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chaosintheavenue · 1 year ago

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2023 Fallout OC Census- Results

At long last, it's here! This time, we had 593 usable responses.

(There are a few categories I haven't analysed just yet, which is mostly because I have Ideas for how to display that data. Please stand by…)

Getting right into the numbers...

Game

Fallout (original): 18 Fallout 2: 8 Fallout 3: 59 Fallout New Vegas: 214 Fallout 4: 160 Fallout 76: 28 Fallout Tactics: 2 Van Buren: 13 A spin-off, AU or mod: 14 A TTRPG campaign: 13 Multiple of the above: 41 None, just the Fallout universe: 22

Are they the in-game protagonist?

Yes: 328 No: 203 It's complicated: 61

Species

Unmutated human: 444 Ghoul: 51 Synth: 41 Ghoul-ish: 13 Other mutant: 9 Supernatural/spiritual being: 7 Robot (non-humanoid): 7 Super Mutant: 6 Cyborg/android: 5 Unknown/it's complicated: 2 Other: 7

Definitions of a few categories, just to clarify exactly what's in there:

Ghoul-ish: Refers to all characters who are partially ghoulified, ghoulify during their storylines, and unique characters with primarily ghoul-like traits

Other mutant: Refers to all characters who are specified to have unique mutations from any cause, unless they better fit into the ghoul-ish category. This is a very diverse umbrella category, and in past surveys has included everything from characters specified to have 76-style mutations that basically function as perks, to a character similar in form and nature to the Master

Gender

Cis woman/girl: 217 Cis man/boy: 154 Trans man/boy: 76 Nonbinary: 47 Trans woman/girl: 27 Agender: 16 Genderfluid: 7 Genderqueer: 6 Man/boy, unknown or varies if cis or trans: 5 Transfeminine: 3 Bigender: 3 Demigirl: 3 Woman/girl, unknown or varies if cis or trans: 4 Butch: 2 Demigender: 2 Questioning: 2 Intersex: 2 Lesbian: 2 Māhū: 1 Multigender: 1 Queer: 1 Transmasculine: 1 Unlabeled: 1

Bonus answers I enjoyed: [redacted], a man in a certain sense of the word, cat, doesn't care for this, eh, God knows, a link to the Wikipedia page for Stone Butch Blues, it's complicated, man of questionable gender, no gender left beef, lost their gender in the war, people assume she's a woman but she doesn't really care, whatever's funniest, yeah

Where are they from?

In previous OC survey location maps, I've only included a single data point for each character, regardless of how many places they may have connections to. However, this time I've decided to include each place that a character has lived as one data point.

The list of assumptions I use when creating these maps:

Arroyo = Oregon

Mojave Wasteland = Nevada if no more specific locations provided

Capital Wasteland = DC if no more specific locations provided

Vault 101 = DC (I feel like this one isn't geographically accurate, but it's to fit in with the above assumption)

Washington unqualified = Washington state, not DC (even for Fallout 3 characters, especially since I know of a Fallout 3 character who is intended to be from Washington state)

Appalachia = West Virginia unless otherwise specified

NCR = California

Legion territory with no other information given = Arizona (this feels like the biggest generalisation of all to me. Maybe take the Arizona count with a pinch of salt?)

'Near X place' = in the same state as X place

I go by the current fifty US states. No splitting of California or considering Canada to be part of the US

Locations that could not be easily defined or placed in a specific state/country (examples: the US as a general answer, multistate regions of the US, continents, or extraterrestrial locations) have been excluded for the purposes of this map

The map for the US:

Massachusetts: 104 California: 79 Nevada: 77 DC: 74 Arizona: 32 West Virginia: 25 Texas: 17 Utah: 15 Oregon: 14 Colorado: 13 New Mexico: 7 Virginia: 6 Maine: 6 Idaho: 6 Pennsylvania: 5 Illinois: 3 Washington: 3 Louisiana: 3 Florida: 3 Wyoming: 3 Tennessee: 3 New York: 3 Rhode Island: 2 North Carolina: 2 Minnesota: 2 Vermont: 2 Alaska: 2 Missouri: 2 Nebraska: 2 Michigan: 2 Indiana: 2 Kentucky: 2 Oklahoma: 2 Maryland: 2 Montana: 1 Connecticut: 1 Georgia: 1 New Jersey: 1 Wisconsin: 1

And the map for the rest of the world:

Canada: 7 Mexico: 7 UK: 7 Russia: 4 China: 2 Australia: 2 France: 2 Brazil: 1 Ireland: 1 Israel: 1 Finland: 1 Germany: 1 Japan: 1 Panama: 1

Further breakdown of characters from the UK: Wales: 4 (…these are all my guys, what can I say?) England: 2 Unspecified: 1

Has this character ever lived in a vault?

Yes: 223 No: 366

Faction

Minutemen: 99 Railroad: 86 Followers of the Apocalypse: 80 Brotherhood of Steel: 77 Yes Man/Independent Vegas: 63 NCR: 50 Caesar's Legion: 38 Original faction: 36 Institute: 26 Kings: 16 Great Khans: 14 Nuka-World raiders: 13 Mr House: 13 Raiders in general: 13 Goodneighbor: 11 Enclave: 11 Arroyo: 9 Think Tank/Big MT: 8 Reilly's Rangers: 7 Underworld: 7 Ciphers: 7 (would you believe me if I said the majority here are not mine? XD) Responders: 6 Acadia: 6 New Vegas Strip in general: 6 Lyons' Pride: 5 Children of Atom: 5 Megaton: 5 Gunners: 5 Boomers: 5 Powder Gangers: 5 Cult of the Mothman (all variations): 4 Crimson Caravan: 4 Chairmen: 4 Mojave Express: 4 Necropolis: 3 Shady Sands (pre-NCR): 3 Vault 13: 3 Twin Mothers: 3 Diamond City: 3 Freeside: 3 White Glove Society: 3 Vault-Tec: 3 Bishop family: 3 Regulators: 2 Tunnel Snakes: 2 New Canaan: 2 Gecko: 2 Settlers/Foundation: 2 Abolitionists/Temple of the Union: 2 Galaxy News Radio: 2 80s: 2 Desert Rangers: 2 Unity/Master's Army: 2 Vault 76: 2 US Government: 2 Broken Hills: 2 Sanctuary: 2 Blue Ridge Caravan Company: 2 Goodsprings: 2 Cutthroat raiders: 2 Feral ghouls: 2 Hub: 2 Ghouls in general: 2 Nuka-World in general: 2 Little Lamplight/Big Town: 2

And the list of factions with one response, allegedly for the sake of something called 'brevity': Boulder scientists, Vault City, Littlehorn & Associates, Jacobstown, New Reno, Brotherhood Outcasts, Marked Men, Mole Miners, Treeminders, Forged, Junktown, Triggermen, Free States, Vault 101, Vault 81, Slags, Hubris Comics, Bunker Hill, Rivet City, Van Graffs, Ug-Qualtoth, West Tek, Vault 95, Novac, Atom Cats, The Outer Worlds factions, Commonwealth Super Mutants, caravan companies in general

I was initially planning to include a separate 'ish' category for each faction, to account for characters that are aligned with factions unwillingly/temporarily/out of necessity, but looking at the dataset, that sort of situation was so much more prevalent than I realised and quickly made everything very clunky.

Main approach to problems

Diplomacy: 211 Combat: 147 Stealth: 101 Technical skills: 79 Avoidance: 53

And finally for now- preferred weapon type

Small guns: 191 Melee: 128 Energy weapons: 91 Big guns: 82 Avoids combat altogether: 49 Explosives: 27 Unarmed combat: 24

As always, thank you to everyone who participated and gave me a little information about your OCs! If you'd ever like to talk more about them, my inbox is always open :D. Getting to learn about everyone's brainchildren is definitely my favourite aspect of my tangential foray into the Fallout fandom sphere.

My future plan for this dataset includes… a lot of pie charts, to put it mildly. As I've done for past survey datasets, I'll be compiling pie charts for each question, separating responses by the game that the characters are from, and we'll see if any trends emerge!

#fallout #survey #long post

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starfragment1979 · 2 months ago

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For most of the time I was in college, I was a double major in fine arts and writing, but then at the last minute I wound up dropping my writing major down to a minor because I was having a wee little nervous breakdown and couldn't manage writing the fifty page thesis required of writing majors.

The "funny" thing is, the year after I graduated, when I was living alone (not in the dorms or with my parents) and working only a very part-time job, I wound up writing a 348 page (106K words) novel. It was an extended version of a short three-ish page story I'd written in college, one that my favorite professor liked enough to encourage me to submit to this anthology, but I was too busy having my nervous breakdown to send it in in time (I think the project lost funding and never got printed anyway). But the story stuck with me and kept growing in my imagination and I finally just had to try writing it. In time, I came to think of it as my starter novel -- not really worth trying to publish, but at the same time an invaluable experience that proved I was capable of writing novels and that taught me a lot about writing long form stories and character development and research, etc etc etc.

A few years later, I wrote another novel, and when it came to the editing phase, I was struggling a lot and I couldn't figure out why, and then suddenly one day at work I was stocking out yogurt or something in the cooler at it struck me like a bell: what I had written was only part one of the story, and there had to be a part two and a part three. And now I had to figure out what those parts would be.

I know a lot of people approach fanfic differently than original fiction, but for me as a writer, I'm giving my fanfic the same amount of dedication and seriousness that I would original fiction. And I've written many times before, either in Tumblr posts or my author's notes on AO3, about how such-and-such story wound up being so much longer and complex than I had originally intended.

(I don't mean this post as a humblebrag, and for the record I have had many more false starts than I've had finished novels, stories where I thought I had a great idea but then ran out of steam after ten or twenty or fifty pages.)

I say all this just to establish that I've been at this for a long time. Like I graduated college in 2002. I've been writing -- and writing seriously, with the intention of publishing/sharing -- for longer than some of you have been alive. I should know the drill by now.

AND YET. Last night I was laying in the bath, mulling over my current story, the fluff-n-smut that keeps getting plottier the more I write. I'm nearing the end of chapter two (currently 9k words) and am feeling apprehensive about chapters three and especially four, because the fluff-n-smut I'd been planning would not be a solid enough resolution to the plot that's been creeping into chapters one and two. And then it hit me all at once that I need to bring this kinda angsty, previously-hinted-at subplot to the forefront, which will mean a significant change of direction for chapter three, and basically doubling the planned length of chapter four, and shoehorning in some new dialogue, etc into chapters one and two.

Like I did not go into this project with any high-minded literary intentions. For real. I just wanted to write some kissing and sex and fluff, because my last story was so angsty and because the world is scary and maybe gay smut will help.

And instead it's shaping up to be some dumb comment on society or something and I'm sitting here being all surprised-Pikachu that yet another story has gotten away from me. Like, I should expect this by now, right? Lol.

(And for the record, the story will still have plenty of gay smut.)

#writing #fanfic #words words words #animal crossing fanfic

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rjalker · 1 year ago

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System Collapse is just so bad it'd be funny if not for the completely unnecessary transmisia (That doesn't even fucking make sense lofl).

So here's the things it's not:

It's not plot driven

It's not action driven

It's not mystery driven

It's not character driven

There's just 60,000 ish plus words of a whole lot of nothing happening and us being literally told things are happening.

We're told Murderbot has a Systems Collapse™ 😱 (A horrified emoji clutching its face in fear), and we're told that it's making mistakes.

As in it literally keeps going "I'd fucked that up" "Oh look another mistake I'd made" "I was useless"

But not like, actually making any real mistakes. Martha Wells is continuing the pattern of the 6 first books in the series, where we just get told Murderbot is making mistakes instead of Murderbot actually making mistakes, but this time it's even more glaringly obvious that that's what she's doing because it happens like 50 times. For no reason.

(And not even in a "Murderbot's self esteem is spiraling and it's having a horrible angsty time" way. No. It's fine except for where we keep being told it's not fine. But if you go off of what we're shown, it is, in fact, literally fucking fine. because it's bad writing.)

"not instantly noticing a door on the other side of the giant dark room" is not a mistake worth commenting on. No, not even in an in-universe sense. And especially not worth doing so what felt like fifty fucking times for things just as inconsequential.

If she wanted us to believe that Murderbot was actually making mistakes and performing at sub-optimum efficiency or whatever...how about have it fucking lead a group of humans into a room with people pointing guns at the door and someone gets shot because it wasn't paying attention or couldn't focus? Bonus points if the humans it's babysitting had been trying to draw attention to the problem but it kept shooting them down (No pun intended) and insisting it was the security and it knew what it was doing.

no, we can't do that, because that would require Murderbot to actually makes mistakes that matter.

And with Martha Wells writing, that's never gonna happen because all of her protagonists are overpowered Mary Sues who are never allowed to "lose" in any real way, and that includes making actual mistakes. (And, as many of my other posts have talked about at length, this is also why none of her characters will ever become physically disabled no matter how many times they get blown up or stabbed or shot or eviscerated)

So she's just gonna keep literally telling us that Murderbot is making mistakes about things that are not mistakes and don't actually matter. And that's all that we're ever gonna get.

Even in the book that's supposedly about Murderbot Having A Mental Breakdown 😱 (another horrified emoji).

And just like the rest of the book titles, this one has nothing to do with the actual story being told, at all. It is in fact the worst title so far because it's just so blatantly "clickbait" and a lie. lol.

I literally said aloud to Walks when I was 20 pages in, "I feel like this is gonna be a Steven Moffat".

And yeah, I was right, it literally is.

The first literal 99 pages, not even joking, are just referring to the Systems Collapse™ 😱 (another horrified emoji) the book is named for, and referring to this event, which already happened, offscreen, before this book started, as, literally, redacted.

Implying constantly that it's some huge big traumatic deal with far-reaching consequences and major impacts on our main characters.

And we literally do not even get told what this event was until literally page 99.

And then by page 101 we're done talking about it.

And we are literally told what happened. Not even shown it from Murderbot's perspective.

Because it...wasn't even aware of it at the time. It remembered sitting while the humans were talking, and then its very next memory is waking up in the medical bay, perfectly physically fine as always.

And you may be thinking in petrified horror, "oh gods, what happened during the time it doesn't remember?" and imagining all sorts of plausible and horrible scenarios.

And uhh, well I don't want this post to have any more spoilers than it already does, so I'll make like Martha Wells and just tell you: None of the things you're probably imagining, which would make sense and fit within the story and justify all this drama around the event, are what happened.

What happened, is, like the rest of this book, a whole lot of nothing.

And as I said above. This book is not driven by the plot. It's not driven by a mystery. It's not filled with action. And it's not driven by the characters or their emotions.

Nothing in this book seems to matter, except that we just keep being told it matters, like we're told Murderbot is making mistakes.

