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cheri-translates · 3 years

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[CN] 3rd Anniversary Love Carnival - Lucien

🍒 Warning: This post contains detailed spoilers for an event which has not been released in English servers! 🍒

Lucien’s Prologue: here

3rd Anniversary Masterlist: here

[ PART ONE ]

MC: Which attraction should we try first…

Looking at the splendid carnival, I’m a little spoilt for choice.

Seeing how I can’t make a decision, Lucien chuckles.

Lucien: Take your time to pick. No matter which attraction it is, I’ll experience it together with you.

MC: I’ve decided!

Lucien: In that case, which attraction is so lucky to have been picked by MC?

Lifting my hand, I point towards the front.

MC: Let’s start today’s journey with the “Rotating Wind-and-Fire Wheel”!

Lucien: …

I’m not sure if it’s a misperception, but Lucien’s gentle smile seems to freeze for a second.

Even though I chose this scream-inducing attraction with a high morale, my heart still feels slightly anxious when I sit down.

After all, aside from a rotating descent, each seat is also centered on a connecting point at the ends of the ride, enabling it to move 360 degrees at a high speed.

After buckling the seatbelt, I take a deep breath.

MC: Lucien, are you ready?

In contrast to my evidently nervous self, Lucien maintains his usual composure.

Lucien: Mm. I believe the safety of this facility is sufficiently comprehensive.

MC: What I mean is… you can tell me if you’re scared.

Lucien: A sizeable number of people enjoy the more exhilarating rides in the amusement park. For instance, the rollercoasters, and the Wind-and-Fire Wheel we’re on right now.

MC: …

Although I don’t know why he’s suddenly bringing this up, I nod.

Lucien: Other than joy or happiness, people seek after fear on their own accord. When we’re in a safe environment and experience things that stimulate our “fight-or-flight response”, the brain will secrete serotonin.

The ride starts moving slowly. Lucien doesn’t seem to be affected by this, and his tone remains calm.

I’m a little confused about this sudden seminar on anthropology.

However, after putting more thought into it, a guess which doesn’t seem quite possible, yet is appropriate for this situation furtively arises.

Lucien: Aside from this, when experiencing more adrenaline-inducing rides–

Lucien’s mini lecture abruptly stops.

At the same time, without any warning, our seat starts spinning at a great speed. Along with the change in altitude, I instinctively start screaming.

MC: Ahh–!!

The sense of weightlessness and soaring into the air intertwine, and the world goes topsy-turvy. Other than the instinctive fear and anxiousness, what remains embedded in my mind is another impactful fact.

Even Lucien is scared!!

When we return to the ground, a sense of contentedness I’ve never felt before gushes out of my heart.

MC: Ah, Mother Earth, I love you.

Not caring whether I’d get ridiculed, I sigh with emotion from the bottom of my heart.

Lucien pats my back as a form of comfort, and smoothens my hair.

Lucien: How are you feeling now?

MC: As compared to this…

I straighten up, looking at Lucien seriously.

MC: Lucien, you aren’t great with such rides, are you?

Lucien: At the very least, I, with my eyes open, could see this brave lady screaming with her eyes closed during the entire process.

He doesn’t give me a straightforward answer. His calm state seems to be no different from before we rode the Wind-and-Fire Wheel.

However, his slightly tense smile, and his slightly flying fringe, gives me a different answer.

Translated comic based on this part: here

[ PART TWO ]

Note: Contains references from Reading Date, which has not been released in EN!

After experiencing the severe trials of the Rotating Wind-and-Fire Wheel, I select a few more peaceful attractions.

Taking Lucien’s advice, we take a short break in a small garden in the park after taking some simpler rides.

The park is built on a man-made lake, and numerous evergreen shrubs have been planted. Even on winter days, it doesn’t appear cold or cheerless.

For some reason, there’s a sweet fragrance permeating in the surrounding air.

After sitting down on a bench, Lucien doesn’t rest with me. He tells me to wait for a while, then walks along the path to the other end of the park.

What returns with him are two freshly prepared crepes.

Lucien: Since just now, you seemed to be looking for something. If my guess is correct, the fragrance you whiffed should be this.

MC: You noticed…

The freshly prepared fruit crepe still carries with it a faint warmth. Embellished with cream and chocolate, it looks especially delicious.

MC: Lucien, thank you!

Lucien sits down beside me, watching ripples appear on the surface of the lake.

Although it’s already late winter, the weather is especially good today. Coupled with how he’s beside me, it makes me feel even warmer.

MC: It looks like a scene from a comic.

I munch on the crepe happily, and can’t help but sigh with emotions.

Lucien: Why do you say that?

MC: Just look - don’t you typically see such scenes in comics? The female and male protagonists head out together for a date, take a break in the park, and share sweet crepes together.

The female-targeted comics I’d once read surfaces in my mind.

The thought of those scenes, which I had once yearned for, happening to me right now causes a sweetness to arise in my heart.

Lucien: Mm. I remember. When we exchanged books the last time, those comic books you had did have such scenarios. From such a perspective, I should have bought two different flavoured crepes, and exchanged them with you while we ate.

MC: There’s need for that. Things are already very good now. After all, life can’t be the same as in comics. Being able to participate in the carnival and enjoy delicious desserts is already the best date.

I take another bite of the crepe, the soft cream spreading in my mouth, filling all of my tastebuds.

Lucien: Is that so? In contrast, I think this girl who keeps quite a number of comics has pretty high expectations of her own “male protagonist”.

While Lucien says this, he turns his head and gently kisses the corner of my mouth.

The moist and soft sensation is akin to a feather brushing past lightly.

In the winter day which brings with it a slight coldness, his temperature is exceptionally obvious. It brands itself onto my skin, and melds into my breaths.

I’m frozen to the spot, my heart thumping continuously.

I can almost imagine that if this were a comic book, I know what kind of storyboard would be used for this present scene…

There would definitely be a large patch of white, with flowers and plants bubbling and encircling the protagonists.

MC: Why are you suddenly…

The “chief culprit” who caused my face to flush red remains calm and composed. He even takes a bite of the crepe in my hand.

Lucien: Now, does it seem a little closer to a comic?

[ PART THREE ]

Lucien: Oh yes, MC. There’s an attraction I want to try. Could you accompany me?

MC: What is it?

Lucien doesn’t respond. He simply takes my hand, leading me forward.

Lucien: This.

Looking at the attraction which has caused him to pause, I blink a number of times.

MC: The Pirate Ship?

Even though we’ve already buckled our seatbelts, and the Pirate Ship has already started swaying back and forth, I still can’t help but ask Lucien a question.

MC: Lucien, did you really want to ride this? If this is revenge for pulling you to ride the Wind-and-Fire Wheel earlier, your plan would have failed. After experiencing the Wind-and-Fire Wheel, even if we’re seated at the head of the boat, I definitely wouldn’t feel afraid! Also, based on what I’ve observed, you’re not great with such rides.

Seeing my confident expression, Lucien nods.

Lucien: I don’t deny that.

The Pirate Ship sways at a gradually increasing angle. But as I said - after experiencing the Wind-and-Fire Wheel, the Pirate Ship is nothing special.

Lucien: However, there’s an experiment I wish to conduct, and it’s worth taking on a ride I’m not great at.

MC: Experiment?

Lucien: Of course, from your perspective, it could be understood as another reason.

When I’m just about to continue probing, I gradually realise that there seems to be something wrong with this Pirate Ship.

Based on my memory, the speed of the swinging Pirate Ship shouldn’t be this fast.

MC: Did you…

Lucien: Based on my observations, the angle of the swinging Pirate Ship in this carnival is even larger than typical Pirate Ships. Put another way, its “destructive power” is even stronger.

As though agreeing with his words, the Pirate Ship sways from a vertical angle following the next swing.

MC: Ahhh–!

A similar weightlessness from the Wind-and-Fire Wheel causes me to scream even louder.

Despite experiencing a similar ride, my body didn’t get used to it as I had expected.

Instead, it exacerbates the memory from earlier, intensifying the feeling of fear.

I squeeze my eyes shut, gripping the handlebar tightly, wanting to stick myself to the seat.

When the ride ascends again, I can feel the Pirate Ship reaching a height that it has never reached before.

In my extreme nervousness, my heart clenches tightly.

Lucien: MC.

Suddenly, Lucien calls my name.

I subconsciously open my eyes to look at him.

It’s the first time I’m seeing such a Lucien.

In my memories, his expressions are mostly flat.

But right now, Lucien is looking at me, his narrow eyes turning into handsome arcs. The corners of his lips are raised, and he’s smiling happily and broadly.

Behind him is the dark blue sky. At a place far from the ground, I see a completely different smile from Lucien.

In its brightness, I seem to sense the childishness of someone whose prank has succeeded.

In this moment, I even forget that I’m on the Pirate Ship which is about to make its descent in the next second.

When my body reminds me of this, it’s already too late to close my eyes.

The exhilaration from having my eyes open while screaming is ten times more than when my eyes are closed.

MC: Ahh—!!!

In this instance, I understand what he meant by “another reason”.

Lucien: A little, tiny revenge?

MC: Lu–! Cien–!!!

What I get in response is a sigh from Mother Nature, as well as Lucien’s soft chuckle from the side.

[ PART FOUR ]

Looking around the adorably and warmly decorated cafeteria, and then the little gift that came along with the meal, I’m a little confused.

A few minutes ago, we were thinking about what to have for dinner, and we walked into this warm and adorably decorated small shop.

But we didn’t expect…

MC: I really didn’t think it’d be so “hardcore”.

I hold up the little gift, placing it in between Lucien and I.

It’s different from the small ornaments and objects with a feminine aura from my memories.

This cafeteria gives a heart-shaped Burr puzzle to patrons who order the couple set.

MC: The dishes are so delicious that they’re comparable to top-grade restaurants. Even the gifts they provide are just as hardcore. It’s amazing.

Lucien is tickled by my dead serious expression.

Lucien: Looks like the organiser has put in much effort, wanting to leave every visitor with unforgettable and happy memories.

MC: But giving visitors a heart which can’t be unlocked - what’s the owner of the shop thinking…

Without a proper strategy, I play with the Burr puzzle, and can’t help but grumble.

Lucien chuckles, taking this “heart” from my hand.

Lucien: With a little technique, it can be opened easily.

He sits slightly closer to me. Slowing down, he gives me a demonstration while explaining the technique of how to unlock the Burr puzzle.

With the movement of his fingertips and a gentle tug, the wooden lock, which was linked for a very long time, opens, revealing a tiny empty space in the heart which can be used to store things.

MC: Even though you’re already sick of this phrase, I still have to say - Lucien, you’re truly incredible.

Lucien: If I say that I haven’t gotten sick of this phrase, would you be willing to say it to me even more times?

Lucien turns his head over slightly to look at me. In his eyes are the familiar smile and slyness I’m most familiar with.

MC: If I say it, will I get a special prize from Professor Lucien?

After hearing this, Lucien actually ponders over it.

He narrows his eyes slightly, as though he’s facing the most complex, important, and difficult question.

Lucien: If it’s a prize…

All of a sudden, he leans over to my ear. Every gentle word brushes against my outer ear, trickling into my heart.

Lucien: Would an especially happy Lucien be enough?

MC: …Professor Lucien, that’s called being unreasonable.

Lucien: Is that so? I even thought you’d be very satisfied with it.

Lucien blinks, pretending to be taken aback.

Just when I think of how to best turn the tables, he places the wooden mortise of the Burr puzzle, which is used to store items, in my hand.

Lucien: Want to think of what to put in here? Given its structure, I’m thinking this is a safer place to store tiny keepsakes.

MC: Yes.

I turn towards the staff at the side, asking for a few sheets of post-its and pens, and also to allowing the temperature on my face to dissipate.

After we write on our respective notes for a while, Lucien and I exchange them.

On mine, there’s a simple drawing of a man opening a lock, a handsome smile on his face.

What Lucien hands over is a sketch.

In the simple composition, in the midst of light and shadow, he impressively draws me.

The me in the picture has her head lowered, writing on the post-it note, smiling very sweetly.

MC: Now, we’re doubly satisfied!

[ PART FIVE ]

MC: Why is there an animal show?

I look at the signboard at a corner of the park, and can’t help but frown.

MC: Should we remind the organisers that this is disrespectful to the animals, and also inhumane?

Lucien: Under normal circumstances, that would be the case.

Lucien takes out the guidebook, turning to the page which features the animal show.

Lucien: All the animals performing here have been rescued by the Loveland Animal Protection Organisation. During their training, there will not be any scolding or punishment. They also wouldn’t do anything against their instincts. For instance, jumping through flaming hoops. There’s a strict limit on how long they can perform, ensuring that these little fellows wouldn’t be too tired. Also, just as the guidebook says…

Lucien’s finger glides to the respective section of the guidebook.

Lucien: The profits from the carnival will all be used on animal rescue and protection. So I think supporting the “work” of these small animals is something we could do.

MC: Since you’ve put it that way, let’s go have a look!

Very quickly, along with a crisp sound of an bell, the performance begins.

A small white cat peeks its head out from the stage. After looking right and left, it leaps onto the window sill with light steps.

In the next second, plump tuxedo cats jump out from the same place, running to the railing at the other end.

Various coloured kittens start a round of “relay racing”.

MC: So cute!

Even more small animals join this relay race.

Puppies, parrots, and even charmingly adorable piglets and vivacious lambs.

MC: Lucien, how do you think they did this?

Completely absorbed in this novel performance, I can’t help being curious.

Lucien: By using food as a method of training, every small animal knows where it should run to. Staff members behind the scenes would let the next small animal enter the stage at the appropriate timing, leading to a successful performance.

MC: …that’s all?

Even though I was the one who brought up the question, receiving such an unexpectedly simple principle causes me to feel slightly empty.

MC: Truly, after knowing the principles behind things, the magic is no longer interesting…

My soft muttering doesn’t escape Lucien’s ears.

Lucien: Why don’t I give you a small gift as compensation for this “spoiler”?

The length of the performance isn’t very long. Once it’s over, Lucien walks over to the staff, and says something to him.

Lucien: MC, come here.

Curious, I follow Lucien to the empty area beside the stage.

The bell rings once again. This time, however, the “little actors” who had appeared on stage earlier are standing in a queue, walking towards me.

In the mouth of every animal is a small flower.

MC: Are these… for me?

As though answering my query, the small animals place the flowers into my open palm.

Lucien ties the flowers together, weaving them into a bracelet, and carefully wears it on my wrist.

Lucien: Even if it’s a simple principle, it can bring pleasant surprises if coupled with the thought of wanting to make you happy.

While he says this, he takes the final flower held by a small bird, wrapping it around my fourth finger, and rolling it into a ring.

Lucien: This “magic” which has been disclosed - do you like it?

Fireworks event: here

#this is just a re-post of the love carnival translations!#the previous translations were split according to parts rather than love interest which I find really disjointed!#I'm doing some mild renovations to the blog so don't mind me!!

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floofiestboy · 4 years

Text

Haruhara Live Q/A Session via Text

Translations of past question corners:

- Question Corners #1-10

- Question Corners #11-20

- Question Corners #21-30

- Question Corners #31-40

- Question Corners #41-50

A couple days back, Haruhara asked people subscribed to his channel to send him questions via email. These are the answers.

Haruhara’s comments:

In this article, instead of a live Q/A session, I answer all the questions I got via email in text form.

Just like in an actual live session, I’ve answered the questions without carefully double-checking my notes and past chapters, so please take this as entertainment. Treat it as non-canon. Anything I haven’t explicitly talked about in canon shouldn’t be treated as such.

Senyuu has technically ended, and so now that’s it’s been over ten years, I’m even answering questions that made me think before, “If I answer this, it’ll affect how they read the main story...”!

Treat it separately from canon! These are just backstories, settings!

source: ch.nicovideo.jp/haruhara-ch/blomaga/ar1939122

Q. I love the BGM on the chapters on NicoNico, so I was wondering who composed them?

A. I don’t know either. Similarly, I don’t know who designed the logos either. But they are nice songs, aren’t they?

Q. Has Alba’s father been journeying since he was young? Did he live apart from Alba?

A. While he’s always been journeying, he came back regularly. If I compared it to a modern-day job, he’d be like a long-distance truck driver or a fisherman.

Q. Does Rchi still have her Mark of a Demon Lord? Do Rchimedes and the Second have the same mark?

A. She still has it, but since I keep on forgetting to draw it, I’ve decided it only shows up when she prays for it to appear. Rchimedes and the Second do not have it.

Q. What sort of job does Justice do in the Demon World?

A. Her job is to be cheerful. Since she’s strong, she has no problems living the way she does. Since the Demon World is still kinda a lawless land, being strong is enough to keep on living on.

Q. Are there only three Four Great Demons?

A. Yes, I just wanted to do a joke where there were a fewer (or greater) number of actual members than a title would make you think.

Q. Is the hole in the world still there?

A. To be honest, when I said that a hole had opened up in the world, what I actually wanted to say was “Something strange happened to the world.” I hadn’t thought about what the hole would be or anything. I bet a giant gate or something opened up for a moment, and monsters and stuff came over here from there. In that case, the hole would’ve closed already.

Q. Please tell me how demons age!

A. It really depends on the demon. Since demons are a race created by Rchimedes going like “Eh, whatevs”, their characteristics aren’t really consistent between each other. I think that demons have long lives because somewhere deep inside Rchimedes, he hated the idea of death and losing loved ones. Though he did play around and had demons fight each other and stuff. While on the surface level, it may have seemed like he fell into despair and raised havoc, I think he really did grieve about losing loved ones deep down.

Q. I’d like to hear more about the Loli 12 Organization and Loli Master the 5th (Master Go Rori).

A. To be honest, I just wanted to say gorori (T/N: onomatopoeia meaning ‘to lie down’). I’m sorry!

Q. Can we no longer see the BL route?!?!!?!

A. Huh?! What do you mean?! - was my first thought, but ah, I remember now. You’re talking about when I drew Ros getting jealous of Alba sleeping with Grandpa during season 2. Since you’re asking if you can no longer see it, I’m guessing you mean that you can’t? I myself have forgotten where I drew it and don’t have the file anymore.

There was a time in the past when I was super into AUs - I drew anything that hit my mind. But then I realized that readers tend to take anything the creator draws super seriously, so I stopped really doing it.

Though lately when I still really want to draw something AU, I always make sure to put a disclaimer stating “This is unrelated to canon!” before it.

(T/N: Please tell me someone has the drawing mentioned here saved somewhere I need this I beg of you.)

Q. In Senyuu Season 2, Rchi keeping information about Creasion from Alba was treated as a joke and kinda just skipped over, but now that I think about it, unless Rchi had told Alba about it, Alba would’ve basically never found out about Creasion. (Since it was pure coincidence that he ended up in the Demon World and found out about it.)

I was wondering if Rchi really intended never to tell Alba about it even though they were working at saving Ros.

If there are any such reasons, I would like to hear about how Rchi was actually planning to tell him once some more time passed, or about how she had some other reason and was really planning never to tell, etc.

A. Ros being the Demon Lord’s son isn’t directly related to saving Ros (via finding a way to free the Demon Lord.) Even if Alba found out the reason why Ros couldn’t defeat the Demon Lord, there wouldn’t have been anything he could’ve done about it. So since knowing the truth would just give Alba more to worry about, I think that Rchi decided it would be better to just stay on their journey and keep looking for information. I don’t think she had any particularly strong desire that would make her really want to tell him.

Q. In F5 Ep. 11, I loved how Alba believed in Ros so easily, and how Ros declared with a smile, “The only person I punch for no reason is you, Hero-san!” How much deeper has their bond become since their early days?

A. How much deeper... how much deeper, I wonder? I feel like bonds aren’t the kind of thing you can measure in words. But I guess, compared to their early days, Ros trusts Alba enough to still be violent towards him even though he’s begun to realize that hey, “It isn’t really good to be violent.”

Q. How do you decide on the characters’ hair and eye colours? What do you use as reference when you draw their clothing and accessories?

A. Honestly, it’s always just whatever comes to me. Aside from the first few characters, I draw new characters vaguely at the storyboard stage, then draw them in properly at the manuscripting stage. For eye colours, in Senyuu I’ve decided that “people who can’t use magic don’t have red eyes.” That’s just something I’m trying to stick to, it doesn’t mean that “Everyone with red eyes in the Senyuu universe can use magic.” Cecily can’t use magic, after all.And there’s random citizens with red eyes out there too. I feel like people’s eyes turn red when they obtain magic because Rchimedes’ feelings towards Cecily were the trigger for magic’s discovery, even in Elf and Alf’s world. Cecily is an important character even though she hasn’t done anything.

Q. Elf and Ros haven’t really gotten the chance to really talk to each other thanks to their respective situations, but now that they work at the same place, I was wondering how close you think they are to each other. If you could expand on how their thoughts and impressions towards each other since their first meeting have changed, I would be really happy.

A. Elf used to think of Ros as someone to be pitied, but nowadays he’s realized that being pitiable isn’t something a bystander should decide, so he doesn’t think that any longer. The two of them aren’t particularly close, but they do chat normally. They’re like classmates who get along pretty well at school but never hang out on the weekends.

Q. If you have any thoughts on scrapped characters like Soldier Rosicks, the Season 2 Alba with the large sword on his back, cat-eared Rchi, etc., I’d love to hear them.

A. It’s less that I “scrapped” those characters and more that I just drew their appearances while I was drawing out all sorts of ideas, so they don’t have any particular backstories or settings associated with them. I’m the type to decide on things like settings as I move the characters around on a storyboard, so when I draw simple illustrations, they’re just empty shells.

Q. I’d like to know more about what happened with the first and third year Hero Academy students after Season 3. Also, how much do Sochi and her classmates know about “Lake’s little brother”?

A. I haven’t really thought about it, so if you’d like me to think about it I’d like to have at least two days for it, but I can’t take two days to think about this question, so the answer is “I haven’t really thought about it.” I’m sorry. Sometimes I can just think up answers on the spot, but I’d feel sorry to push entire lives onto characters based on ideas I thought up on the spot. So I’d like to think about what happens to characters “after” properly. Though I’ll decide things on the spot when it comes to random mob characters and aspects I don’t care about.

Q. The reason why Alba and Salt, who both obtained enough mana to affect the world around them, were able to leave prison was because they became capable of controlling their mana, not because their knowledge reached the level of say, Ros or Elf - would that be the correct interpretation? Additionally, what level of knowledge have Alba and Salt reached by F5, considering that they were getting 0% on even simple multiplication tests before?

