#and I’m really excited that in a month I’ll be finished w the program completely and visiting friends and aaaaa

[girlvinland]

Aaaaaa turned in my final proj proposal for the last class in my cert and I’m so happy it’s gonna all be over soon. It has been a really great experience but I’m so ready to like move on and actually put it to use. Forgive me for being a little boastful rn or whatever but I’m honestly really proud of myself for finally doing this, I’m really happy my mentor still encouraged me with it, I’m so thankful for her and everything she’s done for me over the years. Maybe I’ll send her a letter thanking her for all of it ;w;

[captainsassmanes]

Prompt: After Alex finds out about Michael/ Maria he gives up on him and Michael ever being really together. He is convinced that he's the worst thing to happen to Michael. He tries to make Michael's life easier by avoiding him and helping with Project Shepherd. So when Michael breaks up with Maria because he realizes he's still in love with Alex, Alex doesn't understand why he wants to be with him and becomes super insecure in the relationship. So Michael has to show him they're still cosmic.

I took some liberties, anon. I hope that’s okay.

It had been the longest year of Alex’s life.

His seventeenth year living alone with his father had felt long. His first deployment felt long. The second even longer.

His first year being in Roswell with Michael but not being with Michael? The longest.

He’d been proud of himself when Michael and Maria sat him down, neither able to look him in the eye, on the back deck of the Pony, each of them looking across the empty field instead of at each other.

Alex had clamped down on his emotions, swallowed his protests and sadness, and smiled, as genuinely as his muscles would allow. He had nodded along as Maria did all the talking, explaining how Michael was always there to help her, there for her when her mom kept getting worse instead of better, made her feel safe and adored. He agreed when she said she deserved to be loved.

In the moment, he hadn’t been able to find the words. How could he express his happiness for his friend without breaking down with his own loss?

With a hug for Maria and a quick glance to a stoic Michael, Alex had left.

Sleep left him wanting that night. He moved from his bed to the shower to the porch to the bed to the couch, restless and uncomfortable. Without his permission, Alex kept imagining life from then on. There would be no way to avoid them and he knew, for his own sanity, those relationships had to be over. Maybe one day he’d rebuild with Maria though he couldn’t picture it now.

But Michael?

Alex sat with his third glass of whiskey, mindlessly petting a sleeping Buffy’s head, trying to slow his heart rate. It was done. He knew Michael was the one, his person, the one he wanted to spend his life with. He’d known it when he was surrounded by computers, orders being barked in his ears across the country. He’d known when his lungs were filled with hot, desert sand and his ears echoed with explosions. He’d known it as soon as Michael put a hand on him at the airstream, turning him around and stopping the world.

Michael was the one.

But he wasn’t his. And he never would be.

“May your happiness last forever,” he toasted with a slur to the darkness. With a swig, the dark liquid was gone and the glass landed on the floor with a loud clank. Clumsily, he took off his leg, fingers not moving the way his brain was commanding. Eventually he felt the sweet release of the last latch and tugged the sock off, tossing it onto the couch.

Somehow, he managed to get to the front porch, hopping and holding on to anything he could find, too unclear to remember where he last had his crutches. He landed with a groan on the rocking chair, holding his arms and rubbing to keep warm against the early morning chill. The sun was shining through the trees, casting large shadows next to pools of warmth on the ground.

As he watched the sunshine spread and claim its territory, Alex made his decision. He’d do the right thing by Michael. He’d get all the intel he could from Project Shepard and then shut that shit down for good, make sure Michael and the Evans were just another trio of nobodies from Roswell. And he’d do it all while staying away. Michael wanted easy, simple? Maria wasn’t the only one who could give him that. Alex could be a ghost, vanish into the background to give Michael a chance at the life he deserved.

Even if it wasn’t with him.

So, for a year, Alex was an enigma. He went to work during the day, boring data analysis he could do in his sleep. But at night, he used his clearance and the information he not so legally obtained to hack into old records, disbanded programs, anything that looked like it could possibly be associated with UFO investigations.

Kyle checked on him regularly, bringing him greasy bags of goodies from the Crashdown or his mom’s empanadas. He’d stay, sometimes, chatting about interesting cases at the hospital or quietly combing through new files, sometimes updating Alex about the latest town gossip.

Never about Michael, though.

The last month had been insane after he’d acquired the final pieces of the Shepard puzzle and handed them over to a newly risen Max with his five thousandth apology.

Max had squeezed the files in his hand, knuckles turning white and papers wrinkling, before pulling Alex into a surprise hug. Max had whispered an emotional, “thanks,” before letting him go and walking away. That moment felt final, like Alex could finally close the book on the disaster that was his family’s legacy. With his father in military prison for the foreseeable, Alex was finally free of obligation.

The next few nights after handing over the last of Shepard, Alex sat in the bunker, computers silent, only a few lights on, and breathed in the peace of it all. At first, he’d sit with a smile on his face, shoulders relaxed, and hands unfurled. He slept well for the first time in a long time. But on the third or fourth day, sitting in that bunker with no work to be done, no worries to be had, a new reality struck Alex.

He had no purpose. And no one.

His job was through. Responsibilities complete.

It was these thoughts running aimlessly through his mind that put him in his comfortable sweats with a glass of whiskey in his hand. As he decided a Scott Pilgrim rewatch sounded good, his phone rang, Kyle’s name popping up on the screen.

“Hi.”

“When were you gonna tell me, Manes?”

Alex stupidly looked around the cabin for the answer to Kyle’s question. “Tell you what, Valenti?”

A muffled scoff greeted Alex. “About you and Guerin? Liz just told me. I’m so happy for you, man!”

“Whoa, whoa,” Alex stood up from the couch too fast, spilling his drink a bit and trying to cover up the wet spot on the floor before Buffy came to get sloshed. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“They split up, Alex.”

He froze, afraid that if he moved Kyle would say just kidding and his heart would shatter. He took a deep breath before mumbling, “I haven’t spoken to either of them in, like, a year.”

“Yeah I know that, you dumbass, but it doesn’t seem to matter.” Alex rolled his eyes at Kyle’s enthusiasm.

Grabbing some paper towels from the kitchen, Alex leaned over and cleaned up his mess, Buffy never moving from her prime location on the couch. “What doesn’t seem to matter, Kyle?”

“Ugh, oh my God you have to get out more! That he hasn’t seen you, Alex! He broke up with her for you! He still loves you!”

A wave of nerves moved through him but he was in strong denial. There was no way. They hadn’t seen each other, hadn’t spoken. Michael didn’t feel anything for him, at least nothing that wasn’t disgust and anger. Plus, Maria was perfect, they fit well together.

“This doesn’t make sense. If you’re fucking with me-“

“No chance in hell, dude. I would never mess with you over Guerin. Never.”

Alex dropped the towels and sat back on the couch, eyes staring at the black tv. “I’ve gotta go.” He hung up before Kyle could say another word and felt the phone fall out of his hand.

Hope.

He’d promised himself it was done, that he was done. Michael had made himself clear: loving Alex was the worst thing that ever happened to him. Alex had been determined the fix what he could to keep Michael and the people he loved safe. He did that. He did it while staying out of everyone’s way. He did exactly what he was supposed to, followed his plan to a T.

So why would they break up?

He grabbed a glass of water and downed it, gasping for air once it was gone. He refilled it and repeated one more time. Confused, scared and exhausted, Alex climbed into bed, a tolerant Buffy allowing him to hold her close. It took a few hours for sleep to come, so many scenarios and thoughts clouding his brain, keeping it too busy to shut down.

Eventually, he started counting Buffy’s soft snores and he fell into a restless sleep.

The sound of metal against metal woke Alex, hand instinctually reaching into his bedside table for his gun. But he paused when he noticed his room was filled with sunshine, Buffy was missing but not barking and his intruder was humming a Fall Out Boy tune he couldn’t find the name of.

He wiped his eyes and quietly slid his prosthetic on. Kyle must be in one of his moods. Maybe feeling guilty about the bullshit he called with the night before.

Turning the corner, kitchen in full view, Alex thought he might faint. Flipping pancakes in his cabin like he owned the place was Michael fucking Guerin.

The warm feeling that coursed through his chest couldn’t be denied. Michael looked perfect standing there, first thing in the morning, in his socks making breakfast. He was smiling, still humming the same song while Buffy sat wagging at his feet. Alex covered his mouth, physically restraining himself from speaking, afraid he’d beg Michael to never leave.

As he stood silently watching, that warmth turned to anger and bitterness. This was such an invasion of privacy. Alex knew he’d locked the door the night before. And, besides, they hadn’t spoken in months. Michael’s solution to that was to show up, uninvited? Play the domestic game?

“I don’t remember giving you a key,” Alex said when he found his voice and was confident he was in control again.

Michael jumped slightly but the smile never left his face. “You know me. Don’t need ‘em. Hope you’re hungry. Made your favorite.”

Moving a bit closer, Alex furrowed his brow, sure Michael had no clue what his favorite food was. Excitement flooded his veins as he watched Michael put the finishing touches on churro pancakes.

“Go on, sit down. I’ll grab you a coffee.”

Maybe it was the early hour or the shock of seeing Michael or some combination of both, but Alex moved in a daze to the small table and took a seat, wrapping his hands around the mug of perfectly made coffee Michael placed in front of him.

When the churro pancakes slid under his chin, Alex was pulled out of his shock.

“Michael, what the hell is this?”

He got a smirk in return, all straight, white teeth and plump, pink lips. “Just tryin’ to do something nice, Private.”

“Why now?”

With a mouthful of pancakes, Michael shrugged and asked, “why not now?”

Alex pushed his plate away, stomach churning with anxiety. “It’s been a year, Guerin. Your relationship had its run and now you don’t wanna be alone? So, where’s Alex? Bet he’s just sitting there, alone and pathetic, waiting.”

Michael shook his head and straightened his posture. “No, that’s not what this is.”

“Then what is it?” Alex stood and walked outside, needing space and more air than the cabin could offer. He gripped the wood railing, counting his breaths and listening to the birds chattering. The sun was pushing through the branches, tossing light here and there, a sliver of it landing on Alex’s hand, warming one up while the other stayed cool.

The door squeaked open and he heard Buffy’s paws on the decking before he felt Michael standing next to him, giving off a warmth he missed.