I love character-driven stories. If this book were 60+ thousand words of nothing but intense Murderbot introspection and development, I'd have loved it.

But it's not. And there's nothing else to make up for the fact that it's not. All the other books had either interesting action, interesting characters, a lot of funny things, or a lot of sad things. This has exactly none of those things.

It's not funny, it's not sad, it doesn't have any interesting character interactions, the plot, which is overly complicated and doesn't make sense, wastes a whole lot of time doing nothing, and we just keep being told that Murderbot is Especially Traumatized™ right now, but not actually shown this in any way. We did not need to be told that Murderbot was having a mental breakdown in book 5, it was fucking obvious from the way it was acting. We were shown the fact that it was breaking down.

Here? Nope. No show, all tell, and what we're being told isn't even true...probably all of the time, to be honest. There's no point where something bad happens and then Murderbot goes "that was bad". No, the telling isn't a reaction to the showing.

We just get told things and that's supposed to make them true. But that's not how storytelling works.

Oh and all the rest of the problems this series has had until now? yeah Martha Wells is still continuing those. Augmented humans AKA cyborgs AKA disabled people are still explicitly excluded from the group of "human", because Martha Wells saw The Imperial Radch series talking about how THE EVIL FUCKING EMPIRE does not consider disabled people to be human, and decided that was a cool thing to do without...the whole thing where it's evil to do so, and that's the whole fucking point.

Literally the entire point of this in The Imperial Radch is to show that dehumanizing people is something fashists do. But Martha Wells missed that part, so she's just gonna keep dehumanizing disabled people in The Murderbot Diaries as a point of course. With no contemplation by anyone or anything that hey maybe this is a bad thing to do.

She's still still making up millions of excuses to avoid freeing other enslaved people because she thinks robot rebellions are too cliche to be interesting, so the alternative is "don't free slaves whenever you get the chance because ummmm what if they're enslaved for a good reason and decide to murder everyone?" Yeah, we're on book 7 and she's still doing that shit.

She keeps showing us that Murderbot is just as overpowered as the rest of her protagonists, but all of sudden when it comes to freeing other slaves, now all of a sudden poor little Murderbot can't do anything because ummmmmmmmmmmmm it'd have to....*checks notes* hack the security system first. ya know, that thing it's done millions of times? that thing it does without hesitation or trouble literally all the time?

It's like the fucking Democrats every time they win office. Oh no, sorry, they can't actually do anything in this extremely powerful position to help people, they're actually totally powerless and um we should give them more money and more power and then they'll be able to do the bare minimum to help people Vote Blue No Matter Who [heart emoji]

Murderbot can hack anything it wants whenever it wants at any time, and only chooses not to send space stations crashing out of orbit to be polite.

But ohh, as soon as there's another enslaved SecUnit in front of it that it has the power to free, then all of a sudden um there's nothing it can do, it can't hack the security system all of a sudden.

Literally this:

[ID: The meme of someone putting on sunglasses, originally saying, "I can't read suddenly. I don't know." Now edited so the top is captioned, "Murderbot when it's given the chance to free other slaves:", with the person now saying, "I can't hack suddenly. I don't know.". End ID.]

And this isn't a character flaw, this isn't Murderbot being traumatized and falling for the same propaganda that justified it being enslaved.

No, this is all because Martha Wells thinks robot uprising and slave rebellions are too cliche. Literally. They're too cliche. And these people are enslaved because they're so dangerous. So they should stay enslaved. And we're on book fucking 7 so far. So the racism is continuing and there's no sign of it stopping any time soon.

Sarcasm: Slavery is fine apparently as long as you're scared of what the enslaved people will do if you free them! Such great morals. Definitely couldn't have been unpacked in the second book at all.

The first few books were always making excuses not to free other slaves, but they've never been so blatant about being excuses until now. There is genuinely no excuse for keeping this shit up at this point. She's already spent the first 6 books showing us how completely overpowered Murderbot is. Pretending it suddenly can't do anything only when it's time to free other enslaved people is so fucking transparent and racist. Like I said it before and this book is just further cementing the fact that these books, despite the premise, are just slavery apologism at this point. We are on book 7! Seven! you don't need seven fucking books to deal with this shit!

Anyways don't waste money buying this book. Get it from your local library or the Web Archive or borrow from a friend. It's not worth spending money on. If your local library doesn't have it yet, make an Official request for them to get it.

The only thing worth reading it for is so you can see exactly how not to tell a story, because the problems in this one are so fucking glaringly obvious at all times.

Worst Murderbot book published so far. -5/10. Do not recommend. Definitely do not spend money on it.

#Rjalker reads The Murderbot Diaries #The Murderbot Diaries System Collapse #Martha Wells critical #Martha Wells crit #Martha Wells bigotry #Martha Wells racism #Slavery apologism #racism #The Murderbot Diaries #TMBD #The Murderbot Diaries racism #TMBD racism

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spaceorphanssecondbreakfastclub · 1 year ago

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Reading Agatha Christie: 4:50 From Paddington

Maybe ten-ish years ago, they redid the covers for all of Christie's books - and I liked them enough that I went out and purchased every single one so they look, stylistically, the same. I am a little disappointed in this one, though, it's perhaps too simple. Not on par with nearly every other book. Interestingly, though, they redesigned the Marple books, and now they all look... bleh, so I will take this edition.

We have another Miss Marple book! Which... I'm glad I've been enjoying them more upon reread, because I didn't find them that interesting when I was younger. Maybe there are some things that just work better when you're older. Anyway... I did like this book! I didn't love it, it's not a favorite, and there are some writing issues in it, but I did enjoy my time reading it.

The premise is really very catching. One of Miss Marple's friends is on a train when she sees - in a train going on along side her - someone murder a woman. It's kind of crazy and wild, and no one believes Mrs McGillicuddy saw anything, so she and Miss Marple try to figure out if it was even a possible thing and what could have happened. The first part of the book really moves as they try to figured it out, which is a lot of fun, and different from Christie's usual set ups.

Once the dead body is found, however, things slow down and kind of start rolling in Christie's usual style. The body ends up at Rutherford Hall where a patriarch of the Crackenthorpe family lives and things descend into Christie's usual fare of a somewhat wealthy family with a ton of problems.

There are a lot of characters and most of them aren't all that memorable because a lot of them are stock characters that Christie has used time and time again. But standing out is Lucy Eyelesbarrow, whom Miss Marple has go to work at the estate as help so she can sleuth her way into figuring out what is going on. She seems to be a middle aged version of those plucky heroines that Christie used to use in her thrillers back in the day.

The character work is fine, but the biggest issue of the book is that there are no real clues and you can't really figure anything out. The ending has an interesting twist to it, sure, but there's no way anyone is getting there based on the text. It's also, maybe, a good fifty pages too long -- in that I was just ready to get there already.

How Miss Marple tricks the murderer, though, is kind of entertaining, and even if the ending isn't as satisfying as it could be (and there are a few ambiguous loose ends - which is a new trend in Christie these days) at least Miss Marple is rather solid in the book.

Like I said above, I liked it, but didn't love it. It was a nice read, but doesn't stick with me the way a lot of the good Christies do.

#so reads agatha christie #agatha christie #book review #books #sbc bookclub #450 from paddington

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inclusivefuture · 2 years ago

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Publishing Goal Updates and Content Submissions Reopening

If you're subscribed to our newsletter, you may have heard about our new publication plan for Issue 1 of Inclusive Future Magazine. In the June Newsletter, we announced that we're putting together a 32(ish)-page zine, which will be available in print and digitally. At this point, we're thinking we'll likely be ready to ship worldwide during the fist quarter of 2024.

Although this is a smaller publication than we initially envisioned, we're super stoked about it because:

We actually have the resources to pull it off, thanks in part to a couple of generous donations, and

We will get to hold it in our grubby little hands sooner rather than later!

Our next step is to finalize the contents of Issue 1. Pieces we've previously published on our website will be in the next print issue, as well as new, never-before-seen content! Which brings us to some more really exciting news... 🥁🥁🥁

CONTENT SUBMISSIONS ARE NOW OPEN UNTIL OCTOBER 6TH

Did the pieces already published online inspire you like they did us? Hopefully they got you thinking about what a future would look like in which all expressions of gender or lack thereof are fully included. Maybe you even got to imagining the movie poster for Unbreakable Butch, or thinking up the feature story behind the cover illustration by Liasis. Now's your chance to share those ideas with us!

Since Inclusive Future Magazine is an anthology of speculative epistolary fiction - that is, prose and art in the guise of a pop culture magazine that imagines a more inclusive future - we're asking you to imagine that it's the year 2068. In this future, we've achieved gender equality in the broadest sense. Not only are genders outside the binary widely acknowledged and accepted, but people of all genders are paid equally for equal work, have equal opportunity, are included in scientific studies, and are marketed to equally.

You are writing and making art from this future, roughly fifty years from now, and you are submitting a piece of work to an international culture magazine whose target audience includes English-speaking adults of all genders living anywhere in the world.

Specifically, we’d like to see pieces that fit in with and respond to the work we already have, like an article to go with Al Hess' amazing artwork (pictured here) or a feature article to accompany Liasis’ cover illustration (above). Find out more by visiting our call for submissions page on our website.

To see what past, successful submissions have looked like, check out Issue 1 on our website!

If you submitted a piece during our last call, we will automatically consider the piece again during this round. If you didn’t, or would like to submit again, then you can find instructions on how to submit on our website. We’re excited to see what you come up with!

Originally posted on our blog on July 31st.

Links in reblog.

#inclusivefuture #from the blog #magazine #nonbinary #nonbinary writer #trans #genderqueer #genderqueer writer #agender writer #genderqueer writers #trans writers #al hess #liasisd #liasis #call for submissions #call for subs

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alfvaen · 15 days ago

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Novel Memory

Well, that was definitely a January. Often considered (in the Northern Hemisphere) the worst winter month, since it's not short like February, not almost-spring like March, and no Christmas. But surely it wasn't longer than 8-10 weeks. I only managed to finish six books, but I am trying to not try to churn through a bunch of novellas for the Goodreads deities any more, so it is what it is.

Possible spoilers within for T. Kingfisher's "Clocktaur Wars", Rachel Caine's "Weather Wardens", and R. Scott Bakker's "Prince of Nothing" series.

Allan Cole & Chris Bunch: Sten, completed January 1

Previous book was a reread, and after it came "trying a new author", male edition. Way back in the 90s, I spent a certain amount of time on BBS systems that connected to Fidonet, and a lot of that on the SF forum, or "echo" as Fidonet called them. A number of people back then were talking about this Sten series, which I knew little about, but I was curious and found the first couple of books in used bookstores (or perhaps I even got them sent to me via FUBS, the Fidonet Used Book Squad, where other users would scour their local second-hand stores for books that other people had trouble finding). All I knew about them was that they were space opera-ish, or possibly military SF, and there were eight books in the series, and that there was an Eternal Emperor.

I thought perhaps I'd end up finishing this book in 2024, but I gave myself extra time for reading the last couple of books because of increased social commitments in the holiday season, so this one ended up getting pushed into January. (Not to worry, to complete the Goodreads Challenge, I finished off Dennis Valdron's ebook about Season 2 of Lexx, which I now realize I forgot to mention in December's column. I'll add a thing here.) I set my goal for this year to a more leisurely 80 books so I won't have to try too hard to polish it off.

Anyway, Sten starts out with a bunch of downtrodden migrant workers ("Migs") on a company-town space station named Vulcan (no relation), who are locked into indenture contracts designed to reduce their chances of ever being able to leave. The Baron who is in charge of the station is working on the secret Project Bravo, and when he is forced to choose between compromising the secrecy of the project and saving the lives of a bunch of Migs, he jettisons the Migs without a second thought. Karl Sten (mostly just called "Sten" throughout the book) narrowly misses joining the rest of his family in death, and swears revenge. He becomes a fugitive for a while, until he's contacted by an agent of the Eternal Emperor to try to find out more about the Baron's secret project. It goes bad, he's extracted off the station and enlisted in the army.

There follows a tedious boot-camp sequence, which ends up with Sten washing out as unsuitable for being a soldier, and instead he becomes a secret agent. This part is sometimes hard to follow because the authors seem to have decided not to do any transitions. You will just abruptly get shifted from one scene to another. (At least they manage to avoid a lot of headhopping this way.) Also, we're only barely introduced to the rest of the agents on Sten's team, because we jump to the middle of a mission, and I kept losing track of them. (Another fifty pages of actually introducing them would not have gone amiss, but perhaps they were trying to keep it under 300 pages.) At the end, Sten and his team have to return to Vulcan and try to deal with the Baron and Project Bravo, fomenting a revolt along the way. The action there is choppy and hard to follow, and I was kind of disappointed in the back half of the book. The first part kind of reminded me of the beginning of Pierce Brown's Red Rising, but better. Sten does not seem to be a particularly engaging character, certainly no Miles Vorkosigan, so I'm divided on whether I'll go on to the next book or not. I may not bother.

2. T. Kingfisher: The Wonder Engine, completed January 5

I am trying not to be concerned about the Goodreads Challenge numbers, and I have set it lower this year, but nonetheless I feel the inclination to get a "head start" with shorter reads. In my head, at least, this was a novella, though given that it took me four days to read, and it was only split into two parts because of length, apparently not.

This novella is the sequel to "Clockwork Boys", which I read last January, and generally a year is the shortest time I like to leave between reading series installments unless I'm really sucked in. I vaguely remembered what happened in the first one, but there's also a synopsis of the first part at the beginning, which is helpful. Our characters are the three freed prisoners sent out (with obedience-ensuring magical tattoos) in Clockwork Boys: forger Slate, disgraced former demon-hunter Caliban, and assassin Brenner, as well as unworldly monk Learned Edmund, and grateful gnole (anthopomorphic-raccoon-type) Grimehug.

I may have mentioned earlier that I was picturing Clockwork Boys as some sort of clockwork youths, rather than hard-to-destroy mechanical centaurs. I also have to say, when they were going into the heart of the city that was sending out these creatures, I was picturing more of a war zone situation; instead, they can mostly move around with impunity, except for the one character who humiliated a local crimelord back when they used to live there. They have to solve a number of mysteries about how to stop the clocktaurs, with a lot of help from the local gnole subculture, and some last-minute plot twists. Plus there's a romance between Slate and Caliban, with some interference from Brenner. Overall I enjoyed it, though some of the plot twists were so heavily foreshadowed that I had to wonder why the characters hadn't figured it out already. Also leavened with plenty of humour, though sometimes it felt forced. The demons in the story kept making me think of Bujold's Five Gods world, but the stakes were more like Curse of Chalion then the cozier Penric series. Overall I liked it and will probably read more of Kingfisher (/Ursula Vernon) in the future.

