#and very little concrete character descriptions and connective action descriptions

[overelegantstranger]

been reading a run of horror/thriller novels lately. i've specifically been looking for ones that aren't too intense, ones that are a bit generic or not intended to be especially earthshattering. and i've been largely enjoying it, but, for anyone else who also enjoys reading horror/supernaturaly thrillers, i just wanna stake a quick red flag over J. H. Markert's The Nightmare Man. Not gonna say "don't read". however. AM going to say two things: thought it was a first novel until i saw the six other titles at the back; was astonished at the amount of gratuitous ableism throughout. Also felt it was a bit racist and sexist but not in an overt way, in a nagging uncomfy way.

[zoradementio]

Deltarune Theories and Observations Part 2

Since it’s been like three weeks and this game still hasn’t left my god damn brain, here’s some more things that I felt like noting or theorizing.

~Parallels of Noelle and Kris~

So, I ended my last Deltarune longpost with a comparison between Kris and Susie. But, interestingly enough, Kris and Noelle also have a lot of similarities. Both of them have an older sibling figure who was a very prominent crutch in their lives (Asriel for Kris, Dess for Noelle). Yet, in present times, this elder sibling is not present (though Dess’ is a bit more permanent, whether she died or went missing.) And compared to these older siblings, Kris and Noelle are the more introverted sibling, with Kris barely having a social life until the start of the game and Noelle being the biggest pushover since a card tower. Then, there’s their parental dynamics. Asgore and Rudy are both the carefree, laidback father figures, with Asgore immediately throwing Kris in a bear hug when seeing them and Rudy encouraging Noelle to ask Susie out and playing Dragon Blazers with her. This contrasts with the more proper, if strict mother figures. While Noelle’s mother is certainly the more egregious, if the fact that Noelle would rather stand outside her home’s gates likely for hours on end than to attempt to ‘bother’ her mother during work for a house key, there are a few signs of Toriel being a little strict in some areas. Apart from some dialogue from Bratty about her kissing Asriel and anything involving the big school dance being signs that Toriel does not approve of her kids, or any of her students for that matter, getting into anything even remotely romantic, the flavor text for the closet in Kris’ Dark World room being ‘You could wear whatever you want’ suggests that Toriel imposes some sort of a dress code on Kris and likely also Asriel when he was living at home. They’re also the two characters most susceptible to the SOUL, in other words you the player. Kris’ is a bit more direct, as they are the character we control in both their movements and what they say. While Noelle, considering she has such a weak will, she is fairly mailable if we impose our will onto her, as demonstrated in the Pipis Route. Finally, they both have a strong attachment towards Susie, though whether Kris’ is romantic or not is not entirely clear as of yet. Oh, and speaking of Noelle...

~The Return of Noelle~

In at least one of the future chapters, I believe Noelle will make a come back as a party member. I don’t think Toby Fox would make it this easy to just lose whatever equipment you put on her, especially if you give her the Jevilstail or if the Pipis Route has been fully completed you will lose a component of the Twisted Sword, which will presumably be available in future chapters. Therefore, I believe that Noelle will be playable again, at least at some point.

~Misanthropic Dysmorphia~

So, many people have seen the connections that Kris has to Chara (or The Fallen Child) from Undertale. They both love chocolate, are the adopted children of Toriel and Asgore, and seem to have an affinity for knives. But if there is one more connection they have, it’s that they both seem to hate humans. Now, while don’t know the reasons as to why Chara hated humans, it was enough for them to want to slaughter an entire village of people, going overboard with the body count when only 6 souls were needed to break the barrier. While Kris likely isn’t as genocidal as Chara was, their distaste for humanity runs just as deep. However, Kris’ misanthropy manifests as a form of body dysmorphia. As a child, they wondered when their horns would grow in like their brother and parents, showing that, at least at that point Kris didn’t understand the biological differences between themself and those around them. Not only that, but in Chapter 2, when going upstairs in the library and reading the book ‘How to Care for Humans’, when looking at the pages Kris immediately closes the book when seeing the pictures of humans in seeming disgust. It wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if Kris hates the fact that they’re human, seeing as that is the big thing that makes them an outsider to Hometown. It would also explain why they seem to hate the SOUL/Player, even if you play as pacifistically as possible and don’t do anything to intentionally upset Kris like throwing away the Ball of Junk in the Light World. After all, Kris’ description in the Dark World as soon as you enter it in Chapter 1 is ‘A body containing a human SOUL’. Apart from just generally being upset that some outside force is controlling their actions, Kris is also likely pissed that a human is the one controlling them, because, assumedly, you or anyone else that plays Deltarune is going to be a human. That could be just some extra salt in the wound, that even Kris’ own soul is not only human but not even their own.

~Darkner’s History(?)~

This is something strange that I don’t think a lot of people think about. So, I notice a lot of people point out that Ralsei knows that both his Dark Fountain and the Fountain from Chapter 1 are located in a supply closet and a classroom respectively. Most people point to this as evidence that Ralsei knows something, however Ralsei isn’t the only one with knowledge of the Light World. Queen does have a line or two about knowing that her Dark World is within a library. So clearly, Darkners have at least some awareness of the Light World, or at least enough about their enclosed spaces and possibly limited to appointed rulers or some such. What isn’t so clear is how long these Dark Worlds have lasted. Sure, portals to the Dark Worlds seem like only a recent thing, there is talk about the history of these characters. Just within Chapter 1 there’s King overthrowing the other three card kings and taking the throne all to himself, Jevil meeting a mysterious figure causing him to go mad and thus needing to be locked up by Seam, a presumably long series of puzzle makers syphoned out before Roulxs became the Duke of Puzzles, and some kind of falling out between Queen and King (which also brings up the question of when and why was Queen’s laptop in the abandoned classroom). My point being, despite these Dark Worlds being open for maybe a day or two at best, there seems to be almost years worth of history to these places. It could be a case of ‘one day passes inside, but only about an hour has passed outside’ thing or it could be that Dark Worlds still technically exists even without a Dark Fountain. So far, though, I can’t offer any concrete answers to this. And actually, since I brought up his suspicious behavior once again...

~Communication Issues~

I already talked about how Ralsei is suspicious in an out-of-universe perspective here, but in universe he is acting rather suspicious. Namely, around Susie. When Kris and Susie return to Castle Town, Ralsei tells Kris to gather everything in the adjacent classroom and bring it here. Everyone becomes their Darkner counterparts and Susie is naturally excited to see everyone, especially Lancer. Ralsei then says, and only says, that ‘when the Dark Fountain was sealed, that area returned to a normal classroom. And when Lancer decides to become one of you KEY ITEMS, Ralsei doesn’t explain that Darkners become regular objects in the Light World, causing Susie to think Lancer ditched them when Kris and Susie leave to work on their group project. And during the Chapter 2 epilogue, Susie even suggests finding a way to bring Ralsei and Lancer into the Light World, despite that seeming to be an impossibility. That’s not even mentioning the post Spamton NEO dialogue where Susie is the first to bring up the oddities of the whole scenario, and Ralsei immediately chooses to shoot down any questioning. Ralsei seemingly keeps Susie out of the loop on a lot of important things about how the Dark World works. Now, Susie doesn’t really question these things, but that’s mostly because 1. she is a very ‘only cares about the here and now’ type of person and is very excited about the whole Dark World shenanigans her, Kris and Ralsei get up to, and 2. this girl is dense enough to not immediately catch on the Noelle is crushing so hard on her a neon sign saying ‘SHE LIKES YOU’ would be a more subtle message. Now, it could be that Ralsei sees Susie in a much more ‘need to know’ basis, that since she is isn’t really the group plan-maker, she doesn’t need to know the intricacies of how the Dark Worlds, the Fountains, and everything works. It also could be that the player, and by extension Kris, are more important and thus will be needed this information more than Susie. However, I still hesitate to say that Ralsei is malicious in action. What I think would be the most likely reason, if his explanation of the Roaring and Queen’s reaction to it are any indication, it looks like Ralsei’s fatal flaw is assuming his knowledge is common knowledge. After all, he assumed that Queen was opening another Dark Fountain because she wanted to destroy the world, when that couldn’t be further from the case. In all likelihood, Ralsei could be overestimating how perceptive Susie really is when it comes to putting details together.

~Only One Ending...?~

This is something a few people have been debating for a while now. Back when Chapter 1 was released in 2018, Toby Fox said that Deltarune would only have one ending. However, with the addition of Chapter 2′s Pipis Route, many of us are wondering if that was a flat out lie or not. My assumption goes one of two ways. Option A: It was true at the time. During the three year development of Chapter 2 a lot, and I mean a LOT, of things about Deltarune have changed. Initially the game was going to be another mostly solo development similar to Undertale. But, with the larger workload and Toby Fox working on other projects like developing music for the Pokemon games, and on top of all of that going through some pretty bad wrist pains, Fox decided to get a small development team for Deltarune. There were debates on whether to switch Deltarune’s game engine to something like Unity, before settling back to Game Maker. And even when Chapter 1 was released, it was more of a proof of concept than anything, with barely any of the rest of the story being written down. It wouldn’t be too much of a surprise if Toby Fox decided to add some more endings because he thought that would work better for what he was going for. Or, Option B: It will be one ending, but in the same way the Normal Ending in Undertale is ‘one ending’. See, while Deltarune likes to emphasize that ‘your choses don’t matter’ and in Undertale ‘your choses do matter’, in actuality, the choses in both games have roughly the same weight. Sure, in Undertale it seems like your choses have more of an impact, but the basic story beats of the game are all the same. You will always fall into the underground, get quasi-adopted by Toriel, go through a wacky puzzle romp with Papyrus, get hunted by Undyne through Waterfall, guest star in Mettaton’s shows with Alphys as your guide, and finally make it to New Home. And there were still some minor questions in Undertale that really had no bearing on what you answered, such as Toriel’s question of if you prefer cinnamon or butterscotch. But because Undertale frames it with ‘your choses matter’ and Deltarune frames it in ‘your choses don’t matter’ we see it as such. So, when it comes to the endings, there really are only three endings in Undertale. The True Genocide ending, where you go all the way through with killing everyone and everything in the Underground, the True Pacifist Ending, where you SPARED everything you came across and completed the necessary friendship side quests, and the Normal Ending. Now, the Normal Ending sounds like a pretty narrow term, considering there’s like at least around 10 different variations of this ending, but the basic plot beats are still the same: You finish the fight with Asgore, fight Omega Flowey, and using the power of the other six souls you (as Frisk) are able to return above ground. Most of what makes this ending different is pretty much flavor text at the very end, with Sans and which ever other characters that are alive/befriended chiming in. I feel like Deltarune’s ending could play out in a similar vein, with larger plot beats being consistent, but specific character’s reactions and what not would change up the ending slightly. And, if we are only given one ending, I feel like there would be a good reason to word it like that. Similarly to what was said some time after on Toby Fox’s twitter about the True Pacifist ending, ‘This is the best ending, nothing more’ when people were wondering if there was a way to save Asriel from his fate in the end. So, if we are told there will be only ‘one ending’ that implies that there’s going to be something we’ll want to change. And what will this change be? Well...

~Don’t Forget, I’m With You In The Dark~

I believe that the ending of Deltarune will involve sealing the Castle Town Fountain. A lot of what’s set up in Deltarune seems to be leading to this. From the suspiciousness of Ralsei, to the premonition of the world ending if too many fountains are open, to the fact that Darkners are unable to consciously interact with the Light World. I’m pretty sure that we’re going to have to say good bye to Ralsei, Lancer, Rouxls, Seam, Queen, and all the rest of the Darkners by the end. And let’s face it, this ending would be the best punch to the gut that the game could offer. But I don’t think it will be all sad. After all, the Darkners will still be with us in spirit, will still be with us in the dark.

[anykareads]

the best books I read in 2020

books mentioned in this list: 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Circe by Madeline Miller

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

+ all goodreads pages are linked in the titles 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

“The truth, however ugly in itself, is always curious and beautiful to seekers after it.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

If you like...

small english towns

a scandal that rocks said small town

neighbourhood gossip

condescending belgian men

Hercule Poirot’s little grey cells (see point above)

playing cluedo

dysfunctional families

then you'll like The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

I always love a good mystery. There’s something so fun about poring over the lines, analysing each character’s actions, dialogues and interactions with one another, trying to figure out whodunit before the detective does - although, to be fair, this turns into a mind bendingly frustrating process when reading a Christie novel, and The Murder of Roger Ackroyd was no different.

To be honest, I had had the ending spoiled for me when searching for the title of this book (it is not Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?, as I later found out) but that made me appreciate the novel that much more. Christie expertly unravels the mystery, leaving clues (that you’d probably only pick up on the fourth or fifth read and making you feel silly for not noticing earlier) and red herrings throughout.

Even with the slight spoiler, this book kept me guessing until the end. I promise that you’ll never guess who’s done it up until the very end.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

Rating: ★★★★★

Genres: mystery, detective mystery, whodunit, crime fiction

Circe by Madeline Miller

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

“However gold he shines, do not forget his fire”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

If you like...

greek mythology

strong female characters

witches

magic

revenge (specifically on men)

betrayal

living on an unreachable island, crafting spells (cottagecore but make it witchcore)

then you'll like Circe.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

This book was simply beautiful. Circe’s premise seems so simple - giving a voice to an unassuming character often forgotten in the pages of greek mythology until The Hero needs her - a feminist twist on The Odyssey, perhaps.

But it is so much more than that.

Miller spins a compelling tale about self realisation, loneliness, betrayal, love and motherhood, all set against the backdrop of Aiaia, Circe’s magical Greek island.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

Rating: ★★★★★

Genres: mythology, young adult fiction, retelling/reimagining

Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

“You can't just casually tell someone you carry caramel sauce around and walk away like that's a normal thing”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

If you like...

grilled cheese

subtweets

you’ve got mail

new york (concrete jungle wet dream tomatooo)

baked goods

then you'll also like Tweet Cute.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

Tweet Cute was one of the cutest books I’d read this year, as attested by my first Goodreads review of the year: 

“adorable” is really the best way to sum up this book. Filled with pop culture references, grilled cheese, wondrous baked creations (monster cake sounds like it would give me the best kind of sugar high), this book was really all it. It made me unbelievably happy - as Jack would say, freaking Christmas but in my HEART.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: romance, young adult fiction, contemporary

 Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

“It would disappear forever from her memory of Lydia, the way memories of a lost loved one always smooth and simplify themselves, shedding complexities like scales.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

If you like...

family secrets

morally grey characters

teen angst

then you’ll also like Everything I Never Told You.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

This was the first of Celeste Ng’s books that I read, and it also served as my introduction to contemporary family dramas.

Everything I Never Told You was complex, sad, tragically beautiful, fraught with tension and wonderfully written. Ng’s characterisation is what really makes this story shine, with fleshed out, morally grey characters that you can’t help but connect and empathise with.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: fiction, contemporary family drama, mystery

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

“If anyone would understand loneliness, the moon would.”

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

If you like...

plants

boats

marshes (sounds icky but Owens’ descriptions are stunning)

no body no crime by taylor swift

birds

then you'll like Where the Crawdads Sing.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

Reading Where the Crawdads Sing was an experience. Although the pace was off-putting at first, you learn to appreciate Owens’ beautiful descriptions of Kya’s marsh. Delia Owens manages to craft a tragic tale about family, loneliness, prejudice, isolation (a theme that struck a chord during the lockdowns), survival and resiliency - all whilst folding in a compelling mystery.

─── . ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ . ───

Rating: ★★★★☆

Genres: young adult fiction, historical fiction, mystery, elements of romance, family epic/family saga

[funkymbtifiction]

How I Write, How I Dream: ESTP Edition

Mod: An ESTP asked permission to submit this, since she noticed I do not have an ESTP ‘How I write stories’ description in the archive to match this series. What follows is in her own words.