“I’m gonna make an assumption so I apologize in advance if I’m wrong.” Michael sounded hesitant, unsure. He waited for a response from Alex but must have decided he wouldn’t be getting one. “You’ve always hated Roswell.” Alex raised his eyebrows, his body naturally responding to the truth.

“I’m guessing you didn’t realize it was the only place that felt like home until you were overseas.”

Alex didn’t know what to say. The idea of agreeing with Michael didn’t sit right with him but he couldn’t deny that while he was spending nights in makeshift tents and praying the last bomb was the last bomb, he wasn’t dreaming of Roswell.

“So, you always hated me?”

Michael laughed and shook his head. “Jesus, we’re so good at this communication shit, huh?”

Alex laughed, too, and looked out over the property, watching a squirrel grab an acorn and run off with his treasure, holding it selfishly in its paw. “I guess so.”

“You left me. You helped me realize I was bi, you were so nice to me and then you were gone. I resented you for ten years.”

“Michael, I told you that I shouldn’t have-“

“Shut up. Just let me finish.” Alex pouted as Michael raised his hand. “When you came back, I hoped. I was an ass about it sometimes, I know, but I hoped we had a shot, that you still felt the same way about me. About us. But you didn’t want to be seen with me, didn’t want people to know about us, you pushed me away over and over again. So, after everything, with my mom…”

“You needed someone who’d stay close.”

Michael nodded and looked at his boots, kicking a twig onto the dirt. “I didn’t choose Maria to hurt you.”

Alex scoffed, “fucking felt like it, though.”

“Well, I didn’t.”

Alex shook his head, his bottle of empathy run dry. “I told you I loved you. That I wanted to start over again. I was ready.”

Michael nodded. “I didn’t believe you. And I shouldn’t have to work on your timeline.”

Alex tilted his head toward the cabin. “Okay. So why should I have to work on yours now?”

Michael bit his lip and looked toward the trees. “Fair enough.”

They stood in silence, listening to the sounds of undisturbed nature around them. Alex was still angry, filled with confusion and caution, but he’d be lying if he said simply being in Michael’s presence didn’t bring him comfort.

“I don’t get your analogy.”

Turning, Michael leaned against the banister and Alex had to look away. With his tight t-shirt and curls blowing in the breeze, Michael looked like a fucking dream.

“The war analogy?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, that one.”

“It’s a bad one, but I convinced myself I didn’t love you. Then I was with someone else I know I loved and realized it’d never come close to how I feel about you.”

Blinking rapidly, Alex refused to cry. When he knew he had control of his voice, he asked, “are you gonna look away again?”

Michael slowly slid his hand into Alex’s and squeezed. “Never.”

[teal-crown]

Marinette Update! And Mitty dev-talks!

Hello my friends! Mitt is here with yet another post! Did you miss me? Probably not because tumblr is dead. And I’ve been pretty active on twitter and twitch. lalalala

I’ll be very honest in this post about my feelings and such.

We’ll be talking about the game’s progress, what I’ve been up to, and I’ll also discuss some things regarding the Teal Crown blog.

It’s kind of a personal post! So grab your cookies and let’s talk <3

So, there was a need to make a post like this since I’ve been feeling really weird towards posting progress updates here on tumblr for a few months now.

Updating whoever is still around here on the game and on better ways to follow it’s progress, the developers, and overall what we will do from now on is something I should’ve done a long time ago! aaaa

I also kind of want to see what the reaction to this post is. We are almost at 1000 followers, yet I’m afraid almost everyone is not active anymore, and I’m not sure on who still remembers this blog ahaha. Let’s consider this post a test, too! >w<

Honestly, this is a very comfy place to post, Tumblr’s layout for making posts and everything is still one of the best around for me, however, I’ve been feeling the need to write long and well articulated posts about the progress of the game but for some reason that need has also been draining me quite a bit here even though I do really want to make these posts.

It’s really weird.

I will try my best to post more progress updates here from time to time, but I want to try different ways to let the message across.

It feels like this is supposed to be a blog for the team, but I still keep it very personal like when I started it. I believe that’s my mistake!

That’s the main reason I’ve been getting discouraged from making those personal long dev talk posts by myself.

I’ve thought about moving personal development updates to my Youtube, and that’s probably what I will do in the near future!

I realized that video form is better for this in one of my last streams where I was working on busts for the game. I talked about some insights, feelings, and direction updates. It felt more natural and personal, and I think it’s the next right step to follow.

I’d like to keep a blog for more professional and straight forward updates. I’m not sure, but I’ll probably move out of tumblr and branch out! It’s scary but...

Let’s do this together.

Also, I’m sorry for missing some asks from months ago, I felt like I needed to take a break to get my mind straight on what I want this blog to be. I’ll be answering them soon!

As of right now, the most personal and accurate way to know what’s going on with the development, is to go to our Discord, and poke us there.

We are very close to finishing Marinette’s demo. It’s all mostly done, and I’ve been polishing, adding busts and fixing bugs and some other stuff.

But I want to personally talk with you guys about how I’ve been feeling about it too, as the main developer and artist for the game.

The demo is supposed to have already been done a few months ago, however, I really want to vent to you all that the fact that we are so close to it it’s been making me a mess ahaha

I feel like I’m so proud of it, but the release has been stressing me out a little. I’m scared. I shouldn’t be, but I am!

This stress has been leading me to avoid programming at all, since doing that would mean finishing the game’s demo(?)

Don’t get me wrong, I AM excited! A whole lot!!

But I’m also scared of the reception and everything.

What if it passes completely under the radar and I feel like no one else is as passionate about it? I don’t want to disappoint my team members either...

But then I realize that finishing it is so much more important, and I’m sure there are people that are excited and have been expressing their support time and time again! There’s nothing to worry about... But the thought of indiference kind of agonizes me. I’m scared of having expectations, but it’s innevitable.

This thought has been flowing through my head since I released my short comic. I felt like I worked so hard on it, but I didn’t market it enough. Which leads me to my next point.

I feel like I need to invest a little more into getting the word about the game out there a little more! I’m still quite inexperienced, and don’t know much about how to market a game and get people interested, but it’s important for me as an artist too. I feel like it’s something I have to prove to myself in a way.

I’ll be going to university this year, and I’m unsure on how long it’ll take to finish the whole game. But it’s such a great project that I’m so passionate about finishing.

Because of this, I have been thinking and decided that if the reception of the demo is great enough, I’ll be investing more than my personal time into finishing the game. 

The project is really ambitious, and even though I can tackle it in due time, like I’ve been doing for the demo, if I want it to actually come out this decade, I MUST let go of the thought that I have to do everything myself.

We have a team. Yet, although there are writers, composers and artists to help with concepting, I’m still doing the in-game art and programming. Which would be fine, If I weren’t such a perfectionist in both. I love having the in-game assets mostly done by myself, and I don’t think I can give that up.

However, I feel like I have to give up on doing all the programming by myself.

With this, I mean that after the demo is released, I’ll be seeking someone to work with and program the game with. I’m not sure on where to look, or how to do this, but I wanted to get this word out there. I’ll be thankfull if anyone points me in the right direction.

I’ve also been trying to juggle the game and my own career as an artist, so it’s been quite a fun ride!

Now, Finally...

YES!! MOSTLY DONE!!!

The whole demo is fully playable.

We’ll be entering beta testing when I’m done polishing. I don’t know how long this will take, but I’m trying to tackle a little every day, and with the summer holidays coming, I will probably be done with it this year.

Keep in mind, the demo is quite long!

During the Beta testing phase I will probably start working more towards marketing and building hype somehow.

All that’s left for me to do is polishing some visuals(like adding busts, some sprites for background characters, tutorial and maybe an extra room for the developers), adding some sound effects and missing dialogue which is already written ( as well as flavour text ™ ) and fixing bugs.

As I’ve already said before, for more consistent updates, while I’m deciding the future of this blog, feel free to poke our Discord, my Twitter, or talking to me live on Twitch.

TO FINISH OFF, SUPPORT THE OTHER TEAM MEMBERS

I also feel the need to shout out everyone that’s been helping so far!

You can check out everyone in the Team section of the blog, but I wanna shout them out in this post too, even though some of them don’t have links, but you can poke most of us on discord! (If you guys want me to add different links let me know!)

This is my personal thanks to all of you for putting up with me for so long!

So here goes:

Mitty - That’s me! Hello!!

The3rdLetter - Amazing friend and main composer and writer! He is really amazing, so support him pls!

Luccinia - Super amazing artist that’s been helping with concept arts! Sadly I don’t have a link for her stuff, take my word for it, she’s awesome!

Lyco - Wholesome traditional artist and cosplayer <3 <3

CodeBreakerBlue - Sad fish. Chill dood. Helps with great soundtracks and writing as well!!!!!!!!

Ṟ̶̡͙̮̞̪͋̊̃̕͝͠ǐ̵̟̤͛́͌̈́̊̐͝ņ̸̛̤͈͈̱̹̜̈̋̃ ̷̗͙̣͜͠-̴̘̺̼̖̘̲̙̺͒̀̈́̈́͆̃ ̶̡̜̼͉̙͕̦͔͂̐̌̾͊Ṉ̴̛̜̯͋͗̐͑̇́͐͝<̶̼̈́̌̾ǫ̵̧̞̞͔̤̤̣͕͕͌̋t̶̛̛̪̪̘͆̏̄̑̀ ̶̹̰̳̑̂̄̈̈͘F̷̣̥̘̣͓̥̝̘͘Ọ̸̢̯̪̱̩̞̠̯͖͆͗́̀̓̎̉ų̸͙͔̳̾̓͐͘͝n̸̢̤̦̼̠̼͍̐̓͒͆̈́͜«̴̭͉͖̋͛̔͛̕͠͝d̵̲̥̯̣̯̃͌̈́̔̃̇͠

Bruno - Great composer!!! Super kind and hardworking, please support him, as he has worked on other projects too!

Miku - PRECIOUS!!! ART!!! Amazing artstyle!!! One of the prettiest I’ve ever seen!

Mia - Mitty’s personal pillow.

Moca - Mitty’s personal bully as of now.

Dotto, SktchB00kRose - Amazingly talented voice actors!!!