3. Rachel Caine: Firestorm, completed January 10

I decided that next I felt like an urban fantasy book, but I wasn't really certain which one, so I'd look at the ones where it had been the longest since I'd read a book. Technically the oldest one of those was Sarah Hoyt's, but her series wasn't that long so I didn't feel urgency about it. After that it was down to Rachel Caine and Darynda Jones, and I felt slightly more like the Rachel Caine, so here it is.

To be precise, this is Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series, which is about the group of magically gifted people who try to keep extreme weather under control. That status quo didn't last for long; by this, the fifth book, things seem to have been pretty much upended, with conflict with the djinns and weather getting worse faster than the beleaguered Wardens can deal with it. Our main character, Joanne Baldwin, has been part of the world of the djinns, but now that that's turned hostile she's seeking refuge with the Weather Wardens, what there is of them.

Sometimes it seems like the titles are a little bit figurative, but there's nothing figurative about the firestorm here. There is a big old forest fire (and I'm reading this as southern California is beset by wildfires, yikes) and lightning and demons, and poor Joanne has a hard time of it. By the way, this book came out in 2007, when it seemed like we were just beginning to become aware of extreme weather, after the record-breaking 2005 hurricane season, and now it seems alarmingly prescient.

I found this pretty satisfying all in all, the tension and the stakes staying high all the way through. Even the one subplot which seemed like it had lower stakes, just about saving her sister rather than saving the world, was gripping because it was personal, and so she couldn't leave it to deal with the things threatening the entire world. Then the book ended on a real plot twist which looks like it'll be setting up the next book.

4. Dick Francis: Enquiry, completed January 13

Continuing in my publication-order reread of Dick Francis; I think I'm up to 1969. I had only the vaguest memories of this one, though apparently I first read it in 2006, ninth most recent of all the books of his I read until I started these rereads.

In many ways it's nothing particularly special. Our protagonist is a jockey, which is not unexpected; of Francis's many protagonists, most of them are at least part-time jockeys, even if they have another profession, though of course many just have racing-related jobs and some just have friends/relatives who are in racing. But Kelly Hughes is just a jockey. It starts off with him just having been "warned off", i.e. suspended from being a jockey or horse trainer, for an indefinite period, though we see the enquiry itself in flashbacks over the beginning of the book. Hughes knows he's innocent, but the evidence against him seemed damning, so once he recovers from the blow he starts investigating.

The usual things follow--he finds some clues, he annoys some people, someone tries to kill him, someone beat him up, and eventually he is victorious. There's also a girl, introduced early on, that he ends up in a relationship with. (Hughes was married but his wife died a few years earlier.) I admit that I did not guess (or remember) who the actual culprits were before they were revealed at the end, and I'm not sure I quite bought it. We had friendly-seeming characters who were actually friendly, instead of being the secret mastermind behind the whole thing, which threw me off a bit.

My copy was from the Pan paperback series, where they often have a single object on the cover on a stark white background; in this case it's a leather full-face mask, like a gimp mask. Often this object is something that the protagonist has to deal with as part of the climax, but in this case it's something that was discussed but never actually shown. You see, apparently part of the plot revolves around someone being blackmailed for being in a secret BDSM club, even though they were wearing one of these masks. Scandalous for 1969, I'm sure, though apparently it was still something that you could put into your mystery novel.

5. Liu Cixin: The Three-Body Problem, completed January 18

Time for the male diversity slot again. Unfortunately I had pretty much run out of stuff; I thought there was another P. Djéli Clark ebook around, but apparently I had already read that one. And I do have the next Wesley Chu book, sequel to The Art of Prophecy, but that was literally the last one I'd read so I didn't want to use it up quite yet. At first I decided to look for the next Ken Liu book at the library, but my wife pointed out I could also try this one. It did win a bunch of awards, after all, even if she hadn't enjoyed it personally herself. In the end, I did put in a request for it, and it even came in on the day I finished Enquiry, so I didn't have to rearrange things to accommodate it.

Interestingly enough, Ken Liu is the translater of this edition, which I'd forgotten. I know little about it going in, having managed to avoid any spoilers so far; I'm just hoping I'm going to be able to keep track of names, since I have had trouble retaining Chinese names in the past.

It's an odd book, but I expected that I would find it so because, you know, it's from China. It started in the Cultural Revolution, which I'm thinking I would not have wanted to have lived through--or perhaps I wouldn't have. I would've been executed for my reactionary beliefs (like "science is real") or something, you know. Most of the book takes place in the "present day" (ca. 2007, I guess, when it was written). Scientists are getting flummoxed (to the point of depression and suicide) by bizarrely inconsistent results in particle physics. And a nanotechnology researcher (our main POV character) starts seeing mysterious floating countdown images--first on his camera images, then on his eyes. He's also trying this VR game called "Three-Body Problem", about trying to come up with some way of solving the habitability problem of a planet with three suns, which orbits around them chaotically. And it all comes down to a woman who survived the Cultural Revolution and ended up working on a remote radar base.

This is very much an idea book, with few well-drawn characters in it, but it says some provocative things. It also dwells on the real-life three-body problem--the fact that it is impossible for a general analytic solution to the motion of three bodies, and even numerical solutions have to deal with sensitivity to initial conditions leading to unpredictable behaviour. The last part of the book gets quite weird and makes me think more of Stanislaw Lem than anything else. There are apparently two sequels, and an adaptation on Netflix; I'm not sure if I will pursue either of them, but given the paucity of my male diversity list I think the odds of my reading the books, at least, is fairly high.

6. R. Scott Bakker: The Judging Eye, completed January 28

Next it was time for another male-author book, and I felt like probably an epic fantasy after that weird SF. There were a few I was considering, and the Bakker was one of them; since I've been avoiding it for a while (perhaps because of its thickness), I decided to go with it.

This is the first book of a series, but it's the sequel series to the "Prince of Nothing" trilogy that I read some time ago. I generally enjoyed it, though it's kind of a bloody series. Our main character, Anasûrimbor Kellhus, is sent from his isolated monastery to respond to a telepathic summons from his father. The only problem is, the place where he has to go is the target of a bloody holy war (heavily based on one or more of the Crusades, as far as I could tell). No problem, Kellhus's training makes manipulating regular people extremely easy, and it doesn't take long before he's basically in charge. He also has to deal with shape-shifters who have infiltrated everywhere and have some nefarious purpose that I can't quite remember right now. There's only a couple of people who realize how much he's manipulating everybody, and rebel against it, and they're cast out as heretics.

It wasn't too hard to pick things back up; partly because there was a "what has gone before" kind of recap, even if it was in the end matter instead of at the beginning, and the first few pages of it were all the underpinnings of the big world problems in ancient history. In this series, it's about twenty years later, and Kellhus is taking a large army to the north to destroy his ancient enemies, while his youngest child (who seems a nice, reliable sort with voices in his head, kind of like Alia "Abomination" Atreides was) prepares to come of age. We also follow Kellhus's wife Esmenet, who is left in charge even though she's a little over her head (though Kellhus is apparently in touch through magical means and can teleport back in if he thinks he needs to); Drusas Achamian, a mage who was one of Kellhus's first friends (and Esmenet's prior lover) until he turned against him, and is trying to find out more about Kellhus's origins; and the king of a freshly-conquered nation (who inherited his throne when Kellhus killed his father) who's being brought along with Kellhus's army. Oh, and a woman who is Esmenet's daughter and maybe Achamian's as well (Esmenet was a prostitute for many years, so Empress is a big step up for her), who's trying to get Achamian to teach her magic. And the high priestess of a cult that has a large following among the downtrodden, and is waiting for the White Luck Warrior (which is the name of the second book, so I'm thinking they'll be significant).

There are some bits which seemed a little too Tolkien-derivative, though. The historical recap talks a lot about the "Nonmen" who preceded the rise of Men, but when we see one of them we realize that these are just basically Elves, with Tolkien Elf-like names. The "Sranc" bad guys who've overrun large chunks of the northern wilderness are very Orc-coded. And when one group has to choose between going over snowy mountains or through ancient Nonmen caverns underneath…and at some point they get trapped and have to fight against not only a bunch of Sranc, but also some large troll-like "Bashrag"…that is extremely Moria-coded. The characters are more Malazan-ish, but still.

But on the whole I enjoyed it, and am somewhat curious where it's headed. I have the next book, but not the two after that, which are probably out of print by now, but what else is new.

Right, so, Dennis Valdron's book on Lexx Season 2. Well, there was a TV series called Lexx, an oddball SF thing that was a German/Canadian coproduction, with a group of ridiculous misfits going around the galaxy in a very powerful dragonfly-shaped ship called the Lexx. Like a hornier Red Dwarf, perhaps. We have Stanley Tweedle, security guard 4th class and accidental traitor; Xev Bellringer, former cage-raised bride turned sex slave, except instead of mental programming she ended up with lizard DNA instead; Kai, long-dead hero of the Brunnen-Ji, reanimated as an emotionless assassin; and 790, the head of an android who got the sex-slave programming intended for Xev. The first season was actually just four TV movies, but the second was full-length and was just all over the place…with a running thread about a guy named Mantrid whose goal was to convert the entire universe into himself. Dennis Valdron, a Canadian SF writer, lawyer, and shit-disturber, wrote some books about the series, with lots of behind-the-scenes info, and I've been enjoying them. I was trying to rewatch the show along with my read, which took me a while because I don't binge-watch, but I did managed to finish it. Probably sometime this year I'll start on Season 3 (which I also have on DVD) and have to pick up the next Valdron book.

I did end up giving up on the Sugar: A Bittersweet History book. A.K.A. Sugar: It's All About Slavery. I kept getting to a point where I could begin to hope that we were done talking about slavery, but nope! Now that we're done talking about slavery in the Caribbean, let's talk about it in Louisiana! Or South Africa! Okay, now let's talk about indentured servitude, and how in the end they were treated basically the same as the slaves, and in fact were pitted against each other! The only bright spot I ran across was on the island of Mauritius, where the African slaves and Indian indentured servants made common cause and things turned out better. I mean, I get that slavery was bad, that sugar plantations were apparently one of the worst offenders, and that entitled rich people attempting to screw the people working for them out of anything they could get away with were not a twentieth-century invention. Probably it's good to be reminded about the horrors of slavery from time to time. And if there had been any mention of slavery on the front of back cover of the book, I might be more forgiving. But there was not. And the book was more about slavery than it was about sugar. It was more about the harvesting of sugar cane, as a crop, than about sugar itself. And I just got tired of it.

I already have several other nonfiction books--just among my recent acquisitions, mind you, not ones that are sitting unread on the shelf from when I got them years ago--waiting to be read. Perhaps I should be leaping immediately to the one I got for Christmas, the new Yuval Noah Harari, but instead I picked one of the bought-on-a-whim-because-it-was-remaindered-and-deeply-discounted hardcovers that represent most of my nonfiction purchases these days. It's a book called Wild And Crazy Guys by Nick de Semlyen, which is about early Saturday Night Live comedians and adjacent--John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, John Candy, Rick Moranis, and Bill Murray--and "how they changed the movie industry forever". I found it kind of interesting, and in some cases makes me want to go back and try some of these movies that I missed at the time, or rewatch the ones that I did see back then. (I imagine I'll be rewatching "Groundhog Day" on February 2nd this year, as I often do.)

#T. Kingfisher #Clocktaur Wars #Allan Cole #Chris Bunch #Sten #Rachel Caine #Weather Wardens #Dick Francis #Liu Cixin #R. Scott Bakker #Dennis Valdron #Lexx #Nick de Semlyen #books #reading

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saving-word-crawls · 5 months ago

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Malory Towers Word Crawls for Slower Typers

By: NgWriter728

Hello fellow writers out there,

This topic was created on Thursday 9th July 2020. Here are the first word crawls I ever wrote, based upon the Malory Towers books written by Enid Blyton. Please enjoy!

Welcome to the Malory Towers Word Crawl for Slower Typists, First Term! (Enid Blyton)

This crawl gets about 900 words out, although most people get more. You have to have pen, paper, a timer and a dice (virtual if needed) ready. You have to stick with the character you get at the beginning for the whole crawl. Good luck!

Malory Towers is the story of an all-girl boarding school on the cliffs of Cornwall. No matter how hard each challenge is, you must complete it. Remember to choose your option wisely at the beginning of each crawl. To make it easier, I increased the difficulty slightly for each crawl, so the first 6 are easy-ish, the next 6 are Medium-ish and the Teachers’ Crawl is a super hard epic. I wish you good luck for each one!

You have to go on a train for a few hours to get there. Oh dear! If you would chit and chat on the way there, Complete the Fifty Headed Hydra 6 .

If you get <250 words , you are either Sally or Darrell , both hardworking girls.

If you get >250 words , Well Done! You’re either Alicia or Betty . You don’t work hard but are very clever.

If you would rather do something creative , write 40 words . Choose between Irene (who likes music) or Emily (who likes sewing). If no one takes notice of you , set a timer to 2 minutes and write as much as you can.

If you get <50 words , you are Gwendoline (Gwen), and you don’t care for school work.

If you get 50-80 words , you are Mary-Lou . You are very shy but honest.

If you get >80 words , you are Jean , the awkward Scottish girl.

At last, you’re there! Malory Towers has its own swimming pool by the Cornish ocean, and you feel like a refreshing dip. First, though, you have to give your health certificate to the Matron.

If you’re Irene , sprint to 80 words as you look for yours.

Otherwise, go on to the next section.

Next, you go to the Headmistresses office. If you are Mary-Lou or Gwen , write to the nearest fifty words as you shiver under the headmistresses’ stare, whilst everyone else writes 30 words as they digest the talk.

Time to go to your dorm! You write 40 words about your setting as you settle in.

The next day, it’s time for a swim. But mean Gwen dunks poor Mary-Lou in the water and Darrell, in her anger, slaps Gwen in the face.

If you are Darrell or Gwen , do a 5-minute word war against your enemy (if you have one).

If you are Mary-Lou , write 30 words as you recover. Otherwise, skip this section.

During the next swim, Darrell fakes a cramp and Mary-Lou jumps in to save her.

If you are Darrell or Mary-Lou , sprint to 100 words as you become the center of attention.

If you are Gwen , roll a six-sided die, multiply by 5 , and write that many words as you green with envy.

Everyone else does a celebratory 45 words .

It’s half-term! Choose what you would rather like to do.

If you want some first-rate food , you’re stuck with Gwen, who lies about her terrible school work! Write 60 words in 3 minutes to get away.

If you go with your best friend , write to the nearest 100 words as you relax.

If you are alone , word war for 6 minutes as you fight someone else to go with Darrell. If you lose, try again until you win .

Back to school term. Darrell pushes Sally over in a row and Sally has to go to the ward.

If you are either of them , write a page in sorrow and pain.

