#You are all coming with me on this Voyage dangit

[delcat177]

I had to dig for it because they really swept the idea under the rug Gen II and onward, but from an early Pokémon episode:

In Episode 46 of the original Pokémon anime, Ash's Pokédex asserts that "Farfetch'd makes a delicious meal, especially when cooked with leek."

They have a serious discussion about it. It was commom knowledge in Red/Blue days that Farfetch'd was bred for human consumption. Since there's only one of them to any R/B cartridge, it was theorized they were being eaten that hard, and a Pokedex entry in the next generation stated that people were making an effort to breed more to save the population.

More directly, there's an early arc where both the protags and Team Rocket get stuck on a raft in the middle of the ocean and are starving. They've acquired a Magikarp by this time, and Meowth tries to chomp it down, but breaks a tooth--to underline Magikarp's utter uselessness, they have rock-hard scales which makes them totally inedible.

No one likes that, and James expresses this.

Aaaaaand we see Gyarados for the first time in the anime, as the pissed off Magikarp evolves and summons a bunch of buddies.

(It ends as expected.)

For my money, though?

Venonat. They always looked like some kind of cotton candy gummi to me, equally fluffy and sweet. Just cut me a big candy steak off this delightful blackberry bush and serve it soft. Delicious.

or I guess they could just use Fly and not eat each other but I think Misty would find a way to break a Pidgeotto

Digging my brother’s theory that Misty sent the postcards for attention just to stir things up and get everyone in touch with her but did not anticipate it triggering everything else like Travis’ death and now she has to deal with what she accidentally set in motion

[f0xfordcomma]

Hello!! Happy FFWF!! Is there anything in particular that you find hard to write? Are there any WIPs that you've just absolutely given up on cause you think it'll go nowhere?? (would you share a bit of it? :D)

Croisty! Happy ffw tuesday (which tbh is earlier than I thought I'd be able to do these, so be proud of me lol)

I wish I had more to go off of in my writing portfolio to answer this question, but I think the thing I have the hardest time writing/ have avoided writing in my wips is just unfettered angst or like horror/ violence. Like character death? Gore? Fight scenes? (ooooh baby I SUCK at fight scenes) all of /that/ is just not really my forte as a writer. Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to hurting my characters, but hurt/comfort is more where its at for me. You've read my stuff, so you know how emotionally driven a lot of my writing is. I think I would have a hard time writing more graphic/ heartbreaking/ violent *stuff* in my style. Idk, it would probably be a good thing for me to practice.... but.... I don't wanna (hands on hips) sooooo I'm not planning to really do anything quite like that anytime soon.

As far as abandoned wips go, I've got plentyyyy (or just verrrrrrry dusty wips that are not quite abandoned but are sitting very patiently on the shelf waiting for me to have the time to get back to them) Violent/ angsty/ deathy/ fighty abandoned wips though? Not so much.

But for you, mon petit croissant, have a bit of a miraculous ladybug reveal fic that I wrote one night after having a little ~ouid~ and convincing my husband to put on a sheet face mask with me that I now have no intention of finishing (oops, rip me).

okaaaaayyy so this is actually pretty dang long lol but I'm going to share the whole thing with you because I just re-read it for the first time in months and its pretty funny ~if you ask me~ so anyway... under the cut <3

NIGHT OFF

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t a totally crazy idea to take a night off.

Besides, Shadowmoth’s akumatizations had slowed down considerably in the past few months, and he rarely ever sent out two akumas in one day. The battle that she and Chat had fought that morning was brutal, but they’d come out victorious against HoneyBadger. Still, the fight had left her exhausted and wound up. Shadowmoth was planning something, she was sure of it. She just couldn’t, for the life of her, figure out what it was.

Ladybug was stressed.

Add to that, the fact that end-of-term exams were starting up next week and she’d not had nearly enough time during dead week to actually cram. Something about black butterflies and cranky kwamis and a cheeky cat (who, in recent weeks, had been considerably less cheeky.) Not to mention, she had been receiving an awful lot of memes, seemingly without preamble, from Paris’ favorite male model. Nino thought it was hilarious. Alya thought it was suspicious. Marinette thought it was confusing.

