#hey so like novus right lets talk about novus-

[puckbees-knees]

"I steal a few breaths from the world for a minute / And then I'll be nothing forever"

[akurathereaper]

An insignificant rant on HoT&PoF

As everyone knows, yady yady ya, everyone prefers HoT, whatever

I’m one of those people and I’m about to rant about this too.

THIS IS NOT A SPOILER FREE RANT

I will be talking about story elements and stuff that happens in both DLCs.

I like Path of Fire, I really do, it gave me Elona, it gave me agent Kito whom I wholeheartedly pity cuz he has to deal with the Commander, it gave me more of Aurene (and it gave me Joko on whom I can shit on when I feel bad)

But, it didn’t give me maps I like (and I will tell you why) (please note I am no game designer, or designer in general. In fact, maps designed by me would be probably shit, but I still believe my opinion is valid, because I am a person with eyes that can see)

This is going to be a small rant when it comes to maps, now mark, english isn’t my first language so there may be nonsensical sentences, and I am no professional critic so all of this is coming from my heart, not my brain.

Ready? Let’s go

So I’m going to do a little comparison (nothing too much in depth) of the four maps from each DLC (plus Domain of Vabbi but I don’t have much to say on it if I’m honest).

 We have Verdant Brink, Auric Basin, Tangled Depths and Dragon’s stand from Heart of Thorns, and Crystal Oasis, Desert Highlands, The Desolation, Elon Riverlands and Domain of Vabbi. 

Let me start with HoT, because it makes logical sense.

When you first start the Heart of Thorns campaign, you’re told to go from Silverwastes to... Verdant Brink. You get a small taste of it right before you enter it, in that cave where the injured pact members are talking about it. And then you load in (hopefully, if your pc doesn’t reenact an atomic blast), and first thing you see, when you walk in on that VERY SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED LEDGE

is absolute carnage.

Ships are strewn about, hanging in pieces torn apart by Mordremoth’s vines, smoke and fire is everywhere, that part of the jungle is ravaged not only by Mordremoth, but also by you. Your Pact. And in that moment you exactly realize what happened (if it wasn’t obvious from the cutscene that played before it *cough cough*)

But now you see it. The map tells you a very obvious story, and you don’t need to be a genius to figure it out. It tells you and SHOWS you exactly how strong and dangerous the Dragon you’re hunting is. It shows you what you have to overcome.  (And if you’re me, you’re crying cuz Trahearne got kidnapped)

I’m going to skip the storyparts of this map, but will instead focus on the meta of it (since i’ve done it like trillion times). There’s five main crashpoints. Each has to bring their all to successfuly make this map “safe”. The nobles, the Pale Reavers, the quaggan and her soldiers. Everyone. I’m guessing that after you kill all the five champions, the area becomes safe enough for you to move on, after all, you’re the Commander, and you cannot leave everyone to die in the middle of the Jungle. Once again, the map tells you a story through the gameplay)

And then you move onto Auric Basin (I’m guessing it’s a lot of people’s fav map)

Oh, Auric Basin... The map instantly breathes “something”, something different. You KNOW you’re somewhere else, the whole atmosphere tells you that you’re somewhere forgotten, somewhere where the touches of humans, sylvari, charr, whatever main race, have not reached. 

Your first instance of it is most likely the story instance, so you get introduced to the place pretty quickly. I don’t have to say how gorgeous the city actually is, right?

The whole place is an archaeologist’s wet dream. And again, the map tells you, it shows you, it’s story, it’s history (the Priory people are wetting themselves over the whole thing), and sometimes it’s the Exalted themselves who tell you the story. But you can gauge a lot of it just from observing. It’s not the most effective of cities, I’ll be honest, but it’s a damn impressive one. After all, Tarir was build for Glint’s scion.

And the meta? It’s about PROTECTING the city. Protecting it from Mordremoth, from destroying it, from destroying the safe place for a dragon’s egg. You stop Mordremoth from leaching the place with Octovines (or an exalted does it for you. Kudos to you, immortal and endless exalted), and you don’t rly realize the importance of this place until the whole Aurene thing happens.

And oof, Tangled Depths. 

Tangled Depths, one of the most hated maps in the entire expansion, a thing (imho) that can be very much blamed on the map limitation (I’m talking about your map, where you see where you are and where the waypoints are, etc.) Like, honestly, wouldn’t it be a WHOLE lot easier to traverse if your map made actual damn sense? But I digress.

Tangled Depths is probably one of the lesser impressive maps? Overall, I very like it, although it’s story has to be unearthed and explored actively. It’s more of a bland looking pie with delicious filling.

Tangled Depths is quite...a good map. In a way. Don’t throw trash at me, please. I also hated it when I had to walk through it, but I learnt the shortcuts and then traversed with relative ease, so I stopped seeing the whole map as a nuisance and started seeing it for what it was. 

Such an untouched piece of history... The Rata Novus? Rata Novus? Hello? Asura lived here?

The Ogres, making their village there? The Nuhoch, fighting for their survival with the Zintl hyleks and the Chak? The Chak? Such new and interesting creatures who literally eat magic! In the middle of the jungle, you see such life, such vivacity, even in the midst of Mordremoth’s reign of terror.

And the story of the meta is tying in so nicely to the overall thing! You’re literally tunneling into Dragon’s stand, to reach old Papa Mordremoth, and you’re doing it with the help of everyone on the map! The Ogres, the asuras (well they dead, so their robots lol), the Chak (yeah, Chak bois be helping, not rly it’s just the lane lol), and the useless easy line! You’re charging a thingimajig that blasts a hole through the ley-line empowered wall and bam, you’re in DS. (Excuse me it has been a while since I was in TD) And Chak bois are on your ass trying to eat it cuz magic but that’s so the meta is interesting.

And then... My favourite map. Dragon’s stand.

I played this map... probably more than I should’ve, but... the way it is structured is simply so interesting! Three lines, for three leaders, each battling their way through the jungle to get to the Generals, to get to the Mouth of Mordremoth. And along the way, you gain more and more allies, more and more people to help you fight this noodle!  You get the ogres, the itzel, the nuhoch, the skritt(!), the exalted, the... THE NIGHTMARE COURT? *cough cough* cut content *cough cough*. Yeah, some don’t get an explanation, but you see everything that you have done, everyone you have helped in the previous map, go help you out in this one? You see them and protect them at the last island (and the whole map is just one giant meta and I LOVE IT (it can be a point of criticism as well, since it’s quite hard to explore if the meta ain’t done and the last few pois are impossible to get if MoM isn’t dead)) and it’s just so epic

Everything you did was leading up to this moment, this last battle, this last stand, the DRAGON’S STAND. And the battle was just... epic. Epic, is all I can say about this map and it’s story. (Shame the Commanders/Generals were cut out, as we have no clue who they were, and knowing something about them would make it a bit more meaningful in fighting them)

To conclude.

HoT is focused as hell. You got a goal: Pop a cap in Mordremoth. And you’re going to do it. You got twice the motivation if you’re a sylvari. Each map is designed to give you the build up of the fight, first you see what Mordremoth can do, then you see what’s at stake, and then you gotta fight for it. The fact the maps are gorgeous (If a little (bit a lot) laggy) only helps the overall feel.  Anything and Everything can and will murder your ass, and you gotta be ready for it.

Now onto PoF maps. This segment is going to be shorter, because in all honesty? PoF, I like you, but you’re just... well, you’ll see. Hopefully. This is after all just my opinion lol.

Oh and if you got this far? Kudos lol I ramble a lot. <3

Anyway, PoF maps.

So the opening to PoF is... quite good? It’s a bit out of your control but it does it’s job imo.

You come in on an airship, and you see the land spread before you. You see a pyramind, and you think “Oh hell yeah, pyramids.” I would LOVE to just be able to explore the area, you know, have a chill opening, but PoF is about FIRE and FIGHT so, you fight and try to save the people and it’s very chaotic and everything is on FIRE OH GODS.

So you chase this mysterious person, you get introduced to the raptor village, all goes well or bad, and then you are directed to the city of Amnoon (since we’re still in a story instance), so you go. Amnoon is very pretty, and following the tradition of MMO cities very impractical, but hey, rule of cool. The whole time you’re not rly allowed to explore anywhere or look at anything, you’re focused, sure, but you’re also very distracted, you get me?

You want to look around, you want to explore, but you’ve just been attacked by this Herald woman and you’re tired of politics. The opening of PoF isn’t bad, but it is very different from HoT, as in HoT you first SAW the carnage Mordy did and THEN you went on down to help the remaining survivals, whereas here, in Oasis, you kinda.. live through it? You see it first hand what Balthy is doing, while in HoT you only chased the aftermaths of the massacres. This works differently for everyone, and I personally prefer the HoT approach. 

PoF is very open when it comes to the story, as in you are not AS limited to instances as it was with HoT, sometimes it works to its advantage, sometimes.. it doesn’t. 

The way PoF maps jerk you around is very confusing to me. You explore Crystal Oasis, then you go to Desert Highlands, then to Elon riverlands, and you gotta go back down through the Oasis to get there, so you are already trudging through the land you already know (and since you have mounts they took full advantage of making the maps bigger, but it makes them feel... emptier? Like I get it, it’s the Desert, but still...) so you get to Elon riverlands, you do your thing there, then you go to Desolation, then to Vabbi. Nice. Okay.

In none of these maps, there is a story meta. None. No impressive whole-map meta where you gotta all cooperate to keep the map stable. Nothing. There is no use in me trying to analyze these maps, for they are just... backdrop to what’s happening.  Balthazar this, Balthazar that. Oh no Kralky is awake, and oh look we met Vlast for like 2 seconds and then he immediately ded. 