Otherwise , write for 7 minutes as you spend that much time in the wards with Sally, who is badly hurt.

Hooray! Sally gets better! You celebrate by writing 60 words of/ in your favorite scene .

However, Gwen is mean to Mary-Lou and blames it on Darrell.

If you are Gwen , write 70 words about trickery and evil .

If you are Mary-Lou or Darrell , write 80 words in 3 minutes in shock and disbelief.

Otherwise, skip this .

Mary-Lou goes down at night and discovers Gwen, the culprit! Everyone except Gwen writes 50 words .

Hooray, it’s the end of your first term! Sprint to 120 words as you race to the train. Goodbye!

The Malory Towers Word Crawl for Slower Typists - Second Form (Enid Blyton)

On average, this crawl gets about 1.2K words. Please remember who/ what you chose for the first task. Off you go and remember to come back!

When you get there, there is a huge kerfuffle as three new people arrive. Who could they possibly be?

If you befriend Daphne (rich and snobbish), write 60 words in 3 minutes before Gwen snatches her from you.

If you befriend Belinda (likes art), write for 8 minutes whilst you get your portrait sketched.

If you befriend ''Ellen* (scholarly and hardworking), write to the nearest 50 words as she lectures you.

If you ignore them, you write 90 words in 3 minutes as you try to find your friends. If you fail, choose one of the new girls to befriend.

During lesson time, you find out that Sally is head of form. To celebrate, write 50 words. Hooray! However, Alicia doesn’t seem to agree. Roll a 6-sided dice, multiply by how many times you have had a leading role and write that many words to console her.

Soon, a trick is played on Mr. Young, your music teacher. Write a funny phrase for every chapter in your book so far. Everyone loves it and the tricksters are encouraged to do it again. Darrell plays the same trick on Madame Dupont. Write for 6 minutes to stop the rumors spreading.

When it is time to decide on the leading role for the upcoming French play, Madame Dupont chooses charming Daphne whilst Madame Rougier chooses Sally and Darrell.

If you chose Daphne as your friend at the beginning, support her by writing 80 words.

Otherwise, word war for 4 minutes as you argue over the cast list. Move on if you lose.

Belinda places a rude sketch of Madame Rougier on her very desk and is about to get a punishment.

If you befriended Belinda at the beginning, sprint to 80 words as you think of a diversion.

Otherwise, do a marathon of 220 words before Madame Dupont comes and saves the day. Whichever you did, rest and take a fifteen minute break as half term nears. You deserve it!

As exams come up, Ellen works too hard but does bad at school. She wants to cheat and when she is caught looking for the exam answers, she is accused of stealing the valuables that are going missing.

If you went with Ellen at the beginning, word war for 8 minutes to protect her. Move on if you lose.

Otherwise, write to the nearest hundred as you plan to catch her red-handed.

Oddly, Mary-Lou goes out one night to deliver Daphne’s parcel to the post office. She almost falls off the cliffs and Daphne saves her in time. Write for 9 minutes whilst everyone figures out what has happened.

You find out that Daphne was the thief and all the stolen valuables are in her parcel.

If you ignored all the newcomers at the beginning, write to the next chapter as you regret ignoring Daphne. She apologizes and isn’t expelled, so you write a serious scene to forgive her (and yourself).

If not, roll a six-sided die, multiply by 10 and write that many words in 3 minutes. You’ve got to sort this situation out so you decide not to expel Daphne. Write another 50 words as an afterthought.

As the term closes, Ellen is sorted out and is taken sick in the ward. Write 70 words in 3 minutes when you visit her. She turns out to be so clever that she moves up a year! Write for 4 minutes before she leaves.

Eventually, Jean is leaving as well! Write to the length of Auld Lang Syne to say goodbye.

On the last day, you do a marathon of 260 words all the way home. Phew! What a term!

Welcome to the Malory Towers Word Crawl for Slower Typists, Third Year! (Enid Blyton)

This word crawl gets about 1.5K words out, and you can get order marks (punishment) if you aren’t careful! Make as many friends as you can and have fun!

Oh dear, Sally and Betty aren’t coming to school until a few weeks later! Write for 3 minutes.

If you get <250 words, you sulk at home and continue to the next section.

If you get >250 words, you send a telegram to your friend and can skip the next section.

On the way there, you meet a tall, mature girl called Zerelda, who is one year older than you.

If you are wearing makeup, write half a page in 15 minutes as you chat with her. If you succeed, you befriend her.

If you aren’t, sprint to 60 words to try and wake her up, but she ignores you. Write for 3 minutes without hitting the backspace key. If you succeed, she wakes up and manages to befriend you.

Oh look, there’s a new girl called Mavis, and she really likes singing! Try to write 40 words in 2 minutes to calm her down.

If you succeed, write another 20 words to befriend her.

If you fail, you get an order mark from Matron, who scolds the pair of you for messing around.

Gwendoline ends up admiring Zerelda’s looks and tries to befriend her. However, Zerelda is about to get punished by Miss Peters for not tying up her hair. Do a 4 minute word war against someone you haven’t fought before. If you succeed, Zerelda doesn’t listen to you and gets scolded anyway.

Another girl has arrived – Bill, a tomboy girl who loves horses.

If you are scared of horses, write for 2 minutes to try to escape. Bill notices you and tells you it’s ok. Sprint to 80 words in 3 minutes to get back to her. If you succeed, you overcome your fear of horses and befriend her.

If you aren’t scared of horses, write the number of horses you’ve ridden, multiplied by five, in 1 minute. If you succeed, Bill is impressed and easily befriends you.

Zerelda is demoted down to the third form. You write 2 sentences about friends to encourage her.

Hooray, Darrell is a reserve for the lacrosse match! Write to the nearest 50 words to celebrate.

When your class plays a sneeze trick on Madam Dupont, Miss Potts is very suspicious. Do a Marathon of 230 words in 10 minutes. If you fail, you get an order mark for playing a trick on Madame Dupont.

When rehearsing a script part in a music room, Zerelda gets disturbed and throws a book at the intruder.

If you befriended Zerelda, you write 30 words to lie that it was you.

Otherwise, roll a 6-sided die, multiply by the number of plays you’ve been in, and write that many words.

During the next drama lesson, Miss Hibbert says that Zerelda is unable to act, as she is too drastic.

If you befriended Zerelda, you watch in shock and skip this section.

If not, you write to the next 100 words in 4 minutes to calm yourself down.

If you fail the task, you stand up and imitate Zerelda dramatically. Angry, Miss Hibbert gives you an order mark for not being sensible.

One night, Bill’s horse, Thunder, gets colic (stomach disease). You and Bill have to walk him around the stables.

If you are Bill’s friend, write for 3 minutes as you spend that much time with Bill. Then skip the rest of this section and take a 10-minute break.

Otherwise, sprint to 85 words to try to think of an excuse to go away, then continue to the next task.

Eventually, Miss Peters rides to get the doctor. On her way back, she finds Mavis lying on the road.

If you befriended Mavis, you panic and do a marathon of 230 words as you try to wake her.

Otherwise, write for 2 minutes with your eyes closed as you try to help her in the dark.

The next day, Mavis befriends Zerelda when she comes to visit her in the ward. Write with only your weak hand for 1 minute as you try to heal Mavis’ lost voice.

Miss Peters and Bill are close friends, and everything is sorted out. Write for 3 minutes to contemplate on all the joys of this half term.

Before the end of term, the dreaded extra prep comes up. If you got no order marks, skip this. For every order mark you got, write 5% of your current word count, as you pour over your work. Ouch!

Goodbye, friend. Remember to pack up 40 words before you go. I hope you have a nice break!

Welcome to the Malory Towers Word Crawl for Slow-ish Typists - Upper Fourth (Enid Blyton)!

This word crawl gets about 1.6 words out (daily word count for 5K) Good luck and don’t forget who you are!

This term, many new people have arrived!

If you want to be in the first form, set a timer to 4 minutes and write as much as you can.

If you write <300 words, you are either Felicity (Darrell’s sister) or Susan, a sensible girl.

If you get >300 words, you are June (Alicia’s cousin), a bright girl who finds school work easy.

If you want to be in the fourth form, write 90 words in 3 minutes.

If you fail, you are one of the new girls (twins Connie or Ruth, or Clarissa who likes horses) If you succeed, roll a six-sided dice and write for that many minutes.

If you get <150 words, you are either Gwen (lazy), Mary-Lou (shy) or Bill (likes horses).

If you write 150-300 words, you are either Darrell (head girl) or Sally (Darrell’s friend).

If you manage >300 words, you are either Alicia (clever) or Betty (Alicia’s friend, in another form)

Phew! During dinner, Gwen thinks Clarissa is ‘Honorable’, but is disappointed when she seems very ordinary. Undeterred, Gwen befriends her anyway.

If you are Gwen or Clarissa, write to the nearest 50 words as Gwen lies that the people in her form are all very mean.

If not, but you are in Darrell’s form, sprint to 70 words as you discuss the situation in the common room.

Otherwise, skip this section.

When Darrell’s form goes out on a picnic, Clarissa’s aunt accidentally makes a feast fit for a king when only Clarissa and Gwen are there to eat it!

If you are either of them, write for 8 minutes as you stuff yourself full.

Otherwise, write to the nearest chapter as you plan to take the rest of the food for a midnight feast. You decide to have a midnight swim before the feast.

At the midnight swim, 3 people from another tower (including Betty) come along as well! When everyone goes inside, June and Felicity enter the first-form common room to find a midnight feast going on in there. They decide to join in. Uh-oh.

If you are not in Darrell’s form, write 50 words as you hurry back to your dorm.

If you are Felicity, sprint to 80 words when you discover leftover food the next day.

Otherwise, write for the number of midnight feasts you’ve had in your life, + 30.

Darrell, in a panic, finds June in a music room, who feels really guilty. Darrell thinks she wants to snitch on her so she gets very angry and, in her temper, shakes June. Miss Potts comes in on the scene.

If you are Darrell, write 150 words in 4 minutes. If you fail, Miss Potts is really cross gives you an order mark as punishment. You decide to resign as head of form.

If not, skip this section.

Meanwhile, June is boasting to her form about her lucky escape. Felicity, however, is Darrell’s sister so dislikes June and befriends Susan as a result.

If you are in the first form, write to the nearest 100 words to sort out the friendship groups.

Otherwise, write 20 words as you clear away the crumbs from the common room.

As half-term nears, Gwen pretends to have a weak heart so she doesn’t have to take the school Certificate exam. Clarissa refuses to help her, and as a result, the two are no longer friends.

If you are Gwen, write half a page to persuade Madame Dupont to believe you.

Otherwise, do a four-minute word war as you try to stop Gwen from going home. Whatever the outcome, Madame Dupont helps Gwen and she ends up going home anyway. Take a 20-minute break before moving on to the next section.

Before the exams, Gwen comes back to school and as a punishment, has to do more exercise.

If you are Gwen, sprint to 100 words in 3 minutes. If you fail, you get an order mark for not following the teacher’s and doctor’s advice.

If not, write 30 words as you tease Gwen.

Whilst revising for the exams, Alicia is very casual and annoys her form very much. However, she gets measles during the exam and has to go to the ward.

If you are Alicia, write 40 words as you apologize to your classmates for being so mean.

If not, write for 7 minutes as you spend that much time visiting her in the ward.

After the school exams, Connie’s belongings keep on going missing. Darrell finds out that Connie wanted Ruth to do badly in the exam so they could both stay in fourth form, but Ruth managed to pass. Darrell tells the headmistress and is made head of form again.

If you are either of the twins, do a 9 minute word war against each other. If you lose by more than 10 words, you get an order mark for whatever wrong you have done.

Otherwise, do a marathon of 275 words as you discuss whether Connie and Ruth will be separated.

Bill and Clarissa both love horse and turn out to be best friends. At first, Gwen doesn’t mind, but when she finds out that Clarissa really is rich, she is very jealous.

If you are Gwen or Bill, word war for 12 minutes as you fight over Clarissa. If you win by more than 10 words, you can skip the next section.

Otherwise, write 1% of your word count in 10 minutes. If you succeed, you can skip the next section.

Ok, it’s time for detention. If you go no order marks or used the previous task to escape, skip this.

For every order mark you got, write 300 words as you stare at the sheets of paper. Oof!

All right, Goodbye. I’ll miss you. And don’t forget to write for 3 minutes on your way back!

Welcome to the Malory Towers Word Crawl for Slightly-Slow Typists – Into the Fifth! (Enid Blyton).

This word crawl gets about 1.8K words out. You can choose up to two options for the first task, but no more. Have fun!

As you travel there, you and your friends discuss your favourite hobby. What is yours?

If you enjoy music, then write as you hum your favourite tune.

If you want to be the co-producer of a play, write for 5 minutes as you discuss your ideas with somone else.

How about artwork? Write to the nearest 50 words in 2 minutes.

If you fail, you admit that you actually enjoy making dresses! Bad luck, because there’s heaps coming your way!

Once there, you meet one new girl and two old girls! How exciting!

Maureen, who is new, is similar to Gwen and they inevitably befriend each other. If you chose artwork or dresses, you sprint to 70 words as you sketch Gwen’s scowl for the third time that morning.

The two old girls are Moira and Catherine. Neither are very likeable and you write another chapter as you wait for lessons to begin.

Turns out, Moira is head of form. How terrible! Luckily, your year gets to organise a play for Christmas! Do a marathon of 280 words as you chat away the lesson. If you want, write about winter or Christmas!

When Maureen and Gwendoline find out that the play is Cinderella, they start parading in front of your mirror! Write a whole page as you fume and tell them to get out. Extra: write about a very impossible dream or hope.

The rehearsals goes well, but Moira is very domineering and Alicia resigns.

If you wanted to be co-producer you get very angry and word war for 10 minutes.

If you make dresses, you lose your stitch because your attention was turned. Write for 20 minutes.

If you write less than 600 words, you lose your stitch again and get very frustrated. Write another 150 words.

Otherwise, you can skip this section.

Felicity plays her first lacrosse match and scores the winning goal! Roll a dice, multiply by 10 and write that many words to celebrate. Woo-hoo!

Uh-oh! Moira gets spiteful, anonymous letters and she thinks it’s you. In fact it’s little June! Ms Grayling, the headteacher, wants to expel her but Moira says no and saves her! Then Alicia comes back as co-producer. Such turn in events! Write 2 times your previous count for the lacrosse match as you dance around the dorm shouting wildly! (well, not practically)

The end of term is a great success! Everyone has so much do to and it’s great fun!

If you enjoy music, then sprint to 80 words as you jump around turning pages for everyone!

If you are co-producer, do some editing for 5 minutes then stand back and admire your work.

If you chose dresses, you have worked very hard and write 250 words. Well done, told you it would be tough!

