#imagine getting an update in the middle of major player

[mii-chan-x]

[thefirstknife]

I know it may not be the most popular of opinions, but for me the "hard reset" and lack of content would actually be the *appeal* of a Destiny 3. Give us a brand new major story arc, give us new characters (the old could feature but focus attention on new ones), have us create an entirely new Guardian--total reset. (They could have new races, too--playable Hive Guardians! Okay yes I just wanna have a playable Eliksni Guardian that would be so fun). Current D2 content is... Honestly kind of overwhelming. Sometimes. Fresh slate with less content that the build back up would appeal to me a lot. I know they're not interested in doing so at this time, and I respect their preference to keep supporting D2 instead (especially given how many players WOULD throw a fit over the hard reset and lack of content), but I've definitely put in a lot of thought to what a D3 would mean and the big "negatives" are huge draws for me. (Especially if they kept the D1 and D2 servers online so people would have all that content at the ready to go back and play)

I totally understand that! The concept of there being D3 is really interesting and I think it's really neat to talk about possibilities!

There's definitely some appeal in this for me as well, but I think that unfortunately most of the other issues would vastly overshadow this feeling of getting to start fresh. I'm not too bothered with a lack of content overall but I don't think a lot of people truly understand how much of a lack it would be. We're so used to so much stuff to the point of it being overwhelming, but a full restart would be quite the shock.

I think some middle ground would be nice, but even when they did that (in BL, after initial vaulting), people were.... very mad. A lot of people were fine as well, and it's hard to judge because of the very vocal fans and content creators, but to this day people are still seething about how "bad" BL was because of all the stuff that was removed, despite the fact that a lot of stuff was also added.

If you've not been there during release of D1 and D2, it's hard to really imagine what the game looked like and played like, but these are completely unimaginable differences. I can't speak for D1, but vanilla D2 in comparison with even just a year after is an entirely different game. Basically, it would be a gigantic risk to do this, on top of splitting the community, and hope that maybe this time around people will accept a lack of content with the promise that in a few years there will be more. On paper it sounds reasonable, because it is, but unfortunately gamers aren't reasonable. We're currently witnessing this as well with people absolutely losing their minds about the possibility that for the next year or two or whatever we'll have smaller updates. This is very strange coming from these people because if we truly want D3 and for it to launch better than vanilla D1 and vanilla D2, then we'd have to let the devs work on that for years and not be occupied making constant huge updates for D2. More under:

Also! I know we would all love other playable races and that's definitely a big dream, but it will never happen as long as there's pvp in the game. Because of the hitboxes in pvp. As in, if they made playable Eliksni and Hive, they would be bigger than normal Guardians and it would not be possible to integrate them into pvp because of the natural disadvantage of having a bigger hitbox. Maybe if they did it in a way that genuinely just did not allow them into pvp modes, but that would be strange. The hitbox issue would also be a problem elsewhere too, even in pve. This is the most basic problem with this idea and a very difficult one to solve when the game is a first person shooter at its core. Other playable characters would be such a cool thing in Destiny though.

In a way, a lot of what we want can be done in the current game if the devs had time to work on a lot of fundamental changes and updates to the base game. It's just really difficult to do. They would probably need a dedicated year or more to do this, during which we wouldn't be able to get many updates. And this is less requirements than making a new game from scratch and risk a lot in the process.

I'm also wondering if both D1 and D2 could be kept around if they added a D3 as well. I feel like one of the old games would probably be shut down. This is definitely not possible with the reduced workforce, so unless they expand the studio again in the future, I don't think, realistically, we could get any of the positives with D3.

It's a discussion worth having for sure. Unfortunately it's dominated by the weird gamer bros and I genuinely don't think they understand anything about video games. There's this idea that "D3 would fix everything" and I simply don't understand what they're talking about because the same people are also the ones crying about content droughts, sunsetting, hit-and-miss features and activities and so on. And launching a brand new game would contain absolutely everything these people complain about every day. I've seen them also saying stuff like "I'd be okay with D3 if they don't make us repeat collecting everything again." And like. That's exactly what will happen. Do they think items will just be in their vault? No, we'll have missions again to re-earn the same exotics for the 5th time, just spaced out by years and then they'll be mad about how nothing new is being made and they're just reusing assets or whatever.

They could always just do a complete and total fresh start: nothing old is ever returned. No armour, no weapons, nothing. But people underestimate how much they'd miss their old builds and old options, and how new ones might end up not clicking with them all that much, but this time they wouldn't have anything old to fall back to. You know when a new weapon or exotic armour releases and they're brand new concepts? And they end up not really being something you connect to? You try it out, go "eh" and return to your old stuff? Imagine that but without the ability to go back to the old stuff. The idea of it is is exciting, but in execution it doesn't really work most of the time.

There's a lot of interesting angles when considering a potential new game, but I feel like at the end of the day, it's too big of an endeavour with a lot of very real risks that makes the whole thing not worth the effort. If anything, to make D3 into this perfect dream game right from the start, they would 100% need to just work on that for the next 5 years and we'd have to accept even fewer updates (if any) to D2 in the meantime. Otherwise we'll be in the same situation as with D2 launch and I know a lot of people don't remember or weren't there, but vanilla D2 was actually for real a time when Destiny almost died.

It's definitely something cool to speculate about, I just wish the weird gamers out there weren't completely hijacking this option while also doing everything in their power to tell devs that they have zero patience to wait for a good product, and that they can't survive 3 days without new content. Because that's just reinforcing the inherent risks with making a new game, on top of all the other risks involved and the potential that people will just not be willing to move away from what they've been collecting for years.

[artyrambles]

So a new video with previews of changes/additions made to WoT in 2023 has been uploaded today, and overall I am getting a positive impression from it but of course I’m gonna wait for further details and the actual implementation before getting excited or mad. (Knowing WG’s track record, especially the cool exciting features tend to never make it into the actual game.)

For now here’s my first impressions of the things mentioned in the video:

New/Returning Special Game Modes

Can’t say I personally care much about those, never did. But I know the general playerbase likes them for variety so I’m not complaining.

New Frontline Map

Same as above, I’m not a special mode player so this doesn’t really affect me but at least the visuals of this map seem really nice.

New Oyster Bay Map for random matches

They didn’t show much of this one but I’m guessing it’s one of the maps they’ve been testing previously so it’s probably easy to find some info on it.

Rebalancing of 8 existing maps

So we got Airfield, Studzianki, Mountain Pass, Steppes, Live Oaks, Cliff, Westfield, and Mines lined up for that.