A. Alba was released because he became capable of a certain level of control. His level of knowledge has not reached the levels of Elf and Ros. He hasn’t caught up to them, so unlike Elf and Ros, who’d use their knowledge and little tricks to turn 100 bits of mana into 200, Alba uses the bare minimum amount of knowledge to use 500 bits of mana as only 300.

I’ve forgotten most of what I intended for Salt back them, so I apologize if I’ve given a different answer before which contradicts the one I’m about to give. Salt obtained great power, but he had no talent in keeping it within his body, so the mana was gradually released from him. I think he became so incapable of using magic that he was no longer an exceptional case, so he was eventually released.

Q. I have a question about the differences between Main Quest and the original canon. There are scenes in Main Quest that weren’t in the original canon, such as Rchi and Alba’s discussion in Part 2 Volume 4 Chapter 41, “Alba Expresses His Gratitude”, and Chapter 50, “Alba Is Stupefied”, where Mortmorte the 2nd offers to be sacrificed. I was wondering what your thoughts were when you added these extra scenes in.

A. While it isn’t as though I thought carefully about every new addition, when I drew Main Quest, my thoughts were along the lines of “Let’s go a little deeper into things.” I think that’s what I was thinking when I put in new lines. Also, typically I had a set number of pages I needed to draw for, so I think I moved around lines and expanded scenes as needed to fit the pages.

Q. I have a question about Teufel. In Season 1, Teufel only shows up in the extra chapters, but did you already intend to use him as the “Soul Manipulator” during the fight with Rchimedes in Season 2? Or was this something you decided as you got through Season 2.

A. That was something I planned from the start! If you’d like to know why Teufel appeared early, please read Filled It With My Feelings! There’s even a PDF version!

(T/N: *shills Haruhara* Filled It With My Feelings (Digital): hiaruron.booth.pm/items/2329424 Filled It With My Feelings (Physical, only available to order until midnight JST Sept. 3rd): tckc-ch.net)

Q. “The world isn’t at peace or anything! He isn’t! Meta Ros isn’t smiling!” So anyways, Meta Ros hasn’t appeared since the last episode of Senyuu+, but is he happy? Is he having fun with Meta Alba?

A. Honestly, I haven’t really thought too deeply about it since he’s just a joke character. But since he’s just a joke character, I’m sure he’s off doing his own thing somewhere, free and unrestrained by anything.

Q. Since Lym is a demon and Lake is from a thousand years ago, they don’t have last names, but does Salt have one? He is from modern times. If he does, what is it?

A. He does. I’ve also thought up names for Rchimedes the Second and his wife, but the thing is with manga is that you shouldn’t include everything you think up. It’s more interesting to the readers if you just include the information they need to know. Like how if you introduce yourself to someone in real life, you don’t tell them your whole life backstory, like- “My name is Tanaka Tarou! My father is Tanaka Katsuo. My mother is Tanaka Hanako, my grandma is-” You just tell them what they need to know, right? That makes things go more smoothly. Yeah.

So anyways, about his last name, I did think of one. Yeah. But I don’t remember where I wrote it down, and I can’t remember the name at all right now. I mean hey, even in real life, sometimes you forget people’s names when you just call them by a nickname all the time. It’s like that, etc., blah blah.

Q. Why was Ros the only one to be released from the seal even though he was sealed together with Rchiemdes? Who broke the seal?

A. Wasn’t it Elf who released the seal in order to give Alba some stimulus? Though Alba and Ros’ first meeting itself was a coincidence. Elf wanted to release Ros, or rather, the Demon Lord into Alba’s time in order to give Alba some stimulus, and to achieve that goal he teamed up with Dezember... wait, was this something I scrapped? Did I never write about it? I remember everything until Season 4 pretty well, since I drew a lot until there, but when I reached Season 4 I started feeling that sense of relief like “It’s all over~” and remember absolutely nothing...! I’d need to completely re-read Senyuu to know for sure... every, please re-read it for me! If there was something like that in canon, then I’ll go with that. If there wasn’t, then I must’ve scrapped it, or else I just had to cut back some parts that I wanted to draw.

...Now I’m starting to feel like I scrapped it after all... because I thought that having Elf doing everything wasn’t a good plot device... I don’t know...

Anyways, for now the answer to the question is “Wow, it’s really quite strange... I wonder who did it~”

Q. Foyfoy said that Ros was “a soldier from a country who doesn’t know war.” What kind of environment did Foyfoy grow up in?

A. While Foyfoy’s hometown is peaceful, Foyfoy spent time as a mercenary in wartorn countries in order to make money. It’s never been shown in canon, so it’s basically just a little backstory that was thought up at some point in the past.

Q. There’s other countries in SQ, but if there’s other countries in canon would Alba be seen as a threat?

A. There are other countries. But the King of the country that collected all those heroes is so powerful, Alba being a wonder of nature isn’t as important. If we say that Alba’s country is Japan, the neighbouring countries are on the scale of the Fukue Neighbourhood in Kurashiki City of Fukushima Prefecture.

(T/N: You can see the exact scale on Google Maps by searching “岡山県倉敷市福江”, but essentially, incredibly tiny in comparison.)

Q. Is the King’s right-hand man Maine (Minister) still working at the castle?

A. He should be. He is.

Q. Crea awakened to his magic through contact with the Mana Maker, but can he no longer use it?

A. Crea doesn’t know how to use magic so he can’t. There’s no longer a Mana Maker in his body as well. There may be some mana left behind in his body, but he has no idea how to draw it out, so he can’t use it. At the start of Season 3, he tries to make a flower bloom with magic, but fails, after all.

Q. Hasegawara and Grandpa returned to their youths - did they continue living like that?

A. Since they did technically achieve their goal, they should’ve gone back to their original lives.

Q. In The Hero of the Port City, Guilty Justice says that she came because she sensed Creasion’s mana. What was she planning to do?

A. She probably came to fight him because she sensed some rare mana. Considering canon, it’s strange for Justice to appear in a place like that, isn’t it?

Q. How is Alf and Cecily’s relationship at the moment...?

A. They don’t have one.

Q. Back in his Originia era, Crea was an orphan, so how did did he survive?

A. Back then, orphans weren’t uncommon. The villagers helped raise him - he lived a happy life.

Q. The princess from ‘Tis Time for “Torture”, Princess and Hime-chan have the same birthday and a similar hairstyle - are they related in any way?

A. The reason why their birthdays are the same is that when I went to write about the princess’ birthday, I thought, “Hm, did I decide on her birthday? Oh right, March 3rd.” and accidentally remembered it as Hime-chan’s birthday. The princess’ hairstyle is entirely Hira Kei-san’s design, I had no hand in it, but I don’t think it’s that similar to Hime-chan’s?

Q. It seems like demons have long lifespans, so does the Demon World have problems with overpopulation?

A. In order to birth a new demon, you need to have a fair amount of mana and a good amount of skill in manipulating it. Alternately, you need to meet someone who you’re really in perfect sync with. Because of that, their population doesn’t increase that much.

Q. I really really love the “three burrs” hairstyle - will Ros never wear his hair that way again?

A. That hairstyle was something done by the first hairstylist he went to after he was unsealed, so unless he goes to that exact hairstylist again, he won’t have that hairstyle.

Q. What is Dezember and Justice’s newlywed life like? Is Dezember the househusband after all?

A. Though Justice was getting things going with the wedding, Dezember ran away so their newlywed life hasn’t begun. Their dynamic is kinda like the one in Urusei Yatsura.

Q. Rchi is now over 12. How does Rudolf feel about this?

A. I thought that Rudolf was good with anyone below 13? Was it only until 10? But even if she grows past Rudolf’s age ceiling, he won’t really stop being kind to her. He would stop spoiling her so much though, in how he used to do whatever she asked with no strings asked. He would instead start saying that it’s important to try things out yourself too. That’s the only thing that would change.

Q. F5 is a regular manga, so are there any plans to release a physical volume for it?

A. Not in the slightest.

Q. Cecily and Lake were living alone together before reuniting with Ros, so how did their neighbours react to a young teenager Lake having a younger brother in his 20s?

A. Their neighbours don’t think of Ros as the younger brother - they more just think of him as Cecily’s son who came back home from afar. I think updating the family registry wouldn’t have been hard with the connections they have in the government.

Q. I would like you to tell me how Januar got into ninja and tomato farming.

A. He got into ninja because they’re cool, and he got into tomato farming because tomatoes are yummy.

Q. Elf and Alf were time travelling in Season 4 - I would like it if you made a detailed timeline of what they and other characters did. (For example, Alf erased Elf’s memories during X time, at this time Rchimedes and Creasion were doing Y, etc.)

A. When I was writing Season 4, I did make a timeline, but I’m not sure where it went... what Elf and Alf did is all written in the article before this one, “My Memos”. I don’t think things have changed much from the timeline there for Elf and Alf, so please figure things out from there!

(T/N: I’ll consider translating that article at some point... it’s a lot of text... and it’s all disjointed...

Though I guess this Q/A is also a lot of text, I’m already at 3.5k words.)

Q. In the extra chapter in Season 2, “Right Before Episode 60″, Foyfoy asks if Marl wants to come to the castle with him, but do the two of them actually live in the castle itself? Or do they live near the castle?

A. Marl does live in the castle because she thinks it’s cool to live in a castle.

Q. Why are Elf and Alf not returning to their original time (ignoring the new future timeline after their changes) and are instead working at Alba’s research center?

A. Because they look up to Alba and want to help him out.

Q. Do you have any thoughts on how Alba watches over all kinds of worlds out there?

A. I do think, “That seems rather dangerous, doesn’t it?” But I also think, “Well, it’s Alba-san, he’ll be fine.”

Q. Personally, I feel like Senyuu. has a lot of whiplash between comedic scenes and serious scenes. Is there any particular scene you drew while specifically considering this whiplash?

A. Senyuu, is a work I drew as an amateur out of sheer willpower alone, so it isn’t that it has a lot of whiplash between comedic and serious scenes - it’s just that I didn’t understand a thing. “Woo hoo! This seems fun!” was the only thing on my mind. As a bystander, you may wonder, “How can he zoom right into that corner at that speed?” while watching me cruise along in my vehicle, but in reality, you just didn’t know that I was unaware of the fact that zooming into that corner at that speed could result in death. If I wrote Senyuu. the way I am now, I think it would end up being a much tidier manga, much easier to read as well, but I doubt it’d have that same speed and power to it.

Q. I had a question about Rchimedes the First’s character design. Did you give him black and white hair because you personally thought it was really cool? And then you thought it was too cool for him so you made his clothes super lame as a compromise?

A. It was all just from powering through drawing him. I did think “Wow, his clothes are lame!” but I immediately ignored it and continued drawing.

Q. Somewhere along the line, cellphones have spread among the masses - does Ros have one? And really, who’s making them?

A. From the very start, I planned for Senyuu. to be unconstrained by the chains of fantasy and include technology. Even in the start of Season 1, there’s a picture of Ros holding a DS at one point. Since it’s a manga, I completely intend to ignore real-life technological development timelines.

Q. Ros has pretty lax shifts - six day weekends and only needing to come in from the afternoon. Does he really only go to work once a week?

A. He doesn’t even go to work once a week. He does no work but wanders over to the research center to loiter around when he feels like it.

Q. In Senyuu+, Alba seems pretty tired sometimes. Is working at the research center actually pretty bad? As in, does it require a lot of overtime?

A. It isn’t bad, Alba is just going ahead and doing the work he wants to do, then going ahead and getting all tired because of it. From the perspective of the government running it, even just having the world’s hero Alba owning a research center they manage is good enough. It would be fine even if Alba never showed up at the research center at all and never did even one iota of work. Alba is just doing his best for everyone’s sake. Lately, he rests properly.

Q. Boss seems to have accessories and clothes other than his hoodie. Does he buy all of them himself?

A. Yes, he does. I talk about this in the doujinshi Filled It With My Feelings as well!

(T/N: If you enjoyed reading any of this tidbits, please consider supporting Haruhara by purchasing the original article on his channel: ch.nicovideo.jp/haruhara-ch/blomaga/ar1939122)

#senyuu #senyu #senyuu spoilers #haruhara robinson #haruhara robinson channel #senyuu content #my translations

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pluto-art · 5 years

Text

PatB Fan Fiction: Equivocal (w/ illustrations)

Word Count: 9,252 (approximately) Theme: Tragedy/Hurt/Comfort Rating: PG-13 Trigger Warnings: Suicide, multiple character deaths, blood and gore (near the very end) Fan Fiction Link: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13509851/1/Equivocal

Summary: Lightning shot across the cold, white-washed walls, puncturing the plaster with ghostly shadows whose tendrils groped into every corner and crevice. Relentlessly did it perform its dance across the linoleum floor, past the locked steel doors, and over a set of watery, electric blue eyes glued to the subject writhing and twisting inside the makeshift prison of a bottle...

Author's Note: This story was inspired by a headcanon that writer @themurphyzone came up with, in which, and I quote, "...Brain is scared that Pinky might succeed in sacrificing himself so he can rule the world and it won't be something they can reverse...". This is the second time I've written a Pinky and the Brain piece based off of someone else's fan fiction and/or headcanon. I actually got 1/3 of the way through a storyboard for the first before I came up with another idea that became what's written below. I considered storyboarding this one, too, but decided to simply do a few illustrations to go along with it instead. Said illustrations accompany the story below. Additionally, there were musical pieces I listened to that greatly fueled the tone and feel of this story. Throughout the fan fiction, I have put little markers (a cross/crosses) by certain moments. You can find the corresponding links to each after the story.

Lightning shot across the cold, white-washed walls, puncturing the plaster with ghostly shadows whose tendrils groped into every corner and crevice. It sliced into the metal tables positioned ever so perfectly, tight in their respective spots throughout the blackened room. Its streaks cut into the malefic inhabitants that peppered the landscape - test tubes, syringes, boxes of medical gloves, dilators, gauze, note pads, scalpels. It ignored the screams echoing from its birthplace: a globular glass bottle, tapered at the top, just large enough for a mouse to uncomfortably pace around in. Relentlessly did it perform its dance across the linoleum floor, past the locked steel doors, and over a set of watery, electric blue eyes glued to the subject writhing and twisting inside the makeshift prison of a bottle.

"It doesn't have to end like this, you know," slid the words out from under whetted lips, smooth and sinister.

Pinky jumped a little as a cold paw slithered onto his shoulder. He turned slightly, reluctantly pulling his gaze away from the lightning show to rest upon the owner of the paw. A pitying look greeted him. Not a genuine, remorseful look; this one had the makings of a smirk behind it. Yet Pinky did not pick up on this. He never did much like the hamster... or trust him. Snowball had never given him much reason to. This time, however, his options were slim.

"Poor Brain. A victim of his own creation. Ironic, is it not? The analyst becomes the experiment. I tried to warn him, but would he listen to me? Oh, nooooo. And now... look."

Each word was carefully placed; each syllable ever so lightly pressed where needed. The full smirk broke through briefly as Snowball circled behind Pinky's back, only to be replaced by a convincing frown of sympathy as he reappeared on the white mouse's right-hand side. Pinky was frowning too, except his pout was sincere, eyes trained on the helpless prisoner being endlessly shocked and stung. A corner of Snowball's mouth twitched. He had him. It was all too easy.

"It's only a matter of time now before he's... well... I can't bear to say it. And the lightning needs a host until its goal is accomplished, lest it get out of control. I'd go in myself, of course, but... who would keep the machine in check? If only there was someone who could take his place..."

It was all nonsense. Empty words with no logic behind them. Yet it all made perfect sense to Pinky. Simple, dreadfully perfect sense. He turned to Snowball, gaze glistening as he grasped the hamster's shoulders with two shaking paws.

"I'll do it, Snowman! Send me in instead! Please!"

Snowball raised an eyebrow in mock surprise.

"You?"

Pinky nodded solemnly as Snowball slowly returned the gesture, his own paws taking hold of Pinky's shoulders.

"Understand, my friend, that you won't be its prisoner for merely a few minutes, but for as long as it takes..."

Pinky hung his head. He wasn't stupid; at least, not in the way people perceived him to be. He knew what he was giving up.

"He's my friend..."

Snowball said nothing. Not immediately. For a few seconds, he let it linger - give Brain a little more time to suffer; give the idiot a little more time to think about exactly what it was he was committing to do.

After a full thirty seconds, he nodded and gently steered Pinky closer to the glass, a paw resting on his back in mock comfort. The gesture might've been a kind one if he hadn't been nudging him to the gallows.

"Just remember...," Snowball muttered, as he shuffled over to a panel, his index finger hovering over a small, green button labeled 'Hold', "... you only have twenty seconds to replace him before it turns back on again."

Pinky gave a silent response in understanding, nose almost touching the literal bottle of lightning. He swallowed... hard. He could take a lot of pain, relish it even, but this was a different set - one he didn't think even he'd be able to handle. But Brain was in there, and that wasn't right. His friend was hurting. He shouldn't be. He couldn't be.

Pinky turned to face Snowball.

"Just one more thing. Promise you'll let Brain take over the world with you."

A pause. The hamster's finger still hovered over the button as he stared at Pinky, contemplating his request.

"Promise?" Pinky pleaded.

Snowball inclined his head ever so slightly.

"Of course, my friend."

It was barely visible, but Pinky smiled.

For a moment, everything went black as the machine was held fast, ensnared in a temporary hold. A few sparks flew, and an emergency green light from somewhere in the room flashed on, illuminating an immobile Brain as a transparent door in the bottle was released and opened. Without hesitation, Pinky ran in, picked Brain up, and quickly deposited him outside of the bottle. He lingered for a moment... Brain was still breathing, but unconscious in his arms. He wouldn't mind, would he? It was the last time he'd ever see him. He wouldn't mind... For a few silent seconds, Pinky held Brain close to him, face buried in his chest. No whispers. No words. Just... a hug.

"Pinky, hurry!" Snowball called.

Setting Brain down, Pinky flew into the bottle - a new host; a new replacement - as the door closed fast behind him. Two pink paws pressed themselves against the glass as he stared out at Brain, who stirred.

"Good-bye, Brain...," the lanky mouse choked.

"Pinky...?" whispered Brain, barely able to lift himself from the floor as he turned to stare back at his former prison. How did he get outside...? He blinked. Why was Pinky in the glass...?

"Good-bye, Pinky," muttered Snowball, the soft release of a chuckle growing in volume to a full out maniacal cackle as the machine began to reawaken.

Brain's eyes went wide as his gaze shifted from the bottle... to Snowball... and back to Pinky, who collapsed under the weight of the bolt's intensity.

"No... No! Pinky...! PINKY!"

Barely was he able to drag himself up into a hobbled run towards the glass, paws outstretched in horror, when suddenly, without warning, everything went black... and still, the last sound he heard that of Pinky's terrified screams of pain ringing in his ears...

/\/\/\/\

... he was never worth anything to you...

... where are we going, brain? ...

... useless, equivocal...

... but what if it doesn't work? ...

... you could have it all in this moment... if you wanted to...

... don't hurt him! ...

... it was never a matter of if; it was only a matter of when...

... brain? ...

... and when it all comes down to it...

... brain...! ...

... there never was any question of who would win...

... Pinky! ...

...

"... Pinky..."

Brain blinked.

... w-where.. where am I...

No... no sound. Wait. Yes, there were sounds. Echoing. Echoes in a chasm.

... Snowball... he tricked me...

Static. Crackling. The crackling of some... flashing substance. Lightning...?

... Pinky... Where was Pinky...?

Slowly, tenderly, he pushed himself up off the ground. It was cold and hard. No life in it.

As he regained consciousness, blinking away the fog lining his eyes, Brain could finally make out his surroundings. He was in a cage - slightly bigger than the one back at the lab, but also much more foreboding. There was no food here. No water. No material of any kind decorated its interior. It was simply bars and steel, with nothing to indicate that anything ever had or ever would live here. Cold. Dark. Hostile.

Brain rubbed at his eyes and looked about the room. The cage was placed on a high table set against a dark gray wall. The room itself looked like something out of a horror film - a large, vast space with towering walls and an even higher ceiling. Thick cylindrical pipes snaked up and over the walls and on the sides of a stairwell that led to... where? The lab? He wasn't even sure if this was the lab. It was certainly unlike any area he'd seen in the place they called home, resembling the basement of a power plant or a warehouse more than anything. And it was dark. Incredibly dark. The only light came from under the doors and from panels on the walls. The only sound was from beyond; the crackle of lightning, and... something else... unnerving; chilling. It was barely audible, but Brain knew what it was. He'd screamed them himself not long ago, as a prisoner of that failed mess of an experiment.

He took a tentative step forward... and gasped as he fell to the floor. Every molecule of his body ached. The very thoughts that came into his throbbing head seemed to scream in agony. Standing was one thing. Walking was another. He groaned. If there was one thing he hated almost as much as being humiliated, it was losing control - control of his mind, his body, and his emotions. Snowball had manipulated him in mind, played with his emotions by tricking Pinky into swapping places with him, and now he'd lost control of his body. Lost. He'd lost all of it... because of him...

... no. It wasn't because of Snowball. It wasn't because of Snowball at all...

It was pitiful, how he curled into a ball of nothingness, his tail wrapped tightly about him. Embarrassing, how easily the tears fell into little puddles on the barren, steel carpet. Stupid. Mortifying.

"Brain...?"

He lifted his head, eyes wide.

"Pinky..?"

He looked to the side of him. There was no Pinky, and yet... he could see him clearly. A ghost...? No. A figment. A creation of his own imaginings. Great. So now he was imagining things - pretending Pinky was there... talking to him. Was he really that far gone? Or perhaps he was just that lonely...

"What's wrong, Brain?" the imaginary Pinky whispered, leaning down to place a ghostly paw on Brain's shoulder. "Did you fail in taking over the world again? Poit."

"I..," Brain choked. It was difficult enough to speak, let alone admit his demise, even if it was only to himself.

"It's all right, Brain. You'll take over the world someday. I believe in you."

Comforting even in his imaginings. Pinky without positivity simply didn't exist.

"I... I can't," he mumbled, his head turned away.

"Oh, yes, you can, Mistah!" replied his imaginary friend. "What about your brilliant plan?"

"It was a failure, Pinky. A failure... just like everything else. Like me..."