Marinette was stressed.

All of it was stressful.

*

Alya knew when her best friend was stressed. She could usually gauge the amount of Marinette’s exasperation by the frequency with which her bangs went flying from her face, propelled by a huff and a heavy sigh. Right now, Marinette’s bangs were a mess.

“Okay, girl. You need a night off.”

“What? No, I’m fine! Really! Plus, I can’t really afford to take a night off right now, Alya… I don’t know what Shadowmoth ha—”

“Yeah, no. I’m stopping you right there. For the next twenty-four hours, this space is a Ladybug-talk free zone,” she gestured vaguely around her bedroom, which was scattered with printouts and pictures that Marinette had brought over to work on nailing down Hawkmoth’s possible location using Alya’s beloved akuma-map. “I know, I know. It pains me more than it pains you, truly. But I’m doing this for you. Tonight: you, me, drinks, distractions. You are taking a night off.”

“But Alya! What if—”

“Hush, you know that’s incredibly unlikely. And, in the event of this IF you are so set on, you know that cat boy and I will have your back. Even drunk ladybugs can purify akumas when they have the clawed crusaders on their side.”

“I can’t believe you gave in to his silly nickname.”

“It is a badass nickname and you are just jealous that we bonded.”

“I’m not jealous. I’m annoyed.”

“Mhmm… keep telling yourself that, girl. Now, back to the matter at hand: what kind of drunk do you want to get tonight? Classy or trashy? I still have that peach stuff from last month, but if we are thinking classy I might need to call in the reserves to get us some decent wine.”

“You won’t need to call in anybody, Al, because I am definitely not getting drunk tonight.”

“Night off, Marinette. Drunkenness is a prerequisite.”

“Can’t we just watch movies or something? I really don’t know if that’s too good of an idea…”

“Girl, we watch movies every night. This is a night off. Don’t think I don’t see you stressing all throughout movie night every week, anyway. You need to take your mind off Ladybug,” she gestured at the mess that had consumed her bedroom. “And get your mind back on Marinette. Superhero or no, you’re still a teenage girl who is supposed to be enjoying the last few months of college.”

Marinette pouted.

“Stop pouting. You know you deserve to have normal girl fun.”

“But Alya I—”

“No buts.�� An unnervingly devious look crossed Alya’s face. “Unless it is your butt in that pair of skinny jeans that you and I both know you-know-who loves. Boys will be here in twenty. Get to it, girl.”

Marinette just gaped at her. She didn’t even notice that Alya had grabbed her phone, but alas, there was the tell-tale ping.

Alya Cesaire → Akuma class OGs chat

Alya: anyone down for a little last minute get together—my door is open and my bar is stocked

Nino: HELL YEAH babe!

NL: got a new mix i’ve been meaning to show you… so entertainments on me fam!

Alix: This thing got an itinerary or just drunkenness for drunkenness sake?

Alya: the latter, natch.

Alix: Sick! Count me in.

Kim: same!

Rose: Do you need us to bring anything?

Alya: anything you feel like sharing

Alya: otherwise, just yourselves!

Alya: Agreste~you better bring us some of that expensive shit that i know your pops keeps somewhere in that castle of yours

Alya: no fancy wine, no admittance

Alya: the rest of you peasants just bring wtvr

Adrien: uhhhhhhhhhh

Adrien: ALYA

Adrien: dang it! You know I feel obligated to steal wine from my dad’s cellar now

Adrien: do you know how scary my dad is!!!??

Nino: DUDEEEE

Nino: DO IT you wont!

Adrien: shuddup Nino

Marinette: Adrien you totally don’t have to! Alya is just being **extra** Alya today

Alya: i plan a night off for this girl

Alya: and this is the thanks i get??????

Alya: can ya’ll believe this?