I’ll be honest... I don’t remember much of PoF before chapter 9 The Departing (because that chapter was fire. Lol. get it), which saddens me immensely. I remember most of HoT. Where what happened when it happened how it happened, I know, and if I don’t know immediately, in few minutes my brain serves me the entire instance. I could probably play HoT blindfolded. 

This is a very shallow look into why I probably don’t like PoF as much as I like HoT. 

To try and conclude my very messy terrible rant essay:

Heart of Thorns used its maps in a way that showed you with gameplay what’s in store for you. It used maps in a way to help you build that anticipation of the fight, of everything you sacrificed along the way. The maps are smartly connected in a way where with each map you delve deeper into the jungle, deeper into the mouth of the beast. Sure, they lag as fuck, but the PoF maps do so too, don’t lie to yourselves. With each map you meet new allies that help you along the way.

In Path of Fire I just... don’t get that feeling. I run from map to map, mindlessly following the green star, hoping I will stumble upon something interesting on the way. In Heart of Thorns it was the opposite. I was walking around the map, breathing in the atmosphere of the place, and stumbling upon the green story star. I feel like the Elona desert did not get such justice as it deserved. I trudge around the maps, I complete the maps to get the reward, then I move onto the story. My interest in the whole thing only started to pick up once I freaking DIED for gods’ sake. 

My hopes for the End of Dragons, which is happening in Cantha, is that I get more of that focused map design. That story in gameplay, that map-wide meta that will have me grind my teeth at 10pm on a work/school night. I don’t need Drizzlewood metas (an inferior Dragon’s stand, mind you) that are like 2-3 hours long. A 30 min prelude and 30 min metas are fine. An hour long meta if you have the idea for it, but... give me map stories, Anet.

Feel free to share your own feels about the different feels between the DLCs. I will GLADLY take in PoF preferrers. What did you prefer in PoF? What did you like in it? Give me your opinions, give me your take on everything. 

And thank you for reading my overly long rant essay, hah.

[alphawave-writes]

Just came by to say that i squeaked when you said you're half-Pole, bc damn, this is so cool! But also, the struggle to get readers for your works as a polish person is real :

HELL YEAH! HALF POLISH PRIDE AND REED900 WEEK?! HELL BLOODY YEAH!

Lol, but I must confess that I can’t speak a LICK of polish, (apart from calling my grandparents dziadzia and babcia, but like, you gotta, it would be a sin if I didn’t). English was and always will be my first language, and honestly, I’m no good at any other language in the world. Spent most of my childhood in Thailand and I’m horrible at speaking Thai, it just goes over my head. So I understand the difficulty of trying to make a piece of fandom culture for a language that’s not spoken by many. Video games especially are bad, but hey, at least we’ve got the Witcher, right?

My understanding of the polish stereotype is that you CANNOT TALK POLITICS in front of them, because they can talk and TALK AND TALK about politics all day long. And also the vodka drinking. That’s true too XD

Back to Reed900 week, I must confess that while I’m proud for my boys, I’m unable to contribute to the week. I’m too busy at the moment, and it’d eat up at my time. In a few weeks time when I hopefully get a vacation, I might ask people here for ideas for little oneshot stories and stuff. Something small. Little bubbles of regurgitated thoughts while I try and figure out how to incorporate comedy, sickeningly sweet fluff, and action sequences into a murder mystery fanfic.

SPEAKING of which, I have finished the latest chapter so HOPEFULLY THIS TIME TOMORROW (literally 24 hours from now, if we’re going to specifics), I’ll have ‘novus ordo seclorum: part 2′ up. Keep an eye out for it! I rather like the scenes I put into it!

[cwdcshows]

Crisis on Infinite Earths Part Four

And we're back.  What does it say about a group of tv shows you watch when you don't miss them when they're not playing for four glorious weeks; and you're actually kind of reluctant to get back into it? I also find it hilarious that a major event like Crisis concluded nearly 24 hours ago and no one on here has posted anything about it.  I haven't even accidentally come across any spoilers; no major exclamations of "Arrowverse forever changed by Crisis on Infinite Earths!" or "What does X plot development mean for the future of DC/CW Shows?". Meanwhile when Doctor Who premiered two weeks ago and in the 24-36 hours it took for me get around to watching that, I came across half a dozen posts on Facebook and videos on youtube that, without explicitly saying so, made it clear that (****Spoiler*****) the Master was back and who he was.(****Spoiler*****) That to me, I think, is a spoiler unto itself, after a fashion; the fact that there was no major, earth(s) shattering outcome to Crisis to report or for people to comment on really sets the bar for my expectations going in this and that I doubt anything of consequence is going to come out of the last two episodes.  Which I'm not even going to watch back to back, because I honestly don't feel like it.  I'm going to try to get to the last one sometime later today, but definitely not right after part four; baring some improbable cliffhanger that's just too good not to see how it concludes. So here we go....

Okay, so they're combining the Monitor's origin story with the Maltusian Krona from the comics.  I can dig it, actually.   For those who don't know, in the comics, the ancient people of Maltus were one of the first advanced, sentient lifeforms to spring up in the universe.  One of their scientists, Krona, was obsessed with studying the dawn of time and witnessing how the universe was formed; in spite of legends that attempting to do so would be catastrophic.  His experiments caused time to fracture at the dawn of time, creating the multiverse; where there was originally supposed to only be a single universe. A segment of the Maltusians, I believe at least partly driven by a sense of responsibility to the universe for this incident, would evolve to become the Guardians of the universe, who would go on to eventually form the Green Lantern Corp. Conversely, in the comic the Monitor was basically just some random entity that somehow evolved on the moon of Maltus or Oa; I kind of forget why and don't feel like looking it up.  But he was just some super, lone naked dude, hanging out on this moon and came to learn about his doppelganger in the Anti-Monitor universe.  Somehow they battled across the divide between dimensions and the fight forced them both into a state of suspended animation; until Parriah's experiments awoken the Anti-monitor (if I'm not mistaken, as a result of accidentally destroying his own universe, which somehow fed power to the Anti-monitor; and gave AM the idea to destroy the other universes in the multiverse). While Krona is conventionally a villain, all in all this works well; merging Krona with the Monitor.  Especially since there's still an antagonist element with the Anti-Monitor. Hmmm.... I can't help but wonder if they intentionally lit this scene so that Mar Novu's wife would be cast in a blue light that makes it look like she has blue skin, reminiscent of the blue skin Maltusians have (eventually anyway). I'll admit, this opening sequence isn't bad.  The appearance at the end of the Anti-Monitor felt a little hokey, but if they can keep the momentum of the first few minutes going, they might pull it off. Okay, so I'm pretty sure Ryan Choi didn't have a beard in the last episode, which I'm taking to suggest they've been stuck at Vanishing Point for a while; and the main thing I have to say is, i would have given just about anything is they just had all of the "Paragons" have beards.  Ryan, Lex, J'Onnn Kara, Kate, Sara.  Just like, fuck it, it's been a month and we've all got beards. I laughed a little about Ryan writing that "the Paragon of Destiny doesn't even believe in tomorrow anymore." and it's like, you know.... you are at the end of time, so......🤷‍♂️ Wait, so when Lex replaced Superman, somehow part of Superman's cape got left behind; and Kara randomly walks around with it from time to time? "There is not there out there anymore..."  You know, that's actually a good point.  Vanishing Point is at the end of time for "Earth" 1; or rather the universe that Earth 1 resides in.... which was destroyed... the entire universe..... from beginning to end....So how the fuck is there still a Vanishing Point?   I mean, I know that it was, originally, like a time-frozen base hovering at the instant before the end of time, but in this scenario the Time Masters who maintained all of this tech and the base are gone, the base itself is in ruins; what's keep it....preserved or whatever?  For that matter, how is there even enough air, water or food to sustain anyone there for any length of time? Man, Barry just keeps bouncing off of walls, doesn't he? 

Hey, look at that, it's all of Oliver's greatest hits.... 😁 "Why would you make me re-live all of that?" Even Oliver Queen lost interest in re-watching the vast majority of Arrow.... Gee, I wonder why Oliver's talking all funny... I bet it's nothing. The reveal of Oliver to the "Paragons" would have been a lot more worthy of rally music they're playing under this scene, if they hadn't fucking just shown us him getting ready to go and meet with them.... "I am Oliver Queen, but I'm also something more...." Come on, you've been unintentionally building to this moment of actually making the whole "something else" line an actually important part of the show and you're going pull you're punches now? As has been brought up with the past installments, the whole Oliver becomes the Spectre thing is fine, but honestly, in typical Arrow fashion the execution is seriously wanting.  They could have spent the first fucking 7 or 8 episodes doing a proper build up to that.  Defy all expectations by killing off Oliver during the very first episode of the season, maybe right in the opening, and make it seem like his journey over the next couple of episodes was about him and his friends trying to bring him back to life; weaving in the retrospective element, only to subvert it with the reveal of him becoming the Spectre instead. Maybe throw in one last heroic act, where Oliver has the chance to go back, but sacrifices that opportunity to give someone else he meets along the way the chance to be brought back instead - fuck, maybe Mia.  Either she dies or gets wrapped up in a bid to bring Oliver back to life, only for her life to jeopardized; where if Oliver didn't give her his chance for life, she'd not make it back.  Then Corrigan shows up. Anyway.... Barry asking Oliver for a speedforce boost came off a lot more like a drug addict begging for a fix. So is Ryan's grand plan on Maltus to locate Mar is to...find the central bureaucracy....?

Where's J'Onn's brother when we need him?

Sigh.....