"Oh, noooo. You're not a failure, Brain. A little big-headed, maybe, but... not a failure."

"No."

Despite himself, despite the pain, he stood up shakily and scooted up to the cage bars, grasping onto them tightly for support as he stared out at the nothingness from within his new prison.

"I am a failure. All this... - this cage, this... future - ... it's all because of me."

Pinky, if he really was there, stared at Brain sadly, ears flopped.

"If I hadn't been so... asinine, I...," he sighed. "Well, you got one thing right, my friend. Big-headed. Heh. My logic errs to a fault. And you're in the middle of it..."

Pinky stepped closer to him, slowly, hesitantly.

"Stupid. Stupid. Careless idiot!"

He kicked forcefully at the bars, causing Pinky to jump back a pace. He didn't care how much it hurt him; how the tremors ran up his body; how the pain of it nearly threw him to the floor. It was unbearable... and he deserved every ounce of it.

"Why didn't I recheck my calculations?! WHY DIDN'T I FACTOR HIM INTO THIS?! Stupid stupid stupid!"

He kept kicking, punching, berating himself against the bars - anything to make him hurt more than he already did. Pinky buried his face in his hands as he sunk low to the ground, shivering, not even attempting to stop Brain. Not that he could. He was only imaginary, after all.

Finally, after what seemed an age, the clanging ceased. Huffing and puffing, still clinging to the bars, Brain slid down onto his knees in a pitiful heap, exhausted from his own self-affliction. His entire body shook. It was all he could do to keep from letting the tears fall again... and he couldn't even do that.

Two sky blue eyes peeked out from under trembling, pink paws. They blinked, once... twice... three times, trying to focus on the shivering little white lump a foot in front of him. Tenderly, Pinky pushed himself into a standing position and quietly shuffled over to his friend.

He could barely see the paw that wasn't even there, so coated were his eyes with remorse, but he looked up all the same as Pinky laid a hand on his shoulder and knelt down next to him.

"Pinky...?"

"I'm here, Brain..."

Without hesitation, Brain reached out to hold what wasn't there; to feel the embrace of what wasn't real. He sobbed into the invisible coat of fur; grasped tightly the friend he could not see. No one would see him. No one would care. Pinky held him in return, as best he could for someone who was invisible.

"I'm sorry, Pinky," Brain wept. "I'm sorry I couldn't save you... Forgive me..."

His imaginary companion said nothing; only continued holding him; petting him.

"Do you think... he was right, Pinky? Together... only complicates things..."

"Poit. I don't think we ever had to stay together, Brain. But... I do think we need each other."

He looked up at this, eyes wide in almost child-like wonder. Perhaps Pinky had a point. They never wanted this. At least, he never wanted this. A life behind bars, encased in a prison deemed necessary by society. Playthings; disposable ingredients in this hellish kitchen of a laboratory. By some force - fate, coincidence, or purpose, he knew not which - they had been placed together, unwillingly constrained to experimental torture, but miraculously kept alive otherwise. Of all creatures, he had been given the in-house idiot. And yet... were they not perfectly balanced? The yin to each other's yang. They shouldn't mesh, their personalities, and they didn't. And yet... they also did. He'd been with Pinky so long (which, in retrospect, was not very long at all by human standards) that he couldn't imagine life devoid of him in it. If anything, he wondered how he'd gotten along for such a time without Pinky. And he knew he'd be lying to himself if he thought he didn't want him around. He did want him around. He needed him around. They needed each other...

Brain stood up, Pinky gently releasing him from his empty grasp, and limped back up to the cage barrier. He was almost surprised the bars didn't shake to pieces beneath his quivering fingers. His ears twitched. Perceptive as they were, they could hear it... just barely. They could hear the screams.

Something within him snapped. Something... primeval. Instinctual.

He ran over to the door of the cage; inspected the lock. He frowned. This was not a normal lock. Aside from the fact that it still had a keyhole, this was heavy-duty, not meant to be opened by any other means than with a specific type of key. It was the Snowball way of ensuring Brain never had a prayer of getting out. But it wasn't just anyone Snowball had imprisoned in that lightning bottle. It was Pinky.

Steeling himself for what was undoubtedly more pain to come, Brain stretched out his tail so that it reached outside of the bars, stuck it in the lock, and started twisting. His jagged appendage quickly went from being the part of his body that hurt the least to the part that hurt the most as he shoved it deeper into the lock, turning it this way and that, listening intently for any sound that would acknowledge he was on the right track.

Brain's eyes watered, his breath hitching occasionally as he worked at the lock for one minute... two minutes... five minutes, his imaginary Pinky watching from behind and acting as something of a personal cheerleader, egging him on, offering words of encouragement, and doing little victory dances whenever the lock made a particularly satisfying noise. Silly as it was, it was part of what kept Brain going.

Six minutes... Seven minutes...

Click.

... Creeeeeeaaaaaaak.

Brain breathed a heavy sigh of relief, taking a brief moment to massage his throbbing tail as the cage door swung open. Pinky whooped and cheered, sounding almost as excited as the real Pinky might be were he present. Brain turned around to stare at his imaginary friend, a small, incredulous smile playing about his visage.

"Egad! I knew you could do it!" Pinky beamed.

He didn't follow as Brain practically flew out the door and onto the floor. The little ghost faded into obscurity... as if he had never been.

Pinky... Pinky... PINKY....

It was all that danced through Brain's mind as he ran, faster than he had ever run before, from one room to the next. Pinky. He needed Pinky.

Squeezing under each door was nearly effortless. Finding the right room was the challenge. If this was the lab, it was a part of it that he'd never seen before. Some rooms housed other animals - cats, dogs, rats, many of whom had never seen the light of day; all of which had been subjected to a host of experiments. A brief glance at a few of the subjects caused Brain's heart to sink into his stomach, for he recognized the occasional result of a procedure; could smell the subtle, vinegary scent of heroin, the left-over urine on caged patients. Other rooms rumbled and growled, their bellies full with old, rusted tech and machinery. Brain avoided these doors. There was only one den he wanted. Only one that mattered.

Deeper and deeper he traveled into the depths of the scientists' cave. Sometimes a ceiling opened to reveal shadows cast by the distant lightning's flashes; other times he could only hear the sounds of his destination. Where was this room...? Were the catacombs of this prison really this extensive? He had no idea. It only made him want to press harder to achieve his goal - to take over the world and leave this dungeon forever.

Hopping through a lonely office repleted with outdated computers and cold, forgotten coffee cups, Brain squeezed under another door, instinct telling him that he was getting close. He ran down a hallway devoid of light... or life... and squeezed underneath the only door straight ahead. Through another office. Down another hallway, this one branching out into two lanes - one that led to a door at its end, another that veered off to the right. Which way...? Something about the latter appealed to him, and so he chose the right-hand door. Another office, this one newer, more polished. It, too, was home to a second door... and underneath it...

Brain ran to the second door, following the trail of light. Into another hallway, this one coated with flashes of lightning. He made a right and...

There it was. He'd made it.

With only a moment's hesitation, he ran into the room like fire and up the lab table, scaling half-way up its leg before jumping onto a chair and leaping from the top of it to the lightning machine. Pinky was still inside, writhing, convulsing. He didn't even have any more energy to scream, but was simply letting the contraption do to him whatever it willed. He had no other choice. Brain flew to the 'off' lever... and gaped... for there was no lever; at least, not much of one. A small stump remained, barely thick enough for him to grasp on to. Somehow, Snowball had cut it off at the base in its 'on' position. He'd actually considered the possibility of Brain escaping and done his best to ensure that, were he to make it back to this part of the lab, it would be too late by the time Brain managed to turn the thing off. That son of a...

Cursing himself for even building this hellish contraption in the first place, Brain grabbed hold of the little stump as best he could and pulled. It was stuck. Of course it was stuck!

He pulled again. No give.

Again.

Nothing.

Again.

Panic-stricken, he looked around for something, anything, to assist him. Gum wrappers... syringes... a microscope... q-tips... a screwdriver...

A screwdriver...

In a flash, he grabbed the driver, which was mercifully small enough for him to hold in both paws, stuck it in the gap between the stump of a lever and the top of the panel, and pulled down on the screwdriver with all his might.

... CLICK.

Zeeeeerrrrrrrrrrm...

For the second time that day, the machine was quieted... to be replaced by a florescent, green glow that dimly lit up the room. The bottle illuminated, too - ghostly white, almost identical to the pasty resident within. The little tenant lay on his side, completely immobile. Utterly silent.

Brain wasted not a second in unlocking the door and running in to kneel beside his friend.

"Pinky!" he called, resting a paw atop his cage-mate's shoulder. He jumped back as a static stream bit at him. Pinky was still bristling from the literal shock of it all. Brain hazarded another touch to the mouse's shoulder. This time, he didn't get zapped.

"Pinky...?" †

Pinky uttered not a word. Either he didn't hear him... or he couldn't.

A trembling paw wrapped around a warm, limp wrist. He counted. 1... 2... 3...

The smallest of thumps kissed his fingers. He was still alive, barely.

"Pinky. Pinky, wake up," he willed, patting his friend's cheek with more force than was probably necessary. "Come on, Pinky! Wake up! Wake up or I shall have to-"

A light cough. Then another, more audible this time. Pinky's eyes fluttered as he looked up at Brain. He was barely able to lift his head. Even keeping his eyes open seemed to be a bit of an effort.

"Brain?" he muttered, his raspy voice not much more than a whisper.

"Yes, Pinky. I'm here. I'm here..."

Carefully, Brain slipped an arm underneath his friend's neck and lifted him up a little. Pinky had closed his eyes again, what little breath he had coming out in thin streams.

"Can you stand?" Brain asked, lifting him up a little more.

"I... I don't... think I can... Brain..."

"Try."

And he tried. He really did try. But when his paw pressed down upon the floor in a feeble effort to steady himself, he collapsed under the weight of it all. Brain caught his head before it collided with the hard surface of the glass.

"Okay. Okay. Don't... don't get up. Here. Hold still..."

These paws were not made for tender displays of affection. They were made for construction; for swiftly penning complex equations extracted from an erudite mind; for mixing together volatile substances with ease. They were not made for such silly and mundane things as brushing the tears from one's cheeks or tucking someone into bed at night.

Brain thought all of this to himself as he tucked his paws under Pinky's arms with the utmost tenderness he could administer... and slowly, gently, dragged him across the glass towards the exit.

He'd barely pulled him an inch, however, when Pinky squeaked. Actually squeaked. Never in his life had he heard Pinky utter an exclamation of pain in such a primitive fashion. To each other, and even in front of humans, they had always used plain, lucid English. Making actual mouse-like sounds was something even Pinky had never resorted to. Brain looked down at him worriedly. Well, more worried than he already was anyway.

"What is it?"

Pinky's body scrunched a little and his eyes clamped shut, as if trying to deaden whatever pain was coursing through him.

"I-It hurts, Brain..."

But of course it hurt. He'd just been electrocuted for who knows how long. Where wouldn't it hurt?

"Where does it hurt?"

"In.. inside. Near my middle," Pinky groaned. He patted lightly at his abdomen.

"Inside?" Brain voiced with concern. Only now did he notice that Pinky's navel area and, strangely, one of his thighs and kneecaps, were significantly bruised. Brows furrowed, he took an educated guess at exactly what that meant, but didn't want to voice it aloud. Not yet.

"Try to stay still. I need to move you out of here, Pinky."

"Is... is it night time, Brain?"

"What?"

"It's... very dark... Are they... going to turn the lights on?"

He can't see?

Brain swallowed.

"Yes, Pinky, they're... going to turn the lights back on. Soon. Now don't make any sudden movements," Brain instructed. As if he could. "I'm going to pick you up, all right? It's going to hurt a little, but try not to squirm."

Pinky nodded ever so slowly.

"Okay, Brain..."

It was an effort for someone of his small stature, but Brain managed. He had to. He picked him up bridal-style, groaning under the strain of it all as he wobbled to the glass door and practically flopped out onto the lab table. Pinky muffled a sound of disapproval as he was set down rather unsteadily.

"Are you all right..?!" Brain quavered, righting himself before quickly attending to his companion.

A little muffled "mm" was all Pinky managed to get out as Brain gingerly shifted Pinky into his lap, one arm gently securing his head while the other softly pressed into his abdomen. Pinky gasped a little at this.

"I'm sorry, my friend. I'm sorry...," uttered Brain, practically tripping over his words. It was all he could do to keep from trembling from head to tail. His paws already shook severely. He hadn't really needed to feel Pinky's abdomen to know that his only friend was bleeding internally. It wasn't as if he could perform a laparotomy on the spot. He hadn't the tools for this... or the time. Brain knew all too well what was happening. He knew... and there was nothing he could do about it...

Slowly, delicately, Brain brushed his fingers against Pinky's cheeks, petting them, cupping them, as Pinky shivered, each labored breath a struggle. There was nothing, absolutely nothing, this gentle creature had ever done that was deserving of this. It should've been him. It should've been me...

Minutes passed. Ten minutes? Twenty? An hour...?

"Brain..."

"Y-Yes, Pinky?" he choked.

"I... I'm... s-..."

Scared? Sorry? He could barely get the words out. A trembling paw reached out to hold Pinky's hand.

"It's... it's all right, old friend. You're... you're going to be all right. You'll see."

Liar.

Somehow, Pinky managed to turn his head and open unseeing eyes towards Brain.

Brain swallowed, his grip on his friend's hand tightening ever so slightly. Pinky's tightened in return.

"I'm... going to miss you... too... Brain..."

He knew. How could he know...?

Brain didn't even bother trying to stop the flow of tears this time. He gently rocked back and forth, cradling Pinky in his arm like a child. Pinky's eyes had closed again, but he kept his grip on Brain's paw, light as it was.

I don't deserve you as a friend, Pinky...

He had said that once, a long time ago. It still rang true. What had he done, to deserve someone so selfless, so sacrificial? Never in his life had he once told him. Never. He had to now. He had to...

"Pinky... I never... I never told you..."

Pinky took a particularly deep breath this time, exhaling almost as deeply. His grip slackened...

"I never told you, that... you..."

In one smooth motion, Pinky's hand slipped out of Brain's... and went still.

"Pinky...?"

He froze; pressed an ear to Pinky's chest. Brain lifted his head, eyes wide as he stared down, incredulous, at the lifeless body in his arms. He couldn't even find the energy to cry out, but simply sobbed vehemently as he buried his face in Pinky's chest, pulling him as close as he possibly could.

He wept... and he wept... For how long, he knew not. An hour. A day? Did it matter?

He wept until there were no more tears to weep, yet still he refused to leave Pinky's side. How could he?

In the distance, something tittered. A slow, poised build-up of a chortle that slithered across the floor like a shadow in the grass, growing louder... and louder. It seemed to come from the very walls, echoing off every surface it touched, eager to make its presence known.

A shiver flowed down Brain's spine. He knew that laugh.

Out from behind a test tube emerged the cackling hamster - the one who had caused all this; or, at least, whom had run with it. Like Brain, he was big-headed and intelligent, perhaps more-so than even Brain himself was. Unlike his former cage-mate, however, Snowball had no reservations. The world was a puppet that needed new strings... and a new master, no matter the cost, no matter the principles. His entire modus operandi bordered on psychopathic tendencies. He had no qualms relative to what he was about to do to the mouse he had once called a friend, or what he had already done, and the wide smirk now coating his sated expression only solidified this truth.

"Oh, Brain. I do love seeing you so... miserably unhinged."

Brain shut his eyes tight, as if doing so might also cut out the sharp words pricking at his skin.

"How does it feel? Knowing that the only creature in the world who ever cared about you is dead? And at your own hand, no less. You know, I almost didn't accept his offer. It was quite fun watching you suffer, but I knew it would be so much more... delicious seeing you grieve over someone else's demise."

The taunts bit at Brain; tore and clawed at his heart. He could feel his temperature rising, his blood boiling. He gritted his teeth, willing himself not to let it affect him, not to erupt...

"To think: You had all those months, all that time, to tell him how you felt, yet you never did. All that time. And now he'll never know."

Brain's brow furrowed all the more. He was shaking. Fuming...

"Your best friend in the whole world will never know... that you loved him."

He said "loved" not with relish... but with disdain. With acerbity. As though the word stung on his own tongue. It was almost jealous.

As the straw that broke the camel's back, it was the final push that sent Brain over the edge. He howled in fury and grabbed the closest instrument within reach: an x-acto knife.

Snowball went wide-eyed, dodging the blow just in time as the knife swung at where his chest had been moments before. It came slicing down again... and again... and again, each swipe angrier than the last, each just missing their target as Snowball backed all the way to the edge of the table and promptly fell off it, landing in a heap on the hard, linoleum floor. He shook himself and looked up just in time to see Brain leap off the precipice, knife poised to strike. In a panic, Snowball side-rolled out of the way and ran along the floor, looking for something, anything, to fight back with.

It never occurred to Brain in the moment that what he was attempting to do would have devastating ramifications, or that it was something Pinky would have greatly disapproved of. All that raced through his mind was one thing and one thing only: kill him.

Snowball had ascended a second worktable, leaping atop its open drawers to alight on its surface. Brain followed. Despite being on the alert, he still wasn't quite prepared for the counter-attack as he pulled himself up onto the table. He was only lightly pricked in the arm by the sewing needle - enough to draw blood, not so deep of a wound to cause lasting damage - yet it still stung like hell. Righting himself, thanking his super-fast reflexes for dodging out of the way before Snowball's lunge could cause any major impairment, he charged towards his nemesis with a vigor more potent than before. Their make-shift swords clanged against each other as they fought viciously, weaving in-between jars, tumblers, test tubes, and other scientific paraphernalia scattered about the table. Brain might have had the sharper weapon, but Snowball had more flexibility. Though he was able to keep Snowball at bay with his lance, forcing him to continually back-up and side-step, his adversary was able to evade every slash and jab, occasionally throwing a move Brain wouldn't see coming at all and only barely avoiding. He had the wits that Brain lacked, the energy that Brain didn't, and as the lesser of the two megalomaniacs drove his former ally down the table and into another room, he had to concede that he could only keep this duel afloat for so long...

The pursuit continued into the next chamber, this one cast with a blood-red glow from long, rectangular lamps set into the ceiling above. It was a formidable looking place, set about with even more tables and more jars and equipment than the last. It looked to be an experimentation room, meant for conducting more questionable, subcutaneous research than the usual tests. There was large machinery in here, and the steel-skinned tables, their drawers tightly locked, were neatly coated with boxes of disposable gloves, rows and rows of empty test tubes and jars, small piles of papers and files detailing results of the last few surgeries, amongst other things. Two large refrigerators stood side-by-side at the back of the room, their innards hosting a significant number of bottles, tubes, and small plastic bags, many filled with hazardous chemicals, others with things Brain would rather not pay attention to. Not that he could absorb much of what was in the room, seeing as his focus was almost entirely on Snowball. The hamster had somehow gotten hold of a small scalpel and was now brandishing it at Brain, taunting him, egging him on, and, foolishly, Brain took the bait.

He lunged; Snowball countered, easily. Bringing the scalpel down upon the x-acto knife, he swiftly shifted the weapon to tuck underneath the knife, lift it up, and send it flying out of Brain's hands. Three seconds. That was all it took. What Brain had been unable to accomplish in five minutes Snowball had achieved in only a fraction of the time. It was a testament to how unmatched they truly were, and Brain ran for his life.

Up a chair. Onto a counter. He could hear the slightly heavier patter of footsteps close behind as he hid amongst a table littered with test tubes, jars, and glass bottles of all shapes and sizes, like a house of mirrors. He picked a jar at random and hid behind it, clutching at his chest and doing his utmost to bring his heavy breathing down to a light whisper.

Snowball jumped up onto the table, expression set, his grasp tight on the scalpel.

"You can't hide from me, Brain!" he sneered, cautiously entering the labyrinth of empty vessels. Just because Brain hadn't any ammunition in hand a moment ago... didn't mean he hadn't reacquainted himself with one, and Snowball was taking no chances. "There is only so far you can go. You can't run from what haunts you!"

Behind the jar, Brain struggled to calm his shaking body. Confronting Snowball with a weapon in hand was one thing. Facing him without was quite another. Accosting him at all, he realized, had been moronic in itself.

"I know what haunts you. And you know it just as well as I, don't you, Brain?"

Eyes wide, Brain turned his head ever so slightly to the left. A shadow stood just behind the glass...

"There you are, old friend."

Brain jumped out of the way as the blade swerved downwards in one fell swoop to break the jar into a million pieces. He was down on all fours, all dignity forgotten as he raced in and out amongst the beakers, doing his utmost to stay one step ahead of Snowball... who cut and slashed through jars and bottles without remorse. He finally managed to hide behind a microscope, keeping himself as diminutive as he possibly could. His heart was pounding, fighting to burst out of his chest. How the heck did he get himself into these situations?

Snowball was back on the prowl, blind to Brain's location, but all the more determined to find him.

"He would have done anything for you, you know! Would have licked the dust at my feet, or jumped off the Barham if I'd asked him to. Must have been nice, having someone who would follow your every whim, your every desire. To have a friend who never left your side. But it was all just taken for granted by you, wasn't it? All part of your perfect, everyday life. Frankly, I don't know what you saw in such a lower life form. He was a nothing - an idiotic waste, created by nature to appease the instruments of destruction and pain in this room. We could've done so much more together, Brain. We could've been a force to reckon with..."

Brain's face was buried in his hands. Each word seemed to cut into him like a knife. He didn't even hear the footsteps as Snowball came up behind him.

"Brain..."

The little mouse jumped an inch into the air as he realized how close his nemesis actually was. He made to turn, but it was too late. Snowball had him pinned to the floor with the handle of the scalpel in a near-death grip. Brain squealed and struggled with all his might to get loose, but to no avail. Snowball's grip was simply too tight.

"Think of it, Brain!" the hamster sneered down at him, brows furrowed. "Together, we could do a hundred times more what you were able to do alone! The world deserves more than what it's been given. We could do it."

He loosened his hold on Brain ever so slightly, Brain taking in what little air he could. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold out in this position, much less respond to any offer Snowball might propose.

"There's nothing for you here, Brain. Join me as a comrade... as an equal."

And he lifted the knife further, still just enough to keep Brain pinned, yet not so hard that he couldn't breath properly. Brain swallowed gulp after gulp of air gratefully, coughing a little as he looked up at Snowball. The latter actually had an arm extended. So he was offering something after all...

