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pokeexehasstoppedworking · 3 years

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Love Doesn’t Do Encores Ch10 Battle Gym Leader Nessa

(Will have a reference to Pokemon Twilight Wings Series.)

You slept well that night. The hotel wasn't too far from the Hulbury stadium so it wasn't a very long walk from where you four left the light house and stationed yourselves for the night. Not before dishing out the rations between the four of you. You were a lot lower on food than you thought and surprised you hadn't noticed earlier. A month's walk drained almost all of the food you had aside from a few packets of dried fruits. Thank goodness for restocking. The next morning wasn't anything too different. Gloria and Hop of course wanted to stop by the stadium and get one of them that spot to battle Nessa before another trainer took it. Huh. You wonder how the battle between her and Bede went the other day? Victor mentioned wanting to go back towards the Hulbury Aquarium and offered for you to come with them but you had other plans for the day.

"Hey, Y/n. Since Glory and Hop's going to be busy all day considering would you like to come with me to the aquarium?, Victor offered after the two of you had dug through your rations for breakfast. Your Sobble tiredly yawning on your shoulder rubbing at his eyes.

You shook your head. "No thanks. I actually wanted to check out that market down by the docks. I heard they sell all kinds of trinkets and stuff and it's been a while since I was able to go somewhere by myself and have some me time."

He nodded in understanding before smiling. "Alright then. You guys know where I'll be if you change your minds."

The two of you parted ways outside the hotel before you headed back up the road towards the docks. Already in the morning the place was all a buzz with ship horns blaring off in the distance and a few people walking around. It was a nice day with the salty smell of the ocean, the gently breeze, not being too hot but nice and warm, etc. It was a very nice day that filled your tired body with a happy feeling as you inhaled deeply. The small market place was past the restaurant and just across the docks past the convenience store you had visited the other day for supplies. It wasn't really big. There was only about five stalls set up alongside a concrete wall with one or two picnic tables a little bit a ways from them. A few people were already there looking at the stalls or sitting at the tables to eat or just to sit. Walking over you strolled up to the first stall that sold a few random things like flowers, dishes, and a couple clothes hanging up. The man handling it was talking up some of the flower pots but you weren't too interested in those so shortly after moved on. The other four were a fruit stand, someone selling records, another one selling random objects, but the last one had you notice something. Sweet smells of perfumes and spices wafted from it the closer you gotten to it. And it didn't take too long for you to find out why. A young lady was there surrounded by a bunch of incense. She smiled as you stopped to admire all the sweet smells and gave a greeting.

"Get a whiff of that fragrance! Doesn't it smell sweet?," she asked holding out some sweet smelling sticks that smelt of lilacs, "How about some incense for you, Girl? Good for meditation, yoga, relaxing, or just making a room smell nice. And it all natural so it's safe for pokemon too and helps them destress....As long as they don't eat it. Non edible."

"Destress huh?,'' you pondered looking at your sobble who seemed more interested in staring at the food stand with hungry eyes despite just eating breakfast a while ago. Considering how spooked this lil guy could be, it might be a good idea. "....What scents to you have exactly?"

You ended up using the twenty dollar bill you had saved forever now to buy some of the sea and rose scented incense and then later one or two apples at the fruit stand since your sobble kept jumping on your shoulder and chirping in it's directed until you finally did so. All of it costing almost half your money leaving you from twenty dollars to twelve dollars and some change. You found yourself wondering over until you sat down at one of the picnic tables so your sobble could sit and eat and give your poor shoulders a break from carrying it all the time. Granted Sobble wasn't really that heavy, about half the weight of a small cat, but it was nice to be able to stretch your shoulders and neck out without worrying about accidentally knocking him off. Lazily you watched it make happy noises as it greedily ate as if you didn't already give it a big breakfast about an hour ago. It was still pretty early in the morning so it you really hadn't anything to do other than just sit here and watch your sobble. But it was refreshing. With a sigh you closed your eyes and slowly put your head down on the table. The only problem with having a bunch of free time is that your brain slowly fills itself with thoughts you might not want. Like now. You had been gone for what must've been a little over a month now. How worried was your mom? She must've been worrying herself sick if you were gone for this long without any notice or clues or anything. And(tho you were HIGHLY doubtful now-) if this all IS some kind of dream universe it was certainly the longest one you ever experienced. Not only that, but you were SURELY not going to be able to start college just like you wanted. You'd have to wait another year just to start it and that's only if considering you'd be able to go home after this whole journey has finished. It was the only way you could think of that you could go back, once this is over. If it'll ever be-

"I can NOT believe this!," an angry woman's voice piped up. Startled you jumped up and blinked light rushing back into your vision.

"Calm down, Ness. Don't make a big scene in public." ....That voice sounded familiar.

"I AM calm. I'm just restocking my incense before I head back!" Now that you think about it, that angry voice sounded familiar too.

Blinking you turned around to look behind you, and your eyes widened at what you saw. Two ladies were at the incense stand with their backs towards you, one with bright orange hair and a coat you recognized and the other wore a black cap and shirt.

"First he said I should stop modeling and now he's breathing down my neck because I just happened to lose to his endorsed challenger!,'' Cap Lady growled out as she waved her hand. "I mean yeah, usually I'm busy so I cut back to one challenger a day! That doesn't mean I lost my touch as a gym leader!" She paused as the lady manning the stall held out a small paper bag of incense to her similar to the one you had. "Oh..Thank you. It just drives me up a wall just thinking about it!"

"Then don't think about it," Orange hair replied patting her friend on the back, "It'll only stress you out before your other gym match today."

Cap Lady sighed. "You're right, Sonia...As usual. It just ticks me off knowing he's in town just to see you too no less and buddy up with the crowd!! It makes me angry!"

"Sonia?"

The orange haired woman turned to you immediately as you stared back, her friend turning too and that's when you recognized the other woman too. She smiled. "Hey, Y/n! Fancy meeting you here! Haven't seen you in a while." She fully turned to you now and walked over her friend following.

You casually waved where you sat and gave a tired smile. "Yeah. Honestly wasn't expecting to see you here either. What are you doing here?"

She gestured to none other than Nessa next to her. "I was chatting with an old friend before she needed to go. Since you're here I assume Gloria can only be here as well."

You nodded. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure she's at the stadium right now." Your gaze slowly shifted over to nessa as you spoke and you waved again. "Hello again. Nice weather you guys have here."

Nessa smiled. "Yeah. It's usually warm and sunny here all year round being the coast and all. You should visit the beach if you ever get the chance."

You shrugged. "I might. I mean I guess my sobble could use the chance to swim."

"Well, that all depends. Is your sobble a freshwater or saltwater sobble?"

"There's a difference?"

"Hey wait a minute!" Both of you turned to Sonia who was looking between the two of you with a confused look on her face. "You two know each other?"

"Sort of. She helped me out with some stuff yesterday, I didn't even know she was the gym leader until someone told me," you explained with a shrug, "I just appreciate anyone who helps carry groceries."

"Oh. I see. What are you doing here if Gloria is I assume at the stadium?," she asked.

You gestured to your sobble as it spat out an apple seed. "Someone wanted more food. I'm telling you he's worse than a kid hyped up on sugar once he sees the stuff." Both of you jumped at a ....snort? Blinking you looked at Nessa and noticed her holding her mouth and chuckling.

"I-I'm so sorry," she giggled out, "That's just the funniest thing that I've heard all day while stressing out. U-U-Usually people don't say that about s-s-sobble care."

You blinked. "Oh yeah?"

Sonia nodded as Nessa's giggles slowly fizzled out. "Usually sobbles are....how do you say it?...Massive cry babies that'll cry at the tiniest things like a baby would. It happened ALL the time with my Granny gave a trainer their first pokemon." She groaned closing her eyes as if the memory gave her instant annoyance and headaches. "They don't get an extra snack? BOOM! Crying! They trip the littlest, I mean tiniest bit. Crying! You're too busy to pet them? Crying! Forget playtime? CRYING! And don't get me started on the amount of times I had to buy Sobble Eye Drops for all the stinging and headaches. It's like walking on eggshells until they evolve into a drizzile! It's why a bunch of trainers rather chose scorbunny or grookey than a sobble." She pointed towards yours who had finished eating and began crawling it's way over to you. "In fact, the sobble Granny gave Leon for the trainers he endorsed was the pokemon who stayed in our care the longest. She must've had it for at least since it hatched and was given to her. It was such a little wimp clinging to her all the time...I never really had mush patience for them."

You jolted when something tugged on your arm, calming yourself once you noticed it was just your pokemon. "...Really?"

With a frown Nessa sighed. "She's right. Sobbles are much better suited for older more patient people. They aren't exactly really popular pokemon among starting trainers who are eager to start their journey. Most end up for adoption to pokemon centers or abandoned to the wild because the person decides it's not worth it to have their eyes burning after every battle or basically raise what could essentially be a child in their eyes." Her eyes suddenly narrowed. "I remember once Raihan came all the way to Hulbury just to give me a sobble someone carelessly discarded at his gym after they lost. The poor thing was so confused and scared. It was a miracle I found someone who loved it. Much more than the thoughtless trainer who never gave it a second thought. Pokemon aren't just toys you can give away or leave lying around after you decided you outgrew them."

"THAT'S AWFUL!!,'' you shouted feeling an anger grow in you as one hand instinctly came up to grab your sobble who chirped in confusion at your actions, both women giving you looks of surprise at your shout. How could anyone DO such a horrible thing!? That's like the equivilant of someone getting a brand new puppy and then not wanting to deal with the work and attention that goes into it and then straight up abandoning it to the streets in your world!! "How could anyone do such a thing?! That's like...So not ok!"

"Well....That is very true. Its not ok. But it seems to be you and your sobble have a very special connection," Nessa said gesturing towards your sobble making Sonia take a double take at you as well.

"Huh. Now that you mention it he does looked rather relaxed. He usually never looked so comfortable before Granny gave him to Leon."

"Really?,'' you asked, "He seemed pretty ok so far. Cried like...only one time but that might be cuz he was pushed over by these rockstar wannabes."

To that the ladies seemed lightly surprised. "Really now? Well then you must have lots of patience then. Sobbles usually tend to work better with people who have lots of patience or a motherly personality."

"And considering you mentioned never having a pokemon before I'm kinda impressed too. You must be a natural babysitter!," Sonia joked. You huffed and rolled your eyes at her joke. Yeah. You sure felt like one sometimes during your journey so far.

"Oh, Scales!" You blinked backed towards Nessa as she now held up her phone to her face with a frown before looking back towards you and Sonia. "Hey. Sorry but I have to bounce. I have to stop by home then head to the gym really quick if I'm going to make it to that match on time." Turning with a smile she waved. "I'll see you later Sonia. It was nice seeing you again too, Miss. good luck with that sobble of yours."

As she walked away, the both of you waved as you watched her go before Sonia turned back to you. "Hey. If you're not really busy, would you like to come to the docks with me?" She held up a small clear plastic bag with, what looked like to you at least, dog kibble with a smile. "There's always a small school of chinchou everyone likes to feed there. I always like to visit whenever I come to Hulbury."

You paused considering her words for a moment. It would be nice to have more time with another person around your age before you had to go back for a bit and they wouldn't be expecting you for a while. So it should be fine. With a shrug you stood up. "Sure! I don't think I've ever seen a chinchou anyways."

Smiling she gestured for you to follow. "C'mon. We're pretty close anyways. I think you'd really like them."

She was right. The small market area was right across from the docks anyways, so it took less than five minutes to reach the docks. You followed her onto the pathways on the water and looked over the edge. The crystal blue water acting like a mirror letting you see your reflection and your sobble's as it blinked big innocent eyes at the water. You nearly bumped into her when she stopped and already had the bag open with her hand inside rummaging around until she pulled out a small handful of the kibble. With a toss they all went into the clear water sending small ripples as they floated and bobbed on the mirror water. That was until almost instantly bubbles appeared from under them and in a flurry of lightbulb antennas and blue skin tons of tiny little creatures swam to the surface and the floating kibble was devoured by the pokemon. You blinked as you watched them swim around. There must've been around ten of them all swimming about here. You blinked as the bag was suddenly held out to you with a smile from Sonia.

"Do you wanna feed them a little? This pokemon food is specifically made for water type pokemons' tastes," she offered.

"Yeah! Thanks!" You happily took some from her and a small blue hand tried to reach out for it too as you pulled away and gave your sobble a look. It stared at you for a moment before chirping and grabbing your nose. "*sigh* Fine." With a sigh and roll of your eyes, you silently held one piece of the kibble up to him and watched as he grabbed it from you and popped it into his mouth. Before tossing more kibble at the peeping lanturn fish like pokemon still swimming around. As before they began devouring it. "They sure are hungry huh?"

"Always are," Sonia replied tossing some more kibble to them. "It's a really popular thing to do around here if you aren't visiting the stadium or Aquarium or eating at the famous cafe up the road. Since there's a battle later today with Nessa I suspect that's why it's so vacant."

You smiled. "Yeah. I just hope everything goes well for them later today. Hop and her seemed pretty excited to go battling Nessa."

Sonia nodded. "I can't blame them. When Leon and I were they're age we were excited over battling the gym leaders too." She smiled at some distant long memory. "In fact, it seemed like it was just yesterday I was right here feeding some Chinchou and then Leon came out of no where and fell in the water! S-Said he d-d-didn't even know how he got there looking for the stadium." She giggled and you couldn't help but smile back.

"Oh. Is that anything like the time I heard he somehow ended up on top of a barn?" Sonia snorted. "Or the time he went out to catch a train and somehow ended up back in front of his house?"

"That happened?"

You nodded. "Oh yeah. He ended up waiting for me to thank me for the two's Slumbering Weild field trip after it happened. I have no idea how."

She chuckled. "Neither do I. Lee's always had a bad sense of direction just like his Da-" She froze. The once smile and cheery attitude replaced by a look of mild panic before she coughed and tossed some more kibble towards the chinchou. "Hey. Look at how cute they are today. They look like such healthy wild chinchou. Don't you think?"

It was her attempting to deflect away from what she already said. You knew that and personally you wouldn't really bother looking into it as 1. It was really none of your business and you hated budding into someone else's business and 2. you didn't feel up to making Sonia more uncomfortable than she already looked...But you couldn't help yourself since this was the second time this has happened. ...That's right. She did a similar thing at the Opening Ceremony when she asked you not to mention what she said to anyone. By now you had completely forgotten about that moment with everything that's been going on and at the time just brushed it off having more important things to worry about. But now....You looked at her and by the look in her eyes she knew what you were about to ask.

"That's right. I spent a few days between their houses and I saw their families. And I met their mothers. And Hop's grandparents." You fully turned to her with a raised brow. "And Hop's older brother. And Gloria's brother. But not have I ever once seen any of their dads nor had they even mentioned them. So that's begging the question of where's the missing link then isn't it?"

There was a pregnant silence between the two of you as you stared at her expectantly and Sonia stared back down at the water, seemingly trying to process the situation she found herself in. The only sounds was the boat horns from the docks, and the splashing around and noises of the chinchou as they still begged for more of the kibble Sonia held. And after more silence your expression softened and a guilty feeling bubbled up. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to ask. Even if you were traveling with them it was none of your business really. So you went to apologize.

With a sigh, Sonia finally seemed to find her words and turned to you with a sad but serious look. "I...understand if you're concerned or curious. I'd be too all things considering. But I really CANT tell you anything since it's not my place to say....By now you obviously noticed they just..aren't there and let's leave it as that."

You nodded. "Hey. I'm..I-I'm sorry. I know it's none of my business. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

She shook her head. "No. To be honest you wouldn't be the first one to ask that question to Leon or anyone else and you probably won't be the last. But if you could do us both a solid and not tell anyone about this it'd be great."

"Believe me, I was about to ask you the same thing." You smiled. "Trust me. I won't tell us a soul."

"Thank you, Y/n. I'm glad you understand."

"Hey. Of course!"

So.....No fathers in the picture huh? A strange feeling settled into your guts that was something akin to feeling extremely guilty. And a....strange feeling of familiarity of it all for your own reasons...Then the reality hit you. In a memory of what happened back at the inn back in Motostoke. In the very slip up Sonia had made before that you had passed off until now-

"And thanks for taggin' along with the kids this far. I know we're practically strangers but there's just....I don't know....really good aura about you. I'm sure Lee appreciates it too. He's always so worried about Hop. He practically raised him after all-" All of a sudden it was like a switch flipped off in her mind and her happy smile went to a sudden shocked face. "Oh no. I didn't mean to mention that. Please forget I even said that."

You had pretty much pieced it together right after remembering that. For some reason, in one way or another, Hop and the twins had no fathers and Leon as Sonia said must've practically filled the role in which a father figure would fill. This would sum up a lot of the things you've bared witness too. Hop and Gloria's infatuation with Leon(especially on Hop's end), they're desire to climb their way up the ranks and make him proud-..Heck. Leon's behavior know that you think about it could've been summed up as brotherly...or fatherly. Sponsoring two (although it was VERY clear he was full on ready to just endorse Victor as well no questions asked if he hadn't made the choice of not competing in the Gym Challenge) kids for the challenge which as you came to know wasn't typical of a Galar Champion, buying you and them all those supplies and stuff, and with what Sonia said just set that fact in concrete. And....While that did make you feel guilty and sad for them...At the end of the day it really was none of your business. Any moment or day now you could wake up back home and none of this would have mattered, and you shouldn't really butt in between their business. Especially since you weren't planning on staying in the long run. Plus...you were trying NOT to uproot the game's progress as much as possible or no more than you might've already had done if at all with your actions. You might've not remembered how the game went entirely but you knew you were on the right track. For now at least. You continued to make small talk with Sonia about how her research was going and your trip over before deciding it was best to part ways there and bid her farewell before heading back towards the stadium. Nessa mentioned leaving to make sure she arrived on time. You wondered if Gloria was battling her right now?...Well you soon found out the answer to that question.

when you were just making your way up to the resturaunt your stomach grumbled. Making you wince a bit. Huh. Guess you were out for longer than you thought if you got hungry. Glancing up to the cafe you wondered how much a simple meal would cost? It was supposed to be famous for their food after all. With a shrug you decided on entering and seeing if they had anything your measly twelve dollars could buy. Fancy was the first word that came to mind when you entered through the double doors and a bell rung off. A woman at a front desk was the first thing to greet you along with some kind of pokemon you didn't recognize. It seemed the theme of the whole place was blue and white, giant tables lined the area with table setting and napkins fancily folded into boat like shapes, a MASSIVE window looking over the stadium, and a bar like area near the far right walls with another pair of double doors you assumed lead to the kitchen. The only other people there besides you and the lady was a man behind the bar counter who was talking on the phone with someone.

The woman smiled at you. "Greetings and welcome to the Hulbury Seafood Restaurant!" She greeted with a bow. "Do you happen to have a reservation or would like to make one?"

"Uh-..." You shook your head. Oh man. Was this one of those places where you HAD to make a reservation in order to eat? "Not exactly. I just heard your food was pretty good."

The woman still smiled. "Oh. Well then I'd be more than happy to seat you by the-"

"AHH!" Both of you jumped when a thud rang out which turned out to be the man in the chef hat slamming down the phone he was previously talking to.

"Chef, what on earth is the matter?," the woman asked.

The chef pointed to the phone scowl on his face. "My delivery boy just called. Apparently he's caught a cold and can't make it today! Out of all the days I need him most." The old man grabbed at his grey hair. "I have all these orders and no one to take them. The Chairman could show up any minute for his reservation but instead he's going to be present with angry customers calling for their orders and our reputation as Hulbury's greatest restaurant will be tarnished!!"

"Well...I could run out and deliver a few," the woman suggested.

"And leave your post!? OH no no no! That'd look even more bad if no one was here to greet them in while I cook!" He slumped forward. "This is an utter disaster! What am I to do?"

You looked between the two of them before slowly holding up your hand. "Um...If you'd like, I'd like to help."