So they didn't really have any idea what to do with the group of "Paragons" who weren't going to Maltus, or how to make their part of the mission challenging during this installment; so they're going to pad part of four of a five-fucking-part crossover with some bullshit tangent of Barry randomly needing to connect with his memories to find the others?  Why can't Oliver (or should it be "Olivre" now?  I'm going to start calling him Olivre.)  Why can't Olivre keep all them together in the same memory or whatever fuckery he's doing?  Why does he have to rely on fucking Barry to make sure they don't all fall out of....Olivre? Why can't he help Barry find them without being cryptic?  Why do they even time for this?? Does Barry still have to look for Oliver?  And what about Kate?  They only met her one other time before all of this shit went down.  Either that's the only place Oliver would tuck her away, or Barry has no chance of finding her. Sigh....DCEU Flash....cool..... 🙄 I mean, I am kind of surprised they were a) even allowed to do this level of crossover, or b) that they managed to film it without anyone leaking it.  And I did kind of see some hints over the last 24 hours, but I kind of dismissed the likelihood that this version of the Flash would appear.  I keep wanting to calling "Mecha-Flash," because his suit looks more machine based than anything else. What DOES this mean?  The whole premise that Olivre just laid out to him was that this was......him, Olivre, basically, and/or the speedforce and that he was hiding the others....inside himself or whatever, inside memories to protect them.  That wasn't a memory, so now they're not only padding this installment with filler, they're just throwing in random shit for the hell of it. How does an ordinary human walking - not even running, it seems - at average speed, manage to give a Super the slip?  I mean, when Supergirl immediately found him, it didn't seem like much of a surprise, because with all her heightened senses it shouldn't have taken any effort to track him down, but by that same token he shouldn't have even gotten more than a few feet before she noticed. For that matter, and not like it's ever stopped them anyhow, but should Kara even have her powers on this alien planet that may or may not be orbiting a yellow sun? Alright, so lets give the writers the benefit of the doubt and assume the "upgrades" Lex gave himself is how he managed to give Kara and Ryan the slip in the first place. So Olivre stuck Kate in just some random old memory from his life; so how the fuck is Barry supposed to locate her?  Especially since it's from a memory of Olivre's that Barry wasn't part of.....? Aaaaaaand the memory of Olivre is consciously aware of the likes of the Paragons floating around inside him, but doesn't know who they are or why they're there? Jesus, did the writers decide to try acid before they wrote this shit? I almost asked if that was memory Kara, but it has to be, since actual Kara is on another planet.  Which again, planet Maltus was in Universe 1, ostenstibly, which now gone, past, present and future..... How is Ryan not more injured by whatever blast Lex hit him with; you know, being nothing more than a flimsy, fragile human and all? "You left your family because someone you never even met told you you were needed" Did he though?  It's been a month, so I don't really remember the point where he was actually on board with all of this shit, but I do remember that when they first told him about the Crisis and asked him to come with them, all he wanted to do was to get back to his family.  Which is understandable. And seeing as how they spent weeks at Vanishing Point, how is it that they're only just revisiting this whole "are you sure you got the right person" thing now? Is this supposed to be their way of doing the whole sub-storyline in the comics, where Barry pops up randomly at different points in the past, trying to warn people about the impending Crisis; when he was running around the Anti-Monitor's antimatter cannon to destroy it, just before his death?  Because this is super convoluted. Wait, so Barry was tasked with just finding Olivre?  All while it was Olivre who told him what he had to do.... what the fuck is happening in this fucking episode?  It started out halfway descent; and now I have no fucking clue what is going on.  But it's pissing me off, because they're wasting a lot of time on this bullshit. This scene of Barry finding out about Olivre's deal is so fucking weird.  The way they shot it without either of them in the same frame makes it seem so disconnected. I kind of appreciate Lex's annoyed confusion that Mar somehow mistakes Lex's voice for that of his wife's.   I had to think for a second why Not-Diggle didn't recognize Barry, before remembering when Sara's death would have aligned with The Flash; and was confusing it with Laurel's death, when they definitely would have known who Barry or the Flash was. I forget though, was that scene before Barry's arrival with Jon talking to Laurel about taking up Sara's mantle one that originally happened on the show?  I swear that was a slow build up after Sara's death. Sans the blood, I've always loved how Caity Lotz looks in that original Canary costume.   I'll never understand why they tried to fix what wasn't broken. "When we were attacked...." "By the Anti-Monitor...." "Doesn't even sound like an actual name...." 🤣 Okay, that was good. How the fuck did Barry track down J'Onn during a memory he wasn't around for, let alone Kate? So first some random bald dude breaks into his lab and manages to talk some sense into him; albeit without offering any great proof that he is who he claims to be, much less prove he can actually help, but hey, he at least had the courtesy of walking through the door like a normal person.  Then someone else bursts in, tearing the door off its hinges or whatever and starts issuing threats to the (shorter) bald guy and some other random hairy dude behind her asks Mar to leave the room with him and..... he just does.... yeah, okay.  I mean, just the fact that they've gone back in time however many million years or whatever, let alone to another fucking planet without any need to address how or why Mar can understand any of them, it's pretty much just a free for all. Oh, okay; so now that Barry's side adventure has been neatly wrapped up, I guess it's time to pick up the kids from the daycare on Maltus, without so much as stopping to actually check and make sure that they completed the task they set out to do. So what, the Anti-Monitor's argument is that there are an infinite number of Monitors to do what the one Monitor they just convinced to give up on his experiment doesn't do?  And yet, by all indication, there was only the one Monitor who took his trip in the first place; otherwise there'd be an infinite fucking number of Mars who originally popped up in the antimatter universe to start with.  And I'm pretty sure that given those odds, the Anti-Monitor would have been screwed. The plan is to use the Paragons to...fan the flames to rebirth the universe or whatever, but one of the Paragons is missing and replaced by Lex; which unless by replacing Superman's name with his own somehow made Lex into the Paragon that Superman is supposed to be, their one man down of who they need. Wait, I've seen this fight sequence somewhere before......🤔

"You have failed this universe." 😐 "We focus.  A singular, laser like focus." I feel like I'm about see another familiar scene...

Somehow I just knew that the thing they were going to have to do would involve them just standing around looking serious and thinking hard.  I'm surprised they didn't just go full out Peter Pan and ask the audience to clap real hard to bring the universe back to life. This is some serious bullshit that they aren't even going to try and bring Brandon's Superman back for this climactic moment...and it's done.   Yeah, that might actually be the definition of anti-climax.  I mean, I know there's still somehow a whole fucking episode left this shit-fuckery, but man, I'm pretty sure they have to think hard to take a dump in the morning.  Jesus Christ. Yeah, right, I'm totally going to believe or care that they're suggesting that Olivre is going to die, again. So let see here, they literally killed and resurrected Olivre once within this cross-over, there's still one more episode left to this crossover; and there's still two episodes left to fucking Arrow.  So, no, not buying this.  I'm sure as hell not buying that they're going to kill Oliver fucking Queen twice without including Diggle.

[adscititious-cacoethes]

Petrichor (11/12)

Pairing: Eventual Trevor C./Reader; other background relationships Chapter: 11 of 12 Warnings: Swearing, mild danger, tension, confessions, vampires and werewolves and things that go bump in the night (PG-13) Word Counts: Chapter: 3,355 Total: 39,199 A/N: Penultimate chapter!  @wonderfullywicked had a question about wings and things that I answered here if you’re interested in that sort of thing.  I take prompts now! (see here for details).  Reminder that this has a bunch of supernatural-y stuff, and also that this would not have seen the light of day (pun intended), if it weren’t for @chefgeofframsay. P.S. - Feedback would be cool P. P. S. - sorry if any chapters end kind of weird, this was written as one long thing and then I decided to break it up. Previous|Next

A knock on your door (what were you kidding, it wasn’t a knock, it was a pound) roused you from sleep. You reached out blindly for your phone, and, once you discovered that it was only six in the morning, groaned and pulled yourself out of bed. Flinging open the door, you found yourself face-to-face with a serious-looking Jeremy.

“What’s wrong?” You asked, immediately sobering up.

“Someone just tried to attack Mica and Blaine. They didn’t get in, Mica’s security system is literally insane, wow, but they didn’t see who it was, except for they tried to teleport in and that set the alarm off. They’re okay, but Geoff told Trevor and Ryan – they were already awake, working on something or other – to go and get them and bring them here. Trevor asked me to wake you up and tell you what was going on so you weren’t out of the loop. We called Jack, him and Ashley are with your parents and Geoff’s friend, but he’s going to stay with them for a while. This Novus asshole and his cronies seem to be staying in the area, but we want to be cautious and stuff.” You stared at Jeremy, wide-eyed, as your stomach turned to lead and a lump got caught in your throat.

“Holy shit.” You croaked, taking a staggering step backwards, and Jeremy followed, arms out like he was preparing to catch you.

“Hey, it’s alright, we’ll get this asshole, don’t worry. Mica and Blaine are safe. Mica didn’t even sound scared on the phone, she just called because she thought it’d be helpful to let us know.” Jeremy tried to reassure you as you continued to back up on shaking legs until your calves ran into it, falling onto it like a sack of potatoes.

“I – I’m sure she wasn’t, she’s not the type to get freaked out by shit like that. But still.” Your vision swam a little, and for a second you couldn’t figure out why, until hot tears ran down your cheeks. Even though you knew that this was undoubtedly an attack on your father, it felt like one on you. You couldn’t help but think that this was the direct result of thwarting your Prediction of Ashley – you saved one person from potentially being hurt, but at the cost of jeopardizing the safety of two others.

Jeremy handed you a tissue, which you took gratefully, and then awkwardly sat down next to you and patted you on the back. You weren’t sobbing by any means, but you could tell that Jeremy wasn’t necessarily used to having to comfort crying people, so you did your best to try to curb your tears and get your head back on straight.

It took a little bit, but once you were dry-eyed, you followed Jeremy to the kitchen and entertainment room, where it seemed that Geoff had called in the whole group, and a few faces that you didn’t recognize. Michael and Gavin were sitting on stools at the island, both with beers in their hands, despite the fact that it wasn’t even 7 AM yet. Lindsay was quietly talking to a woman with long brown hair and glasses at the kitchen table. In the other room, Geoff was half-collapsed into a recliner, while a man with shoulder-length hair and dyed tips stared intently at something on his phone, a semi-translucent man floating off to the side.