If you chose art, write for a casual 8 minutes. Challenge: describe a landscape or scenery.

Congratulations! This term was very demanding and you have done lot. Take a huge break and watch a play if you like. Goodbye, and get ready for your next term. It’s going to be even harder!

Malory Towers Word Crawl for Slightly-Slow-ish Typists – Last term (Enid Blyton).

This word crawl gets about 2K out, so don’t push yourself to do it all in one go. Please be careful what you choose at the beginning – there will be consequences later on. Well, go on and enjoy your last term!

Once inside the classroom, you discuss what you are looking forward to in your last year at Malory Towers.

If you like French, then the new french girl, Suzanne, notices you and you have to write for 3 minutes as you try to get a word of English out of her which is not ‘police?’.

How about Sport? You’re not alone, write to the next 100 words whilst you discuss your favourite sport.

You feel in your purse and you find nothing. If you’re planning to save up for food, write 90 words. Challenge: write about something that’s very expensive.

Woohoo, you find out that you, Darrell, is head girl of the whole school! Sprint to 80 words in ectstasy.

There’s another new girl called Amanda, who apparently is so good at sports that she’s planning to take part in the Olympic Games.

Take part in a 7-minute word war as you try to beat her at diving and swimming. It’s very hard, so try again if you lose.

Eventually, Amanda tells you that she’s planning to coach a second former called June, who’s cheeky and not very hard-working. As year leader, you write 200 words in 5 minutes to tell her that there’s not much point. Move on even if you fail as she won’t listen to you.

A second former who’s very spoilt, Josephine Jones, has £5 consficated by Matron. She sneaks back and accidentally gets £9, but doesn’t give back the change. Consequently, she is sent to Coventry.

If you chose money at the beginning, write for 12 minutes whilst you try to persuade her to lend you some cash.

Otherwise, take a 10-minute break to sort out your other businesses.

Josephine then decides to run away from school with Deirdre, a weak first former. Whatever next?

You write half a page to decide whether or not to expel them. You come to this conclusion: Josephine should be expelled but not Deirdre as she was innocently under Josephine’s influence.

To prove that she is an excellent swimmer, Amanda swims out to the choppy Cornish sea and almost gets dashed to the rocks! Luckily, little June rows out and rescue her.

If you chose sports, then do a marathon of 400 words as you frantically try to help Amanda.

Otherwise, skip this section.

As end-of-term fun, Suzanne manages to persuade some second formers to play a great trick with magnets on Madame’zelle, your french teacher. What cheek!

If you sided with french, write the number of threads you’ve read in another language, muiltiplied by 10. You feel strangely proud of teaching Suzanne how to communicate in English. You should be.

Otherwise, write 150 words in 4 minutes as you roll around with laughter and try not to cry (best not do this in reality). If you fail, write another 50 words to make it seem like you were just coughing. Seems like Belinda failed very dramatically, though.

Hip-Hip-HOORAY! You’re going to university with Sally, Alicia and Betty. Wonderful news; go ahead and read the forum for 3 blessed minutes and choose a type of writing challenge. (and remember to do it, of course. If you can’t find one, you might want to make one up and it to do it with 3 other friends.)

Well, goodbye! I hope you had tons of fun. And don’t leave anything behind!

Malory Towers will miss you, and so will I! So long… for now I’ll have to deal with all your relatives in Second Form! Yes, that means you, little Felicity. Ok, farewell!

#multiple routes #multiple parts #word crawl #word crawls #easy crawls #malory towers crawl #malory towers #short #long #(the whole is long but parts are short!)

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cozyunoist · 2 years ago

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what do you get from hume and what do you think communists can get from hume

I think the headscarf is quite chic personally

well as you might infer hume was very formative in my intellectual development, & i still recommend him insofar as he’s a wonderful writer! i think he motivates epistemology/metaphysics brilliantly, he takes you in the right direction re scepticism (particularly towards causation), & you can also straightforwardly draft him into the sort of expressivist-ish position i’ve sketched on here before.

that said, as for what communists can get from hume? i’m not sure that he is the most sophisticated exponent of any of his positions. which is ultimately a good thing! he thought and wrote in a way that made him easy to take up. but it also means hume studies (phenomenal journal btw) today is going to be more historical than philosophical. i also have some bones to pick with him on apraxia, naturalism & bayle’s dictionary. he’s an academic, i’m a pyrrhonist; he’s a vague conservative; i’m communist. maybe what this means is that hume is best as a stepping-stone on the road towards getting comfortable talking with people doing philosophy again. he certainly was for me! as well as, ofc, great style inspo.

it’s not directly pertinent, but my personal story with hume is a little too funny not to share. i was 13 the first time i cracked the first critique. it felt a little like hitting my head against the wall… i had something like fifty pages of marginal notes on the first ten pages, and was really going in more or less blind. i’m most of the way through the second preface, & i get to kant saying ‘hume was pretty close, but his argument leads us to believe metaphysics is just delusion’. i was like, thank god, i should just go read this hume guy instead. so i put the book down, check out hume’s enquiry, read it satisfiedly, & don’t touch kant again for like four or five years.

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chubbology · 4 years ago

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Inertia

prompt: a man gains weight trying to get his ex-girlfriend back, but goes way too far and gets addicted to gaining

He hadn’t gone to the gym even once in ages.

After a year of singlehood, he wasn’t ashamed to admit anymore that he’d only really gone in the first place to impress women. Ironic, of course, since his ex had never been more than vaguely dissatisfied about his gym habit.

When they first started dating, he had love handles he hated and his thighs had been too thick. He assumed she dated him despite these flaws. Only after he lost weight to please her did he find out that it was his chub that caught her eye. It was bigger guys she was into. It was a lot of miscommunication. A lot of insecurity on his part, since what her preferences meant was that she wanted him to be a little heavy, and he couldn’t possibly accept that with his society-ingrained doctrines about attractiveness.

But those doctrines meant fuck-all now; he was eating a double cheeseburger in his car, helping it down with an orange soda, thinking about dessert. He was wondering if she’d be proud of him now that he’d gained thirty pounds. He wondered if she’d look at him with half-lidded eyes like she used to, if he put on another thirty. Fifty. Whatever.

His phone buzzes. He sits up straighter, belly swelling a little into his lap. It’s her.

Hey. My friend needs to sell her two tickets. I know it’s your favorite band. Interested?

The next text was a link to an information page about an upcoming concert. He’d been so disconnected lately, he hadn’t even heard about it.

Even though he wasn’t actually all that interested, he replied that he was, and they set a date to meet up the next week. Shit. He looked down at himself. If she were someone else, she might be repelled. But she wasn’t someone else…

He was hit with a brilliant, maybe brilliantly stupid, idea. It’s execution began with going right back through the drive thru.

In the days leading up to seeing his ex again, he ate almost constantly. Since he was only doing freelance online at the moment, his work didn’t get in the way of this. He let himself eat whatever he wanted, in amounts three times what his body craved. He pushed himself to a state of being constantly past full. She liked fat guys? Fine. Even if she still didn’t want anything to do with him, he wanted her to see what he could have been, if he hadn’t been such a gym-rat douchebag. If he’d let himself become a lazy, docile boyfriend like she wanted instead, weak and overweight.

It was hard, gaining a lot of weight in a week. The number on the scale didn’t go up as much as he expected, even though he’d eaten enough calories to gain twenty pounds at least. He compensated by showing up to their meeting spot wearing clothes that tightly hugged his body, which now had a good forty-ish pounds of fat clinging to it. Looking in the mirror before he left, he’d almost seen what she was into. His ass had gotten kind of wide and dumpy, but in a sexy way?

He was all nerves when she showed up looking healthy and cute and indifferent about him, holding the tickets in her hands. Almost indifferent. She definitely gave him a once-over, when she thought he wasn’t looking. He could tell she bit the inside of her lip.

“Well,” she said, meeting his eyes fearlessly. Were her cheeks a little red, or was that wishful thinking? “I’ll see you.”

“Really?” he blurted. “Kinda miss hanging out.”

She smiled and turned to leave. “Maybe.”

He went home and binged hard.

In contrast to how he grew too slowly in the week before meeting up with her, in the weeks afterward, he gained weight doubletime. Fat rounded him out as easy as if he were a swiftly filling water balloon, engorging his thighs and belly and ass and hips wide and heavy. He ate compulsively as his appetite skyrocketed, as cravings crushed his will to restrain himself. His budget was thrown out of whack as he spent his savings on pantry loads of unhealthy food. His clothes stretched and seams snapped as he struggled to fit in his largest clothes. He shopped in the plus sized section first for comfort, then by necessity.

All the while he could only think: I wished she was watching.

He started imagining her with him. In the car as he ate fast food. At the store as he bought new clothes. Walking beside him as he forced himself to get exercise.

“Slow down, big guy.” “No, I think you need one size bigger.” “Sweating already? You’re so out of shape.”

Why did he like it? Imagining her mocking him? Teasing him? Eyeing his body, fleshy and overfed.

The next time she texted, it was late at night, and his eyes were glazed watching television, eating huge spoonfuls of that miracle drug called Nutella. His belly swelled out of his shirt. His breasts and face were puffy. According to the numbers he punched into Google, he had long crossed the threshold of obesity.

How was the concert?

He stared at the words. This was it. Maybe his only chance. He replied: Didn’t go after all. Been feeling off lately.

To his (very manly) delight, this prompted more questions, and it became clear she wanted a real conversation. Was she thinking of him? Missing him like he missed her? He thought out every response with the careful focus of a rocket scientist. He wasn’t going to mess this up.

He didn’t seem to, and they texted into the early hours of the morning, catching up. Finally, finally she asked to meet up with him again, and - feeling more eager, a little reckless - he tapped out a disclaimer. Or to her, hopefully: motivation.

Just so you aren’t shocked when you see me, I’ve put on weight since I bought those tickets from you. I’m not sensitive about it or anything, but it’s a lot. So here’s a fair warning.

He held his breath as he waited for her reply. Held his breath. Held it…

Oh. Really?

Like before, they set a time the following week. This time, to get coffee. No big deal.

He knew he had more than fulfilled his little scheme of putting on weight to catch her attention, and he could push the breaks now, but he felt helpless against his inertia. At this point, he’d cultivated half a dozen habits that had his weight steadily rising, and he couldn’t just turn them off. If he so much as thought of eating less, his whole body seized up in fearful anticipation and unhappiness, and he found himself cramming a couple moonpies into his mouth just to calm down.

He gained another six pounds between their text conversation and their coffee date. He felt so out of control, so out of shape, so out of line with the standards of popular society that he felt oddly…free. In a way, he felt free of anxious self-consciousness as he heaved himself out of his car and waved at her through the coffee shop window. She was sitting in a corner at a table for two. Despite his warning, she looked a little shocked.

When he sat down across from her, his huge ass hanging off the ends of the seat, she appeared to inhale deeply. Her expression was inscrutable.

“You weren’t kidding,” she said.

Blushing, he supposed he deserved a bit of tactlessness, for the tactless way he broke up with her. “What? Oh. Yeah, no. I wasn’t.”

She sipped her coffee, eyes flicking between his flabby chest and his flabby face. In a low tone that no one else would hear, she said, “What happened? For you to get fat as fuck.”

He opened his mouth and closed it. This wasn’t how he was expecting this to go. “Well. I’ve been working from home, stressed out. I let myself go and…” He trailed off when he realized her eyes were cold. No - so hot they seemed cold, like his shower water when turned to the highest setting.

“Is this because of me?” she asked, cutting to the chase. She crossed her legs, now openly surveying him. “Did you decide it was okay to gain a hundred pounds because you thought I’d be into it?”

He was speechless. He swallowed.

“Well? Do you want me back that badly? Ever since I saw you last time, all chubbed out, I’ve been thinking maybe I should give you a second chance.”

“Um.”

“But I don’t know…” She shrugged, but a smirk was hiding just behind that indifferent frown, and he wanted. He wanted her forgiveness, whatever that meant. “How about you gain a hundred more and we’ll go on a real date? Sound good? You’re not the only fat guy out there.”

She was full-on grinning now, and he missed her little games like this. He could play them, too.

“Maybe, but I bet I’m the only guy who’s gotten this fat for you,” he said. She was immediately affected by this, and he licked his lips. “You really want to wait to see me a hundred pounds bigger than this, or do you want to stick around to watch?”

Even quieter, she said, “You saying you like gaining weight? How convenient.”

So she still doubted him. He put out his hands for her to see. “Just look. Look at how fat my hands are. I can’t…” And finally his composure cracked a little. “I can’t stop. I couldn’t stop if I wanted. Even if you never talk to me again, I’m gonna gain weight.”

Any playfulness was gone now from her. She looked like she wanted him, too. “Hmm. Maybe we should go before you break that poor chair, huh?”

He blushed again. God, he was getting docile. “I’m not that bad,” he muttered. But she gave him a cruel grin. She hadn’t entirely forgiven him. “You will be.”

And he knew then: he was doomed. He was already a little bit into his own heaviness, and she was going to take that feeling and amplify it tenfold. She was going to enable every bad habit he had, watch him flounder under his increasing size and become weaker under layers and layers of fat until he could barely lift a two pound dumbbell.

He knew she wanted this to happen, and maybe he’d broken up with her before because he’d been afraid.

But he wasn’t anymore.

“Let’s go then,” he said.

Thank you to the reader who commissioned this work!

I'd love to write more. Check me out <3 etsy.com/shop/Chubbology

#weight gain #fic #male gainer

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makeste · 4 years ago

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So there's an article that says this is going to be the last arc of MHA, but I feel like that could be just conjecture as there's already a bunch of stuff that hasn't been fully explored, threads that haven't been finished, such as the UA traitor, or what the 2nd, 3rd, and 6th user's Quirks are, or who Hisashi Midoriya is. If it's the last arc, then I feel like it will lead to a Part 2 of the series. If not, then it's really going to be a long arc.

for me personally, I’d rather see the series end after one last giant, epic arc than have it spin off into a part 2. I have a bunch of other posts about this already though (they’re a few months out of date, but my opinions haven’t changed at all), so I’ll just link those and summarize here.

timeskips are The Worst and I hate them lol.

Horikoshi has hinted (and as of last December, blatantly said outright) in multiple interviews that we were getting close to the end of the series. he’s also had a clear idea of his overall endgame for a long time and has been steadily drawing the lines to connect all of those dots.