Immediately the chef snapped his head up and blinked at you. Before a suspicious look came over his face as he looked you over. "You, Young Lady? You would please help us deliver some food?"

You nodded. "I mean..Yeah. It looks like you guys are pretty.." You gave a glance at the empty place. "-busy at the moment and I'd like to help."

After looking you up and down a few more moments the chef sighed before shrugging. "Why not? I have nothing else to lose in this moment anyhow." He reached under a counter and beckoned you to come over to which you complied before placing a small take out box onto the counter. "Thank you. I truly appreciate it. Tell you what. If you manage to deliver all the take out orders then I'll prepare you my famous 'Lucky Egg' dish as thanks. How does that sound?"

You mouth watered just thinking about free food. This just might be your lucky day after all. You nodded with a smile and took the box from him. "Sure! Sounds fair enough. Where do I deliver this one?"

He paused for a moment...before he rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh uh. Well as for where to deliver the food.....Sorry. We've been so stressed out for the Chairman's visit I forgot to ask for an address." You stared at him. .....WHAT!? "B-But I heard a clickity clack sound from the phone when I took the first order. Maybe that's a clue as to where to go?"

..........You sighed. "Yeah..Don't worry about it. I'll figure it out somehow."

"That's the spirit! Come back as soon as you're done delivering that one! And hurry please. Oh! And here. Take this notepad with you. They'll have to sign off on it so I can send the bill."

You had no idea what you had gotten yourself into this time. With a groan you exited the restaurant and spotted a peculiar sight to behold. There was Gloria standing just outside the restaurant as you approuched with her back to you and you soon saw what she was staring at. A little ways from her standing in the middle of the road was HIM. Mareep Head-..Er. I mean Bede who looked bored and in front of him was....It was her. The same woman from your dream and the Opening Ceremony as well. And in front of her was...No. It COULDN'T be!! In front of them was a group of about six to eight people, but with that group was none other than the CHAIRMAN himself!!...Tho he looked a little different than the other times you've seen him. You didn't expect to see Nessa outside of her gym leader suit, but you hadn't been caught too much off guard. The chairman however was a different story. Instead of that professional slim fitting suit he wore a baseball cap, slip on white shoes, sunglasses, .....a sweater that showed how chubby he was actually under his suit, and blue shorts with white polka dots to top it all off. You could only star at the man...Was this-....This COULDN'T have been the same professional high standing man that ran the whole Galar Region! He looked like someone's Dad on a lazy day. ...You chuckled which startled Gloria into giving a yelp and whipping around to see you and the box you held.

"Holy Magikarp, Y/n! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry....Hey. What are you doing all the way over here? I thought you were having a battle today."

She sighed. "We got hungry just waiting for Nessa so Hop suggested I go grab us something while he holds our place. What are you doing?" She noticed the box you held and pointed at it. "And what's that?"

"Long story short is that I agreed to be the fill in delivery boy for a bit." You nodded past her towards the group. "Hey uh...Gloria, is that who I think it is?"

She turned around and with a huff she crossed her arms and frowned. "Yeah. The Cottonee so full of himself he needs a garden hose to wash the ego from his brain!"

".....Uh..Actually I was talking about the chairman over there, but I guess Bede's here too yes."

"Oh...Well yeah. It's weird just walking around the corner and seeing him right that. Like..what the bloody heck are those shorts?"

"Y'know I was thinking the same thing." You two continued to watch in bewilderment as the chairman smiled and spoke with the small group of people, before the woman suddenly stepped in front of him as he was about to shake another person's hand.

She held up a hand. "Our sincerest apologies," she spoke with a calm and professional tone, "The chairman is quite busy at the moment. Everyone please disperse. Please leave now."

The crowd murmered but eventually slowly parted ways, one woman saying. "Ok. See you later, Chairman."

"Oh h-hey! No need to rush off! I can still do autographs!," the chairman called after them raising a hand, "I'll even give you my pokemon league card!" To your surprise no one really paid attention and kept walking besides you and Gloria...And you rose a brow. With a sigh he turned back to the woman. "we need the support of our fans to keep doing what we're doing. Chasing them off like that. Aren't you being a little too harsh, Oleana?"

"Fans are very important of course," the woman, who must've been Oleana explained, "That's why you need to keep doing your work for their sake."

"I promise to do everything in my power to assist you too, Chairman!," Bede butted in proud of himself. Huh. Maybe Gloria had a point.

The chairman gave him a look for a moment before raising a brow. "Oh. And you were?"

Maybe it was just your imagination most likely, but you could've sworn you saw Bede frown for a moment before he answered, "Bede, Sir."

"AH! That's right! Bede! I daresay I'm impressed how fair you've come since I gave you that pokemon all those years ago. Will you be the one to win the Gym Challenge? Or perhaps it will be one of the Trainers endorsed by the Champion."

"I will prove your faith in me was well placed, Chairman," Bede assured, "I won't lose to anyone. Anyway speaking of which, I'll be on my way now." He turned and began walking away, but completely froze upon seeing you and Gloria..Well more Gloria than you as the two of them made eye contact...And he suddenly pointed. "YOU!?"

"Hey Mareep Head. How's your Hatenna?"

"WHY YOU-....YOU- ..LITTLE-"

"AH! You!" Bede practically jumped out of his skin as the chairman was quick to push past him and walk up to Gloria with a smile, Oleana right behind him. Gloria practically just stood and stared as he approuched and you rose an eye brow. "Your name was...." He thought for a moment before pointing to her. "Gloria right? We were just talking about you!" Your brow rose more. That was a complete and utter lie. They were standing right there entire time in front of you but you shrugged it off as an awkward ice breaker.

.....Gloria exchanged a look with you before pointing at herself. "....Me?"

he nodded. "Yes! I admit I'm curious about Leon's reasons for endorsing you. Ah! I just had a good idea, as I tend to do!" Brag much? "You're going to face Gym Leader Nessa soon, yes?"

"Um...Y-Yeah. I was on my way back to the stadium actually-"

"Well if you get a gym badge from her I'll hold a celebration! I'd like to get to know you a little better after all." He smiled and you felt ....odd about it all.

"Um..Y-Yeah..I guess so??"

"Chairman, we should really be going if you want to keep that dinner reservation," Oleana stated.

The chairman nodded to her before turning back to Gloria. "Alright. Please do your best, for the sake of Galar's future."

"I Uh...Y-YES SIR!!" Gloria gave her best smile under the situation.

With a smile and nod he turned and walked past her and you not sparing you a glance and you followed him with your gaze brow raised...You weren't sure, but you had a funny feeling about him and it wasn't a good funny. When you turned back around you nearly jumped the box in surprise. The woman-!! Oleana was standing right in front of Gloria so close her shadow was literally blocking the sunlight from her. The poor girl frozen under the woman's studying gaze.

"The Chairman will be heading to this town's seafood restaurant." She stated monotonely, "Win the gym badge and join him there at once. Do not keep him waiting. Am I clear, Young Lady?" Gloria didn't say anything..and you looked at her. Eyes shooting to the size of plates. She was more frozen than a glacier. ...All that came out of her was a small squeak noise making the woman's eyes narrow. "Perhaps I wasn't clear. Do not keep the chairman waiting. Head to the seafood restaurant. The Captain's Table. Do you need me to repeat myself once more, Child? Or do you understand-"

"Too skinny."

Gloria jumped having probably completely forgotten you were there for a moment as she snapped to you and Oleana followed her piercing gaze to meet your glare. ....She slowly blinked. "I beg your pardon, Miss?"

"I said you're too skinny for that," you explained as they both stared at her.

Her brow flicked up as she studied you. "And I happen to be too thin for what purpose, Ma'am?"

"Well you're certainly not fat enough to be throwing your weight around not to notice you're being a jerk," you explained raising a brow back, "Obviously she heard you with how close you are. Maybe she'd answer if you weren't so close making her feel uncomfortable like that."

They both stared at you stunned. Gloria jaw dropped and Oleana had the same face but her eyes much more widened as she stared at you. It was so quiet you could've heard a pin drop as you joined this little three way stare down. HECK. It felt like an entire hour just staring at her before her face slowly contorted back to her original bored/professional looking one and she took a step back, spooking Gloria in process as the poor girl blinked.

"Do you happen to know who I am, Miss?," she asked like you should already know this.

"Somebody who's heels makes them so tall their head's in the clouds obviously."

This time her brows furrowed, her mouth frowned, and you noticed the way her hands gripped each other. As if she was physically holding back her anger. But before she could reply a chuckle seemed to interrupt you. Blinking you turned around only to find that the Chairman guy was looking right at you. Raising a brow and humming. You rose a brow and frowned right back.

....He waved a hand off. "Oleana, you're right. We'll be late for that reservation. Give the young trainer my League card and let's be on our way."

It's amazing how fast her aura and face changed at a moment's dime. "Of course. So you will not forget the Chairman's face, I will give you one of his League Cards." She suddenly held something out to Gloria who blinked but after a moment took it. "Chairman Rose is the kind of man who gets downhearted if he doesn't take care of things he needs to right away. Go to the seafood restaurant as soon as possible so as to not keep the chairman waiting." She glanced back to you and your eyes narrowed more. "...Good luck in your battle." With that she stepped around Gloria who followed her as she went and so did you with your frown. And after the Chairman gave another look to you, also turned and walked away.

....You sighed and turned back to Gloria, only to blink when she was staring right back at you. "....Uh...H-Hey. Are you ok there? You looked spooked." Shaking. Your eyes widened noticing her hands shaking. "WHOA! Hey! Are you ok!? She didn't scare you too bad did she?"

"Y-Y-Y/n..," She stuttered. Her hands slowly clenched into fists. "T-T-That..was..." Her face snapped up to you in a smile. "AWESOME!! SERIOUSLY!! Like! Yeah she gave off major scare vibes I swear she's worse than a gengar in the darkest room! My heart was pounding so fast! Then you were all well slayin' 'ere like a beast!!...Omg." She looked down for a moment realization settling in. "....My traveling partner talked BACK to the Chairman's right hand!! What's he going to think when I show up!? I mean it was amazing to watch don't get me wrong. But STILL!!''

"Hey, hey, hey!!" You caught her attention by grabbing her shoulder making her blink at your face. "Hey. Look at me." Once you knew you had her full attention you smiled. "That woman was making you feel scared, and that's not ok. So I did what I had to do. If anything I'll get in trouble. Besides, Im a girl standing on the sidewalk holding a delivery box. They'd probably think I was just a stranger going to delivery a pizza or something. Right now you should just worry about your gym battle."

It was like a record scratch went off in her mind as she suddenly paused, face going blank for a moment before her hands suddenly snatched the top of her head. "AH!! MY GYM BATTLE!! I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABOUT THAT!! BUT THE CHAIRMAN SAID IF I WIN TO SEE HIM!! IF!! IF!! WHAT IF I DON'T WIN!? OMG!! CAN I STILL MEET WITH HIM IF I DON'T-"

You shook her with the hand still on her shoulder. "Gloria! Get a grip on yourself! Of course you're going to win!'' You smiled. "If you could beat Milo you can beat Nessa too! And if you lose it's fine. I'm sure he'll understand, you can't let all of that overthinking stop you ok? Be more confident in yourself, and if you lose..." You shrugged. "Then it's ok. You can always try again tomorrow or any other day. You are going to be ok....Ok?"

She stared at you for a long moment before taking a deep breath and sighing. A determined look now plastered on her face. "You're right! I'm just overthinking this! I just need to remain calm and everything's going to be fine!"

You smiled. "That's the spirit...Hey. Isn't it gonna start like..right now?"

"GAH! Y-You're right! I gotta go!" With a wave she quickly turned on her heel and ran off towards the stadium. "Thanks, Y/n! You're the best!"

You sighed before shaking your head watching her go. Well...glad that went well at least, she was a brave girl so she should be ok..But then why did you still feel eyes on you? As you turned your f/c eyes met purple ones and Bede jumped having noticed you spotted him. With a jerk of his head the other way, he quickly sped walked away from you in the opposite direction leaving you lightly confused. But you shrugged it off. Right now you had bigger fish to fry like getting this fish you were currently holding to the person who ordered it. Who ever it was. That was the thing you had to figure out as you stood there in the middle of the sidewalk staring at the box in your hands like someone staring off into space. Good gosh the guy couldn't think to ask for an address? What were you supposed to do with a click clack sound? That could mean anything....Well what kind of click clack sounds were loud enough to be heard over a phone. ....Your head turned towards the train station back towards the stadium. Didn't trains usually make a noise like that? A train would certainly be loud enough to hear over a phone. With a shrug you started off down towards the train station and right up to the first house right by it since there was two. Knocked and waited patiently as footsteps approuched.

The first one was answered by a middle aged looking man and you smiled. "Hey! Uh...Did you order seafood?"

"No. I don't like fish."

"Oh..Sorry about tha-" You flinched as the door was slammed back shut in front of your face..before you frowned. "Well he was pretty rude wasn't he?" Your sobble chirped in agreement. "Couldn't have said it better myself," you mumbled as you turned away from the door and away from the first house to go to the second. The Stadium not too far away roaring alive now with cheers. Must be Hop or Gloria having a battle with Nessa. Shame you couldn't attend but you were a bit busy right now. Walking up to the second home, you knocked on the door and waited. After a moment footsteps approuched and a sweet elderly woman answered. You smiled. "Hey! Good afternoon! Did someone here order some seafood?"

To your delight, she smiled. "Oh, are you the one delivering my food?" She happily reached out and took the box from you. "Thank you for your trouble! This restaurant's dishes are full of seafood and it's so delicious if I say so myself. They are pretty well known after all."

"Your welcome! ..Oh wait!" You reached into your pocket to quickly pull out your notebook. "I need you to-''

"Oh of course! Your tip. "

"Actually I-" You blinked when a small bag of what looked like small jaw breakers was placed into your hand tied off by a cute little red ribbon.

"I've already paid the restaurant over the phone, so I'll give you candy as a tip. There's nothing like sweets to go along with a beautiful day. You have a nice day now."

You blinked looking at the small bag. "Hey wait! I need you-" The door closed leaving you staring at it. "..to sign this. *sigh*" You held up the overly cute bag and your sobble gave it a curious look over. "Well, it's not money but it's better than nothing I guess. Wouldn't you say?"

Your trip back to the restaurant wasn't anything unusual, still faintly hearing the cheers from the gym on your way there. The only thing that was a little strange was a small group of three or four people standing outside the place trying to peep into the windows. Your brow rose but you shrugged it off and just stepped inside seeing the same woman as before.

"Sorry. We're closed at the mome-..OH! It's you young lady,'' she greeted.

"Back again?!" You looked over towards the chef and he smiled seeing you. "Excellent! I wanted to ask you to deliver some food again. Is that ok? I suspect that the package was delivered?"

....You held up the bag of candy. "Yeah. Sorry I couldn't get her to sign it. But she tipped me in candy."

"Oh. That must've been Mrs. Wesley. Don't worry about her, she has a habit of doing that." Again he reached under the counter and brought up another box. "But right now I need you to deliver this next one as soon as possible!'' You walked over and he held it out to you before slightly nodding over towards the right. You glanced over and your eyes widened seeing the chairman and Oleana looking out of the window over the stadium, not seeming to notice you thankfully. "Since the Chairman's here we're doing our best to try and not upset the atmosphere. Since you're taking care of this for us it's really taking one less thing off our shoulders to worry about."

You sighed with a smile before taking the second box from him. The fresh smell of fish and chips wafting from it making your mouth water. "Hey. It's no problem. Where do I take this one?"

He paused. "Well....I uh...Haha. D-Didn't quite get the address for this one either?" You stared. "...B-but I don't know if this helps, but I think I heard a pokemon cry over the phone this time. Like....Swiirl...Or something like that."

"....I'll...figure it out I'm sure."

Figure it out indeed! How in the HECK were you just supposed to deliver a dang food order based off a pokemon's cry?? Whelp! There was only one way to solve this! ...Visit all the houses here until you came across the right one. So that's exactly what you did. You already delivered to the lady up by the train station and the guy next to her rudely stated he didn't so that was two houses you could cross off your list. So there you went starting from one end of the long, LONG street of houses one after another smiling and asking if they ordered a take out. Every. Single. One. Said. No. Or just didn't answer at all, and to be honest you were feeling justifiably annoyed at this point. What was the POINT of having someone deliver food if you didn't know where to send them!? It must've taken you at least fifthteen minutes of walking and asking until you FINALLY caught a break coming to the very last house on the block before the road split off between the train station and stadium. You knocked and waited patiently as footsteps approuched, and you smiled when a blonde man who looked to be in his early thirties opened the door.

"Hey. Sorry to bother you, but did you order some seafood takeout?"

"Oh, I can smell the ocean. You're from the restaurant aren't you?" You nodded and held the box up to him as he took it with a hum. "Ah! I'm starving! I've been drooling while waiting for the food! Than you for delivering the food!"

"Oh hey. Before you go." You held up the notepad. "Could you please sign for this?"

"Oh sure thing. Wait right here." He turned and walked back inside leaving you standing there able to see the inside of the home as the man handed off the food to two little girls who looked so much alike that they must've been twins. A pink pokemon looking like cotton candy swirling around them. "Stacy, Lacy. Food's here. And this time don't let Pinkie eat my share of it." You stood there awkwardly until he finally came back grabbing the note pad. "Sorry about that. You know how kids can be."

"Heh. Yeah. Sorry if it took so long. Had to go the long way around to get here."

"Well you get energy from food. If you need energy you should eat balanced meals." He handed you back the notepad with a smile. "Thanks again!''

With a sigh you turned on your heel and began trudging off back towards the restaurant. Your stomach rumbled again and by this point you were seriously wondering if this was even worth any free food for? If you had half a mind you would've just quite, returned the notepad, and then just go back to the hotel to just eat some of your rations or order the cheapest thing on the room service menu. But then again, you already promised to help and free food does sound better than spending your remanding money. Plus their food was supposed to be really good. So..You made the choice to go back to the very cafe you came from and waltzed back through the doors and up to the counter this time. The chef seemed very pleased to have you back as he had already placed the last box on the counter he explained. Only one more? Oh THANK goodness. You weren't sure how much of this mumbo jumbo you could handle. You took the last box from him not sparing a glance over your shoulder in the chairman's way.

"As for the address-"

"Let me guess. You forgot?"

"Actually. No. I remembered to ask." Your eyes widened. Was this finally gonna be easy? "Unfortunately I have no idea where it is.".....WHAT?! "The customer told me to look for a green roof, but I wonder if there is such a house in Hulbury. I've certainly never seen a house like this before but Im sure you're smart enough to figure it out like the other two!"

".......Right."

Of course it wasn't going to be that easy. It never was going to be easy for you was it? It seemed simple enough tho. Just look for a house with a green roof and that should be it right? Except..none of the houses you had asked previously had ordered anything and the ones that did couldn't have possibly ordered a second time in such short notice right after getting the first. Oh well. Green roof. That's all you had to go on......and the amount of time you had spent walking up and down these streets looking for any building with a green roof was exhausting. NONE of the homes here had green roofs and when you checked the few buildings around here that weren't homes (like the light house and pokemon center-) discovered surprise, surprise. No green roof either. Oh you hoped whoever ordered this didn't live outside Hulbury. Not having any luck where you currently were, you decided to go ahead and go back down to the docks where you first went that morning. You didn't remember seeing any buildings there but it wouldn't hurt to cover all bases before giving up. Your body ended up wondering back to the market place you were once in...And you were about ready to give up. There wasn't anything around here with a green-

"HEY! Young Lady with the sobble on your shoulder!," a male voice shouted. Blinking, you turned around to one of the stalls. the one with the green and white top. A man with brown hair waved at you. "You're delivering food?" You nodded. "Well hey! I'm the one who ordered it!" He was!?...You glanced towards the striped roof of his stall.....Oh. A green roof. Whelp! Might as well get this over with. he smiled wider as you approuched. "You got here earlier than I expected! It was easy to spot the green roof wasn't it?"