“That’s Meg, Gavin’s girlfriend.” Jeremy said, gesturing to the woman who was sitting at the table. She looked up at the sound of her name and smiled at you, waving a manicured hand. You blinked, and her aura flared to life (light blue, rolling out of her in soft waves, water nymph) as did your best to smile back and return the greeting.

“That’s Matt,” shifter, “and Larry.” Larry stayed exactly the same under the scrutiny of the Sight, so that, combined with his transparency, narrowed him down to either a ghost or a poltergeist. Neither man seemed to hear Jeremy, both continuing what they were doing in the other room. Lindsay pulled out the chair on her other side and patted the seat with her hand.

“Come have a seat, [Y/N], Trevor and Ryan said they’d pick up coffee and donuts on their way back to the penthouse.” She said, and you complied, curling yourself into a ball on the chair. You watched out of the corner of your eye as Jeremy wandered over towards the couch Matt was sitting on and plopped down next to him.

You spent the next twenty or so minutes trying your best to participate in the conversation that Lindsay and Meg had graciously pulled you into without any probing or comments, stomach rolling in a sickening sort of way, until both Jeremy and Geoff sat bolt upright, garnering the attention of everyone in the room.

“The dicks are back.” Geoff announced as Jeremy beamed and started scrambling off the back of the couch.

“Forget that, they brought food!” Jeremy shouted as he ran out of the room, Matt hot on his heels.

Sure enough, the two men came in a few minutes later, Matt already with a donut stuffed in his mouth and both of them holding bags and boxes in their arms. Mica and Blaine followed, both with drink holders full of presumably coffees in their hands, with Trevor and Ryan bringing up the rear. You jumped to your feet, and as soon as your friends had set down the drinks you flung an arm around each of them, pulling them into a hug.

“I’m sorry, and I’m glad you’re okay.” You whispered, and Mica just squeezed you tighter in response.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Blaine whispered back, ruffling your hair as he pulled away. You released Mica in favor of swatting away the offending hand, making all three of you giggle. You looked up, and behind Mica, Trevor just standing there, awkwardly shifting from one foot to the other.  The two of you locked eyes, and you vaguely registered Mica elbowing Blaine and gesturing to you before pulling him away, Mica squeezing your bicep gently as they passed. Trevor took a step forward, so you did, too. The room filled with chatter again, or it had always been filled with chatter and you had just blocked it out for a bit, you weren’t sure, but you could hear Mica behind you, introducing Meg to Blaine (apparently the two women knew each other – who knew?). A little bit closer, and you saw that he had dark bags under his eyes, but you could See his aura was still decently red. Not just-fed bright, but not the scary, dark color that it had been a few days ago.

You wanted to say I missed you.

You wanted to say This is my fault.

You wanted to say Thank you for helping my friends.

You didn’t say any of that.

“You look tired, Trev.” You said instead, and immediately bit on your tongue, trying not to cringe and frown at the fact that you just called him a nickname that you had heard before, but he hadn’t said it was okay for you to say it. Trevor, however, lit up like a Christmas tree, and you tried to push back those negative thoughts. A movement caught your eye and you glanced over to see that Ryan was standing close to a still-eating Jeremy but was watching you and Trevor with an unreadable expression on his face.

“I’d inform you that I’m a creature of the night.” He said, putting on a bit of a suave, smooth tone and placing his hands on his hips, making you laugh.

“Yeah, but even creatures of the night need to sleep sometime. Take a nap? Please?” You tried to keep the worry out of your voice, but you could still hear it and resorted to hoping that Trevor hadn’t picked up on it.

Trevor sighed, but nodded, “Alright, but only because you asked so nicely. Come and get me if you need anything, okay?” He waited until you had nodded and assured him that you would if you had to before leaving the room.

“Girl, you got it bad.” You nearly jumped out of your skin at Mica’s voice right next to your ear. The goddess was leaned in close, so much so that you had to step back as you turned to face her.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, and we’re not going to discuss it in a room full of ten other people.” You hissed, glaring at her, but she just laughed.

“Okay, whatever you say.” She said in a tone that you knew meant she didn’t believe a single word you said, throwing her hands up in surrender.

This time, when Geoff brought up the whole “staying in the penthouse until further notice” thing, you conceded, which meant that Lindsay and Meg went to go post a sign in your window, and you and Blaine spent the entire morning on the phone, cancelling and moving shipments around and calling people with orders and preorders that were supposed to be picking them up this week that you had had a “family emergency” and the shop would be closed “until next week, at least”. The good news was that the majority of your customers were understanding about it, sending you their well-wishes. The bad news was, that with your dual clientele, even between the two of you, it was almost noon by the time everyone had been called and dealt with.

Blaine had gone to work out with Jeremy, after the werewolf told him that they have a fully-stocked gym, and you were debating if you felt like trying to find your way back to the room you were staying in or if you should eat lunch, first, when Trevor padded into the kitchen.

“Sup, sleepy head?” You teased, and Trevor scowled playfully at you.

“Hey now, you’re the one who made me go nap, you’re not allowed any jokes about it.”

“I didn’t make you do anything.” You insisted as Trevor poured some water in a kettle and set it on the stove.

“Yeah, but you asked, so I wasn’t about to say no.” He responded like he was telling you about the weather, but your heart pounded in your chest and your stomach flip-flopped.

That means he likes me, right? You thought to yourself, trying to ignore the part of you that was painfully aware that “like” doesn’t necessarily mean “I-think-you’re-cute-want-to-kiss-me?” like and could mean “I-think-you’re-a-cool-cat-let’s-be-friends” like.

“What do you want for lunch? We’ve got a ton of shit in here.” Trevor asked, opening the fridge up so you both could see inside.

You pushed away your trains of thought as best you could, opting to focus on making lunch with Trevor (after debate, you decided on grilled ham and cheese, which sparked a long debate about why “grilled cheese” was called that, when over half the time it wasn’t actually grilled) and enjoying his undivided attention.

Yeah, you had it bad, but you weren’t about to actually, verbally admit that to anyone…until Mica came barging into your room that night.

“Alright, we’re alone, door’s closed, can’t escape, so bitch I swear you better tell me what’s up with you and tall, dark, and fangy right now.” She demanded, pointing an accusatory finger at you.

“Tall, dark, and fangy? Really?” You raised an eyebrow at her, and she rolled her eyes in response.

“Best I could come up with while enraged that you didn’t clue me in sooner!” Mica said defensively, making herself at home on the bed. You fell back so that you were laying down, feet dangling off the side and face near her knees.

“Clue you in to what, Mica, I don’t even know what’s going on.”

“Well it’s obvious you like him.”

You sighed, “Yes, Mica, fine, you’ve wrenched it out of me. I like Trevor, I think he’s cute and I’m pretty sure I have a massive crush on him. But it’s just that: a silly crush.” You let yourself get heavy on the jabbing sarcasm, but just saying it out loud made something relax a little inside of you.

“Honey, it is way more than a crush,” She scoffed and rolled her eye, “Sooooo, you have to tell me all about him, how did you two meet?” asked Mica, giddy, leaning forward and pushing at your shoulder.

“You know how we met, in an alley when those guys were chasing me.” You deadpanned, rolling your eyes.

Mica either hadn’t been paying attention when you told that story the first time or she was playing it up for fun (probably the latter), because she just ooooo’d and sighed softly, “He defended you from the first moment you met, how romantic!”

“Yeah, well, I blasted a banshee in the mouth, so it wasn’t completely one-sided.” You huffed, a little indignant. Mica nudged your arm with her shoe.

“Girl, I know you can take care of yourself, it’s just cute, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah.” You waved her off, playing up your annoyance, but a smile was still slowly creeping across your face. Mica swatted at you and you both dissolved into giggles for a few minutes.

“Tell me what you think about him.” She asked once you’d caught your breath.

“I dunno. He’s really nice, and thoughtful. He sends me cute videos of puppies. He’s super cute, he seems like he’s a dependable sort of person. He didn’t immediately assume that Blaine and I are together. He’s supportive and protective – he yelled at Michael cause of me, once, and he stood up to Geoff, his boss, to help me get Geoff to sort of see things from my perspective. And, uh. He’s touched my wings.” You trailed off at the last part, whispering it and hoping that Mica wouldn’t hear you, wouldn’t notice.

You were very, very wrong.

“What the fuck? Really? Oh my god, when? Why? Was it like when Blaine had to detach you from that shelving unit?” Mica demanded, sitting upright and bending over you so she could look you in the eye, her long, dark hair tickling your ear.

“Uh, last night? Because he asked? He was super nervous and shy about it, but he said he was curious, so I figured there was no harm in it? He was really like, inquisitive and stuff, asked a lot of questions. It was kind of nice that he was so interested.”

“Yeah, interested in you, girl! Don’t get me wrong, I could see the other day that he seemed super into you but this is like icing on the cake.” Mica gushed, flinging herself back into the pillows again. You rolled onto your stomach and sat your chin in your hands.

“You seem like you’re reading into this, Mica. Is this because I haven’t gone on a date since the eighties?” You asked, peering at her.

“No! [Y/N], when you’ve been around as long as I have, you just know these things, okay? And I know that Trevor likes you.”

“And I know that right now, it’s his job to make sure I’m safe and shit, so he could just be a really nice guy.”

Mica rolled her eyes, but dropped the subject, instead letting you question her about her trip to Egypt for a while, before you finally kicked her out of your room so you could go to bed.

Even though Lindsay had sort of alluded to it, and Ryan acted like he knew something was up, and sometimes Jeremy seemed like he knew something about it that you didn’t, talking to Mica felt like a weight had been lifted off your shoulders.