PinkPlumeria - Writing reviewer!!! Sweet as hecc and mom of the team!

Neve/Nemu - Super sweet. Super creative. Super hardworking and passionate. I admire Nemu, and some of the concept art for coolest stuff is by her! PLS SUPPORT!!

Prifurin - Super duper creative as well!!! Amazing music tracks, gorgeous and thoughtful cool concept art too!!!

  Ending note

Thank you so much If you’ve stuck around this long, we really appreciate it. We hope to bring a great game for everyone to enjoy!

Working on this game has definetely helped me become a better artist and person, I’ve learned a bunch of things, and hope you guys stick around to see us grow and create interesting content.

We really appreciate all the support,

Mitt out! <3

[ofperez]

♔ — * in tonight’s performance of ensemblehq, the role of the leading lady will be played by paola perez.

hello everyone ! my name is kiwi, i’m 20 years old, vibing in the est timezone, and i use they/she pronouns. a fun fact about me is that i’m actually studying theatre in college right now !! if i was a skeleton in this rp, i would definitely be the comic, as i tend to get typecasted into comedic roles in literally every show that we do ever (will i ever play a romantic lead in my life? probably not. i’ve made my peace with it.)

i will be writing the incomparable paola, everyone’s favorite rachel berry wannabe. while you can read her full bio HERE (and i’ll love you forever if you do), i’ve included some bullet points below because i know that i wrote a lot nsfkgjdfs

SO without further ado (adieu? ado? adue? how did i get into this rp, i have literally one braincell) i present to you: the grand journey of paola perez.

fictional character inspirations include: rosalie hale from twilight, dany from game of thrones, winter anderson from american horror story, maddy perez from euphoria, mariana foster from the fosters and (bc i have to) angelica schuyler from hamilton and also rachel berry from glee (don’t @ me, i had to do it)

ABOUT.

paola is the only child of luciana perez, an immigrant from colombia who fled her hometown of quibdó before her daughter’s first birthday. she got an american work visa, packed up all her things, and left the life she knew behind.

they never found a place to settle down in the united states, and moved around every couple of months to avoid detection and suspicion from neighbors and authorities.

(RACISM TW) this was exciting for paola, and she never really gave it a second thought until one day in the eighth grade when a boy told her to “go back home,” and that she wasn’t a “real american.” this made her upset as she didn’t know what he meant and she ran home to her mother immediately, demanding an explanation.

her mom was about to explain when the phone rang and she was told by a coworker that they needed her at work. she told paola to pack a bag and head to the neighbors for a bit. her mom never came back and she’s lived with her neighbor, linda, ever since.

she did not find out what happened to her mother until a year and a bit later, when linda sat her down and told her that her mother wrote her a letter, and she wanted to explain what happened to her first.

(DEPORTATION TW) the phone call her mother received was from one of her coworkers who was also undocumented. she said that ICE (immigration and customs enforcement) had shown up at their place of employment and was asking questions to employees, getting information about the ones who weren’t at work that day. if luciana didn’t go to work in that moment, ice would have shown up at her door that night, and they would have taken both her and paola into custody. her mom was now back in colombia, and paola was alone.

she wasn’t entirely alone, however. she had the theatre program at school and she had linda at home, and at school, she was super successful. she got lead role after lead role, building her resume so that she could get into a good college and then have a successful career and be able to take care of her mother.

things that happened before the end of her senior year also included officially being adopted by linda and applying to DACA (deferred action for childhood arrivals)

upon arriving at alderidge, paola realized that she could be anything she wanted to be, and what she wanted to be was rich and powerful and successful, and SO homegirl lies about being on scholarship and having tons of money and basically has created this whole second identity as a wall between her and everyone else.

she loves orson. not in like a romantic way, but in a “the only father figure i’ve ever known” kind of way. she used to spend hours in his office crying, working on assignments, getting advice from him on grad schools and life after college. his loss is devastating for her, and she’s definitely gone into full conspiracy theory mode.

HEADCANNONS.

i think for her audition monologue to get into the school she did the “out damned spot” monologue from m*****h, and i think that orson shed a tear at her performance.

she has saved a flower from every show that she has been in, pressed it, and preserved it so that after she graduates, she can have something to take with her to each dressing room she ends up inhabiting during her career.

linda tries her hardest to travel from florida to washington to see every show she can. if she can’t be there in person, she will email the school repeatedly until she gets a video recording of the performance. linda and paola have a tradition where after each show, they get ice cream and just talk MAD shit about everyone else in the cast. this is alive and well, and even though they sometimes do this over facetime, they still love doing it.

paola is really bright ! like super academic (enough to get a full ride to alderidge) but that’s something she keeps under wraps. she does have to maintain a 3.0 gpa to stay at school on her scholarship, and that is something she’s never had to worry about. she’s also minoring in business b/c even the most confident among us gotta have back up plans.

(TW: DRUGS) let’s talk about coke ! i imagine that her and the leading man found orson’s secret stash one day years ago and tried it “just for shits and giggles,” expecting to do it once just to try it and then to never do it again. that didn’t work, and now she is sort of reliant on it. she does coke before every performance and audition, when she needs a little pick me up to finish an assignment or to memorize the last of her lines, at parties, literally any reason she can find to take more she will take more. this is a problem !! homegirl needs an intervention, stat, or else she is not making it to broadway, no ma’am.

i think she has a completion compulsion, meaning once she starts something, she has to see it through. this manifests itself in many different ways. she won’t move on to the next question on a test until she answers the one prior, she won’t quit a project in the middle of it until she has some sort of finished project, won’t quit a club or a show or a commitment until the end. this also can be seen in her friendship w/ the scene stealer !

okay this is just because i’m a huge theatre nerd but i think she was definitely mayzie la bird in seussical the musical at some point, also probably the witch in into the woods and then i think her senior musical was mamma mia and she was donna.

her dream roles include harper in angels in america, lady m*****t in m*****t, and honestly probably goody proctor in the crucible (although she’s SUCh an abigail williams, smh).

she was born on the same day as barack obama and that’s not REALLY a headcannon, because it’s more a fact, but i think it’s neat.

WANTED.

you can find my wanted connection tag here ! it’s a bit scarce right now, but it has some fun jumping off points

other wanted connections i included in my app are: “line study partners, the person who she always goes and gets taco bell with after every rehearsal, maybe a roommate in between the supporting role sophomore year and the statue senior year who she actually really got along with! some sort of love interest would be cool but is definitely not mandatory although the most theatre kid romantic ship i can think of is being paired up to do a romantic scene and then dropping the scripts and making out so that could happen and be very cool very nice”

that’s it ! i’ll shut up now ! can’t wait to get started !

[ofstarsandvibranium]

Bitter Taste

Fandom: Marvel

Pairing: Billy Russo x Reader

As requested by anonymous:  Billy Russo imagine where him and y/n get into a huge and nasty fight. He goes to work and meanwhile she leaves his apartment and goes to her own and they don’t talk for couple of days and then make up? Thank you!!

You followed Billy around the bedroom as he dressed for work, “You said this was the last one! We’ve been pushing this trip back for too long!”

“I can’t just leave in the middle of important business, Y/N!”

“Am I not important, Billy?!”

He only replied with a sigh, “You know what, I’m not dealing with this right now. I’m late for work.” He finishes slipping on his jacket.

You scoff, “Well that answers my question.”

“What?”

“Nothing. Leave! Go to your precious company!” he gives you a stern glare before grabbing his keys and heading towards the door. As soon as you hear the door slam shut, you work on gathering your things ready to leave.

Billy wanted to call you or even text throughout the day. He knew he shouldn’t have left in the middle of the fight, but he really had pressing matters to address at Anvil. 

So as he stood there talking to his employees, there was a bitter taste in his mouth. He really just left you. You probably think you’re not important to him at all. He really needs to talk to you. So after he was finished with his briefing, he went to his office and plucked his phone out of his pocket. 

He dialled your number and paced around the room waiting for you to answer. Unfortunately, he was met with, “The person you’re calling is not av-” he ended the call. He texted you, but nothing. 

“Shit, Russo,” he mumbled to himself. He then made a mental note to get you flowers and your favorite takeout after work. 

The door swung open, “Y/N, I’m back!” he moved to the kitchen and set down the food, “Look, I’m sorry I left in the middle of our argument, but I just didn’t wanna stay and possibly say something that could hurt you. ‘Cause I love you, and you know that right?” He listened for you and was met with silence, “Y/N?” 

He left the kitchen and searched every room of the apartment. You weren’t there. You left.

“Shit,” Billy mumbled to himself as he took out his phone and started calling you. Over and over again, it would eventually go to voicemail. He then went to his closet and grabbed the burner phone he had. 

He dialled the only number that was programmed into it, the endless ringing making him even more anxious, “Bill?” the gruff voice answered.

“Frank, I don’t know where Y/N is! We had this fight earlier and i just left in the middle of it and I just came home from work and she’s not here! I-”

“It’s okay, Billy. Calm down. Y/N’s fine.”

“W-What?”

“She’s at her place with Karen. From what Karen’s told me, she’s pretty heartbroken. You really messed up, brother.”

Billy’s hand went to his hair and gripped it, “I know that, Frank! And I wanna talk to her so I can apologize! But she’s not answering my calls!”

“Just give her some time, okay? Let the both of you cool off for a day or two. The more you push it, the worse it might get.”

“Fine. It’s just..I love her, Frank. I can’t lose her.”

Billy rolled his eyes when he heard Frank’s deep chuckle, “I know, Romeo. just hang in there. You guys’ll make it through.”

“Thanks.”

“Not a problem. I’ll see you ‘round, brother.”

“Yeah. See ya.” Billy hung up the phone and sat on the edge of the bed dejected and guilty.

Two days without seeing or talking to you was agony for Billy. He hadn’t realized how dependent he was on you. He missed your morning cuddles and kisses. He missed seeing you dance around the kitchen while you made breakfast and coffee. He missed your giggles and the funny little faces you make. God, he really took you for granted and the thought of you not in his life anymore put a gross taste in his mouth. The thought was bitter and dry and stale. It was the complete opposite of when you’re there with Billy. With you, everything was sweet, fruitful, and ripe. 