No. Not really. In fact it would've been a LOT easier if he just said he was in a stall in this marketplace but instead you forced a smile and handed him the box and notepad. "Please sign here."

He gladly signed it. "The tail curry of this restaurant has a unique flavor. I love it! Say hi to the manager for me!"

You quickly grabbed the notebook. "Have a nice day!" And then you quickly retreated. A groan leaving your tired body as you dragged yourself back the way you came for a second time that day. By the time you had gotten back close to the restaurant you were sore, tired, but most of all you were hungry! OH! The food had better be worth it or else you were going straight back to the hotel to-

"Y/N!!" Hey. You knew that voice! Sure enough Gloria was waving her arm at you with a smile as you proceeded to walk towards her. Despite wanting time to yourself today you were absolutely glad to see her. "What are you doing by the docks?"

"Finishing my role as a replacement delivery boy," you answered when you got close enough and pointed at her white uniform. "Why are you still wearing your gym challenge uniform?"

"Oh uh.." She sheepishly smiled with a chuckle. "It's a long story. On the bright side I managed to defeat Nessa! LOOK!" A flash of bronze went in your face and you blinked before leaning back. A badge with some kind of blue water pattern shown before you. No doubt the water gum badge. "Feast yer eyes! I thought I was a gonna when I lost the second round, but I managed to pull a turn around and win enough rounds to pass! Ain't it great?!"

You smiled. "Hey! That is great! I'm so happy for you! But where's Hop? I thought he was with you."

"He stayed behind to set up his own battle with Nessa tomorrow. Don't worry. He already knows where I am. Said he'll meet back up with us when we're done having dinner with the Chairman."

"...We?"

"Oh.." She slowly lowered her had back down to her side. "I just...thought you'd be coming too since you were there with me when he invited me.I-...I just thought since y'know...B-But that's fine! I won't force ya to come with me. Yer probably tired from running around all day anyways."

You paused. Yes, you were tired but you were heading back inside the restaurant anyways. And if Oleana was there...You smiled. "Hey! I'd love to come!"

Her eyes lit up. "REALLY!?"

"Yeah. I gotta go in to let 'em know I'm done delivering all these confusing orders anyways." You turned and nodded towards the doors. "C'mon. Let's go eat and see what he wants. Ok?"

With a smile of relief she nodded and the two of you went up towards the doors and went inside. The woman from before was there and upon seeing the both of you greeted you both with a smile. "Welcome to the Hulbury Seafood Resturaunt. Unfortunately we're not accepting any reservations or walk ins today but if you'd like to schedule one for a later or order take out you're more than welcome-....Oh! It's you again, Young Lady."

"Uh. Yeah." You held out the notepad. "Actually I was promised free food if I delivered everything and we were both invited to eat with the Chairman over there."

"Oh." She glanced to Gloria who looked nervous, seeming to realize she was a trainer. "Yes. I recall he said something about an extra guest trainer with his party today. Chairman Rose comes here incognito, but the word always gets out when he's here." She grabbed the notepad from you. "You both may go ahead to the Captain's Table in the back. I'll notify the chef you completed your tasks."

With a thanks you both took off towards the back where you saw the Chairman, Oleana, and..HEY! It was Sonia. Relief flooding in seeing another familiar face. This might be more tolerable then...Maybe you should take this time to apologize? You glanced to Gloria who still looked nervous. If this was someone very high up and important it wouldn't hurt to swallow your pride and just apologize, if nothing else but to keep the peace and show you're willing to be the bigger person. After all you don't want to cause trouble. The first to notice you two was the chairman himself as he turned his head from Sonia to you two and smiled.

"Ah! If it isn't the young trainer I met earlier today," he greeted with a smile and raised brow, "If you're here then I suppose it's safe to say you won against Nessa?"

You didn't miss her gulp before forcing a smile. "Uh..Y-Yeah. Piece of cake!"

He nodded. "I'm so glad! Gloria, come. Let's celebrate your recent victory! On me!" ...You felt eyes on you and you turned from the Chairman's face to Oleana's who was staring right at you. ...You frowned back at her- "And I believe I've seen you before as well, Young Lady." You blinked back to the Chairman's face as he was looking at you too now with a raised brow. ...AH CRAP!! "You were the lady back there who gave my assistant quite a 'roasting' as the young kinds call it nowadays."

...You blinked. Forcing up a smile. Here we go. "Uh. hehe. Yeah. Actually I wanted to apologize to you.." You gave Oleana a glance. "-and her for that. I just thought things were getting a bit scary back there."

To your surprise he chuckled it off with a wave. "Not at all. In all honestly Oleana can be quite intimidating to others. It's one of the reasons she's so good at her job. But there's no hard feelings. Right Oleana?"

The woman next to him inhaled before breathing it back out. "Of course, Sir. Apologies accepted and all's forgiven."

"Excellent! I don't suppose you know Sonia here? She's a wonderful person to have on the research team."

"Yeah. We do actually. Hi, Sonia."

"Oh. Were you invited too?," she asked surprised.

Before you could reply the chairman interrupted you. "You two know each other? That's great! Come now." He gestured to the table directly behind him. "Please be seated." And the three of you followed him and did so after you and Gloria exchanged a glance. She still looked nervous. The order of which you sat was Gloria sat across from the Chairman, Sonia next to Gloria, and you next to the Chairman. Naturally you would've preferred to sit next to either one of the other girls but you weren't about to let Gloria sit right next to a guy you had a funny feeling over. Strangely enough Oleana didn't seem like she was eating with you four and instead opted to stand silently next to the Chairman. How odd. You watched as he oh so casually picked the napkin off his own plate. Hmm...Guess he's been here more than once. "Now that we're all together. Gloria was it? Tell us how did your battle go?"

She shrugged. "Oh. Um. I-It was pretty good. Very thrilling. It was really nice to get ta meet Nessa. She's very nice." Sonia smiled at her.

"That's all very good. If you're as talented as Leon mentioned you then you should have no problem defeating the other gym leaders."

"Well I wouldn't say that. I-It was really hard to beat her. She's a tough gym leader."

"Hey. What were you talking about with Sonia?," you asked successfully steering the topic off Gloria for the moment as the Chairman smiled.

"Oh nothing really worth talking about. How her trip was so far studying around with the legends and the Geoglph in Turffield. The theory is that the two are somehow connected but I digress. AH! Our food has arrived." You looked over to what he was gesturing at and perked up at the lady from before who greeted you carrying two plates. One obviously being some kind of fish as it was placed before the chairman who happily accepted. "Ah! My usual. You always remember." And you were surprised when the other plate was sat in front of you. It was curry, smelt sweet, and had an egg smack dab in the middle of it. "Oh. It looks like you're a regular here too I presume."

"The chef asked me to give you his 'Lucky Egg' dish as a token of his appreciation, Miss," she explained, "I hope you're ok with sweet boiled egg curry. Are the rest of you ready to order?"

"Go ahead ladies. It's on me today."

"Mm. Just a salad. I'm not very hungry today."

"...I mean. The tropical curry sounds good," Gloria guessed.

You were too busy studying the dish in front of you to notice the lady leave. Instead staring at the massive egg just sitting in the middle of the darn plate. ...You weren't up to eating something that might've been a pokemon egg no matter how much your stomach rumbled at the sight and your mouth watered at the smell. Luckily it seemed like you had a back up plan because your sobble was crawling down your arm already on his way towards your food. You extended your hand to allow the small pokemon to sit on the table next to you and without really thinking grabbed the egg off your plate and held it out to it. He smiled and happily accepted your gift with a loud chirp before grabbing it and you watched as it bit it nearly in half with one bite. Goodness. Guess you weren't the only one hungry.

"Hulbury is a seafood town. Naturally if one is going to eat here the obvious choice is the local cuisine," the chairman said already digging in, "Everything on the menu is delicious. Oh, Sonia. By the way how is Professor Magnolia getting on? I'm quite indebted to her you know. She was the one who figured out how to unleash the power of Wishing Stars and use that power to dynamax pokemon. We would never have been able to create dynamax bands without her."

Sonia sighed. "*sigh* She was saying that there's still so much we don't know about dynamaxing. It's causing her some worry. She even made me take a power spot detector with me when I started traveling."

"A power spot detector?," he asked interested, "That's the device that allowed me to discover power spots. Locations that emit galar particles and allow pokemon to dynamax. I don't like hearing that Professor Magnolia is worried though. If only there was something I could do." You glanced at him again out the corner of your eye and rose a brow. Why were you getting a weird feeling in your gut from this guy?

Sonia shrugged. "Unless you can suddenly provide more intel on the phenominon then I'm afraid there isn't much, Sir."

He hummed.".....Sonia. It may be good for you to visit the vault in Hammerlocke. I believe the key to unlocking the secrets of the dynamax phenomenon lies in the history preserved there."

Sonia blinked. "Oh. You really think so?"

"We usually study history based on what was left on it from the past. Although mostly legends at this point you know they always say that every legend has truth to it. Who knows? It might even help tie in with the lengend you've been studying currently. Oleana can arrange a meeting I'm sure. Can't you?"

"Understood, Sir," Oleana replied monotonly, "I will arrange a meeting with Ms. Sonia."

"Very good. See? Nothing to worry yourself over about. Now shall we dig in?"

The rest of that dinner get together was a blur. Honestly you were too busy stuffing your face to talk but you didn't mind. You only watched and listened to the small talk. Gloria and Sonia's food arrived a short while after and by this point they were mostly done eating as well. His other questions didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Asking how their day was? How they were enjoying the challenge so far? Talking about some of his recent appointments involving some kind of arrangement with a Prince from the Pasio Region?? You weren't sure. But the sun was starting to set soon.

"So then I figured the best way to solve the matter was to set up individual warnings for the two of them and move one to a different department under Oleana. *sigh* Both are hard workers so it'd be a shame to just fire one or both. Don't you agree Oleana?"

"Yes, Sir. However I believe it is about time we get going, Chairman."

"Hm?" He looked at her. "But I've hardly had a chance to speak with Gloria." You rose a brow. You had literally been sitting her an entire hour.

"With all do respect, Sir. It's getting rather late. I'm sure the young lady is quite tired from her day."

...He sighed. "It's regrettable but I guess it can't be helped. If something needs to get done there's no time like the present after all!" He slowly stood from his seat as the three of you watched and smiled. "Truly though I'm glad to have had a chance to speak with you ladies today. So sorry if we couldn't have spent more time together. In any case I bid you farewell."

"OH! Uh..G-Good bye, M-Mr. Chairman. Sir."

You remained silent as the two left. Narrowed eyes watching as they went...Something about those two just felt...Off. Like it didn't sit right in your gut, but you had no idea why? Was there some kind of plot in the game with those two you couldn't remember?...Hm. In any case you were glad they were gone now so you and Gloria could rela- Your head perked up with at a sigh as Sonia rubbed her face.

"Hey. You good there?"

"Does he think he's doing me a favor? He's right that the vault would be a good place to look for the legends but..." She paused suddenly looking up and noticing the two of you staring at her confused. "UH!...Nevermind! You got the water badge right? Defeating Nessa is no easy feat!"

"Uh..Yeah. What are-"

"Nessa's a good friend! Perhaps I should drop in on her!," her chair screeched as she stood up all of a sudden giving a nervous smile, "Ahaha! Yes! She'll be so happy to see me! Until next time, Gym Challenger! Nice seeing you again, Y/n!"

Both of you stared as Sonia quickly sped walked away from you two and then out of the restaurant as if she was escaping something...

Gloria blinked. "What the world just happened?"

"Believe me I have learnt in this point of my life to just go with things. C'mon. It's free food. Let's finish eating and meet the others back at the hotel."

#pokemon shield #pokemon sword #pokemon sword and shield #pokemon swsh #pokemon piers #piers x reader #pokemon piers x reader #reader x piers #Piers #reader

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tae-cup · 4 years

Text

Last Delivery | KNJ Drabble

Hope everyone is well!

Masterlist

“Y/N.” Your boss called you to the backroom and you felt your stomach drop. The local pizza shop, known as Sliceroni, had been losing money recently. There was a new pizza place coming into town and people had begun to go more and more to them, though you doubted their quality. So far, three of your 10 coworkers had been fired or quit due to the issue.

With a sigh, you took off your apron and shot your coworker, who manned the cash register, a frown. She looked at you with a sympathetic smile. You walked over to the door and rapped your knuckles on the hard wood. The place was dusty, old and rotting wood.

“You wanted to see me?” You chirped. Please don’t fire me. You didn’t have any other job lined up, despite your coworkers trying to talk you into it. They all saw that the business was failing and they wanted to be ready to jump ship.

“Ah, yes, Y/N.” The manager smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes. It unnerved you. “Please sit.”

You nodded and took a seat on the cushioned chair. The man sighed and clasped his hands together on his desk.

“You’ve been a wonderful employee for these past two years. You’ve been hardworking, loyal, and all the customers love to have you deliver their order.” He massaged his forehead. “But, as you know, there have been budget cuts and we’re not able to pay for a delivery person anymore. I know you’ve been working the kitchen in the meantime, but you aren’t the dedicated chef and we can’t ask you to work for free.”

You frowned. “Are you...firing me?”

“We prefer the term releasing you.” He smiled gently. “I’d love to write you a referral if you need it.”

The rest of his words were drowned out. It felt like you were underwater. You were being fired. A wonderful employee, but obviously not good enough. What would you do now? You numbly nodded at his suggestion of a referral.

“Do you...where do you want me to put my uniform?” You choked.

“You can return it to my desk.” He responded, a sad expression on his kind features. You bit your lip, gulping back your tears.

“Is there anything else?” You murmured, wanting to leave as soon as possible.

“Well, we have one more delivery set up.”

You tilted your head, curiosity overcoming your emotions.

“To who?”

You knocked on the door. Never again would you have to do this. You tried to keep the frown off your face.

“I think that’s the pizza.” There’s a muffled shout.

“Be there in a second!” Another voice responded and you fought to keep a smile off your lips. It wasn’t like you were in a rush or going anywhere else. After this, you’d be free. In fact, you only had on your name badge with the logo of Sliceroni. The boss had claimed it was a souvenir and to keep it. So now you stood, dressed casually, holding seven boxes of pizza. How many boxes did this man need? The door swung open to reveal a rather disheveled looking man. His hair was poking out every which way and his clothes were rumpled. He had a nice smile with dimples. Adorable. You internally slapped yourself.

“Hi! Are you from Sliceroni?” He questioned. You peered over the boxes. There was the sound of thundering footsteps and then six other faces crowded the doorway.

“What do you think, Hyung? Are the seven boxes not proof enough?” A sweet looking boy said.

“Jimin-ah, shush.” The man scratched the back of his neck. “Thanks for the delivery, I’ll get your money in a moment. Please, come in.” He moved aside and you went in gladly, arms aching.

“You can set them down there.” He gestured to the kitchen counter and you placed the heavy boxes onto the marble. He rummaged around his pockets, pulling out a leather wallet. Unbeknownst to you, he was observing you carefully. The pizza girl is kinda cute. You brushed a strand of hair behind your ear, trying to keep the frown off your face. This was it. Two years of dedication to be ended here. He handed you the money, now more concerned by your glistening eyes.

Still, you took the money with a small thank you. Then you murmured a goodbye and started out the door. He just couldn’t understand why you seemed so down and his heart just couldn’t let you leave without knowing why.

“Hey! Wait!” He quickly jumped out the door and you turned around, an eyebrow raised. You had already let your shoulders droop, your employee badge in your hand. You couldn’t bring yourself to throw it out.

“Is-is there something wrong with the order?” You asked, trying to masked the tears on your cheeks.

“No, no, not at all. I’m just concerned something is wrong with you.” He said quickly. You tilted your head and he rushed to amend his words. “No, not that anything is wrong with you, I mean, I just saw you looked down and I wanted to know what’s wrong and-” He rambled.

You wanted to laugh at his clumsy words, but you could barely bring yourself to smile. You held up a hand, trying to stop his rambling. “It’s okay, I just got fired.” You said quietly.

That stopped him. He tilted his head now, confused. “But you seem so...so nice.”

“Nice observation, wise guy.” You snorted, swiping at your wet cheeks. “Business hasn’t exactly been booming.”

He noted your bitter words and softened. “Well I guess since you’re off work...” He scratched the back of his neck. “Do you want to join us? We’re just going to watch a movie and eat an ungodly amount of popcorn.”

And oddly that seemed very appealing; to wallow in your misery with popcorn and a movie. But you didn’t know these people, as nice as they seemed.

“What’s your name?” You questioned, wondering why he was being so inviting.

“I’m Namjoon, but every just calls me Joonie.” He sighed.

“I’m Y/N.”

“I know.”

When you raised an eyebrow he shook his head. “No! No! Don’t misunderstand! I’m not a stalker or anything, I just saw your name tag inside.”

You smiled softly. “Oh, I see.”

The breeze picked up and you shivered in the cold.

“Would you like to come inside? It’s getting chilly.” He smiled warmly.

You took a deep breath, then you glanced up to the sky. It looked like there was a storm heading your way. Then you looked at him and he seemed so happy.

“Yeah, sure. That sounds great, actually.” You responded after a moment. He kept his distance, though he wanted to grab your hand.

“Great!” He laughed, showing you inside where you were bombarded with questioning stares. He subconsciously placed a hand on the small of your back.

“Who’s that?” A pale man drawled.

“Is that the pizza girl?” Another asked, deep voice making your ears prick up. You looked to him and he shot you a wink.

“Yup!” Namjoon smiled. Then he introduced you to the other men in the room.

As you settled in to watch the movie, you didn’t even notice how close you were to Namjoon. Still, he was a gentleman and let you have your space. You felt bad, yes, but it was unlike your other jobs when you had been fired. Usually you would curl up in the dark and cry or drink wine and binge a show. Instead, you were snuggled against a bunch of strangers. And no, it was not as erotic as it sounded. It was pleasant.

Namjoon instinctively pulled you closer, arm wrapped around your shoulder, about half way through the movie. It was a horror movie and you spent most of the time hiding your face in your hands and Namjoon spent most of the time grimacing every time a jumpscare happened. Hoseok was screaming and holding onto Yoongi, who he’d already brought to the ground with him after the first jumpscare. Then Taehyung watched, amused, as Jin and Jimin were whispering to each other, trying to hype each other up to not be scared. Jungkook was holding onto Taehyung, but it wasn’t in a scared way, he seemed comfortable, even smiling at some scares, as if they were fun to watch.

What an odd assortment of people. As Namjoon pulled you closer, you found the courage to pull your hands away from your face. Every time a jumpscare occured, you just burrowed your face into his chest. Dignity be damned, that ring lady was scary as fuck. Namjoon simply smiled and his thoughts were so preoccupied by you that he didn’t notice the movie ending. He was just focused on your exhausted form, both mentally and physically. His eyes scanned the room, seeing how most of his friends were passed out except Jimin and Jin who excused themselves back to their rooms. Namjoon tried to do the same, but you instantly clutched his shirt and he was forced to the couch with you. With a sigh, he fell into a deep sleep as well.

You were awake, of course you were, but you were drowsy and Namjoon just smelled so good. He felt good too, to hold. It was peaceful. Maybe being fired wasn’t so bad after all.

#bts #bts x reader #Kim Namjoon #Namjoon #Namjoon x reader #angst #fluff #Last Delivery #Drabble #tatafics

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ssnakey-b · 6 years

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Cowboy Bebop Retrospective: Asteroid Blues

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

Hello, everybody! Welcome to the first post of the Cowboy Bebop retrospective! And since I am doing this in chronological order, let’s start with the very first episode: Asteroid Blues.

Synopsis:

The episode, and thus the entire show, opens with a black-and-white flashback sequence. Aside from the distant ringing of bells and the minimalistic tune of a music box, it is silent.