Of course, this also meant that Mica tried to “subtly” (read: not subtly at all) push the two of you together every chance she got over the next couple days. Eventually, Blaine got nosy and felt left out so Mica blabbed to him, and then both of them were hounding you.

Trevor, for his part, either didn’t notice or acted like he didn’t notice, because he just carried on like business was usual. He did, however, knock on your door every night to come and chat with you. It quickly fell into a habit – it had only been a few days, so you were hesitant to call it a routine – where the two of you would sit, side-by-side, against your headboard. You would put on something random on Netflix, the laptop sitting in between Trevor’s legs and yours, and in between conversations about things that either (or both) of you liked and stories from your childhoods, you’d lapse into a comfortable silence filled by the show you had picked for the night.

Most of the time, things stayed pretty light, but every once in a while, one of you would ask a more serious, more personal question.

Once, it was you: “Since becoming a vampire, have you ever almost died?”, you had asked, knowing that the answer was yes but being pleasantly surprised when Trevor told you the full story about himself, an angel friend named Steffie (he made a point to emphasize that the two of them were ever only just friends, which you thought the specificity was weird but couldn’t help but also feel relieved about? Which just confirmed that you had caught the Feelings), and the vampire that had turned him. Although you knew what happened – Trevor was sitting next to you, decades later, after all – it still hurt your heart to hear it, and after giving Trevor your sympathy and telling him that you were very happy he was okay and here, today, the two of you lapsed into a very long silence, touching from shoulder to knee.

Another notable time, it was him: “When I stole Jeremy’s book it said something about Marks? But it didn’t go into detail. I’m assuming you have them hidden?”, he had asked, and you had sighed and explained how Marks were both familial ties and visual representations of your life so far. How when fae turn dark and renounce the Seelie Court to become Unseelie fae, they go through a ritual where all of their Mark is sliced open with an iron blade, so that the Marks don’t come back when healed, and that’s why Unseelie have all those scars. How most fae stay in their own communities, away from humanity, because Marks are a special sort of thing, and many faeries don’t believe that non-Seelie fae have the right to bear witness to their most natural form. How no-one that wasn’t fae – besides Trevor the night you had your nightmare Prediction – has ever seen you in your more “normal”, Marked “form.”

You told him how the skin color Trevor saw at that moment was just the one that you picked for yourself, an illusion of your own design, because fae skin is unnaturally colored and sort of gives off a glow (yes, like Tinker Bell), so to blend in with other humanoid species, fae just pick whatever skin color they fancy when they throw up the illusion. Trevor put a hand on your shoulder (the one with the bigass grape leaf that most definitely represented him, of course) and squeezed gently as he told you that he did his best to keep his eyes on your face or away from you entirely that night, after he had pulled you down onto his lap, because he had a feeling that it wasn’t something he was supposed to see without you allowing him to see it.

You wanted to cry at his kindness and consideration for you, and for the first time since you met him, you couldn’t deny the fact that that meant something, that you meant enough to Trevor for him to not want to see your Marks until you showed them to him (even if he wasn’t sure what they were at the time).

Mica was right – this was more than a silly crush.

You were super duper fucked.

[techcoffee]