He couldn’t go into work like this. He’ll just end up distracted and get nothing done. So he called his assistant, told him he wasn’t feeling well and to cancel any meetings he had. If something was really important, to call him. 

So there Billy sat, or more so, laid in his apartment, miserable and missing you.

He eventually fell back asleep and didn’t even realize he did until he was being stirred from his slumber by a hand caressing his face. 

His face scrunched up as he was slowly awakening, making a giggle reach his ears. His eyes slowly fluttered open to see you sitting there before him, “Y/N?”

“Hey,” you whispered.

“I’m dreaming, aren’t I?” he mumbled.

You giggled again, “No, handsome. You’re not.” 

Billy sat up, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes, “What are you doing here?”

“Well, you left in a middle of an argument. I’m here to finish it.” Billy opened his mouth to speak, but you stopped him, “No. Let me speak first.” You took a deep breath, “I know your company is important. You worked hard to get where you are now, I get that. But you’ve sacrificed our relationship for it. 

“Our one year anniversary was three months ago, Billy. We were supposed to go to the Caribbean, but we had to push it back time and time again for Anvil. I was so excited to just go to our own paradise and be selfish with you for a week before I lose you to work again. If this continues, Billy, then we can’t work.”

Billy nodded, “I understand and I’m sorry. I just, Anvil is like my baby, ya know. I don’t wanna leave unless I know it’s taken care of. But you’re right. I’ve been pushing us, you, on the sidelines. I’ll do better. I promise.” he reached for your hand and interlocked his fingers with yours, “I don’t wanna lose you. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“Billy! C’moooon! Just tell me!”

He chuckled as he continued to drive, “Just be patient, sweetheart.” He drove around the back roads of some area you were unfamiliar with. Your eyes widened when you saw a private jet waiting for you ahead.

You looked at him with excitement, “Wait-”

With a big smile, he said, “I think it’s about time we head to paradise.”

[kenzicorinne]

Hi! I’m Kenzi Corinne

And I have a lot of art and stories I want to share with you!

That's a big reason why I want to start making weekly journals. Starting today, I’ll be posting a weekly recap of everything I’m working on and plan to work on. This includes the status of my web comic Folk Knight, my visual novel MuseStruck, and all the work I’m doing for upcoming conventions (I hope to see some of you there!)

After this week, the blog entries will be a lot more digestible. But I feel, for this first one, I just need to lay everything out. 

So, before the break, I just want to say my asks are open! Feel free to shoot me a question/comment about anything. (Fav ice cream, Hogwarts house, w/e!)

Later!

-Kenzi

Kenzi Blog: Week of 4/2/18

Oh, hey! I’m surprised you clicked “Keep reading.” I mean, I’m glad you did! Makes me feel less like I’m just shouting this to the void... heh ^_^;

Conventions:

Anyway, let’s just dive right in with the most time sensitive item I’ve been working on, convention prep. I’ve got three cons coming up in the next two months *sweats profusely* . This may not sound like a lot for you (or maybe it sounds like an insane “con crud” induced death wish haha) but I am equal parts super excited and super nervous about this! Upcoming cons are:

RavenCon, April 20-22 Williamsburg, VA

Tidewater Comicon, May 11-12 Virginia Beach

Animazement, May 25-27 Raleigh, NC

So I do my printing on my own printer. To save money this time, I’ve decided to try out a Refillable Ink Cartridge system. Which involves...... lots of syringes I guess? Haha, I think I accidentally ordered too many or something so now I just have an abundance of large needle syringes 0_0 (also note they’re a special kind for ink. not the pokey skin kind :P). Syringe Wolverine cosplay?

Anyway, if any of you have tried out RIC or CISS in the past, I’d love to know how it did or didn’t work for you!

MuseStruck:

Okay, so before I talk about my current project, Folk Knight, I think I need to talk about MuseStruck (my other baby). So a couple years ago I suddenly got the urge to make a Visual Novel (gee, wonder where I got that idea... *side glances at Steam catalog* >_>). This VN had inspiration pulled from a lot of my favorite things including fantasy, mythology, classic literature, art, and anime.

Then a year ago, @cornpickerart and I started working on it... and quickly saw the project balloon to a size we weren’t ready for. We thought about cutting back ideas, some trimming was to the story’s benefit really. But then there were aspects that we couldn’t let go. Things that I felt were integral to the story or game experience that we wanted to make.

So. Here’s the thing. We just realized we needed to try smaller things first and work up to the type of gameplay we want to have in MuseStruck. Baby steps. That being said. MuseStruck isn’t dead. Far from it. 

I draw characters from MuseStruck still all the time. Though I’ve told myself to not dedicate so much time to writing stories for it and instead put that time and energy into bettering my skills in both art and programming. Now I can say that when I do get back to MuseStruck (which I do have a plan for when that will happen, but I’ll save that for another journal) I know I’ll be more confident and prepared to tackle it! \(^o^)/

(some sketches of MuseStruck characters that I’ve never posted... I have lots of files like this ^_^;)

Folk Knight:

And finally there is Folk Knight. If you made it this far then... wow. I think I might love you. Anyway, this is my current project that I am working on. I would say probably my time is split 50/50 with this and con stuff right now.

Originally I wanted it to be a web comic. Why a web comic? Well... it’s something I’ve done before. @cornpickerart and I ran a web comic back in high school that we stopped once we went of to different states and different colleges.

I wanted to tell a story that takes place in the MuseStruck universe but with a lot less overhead work and a shorter story altogether. So, Folk Knight was born! Well, so it was supposed be but then I realized something... I don’t want to do a web comic. Le gasp!!!

I actually read a ton of webcomics and enjoy the weekly experience and appreciate all the hard work that goes into keeping them up. Seriously! It’s tough stuff! But after a few updates I realized that making the comic was taking a lot of time... and I wasn’t feeling it. Gosh that sounds whiny doesn’t it? I guess what I’m trying to say is, I figured out if I was going to put that much work into something, I want it to be something I want to do. And what I want to do is make a stinkin’ Visual Novel danggummit!

So that’s what brings us to the Folk Knight of now... a serial Visual Novel!

So it’s kinda a combination of both. Baby steps remember? To keep the game making doable for me, I’ll be releasing the Folk Knight VN in chapters. Every chapter will be released free to play, just like the web comic would have been free to read.

I’ve already begun the conversion of my Chapter 1 script into the Visual Novel format and am working with a few beta readers/players to help me work out the story flow and gameplay.

I’m hoping to get a Chapter 1 demo done by the end of April and Chapter 1 completed and released officially by May! I know it’s a tight deadline but I’m seriously pouring all my blood, sweat, and time into this now!

Next Week:

Ooooookay! We finally come to the end of it! What I plan to do this coming week. Well, let’s see... maybe I should just list it? I hope to...

Post some Folk Knight character designs  (get y’all introduced)

Finish two fantasy/horror paintings I’ve been working on

I have a backlog of BNHA fan art I should finish too...

Test out the new print system!

Aaand I think I should keep it at that. Don’t want to overdo it. If anyone’s still reading this, like I said, not every journal entry is gonna be a monster like this. I just... had a lot to get off my chest to get this journal thing rolling ^_^;

You are amazing and I wish you the best in all your creative endeavors!(seriously, you got something you’re working on you want to share, hit me up! I love hearing others stories or finding new comics to read, games to play!)

-Kenzi

[unfortunatelysirius]

Rant Time! w/ Katie

I’ll most likely be spending my entire night writing on requests and other stupid shit that I’d like to work on, but for now I’m about to give y'all another rant that’s completely unnecessary but something that helps even out the stress I’m currently experiencing.

I’m going to be seventeen in less than two months and I still haven’t went to get my permit. I have a paranoia of driving and it prevents me from having the motivation to read my state’s driving manual and to actually go and take the test. My mom thinks it’s stupid of me to think like that, but there’s like twenty car crashes a day—probably more. And that scares the hell out of me so I just keep putting it off.

In other news, my first day of senior year is August 10th and I am freaking the FUCK OUT. I signed up to take AP Biology, but now I’m starting to feel a tad nervous and regretful because hardly anyone ever passes that class due to the obnoxiously dimwitted teaching style of the teacher. I heard only one person passed the end-of-the-year exam out of ten last year. ONE—when there’s a solid chance of getting a 3-5 on the damn thing!

My schedule is decked out in college classes. I know I probably shouldn’t disclose my schedule, but I’m meant to be taking AP Biology—as aforementioned—College English, two dual credit classes from a local community college, (one’s a history class and the other one is a literature class) Pre-Calculus, Public Speaking, and Anatomy I. That’s for the first semester—I plan on taking College Algebra and a few more dual credit classes in the next semester, including the other classes that will last year-round.

So this means I have that to worry about AND getting into college AND learning to manage finances AND ALL THIS OTHER SHIT THAT ADULTS HAVE TO DO. Can I please just become the air or something, you know, nOT HUMAN? Maybe a dog, so I can depend on others for the rest of my live.

I plan on going to a college with a work-study program. They don’t allow students to live off-campus or have cars, so that’s a win-win for me! My other choice of college is one that’s really pretentious and expensive but is known for having outstanding education. I’m not shooting for Harvard or Yale because I’m an incredibly average person. Sucks to be unremarkable, I know, but meh.

Anyway, to continue on with my rant, I want to talk about rich people. I have nothing against you all that have been blessed with money from birth—I’m merely upset with the fact that I get no recognition for my accomplishments just because I’m not privileged. Guess what, y'all—they got me excited at the end of last semester by announcing a new round of AP classes, but literally all of them were for the freaking juniors. Two of the kids in that class were teacher’s pets, and since my own mother works down at the school with both of their mothers, it didn’t take a genius to deduce what sort of Inside shenanigans were going on.

Get this—they legit called all of us that signed up for AP Language to go back down and change out our schedules. Like, what the fuck?

I had a dream the other day where I moved schools and fell in love with some dude that was also transferring. Best dream of my life, I’ll tell you that.

Anyway… again… It just feels like to me that school only ever tries to please privileged kids with parents that are doctors, teachers (specifically ones born into privileged families or related to the superintendent), attorneys, and accountants. No one wants to advocate for the middle-man, and that leads to all us poor kids being singled out. Whatever, though, right?