I think on Airfield it’s more difficult to defend the base on the West spawn, so hoping for some adjustments there.

Studzianki seems fine overall to me, curious what they’ll change there.

Mountain Pass feels a bit imbalanced on the South spawn, as in slightly easier to defend but difficult for TDs and arty to set up effectively compared to North spawn. 

On Steppes I notice that the battles always seem to happen very close to the North spawn, so maybe they’ll try to shift that more towards the middle.

Live Oaks has very wonky balance (it feels all over the place and kinda unfair towards North spawn) so it would be neat to see improvements.

On Cliff it feels like the big hill is more accessible to North spawn, so that is generally an advantage, and the valley down on the west side is where your team goes to die in the bottleneck... Hoping for fixes.

Mines is.... well, Mines. I think South spawn is kinda fucked over because it’s very easy to spot the entire southern half if you have a scout on the hill and it seems easier for North spawn to take the hill. So I could imagine changes there.

New Prestige/Achievement system

This seems a bit like another e-dong comparison system. I don’t have strong feelings about it - on first glance it looks like XVM ratings are being added to the base game but with the added bonus of in-rewards and even players without mods being able to see them. The video hints at various stats being included in this rating. It seems to be individual to the vehicle, so sort of like XVM’s xTE stat? Either way, sure why not.

Crew Skills Rework

This seems less jarring than the last time they tried to completely rework the crew system. I got a screenshot of the changed/added crew skills here. There’s some really noteworthy updates in there. Not sure if I understand the "improvement” of BiA, it seems identical to me. But it seems like they came up with good ideas how to finally make the “useless” skills more relevant, and the newly added skills are definitely looking interesting. I’m most surprised at the skills that will reduce RNG, since that is something players have been asking for but seemed unlikely to actually be introduced. Maybe the Arcade mode experiments were leading up to this.

Really surprised at the change to crew training. From what I understand all crews start at 100% training now, so skills are available immediately even if you don’t pay gold for a new crew member. Apparently the difference between the free, credits, and gold training is now just how much your first skill/perk will be trained right away. (Free - 0%, Credits - 50%, Gold - 100%) What I’m really curious about there is how this will affect already existing crews after the update. I‘m guessing the training levels for the skills will stay the same, but all crews below 100% major qualification will be raised to 100%. Slight bitter aftertaste here when I think about all the gold and credits I’ve spent in the past for crew training.

The crews will now be trained for 3 tanks, which I guess isn’t too bad cause let’s be honest, the being stuck to 1 tank limitation (minus premium tanks) has always been annoying.

Final Moment Camera (kill cam)

Another thing that has been a mod before and is now being added to the base game. No complaints here, I think it will help people be less likely to yell “HACKS!!!” when they can see where they were hit and what the circumstances were. It also seems to show a glimpse at whether you were spotted or not, which I think will also improve people’s understanding of why they died.

Vehicle Rebalance

There’s zero info shown here so we’ll wait until February for details I guess.

New Vehicles

I’ve seen it mentioned that the vehicles are being ported over from WoT Blitz, but I have to admit I don’t even care enough to look them up.

Gun Overheating Mechanic

With how little info is shown on the clip it’s hard to say how this will affect gameplay. Is it going to be retrofitted to existing vehicles or will it just be a new gimmick of newly introduced ones that WG then forgets about like so many before it? I can see that it could either severely hinder or improve the performance of existing auto-cannons (depending on how it compares to current magazines).

Night Maps

That’s a neat thing! I know the community has wanted night maps since the beginning of WoT and I’m curious to see if there’s going to be specific mechanics implemented for it.

Dynamic Water & Map Objects

This is honestly the thing I’m most curious and tentatively excited about. I’ve been joking about how the hurricane on Highway should just travel across the map late in the match before. It seems like maybe not something this extreme will happen, but tides on the maps that contain (ocean) water and stuff like non-player vehicles crashing into the map with large-scale destructive effects could really spice up matches. Of course it would add a giant RNG factor to the match if this happens randomly - but something like the zeppelin crashing into Himmelsdorf that we see in the video being a scripted event that happens every match could really add new strategic depth to the battles. I think it would be interesting if these big events had a sort of announcement or timer in the match HUD.

I’m not gonna get my hopes up, but in the clips it seems like environment being destructible might happen after all with this change, but who knows.

[stanyek]

BYOND DEEP DIVE

or: an essay on “dead” games

I have a long history with BYOND (short for Build Your Own Net Dream, a name and acronym that betrays its age.) A really, really long history. About half of my entire life, all the way back to, from what I can remember, December of 2009.

Like the vast majority of the people using it, I downloaded the platform for Space Station 13. I remember the exact framing, too: it was Christmas Eve or Christmas and my mom pulled me away from the computer for a family photo. I was pretty excited to get back to the game, because a scientist was busy ripping the brain out of my body to put inside of a robot.

The map that happened on doesn’t exist anymore and, as far as I’m aware, there aren’t any pictures of it, so my introduction to this game exists only in my memory, dreamlike, the 32x32 sprites rendered far more impactful and lifelike thanks to a mixture of time and a kid’s imagination.

Basically, before we can get to BYOND’s insane, seemingly undocumented and mostly unloved hoard of weird, borderline not-games, we need to talk about SS13. I’ll keep it brief, since this post/article/essay/whatever isn’t about it.

To get to the point: Space Station 13 has a Wikipedia page and the engine it’s built on doesn’t, even though it’s been around since, from what I can tell, the late 90s. ‘96 if you’re counting precursors, ‘99 in its more-or-less current state. It’s been accused of looking like spyware. It isn’t, but it looks like it.

SS13 usually has about a thousand simultaneous players during peak hours. The spot for number two is contested between Eternia and Sigrogana Legends 2, both JRPG influenced roleplaying games that, honestly, occupy that weird space between a video game and a late 2000s freeform roleplaying ProBoards forum. I played Eternia in middle and high school and it’s okay if you’re into that sort of stuff. I assume the other one is fine, too.

You boot up Murder Mansion. A social sort of murder mystery game: one player’s the killer, the others aren’t. Stop him-her. It inexplicably has a single player option (complete with bots) and the soundtrack is a handful of (presumably stolen) MIDI renditions of horror movie themes.

A friend of mine on IRC hosted the game every day for about a month in, I think, summer of 2012... aside from SS13, this’ll be one of the only games showcased that I have an actual, personal connection to.