ESTP: How I Write, How I Dream

So this submission is like 6+ years late topically, I think, but it’s an understatement to say I get side-tracked easily. First I had to be self-aware enough to actually determine my type with confidence, and then I had to remember to write this up. Hopefully it’s an edition that’s better late than never – in any case, I thought it might be fun to contribute, given the frequent lack of Se-dom voices in things like this.

I’m aware that I might be in a comparatively small group as a regular ESTP writer, let alone one familiar with personality typology, but I wrote my first short story at nine for a 4th grade assignment, and then my first full story/intended book when I was eleven, (both of which I immediately proceeded to act out on the playground), so it’s sort of always been a part of my normal retinue of hobbies/coping mechanisms/diversions/distractions. Usually I find that I write the most when I’m bored or otherwise dissatisfied with my real life – sort of using it to spice things up with more exciting events, even if they’re regrettably fictional. I also suspect that I use writing to experience all the interesting things I find myself unable to physically do, at least for the moment – not unlike what your ISTP contributor described. I think sometimes that I use it to subconsciously work through certain concepts, too, until I understand them holistically. It’s like it gives me a way to actually engage and interact with a philosophical concept through tangible expression – through embedding it into [fictional] human behavior. Like how I understand the nuances of the concept of apostasy better for having walked through the plot of Silence (2016) with Scorsese than I would have if it was still just a definition in a theology textbook. Application helps me. (I also had a counselor a while back who told me that I used my writing to work through the emotions I hate to process in real life, but I was never wholly convinced of that or the connection of my plots to my real life events, so jury’s out, I guess.)

When I was a kid, I liked to read a fair-ish amount. Spies were oftentimes my favorite topic, but I also wanted eagerly to be one and owned probably every kid spy gadget ever manufactured for sale at the Spy Museum in D.C., to which I dragged my parents practically every weekend so I could crawl through air vents, etc. However, my favorite children’s series of all was actually the Ingo series by the late Helen Dunmore, which provided me with exciting, nature-based, and [mostly] emotionally satisfying adventures in my lifelong favorite unpredictable environment – underwater. (I also dragged my parents constantly to our local aquarium.) As I got older, the frequency of my reading dropped, and I now find myself usually pulled more towards nonfiction.

[Note – I just realized a lifelong quirk with me and books. I’m sort of ridiculously set on *seeing* the books I own. I mean, I know what I own, but I still constantly get out every book I own on a particular topic just to see them all at once. It makes the knowledge more cohesive for me to concentrate it visually, I guess. Even just the covers. Anyway.]

My writing habits are kind of awful – in that, like alluded to above, I pretty much only write when I either a) am seized by a great idea, or else b) have nothing better to do. I have little ambition to actually publish or anything like that, regardless of encouragement, and I prefer to think of my writing as just a diversion, an amusement for myself alone (though I do crave minimal approval, as I do in anything). In any case, as soon as the pressure of a schedule is attached to my writing, it drains of all joy for me. Much like your ISTP contributor described, I think I hover somewhere between plotter and pantser, depending on the story. Too much planning leads to my feeling like I have no incentive to actually write it, as I’ve already experienced it, and too little leaves me spinning aimlessly with no real direction. I write both prose and screenplays, and the rule seems to hold true for both, overall. Also, whenever I have a problem in my plotting or characters or whatever, I find that I have to step away, go be busy with something else, sometimes for a long while, and when I come back everything just falls into place. I guess unconscious Ti and/or Ni finding solutions? I’m not totally sure how/why that happens.

As my inclusion of screenplay format may suggest, I experience my stories in an incredibly visual way. I think sometimes that my narratives come across very much like movies, with all the requisite limitations and usual lack of character introspection. I feel like I pretty much focus on the observable actions of my characters – I find describing any kind of extended rumination highly unnatural, at least most of the time. Even my planning is highly visual. I have a tendency to graph, chart, draw, and plaster my options all over the walls. It’s ridiculous sometimes, but in many cases I just have to be able to see them all next to each other, even if there’s no other information provided. Like my books, mentioned earlier. It helps clarify my plot choices in my mind. It’s also a quirk/weakness of mine that I am often entirely dependent on outside images for descriptions. I need to find a real person, place, or thing to base my fictional ones on physically if I hope to have any kind of concrete knowledge to allow description. Again, it helps solidify them/it in my mind.

I have another weakness in my writing that often results in much incredulous laughter – I’m often entirely blind to any hidden meaning or symbolism in my own writing. I might get the vaguest sense of something being a good line, but be unsure why until my ISFJ friend starts praising my deep, archetypal references and crafting – and then staring at me when I clearly have no idea what she means. It’s happened several times by this point, and though it makes me laugh, I’ll just blame it on the subconscious inferior Ni. I pretty much never have any kind of goal of being symbolic or laden with deep meaning. If I were ever to try that, I think it would massively stress me out.

In terms of editors, beta readers, or whatever else we want to call those who give solicited criticism – that’s just what I need/want. Criticism. For the most part, I’m incredibly thick-skinned about my writing and would be absolutely fine if someone told me that it was utterly terrible and the whole thing needed revising down to the very concept. That may be because I think many of my concepts are lackluster to start with. But nothing frustrates me so quickly as readers unwilling to actually [and harshly] criticize. I always tell them that I want him/her to rip it to shreds. I mean, that’s the only way it’ll get better. (I’ve made mistakes before by assuming that other writers feel this way, too – my sister did not appreciate my input.)

I write almost exclusively dramas these days, I guess, though of varying subtypes. (I also maintain the availability/ready accessibility of about 10+ stories at any given time of active writing. I bounce between them sometimes based on what I’m feeling like at the moment or what I have a new thought about.) I have a sort of historical drama thing that takes place in the 1680s, a modern drama prompted by a premise of genetic engineering, a Most Dangerous Game kind of hunting/weapons thing, a detective story in the immediate aftermath of WWII, a classic deserted island story, a thing involving the phenomenon of stigmata… the list goes on and shifts constantly.

However, while I’ve typically enjoyed writing, here’s the omnipresent rub – engaging with it for any great amount of time makes me really unhealthy emotionally. I’m pretty sure that after like two or three days primarily working on a story without other overriding priorities, or like six or seven with those scattered distractions, (at best), I’m plummeting straight down to my inferior functions. My historical stories do this even more quickly, because they oftentimes seem to require more mental effort. I get super irritable, drown in self-loathing, start to think that everything real that I want is never going to happen – it’s really not good. The fact of the matter is that while writing is a fun diversion oftentimes, I go insane doing it for too long, because I need to get out and engage. (Thanks to my pesky Se-dom, daring to ask for more than just incessant fidgeting.)

When I do write, however, I’m known for my in-depth research, my character-driven plots, lines some people in my life seem to think are witty or something, and emotional depth, believe it or not. I’ve been complimented on it, as well as my tendency to accurately portray mental/emotional illness. I don’t know. I’ve never thought I was overly talented at such things, but then again, I never paid much attention. Even this write-up has been hard – analyzing my writing like this. It’s not a strength of mine to scrutinize my own habits.

After all, I’m busy – I have to go blast Maroon 5 as I jump off a 20-foot wall yelling, “Parkour!”

I am an ESTP, remember? ;-)

[itsclydebitches]

Re the BTD recap: "the prose is still incredibly messy in places" "To be frank, it’s not that I think this is all particularly good… just not particularly bad either." If it's not too much trouble, can I get some concrete examples for why? I feel like I often don't notice this sort of thing, so I want to know what I'm missing. Might help me to be a better writer.

Challenging request, anon! :D I feel like I need a few disclaimers here: 

The book is serviceable. It’s just not going to be winning any awards. Talking about how the prose and dialogue can be better isn’t meant to translate to, “This is the worst thing ever written.” Because it’s not. 

This is very much a pot calling the kettle black situation. Anyone here has the capability of hopping onto AO3, finding a horribly written passage of my own, and shaking it in my virtual face. So this is likewise not intended to be me standing atop a pedestal going, “Anyone - myself included - could do better.” I often can’t do better because writing is hard. 

I’m not a creative writing instructor, thus it’s often difficult for me to articulate why I think a piece of literature doesn’t read well. If you’ve ever, say, come out of a movie with a strong sense of it not being “good” but can’t easily explain why it failed? It’s similar to that. By consuming lots of media we get a sense of “quality” over “badly written” that then informs our reactions to new texts, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to boil that response down to, “See here on page 3? They shouldn’t have done this. Fix that and it’s ‘good’ now.” 

Nevertheless, let’s try. I’ll take a passage from the prologue where Sun is facing off against these “goons” 

Two glowing clones of Sun flared into existence, one facing Pink and the second squaring off against Green. That left Brown—whom he figured was both the leader of the group and the most dangerous. Why? Because he was hiding the most.

Brown slashed a hand toward Sun. “Take him.”

“Which one?” Green asked.

“The real one,” Pink said. “These are just flashy illusions.”

Sun directed one of his clones to punch Pink in the face.

She blinked and looked more annoyed than hurt.

“That’s no illusion!” Green reached for clone Two.

Sun’s clones were physical manifestations of his Aura, every bit as capable of inflicting damage as he was. But it could be difficult to control them, especially while he was fighting. They were better suited to giving him the element of surprise, extra pairs of hands, or emergency backup when he needed it.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t sustain them long, and they couldn’t take much damage, as they drew Aura from Sun himself. If he kept them going too long, or tried to create too many clones, it usually weakened the Aura shield protecting him. But he’d improved a lot with training, and his Semblance was a lot stronger than it used to be.

Sun whipped out his gunchucks, Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang, spinning them as he and Brown circled each other slowly. At the same time, Sun was fighting Pink and Green through his clones. Pink was some kind of boxer, dancing around and jabbing with her fists, which One was managing to block. Meanwhile, Green was trying to grab Two and wrestle him to the ground.

Brown had some kind of martial arts training similar to Sun’s—but he wasn’t nearly as good. Sun leaned back as Brown did a high roundhouse kick; he felt a breeze as his opponent’s booted foot swept past his nose with a lot of power behind it. Sun flicked his right gunchuck to loop it around Brown’s ankle and pulled him out of his stance, hitting him with the closed gunchuck in his left hand. The man took the full blow, but it didn’t even faze him.

Now let’s break down some of the reasons why this passage doesn’t work for me. I’ll work chronologically. 

As mentioned in the recap, it’s rather awkward for a PoV character to ask and answer their own questions. Especially when they’re not presented as literal thoughts. The “Why? Because...” takes me right out of the story. It suddenly sounds like I’m attending a lecture or reading an article. Sun believes X. Why does he believe this? Because of Y evidence. 

The dialogue is clunky. This problem is admittedly more obvious at other points, but there are a lot of moments where it doesn’t feel like this is a natural thing someone would think or say. Which again, is really hard to write. How people speak is quite different from how we think they speak and finding a balance between that (eliminating most pauses like “um” or “like” that would be too frustrating to read, giving characters more flowery language to serve the story’s goals even if it’s not realistic, etc.) is hard to nail. Here, Sun is often thinking things that don’t sound l like an actual thought in a panicked teen’s head.

Oh crap, Sun thought. I’m losing. How am I actually losing?

It just sounds like exposition. The reader needs to know that Sun is losing! So Sun will tell them that. 

The villains, so far, are a bit too cartoony for me. 

“You got lucky, monkeyboy,” Green said as he walked off, his companions following him through the cloud of foul vapor. “This time.”

Which is admittedly a matter of taste and does have some justification given RWBY’s early writing (think Roman). Still, it’s hard to take lines like this seriously, especially when we just had the group making fun of Velvet for cheesy quips. But the villain’s quips are supposed to read as daunting? 

Connected to Sun’s thought above, there is a lot of telling rather than showing throughout. For example: “She blinked and looked more annoyed than hurt.” There are ways of showing the reader that Pink is annoyed (indeed, just leaving it at “She blinked” would have gotten the point across) rather than resorting to, “She looked ___”. Another good example would be “ Sun leaned back as Brown did a high roundhouse kick; he felt a breeze as his opponent’s booted foot swept past his nose with a lot of power behind it.” You don’t need to reassure the reader that there was “a lot of power behind it.” The action itself - feeling a breeze, his boot passing close to his nose - conveys that on its own. 

To be clear, telling isn’t something you can’t ever do (break those writing rules!!) especially when sometimes you just want to be clear/convey something succinctly, but it is something to keep in mind. It’s another balancing act. Too much telling and the reader feels like they’re just being told a list of things to believe. Too much showing and it feels like the writer is trying too hard to make everything detailed, exciting, etc. Still, a good writer is going to be able to convey everything (Sun losing a fight, annoyance, a powerful kick) without feeling the need to remind the reader of things every few lines, “This is what’s happening. Don’t get confused!” 

After the fight starts we immediately get a two paragraph info-dump about Sun’s semblance. How it works, what his limitations are, and what that means for this fight. Again, show that! We’ve just started an action sequence. The fight is underway. The reader doesn’t want to get pulled out of the action for another lecture. Rather than hitting pause on the fun stuff to explain things, create scenarios where these details become relevant and can be shown to the reader. Right now we don’t care what Sun’s limitations are unless those limitations become important.  

We get another announcement in the form of “[Brown] wasn’t nearly as good [as Sun]” instead of (again) showing us that. Indeed, as I mention in the recap all the action that comes next contradicts this. So where did this assertion come from? If Sun knows that Brown uses a martial arts style similar to his then theoretically they’ve been fighting for at least a few seconds... but the reader doesn’t get to see that. Meyers was too busy telling us about Sun’s semblance. 

Finally, there are pockets of Meyer’s writing that are all roughly the same. Meaning, sentences have little variety to them. This isn’t a consistent problem (and it’s certainly not the worst example I’ve seen of this) but on the whole he could use a more engaging flow to his work, both in terms of sentence length and balance among actions, dialogue, descriptions, and thoughts. Otherwise you get prose that reads, “This happened. Then this happened. This happened next. See the length? It’s all the same. Very little changes. And the reader gets bored.” Again, not a consistent problem, but one he should keep working on. 

There are a number of other, smaller issues that are beginning to pop up. Such as the in parentheses pronunciation of the teams’ names, or the overuse of “he sent” whenever Fox communicates telepathically. In contrast, there are things about the writing that I’ve enjoyed. There are moments of dialogue - such as Fox’s joke in Chapter One, or how Sun’s instructions to “find Shade” literally refer to the school but also remind the reader that shade, in such a hot environment, is crucial - that I think are worth pointing to and going, “Yeah. That was a nice touch.” Overall though? It’s that, “I just came out of a bad movie” feeling. There’s too much clunkiness throughout. The writing often lacks variety or feels absurd. I’m taken out of the story more often than I fall into it. Is it the worst thing I’ve ever read? Far from it, but fans aren’t wrong when they say things like, “I’ve read better fic than this professional story.” 

[baddyzarc]

4b/7 Ruins: Legend of the Dragons

1 2 3 4a x 5 6 7  

Part 2 of Mizael’s Ruins

Alright, I’m going to get into some deep lore in regards to the Zexal Universe and how Jinlon and Mizael and even Kaito fit into it.

To begin, the Universe was created by the Numeron Dragon eons ago. By doing this, the dragon used all of its power and will die as a result. Sad that it will never be able to witness its creation grow (which, you aint missing much, buddy), it shedded a single tear. This teardrop contained the Numeron Code, or the dragon’s knowledge, emotions, and the ability to rewrite the Universe. The Numeron Code landed on Earth. In the Zexal Universe, this was the event that created the Moon, which is also where the remaining fragments of the Numeron Dragon (in the form of “Number 100: Numeron Dragon’’) reside. Fearing that it’s powers would be used for evil, the Numeron Dragon hid the Code and placed a key on it.

According to Astral, the location of the Numeron Code is revealed when Numbers 1 to Numbers 100 is collected because of how it relates to his memory. But this causes some problems when it comes to the plot, but I’ll explain that later.

To awaken the sealed Numeron Dragon and obtain “Number 100″, the Numeron Dragon embedded a riddle into a stone tablet that Kaito found in the cave near Mizael’s ruins:

“Dragons of light and time, clash at thy place of birth. Then shall the eyes of the galaxies awaken for the first time, opening a gate to a new world.”