Sometimes I just feel like everything I do amounts to nothing. Is it wrong to feel that way? I look at my writing and think I’m worse than Stephanie Meyer. Apologies to Stephanie Meyer fans, but her writing WAS dedicated to those of young age and without a moral compass for controlling temperament found within men.

*clears throat* Ahem. Anyways…

I plan on going into a dual major of political science and history—or English, if worse comes to worse. I really don’t want to become rich because then I’ll be targeted and judged for the same things I loathe right now. However, my ambitions correlate with a need to prove my worth and do something great with my life, so whether or not I become what I hate, it doesn’t matter if I’ve managed to become a model for my relatives and former friends.

The best revenge is to succeed and be humble about it. I might be arrogant about my schoolwork, but that’s only towards friends and relatives when they believe that I don’t deserve to be successful in what I do. Then and there, I become arrogant. Even if I do not necessarily believe my own comments, I still say them to make others lay off me.

Returning to the thought at-hand, my college of choice is very liberal and hipster-esque, which suits my personal interests. Also, it's known for its study-abroad program, free internships, and its education, which are three things that matter dearly for me. I hope to get an internship at either the NAACP or the White House. Maybe even just a visit to see Mount Rushmore.

Teddy Roosevelt is my favorite president, and I know more things about him than I do my own father. Thank you, Borglum, for having Teddy recognized as one of the greatest presidents to have ever lived!

Seriously, though. He even left the legacy of having the highest percentage of voters when he ran as a third-party candidate just to spite Taft. Like, wow.

… I’m getting off track here.

Having anxiety fucking sucks. See, last year I had to a lot of these “roundtable discussions” in my AP U.S. History class, and I managed to make it through on all of them except for a few towards the end of the second semester. I even had one on my fucking birthday, which sucked majorly. They were a lot more difficult to manage than debates. I could handle debates; they didn’t involve having to force myself to speak up or face the consequences of a zero.

I loved APUSH—I really did—but now I feel like I’m an excuse for a history lover because I got a 4 on the APUSH exam. Not a 5—a 4. I have failed you, Teddy. (RIP, Bull Moose. Not even a bullet could have stopped you, but a failed test grade sure as hell stopped me lol.)

Anyways, if you haven’t noticed, I’m American. I’m also white—and according to this random ancestry website I found, I originate from Sweden and Italy. I guess that’s cool… but I don’t trust the internet so uh…

Back to stress! …That’s a good way to refer to going back to school. Just replace “hellhole” with “stress.” Basic synonyms, everyone!

I have bad friends. All of them are assholes and think I’m a bitch because I’m “skin and bones” and like to “flaunt it” just because I wear decently nice clothes. I know they’d be offended if I told them it’s because I feel uncomfortable not wearing something that makes me feel happy with myself. It’s not me thinking I look good—it’s a confidence-boost. Am I meant to be looking for a damned boyfriend just by wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a blouse? Is that how life works?

I remember in eighth grade I had this friend who told me I looked like a prep, and then she made me feel so bad about “trying to fit in” that I started wearing jeans and hoodies to school. It hurts to think about how much impact people’s words have over you—and half of time, it’s never a positive influence. For me, it’s never been positive.

Well, I’m sorry for burdening you all with this rant. I know it’s rather… long, but I just needed to get it off my chest. Keeps hurting when I see everyone else finishing up projects while I’m still sketching out the blueprints. I’ll get back to posting things tonight and tomorrow. I’m sorry I didn’t post anything today. It’s rather pitiful of me to put off things when I know you all are the only reason I can even stay motivated anymore.

Have a nice night, (or morning, depending on where you are) my darlings. 💕

[leaveharmony]

@yungcrybby-anonymousbosch  Consider me near rambled out :) 1.       How old were you when you first started watching?

I wish I could answer that with 100% accuracy.  I know for certain I was by 1990 (8 years old), but, if my earliest memory is correct and not a falsely-implanted one than it would have been as early as 1986 (4 or so).  Probably I was casually aware of it as a very young child and then slowly got more fanatic about it (this might have coincided with the first real meteoric rise of WWF / more available programming).

2.       What company or companies did you watch?   Early-on it was exclusively WWF, I'd say around 1998 I started occasionally tuning into WCW.

3.       What is your earliest wrestling memory?   I would swear up and and down that I remember Hogan and King Kong Bundy in the blue steel cage at Wrestlemania 2.  I used to watch wrestling with my grandfather (pop pop) at my grandparent's house, I remember they had a textured green carpet at the time and I'd lay on the floor...I swear, that I remember at least some of the extended family going there to watch WM2.  But nobody else can tell me if this actually happened.  If not, then I very clearly remember one of Jake Robert's snakes biting Randy Savage, in the ring (1991?).  I definitely remember the brief time before the Undertaker's first face turn.  And I very vaguely recall everybody being really excited when Hogan bodyslammed Andre the Giant (WM3, 1987). 4.       What attracted you to wrestling?   Mmm...I really don't know.  There's sort of a chicken and the egg aspect to it, I'm not sure I could pin down exactly why I gravitated towards anything as a child, but wrestling is even harder to figure out.  Pop pop used to get quite involved with it and we didn't really have a lot in common, so that might have been part of it.  Conversely, my parents were openly mocking about it, so, it might have also been a touch of my old tendency to be fiercely contrary.  I can def. tell you that the Texas Tornado was one of my favs because of all the fringes on his boots, and I liked the Ultimate Warrior's facepaint and all of Flair's glittery robes, and the like...so bright colours and pageantry might have had something to do with it.  And I was nuts about Miss Elizabeth in all her dated finery lol.  Big-boom 80's/early 90's WWF was certainly geared towards kids and I was right in that target audience.   5.       What is your favorite aspect of wrestling? I've always been attracted to characters more than plots, yunno?  In books or films, or series, if I like enough of the characters I'll stick with it even if the plotting is kinda terrible.  So I think it's just the personalities and people, tbh.  For a very long time I wondered if I'd ever been a -wresting fan- or just an -Undertaker fan-, a question I can now answer with the former, but, it's the wrestlers I'm fondest of that keep me involved, I think. 6.       What do you think the general public gets wrong about wrestling? “They don't really get hurt” would be my number one pet peeve misconception.  My father, for instance, would be one of those guys JR was loudly denouncing during HitC/KotR 1998 who would completely sincerely say “Yeah, but they know how to fall.” after watching a man fall 13ft through a table onto a concrete floor.  Which is why I would never watch it anywhere near him. 7.       Do you have any friends who also watch wrestling? There's you!  :D  I have more now than I used to, I was a solitary practitioner for a long time.  Now I'd say as many as five, anyway...and I've converted my mother lol. 8.       Did you eventually start watching other companies? A very limited bit of WCW (1998-the end of the company)..I would sometimes turn it over during commercial breaks in Raw/Smackdown.  I watched some TNA (whenever they got the deal w/ Spike TV -2006 or so when I couldn't stand looking at Jeff Jarrett anymore). 9.       What has kept you interested wrestling? Every single time I've stopped watching and returned, the return was because of the Undertaker.  He’d be the catalyst to the reaction which would follow... 10.   Are you interested in any other wrestling companies? Gateway-drugged by Shinsuke, I'm currently consuming as much NJPW as is possible by one single mortal human being on a linear timeline. 11.   What, if any, barriers are there to you watching other wrestling companies you’re interested in? Availability, relative ignorance and time constraints, I suppose?  It's sort of...akin to jumping into a longrunning comic series with no sense of the history of the lore.  Can be a little bit overwhelming and I think I'd have to do promotions one at a time.  It was different with NJPW and Shinsuke, because I knew at least one face and name so I had a jumping off point, and then through his matches -with- other people, came to know others as well.  I took notes! 12.   Have you ever been to a live wrestling show? Yep!  I think my first house show was in 1993? in a hockey arena in Sudbury, Ontario.  My second was in 1999 at the Skydome in Toronto.  My third was last summer at Ricoh Colliseum in Toronto, then last November I attended Takeover: Toronto and Survivor Series both at the ACC in Toronto, followed by another house show in March (Ricoh again). 13.   Have you ever been to a local wrestling company’s shows? Oddly no!  There's a promotion that sometimes did shows in my old highschool's gym but I never actually went - probably because I had nobody to go with. 14.   Do you tell others (friends, acquaintances) that you’re a wrestling fan? Why or why not? Historically it would depend on the person - there was a lot of indefensible stuff going on in the Attitude Era and I think it pretty justifiably coloured public perception of wrestling fans, so, sometimes saying it outright was bracing for an argument.  Now I've got zero shame about it - I'm a lifer, I've accepted it. 15.   Aside from wrestling, what other fandoms are you involved in? That kind of depends on your idea of “involved in,” as I tend to stay fairly quiet.  But to limit the answer to things I've actively posted about and discussed on Tumblr (within the past year or so), the brief rundown would be Star Trek (DS9), Fallout 4, the Dragon Age series, and Mass Effect. 16.   Where does wrestling rank among your other fandoms? It's currently sitting at a pretty smug #1 but these things do fluctuate. 17.   What Is your least favorite thing about wrestling? The target audience doesn't do it many favors, if you consider the target audience to have shifted during the attitude era to mean “Entitled straight white men aged 13-35.”  Them being pandered/catered to was responsible for a lot of the things I found off-putting.  To some extent, those things have gone by the wayside in WWE due to public trading/sponsorship (I'm not for a second gonna credit them with ‘shifting attitudes’).  Misogyny, objectification, racism, homophobia, ableism, etc.  In those respects it's at least less cringeworthy than it used to be, but sometimes there's backsliding...I find the jingoism in American-based pro wrestling very irritating, as well. 18.   What is the first imagine or concept that comes to mind when you think about wrestling? It's funny, but no matter how many times they've changed the colours over the years, I still picture the ring with a red top rope, a white middle rope, and a blue bottom rope. 19.   What do you wish wrestling had more of?  In other words, what is lacking from wrestling that you wish were present? Does “Thought put into it” count? lol.  Honestly most of the criticisms I'd level at wrestling would actually be directed at WWE.  One of the reasons I'm enjoying NJPW so much is it just makes so much more logical sense from a booking standpoint and there's so much less fiddling around with awkward scripted ‘sketches’ and forced drama.  WWE books like a bad reality show whose megalomaniac scripters are passed out in a table full of cocaine and money, so trains of thought don't actually reach the station. 20.   Grievances? Anything that bugs you about wrestling or the way it is presented? Commercial breaks on the WWE Network? Teasing that a certain someone was “up next” but only showing a video package?” Hahahahaha is it possible this question was inspired by Recent Disappointments?  XD Again, a lot of this would be directed at WWE.  Commercial breaks during matches, god, I can't even tell you how wrongheaded that is.  It completely takes me out of the story; I remember when it hardly ever happened, and when it did JR would apologize profusely for it, but now you've got a match with 2 or 3 commercial breaks in the middle of it, if it's something I'm only passingly interested in sometimes I've forgotten who's even in the ring by the time we get back to the action.  It's the equivalent of a drama going to commercial while somebody's in the middle of a sentence, and returning after they've finished making their point. And again, with poor damned planning and stubborn refusal to accept criticism or feedback.  Time was, if something went over like a lead balloon, it'd be reworked or tweaked or dropped altogether, but now...if it's something they want to happen badly enough they'll stick with a plan no matter how disastrously stupid or actively harmful to their own interests it is.  I'm thinking specifically of the idiocy that is having a man hold your top title who will /maybe/ show up five more times this entire year, so he can drop it to a man 80% of the audience has absolutely no interest in seeing whatsoever, in a match that will probably be terrible.   Oddly, sometimes we have the same problem in the opposite direction - being dead set on an idea while simultaneously waffling on committing to it; consider the repeated delay of Eva Marie's “debut match” which went on over a month, culminated in her being suspended offscreen, and likely her retirement from active competition.  Also the entire debacle with “Emmalina,” wherein the writers were 100% behind the idea of changing Emma's gimmick apparently without even once consulting Emma about whether she was comfortable with the new direction.  Similiarly the endless -promo videos- for the Shining Stars, and Darren Young's reboots...lengthy wait times followed by lacklustre debuts followed by essentially, no actual plan for any of them.  (and yes, there is an unspoken fear here related to Recent Disappointments, I’m sure it’s shared) 21.   And finally, anything you’d like to add to this questionnaire? *thinks a moment*  Shinsuke is the bees knees.  That's all.   22. How active are you in the online wrestling community? Not at all or do you occasionally visit wrestling forums and message boards? Do you read wrestling newsletters or listen to podcasts?Once upon a time I will admit to being a member of the “Brides of Kane,” and that's all the information you're getting on the subject lol.  I've been delighted to find an active community on tumblr, as it turns out it's more fun to watch / bitch about wresting in company.  I check the news sites daily - this is always true when I'm watching.And I occasionally give Jericho's podcast a listen, or run through some of Xavier's gaming videos.