What gets me about Murder Mansion is that it’s so obviously a labor of love. Almost all indie games are. There are seven large maps and, with the player’s slow speed (there’s a run option but there’s a 50/50 chance you’ll trip or slip on something and, quite literally, die instantly) they feel a lot larger. And the maps aren’t re-skins, either, all of them have tons of unique assets, items, etc.

Dead MMOs are sad; thousands of hours of development work over what may be a decade or more, an entire community, and what amounts to someone’s vision of a living, breathing world are strangled by the invisible hand of the free market.

Dead indie games - the multiplayer type you find on BYOND - are sadder. In Murder Mansion’s case, the developer updated it consistently for ten years, from 2003 to 2013. What we’re left with is something that feels empty, but not completely lifeless. Someone loved this game! They loved it enough to update it for years and years.

Wandering around in this game is wistful.

Mitadake High is more or less the same genre of game as Murder Mansion, except it’s set in an... anime high school.

The main difference is that, from my memories of playing Mitadake High, people got super into it. It is absolutely amazing when someone is trying their best to get into the character of a blue-haired anime boy who just killed eight people and explains to you that their motivation for murdering a pile of people is that they have tuberculosis.

Probably the only BYOND game, aside from SS13, to have a TVTropes page. Which, by the way, is extremely expansive.

Games like these are fantastic: someone saw Higurashi or something and decided to make a video game out of it. The main menu music is ear-piercingly loud and ripped directly from the show. I was once murdered for knowing someone’s name because the gamemode was literally Death Note. I saw the guy who made Tails Gets Trolled on here once and played a round with him, because of course he played this game, it’s practically made for him.

Years ago, when people still played this game, I saw someone say “Oh my Kami!” as a substitute for saying “Oh my God!” multiple times in complete seriousness.

Your middle school id laid bare to up to dozens of people, all of whom are competing for the non-award of being told after the game that your character’s improvised backstory was compelling, tragic, and deep.

In Freeside, two glowing orbs appear and compel you to commit a mass shooting in an almost entirely colorless (there’s some grass) and empty city. The roads lead nowhere: to the same grey concrete walls that make up the city’s buildings, almost completely empty except for crates and guns.

This is the Platonic ideal of a shooter. Very little explanation other than, explicitly, go forth and kill. You can’t win, but there’s a score. As far as I can tell, it isn’t uploaded to a leaderboard anywhere. This more or less illustrates the crux of what a lot of BYOND games are: hyperindividual and disconnected minigames, whether it’s competing for the title of most tragic anime mass murderer amidst an honestly hostile and combative ‘community’ of roleplayers, a sperm-based maze game where you’re racing to fertilize an egg, or a mass shooting with a score that never mattered to anyone except you.

It’s beautiful: even when there are others, there’s an audience of one.

Elora brings an issue to the fore: BYOND has games that I’m almost certain only a dozen or so people close to the developer have played longer than a minute.

The presence of a chat function insinuates that there’s something already missing; I tried, in vain, to find a monster, but the game’s selection of monsters seems limited to the cast of Back to the Barnyard, wolves, and deer. The sound your character makes when you move causes my eardrums to pulsate and throb. Elora is dozens of lakes, circular mounds of black rock, tracts of grass, dirt, and fruit trees. None of the animals, even the snarling wolves, try and hurt you. Elora is a depiction of paradise. Wolves will stand side by side with cows, boars with pigs, and so on. Jannah rendered in 32x32, just like God would’ve wanted.

Maybe you’re reading this and thinking that, outside of the top three titles, two of whom are borderline identical and one of which is probably among the most resilient and  popular indie games ever made, BYOND is dead. It’s not. I’m not a mortician or an archaeologist. BYOND is very much alive: games are still being made. People still post on its antiquated forum and, more than anything else, this obscure engine for multiplayer games from the 90s is still up and running.

Certain games are dormant, sure, but they’re still full of life. Say they’re sleeping, not dead - say they’re dead and it’s for real. I already called Murder Mansion dead, probably thanks to sentimentality.

One of the most famous “dead games” isn’t even dead, for fuck’s sake.

Brief but relevant detour: when someone first posted about Worlds, a still-running 3D chatroom from the last century, on /x/ way back in 2010, 11, or 12, I can’t remember, it was marketed as a ‘dead game.’

It wasn’t: as it turned out, there was a still-active community of people playing the game. Geriatric? Sure, some of them have even passed on in the decade between then and now.

Sidenote, in case you’re the type of person to think there’s a cult in Worlds: there is no cult in Worlds, the locals are just fucking with you! Everyone used to do it. I know I did.

Still: there’s something off-putting about it all. Hundreds if not thousands of games, most of them ranging from bad to okay, all of them charming in their own way. How many hours of work, collectively, does BYOND’s catalog represent? Probably somewhere, not joking, past a million if you count SS13. Get rid of that, somewhere in the low hundred-thousands.

Most BYOND games wouldn’t be out of place on Glorious Trainwrecks - there’s an extreme earnestness behind them. Someone really wanted to make a video game, made it happen, and then moved on; orphaned games. Almost like a litter of, I don’t know, cats in a cardboard box outside of a supermarket.

According to BYOND’s hub, I am the first person to play Birdland since 2014. The menu helpfully states that the first five games are free: I have to pay for more.

As far as I know, this is the only BYOND game you have to pay for. A slow, borderline non-puzzle game with no sound aside from birds shrieking that came out in 2002. I genuinely wonder how many people bought a lifetime subscription. The link no longer works and another link, totally inert, leading nowhere, tells me that I can discuss the game on a “Birdland forum”, which no longer exists.

I am left picturing what Birdland aficionados discussed on their forum, because the game itself isn’t deep enough to answer that question.

CryptHead is less than a year old. There are four people online, just one short of the number required to start a game. I type “hello?” in chat - no response.

Hard to sum up my feelings on BYOND. If I were cynical, I’d probably use this AVGN quote: “When I was eleven years old, my whole world was video games. Just locked in my room playing Bart vs. the Space Mutants and all this crap... man, I wasted all my time on this shit. I want it back. It ruined my life.”

I’m not, though, so I’ll say this: BYOND’s the reason I started doing sprite artwork, something I really, really enjoy but haven’t been able to do lately. Something felt wrong about making art for games that I didn’t have the skillset to actually give life.