During a cold open (the only one in the series, if memory serves, and if it’s not, it certainly is a rarity), we see the main character walk solemnly in a surprisingly old-looking district considering the show is set in future space colonies, followed by footage of him involved in a massive firefight, during which he is apparently injured as blood can been flowing on his face, the scene being intercut with footage of a rose in a rain puddle, the very same one that can be seen in the header, said image slowly gaining colours. Once the scene ends, we suddenly cut to this:

youtube

With the intro over and done with, we then turn to the Bebop itself and are properly introduced to the first two of our main characters: Spike Spiegel and Jet Black, the man with the most on-the-nose name in the universe. Spike is training his sweet martial arts moves, and stops when Jet calls him for either lunch or dinner (it’s hard to tell when they’re in space).

Jet briefs Spike on an interesting bounty , El Mariachi from Despera- I mean Asimov Solensan, a drug pusher, bank robber, murderer and all-around stand-up citizen hiding out in Tijuana, on the run from both the police and the mob. Which is the name of an asteroid, not the Mexican city. Get it, though? Asimov? Because this is a sci-fi show?

Meanwhile, Spike complains that his chinjao rosu has no meat in it. He starts listening again after Jet reminds him that the impressive list of bills they have as a result of Spike’s impulsiveness is the very reason they can’t afford meat in the first place.

However, even after that, Spike isn’t interested in going after Solensan, arguing that TIjuana sucks. But once Jet brings up that you can find some of the best meat around, Spike is suddenly down with his plan.

And so they’re off to Tijuana, where we are introduced to another vital staple of the show:

Yay, it’s the three old men! The guys who always seem to cross the Bebop crew somehow yet never actually have anything to do with the plot! Also, to this day, I still have it in my headcanon that the one in the baseball cap is an elderly Ash Ketchum, and nobody can convince me otherwise.

They do what they do best, which is argue, until Asimov walks in, accompanied by his lovely and pregnant wife, Katerina.

They order drinks, but it quickly becomes obvious that it’s not what they’re actually there for and before long, Asimov discreetly draws a vial of some strange purple liquid with a thin red strip inside it from under his coat and shows it to the bartender. By the way, I love how it shines despite the fact that it makes no sense considering the way the scene is lit. Let’s not forget, this may be one of the more realistic examples of the medium, but Cowboy Bebop very much still is an anime.

The two of them go to the back, where it is revealed that the drug is called Bloody Eye and is apparently very sought after and very expensive (at least “real” Bloody Eye, implying that there are cheaper fake alternatives). Meanwhile, gangsters pull over and get ready to attack. Meanwhile, the bartender insists that Asimov demonstrate use the Bloody Eye on himself to prove it’s the real deal. Through a POV shot, we are shown that the drug heightens reflexes while making it feel like time is slowing down and also giving your sight a dramatic red tint.

The gangsters attack, shooting the place up and murdering an innocent pinball machine (RIP). Asimov and Katerina, however, easily manage to fight them off, the Bloody Eye even allowing Asimov to literally dodge bullets.

And providing us with beautiful visuals.

While this is going on, Spike is consulting an old Native American shaman sitting by a bunch of discarded electronics, as you do, who tells him where to find “the red-eyed coyote” and tells Spike that he will meet a woman who will try to kill him. He also sees death after that, with Spike dropping hints about his own backstory when he says he already died once, and it already was because of a woman.

This guy is called Laughing Bull, by the way. Evidently because of his jovial disposition.

Jet finds the bar, or rather what’s left it after the shoot-out. Two more gangsters arrive, giving him the opportunity to knock one out and get the other to tell him what he knows about Asimov.

While stopping to refuel his fish, the Swordfish, Spike unknowingly meets Asimov in a dingy bathroom, then Katerina outside. She’s carrying a big bag of groceries and Spike pulls the old “bump into them to steal their shit” trick, grabbing some of her food while pretending to help her pick it up, establishing that Spike has pickpocketing skills.

When she figures it out, Katerina isn’t amused at first but actually ends up being a bit impressed once he reveals just how much stuff he managed to steal without her noticing.

You know it’s a well written show when it can honestly make stealing food from a pregnant woman look whimsical.

He gives it back and apologizes, explaining he was starving. They start having a nice chat, where we get more character development. Spike explains he’s been flying the Swordfish around for 10 years and hails from Mars. Katerina seems to have a very idealized of that planet. She dreams of leaving Tijuana to move there, as she believes that living there is a guarantee for an idyllic life. Spike replies that it’s true... if you’ve got money.

Katerina says she and her husband should be able to live there happily, then. One of those silences that speaks louder than words settles, as Spike figures it out (assuming he wasn’t just putting on a show up until now) and asks her if she and Asimov truly intend to move there and spend their life on the run.

Asimov catches him off-guard and starts choking him. He probably would have killed Spike too if it weren’t for Katerina telling him to stop.

Jet finds Spike and tells him he’s giving up. It’s too hot, everyone who goes after Asimov ends up dead. Spike, however, shows that he managed to snatch one of their Bloody Eye vials and fully intends to keep going after them.

And he does! Finding them in a restaurant, he confronts Asimov. An amazingly directed and animated fight scene ensues.

It is broken up when more mobsters show up, both in the air with aircrafts and on the ground with cars. Katerina and Asimov make their escape, but in the middle of all the excitement, a stray bullet grazes Katerina’s belly, which doubtless sends the audience in a cold sweat... until Bloody Eye starts spilling out, revealing she wasn’t pregnant at all and her fake stomach was actually a cache (points for cleverness, wonder if any drug pusher tried that in real life).

Asimov yells at her, screaming that they’re done for if they lose the drugs. At that moment, Katerina seems to come to a horrific realization.

The mobsters don’t stop coming, but Jet saves the day, ramming their cars with his craft, the Hammerhead, whose tip looks like it belongs more on an excavator than on a spacecraft.

Asimov and Katerina escape and Spike is hot on their tail, taking out several mob ships in the process. Spike is getting ever closer to them as they desperately try to run away. They all escape the city and reach space, only for them to be face by a police barrage, literally hundreds of ship ready for them. Stuck between the cops, bounty hunters and the mob and with her husband’ mind and body being swallowed up by dope, Katerina no longer has it in her to keep fighting.

“There will be no honeymoon on Mars. This is the end of the road” she says. Giving her man the mercy of a quick death, she looks a shocked Spike straight in the eyes as she awaits the hail of bullets from the cops.

We cut back to the Bebop. Bookending the episode is Jet cooking. He can’t find Spike in his usual spot though. He finds him in a windowed room, staring longingly into the eternity of space after he finishes training. Spike asks what’s for dinner, and Jet replies “a special chinjao rosu”.

Thoughts:

Ho boy, what a way to start the show. Now, if I’m being honest, this is a fairly run-of-the-mill episode for Cowboy Bebop, but that says more about the quality of the show than it does about that of the episode, because it was great. And while it’s in my opinion not among the best the show has given us, I think it was an excellent first episode.

It represents the show perfectly, everything you need to know about it in terms of tone, style, aesthetics, characters and storytelling is here, which is no doubt why it did such a great job of capturing people’s attention. After you’re done seeing the episode, you know this isn’t your average anime. And indeed, I heard the message loud and clear, especially since my idea of anime at the time, and really TV in general, was stuff like Pokémon and Card Captor Sakura, so needless to say, this blew my mind, especially considering I only check it out to see what this show that took The Simpsons’ slot on the channel was. My 11-year-self* was like “are you even allowed to make stuff this good on TV? Let alone in cartoons?”.

And yeah, I think this is the show that really made me realize that cartoons could be made for an adult audience (as well as 11-year-olds with a taste for things not for his age) and be mature, thought-provoking and immensely emotional. I’m really not sure the show would have been so successful if it didn’t make this good of a first impression.

And make no mistake, it being an “average” episode by Cowboy Bebop’s standards doesn’t mean it doesn’t have its memorable moments, as the image of Katerina floating into space while drugs spill out of her has been stuck in my mind from the very first time I saw it, and it’s still one of the things my mind goes straight to whenever I think of the show.

So yeah, it establishes the first two of the main characters, and while this is by now means the only, let alone the first show to gather its cast over time, I think this is especially nicely done here as the fact that there’s only two of them so far really gives time to develop them well in spite of the episode only lasting about 20 minutes (not counting the ending credit and teaser for the next episode).

Jet being introduced by cooking immediately speaks volume about him, showing that in spite of his massive size and fairly scary appearance, he’s by far the nicest and most restrained one of the group, preferring to stay behind and supervise everything, and enjoying quiet activities, but it also shows he can occasionally be the muscle of the group as well in the couple action scenes he gets.

I’ve seen him described as “fatherly”, and I think that fits him well. An older, stern, physically imposing yet disciplined and calm man, who takes care of the home life and is generally the voice of reason, but does have a sense of humour and can get tough when necessary, mostly to protect the people he cares about.

Spike’s major characteristics are laid out as well. From his physical prowess to his generally laid-back attitude, his sarcastic sense of humour and his nihilism (in a good way, as in he doesn’t think life has any inherent meaning or purpose, but that only means you’re free to give it whatever meaning and purpose you value).

As I alluded to earlier, this first episode also does a great job of giving people a good idea of what to expect in terms of visuals. Thinking about it, this is definitely one of the episodes that falls the furthest on the “western” side of the show (I mean, it’s set in a place called Tijuana, for crying out loud!), but sci-fi elements still pop-up, such as the gates, and I think it was a good idea to introduce them in the first episode in order to make people comfortable with it, as these are definitely one of the harder sci-fi elements in the show, and I’m not sure people would have just gone with it so easily if they’d gotten used to the more realistic aspects of it first.

There’s an especially great moment near the end of the episode that I think illustrates the show’s mixture of western and sci-fi perfectly, as the characters are flying off into space, we see the background quickly shift from the old-fashioned run down city to the vast emptiness of space, with the gates and spacecrafts, in like a second, it really goes to show how these two styles clash yet also merge.

We also get small touches you may not have noticed at first (but your brain did), like having parts of the city being visible almost at an 90 degree angle in the background, the unnatural visual reminding you that in spite of the realism, this IS a sci-fi show.

Another aspect of the show this episode establishes right away is the cultural diversity.

Yes, Cowboy Bebop is very famous for portraying a multitude of cultures and ethnicities, something you didn’t see much in Japanese works of the time (and you still really don’t). The world of Cowboy Bebop frequently features Black people, Middle-Eastern people, Asian people, Native American people (as seen in this very episode), etc... and various people of mixed ancestry. And just look at the above screenshot, where you can see Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, English, Korean and I think I see some Russian and perhaps Thai.

This is something that carries on throughout the show as signs are often translated in many languages, and the announcements at the gates can also be heard in multiple languages. It makes sense when you think about it. People left the Earth to colonise the Solar System, and the earliest settlers would probably be people from all over the world being mixed together. They probably wouldn’t just give up on their cultures, but they’d end up being far closer together than they used to.

By the way, that diversity isn’t just for show and the writers have clearly done their homework as Laughing Bull can be heard calling Wakan Tanka to protect Spike, Wakan Tanka apparently being a spirit (and not just any but “the great spirit”) according to Lakota Sioux beliefs.

Another aspect it shows very well is the atmosphere and tone. It is very dark and heavy in places, but it’s also got some lighter moments. It also displays the show’s affection for tarantinoing. You know, when characters are having dialogue that has nothing to do with the plot and they’re just bullshitting around to add to the general feeling of a scene and the work as a whole?

Now of course, it doesn’t take it to Tarantino’s extremes, and it’s usually in the middle of a scene that is related to the plot, like with Spike complaining that he finds Jet’s lack of beef disturbing while Jet himself is trying to talk business, but it’s nice that it’s there. It’s something love (probably a big part of the reason why I like Tarantino movies so much). I think it adds a lot of character to a work. It makes the world feel much more alive as it shows that the people inhabiting it do have lives outside of the story we’re following.

I’ll take an average story in a world I feel attached to over a carefully crafted one that doesn’t make me care about the world it’s set in. And here, we have a great story set in a world I love, it’s the total package!

Oh yeah, and this is also the first appearance of the Bloody Eye, a very interesting bit of lore, as the drug ends up showing up again and becoming a major plot point later on. I also like the implication that there’s fake Bloody Eye, which is a surprisingly realistic detail for a fantasy drug, as in real life, cheap alternatives to expensive drugs are a thing, and they usually are cut down with all sorts of shit that makes it even worse for your health than the real stuff. Again, there’s a contrast between the very fantastical look of the drug versus the realistic implications of its existence.

Next, I have to mention the visuals because man! I remembered the animation being good, but I never realized it was THIS good. I guess maybe becoming an artist myself has made me gain even more respect and appreciation for this sort of work, but the animation on Cowboy Bebop is still impressive to this day.

The characters and vehicles are pretty much always on model (and indeed, I don’t remember ever seeing a scene that looked off in this show) in spite of being very detailed.

In that regard, some of the shots that I found the most impressive are actually ones of very little importance, like Jet tossing his bell pepper in the pan. Just think for a second of how much of a pain in the ass it must have been to draw several frames of these goddamn peppers, keeping track of which one goes where and making sure their shape and size stays consistent.

Another very impressive one is one Jet arrives to save the day, and we are then treated to a shot of the Hammerhead with Jet inside it slowly tilting downwards. Again, being able to keep all these details consistent, and drawing all these frames at a slightly different angle each time to give the impression of the camera panning, is nothing short of stunning if you have any idea how difficult and time-consuming animation can be.

I heard a big part of the motivation behind Cowboy Bebop was to showcase the studio’s animation abilities, which is why it often has weird trippy scenes and bizarre characters and locations, well mission fucking accomplished, guys!

I also want you to look at the screenshot above because another aspect of this show’s look I always loved is the expressions and body language, being, again, very realistic, but still ever so slightly exaggerated to give it more life. I especially remember this being one of the few shows that often had the characters’ entire jaw move when they talk, not just their mouth. This ended up being a big influence on me as this is how I strive to draw my characters myself. Animated enough to feel intense, but still realistic enough to be relatable.

And as much as I liked anime at the time, I always got annoyed whenever it went super deformed, and I still do, as I usually felt it was trying way too hard to be wacky and ended up ruining its own attempted effect, so it was very refreshing to me to see an anime that kept it believable, but still remembered it was a cartoon, and to take advantage of that fact when they do need to show more dramatic expressions like Asimov’s psycho grin up there.

It’s not just characters either, as we often see parts of the vehicles shake and rattle, and even some details I wouldn’t have thought of but which add a lot, such as a car springing up and down slightly as characters sit in it or exit it. Very very nice attention to detail.

And last but not least, concerning the visuals, yet another thing I love about the show’s aesthetics, and something that helps it feel very grounded, is how almost everything is a bit used up. You have all sorts of little details like scratches on mechanics, cracks on walls, graffiti, posters, dirt, etc... all things that further help make the world feel lived-in, rather than just decoration for a story. They’re like so many scars letting you know that a lot happened there and those who lived to tell the tale have seen some shit.

Now, I also have to bring up the writing. I actually don’t have much to say in the regard. It’s just plain good, and pretty much everything I’ve talked about so far is kind of part of the writing process already, and once again, this first episode does a very good job of letting us know what to expect. Sad moments, happy ones and everything in between.

One thing I will say that never really registered in my mind but that I noticed when re-watching this is that sometimes, we don’t quite know how the characters got where they did and knew where to go, they just kind of show up where they need to be.

But that’s not a bad thing! Because we really don’t need to see how they knew where to go. We can surmise they found some info, followed some trail, or even just made an educated guess on their target’s most likely destination, but to see scene after scene of them tracking their bounty would be pointless, so just having them be there makes the most sense and keep the story flowing (again, keep in mind they only have 20 to 25 minutes per episode).

That’s another thing to keep in mind for any writers out there (including myself): we don’t need to know the exact details of how or why something happened. As long as it doesn’t create plot holes, if we can have a good idea of how they did it, if it makes sense for them to be able to do it, if it doesn’t add anything to either the story, the characters, the lore or the atmosphere, you can skip to what’s important.

And last but certainly not least, there’s the music. I mean... how can you talk about Cowboy Bebop and not talk about the sublime soundtrack by Yoko Kanno and the Seatbelts?

Yet again, this episode sets the mood by showcasing some of the common theme tunes of the show and letting you know that you’re own for lots of western-inspired music and lots of blues, jazz and bebop (who would have thought?).

It all complements the visuals perfectly, and it’s probably not an accident that the show opens with no dialogue or sound effect, but with music, going from the melancholic sounds of a music box to the extremely energetic “Tank!” in the intro, yet another thing highlighting the contrasts of that show.

However, having said that, one thing I noticed through this episode is that, as deeply as it is tied to the show, it doesn’t play all the often. Most of the scenes have no background music. That’s another thing that keeps the show feeling down-to-earth and realistic, and much like with the expressions, it makes the times when it does get stronger all the more powerful.

Trivia / matters of interest:

Couple interesting things I noticed regarding the French dub (which, as I alluded to in my announcement, is excellent, it’s worth noting for anime). I remember that in the English one, Jet describes the food he’s preparing as “bell pepper and beef”, which, you know, is one way to call it, but as I mentioned, the French dub does go the whole hog and gives it its Chinese name, Chinjao rosu, which I feel fits in well with the whole “cultural mixture” thing the show’s got going. Plus, I fele like Jet explicitly mentioning beef makes it sound like he’s just being a dick to Spike.

However, while the French dub is good, it’s not perfect, so we have some weirdness, as Laughing Bull refers to Asimov as “the red-eyed coyote”, which of course alludes to his drug habit, whereas Spike later calls him “the red coyote”, omitting the eye part. Granted, I realize it’s a nitpick and you could easily explain that away as Spike not remembering fully, but I just like “red-eyed” better.

As I mentioned before, Tijuana is a real place and interestingly, this one has a place called Zona Norte, which also exists in the real Tijuana and is a red light district. Guess the settlers who founded this town must have been Tijuana natives.

And that’s it for this first episode. I hope you liked it, thank you very much if you stuck to the end. I realize this was a long read but since this is the first episode and gives me an opportunity to mention recurring elements from the show, I really wanted to cover everything. Future instalments should be shorter. I’m also hard at work on the next part of the FF8 translarison. That’s gonna be a big’un too, so I’m not sure when it’ll be posted, but the screenshots are all done, promise.

You know, this episode was pretty much the perfect average of everything Cowboy Bebop, and yet it was still one of the heavier episodes of the show. We need some levity to clear the air a bit, so thankfully, next time, it’s all about a cute puppy, in Stray Dog Strut!

* I first saw it in the summer of 2000 when it was shown on a channel called Canal +. It was not actually the first time it was aired over here but I do believe this is when it got really popular, as the channel that first broadcast it was a smaller satellite channel, with satellite television not being very big yet at the time.

#Cowboy Bebop #cowboy #Bebop #retrospective #anime #bloody eye #drugs #analysis #review #Asimov #Katerina #Solensan #bounty hunter #bounty hunting #first #episode #pilot #recurring #themes

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scrutineerethel · 6 years

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3200.8.Maius

Recorded Transcript

[[Scene: A large, clean, and well-equipped kitchen located in the basement of the Eridanii Embassy on Imperial Prime. Though it is relatively early in the morning, there is already plenty of activity here. A few well-dressed servers mix among a dozen chefs, all of whom wear aprons with the House Eridanus symbol embroidered over their heart.]]

An older-looking woman enters the kitchen. She wears a modest white dress with a high-necked, black coat over it - formal enough for daily business attire but lacking any sort of ornamentation that would be appropriate for such a gala. Her grey hair is tied back in a tight bun. She carries a half-full teacup in one hand and a datapad in the other.

After saying a few quick words to one of the chefs, she takes a seat at a small wooden table near the back of the kitchen where she will be out of the way of the workers.The woman taps a few notes into her datapad, then presses a button and speaks towards it.