Brain coughed once more and breathed deeply.

"I was never... I was never alone...," he groaned, eyes closing for but a moment.

"What?"

Brain swallowed, steadied his breathing, then looked Snowball square in the eyes.

"I never... tried to take over the world alone. You did."

Snowball frowned.

"Pinky was a hundred times more than what you will ever be, Snowball. He was the greatest friend I ever could have asked for... and I didn't deserve him. I will never take your hand!"

He choked the words out, for he had to. He didn't know how else he could get past the pain of admitting them.

Snowball's frown deepened. He said nothing at first. It almost seemed as if he might let the whole thing blow over...

Brain gasped as the handle of the knife pressed down into his chest even deeper than before. He couldn't breath; could barely see...

"Then let your words seal your fate."

Brain's feet dug at the floor, struggling, writhing...

"Good-bye, Brain..."

Eyes shut tight, fists clenched, Brain steeled himself for what he was about to do...

With every last ounce of strength he had left in his body, he dug his feet under the handle of the knife... and PUSHED.

Snowball was knocked backwards as the scalpel went flying high into the air. Quickly, he righted himself, just as the knife descended to land squarely in Brain's paws. Snowball charged as Brain swung as hard and as fast as he could. Snowball GASPED, clutching feebly at his open chest as he collapsed to the ground in a pool of his own blood. He barely had time to register the fact that he was now dying, so suddenly had it happened.

Brain crumpled to the ground on his hands and knees, the scalpel falling with a sharp clatter beside him. Already he was creating his own pool: a pool of tears. He stared sadly at what had once been his closest friend. Snowball stared back, breathing heavily as what little life he had slowly drained out of him.

"I never stopped being your friend, Snowball," he wept. "You stopped being mine."

Something akin to remorse flashed across Snowball's eyes for half a moment as he gazed incredulously at Brain, then the light faded as he breathed his last... and was gone.

Brain hung his head, face buried in the surface beneath him as another wave of fresh tears soaked his fur. In a matter of hours, he'd lost the only two beings whom he'd ever been able to call friends. It was too much for him. Entirely too much.

/\/\/\/\

Sunlight streamed through a dusty window of Acme Labs, highlighting little nomadic particles as they drifted lazily about. Somewhere, a coffee maker went off, steaming hot espresso. The occasional crunch of a pellet and squeak of a wheel tickled the air. All throughout the laboratory, its residents, save for most of the rodents, were coming to life. But there was one who broke the routine - whose life was not awakening, but ending.

Brain sat on the edge of a table, staring out at the sun as it slowly rose above the window sill, warming his fur. In a cage nearby rested an empty bed, a water bottle, and an exercise wheel... as still as anything. After this morning there would be a vacancy - room for two.

Down the road from the lab, in a little park overlooking a quiet pond, was a new grave set on a grassy hill, right beneath an oak. Brain had actually taken the time to drag Pinky's limp figure all the way to the park the night before and bury him there. He couldn't bear the idea of his closest companion rotting in a garbage can, or being incinerated, or even being set beneath Acme soil. He wanted him to be somewhere beautiful - someplace that mirrored his heart. Snowball he did bury on Acme land, behind the building 'neath a tree. Despite everything he'd done, it still didn't sit well with Brain to leave him in the lab. To some degree, he still cared about him.

Brain closed his eyes peacefully, savoring the sun's pleasant rays. Near him lay an empty syringe. Already he was beginning to have a little trouble breathing. It wouldn't be long. A few minutes, perhaps. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't afraid. He was afraid, but he wasn't going to show it. He was going to enjoy these last moments in the sun.

A little behind him... lay a letter. It was hand-written, exposed for all to see. Who read it wasn't his concern. As long as at least one person acknowledged what he'd penned, that would be enough, even if he wouldn't be around to see it.

And so it read: ††

Dear World,

There was a time when I wanted to rule over you. I'm sorry that I never achieved this goal. I'm sorry that you never got to see all of the things I would have done for you. But perhaps that's for the best. Not all of my ideas were entirely sound, and my friend would not have approved of certain enactments. The world is altogether a very large and intimidating organism, and I am simply an old mouse with silly delusions of grandeur...

I don't quite know why I am writing this. Perhaps... it's in the hope that someone will remember, because he doesn't deserve to be forgotten. Please remember Pinky. He was my cage mate here at the lab, and he was the only true friend I ever had. If I could ask anything of whomever reads this, it would be that you pass on his heart to the world. Please. Try to be kind to other people. Try to make the world a better place. Try to do what I could not. He deserves that much.

Pinky, I'm so sorry I never told you... how much you mean to me. It was never truly about world domination, even though I would have relished that. It was never about power. That wasn't the real reason I kept going about my day, following my frivolous dreams. It was always about you. It was about making you happy. It was about spending those countless hours planning and plotting with you by my side. It was about... loving you. Pinky, you were my world.

I can't undo the things I've done. I can't rewind time and set right my wrongs. But I also can't bear the thought of living on this planet without him. My only hope is that, wherever I end up, it's with you, Pinky.

- The Brain

/\/\/\/\/\/\

When he awoke, there were clouds. Lots and lots of... clouds. Pink clouds. Yellow clouds. Blue clouds. Purple clouds. All different hues. All pastel-y and... quite beautiful. Interesting... †††

And there was music, too. Incredibly... beautiful... music. Where was it coming from? Brain looked down... and went wide-eyed. He pressed an ear to the grass beneath his feet. It was the grass. The grass was singing.

Gently, he stood up. He looked at his paws; felt his stomach, legs, and head. Nothing hurt. There were no aches. There was no pain. He could breath... He was breathing without any issue, and nothing hurt. In fact, he felt... wonderful - like he could run for miles and miles, endlessly, and never run out of breath. Incredible...

"Brain!"

He looked ahead of him at the sound. In the distance, someone was calling him, waving at him. A figure. He couldn't quite make out who it was, but they seemed to be about his size... and about his shape. Perhaps a little taller.

"Brain!"

He took a tentative step forward. The ground was delightfully soft beneath his feet. It was quite unlike any grass he had ever stood upon. He could feel every blade, but it was so, so soft, like a pillow. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply; just let himself... be. It was wonderful. And peaceful. So peaceful.

"Brain!"

He opened his eyes again as his name was called a third time. Finally, the figure came into view, and this time... he recognized him.

Brain gasped... and ran. He ran as fast as he could; faster than he had ever run before, or could ever run before. It was almost as if he was flying. It was exhilarating... and joyous... and oh so fun!

The figure ahead was running just as quickly. Brain smiled the biggest smile as he ran at full speed into his friend's outstretched arms.

"PINKY!"

They tumbled and rolled onto the soft, bouncy grass, smiling and laughing and crying. Brain nuzzled into his friend, hugging him tightly, with Pinky hugging him right back just as securely.

"Pinky... Pinky..."

"Oh, Brain! I missed you so. Narf!"

"I missed you too, Pinky. Oh, I missed you... so much..."

They stayed that way for a long time, simply hugging one another, enjoying each other's presence. Finally, when they stood, Pinky offered his hand to Brain.

"Would you like me to show you around, Brain?"

"Where are we?" he asked, taking Pinky's hand in his.

Pinky only smiled as he walked them forward... into the clouds... into the light...

The End

-------------------------------

Musical Cues:

† Pinky’s death and part of fight w/ Snowball: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOSEq1n8bYg

†† Brain’s letter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpghKZK2vkY

††† Heaven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opSl_pEk0es

Author's Note: Originally, I was going to end it at Brain's note, but it was so sad that I decided to add the heaven scene. It was a moment that had gone through my head beforehand, yet I was unsure if I should implement it or not. I think the story needed it, though...

A lot of things fueled this story. I love the personalities of Pinky and Brain and wanted to put them in a pressured situation that would test them physically and mentally. The stories I tend to invest in the most are the ones in which my favorite characters are pushed to their limits, particularly in life-or-death moments. Brain, in particular, is an interesting individual to analyze. I feel rather bad for putting him through such hell, but I also have noticed that I'm not the only one who doles out buckets of angst and pain upon this poor little fellow. He has a crusty outer shell, but it hides a soft and caring heart that's much more emotional than he tries to let on. I was also inspired by fan fiction writer @themurphyzone, who not only voiced the idea mentioned in the first author's note at the beginning of this submission, but who also presented their headcanon that Snowball had a crush on Brain in the past and so targets Pinky out of jealousy. I can legit see this being the case, and it adds much more to his character and why he does what he does, so I kind of implemented that here.

Much of this was very difficult to write, particularly dialogue scenes. The hardest to compose was probably the moment with Brain in the cage, as well as Pinky's death sequence. I wanted to keep them true to character while also pushing boundaries. I hope I accomplished this goal. Snowball was, by far, the easiest to write. His demeanor is deliciously Goldfinger-esque. I got a kick out of coming up with all his little taunts and jabs at Brain. I can see why actors enjoy playing villains. Heh.

The letter I pondered over and pondered over for days, trying to figure out in my head how to write it. However, when it finally came down to actually typing it out... it flowed naturally.

As an aside, here are some little factoids and a Q&A about the story:

- I have no idea how the heck that lightning machine works. I just needed an excuse to kill off Pinky. That being said, I did want it to be at Brain's own hand, even if it was inadvertently. The machine was created by Brain. For what purpose, I have no clue, save for that it has something to do with taking over the world, of course. The idea was that Snowball gets a hold of it somehow, alters it a little, and traps Brain in his own creation so as to get to Pinky. He wants Brain to suffer to the nth degree, and how he does so is very manipulative.

- I didn't realize until just now that Snowball technically tried to uphold his "fake" promise to Pinky by way of offering to Brain to take over the world with him. He's a psychopath, but he's a psychopath who keeps his promises...? Heh.

- Why doesn't Pinky get zapped when he picks Brain up? I dunno. Lol. Let's just pretend that he does, but he's so focused on Brain that it simply doesn't bother him. Also, Pinky is a lot more tolerant of pain, so perhaps he doesn't even notice?

- Ghost Pinky you can think of in these terms: Remember in Ratatouille when Remy imagined Gusteau as a little sprite popping up here and there? Yeah. That's what's going on in the cage scene.

- The part where Brain runs through the lab past other animals whom have been experimented on was inspired by a scene in the book, The Plague Dogs.

- Snowball’s little initial speech to Brain was originally written out on a piece of paper on a bus. As it happened, the structure for how his monologue was to be laid out came while I was on my commute back from work. Thank God I had a pen and paper with me at the time. I was internally laughing at the idea that, if my backpack ever got lost with this piece of paper inside of it, someone would think that the owner was probably a madman. Lol.

- An x-acto knife is an "artist's weapon", as I like to call it. My family and I are artists and would always keep one or two nearby in case we needed to carefully cut out a section of paper, but I used to joke that it would make a great weapon if someone ever tried to attack you. Look it up. They're freaky little things.

- The Barham is a bridge in L.A./Burbank that overlooks the 101 freeway.

- I'm not going to explain exactly how Brain killed himself, but you might be able to figure it out if you read between the lines.

- The bit where Brain and Pinky are in heaven is inspired by an actual book I read some time ago. I think it was called My Time in Heaven, and it's one of the most beautiful books I've ever read and made me cry. It's based on a real-life account of someone dying, going to heaven, and coming back. I think it was in this account that it was mentioned that music was coming from the grass. Amazing. <3

About the art (in order of appearance):

Lightning in a Bottle - Choosing which pieces to focus on was a simple matter of picking out certain emotional scenes that I liked the most. One of my favorites was the image of Pinky looking into his new prison -- he’s not only staring sadly at Brain’s current predicament, but also taking in the fact that he knows he’s going to die.

Embrace - Pinky just holding Brain tenderly, believing it would be the last time he’d ever hold him, had to be drawn, although I’m not fond of the result. It’s too plain and empty, and the lighting is not up to par. Additionally, I did not mean to make it look like he was kissing Brain, but here we are. Lol.

My Pinky - Although Brain’s facial expression is not exactly what I had in mind, it’s close. I wanted him to look devastated, without words and without tears (in the picture, at least). There’s a moment in Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in which Quasimodo thinks Esmeralda is dead. His reaction to this assumption is how I imagine Brain reacting to seeing his best friend pass away in his arms.

Brain vs. Snowball - Not quite sure what the lighting is doing here, but it’s... interesting. Also, I know that they’re supposed to be on the floor and not the countertop at this point, but when I first imagined the fight in my head they were on a table/counter, so... yeah. Originally, I wanted this entire fight to be in comic format, as the contrast in tone was very clear in my head -- going from a very dark atmosphere to this stark, reddish hue. I almost did a panel of the moment in which Brain literally slices Snowball open, but felt it would be too graphic.

The Letter - The coloring and lighting are horrible here, but my tablet pen was starting to give me trouble at this point, plus, I have other, more important things I need to get to, and so wanted to finish this entire project sooner than later. This was the last piece I did.

Heaven - My favorite illustration, and the first one I did. I wanted Brain to be at peace -- to simply enjoy the moment. I wanted him to be happy. His tail is nice and straight on purpose. There is no brokenness in heaven. :)

Into the Light - Very simple, but, again, I like it.

-------

Last aside: I’m probably going to take a break from doing any H/C Pinky and the Brain work after this. Pretty much exhausted/satiated my desire to churn out any whump... for the time being. Heh. I’ll be returning to work on a personal project that I’ve left dormant for some time and that is in serious need of being addressed once again, although this doesn’t mean I’ll be abandoning the fandom. Certainly not. I’ll still be on here daily, and will occasionally upload some art or maybe even another fan fiction piece, but I intend for them to be sweet, fun, and silly. Nothing depressing. I’ve put poor Brain and Pinky through enough. They deserve to rest. That’s another reason why I closed with the heaven piece on this story. They needed to smile. :)

#pinky and the brain #pinky #brain #snowball #fan fiction #fan art

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kingofthewilderwest · 5 years

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It's anon-whose-dad-looks-like-McGucket again! He hasn't eaten any raccoons... yet... at least that I know of... XD Having fallen into this fandom hole rather aggressively with a lot of time on my hands, I have found the episode commentaries, graphic novel, and shorts. Are there any other behind the scenes or supplementary materials you recommend?

Hey there again! And bless, bless you for falling down the fandom hole.

As far as supplementary materials are concerned, I’m going to list everything I would recommend. I’ll even list things you’ve mentioned above, in case other people reading this post would be interested learning about GF extended materials too! I’ll be listing GF content in order roughly from “most essential” to “not so essential.” Note: this isn’t a comprehensive list of tie-ins. Also note: this list talks about spoilers from the show itself.

Journal #3. If you’ve already found out about the graphic novel and gotten your hands on that, I imagine you know about Journal #3 too - but since you didn’t mention it above, or if you were going to skip it over, I’m bringing it up now! Journal #3 is a *MUST*. I consider this book as essential to the Gravity Falls experience as the show itself. (Probably because the 1980s boys are my soul, life, and feels.) Journal #3 isn’t written to be a dump of monster lore, though there’s paranormal experiences in this book, of course. Journal #3 is a well-done narrative focusing on Ford’s hubris character arc and providing it amazing resolution. It also complexly dives into the relationship between Ford and Fiddleford, and to say that that narrative has ruined me and kept me awake at night would be an understatement. It makes the scenes and events of S2 more meaningful, and just… aughghgh. There’s so much to unpack there and I keep waiting for an excuse to yak about it.It’s also got several moments I wish could have been in the show proper (though I respect the need to cut for time and focus on the Essential Essentials, and think they did a great job prioritizing). If you’ve finished the commentaries (don’t know how far you are), you may remember Alex Hirsch saying they tried to get Dipper’s real name reveal into the show sev’ral timez, but ultimately cut it and left it for Journal #3. That scene definitely reads as “should have been in the show,” and it’s a great moment. Plus, Ford’s final remarks about “trust no one”? Ohhhhhh it’s so good, and makes the resolution to the show’s events all the better.

Journal #3 Blacklight Edition. Unless you can travel back in time to preorder, or have several thousand USD to spend today (no, I’m not joking, go onto eBay and cry), you’re not going to get your paws on the special blacklight edition of Journal #3. But there are people who have photographed important notes! Such as: [1] [2] [3]

Lost Legends. A graphic novel with several short adventures. They’re all side adventures, but there’s some development on Dipcifica, and Mabel confronting her selfishness, that are nice additions and expansions to people’s characterizations. Wonderfully done, nicely arted, and feels like reading four new short episodes of the show.

The shorts, etc. I know you said you’ve gotten to the shorts, but there are so many shorts and promotional ads that I hope you’re going through the wiki pages and not just DVD menus to unearth everything. I don’t feel like pulling up my DVD to check, but if I remember right, some things like Creepy Letters from Lil’ Gideon didn’t make it to hard copy release?So anyway. I know some of these are easy to find and you’ve probably gone through them, but for the sake of thoroughness:

The Unaired Pilot

Creature in the Closet

Dipper’s Guide to the Unexplained

Mabel’s Guide to Life

Fixin’ It with Soos

TV Shorts 1 and TV Shorts 2

Mabel’s Scrapbook

Mystery Shack: Shop at Home with Mr. Mystery and its Outtakes

Old Man McGucket’s Conspiracy Corner

Creepy Letters from Lil’ Gideon

Gravity Paws

’Pocalypse Preppin’

The deleted scenes. The special edition DVD/Blu-ray provides a ton of S2 footage of the writer’s room, Alex narrating the storyboards, and through that showing us scenes that were cut or altered. There’s AMAZING stuff there, oh my goodness.It’s complicated finding all released deleted scenes materials, though, and honestly, I’m still trying to fish through the interwebs for more. You’ll find some released storyboards online for S1 and S2 that didn’t make animation. There’s a second long animation of Ford and Stan adjusting their glasses at the same time that made trailers but not “A Tale of Two Stans.” Or you’ll find things on Alex’s twitter page, like the now-notorious Dipper-snaps-Dippy-Fresh’s-neck-on-screen moment. And things like Bill’s initial introduction scene have been animated by fans. :)

Shmeb-you-unlocked website. I have fondness for this page because I love learning minor details about characters. This is a hidden website url you can uncover going through Lost Legends. Got some fun stuff on Anti-Mabel, Tate McGucket, and Pacifica, for instance.

The Episode Commentaries. Seriously, these are the most enjoyable commentaries I think I’ve watched (outside of the LOTR cast commentaries, anyway). They’ve got insight into everything, from talking about character psychology, to storytelling techniques, to storyboard artists’ contributions, to how fans’ responses literally changed how the creative team wrote the show.

The Special Features for the Special Edition DVD / Blu-ray release. All the special features on the DVDs are cool and enjoyable! Between the Pines, etc.

The Hidden Special Features. The Special Edition DVD / Blu-ray release comes with lots of hidden special features! Grunkle Stan’s hidden commentary for Land Before Swine is treasure. Like, Stan starts rambling about his childhood and embarrassing stories about Ford and stuff… it’s amazing. There’s also a Bill special feature that I love.

Cipher Hunt! Most of it’s just fun, but it’s wild to consider that Alex staged an international scavenger hunt by choice. I don’t like road trips, but I would be very tempted to travel to see that Bill Cipher statue. Because I have… fandom issues. Haha.

Dipper and Mabel and the Curse of the Time Pirates’ Treasure! Though I’ve entertained myself with this, I don’t recommend this as highly as the other stuff on here. But if you want to keep living Gravity Falls, this is one of the books out there with original non-show content. There’s even a few moments in this book that were taken from the unaired pilot or deleted scenes. It’s a choose-your-own adventure, has nice art, and stuff. While it is written by Rowe, I don’t consider this as necessary of an addition to Gravity Falls fans because the choose-your-own adventure doesn’t (to me) capture the deep heart of the show. It’s more of a light, silly, random what-have-you. It does have a hidden web link to a page with the Axolotl, though, so that’s sort of important?

The Games. Most games are simple online flash games with no informative or lore-adding content to them. You won’t get anything new out of them, so take or leave them. But ya know, they still pass time in non-objectionable ways. If you’re really craving ANYTHING GF, why the fuck not. That’s how I ended up playing them. Some games have enjoyable versions of the main theme… the Weirdmageddon: Take Back the Falls game did not have to go so rocking hard on the music, and yet it did. (I may have recorded the audio to the level select and stuff and added it to my iTunes library.)I know you’ve been watching me play Legend of the Gnome Gemulets on my twitch. The other games that I think are the most entertaining are Rumble’s Revenge and Pinesquest (mostly Pinesquest, but it’s a “sequel” to Rumble’s Revenge).

And if you haven’t gone clue hunting and decrypting yourself, and don’t want to extend the effort to do so, the cryptograms page on the wiki is a must!

Alex’s old twitter posts have some interesting things too from time to time?

I hope I remembered the main things. And I hope this helps!

#Anonymous #GF #Gravity Falls #long post #Journal 3 #ask #ask me #Lost Legends #Gravity Falls Lost Legends #Gravity Falls: Lost Legends #awesome anonymous friend #analysis #my analysis #blabbing Haddock #non-dragons

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fear-the-spectacular-avatar · 5 years

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Release the Snyder Cut

Warning There is a mention of suicide & bullying in the very first paragraph. I know Zack & Deborah Snyder will never see this post, but I’m truly sorry for their loss.

On 11/17/2017 the Justice League made its theatrical debut. I saw it opening weekend with my mom & younger brother. I heard the mix reviews prior, but went in with an open mind like I usually do. Walking out of the theater my opinion was this: I enjoyed the film & had fun with it. That’s not to say I had issues with it; my biggest being the reshoots. Initially I was excited to see what Joss Whedon had done in terms of the reshoots & additional scenes. After seeing the film I realized the reshoots were VERY unnecessary & noticeable. Not to mention this isn’t the film Zack envisioned when he was directing. As you know Zack had to step down as director when his daughter Autumn committed suicide. When the news broke out people on social media made cruel & disgusting jokes about it. I’ve seen some of the tweets/posts & it disgusted me. You have to be a heartless asshole in order to say those things. He then tasked Avengers & Avengers Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon to handle the reshoots.