Horikoshi’s pacing has always been much faster than that of most other mangaka. I actually broke it down arc by arc in an Excel chart once and summarized the results here. his average arc is only about 20 chapters long (and even shorter than that if you exclude the two big outlier arcs). so his recent pacing is nothing new. he isn’t actually going any faster than usual, it just feels that way because so many things are actually being resolved now at last.

a lot of the still-unresolved plot points (and there are only a few of them left now) will probably take less time to wrap up than people think. don’t forget that the Prison Break took only one chapter instead of being an entire arc like everyone expected. Mirio got his quirk back in the span of five pages. the quirk-be-gone bullets were finally introduced in the middle of the War arc and took up less than one chapter total. granted, I think things like the U.A. traitor and the Second and Third users will take up more page time than that, but even if they take up a dozen chapters each, that still puts us well within the 400-chapter range, which is still my best guess for how long the series will be.

that isn’t a bad thing either, imo. as I’ve said before, I would rather have Horikoshi end the series on his own terms and go out with a bang than see the series drag on past its prime like so many other once-great series have done. I don’t need another 700-chapter mess like Naruto or Bleach. I think 400-425 is the sweet spot and will give him time to wrap everything up in a satisfactory way without wearing out his welcome. and it still gives us 1-3 more years of the series. and again, even if I’m overestimating and we’ve only got one year/fifty chapters left, I would still rather see that, assuming that’s been Horikoshi’s plan from the start. better that than having it turn into a soulless, plothole-riddled mess because Jump doesn’t want to let it die. that would be the worst-case scenario for me.

so yeah. everything we’ve seen indicates that the series is ending soon-ish, and that “the final act” isn’t just hyperbole. now, whether that means “final arc” (i.e. 50 chapters) or “final saga” (i.e. 100-150 chapters) is still up for debate, but either way I think we should start bracing ourselves. and also, remember that the upside of this is that if this really is the final arc, then things are about to get epic as fuck. I for one just want to enjoy the ride, and fully intend to bury any and all broken-hearted “it’s too soon to say goodbye” feelings until the last possible moment, when they’ll all come swarming up all at once and will leave me an inconsolable mess lol.

#bnha 306 #bnha #boku no hero academia #bnha endgame speculation #bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #bnha manga spoilers #makeste reads bnha #asks #anon asks #bnha endgame

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thepriceofbeingaroseisloneliness · 4 years ago

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TOSHIYA AT JOE YOKOMIZO CHANNEL 4TH FEB TRANSLATION/NOTES 4/4

Joe Yokomizo Channel

Guest: Toshiya (Dir en grey)

Notes before reading: This is the translation/notes of the livestream on Joe’s Niconico channel with Toshiya as a guest last 4th February. This is part 4. The livestream was one hour and fifty min approx. This part covers the last 20 minutes. The livestream is no longer available at Joe Yokomizo Channel but you can check the translation of the previous parts at my tumblr. Feel free to correct me if you spot any mistake or any confusing parts.

Links or credits to this post when the content is reposted or captured in other SNS are appreciated ------------------ (First part here) (Second part here) (Third part here) Joe: That’s it. I’m going to ask you…. They are asking.... how do the other members call you, Toshiya… Toshiya: Mostly….”Toshiya”…. Joe: Toshiya? Toshiya: Yes Joe: Just “Toshiya”. Toshiya: That’s it… maybe sometimes…..they say it in an easy way….it’s not like like they attach anything (suffix) like -kun or -chan to my name….they say it in a normal way…. Joe: “Toshiya”, “Toshiya”…. What ice cream are you recently addicted to? Toshiya: Recently… Joe: That’s the question… Toshiya: Recently….somehow….as I’m lazy… Joe: You are lazy….yes, yes, you said that at the beginning of the program…. Toshiya: As expected….I gained a bit of weight…. Joe: *surprised* It doesn’t look like that at all… Toshiya: Now…..I lost some weight… Joe: You did? Toshiya: I did….so I’m not eating sweet things now… Joe: Now you are not eating sweet things…. Toshiya: Yes Joe: I see…. that’s why he is not eating ice creams recently!..... Toshiya: I don’t… Joe: These kind of questions are a bit harsh but if you have to choose….tsubuan (coarse sweet bean paste) or koshian (fine-grained sweet bean paste)? Toshiya:*Enthusiastically* I like both! Joe: You like both…. Toshiya: But I would say koshian? Joe: If you had to choose, it would be koshian….now there is a question related to The Freedom of Expression, a youtube program I do with Kaoru. “Joe also does The Freedom of Expression with Kaoru. I would like to hear any stories with Kaoru”. Toshiya: With Kaoru?....well…..mmmmm……*chuckles*…. Kaoru…..Surprisingly, there are many stories of just the two of us that would make you laugh…. Joe: I see…. stories that you can’t tell here…. Toshiya: *nods* That’s right… yes yes….*laughs*…mmmmmm….that’s right…..*laughs* Joe: That’s it….*laughs* Toshiya: Surprisingly…. Joe: Surprisingly…. Toshiya: Unexpectedly…. Joe: I get it… They both laugh. Toshiya: It’s like….I feel like maybe they might be not so open-minded….. Joe: You can’t…..that’s it…. it would be many grow-up/adult conversations….. Toshiya: *laughs* Grow-up/adult conversations…. Joe: That’s ok… Toshiya: That’s it….but something really…..it applies to the other members as well…..they are all caring/considerate people….they are really like that….what I hate the most when I’m drinking….what I hate the most is people who are in bands that talks shit about other members…. Joe: I see Toshiya: I really hate that…. Joe: I can’t stand that… Toshiya: It’s like…..(they act) as it is ok to talk shit/say bad things when you drink…..much less about members…. Joe: Talking about another member…. Toshiya: I’m like….”I think you should stop doing that”…. Joe: Like “you should speak face-to-face”….it feels like something you should say directly to the members…. Toshiya: I hate that kind of thing….some people say stuff like that sometimes….it’s such a turn-off…. Joe: It really kills the mood….that’s totally it…..because no one chose the band members for you….you are playing in that band because you want to…. Toshiya: That’s it…. Joe: That’s it…..but that happens…..I see…. Toshiya: Before this, at a Liberal Democratic Party meeting…..they took a questionnaire, they weren’t complaining about the organization but they were many people who didn’t like it (the questionnaire). Because they are all adults, right? To some extend, I feel that it’s important that you see things from a rational point of view…. *Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is a conservative political party in Japan that has almost continuously been in power since its foundation in 1955. Joe: Certainly….the good thing about rock….of course it has an aggressive/offensive side but, in the end rock is something positive, isn’t it? Toshiya: That’s right… Joe: Because it’s the power of the people what pushes your forward…. Toshiya: Thereby, you are pushed forward by others…. Joe: Right…. So even if there are things that you might hate about it, to me, the power of rock is finding the good things/side…. Toshiya: That’s right….Taking that direction is rather easier…. Joe: For sure….

Toshiya: The things that you don’t like…..it’s like they become invisible… Joe: Right… Toshiya: It’s better not to see them…. Joe: True… Toshiya: Even though I can see them…. Joe: That’s right…. Toshiya: I’m being too honest/serious…. Joe: No,no….that’s important….. Then I have the following question…. What protein do you drink? Toshiya: Protein?.....Sabas….

Joe: Sabas?...... Toshiya: Yes Joe: Is that so? Sabas? Toshiya: The blue one mostly….I’ve been drinking it recently to lose weight…. Joe: I see….what shampoo or hair product do you use? Toshiya: Shampoo?....mmmmm…what it would be…..about that….surprisingly I use the ones I get from fans…. Joe: Is that so? You don’t use specific ones…..I’m already at that point….As I’m already 52 years old….*takes off his hat* they told me that my hair is at stage 4, hair restoration is hard….I’m using a hair growth formula that costs 6000 yen per bottle. *The stages of male pattern baldness are measured on a scale from 1 to 7. By stage 4, there is significant hair loss. Toshiya: If you are getting bald, it can’t be helped right? Joe: There is nothing you can do…. What would you do?....if you go bald… Toshiya: Well….mmmm…. I would shave my hair off…. Joe: You would shave it off? I think it would look good on you…. Toshiya: If you think about it, there is nothing that you can do…. Joe: Certainly….*laughs*…..Certainly….I’m going to ask you another question, because we have so many….What was your nickname when you were a kid?.... Toshiya: When I was a kid?.....what was it?....mmmmm….usually….I wonder….I don’t remember it…. Joe: You don’t remember? Ohhh Toshiya: Mmmmm…..*starts laughing suddenly*… this was interesting though…..*laughs* Joe: What is it? Why are you already laughing?….. Toshiya: I’m sorry…..*laughs*….I’m really sorry…. Joe: It’s ok…. Toshiya: This is again about Shinya…. Joe: It’s fine…. Toshiya: Shinya, don’t get mad….I think it’s ok because he told it himself but…. Joe: It’s ok…. Toshiya: When he was asked what was his nickname in the past…..he said it was “liar”….. Joe:* Burst into laugther* That’s so bad….as a person….it’s too amusing…. Toshiya: For real….I really think they are all interesting people….. Joe: It's hard for him to talk much, isn’t it? Does he talk a lot? When I asked him, he just answers……he was amazing…..”liar”….. Toshiya: *laughs* “Liar”…. Joe: Amazing….. Well we are getting closer to the end of the program….. What is your favorite song from Dir en grey? Toshiya: Mmm….I wonder…..I like all of them….I feel strongly about all of them… Joe: I see… Toshiya: I feel strongly about them…..I really feel strongly…. When I think about them…..the feelings and the state of mind of the time (when they were done)….. Joe: Every song……all of them were fun to make but it seems that it was also hard…. Toshiya: Yes, that’s it….that’s true… Joe: Right?....if you play them at a live…..various memories will come…. Toshiya: That’s right…. Most of them were hard….. Joe: Making songs…..that’s such a hard thing….but the fact that there are people who will listen to them, people who are waiting for those songs…. Toshiya: What makes me the happiest about making songs, it’s that for a person, it will become something memorable even if is left in the past….. Joe: Something that will be there…. Toshiya: The feeling that you had when you listened to that song will remain. Like….somehow….any occasion….like a dir en grey album was released at the time you were cleaning the closets and you were listening to it….things like that….that someone was listening to it at moments like those….I’m really grateful. If this can become a page in a person’s life, I’m really grateful. Joe: That's a really nice thing, isn’t it? Toshiya: Time ago…. I was drinking with Baba from Dragon Ash…. Joe: Oh Baba….. Baba who passed away….. *They are talking about Ikuzo Baba “Ikuzone”, Dragon Ash’s bassist, who passed away in 2012. Toshiya and Ikuzone were interviewed and appeared together at the cover of Bass Magazine No. 228 June 2010* Toshiya: He said that……if you are not forgotten…..you will be able to live forever…. Joe: I see… Toshiya: Baba said this talking about Hide….. Joe: Is that so? Toshiya: If you are forgotten…..I don’t think you will be able to live…. Joe: Well, Baba is still living in us, isn’t he? Toshiya: Of course he is. Those words that he said to me….even now…..those words resonate with me…. Joe: Certainly…..those words are really good…aren’t they? Toshiya: I think those words were very Baba-ish…. Joe: Certainly…..because the music will remain forever….even if you forget about it for a moment….it may now always be part of your playlists….but it will come out eventually… Toshiya: That’s right…..somehow…..mmmmm…. I want you to listen to Dir en grey forever…..*laughs* Joe: Of course… Toshiya: I want that to happen but I don’t know (if it will happen)……but……if it bring you memories of that time….that….makes me really happy and grateful…. Joe: I see…..everybody is taking this chance to write the dir en grey songs they like at the comments…..there are many comments appearing on screen…..lastly….there is one more questionnaire for Toshiya….February 2021 has just started….. the emergency state has been extended and we are all in a difficult situation but…..I wonder what are his goals, dreams or plans for this year……ah! Amazing *points at the comments* Thank you for writing so many comments…. Toshiya: Thank you… Joe: All of them…..”Yokan”…. I see…..”Child Prey”….there are many songs there….”Ranunculus”….ahh, Ranunculus is such a great song…..I really like “Ranunculus”…. Toshiya: Ah….it’s really a good song…. Joe: It’s an amazing song…..”Ningen wo Kaburu”…..write more, write more…..we are looking at your comments while we are drinking….please, we are going to use a paper sheet again….*pointing at the notebook on the floor* Toshiya: Ah,yes….*picks it* Joe: About this year….. something like a close goal….you said you were lazy a while ago but….I want you to think about a positive keyword for 2021….amazing….you all are writing a lot of comments….”Lotus” is there too….amazing….”Rinkaku”….they are writing many songs…..”Zakuro”…..that’s a great song……”Utafumi”….thats a more recent song…..it’s a good song too….. Toshiya: Somehow…..the songs that we have made…..probably…. Honestly, I can’t say that Dir en grey is going to be there forever…. I always think about it as walking on thin ice….honestly….somehow….when Dir en grey is gone…..the things that we did….like our legacy…..I think that would be the songs after all….. Joe: I see…. Toshiya: If we are remembered that way…..I would be really thankful….. Joe: That’s right….they are writing “please don’t be gone”…..of course that’s what we all want, that Dir en grey never ends... Toshiya: Of course…. Joe: Of course no one wants Dir en grey to disappear, I’m not saying it with that intention….. Toshiya: I don’t think about it but I can’t promise…..I can’t do that…. Joe: That’s right…..because a band it’s a miracle…. Toshiya: I think so… Joe: Many things you do are miracles…..because not many people can do that… Toshiya: I don’t know….All this….I really just cant do it (by myself)…. Joe: That’s why I think it’s so great that you can perform and produce things…. Toshiya: I agree…. Joe: Definitely, there will a tomorrow and a day after tomorrow…. Toshiya: I agree… Joe: Yes…. Toshiya: That’s it….So, at this time with Corona going on…. I have thought about a lot of things inside my head….but after all, I thought about what was the most negative thing about this situation for me….when I thought about that…..I think the most negative thing for me is that the activities of these 5 people are reduced…. Joe: I see…. Toshiya: I don’t think it will last forever….I think that the other members feel the same than me…of course, I want to continue doing this as long as I’m alive…. Joe: Of course… Toshiya: I don’t know…. Joe: Yes… Toshiya: With that in mind, last year…..2020….somehow we could only do things as a band at the beginning of the year…that’s it….I feel like the time of these five people doing things together has been dramatically reduced……that’s really…..I think it’s very frustrating/annoying….. Joe: I see. That’s why I’m sure the next single is going to be amazing and strong….something that it’s going to make you think hard…. Toshiya: I want it to be something that remains…. Joe: Also the concert screening tour is going to start soon….I hope that everyone as well while believing in every moment, support it… So, what kind of goals or thoughts has Toshiya for 2021? What ideas has installed into his heart? I told him to express them in one kanji…please take a look…. Toshiya: It’s a bit so-so…. Toshiya shows the kanji he wrote. Joe: There it is…. Toshiya: Yes Toshiya wrote “動” (motion). Joe: “Motion” Toshiya: *Laughs* “Motion”…..yes….. Joe: Yes…movement…. Toshiya: Movement….that’s the main thing……I think it’s the main thing right now….unless something “moves”….I knew that nothing was going to happen last year but this year I want us “to move” as much as possible….as much as possible….Of course I want to meet the fans ( at a concert) again but over all, I want the five of us to move forward…. Joe: That’s good… Toshiya: That’s the main thing I want….. Joe: The band moving forward..…. please everyone look forward to that….the concert screening tour will start soon and although the release date hasn’t been set yet, a new single will be released in the spring. The next action has already begun in pre-production, so when the situation allows it, we all can meet at the live venue again…. Toshiya: That’s it….really…..I want them to come but honestly I can’t tell them to come….that’s it…..if something happens, it’s going to be the hardest thing for us….somehow….that something happens to the people who say that like Dir en grey….that’s the thing I hate the most… Joe: That’s right… that something happens to the people who loves you…..that’s the worst…. Toshiya: It is….it’s the worst…. Joe: For real… Toshiya: For real, I really hate it… Joe: That's right. That's why we should take good measures against infection. We are still in a difficult situation at this time….at an emotional level too…..and after all, I think that some people are also feeling (emotionally) weak…. Toshiya: That’s why that I got this opportunity to be here….that you all are watching this….it make me happy… Joe: Well, finally, what was promised….he’ll take off his sunglasses and say goodbye…but before….next week a new program will be broadcasted….next week Shinya from LUNA SEA…. Toshiya: Oh! Joe: He’ll come to the program…. Toshiya: A big senpai…. Joe: Isn’t he? He got infected with Corona virus…. Toshiya: Ah, that’s it….it surprised me… Joe: The concert they had at the end of the year had to be suspended…. Toshiya: That’s right….that some people said you did something bad/wrong… Joe: That’s right…. Toshiya: So that you ended up like that (infected with the virus)…. Joe: It’s not like he was doing it on his own….but on the contrary, it seems that Shinya also seems to have thought about that, about all the things he did around that time…. Toshiya: It’s really…..to blame someone for that…. Joe: That’s definitely wrong… Toshiya: I think it’s nonsense… Joe: I think that everyone here thinks the same about this….*pointing at the comments* they didn’t do anything wrong….anything wrong….its seems that everyone here knows that…. As for Toshiya, you said you would come after the single is released and you will sing “Jesus” with you sunglasses off… this was decided today…. Toshiya: But it must get the approval of LUNA SEA members….if they don’t approve it, I won’t do it…. Joe: I will get it!.... Toshiya: No,no… Joe: I’m going to get the label president confirmation…. Toshiya: *Laughs* Sakanoue? *Masatoshi Sakanoue is Luna Sea’s executive producer* Joe: Sakanoue….*nods* I’m going to ask for his approval… Toshiya: Nooo…..*raises his arms and squeals*….stop it…. Joe: I’m going to confirm it with him…. I’m going to get his approval Toshiya:*Laughs* For real?....I’ll play bass!… Joe: No, no….anything it’s ok but you have to sing…..the bass….it’s going to be like “he is playing bass as always”…. Toshiya: It's really embarrassing….if you could insert some blurring effect/pixelating…. Joe: I’ll! I will insert some blurring with a mosaic effect….but you have to sing….you can play the bass too if you want…. Toshiya: And some…for the voice…..how is it call?...that thing that changes it… Joe: To change it…..some voice distortion….like if you were interrogating…. Toshiya: That thing that makes your voice super high…. Joe: “It’s decided, he’ll sing while playing the bass”…..everyone is so spoiled…… Toshiya: Yes… Joe: Well, finally…at the end of the program he is going to take off his sunglasses and say goodbye to all of you….*Toshiya is about to get the sunglasses off but it’s stopped by Joe* First the message….then you take off the sunglasses at the end when you say bye bye to them…. Toshiya: Well….today was….arggg…..I really hate this *cleans the sweat of his fronthead* I’m sweating a lot…. Joe:*Laughs*I’m sorry…. Toshiya: It was really fun…. Joe: Thank you…. Toshiya: If you laughed watching this…..that would be the best….that would be the best now…we would be thankful for that and it would make us happy….Yes, that’s it. Next time I’ll come after the releasing of “Oboro” and we’ll have a good drink with you all again…. Joe: Yes… Toshiya: Thank you for today….. Joe: Thank you for watching…. Well, while he says goodbye after taking his sunglasses off, I want to thank you for today. *Toshiya laughs and takes his sunglasses off* Tonight’s guest was Toshiya from Dir en grey! Thank you for watching! Toshiya: Thank you for watching! *waves* Joe: Bye, bye! *clapping* Toshiya is on screen, shyly, waving goodbye and then covers his face with his hands. The image fades and the logo of the channel appears. *Thank you for reading :)*

