the door swing shut behind her. (Loudly. The doors here are so heavy.) Her voice echoes off the stone walls. She feels like she’s stepped into some story, like an exaggerated version of what a mage’s college would be.

It’s not that she’s never heard of a library before or anything. She understands them, conceptually. But the most books she’s ever seen at once was the small set of shelves in Rorik’s manor, and even that blew her away the first time – all the pretty bindings and close-written words. This is –

The College library is something else. It’s a lot bigger than a set of shelves.

Winding, narrow hallways bend and squiggle around like a set of earthworms trying to squish together to make a solid shape with no gaps, and every single wall is lined with books. Each shelf is like a rainbow of covers and colours. Half the spines are thick as at least two fingers put together and written over with words she can’t read. Efri has to bring Sissel here. She’d lose her mind.

“Woah,” she says again, and steps further in to look at the books on the shelves. All the bindings in blacks and blues and browns. One has the title written down the spine in gold lettering that shines. She brings up a hand to touch it.

“What are you doing?” someone demands. Efri stops. She looks.

It’s a grumpy-looking orc man in a bright yellow tunic, glaring at her much fiercer than seems necessary for the crime of looking at books in a library. He looks like he might be old – his hair’s white enough that his beard’s the same colour as his sharp sticking-out teeth, and he’s wrinkly.  Efri wrinkles her nose and tells him, “I’m looking at the books.”

“Wash your hands first,” he barks, turning his much-too-angry glare on Efri’s hovering arms. “You look like the sort of person to have grubby fingers.”

It’s true, but Efri is offended anyway. She wipes her palms hard against her orange wool skirt. (The skirt is grey at the hem from playing in dirty snow. It does not make her any cleaner.)

“Who’re you?” she asks the rude man. “I haven’t met you yet.”

He does not stop scowling. Maybe he’s perpetually angry. Maybe he just has an unfortunate face. But he says, “I’m the Arcaeneum archivist. Urag gro-Shub.”

The Arcaeneum, that’s what the library’s called. Very fancy name. (Sissel will love it. And has Kazari been here yet? They might like it too. She’s pretty sure they can read, though probably not these fiddly little paper books.) “What’s an archivist?”

“I maintain the library.” The archivist Urag gro-Shub might be grumpy and not very nice but at least he didn’t do the thing where he sighed all annoyed at Efri’s question. “I choose when and to whom the books are lent, and I ensure they are not damaged. Hundreds of years have gone into assembling this collection, and it’s going to stay pristine.”

“Is that book hundreds of years old?” Efri asks, pointing to the showy tome with the writing in gold.

Urag barely glances at it, dark eyes flashing in the vague direction of her pointing finger and flashing back again. “No. That’s historical fiction written in 185. That copy was made within these last ten years.”

“You didn’t even look at it,” Efri says.

“Bejewelled Tragedy. Four hundred pages. Horrendously inaccurate. Frankly, it wasn’t worth acquiring in the first place. Feel free to look for yourself.”

Efri will take his word for it.

“This section is for the books that are up for purchase,” he tells her, gesturing. “The worthwhile ones – and the old ones, if those are what you’re looking for – are further in.”

Efri squints down the passages again, their bright lights and cosy winding walls. She can’t tell where this section ends and the next one starts. She feels like if she went any further into the library she’d get lost. She says, “Thanks. I’m Efri, by the way.”

“I know. You’re that kid who showed up.”

“One of,” Efri corrects.

Urag keeps talking, rolling right past like he didn’t hear her. “Don’t know why in the name of all that’s been called holy they let you in. You’d think this would be a step too far, even –” he huffs and snaps his jaw shut, tusks digging into his moustache. He says, “At any rate. You’re here now, and you’re subject to the same rules as everyone else. You treat these books as careful as if they were your own firstborn children, understand? And if there’s something you want to find – or especially take out of the Arcaeneum – you come talk to me.”

Efri nods obediently. What time would it be right now? The lecture Sissel went to was almost two hours, and it’s definitely only been about one. She asks, “Are there any books with pictures?”

She’s not sure if it’s just the shape of his mouth or if he’s sneering. Urag says, “That depends. Are you going to respect the books enough to try to read the words too?”