After going through the plethora of games BYOND has to offer - some good, some bad, all of them real, tangible games made by, most of the time, a single person - I can’t say I can look at it that way anymore. Sometimes, making stuff is its own reward, even if you’re the only person who’ll ever see it.

Games Shown or Mentioned

Space Station 13, Exadv1, 2003

Murder Mansion, SuperSaiyanGokuX, 2003

Mitadake High, Devourer of Souls, 2007

Freeside, Doohl, 2013

Life, Jittai, 2013

Elora, Kozuma3, 2015

Worlds Chat, Worlds Inc., 1995

Halloween: Terror, Ganing, 2009

Birdland, DDT, 2002

CryptHead, Magicbeast20, 2020

[pawfulsofmischief]

Intro and Masterlist

Hallo, hallo!! I'm Nova, a pleasure to see you on my blog!! <33 I'm a Wolfstar addict, Belladora ship captain, Marylily/Dorlene admirer, Ao3 author, Dnd player and furry digital artist. I also post the occasional drabble here on tumblr when I get hit with inspiration but can't make the fic long enough (for me) to post on ao3.

My dm's are always open if you want to chat!! I mean about anything, really. Just chatting, questions about anything, etc etc. I love talking to people, but I'm real bad at reaching out first. My anons are also open if you want to send me anything <33 (If you send hate, I will simply use it as an exercise into descriptive writing of ways to say 'fuck you', but go off I guess.)

Anyway, here's my fics for those curious!

Ongoing Fics

They Never Expect the Squibs (TNES) Planned to be a long fic, 75k+ at least. squib!trans!Regulus and genderqueer!Sirius are the main POV's, and there's lots of queer stuff planned. Possible violence, but no explicit smut planned. Mentions of past trauma. Updates every other Friday (bar any life issues).

Sirius only remembers glimpses of a sister he once used to have when he was tiny before she vanished without a word. Regulus first remembers the dingy orphanage, which he was rescued from by a wonderful, accepting couple that raised him as their own. Imagine their surprise when the two meet years later, in the middle of a raging war that was getting quite out of hand. They look almost identical, they could almost be twins. How are they supposed to handle a surprise sibling reunion when the world is crumbling around them? And how are these muggles managing to survive Death Eater attacks, and even win the fights while they're at it?

Freak Like Me (FLM) Also planned to be a long fic, 50k+ words at least. trans!Sirius as the main POV, with bassist!Remus and werewolf!Regulus as major focuses. Also very queer. Wolfstar and Jegulus + other pairs. Explicit smut planned, as well as mentions of past trauma, addiction, etc. Updates alternating Fridays with TNES and CitF.

They're still young, barely in their twenties, and they want to have fun in a world that's a bit shite. When Marlene drags the group to an underground, magical concert, they don't know what they're getting themselves into. Music, werewolves, and rebellion flood Sirius's life all in the course of one night. A bassist with golden-amber eyes and tawny curls, a familiar grey eyed drummer he hasn't seen in years, and a singer with the most obnoxiously pink hair he's ever seen. What could this band possibly bring into his life that wouldn't be worth the way the bassist makes his stomach flip and breath hitch?

Corruption is the flesh that covers every bone. (CitF) Definitely look at the tags before reading this one. James's POV with the occasional POV from Sirius. A dark!Marauders fic that will be filled heavily with dark themes with this such as explicit violence. Rosekillerstarchaser and Wolfstar pairings with other background pairs. Also baby Harry and Teddy (adopted, not with Tonks)!!

In the midst of a war, with a baby on his hip and best friends at his side, James Potter begins uncovering a whole treasure trove of things he never could have imagined. Lies, deceit, slander, and more. Things about himself and Sirius and Peter that they should have realized with the kinds of pranks they pulled, and things about Lily that disgust him. Perhaps they really are more suited for the Dark side.

Kind-Of-Sort-Of-Dad-Uncles MixedUpWritersFest collab with @therealrjlupin!! Wrong number texting fic. PoV swaps between Sirius and Remus.

Remus is more than excited for his kind-of-sort-of-son-nephew to be born and attempts to text Peter the exciting news! Except, it isn't Peter that he texts, it's some stranger who he continues to text because, well, they're quite interest, if a bit egotistical. Sirius winds up getting an unsolicited “in active labour” text one evening from a random number. They find it quite amusing and decide to keep texting this curious stranger that has gotten them so invested in this child they don't even know! Perhaps taking a gift to them in the hospital would be nice if they're going to be updated more.

Oneshots/others below the cut

Oneshots

Beggin' 5.8k words. NSFW Belladora (Bellatrix/Pandora) fluff and smut. The first half is smut free, with a bit of cute toddler Luna before the smut begins~

Bellatrix has just finished 'taking care of' a group of Order members with Fenrir and has found some distressing news. She returns home to her partner Pandora and daughter Luna later that evening, and Pandora soon helps her to stop thinking about it for a while.

Hell's Welcoming 12.9k words. NSFW Priest!Remus just got dropped into hell and is welcomed by Devil!Sirius in a way that surprises both of them ;) Beginning of a series of stand alone one shots that build on each other

Remus has spent the last forty-some odd years as a wonderful priest, following his vows to the letter and working to help to make the world a better place. He believed he would walk through the pearly gates of Heaven when he finally met his end... Except that's not at all what happens. Rather, he wakes up and soon finds he's been dropped down to Hell without a second glance. Sirius has been doing their job as the Ruler of Hell extremely well for centuries. So they'd seen plenty of souls that would theoretically go to Heaven be dropped down to Hell simply because 'God' doesn't want them. None have ever been like the priest that landed on his desk one evening just after his death, though. Remus and Sirius come to realize this arrangement is perfectly alright with them, however.

Special Nights 9.8k words. NSFW trans!Sirius ends up in a weird mutual masturbation situation on accident with James and Remus... It works out very well in the end

Remus came back for sixth year hot and of course Sirius noticed it. He managed to get through the first week just fine, he distracted himself well enough to not indulge in fantasizing too much. Until they go to bed early, high off adrenaline from a good day of pranking and he just wants to sleep, but he also keeps imagining Remus. Then he hears a moan from somewhere else in the room. From James's bed, in fact. But that's just the beginning for our delightful Sirius.

Gender Adventure 3.6k words. trans!James helps gn!Sirius come to terms with who they really are and protects them when needed. Second part will come out... eventually :D

When Dorcas comes out as nonbinary in the beginning of fourth year, it kick starts Sirius's thoughts into his own gender identity. With the help of best mate James and his wonderful parents, as well as wonderfully accepting friends, Sirius starts the journey- or adventure, as one may call it- into figuring out what it all leads to.