Alya: ridiculous

Zoe: UTTERLY RIDICULOUS

Adrien: utterly ridic

Adrien: dangit

Zoe: lol first! sorry adrien

Marinette: ugh ty I guess Als xxxxx

Alya: awe she DOES care, youre welcome babe!

Alya: so sunshine… about that wine?

Adrien: yeah yeah yeah

Adrien: use my people pleasing against me why dontcha

Alya: gladly <3

“Alya, stop bullying Adrien.”

“No way, girl. Giving that boy a task is the only way to ensure he shows up. Speaking of which… butt, jeans, go, now!”

The doorbell rang. Nino had perfected the quickest route to Alya’s house from every part of Paris years ago. Yes, he was whipped; and yes, he was proud of it.

“ALYA! I have to clean all of this up and I have to go home to get those jeans that you’re so dead set on and…”

“No you don’t. Kaalki?”

“Right here, Ms. Rouge.”

“YOU USED VOYAGE TO BRING ME JEANS?”

“No way girl! Don’t be silly. Kaalki and Roaar just volunteered to be my errand kwamis.”

“You guys do realize that I am the guardian, right?”

“Of course, that’s why we worked so hard to get everything that you need for tonight.”

“I—you… wait is this my good bra? How did you—”

“Us kwamis pay attention, Marinette.” Tikki cuddled up to her cheek.

“Et tu, Tikki?”

The ladybug kwami just giggled and made her way to the pile of papers scattered across Alya’s bed, starting to organize them back into neat stacks.

“Night. Off.” Alya punctuated each word with a shove and a smack on the bum, directing Marinette toward the bathroom and shutting her in to get ready while she got the door for Nino.

[austinpanda]

Dad Letter 091921

19 September, 2021

Dear Dad--

Maine is doing a good job of looking like Maine this morning! It’s cool and gray outside, like it wants to snow, although it’s way too warm for that. I’m coming to the end of my weekend, and tomorrow, Sunday, I’ll be back at the casino doing my audits. My problems with depression, which had been quite the bugaboo, which is one of my favorite words, had been bad, then improved, and then got bad again. Basically I realized just how little money I’m making at the casino, how it’s causing me to have to quit smoking, which has become too costly, and how I grow concerned over my financial future. I can’t exactly budget my way out of poverty, I can only prioritize shit and do without the rest.

So allow me to apologize in advance if half of this letter is a bit of a bummer, but I’m going to take the opportunity to vent for a minute about how The Man is fucking with my peace o’ mind. I’m making $14 an hour at the casino, plus they’re taking out $30 per check for my gaming license, and another $40-something per check for 4 checks for a fuckup on their end with my health insurance. I’m taking home less than $700 every two weeks. That’s $18,200 a year take-home pay, and I’m thinking, A, I really set the world on fire, and B, dangit, I’m right back where I was in Austin. I don’t have enough to cover all my bills, and I can’t use my dental coverage to get my mouth fixed because I can’t afford the copays. Hope no health or car emergencies crop up between now and next paycheck. It’s a regrettable way of existing, and the dreams of a vacation out of state, or a new used Hyundai are merely the first things that must be given up as unrealistic.

Now, the good news is that smoking was costing me maybe a couple hundred a month, and now I’ll have that money to spend on non-tobacco expenses. And at some point they’ll stop taking chunks out of my paycheck. And the impact of spending no money on cigarettes should be noticeable in my increased ability to pay for other things. Oh, and perhaps, by giving up cigarettes, I might live a bit longer, too! I’m trying to keep my eyes on the prize, here: not dying is very important. The really tough part about quitting smoking is this: cigarettes were, far and away, my most relied-upon method of dealing with stress, which makes me need them more than ever, now that I’ve decided to stop using them. Oh, nicotine addiction, you are cunning and baffling and powerful! Smoking was like visiting flavor country, and now I can’t go back, and I’ll never again see my friends in flavor country.