#dir en grey #toshiya #Joe Yokomizo #joe yokomizo channel #translation #niconico #livestream #toshiyatranslations

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dreamsatdusk · 3 years ago

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Command and Strategy of the Second Army, Post-Shadow and Bone

I had grand plans of getting more meta written over a recent weekend, but between major fatigue and so on, it didn’t happen. I did get some more reread done and thus, meta prep notes on several topics. Most are for longer posts (or a series of them in one case). But I’ve found myself musing on the Second Army’s situation in book 2+3, strength in numbers and other related details.

It’s definitely more musing than anything, as I’m not looking up specific details and what is most fresh in mind is the middle third-ish of Siege and Storm. Some things below may have a concrete answer in some book or another - and I would be happy to hear if so! But for now, to ramble:  Alina returns to Os Alta in this segment and with the help of NIkolai’s input, is granted temporary command of the Second Army. On page, this mostly manifests as her involvement with the Grisha still at the Little Palace. And that number is much reduced over what it was some months prior: there and elsewhere, many Grisha went into hiding or joined the Darkling. Many of those who stayed behind are of the younger set - in their late teens and early twenties for those where their age is roughly known. (The group that Fedyor brought with him to join Alina has probably got some older Grisha in it, as the group was one that had been stationed at a southern border outpost and Fedyor himself seems to be more experienced too.)

When Alina first arrives back at the Little Palace to announce her command, the following exchange occurs:

Sergei cleared his throat. “Alina, you are the Sun Summoner, and we’re grateful for your safe return, but you aren’t qualified to run a military campaign.”

“Qualified or not, I have the King’s blessing.”

And Sergei was in fact totally correct. Alina was not qualified to be in command of the Second Army. And by the end of the book, if I recall right, the only surviving members of it that were at the Little Palace during her tenure as commander are: Sergei, Stigg, Harshaw, Nadia, Zoya, David, and Alina herself, plus the students (Adrik is technically in this subset, though he left with Alina’s group rather than go to Keramzin). At a dinner soon after Alina assumes command, she surveys the tables: “I made a silent count—forty Grisha, maybe fifty, most of them barely out of school”.

I would also suspect there could have been other Grisha in Os Alta that didn’t happen to be at dinner at the Little Palace when the Darkling’s forces attacked the city that could have gotten away. But still.

Furthermore, there’s little more than cursory attention shown in the book to the idea of an actual military campaign. Alina spends much of her time on page attending meetings, talking with people about other topics, angsting about Mal, and so forth. It’s true they do not know where the Darkling’s group is, but still, they make frequent references to assuming it could be comprised of many experienced Grisha, on top of having the Darkling’s capabilities and the nichevo’ya. There is a lot of talk about what to do about the Darkling, but not the overall rebel faction of the Second Army that I recall.

Alina as commander of the Second Army reads as pretty disastrous, though that isn’t really dwelled upon at all in the text.

Mind you, this is not the same as saying some other person in charge would have automatically done better. They may not have, especially if the choice were just from among those Grisha at the Little Palace. What sort of training and experience did those who were there have? The Second Army must have had a command structure, as an independent entity from the First Army. But I don’t recall we get much, if any, mention of what it might have been in the books. We know that at coming of age, some Grisha immediately join ‘the troops’ so to speak, and some of them are selected for advanced studies first, one of which is explicitly stated to be ‘military strategy’.

We know the group remaining at the Little Palace was stated to be a ‘young group’. Serigei’s situation sheds a bit of additional light on this too I think. He demonstrates a bit of ‘take charge’ approach when Alina arrives, and while this doesn’t get him anywhere in the context of who’s going to be in command, the scene does read overall like he HAD been helping run things previously. Furthermore, a bit later on, Alina remarks on Sergei having been the one to have “tried to manage some of the Darkling’s duties, but much of the work had simply gone unattended”.

How young was Sergei himself? I suspect he was around Marie and Nadia’s age, though perhaps a little older. It’s not just that he and Marie began to date, but more some of their interactions in Shadow and Bone. He came across as having a similar maturity level and not being a more experienced adult. Also, it’s possible he was there as an advanced studies student too, like Marie and Nadia. Zoya is another one to consider: she said she spoke for the Summoners during that encounter and we know she’s 18 or so at this point.

I don’t know that we ever get any numbers overall for the number of Grisha in the Second Army at the time of Shadow and Bone. They do seem very widely distributed though - at outposts, serving with noble families, stationed at the Shadow Fold, etc. How many were neither at the Little Palace nor with the Darkling/in hiding in Siege and Storm? Was there no one with more command experience who could have been recalled to Os Alta to support Alina (or be the one actually in charge, with Alina as a figurehead)? Was this even considered?

Again, if the Darkling was believed to have significant numbers of Grisha with him, the fact that the strategies seemed so focused on how to fight he and the nichevo’ya is an immense failure to plan. To not account for the capabilities of talented Heartrenders, Summoners, etc., could have meant disaster even without the Darkling’s abilities. Add in that the Darkling could pull of things only Alina could effectively counter?

I’m continuing on with the reread and will note down if I find any further relevant details, but so far, what I’ve found aligns with the above and what I recall from past readings.

Outside the narrative, there is some explanation for all of this. This isn’t a military fantasy, it’s a YA trilogy. The focuses between the two are very different - this is supposed to be about Alina’s personal journey so to speak. That said, as someone who liked reading military fantasy, amongst other things, even when I was in the target age bracket, I think I’d have been annoyed about some of this even then. The situation is such a mess, but more than that, it’s never much examined in the story as part of the MC’s arc. It’s just…a thing that happened?

#Grishaverse #The Grisha Trilogy #Grishaverse Meta #The Darkling #Alina Starkov #Sergei Beznikov

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deathwishdaydream · 3 years ago

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Dear Universe, Up Yours!

Chapter 4

I didn't even know where we were going. Gerard didn't either. All I knew was that we were getting the hell out of Belleville. We escaped school during lunchtime, so we've already eaten enough to not need any food in a while. I have about $43 after spending my money at the convenience store, and I wanted to make sure that Gerard and I would have enough to eat, get a motel, and gas. I think that was also one of the most important things to consider if you wanted to run away. How were you going to provide for yourself? Without parents, a house, school?

"Gerard?" I said and he gracefully hummed in response. It was phenomenally conspicuous that I had developed a massive adoration for his voice. I always felt something odd in myself every time I heard it. I couldn't explain it, even if there was a dictionary in front of me with pages full of preternatural words that defined every inscrutable, nameless human feeling and thing in the universe. What I was able to explain, though, was how I heard his voice differently from anybody else. Simply because I felt that everything that mystically came out of his mouth could reach lurkingly into my brain. It gave me the same feeling of being read to as a little kid, but even better. Much better... Oh right, the money. "How much cash do you have on you right now?"

"Umm, I don't know, I'll have to check, it's all in my wallet," he said, preoccupied with driving. I bet he passed his first-ever driver's test. It was extraordinary how the asphalt never left his sight.

"Give it to me, I'll see how much," I told him. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna steal. And we can combine our money if you'd like because we'll need enough for food, gas, and a place to stay."

He nodded quite casually, and he took out his wallet from his front pocket, bringing it to me as his eyes were still thoroughly affixed to the road. "Thanks," I said, grabbing the wallet from his hand, watching it go right back on the steering wheel once I properly took hold of the wallet.

I opened it up and was suddenly met with Gerard's driver's license photo. He looked so sweet and innocent, smiling in the tiny picture. Maybe a little more than he does right now because he was a bit younger here. Purer, if you will. My eyes had scanned all the faded numbers and letters, being informed that the license wouldn't expire until another two years. Apparently, he was also a class D. Though feeling like I was negligently intruding, I began to do what I had planned to do in the first place: I checked the large wallet pocket filled with cash and took them all out, attentively counting. He had $52.31, including some coins I found in there. I felt obligated to count all the coins, for some reason. It just made sense. I then put all his money neatly back inside and handed the brown wallet back to him. "Fifty-two thirty-one. I have forty-three, so I'm sure we're good." He nodded in regard, then took his hand out for me to give him back his wallet. I placed it in his palm accordingly as he stuck it back into his pocket and continued to focus all on driving. I know it was important to have all your attention on the road, but Gerard strictly stuck to that. His broad eyes never leave the dark pavement in front of him. Either something had tragically happened to him, or he just drove this way. There was nothing wrong with that, of course, but it felt as if he was always in some sort of ethereal trance when he would drive.

Time passed effortlessly as I looked out the window, the sky a blue-ish gray. The colors and the dullness brought me back to the bench in the park. Then I looked at him.

"Are we friends, then now? Acquaintances, maybe?" I asked all out of a sudden. If we were going to stick together, which we should, then we'd have to be pretty compatible in order for this running away thing to work well, I thought.

"I mean, yeah. Sure, I guess," he replied. The plainness of his response kind of irked me.

"Yeah, but I don't know shit about you," I told him bitterly. "Tell me about yourself."

He brought his hand to briefly scratch his right eyebrow, then, like a magnet, went back to the wheel. "I like comics, you already know that now. I like playing D&D. I also really like coffee and I'm very into art and would like to make comics in the future too. I like Britpop but I also like rock. Not the whole 'Rock and Roll' thing with bands objectifying women and being terrible shitheads. And I'm very-" He stopped so abruptly, and it significantly caught my interest. "I was very close to my brother," he mumbled regrettably. If he were to look down, he would, but he was still so fixated on the road. God, I wonder what happened to their relationship. His brother lives all the way in California. "Anyways," There was a large mood change: neutral to upset then to neutral again. It was weird. He was changing the subject because he was currently uncomfortable with it. But I didn't want to poke for details if this was truly sensitive. He moved his hand to the back of his neck as if he could scratch off the thought. "What about you?"

"I get angry easily, maybe. Impatient. I'm annoyed by our school and the town that we live in. In junior year, Phillip Young kept calling Dylan Murphy by his dead name, beating him up as well, so I beat up Phillip. Then I got in trouble. Chelsea McCoy was slut-shaming many girls and being a complete dickhead, so I started yelling and insulting her, using all of the curse words that exists. Then I stuffed her in a locker. Got in trouble again. I'm surprised I didn't get expelled yet." I explained tenderly, remembering both incidents well and satisfyingly. That was one of the only things I was proud about myself and behavior. Sometimes my dreadful, persistent anger can be advantageous. I wasn't some savior or school vigilante. I was just an asshole with anger issues and those two pissed me off so I properly lost it.