When the film was released it received mixed reviews & underperformed at the box office. A big complaint the critics had was the films runtime of 2 hrs. These were the same critics who critised Dawn of Justice’s 2 hrs & 30 minute runtime. Shortly after the film was released the hashtag Release the Snyder Cut began trending. This was created by devoted fans of Zack Snyder who felt Warner Brothers destroyed Zack’s vision for the film. A similar issue occurred prior with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice also directed by Zack Synder & David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. Both of these were resolved as when released on digital HD & BLU-Ray. Batman v Superman received an ultimate edition that was rated R & contained 30 more minutes of footage. The ultimate edition is the version we were meant to get in theaters. However Warner brothers didn’t like the idea of an R rated film with Batman & Superman in it. Hence why we got what we got in theaters. Suicide Sqaud recieved an extended cut & that’s about it.

Today marks the 2 year anniversy of the Justice League’s release. Since then Release the Synder Cut has been trending constantly amongtst the fans on social media. Plus new information, storyboards, photos, & footage were released in that time only further adding the desire to see Zack’s version of the film. Most of these releases were from Zack Synder himself via his Vero account. Plus the moment has gathered massive from the cast including Zack himself along with several other actors. Rumors have circulated that Zack’s version of Justice League is 100% complete & fans have been in a frenzy. Many, myself included, hope this is true & we finally see what Justice League was meant to be. With news of HBO MAX being released in May 2020 & the new home of all the DC films, many have be speculated the Synder Cut could be added onto it.

In the last several months my opinion of the film had slightly changed. I’ve only ever watched the film once since it’s release & I do wish we had seen Zack’s version. That’s not to say Joss’s version is bad, it does have good moments. I’m not defending joss in anyway since he dropped out of directing Batgirl cause he “couldn’t think of a story”. Like are you fucking kidding me with that bullshit?! 58 years worth of lore & you can’t think of a fucking story?! I managed to come up with a rough idea in the span of 3 minutes when I heard the news! I will forever be angry with Warner Brothers for what they did to Zack & his vision. Zack Snyder is a fantastic director with a unique sense of storytelling & vision. His version of the Justice League deserves to be shared with the world & it’s about time that happens.

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notaheromusic · 5 years

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Stories Behind My Music Videos

Hey everyone! Some of you may know that I’ve just recently released a new music video for my second single off Ephemeral Hearts called “I Hope It’s Alright That I Think of You Sometimes”, and that it’s a purely narrative driven video as opposed to my past work. This doesn’t necessarily mean my previous videos had no storey at all, far from it. It’s more that when I first made music videos for myself they were all a huge learning curve for me and the people I’ve worked with.

My first video was for my song “Photographs” which to be very honest I wasn’t that happy with but at the time of course I thought it was the best thing ever! I honestly had very little idea of what to do for the video apart from being adamant that it was to be filmed during golden hour and in Regents Park.

In 2017 I wanted to finally make something that was an improvement on my previous one and in a lot of ways it was. It was set in Kingston upon Thames and we got to film in some really cool locations that gave it a more cinematic look such as being able to shoot scenes on top of multi storey car parks, one of which had an incredible view across the entire town. It was also one year after I completed my studies at the Uni of Nottingham and wrote a thesis on the issue with music venue closure – the Hippodrome in Kingston was due to close to make way for a new residential development and the venue was at the time the most ideal and affordable place for shows to take place which made it even sadder to know it’ll be closing down. The video features me walking through the town and past various venues but apart from that not a whole lot of actual story.

Now onto Ephemeral Hearts – 2019! This was the year I was determined to create something far better than ever before both musically and visually. For my first single “Maisie” I found a location I really wanted to shoot in after walking through it around the same time I got to know someone who I really adored so it meant a lot to me to film something here. I also wanted to have someone else to star in the video with me and realised there’s an incredibly talented young woman known as Katja Macabre who I’ve known through Instagram for a few years and pitched the idea to appear in my video. We got to work and it was such a fun shoot! We enjoyed roaming around Camden Market, being silly and basically improvised the whole thing whilst basing it loosely on a few sketches I’ve made. I love how vibrant the colours were as well, especially in the Leake Street Tunnel.

Here we are – the second single! I spent an incredibly long time getting this one into motion, I wanted to finally do a video that has a meaningful story behind it and what became very apparent to me over the last couple of years was the importance of ending the stigma regarding mental health. I wanted to tell a story that people could relate to and remind that everyone can be subject to life’s tragedies. It was crucial for me to come up with a narrative that explores the idea of how loss can result in severe consequences if we don’t actively seek help or provide support and guidance to those who need it. I wondered who could be a good fit for the female lead and remembered that I’ve wanted to work with my friend Chrissy for quite a while but the opportunity either never came or life got in the way. I knew she was the best person to collaborate with in a video of this topic as she was very familiar with the ins and outs and the importance of mental health and wellbeing. I wrote up a list of ideas that kept transforming until I was certain this told a story that had certain order of events and shots that created the most emotional impact when it got to the end. I sketched out a complete storyboard and pitched it to my friends. Eventually we got crackin’ and pinned down some dates to shoot. I knew from the get go that it was an ambitious shoot and will take at least 2 to 3 sessions but we got there in the end. I’ll always remember how much fun I’ve had filming it and all the times I messed up or couldn’t stop laughing.

I don’t want to have to explain explicitly what happens in the video as I want to leave it to the viewer to interpret and take away what they want from it. All I can say is that it starts off really happy, a tragedy occurs and things get progressively troubling until the unthinkable happens. One thing I do want people to take away from the story is that if anyone out there has ever lost someone they loved whether it’s family or through a break up, if you’re really struggling to move forward with your life, please remember that it’s always a good idea to seek help.

That’s all for now. Thank you so much for reading.

#notahero #notaheromusic #newmusic #ephemeral hearts #ep #emo #acoustic #music video #directing #filming

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welcometothepenumbra · 5 years

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JUNO STEEL AND THE LONG WAY HOME (PART TWO)

SOUND: RAIN. TRAIN ARRIVES, CREAKS TO A STOP. DOOR CLANKS OPEN.

CONDUCTOR: Ah, good evening, Traveler. And welcome… to The Penumbra.

SOUND: DOOR CLANKS SHUT.

Take your seat, please, take your seat.

MUSIC: STARTS.

The junction lies ahead, so if you’ll allow me just a moment.

SOUND: TRAIN WHISTLE.

We are now passing through Hyperion City.

SOUND: TRAIN MOVING.

Our next stop?

SOUND: TRAIN BRAKES.

Juno Steel and the Long Way Home.

SOUND: DOOR CLANKS OPEN, RAIN.

ALL SOUNDS: FADE OUT.

***

SOUND: WATER DRIPPING, RIPPLING.

THEIA: (DISTANT, OVERLAPPING) Target located. Alerting central office. Exchanging map data. Sector is clear. Recharging. Recharging.

JUNO (NARRATOR): Here’s a lesson that never sticks, no matter how many times you learn it: even when you’re not around, the world keeps movin’ without you. Never feels that way. When you leave, you take a frozen version of the place with you in your head, and that feels real, but… then you get back and find the place is melting right in front of you.

SMALL FRY: (WHIMPERS, QUIET BARKS)

JUNO: Yep, I’m pretty wiped too, Small Fry. How ‘bout a snack break?

SOUND: SPLASH.

JUNO (NARRATOR): I remember these sewers as an escape, if you can believe it. When things got too rough topside I would lose myself down here, where things were simple. Where the monsters looked like monsters, big furry ones with long teeth and mean eyes. They were scary, but… that was part of the escape.

SMALL FRY: (IN BACKGROUND) (BARKS)

JUNO (NARRATOR): When you’re so young you think monsters are the scariest things out there… what could feel better than teaching the boogeyman to eat out of the palm of your hand?

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

JUNO: Whatsamatter? You don’t like salmon chips?

SMALL FRY: (YIP!)

JUNO: Don’t tell me you’re picky.

SOUND: CRUNCHING, CHEWING.

(GARBLED, MOUTH FULL) Aw, man, these’ve got the freeze-dried soy dust and everything! You’re outta your mind, Small Fry.

SMALL FRY: (SNIFFS & SNORTS)

JUNO: Oh, what’s that? Now you want one?

SMALL FRY: (SNORTS)

JUNO: That’s what I thought. Take the bag, it’s yours.

SMALL FRY: (GRRRR)

JUNO: (SIGHS)

SOUND: CRUNCHING, CHEWING.

JUNO (NARRATOR): I wonder sometimes if having that escape as a kid felt a little too good. Like I’d go underground and feel like all the world’s horrors could be tamed, then, come back up and think that feeling should last forever. It felt like I could make it last forever if I tried. But, things change.

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

SOUND: CREAKING.

JUNO: What’s the matter, Small Fry? You hear some… thing…?

THEIA: Target sighted.

JUNO: Damn it! Get in…

…that pipe, quickly! Hide under my coat!

SMALL FRY: (SNUFFLES)

THEIA: Target recognized. Target is—

JUNO: (OVER THE BELOW) Juno Steel, yeah.

THEIA: —Juno Steel. Directive: do no—

JUNO: (OVER THE ABOVE) Do no harm, Mayor O’Flaherty requests my presence, you can’t capture me nonviolently so I’m supposed to go there on my own, that it?

THEIA: (AFTER A PAUSE) This is your only—

JUNO: Right, thanks, almost forgot, this is my only warning. I’m workin’ on it now, but thanks for the reminder, bye!

THEIA: Farewell. Juno Steel.

SOUND: CREAKING FADES OUT.

JUNO: (QUIETLY) Going… going, aaaaaand gone. Psst!

Hey kid! Coast is clear!

SOUND: HEAVY CREAK.

Small Fry?

SOUND: SPLASHING.

…The hell is this?

SOUND: SPLASHING FOOTSTEPS.

Another room?

SMALL FRY: (SNORES)

JUNO: (GASPS)

SOUND: GUN COCKING.

…Oh.

JUNO (NARRATOR): The rabbit was asleep. Just… tuckered out.

Then I felt the exhaustion piling on me too, so I sat and let her nap awhile. And if I got some rest out of the bargain, so be it.

Small Fry had found a good hiding spot. The pipe I’d shoved her into led through a shattered wall, which opened up into another one of the sewer’s old chambers. Must have been a false start from some earlier construction job, walled-up so it’d just go away, but… that never kept anything hidden forever, did it?

The Theia bots were tearing this place apart, and soon one would find Small Fry. But even if they did clear out and we did get outta here, what the hell was I gonna do with her?

MUSIC: STARTS.

My name’s Juno Steel. I’m a private eye, and that means I’m supposed to reserve my blaster for whoever pays my bills. Money hasn’t mattered to me for years, but even so, it… was a rule, and rules are comfortable.

I keep feeling like I don’t know any of the rules anymore, but… I need ‘em. Because if you try to save every sorry soul who hops into your life…

…that might make you a hero, and… right now I’m not sure there’s anything worse.

MUSIC: ENDS. STARTS (FROM COMMS).

HAWK (FROM COMMS): Welcome back to Questions Unanswered: Where is Jack Takano? Tonight’s episode: Part 11 – “The Mask.”

Jack Takano was famously a very private man: until the end of his time at Northstar, he never kept a home address on file, or spoke to anyone about his friends and family outside the company. Even his face was private, as Founder and CEO of Northstar Miranda Fairbanks wrote:

FAIRBANKS ACTOR (FROM COMMS): It was known around the office that Jack daily wore makeup thick even by Hyperion’s standards… I once came into the office quite early to find that he had fallen asleep, drooling, onto his desk and hand. It was almost sweet… until he moved that hand and a layer of skin peeled off his face, only to reveal another, much paler skin beneath. Or so it seemed, until I saw the foundation smudges on the table. When I woke him, he covered his face, mumbled something about not looking decent, and ran off to reapply. A skin condition, he told me later. I never bought it. The difference between the skin beneath and the mask over it was so extreme that it seemed like there was another man under there, buried alive.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): But even a man with a hidden face can’t hide everything. Takano may not have left an explanation for his disappearance in his famous farewell note, but his coworkers did notice a change.

VEGA (FROM COMMS): Well, we all expected something was going to happen. Just not… something that extreme.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): What about his behavior seemed like the first sign, Dr. Vega?

VEGA (FROM COMMS): Isolation, first. Irritability, some days, although he’d always apologize soon after. But I think the first unquestionable sign for me was Andromeda 3.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): If you didn’t see Andromeda 3 at release, it’s unlikely you ever will: the film was panned so universally that Northstar established an Anti-Informations Department just to erase every copy they could find. Or as one reviewer put it:

VOICE 6 (FROM COMMS): Schlock and drivel. Its characterization is so flat it approaches concave. Its pacing makes death seem a fond alternative. And worst of all, it appears Takano has no idea what made Andromeda so compelling in the first place, and what remains are only echoes of the Turbo nonsense that nearly put Northstar into its early, and perhaps deserved, grave. Takano needs to get his head out of building tourist traps and back into telling stories, because this was clearly rushed.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): The only thing atypical of this review is its lenience: the reviewer gave Andromeda 3 the highest rating we could find. But that last sentiment, that the film was rushed, is repeated by nearly every review on record, despite the fact that it is completely untrue.

CHEN (FROM COMMS): I don’t think I ever saw Jack work harder on a project. Besides the park, obviously.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): That’s Jocelyn Chen, former Head of Animation at Northstar.

MUSIC: ENDS.

CHEN (FROM COMMS): I remember seeing pages of script and sketches of Andromeda 3 a few weeks before the first film came out, but he was never satisfied. It was just rewrite after rewrite with him.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): Was his process similar for Chainmail Warrior Andromeda or Sea of Sinners?

CHEN (FROM COMMS): Not at all. He had full storyboards for both ready when he first pitched the project, and he only had a month on those. But the third one… I don’t know. He kept talking about the responsibility, and… I tried to help, but, the pressure must’ve gotten to him.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): You came under fire for that film, too.

CHEN (FROM COMMS): I did.

I– I wasn��t mad at him for having writer’s block. I was mad at him for not listening earlier, for not giving us something, anyway. I had to steal his notes just so we could start work on time for a sloppy release, and… that was the only time I’ve ever heard him get angry.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): A recording of Takano’s tirade was leaked a few months after Andromeda 3’s release:

SOUND: BACKGROUND STATIC.

JACK (FROM COMMS): We are doing something important here. Am I the only one who sees that? Am I?!

CHEN (FROM COMMS): Jack, we have a deadline—

JACK (FROM COMMS): Damn the deadline! You’re exactly the problem, Jocelyn, focusing on the smallest issues when you should be solving the big ones, taking the solution now over the solution that works– DO NOT SPEAK while I am speaking!

No. Keep the damn notes. It’s too late already.

SOUND: STATIC FADES OUT.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): The company could have scrubbed this leak like they erased the film, had Takano himself not acknowledged it, in a press conference the day after it spread:

JACK (FROM COMMS): …I would like to apologize, of course. I’ve already apologized to Jocelyn, but, like it or not I’ve been thrust into the public eye; and as a result, my responsibility extends to each and every one of you.

SMALL FRY: (SNUFFLES & SNORTS)

JUNO: Mmm… quit it.

SOUND: WATER DRIPPING, BUBBLING.

JACK (FROM COMMS): Three years is not a very long time to grow old, and, yet I find that, compared to the early days of Andromeda, I feel precisely—

JUNO: (OVER THE BELOW) I said quit it!

JACK (FROM COMMS): (OVER THE ABOVE) —how I expected an old man must: very tired, and only slightly more wise.

SMALL FRY: (BARKS)

JACK (FROM COMMS): What strikes me as most beautiful about Andromeda is how she works not just on the world, but also on herself. Tirelessly. When Andromeda discovers that her magic chainmail is empowered by the suffering of others, she sees immediately how this might corrupt her… and she steels herself against it.

I see now the power I have in Northstar. And I see the heavy responsibility that power bestows upon me. We will use it for good, from here out. For Polaris.

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

SOUND: SLAP.

JUNO: (OVER THE BELOW) Damn it, Rita, I’m taking a nap, you—!

SMALL FRY: (BARKS)

HAWK (FROM COMMS): (OVER THE ABOVE) Takano’s apology was very well received—

JUNO: …Oh.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): (OVER THE BELOW) —as Jocelyn Chen recalls.

JUNO: (OVER THE ABOVE) Small Fry. Right.

SMALL FRY: (GROWLS)

CHEN (FROM COMMS): (OVER THE BELOW) He could do that, apologize and have all forgiven—

JUNO: (OVER THE ABOVE) What’s the matter, kid, you hungry?

SMALL FRY: (BARKS)

JUNO: What the hell? Get off me!

CHEN (FROM COMMS): —really forgiven. You could always tell he meant it, that it really had eaten him up inside. He—

SMALL FRY: (BARKS)

SOUND: CLICK, COMMS CUTS OFF.

JUNO: The hell?

Did you… take my comms? Out of my ear?

SMALL FRY: (BARKS, GROWLS)

JUNO: Don’t eat it!

Well, looks like we’re awake now, doesn’t it? Here, come close. You just put it up to your ear like this, and—

SOUND: FEEDBACK SCREECH.

JUNO & SMALL FRY: (PAINED YELLS)

JUNO: God dammit, what did you do?

SMALL FRY: (WHIMPERING)

JUNO: You know how long it took me to figure that thing out? Now look, it’s wet and it stinks and I can’t even listen to it and I don’t know where anybody is or what the hell I’m gonna do to keep you safe and—

SOUND: PLOP, SPLASH.

There. It’s trash now. Just like this whole stupid idea. Whatever.

SOUND: SPLASHES. DISTANT FEEDBACK.

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

JUNO: I told you, the comms is broken.

SOUND: FEEDBACK STOPS. ELECTRONIC SCROLLING.

JUNO: You’re just gonna hurt yourself. Make it explode or something.

SMALL FRY: (GROWLS)

SOUND: BEEPS.

JUNO: Damn it, don’t you listen?

SOUND: ALARM BEEPS.

It’s busted. See?

SOUND: JINGLE (FROM COMMS).

VOICE 7 (FROM COMMS): Welcome to your comms. Please enter your name.

JUNO: Wait, what?

SMALL FRY: (GROWLS)

JUNO: You… there’s no way you know how to use this. You can’t.

SMALL FRY: (YIPS)

JUNO: Alright, take it.

SMALL FRY: (RRRRR!)

SOUND: BEEPS.

JUNO: No. Way.

SMALL FRY: (GRRRS, YIP!)

SOUND: LOUD JINGLE (FROM COMMS).

VOICE 7 (FROM COMMS): (VERY LOUD) Bienvenue à votre comms.

JUNO: (HISS OF PAIN) Nevermind! (SIGHS)

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

JUNO: But… you did have it for a second.

SOUND: BEEPS.

SMALL FRY: (SNUFFLE, GROWLS)

JUNO: No, no, I’m gonna try this time.

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

JUNO: And, uh… thanks, Small Fry. I needed that.

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

JUNO (NARRATOR): While I messed with that comms I couldn’t stop thinkin’ about Rita. She’d been telling me what Small Fry just had for years – that I didn’t need her to set everything up, that I wasn’t even trying, and… I’d yell at her that I got it, but I was just busy. And then sit alone, like an idiot, while she set up my comms, my monitor, everything.

Ma never let us have that stuff. And then I just got too proud to admit I didn’t get it, and… I got better and better at asking other people to work around me, I guess. Anyway, I… had the thing up and running again soon.

SOUND: BLIP.

JACKET (FROM COMMS): We may look backward only to ensure we have not walked this path before.

JUNO: Yeah, thanks, big guy.

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

JUNO: Just… give me one more minute.

JUNO (NARRATOR): Maybe I’d gone mad with power, but… I had an idea, and I was hungry for another win. I knew the comms could get on the net, and I knew the sewer system’s layout was a public document. The rest was just guesswork. Learning and mistakes.

SOUND: ERROR BEEP.

JUNO: (GROWLS)

SOUND: ERROR BEEP.

Aghhhh!

SMALL FRY: (BARKS)

JUNO (NARRATOR): …a whole lot of mistakes. But, still.

It took me an hour to do what Rita could’ve done in two seconds, but, I was proud of it.

SOUND: BEEP.

JUNO: Ha! Got it! Look, it’s a map, and I think I found a manhole that’ll take us…

SMALL FRY: (SNORES)

JUNO: …out of the… sewer.

Hey. Hey, c’mon, Small Fry. C’mon.

SMALL FRY: (SNUFFLES AWAKE)

JUNO: We gotta go, kid. I think I found a way out of here. And after that…

We’ll have to figure that out together, I guess.

SMALL FRY: (MEWLS)

JUNO (NARRATOR): I split the comms so I could carry it in my hand and my ear at the same time. It was gonna be a hike to get to that manhole leading out of the sewer, and… to Oldtown.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): (FADING IN) The year between Andromeda 3’s release and the opening of Polaris Park marked a shift in how Northstar was run. Takano removed himself from the film production process completely, hiring previously-terminated Northstar writer Kenni Okombe and rock-star-slash-poet Rajavi to co-write Andromeda and the Dragon’s Peak, based on some of Takano’s early sketches. In the meantime, Jack Takano redoubled his efforts on Polaris Park, and though he spent many, many hours in that office – staying for days or weeks on end, according to some – his coworkers saw him less than ever.

VEGA (FROM COMMS): Always in his office. It was as though we’d taken on a staff hermit. (LAUGHS) Not that it was a funny situation, of course, Jack was clearly troubled. But, well… we all just thought that if the tortured genius needs his space, give him his space.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): Many of Takano’s former coworkers expressed similar sentiments. But not Jocelyn Chen.

CHEN (FROM COMMS): Everyone always said yes to Jack, and it wasn’t good for him. So when he started hiding, working himself sick, all that… I wasn’t having it, and I said so.

He gave me some line… something about how he had to figure out the problem by himself, that he couldn’t compromise on the park any more than he already had. And I said, “Jack, you can take all your toys, and go hide in your room if you want. But if you keep working like this, you’re going to get yourself killed, and—”

After that… after I said that, he just… looked at me and waited. Like I hadn’t gotten to my point yet. Like that wasn’t even enough reason t—

Anyway. I ended the conversation there, because I wasn’t getting anywhere. But clearly he wasn’t done.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): Ms. Chen is referring to a public charity event at which Takano spoke to raise funds for Martian fire departments. Though the speech was largely typical of his optimistic oratory, there was a tangent that was met with confusion in the press:

JACK (FROM COMMS): But the most beautiful thing about Andromeda, I think, is… that she always goes it alone. She recognizes that heroism is a blessing for the world and a curse for the hero, who must live with the weight of every decision they make, the pain of every loss they fail to prevent. And yet she never stops. And she never shares this burden with another, because she knows it is better for one to suffer than two. Goodness is her charge. And she lives up to it alone.