I will make it through this period of unpleasantness; I’ve no doubt. In order to make the most of the last day of my weekend, I’ve started some slow cooker Mongolian beef, which will be amazing in about eight hours, at which point Zach will make some fragrant jasmine rice and we’ll have it all for dinner. All things being equal, if I weren’t going to have that for dinner, but I heard that someone else was, I’d be jealous of them, and I’d wish to assault them, so that I could steal their Mongolian beef and fragrant jasmine rice, and eat it for myself, but I don’t have to, because I’m the one making it! Making lemonade out of life’s lemons, dangit. Also I’m still enjoying my Sept/Oct scary movie marathon, and today’s feature is Day of the Triffids, because plants that can eat you are totally scary. It’s another favorite childhood classic, and the whole movie is watchable on YouTube. In case you’re not familiar, it really is plants that amble about and kill humans, and the humans are all blind because of a meteor shower. I do believe it was turned into a broadway musical at one point. I just love it.

Another one I’m watching today is Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. It is a very bad movie, but it had special effects by the king of stop-motion animation, Ray Harryhausen. He did all the stop motion shit you saw in the 60s and 70s with all those Sinbad movies, and eventually Clash of the Titans. Zach got me a four-pack of Harryhausen classics for (probably) Christmas one year, and now they’re all part of my 60-day scary movie marathon. They are:

Earth vs. The Flying Saucers - 1956 - Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor. Pretty much what it sounds like, us on the earth vs. all the evil aliens in their stop-motion flying saucers. Aren’t movies like this supposed to symbolize our anxiety about communism, anyway?

20 Million Miles to Earth - 1957 - William Hopper and, wouldn’t you know it, Joan Taylor. This is about an alien egg that falls out of a rocket in Italy and washes ashore, where it’s stolen by an adorably offensive Italian street waif. The egg hatches, and a stop-motion monster emerges, which grows bigger, and hilarity ensues.

It Came From Beneath the Sea - 1955 - Faith Domergue and Kenneth Tobey - this one is pretty much Earth vs. the stop-motion giant octopus. The main WASP/male protagonist is the same guy who played the main WASP/male protagonist in The Thing from Another World. Some of the main characters did drugs and watched this movie on TV in the movie The Big Chill.

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad - 1958 - Kerwin Mathews and Kathryn Crosby - all of these films feature a white guy lead and a white female backup. I know brown people existed in the 50s...did they simply not register on film? This movie, meanwhile, has a nice stop-motion giant cyclops that torments the main characters, along with a nice stop-motion giant two-headed vulture bird thing.

But because I have nice BluRay copies of these movies, however, I have subtitles, and I can really just enjoy how much time they had to spend on the special effects back in the days of giant stop-motion octopuses. If I decide I can’t handle black and white, I can switch the movie to color. I’m never going to do that, because it was made in black and white, so I’m gonna goddamn watch it in black and white, but if I ever have to watch the movie with some weirdo who can’t enjoy movies unless they’re in color, I can turn on the fake color. I believe each film also has a commentary track featuring Ray Harryhausen himself! As I recall, this makes for some interesting commentary tracks, because he’s now about 140 years old, and I think some of the stop-motion monster memories are starting to blend together a bit, across different movies. Still, it’s always fun to watch his work. Where else can you see a giant octopus destroy the Golden Gate Bridge?

More updates next week. I’m going to continue not smoking, despite the universe’s clear preference that I remain a smoker. (Sniff my farts, universe. You’re not the boss of me!) I hope you two are having a decent beginning of football season. All my love to you both!

[ciceroisthefamilycat]

A month ago or so I said I would post my thoughts on the GG revival (and some other stuff) once my finals were done. But then I went home for the holidays, and my Internet access was not great. Here at last are the GG thoughts, though they're long and not well-organized and generally critical of the revival, if anyone's interested.

My feelings about the Gilmore Girls revival: all the Gilmores deserved better

Lorelai by far had the best arc for me in the revival. While I soured on Luke a while ago and found him frustrating throughout, Lorelai’s individual story was (excluding the conclusion) the best part. Since Richard and Sookie had outside reasons to not appear, the show made an excellent decision to focus on Michel and Lorelai’s relationship. While I haven’t always appreciated what Michel brings, I do now because the storyline brought out the best in both of them. It revealed Michel’s softer side for longer periods while focusing on Lorelai’s willingness to do whatever to keep him around (also the secret club scene with them both was fantastic).