[kpopboysimagines]

Press Play

Pairing : Taeil (Block B) X Reader

Genre : Fluff

Word Count : 1245

Requested : Yesss!

A/N : This took way too long lol. Enjoy though!

- Admin Kiwi

A permanent engraving on the skin is a special mark which’s meaning could be understood by no one else

“No that’s too cliche!” Taeil exclaimed, pushing your laptop away.

“Babe, if we’re going to get couple tattoos you’ve got to at least have an idea in your mind!” you scoffed, plopping yourself back down on the couch to continue scrolling the depths of Pinterest.

“I just want a more unique one. If I’m going to have something permanently engraved on my skin, it should be something that no other person should have. It’s kind of like our special mark you know?” he also settles down on the couch, pulling you in close.

“Ooh that one looks nice.” He points at an extravagant tattoo laid out on the back of two people that connected into a masterpiece once they aligned themselves.

“Easy there. Let’s just start off small since this is my first tattoo.” you’ve heard that tattoos are painful, and beginners should definitely start small. Plus, you weren’t really fond of needles.

“Alright, we’ll go for something smaller. It’s getting late though. You should head to bed.” Taeil presses his lips to the top of your head as a goodnight kiss.

“Aren’t you going to sleep, too?”

“Sorry, I have work to do.” although you were proud of Taeil for being such a diligent man, you weren’t fond of his unhealthy habits that’d developed since he was so incaptivated in his work.

“You’ve been staying up past dawn these past few days! You need at least a little rest in your life.” you stood up and tugged on his sleeve, giving a clear indication that you weren’t letting go until he obliged. Reluctantly, he closes his laptop, and follows you towards the bedroom. You give a grateful smile, happy that he was putting his health before his work.

As you both lied down in bed, you realized how long it’s been since you’ve slept with his warmth by your side. The tours, concerts, and late work sessions had taken it’s toll on the time you’ve gotten to spend together with your boyfriend, so you were not going to let one second of this time spoil. It’s been easily at least a month the last time you’ve fallen asleep amidst his fresh flowery scent. Seeing as your sleeping conditions seemed ideal, you found yourself drifting to sleep rather quickly.

Taeil ever so gently turns over to check if you were asleep. He stayed there for a while staring at his lover’s face, admiring your every trait. Although he wished to gaze at your beauty longer, he had a deadline, and was forced to stare instead at a computer screen. He hoped the brightness from his laptop wouldn’t disturb your slumber, but of course, that is exactly what it did.

Groggily, you open your eyes, only to squint at the glaring white light. Once your eyes had adjusted, you could see that Taeil had returned to working through the night hours. He didn’t notice your awakening, and you chose to keep it that way. You enjoyed watching Taeil work, even in complete silence. Something about his typing was soothing, and even if you couldn’t understand his music-editing programs, it still brought interest within you.

“That’s it!” you abruptly sat up in bed, making Taeil jump from shock.

“W-what?” he stutters, still recovering from his astonishment.

“I know exactly what couple tattoo to get!” you exclaimed, your voice laced with excitement.

“You see these musical player symbols?”  you pointed at the array of signs at the top of his program. He nods slowly, still confused to what you were implying.

“I was thinking that each of us gets an array of these symbols, but one of us gets one with the pause button, and the other with the play button.” Taeil could see the inspiration in your eyes, and your excitement was contagious.

“As much as I love that idea, I love the idea of you getting your beauty sleep more okay? We’ll talk about this tomorrow.” he says in a soft tone.

“But you’re not going to sleep…” you muttered begrudgingly.

“I promise I’ll sleep soon okay?” he kisses your temple, and helps you lay back down, applying a fresh cover of blankets over you.

“So is this the design you two are looking for?” the tattoo artist holds out his sketch, and you nod. The tattoo was simple and clean, just the one you imagined. The play/pause buttons were graphed as the centerpiece, so it would be enlarged against the other icons.

“Which person will get which design?” the artist asks, and before you could say anything, Taeil intercepts.

“I’ll get the one with the play button, whilst she receives the one with the pause button.” you didn’t really have anything to contradict so you just nodded in agreement.

“So who’ll go first?” you impulsively shove Taeil towards the tattoo bed, obviously not ready to be inked.

“It’s her first time getting a tattoo.” Taeil explains to the artist, receiving an understanding nod in return. You watched in mesmerization as the tattoo machine spurt droplets of black across Taeil’s wrist.

“Does it hurt?”

“Barely.” he reassures.

“And you’re finished sir.” the tattoo artist wipes the last remnants of excess ink, and steps back for the reveal.

“It looks beautiful.” you gasped once Taeil held up his wrist for showcase.  

“Your turn babe.” Taeil squeezes your hand after his had been bandaged. You swallow hard, and walked slowly towards the tattoo bed.

“It’s only going to sting a little alright?” the artist says while preparing the machine. You look over at Taeil, and he flashes a smile and two thumbs up. You try to smile back, but it probably came out as an awkward one that bared absolutely no confidence.

The tattoo artist gently takes your wrist, and you tense up at their touch.

“Easy there now. I’m just applying the ointment for the transfer paper.” you relax slightly, but you can still feel your heart rate speeding. The artist peels the paper away, and you see the desired design.

“Remember, this is only going to sting a little bit.” you shut your eyes as the machine nears your skin. You impulsively shut your eyes, scared of what’s to happen.

Suddenly you feel a jolt as the machine starts whirring. Surprisingly, the pain wasn’t as strong as you thought it was, but it was still there. You slowly opened your eyes, and looked back to flash a now more confident smile.

After a good 20 minutes, the artist steps away from you. You look down at your wrists to see the beautiful design.

“Now that wasn’t too bad right?” you could only nod in reply as you were still enamoured with your new tattoo. You had to restrain yourself from tracing your fingers over the fresh ink.

“Thank you so much.” you finally say, breaking your gaze from your wrists. The artist bandages your tattoo, and sends you off after you pay.

“Do you like it?” Taeil asks you after walking out of the parlor.

“Like it? I love it!” you exclaimed, captivated by the tattoos.

“Wait, I have a question though. Why were you so intent on which tattoos we got?” you finally got to ask.

“Well, you have the pause button because you make the world around me stand still.” he replies cheekily.

“And the moment when I met you was the time the song of my life started playing.” you fired back, going in for a loving kiss, which Taeil un-hesitantly returned.

[junker-town]

When football goes away, what do we do with our weekends?

We asked St. Louis Rams fans and, surprise, Sundays weren’t ruined.

Football is about rhythms. The snap, the catch, the throw. The hit, the crunch, the thud. The drums of the high school marching band beating steady, the speakers of NFL stadiums pumping out top-40 hits. The refs blowing whistles, the players making guttural sounds as the huddle breaks. The stands chanting names, clapping hands.

As a fan, you feel these cadences somewhere in your chest. Maybe the pit of your stomach. They define your Sundays. They bleed into your Monday nights, your Thursday nights, your Friday nights, your Saturdays. For those who love it, football is a metronome that ticks throughout the fall to structure the weeks and order the days. It ticks back through time, too, anchoring you to your school, your family, or your home.

All sports do this, but football has become Sunday Service in America in a way that basketball, baseball, and hockey — with their massive, sprawling schedules and nightly games — have not.

So what happens when football goes away?

There’s no real way to figure this out, because football is woven into American culture like the stitching on a Starter jacket. But as people start to ponder the future of the sport — will parents let their kids play while evidence mounts that, hey, football might not be so great for you? — it’s a valid question to ask.

The best simulation of an America without football is to check in with the fans the Rams left behind in St. Louis a year after the team relocated to Los Angeles. I thought about finding a high school or college that no longer had a program, but I wanted to talk to the biggest group of people who had suddenly lost the team they loved. Rams fans (well, mostly ex-Rams fans, as it turned out) seemed like my best bet.