Episode 43

https://betakit.com/

CANADIAN AGRI-FOOD NETWORK RECEIVES $49.5 MILLION TO DEVELOP AGRI-TECH SOLUTIONS

CICP Indiana & AgriNovus Indiana

CALGARY-BASED MINDFUEL RECEIVES $2 MILLION IN FUNDING THROUGH CANCODE

CanCODE Canada

ONTARIO ACCELERATORS IN FLUX AFTER GOVERNMENT LAPSES ON CLA PROGRAM FUNDING

NEW DATA ON MONTREAL STARTUP ECOSYSTEM SHOWS NEED FOR INVESTMENTS IN SCALING, CAPITAL

https://mashable.com/

This is why DoorDash delivery workers usually prefer cash tips

Episode 43 Video Episode 43 Audio

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Transcript 0:02 all right and my live here and we're 0:06 live here so welcome back and it's three 0:13 to eight starting a little late 0:15 nevertheless we'll get started 0:18 shoot out a quick message with 30 all 0:48 right awesome let's see what's in the 0:50 news there was some stuff over the 0:54 weekend I was listening to about 0:58 businesses in this climate 1:00 and it's it's now the third time I've 1:06 heard about people taking a skill taking 1:09 that skill to the next step by saying 1:11 I've done this in this skill and here's 1:14 how I've done it here it is for you to 1:16 do so whether that looks like one-on-one 1:19 teaching in person or whether that looks 1:21 like a webinar that you then sell and 1:24 recorded pre-recorded so people can just 1:26 buy it and take it at their leisure 1:27 that's been a business the scooters and 1:31 bike rental even if you have a small 1:33 shop where you're renting those out you 1:37 don't have to be another big company 1:39 like bird or lime those things are far 1:43 and away gonna be an opportunity for 1:45 smaller 1:47 metropolitans for you to bring in 1:51 they're saying that people are going to 1:53 rent those things increasingly I know 1:57 here in South Bend we have lime scooters 1:59 and I've been riding them and I see more 2:01 and more people riding them and I guess 2:04 it's gonna take them to understand how 2:07 to use them what are you gonna use them 2:08 for 2:12 let's see what was the other one and the 2:15 third one I heard about so live webinars 2:20 oh and then the Amazon resale which has 2:23 been around me more and more people 2:25 apparently are starting to do that and 2:27 get the idea that you can buy something 2:29 on one platform resell it on another 2:31 like Amazon where the prices are a 2:33 little higher or buy something I'm wish 2:36 wait a few weeks and then buy it on 2:38 Amazon go to a garage sale buy some 2:44 stuff sell it on Amazon or buy something 2:46 on eBay and then sell it on Amazon I 2:50 heard that one again for a multiple time 2:53 so these things are being talked about 2:58 [Music] 2:59 that's what I was listening to over the 3:01 weekend let's check out what beta kit 3:05 has cheers to the morning coffee startup 3:21 shops the week hello fresh interface 3:24 wave and and funding Oh No and just me 3:33 and shoelace all right there's another 3:39 FinTech just like last week fit the 3:42 FinTech times when british 29 teens 3:45 british FinTech boom today being a grow 3:48 food network receives 50 million to 3:51 develop Agrotech solutions here in 3:54 indiana we have a granola this which is 3:56 part of the break up of the six connects 4:06 is another one who the hell is that 4:08 public-private partnership the americas 4:17 indiana so Connexus is an agronomist are 4:21 two of 4:25 two of the programs that came out of a 4:31 broader program that is escaping me 4:36 right now it is CICP yes the central 5:04 Indiana corporate partnership that's 5:05 right 5:06 the CICP the central immunity 5:08 partnership with Agra Novus ascend bio 5:12 crossroads Connexus energy systems 5:15 Network and tech points those are the 5:17 six that came out of CICP 5:20 Agri knows though is doing something 5:22 similar to what it looks like is 5:24 happening in Canada Canadian agri-food 5:26 Network receives 50 million to develop 5:28 AG tech solutions and really just 5:31 focusing on that AG tech the Canadian 5:34 agri-food automation intelligence 5:36 network a hundred and eight million 5:39 project aimed at developing its portable 5:42 farming solutions has there seemed it 5:44 received an investment of up to date 5:47 it's actually forty nine point five 5:49 million from the federal government and 5:52 just makes so much sense not many people 5:54 know the idea of farming being one that 5:58 gets you to the next step technology 6:01 wise so sitting in a combine driving 6:04 down the field 6:05 you're really tracking on GPS where 6:08 you're going dropping pins along the way 6:10 of different plants are seeing that got 6:13 enough water not enough water the 6:15 whatever the look the makeup of the plan 6:19 is you can drop a pin 6:20 in a different category saying this is 6:23 an issue area or this is somewhere we 6:25 want to look at or there's a weed or 6:27 there's an open spot that didn't get 6:29 seeded all those things that 6:33 you want to track the technology in the 6:37 combine has to be there 6:38 the GPS has to be there the location the 6:41 wayfinding those different points of 6:44 contact have to be there so someone has 6:46 to develop that tech and it could be you 6:53 that's obviously a very limited scope of 6:56 farming and agriculture that I gave 6:59 that's just an example though right 7:01 there's the there's the indoor farming 7:06 this investment is being made through 7:08 the stream for the strategic innovation 7:10 fund program time to attract support I 7:12 call the business investments in 7:13 Canada's most dynamic and innovative 7:15 sectors sounds good 7:19 I'd love to read more about that and see 7:23 what that's gonna bring so more and more 7:37 investment in agriculture I'll link over 7:44 to the CIC P's website for those 7:49 interested in what's going on here in 7:51 Indiana anyone else know about things 7:59 going on or have things going on in 8:02 agriculture in their area I'd love to 8:04 hear more about it or you can check out 8:07 our let's see check the coffee data word 8:14 that's another thing that's happening 8:21 [Music] 8:32 latest you'd see the same way 8:35 alright coffee the Lord will post all of 8:49 the links here let's see here's the 9:02 Canadian story wait a kit agar Novus and 9:23 the CICP in Agra Novus that's over here 9:26 at CIA CP Indiana calm yeah CICP need to 9:46 be launched and then you can put out the 9:54 ICP Indiana so a little more and 10:07 business going on getting the startup of 10:13 the week news startup news of the week 10:19 let's see what they have to say it's the 10:25 what Nashville's rocking over here 10:28 sector leaders in the week 721 this was 10:34 looking back it started news stories 10:36 week on truths Hillary influx after 10:38 government lapses on CL a program 10:40 funding 10:41 Oh for some of our accelerators and flux 10:47 CLA program funding it's the clas 10:51 new data on Montreal startup ecosystem 10:53 shows need for investment and scaling 10:56 capital investments in scaling and 10:58 capital ok impact Center updates now 11:03 will list reflects many big rounds Rob 11:07 Marin wants to replicate wave success at 11:12 Pluto and there's some milestones 11:20 learning code receives nine million 11:22 Canada's learning code that's crazy 11:25 there's so many code learning resources 11:28 out there people more building on how to 11:30 learn code and processes looks to me 11:34 more like training and and there's 11:38 opportunities for training there's 11:40 opportunities for learning the focus on 11:44 code seems to be I don't know buzzed 11:48 niche because it's code and it's the 11:52 wave of the future even though the 11:54 future is here the idea of code and 11:59 you're just having that in your 12:00 portfolio something you've done or a 12:02 program you've offered it seems to me 12:04 like a wellness package for a big 12:06 corporation so your insurance company 12:09 now offers a wellness package so you 12:11 check that box of offering for your 12:14 insurance packages and your premiums are 12:16 lower or something to that effect this 12:18 we've learned how to code let's let's 12:22 bring out some actual meaningful 12:25 learnings so that the end result is 12:29 people who can actually do development 12:31 and things that improve the lives of 12:34 themselves or others or they can follow 12:37 their passions through their their new 12:40 skills learning code Canada's learning 12:46 code initiative specializes in digital 12:47 literacy education received nine million 12:50 federal government as a part of the 12:52 second phase of its can code and 12:55 vestment alright so Canada code seems to 12:59 be a thing let's see what that's all 13:03 about 13:08 Canada see not the flux story this is 13:15 yeah Canada learning code here's that 13:28 story for those of you following along 13:41 grab some coffee here there's a small 13:44 group of folks gathering in the plaza 13:51 here and I'm curious to know what it's 13:56 for one of those things that just 14:00 happens that not everyone knows about 14:04 and if people didn't more people didn't 14:08 know about they'd probably go to or do 14:11 hey guys nevertheless promotion word of 14:22 mouth is a thing let's see did I just do 14:27 yes Canada's learning code so can code 14:31 let's check out what that's all about 14:36 code assessment criteria can code us 14:42 please please is this really a big can 14:51 code can code is a group of high school 14:56 students in Palm Beach California 14:57 Palm Beach County Florida twins in 15:00 teaching elementary students read a 15:01 program through engaging workshops so 15:03 it's more like can you code that us 15:08 let's see what Canada's initiative 15:10 called can code is all about innovation 15:21 science and economic development Canada 15:24 innovation science and economic 15:26 development Canada first two years of 15:28 can code provide proved to be a huge 15:33 success reaching over 1.3 million 15:35 students in over 61,000 teachers and 15:37 still counting we're pleased to announce 15:38 that we're extending kim code to build 15:40 on that success when was this written 15:44 budget 2017 innovation skills plan 15:47 advances the agenda build canada is a 15:49 work world leading innovation economy 15:51 that will create good jobs and grow the 15:53 middle class one of the key pillars of 15:56 this plan his skills and ensuring young 15:59 Canadians get the skills and experience 16:00 they need to kick-start their careers so 16:03 it's interesting that mmm-hmm focused on 16:06 young Canadians this young place still 16:09 annoys me that there are a whole bunch 16:13 of middle-class folks we could get 16:16 skilled up especially with the changing 16:19 economy and a whole bunch of folks who 16:21 are retiring and finding out that it's 16:24 boring after a couple years of doing 16:26 nothing finding out that they're not 16:28 gonna sit on a beach and they're now 16:30 looking for something to do and Walmart 16:32 greeters doesn't sound as interesting so 16:35 they're looking for a job an activity of 16:37 volunteer blah blah blah they're looking 16:40 for something to do some way to engage 16:41 and then we're allowing those 30 years 16:43 of experience these retirees 30 40 years 16:49 of experience to just sit there go by 16:51 the Weis wayside we're not reading these 16:53 folks when they have another 30 years to 16:56 live right they have another 30 years to 16:59 give our 17:00 economy in this world and we're saying 17:01 young people I think there's a huge 17:06 opportunity there for initiatives like 17:08 this can Canada to engage not young 17:11 people because it's easy because they go 17:13 to school every day and I can just 17:15 contact the schools right that's the 17:17 easy thing to do let's start there and 17:20 then let's engage that that middle work 17:23 force that middle class and then let's 17:25 engage the retirees who are now looking 17:28 for something to do it's amazing how 17:32 ancient cultures had multi-generational 17:35 groups and how they seemed to thrive and 17:38 how we just forget stuff like that when 17:40 we come up with new initiatives we don't 17:42 make the connecting links between people 17:45 who have the experience and people who 17:47 are looking to gain experience so I'll 17:52 link over to Canada's can code 18:03 initiative that's great 18:10 love to see that they even have they 18:15 have contact information for the can 18:17 code program phone fax TTY email hours 18:24 and a mailing address that's amazing 18:26 that's amazing 18:29 and a chat now what does this do 18:33 there's a chat Now link on a government 18:37 website yep type in your name email 18:45 address phone number oh it all you need 18:48 is your name and I can start chat and 18:52 I'm whoa 18:54 oh it's 8:30 to 5:00 Eastern Standard 19:00 Time want to send us an email here's a 19:03 link Wow literally a 19:09 chat with different programs they have a 19:14 little youtube link this is cute today 19:18 we live in a world a digital world 19:21 little robot and then a young girl on a 19:24 laptop that's great 19:37 this extension will see an additional 60 19:40 million invested over the next two years 19:42 starting in 2019 2020 it's great to 19:47 engage Canadian students kindergarten to 19:50 grade 12 to learn digital skills 19:52 including coding data analytics and 19:55 digital content development that's 19:57 something I saw in teaching where we 19:59 would give students technology and 20:02 expect that they already know how to use 20:03 it 20:04 we still need to teach folks software we 20:06 still need them to understand the 20:07 landscape of interconnected apps or 20:11 digital content creation and then how to 20:13 share that out is now it's less the 20:16 version and or now it's less this this 20:20 piece of who owns it it's more here's a 20:23 version of the content and what's the 20:24 latest version just like InDesign you're 20:26 never really done it's just here's the 20:28 latest version and we think we're at the 20:31 80% complete right the 80/20 rule where 20:35 hey we think we got 80% of it go ahead 20:37 and take a look give us some feedback 20:38 we'll go ahead and push it through and 20:40 say that this version is what we like or 20:44 this version is what we want to make 20:45 public and then it's a constant working 20:47 document it's a little more difficult 20:50 nowadays because you have to say this is 20:52 this is the latest version of the 20:55 working document that will push out we 20:58 could always continue we can always do 21:00 more right now though we're going we're 21:09 going to say we're happy with it so 21:15 investing in code and digital literacy 21:18 in Canada nine million another 60 over 21:21 the next two years 21:24 it'll be interesting stuff about how to 21:26 how you get that money who gets that 21:29 money is it a learning institution does 21:31 it have to be the schools is it all 21:33 about programming or can it be hardware 21:35 is it only going to the schools or is it 21:38 going to the teachers have is the how do 21:41 those funds get deployed is then the 21:44 conversation and I know here in the 21:47 states the state the state government 21:52 has allowed to say and then how schools 21:53 can earn money that the state has from 21:56 the federal government those sorts of 21:57 things really are I don't want to say 22:01 convoluted they're just very focused on 22:03 the system set up in between the 22:08 students the student learners and the 22:12 initiatives that politicians are pushing 22:15 forward and sometimes they're aligned 22:19 sometimes they're on par with what 22:24 students are going to be walking into in 22:26 their everyday lives hopefully that 22:30 continues to be play that continues to 22:35 get more and more aligned new another 22:41 story new data on Montreal startup 22:42 ecosystem shows need for investments in 22:45 scaling capital let's see what this is 22:50 about scaling capital here's the link 22:57 that's done and here's the link on this 23:01 one oh here is the code Canada code 23:17 Canada code link 23:26 I see that juicy that CA got it weird 20 23:53 minutes in get another ten minutes we 24:11:00 pump this to half an hour so this new 24:14:00 digital literacy mm-hmm 24:16:00 excuse me the investments in scaling 24:21:00 mean capitals my startup ecosystem has 24:23:00 been changing or the past number of 24:25:00 years 2015 started genome ranked it 24:27:00 amongst top 20 global ecosystems now 24:30:00 things in this city are starting to pick 24:32:00 up this is great so according to a 24:35:00 recent four by oh we should start up 24:39:00 Montreal a survive genome regional 24:40:00 partner the city ranked 33 overall 24:45:00 creating scale-up support found that 24:48:00 more than fluke gender starts with more 24:50:00 than 2800 founders call Montreal home 24:53:00 majority of those 38% are in the startup 24:57:00 phase with only 6 percent of the 24:59:00 companies considered established we'd 25:03:00 like to compare with comparable cities 25:05:00 including stockholm barcelona tel aviv 25:07:00 amsterdam toronto strongly believe that 25:11:00 in the last five to ten years Tillery 25:14:00 growth and voman capital not available 25:16:00 ok here it is one persisting issue for 25:18:00 Montreal startup community however is 25:20:00 capital volunteers report found that 25:24:00 funding is only available for a very 25:26:00 small number of startups only 12% of 25:28:00 startups received VC investment over the 25:30:00 past year well that's just VC though ok 25:34:00 whatever in 2018 1 billion was invested 25:37:00 in Montreal companies in the total of 74 25:40:00 investment rounds however 15 of these 25:42:00 transactions receive a majority of the 25:44:00 money collecting 89 percent of the total 25:45:00 investment despite being the largest 25:47:00 group pre startup and startup stage 25:50:00 companies only brought in 3 percent of 25:52:00 the distributed capital accordian 25:54:00 volunteer majority in terms of number of 25:56:00 investment rounds were four seed stages 25:59:00 26 bringing in 26 million is followed by 26:03:00 12 series a with more than hundred and 26:06:00 ten and eight series B with a collective 26:10:00 94.5 million the largest amount of 26:12:00 capital though came from to private 26:14:00 equity there we go private equity rounds 26:17:00 with brought in more than 300 million 26:19:00 and two series d deals with 180 million 26:25:00 this is a similar thing you know just 26:27:00 mapping I love this story 26:30:00 actually going through each of the 26:32:00 series how many how many companies were 26:36:00 a part of a series like that and then 26:38:00 what's a total in capital that these 26:40:00 companies were dealing with digging into 26:44:00 those details of how it happened who 26:46:00 they spoke with how they got connected 26:48:00 to it what it took to close the round 26:53:00 I'd love to open that up even into how 26:56:00 many different investors they're round 27:01:00 comprised of if you want to understand 27:05:00 or talk more about getting a getting a 27:10:00 lead investor and around that's a that's 27:14:00 a whole conversation then getting a 27:16:00 follow-on funding for a round once 27:18:00 you've got your lead investor those 27:20:00 sorts of things are entire areas of 27:23:00 expertise and conversations let alone 27:25:00 the ecosystem itself and what's 27:28:00 available what's even available how do 27:31:00 how do you even start to engage with 27:33:00 someone if you have a for example an 27:36:00 education company like a training 27:39:00 company that you want to do the 27:42:00 onboarding training or ongoing training 27:44:00 and skill up training within your 27:46:00 company investors who believe in 27:49:00 education and who are forward-thinking 27:52:00 and aren't vision 27:53:00 to public schools or charter schools or 27:56:00 private schools they might be interested 27:58:00 in education as it relates to people 28:01:00 within the world that are people moving 28:04:00 jobs or people moving to a new job 28:06:00 within the same company and they can see 28:08:00 your innovative education training 28:11:00 company as a good way to invest in 28:14:00 something that's on their heart or 28:15:00 something that they believe has good 28:17:00 upside so you can play to someone's 28:20:00 beliefs about how the world could work 28:22:00 you could play to someone's obvious 28:24:00 financial return hey we know we're gonna 28:26:00 do whatever X you're gonna do and so 28:31:00 invest in our company blah blah blah 28:33:00 playing into an angel investor or 28:36:00 private equity or some some VC playing 28:40:00 into what their KPIs are that's an 28:43:00 entire conversation and strategy that 28:46:00 needs laid out on top of things like 28:49:00 this within a community how many rounds 28:51:00 were done how many companies within 28:54:00 those rounds 28:55:00 how many investors were part of it 28:57:00 what's the breakdown of the investment 28:59:00 this is something that I would like to 29:02:00 see more of and and talk more about so 29:06:00 I'll link you over to that story but 29:10:00 it's great I mean that's great to see 29:12:00 that Montreal has kind of the 29:14:00 groundswell and now as companies are 29:16:00 growing they're building in the 29:18:00 different capital needs probably 29:22:00 networking needs economies of scale 29:25:00 right so maybe there's some more 29:27:00 accountants that opened up maybe there's 29:30:00 some more printers that opened up maybe 29:33:00 there's some more office spaces of 29:35:00 commercial real estate 29:36:00 hopefully was there and hopefully then 29:39:00 that that mountain just grows right 29:44:00 maybe that some it grows to the number 29:47:00 of companies sitting at the top all 29:50:00 right a couple more minutes let's dive 29:53:00 into a different story I'm gonna pop 29:55:00 over to Mashable see what they have beta 30:00:00 kits given us some good stories this 30:01:00 morning 30:05:00 ten extremely controversial thoughts 30:06:00 about cheese all right why is door - 30:10:00 delivery workers usually prefer cash 30:12:00 tips they're not - yeah they only have 30:16:00 two so one of the stories this is why I 30:20:00 door - delivery workers usually prefer a 30:21:00 cash tip same reasons servers prefer 30:23:00 cash tips you only have to claim so much 30:25:00 on taxes and oh I just wasn't that good 30:29:00 right like New York Times guarantees a 30:34:00 minimum for each job first door 30:36:00 guarantee visas cat5 of the customer 30:40:00 woman who answered the door a colourful 30:42:00 bathrobe tip three dollars via the app 30:43:00 but still received only 685 customer 30:47:00 posts and I'm a regular customer I 30:48:00 started doing cash it is this week I'm 30:52:00 hoping the word keeps getting out that 30:54:00 the situation keeps improving spies 31:00:00 alone that door - tips takes the tip 31:03:00 paid in the app button sure is a minimum 31:06:00 payout - its delivery workers 31:07:00 okay so door - takes the tip and they 31:10:00 just guarantee a delivery so it's a 31:12:00 steadier stream of income and it's not 31:15:00 as volatile based on tips this prompts 31:18:00 you to look at how the tip delivery 31:19:00 workers could bring food orders to your 31:21:00 door from restaurants or buy so just an 31:22:00 example in attempt to quarter 31:24:00 experiencing Dover in New York City the 31:28:00 company guarantees a minimum of mouth 31:30:00 making delivery displayed for - accepted 31:32:00 or rejected delivery spokesperson 50% of 31:35:00 the time customers don't leave any tip 31:36:00 so 85% of the time they do leave a tip 31:41:00 toward Ash's Mowgli's said mostly said 31:43:00 that they always prefer cold hard cash 31:45:00 cash on the percent one redditor wrote 31:47:00 like a - in Silicon Valley area 31:49:00 explained that most - look for cash for 31:52:00 various reasons although we can see some 31:53:00 small problems 31:54:00 the only issue would be that you spend 31:56:00 the earnings because it's more 31:58:00 accessible instead of having a direct 32:00:00 deposit II wrote this a robbery concerns 32:03:00 don't even register I mean that that's 32:05:00 so true if they guarantee you a minimum 32:07:00 and you get a cash tip then you're 32:09:00 always guaranteed that minimum 32:10:00 regardless of the tip they otherwise 32:12:00 would have put online it's definitely 32:14:00 going to you so the cash tip will will 32:17:00 be like the gym 32:18:00 John's delivery this is something I did 32:20:00 in college Jimmy John's delivery I rode 32:24:00 my bike where the traditional delivery 32:26:00 is by car so I got my hourly rate I then 32:29:00 got my mileage rate for driving which I 32:34:00 use none of and gas the whole point is 32:36:00 gas and mileage for the depreciation on 32:39:00 your vehicle and then you get tip on top 32:41:00 of that so I was getting paid three 32:43:00 times and I got to pocket all of the 32:47:00 driving expense tip and cash always made 32:50:00 better for me 32:51:00 once they batch the receipts at night 32:53:00 then I'd have to wait for my payout till 32:56:00 later 32:56:00 I wanted that cash now right cash in my 32:59:00 hand now is always better than having to 33:01:00 wait for it later 33:02:00 unless you're investing it in some way 33:04:00 which was definitely not happening when 33:07:00 we're giving me a return on them keeping 33:09:00 my cash my tips the article continues 33:14:00 for some examples and and how the 33:17:00 breakdown would work money-wise it makes 33:20:00 sense looks like there's a conversation 33:21:00 on reddit oh let's see 33:26:00 door - story well what is it yeah here 33:40:00 we go door - chief cash tips all right I 33:48:00 think that's it for this week join me 33:53:00 next week here at sugar a cafe Tuesday 33:56:00 morning at 7:30 we'll talk for half an 33:58:00 hour grab some coffee and then we'll 34:00:00 head off to work getting our day started 34:03:00 connecting with some people and getting 34:09:00 the latest on some check-in business 34:11:00 stories yeah let's see what's post that 34:15:00 one up on some Twitter yep 34:21:00 great how are you tube take care 34:30:00 onward onward