“That depends,” Efri retorts, nettled. (She gets that he’s protective of the collection, but there’s no need to be rude about it.) “Are your books going to teach me how to read?”

Urag stares.

“You can’t read,” he replies, sounding vaguely offended, as though she, at six years of age, had refused to attend the village school for the express purpose of spiting him four years later.

Efri pulls a book out of the shelf without looking at it, ignoring the way he huffs. There’s nothing embossed on the spine or the cover, but there’s a title scribbled on the first page. “That’s a B,” she says, pointing to the first letter of the first word, and then stops, squinting. Switches her focus to a different word. “That one says off.”

“Of,” Urag corrects over her shoulder.

Efri shrugs. She snaps the book shut and slips it back into its place on the shelf. “I can read a bit,” she says. “I know my letters and that. The books here are just big.”

And given that she’d failed to correctly identify of, even small stories might be a bit beyond her skill level.

Urag is quiet. Efri looks back at him, mostly expecting him to still be looking affronted, as though she’d stolen food out of his mouth and thrown it at a wall – instead he looks oddly, blankly thoughtful.

“We don’t have anything suitable for early readers,” he says, tapping his fingers against his leg. “That might be an oversight.”

Efri really doesn’t think it is. “It’s a big fancy library, right? I think it’s normal to just collect the big fancy books.” All the ones that are hundreds of years old, or about magic or important things, or both.

Urag’s knuckles rap against a buckle on his belt. He says, “No! First misconception. A worthwhile collection archives all the work on its focus possible. The Arcaeneum is a collection of knowledge in every form. Therefore, we have as many books as we can access, on all sorts of topics. Half of them aren’t even good!”

“You sell the bad ones,” Efri says, trying to follow.

“Some of them. If they’re wholly without merit. Mostly I sell duplicates. Or works no-one has ever used. There’s things to be learned from everything – if not now, later. I’ll think on it.”

He looks back at Efri, looking a bit like he might have forgot she was there. “Regardless. Do you need anything, or can I get back to work?”

He’s still all rude and prickly. Efri bristles a bit. “I wasn’t keeping you,” she says, flicking her eyes again over the strange and wandering walls.

Urag sighs again like he’s got any right to be annoyed with her, but then he asks, “Would you like a tour of the Arcaeneum?”

“Do you want to give it?”

“You’ve already distracted me,” he says. Adds less irritably, “And I enjoy a chance to show off the collection. Long as you don’t interrupt me.”

“I’m going to interrupt you,” Efri informs him. She doesn’t like to be told what to do.

She lets him show her the library.

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent random life images ~

[swag-system]

YOU'RE A LOSER, WITH A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF FRIENDS.....

[salemruinseverything]

hypothetically if one were looking to obtain a full set of a semi-obscure children's book series,

[good-wine-and-cheese]

Emperor card

[jitteryjive]

about an hour into the fourth banban video and i wanna do a semi joke rewrite so bad…. putting aside the glaring problems with banban (shitty design overall, simultaneously vague and convoluted plot, bad voice acting, etc) one of my central criticisms is how lackluster the plot is. while i love a good mascot horror experimentation story the explanations are so vague and there is little to no suspense in. just about anything. is it parents getting experimented on?? children?? employees??? i can’t really care about the characters because they basically give no explanation for anything. to compare it to a similar game, i actually cared about the plot of poppy playtime because, while it also has definite flaws, it executed a sinister plot about child experiments fairly well. i could care about the characters and plot because they have hooks, not the most atrocious models (LOL sorry), and ch3 was also built up adequately with the playcare. garten of banban is just like ‘uh oh!!! kindergarten!’ and absolutely nothing else 😭

[medicinemane]

.

[st4rstudent]

I AGREE its so crazy how zap gags weren't a thing.... like TTCC really popped off with that one! i understand TTR is moreso sticking closer to the way TTO was but WOW zap just feels so natural with a REALLY good mechanic that uses strategy in using squirt and its just so good.... also my favorite track

YEEEPP!! That's how I feel about it. Squirt and zap just mix well together. I also think the addition of an 8th gag track was also a good move, allowing for a nice rotation of combinations (like how lure-trap and throw-drop are together as a combo). And also its a nice even number. I also think it helps utilize squirt, idk just feels good to do in general. Of course, I don't really have anything to compare this to and it's just me speaking as a player of (currently) one server, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

It's my favorite too, zap warriors UNITE!!