CHEN (FROM COMMS): Which isn’t even true. Aries, the Ramblers, Captain Cancer, Queen Pisces – by that point, Andromeda had relied on others twice a movie! Well, minus Andromeda 3, but… (SIGHS)

VEGA (FROM COMMS): Jack never spoke to me directly about his design problem, but I could see it amongst the lines, as it were. Something at the core of Polaris Park had gone wrong for him, somewhere. Some of his work orders implied that the problem had come from compromises he’d made, and so he tried hiding the gift shops, changing the logo so that ‘Polaris’ was much larger than ‘Park,’ that kind of thing. Then a week later, all those orders would be undone, and he clearly felt that the problem came earlier than his compromises… from the park’s initial contraception, perhaps.

I knew that he expected me to decode that subtext. I like to think I was rather a confidant for him in that way – the only one he could undress even part of his heart to.

SOUND: WATER DRIPPING, RIPPLING FADES IN. DISTANT BOOM.

SMALL FRY: (BARK BARK!)

JUNO: Huh?

HAWK (FROM COMMS): Despite Dr. Vega’s claims, the work orders we’ve unearthed state Takano’s frustrations directly to every head of every department. Polaris Park was not doing what it was supposed to – though Takano was never clear about what its actual purpose was.

SOUND: DISTANT BOOM.

JUNO: What the hell was—

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

HAWK (FROM COMMS): And as Takano tried to solve it—

SOUND: DISTANT BOOM.

—the days to Polaris Park’s opening – and the man’s disappearance—

SOUND: TWO DISTANT BOOMS.

—drew closer and closer.

SMALL FRY: (BARK BARK!)

SOUND: CLICK, COMMS CUTS OFF.

JUNO: Shhh!

JUNO (NARRATOR): We were close to the exit by then. There was just one last pipe we had to pass through, one big enough to stand and walk in. We hadn’t heard a Theia bot in half an hour; it was quiet here.

Until that thumping started, down at the end of the pipe.

SOUND: DISTANT BOOMS.

As quickly as I could I searched the wall around me for weak spots – cracks, openings, anywhere at all to hide – but there were none. This thing had picked the one solid spot left in the entire Oldtown sewer system to corner us.

SMALL FRY: (WHIMPERS)

SOUND: DISTANT BOOM.

JUNO: (QUIETLY) Get behind me, kid, it’s alright. You’re gonna be alright.

JUNO (NARRATOR): The noise kept coming. I tried to make a plan: hide Small Fry in the sludge and try to talk my way out? No, the Theia bots were chatty, and she couldn’t hold her breath that long. Take a shot at it before it saw us? Maybe, but I doubted I could connect without a Theia on my side.

It got closer.

SOUND: SPLASH.

And closer. And then it rounded the corner.

SOUND: SPLASH.

?????: (GROWLS, PANTING)

SMALL FRY: (YIPS & BARKS)

JUNO: A rabbit…? Alive?

SMALL FRY: (BARKS)

RABBIT: (GROWL-BARKS)

JUNO: You know him. You know that rabbit, don’t you?

SMALL FRY: (YIPS)

JUNO (NARRATOR): So, that was it, then. Some of the rabbits were alive. I’d brought Small Fry home, and… I felt just… awful.

Looking into her big black eyes, one hand on her matted fur, I realized I already cared about this little rabbit. Protecting her made me feel useful, and loved, and… it was hard to put that away.

I let myself live in maybes for a second. A little rabbit munching snack food under my desk. A big one asleep in the corner of my office – ‘the muscle,’ I’d call her, but really… her name would be Small Fry. Even when she got huge.

I never really would’ve taken her, not really; but… it was nice to pretend, for a second.

JUNO: You can trust that big fella over there?

SMALL FRY: (BARK!)

JUNO: Then go home, kid.

Go home.

SOUND: SPLASHING.

JUNO (NARRATOR): So I watched her hop away. She seemed… happy.

RABBIT: (IN BACKGROUND) (GROWLS)

JUNO (NARRATOR): And that’s when the big rabbit ran over and socked me in the face.

RABBIT: (ROARS)

SOUND: PUNCH.

JUNO: Oof!

SOUND: BIG SPLASH.

H-hey, come on! I know you were scared, but—

SOUND: PUNCH, SPLASH.

Oof!

The hell do you want from me? Money? I got creds, but you have to get off me—

RABBIT: (ROARS, GROWLS)

SOUND: PUNCHES.

JUNO (NARRATOR): This wasn’t right. This wasn’t how the rabbits were. They’d never turn down creds and they never made those noises and they were never… this angry.

I reached for my blaster. But the rabbit had a desperate quickness I’d never seen before and in a second my gun was spinning over his shoulder.

RABBIT: (ROARRRRRR)

SOUND: PUNCH. PLOP.

JUNO (NARRATOR): The rabbit reared back to howl. He still had crumbs and frosting in his fur, big soft belly for scratching, just like all the rabbits I knew. But this one was burned, too. Charred trenches of fur and skin running along his sides, part of one ear gone.

And he looked… so scared. Pissed-off and powerless; like if he couldn’t pin down and punch all those Theia bots, or the human race, or death itself… he was ready to settle for me.

I still had my plasma knife, but I couldn’t stab him. I couldn’t let Ramses make me kill again.

RABBIT: (ROARS)

SMALL FRY: (SQUEAKING)

JUNO (NARRATOR): Small Fry ran up to the rabbit and tugged on his tail. The rabbit nearly jumped out of his fur, and didn’t even look behind him before he kicked one of those huge legs back at the kid.

RABBIT: (RAHHH!)

SOUND: PUNCH. PLOP, SPLASH.

SMALL FRY: (WHIMPERING)

JUNO (NARRATOR): I’ve never seen a rabbit do that. This rabbit had never seen it, either. Looked like he’d spend the rest of his life wishing he hadn’t. Then he turned, and I saw that he was ready to blame it all on me.

RABBIT: (PANTING, BIG HOWL)

JUNO (NARRATOR): A few months ago I might’ve let him, too. That’s what a hero’s for, right? Taking all the hits so the innocent don’t have to, while the ones causing all the pain sit in the stands and watch, blood and popcorn butter sticky on their fingertips.

I was done with that. Instead, I was gonna give the rabbit some advice. So I turned the volume on my comms all the way up.

SOUND: INCREASINGLY LOUDER BEEPS.

RABBIT: (ROARRRR)

JUNO (NARRATOR): And right when he was about to crush my skull… I jammed my comms into his ear and pressed play.

SOUND: FEEDBACK SCREECH. BLIP.

JACKET (FROM COMMS): (VERY LOUD, OVER THE BELOW) We may look backward only to ensure we have not walked this path before.

RABBIT: (OVER THE ABOVE) (HOWL OF PAIN)

SOUND: BLIP. SPLASH.

JUNO: Whaddaya know? Looks like that advice just saved my life, too.

SOUND: SPLASHING FOOTSTEPS.

Stay down, cottontail. I’m not kidding.

SOUND: LOW ELECTRIC HUM.

(OVER THE BELOW) See this? Plasma knife. Real hot; real sharp. I don’t want to hurt you, but if you come any closer, I’ll have to.

RABBIT: (OVER THE ABOVE) (GROWLS)

JUNO: Take the kid and go. This’ll kill you, you understand? Dead.

Stop! Neither one of us wants this!

RABBIT: (BIG GROWL)

JUNO (NARRATOR): But he kept running towards me. And he knew he wouldn’t win. I’m just not sure he cared.

He was almost on top of me. I knew I’d do it if I had to, and… that’s when I heard the first shot.

SOUND: BIG BLASTER SHOT. ELECTRIC WHIR.

THEIA: (AFTER A PAUSE) Targets detected.

SOUND: CREAKING.

JUNO (NARRATOR): A big Theia bot stood in front of me and its first laser sizzled in the wall behind.

The bot had Small Fry pinned between a wall and the end of its cannon.

SMALL FRY: (BARKING)

JUNO: Dammit, no, no, no…!

RABBIT: (GROWLS)

THEIA: Come closer. Rabbit.

JUNO: …What?

RABBIT: (GROWL?)

THEIA: Come closer. I will tell you. When. To stop.

SOUND: SPLASHING FOOTSTEPS.

Closer. Just. A little closer. Real close. There.

SMALL FRY: (YIP!)

SOUND: PLOP.

THEIA: Your little one.

SMALL FRY: (BARKS, MEWLS)

RABBIT: (GRRRRRR)

THEIA: Now please leave. And be careful. Bunnies.

SMALL FRY: (BARKS)

SOUND: SPLASHING FOOTSTEPS FADE.

JUNO (NARRATOR): The two ran, and Small Fry never looked back. I was proud of her. We may look backward only to ensure we have not walked this path before, right? Wherever those rabbits were going, whatever home awaited them… they’d definitely never been there before.

THEIA: You. Stay there.

SOUND: CREAKING.

JUNO: (HEAVY BREATHING)

SOUND: CREAKING STOPS. HISS OF STEAM.

THEIA: Are you injured. User. Mista Steel.

JUNO: Mista…

(STARTS LAUGHING, OVER THE BELOW)

THEIA: Because. Um. Ramses wants to see you aboveground. And. Somethin’ somethin’. No. Don’t say. Somethin’ somethin’. Say—

JUNO: Rita?!

THEIA: —somethin’, you—

JUNO: Rita, is that really you?

THEIA: No. I’m. Um. What’s this thing called. Tara. Teyona. Let me. Look it up.

JUNO: Rita! God, I am glad to see… whatever the hell robot this is.

THEIA: This is. The Theo’s Spectacles.

JUNO: Wait– you yelled at the bot for saying “somethin’ somethin’,” which means you must be able to hear it.

THEIA: Nuh-uh.

JUNO: Rita…

THEIA: Who’s that. She sounds nice.

JUNO: Just drop the joke, alright? I’ve been looking for you for days, I’m filthy, I’m tired, so just tell me where the hell you are!

THEIA: Oh. Does it make you worried. Not knowing. Where very pretty user. Rita is?

JUNO: Rita, I said—

THEIA: ‘Cause maybe. Then. She should disappear for weeks instead. Not say anything. ‘Cause that would definitely make you. Less worried. And not way more worried. Ain’t that right. Boss?

JUNO: (AFTER A PAUSE) Oh, I…

(QUIETLY) What did I do?

Rita, I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.

…Rita?

THEIA: The Theia Order. Is shutting. Down.

SOUND: POWERING DOWN.

JUNO: Rita? Rita?!

…No.

Please…

SOUND: THUMPING ON METAL.

No! Damn it, no! No!

I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, Rita; and, I know that’s not enough. I know how sour a sorry tastes when it comes from someone who’s apologized before and never changed a thing. I know you’ve got no reason to believe me, but…

SOUND: METAL CLUNK.

Please don’t leave me here, Rita. You’ve got every reason to, but… I’m tryin’ to get better. I really want to get better, maybe for the first time in my life since the HCPD, and… I’m just so scared that it’s too late, and everybody’s already smartened up and gone, and maybe you should, but please, please—

RITA: Hi Mista Steel.

JUNO: (YELPS, PANTING) How long were you behind me?

RITA: Just for the last ‘please please.’ I miss anything you wanna say again?

JUNO: I, uh…

I’m sorry, Rita. I’m just… so sorry. It won’t happen again.

…Rita?

SOUND: THWUMP.

Oof!

RITA: I missed you, boss. I was real worried.

JUNO: I know. I hear you. For once. (DEEP BREATH) And I missed you too, Rita. Really.

RITA: (SNIFFLING)

JUNO: What? What’s the matter?

RITA: (SNIFFING/CHOKING BACK TEARS) We just… ain’t never hugged this long before, boss. (SWALLOWS) It’s nice.

JUNO: Oh. Yeah, it’s…

(CLEARS THROAT) Anyway, uh… I got a map, and it says there should be a way out just over—

RITA: Oh, yeah. The whole system’s bein’ shifted around, boss. None’a your maps are gonna work anymore.

JUNO: Shifted around for what?

RITA: Oldtown, I guess. But anyway, I figured out the way up before I even came down here because you know me, Mista Steel, I’m all for an adventure but as soon as it’s one that might get one’a my three S’s wet, I gotta get in and out. That’s right, my shoes, snacks, and salmon sausage snacks, so—

JUNO: You know a way up?

RITA: I do! Wanna go see? I was hopin’ we’d be able to bring that big puppet I hacked into with us, but it ain’t exactly gonna fit through the manhole. Or up the ladder, which I learned ‘cause at first I had two ways out but then I broke one, you’re never gonna believe how, boss, it was—

JUNO: With the big robot, right. Listen, Rita, I want to hear that whole story, I really do, but can we do it someplace we’re not covered in slime?

RITA: That’s a great idea, boss. This way.

SOUND: SPLASHING FOOTSTEPS.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): (FADING IN) …let’s look at that moment one more time. Opening day at Polaris Park. Moments after Takano’s last employee check-in. The silent, solitary moment in which his departure flipped from an idea to an action.

We can’t know what he was thinking in those moments. And in the end, trying to understand every minute detail of the departed’s psyche tells us more about ourselves, in many ways, than about them. Just ask Lorenzo Vega:

VEGA (FROM COMMS): Jack was… a perfectionist. He’d made so many compromises with his park, had seen his vision so diluted. One can only conclude that the sight of it, his creation so malformed… who wouldn’t leave?

HAWK (FROM COMMS): Or Jocelyn Chen:

CHEN (FROM COMMS): He was a visionary, and that meant he had no idea what he was doing. He could help us up to greatness, but him? His sights were always going to be aimed up about a dozen feet over where he ended up, and he was always going to be bored by whatever he made. Always.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): Or Miranda Fairbanks, who wrote in her memoir:

FAIRBANKS ACTOR (FROM COMMS): Humanity needs people like Jack, I think. People who can just see how things should be, without the reality of what they are getting in the way. That’s how progress happens. And so I assume he must have seen the true way forward somewhere other than us… and run towards it.

JUNO: This ladder?

RITA: Mm-hmm.

SOUND: GRUNTS, METAL CLANKING.

HAWK (FROM COMMS): We’ve presented you with theories over these many hours, but we will probably never know why Jack Takano left us behind. The only clue we have is the audio note found in his office, once he was gone. And to conclude our program, we will play it in full.

MUSIC: STARTS (FROM COMMS).

JACK (FROM COMMS): The thing I find most beautiful about Andromeda, in the end, is this: that she can never be satisfied. I wonder now, if Orion’s curse wasn’t really a blessing for our Homeless Hero. He turned her from a protector of one city, to an active force of good the world over.

RITA: (OVERLAPPING WITH THE END OF ABOVE) What’s the holdup, boss?

JUNO: Found the manhole cover.

JACK (FROM COMMS): To find home—

JUNO: (GRUNTS)

SOUND: METAL SCRAPING.

JACK (FROM COMMS): (OVER THE ABOVE) —Andromeda always looks backwards. Polaris. Nostalgia. The paradise left behind. And this works in our stories, when we only show the shining city for a few seconds at a time. But in life, no such place exists.

RITA: Mista Steel?

JACK (FROM COMMS): If it did—

RITA: Mista Steel?

JACK (FROM COMMS): —we would already live there.

JUNO: This… this isn’t Oldtown.

RITA: I’m pretty sure it is, boss. I counted paces an’ everything.

JUNO: No. The map’s right. I’m happy to explain in a minute, Rita, just as soon as I get this cannon out of my face.

THEIA: Remove yourselves. From. The sewer. Help. Is on the way.

JACK (FROM COMMS): But there may yet be such a home. I believe we can find it. But we cannot turn our heads if it is not what we expected, or if we fear what we see when it opens its gates.

RITA: Oh no oh no oh no—

THEIA: Now put your hands up. Please.

JACK (FROM COMMS): Home is not in the past. It can’t be. And that means when we find home, when we find the perfect place we yearn for… I doubt we will even recognize it.

RITA: What is this place? What happened to Oldtown?

JUNO: Says it right there on the sign, Rita.

“Welcome to Newtown: The City of the Future.”

JACK (FROM COMMS): And so now I leave. I go now to seek the true way home, as any hero should. And I urge you to do the same. Or, at least, to accept it when it comes. I look forward to meeting you there. Jack Takano.

ALL SOUNDS: FADE OUT.

***

SOUND: TRAIN MOVING, MUSIC.

CONDUCTOR: If you’ve enjoyed this tale, please consider donating to The Penumbra on Patreon. Our artists work tirelessly to bring you these stories, and if you have the means, we hope you will support our efforts. Every dollar helps. You can find that page at patreon.com/thepenumbrapodcast. If you support us on Patreon at the $10 level or higher, you’ll receive access to commentary tracks like this one, from actor Matthew Zahnzinger and co-creators Sophie Kaner and Kevin Vibert:

SOUND: TRAIN STOPS, DOOR SLIDES OPEN, RAIN.

SOPHIE: …There’s not anything more to it than it’s like, yeah, well I thought of it, and I’m smart, and how do I know that? Well, ‘cause I’m me, I just know.

KEVIN: Mmhmm.

SOPHIE: And there’s nobody… above him to tell him, y’know. And there’s no way of knowing for sure… what is good.

MATTHEW: Although to that point, and, to get… back on my bandwagon of every commentary complimenting Kevin’s writing, um—

SOPHIE: Could you compliment me a little bit, for once?

MATTHEW: (LAUGHING)

SOPHIE: What is this?!

SOUND: DOOR SLIDES SHUT.

CONDUCTOR: You can also support The Penumbra by liking us on Facebook, following us on Twitter @thepenumbrapod, following us on Tumblr @thepenumbrapodcast, telling your friends about us, telling your friends to tell their friends about us, and especially by rating and reviewing our podcast on iTunes. Every rating, comment, and kind word spreads our stories further and inspires us to keep creating more and better tales to come.

We would like to give special thanks to all who support us on Patreon, but especially to Minchowski, Camille Blanton, Christine Kim, Rowan Collins, Garrett M, Jay Iannuzzelli, Karin Z-H, Canteloupe, Fiona Parker, Regan, Ko, Kim Zeugin, Atha Lang, Vron, Charlie Spiegel, and Jaimie Gunter for their incredibly generous contributions per episode. Thank you.

Did you know that The Penumbra has merchandise for sale? It’s true! The Penumbra has partnered with DFTBA to bring you the posters, shirts, and pins your heart desires. Just go to dftba.com and search for The Penumbra Podcast.

This tale, Juno Steel and the Long Way Home, was told by the following people: Joshua Ilon as Juno Steel, Matthew Zahnzinger as Jack Takano and Ramses O’Flaherty, Marge Dunn as Hawk Hackett, Bob Mussett as Lorenzo Vega, Melissa Barker as Jocelyn Chen, Allison Choat as the Miranda Fairbanks reader, Sophie Kaner as the Theia and Small Fry, and Kate Jones as Rita.

The Penumbra is created and produced by Sophie Kaner and Kevin Vibert. If you wish to know more about our ever-expanding, infinitely-creative team of artists, musicians, editors, designers, and managers, you can read about them in the show notes of this episode.

I’m afraid this is the end of the line for today, dear Traveler. We hope you will ride with The Penumbra again soon.

ALL SOUNDS: FADE OUT.

#juno steel #i miss small fry

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stevensalerno · 4 years

Text

"Gadgets, Gizmos and Guitars -The Story of Leo Fender" -my 31st illustrated picture book...

MY LATEST PICTURE BOOK

This post briefly describes the various stages involved in creating all the sketches & illustrations for my 31st illustrated picture book, Gadgets, Gizmos and Guitars -The Story of Leo Fender, written by Michael Mahin. It is slated for release in Spring 2021 by publisher Christy Ottaviano (Henry Holt & Co,/Christy Ottaviano Books, an imprint of MacMillan Publishing).

THE PICTURE BOOK PROJECT

Back in July of 2019 publisher Christy Ottaviano (Henry Holt & Co,/Christy Ottaviano Books, an imprint of MacMillan Publishing) offered me another wonderful picture book project -to illustrate their upcoming title, Gadgets, Gizmos and Guitars –The Story of Leo Fender, author Michael Mahin’s jaunty, insightful story of Californian Leo Fender (born in 1909), who as a kid on his parents produce farm was fascinated with all sorts of gadgets and machines. As a teenager Leo immersed himself in studying electronics –initially radios, and then as an adult in the 1930’s during the Great Depression he opened his own electronics repair shop -which included installing sound systems, and repairing electric amplifiers and electric lap steel guitars. Through trial and error Fender eventually began experimenting with designing his own electric lap slide guitars and amplifiers… and also began developing his own prototypes of slim, solid body electric guitars. By the early 1950’s his unique innovative guitar designs were well on their way to becoming the most successful mass-produced electric guitars in history, intrinsically linked to the emergence of the budding new American music genre, Rock n Roll. Musicians around the world all know the iconic names of FENDER guitars: Telecaster and Stratocaster. The story & illustrations follow Leo from a 6 year old kid, all the way through his creative design career and into old age, with Leo always still thinking and tinkering -exploring new ways to improve upon his famed guitar designs.

(note: Gadgets, Gizmos and Guitars -The Story of Leo Fender is my 31st illustrated picture book, and my 3rd nonfiction picture book for publisher Christy Ottaviano. My previous other two nonfiction picture books for Henry Holt & Co,/Christy Ottaviano Books are:

The Fantastic Ferris Wheel -The Story of Inventor George Ferris (2015) written by Betsy Harvey Kraft & illustrated by Steven Salerno. (Henry Holt & Co,/Christy Ottaviano Books, an imprint of MacMillan Publishing) see the illustrations

PASS GO And Collect $200 -The Real Story of How MONOPOLY Was Invented (2018) written by Tanya Lee Stone & illustrated by Steven Salerno. (Henry Holt & Co,/Christy Ottaviano Books, an imprint of MacMillan Publishing) see the illustrations still

MY ROUGH THUMBNAILS & SMALL PRELIMINARY ROUGH SKETCHES

Once the publisher’s offered contract terms are negotiated and it is officially signed, I then commence with creating my very rough thumbnail sketches some drawn directly onto the text manuscript as a read it over and over again. They are followed by rough, small preliminary sketches (about 3”x5”). And as with all the other nonfiction picture books I’ve illustrated I’m also sorting through thousands of potential period photos to choose perhaps one hundred photos I’ll end up actually using as specific photo reference that helps me correctly reflect the time period described in the story -which starts in 1915 when Leo was only six years old, and goes up through to the mid-1950’s when Leo first released the design of his iconic FENDER Stratocaster guitar…

These initial stages of early rough sketches are for my-eyes-only and are not shown to the editor and art director. It is only after I have developed a stage of intermediary larger sketches to the point of confidently knowing my intentions with the images that I then complete my full-sized final sketches which are then formally presented to the publisher for their review and valuable feedback.