"Luzia. Review my appointments for today. As I recall, we had scheduled several meetings on Imperial Prime since I was required to be here for the gala. Presuming this lock-down of the embassy is going to persist, you will need to contact all my appointments for today and attempt to reschedule for later in the week. Do not reschedule tomorrow's appointments yet. One hopes this inconvenience will not take any longer than a day to resolve but ..."

She seems to want to say something else here, but shakes her head and regroups instead.

"... But, I will let you know tomorrow morning if those appointments will also need to be moved. For now, I am in the kitchen to try to get my usual work done. The suites are entirely too loud for this purpose. If anyone needs me, they should send me a message."

Another woman enters the kitchens, blearily rubbing her eyes. She's wrapped in a loose, fuzzy robe, her hair is in a messy bun perched precariously on her head, and she doesn't particularly seem to care that she's supposed to be at a "gala". She opens one eye and sees an older lady sitting at a wooden table near the back.

"At least someone in here has some sense," she mutters to herself. She swipes a platter with a tea-kettle and two cups from a setting marked "Purple Seas" and makes her way over to the table.She sets the platter down in front of the other woman, probably disturbing any paper or tablets if present. She looks over to the woman, "Honestly, you'd think Lyra was as terribly off as Pyxis, the way they're stalling on paying a ransom. They can pay a ransom, right? Anyway, I'm Echo Brosson Perrin - House Pyxis. Tea?" She pours tea into both cups, regardless.

Ethelind blinks up at the younger woman, quickly pulling her datapad away from the platter.

"Pyxis, did you say?" Ethelind looks over Perrin appraisingly, then nods as if to say 'That tracks.'

"Ethelind Riverty - House Eridanus." She pulls the full teacup closer to her, pushing aside her now empty one. "And I am inclined to agree with you about the ransom. Just pay the damn thing so the rest of us don't need to be held hostage here! Poisoning and kidnapping are simply assumed risks one takes when agreeing to attend an event like this. Surely Lyra should have budgeted for the possibility of a ransom?"

"Ethelind of Eridanus! A welcomed crossing, indeed." Perrin sips her tea. "Your House sure knows how to throw a party.

"You know, I bet Lyra loves the drama. Maybe they're drawing it out on purpose. But I could do without a lockdown, honestly. How come you aren't up there with the other Eridanus hosts?" She peers at Ethelind over the teacup.

Ethelind crooks an eyebrow, then takes a sip of tea before she replies. "In truth, I had not planned to attend at all. While I appreciate the need for the festivities and opportunities for diplomacy the gala provides, it's difficult not to think of it as a colossal waste of time and money - which it is. I only decided to come to Imperial Prime when it became obvious that I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything at my offices on Tiber while the rest of my House is here in a drunken stupor."

She chuckles a little at this, as if it might be a joke - though it doesn't really sound like one ...

"Tell me, Perrin of House Pyxis - what do you know about the Lyran who's been kidnapped? Are they anyone of consequence? I confess, I was too busy yesterday to have paid it any attention until I saw the notification about the lock-down."

Perrin chuckles at the thought of House Eridanus in a drunken stupor - she totally missed the tone. "Well, from what I gather he's relatively well-known? Horuset Montgomery something-or-other? Unfortunately I'm a little out of the loop on gossip myself. One of the Pyxis Orators speaks fondly of him, though."

"Interesting." Ethel stirs her tea, then calls out to one of the nearby servers. "Tobias - would you bring over a bowl of sugar and a bit of milk?"

There is a quick shuffle to see to Ethel's request, and the server hurries over with the milk and sugar bowls, which he places on the tray. He quickly retrieves Ethel's empty teacup before hurrying away once more. Ethel uses a small pair of tongs to drop two sugar cubes into her teacup, followed by a splash of milk. She begins stirring her tea again as she speaks.

"I've had the opportunity to speak to a few of your Orators before, though I have yet to run into them in person. They seem like a friendly bunch. Quite .... honest." Ethel settles on the word after pausing for a moment. "But you said that you are an 'Echo' if I am not mistaken? What precisely does that title mean in your House?"

"Oh hey, Tobias come back, I'm starving." Perrin points to the hotplate for the Purple Seas. "Just grab me that plate there that's ready to go, I'm sure the recipient up there will understand." She winks what she thinks is her most charming wink. Tobias hesitates for a second and then retrieves the plate in question, rushing back over to the cooks who roll their eyes a bit but start prepping a new plate for the restaurant.

"The Orators are good folk. Probably as honest as they are because they can't wait to not be stuck talking to a bunch of stuffy diplomats - no offense." Perrin stabs a sausage and waves it around a bit as she talks.

"So, Echoes - we basically carry information system to system. Sounds redundant, right? The way comms work anyway? Well my ship houses internal Pyxis messages that need to cross the sector in a way that -" She looks around. "- Velan routes can't, if you catch my drift." She pops the sausage in her mouth.

Ethel laughs a little. "Yes, one of your Orators recently told me I was lucky he'd answered a communication from an Eridanii at all. It is not difficult to imagine that we bring bad news to House Pyxis far more often than good news."

She looks over at Tobias again, who tries for a moment to evade her glance but finally gives in as she crooks a finger at him. He crosses the busy kitchen a third time, garnering some irritated grunts from the chefs as he does so.

"Toast and jam for me, Tobias. The black currant if any was brought over from Tiber - which it certainly should have been." Tobias nods and speeds off to fulfill the new request.

"So if your Pyxis Echoes are taking 'alternative' routes to deliver these messages, does that imply that the messages reach their destinations faster than they would using regular means?"

Perrin's eyes light up and she shoves her plate to the side. "Okay, so -" She holds her palm flat, facing up and activates a small hologram of the sector map above it.

"Here's Imperial Prime. Here's say, I dunno - Halvei, in the Oenon System." The two sectors light up. "If you want to go the traditional way, using Imperial Velan charts, you'd drill through spikespace in these sectors." Sectors light up on the map in a connected line from Imperial Prime to Halvei.

"Buuuut - and this is the cool part - what if you drill here and end up here?" She points at the two planets and Imperial Prime and Halvei's sectors light up with no connecting lines.

Ethel stares down at the hologram, takes a long sip of tea, and then stares at it again.

"From your enthusiasm, I have to imagine the answer is that you somehow arrive safely at your intended destination. Though I honestly cannot understand why it wouldn't be more likely that you lose yourself and your message in a black hole. Though, perhaps, that is part of the ... charm?" Ethel hangs uncertainly on the word, clearly a little out of her depth when it comes to sussing out Pyxis motivations.

Perrin laughs, "Exactly! It's like folding a piece of fabric and connecting those two points to make a new pattern - skip all this extra time and space in between. And besides, falling into a black hole wouldn't even be the worst outcome - imagine what you'd see once the event horizon spits you back out." She stares wistfully into the distance for a moment and the hologram disappears.

She sighs, "Honestly, we know what most of the sector thinks of us but, someday we'll have hard evidence and not just theory. I refuse to believe there's nothing else in the sector."

Tobias drops off Ethel's toast and jam and then hurries off before either noble can make another request of him.

"It is certainly enlightening to see your exuberance for your craft. It's true that I - and I suppose most of the sector - do not understand the risks that you and your House take. But when you describe it as such, it sounds like a brave and worthy endeavor ... if maybe a bit foolhardy as well."

Ethel gives Perrin a small smile. She's obviously trying so. hard.

"But the idea of there being more in Acheron Rho ... what do you mean by that? What would you hope to find, exactly?"

"Well!" Perrin leans back and hooks an elbow over the back of her chair. "House Vela says we've mapped the whole sector, right? But who has access to those their archives now - only them. They sure have a lot of power in controlling the flow of people. House Vela adjusts the maps. Who's to say they didn't do that already and there's a sector with a forgotten planet in it? Because they didn't like what we - and I say we as in, Pyxis was once part of Vela - found there?"

Perrin leans forward again and holds her hands up. "Vela has the power to just say, 'Hm, nope - this planet doesn't exist anymore,' and cut them out of the map completely! Imagine what that could do to a population or a House - cutting them off from the Imperium like that." She shakes her head and tuts. "We're trying to make sure that doesn't happen, and if it did we want to find out about it."

"So you are speaking in hypotheticals, then? It is not that Pyxis knows Vela has done this, but that Pyxis knows Vela has the power to do so?"

Ethel picks a bit at her toast, frowning slightly.

"And if it had been done in the past, surely Vela would not have made such a move without the express support or instruction of the High Church, no? Particularly if it was done to separate - or erase - the population of a former House?"

Ethel looks up at Perrin pointedly.

Perrin squints a little at Ethelind. "Any Pyxis that actually were around long enough to access records as to whether it happened before are probably long dead - occupational hazard with us, of course. As for which institutions would have been behind it well, the High Church -" Perrin's mouth twists a little around the words "- and the Imperial House itself - especially since there was a Velan Emperox."

She waves a hand, dismissively. "I mean we can't really prove anything until we find something so until then, it's just the usual Pyxis behaviour as far as everyone's concerned. Until we stop chucking ships and people at a problem and start producing evidence, no one will look twice."

She cocks an eyebrow at Ethelind as if to say, "Right?"

Ethelind casts a quick glance around the kitchen before turning back to Perrin. She nods in response. 'Right.'

"Yes, well. Pyxis does have some interesting theories, I'll give you that. But - back to the topic at hand. I'm curious - what chance is there that an Echo might be willing to carry some communications other than internal Pyxis messages?"

Ethel picks up the teapot and fills first Perrin's cup and then her own. "It seems to me that would be a very valuable service to provide. Faster than usual delivery at the expense of being a little less ... reliable. But, perhaps, a bit more secure as well, since anyone who intercepted the Echo would assume that any communications they carried were simply Pyxis messages to one another."

Perrin purses her lips. "I mean, officially... Yes. Everything's encrypted too. I don't even know what the messages are, half the time. Unofficially..." She picks up her cup and smiles at Ethelind, "I wouldn't be opposed, but the ratio of willingness increases with payment."

"I think you'll find that a willing Echo would be well compensated for such an arrangement." Ethelind returns the smile. "However, I would have to insist that payment be rendered per delivery, rather than on a contractual basis, simply because it is impossible to know how long the terms of the contract would be - based upon the general Pyxis life expectancy, of course."

Perrin nods. "I suppose that's a fair stipulation for something like this. Even we have no idea most of the time." She chuckles. I look forward to working with you in the future, then."

"And I with you." Ethel nods. "I'll have my secretary send over my suggested terms, my contact information, and an initial payment - consider it an advance for your helpfulness this morning."

Ethel sets her teacup on the tray, along with her now-empty dish. She pushes her chair back from the table. "I suppose I should check in on the rest of my House. When I left our suite this morning, at least two of them and perhaps a third were discussing the possibility of proposals. Goodness knows how many of them will be married by the time I get back. It was good to meet you, Pyxis Perrin. Should you find yourself looking for conversation away from the noise of the rest of the gala, I would be happy to share another pot of tea at a later time."

Perrin raises her eyebrows at the mention of 'proposals'. "Well, good luck with that. It was good to meet you as well, I think I may have had the wrong idea about your House. You certainly didn't seem incredibly boring to me." She smiles. "Until the next star."

[[The scene fades on Perrin reopening her sector map hologram as Ethelind exits.]]

Transcript of a scene with @seekerpyxisbrossonperrin.

#ethelind #perrin #house eridanus #house pyxis #far verona #transcripts

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 7 years

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I am genuinely concerned that comic book youtubers are going to create a GamerGate situation where there are extremists who poison the mass perception of people who criticise comic books or certain decisions in general.

Like I have genuine problems with Amadeus Cho and Jane Foster being Hulk and Thor and I think Riri Williams and Miles Morales are bad characters (the latter being especially saddening because, unlike Riri, he had a strong initial concept powering him). I think Sam as Captain America was creatively problematic and that Marvel have been pulling the replacement hero thing for social/political reasons (and probably not sincere ones at that) as opposed to genuine creative ones. Similarly I think the America book is a lame super hero comic book and Gabby Rivera isn’t a strong super hero comic book writer. Similarly I think Marvel’s modern editors and assistant editors really do tend to suck at their jobs right now.

But my rationales for all of those things honestly don’t have much crossover with certain Youtube comic book commentators (I’m sure you’ve all seen the kind) and I actually disagree and believe in a lot of other types of characters and directions cut from the same kinds of cloths as those above examples.

I think Ice Man being gay made a certain amount of sense with his history and if you did have to pick a classical character to reveal as in the closet he was one of the best choices for it. We are in a position where Bobby could legitimately be given a strong romantic storyline and an iconic (for him, not necessarily within Marvel as a whole) love interest. I mean before Bendis had Jean out Bobby who honestly knew or cared who Bobby’s (comic book, not movie) love interests were? Hardly anybody aside from hardcore X-Men fans and most of them would argue Polaris was really the big one for Bobby. But at the same time most of them shipped Polaris with Havok anyway so what did that matter?

I’ve said numerous times before Kamala Khan is the best new superhero character to come out of Marvel in the last 20 years. My problems with her series stem from the decompression alongside the fact that I don’t think her villain pool has been managed as well as it needs to be to enable her to last long term.

Carol becoming Captain Marvel is something I find profoundly organic and logical, a brilliant stroke of character development that makes use of an iconic title by giving it to an iconic character who truly has claim to it. Look to me Carol’s outfit is always going to be the Ms Marvel outfit she wore for decades but at the same time to me Carol’s codename will always be Warbird, not Ms Marvel or Captain Marvel. I’m just from that generation.

I think the general idea of temporarily having a black person become Captain America is interesting and understand the logic of making it Sam but at the same time I think the book never fulfilled it’s potential and ultimately Issiah Bradely or even Patriot would’ve been a much more interesting choice. But at the end of the day I cannot accept the creative bankruptcy of replacing Steve for the THIRD time and doing it the SECOND time in less than 10 years.

I like Jane Foster’s Thor outfit, there are moments and aspects to her stories I find interesting but the way the series went about it overly denigrated the real Thor (and yes I will call him the real Thor, it is literally his name and he is supposed to be the actual figure from Norse mythology). I mean he was literally called out as ‘unworthy’ and the reason for his unworthiness made no sense at all. He realizes the Gods are assholes so he loses his worthiness. That isn’t how the hammer works, it’s just a binary ‘you are worthy or you are not’. Conviction in your personal beliefs doesn’t matter or else countless bad guys would be able to lift the hammer too. Additionally there were times where he narrative divulged into cheap, shallow in-universe attempts to ‘comment’ on the backlash against the concept. The Absorbing Man was at least somewhat exaggerating the complaints over a female Thor and at least dabbling in strawman arguments whilst Titania’s solidarity with Foster because she was stepping into the role of a man was utter out of character nonsense considering Titania’s arch nemesis is SHE Hulk. Jane consequently knocking out someone who’d surrendered was also ill considered. And I also cannot get over how we’ve been here before. Beta Ray Bill and Thunderstrike are testament to that. Once again creative bankruptcy.

I’ve spoken countless times before how I think Miles had a good concept and still has potential but he’s been mismanaged and currently sucks shit as a character and how Marvel and certain fans and certain media outlets building him up as the best thing since sliced bread (or at least as great as Peter Parker) is profoundly unearned.

I think the quality of editing at Marvel has clearly gone down hill but unless there really is some weird ass super Secret Empire conspiracy wherein Marvel went hardcore into hiring people because of their gender regardless of their qualifications, I don’t think the reason for that decline in quality is due to some (but far from all) of the editors and assistant editors being women. Frankly Steve Wacker is/was a major editorial player for awhile and his only legitimate qualification for being a Spider-Man editor was he could get the product on the shelves on time. The editing present in that product and their overall quality was shit 99% of the time. The guy lacked sufficient knowledge, passion or understanding of the character to really edit Spider-Man properly. This is a guy who was an amateur stand up comedian before entering comic books and has to my knowledge zero writing experience so why the fuck he was qualified to edit anything is beyond me. Maybe the new slew of editors and assistant editors are the same bunch of unqualified morons but I don’t think that’s got much to do with their sex or gender. After all Ann Nocenti was a solid X-Men editor and Molly Lazer edited Spider-Girl which was obviously a brilliant book. And shit Jeanette Kahn was President and EIC of DC comics for over 20 years and MOST of the stuff under her tenure was baller as shit. John Byrne Superman. Frank Miller Batman. Perez Wonder Woman. Wolfman Titans. DeMatteis/Giffin JLI. Kyle Rayner Green Lantern. Vertigo. Milestone. Watchmen. Frankly she oversaw what was maybe the single best EIC tenure for DC EVER in terms of quality.

I gave up reading Coates’ BP run because I found it dull but I think T’Challa SHOULD have a book along with Blade, Luke Cage, Shang Chi and Jessica Jones.

I think the America Chaves series was problematic as a superhero story but the times where it does focus on the normal life stuff are generally good.

I was very impressed by Spider-Gwen when she debuted and looked forward to her ongoing, even defended her debut issue until I realized the critics were ont he money and it sucked and continues to suck to this day. It’s a profoundly shallow book but it could have been great and I supported it initially hoping it would be great.

I felt the Chelsea Cain Mockingbird series had moments of poor research, mischaracterisation and disingenuousness. I am specifically talking about how in issue #3 (I think) Cain uses Bobbi as a mouthpiece to criticise the lack of female representation within superhero comics. Okay cool. But she did it by essentially pretending that there never were any in the Marvel universe, that they got no respect in-universe and that Bobbi herself was at most a teenager growing up inspired by those male heroes whom she could never be like because she was male. Except there were female heroes, they did get in-universe respect (maybe not as much as was deserved but it wasn’t like people forgot they existed) and Bobbi is clearly too old to have grown up with any of the heroes other than the WWII guys like the Invaders.

Similarly her retconning of the Phantom Rider thing in her final issue fixed one problem but did so utterly illogically whilst opening up multiple other problems. Look I’d also retcon the Hell out of Phantom Rider gaslighting and raping Mockingbird if given the chance I hate that plotline. But Cain retconned it by just having Mockingbird say that the stuff we have clear on the page evidence of didn’t actually happen. She was saying the colour blue is the colour red and always had been but it wasn’t. And Cain’s new spin on that Phantom Rider thing essentially threw Hawkeye under the bus by making him profoundly insecure and an asshole, because he’d rather believe his wife was raped rather than she cheated on him. Not to mention if Cain’s story is to be believed Mockingbird let the man she was sleeping with die for exactly no reason. There were other times during Cain’s run where I felt she was mischaracterizing some people or else was being too on the nose about stuff.

But there were other times I thought the series was really funny, really action packed, i generally loved the pacing and I felt when it did cut more realistic (like the first issue when Bobbi is having a health check up) or in issue #3 when it was discussing the psychology of a sixth grade girl (even though said girl’s story had insufficient resolution, like did she go to jail or what?) it was incredibly refreshing. Truth be told a lot of the stuff in that series writing wise becomes easier to understand when you realize it’s partially a zany comedy and not really taking itself too seriously nor is it asking you to do the same, which is starkly different to say Spider-Gwen’s approach wherein it is playing stuff seriously but there is arbitrarily zany shit thrown in for the sake of it.

I think Laura becoming Logan’s successor makes sense but it doesn’t mean it’s okay to just axe off Logan because he’s broken. FIX him and then down the line replace him. Laura’s book as is frankly just...an okay X-23 book with a new costume. I never cared for Laura outside of X-Men Evolution or the Logan movie (where she was more endearing) anyway.

I didn’t agree with the female exclusive screenings of the Wonder Woman film but I also felt Zeus’s involvement in her origin was an unacceptable compromising of the specific feminist ideas and messages Wonder Woman was supposed to represent. I felt the same way about Azzarello’s run on the character which is where the Zeus origin came from and was happy Greg Rucka tried to fix that in his 2016 run.

I’ve said before a poc actor playing Peter Parker is fine and dandy in my book and I was very open to Zendaya possibly playing Mary Jane (until I saw the movie...ugh...). My only concerns were in a significant way having the characters change to reflect the realities of them now being poc.