[its-the-fifth-horseman]

Chapter 1: Welcome to Acordia Petra

12:41 PM,

Saturday,

20th Oct 2007,

Goldwing Airport,

Maysteirn City,

Maysteirn, Acordia Petra

“Like a true nature's child...we were born, born to be wild...we can climb so high...I never wanna die...born to be wild...born to be wild...”

Niko was banging his head slightly while doodling on his drawing pad.

“Born to be wild..”

When he was satisfied with his work, he took off his headphone before taking a peek at the small circular window beside his seat. Small gray rectangular shapes can be seen in a distance. He took another glance at his sketching before putting it back in his knapsack. Instinctively, he turned towards his left. A young girl with a long purple dyed hair, wearing a white mini-tee and a red short skirt was staring at him. Their eyes met and locked for awhile. He can only guess that she might have been staring at him for quite sometime during the flight.

“Ladies and gentlemen, please return to your seats, put your seats upright and fasten your seat belts. We will be landing shortly...”

“Finally..” thought Niko. He was finally there.

A couple of minutes later, the aircraft began to descend slowly before its tires finally hit the runaway.

[Loud blowing sound]

Nicholas “Niko” Bailey, a 25 year old online celebrity, flew all the way from Novus Stellar to Acordia Petra to meet up with his ghost-hunting buddies he befriended from the “Ghosts R Us” online forum. His interest in the search for the supernatural began all the way back from when he was a teenager, back before online video-sharing was even a thing. He had tonnes of footage that fueled his channel on the “WatchMe” video-sharing website. That garnered him no less than 1 million subscribers, thanks to his never-ending curiosity in exploring abandoned structures and supposedly haunted sites. The aircraft finally came to a halt.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have landed on Goldwing Airport. Thank you for flying with Zephyr Airways and we hope to see you again. Have a nice day.”

Niko was about to get up after unfastening his seatbelt but before he had a chance to do so, the girl that was sitting across the aisle suddenly bumped into him.

“I'm sorry..[Giggling]..”

“It's ok..no harm done..” said Niko while smiling back at her.

Something fell from her hand and onto his lap when she was moving forward towards the exit. It was a piece of folded paper. Niko immediately grabs it.

“Miss!”

By then the girl was already way ahead of him amongst the other passengers that was exiting the aircraft. He then unfolds the paper.