Below, are samples of some of the initial rough thumbnail sketches & rough preliminary sketches…

LARGER, MORE REFINED SKETCHES

After I spent 2 to 3 weeks exploring image possibilities via these many tiny thumbnail sketches and many small rough sketches I’ve slowly formulated a concrete plan for all the final illustrations. I then feel confident enough to start a series of next level larger, more detailed sketches which are about 5.5” x 8.5” in size…. and essentially are a storyboard of how the entire picture book will look, including the approximate blocking of where the text will be positioned relative to the art images.

Below, are some of these next level larger, more detailed sketches…

FINAL SKETCHES FOR PRESENTATION TO THE PUBLISHER

After I’ve completed all the larger sketches (seen above) which confirm exactly what my image intentions are for the final illustrations… next, I enlarge them in Photoshop to the actual full size that the illustrations will appear in the printed book and refine them even further to create my FINAL illustrations to officially present to the editor and art director.

The publisher (consisting of the editor, art director and designer) will carefully review all my final sketches and offer me their expert comments and suggestions -which are invaluable and can help me in refining some of my image concepts & scenes to make the final illustrations the very best they can be.

Below, are some of these FINAL sketches…

These final stage sketches are created with pencil and crayon, then scanned into Photoshop -where they are further modified and refined as well as adding digital color sparingly to indicate some possible color direction. In this final sketch stage I usually do not lock myself into indicating specific colors -which allows me more flexibility when creating the actual final illustrations..

PROCESS OF CREATING THE FINAL ILLUSTRATIONS

To create a final illustration for this picture book I first draw the main characters and objects with a dark sepia crayon on paper (using my final sketch as my guide). I also paint various background textures with gouache on paper -then scan all these various elements into a hierarchy of layers within Photoshop where I compose the final illustration and also paint color digitally. Typically one of the final illustrations created this way in Photoshop is comprised of about 25 independent layers. Of course all these layers which build each final illustration are then flattened before I provide the final digital file to the publisher.

Below, are views of some of these DARK SEPIA CRAYON DRAWINGS which are at the core of the completed final illustrations…

THE COMPLETED FINAL ILLUSTRATIONS

To create a final illustration for this picture book I first draw the main characters and objects with a dark sepia crayon on paper, using my final sketch as my guide. I also paint various background textures with gouache on paper -then scan all these various elements into a hierarchy of layers within Photoshop where I compose the final illustration and also paint color digitally. Typically one of the final illustrations created this way in Photoshop is comprised of about 25 independent layers. Of course all these layers which build each final illustration are then flattened before I provide the final digital file to the publisher.

Below, are cropped detail views of some of the completed FINAL illustrations created in Photoshop.

PROJECT TIMELINE

So from August 2019 through November 2019 I worked exclusively on creating all the necessary SKETCHES for Gadgets, Gizmos, and Guitars, making my official presentation to editor Christy Ottaviano and art director Patrick Collins at the end of November 2019.

Once all the sketches were fully approved in December 2019 I then immediately began work on creating all the final illustrations, based on the approved sketches. So, from December 2019 through March 2020 I was working diligently every day on the final illustrations for Gadgets, Gizmos, and Guitars. And by the third week of March 2020 I had completed about 80% of the final illustrations…right on track with my deadline schedule. However, unfortunately I then suddenly contracted the Covid-19 virus -which stopped me from working. In fact it stopped me from doing ANYTHING for about 60 days! In brief it was hell… I got pneumonia and I literally could not do anything for about two full months and then began to slowly feel better. To put it in perspective I was very unlucky to have contracted the virus, but then I was VERY lucky being able to fight off the virus and recover at home and did not have to be hospitalized! So, by the end of May I could begin working again, slowly at first in short work sessions, then longer and longer sessions as the days went on.

By early June I had finally completed all the inside of book final illustrations, and submitted them to the publisher. Whew! Now I just had to create the final art for the front cover and the endpapers, which traditionally I always do not address until I have first completed all the inside of book illustrations.

A PEEK AT THE PROCESS OF CREATING A FINAL ILLUSTRATION IN PHOTOSHOP

As I have described earlier in this post, to create a final illustration for this picture book I first draw the main characters and objects with a dark sepia crayon on paper, using my final sketch as my guide. I also paint various background textures with gouache on paper -then scan all these various elements into a hierarchy of layers within Photoshop where I compose the final illustration and also paint color digitally. Typically one of the final illustrations created this way in Photoshop is comprised of about 25 independent layers.

Below is a step-by-step look at one of the final illustrations. This illustration actually had 24 Photoshop layers… but for purposes of brevity for this step-by-step view I condensed things to appear as if the final illustration was created in Photoshop with just 6 layers… however, this condensed peek will still give you a basic concept of how the illustration was constructed. This particular illustration depicts a scene where young Leo is working on his parent’s produce farm when one day he slipped off the back of a truck bed and hit his eye on a fence post… and the accident caused him to lose his eye! Poor Leo!

Again, the step-by-step view seen below has been condensed from the actual 24 layers in Photoshop down to just 6 layers, in order to very briefly show the basic method in which the illustrations are constructed:

The above illustration actually had 24 Photoshop layers… but for purposes of brevity for this step-by-step view I condensed things to appear as if it was created with just 6 layers… however, this condensed peek will still give you a basic understanding of how the illustration was constructed.

This particular illustration above depicts a scene where young Leo is working on his parent’s produce farm when one day he slipped off the back of a truck bed and hit his eye on a fence post… and the accident caused him to lose his eye! Poor Leo!

FRONT COVER & ENDPAPERS ART

With every one of the 31 picture books I have illustrated thus far, I always fully complete the inside of book illustrations first. Usually though, at some point during the process of creating the inside of book illustrations I do also submit a flurry of tentative cover sketches, because the publisher’s marketing department needs to begin to see the possible cover concepts beforehand, so they can begin their marketing strategies for the picture book.

So, by the time I have completed all the inside of book final illustrations the publisher has also sharpened their thoughts on the various cover sketches I had already submitted -and chosen one of them as their preferred approach for the cover art.

Below is a look at the final cover sketch, and my subsequent completed final cover illustration…

The very last piece of original art I needed to create for this Gadgets, Gizmos and Guitars picture book project was the endpapers art… Note: Not all picture books have endpapers art, so it is a special feature when they do.

If you want to view other endpapers art I created for some of my previous picture books, click here. Below is a the final endpaper art…

Now that I have successfully completed all the work for the Gadgets, Gizmos and Guitars picture book project…. there is no time to relax, as I am now fully engaged in the sketches for my next picture book project:

The Secret Code Inside You -written by Rajani LaRocca, a non-fiction picture book title for publisher Little Bee Books, scheduled for release in Fall 2021. A whimsical, fun and informative introduction for young readers on how your DNA and genes make you uniquely into you!

To view my many other fiction and nonfiction picture books, as well as my illustration work for advertising and magazines, etc… visit stevensalerno.com

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63824peace · 5 years

Text

Tuesday, 22nd of november 2005

A friend pulled me into conversation this morning without even saying hello. "I saw a Quake-Cloud last week. It was terrible, frightful... just awful."

He claimed to have clearly seen a cloud shaped like an arrow, pointing from the sky to Roppongi Hills. He said it was obviously a Quake-Cloud... a premonition that Roppongi would suffer tremors.

The sight had shocked him so severely that he couldn't tell anyone about it until today.

"Last week?" I said. "But when? Which day?"

"I don't remember... perhaps Thursday."

"I hadn't heard any news of this."

"No, there's no mistaking it!" he insisted. "I saw a Quake-Cloud!"

He usually watches all sorts of television programs related to these matters. He's probably an expert by now.

"A Quake-Cloud, eh?"

What do Quake-Clouds even look like? Are they magnetic fields created from seismic distortions in the bedrock? I'm clueless on these matters.

I listened to him doubtfully, and he seemed to lose patience. The prophet muttered his forecast: "A huge earthquake will hit within two weeks." He appeared somehow relieved, and then he hastily tottered away.

A big earthquake, huh... maybe it'll come, and maybe it won't. If I start to worry about something as small as this, I might as well worry forever.

I should still prepare for the worst though. I have readied myself for the reality that a huge earthquake will hit someday.

I relayed the story as a joke to Matsuhanan, and he reacted with a serious expression.

"What's wrong?" I said.

Matsuhanan lowered his voice. "I'm not saying this to scare you, but--" His voice cut on the word. He leaned closely and hardened his expression. "I dreamed of an earthquake over the weekend."

"So?" I said. "What about it?"

"I had a dream, and in it we all got hit by an earthquake."

"Hmm. Well, still, that's just the sort of thing you'd expect from a dream, right?"

"However," he said. "On top of that, my wife also dreamed of an earthquake that very same morning."

Two similar events can happen, and we can still dismiss them as coincidences. Something more enormous than mere coincidence emerges when three similar events occur. How ominous....

Everyone who had not paid attention to our conversation earlier now listened intently. The air thickened, and the very atmosphere changed immediately.

Matsuhanan and I had both experienced the Kobe Earthquake. Memories from that time bubbled to the surface of my thoughts. I don't ever want to experience or see anything like that again. I decided to shut off these negative emotions as soon as possible.

"So you and your wife both dreamed of earthquakes? The answer's pretty simple here--you must have been on top of your wife without knowing it!"

"H-hey! That's not true!"

"Sexy Matsuhanan!"

"Oh, be serious."

I managed to ease the tense, nervous atmosphere with a little juvenile obscenity. We settled the matter with laughter.

We've seen some pretty scandalous problems lately regarding cover-ups of some buildings' vulnerability to earthquakes. The news broke when everyone concerned themselves with earthquake preparations. "How can we prepare for the big earthquake?" they asked. "And what will we do after the earthquake actually hits?"

I heard that some buildings can topple even under a small earthquake. If a building will collapse under just a small one, what will we do when the big one hits?

Dangers fill our world.

An earthquake will definitely hit us one day. No one knows when, of course, but Tokyo can't avoid its fate. It may hit tomorrow, within ten years, or even fifty years from now.

Still, we can't squander time worrying. We live in Tokyo, and we can't leave it. We certainly won't abandon it. We live with the possibility of disaster every day. Most importantly, we must avoid panic while also keeping ourselves prepared for our future quake.

A long time ago, Toho produced a movie called Jishin Retto (1980). Kaneto Shindo wrote the film's scenario; he's one of my favorite directors. The last scene disappointed me because it was just a rehash of the famous panic movie, Earthquake (1974).

The film's contents aside, the advertisement copy was great. It went something like this: "I knew it would hit one day... but I never thought it would hit today."

Over the past weekend I finally got to watch the bonus disc's extra footage from War of the Worlds. It lasted a total of 165 minutes.

They presented the Previsualization Method developed by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). The method draws out the full potential of scenes that use a lot of CG and CGI.

Film-makers traditionally edited the CGI and V/A composition into the film after they had finished shooting. There's a problem with that method though. According to these traditional methods, we needed to shoot the film against a blue screen background. We could have a hard time feeling out where the non-existent objects, scenery, and atmosphere belonged in the shooting studio.

Each person's imagination differs from other people's imaginations. We have a lot of room for miscommunication and misunderstandings. The shooting studio only becomes more chaotic when everyone on the set works out of sync with the total scenario conveyed on the blue screen.

ILM invented Previsualization to solve this problem. Think of it as a storyboard transferred into 3D images.

Each person can coordinate himself with the total scenario when he examines the Previsualized images in the shooting studio. People can arrive at a consensus understanding among themselves before they shoot... the actors, the special effects team, the stuntmen, and the CG team.

We can use this to determine how all the visual elements will correlate. We'll also work more efficiently with ILM's Previsualization Method. Production costs will drop. Talk about killing two birds with one stone.

James Cameron made a small model of his set while working on Terminator 2 in order to shorten his production period. He used a small camera to test various angles, and then he started to shoot. He cut back on the time needed to make his set that way.

Previsualization uses the same idea. We can decide how to adjust our special effects and our camera placement by moving character models through scenery in 3D space. We can decide how to handle our set, visual characteristics, props, and CGI usage after selecting the camera location.

This is how they produced War of the Worlds so quickly. Spielberg is known for a quick turnaround on his films, but Previsualization made this one possible.

I thought about how similar Previsualization seems to resemble our own development methods when I saw it in motion. We naturally used those methods when games became 3D in the late 1990s. We didn't pick it up from anyone... it's simply necessary to make our games.

We first construct the game using simple models and scenery. We treat the cutscenes the same way because they require cinematic effects. We test the module while minimizing all our resources, such as processing speed, MGS-defining characteristics, camera, and general operations. We must reduce everything to its bare qualities in our Previsualization Phase.

Once we fix everything using trial and error, we move on to full-scale production. The film industry's shooting phase equates to this.

Likewise, we don't use the older methods of making the game's map. Instead of drawing it directly, we structure the game according to the script team's provisional map. Once we've done that, we hand everything over to the designers. The pre-production period always lasts the longest while making a game.

The film industry could only have realized its Previsualization Method through digital technology. Film has finally evened out with the game-making process. Some aspects of game-making are behind the times. Other parts, however, are well ahead.

I ate lunch at the Nishi Azabu restaurant La Brace. I ordered spaghetti with ground chicken and Chinese cabbage. I wanted a drink of wine, but I controlled myself. Customers all around me wet their throats.

It's only on the lunch menu, but that was a big salad.

The pasta tasted delicious too. I paid a cheap price considering how much I ate.

We held our hiring interviews in the afternoon. After that we worked on our projects for MGS4 until evening, just like yesterday.

The project certainly is fun. I'd love to work on it twenty-four hours a day. I only want to create.

I'll totally shift my focus onto MGS4 once our new PSP project gets off the ground. I'll try to avoid entanglements such as interviews, clients, meetings, or lectures. I have to focus on my work during the pre-production and Previsualization periods.

At the bookstore I bought the fifth volume of Complete Cobra. I buy manga to read at a later date these days. I haven't got time to read any of them now, and the same really goes for novels. I finished reading Mr. Kurokawa's book Ansho, and I have started reading Parker's latest, Melancholy Baby.

I received my copy of NewWORDS, an entertainment magazine for mature adults. Kadokawa Publishing will release it November 25.

The cover really impacts the reader. It's a shot of Natalie Portman with her head entirely shaved! It will catch the attention of people in the bookstore. The magazine's first issue comes with a UMD Video that contains an episode of Blood+. I think it's really hip that they're not just including a regular DVD.

I wish this mature entertainment magazine great success.

I am actually helping NewWORDS by giving them an interview and writing introductions to movies. I'd like many adults to read it.

People in the past used to call Otaku a new type of subculture. Now we have all become adults. These Otaku now work as members of society, and they pay the usual taxes. They register to vote, and they participate in politics. They have married and now take care of families with children. They have become aware of their larger human community.

The Otaku's loneliness has disappeared, but his responsibilities have increased. These Otaku swore never to grow up -- yet they grew up without even noticing.

Nonetheless, games and anime still mean a lot to them.

People started calling manga "graphic novels." Manga became acceptable as dignified adult entertainment as time moved on. We also ought to have anime and games made specifically for adults.

But here's the question: will supply or demand come first?

Nothing will happen if we just wait for an answer. We're not looking at an issue of "When will it happen?" We're dealing with an issue of ‘Who will do it?’"

Who will innovate products to serve this market?

Now that I think on it, people in the last century used to call Otaku a new type of human being or an alien race. I think that Otaku should take a lesson from War of the Worlds -- they should return as adults from underground.

Our bodies retain the sturdy weight of our time's residue. As adults at last, we shall shed the filth on our own.

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zachwritesstuff · 6 years

Text

Awesome Trevor: The Long and Winding Road

I’m very used to writing things about other people, products and properties. So this one is going to be a slightly weird one for me. It’s a story of hopeful imagination, and disappointment; Of long hours working to make things perfect, and never finding it; And going through version, formats, people, places and ideas just to keep an idea afloat. But, most importantly, it’s the story of Awesome Trevor, an idea that is eight years in the making, yet so far has not given any worthwhile fruit, no matter how hard we tried. In writing this out, I’m hoping to both show the trials and tribulation of taking an idea from concept to fruition, and how impossible it might seem sometimes. Idealism and inspiration can be a hell of a stimulant, while stalling and depression can be a hell of a… depressant. So maybe someone can get something interesting out of it, or at least find the whole saga entertaining, I don’t know. I should probably quit stalling and actually get to the point… It all started...

Part 1: The Movie

The year is 2010. Just barely out of high school, I was now in Community College, and not working, which was a dumb idea for many reasons. I had worked on independent, or more accurately, amateur, film projects a dozen times, both for class and simply because I wanted to. None of them were good. Despite the fact that I was an adult, I still was not a competent film maker (And some might say that I still am not). But I was young, and still had the delusions of being a big shot director someday. All I needed, I reasoned, was a big project to really pick things up and get a bit of a spotlight. I could continue making simple YouTube videos, but if I actually wanted to get anywhere, I needed to make something bigger.

So I had to make a feature film.

I talked to my regular cohort, Evan Greenhoe. I had known him for a few years at this point, having met when I was still in high school, and we had the same thirst for creating. While he was more of the on camera type, acting and performing music (he still is, but he was then too), I always felt more comfortable behind the scenes, writing and directing. We had talked over projects before, as we always loved making ideas and fleshing them out, and when I told him my desire to make a feature film, he almost instantly handed me the idea of Awesome Trevor.

He had come up with the idea with his girlfriend, Sarah, and had held onto the idea for a little while, never fully formed, but when we started talking about making bigger things, he figured it would be a fit. He had never really formed the idea too terribly deeply, beyond making it a video game inspired piece of a regular joe becoming a hero and saving the princess. We talked out the idea over several days, and eventually we had a strong base to work off of.

Now before I go any further, there is one important note I must add. Around this time, Scott Pilgrim vs The World had just come out. This is important because, in the beginning, Awesome Trevor was a rip off of that. In later years, we would change the story around to make it it’s own thing, but to start with, it was a story of a kind of loser dude going on a quest to save his ex girlfriend from a bunch of people from her past, one of which is even a weird ninja girl. It was a copy.

Now that we had our base, the next step was to write out this masterpiece of original fiction. This was no problem, as I had already written out a few feature length scripts before (all of them going unused, of course). While writing, though, I decided to change up the flow a bit: Instead of one movie, I would make it a six part series, and after all parts were released, I would edit them together as a movie! My genius knew no bounds…

So I got to writing this newly formatted script. I filled it with video game references, witty dialogue, and set it in local areas, so that it would be simpler to film. I introduced the amnesiac main character, Trevor; His tired roommate, Mark; The mysteriously vanished girlfriend, Mary; and the 4 mysterious bosses, Kevin Kurochi, Peyote Jones, Stephanie Connor and Samuel Tanner. The story was of Trevor, who woke up after a heavy night of drinking, to find his memories of a former girlfriend gone, and going on an adventure to get them back with the help of his quip filled roommate.

My wit, it burns....

The scripts, well… They weren’t great. They weren’t bad for an untrained 20 year old, but I would like to think I’ve come a long way from when I wrote them. But the most important thing was, we had our scripts. Now started the pre-production.

We pretty much had our cast right off, as they were mostly friends of ours. I was going to play Samuel, who was a bouncer at a club with super strength; Evan was to play Mark, the plucky costar; Kevin (a samurai), Peyote (a drugged out metal guitarist) and Stephanie (a cloaked ninja) were going to be played by our friends Ken, Adolf and Amber respectively; And Mary, who appeared as herself in only one scene, was planned to be played by a woman named Amanda Alch. who I was going to school with at the time and was already an established actress (Bad Kids Go To Hell and Claws). It’s likely she doesn’t even remember agreeing to appear in it, which is probably for the best.

Our starring role went to a good friend of mine from high school named Kyle Mason. Then, he was a kid in his late teens with an interest in cosplay and video production. Nowadays, he is a professional cosplayer and video producer, so he’s not doing too shabby. It didn’t take much convincing to have him play the lead role, and we were off to the races!

youtube

A Readthrough of the script, which of course didn’t go through any editing

I had even asked a dude I had met in college named James to be our Director of Photography, as he had had more experience working on original projects and camera work. Our hearts were working faster than our minds, and we skipped over dozens of important steps (setting proper schedules, storyboarding, finding proper funding, etc) in our pursuit, instead focusing on marketing, finding places to film, and practicing our parts. We even had popular content producers Video Games Awesome plug our project on their show, despite the fact that there was not any actual substance behind anything we were doing.

youtube

Timestamp is at 9:24. A preview of what never comes...

The best way to sum this up is that is was an embarrassment to filmmaking. Had we actually started production as planned, everyone involved would probably hate each other, and the entire thing would be scrapped after about two episodes. I was saved by James cancelling his involvement, probably rightly sensing that this all was half assed, causing the production to fall behind and ultimately being cancelled due to people no longer being available.

And so the first part of this story ends with but a wisp of smoke that was our hope for a movie. Though we possibly dodged a bullet, I was still frustrated and disappointed by all of it, so I put the idea on hiatus and started working on other things. It would lay there for 3 years before it appeared again…

Part 2: The First Cartoon

2013. I was out of community college, and at the University of Texas. I didn’t fit in very well, and being farther away from home and friends made me a bit of a sad, lonely hermit. I knew several people at school, and though I would consider many of them friends now, back then, they were just classmates.

To occupy my time, I was doing side work for Frederator Studios, makers of such fine cartoons as Adventure Time, Fairly Odd Parents, and Chalkzone. I had become friendly with Fred Seibert, the founder of Frederator, after interviewing him a couple years prior, and he had let me make some videos for their YouTube Channel. While I was doing work there, they started up their Cartoon Hangover project, where people could pitch their own cartoons with relative ease, and if Frederator liked it, they would produce a full cartoon short.

This seemed like an amazing opportunity for both myself and Evan, who had experience with animation. I talked to him about it, and he was on board before I even finished explaining the whole thing to him. Like we always do, we started discussing ideas, and after long deliberations, we narrowed it down to three: Captain Amazo, the idiotic superhero; Metal Mania, which was about a metal bad traveling through space to be the biggest band in the galaxy; And, of course, Awesome Trevor, back from the dead.