This riddle is rather straight-forward especially with the imagery used. The time dragon is “Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon” and the light dragon is “Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon”. The place where they clash is the Moon (this is given to us via Jinlon), and the “eyes of the galaxies” is not the eyes of the Galaxy-Eyes Dragons, but of the Numeron Dragon itself.

By fulfilling the conditions of the riddle, the Numeron Dragon is able to reawaken for a brief moment to fix whatever shit its children got themselves into “open the gates to a new world”. I take that this means it grants the usage of the Numeron Code upon the winner. 

But the phrase that interests me is “clash at thy place of birth”. 

Now, this states that Tachyon Dragon and Photon Dragon were created on the surface of the Moon and they need to fight to awaken the Numeron Dragon. This may seem like an odd choice because we’re under the presumption that Tachyon Dragon was made by Don Thousand or that the Number Cards (including “Number 62: Galaxy-Eyes Prime Photon Dragon”) were made by Astral when his memories scattered. 

But I think you have to consider how the Moon was made in this show, what the dragons represent, and what the Numbers are.

Okay, to keep it simple, in real life 4.5 billion years ago, a huge rock crashed into Earth, pushing a bunch of debris into space. The debris conglomerate together over time to form the Moon; as such, the Moon is primarily made of Earthly materials. This is slightly different from Zexal’s story, with the Numeron Dragon’s teardrop playing the role of the huge rock. The outcome is more or less the same.

Alright, so from here, we can start to theorize about Photon Dragon and Tachyon Dragon’s relationship to the Moon, and how Dragluon plays into this. After all, Dragluon is one of the dragons of the stone tablet despite not having a place in the riddle.  

So what is the role of Dragloun exactly? And how did the Numeron Dragon anticipate the fight between the Barians and the Astrals (aside from being an omni-force). 

For starters, Dragluon goes all the way back to the “three worlds” that Zexal has.

The Three Worlds of Zexal is sorta like Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Heaven for Astral World, Hell for Barian World, and then Earth as the, well, the Earth. The land of the living where your actions decide your fate. 

However, from Don Thousand, we know that the Heaven and Hell bits aren’t true. Not exactly, but Barian World and Astral World appear to function like it. The actual descriptions for Astral and Barian World is a little simpler than Heaven and Hell.

Order and Disorder, Cosmos and Chaos, these are the true depictions of Astral and Barian World rather than Heaven and Hell (although it does have a very nice ring to it). And at the center of things is the middle man, a balance of both—Earth. You can’t have two sides of a coin without the edge, and the Earth is the glue connecting the opposing sides. And for the sake of simplifying this, I’m going to call the “power” of Earth as Parity. 

Parity is what happens when Chaos and Cosmos meet. This could be most easily seen in the Zexal Morphs, which are a combination of Astral, a creature of the Cosmos, and Yuma, who is confirmed to be a fragment of Don Thousand, of Chaos. Blues and Reds respectively.

I also want to note that the three primary colors are often associated with heroes, while secondary colors are often associated with villains (these are trends, not a concrete black-and-white concept). 

When Astral and Yuma work together, they glow the last and primary color, yellow, for their Zexal Morphs. But when they are in disequilibrium, they glow the secondary color purple (also the color you make when you mix red and blue). This shows that there could be a distinct relationship between how Chaos and Cosmos interact each other: the outcome could be very good and improves upon the characteristics of each. Or it could lead to relentless self-destruction.  

Of course, sometimes a door is red because it’s just red. Nasch’s main color is purple and Don Thousand’s final form has a yellowish glow, so perhaps all these colors have zero correlation to the characters at all. These are just some observations I made when it comes to depicting each world with their respective colors.

But this may be what the Numeron Dragon meant when it was afraid that the Numeron Code could fall into the wrong hands. Not Barians or Astrals specifically, but the people of the Cosmos or people of Chaos abusing the Code’s powers to wipe each other out. This is exactly what Eliphas wanted to do because he saw Chaos as impure and limiting as well as Don Thousand for about the same reason.

To prevent this travesty, the Numeron Dragon sealed the Numeron Code away with the final key to it being itself, or “Number 100: Numeron Dragon”.

“Thy place of birth” may not mean that the dragons were literally born on the surface of the Moon, but it may mean that the impact that made the Moon also led to the creation of Chaos and Cosmos and Parity. By extension, this is where the dragons were truly born. Think of it as a stardust type of thing. Yeah, we humans are born on Earth probably by another human, but our atoms and molecules and elements? Those were made up in space. Tachyon Dragon was made by Don Thousand, but the Chaos he used to forge Tachyon Dragon was made on the Moon.

But onto the Numbers since all the dragons are Numbers and they get complicated so bear with me.

Okey, disclaimer and anyone is welcome to challenge my stance on what exactly Numbers are because they are absolutely limitless. We have Astral’s memory Numbers, Over-Hundred Numbers, those bug Barians Numbers, Imaginary Numbers, Mythyrian Numbers, Chaos Numbers made by Shark, Yuma, the Arclights, maybe Number XX yeah that guy remember him,,, 

and the only explanation we get for them is that they amplify emotions and take on the form of the beholder’s desires. At least, the first 100 Numbers do. Anyways please do, I like reading interpretations on what these things are. 

So I’m going to try to explain how I see it. 

My first statement is that Numbers are not a direct product of the Astrals ot Astral. My guess is that Numbers are a general manifestation of power made with either Chaos, Cosmos, or Parity. The Original 100 (aka Astral’s Memory Numbers) is made by the Numeron Dragon, as opposed to the ones made Don Thousand, for example. This explains why the Numeron Dragon is “Number 100”. If it is included as one of Astral’s memories, it’s kinda blasphemous ngl. 

My conclusion came from a certain flaw in the show’s logic (which is fine bc its yugioh but im trying to knot things together here). The show states that Astral knows where the Numeron Code is, so when his memories got scattered, the location scattered with it in the form of the Numbers. However, it is never stated how Astral knows its location. Like, who told him that? Eliphas? The only creature that should know is the Numeron Dragon, and it’s dead. A possible explanation is that the Numeron Dragon placed the coordinates of the Numeron Code in the first 100 Numbers, and since Astral had the Numbers, he knew where it was. 

But yet, why are the Numbers so dangerous if they were made by a benevolent God? They’re made by a God, for starters. They’re supposed to be ultra powerful and unfit for mortal hands. 

And if the Numbers lead to the Numeron Code, it may be that the Numeron Dragon didn’t want someone who couldn’t handle the 100 Numbers to be handling the all-powerful source code. 

We also know that the Numbers tend to absorb a handful of stuff. The Mythyrian Numbers took in the Guardians and “Number 96: Black Mist” had a piece of Don Thousand stuck on it. It is likely that the Numbers absorbed Astral’s memories, so when they scattered, they took his memories with them rather than the other way around.

Furthermore, Astral’s Airship is kinda of an enigma. Like, what is it? Who built it? Why can it do things like store all 100 Numbers as well as track down certain Numbers. If the Numbers are just Astral’s memories, how are they able to fit into the slots on the Airship, which isn’t part of Astral memories?

To go along with the Numbers being separate from Astral, it’s easy to say the Astral World built the Airship to harness the Numbers’ powers and knowledge. So it is likely that the mechanism behind the Airship was how Astral was going to find Numeron Code.

But simply put, Astral World probably collected most of the first 100 Numbers before the Barians did, created Astral and the Airship using the Numbers with the goal of fighting Don Thousand or going to Earth to find the Numeron Code so they could wipe out Barian World. Kinda like Silvally but he kills Barians. His original battle with Don Thousand and Kazuma’s meddling caused Astral to lose all the Number Cards he had (and since his only purpose and identity is tied to the Numbers, he lost all of his memories as well), allowing the Barians to scramble in to try to collect them before the Astrals can. This is why some Numbers were in the hands of the Barians, like “Numbers 80: Madness-Draped Supreme King - Rhapsody in Berserk” and “Numbers 58: Flame Pressure Demon - Burner Visor”

The Number Cards do not belong to either party; it just happened that Astral World managed to get them and use their powers first. This becomes important when we talk about Jinlon later.

The biggest plot hole that I can pick up is because of “Number 100: Numeron Dragon”. Astral definitely should not have that one. Astral might’ve gotten 99 at the very most, then lost the Mythyrians, Numeron Gates, and some other cards to Don Thousand, then the rest when he crashed into Yuma. 

It is possible that he never had all 100 Numbers, but who knows.

But back to the dragons:

“Number 100: Numeron Dragon″ can only be obtained when the “dragons of light and time clash” fight each other on the Moon. 

Mizael said that since the condition requires a Barian (or a Chaos) dragon, then the Numeron Code belongs to the Barians. 

And he’s about half right. The condition does requires a Chaos dragon, but I say that it also requires a Cosmos dragon and a Parity Dragon as well.

Cosmos and Chaos took shape in the form of Photon Dragon and Tachyon Dragon. Tachyon Dragon is obviously a creature born from the powers of Chaos while Photon Dragon is harder to pick up, but it is directly stated that it uses the power of the Astrals, or Cosmos.

And why as dragons? Ehh The Numeron Dragon is a dragon, and what better way than to battle in the image of the Creator. (also dragons are sick af)

The most peculiar concept is that the last Number can only be accessed when the Cosmos and Chaos are actively fighting against each other, and it’s strange to think that the Numeron Dragon would set up the situation where the strongest object in the Universe can only be achieved through war. 

But this is exactly where Dragluon, Jinlon, and Parity fit into this legend.

Dragluon (and Jinlon by association) are the representatives for Parity. 

Dragluon is often represented with the yellow colors of Earth in a similar manner of base-form Photon Dragon using the blues of Astral World or base-form Tachyon Dragon using the reds of Barian World. These are the three dragons representing the Three Worlds.

Unlike the other two, Jinlon/Dragluon is like a neutral observer. He is the balance sitting between Kaito and Mizael to watch the battle unfold and judge it.

It isn’t a coincidence that Dragluon is one of the dragons required to awaken the powers of the Numeron Dragon. If the dragon representing the balance between the two other worlds was not present to witness the battle, it is unlikely that the last Number would reveal itself, thus locking access to the key and Numeron Code. 

Also, the Moon itself is composed mainly of Earthly materials. Since the Earth is represented as Parity, the Moon is a neutral ground for the clash between Chaos and Cosmos. It does not favor the victory of one or the other (Jinlon got involved in the duel to awaken Mizael’s true memories, but other than that, he did not interrupt the flow of the duel between the Galaxy-Eyes. Mizael’s resolve as a Barian Emperor did not change with this encounter). 

Although situational, the presence of Parity also explains certain phenomenons that occurrs in areas where it’s presence is the strongest, particularly at Mizael’s ruins/Dragluon’s home and the Moon. Astral’s ship stopped working, Orbital 7 (whose energy supply runs on Barianite) couldn’t function properly, and Mizael cannot tap into his Barian powers.

The Moon appears to have the same effect on the characters until they enter the battle-zone, where the clashing parties are allowed to fight. Parity neutralizes the effects of Cosmos and Chaos. 

As to why Jinlon ascended into the role as the Mythyrian Number and the representative for Parity, I have a small theory for that. 

Jinlon is a divine dragon who is much older than the show made him out to be. I reckon that he was one of the first life made by the Numeron Dragon (image of god, you know) and he stated that he witnessed the original battle between Astral and Don Thousand. 

His choice of wording here is telling. He shows obvious disdain towards the war on both sides, and I think this intensified after his encounter with Mizael. 

Going back to the origins of Mizael, I want to talk about the colors of the Three Worlds once more. Now, I truly do not know if this is intentional, but the flashback to Mizael’s childhood has heavy usage of the blue, red, and yellow color palette.    

When Mizael fled from the massacred village, the village lighted up due to the flames burning his home to the ground down while the surrounding sand was blue due to the darkness of the night. In this sense, Mizael is running from the source of his anger and sadness into freedom and safety, or from disorder to order. But the deeper he went in, the desert proved to not be the safe place he desired. The desert shifted between the intense Barian reds and Astral blues as Mizael transversed the landscape. 

And Mizael was dying during these scenes. It’s almost as though he’s being persuaded into two worlds; either ascend with grief to become a Barian, or let it all go to become an Astral. 

It was Jinlon who came to save Mizael. Like, I feel like I’m repeating myself a lot, but Jinlon appeared to Mizael with the colors of Parity. He engulfed Mizael in it and prevented him from entering either of the worlds too soon. Jinlon is a being who exists outside of Barian and Astral World’s conflicts. 

This is why he became Dragluon. Jinlon is already a creature of Parity with or without his association to Dragluon, and thus his death and closeness to the Mythyrian Number + Mizael resulted in his attachment to “Number 46: Ethereal Dragon Dragluon”, the ultimate dragon representing Parity. 

To that whole bit with the Astral’s Numbers, this is why Dragluon being made from Astral’s memories, as well as the other stuff I stated, doesn’t make much sense. (Maybe without the meddling of Don Thousand, instead of becoming an Astral when he died, Mizael may have shared a fate similar to Jinlon and been reborn as a creature of Parity given how often he is associated with the yellow colors. Maybe, just thinking).

As a neutral force, Jinlon leads the dragon-tamers down what they think is the correct path for the future. 

Aside from being convenient to the plot, Jinlon spends time with Kaito and Mizael. And likewise, Mizael and Kaito are characters who tether dangerously close to the line between Cosmos and Chaos. Kaito starts off as a heartless, cold killer, after all, and Mizael is strange for an antagonist; even going as far as fighting Don Thousand, the actual villain of the show (but most of the barians are like this for a reason that I’ll explain once I get to Vector). Although Mizael is massively arrogant and despises humans, he also commended the Arclights for sacrificing themselves, and he puts his true heart and loyalty out for the Barians. To add onto this, after acquiring his true memories, Mizael is adamant that he is still a creature of Chaos, and so he fights for Barian World despite his past leading him to be an Astral.

Yes, this isn’t a single case either. Alito was the first to recognize his past as a true Astral, yet he continues to fight for Barian World. Nasch is the strongest case for this, as he willingly chose to be a Barian. Chaos is not synonymous with evil. 

But back to Mizael. Mizael is someone who is dead-set on being a Barian no matter the circumstance. He fights for Barian World from what he knows of that world. He knows that his people aren’t evil (look, Barian World got Iris, alright) and he knows that Barian World is where his cherished allies and companions live. He lived as a Barian Emperor for possibly thousands of years. His commitment and love for dragons is also his most commendable trait. Mizael is a man who puts his trust in dragons, good or bad. Despite being a creature of Chaos, he also bears certain Cosmos traits. 

The same could be said for Kaito too. Kaito is supposed to be of the Cosmos as indicated by his usage of Prime Photon Dragon, yet his passion is much weaker than Mizael. Bluntly put, Kaito is selfish. The show states this. He uses Photon Dragon not out of respect for dragons but because it ended up being the easiest path to save Haruto and Dr. Faker. He lacks the heart that would make him a true Astral. 

The characters change. 

Mizael sheds a tear for an enemy, a repulsive human of all things, and Kaito wants them to meet again one day not as enemies but as friends. 

They represent both worlds, but they can meet in the middle too.

This nuisance is why I think Jinlon exists as the creature guiding them towards this fight. He brings out the Parity between Cosmos and Chaos. He not only finds two souls that represent both worlds, but also how both worlds can intermix. 

And hey, Kaito won the Moon Duel, essentially winning the future for Astral World. But it was Mizael who made it out alive. In a way, there was no true winner of the Moon Duel.

I wanna get back to this image right here.  

I could talk about how Tachyon Dragon is based on tachyon particles, which are hypothetical particles faster than light, and how Photon Dragon represents light through photon particles, or how Dragluon is based off of gluons, the elementary exchange particles that are essential for the force binding neutrons and protons together, the atoms that make matter and life possible.