“corny_stony89@letsmeetup.com”

Niko smiled to himself.

[Moments later in the baggage reclaim area]

The glass door slides open as he exited the baggage reclaim area. He immediately looks for his ride amongst the crowd where dozens of placards were being held up in the air.

“Where the hell are they..”

Seeing how they agreed to make their first meeting more interesting, none of them knows what Niko looks like and vice versa. The only form of identification would be his name, written on a placard and hopefully with 3 people waiting for him. He was dragging his single luggage and almost reached the end of the line when suddenly, he heard a chanting.

“Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..”

He saw a placard being raised, coming from the direction of the sound but it was not until he was close enough that he was able to read was written on it.

“WE WANT NIKO!”

“Oh my God..seriously?..[Chuckling]..”

“Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..”

Two guys and a girl was chanting his name while looking over him, somewhat oblivious to the fact that he was already standing right in front of them. The guy wearing an orange t-shirt and a pair of sunglasses was the closest to him and was at least an inch taller than him. Niko cleared his throat.

“Ahem..”

“Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..”

“What the fuck..”

“AHEM!”

“Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..”

“Guys..guys..it's me..I'm Niko..”

“Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..”

“Hey! It's me..I'm Niko..you can stop now..”

“Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..Niko..”

“This is unbelievable..”

Either he was invisible or they just simply choose to ignore him. Running low on patience, Niko did something else. Without warning, he jumps and grabs the placard that was being held by the tall guy. That definitely got their attention. Everyone went silent. All of them exchanged awkward stares for a moment. The tall guy then walked towards him before checking him out from head to toe. His action was somewhat intimidating.

“The hell is he looking at..”

The guy then took off his sunglasses.

“Hmm..”

He took a quick look at his friends before looking at Niko again. Suddenly, he raises his hand and started “measuring” Niko's height by hovering his palm above his head.

“What are you doing?” asked Niko.

The guy paused momentarily.

[Laughing sound]

His laughter was followed by his friends.

“[Laughing]..I thought you'd be taller..are all Novatians this short?”

Niko can see what was going on.

“That depends, are all Petravians this annoying?”

They stopped laughing. The look on the guy's face suddenly changes.

[Laughing sound]

Niko can't help but feel like he's in a very bad circus show.

“[Laughing]..I'm..I mean..[Laughing]..We're sorry, mate..it's just..[Laughing]..it's just a friendly fire..that is all..[Chuckling]..We already saw you but..you know..since we thought you would be taller..we just wanna be sure..[Chuckling]..”

Niko stood silent.

“[Chuckling]..Sorry..[Chuckling]..Sorry bout' that mate..anyway..glad to finally meet you..I'm..”

“Vader, right?”

“Yeah..yeah..that’s right..or you can just call me by my nickname which is Vernon Masterson..[Chuckling]”

“No kidding..you're just as 'hilarious' as you are in the forum.” said Niko while maintaining his expression.

“Really..ok..hehe..hey..no hard feels eh?..We're all friends now..and your nickname would be?”

Niko took a moment to “forget” Vader's bad joke.

“[Clearing throat]..I'm Nicholas..Nicholas Bailey..”

Both of them then shook hands.

“Wow..that is your real name..no kidding..” said Vader, looking for another joke to crack.

The blond girl wearing a white sleeveless top with black stripes then went forward towards them.

“Hi..We're sorry about that..Vernon can be such an asshole sometimes..I'm Cassandra..Cassandra Yates..”

“CutiePieCass..of course..” It was no secret that she was Vader's girlfriend.

“Yeah..well..it's just Cass if you don't mind..” smiled Cass.

The big black guy wearing a silver-purple basketball jersey with a cap that matches the color then joined in.

“And you must be JayBird..” said Niko before Jay can say anything.

“Right on, fam..Jermaine Colster..at your service..” said Jay while shaking his hand.

“That accent..you a Vynaerian?..”

“Guilty as charged, fam..[Laughing]..”

All of them laughed for a short while before heading towards a big white van that was parked nearby.

[Sliding sound]

“This is a sweet ride you got here, bro..” said Niko as he shut the back door closed.

“You can't have a sweet ass of you don't have a sweet ride, ain't that right, love?” said Vader while looking at Cass who was sitting next to him. She then smacks him on the shoulder.

“Nevermind him, Niko..you'll get used to it..” said Cass.

“Do I have a choice?” All of them laughs again.

“So, Niko, you got a girl back home?” asked Cass. The question was even more awkward than Vader's bad jokes.

“Uh..not really..hehe..why do you ask?”

“See..told ya' he's a virgin..[Laughing]..” said Vader as he started to maneuver the car out of the parking lot.

“What? How would you know? I'm just single!”

“They said that virgins have this certain look and smell..[Laughing]..” replied Jay.

The laughter continues.

“Alright..alright..enough jokes..let's get you to safety first..” said Vader as they finally made it out into the highway.

“So..are we gonna start talking about the house or..”

“No..no..mate..mate..come on..it's been a long ride..let's just get you back to the hotel first, yeah? And hopefully some action for the night..[Laughing]..” Cass smacks her boyfriend's arm again.

“[Wincing]..Love!..Dear!..It was for him!..God knows he needs it!..[Laughing]..”

The van continues to move along the highway. In a distant, a tall metallic cylindrical building can be seen coming up on the horizon.

[twotriickhoofbea2t]

Character Origin (Valerie Lachance):

Oh boy, this one’s a doozy, get ready for a long and incoherent read cuz it’s time for a CHARACTER ORIGIN, for a character who has... an odd origin, and, pardon if it becomes slightly coherent this time, i promise you it IS 2:00 AM here, but i find the progress to Val interesting enough i might actually talk(?) about it.

first, let’s forget val exists though this one goes waaay back.

this story begins with a girl named Annabel (or might’ve been abigail, i am unsure) she was, to be honest, my first OC i can recount, (i commonly list Brenda as my first, but An/bie outdates her, and also sucks, here’s why:

Remember back in the Angie Origin when i said my favorite story to write back then was “not like other girls” kinda stories? just your average teen with ONE teeny tiny freak trait? yeah, Annie was like that, her trait was.. being half dragon. or, part dragon, she had wings n teeth and a tail and laid an egg(?) once, it was... awkward.

But that was the thing, Annie’s trait was that, being dragon-y and worrying about that and how people react to it, she had no flaws (except being part dragon) no talent (except those granted by being part dragon, and basically was as plain jane (more on janes in a bit) as you could get, a T-shirt-clad brunette with long, straight hair, hazel eyes, pale skin, jeans/jeanskirts... It wasn’t much of a surprise when i basically forgot her for talking plants and fish-people. So Annie basically faded out of existence (the story of how she ties into Relia Novus next time, on character origin: Relia Novus!)

So, with Annie kidna.. murdered by mundanity, who rose in her place? who’s badass enough to be cooler than a WYVERN-GIRL?

If your answer was a DEMON GIRL then you are woefully correct, for i was a preteen, and preteens are awful things, enter JANE SLAYER:

“Hey!” you may now interject, “That’s the same girl!”, and this is when i answer “no, THIS brunette caucasian teenager with red wings has a COAT!”

Yes, that’s right, Jane Edgelord is Annie, but with a more bitter tone, she’s from a family of demon-Slayers, and her thing is, get this, she’s part demon, so she’s like, fighting demons while questioning how much of her is ALSO demonic, it’s like, deep y’know??

(listen, i grew up in a time w/ “American dragon” and “danny phantom” being part X and fighting either X or Y was like, a thing)

Predictably though i have literally nothing to say about Jane, she was so boring i literally didn’t give her a family or friends or anything, she existed in an angsty vacuum of demon-slaughter and would honestly be lucky if i decided to revive her for some dumb kink pun one of these days, NEXT!

But who can possibly compare? we’ve got “my life sucks cuz i am the only one who can fly and breathe fire!” and “I fight real demons but pretend they’re my inner demons because I can’t afford therapy but i can afford a kickass sword!”

Who could rise up to fill this void? well, nobody. I designed Jane in like, 2007, and didn’t gain a new demon-slayer until 2014, and didn’t IMPLEMENT her until late 2015, who am i talking about? why, Valerie of course.

2014 was a good year for me, lots of art improvements, story management and character refreshing, I sort of fell into the “groove” i got going, and a LOT of weird dreams, I have made it no secret i get some characters from dreams, and alongside the spunky angel “Faith”, I was also gifted via subconscious this little gem it would take a while to realize the potential of.

Introduced in the dream, Valerie was just an unnamed “Devil Hunter” who drove a kickass souped up SEQUIN-PINK Automobile, with the roof rolled down, and a matching short pink coat.

She stuck so well in my head i can guarantee the Val you all see is the val i saw in that dream, things got.. weird from there on.but the important part (to me) was Val and her blue companion (Maddie is very important to how Val as a character is built)

And honestly, i want to say Val’s just better cuz she’s new, she’s shiny, i have matured since Annie and Jane but.. I still use Brenda, and she’s kinda old, and kinda boring? so what is it about Annie and Jane that makes them so much worse and Val so much better?

Well, aside from having a monumentally better character design (again, the dream can be thanked here,) Valerie lacks a gimmick, she doesn’t rely on being part dragon/demon, or having all sorts of weird angst, Valerie instead gets actual character traits. She’s extremely energetic and a great friend, but also kinda needy and can come across as uncaring, she has a great interest in old-time autos and even fixes them up with her spare time/money, she likes pineapple on her pizza and stays up late on weekends.

The whole “slays abyssal horrors” is something she does, and is the machine that drive’s val’s internal growth, but it’s not as blatant as Jane’s “who’s the real demon” schtick, there’s deeper processes at work, and even removed from the abyssal setting, i find myself still able to slip on those big pink boots and think how Val would react in any given scenario, which i feel, is the sign of a true mainstay character...