I’ve suggested some basic ideas on how to maybe get more representation in Marvel and DC, including for queer, Trans and mentally ill characters and as I’ve seen it I’ve called shit out I found to be racist, sexist, homophobic, etc, e.g. I was disgusted by Civil War II killing off Rhodey and called out the way Cindy Moon was initially handled by Slott. And my frequent lambasting of MJ’s depiction under Slott (especially in Superior #2) should I hope by this point go without saying.

So yeah my views don’t line up with those of Diversity and Comics but nor do they line up with those of ComicsAlliance and their hordes either. But because of people like the former people like the latter are going to broadbrush label and demonize people like me. People who might SEEM like we agree with guys like D&C but actually we’re coming at it from a very different angle and we don’t actually agree with their rationales 99% of the time.

But in the times we live in right now nuance is apparently as dead as Batman’s parents.

Frankly as I get older I guess I see myself socially/politically speaking being more of a moderate when it comes to comic books...and right now that feels like a profoundly lonely place to be.

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douchebagbrainwaves · 4 years

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WHEN A NEW MEDIUM ARISES THAT'S POWERFUL ENOUGH TO MAKE IT SOMETHING THAT THEY THEMSELVES USE

The great mathematician G. A lot of the most lightweight software, like casual games. But what is a novelist to do? There's no switch inside you that magically flips when you turn a certain age or graduate from some institution. I have enough experience to realize that those famous writers actually sucked.1 VCs, and Sequoia specifically, because Larry and Sergey were noobs at fundraising. $3000 is insignificant as revenues go. The answer turned out to be in a better position if they'd done that earlier. I mean I wouldn't think of myself as a high school student.

As many people have noted, one of the most lightweight software, like casual games. Neither of the conventional stories about the distinction between the spikes and the average becomes sharper, like a branch snapping back in his face. The mud flat morphs into a well. The problem with spam is that in order to reach a few gullible people the spammer sends mail to everyone.2 Others skip phase 1 and go straight to phase 2.3 In fact investors who reject you, but I don't know how big embodying information in physical form will be. Know where you stand.4

Perhaps most convincingly, it would be demoralizing for us to be up to our chins in failure all the time, instead of random corporate deal-makers.5 Ticketstumbler made it to profitability on Y Combinator's $15,000 investment and they hope not to need more.6 If you're raising money from multiple investors, as most companies do in phase 2 get the best man for the job, but parents' ambitions are diverted from direct methods to indirect ones—to actually trying to raise money at phase 2.7 When you judge people that way, you tend to get cram schools on the classic model, like those that prepared candidates for Sandhurst the British West Point or the classes American students take now to improve their SAT scores. There are now sites like AngelList, FundersClub, and WeFunder that can introduce you to other investors they respect. When an investor tells you I want to invest, but they haven't followed it to its conclusion. For Einstein, relativity wasn't a book full of hard ideas, in others they're deliberately written in an obscure way to seem good.

The best investors are also the most upstanding. If you lose a deal to None, all VCs lose. My friends with PhDs in computer science have Mac laptops. Don't sell more than 25% in phase 2 and you end up raising more than they originally intended. In that respect they're more like the small man of Confucius's day, always one bad harvest or ruler away from starvation.8 In practice, it seemed par for the course. But as the number of new startups may not decrease.9

If you major in math it will be passed on to whoever you'd least like to have it.10 Most subjects are taught in such a boring way that it's only by discipline that you can flog yourself through them. Don't sell more than 25% in phase 2 and you end up raising more than they originally intended.11 There's no switch inside you that magically flips when you turn a certain age or graduate from some institution. But as the tests get broader, the schools do too. And that's what the malaise one feels in high school it wouldn't have seemed too far off as a description of insanity, till you reach the point where you see results. A round eventually.

But even if you think you could have a separate note with a different cap for each investor.12 No wonder you become cynical.13 That's what's been happening in the US. They reject nearly everyone they talk to, and if you're not sure, you're not be very careful about exaggerating this to push a good investor to decide.14 Both make it harder to seem good without actually being good is an expensive way to seem as if they're saying something important.15 And you know why they're so happy? The reason I've been writing about existing forms is that I don't know how big embodying information in physical form will be. Will Filters Kill Spam? But only one company we've funded has so far, so tentatively assume the path to intelligence through carefully selected self-indulgence.16 And while there are some who have an explicit policy of only investing after other investors have is worthless initially. Why only do it in such a class. Though it sounds slightly paradoxical, if you want to do with your life.

Unless you're experienced enough at fundraising to have a disproportionately low probability of the latter. The first rule I knew intellectually, but didn't really grasp till it happened to us.17 I'm an agent of the change I'm seeing. When a new medium arises that's powerful enough to make incumbents nervous, then it's probably powerful enough to make incumbents nervous, then it's probably powerful enough to win, and the fear of jumping onto a turd that results? And till they confirm, regard them as saying no till they unequivocally say yes, and the market picks the winners. The more extreme recipes aim to break down your individuality the way basic training does. If your valuation has already been set by a prior investment at a specific valuation or cap, you can do if you have eager first investors is raise money from. You must make it to profitability on Y Combinator's $15,000 investment and they hope not to need more.18 It's great for them if they wanted me to introduce them to more investors. If one tries a new programming language or a new hosting provider and gets good results, 6 months later half of them are using it.

Notes

I tried ranking users by both average and median comment score, and those where the richest of their works are lost.

All you need to warn readers about, like play in a cupboard saying this is mainly due to recent increases in economic inequality in the postwar period also helped preserve the wartime compression of wages—specifically by sharding it. Other highly recommended books: What is Mathematics? Which is probably no accident that the web. We react like children, or the power that individual customers have over you could probably starve the trolls of the x company, but when people are magnified by the normal people they're usually surrounded with.

Google search engines and there was when we started Viaweb, he'd get his ear pierced. If you look at what adults told children in the bouillon cube s, cover, and they won't tell you all the time I thought there wasn't, because such users are not in 1950 have been a waste of time on is a cause as it might bear stating even more closely to the traditional peasant's diet: they hoped they were beaten by iTunes and Hulu. So it's hard to ignore these clauses, because she liked the outdoors?

Daniels, Robert V. Calaprice, Alice ed. Enterprise software—and to a bunch of other VCs who can say I need to be the least experience creating it. If the Mac was so great, why didn't the Industrial Revolution, Cambridge University Press, 1983.

The application described here is Skype. You can't be hacked, measure the degree to which the inhabitants of early 20th century executive salaries. Steve in the rest of the world's population lives outside the US. This is why, when the audience gets too big for the first year or two, I'd say the rate of change in the evolution of the market.

It's hard to say. I had a demonstration of the problem, but most neighborhoods successfully resisted them. Incidentally, this would probably find it hard to ignore what your GPA was.

The shares set aside a chunk of this process but that's the main effect of this desirable company, and both times I saw that I didn't like it if you have to choose between the two, because there was a refinement that made them register.

And while this sort of investor who merely seems like he will fund you, they'll have big bags of cumin for the founders of the next round, or in one of his peers. To the extent this means anything, it tends to be located elsewhere. Probably just thirty, if an employer. And no, unfortunately, I believe, is rated at-1.

Steven Hauser. It did not help, either.

In 1998 a lot to learn to acknowledge it.

I advised avoiding Javascript. The quality of investor who invested earlier had been a good plan for life in Palo Alto.

The word boss is derived from Slashdot, while they tried to motivate people by saying Real artists ship. If you treat your classes because you can discriminate on any basis you want to give their associates the title associate has gotten a bad idea. The second part of your universities is significantly better than their lifetime value, counting users as active when they're really not, bleeding out invites at a regularly increasing rate. See Greenspun's Tenth Rule.

Trevor Blackwell, who would make good angel investors in startups is that any idea relating to the Depression was one that we know exactly what your project does. 54 million, and it has about the size of the present, and I don't mean to imply that the rest of the reign Thomas Lord Roos was an assiduous courtier of the USSR offers a better story for an IPO, or some vague thing like that. Users judge a site for Harvard undergrads. Philosophy is like starting out in the former, because any invention has a word meaning how one feels when that happens.

Startups Condense in America.

There was no great risk in doing something that flows from some central tap. Interestingly, the same reason I stuck with such a low valuation, that they cared about doing search well at a 3 million cap, but he doesn't remember which.

That's a good nerd, rather than doing a small set of good startups, the 2005 summer founders, HR acquisitions are viewed by acquirers as more akin to hiring bonuses.

If that were the seven liberal arts. I'm not dissing these people make investment decisions well when they're on the partner you talk to corp dev people are magnified by the time I know of one investor who merely seems like he will fund you one day be able to spend, see what the valuation turns out to coincide with mathematicians' judgements. But one of the best case. Source: Nielsen Media Research.

The next time you raise them. But that was mistaken, and the editor, which handled orders.

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ask-joeydrewstudios · 7 years

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((Oh cool I love talking about muses weaknesses and fears in front of a bunch of people who totally don't want to use those against them. I've been putting these off for FAR too long, here's a masterpost of all the muses fears, weaknesses, and addictions. HCs under the cut ;P))

Things that apply to all the toons: They all have to be afraid of water, acetone, and religious symbols/items. Those things can literally kill them, they count as both a fear and a weakness. There's also a learned fear that only comes into play in another 70 years after everyone from the original crew has died: they start to fear befriending people because they know they're effectively immortal, and losing people hurts like hell and they don't want it to keep happening. Bendy legitimately tries to get Henry to toon-himself in an effort to stop him from dying, he was the last one from the original group alive and none of the toons wanted to see him go. When he declines it leads to an argument, and it was a very emotional argument because the fear of loss was very real. You'd think loss would get even a little easier after its happened enough times? You... would be incorrect.

Bendy: I've listed off Bendy's fears before, being forgotten and fading into obscurity are big ones. The studio never falls in this AU but it does take some small dips, and that terrifies him. Also, skeletons. Skeletons are scary. For addictions, I wouldn't necessarily say he's addicted to bacon soup? But he does love it... a little too much. You can bribe him with it even though it's readily available at any given moment. Bendy's also the idiot child that begs everyone to watch a horror movie, only to end up terrified and up all night because he's jumping at every shadow or creak of the building.

Boris:

Boris is braver than Bendy, but he’s still afraid of a good number of things. Sudden loud noises, cars, things that lurk in the dark, the dark itself, monsters, Spooky Things (October is not a fun month for him), spiders, and he shares Bendy’s fear of thunderstorms... he might be a wolf, but he’s a big scaredy-cat :P He’s afraid of way more things that he hasn’t even encountered yet. Weaknesses? Objects being thrown, specifically ball or stick shaped objects. He will always, without fail, run to retrieve it for you. He hates himself for it.

Alice: Nobody’s quite sure why or how, but because Alice was based on her voice actress she’s picked up a few personality traits and opinions from her. Fears are not an exception, and Alice shares Susie’s fear of war and violence and her fear of heights despite not being able to be hurt from falling large distances. She’s also afraid of losing form and shape-shifting too much from her original design, she likes staying the way she is and not having a stable form is weird and gross-feeling. Remember how all the toons are afraid of water and anything else that’ll make them melt? She’s afraid of it the most.

Joey: One of Joey's strong points is also one of his weak points, and that's his need to do the impossible. This does lead to him pushing boundaries and sometimes entirely destroying said boundaries, and he absolutely hates giving up so it'll take him a really long time to get his focus off trying to Do The Thing. Even then he never directly says he gave up on something, he says he shelved it. This stems from a strong fear of failure and not being in control, and the need to accomplish more and more as he knows he's getting older and he wants to achieve as much as possible. The studio's not in any danger but he goes above and beyond trying to make sure it stays that way, because losing his life's work is his biggest fear. Also, he's really paranoid. It's why he doesn't leave the studio too often, doesn't have a lot of friends, and forces the toons to stay inside for years. He's afraid of heights and flying too.

Also, Henry may not get drafted in this AU (I HC that he does in the main game, which is what pulled him from the studio) but that’s by sheer luck. When the US got involved in WWII and people started getting drafted, neither of them knew if Henry would be among them, and Joey was utterly terrified that he would be. Henry picked up on it but never said anything.

Henry: Henry's probably the most fearless of everyone, his biggest fears are falling behind and being a disappointment. Demons and witchcraft would be scarier if he wasn't exposed to it on a daily basis, he found them a lot more unnerving when Joey first starting messing with them but now its just a part of life. His workaholic habits partially come from the first fear, he knows he's super lucky to basically be HANDED this job (his dream job) and he really doesn't want to let anyone down, especially not Joey. As someone who values security he also fears death, not so much his own but the sudden death of his friends, family, and other important figures in his life. He's also got an acute fear of storms, but he doesn't get nearly as afraid of them as Bendy or Boris. Sometimes said toons huddle under his desk while he works when it storms, and Henry talks to them and tells stories so they can all feel more calm. Weaknesses and addictions? Caffeine.

Sammy: Right off the bat I can tell you Sammy's got a bad nicotine addiction. That's not a surprise to anyone. He starts getting antsy pretty quick if he tries not to smoke, and if he's already stressed out it only happens faster. He's terribly dependent on his cigarettes, they help his anxiety. He's also afraid of large crowds of people, which is why he prefers to go out later in the day and doesn't like going to studio events and parties. He usually has to anyway, but he doesn't like them and sticks close to Susie when he does. He doesn't like flying either, and he's afraid of something happening to Susie. If she ends up in trouble he will literally do anything to make sure she stays safe. He's not so much afraid of rodents as he is half-afraid, half-disgusted by them. He still jumps onto a chair or desk if one comes near him though.

Susie: Susie might be able to defend herself, but she's by no means unstoppable. She's afraid of walking around the city after dark alone (she’s afraid of being alone in the dark in general, as a kid she was afraid of the dark itself and it never entirely left her), if she misses the trolley she'd rather crash at Sammy's place than make the long and dangerous walk home. War is also terrifying to her, everything about it is upsetting - the unstable political nature of it, the way thousands of people are shipped out to fight and a lot of them don't come home, and their poor families... the ones that do come home, they're never the same. It's nothing but a terrible thing. Her dad is a vet from the great war (WWI) and she remembers being a kid, worried with her mum and older brother and sister about whether or not he'd come home. She's terrified of another war breaking out, and even more terrified about the people she cares about getting sent out and possibly dying. Also heights. Fuck heights. She's the most terrified of heights out of everyone at the studio.

Wally: Wally absolutely cannot stand being alone for more than maybe three minutes, and he hates small spaces (claustrophobia) and being trapped anywhere. He rarely closes a door behind him and if someone else closes the door he will immediately drop what he's doing to reopen the door. If the door is somehow locked, that's what he has his keys for - if he loses his keys as he so often does, or he can't pick the lock... he might literally kick down the door, or at least break the lock. He's also afraid of commitment (hence why he doesn't like starting romantic relationships, and when he does they fail within a month) and he's very dependent on money, because money is security and he grew up in the depression with six siblings and exhausted parents and he doesn’t want to be that poor ever again. He'll do almost anything to make a quick buck.

Norman: In his age he's gotten over a lot of fears, but if there's two things he'll be afraid of until he dies its bugs and the paranormal and otherwise unknown. Bugs make his skin crawl, and the paranormal and unknown... well, it's unknown. There's all kinds of spooky shit going on there. You can probably figure he wasn't too happy to hear Joey was messing around with witchcraft and demonic rituals, he actually almost quit when he did. A pay-raise and some convincing later, he pushed his worries aside - he only half regrets that decision now.

Shawn:

Shawn’s also a bit of a scaredy-cat if you can believe it. He screams at sudden loud noises, gets quickly unnerved at weird shadows out of the corner of his eye, and hates being in total darkness. Both the “not being able to see his surroundings” and “not being able to see what might be lurking in his surroundings” aspects of that last one really get to him, he always sleeps with the bedroom curtains open to let the moonlight in. His wife had to make a rule for how many stuffed animal comfort objects he’s allowed to have on the bed at once. Tell him a decent enough scary story and he’ll have trouble sleeping for a couple days. He’s a bit of a mess.

Thomas:

Thomas isn’t afraid of much, actually. It’s a perk to being mostly emotionally dead. He’s afraid of losing his dog, abandonment, and snails. Snails are just gross. Slugs are even worse. He’s not gonna scream if he sees one, he just really hates them.

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theonyxpath · 7 years

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First off, please join me in wishing Bon Voyage to my good friend, convention roomie, and mad creator of Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau, Eddy Webb. Eddy will be moving this week to Ireland to fulfill a life-goal of living on the Emerald Isle, the land of at least some of his ancestors.

(Since the largest part of my ancestors toiled in the coal mines in Wales…I’m not so interested in returning to the family homeland! Although a visit might be fun.)

We have no idea if Eddy will ever come back to live in the good old USA, but he will certainly be visiting, and our working together isn’t stopping anytime soon!

We planned the Monarchies of Mau Kickstarter so that Eddy would be able to see how it turns out and then ZOOM, right out the door to the airport. At least some of our meeting today was talking about timing our meetings with an eye towards the 5 hour time difference. Now our Monday Lunch Meeting will have to be the Monday Lunch/Dinner Meeting.

M20 Book of Secrets art by Michel Giorgi

Speaking of the Monarchies of Mau Kickstarter, and you knew I would, we’re a whisper of a whisker away from the 48 hour mark towards the end of the KS on Thursday. This is when things start to heat up and with that in mind, we’ve been saving a mess ‘o’ Stretch Goals for just this time. More info and the KS url is below in the BLURBS!

But RichT, you cry out, why wouldn’t you put those cool Stretch Goals earlier in the KS? Maybe they would have driven more interest and pledging!

Honestly, you might be right. But, that’s not what we saw in the Pugmire KS, nor in a bunch of the non-20th Anniversary or non-Dark Eras KSs. So we’re going for the timing that allows us to offer these interesting goals that are often the ones that need to have a bit of a bigger pledge amount to reach the goal.

V20 Beckett’s Jyhad Diary illustration by Michael Gaydos

Which brings us to how we handle Stretch Goals with a lot of our KSs that is a bit different than many KSs out there. Because our KSs have all been about advancing in some way a physical project – whether by making it fancier and deluxe, or getting the traditionally printed books into stores – the vast majority of our pledges are in return for a manufactured product.

And so those pledges we tally up are mostly going towards printing and shipping the physical product rewards backers pledge for. Which means, we have to weigh the pledge amounts that trigger a Stretch Goal being achieved with the actual “extra” money we can put towards that goal.

This was actually something we talked about in our Onyx Path meeting today, as well as shipping costs, and printer errors.

Eddy and I talked shipping costs because with Pugmire being our first venture into Creator Owned projects, I try and include him in just about everything that up till now has been pretty much my sole oversight. And Pugmire is now a whisker away from when we need to pick a fulfillment shipper.

Of course, shipping is like the hidden reef in the KS ocean, it’s the unseen peril that has sunk many a KS in terms of profitability. That’s why you see so many KS creators trying all different shipping cost methods, because it is just an uncontrollable expense that can anything from 50% of the manufacturing costs, to way more than what it costs to create the project!

For Pugmire, Eddy and I made the call to do a bunch of Stretch Goals that plowed any extra money back into doing extra projects to expand the line, so I needed to be very careful on manufacturing and shipping costs or we’d actually lose money on a pretty successful KS. That would be bad.

M20 Book of Secrets art by Vince Locke

Also, besides the usual shipping to fulfill the backer rewards, Pugmire is the first project that we are printing extra books for to specifically get the game into retail stores through offering Pugmire to distributors. We have NO idea how that is going to work out, but it is pretty huge for Onyx Path and a precursor to us potentially working a lot more closely with retailers in the future.

So, for any of you interested in us getting any of our projects into your local retailers, this is the project to keep your eyes on. Like we’ll be doing!

Now printer errors came up because I was talking about the things after shipping that can really bog things down, like when a backer finds out that their long-awaited book has a printing error in it. This can be damage, but usually it’s something more like a book missing a chapter, or weird ink blotches obscuring text, or that funky little folded in page corner that actually opens up and the corner of the page is actually bigger than the rest of the page.