Coffee and Tea 888 words. Real simple Harry and Draco bump into each other at a coffee shop.

Harry's there to just get his morning tea, like he does most days. He isn't, however, expecting to hear the one voice he'd never thought he'd hear again. After all, who would have expected to find Malfoy in a muggle cafe of all places?

A Very Sassy Potter

748 words. Possibility of more in the future. Harry is a sassy Slytherin and he talks back to Snape in the very first potions class of first year.

Harry has grown up not taking any shit, so when Snape comes at him trying to make him look stupid, Harry shows him he's far from it.

Love of a Mother 3k words. Molly Weasley focused, multiple pairings mentioned. Tells a story of how Molly protects all the kids she can through the war~

When Molly Weasley sees Vernon Dursley and how he treats Harry, she decides to take Harry instead. She gives him a home and family, and against Dumbledore's wishes, doesn't let him go back to a place such as the Dursleys. When Narcissa comes to Molly with a request, she takes Draco in with open arms. She gives him the kind of love Narcissa was never able to while around Lucius. Molly loves her children, she just wants them to be happy.

Yule Ball Confessions 3.7k words. Drarry fic with vague Pansmione. Pansy and Hermione are fed up and make the boys dance at the Yule ball together.

Harry takes Hermione to the Yule Ball, but he doesn't quite realize that she's up to something. In what seems to be a coordinated plan with Pansy Parkinson herself, Hermione manages to somehow convince Draco bloody Malfoy to 'teach' Harry to dance... Which somehow leads to something highly unexpected?

On hold/Being rewritten

Another Black Sheep 79k+ words. 5 chapters so far. Currently being rewritten very slowly to be more cohesive and shite. trans!OC + twins focused. It follows their time in school and beyond during the war. Regulus lives, as do Sirius, Remus, etc. This was the first fic I wrote after coming back from a long ass hiatus and jumping from Wattpad to Ao3.

Fox Black has always been a bit strange. Ever since he was little he stood out. Auburn hair, always playing in the mud, and quite loudly wondering why daddy was always so mean about blood status. Of course, he was also once known as Vulpecula Bellatrix Malfoy, eldest child and sole daughter of Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy. But he's always been trouble for the Malfoys, and that doesn't stop when he gets to Hogwarts. Instead, it gets worse, as on the very first train ride to Hogwarts, Fox meets a pair that became the most unlikeliest friends for a Malfoy: Fred and George Weasley.

[wordsnstuff]

Guide To Plot Development

Patreon || Ko-Fi || Masterlist || Work In Progress || Studyblr || Studygram

Where To Start

Start with the zero draft. Honestly, the only thing you need to know about your story in order to complete a solid zero draft is the basic timeline of events and 2-3 main characters. Zero drafts don’t need to include any minor characters, backstory, world building, subplots, anything. They’re just a rough estimate of what your story is going to be and where it’s going to go. 

This way, you have something to work with when you do approach the task of maturing your story, which is a lot easier to do when you have already gotten the garbage ideas onto paper, seen them, realized they’re bad, clipped out the good parts, and developed a better understanding of your story’s trajectory. 

Placing The Climax

The climax is two things; the apex of built tension and the turning point of the conflict. Recognizing that as a definition makes pin-pointing the climax of your story much easier, especially if you’re the kind of person who likes to start with a solid premise and work forward from there, rather than build a sturdy skeleton and fill in the blanks as you write the first draft. If you’re still having trouble, the climax is usually one of, if not the most exciting parts of the plot, and that comes from anticipating a massive shift in the story. 

Outlining For Discovery Writers

I know a lot of people out there will read this article and question whether they can put it to use because they’re not an intense plotter who relies on outlines, character sheets, etc. A lot of writers prefer to let characters grow on their own and the conflict present itself naturally, which is less predictable but very exciting, especially when brand new ideas hit you out of nowhere. If you’re one of these people, fear not. An easy way to settle the slight nervousness that comes with diving straight into a blank page is to write down all of the basic or specific ideas you have in one spot where you can see it all and as you go along, refer to it for inspiration or answers when you hit a snag in your story’s flow. It’s not exactly an outline, but it’s a lead, and it’s worth doing. 

Balancing Planning With Pantsing

A lot of writers who decide to take their stories seriously and commit to finishing a large project make the mistake of thinking that means they have to plan like a professional (which, spoiler, most professionals don’t do). What happens in these cases is that writers plan so meticulously for so long that the story becomes... boring. We all get kind of tired of stories when they take up too much of our imagination, but getting tired of a story before even a word of it is written should be avoided. 

I have a personal rule that I never give myself more than 6 weeks to plan a story. That seems like a lot to most people, but I also zero draft all of my stories before I plan them, so I never start a first draft with a blank page. I suggest that if you frequently run into this issue, you try this method and between each serious draft, you give yourself at least a month of space from it in order to refresh your mind. 

What Comes After Drafting

Foreshadowing, symbolism, subplot integration, and micro-development. These are all examples of things that writers try to plan before their first crack at a draft and end up betraying their ability follow through with writing the story at all. When it comes to complicating the story, these elements all come into the picture much later, when the main plot, character profiles, and structure is solid and ready to be finalized in the interest of moving forward in the writing process. When you’re plotting, shove these things out of your mind. You can’t input symbolism into a story that doesn’t exist, and you can’t develop characters that haven’t been born. 

Common Struggles

– The common struggles section of my “guide to__” posts are general questions sent in by readers on the topic at hand. If you have a question that has not been addressed thus far, you’ll probably find the answer in this section. As always, you’re welcome to send other questions to my inbox if you don’t find the answer in this post. –

~ How do I correctly pace a story?... The pace should depend on the genre and point of view, as these things are the framework of every plot. Generally, anticipation should be a slow burn and the big moments should be snappy and explosive, rather than drawn out. The exposition, climax, and resolution should take up the least amount of time in your story, and the rising action should be the majority of the rest of it.

~ What needs to be in your beginning, middle and end?... The answer to this question is answered when you choose a definitive structure model to either follow or build off of. I have a whole post about it here: Plot Structures

~ How can I know if I’ve resolved my major conflict enough?... The resolution of your story should leave the reader feeling satisfied with the protagonist’s overcoming their obstacle, but still leave enough room to anticipate more to come. 