But you know um. I’m actually not that smart and am not qualified to talk about those relationships.

Yet, I think it’s telling that the three dragons representing the Three Worlds emit a yellow glow as they awaken the Numeron Dragon.

When the Numeron Dragon made the Universe and the Numeron Code, it did not want a clash between Cosmos and Chaos to see who deserves to survive. It didn’t want its creations to destroy each other. It wanted them to clash on the Moon so they can prove that despite the war, despite the hatred, despite the meddling, both sides are capable of finding Parity, that peace is possible between them, that Kaito and Mizael can meet eye-to-eye and sympathize with each other.  The dragons were no longer fighting as Cosmos or Chaos but as Parity.

The Numeron Dragon will only grant access to the Numeron Code to the persons that are worthy of it. In the end, Mizael and Kaito were both worthy of obtaining “Number 100: Numeron Dragon” because they proved themselves as people capable of Parity. 

Call me a dreamer, but I think that’s why the final fight belongs to the characters that represent the Three Worlds. Nasch of the Barians, Kaito who wields the power of the Astrals, and not Yuma or Astral but Zexal III, the strongest combination of Chaos and Cosmos. 

These three worlds are able to work together to defeat Don Thousand, a person who would’ve used the Numeron Code for only destruction and personal gain. 

Kaito and Zexal III (although I’m not sure if this is different from Yuma and Astral as individuals, ceremonial duel and all) is explanatory in their stance on Parity, but Nasch is the outlier since he would’ve used the Numeron Code to destroy Astral World, or maybe he has some other motive if he had won the duel. Nasch saw the destruction of Astral World as a necessary evil for the survival of Barian World, but he also seemed okay with losing. It’s possible that he might’ve found a different way for all worlds to coexist had he won. So does the duel with Nasch afterwards ruin the duel with Don Thousand? Who knows. That depends on what value you see from that duel. 

(And not to get into a rant, but part of me wished the final boss was a Dark-Zexal-esque Morph between Eliphas and Don Thousand, the corrupted combination of two Gods with selfish intents fighting against Nasch, Zexal III, and Kaito. Like mmmm) 

I derailed quite a bit from talking about Jinlon and Mizael and the Ruins, but I find it so fascinating how much these two characters reveal about the world of Zexal.

[yumeka36]

Well, I know I said a while back when more Frozen 2 leaks came out that I was gonna avoid making anymore posts expressing my thoughts until I actually see the movie myself...but alas, what I’d consider the jackpot of leaks came out yesterday causing me to develop more thoughts I feel are better expressed now than later. As usual, skip this post if you don’t want to be supremely spoiled...

After the initial leaks from the not-yet-released mythology book a few weeks ago, which confirmed the movie will end with Anna as queen of Arendelle and Elsa as the Snow Queen/fifth spirit, the real question we’ve had since then is: will they continue to live together or separately? Many official sources such as storybooks and interviews with the creators hinted at separation, and after nearly two weeks of letting the realization that this movie won’t end in the way I would have liked practically eat me alive, I decided it was best to just remain positive, as the events of the story’s third act are still mostly a mystery.

Before I continue, I just want to point out that I understand both sides of the fandom right now: the side that feels hurt and betrayed by this kind of ending, and the side that’s more accepting and doesn’t want to jump to conclusions without seeing it firsthand. It’s been tough for me being in the middle - at times I totally get the backlash. We fell in love with the story of the first movie and shorts about two sisters reconnecting and now the sequel ends with them finding happiness elsewhere. But at the same time, I know that living separately doesn’t diminish familial bonds and it’s a normal thing that happens. I know it’s easy to dismiss it as a trend since a lot of other recent family movie sequels had similar endings, but I want to judge it in its own right. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still not happy we’re getting a separation ending, but I also know I’ll love 95% of this movie, so I can’t bring myself to throw in the towel at the last 5% without seeing every detail for myself, every word of dialogue, every scene, every nuance in character expressions and actions. I’d feel much more okay with this ending if this was Frozen 3 we’re talking about and we had another Frozen 2 that focused on Anna and Elsa reconnecting as sisters. To go from the end of the first Frozen with them finally getting to know each other after 13 years apart, straight to a sequel that ends with them separating is a leap that really needed more padding. The shorts fill the gap somewhat, but not enough in my opinion. We should have had a Frozen 2 story about Elsa trying to get over her guilt about shutting Anna out all those years, and once that’s resolved, it ends with a return to the status quo that sets the stage for the story we actually have in Frozen 2 (which should be Frozen 3!) I really feel we needed one more “smaller” story like this to pad things out after the first Frozen before the major changes that happens in Frozen 2 (can we get a Frozen 1.5 anyone?) But as I’ll describe further in this post, I’m not convinced that the last 5% of Frozen 2 will be so bad that it will override everything else about the movie, or Frozen in general.

I should also mention that I’ve always been neutral to Kristoff and his relationship with Anna. I find Anna and Elsa’s relationship way more appealing and interesting, but I’ve also always believed Anna has plenty of room in her big heart for sisterly love for Elsa and romantic love for Kristoff. Since they skipped any talk of marriage in the first Frozen, it was no surprise at all that it would be brought up in the sequel. Since they intend Frozen 2 to be the last installment (for now) they couldn’t leave a loose end like Kristoff and Anna’s engagement. I could take it or leave it, but as long as Anna and Elsa’s relationship is portrayed as the strongest bond (which it seems to be) I don’t mind giving Anna romantic love too (and maybe Elsa one day?)

But anyway, yes, a month before its official release, several page scans from the The Art of Frozen 2 have leaked, which pretty much confirm the ending alluded to in the mythology book and many others. And honestly, after taking some time to let all the information sink in, I’m not as upset as I thought I would be. At first I thought I was just numb by now, having already been sick about it for nearly two weeks after the mythology book leaked. But more likely, I think I’ve just made myself form a different perspective. In all the fandoms I partake in, I always try to make myself open to different interpretations of the characters and story even if they don’t fully agree with my own. I understand that there’s a risk involved with falling too deeply in love with someone else’s creation - that they may not interpret the characters and story the same way you do and it becomes difficult to distinguish your own headcanon perspective vs actual canon. What I think has happened with the Frozen fandom is an unfortunate case where lack of canon material has caused me (and no doubt others) to indulge so much in my own headcanons that I started to see it as “fact” when it really is just my interpretation and “filling in the blanks” so to speak.

To illustrate, Anna and Elsa spend very little time together in the first movie, which is what makes their rekindled love for each other at the end so impacting. But if you think about it, the ice skating together in the original Frozen’s epilogue plus a few more scenes in the two short films, only equates to about a half hour’s worth of content showing them interacting as sisters. When you have such an appealing character relationship but such a small amount of canon content with which to interpret it over a span of six years, it’s only natural that my own headcanons took over until I started seeing them as the only interpretation. Especially for Elsa, who has a lot less screentime in the first movie than Anna, so honestly we really don’t know her that well. Have I really seen enough of her in the first movie plus two shorts to say with certainty that she could never be happy without Anna always being by her side? Is the filmmakers’ view of her as a “protector” and “mythical character” who feels at home in the enchanted lands less valid than my own interpretation of her? Again, when I try to describe Elsa I realize that much of it is based on my own headcanons, which are perfectly valid, but I shouldn’t be surprised if it turns out the filmmakers have a different vision for her. Just because I personally love all the sisterly moments between Anna and Elsa and so always want that to exist in the Frozen universe so I can keep indulging in it, mean that any other direction for the story is bad? Of course anyone can infer basic things about Anna and Elsa without any headcanons, such as the fact that they love each other and enjoy being together, but when I ask myself questions like “What evidence do I really have that they’ll always want to live together?” or “Is Elsa really perfectly content being the queen of Arendelle as opposed to doing something else?” or “Does true love mean always having to physically be close to each other in order to be happy?” I realize that I can’t answer them as confidently as I’d like. 

As I asked myself questions like this and read the leaked art book pages a few times over - especially the foreward - I came to the conclusion that the creators did indeed put a lot of love and effort into their choices for Frozen 2, and their thought process for developing the story as described in the foreward makes sense even if it’s not the direction I personally would have gone. As I was reading it, I thought, if another fan like myself wrote it I would think “Hm, that’s an interesting interpretation, not quite how I see it, but valid nonetheless.” But in this case, the one with that interpretation is the creators, so all you can do is accept their view or move away. It’s not like they were way off and focused the sequel on a new character and pushed Anna and Elsa into the background, or even focused a lot on Anna and Kristoff: from everything I’ve read, the focus of Frozen 2 is still the “undying love of two sisters” (as Josh Gad put it), just not in the way I was expecting. Anna and Elsa’s bond has been conveyed as so strong it’s almost omnipotent and ethereal, even more so it seems in the sequel, so the interpretation is twofold: does the fact that it’s this strong mean that they always have to be together in order to be happy, or does it mean that time and space doesn’t matter because it’s so strong? Obviously the filmmakers (and others) interpret it the latter way while many fans interpret it the former. But can we really say one view is wrong and the other is right?

And even with all these leaks, there’s still a lot we don’t know: we still don’t know exactly what happens in Ahtohallan and other events leading up to the epilogue. We don’t know for sure that being the “fifth spirit” means Elsa will become a literal spirit or just get a boost in magical power. We don’t know all the whys and hows of her choosing to become the Snow Queen and giving the role of queen to Anna. These are very important plot points that I feel are best judged by actually seeing it with my own eyes and not drawing conclusions from vague book descriptions and concept art. Until I see it for myself, I can’t say how I’ll feel, so it’s better for my health and well being if I just stay positive. But even knowing all that I do about the ending now, when I look at my Frozen collection and all the imagery of Anna and Elsa holding hands and hugging, I’m asking myself “Does my knowledge of the Frozen 2 ending make me feel less connected to all the ‘snow sisters’ stuff I’ve indulged in for six years?” And to be honest, as of now, it doesn’t, which is a good sign. I do feel sad and jarred that I now have to throw out six year’s worth of headcanons and fan stories I’ve created in my mind...but you know what, I’m willing to start again because I still love Anna and Elsa and I think there will always be great story potential for them. I see the “old” Frozen imagery now as, yes, they had their time living together as sisters (would have liked to see more of it in canon but oh well) and now they have different roles in life, but that doesn’t negate the time they shared and the love they have. Of course, my opinion could change when I actually see Frozen 2, for better or worse, but I’ve already spent so long looking forward to this movie, there’s no point in backing out now and not making the best of it. 

As I stated in a past post (from right before the first leaks happened) my Frozen fandom is at a crossroads now and I can’t predict what it will be like a few months from now: I could love Frozen 2 and my fandom will continue on a long time, especially if Disney announces more installments (I still think Frozen 3 or 1.5 is a possibility), or I could find the ending distasteful enough that it makes me lose interest sooner, or regardless of whether I like the sequel or not, I lose interest in Frozen and move onto other fandoms. Or maybe I won’t, and lack of official content from Disney will cause me to take up fanfiction writing or something like that. But whatever happens, I’m going to stay positive because I don’t like being negative. For those of you who are appalled at the ending, I understand and I hope you’ll still see the movie for yourself it’ll change your mind even a little, but please handle it in the way that’s best for you (leave the fandom, indulge in fanfiction, sell your merch). And for others who are being accepting of it, I hope we end up pleasantly surprised.

Okay, I’ve rambled on long enough. This should be the last thought-spilling Frozen 2 post I write until I actually see the movie - I can’t imagine we could get anymore leaks or information at this point that would drastically change my view. In the meantime, I’m just gonna lay low and reserve final judgment until November 22nd (or sooner if I win tickets to the premiere!)

[blackasteriia]

16, 10, 7 for the ask meme :u

 Super Duper Deep Character Questions

||First question is shown but the rest is under the cut because it’s a doozy||

16.

I discussed in a previous post  how Xion’s physical appearance relates to her overall self-conception. Because of the influences of others and her own experiences with the world, Xion developed into a young girl with black hair. When she was in the Organization she had blue eyes. However, her eye color changed to a dark brown after she left. This was a statement of individuality that differentiates her from Kairi and Namine. It is also how she approaches her own style. Xion is unique, she doesn’t follow the trends or ideas of anyone else. She wasn’t want to wear other people’s clothes, or act like her peers. Her brand is 100% pure Xion. Pro-tip, if you want to buy Xion new clothes: let her pick them out. Do not choose them for her. She will not wear them. Set her free in a clothing store and see what she comes back with. Whatever it is, you can be certain she’ll be happy with it.  

Xion’s sense of style was a gradual evolution. In the Organization she wore the characteristic black coat, pants, and boots of the uniform, day-in, day-out. Her hair began to grow to the point it needed cutting. She did it with a knife. Fingernails were chewed off. Someone must’ve taken pity and taught the kids about soap, toothpaste, and basic hygiene. I hope someone did, at least. There’s no implication of it in canon though. She does not wear make-up and even if she understood its function, she wouldn’t have time to. There is little to no self-expression in the Organization. Xion is also a child soldier fighting to survive, appearance is way low on her list of priorities anyway. She doesn’t know anything about ‘style’ or ‘fashion.’ Clothes are functional, they keep her warm and they cover her. They also provide basic protection against the elements and attacks. 

The first time Xion shows an inkling of concern for ‘style’ is when she alters her Organization coat. Even without her memories, she recognized that the Organization coat is a symbol that said something about her. Something she did not want to be said about her. She needed the coat to travel the dark corridors, however. So, Xion found a tailor and had them change the design to suit her. She had it shortened and the hood replaced with a collar. Vents in the sleeves made it so they could be rolled-up. She also learned a spell that cleaned dirt, blood, and other stains from her clothes. This is also the point where she realized she could wear the clothes she wanted. Xion never had more than one extra change of clothes, but it was her clothes. Here Xion found some preferences: she preferred pants to skirts, she liked boots, loose shirts were comfy, and she kinda liked necklaces?

The necklace I draw her wearing in her art, for example: 

Is one that she made herself out of a piece of gem she found. She whittled and smoothed it down, then hallowed out a hole to loop a string through. Little things like that enabled Xion to find places for self-expression. However, her ‘style’ was cramped by the reality of her situation. She was still fighting to survive and once again her priorities laid elsewhere.

Once most adults are no longer attempting to murder her, Xion flourishes. She is never a fashionista, she never particullary goes out of her way to look Good. Instead, Xion understands that the ability to express herself should not be wasted. This freedom is valuable and just one more way to carve a niche for herself. It’s a statement of independence and power, a privilege she did not hav before. Clothes are always practical to her. She never wears heels for this reason. Still does not like skirts. Yet, she’ll color coordinate her outfits to suit her: blacks, dark, purple, blues, or reds. She probably has a small rotation of necklaces she likes. She has someone professional cut her hair, although it never grows past her shoulders. She looks clean and put together, confident in her appearance. Also she’s never wearing the stupid tacky apprentice outfit, she has self-respect. Even Xion knows that ascots are lame.

If she ever wears make-up it is very minimal, at most. She also is never going to get a piercing, too much risk of it getting ripped off in a fight. She will, however get a tattoo. Saïx left Xion with a gnarly, ugly scar across her back from hip-to-shoulder. When she’s old enough she gets a tattoo to cover it up. What the tattoo is of, depends. Usually it’ll be flowers and vines, a simple but elegant design that works to cover the mark. So, a painful reminder of her past is covered by something that is her and nothing else. Furthermore, in her room, wherever it is in the verse, Xion tends to collect things. Little trinkets and objects from her various travels. She’s not unorganized but she’s not obsessive about a system. She likes things to be at hand when she needs them. Shelves are for books and knick-knacks. She likes to have a desk to study at. Xion isn’t one for artwork, typically. However, if given art to put on the walls she might comply. 

10.