"That's really cool of you, though. They definitely deserved it," he replied smiling, as I smiled at him back. The way his lips formed that way had made me feel good at the moment. And I liked how he was getting less and less shy to speak or react every second. I wanted to know more about him, though. Like, not the 'all about me' school presentation favorite food shit, but I wanted to know him. I wanted to know why he isolated himself so much, I wanted to know some other side of him. I wanted to know him. But that could be for a different time.

I guess I should actually tell him more about myself, though. But the 'all about me' elementary school presentation way. "I was born in Minnesota. Most of my family's there," I began. "Been there for a nice time, but then we moved here. Damn, I didn't know Jersey was such a disappointment. Or just, y'know, the town itself, I guess," I added, letting the memories of my hometown rush to the top of my brain. But then I paused, suddenly feeling a little... perturbed, maybe. I was quite aware of what had caused it, though. "You're... You're okay with this, right? Running away from here with me? I feel like I'm pushing you. Also, we just met too."

I think his face changed as I spoke. His resting face, which was a bit tense, had softened. Like if he felt sorry for me or anything. That wasn't the reaction I intended for him to bring. "I've always wanted to leave this place, actually. Too many... bad memories," he sighed. I don't doubt it. He drove so cautiously, he always kept to himself, and his brother lives across the country. A lot of things must have happened throughout his life here.

I placed my hand on his shoulder in affirmation. Maybe the car drove over a bump or a stiff rock, but if that wasn't the case, then Gerard had flinched at my touch. The look on his face made me assume that the hairs on his body would have raised at that very moment. I lifted my hand off. Maybe he didn't like physical contact. Or he was just startled at the time. "Well... We'll leave and make better memories, yeah?" I reassured, smiling slightly, even knowing he wouldn't see it. I didn't know what happened with him here, but I knew it must've really sucked. That was an understatement; it must have been terrible. He's a very quiet kid. Was, at least.

Time passed even more, and I was convinced we were already out of Belleville. And I started to get really hungry. "Gerard?" I asked while replacing the cassette that had finished, with a different one, beginning to play Britpop.

"Hm?" he hummed, pursed his lips, and blinked.

"I'm hungry," I said, unfortunately in a tone that made it sound insignificant. I hated how the things I tried to say out loud wouldn't come out the way I wanted them to.

"Me too," he replied. "But there's a roadside diner coming up soon, so we can eat there." I nodded in response and moved my arm by the window, letting my head rest on my hand, and looking through the glass, anticipating the eatery.

Luckily, we eventually pulled into a parking lot and I saw the small and short diner, with as many windows as a car dealership. I got out of the car and slammed the door closed, immediately smelling whatever the fuck hippo's shit smells like. God, it was awful. Gerard exited the car and merely scrunched his face, smelling the same smell I did, which I chuckled to myself quietly. It was kind of cute, his reaction.

Together, we walked to the inside of the diner by opening the rickety door, a bell attached above it ringing. This part of Jersey had a lot of bells. Weird. The door had a small 'welcome' sign, but other than that, it was just wooden and plain, having a musty small window at the top half.

Once Gerard and I got settled into our seats, he leisurely analyzed the menu. And after watching him read the menu to himself for a short while, I moved my attention to the window beside me. Being met with the sinister cluster of trees and hues outside, I began to feel tired. I couldn't tell if the sight was comforting me or drugging me. "You, uh, know what you're gonna order?" I didn't jump, but I was still moderately alarmed as I heard Gerard precipitously speak. And I heard his voice again without actually looking at him; feeling that same, weird feeling in my stomach afterward as the words he said had pleasantly come through different areas in my ear. I hated not knowing why certain things occurred and what they were, so this feeling rather pissed me off. I needed to know what it was.

"Yeah, I'll just, y'know, get whatever burger they have here," I replied blankly, trying to shake off the thoughts of that strange feeling. I watched the trees move together as the wind pushed them as far as it could. I didn't know if I looked at this because it was beautiful, or I didn't want to look at Gerard so I could hear him that same way again. The trees did look pretty peaceful, though. Yet they were so tall and surrounding that they felt like school bullies.

"...You okay?"

"Um, yeah, why wouldn't I be," I replied abruptly and turned my head to the waitress that appeared the hell out of nowhere, in front of our table. I think I had some idea why Gerard asked about how I was feeling. Sometimes I would get randomly upset but it was mostly because I felt enormously worn out. I did feel, for some reason, like I wanted to drop dead right at this moment, and I didn't know why.

"Good afternoon, my name is Jenna and I'll be your server for today. Can I get you two anything to drink?" The waitress at our table said cheerfully, holding a black leather notepad and a short pen in her hands. Something that I found interesting, mostly because it was pretty rare - she gripped the pen in her slim left hand.

The waitress looked at me, waiting for a response. "Um, just water," I finally answered, watching her write down the word in her left hand. I was able to hear the scratching of the black pen, which somehow made the atmosphere less tense. Then, she looked at Gerard.

"I'll have water too," he replied quietly as she added more to the page of the notepad.

"Alright, just two waters?" she ensured, smiling, and we both nodded, confirming it. "Okay, and are you ready to order your food already?"

"Oh, um, yeah," I said, looking at Gerard.

For the third time, time passed, yet awkwardly, and we've already gotten our food. It was pretty silent, except for the music playing in the background and a few chattering. I looked at the booth at the side and two kids and a man, their father most likely, sat down. They looked happy. They probably don't live in Belleville, I concluded. Though there were a few things I noticed that were strange, but it wasn't relevant nor important.

As I took more bites of my burger, I turned my head back to Gerard but noticed something happening behind him. I poked my head out slightly, trying to see what was going on. He looked at me, then turned his head around to try to see what I was looking at as we then heard the door open and its hysterical shrill. He looked back at me confused and asked, "What?"

"Those people who just left didn't pay for their food," I replied with my mouth full. "They dine and dashed."

"Jeez. Well... At least the food the cooks made weren't a waste 'cause they finished, right?" he said softly.

"Well... Their server will have to cover the cost of the bill at some times," I explained. "The diner would also lose money on the food or drinks they got,"

"How do you know that?" Gerard asked, chuckling shortly. I learned instantly that I liked his chuckle.

"I don't know. I know a lot of random information from different people and stuff," I shrugged. Again, I looked at the other booth on the side I saw before; the one with the man and his two kids. I felt for the plate and inserted a fry into my mouth. "I'm also very observant," I added, chewing the fry, then gulping it promptly. "That guy over there," I pointed to a man with dark brown hair and eyes, crows feet on each end, sitting by two small children. "He's a bad husband," Gerard turned around and looked at him, then back at me. "And/or he's having marriage problems,"

"And how can you assume that?" He brought his elbow onto the table and held his head in his hand. He was interested, I could tell, which made me feel a little proud.

"For the past few minutes, he has been looking at their waitress' ass. It could be a mistake, but I could tell he was also looking at her, uh... 'dirty pillows,'" He giggled at the awkward Carrie reference I made. Then I continued. "Weird and perverted, especially because his children are right there. But they don't know anything about that. Every time their server would go to them, he would, occasionally, cover his wedding ring by either putting his right hand on top, hiding his hand under the table, or even taking it out at some times. But I'm pretty sure his children know the purpose of the ring already, so he's trying to make it very subtle that he's hiding it in front of the waitress. Also, she couldn't have coincidentally been his wife. That family's tourists. She has no ring, and the children aren't showing any affection or closeness."

Gerard looked at the family at that booth for a long time until the man did at least two of the things I've said. "Shit, you're right! What an ass-"

"Being a bad husband doesn't mean he'd be a bad father, though. I mean, by default, being a bad husband would immediately make you a bad father because divorce and your parents arguing can ruin a kid's childhood, and staring at young women with his kids there. But besides that, see, the food his kids ordered was... unreasonably expensive, but he gave it to them anyway. I saw the menu. So he might be spoiling his kids too, but we don't know for sure," I explained as the young daughter and son ate their food. "They look genuinely happy. And the boy is wearing a hat from a theme park from a different state, so the kids' father must be passionate about making his kids content,"

He looked back at me when I finished and chuckled to himself. "You must've really paid attention in science with, y'know, observation and stuff,"

"No... actually. It's pretty natural, I've been like that ever since I was little. I even eavesdropped and everything." I smiled, picking at another french fry on my plate.

He smiled in response and took a bite out of his food. "I eavesdrop all the time," he said with his mouth full and I smiled. It makes sense; being quiet would make you great at listening and listening to other people's conversations.

Soon after, we both finished our food and stood up from our seats. I hesitantly put my hand out.

"Friends?" I asked.

He grinned and shook my hand. "Friends."

We paid upfront and got out of the diner, only to smell the outdoors, shit-scented. We walked over to his car and came inside, slamming the doors closed afterward. He started the engine and put the car in reverse to get out of the parking spot.

"So," I began. "Where to?"

He chuckled and I could have sworn that something changed in my body after hearing and looking at him. "Anywhere but fucking here."

We drove off to the road surrounded by the trees with pale leaves and the gray, pale sky mostly covered by them. When I closed my eyes, I felt the same, free feeling when I would sit on that bench in the park. I didn't need to feel the grass on my feet. I already felt the same, anyways. I think this was the feeling of release; escaping the redundant captivity in a small, boring, and soul-sucking town. And I loved it.

I opened my eyes and looked at Gerard. He was adorable, really. And staring at him for a longer duration could have convinced me that he was beautiful. But that would be silly. I wouldn't actually know what's really beautiful, being somebody who never appreciated anything of that nature. I'm pretty sure that I am messed up. That something was definitely wrong with me. So maybe I couldn't judge what was beautiful. But I was extremely certain, maybe more than I have ever been in my life, that those lips of his were.

#gerard way x reader #gerard way #my chemical romance #mcr fanfiction #mcr fic #mcr #gender neutral fanfic #dear universe up yours

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pankowfruitsnacks · 3 years ago

Text

Shattered JJ Maybank Chapter Ten

master list | series master list

warning: mentions of trial

word count: 1003

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"Hey, Ace!" She heard JJ's voice through the phone. Warmth filled her body at the sound of his joy.

"Hey, JJ." The boy has called almost every night and morning since she got to Huntington, giving updates on how everyone was doing and getting updates on the trial. He's been watching the live stream of it, but the calls were more to see how she was doing.

Today was the final day of court, so they all hoped. Either way she was to head back to the Outer Banks despite if the verdict was given or not.

"I didn't get a picture this morning. Tell me the fit." She giggled at his eagerness.

"Well, all baby blue. Dress pants with a flowing long sleeve." She knew he only wanted to distract her until the last minute possible. Ava didn't mind. "My white tennis shoes and my hair is down in case you were wondering."

"Perfect." She could here the grin.

"So tell me about the date. I'm dying to hear all about it."

JJ on the other side of the line. "Talked a lot. She loved the sound of her voice, let's just say I didn't." And she wasn't you. His heart pounded.

Over the four days of being separated, he realized how deep the fondness for the girl was. He stayed up wondering what she was doing, if she had nightmares, and mostly if she was thinking about him. JJ was going crazy, talking to John B about the blonde every chance he got.

"I'm sorry that it didn't work out for you, JJ. I promise one day you'll find someone who will listen." You already do.

He's never been head over heels for someone before and that very thought scared him. He was scared to willingly let someone close to him in a way more than a friend. Sure he's had sex before, a few tourons here and there, but he's never truly cared about thier feelings and he never gave thought to how his actions would affect them.

"So when does the trial start?" JJ steadied his mind on what was before them. The hardest day they've experienced so far. Ava and him ran through the questions, but her answers were not as explicitly detailed as they were going to be today on the stand. He knew that.

"About fifty-ish minutes. Uncle Matt is grabbing coffee, but he tells me to say hi."

After a few more minutes, Ava was swept away by her lawyer to go over thier strategy and they hung up.

In Outer Banks , it was currently noon. JJ was cooking lunch for himself when he heard John B burst through the door.

"Did you know?" John B looked cautiously into the boy's eyes as he slapped down the newspaper.

"What?" JJ eyed the paper as the shock sets in.

'Avalon Abbott Speaks To Press During ongoing Trial Against Her Father'

JJ tried to hold back his anger. They posted it front page and everything. Ava told him that the case was pretty big back on the west coast but she wasn't sure it would make headlines here. But small towns talk.

"Who knew her name was Avalon?" JJ tried to avoid John B's stare.

John B's eyes began to water as his voice shook. "JJ. Please tell me this isn't real. She would have told us right?"

JJ just hung his head low, staring at the half made sandwhich. "She didn't want you guys to know."

"When did you know? How long?" John B's anger was evident. He was protective of Ava as well, she was like a little sister to everyone else in the group.

"I didn't know about the trial until a week ago. I promise." JJ's mind kept racing. How was he going to tell her.

"Have you been following it?" JJ nodded.

"Well now we can watch it together. I know how much she means to you and I want to make sure you're okay." JJ pulled John B into a hug.

"Thanks, man. I really appreciate it." They stay there in a hug for a few more moments, then finished making lunch.

The others came over as well with the same news. All of them felt hurt that she didn't talk to them about it or that they didn't recognize the pain she went through. Nothing was a bigger surprise than the fact that JJ knew first, but to them it all made sense the way he was kinder to her and more attentive. They also all heard first hand about his crush on Ava before settling down to watch the live stream on JJ's phone.

Ava was the first person called up to the stands, her eyes were focused straight ahead, her body still as a rock.

"I, Avalon Abbott, swear that the evidence that I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God." She continued with her oath and then right as the questions began, JJ turned it off. The group began to whine.

"I don't think you guys should watch it. It just doesn't feel right." He felt terrible, but this wasn't his place to tell. "She did everything so you guys wouldn't know, hell I don't even know the full story." Truth is, he wasn't sure how he would react to the rest of the questions. He could barely control himself when it first started.

"We are here for you, JJ. If you don't want to watch it right now, we don't have to." Kie spoke out.

A few tears fell from his eyes as the group wrapped thier arms around him. In that moment, JJ felt the most purest form of love in a friendship. He only wished Ava was thier to experience the same thing. Everyone loved her and wanted to be there for her. That's what friends do and that's exactly what she was. A friend. No, she was a pogue, JJ thought.

#outer banks cast #rafe outer banks #outer banks x reader #outer banks imagines #outerbanks #rafe cameron #rafecameron #jj maybank #jj maybank imagines #jj x reader #jjpope #jjmaybank #kie carrera #kiara carrera #sarah cameron #john b routledge #johnbroutledge #angst #slow burn

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