~ How should the plot close?... This is entirely up to you, but I would take into account the possibility of a sequel. If it’s 100% a standalone story, give it a clean ending and tie up the loose ends, pat yourself on the back for all of the clever foreshadowing everyone missed, and leave the protagonists and beloved secondary characters’ futures looking bright. 

~ How do you write a plot around a theme?... Most stories that have a central theme are born from answering a tough question. George Orwell’s 1984 asked “What would the world look like if totalitarianism ruled society?”. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 dealt with censorship and questioned whether bliss only belongs to the ignorant. Bottom line is, pick the theme you want to explore, and then ask yourself the tough questions. The story should be the process by which you find the answer. 

~ What is the best way to handle a large cast within a plot?... You have your main conflict and the plotline that surrounds it, and then you have various subplots, around 2-3 where you explore the world/characters further and immerse the reader in the stories. You can convince the reader to become invested in a large number of characters by making them heavily involved in the subplots. They should all touch the main plot considerably, but the bulk of their development should be in the subplot, and if you were to have 15 characters, you’d want around 3 subplots where 3-5 of them were important players. However, large casts that reader’s have trouble keeping up with is a problem that usually results from a writer’s inability to make cuts or combinations. Remember: the reader’s experience is the most important thing. It’s better to downsize your ideas than lose your readers altogether. 

Other Resources From My Blog That Help With This:

What Do You Do When You Over-Plan?

Resources For Plot Development

How To Write A Good Plot Twist

How To Foreshadow

Writing Long Stories Without Filler

Writing Stories About Your Own Experiences

Novel Planning 101

Tackling Subplots

Things A Reader Needs From A Story

How To Turn A Good Idea Into A Good Story

Planning A Scene

When To Stop Planning

How To Outline Outside Chapter Structure

Tips on Mapping Out A Series

Outlining By Chapter

How To Outline Effectively

Tips On Starting A Scene

How To Start A Novel

Character Driven vs. Plot Driven Stories

Plot Structures

Planning A Scene In A Story

Effective Ways Of Planning Chapters

Writing Meaningful Stories

Finding Your Own Writing Style

How To Write A Story Timeline

Making A Story Come Together

Tips on Planning A Series

Coming Up With Scene Ideas

General Resources For Plot Development

How To Engage The Reader

Coming Up With “Original” Ideas

Building Upon A Good Premise

Pacing Appropriately

–

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MY CURRENT WORK IN PROGRESS (Check it out, it’s pretty cool. At least I think it is.)

[yamaoni]

The Second Great War of Remnant has begun. Once more, Vale and Mantle are embroiled in a massive conflict, only this time, they are on the same side against Atlas.

I don't think it was a coincidence that so many people drew parallels with the last episode and WWI. We've never seen people fight that way in RWBY. Grimm don't use projectile weapons the way humans do, so the benefits of the trench are diminished; especially if you compare it to the drawbacks.

Now, I understand not everyone in the Atlas military has their aura unlocked and the squishy soldiers need some cover, but if The Long Memory didn't nuke every grimm on Atlas, the lines would have been overrun and then there would have been nowhere for them to retreat to.

You think the very real hand to hand struggles in the trenches of WWI were bad, imagine being trapped in a narrow trench with a bear. Or having this thing explode out of the ground under you.

I refuse to believe no-one in Atlas ever thought, "if we put the dirt from the trench in a box, no only can we give our soldiers cover, we can also give them an elevated position to fire from."

The top of a wall has been the primary defensive position for the people of Remnant for a long time. You can see them in the establishing shots of most settled places the team has visited. So why are we seeing a trench now?

Simple.

Show, don't tell.

RWBY has done a pretty great job, especially in the last few seasons, of showing the audience what it is trying to convey without explicitly telling them. They especially like drawing from well known folk lore to give insight into the future of the show.

Only difference here, instead of drawing the parallel between characters, they're drawing parallels between worlds.

Remnant's first Great War started with Mantle suppressing freedom of expression, the destruction of Art and Color. Ironwood always has little in the way of color, but in his first broadcast since everything started hitting the fan, he has none.

That broadcast also included evacuation ships being blown up by fighter-bombers, Dunkirk. It threatend to level a city if they didn't surrender, Battle of Brittan. All delivered by a dictator trying to scare his opponents into submission through careful use of film.

Theories

If the rest of the season is WWII, I have several theories on plot direction. Considering how well they did keeping up with both ends of the battlefield it wouldn't surprise me if they followed all of them at the same time.

Operation Dunkirk

Or, the evacuation of Mantle.

Players: Penny, Nora, Ren, Happy Huntresses

The Happy Huntresses involvement is a given. Not only has saving Mantle been their goal the whole time, they're also stuck in the middle of it right now.

Penny is the Protector of Mantle. It would be a shining moment for her character to fully throw off the virus Watts implanted and overcome Ironwood's threats to do so. Just crossing my fingers that it doesn't end like the Iron Giant.

Nora is currently Penny's tether to sanity, so she has to go with, and I doubt they would separate Ren from her for the next arc so he's going too.

Surprise twist for this plot I'm betting will be the Starwars "they aren't warships, just people" scene everyone loves to rag on. After all, the broadcast went out that they needed help and, at least at Dunkirk, it was fishing boats and pleasure crafts that retrieved the 338,000 surrounded on all sides.

Why We Fight

Or, countering Ironwoods propaganda.

Players: Robyn and Qrow

For one, these two are unaccounted for and in the heart of Atlas' military machine. If anyone has means to do so, it's them.

The film, Why We Fight, also countered the dramatic cinematography of Goebbels propaganda by painting it as ridiculous and making a folksy call to action much like Robyn has done in the past.

Operation Fortitude

Or, the deception of Ironwood.

Players: Emerald, Jaune, Oscar

This is the mission to make Ironwood think the team is going after the relic. This theory is why I actually thought of and wrote out this whole thing. Thanks @maxiemumdamage, I had things I was supposed to do tonight.

https://maxiemumdamage.tumblr.com/post/644291955872890880/willing-to-bet-my-own-soul-that-emerald-uses-her

Only difference in my theory and their's, is Jaune is going to be playing the part of Penny.

I say this for two reasons. One, Joan of Arc pretended to be a man. While we've gotten both Jaune pretending to be something he's not and him in a dress, this would pose the first time in the story he could do both. Two, it would put him on a direct collision path with Cinder. It needs to happen at some point to bring his arc to a conclusion, but man I hope we're not about to watch him burn.