[plaguethewaters]

sometimes i wanna be insensible bout shit yk

[bugeyedfreaks]

(Last Anon) Definitely agree, I think I saw an old post that said Blossom seems to be the favourite/popular depending on which side of the fandom you’re in.

VSB seems to be the more casual/animation fans’ least favorite episode, they usually put it on the same level as the worst episodes from season 5/6 (the audacity! Lol) Blossom is usually ranked the least favorite, I guess it goes to show that they don’t understand her character at all or refused to accept her as anything but flawless. Also yeah, never understand why Town n Out is up there too, honestly it does felt like these people don’t understand the show they’re watching and claimed to love so much.

It actually never occurred to me that she’s a bad liar, since all 3 Girls are pure and good I thought its a trait they all share, but I guess Blossom would probably have a hard time with it than her sisters. I think she’d be smart in deflecting and not telling the whole truth but also not lying either technically.

I think I’m just dreading for all the weird tweets Craig’s going to receive when the reboot comes when those fans sees their favorite characters not act or act in a way that doesn’t fit their headcanons. Lots of super weird takes on twitter about “buttercup would hate this” or “bubbles wouldn’t do that” etc etc they only know the flanderized version of these characters, its almost like how the reboot2016 sees them…

Re: not understanding Blossom, I’ve known people who told me she’s their favorite character because she’s an unfeeling, uncaring killing machine who doesn’t let emotions get in her way (???) and others who’ve said they love Blossom for her docility and strong emotions and susceptibility to fall for evil (also ???). Legitimately bad takes about Blossom are weirdly common. I don’t get it! She’s so awesome but there’s so much rampant mischaracterization from fans with her (even the reboot basically just made her Lisa Simpson and added that unfortunate character I think all of us don’t want to talk about as an unnecessary love interest, sheesh…).

And yeah, Blossom’s definitely the most goody-goody of the three girls, and sometimes to a fault. I always think of her in Fallen Arches where she sticks soooo hard to what she strongly feels is morally correct to the point where a bunch of elderly people end up beating each other up and have to go to the hospital. And Bubbles and Buttercup are pissed after telling her how dumb of an idea it was the whole episode. 🤣 Or when she (initially) refused to use her ice breath power to save Townsville because she didn’t want to break the vow she’d made to never use it again while her sisters were frantically trying to tell her why it was okay to use when a freaking meteor was headed towards the town. Her sisters don’t normally have those same reservations she does despite also being good kids. I think all that stuff (plus the bad lying lol) all stems back to her pride and her desire to be the most perfect and goodest good-doer who ever did good. …and again, haha, I love that and it’s entertaining to watch when she struggles with stuff like that.

To be fair, if any of the more out there asks I’ve gotten over the years (especially the ones asking me to pass along stuff to Craig) have taught me, I think he’s already gotten enough weird messages about the PPG and seen enough wild takes to last a lifetime. 🤣 I mean, people were angrily messaging him about the 2016 reboot and that he needed to change it STAT. Someone will find something to complain directly to him about and I’m sure it will more or less be ignored.

[des-no9]

.

[homosexual-fanfiction]

lol the poor little blurb that inspired this timeloop fic

i wrote it in 2019 as the intro to another fic that i ended up cutting it from because i didn't think it fit well enough. then i stumbled across it again in december and reread it and thought huh, this would be an awesome introductory piece to a timeloop fic.

started drafting, and now. approximately four months and ten chapters in. i'm considering cutting it again

[aliosne]

Let me recommend: Jane Yolen’s Great Alta series. The majority of the stories are told through normal narrative prose, but they are interspersed with academic texts about or adjacent to the events of the story.

“Way too reliable narrator” where the narrator provides documentation and proof for how they know every detail in the narrative and an estimate of how confident they are in it.