Xion isn’t traditionally creative, so you won’t see her make many works of art. She might doodle, she might hum, or write out a quick rhyme, however, she is not strongly artistically motivated. At least not in the way that is typically thought of as ‘artistic.’ Remember that Xion is a kinesthetic learner. Physical action is more important to her than an aesthetic ideal. In general, Xion will do things with her hands as an absent minded way to dispose of excess energy. Thus, the aforementioned carved stone necklace or her tendency to dismantle things. That or her little doodles, scrawled onto a page. If Xion is drawing or writing then it’s descriptive. Very grounded art that focuses on capturing details as she sees them. Xion isn’t an abstract person. She is concrete and focused on the space around her. It’s also apart of her general curiosity and drive to learn. Xion isn’t concerned with the lofty pursuit of high art. She’ll consume it, but even then I still wouldn’t consider her a ‘creative’ person. She doesn’t really listen to music and wouldn’t find a lot of joy in perusing an art gallery. Most paintings are boring man, I don’t know what to tell you. 

Where Xion shows creativity is in her problem solving. Xion is well-wired for logic and math. She is capable of teaching herself calculus if given the resources to do so. She can take the information she is given to form a conclusion. Then, use that conclusion to ask more questions that lead to more observation. She uses deductive reasoning and is probably one of the few people not truly victim to the confirmation bias. Xion is trying to disprove herself. It lends to her paranoia and tends to make her a bit of a conspiracy theorist. She is absolutely the one with the red string and the cork board. It also will make her a brilliant scientist and healer. Xion will ask the questions, look from the angles, and think about the problem, in ways no one else will. She will look at almost any design and think ‘how can I make it more efficient?’ She will then think through the possibilities of that. All of these are signs of her creativity. They’re pragmatic, efficient, and adaptable, much like her. 

Very little of this is evident until after Xehanort’s death. When Xion had the free time, the resources, and the ability to focus on it. Once again, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, even if Xion had the drive for creativity she wouldn’t have the resources for it. Nonetheless, she had to learn to how to fight the Heartless and adapt to the flow of battle. She also had to survive and exist on her own after leaving the Organization. All of these problems would require creative solutions. It just wouldn’t flourish in a tangible way until the people who were trying to kill her were all dead. So, she learns how to read, learns math and science, and begins to explore the world in a new way, with new tools. 

7.

Xion is a three year old child soldier with extensive combat experience, a history of abuse, torture, enslavement, and neglect. She has no social supports, no parents, no friends, no family. She has spent two years living on her own, feeding and caring for herself. Her coping skills are near non-existant. She has not been taught how to regulate her emotions, which easily overwhelm her or she suppresses them altogether. Several key betrayals have left her paranoid and untrusting. 

According to the DSM-5 the requirement for PTSD is exposure to a life-threatening event and Xion qualifies. She presents symptoms of involuntary memories, nightmares, flashbacks, and dissociation. She will avoid places or people who remind her of the trauma. Although, this is broad and often times Xion labels things as ‘threatening’ merely because they trigger her anxiety. Xion also has low self-worth, self-blame, emotional estrangement from others, and persistently struggles to regulate her emotions. She shows irritableness, hyper-vigilance, reckless and self-destructive behavior, startles very easily, and has deep sleep disturbances. 

When Xion is avoiding Roxas and Axel at the end of KH3, that is part of her detachment from social connection. When she vanishes for two weeks that is her isolating herself to deal with anxiety and negative emotions. Xion is paranoid and is constantly calculating the chances that someone is trying to kill or harm her. This is a learned behavior from years of people betraying her and attempting to kill and harm her. Her nightmares are the most prolific. Xion cannot sleep without horrifying dreams of close calls in battle, her abuse, or torture. So, she avoids sleep like it’s the plague, going up to four days without rest. She doesn’t like to talk about her trauma, or think about it. Xion is very good at hiding her symptoms and her distress. She’ll usually isolate herself when emotions become too much to handle. Failing the ability to escape, she will express it as an explosion of pent-up rage. 

She blames herself for what has happened to her. If she was injured in a fight then it was her fault. She should’ve been better. If she had been smarter, better prepared she could’ve prevented Xemnas from capturing her. Xion is self-destructive and reckless, she has very little regard for her own health or safety. She treats most injuries and wounds like they’re paper cuts, and is confused when others freak out over them. She hasn’t trusted someone since Axel first hit her. Everyone lies, everyone will betray you, they will all eventually attempt to kill you, at some point. From the position of an outsider this seems insane. To Xion it is perfectly rational and logical, a natural extension of her own experiences. Xion’s mental health is poor and her physical health follows it. Food deprivation means she is underweight. She looks like she doesn’t sleep. Her hair is a mess, her fingernails bitten to the quick. 

Everything about Xion is a perfect storm of poor mental health and self-care. So, what can be done to help her? Like most problems Xion has faced, its solved by moving her up the Hierarchy of Needs. Providing her consistent meals, shelter, water, entertainment, and affection, gives her the space to focus on her own health. By giving Xion examples of relationships that are not abusive or neglectful, it can reframe her previous experiences. Xion can learn how to trust and to open up to others. It will just take time and energy to encourage her to do so. If it’s available, talk therapy would be invaluable to her. In the case it is not available, encouraging her to discuss her feelings and memories will help her process them in a more healthy way. Xion is very young and she has extensive, painful trauma that weighs her down. However, with proper help, love, and guidance, she can grow beyond her past. She’ll always be more jumpy, or nervous, or anxious than most, she’ll always have that suspicious paranoia. Her sleep habits will never be perfect and the nightmares will never truly go away. She is not resigned to an existence of suffering, however. Xion is adaptable and more than capable of healing. 

[aparticularbandit]

returning to myers-briggs discussions, i’d previously pegged rose as an intj (and hadn’t liked it because it fell into the general “your sociopath character is an intj” trope which i really don’t like - although fun fact, i don’t think hannibal is an intj. but also he’s technically not a sociopath or something that can be defined by psychology etc. whatever). but despite my efforts, it seemed to fit.

intj has the primary ni function and the secondary te function, which means the main function for self-saving is the subconscious aha! moment and the secondary function that deals with other people is graphs and bringing external order to thought.

i don’t necessarily think this is still accurate. mostly because i don’t think rose is a te. i think elena is a te, and i think the plan rose mentioned to luisa in episode fourteen was elena’s plan, not rose’s, and i think the primary reason rose decided to stop working with elena and kill her (and derek) instead was elena’s kidnapping of luisa. (if she didn’t leave her over being with emilio for five years and instead stuck to a plan that put her in a situation she hated, which may have made her want to leave but she didn’t, luisa becomes a primary factor here.)

however, i think my original reasoning for having rose be a te stemmed from s2 and her out-thinking and outmaneuvering elena, as well as keeping michael off of elena’s trail until he could put elena in prison where she wanted her, as well as allowing derek time to escape.

but this doesn’t necessarily have to be a te action.

and where we have very clear moments of luisa showing herself as an e, f, and p, we might have moments of that with rose as well. but rose, for me, is harder. ish. because we don’t see as much of rose, and as a character, that makes her more fluid and more open to interpretation, or more variable in interpretation. but there are some things that tend to stick, and that’s interesting to me, so.

first and foremost, i tend to peg rose as a t. this gives a strong conflict to luisa’s f, which is good for story-telling and if you’re into mb for relational purposes, having the opposite here tends to be beneficial (although this is one where having the same is fine - relational best match mb isn’t something i tend to get into much, but it’s fun to look at. that said, an intj’s best match is enfp or entp, neither of which is luisa, although I suppose a case could be made for enfp if you make her ne instead of se, but that’s the brainstorming function that i really don’t think she has. anyway). i also think this is where a lot of the conflict we see in rose and luisa’s reactions to their external conflicts comes from, as exemplified with eileen and everything to do with raf in s3 (which, admittedly, i haven’t seen all of. i mostly skipped s3. don’t judge me).

rose threatens eileen because, logically, this works, this has worked, this should continue to work. rose doesn’t trust raf because, logically, she has no reason to do so. she is given evidence that he might be onto her, and raf has consistently worked with the police. logically, this makes sense.

luisa doesn’t like rose threatening eileen because you don’t treat people that way. luisa trusts raf because he is her brother and she sees no reason for him to lie to her. her thoughts and decisions are based in her emotional relation to eileen and raf. emotionally, this makes sense.

but the difference creates conflict between the two of them, one which we see both catering to when the need is pressing enough. luisa relies on rose’s logic when they leave, and rose relies on luisa’s emotions when they return.

but also rose outmaneuvering characters throughout s1 and s2 (and would have in s3 if she hadn’t returned with luisa) is a very t thing.

the main discrepancy with making rose a t is her actions in regards to luisa, which are very much heart-based, not head-based. and this is the interesting thing because rose, as a sociopath, lacks empathy. not as completely as a psychopath, but that aspect is still there. when she relies on luisa, she’s relying on luisa’s overabundance of what she lacks (in the same way that luisa does with rose, not in the form of intellect (because luisa is a genius) but in the form of logical common sense (which, notably, luisa does not have much of); it’s an interesting form of conflict and resolution).

anyway.

rose also tends to be an i to luisa’s e. again, this works well for conflict and compatibility. woo! but really, that shouldn’t be how you type a character. we also see rose clearly acting as an i throughout the series, most notably the submarine, which is a huge recharge moment for her (although i suppose the caymans could be considered one as well, we just don’t see that). rose keeps very much to herself, she doesn’t talk about herself, but then most of the time she isn’t herself. (that said, i think as emilio’s wife, the rose solano mask, rose had to appear more extroverted than she truly is.)

this is interesting, though, because clara, as i’ve been writing her, feels more extroverted. she likes being with people, she likes communal things because even though she can’t connect with people on an empathy level this allows her to connect on a mob mentality level (ish, i don’t like that term), but even then, she does pull away and is by herself frequently. it also looks like the introvert aspect is something that’s fairly well accepted, so sticking with that.

rose is definitely a j (again, conflict/compatibility bonus). i don’t think she’s a strong j, because her organization and scheduling (and keeping to the timeline)—

hm.

see, and this is interesting because although i do think rose is more of a j than luisa is (and fandom seems to also paint her as a j), i can see an ambivalence here. rose mentions a timeline and is organized, but that feels like elena’s influence more than natural rose. we see rose most in the moments where she steps out of that - when she kills emilio, when she sends luisa to the mental institute, when she kills tom the bellhop - all of which are antithesis to the timeline itself. this is even more poignant in relation to sleeping with heidi prior to the series (or even going to the girl bar where she met luisa), which were likely impulsive decisions made that could potentially have jeopardized whatever elena wanted her to do (particularly in regards to their argument overheard by heidi).

but perhaps that is more rebelliousness and a need to be herself than an indication of a p vibe. rose’s actions in s2 (and in s4, to some extent) show a very organized vibe (particularly in regards to having an escape plan provided luisa deposits the funds - this is a very j thing to do).

so still on the side of j vs. p.

now, this is more interesting, because in the side of n vs. s, i think rose might actually be an s, and it’s part of what makes her so interesting as a villain and as an opponent to elena (even though we don’t really see that). as i mentioned in luisa’s analysis, s is more concrete and n is more abstract, but s is also more little details and n is more big picture, and Rose excels at the small details. it’s the little details that cause her actions mentioned in the j vs. p discussion (killing emilio and tom, sending luisa to the mental institute), and it’s the little details she can catch that elena can’t that lead to her success. rose is able to set things up under elena’s nose - with derek, no less! - and get away with it because elena trusts her to take care of those details. and rose does until she doesn’t anymore. it’s the little details that make her suspicious of raf, the little things adding up to a bigger picture.

but it’s also a lack of the little details with susanna that get her caught by michael (and also a complete ignorance of them by buying powdered donuts when she left with luisa like seriously rose - but even then, that’s a little detail for luisa that she wanted, so).

the problem here is this: istj still leaves the te that i don’t think fits with rose, and the above examples of s that i give fit more with se than they do with si, which would be the istj function. further, if you read the description for the ti function, that fits fairly well with the s and t descriptions given - the actions rose takes during s1 are ones meant to make the least changes to their overall system.

but se/ti leads to istp or estp - in which case, i’d argue rose as an istp (ti to help herself (because making the smallest changes to keep the system in place would protect her from elena) and se to help others (very grounded in the present moment, etc.)) which leads to something interesting:

rose and luisa both have a crossover essential function, and that is that se function, that being grounded in the present. while comparatively rose is definitely more j than luisa is, she can be flexible and impulsive and spontaneous, and that’s complementary to luisa. but their main conflict, then, is that ti/fi conflict - the internal logic vs the internal feelings. (and where luisa uses her se to help herself, rose is using it to help others - interestingly enough they would both be using it for luisa and this grounding her.)

[monochrome-nocturne]

Yandere Simulator Theory regarding Info-chan

After listening to all the tapes and reading theories about the journalist being Info-chan's father and she actually helps Yandere-chan to take revenge for her father, I think that's absolutely true. Because why does Info-chan actually help Yandere-chan at all? For panty shots? I don't think so. I mean sure, it may be beneficial for her to sell those panty shots to gain money but I think the reason is much, much deeper than that...

 Info-chan is the only person who knows about Yandere-chan's true nature aside from her parents, Akademi High's headmaster Kocho Shuyona and the Saikou family. If you don't count Yandere-chan's parents (since their reason for knowing it is pretty obvious), you're left with the headmaster, the Saikou family, and Info-chan. Both the headmaster and the Saikou family know this fact because they seem to have been working together to put an end to the Aishi bloodline since Phantom Girl's murder at the hands of Ryoba Aishi (Yandere-chan's mother) in 1989. So... Where does Info-chan fit into through all of this? The story of 1980s Mode has three major parties against Ryoba's actions: The headmaster (since he's responsible for the safety of the school), the Saikou family (since they founded the school) and the journalist (since he was the one to find the culprit through his investigations). The journalist is a depressed and alcoholic widower who is the father of a high school-aged daughter who earns her own money (and according to her father, has too much money on her hands for her age, hinting that she is possibly the main provider of the family), spends most of her time on her computer (that she bought herself with her own money) and possibly earns her money by doing shady things, although her father knows little about her private life since he both respects her life and fears what she'll do if he interferes. Now, who else spends most of her time on a computer, does shady things and has little to no information regarding her identity? None other than Info-chan. The evidence is too clear to deny. Also, in the old opening, Info-chan was stated to be the former leader of the NEWSPAPER Club. Newspapers and journalism go hand in hand. The truth has been staring at our faces this whole time.

If she really is the journalist's daughter, she must've found the tapes her father recorded as he hid them specifically for her to find. Being her father's daughter, her detective skills are top-notch so she finds out documents and articles about the trial incident and the names of the people involved in it with ease. Since Info-chan and Yandere-chan attend the same school and Yandere-chan has her mother's last name, she connects the pieces together and hatches a plan to destroy Yandere-chan and her family for good.  Also, if you listen to the recordings about the journalist's wife, you'll notice that she was quite possibly a yandere as well: "She wouldn't let me out of her sight, and got possessive if another woman so much as looked at me." But I think Info-chan's mother was a different yandere than Ryoba Aishi: I think she wasn't as emotionless or deranged as Ryoba and actually cared about her husband's feelings. She didn't force him to love her just because she loved him, he also came to genuinely love her and was devastated when she passed away.

So... Where am I getting with this, you ask? Well, I think Info-chan is even more dangerous than she already seems to be. She has a mother who was possibly a yandere and a father who is a former investigative journalist, a job which requires searching, finding and gathering information, the very skills that define Info-chan. Her personality on the official website is listed as "unscrupulous", meaning she's willing to do anything to reach her goals as her description even says: "If she wants a favor from YOU, you'd better do exactly as she asks...or else." The journalist states in one of the tapes that his daughter sometimes returns to home with blood on her clothes and he doesn't know whether it's her own blood or the blood of someone else...