I was immensely frustrated by the plot in which Richard left money to Luke to franchise and nothing for Lorelai’s career goals. I get that Richard wasn’t always progressive, and can even appreciate the callback to the season 5 Richard/Luke outing, but it was a complete disservice that he wouldn’t leave his daughter money to further her career. Richard mentioned in Bon Voyage how much credit Lorelai deserved for what she had built, and even before then spoke with praise about her inn. In Bon Voyage, Emily kept expressing a desire to build the Dragonfly a spa with Lorelai. Are you telling me that Richard wouldn’t have offered to finance that, or maybe he and Emily would decide to set aside the money for when Lorelai might be more open to it? I get that would have robbed the tension of Michel maybe leaving, or the Luke-Lorelai tension, or the beautiful parallel at the end asking for the loan- but there are other ways they could have achieved all that while giving Richard and Lorelai’s relationship its due. (As sweet as the mall story was, it was very nonsensical and even the outstanding acting couldn’t save it for me. Imagine though if Richard had financed an expansion at the Dragonfly and Emily was working there and she felt like Lorelai didn’t appreciate his gifts enough? But still she stayed working there.)

Also, setting aside the pain I get every time a show attempts therapy sessions, there was all this build up in the first episode to it and then it just fizzled? We didn’t get nearly enough Emily (let alone Emily-Lorelai) after it was done, and its conclusion made the whole storyline seem wasted. (Also… ew Luke. Don’t give Lorelai crap for going to therapy.) And then the therapist tries to be in the musical? Which… I didn’t mind some Bunheads cameos and the musical itself was fine, but (as I know many others have said) the musical was wasted time. They could have done Sutton as the director, Lorelai as the lead, and Lorelai keeps struggling with this one song at the end (the only poignant part of that storyline) until she realizes her emotional block with it. At least then the storyline includes Lorelai as a participant.

Meanwhile, the hiking thing was so bizarre. We did not need an extended Wild reference (or whatever the name is). It had some funny parts (book or movie), and I enjoyed the Parenthood cameos, but it felt so inauthentic. Why not have Lorelai go on a hotel road trip (with Michel maybe?), and even parallel it with Rory’s adventure in the episode before? It also parallels the running away from her marriage to Max, and makes it even more potent when she comes back. Or, she could go see Sookie (maybe not even realizing that’s where she’s heading at first) and ask why she left, and get closure on that. Then get a promise from Sookie that she’ll be at the wedding, or that she’ll come back soon (or she won’t). Same amount of scenes as we got with Sookie, a whole lot more substantive than the hiking.

Quick point: they completely underplayed the Lorelai/Paris relationship. When Luke asked just how close Lorelai and Paris were and Lorelai was dumbfounded by Paris’ kindness to her, it was so bizarre. Lorelai and Paris’ interactions used to be phenomenal. I will say, at least they gave us some more Paris/Rory/Lane- Rory with both her best friends is premium content. And Paris’ job was perfect.

Then there’s Rory’s storyline. One, if you’re going to tease Tristan, then just pay CMM the money to make a split-second appearance. Otherwise don’t mention him. Just the running into Francie would have been effective to send Paris into a meltdown, or showing me some dang Madeleine and Louise. OR BRAD! But about her actual career:

In the beginning of season 2, Rory wrote an article that according to the Chilton paper faculty advisor made the parking lot repavement eventful. It’s one thing to talk about Rory having a hard time finding jobs, and another to talk about writer’s block, but it’s something entirely different to tell me Rory can’t find any angle about lines in New York City. It would have actually been more effective to have Rory write something, submit it, and then be told it wasn’t the right direction for the paper, and she could meltdown after that if need be. I get why she didn’t want to do the memoir with the batty Brit in the end. While I don’t see why she feasibly wouldn’t do any research into the fledgling Huff-Po rip-off, I can see her going in there and being confused when she’s expected to pitch a position after they were chasing her. With teaching, I know other people have said that she acted like it was beneath her. That wasn’t my interpretation- she finished school and even if that’s where she’s always excelled that doesn’t mean she wants to go back for the Masters she would need. We don’t know if continuing school’s a good financial situation for her (would Chris pay? Emily? would Rory still be comfortable asking?) and Rory probably decided teaching wasn’t for her a long time ago (just because she liked school doesn’t mean she likes kids in high-school- Not as Cute as Pushkin comes to mind). Also, it would probably feel like failure to her, not because teaching is somehow lesser but because it would mean she couldn’t hack it as a journalist in her own mind.

I was hoping she would stick with the Stars Hollow Gazette, and make it ‘great’ again (sorry for the organization of this sentence). Or if not that, maybe it could get her noticed- she could get a book deal about this small town and telling people about it (rather than a memoir her mom resents). I have… iffy feelings about stories within stories. In many of my favorite pieces of fiction (Glee and Gossip Girl and Queer as Folk, amongst others), the “writer” in the group eventually creates a self-reflective piece. Last fall, I started watching Jane the Virgin. Spoiler alert, but Jane decides to write a book about her grandma (which her grandmother is initially against). But Jane is a romance novelist, who is going to fictionalize the romance of her grandmother and grandfather, and their immigration story, to play to her own skills as a writer. Instead of Rory focusing on just her family, she could have done character pieces and interviews with the many denizens of Stars Hollow. After the Life and Death Brigade in the third episode, I was thinking she could expand on her Yale piece in some way- fictionalized or documenting elite social organizations in Connecticut or on college campuses. Rory has so many other unique interests (she could have done travel-journal too, since she’s jetting back and forth between London, or a giant ‘pop culture references as taught to me by my mother’ guide) and I wish the story had been about her telling those rather than the story we already know- be more creative and trust the audience!

I love Logan and I love Rory and I love them together but I don’t have very many thoughts on the romantic storylines, even the baby. Except, Rory should have broken up with Paul at the end of the first episode. If they wanted to drag out the damn thing, it would have been funny if they showed her breaking it off but she kept thinking she hadn’t. Otherwise, that whole thing was just too mean.

Also, Rory-Emily did not have nearly enough together this time around. I realize Rory was doing a lot of travelling and it was maybe hard for her to see Emily, but it was disappointing. Emily on the whole was disconnected with her family and aside from the one phone call where (best part of Rory’s stuff) Rory got into Richard’s study, it was especially evident with those two. (Also, finally some Rory-Richard content!)

Then, Emily as an individual. I know a lot of people loved her parts and think she’s the one the writers did the most justice by. I disagree. Emily spent years having to justify that her life was valid and fulfilling to Richard and Lorelai both, and then the writers had her act like it wasn’t at all. I understand that part of her justification in her life was that it furthered Richard’s business, and that even without that, Richard’s death could have just resulted in the reorganization of priorities that we saw. But we didn’t need her to find a lover or see her burn all her high-society bridges when it happened. She could have moved into a fancy apartment or townhouse in Hartford, hired a permanent maid whose life she was overly-invested in, and struggled finding a new place in society as a widow but ultimately figured it out. I loved that she decided to work at that museum, and it was fun, but imagine if she had done an art museum or history museum in Hartford? She took pride in being Emily Gilmore, dangit. In fact, back to the maid, remember how Lorelai always said Emily stifled her? What if Emily hired a girl remarkably like young Lorelai and Lorelai felt like Emily was trying to substitute her with this girl in light of her realized mortality? That’s a more genuine conflict than Lorelai gaffing at Richard’s funeral.

I didn’t hate it, but the four episodes felt silly and struggled to fill the arcs with meaningful content. I would much prefer an 8 or 10- episode season (with 45-60 min running times). I was disappointed with the majority of AYITL, but perhaps my expectations were too high. At least I got quality Logan-Rory content, and quality Lorelai-Michel and Paris.