I put a call out on social media and got emails from more than 60 people. There wasn’t anything scientific about this. I didn’t target any particular cross section of any particular demographic, so the responses aren’t necessarily true for the entire region, nor is it indicative of what taking away a team elsewhere might be like.

But it is a glimpse into a collection of fan psyches. St. Louis wasn’t the biggest football town, you might argue — not compared to Dallas, Boston, Pittsburgh, or Green Bay. The Rams weren’t that good. It still was a football town, though, one that is now suing the NFL for a whole lot of money. And many people still loved the Rams.

The split was ugly. It left a group of angry, disillusioned, and bitter fans in its wake, many of whom described it like a nasty divorce. The ones I talked to took the time to answer an eight-question survey, often with close to 2,000 words. They wrote about their families, their team, their time, and their new, post-Rams lives. Many of them said writing it all down was cathartic. Their responses are below, edited only for length.

Several themes came through my inbox. Some weren’t surprising, such as how painful it was when the Rams left.

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

It was kind of like it was like a divorce. That’s the best way to put it. Where you’re trying everything you can to get your spouse to stay, trying to go to counseling, trying to buy them a new car, trying to work it out. And they just want nothing to do with you because they’ve got a girlfriend in L.A.

— James Kendall, Western Kentucky

It was a mixture of anger and sadness. With everything that happened in Ferguson a few years ago, it is hard seeing St Louis completely trashed by a slime ball like Stan Kroenke (who somehow is in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame). I was angry at the NFL for allowing the farce of the relocation process to take place. Their "guidelines" are a joke designed to give political and legal cover to greedy billionaires that simply extort local governments and fans dedicated to their hometown team.

— Alex Kuhn, Wildwood

All sorts of things. Extreme anger, mainly, which I expressed in my mind by visualizing me Ric Flair chopping Stanley Steamer Kroenke's throat into oblivion. Also, I went through a semi-severe depression for a few days. I cried some the night after the relocation was announcing, sobbing in my bed until my now fiancee reminded me that real people die every day and maybe that would be something more worth crying for. I then ignored her and weeped some more, until the a copious amount of tears ran down into my neckbeard and made me feel like a wet dog. That was my cue to stop.

— Zachary Poelker, St. Louis

Many were somewhat devastated that their kids wouldn’t be able to grow up with the same team they had. Some felt they were losing the franchise that connected them to their parents at St. Louis itself. Almost all of them said it was harder than they expected it to be.

I’m 18, and I’ve been a fan for all my life because my dad is from St. Louis. I’m currently a high school in senior. I go to school about 30 minutes south of San Francisco. [...] My dad loves the city and my grandparents live there but for me the heritage of the city will always revolve around sports. Currently, I’m in search for a new favorite NFL team. Now that the Raiders are out of the question (because they are moving from the Bay Area), I’m going to have to turn to the 49ers or the Chiefs because they are the only other Missouri team. I was planning to be in St. Louis a lot more, specifically at this sports bar named Lester’s with some of the best fans in the world: Missouri sports fan.

— Ellie Lieberman, San Francisco

I have a 9 month old son. My wife and I found out she was pregnant about a month before the relocation vote had happened. It's is really sad to think I'll never be able to take my son to a game in our hometown. [...] Some of my best memories of time with my Father were from the 99 Rams season. The Rams had been a pretty rough team to watch in their first few years in town. It reached a point where every Sunday, my dad couldn't give tickets away at Sunday church. But when 99 rolled around, we had Marshall Faulk, we had Holt, Bruce, Hakim....it was on. I went to every playoff game at home. I remember dropping to my knees at our house during the Super Bowl praying to GOD PLEASE, PLEASE DON'T LET THE TITANS SCORE. The Greatest Show on Turf in my opinion was the most excited team to watch of all time.

— Christopher Marischen, St. Louis

Many fans said they weren’t sure what they’d do with themselves on Sundays before the season started, but ultimately found that life without a team wasn’t so bad.

I thought I was going to still watch football. My dad and I watched it every Sunday for years. But I ended up doing everything else. I went to MO Wine Country with friends. I went to special events. I went to parks. I went to family events. I drove up to Chicago to watch the Cards-Cubs at Wrigley. It was the best Fall I have had in years. I accomplished so much and never wasted a Sunday on the couch.

—Jeff Dreste, St. Louis

I'm a proud family man. I'm happy to spend time with my daughter and wife.

— Daryl, St. Louis

I thought I’d sleep, eat terrible food, and watch terrible 80's movies featuring Michelle Pfeiffer on the CW because I am too poor to afford cable. And I ended up sleeping, eating terrible food, and watching terrible 80's movies featuring Michelle Pfeiffer on the CW because I am too poor to afford cable. Oh I also go to the grocery store on some Sundays now, maybe about twice/month, which beats my previous high of never going to the grocery store ever so…

— Zachary Poelker, St. Louis

The Super Bowl was the first NFL game I watched start to finish last season. I watched here and there during the playoffs, mostly as background noise, and if I was with somebody who was watching a game I wouldn't storm out of the room in protest. But mostly, I stopped caring. I'd run errands or watch other sports or watch Netflix. It's actually pretty amazing how much more productive of a person I was--it turns out that drinking beer at 9 a.m. on Sundays was not the most efficient use of my time.

— John F., St. Louis

About half of the responders said that they kept watching the NFL but chose new teams like the Titans, Chiefs, and Packers (a few people said they went with Green Bay because the team is publicly funded). Others shifted their focused to root for college programs. Some said they hoped St. Louis got an expansion team again someday.

But a lot of them just ... well, stopped watching football. And some of those people said that they could easily imagine a world without the NFL, since that’s basically what their lives had become. For many, fantasy teams were the only reason they paid any attention at all.

Photo by Donald Miralle/Getty Images

At the end of the day, football is just a game, and I refuse to let the greed of a few disrupt my life. The sun still comes up in the morning, I still have a family and a job, and St. Louis still has franchises like the Cardinals and Blues that are run with fan-interest in mind, not just the financial interest of a crooked owner. I miss caring about the NFL. Much of my pigskin interest has transferred over to Saturdays and the college game. Hopefully my love for the NFL will return at some point, but right now I feel like a guy who just got dumped by his girlfriend for a richer, flashier guy who will take her for granted and never love her the way that I did.

— David Jones, Fenton, MO

As you can tell with my other answers, the rhythm of my life has not be disrupted at all. I've got more free time on NFL Sundays than ever. I can now spend more time and energy on NCAA football and rooting for my not-so-good Mizzou Tigers. :)

— Ben Choi, Columbus, MO

"Rams" had become part of my friends and my lexicon of language. Sort of tongue-in-cheek, but we used "Rams" as a replacement for anything positive. "You got a 98% on your biology final?! Rams!". Honestly, that is the only real rhythm disruptor. Outside of a long-running joke, the only hangup was finding a shelter to give the dozen or so Rams shirts and jerseys I had collected over the years.

— Timothy Barnes, St. Louis

I hope in my lifetime the NFL ceases to exist - not because they took my team away, but that process definitely opened my eyes to the creepy machinations of the league and allowed me to critically see all the complete shit they are able to get away with. Of course, 'my' team moving pales in comparison to real-life issues affecting actual people - like player safety, long-term healthcare of ex-players, co-opting cancer awareness drives to make cash, bilking municipalities into subsidizing billionaires' clubhouses, using 'patriotism' to make cash / pump up the USA's military-industrial complex, mishandling off-field issues involving players, et al. Those are all real issues that this sociopathic league gets away with every single year. Shame on me, I suppose, for not turning against the league until it affected me personally.

— Jack Kelly, St. Louis

Aside from making money, the one thing that the NFL seems to be best at is angering large portions of the country. Some Rams fans even said they started rooting for the Patriots — perhaps the most hated team in the league — because they were also battling the NFL.

If you make people hate you, they won’t wish you well. That’s not surprising. But what was surprising to me was how many of those people: a) said they were living happy lives without football, and b) were as surprised as I was by that turn of events.

This is a fairly simple takeaway. You might think, “Well, yeah, of course it’s not the end of the world, it’s just a game,” but I think that underestimates just how much it means to people. How baked into the schedule of people’s lives it can become.

The fact that many fans seemed relieved to realize they were capable of structuring their lives themselves is important. It shows that a league constantly trying to snake its tentacles as firmly into as many fans’ hours as it can might not always have as firm a grip as you might imagine. Many fans said they were happier now that their Sundays were free of Stan Kroenke and Jeff Fisher (although everyone’s are now free of Fisher — 7-9, baby). They spent more time with family and friends. Caring less — or not at all — about football gave them stretches of free time that they previously thought they didn’t want.

When I started this, I was expecting only negative reactions to the void football left. I was expecting people to say they missed their personal connection to the league, that they wanted their team back more than anything they put in its place. I assumed the American appetite for the NFL was insatiable.

Instead, I found a small pocket of people in a small corner of the country who have learned the (very) hard way that life goes on without football. And that sometimes, losing the thing you love can actually set you free.

[megamanxfanfics]

S.IV Episode 0 is done.

YES!!

I finally finished a 1st draft of S.IV Episode 0.  Gonna give it a full read today and make any necessary adjustments.  Then I’m going to post it!!

Further commentary will be added later.  In the meantime, look forward to reading “S.IV - Episode 0:  A Different World”  soooooon.

.     [4/12]

..    [4/13]

...   [4/14]

....  [4/15]

It’s later.  Let’s talk about the episode.

Starting off with the very beginning of a Season III Flashback was a risk, but it ended up being a very smart one to take.

By chance, Shield Sheldon’s death, which ties into Gate’s slow motivation toward his X6 disposition, featured Dragoon and his unit.  Which ended up being perfect regarding his major turn of events by the end of this episode.

Writing a nice, peaceful, happy conversation between Gate and Alia about the Sky Lagoon felt like a perfect way to set the new time-frame of X4 while also re-introducing them.

This was another thing I was unsure of, because if you read Xtreme 2′s Epilogue, I planted a seed there that Alia was about to go after Ground Scaravich.