Remember the mysterious hand that's about to attack Yandere-chan from behind that YandereDev often brings up to hint us towards something? I think that hand is Info-chan's hand. I think just as how Yandere-chan is the protagonist of the game, Info-chan is secretly the true antagonist. YandereDev mentioned that there'll be multiple endings depending on how you've eliminated the rivals, how much damage has been done to Senpai's sanity, so on and so forth. What if you get an ending where Info-chan successfully exposes you to the whole nation with concrete evidence if the most used elimination methods are lethal?  What if she wants you to do bad things to people because she wants to record it and use it as evidence against you? What if she secretly tracks your every move from the services tab and records your murders with it? What if you're already lured into the trap she's set for you since the very beginning?

Also, take this fact into account: "YandereDev has also not revealed if Yandere-chan will officially meet Info-chan in real life in the future. Apparently, it will be a plot twist." A plot twist, eh? Well, what is a bigger plot twist than Info-chan revealing herself as the daughter of the same journalist whose life was ruined by Ryoba Aishi and taking a bloody revenge on Yandere-chan? Especially after listening to the last tape recording, in which her father is basically telling her his last goodbye...

"I searched for you. But I couldn't find you. I can't wait for you to come home. I have to leave immediately. I'm going to gather all of the recordings I've made so far and put them where I know you'll find them. That way, at least you'll know why your father disappeared so suddenly. I only hope that she won't try to get revenge on me by harming you. I don't know when I'll be back. I don't know if I'll be back. I don't know if she's willing to cross oceans to hunt her prey. If she is, I'll try to lure her into a trap, try to expose her true nature in front of the police. It's my only hope. I know you can take care of yourself. If I had more time, there are so many things I'd say to you, but I can't - not now. Stay safe... I love you..."

Or maybe I'm wrong. Info-chan's primary character color is red, so it could be a case of "red herring" symbolism. But maybe, just maybe, it could be a symbol for her spite against the woman who ruined her father's life. Also, I've seen a comment on Info-chan's page on the Yandere Simulator wiki regarding two possible real names for her and one of the names really caught my attention: Oyashi Naruka. Oyashi's kanji characters mean "parent-knowledge" and Naruka is a transliteration of "narc". So, if this is canon, the name basically foreshadows Info-chan's true colors...

Anyways, I'd also like to hear your thoughts if you have any.

Note: I know YandereDev has supposedly confirmed Info-chan being the daughter of the journalist but, like I said, it could be a case of her being a red herring. So, just in case, I shall refer to this a theory until it’s official that this is the case.

[katherinesisakproduction]

A9 Final Pitch

Wow! After nine weeks, we’re finally at the end of the quarter...so without further ado, here’s a quick summary of the work behind ‘Origin’. 

Theme: Appearances can be decieving/life isn’t always black and white

Logline: When Dennis -a superhero-obsessed boy- is dragged to his dad’s office for a ‘Take Your Child to Work Day’ he comes face-to-face with some titillating family secrets. Could this be the origin story for Voltaic City’s newest crimefighter? 

Link to final animatic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0V-kj4Sc9Q&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3npV64LbHoybTt2JF6xB35kJiMK4cPKXZCDfXtOLDYqATOlXm7SUYTqcY

In this version of the animatic, I addressed the notes about establishing (more clearly) the initial setting of the office, as well as changing the design of the desk that Dennis hides behind in order to make it more plausible that Eel Man wouldn’t be able to see him. 

Supplemental Materials: This section ties in well with the characters/world

Dennis: 

To rehiterate, Dennis is a seven-year-old boy who is obsessed with superheroes and comic books. He views his favorite comic book as his ‘guide to life’, believing that the world contained between the pages has the answers to everything. In a way, his attachment to comic books represents the very ‘black-and-white/good-and-evil’ view of the world that people have in their youth, because more traditional comic plotlines (of the past) tend to be very formulaic in that good always triumphs over evil. 

In terms of new material, I reviewed the SCAD Animated Short handbook and developed a rough turnaround sheet and expression page for Dennis. After doing so, when this goes into production, I’m wondering if it might be a good idea to revist the hair design. As much as I enjoy the asymmetrical swoop from the frontal and 3/4 views, since this will be 3D, I’m not entirely certain if it will silhouette well from the sides. 

The expression page for Deninis was a lot of fun to make: since he’s the main character and the type to wear his heart on his sleeve, I got to play with a lot of large facial emotions...His roundness makes him a lot of fun to sketch out. 

Eel Man/The Dad:

Eel Man is the secondary character in the film: he’s a systems analyst for a Tuna Company by day, and a super-their by night. He’s calculating, insecure and has a little bit of an invisibility complex. He began his life of crime after his job cut his benefits and began by selling classified corproate information to rival companies for money. Eventually, he went from hacking/digital theft and branched out into stealing top secret tech that was being developed by other types of companies: his theft of a sonar weapon (mentioned at the end of this short) is his first ‘big’ venture into typical supervillainesque crime which is why it made the news. 

As a mid-level office worker, he feels very stifled and invisible at times. He definitely feels like just another cog in the machine and the noteriety he recieved in the criminal underworld for being a ‘super-theif’ helps stave off his greatest fear, which is going through life forgotten and unimportant. 

Doing the turnaround sheet for him was a little tricky because I’m used to drawing him in poses that allow me to really exagerrate his ‘s-curve’ shape. But since characters are typically kept in a neutral pose for the sheets, it felt a little tricky to ‘straighten him out’, so to speak. 

Unlike his son, Eel Man is a bit of an enigma in the short. He does need to keep a little bit of an ‘air of mystique’ so that it is plausible that Dennis could misinterpret his status of being a villain. Additionally, with the visor, drawing expressions was doubly challenging because it removed two of the main three components that really drive facial expressions (eyes, mouth, eyebrows). I did draw two images of him without the mask to hint at how he emotes around his family.  

To round out the requirements for character in the Animated Short book, here are the action poses I submitted as a part of my pitch package to indicate how the characters will move. To me, I always begin with action poses before I even finalize character designs because it helps me connect character design, movement style and personality together. By drawing out how they behave, it helps me clarify (even to myself) a character’s identity/sense of being. 

Dennis, ever the excitable kid, has very big movements. He puts his entire body into action and is very open with his behavior. I tried to remember how I moved when I was that age and personally, I remember being very impulsive and confident with everything I did: there was no planning or second-guessing, only action.

Eel Man also has exagerrated movements, but in a different way. His ‘s-design’ was chosen to specifically favor poses with strong lines of action: I really wanted to capture the dynamic poses typical to superhero comics, but also soften the seriousness behind the fight scenes by adding a slick, slithery element to his movements. He ‘slips’ and ‘slides’ everywhere. 

The World: Style, Lighting and Color

The short takes place in a corporate office and has two main sets: The cubicle and the lair. The cubicle is a very tight and slightly dreary space, so the colors will be mostly beiges and neutral tones to convey a sense of corprorate drudgery. The lightingin the office (during Act 1) will be fairly even to indicate that this is the ‘mundane world’...The story has not truly taken off at this point. 

The quick color study here is a rough indication of the palette for the transition between sets. It carries over some of the beige/muted orange elements from the office set while the intense blue forshadows the color palette for the lair. This is the still I’m most likely to revist to finesse the color a little more so that it is congruent with the other panels. I’m not entirely sold on the color of the slide and want to explore what a blue-grey might look like...or perhaps a more saturated bronze color. 

In Act 2, when Dennis is looking around the lair and starting to come up with ideas of what this foreign space could possibly be, the color palette changes to a high-pitched, limited palette of blue/blue green. This was heavily inspired by Lou Romano’s color key work on the Incredibles, because the vibrant, limited palette imbues the space with a sense of ‘otherworldliness’, removing it from what both Dennis and the audience associate with our ‘day-to-day’ reality. The lighting is bright and still fairly even because not only do I want the audience to be able to drink in full ‘grandeur’ of the set, but tonally, the emotions of the piece are still largely positive -it’s a moment of discovery. I also want all of the props (such as the giant coin, the costume carousel, the supercomputer etc) to be highly visible. The narrative relies heavily on props to drive the plot (with each component acting as an indicator that the dad is a hero) and its also important to establish props that will come into play during Act 3 when the fight sequence happens. 

In Act 3, however, the lighting changes. As Eel Man (our secret antagonist) enters the set and Dennis gets visual confirmation that his guess was right (sort of), the set darkens a little and the lighting becomes very high contrast to create a visual intensity that foreshadows the conflict. The color palette of the set is still blue, but leaning a little bit away from the turquoise end fo the spectrum.  

These are two production stills for the film. I chose Dennis and Eel Man’s first face-to-face interaction in the film to showcase because their relationship is what lends impact to the revelation off Eel Man’s true identity at the end. I attempted to do a little more color blending to convey a ‘3D’ quality to the image, but I feel like I want to keep working on it because currently, some elements such as Eel Man’s arm and hand could use a little less exposure to the yellow light for higher overall contrast. But overall, it serves its purpose to convey the general lighting in the scene. The scene is illumnated with warm yellow light to be visually misleading, conveying the beginnings of something wonderful and new... 

This is the second production still depicting the big ‘reveal’ when Dennis finds out that his dad is a supervillain. In this scene, he is illuminated by the LED lights of the television that is playing the broadcast that completely turns his worldview upside down. The teal highlights act as a visual calllback back to the palette of the lair,but now, the lighting is darker and far more dramatic to convey the sinister turn of the story. 

Looking ahead, I really want to develop a more concrete color script for this short. What I have now gives a decent indication of color, but I’d like to push the lighting and shading within the style frames to more closely match the quality of light within the production stills. I also feel like at least two more stills (one of the office and one more in the lair during Act 2) would strengthen the color development, giving people a more concrete idea oft the final ‘look’ for the short. However, I did end up prioritizing the fixes to the animatic, as well as the creation of turnaround sheets over a color script at this current time because those items were the ones definitively required by the SCAD Animated Short Handbook.

Why Animation? 

My answer to this question can be found in my description of both the characters and the world. When it came to development, I was favoriting very stylized and exaggerated designs. The character’s shape based design language to inform their acting, as well as the saturated yet limited color palette for the hero world should work in tandem to create a visual universe that far removed from anything that the viewers can easily associate with our ‘day-to-day’ reality (i.e. live-acton). The stylization and exaggeration, which can only be accomplished via animation, serves to make Dennis’s conclusiion that his dad MUST be a hero more believable to the audience by lowering the suspension of disbelief: if the audience doesn’t have a comparison point to explain the unfamiliar space, it excuses Dennis’s runaway imagination. 

Although this story could be done in live action, it would change the tone of the story to something a little more corny (similar to Disney’s live-action film Sky High). Even though I personally enjoy campy superhero stuff, in this case, it would tonally undermine the theme that ‘life isn’t always black and white’, which I would like to avoid. 

Final Notes and What Comes Next: 

Taking this pitch from start to finish was a really interesting endeavor, especially in seeing how the concept evolved over time. I’m a large fan of DC comics, so getting to play around with some of my favorite tropes was a definite plus with this story. I know I personally enjoy hero origin stories a lot...I think the stories people come up with to explain what could drive a person into acts of superhuman heroism/villainy are pretty interesting because they reflect the things that majorly impact people’s lives (loss of family, social injustice etc, etc). 

In a way, Origin, for me is as much of a coming-of-age tale as it is a superhero story. Dennis’s discovery at the end, that his dad was not the man he thought he was is an amplified version of how at a certain age, you realize that your parents are not necessarily these godly, untouchable super-humans who can magically solve all of your problems. Awknowledging that life isn’t always easy is a, difficult, yet essential, part of growing up and I wanted to touch on that in my film. 

But-with that being said- I’m finally going to reveal what I think would happen after the title card! Originally, I had thought of this idea as a pitch for a television show and I think that after the revelation, Dennis would agree to be Eel Man’s sidekick so that he could try and discover WHY his dad would become a villain. I think he would actively try to sabotage his dad’s villainous escapades, because he’s still a good-hearted character, but I think his loyalty to his dad would lead him to agree to be his sidekick so that he could try to better understand his father. I think that if it were further developed into a series, that you could have a lot of fun coming up with various ‘heroes-of-the-week’ that Eel Man and Urchin Boy could encounter...So in a way, this short could double as a good ‘hook’ for a pilot. 

In terms of moving forward with the production of the short, I’m really looking forward to seeing what my future teammates will bring to the production. The thing I enjoy the most about being an animation student at SCAD is being able to discuss and develop ideas wth other people who also love stories and storytelling. Everyone has such a different and unique way of viewing the world, that even being a small part of their stories during the feedback process makes me happy. 

In the end, this was rewarding experience because it reminded me that storytelling is about finding common ground with other people.

Well...Onwards and upwards, I guess! 

[goodbadanduglybooks]

Review: Strays

Book Review: Strays by Emma Kendrick

Overall Rating: 7/10 (3/5 stars) Plot: 7/10 Characters: 5/10 Writing: 7.5/10 Originality: 8.5/10

Genre: New Adult Published: 2016 Number of Pages: 361 | Kindle Edition

Summary:  Best friends Jackie and Tyler set out on an adventure to find somewhere to call home, hoping to escape the violent city life and settle down in a quiet place where they can make something of themselves. What they find instead is the notorious Red Kings Motorcycle Club, outlaw bikers that rule the city's criminal underground.  Only able to avoid them for so long, the unsuspecting pair get thrown into turf wars and drug trafficking before they can even figure out what's happened. And as Tyler is dragged deeper into the club's illegal activity, Jackie remains stuck in limbo as she tries to resist the pull of one Dean Rockwell, the MC's most dangerous member.  Torn between the tight-knit family of bikers and the safety of a normal life, can Jackie navigate the treacherous new waters without losing herself and her best friend? Or will a series of unfortunate events lead her down a path that she can't come back from?

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review: This book is definitely not what I expected. From the summary, I expected a really action-packed novel filled with death, drugs, and destruction. Instead, I got a romance with a surprising twist. I’m not necessarily saying it’s a bad thing, in fact, I think I enjoyed this book more the way it is than I would have had it been an action/adventure novel. However, there are points where the plot drags. The overall book lacks complexity and the characters are stubbornly, consistently, and overly misogynistic, just to keep the tough “bad boy” image. Despite these flaws, the writing of the book is good, the varying points of view are handled surprisingly well, and the story kept me at least somewhat interested the whole way through. I definitely ended this book wanting to read the next one. Strays is perfect for those who enjoy new adult books, and dark romances full of angst.

The plot of this book is particularly interesting because it takes turns that one wouldn’t expect from reading the summary. It’s conflicting though because it feels like a lot of pages go by without anything really concrete happening. Knowing that this is going to be a series, I think this first book serves as a great foundation for whatever is to come. Reading it, it feels like Strays was written in order for the reader to begin to be immersed into the world, to feel attached to the characters. My only problem is, while this was accomplished decently well, there are few really emotional, tense moments that remind the reader of the danger that the characters are in. The characters talk about this danger, but it is only really seen in the beginning and end of the novel. While I’m glad that the plot isn’t wall-to-wall action, a little more here and there would have been a nice touch.

Unfortunately, because this is a spoiler free review, I can’t divulge in the main plot twist, which happens about midway through the book. However, the twist itself makes the last half of the book so much better. It was at this point I couldn’t put the book down, I had to know what was going to happen and the consequences of it. The climax of the novel has a moment that is incredibly emotional and real, and such moments are few and far between in new adult literature. What I love about the plot of Strays is that while the overall setting will be difficult for nearly all readers to relate to, real life consequences are still present. Whenever the plot or the biker gangs seemed a little too West Side Story-like for reality, Kendrick brings readers back to Earth and forms the connection between what is going on in this setting and what goes on in real life. I really appreciate this aspect of the plot and her writing. The resolution of the novel ends on a slight cliffhanger and sets a very interesting tone for novels to come, certainly leaving readers wanting to get their hands on the next installment.

The characters, while still interesting to read about, are probably the most disappointing part of this novel. Particularly disconcerting was the misogyny present in the majority of the novel. I totally understand that these guys have to look, appear, and be really tough. But that can happen without degrading comments toward women every other page. I understand that there’s also supposed to be character development where Dean comes to respect Jackie a little more, but the constant crass and crude comments just were not fun to read. A lot of the characters get no redemption on this end. Some character development comes with a conversation that Jackie has with one of the bikers about why they kill, about why they commit all these crimes. I think that same nobleness, the same wanting to protect the town and keep the drugs away from it, can occur without the misogyny. I think that would make the story far more original and enjoyable to read about.