Well, back from the dead is a slight misnomer. We had discussed the idea once more in between, thinking of bringing it back as a comic. We got far in our discussions, but never made any physical items to go with it, and soon it went back into its slumber.

Editing note: After reviewing the article, Evan has told me that he actually made a comic cover that he never showed me. The cover, unfortunately, has been lost to time.

Both of us were still feeling the sting from the failed mini-series/movie, and as we were now a little bit older, we decided to be a bit wiser as well. Not wise enough to not choose Awesome Trevor, mind you, but also hedging our bets by pitching two shows, the other being Captain Amazo. (Note: we did plan to pitch Metal Mania as well, but we never got around to finishing it).

So this process was pretty much a rinse and repeat. I went home and made a script, and from there, we began working on a pitch. This new script, while not a ton better than the originals, was still an improvement, and since we weren’t having to go through pre-production and big planning meetings, we were able to take stuff in stride. We kept the same general story, but decided to make stuff bigger and flashier, as we weren’t limited by the shackles of real life. We also changed around some of the character designs, as we wanted to have new actors play the characters.

I’m sure I thought of the shirt designs. I’m a comedy genius.

We kept the base designs of Mark and Trevor, but Samuel the Bouncer was changed to match the person we really wanted to play him, Seanbaby. Once Satisfied, we storyboarded everything out and sent them in to Frederator, eagerly awaiting the approval so we can start again on our dream project.

I wrote in the dialogue myself, despite my awful handwriting.

As these are the first you are ever seeing of the characters or story, it’s needless to say that we were denied. The problem with it was that, whoops, we had sent a full storyboard, when in fact they wanted a beat board (like a storyboard, but using thumbnails instead of large images). He also noted that the end of this pitch was left as a “To Be Continued”, and that they were looking for standalone ideas instead of pitches for full series.

Part 3: The Second Cartoon

While again disappointed, this wasn’t a denial based on content, instead just the way it was presented. So we went back to the literal drawing board and reworked the idea into a standalone. It was at this point, in the first time since the idea was formed, that we decided to change the story up. While we kept the saving the girl idea (as to us, it felt like a very video-game thing), we made him more of a player-character like character, almost like an avatar battling in a game.

Looking back through the beat boards we made, they were lame. While I had grown as a writer, I focused way too much on trying to make something someone else would like, and wrote in a very cliched way. Instead of trying to introduce or establish characters, I made Mark and Trevor generic, and didn’t even give defined forms to the people they were fighting. The jokes were bad, the characters were one note, and for some reason I felt the need to physically write out the dialogue on the sheet, despite the fact that I have terrible handwriting.

Seriously, why did I feel the need to write in the dialogue?!

Evan tried his best to work with what he was given, but I feel that I dropped the ball on this one. And of course it showed when I sent it in and got a response from Eric Homan, who runs all the creative development at Frederator.

“Thanks, Zach, for the work and continued interest.

Unfortunately, "Awesome Trevor" is very far away from what we're looking for in our Cartoon Hangover shorts, in everything from character to story to tone.

I may have recommended this before, but I really suggest you take a look at our shorts as we begin to release them in a few weeks. I think they'll give a better indication of the types of cartoons for which we're looking.

Thanks, again.

-- Eric”

In everything from character to story to tone. That said what needed to be said. Even though I was sour at the time, with five years of hindsight, I realized that Eric was, as he often is, completely right about it, in more way than I could have thought. It was a slapdash job on an idea that was already starting to become kind of stale. We tried to change it up, but in trying to rush this idea to get it made (I checked, there was literally one month between the denial of the first pitch and sending in the second pitch), I did a poor job and let both of us down.

I of course blamed people like Eric, who was just telling me the truth, and situations like my school life, which was causing me anxiety and depression, but deep down I knew that I had done poorly. I had taken this idea, that wasn’t even mine originally, and basically ruined it to the point where we felt like we couldn’t do anything more with it. So at this point, I want to make two apologies. One to Eric, who was simply trying to help and harboured resentment towards for years, and one to Evan, who I kind put a lot of pressure on while we were working on these, and probably wasn’t the best person to work with. Um… My bad.

Part 4: The Past and Future

That last one was probably the last major wave we had in trying to produce Awesome Trevor. It pops up in conversations of ideas a lot, but nothing ever comes to fruition. The closest that ever came after the second cartoon debacle was another video game video series related idea I had. The idea was of an NPC in an open world game who breaks programming and tries to fight back against the player character, who repeatedly kills people for no reason. After discussing that idea for a while, we thought of attaching the Awesome Trevor name to it, as they were both vaguely video game related, and even started jotting down some story ideas. But, like many plans, this one faded away, and was soon in the vault, like the thousand other things we come up with…

And, well, that’s kind of the end. There might have been an expectation of some kind of twist or surprise announcement, but that’s not always how things go. At this point, Awesome Trevor is just an old idea, one that had stewed in our minds for years now. It comes up in conversations every few months, maybe trying out a cartoon pitch again, or doing it as a podcast series, but so far, nothing is set in stone. Hell, it’s possible that after this, a new vigor of interests might pop up inside of us, and the world is finally introduced to this plan that is now 8+ years in the making. You never really can tell.

The main reason I wanted to write this was to just put this all out there, and finally view something of it. Maybe I wanted people to finally see this thing that has been on my mind for a portion of my life. Maybe it’s a cautionary tale of not stepping back and taking the necessary steps to make something come to life properly. Or maybe it’s simply my plea of vanity, begging someone to tell me what I made was good. At this point, I can’t really tell. I just hope someone enjoyed it enough to get to the end.

And man, did it get kind of depressing at the end. Well, for those who made it here, here is your secret easter egg ending. Presented in full is the original draft to the Awesome Trevor Theme Song, produced by the extremely talented Evan Greenhoe. Thank you for reading!

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patriciaanderson357-blog · 7 years

Text

Take the 21-day Productivity Challenge #makeitstick

DIY Productivity with Post-it® Brand Products

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

The end of the school year is so busy. Now is the time to get organized. In this blog post, I’ll give you my 1-2-3 steps to stress less and 5 productivity hacks. Many of them involve Post-it® Brand Products. I use them all the time, from storyboarding, to drafting articles, to accenting my DIY planner.

This blog post is sponsored by Post-it® Brand.

What productivity type are you? Take the quiz

21-Day Productivity Challenge

So, as part of my work with Post-it® Brand, I’ve been asked to design a 21-day challenge to boost productivity. As a teacher, I’ve picked 3 simple things that I know will boost productivity (and my mood) and I’m going to do this for 21 days. I also watched the four videos from the Post-it® Brand productivity experts including chef Russell Jackson, Teacher of the Year Sia Kyriakakos, fitness artist and spiritual wellness expert, Nicole Winhoffer and health business owner, Anna Young to use their productivity ideas and tips.

1 – One thing at a time

I keep my current “Big 1” task at the bottom left hand side of my monitor. This is my focal task. I do this at school and home. It helps me focus on just one thing at a time.

Multitasking is a myth. Focus is necessary to get anything done. To keep on track, I am committing to focus on ONE thing at a time. Just one.

To find out what kind of planner I am, I took a quiz using the Post-it® Brand Productivity Tool. In their research, they found that there are four types of planners. As a “Mindful Maverick” I learned that I need visual cues.

So, I write the current task on the bottom left-hand side of my computer monitor on Post-it® Super Sticky Notes. One task, one at a time.

I’ve used Post-it® Notes for years in this way. Seeing the results of the productivity quiz, I now know why I’m always happier when I write down my most important task and keep it front and center. As a teacher, I live in a rushed environment and seeing one task on my computer redirects my attention back to my main task.

According to the a survey conducted by Post-it® Brand, more than 1 in 4 Americans feel completing everything on their weekly to-do list is harder than running a marathon.*

I think part of the problem is many of us put too much on our list. Another reason might be our lack of focus. Writing my current focal task on a Post-it® Note and keeping it on my computer monitor throughout the day helps me focus. Swapping it out for a new one gives me a sense of progress!

2 – Two kind notes a day

I’m inspired by the wall of kindness that was started with one kind Post-it® Note in the girls’ bathroom at Principal Will Parker’s school.

Part of my purpose as a teacher is to spread kindness and positivity to my students and colleagues.

I was so inspired by what happened at Principal Will Parker’s school this year. One of his students posted a kind Post-it® Note in the girl’s bathroom. As other students joined in, it grew into hundreds of Post-it® Notes with kind messages. Kindness went viral!

“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” -Scott Adams

So, I’ve committed to write two kind Post-it® Notes a day and stick them somewhere in the school to encourage others to make others smile and encourage them to do the same. The teacher’s lounge. My room. The bathroom mirror. Yes, I’m doing this!

There have been times I’ve wanted to encourage a colleague. I’d buy their favorite cola or snack and leave it on their desk with a quick anonymous Post-it® Note. It really does encourage people.

3 – Three most important things

In my planner, I keep my “big 3” on Post-it® Super Sticky Notes to make sure they get done. I use the same system for home and work – 3 in each place!

Don’t confuse quality with quantity. Yes, my master list has many things on it. (See below for how I brain dump my list to organize it.)

However, this time of year, I just have so much to do that I list my three most important things. No matter what else gets done, these are a must.

I’ll admit. I have three things for home and three things for school.

The research commissioned by Post-it® Brand found that 61% of Americans believe they would be more productive if they used the same organizational system at home that they do at work.* As a busy teacherpreneur, I work hard to have a flexible but VISUAL system that works for me in both places.

In Summary. The 21-Day Challenge I’m taking is:

1 – I will do one thing at a time

2 – I will leave two kind Post-it® Notes a day to others

3 – I will list three things each day that I have to do at home and at school.

That’s it.

5 Productivity Hacks and Tips to Help Get Organized

So, now on to some tips/ hacks that I’m using for the organizational system that I use. Note that I’m in the DIY-planning family. (I released a book on it last summer.) DIY means that I make my own planners.

1- Do a Brain Dump

As I worked on my DIY Planning system for April/May, I got everything out and on Post-it® Notes. Also, I color coded my thoughts, as this helped me figure out the categories for the back of my planner and the unique ways I’m going to use my planner this month.

When I brainstorm, I take each idea and put it on one note and put it on my desk. (see the picture) I like to color code by topic or idea for patterns to emerge. (I do this when outlining the books I write too.)

The productivity quiz from Post-it® Brand I took earlier says that I need to keep my mind clear by doing a brain dump of all the items on my list. I also need to make sure my to-do items are showing on my calendar. Finally, I need to focus on one thing at a time. This fits with what I already know about myself.

So, as I was working on my planning system for April and May, I put all of the ideas and issues with my planner onto individual notes (pictured to the right.) Then, as I worked on my planner, I used the ideas to make sure my April/ May system will support what I need to make it through the end of the school year.

Declutter your mind by doing a brain dump of all that you have to do. Just use Post-it® Notes to make it easy.

2 – Customize Your System Based on Your Location

My home “brain dump” of work for the week is on a top door of my desk. I don’t share my desk at home, so I can do this. At school, I use a brain dump page in the back of my planner for the notes. That way, I can close it and it is private. I don’t want students (who often sit at my desk) playing with or bothering my personal task list.

At home, I brain dump my list on Post-it® Super-Sticky Notes. I have a door on the top of a cabinet that I can use to keep these. That way, I can grab what I’m working on and stick it on my computer monitor.

At school, however, I use a page in my planner designated for “brain dumps.” That is because students sometimes sit at my desk to scan pictures or use my computer and I don’t want them bothering my notes or reading them.

So, as a school teacher, some things need to be adapted to home and school.

Intentionally think about organizing your home and work. You’ll need slightly different systems for both.

3 – Know Your Style

As a “Mindful Maverick,” I’m a visual person. Out of sight, out of mind.

That is why, although I’ve used the Reminders app on my phone some, I have to get it on paper on ONE list. But before I write it down, if I do my brain dump on Post-it® Notes, then I can organize it.

Knowing your style of organizing will help you select the best tools for you. Each person is unique. Each person remembers in a different way. For this reason, I believe that everyone’s system of planning is truly do it yourself.

Do it yourself. Customize. Use colors. Decide what works for you.

4 – Quickly Access Notes

I organize my frequently used items in the back of my planner using Post-it® Tabs. I can move the tabs around or from page to page and color code them as well.

My goal is to be able to access anything within three seconds. Why? Well, my frustration kicks in if I can’t find it before. I admit – this time of year it is hard.

Use Post-it® Tabs to organize the back of your binder so you can put your hands on important items quickly.

5 – Make Things That Change Quickly Easy to Move Around

Also, I use a Kanban board approach which literally has me moving my Post-it® Super Sticky Notes around. (I got lots of ideas for this use from Sia Kyriakakos, 2016 Teacher of the Year for Baltimore City Schools, and art teacher from Maryland.)

When I have things that are fluid I will use smaller 3×3 Post-it® Notes. For example, with my podcast, sometimes events or things that happen cause me to move shows around. So, instead of using dry erase markers, I now use Post-it® Notes. They stick and re-stick so I can easily move them.

I write the guest name and then moving around the calendar as I see fit to determine who’s going to be up at different times.

I also use this method at school. This year, I’m teaching Digital Filmmaking. We have to plan our shooting schedule between two film crews. For the movie projects I’m working on, we write each shot on a Post-it® Note.

We list screenshots for our movie on Post-it® Notes. This makes it easy to grab a photo and go shoot.

Then, students can come in and grab a shot and go do it. Then, they put the shot on a board so the editors know the film is ready to edit.

For projects that are dynamic, you need to use Post-it® Super Sticky notes which will stick and re-stick.

What’s next?

I hope you’ll take the productivity quiz using the Post-it® Brand Productivity Tool on Post-it.com to find what your planner style is.

I also hope that you will get organized for the end of the school year using some of these techniques of brainstorming organizing and just putting everything together.

And I challenge you to either take this 21-day productivity challenge or, create your own challenge. Share your own planner type and your goal progress on your social channels using #makeitstick.

This is a great time of year to focus on some simple productivity techniques that will give us peace of mind and help us make it to the end of the school year without being so exhausted and stressed. We can do this!

*The 3M Productivity Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among 1,021 nationally representative U.S. adults ages 18+, between March 30th and April 5th, 2017, using an email invitation and an online survey. Quotas have been set to ensure reliable and accurate representation of the U.S. adult population 18 and older.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored post.” The company who sponsored it compensated me via cash payment, gift, or something else of value to edit and post it. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will be good for my readers and are from companies I can recommend. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.) Please also note that all opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of any sponsor or employer.

The post Take the 21-day Productivity Challenge #makeitstick appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

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ralph31ortiz · 7 years

Text

Take the 21-day Productivity Challenge #makeitstick

DIY Productivity with Post-it® Brand Products

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

This blog post is sponsored by Post-it® Brand.

What productivity type are you? Take the quiz

21-Day Productivity Challenge

1 – One thing at a time

I keep my current “Big 1” task at the bottom left hand side of my monitor. This is my focal task. I do this at school and home. It helps me focus on just one thing at a time.

Multitasking is a myth. Focus is necessary to get anything done. To keep on track, I am committing to focus on ONE thing at a time. Just one.

So, I write the current task on the bottom left-hand side of my computer monitor on Post-it® Super Sticky Notes. One task, one at a time.

According to the a survey conducted by Post-it® Brand, more than 1 in 4 Americans feel completing everything on their weekly to-do list is harder than running a marathon.*

2 – Two kind notes a day

I’m inspired by the wall of kindness that was started with one kind Post-it® Note in the girls’ bathroom at Principal Will Parker’s school.

Part of my purpose as a teacher is to spread kindness and positivity to my students and colleagues.

“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” -Scott Adams

There have been times I’ve wanted to encourage a colleague. I’d buy their favorite cola or snack and leave it on their desk with a quick anonymous Post-it® Note. It really does encourage people.

3 – Three most important things

In my planner, I keep my “big 3” on Post-it® Super Sticky Notes to make sure they get done. I use the same system for home and work – 3 in each place!

Don’t confuse quality with quantity. Yes, my master list has many things on it. (See below for how I brain dump my list to organize it.)

However, this time of year, I just have so much to do that I list my three most important things. No matter what else gets done, these are a must.

I’ll admit. I have three things for home and three things for school.

In Summary. The 21-Day Challenge I’m taking is:

1 – I will do one thing at a time

2 – I will leave two kind Post-it® Notes a day to others

3 – I will list three things each day that I have to do at home and at school.

That’s it.

5 Productivity Hacks and Tips to Help Get Organized

1- Do a Brain Dump

Declutter your mind by doing a brain dump of all that you have to do. Just use Post-it® Notes to make it easy.

2 – Customize Your System Based on Your Location

So, as a school teacher, some things need to be adapted to home and school.

Intentionally think about organizing your home and work. You’ll need slightly different systems for both.

3 – Know Your Style

As a “Mindful Maverick,” I’m a visual person. Out of sight, out of mind.

Do it yourself. Customize. Use colors. Decide what works for you.

4 – Quickly Access Notes

I organize my frequently used items in the back of my planner using Post-it® Tabs. I can move the tabs around or from page to page and color code them as well.

My goal is to be able to access anything within three seconds. Why? Well, my frustration kicks in if I can’t find it before. I admit – this time of year it is hard.

Use Post-it® Tabs to organize the back of your binder so you can put your hands on important items quickly.

5 – Make Things That Change Quickly Easy to Move Around

I write the guest name and then moving around the calendar as I see fit to determine who’s going to be up at different times.

We list screenshots for our movie on Post-it® Notes. This makes it easy to grab a photo and go shoot.

Then, students can come in and grab a shot and go do it. Then, they put the shot on a board so the editors know the film is ready to edit.

For projects that are dynamic, you need to use Post-it® Super Sticky notes which will stick and re-stick.

What’s next?

I hope you’ll take the productivity quiz using the Post-it® Brand Productivity Tool on Post-it.com to find what your planner style is.

I also hope that you will get organized for the end of the school year using some of these techniques of brainstorming organizing and just putting everything together.

And I challenge you to either take this 21-day productivity challenge or, create your own challenge. Share your own planner type and your goal progress on your social channels using #makeitstick.

The post Take the 21-day Productivity Challenge #makeitstick appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://www.coolcatteacher.com/take-the-21-day-productivity-challenge-post-it-note/

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athena29stone · 7 years

Text

Take the 21-day Productivity Challenge #makeitstick

DIY Productivity with Post-it® Brand Products

From the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis

Follow @coolcatteacher on Twitter

This blog post is sponsored by Post-it® Brand.

What productivity type are you? Take the quiz

21-Day Productivity Challenge

1 – One thing at a time

I keep my current “Big 1” task at the bottom left hand side of my monitor. This is my focal task. I do this at school and home. It helps me focus on just one thing at a time.

Multitasking is a myth. Focus is necessary to get anything done. To keep on track, I am committing to focus on ONE thing at a time. Just one.

So, I write the current task on the bottom left-hand side of my computer monitor on Post-it® Super Sticky Notes. One task, one at a time.

According to the a survey conducted by Post-it® Brand, more than 1 in 4 Americans feel completing everything on their weekly to-do list is harder than running a marathon.*

2 – Two kind notes a day

I’m inspired by the wall of kindness that was started with one kind Post-it® Note in the girls’ bathroom at Principal Will Parker’s school.

Part of my purpose as a teacher is to spread kindness and positivity to my students and colleagues.

“Remember there’s no such thing as a small act of kindness. Every act creates a ripple with no logical end.” -Scott Adams

There have been times I’ve wanted to encourage a colleague. I’d buy their favorite cola or snack and leave it on their desk with a quick anonymous Post-it® Note. It really does encourage people.

3 – Three most important things

In my planner, I keep my “big 3” on Post-it® Super Sticky Notes to make sure they get done. I use the same system for home and work – 3 in each place!

Don’t confuse quality with quantity. Yes, my master list has many things on it. (See below for how I brain dump my list to organize it.)

However, this time of year, I just have so much to do that I list my three most important things. No matter what else gets done, these are a must.

I’ll admit. I have three things for home and three things for school.

In Summary. The 21-Day Challenge I’m taking is:

1 – I will do one thing at a time

2 – I will leave two kind Post-it® Notes a day to others

3 – I will list three things each day that I have to do at home and at school.

That’s it.

5 Productivity Hacks and Tips to Help Get Organized

1- Do a Brain Dump

Declutter your mind by doing a brain dump of all that you have to do. Just use Post-it® Notes to make it easy.

2 – Customize Your System Based on Your Location

So, as a school teacher, some things need to be adapted to home and school.

Intentionally think about organizing your home and work. You’ll need slightly different systems for both.

3 – Know Your Style

As a “Mindful Maverick,” I’m a visual person. Out of sight, out of mind.

Do it yourself. Customize. Use colors. Decide what works for you.

4 – Quickly Access Notes

I organize my frequently used items in the back of my planner using Post-it® Tabs. I can move the tabs around or from page to page and color code them as well.

My goal is to be able to access anything within three seconds. Why? Well, my frustration kicks in if I can’t find it before. I admit – this time of year it is hard.

Use Post-it® Tabs to organize the back of your binder so you can put your hands on important items quickly.

5 – Make Things That Change Quickly Easy to Move Around

I write the guest name and then moving around the calendar as I see fit to determine who’s going to be up at different times.

We list screenshots for our movie on Post-it® Notes. This makes it easy to grab a photo and go shoot.

Then, students can come in and grab a shot and go do it. Then, they put the shot on a board so the editors know the film is ready to edit.

For projects that are dynamic, you need to use Post-it® Super Sticky notes which will stick and re-stick.

What’s next?

I hope you’ll take the productivity quiz using the Post-it® Brand Productivity Tool on Post-it.com to find what your planner style is.

I also hope that you will get organized for the end of the school year using some of these techniques of brainstorming organizing and just putting everything together.

And I challenge you to either take this 21-day productivity challenge or, create your own challenge. Share your own planner type and your goal progress on your social channels using #makeitstick.

The post Take the 21-day Productivity Challenge #makeitstick appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher helping educators be excellent every day. Meow!

from Cool Cat Teacher BlogCool Cat Teacher Blog http://www.coolcatteacher.com/take-the-21-day-productivity-challenge-post-it-note/

0 notes