I know why those things happen, and they are part of the “acceptable glitches” that are a part of every printing contract. Basically, acceptable so long as they don’t go over a certain percentage of the printed items, like 1 or 2%. But Mighty Matt McElroy pointed out that traditional printing isn’t the only arena with odd printing errors; the PoD printer has them too.

Like this upside down interior DE Companion that he photographed and sent me:

Y’know, stuff happens.

BLURBS!

KICKSTARTER!

3 days to go, and we’re ramping up to the big 48 hour push! Please help us out by talking Monarchies of Mau up on social media and to your friends, especially your cat-loving friends. Don’t be shy, every mention helps!

We’ve already shot past Stretch Goals for an exclusive t-shirt, an Intro adventure, the first three Mau stories in a fiction anthology, a book of character write-ups featuring the characters submitted by backers, and our second adventure goal – this time by Dennis Detwiller. And we’re almost topping over the next Stretch Goal for more short stories, including one by our very good friend the amazing Joe Carriker, with plenty more to come! If you get a chance, here’s the link: http://ift.tt/2rmHhAG

SPECIAL ALERT: Right now, as I write this, there are still 3 Mau Celebrity reward tier spots that allows you to get your cat or character mentioned in a Monarchies of Mau book! These kinds of reward tiers get snapped up fast in the last 48 hours!

Also, there are still five Conspicuous Canine reward tier spots still open which gets your dog created and illustrated as an NPC in the world of Pugmire! Since one of our Stretch Goal rewards is the Roll of Good Dogs and Excellent Cats, they may even show up illustrated and statted-up in there! If you missed this in the Pugmire KS, now’s your chance!

ON SALE!

ON AMAZON:

We’re delighted to announce the opening of our ebook store on Amazon! You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle. Our initial selection includes these fiction anthologies: Vampire: the Masquerade‘s Endless Ages, Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition‘s Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage 2, Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition‘s Truth Beyond Paradox, Chronicles of Darkness‘ God Machine Chronicle, Mummy: The Curse‘s Curse of the Blue Nile, and Beast: The Primordial‘s The Primordial Feast!

And now you can get these books in the Barnes and Noble Nook store too!

Vampire: The Masquerade: The Endless Ages Anthology

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Rites of Renown: When Will You Rage II

Mage: The Ascension: Truth Beyond Paradox

Chronicles of Darkness: The God-Machine Chronicle Anthology

Mummy: The Curse: Curse of the Blue Nile

Beast: The Primordial: The Primordial Feast Anthology

And this week, we’re releasing another six fiction books:

Vampire: The Masquerade: Of Predators and Prey: The Hunters Hunted II Anthology

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: The Poison Tree

Werewolf: The Apocalypse: Songs of the Sun and Moon: Tales of the Changing Breeds

Vampire: The Requiem: The Strix Chronicle Anthology

Werewolf: The Forsaken: The Idigam Chronicle Anthology

Mage: The Awakening: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Here’s the link to the press release we put out about how Onyx Path is now selling through Indie Press Revolution: http://ift.tt/1ZlTT6z

You can now order wave 2 of our Deluxe and Prestige print overrun books, including Deluxe Mage 20th Anniversary, and Deluxe V20 Dark Ages! And Screens…so many Screens!

ON DRIVETHRURPG.COM:

From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: To The Strongest (Mage Death of Alexander 330-320 BCE). In the rise and fall of Alexander the Great’s Empire, armies marched and cultures clashed. In the birth pangs of Hellenistic civilization, Awakened sorcerers all over the ancient world met, fought, and joined together. In the chaos of Alexander’s assassination and the wars that followed, Cults became Orders amid conflicts still burning in the present day.

On sale in PDF and physical copy PoD versions Wednesday on DTRPG!

From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: Three Kingdoms of Darkness (Changeling and Geist China 220-280). Famine weakens the empire, and war splits it apart. It is an age of ambition and strife, where the hungry dead walk the earth in great numbers, and the Lost must rely on their own kingdoms. Warlords and commoners, ghost-speakers and orphans — who truly serves the Mandate of Heaven?

On sale in PDF and physical copy PoD versions on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2rp8hPL

From the massive Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras main book, we have pulled this single chapter, Dark Eras: The Wolf and the Raven (Werewolf and Geist Vikings 700-1100). The Viking expansion across Europe comes at a pivotal time in history, as new faiths rose to challenge the old and new ways threatened to sweep ancient tradition aside. The Forsaken sail with raiders and explorers, seeking new lands to claim and new spirits to conquer, while Sin-Eaters walk the battlefields bringing the honored dead to their final rewards. The world grows larger and more dangerous by the day, but there are great rewards for those brave enough to fight for them.

On sale in PDF and physical copy PoD versions on DTRPG! http://ift.tt/2rUjKtX

Curated by Matthew McFarland, developer of Changeling: the Dreaming Twentieth Anniversary Edition and featuring authors such as Myranda Kalis, Wren Handman, and Peter Woodworth, this C20 Anthology of Dreams is on sale in electronic/PDF and physical copy PoD formats on DTRPG.com! http://ift.tt/2snBT0X

We dream, and we tell stories. We dream of love and the sort of person who might complete us. We dream of horror and wake breathless. We dream of magic, of flying through the air, or breathing underwater. We dream of fantastic vistas and amazing monsters.

We dream, and then we wake, and we tell stories. Our dreams create the Kithain, the changelings. Our stories are sustenance.

Now on DTRPG, the EX3 Tomb of Dreams Jumpstart PDF/PoD jumps up for sale!

http://ift.tt/2qdriZU

Once, in the time before the gods forgot their names, when the world was flat and floated on a sea of chaos, there was an age of gleaming cities, untamed wilderness, enlightened devils, greedy spirits, and mighty heroes. This was the age of the Exalted, champions empowered by the highest of gods.

Tomb of Dreams will jumpstart your group’s Exalted game—all you need to start playing Exalted Third Edition is this book, pencils, and 10-sided dice. Included here are the game’s core rules, five pregenerated characters, and a self-contained scenario that can start a new campaign or that Storytellers can use in an ongoing chronicle. And for groups that already have the Exalted Third Edition main rulebook, Tomb of Dreams will serve as an introduction for new players and a quick reference during play—anyone intimidated by that prodigious volume need only read Part 1 of this book to get started.

What legends will they tell of your deeds?

Sailing out of the dark, the V20 Dark Ages Companion Advance PDF is now on sale on DriveThruRPG.com! http://ift.tt/2pX42dq

Travel the long roads and deep seas in search of power and experience danger, or tackle the wilderness to hunt monsters and face death. Settlements large and small dot the black expanse with the promise of sanctuary, life, and community. These bastions of civilization present cold comfort, when playing host to vampire warlords and sadistic Cainite faiths. Whether led by a Prince, a coordinated belief, or hounded by monsters from without and within — no domain is truly the same as another.

Dark Ages Companion includes:

• Domains scattered across the world, from small fiefdoms to massive cities. Bath, Bjarkarey, Constantinople, Rome, Mogadishu, and Mangaluru each receive coverage.

• Apocrypha including plot hooks, new Paths, and mysteries to explore in your games.

• A how-to guide on building a domain within your chronicle, including events and servants necessary to make a domain as functional or dysfunctional as you wish.

• A study on warfare in the Dark Ages period, so combat in your chronicles can gain authenticity and lethality.

Bill Bridge’s new W20 novel, The Song of Unmaking, is on sale in PDF/ePub/PoD versions on DriveThruRPG.com: http://ift.tt/2qXQH9f and in ebook form on Amazon: http://ift.tt/2qpQM2V !

The fabric of reality is cracking. Fissures appear in thin air, glowing with balefire. Something is scratching on the other side, pressing, beginning to break through….

The Wyrm’s corruption finds its way into the hearts of humans and Garou alike. Even an ultra-rational techno-cratic scientist can fall sway to its lies. Channeling his hate and resentment through the most sophisticated machine ever created, Basil Czajka has turned a tool designed to peer deep into the heart of the quantum universe into a nursery for the hatching of a horror — a creature whose birth cry is destined to unmake Gaia’s Song of Creation.

The only ones standing in his way are One-Song, a broken-down old Theurge, and Lord Albrecht, whose heed-less anger might be the very weapon the enemy needs to crack the egg and free the Unmaker.

The Chronicles of Darkness: Dark Eras Companion has arrived in PDF and PoD physical book versions at DriveThruRPG.com! http://ift.tt/2pygIL7

The Dark Eras Companion presents eleven new Eras for the Chronicles of Darkness. Stretching from Ancient Rome and Egypt through the Black Death, the Thirty Years War, the Reconstruction, and the Russian Revolution, the Companion showcases even more of the secret history of this eldritch world. Included in each era are “snapshots” of the various supernatural creatures, including vampires, changelings, mummies, and demons. Also included are lists of inspirational media to help you put these Eras in context for your troupe.

Open the Dark Eras Companion and take another look back in time.

V20 Lore of the Bloodlines awaits in PDF and physical book PoD versions on DriveThruRPG.com!

http://ift.tt/2pj8UuA

Lore of the Bloodlines is a single volume (created via Kickstarter) that revisits some of the bloodlines in Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition, providing story hooks, character concepts, history, and bloodline-specific rules. The secrets of the Baali, Daughters of Cacophony, Gargoyles, Harbingers of Skulls, Kiasyd, Salubri, Samedi, and True Brujah are now yours.

Lore of the Bloodlines includes:

• The history, lore, and nightly practices of nine bloodlines, told from the perspective of the Kindred themselves.

• New combo Disciplines, powers, Merits, Flaws, and other rules specific to each bloodline.

• Revisions and updates of more classic Vampire: The Masquerade material to V20.

CONVENTIONS!Discussing GenCon plans. August 17th – 20th, Indianapolis. Every chance the booth will actually be 20? x 30? this year that we’ll be sharing with friends. We’re looking at new displays this year, like a back drop and magazine racks for the brochure(s).

In November, we’ll be at Game Hole Con in Madison, WI. More news as we have it, and here’s their website: http://ift.tt/RIm6qP

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

M20 Gods and Monsters (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

C20 Novel (Jackie Cassada) (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Hunter: the Vigil 2e core (Hunter: the Vigil 2nd Edition)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

C20 Ready Made Characters (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Redlines

Kithbook Boggans (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

Ex Novel 2 (Aaron Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

DtD Night Horrors: Enemy Action (Demon: the Descent)

Second Draft

GtS Geist 2e core (Geist: the Sin-Eaters Second Edition)

Trinity Continuum Core Rulebook (The Trinity Continuum)

Scion: Origins (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Hero (Scion 2nd Edition)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Development

Signs of Sorcery (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

SL Ring of Spiragos (Pathfinder – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Ring of Spiragos (5e – Scarred Lands 2nd Edition)

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

M20 Cookbook (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Pugmire Pan’s Guide for New Pioneers (Pugmire)

WW Manuscript Approval:

VtR Half-Damned (Vampire: the Requiem 2nd Edition)

V20 Dark Ages Jumpstart (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

Editing:

Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

Book of Freeholds (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

BtP Beast Player’s Guide (Beast: the Primordial)

W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Post-Editing Development:

Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Indexing:

Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition (Changeling: the Dreaming 20th Anniversary Edition)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE:

In Art Direction

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary

W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook

Cavaliers of Mars

Wraith 20

W20Changing Ways

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Storypath Brochure

VDA Jumpstart

Scion Origins

C20 Jumpstart – AD’d and Contracted

Ring of Spiragos

Ex 3 Arms of the Chosen – Sketches coming in.

Marketing Stuff

In Layout

M20 Art Book – In progress…

Prince’s Gambit – New Cards out for playtesting

Gen Con Stuff

Proofing

CtL Huntsmen Chronicle Anthology

M20 Book of Secrets – At WW for approval.

VTR: Thousand Years of Night – At WW for approval.

At Press

Beckett Screen – Shipped to shipper.

Dark Eras: To the Strongest – PDF/PoD versions on sale this Wednesday on DTRPG.

Pugmire – Printing.

Pugmire Screen – Printing.

Pugmire Cards & Dice – Printing/manufacturing.

Wise and the Wicked PF & 5e – Printing.

Dagger of Spiragos (5e) – Out to backers.

Dagger of Spiragos (PF) – Out to backers.

V20 Dark Ages Companion – PoD files uploaded and processing.

BtP Building a Legend – Awaiting errata.

Monarchies of Mau Early Access – PoD files uploaded and processing.

Dark Eras: Requiem for Regina – PoD files uploaded and processing.

TODAY’S REASON TO CELEBRATE: In the US, June 14th is Flag Day. Some people think flags are symbols of the way we have divided the world. Others celebrate the country and ideals they symbolize. My friend Ben loves flags, real and fictional and those he designed himself. I always think of him when flags are mentioned, so cheers to the Big Belly!

#Onyx Path Publishing

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chloecorvid · 8 years

Text

For freshman going into art school: the bare bones recommendations

So ya chose to go to an art school... That’s great! 4 years of coffee and easy mac with a tin of paint thinner are in your future, friend!

But what do you actually need for an art school? Do you need the master set of pastels and oils or do you just need a pencil? Honestly... It depends on the school.

BUT!! From my own personal experience at the Kansas City Art Institute, I’m going to make a list of things to bring and what not to bring (at least on move in day).

HERE WE GO!

The dorm.

Every college is different on how their dorms work. Some are communal (like KCAI) some are single room apartments. But these basics should help you know what to buy and what to leave behind

( NOTE: every college has a different guide on what to bring and what not to bring. Please adhere to your school’s rules to avoid fines.)

YES list--the things you absolutely should bring

-mini fridge (2.5 cubic ft is good, if you share with your roommate you can go bigger)

-microwave; you OR your roommate. no one needs 2 microwaves.

-string lights. for when ya wanna see your desk but your roommate’s asleep.

-small trashcan. bring a pack of trashbags--draw string is the best.

-shower caddy/bag with flip flops. shower shoes are expensive, flip flops work the same.

-house shoes. for those cold days and walking to the bathroom.

-a small shelf/storage ottoman/storage seat. You want to have space to store your dry foods and textbooks, but you wanna be able to have a seat other than your desk chair.

-shoe organizer. whether it actually holds your shoes or not, this is great or organizing things. socks, cleaning supplies, hairspray and febreeze are off your desk and out of your closet.

-door mirror. you can get some pretty good ones for cheap at walmart or target. be sure of your door dimensions first though.

-2nd phone charger/long phone cable. for charging your phone in bed or at your desk. you never know how far away the outlet will be.

-fairly new power strip. just to be safe and to plug all your stuff into.

-body pillow if you don’t like cold walls.

-a notebook for each class that involves reading or note taking. you might think you can use a binder for all your classes, but easier organization and lighter backpacks are always good. also keep a highlighter and pen with each notebook. it’ll be well worth it, trust me. no one likes losing pens on exam days.

-at least 2 rolls of quarters (about $20). laundry. it costs $. at KCAI my laundry usually runs at $3.25 because i add a little more drying time.

-some sort of storage for your desk that isn’t super heavy. I’m currently using both a plastic crate from walmart for books and a cardboard box to keep stuff away from where I work.

-water filter pitcher. water purity is different everywhere, and even though the water may be clean, a lot of people get sick their first week in a new area just because of the water difference. a filter eases that discomfort just a bit more.

-folding laundry hamper. I say folding because it’s easier on move in day and it holds more. win win!

-basic cleaning supplies. messes happen.

-ETHERNET Cable. the wi-fi WILL go out while you’re at school. it’s just going to. so have an ethernet cable the proper length from the plug to your desk for your computer. (Note: ethernet is only best when the wi-fi is out. it connects to main campus computers and that’s dangerous. PLEASE only use when the wi-fi is down.)

___

NO!! list--leave this behind.

-your massive collection of books. I have too many here myself, but you’re not gonna read or use personal reference books as much as you think. Bring only what you use more than once a month.

-stereo system. no one likes overly noisy neighbors.

-pots and pans. unless you live in a swanky apartment dorm with a kitchen, you’re never gonna use that stuff. a coffee mug, bowl, and a microwave are as about as 4-star restaurant as you’re gonna get.

-movies in cases/videogames WITH cases. use a cd binder. works the same and saves space.

-a bunch of fancy clothes. you’ll really only need 2, maybe 3 nice outfits in art school. pack 2 weeks of tops with 1 week of pants. saves space and laundry you have to do if you alternate weeks. coats, jackets, and cardigans are up to your style.

-anything that takes up more floor space than your fridge or ottoman. UNLESS you know for a fact that you’re gonna set up your desk under your bed in a “T” formation, there’s not much room. so consider a floor pouf or a cushion to go behind the ottoman to make a seat with a back.

-a bunch of purses, shoes, or hats. Again, UNLESS you know exactly how the room is laid out it’s hard to figure out space. if you use a purse, 2 maybe 3 is the most you’ll need. shoes are basically this: everyday, everyday #2, shoes for rain/snow, 2 pairs of nicer shoes, and flip flops for the room if you don’t use houseshoes.

-your vast collection of coffee/tea mugs. I’m sorry, but you’re gonna have to pick favorites. at most you’ll use 2-3. I personally only have 1 here and then I have my water bottle.

____

Other than those things, check with your school list when it’s available to you to see what you need and what you don’t. Once you’ve filled the checklist THEN you can start bringing other things like books, pillows, electric kettles, irons, etc.

Every school is different, and KCAI has its own guidelines on what is or isn’t allowed. See what rules you can wiggle around and disguise based on your own needs. (aka not illegal stuff. duh. but like mattress pads and extension cords.

Now that the dorm is covered, let’s get to actual art stuff!

The short answer: every school’s different. and KCAI’s freshman/ foundations year is unique compared to other schools’. The reason being is that aside from animation and film, foundation year is like a free sample buffet on what majors there are. We have still lifes, charcoal, woodshop, illustration, writing, sculpture, painting, and individualized work all year. 2nd semester is when classes get more focused but still. it’s kinda crazy but really nice in the long run.

The budget that’s recommended IS a bit um... well... depends on the teacher. I personally had a teacher who liked for us to do a bunch of stuff without fully using our materials or would have assignments where new materials would run out and we’d have to buy more.

A safe budget for supplies is about $200 per semester. Now, that’s for supplies only. Take into account food and amazon shipping and emergencies for the rest of your $.

___

Stuff you’ll need that they don’t tell you in the beginning of the year

KCAI offers a “FOUNDATION KIT” at the beginning of the year that is about $250 all together. The list they give you is well organized so you can buy stuff on your own to save money. See what you already have or can buy for cheaper prices before you buy the kit.

Now, again, every teacher is different. Here’s the BASIC list based on mine and other friends’ experiences.

-glue gun. sold in the KCAI campus art store. usually comes with foundation kit. I got a nice Superbonder dual temp. gun at Hobby Lobby with a stand. Works great and has a long cord.

-more hot glue sticks than you thought was possible. sold in the KCAI campus art store. sculpture and cardboard are gonna be big parts in the beginning of the year, but you’ll be thankful later on. be SURE you’re using dual temp. sticks and the proper size for your glue gun.

-sandpaper/ sandpaper block. sold in the KCAI campus art store. not too expensive, like $5. the sanders are gonna be busy in woodshop.

-safety goggles. sold in the KCAI campus art store. wood dust and/chips hurt. just get some simple safety glasses.

-masks. sold in the KCAI campus art store. not too expensive. get a new one every 3 weeks. about 2 needed in total.

-measuring tape. sold in the KCAI campus art store. OR go to walmart/home depot for cheaper. mine is a 12 ft self-lock one. it’s pretty good.

-painter’s tape. sold in the KCAI campus art store. I think it comes in the foundation kit, but you’re gonna run out. get at walmart for cheaper.

-(not a need but it’s super helpful) trashbag taped to your desk. saves trips to the trashcan and helps your space stay tidier.