There are some characters that I really enjoyed throughout the series and that I think are very well developed. I like Tyler, Jackie’s friend and the reason she gets into the club, and how out-of-place he may seem at first among the bikers, but how much he fits in in the end. I also really enjoy Bianca, who is sort of the matriarch of one of the biker groups. It’s nice to have other female characters present in the story besides the main lead, and who are of a variety of ages and personalities. I think Dean and Jackie still have a lot of development potential for the coming books. Though the POV switches are fairly easy to follow, the third person style makes it difficult to truly connect to Dean or Jackie. I think there’s more complexity among the main characters that I hope Kendrick explores in the coming installments.

I do really enjoy Kendrick’s writing style in Strays. I’ll briefly echo what other reviewers have mentioned and state that, with the Kindle copy that I received, there is a formatting problem where paragraphs will occasionally split, so I hope that gets fixed in the rest of the series. I do think that the point of view switches, though numerous, are done very skillfully. As with any POV style, authors always give something up; had the novel been in first person, that amount of POV switches would have been nearly impossible, and because this novel is in third person, characters seem more detached, and it is more difficult to gauge their thoughts. But Kendrick’s style here is consistent, flows smoothly, and allows readers to get multiple perspectives on the same situation. The style aides with the pacing of the plot as well. Apart from the tiring resort to crude comments to characterize the bikers, the description and dialogue seem mostly realistic and are enjoyable to read.

I can honestly say that I’ve never read anything like this book, with the good and the bad. The topic of bikers at first doesn’t seem terribly original, but with the plot twist combined with the fact that this book centers far more around character development than it does action, Strays is certainly unique. Though as I previously stated, this book would be completely original in the best possible way if the bikers were more respectful, I definitely enjoyed reading this book because of its rarity. I’m looking forward to following Jackie and Dean in future installments of the series.

Overall: Strays is certainly not your typical action-filled biker gang book, but in a good way. With mostly positive character development and only a few problems in terms of pacing, this is a great choice for anyone who loves a good, angst-filled New Adult romance.

Learn more and purchase here!

[makeitwithmike]

How to Use The Power of Storytelling to Connect With Your Audience

By Pawan Kumar

Did you know a healthy adult takes 12 to 16 breaths in one minute?

But have you ever thought about what can actually happen online in this single minute?

Okay, I will give you an idea… take a look at these numbers from Smart Insights:

4 million search queries per minute

1,388 blog posts are published

Facebook users share 3.3 million pieces of content

205 million emails sent

400 hours of video uploaded to YouTube

Twitter users tweet nearly 422, 340 times

Instagram users post nearly 55,555 new photos

Given this crazy amount of activity going on every minute, of every day, the real question is how your content will grab the attention of your target audience. If you really want to attract people, you need to tell a genuine and interesting story.

Stories are a great medium to express your views, impress people and make a human connection with them.

We, humans, are social creatures and we are attracted to stories. Everyone has a story and everyone loves a great story. It gives us a reason to communicate and engage.

Why storytelling is important

In recent years, “storytelling” has become a buzzword in marketing and the corporate world. Stories are an integral part of our society and culture.

You will find stories are everywhere – movies, books, news, media, music, religion. But did you know that this isn’t a new concept, and is as old as humanity?

90% of our purchasing decisions are influenced by emotions. So, It’s very critical to engage with buyers online. You can only connect with your buyer’s emotional sense with compelling photos or visuals, an interesting product description, and an attractive but genuine story.

Storytelling isn’t just your company history or journey; you can use it in all content formats like blog posts, emails, videos, ebooks, product guides, case studies and more. Your story must appeal to your audience.

Remember, If you can’t properly convey a relevant story then your product or service is not going to appeal to your audience.

If you are a content marketer, you need to learn how to deliver a great story to your prospects. Once you learn to tell a good story, your audience will attract to you. And, they will turn into leads, your leads into customers, and your customers into happy customers.

Philip Pullman said: “After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.”

We connect with stories emotionally. In the beginning of this article, I told you some quick facts, right?

They look impressive, but do you connect with them emotionally?

And there is a chance you will forget these numbers by the time you finish this post. Right?

People don’t remember facts, they remember stories. It’s easier for us to recall stories than facts.

Watch this video to know more about the science behind storytelling.

You have probably read Seth Godin’s words, “Marketing is no longer about the stuff that you make, but about the stories that you tell.”

You need to think about what emotion you want to communicate and then craft your story to support the emotion.

According to Scientific American:

“Stories stimulating positive emotions are more widely shared than those eliciting negative feelings, and content that produces greater emotional arousal (making your heart race) is more likely to go viral. This means that content that makes readers or viewers feel a positive emotion like awe or wonder is more likely to take off online than content that makes people feel sad or angry.”

See this visual to know how storytelling affects the brain:

Image Source: SEOPressor

If you want your content to go viral, make it emotional, make it positive, and embrace storytelling. Storytelling is crucial to your content marketing strategy.

How to create an engaging story (a magic formula)

Now you understand the importance of storytelling, you need to learn how to create an engaging and appealing story.

I’ll discuss 3 key elements that make up a story. These elements will help you prepare for effective communication that inspires others to act!

Elements of an engaging story:

Character

Drama

Resolution

First element, Character. Every good story has a compelling character. And you need to craft the whole story around this character.

The Character is a connection between you, and your target audience. You need to choose a character which your audience can relate to easily.

For this, you should always listen to and understand your audience’s needs and problems.

Second element, Drama. Set a drama which fits your prospect’s problems, needs, or buyer’s journey. If it doesn’t fit, how will they connect?

If you want to have a better idea, spend some time understanding your buyer’s journey and their problems.

Storytelling is all about what you’re telling and a little drama or conflict helps to build an emotional bond with your audience.

Remember, your story must have some drama but don’t over do it, make it genuine.

The last element is Resolution. Where there’s drama or conflict, your audience will naturally want some sort of resolution.

Good stories surprise us. They don’t always have to be a happy ending. The resolution should wrap up the story but should also clearly call your audience to action. It fulfills the purpose behind the story.

Resolution should make them think, make them feel.

Before creating your story, plan out the character, create some drama, create emotional appeal, be authentic, and reveal the resolution. Keep your story clear and concise.

Read what Dale Carnegie said:

“Your purpose is to make your audience see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt. Relevant detail, couched in concrete, colorful language, is the best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picture it for the audience.”

Watch this video from Fusion 360 to help you become an effective storyteller:

An example of storytelling from this blog

Let’s take a look at this piece of content and see how Jeff Bullas did with his storytelling.

He created this blog post: How I Used Marketing Automation (and Twitter) To Grow My Email List By 10,000 New Subscribers

Right from the title you can tell what the conflict is – Using marketing automation to grow your email list.

Remember, a title isn’t always going to be about the conflict. Sometimes, it might be about the resolution and other times it might summarize what the blog post is all about.

Let’s dig deeper. Who is the character? From the title, it appears like the character will be the storyteller (Jeff Bullas). And, the audience or the reader who wants to grow their email list through marketing automation will easily connect with the storyteller.

As you’ll see, Jeff continues to use this point of view throughout the blog post.

And finally, the blog post provides the resolution. Step-by-step instructions on using marketing automation to grow your email list.

The story is clear and concise and ties back to their purpose – Jeff uses relevant screenshots and engaging language.

Wrap up

To be successful in today’s business world, it is critical to effectively build your story and deliver it in a compelling way.

Now it’s your turn…

How do you use storytelling in your content? Please share your views in the comment section below, I’d love to hear them.

Guest Author: Pawan Kumar is a Certified Inbound Marketer and Content Creator at Sarv.com. He is a learner of digital marketing, story-teller, and movie geek. Don’t hesitate to connect with him on social media.

The post How to Use The Power of Storytelling to Connect With Your Audience appeared first on Jeffbullas’s Blog.

from How to Use The Power of Storytelling to Connect With Your Audience

[ephillipsresearch]

Making Places out of Non-Places

Emma Phillips

                      Upon entering the north end of Stevenage town onto Hitchin Road, drivers are greeted by a large Sainsbury’s car park to the right, Lister hospital on the left, and in between, the familiar brown road sign reading ‘tourist attractions’- defaced with a great sarcastic question mark. This seems a fitting analogy for the struggle in many of London’s satellite towns to create a strong sense of identity in a space with no previous historical or cultural foundations, and the resulting disillusionment of their communities.  Existing self-contained commuter towns and many of the first generation New Towns are comparable to Marc Augé’s definition of ‘non-places’ for their sterile lack of character, their artifice, the strange anonymity of their dwellers and a general sense of ‘inbetween-ess’. Our fear of the non-place is evident in the scorn of these areas which, in their own emptiness, add little to our sense of self; a sentiment most keenly demonstrated in Tracey Thorn’s Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia, which questions how her own identity as a musician was influenced (or stifled) by her ‘subtopian’ upbringing. The question of our relationship to the land is also a focus for MK Gallery’s latest exhibition The Lie of the Land, which further addresses the pursuit of transforming non-places into places by spotlighting the development of Milton Keynes as a solution to the failures of the earlier New Towns, with its architectural innovation and engineering approach to urban planning.  

In his book Non Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, Marc Augé describes the non place as ‘a space which cannot be defined as relational, historical, or concerned with identity’1, and as such the user of the non place enters a contractual relationship where they must ‘for a time, have only to keep in line, go where they are told, check their appearance’2, as the temporarily anonymous passenger, customer, or Sunday driver.  It is a more abstract space, ‘a distance between two things, a temporal expanse’3. There are many parallels throughout this text to Thorns own description of suburbia in ‘another planet’: the ‘contingent, liminal border territory, In- betweenland’4 of Brookmans Park.  Augé’s description of the practical requirements of inhabiting a non-place become the very rules that Thorn must abide by growing up. The temporary anonymity which may be liberating for a short time becomes permanent and suffocating. ‘What should be aimed for was anonymity... in the hope that such quietness would be quietly acknowledged and rewarded... security and safety were the reward of dullness.’5 Unlike many older British towns structured around specific industries or historical landmarks, the new towns and outer London suburbs were built to relieve crowding in war torn London, promoted to young families for their clean air, open green space and comfortable housing. This was a welcome escape for families living in cramped, polluted conditions. However, fifty years on, many of these towns have served their purpose and now begin to stagnate, with no strong sense of place or identity to satisfy modern residents.  Instead their self sufficiency, uniformity, and low density modernist housing bred isolation among their people, as one man from Hemel Hempstead complains in the 1959 Spectator ‘There is no imagination or planning behind the layout of the community... the community resembles a modern chicken farm, every chicken alone in its identical box.’6 Though some of these towns have since matured and began to establish themselves with time, many remain bleak and uninspiring. Ageing Brutalist architecture looms grey and dreary over empty out-of-date town centres, any semblance of utopia having vanished completely.

Despite this harsh depiction, there is evidence to suggest that such places are in fact the perfect breeding ground for creativity to flourish. Thorn refers to her hometown as ‘a stage set dropped onto an empty landscape’7 – The non-place suburban town has potential to act as a blank canvas for the imagination. Thomas Demand demonstrates this in his 1989 film ‘Tunnel’8, following a repeated journey through an urban underpass. Though it appears realistic, the scene is entirely artificial, constructed with ephemeral materials and computer generated traffic sounds.  Familiar to all, but void of any figures or defining characteristics, the scene becomes an empty stage upon which audiences are invited to project their own stories. Here the viewer engages in making place out of a non-place.  Given Augé’s definition of place as ‘frequented place’, we must assume that notions of place may always be subjective, and that place and non- place can never be mutually exclusive, often overlapping. In his photographic series ‘Urban Goals’, Micheal Kirkham9 documents commercial buildings and brick walls  transformed into makeshift goal posts by working class communities, revealing the creativity of locals to work around the lack of community resources and investment. This can be seen as an act of creating place with non-place, but is recognised only by its creators, remaining non-place to the casual passerby.

Indeed the suburban setting is one favoured by authors and screenwriters as the ideal backdrop for the horror and fantasy genres. Their eerie sense of artifice, secrecy, and exaggerated utopian associations provide ‘ideas to reject, something to kick against, a reason to rebel.10’ Blue Velvet, Edward Scissorhands, Harry Potter and more recently, Stranger Things, have all used the quintessential suburban town as an initial setting for the fantastic and strange, creating a perfect juxtaposition.  Tim Burton himself talks of growing up in the suburbs of Burbank California, ‘ there’s no sense of history, no sense of culture, no sense of passion for anything...you were either forced to conform and cut out a large portion of your personality, or to develop a very strong interior life which made you feel separate.’11 The values of uniformity and homogeny being so deep rooted in these towns is just as evident in the behaviour of their inhabitants as is in their architecture, leaving those who choose to deviate from the small town norm feeling isolated and ostracised , attracting disapproval and even violence from their communities. This is perhaps a result of the development corporation’s failure to create mixed and balanced communities, attracting mainly young white working class families. Thorn touches on this throughout her book as her interest in the punk aesthetic creates tension in the family, and she seems ever to be battling an inner conflict between fitting in and asserting her creative identity. Stephen Willats emphasises this sense of seclusion in his 1984 photographic series ‘Tower Block Portraits’12, revealing the profound isolation of those living in East London apartment blocks. The grey uniformity of the buildings disguises the eclectic variety of people within. Working as a civil servant by day and frequenting anarchist clubs at night, one woman describes herself as a ‘doppelganger’, demonstrating the double lives we lead where creativity and rebellion must be kept to the home. Though the variety of city life can be more forgiving, these apartments act both as a prison and a retreat, an important place for creativity to take place, but confined within concrete boundaries. The suburban setting can be both a stifling and motivational place for creation; though standing out often comes at a cost.

The discontent of residents living in many of the first generation new towns gave the Milton Keynes Development Corporation an opportunity to build a unique town that could serve as a modern solution to some of these problems. There was much anxiety among the working classes about moving to new towns, particularly within the mining villages where there was a strong sense of shared identity which would be difficult to recreate  - many saw moving to the these towns as the death of their communities and the ‘embourgeoisement’ of the urban working class.  In his forthcoming film, New Town Utopia, Christopher Smith criticizes the earlier towns for their rushed, careless planning by upper class men who failed to understand the needs of the working classes. The founding principles of collective action and the importance of local community in towns like Stevenage have eroded over time, particular with the increasing lack of government investment in these areas, leading to rising youth crime and greater numbers of workers commuting to London, as new generations grow up dissatisfied and alienated from their homes. The Milton Keynes development cooperation aimed to address many of these failures in building a ‘municipal utopia’, committed to the public good.  Inspired by the ‘community without propinquity’13 values of urban designer Melvin Webber, with planning focused more on technology, connectivity and transportation,  carried out by experienced architects rather than just property developers. The result was a de-centralised grid system catering for greater car use, less localised and more flexible communications, and post- modern architecture. The town was initially to be centred around its potential for leisure, with a ‘techno- bucolic’ vision of living. Towards to the end of the decade however the dawn of Thatcherism and the end of the welfare state called for a more practical approach focused on production and a greater balance of work and leisure. The town today consists of wide open spaces mimicking Victorian pleasure gardens, pedestrian friendly streets, and widespread public art. The Lie of the Land exhibition reveals some of these more fanciful plans for Milton Keynes that never materialised , such as Andrew Mahaddie’s ‘Cowcommon Canyon’ theme park featuring a 3D moving ‘electric maze’, Joan Littlewood’s ‘Fun Palace’ and the ‘City Club’ leisure complex which was to include a wave pool and rodeo. Though these plans were never realised due to lack of funding, they demonstrate the incredible innovation and creativity of town planners who were keen to build something much more monumental than the non place towns that came before them. This is honoured by artists Gareth Joan’s and Nils Norman’s City Club project, which aims to embed contemporary art within Milton Keynes, exploring public space, modernism and social design through public art projects that spotlight the towns design history.14 This is just one example of the ways in which Milton Keynes has successfully instilled a sense of pride and place among its communities by promoting cultural activity. Despite its successes the ageing Milton Keynes is not devoid of criticism -  its car- central grid system may now be said to be unsustainable, much of the housing is in desperate need of renovation whilst cramped new estates built by private property developers threaten the high quality open spaces for which the town is praised.  In the face of the housing crisis however the success of Milton Keynes has set an example for the renewed potential of government funded New Towns and still attracts city planners from across the world today for its architectural legacy. Having learned from the failures of previous new towns and garden cities, Milton Keynes dared to be different and has subsequently come to be considered an important heritage site.  