For quite a while, I was mulling over, “How do I do that death scene without it coming off as completely random.”  Then I decided to play the slow build up to that with these Pre-bumper scenes.

You can count on seeing Alia take down Scaravich, but you’re gonna have to be patient and wait for the flashbacks to catch up to current time.  (Which won’t take long, really.)

But yes.  As of this peaceful conversation with Gate, you can surmise that she has taken care of Scaravich, gotten over it and then brought up this new exciting news to Gate.  Perhaps even as an ice-breaker.  Who knows?  =)

Moving on.  We get to the actual episode.

That somber Cain Funeral took forever.

Don’t ask me where I got Edwin from.  It just rang so well that I had to go for it.

Jonathon Crowne was a sweet name that I pulled out of my ass for the pastor as well.  Definitely wanted to make this funeral service sound as authentic as possible and I looked up sermon formats and stuff and everything.

I found a great poem, that almost fits in with Cain’s life-style perfectly, so I had to quote it.

I already wrote a whole thing about how I made great progress on the funeral scene, but then it got botched up when transferring data to different computers.

Regarding the planning process, I definitely wrote short dialogue or near-full scenes for later stuff too, first.  So when this botch up happened, the silver-lining was that it only affected the Funeral.  Which at the time, definitely seemed like the hardest part to re-create.  However, there was a tiny bit of General/Colonel stuff that remained, as well as a very different, but still semi-decent set up scene for Dragoon who was about to teleport to Burn Dino-Rex.

So anyway.  After the Cain Funeral, I had fun introducing our Mystery Narrator.  It turned out way better than I thought it would, but I wonder how well it will be received.  [Can you guess who it is??]

The Narrator was the perfect person to guide us through the non-transitional things like giving us quick exposition about Xtreme 2, which just happened.  Retelling this became necessary because the Repliforce was involved.  It served as a re-introduction to them.  Then, it served as a great transition to Sigma’s continuity, which I’m actually very proud of.

Do not want to forget to mention the camaraderie between Colonel, X, Zero and Iris.  I really enjoyed that peaceful, sad/silly talk between the 4 of them.  Establishing a rapport right now is huge at this time, because then we’re gonna really feel it later when these guys inevitably have to fight each other.

I also really liked being able to delve into X’s psyche regarding the absence of Marty and his recent tryst with Berkana.

So.

With the aid of our trusty Narrator, we were able to recall the events of Xtreme 2, the immense help that Repliforce was, and I was even able to squeeze a quick cameo of Red recruiting people in there.

I will fully admit, this recruitment scene is absolutely gratuitous and unnecessary.  It actually messes up the pacing of the Narrator’s recap.  But...  I always pictured doing SOMETHING with Red in the first episode of X4, since I started this project.  So I simply Had to put it down.  With the way I formatted this thing, that was kind of the only place for it.

..Either way..  After the funeral was concluded and I was able to show everyone Leaving the place, we finally got to Sigma’s big bad re-introduction.

This was a scene that took a short bit of motivation to write, because the only idea I had was just that Split Mushroom and Isoc do something sciency to bring Sigma back to the physical plain.

One thing that was awesome about the Xtreme 2 Epilogue, was that I didn’t exactly have to show how Cyber Peacock brought back Sigma in Cyber Space.  It can just sort of be assumed that Sigma’s virus form was already in Peacock’s programming, as we already saw him turn Isoc in the very beginning of Xtreme 2.

...That said, I enjoyed concocting this ‘energy converter’ machine and imagining that his ‘DNA Signature’ was being shot into a physical body.  Furthermore, I liked the idea that he always had that grim-reaper cloak design ready to go at all times.  [I want to sort of keep it a mystery as to what he really looks like, until the end.  Not that his design underneath the cloak is really all that great.  It’s very X-Men if you think about it.  (Think short-haired Bishop circa 1998)]

Anyway.  I always love Villain behind-the-scenes stuff.  I feel like I didn’t do it enough for Doppler in Season III.  But now in this moment, I could have our guys establish a rapport, and set out a new plan in real-time.  I also loved being able to name-drop Doppler once more, regarding where Cyber Peacock came from.  This was another wonderful tie-in to the flashback at the very beginning of the episode.  The idea that Cyber Peacock was truly his last contingency plan.  Its an incredible thought.  Especially since Doppler was around for Xtreme 1, and absolutely knew about the Maverick Hunter’s troubles in Cyber Space.

So.

They make their plan to create Dark Necrobat and plot a bit while they study the Repliforce.  And then its finally time to set up that meeting scene between Sigma and the General.

To make the General not seem so dimwitted, I had him already know he was Sigma.  Just not intimidated by him.  Because there’s no way in that scene that General wouldn’t be suspicious of an ominous forboding grim reaper type figure. 

I was handicapped by the Canon dialogue, to not be able to have the General ask how Sigma came back.  But sometimes in life, things happen so fast, you don’t get to say what you wanted.  So, this is something I’ll get to play with in the future I think.

At this point...  I didn’t know where to go.

I knew that Dragoon was gonna fight Dino-Rex, but I needed a good way to get there.  I had thought about X and inserting a training scene way earlier, and then I realized there was no room for it, so I dismissed the idea.

But now, I realized this was the perfect place to put it.  1.  It refocuses us on our Main Character.  2.  It shows us where he is at physically & potentially.  The whole point of that scene was to show that, he’s beginning to explore a new form, but he literally can’t get there yet due to the limitations of his Third Armor.  3.  It shows us where X is at mentally.  He is dry-eyed and focussed once again.  I got to name drop Doppler & Berkana once more, realizing that at this time, in November, Xtreme 2 only happened 5 months ago in June and that Season III ended in April.

Its been a shitty year for X where a lot of friends died, and he had near-death experiences himself.  Not only that, but Doppler made him realize he has some wicked dark potential within him in the form of iX.  Something that he vows never to become.

Giving X this dark edge definitely opens up the character to new possibilities.  The Manga infers that his new X4 armor has a dark power within it, to which grants him the power of the Ultimate Armor, but at a price.  I really like that a lot.

I want to adopt something similar, but not copy-cat it completely.

So anyway.  This Training Scene was the perfect transition to shifting to Maverick Hunter business, and finally getting to that Magma Dragoon/14th Unit scene that I wrote as early as the planning stages.

I’ll admit, it runs a little long, but it absolutely tells us why he has to investigate Burn Dino-Rex.  And I’d like to think I did a good enough job to explain why he had to go it alone.  Dragoon felt that he’d get NO information if they all went as an intimidating group.

Then came the Dino-Rex scene.  This was new.  I only wrote it the day I posted this entry.

I think I might’ve felt the pressure of being at 35 pages into the script at this point.  I was WAY over my usual page count limit.  But I had to keep this going. I had a lengthy Season III Ep. 0 too.  And probably the same for Xtreme 2.

So, I did my best to move their quarrel along w/o making this a major be-all end-all fight.

Cutting to the 14th Unit was the perfect move for me, but perhaps at the expense of the reader.  We see their reactions to the fight and then their feed gets cut off.  [That was the whole point of the scene.]  But then, dialogue wise, it opened up this new avenue at a discrepancy between Freeze Alopex and Blaze.  This was an opportunity I had to explore, because I was planning on having Alopex & Frenzy switch units anyway.  [I always had this planned for after Dragoon turns.]

So...  I had them tiff for a second, before cutting back to Dragoon’s fight.  And because the feed was cut off, I had to decide how Sigma was gonna intervene. Was he gonna talk to both of them?  Or just one.

I was happy to be able to give Dragoon a win.  It shows us that things were actually going according to plan before Sigma threw a wrench in the works.

When making Sigma tempt Dragoon with his Scythe/Virus slash, I tried something a little different.  This sort of gradual, influenced turn.  Rather than having Dragoon immediately sound evil and out of character.

I liked that it was Sigma who made him look into himself, or possibly even influence his own thoughts into this deep rooted envy for X & Zero.

And then, I finally resolved my Repliforce conundrum by having it be Sigma’s idea that these two DO talk and actually completely cooperate with one-another.  He guarantees that Dino-Rex will let him into Repliforce and share his secrets with him, so long as he keeps his operation a secret.  And the affected Dragoon doesn’t care about allegiances with the Maverick Hunters at this point, because all he wants to do is fight X.  So he had no problem with playing a Double Agent now until that time.

The scene was getting kind of long, so I loved being able to have Cyber Peacock cut in and tell Sigma that he’s gotta wrap this up soon if they’re to make his feed cut-off look authentic.

At that point, I was surprised that it happened this way, but once Sigma left there was nothing else to be done!

The 14th Unit got their feed back.  It looks like Dragoon had a major win with a little damage to the chest.

Dino-Rex had not woken up yet or cooperated with Dragoon yet.  So the best I could do was to have Dragoon tell them that he’s got this and he’s closing off communication.

[This may or may not be the best idea, because we all know what’s going to happen next.  We don’t necessarily need to END this issue with Dragoon jumping on to the Sky Lagoon.  We already know he’s going to attack it.]

I did want to have Dino-Rex talk and cooperate first before the feed came back, but the pressure of time and length hit me.  It felt more authentic this way.

So closing off communication gives me the idea that, maybe they could see him from the Satellite, but they certainly couldn’t hear him.

Especially if they both talk in a warehouse off-camera.  Then Dragoon really has the opportunity to plot his own way.

...But, that’s all he wrote folks.  And it was a lot!

It took a while to get there due to a move, a new computer set up, re-syncing issues and then figuring out a new rhythm to finding the time to actually dedicate to this thing.

I’m happy with it though.  I’m proud of it.  It’s very different, but certainly not boring.  I knew Cain’s Funeral was gonna take a somber toll on the episode, but being padded with Gate continuity, and exposition about Doppler, Berkana and Sigma’s return, it really made for a nice reset button.

Now at Episode 1, we’re gonna know where everyone is.

Ending Episode 0 with that Narration was awesome.  I’d like to always have our guy talk about the Maverick Hunters AND the Repliforce if I can.

This episode took a very long time to drop, but I certainly hope it was worth the wait.  I definitely had a lot of fun writing it.  Now that we’re getting into the actual game I should be able to dole things out a little sooner.  Maybe.

I’m gonna have a lot of fun plotting Episode 1. =D

Stay tuned for updates on that next month.