With Ozpin active again, Oscar has to go along to direct them to the vault. He's also one of two backing the idea of Emerald joining the team and Jaune wouldn't be willing to work with her without him.

Operation Overlord

Or, busting down the doors of Atlas Acadamy.

Players: Ruby, Blake, Weiss, Yang

Where Operation Fortitude was the faint, Operation Overlord was the real deal. For those that aren't history buffs, this is D-Day.

I think this is the reason we've only seen the main team fighting together once since their split from Beacon. And even then, that fight was at most pairs of fighters and not all four of them supporting one another.

RWBY tricked us into thinking season 4 was the post-timeskip level up we come to expect from anime when really we ended up watching the training flashbacks as they happened instead.

We've seen hints of it with the various team ups and combinations, but are we really ready for how much ass kicking they are about to do?

I'm hoping for a One Piece level of badass entrance that can give me shivers whenever I go to watch it again like the walk to Arlong Park still does to this day.

(Aside: if you try telling me RWBY isn't anime, I'm just going to ignore you. Anime is an art movement. If you don't understand what that means, watch this video. https://youtu.be/uFtfDK39ZhI)

Now last and certainly not least

Operation Valkyrie

Or, the death of Ironwood.

Players: Winter and Marrow

The long awaited defection. Plenty of speculation has already floated around about if and when these two where going to cave to their morals and jump ship. I don't know how many of us were expecting the straw to break the camel's back to be a nuke held over Mantle, but I certainly wasn't.

What worries me, is Operation Valkyrie failed and all its conspirators were executed. As if there weren't enough death flags for Winter before.

Even if it's not Winter that kills him. I don't see Ironwood surviving this season. Even if it means he goes out like another hated dictator. It's not like it would be the first time RT had a fallen hero chose to use his own sword.

Wildcards

Or, Murphy will have his due.

Players: Cinder, Watts, Neo, Tyrian, Mercury, Clover

These players can go any which way. Three we know for sure are going to be active in the coming episodes and I wouldn't be surprised if the other three play a part as well.

Oscar made a hell of a light show for Tyrian and Mercury to see behind them. Not to mention, Salem will still need a ride home when she pulls herself back together.

Clover keeps getting mentioned even though he's hospitalized. If he was truly out of commission for the rest of the season, they would have made us think he's dead before bringing him back like they did with Penny.

Up to now, what we've seen is a three way conflict. But one of the hallmarks of Remnant's First Great War, was making temporary alliances to fight off grimm.

The grimm might be gone, but the wild cards can't complete their own objectives if they are dead. The question is who's goals better align with their own.

Two surprise twists I can see here. One, Mercury stabbing Tyrian on his way to defection. He was raised by an assassin and has not going to get a better chance than that. Two, Clover joining Operation Valkyrie. He might have accepted that sacrifice is a necessary evil to ensure Atlas' survival, but might go Schindler's List on us and find horror in what Ironwood plans to do.

TLDR

I spent way too long writing this out. All the WWI imagery means we're getting a WWII movie with RWBY characters. Major death flags for Penny, Jaune, and Winter.

Also I finally figured out how to do a readmore. Apparently it's just been a long time since I updated.

Note: kept seeing things talking about clovers death and I kind of went ???? Isn't he barely alive in medical? Went back and watched that scene and though I am 90% sure he is dead still kind of weird that they have him in his own room instead of a morgue and the initial framing made my mind instantly think he was propped up on a hospital bed. I mean, I guess we needed to have all the ACEOPs there for their reaction to Ironwood... but it definitely made me think he was alive. That and they have a bandage on his chest wound... when he's supposedly dead. Also have a phantom memory of Harriet saying something about him being in critical but I think that's my memory playing tricks on me.

Having his face exposed instead of covered by the sheet and seeing him in the same frame as Winter being treated also didn't help my gut reaction of "Oh Shit! He's alive? How?!" If I'd followed up more on the "how" might not have made the blunder of writing his return as the final twist in my theory. Oops

[officialgritty]

NHL FANTASY CUP WEEK 2 RESULTS

St Louis Blues VS Vegas Golden Knights

(3 - 4)

Out of 23 votes the St Louis Blues received 10 and the Vegas Golden Knights received 13.

Winner: Vegas Golden Knights

My favourite responses:

“When the golden knights shift into the Middle Ages in the middle of the game they're all gonna get tuberculosis and die.”

“The Blues are just getting extra angry white boys on their team so it's really no different.”

“As John Mulaney once said, they will stomp the Blues to death with their hooves.”

“Boom they get a drum smashed on top of their head or a frickin didgeridoo right at the kneecaps.”

“Because medieval times reminds me of Shrek and Shrek always wins.”

“Horses aren't Jesus so they can't walk on water.”

Detroit Red Wings VS San Jose Sharks

(3 - 4)

Out of 26 votes the Detroit Red Wings received 8 and the San Jose Sharks received 18.

Winner: San Jose Sharks

My favourite responses:

“Also considering that the majority of team is white I'm not convinced they wouldn't just throw themselves at the sharks to just stop the fucking pain.”

“Idk man, Dylan Larkin kinda do be a whole snack.”

“Imagine all of the indigestion that the wings can cause??”

“You're a pussy if you stop at just one death.”

“Many Sharks move more slowly in cold water, which Sharks players will know through kinship.”

“I just wanna see them get roasted by Sean Evans. I don't care about the game lmao.”

“Shark bait ooh ha ha.”

Here is the updated bracket:

The next matchups should be posted between an hour and tomorrow. Be on guard.

Taglist under the read more. Want to be tagged in future updates? Click here.

Some could not be tagged, if you stumble across one that you know has changed usernames. Please tell me!

Taglist: @scheifefe @ifiwasshawnmendesidslapmyself @d00dlebob @bricksatlandyswindow @churchofrileytanev @fratboytj @quintonsbyfield @itsjuliak5 @kirbysdch @blvejackets @pattyandthejets @calgarycanuck @vincedunner29 @pettypetey @marc-andrefleury @kempe @bowenbyram @andrei-svech @freddie31leafs @itschellybear @ivyleaguenerd @lorrmorr @tkachuk-yeah @gingervivilou @jakevirtanenn @aereres @mbarzals @sweetlittlegingy @spacebunstysonjost @grenawitka @berrybreadd @captain-kirby @museinmind @pizzarandomness @rosieberg18 @hellfireandiron @youngbeezersmixtape @klutchnetsov @crosbeezinthetrap​ @chaos-hockey​ @shhiminmybluecastle​ @connormcdavo​ @holymysticjellyfish​ @timmy-schallers​ @stockyardsyndrome @colecaufields​ @hockey-more-like​ @hymarners​ 

Disclaimers: This is all a joke . I do not know if the players involved in the edits remain on these teams and I do not care to find out nor tag them all. Most of the components I have found on google and altered to make these edits, credit to the original owners.