       1Augé M, (1992) Non Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, Verso Books, pp.63

2Augé M, (1992) Non Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, Verso Books, pp.81

3Augé M, (1992) Non Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity, Verso Books, pp.67

4Thorn T, (2019) Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia, Canongate Books Ltd, pp.3

5Thorn T (2019) Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia, Canongate Books Ltd, pp.25

6Clapson M, (2017) The English New Towns since 1946: What are the Lessons of their History for their Future?, Urban History, French Society of Urban History, pp. 93-111  Available at: https://www.cairn.info/revue-histoire-urbaine-2017-3-page-93.htm

7Thorn T, (2019) Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia, Canongate Books Ltd, pp.13

8Demand T, (1989) Tunnel [16mm colour film], London: Tate Britain

9Kirkham M (2015-18) Urban Goals [photography] Milton Keynes: MK Gallery

10Thorn T, (2019) Another Planet: A Teenager in Suburbia, Canongate Books Ltd, pp.27

11 Wisniewska D (2012) The American Psycho(sis) Goes Suburbia. Madness, Depravity, and Gender in Domestic Topographies, [pdf] Poland, University of Łódź, pp.67, Available at: https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/INFE/article/download/41136/39348

12Willats S (1984) Tower Block Portraits [photography, collage] Milton Keynes: MK Gallery

13Teitz M (2007) Melvin Webber and the Nonplace Urban Realm, Access, Available at: https://www.accessmagazine.org/special-issue/melvin-webber-and-the-nonplace-urban-realm/

14Emerson T (2019) The Lie of the Land, MK Gallery, pp.147

Where we Live Now: Home Town New Town (1979) [Film] BBC, David Haycock

Dodd C, (2018) Endeavours of Simple Altruism [blog] An Age of Nothing, Available at: https://anageofnothing.tumblr.com/essays

Barkham P (2016) Story of Cities #34: The Struggle for the Soul of Milton Keynes, The Guardian, Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/03/struggle-for-the-soul-of-milton-keynes

[writingspeakingxyz]

Invisible Child

Andrea Elliott is a writer that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007. She seeks for the best stories even if they are the most complicated. According to the New York Times article about the author, she became passionate about disclosing poverty and social problems. On 2013 as an extensive report for the New York Times, after her article “Invisible Child” was published, she won the George Polk award among other honors. With this article she prompted city officials’ to remove 400 children from substandard shelters. As part of her background she faces the problem as there was no middle class in the city of New York, where financial pressure such as unemployment, health care, housing costs, and low wages are becoming more common. Andrea Elliott puts in the spotlight this social problem as a person; she has a name, a family, and a dream, but not a place that she can call home. This “invisible Child,” Dasani, comes out to the world to show people how little grateful they are, I include myself. This 11-year-old girl, seen by the eyes of Elliott, shows that Dasani is strong enough to wake up under the same roof of 22,000 other homeless, the same roof where drugs are toss around like air, where the oxygen is almost not enough, where the piles of unwashed clothes are bigger than her bed, and sexual predator are always puckish. Dasani still goes on, despite the daily struggle, her vast amount of responsibilities, her parental dysfunction, and her fear of being rejected by society. In my analysis I would show how the author makes her readers question about how fortunate they are; she sets forth this article via pathos, to indicate that this “invisible child” is still able to get up every day with zest and yet say “That is a lot on my plate.” Andrea Elliott shows her version of what New York is without the luxury, kudos, and wealth. That New York related with, commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, technology, education, and entertainment; opens its doors every year to approximately 55 million annual visitors. Sadly, according to the Coalition for Homeless Organization, 58,987 people will sleep tonight in New York City shelter, yes the same New York. Year by year this number gets higher and the solution gets more remote. That is why Andrea Elliott through pathos, plays an important role on the issue. Each word and each picture set on this article brought home the incompetence of society to take a closer look to the problem. This impressive and powerful article that Andrea Elliott shared provides a window into inequality. Every single time that Elliott talks about the homelessness, is easy to sense how this issue, dispensing the tragedy and the rough conditions is handle with bravery. Elliott implies on every line that the simple things can be more meaningful for people with fewer facilities in life. The author displays empathy with her readers on each detail. For example, a character on the story of the girls mother Joanie, got a her life turned around after the New York Times helped her to find a job she said that the best day of her life was her first day of job, they live by a dream ruling them, a reason to live. Normally a regular person that has everything will never catalogue his first day of job as the best of his life, most of the time they feel forced or miserable about it. Elliott touched me in a way that probably any article before. Elliott’s rhetorical analysis of pathos is her forte; her words to describe the situation are labels to describe a situation for example: garments, veneer of affluence, and yearnings are more emotional for readers than clothing. The use of analogies, metaphors, and other figures of speech not only make Elliott’s article more interesting and compelling. Dasani’s own spirited intelligence and devotion for life is what Andrea Elliott gives to her readers into pathos. She sleeps with her seven siblings, and her parents on six decaying mattresses. Not even close enough to the queen mattress where most of the New Yorker spends their nights. They share a communal bathroom, with toilets frequently clogged with vomit and feces. And yes! Sometimes people just complain about their siblings taking longer in the tub. Simple details can prove how unequal life can be. While some people are fighting for their life others are fighting against it. On that view given by Elliott, is possible to face with more than inequality; the real issue is how tight-lipped people shutter themselves when the moment of facing a social problem starts questioning their way of living. A concrete visual element opens many more emotional pathways that abstract words alone. One of my strongest connections with Elliott’s article was the visual that she used along her article. The persuasive appeal of pathos identify the audience self-interest, in this article her words are vivid and specific but is not the same, as a readers, to see exactly how the room of a homeless shelter looks like, a concrete demonstration of pathos. She creates and addresses image of the room where this family lives among a few others. An image can work on our pity thus descriptions of painful or pleasant things. Stories are normally the best path to get closer to an audience, just as Andrea Elliott does in her article, an author named Sherman Alexie in his book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian tells a story, he get to his readers by humor in order to evoke emotions such as joy and surprise, and often triggers a strong connection of friendships. In this book Alexie, introduces himself as a hydrocephalic, not very wealthy, but an amazing artist. This author uses simple but engaging words in order to connect with his readers. This story of Alexie is a simple kid trying to live a better life in between of two different cultures while trying to discover his own potential. So how many invisible children are worth telling their story? His rhetorical style is based on the same story telling that Andre Elliott presents, the difference is that Elliot’s article even though has support from data to build credibility is connect with Alexie’s by pathos, on this emotional appeal with vivid language and numerous detail that only a story can present. A perfect example of this can be the article The Public Obligations of Intellectuals written by Michael Eric Dyson. He thinks that the problem of society is that has dumbed down, dumbed down till the point where people won’t take time to know the problem. I believe that 90 percent of the people that could have had access to Elliott’s’ article the problem could seem distant from them and out of their reach; but an action taken can be as simple as taking a closer look, a look than can be more meaningful than just turning the back and pretending that the problem is not there. If I compare Dasani’s economical poverty with tight-lipped people that are just pretending to be out of the problem, I get a 50-50. The story is based on a fact by pathos though a homeless girl that has plenty of what many lack. More than taking action the authors make a call that needs to be answer, and it can be as simple as getting into another’s’ shoes and at least taking the moral of this fable.

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[bloodshedfalls]

ACCEPTED!

Hey, is that ALICIA VIKANDER? Oh no, it’s RUTH JAKOBS. I hear she is TWENTY SIX and she can be SPUNKY and ADVENTUROUS but can also be INSECURE and IMPRUDENT. Not to mention they are a WITCH. (Juniper/21/PST)

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 (Death)

CHARACTER DESCRIPTION:

The battle between the world of the mundane, and that of witchcraft and sorcery in Ruth’s life began even before she left her mother’s womb and joined the world. Her grandmother, Agnes, was the victim of the timeless story of forbidden love. A man unworthy of her affection meets a woman, a most beautiful woman that he must posses. The woman, in this case a young witch from a pure and powerful bloodline, falls for the love in his eyes, and the candor in his intentions. Despite the uproar of her family the witch marries him, and in the years after their union, bare a daughter, a beautiful girl with cascading curls and large brown eyes. Agnes new it immediately, that her daughter Katharina did not possess her gifts. After burying the  disappoint raised her daughter to be strong, to be kind, and honest. Agnes never predicted that they would later clash so calamitously that after her twenty sixth birthday, Katharina would never speak to her again.

In short it was Ruth’s entrance into the world that brought about their quarrel, but it was far more vast than that. It was the years of accumulating guilt and jealousy Katharina felt towards Agnes’ power – her ability to pull living things from the earth, speak to the wind, and dance with wild animals. She hated the herbs and flowers that filled her childhood home. The small of sage and lavender, chamomile and Echinacea made her nauseous. She was the black sheep, and it stuck to her like a flashing neon light as she tried to navigate through life, searching and clawing at anything that made her feel as if she belonged. Victor Jakubowitz was just that. Purely human, a Christian, and best of all a victim of Hay Fever, he was everything she could have hoped for: the man to take her away from the nature worshipping witches she called family. That was, he was perfect until he packed all his things up and left the moment she told him of her pregnancy. Heartbroken and ashamed Katharina was forced to return home, and after everything, into the open arms of her mother.

Ruth Evangeline was born on a warm summer morning, and the trees swayed in the wind, waving their hello, and the larks swept by the windows singing their greetings to the mewling baby. The flowers seemed to smell sweeter, and the earth seemed to thrum its own deep satisfaction with the tiny human, Witch or otherwise, it was obvious’ then that the baby held the ancient power of her grandmother and her mother before her and so on and so forth. And despite their differences, both Agnes and Katharina fell in love with the brown eyes girl who had opened her eyes for the first time.

Ruth was a happy baby, her toothless grin often visible as inquisitive and bright eyes took in the new world around her. She adored accompanying Agnes into the yard to garden or forage for herbs, flowers growing around her as her chubby body crawled through the grass. Ruth took to her grandmother with a natural easiness that even her mother noticed with dismay. She would have rather been on the hip of the old woman, than with Katharina, and as the first few years of her life passed, the connection only grew. It didn’t take long for Katharina to grow tired of her mother’s favor to Ruth, and as they continued to fight about informing and teaching the young girl about her abilities, Katharina made a rash decision that would forever change Ruth’s life. In the wee hours of the morning, a mere few days before her daughter’s fourth birthday, Katharina packed up their few belongings, and took her daughter away – their destination far from the reaches of Agnes and witchcraft.

The two of them landed in New York, New York in 1995, with the last name Jakobs, and not a word of English in their vocabulary. The next phase of Ruth’s life was a hodgepodge of temporary homes, her mother’s on and off again boyfriends, and the nagging feeling in her bones that something was missing. Questions about her mother’s life in Germany, their family, and the story of her own past were left unanswered. Ruth knew Katharina loved her, and was fiercely protective of her, but it left the aging girl with a sense of disconnection – as if she were floating, untethered to the world around her.

As a teenager, her natural powers and abilities manifested themselves as an innate understanding of biology, a particular interest in herbology and botany, and what people often described as “a green arm rather than a thumb”. Ruth was not suppressing her powers, but she did not know how to hone or control them, nor was she even aware that it was anything more than an odd talent. Her life revolved around seeking thrills, and catering to her wants and the pleasures of the world. She was a bit of a wild one with a vibrant spirit, and a taste for adventure, but despite the confidence she seemed to exude, there was always something missing – and she never quite felt like she belonged. She did not know that her grandmother was looking for her, or that her mother was keeping a part of Ruth’s soul from her, and when the time to leave home and pursue a life of her own came along, Ruth headed to Columbia University with almost no idea what she wanted to be or do.

Her time in college lasted three terms, and before she had even finished her Freshman year, Ruth dropped out. From there she traveled – finding odd jobs here and there that she enjoyed, continuing to be drawn to nature and it’s tameless essence. In the jungles of Peru she felt at home, in the forests of Oregon she felt at peace, in the deserts of Morocco she felt the scarce life that survived there. And when she arrived in Germany, there was a thrum in her nerves and a power that seemed to resonate there. It was the hardest goodbye of her many travels, but she was forced to return to the United States when her mother become ill.

It was then, in the suspended time of her mother’s illness, that Ruth met Nate. It was through a mutual friend from Ruth’s numbered college days – their first encounter being at a bar where Ruth had drunkenly given him her number, not really expecting him to call. The number had been ‘unknown’ when she looked at her buzzing phone a couple of days later but the decision to answer it changed her life forever. Perhaps it was the fact that she’d matured during her travels, or her mother’s struggle, or some other obscure reason, whatever it be, Nate was different than the other men she had seen in the past. Something about him made her feel grounded, solid, and even like she had some belonging in the concrete jungle they called home. She fell in love, and it was real – the first certainty she had to grasp onto. So, after a year or so later, when he popped the question, Ruth took the plunge and said yes. As if her engagement caused it, soon after Katharina’s health, which had plateaued not long after her daughter’s return, took a turn for the worse, and after a long and hard battle with cancer, passed away. Her mother’s death hit Ruth with more force than she had expected, and for a long while, couldn’t bring herself to go through the woman’s belongings.

Eventually, with Nate’s support, she unlocked the door to her mother’s humble Brooklyn flat and began to sift through it all, a little part of her hoping she would find some insight on her family and their hidden past. What Ruth never expected to find were letters upon letters addressed to herself from a woman named Agnes, a woman who claimed to be her maternal grandmother. Some were open, while others seemed to be untouched. Ruth read each and every one that very night, staying up until dawn reading the scrawling German words. The letters seemed more like a story book than anything; witchcraft, covens, supernatural beings… all danced across the paper. It was hard to believe, crazy even, but to Ruth everything suddenly made sense. Every question she had ever had about her past came rushing in like a tidal wave, and with the sudden onslaught of information came the cold truth that the life she had been living was a lie. Everything up until this point suddenly became obsolete – a mess of unimportant actions and untrue words. And worst of all, she couldn’t untangle Nate from the mess her world had suddenly become.

One letter in particular stood out– a short one insisting on her traveling to Red Creek, Canada where Agnes had been living. She wanted to teach Ruth everything she knew, to pass on her extensive knowledge and power. It was dated back two years ago, and a sickening feeling settled in Ruth’s stomach at the date. After more digging, she found what she was afraid of. Agnes had passed away in 2015 at the 89. The life she had been handed was once again pulled from her grasp, but this time, she wasn’t going to let it get away. Like her mother had years ago, Ruth slipped from the apartment she shared with Nate in the wee hours of the morning, took a deep breath, and headed off to Red Creek in search of herself.

HEADCANONS:

Ruth could name over a hundred different kinds of plants and their useful properties, something she’s been able to do since her teenage years. These same plants can be found in jars around her home, hanging in bunches around her home, and in many of her teas, potions, and salves.

She has a English Bulldog named Olive

Ruth loves to paint, and does it when she has the time, and needs to release her pent up emotions. Often it is merely an accumulation of brush strokes on canvas. But sometimes images can be seen beneath the seemingly haphazard colors. She has never shown anyone her pieces as they are a reflection of her innerself.

CHARACTER OCCUPATION: Unemployed