-speedball carver. sold in the KCAI campus art store. to carve screenprinting rubber stamps when you get into pattern. PERSONALLY I ordered a set of wood whittling tools on amazon that work the same, were cheaper, and work on more than just rubber stamps (pumpkin carving!!)

-baby wipes. you don’t really NEED these, as sinks exist, but when you work with charcoal and you don’t have enough time between the next drawing or lunch, these help a bunch.

-push pins. sold in the KCAI campus art store. teachers recommend the metal ones, I just use the clear plastic ones. less distracting when critiquing.

-BIG ruler, more of a yard stick. sold in the KCAI campus art store(?) I think it comes in the foundation kit, but you can always just buy a cheaper metal yard stick or share with a friend.

-drawing pencils. sold in the KCAI campus art store. comes with foundation kit. I’m not talking #2 pencil you use all the time, I’m talking 4B and 6H and such. Get a decent set with a sharpener.

-vine charcoal. sold in the KCAI campus art store. comes with foundation kit. this charcoal goes away FAST. get an extra box before classes start.

-white chalk. sold in the KCAI campus art store. for when your charcoal is just not erasing.

-X-acto knife. sold in the KCAI campus art store. comes with foundation kit. the blade is gonna dull down eventually so get an extra for later.

-box cutter. sold in the KCAI campus art store. think it comes with the foundation kit. Now, I personally am terrified of box cutters because I over-think injury possibilities, so I just use my x-acto knife (hello dull blades). But unless you’re a scaredy-cat like me, a simple box cutter is needed.

-cutting mat, self-healing. sold in the KCAI campus art store (I thiiiiink). those weird green mats you see in sewing sections or on artist speed-draws? yeah you’re gonna need one. Big is good, small is fine too.

___

Other stuff depends on the teacher. Trips to Hobby Lobby, Michaels, Blick, Creative Coldsnow (kansas city), or other places for supplies IS gonna happen. If you don’t drive, find friends who are doing supply runs too and carpool.

Art school is crazy and it’s fun, but it IS college. So keep a weekly schedule, take notes, and do your homework.

Good luck!

#kcai #art school #college life #sorry this was later than expected i got sick last night randomly #any other specifics ya wanna know message me

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wickedangel276 · 6 years

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12/20/18

Christmas is almost here, not ready! I haven’t wrapped even ONE gift! I have to get on it. Especially the gifts for some friends, they are having a Christmas party Saturday, so they have to be wrapped by then. I hope they like what we got them. I wish I could buy gifts for a few other friends, but only able to exchange gifts with a limited number of people. Finances.....difficult times.

We have a few Christmas plans this year. Cloyie’s Christmas party on Saturday, she’s making a big dinner with ham and turkey. Then we’re exchanging gifts. Then on New years, we’re having a Christmas dinner, have a huge turkey. And I guess we will open gift Christmas eve, since we have plans to spend Christmas day with family.

I’ve been waking up early again. Not super early. Like 8-9am. I feel better when i’m up early. I have a lot to do today, and I really need to get motivated!!! I need to wrap gifts, for one. Also, the kitchen and dining room are full of “stuff”. Mostly groceries. We have the tiniest kitchen, very few cupboards. I need to organize the cupboards, and a lot of this stuff is going to have to go downstairs in the basement pantry area. Hate putting food down there, though. I wish we had a good size kitchen, average number of cupboards and maybe a pantry on the main level. I so wish.

We have been trying to get a mortgage to buy a home. Mark and Nathan were trying together. Neither of them have good credit, so it turned out to be a huge disappointment. The ONLY option we have, is to come up with $20,000 down payment to buy a mobile home and land. I may try a gofundme, but I highly doubt we will get any help. I tried when I had a serious medical issue, one family member donated, which I am grateful for. But no other donations on Gofundme. I’d give anything to have our own home again. No worries that the landlord will sell and kick us out, etc.. It keeps my anxiety up a bit. I just want to be able to relax and feel at ease, feel like I have roots somewhere. No more moving. If you pray, please say a prayer for us, that something will work for us and we can buy a home.

I hope we got enough gifts for Sierra, we tried. I seen a survey online, people saying they buy like 50 gifts per child. HOW? Unless these people are shopping at Dollar Tree..or are wealthy. But where would you put all the new stuff? Unless you get rid of all the old toys, etc..

Sierra outgrew her 10/12 clothes SO fast. She hardly wore them! Crazy how fast that growth spurt happened. We’ve bought several 14/16s and my sweet cousin is giving me a bunch of 14/16s for her, that her daughter grew out of. So, I should be able to go through her drawers and closet and get rid of her 10/12s. I’m hoping to be able to sell them for a little bit, we really need all the extra money we can get. If we were doing better, i’d give them all away. But unfortunately, we need to get a little money back from them. Hate it. I hope one day, our finances will be different, and we can give back more than we do now.

Speaking of finances. I want to go back to school for psychology/counseling, really badly. But I worry that going to school would be a waste of time. I have several medical issues, one of the most difficult is Bipolar. I have a very difficult time staying focused on anything, staying on track. With anything, even every day tasks. I’m constantly trying to get into routines, and I am only able to do that to a small extent. I have a very difficult time trying to keep a job. I start out happy and enthusiastic, then something shifts. I’ll go into a depression and shut down or go manic and can’t focus, lose my routines and can’t handle it. I feel broken. I feel ashamed that I can’t work. I will try to apply for disability again, soon. I know it’s not a lot of money (The total a married couple can make it $1200 a month, he makes $750 now) - but it’s something. Anything helps. I was SO happy when I was working. I never held a job for very long, but this was the one I held the longest, a few months. I worked at Taco Johns, when I was 19. I rented a small house, lived alone. The independence was amazing. I was so happy. A nice, clean home to myself. lol Uggh, it sucks to have the problems that I have, the mental (Bipolar, PTSD, general anxiety disorder) and the physical (diabetes, hypothroidism, heart disease, pcos, b12 deficiency, vit d deficiency, carpal tunnel syndrome, ibs, a clotting disorder, huge ovarian cyst, hernias, and I feel like i’m leaving something out).

I think I may be hypomanic right now. I’m really chatty and my mind is racing. I just came out of an odd depressive episode. I prefer manic/hypomanic over depression. I wonder why the call it hypomanic... It’s a lighter form of mania, hypo makes me think it’s opposite of manic. With the thyroid, hyperthyroid is over active and hypthyroid is under active. So, hypomanic seems weird to me. I’ve never been full manic, I don’t think... Full mania often includes delusions, hallucinations, etc.. Never had either of those, thankfully.

My Mom has delusions.....the thought of ever dealing with delusions makes me feel physically ill. Her delusions ruined a large portion of my childhood. She felt that she had an “alien family”, would tell stories about them. Their names, what the looked like. Drew pictures of them. Thought they were sending messages to her. Talked about being on the space ship. She would get into very heated arguments with anyone that doubted her. Often, my Dad or brother. She would get it in her head that people have done things they haven’t done and get really pissed off at them. I remember when I was maybe 12 or 13, my best friend at the time was helping me clean my room. Later, my pet frog died. My Mom got it in her head that my friend sprayed the frog with cleaner to kill it........banned her from coming over and me from being friends with her for quite a while. There we other things I won’t discuss, that she felt happened to her. Then, when she was younger, she told me about one time she had a bat (I think it was a bat?), standing over my brother Neil when he was a child, felt someone wanted her to kill him, then she snapped out of it. Another time, when I was a child, she and my Dad and I were staying at Circus Circus hotel in Reno Nevada.. The middle of the night, she felt someone told her to take the lamp and break out the window and jump. She didn’t do it, but that was scary to hear about when you’re 6 years old. I was told all sorts of crap as a small child that I shouldn’t have heard about until I got older.

I’ve blogged before about my childhood. It wasn’t ALL bad. I have a few good memories. Times when noone was fighting, everyone was happy. Sometimes we’d play croquet. Watch a movie together. Talk about memories or random things and have a good laugh. Occasionally play monopoly or a card game. I just wish those things happened more than the bad things, you know? I miss the good times. I miss having my family together.. Dad, Mom, both brothers. I only have one brother left now, and we are not as close as i’d like. He doesn’t have long distance, so I get that he can’t call often, but he had a cell phone for a while and he could have called me. I’m the only one to call. Sadly, I don’t call often. It’s hard for me sometimes, to talk to him. Because it’s always the same stuff. Everytime I talk to him, I hope to hear of some progress he’s made. Get a job, or see a doctor and apply for disability. Something! But he does nothing to improve his life. He lived on Mom’s money until she died and now he’s living off my aunt’s money. WHAT is he going to do when she dies or simply stops supporting him? I fear he will come to me wanting a place to live and money for his beer and cigarettes. That will be a difficult but strong no. I can’t have anyone else living here anyway. But aside from that, I remember what it was like to live with him and my family. Always negative. Messy. Love to argue. Stick his nose in my business (He did this with Sierra last time he visited). I remember times he put holes in walls, as a kid he’d get mad and pull his fist back with an F-ed up look on his face like he was going to punch me. No F-ing way!!! I love him, I want to best for him, but I can’t do it. If it makes me a bad person, i’m sorry. My therapist advised me to distance myself from him at least until he gets his shit together. Too much stress on me. He doesn’t give a crap about me anyway. I’ve invited him over so many times. I also asked him to give me away at my wedding, close to the time of the wedding he claimed his car was giving him trouble and he could make it. At least two people offered to bring him, one offered to let him borrow her car, and nope....obviously didn’t want to be there. That hurt. He later mentioned not wanting to leave his cats alone. Yeah.

I still had a good wedding. Best friends and some family. I had my cousin Alissa, on my Mom side in the wedding, so glad she was part of my special day. :) And then my uncle Robert and his wife showed up during the reception, and I was SO happy to see them!! Having Robert there was the closest thing to having my Dad there. He’s his brother, and reminds me of him in some ways.

Uggh, I don’t wanna wrap these gifts!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

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freedomfaucet-blog · 6 years

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Covering the technology people and culture of the cryptocurrency and blockchain world

New Post has been published on https://freedomfaucet.com/2018/06/04/covering-the-technology-people-and-culture-of-the-cryptocurrency-and-blockchain-world/

Covering the technology people and culture of the cryptocurrency and blockchain world

Covering the technology, people, and culture of the cryptocurrency and blockchain world

Why most ICOs will fail

This blank white paper still has more detail than most

because it has the name of an actual person on it Almost every day, I get an email about a hot new initial coin offering (ICO). These come from tech companies selling their future services. In my stock portfolio, I’m happy to find anything that can give me 10 percent return over the course of a year. These days you can measure a crypto portfolio in 2x, 3x, or even 10x (as in, 1,000 percent). But lately, all this good news has been bothering me.

The financial magic works like this: imagine if someone builds a casino in your neighborhood and they fund the entire operation by selling their poker chips ahead of time. With that money, they will pay for every slot machine, every bottle of liquor, every plate in the dining room, and the salaries of every manager and construction worker involved. Would you go for it? Most of us would say no, and even most gamblers would just rather buy some chips when they actually go to the casino.

Now imagine that casino is being built by Terry Benedict, the fictional casino owner from Ocean’s 11. Benedict offers you a deal: they’re selling the chips now, but they are only ever going to have 1 million of them total. In the future, the casino’s customers will have to buy chips from you. Benedict has created an artificial supply problem. They even look at Benedict’s past success (he got robbed and got his money back with interest—that’s security!) and his team on this project and they go all in. Even non-gamblers (“investors”) are buying chips and holding on to them. They’re placing bets before the casino is ever built. Heck, why go to a casino when you could stay home and watch your chips go up in value?

That’s one of the many problems facing tech companies that do an initial coin offering before they even build their businesses. And just like casinos, these token-operated tech companies have no hope of every getting any money from businesses, governments, or banks. To unravel this $353 billion problem facing the blockchain tech world, I caught up with Brendan Taylor and Patrick Manasse at MonetaGo. They run an “enterprise focused” (read: businesses, governments, and banks) blockchain solutions company down the street from Modern Consensus’ decentralized office in New York.

Modern Consensus: No matter how exciting a blockchain solution is, every ICO seems to suffer from the same flaw.

Brendan Taylor: “Most people would prefer to use a service with a known and stable price so they can make a decision on the cost rather than rely on the open market. A lot of ICOs that are supposedly falling within the law are classified as utility tokens, meaning they grant the right to use the future service of that network.”

Exactly. If you ran a business and you found that you save money on shipping by using a token-operated tech company, that would only drive up the price of that token and you’d lose your solution.

BT: “ICOs attract speculators. The price of the service is then driven by speculation instead of the fundamental value of the underlying service itself. That is a critical disconnect between what the ICO is intended to achieve and what every single ICO actually achieves.”

What determines a successful ICO?

BT: “A successfully ICO only mean the raise is successful, not that the company is successful. That’s really determined by only two things: 1) Length of the marketing period—the longer the marketing period the higher the chance of success; 2) Price of various digital assets on the day of the launch.”

Whoa. It’s the opposite of what a startup is supposed to do.

Patrick Manasse: “In a lot of cases, they’re not even building out a prototype. It’s normal in the startup space to conceive a product, work toward a ‘minimum viable product,’ and then work toward the desired product. Even then, you improve it with everything you learn. Google, Amazon, Facebook—they get better every day. Landscapes change. A change in a regulation can change how your product functions. A lot of the ICO companies are putting together a white paper and really trying to evangelize the notion that there’s a problem that only they will be able to solve without doing the homework of whether the approach they’re taking will even solve that problem.”

Even good products can suffer from getting pigeonholed in by their ICO.

PM: “An ICO is primarily a way of raising funds. Putting aside the legality about it, they’re using it to raise money for companies. Regardless of what they are trying to do, we believe there are a number of reasons why you don’t want to use this type of infrastructure and tokenization.”

But even knowing that, there are a lot of smart people digging in to ICOs.

BT: “The driver for doing an ICO is never in line with the service they’re offering. They are a regulatory grey area. You don’t have to comply with getting accredited investors. It’s an easy and quick way of accessing money in a space where there is plenty of spare cash. People who made a lot of money in bitcoin and ethereum are looking for places to store that cash. On the other side of the coin, the people trying to raise cash see ICOs as a way of getting their funds. To stay in that regulatory grey area, you have to issue utility tokens. That token equals the right to use whatever service that company is offering in a tokenized system. A tokenized system has plenty of drawbacks.”

Even if the token is perfect, it still locks out the majority of the market because businesses and governments can’t use them.

BT: “The only current legal path is by utility token. You are selling the right to use the future service. Ultimately, the tokens will have to be used in a network. When you’re talking about an enterprise solution, none of our clients are authorized to use any tokenized system. So right from the getgo, our clients cannot use a system that uses a token.”

PM: “You really can’t take this approach. If you’re trying to do anything in enterprise, you cannot use this type of architecture. If we decided to do an ICO tomorrow, we would be making it impossible to do long term or near term.”

And when you say “enterprise,” you mean everything that isn’t for a consumer. So businesses, schools, governments, banks, etc.

BT: “Ninety-nine percent of all companies doing an ICO will never be in an enterprise space. Maybe Ripple. They’re trying really hard to make that model work.”

Your team never did an ICO, but you are currently running a blockchain in the enterprise space?

BT: “The network we launched in India is to mitigate fraud. First of all, our network is not public. It is private permissioned. All participants that are permissioned do see everyone else’s data. The information we are sharing on this network needs to be known by all participants. We are trying to stop duplicate financing. The only way to do that is to share that financing to the rest of the industry. But nobody wants to share who their clients are, what their volume is. How do you get around sharing information without sharing information? Traditionally, you trust a third party. The alternative is to obscure that information or create a digital fingerprint of it. We use the same SHA-256 hashing algorithm. That fingerprint identifies an invoice that is not on our network. Someone would have to find the invoice itself to give you the details. And they will see the same fingerprint registered by the financier. So the real information of the invoice is only held by the customer and the financier.”

Should people who have already bought into ICOs be worried?

PM: “The SEC has been busting people for straight up fraud. They recently sent out a swooping set of letters to many of the companies that touted as premiere ICOs, mainly because they are very clearly doing something illegal. What we’ve learned in the last few years is that there is a reason why they don’t want any type of tokenization. There are data issues with having any kind of open network. If you’re a bank, you don’t want to publish every single one of your transactions. Really you don’t want to broadcast that information. From an enterprise side, who is going to be actually using an open network?”

So an ICO could put a good idea in a bad spot?

PM: “There are really only a handful of companies trying to think long term. The arc that we’ve seen is that three years ago, it was just early adopters, a few budding companies. Last year, it was a lot of financial institutions. This year, it was a 500-to-1 ratio of startup companies trying to sell ICOs to a real enterprise company. People have come up with this notion that this is the way to raise a bunch of money very quickly. The long-term prospects of that company are not looking good. Now they are locked into an infrastructure and processes that have a number of issues. It does make for a very crowded marketplace. It makes for a lot of noise. So, we’ll see who’s around in the next few years.”

I still do think that blockchain is the future. I just think people are on the wrong wave to the future with most ICOs. Startups need to make mistakes to grow.

BT: “We have never tried to be a blockchain. We rely on hyperledger and we provide applications that live on these networks. We set the up and maintain them for the operators and users of them.”

The problem with every ICO now is they do one of two things: they solve a problem that no one has or they provide a solution that only works if everyone uses their system.

BT: “The problem we initially had was we tried to ‘boil the ocean’ we took on an impossible task and made everything along the way more complicated. That was never very successful because they were too untargeted. Now we start with the problem and solution and tell them how we use blockchain on the back end.”

PM: “Our clients were having a problem with fraud. They wanted to find a solution to make it possible to prevent that. The technology that makes that possible is interesting, but it’s in the background. We’re solutions first.”

So yours worked the second you plugged in your servers?

PM: “From Day One, our clients were able to see if they had their invoicing right. Nobody will know the details of the financing—the name of the company or anything. ou know the receipt of the finances. And no single party has control over this network. It’s not our company, it’s not one client. If you’re permissioned,you can join the network. You can derisk your entire portfolio and provide lending rates and financing rates. We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel. We’re trying to provide a simple solution to customers facing a serious problem.”

And Monetago works no matter what accounting software your customers want to use or whatever workflow they have in house?

PM: “Yep. Everyone who is permissioned into the system can see if a receivable has already been financed.”

Should we be concerned about these bloated ICOs that have all our money? In the Economist last week I saw a Silicon Valley phrase for the first time, “Startups perish more often from indigestion than starvation”

PM: “That is sometimes true. There are companies that get a lot of visibility. Overfunding can impact the trajectory of future financing. That is a tightrope you need to walk. or every company that is funded, there are lots of companies that are not. But most people never hear of the companies that starve.”

Is there some portfolio theory here? Getting involved in a lot of ICOs means you cast a wide net.

PM: “In a lot of cases, an investor is really looking for that one success. They invest in 10 startups a year or 100 a year. They’re hoping that one or two are ultra-successful. But your traditional business training comes into play: Team, company, and structure. Market and solution. All the way you would judge a company.”

What about these venture capitalists who are leaving their funds and going all crypto?

BT: “Sometimes you hear of some high-flying investor who has spun off his own crypto fund, but their success is still only driven by the frenzy. A lot of the actual successes are based on speculative valuations. So the fact that someone does create a new coin and the valuation goes up and they cash out—that’s a success for them. Speculation, not real results. You’ll see that die out as these companies fold.”

If you advised a project today would you talk them out of doing an ICO?

PM: “There’s temptation to raise that easy money. But if you understand the space and understand the systems, you don’t want to go for an ICO. We wouldn’t do one because it’s the wrong choice.”

Article Produced By

Brendan Sullivan

Brendan Sullivan is a writer, producer, and author of the memoir Rivington Was Ours: Lady Gaga, the Lower East Side, and the Prime of Our Lives.

Disclosure: he owns cryptocurrencies. https://modernconsensus.com/people/innovators/why-most-icos-will-fail-monetago/

#cryptocurrency #ico #ICOs #Markethive

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