[khelsale]

13 Essential Badminton Tips for Beginners

Badminton is an adolescent, well-disposed game; even still, if you're getting the game inquisitively, it's dependably imperative to several pieces of information. Here are 13 top Badminton tips for novices that will assist you with improving.

So in case you're a juvenile hoping to improve quickly, continue looking for some top Badminton tips.

Perpetually warm-up fittingly

Our first Badminton tip is to attempt to heat up appropriately is so basic for any game. It very well may be ideal if you got your muscles warm so they can connect with no issue. This will help keep away from unreasonable wounds and will set you up for some quick Badminton.

Ideally, it may be ideal if you got some amazing growing close by running or avoiding done before you play. See our Badminton warm-up direct for a model warm-up arrangement that will kick you off up.

Gain ability with some fundamental footwork

Badminton is a quick game; it requires a decent extent of accessibility and speed to play well. It very well may be ideal if you had reasonable and beneficial footwork to have the choice to get around the court with no issue. yonex shuttlecock

Badminton doesn't utilize a ton of headways that individuals are utilized to. In Badminton, you occasionally utilize any running or running. Badminton depends upon much truly pursuing, influencing, and bobbing. Getting a basic view of how to utilize these headways will help an unfathomable plan.

See the video from Badminton Famly under where they disclose moving to the four corners of the court.

Get settled with your hold.

The fundamental thing to get not some time before you can get any shot right is the hold. Regardless of whether its forehand, strike or ask handle, it's key to get settled with how you hold the racquet in every manner.

Practice it reliably at home. Get your racquet and work on changing from forehand to strike and two or three fundamentals shots. The more you do it, the more standard exchanging and discovering your grasp will change.

Lee Jae Bok from Coaching Badminton has an incomprehensible video on getting the Badminton to deal with right. It's something you change once the correct way, and it winds up being so standard you don't need to consider everything.

Know the rules

This may seem, by all accounts, to be an evident one. Yet, you can't expect to get a considerable amount of wherever playing a progression of Badminton if you don't have even the remotest hint about the norms. As of now, this doesn't mean knowing the rulebook everything being equal. In any case, it recommends understanding the essentials of scoring, serving, what's in and out, and what you may have the choice to.

Nothing can be more overwhelming for adolescents by, at that point, learning the guidelines unusually. That is the clarification we set up or control Badminton rules. It covers the rules in a wonderful adolescent manner with a relationship with more isolated helpers if you need to find extra.

Watch some quality YouTube content

We're fortunate these days to push toward such a huge load of amazing substance on essentially any subject you could need to learn. Badminton is no exemption; YouTube makes them flabbergast, illuminating Badminton channels. This has, as of late, improved all through the long stretch, particularly in 2019-2020.

You can discover Badminton content on any piece of the game. Regardless of whether you need to get settled with the strike serve or the strike cut drop shot, there is a video showing you how. Head over to our total guide on the Best Badminton YouTube channels and look under the illuminating area to begin.

Keep your racquet up.

This tip is extremely annoying. Ordinarily, individuals need to drop their arms to their sides when they're not dynamic. It very well may be ideal if you combat the motivation to do this a great deal of the time, particularly in case you're playing at the net in copies.

Right, when I say keep your racquet up too, I don't mean over your head; I mean having up and gazed upward and outwards so that arranging is speedier. Raising your racquet from your side each time is moderate so keep your racquet up.

We alluded to duplicates of netplay; take a gander at this video, including Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo. He's consistently orchestrated his racquet up. If he's near the net, he may have his racquet much higher to block. By the by, dependably have your racquet up fairly.

Take the necessary steps not to try to be awesome.

Various adolescents present the error when securing some new significant data to get each viewpoint heavenly. Take the necessary steps not to center in an especially colossal aggregate on getting everything right, decently rotate around gaining ground.

In case you're learning one more shot, center around learning the individual pieces of the strategy. Now, welcome a comparative proportion of energy on going along with them all. The odds are you will not have managed each point, and that is fine. Zero in on predictable updates that will amount to immense overhauls over the long haul

Flawlessness itself is distant; the best players who whenever lived never accomplish impeccability. Perceive that you'll submit botches and that you'll find several things harder to overpower than others. In any case, long you spin around little updates that will impact.

Play with an elevating viewpoint

It is inconvenient; nevertheless, players beat themselves under the careful gaze of their progression on the court a ton of times. If you understand you're going up against a more grounded player, don't think, "smart gosh I will get wandered now." Rather, consider it a chance to learn. In the current circumstance, you don't have anything to lose and all to acquire; the other player is expected to win, go out there and play wholeheartedly.

Positive reasoning can be hard for a couple. It isn't easy to stand up and hold your ground. It very well may be ideal if you built up an uplifting outlook on and off the court.

Remove up when hitting.

By a long shot, most imagine that power in Badminton comes all from the muscles and strength. They see top players that play with such animosity without a doubt. They're applying a particularly extraordinary arrangement of power. Young people build up the tendency for pushing superfluously, making a reasonable undertaking.

Your muscles should be allowed to move straightforwardly; you can't make an enormous heap of racquet speed if you're holding your racquet tight and focusing before hitting. You're making the fundamental strides not to lift weight here; you're attempting to make power through advancement. Stay loose up when hitting, and let the racquet and your swing accomplish more vital work.

Recuperate back to the middle

Badminton is about control; you, generally, ought to be answerable for the vehicle and the social occasion. You might not want to be the one running any place on the show to get the van back. You ought to be the player dependably in the point of convergence of the court, picking where to play right away.

When you play, you overall need to consider returning to the mark of the union of the court after each shot. The mark of the union of the court can change contingent on the condition, yet that is for some other time. From the mark of the union of the court, you're a practically identical parcel away from each corner. This works on it to appear at the going with a shot.

Have a defense for each shot

Right when you're from the outset start, it's more insightful to zero in on the essentials and decide to return the vehicle reliably. As you improve, begin to consider which shot you should play and why. This winds up being critical for a more significant approach when you play.

Play each gave a reasonable result, regardless of whether it's trying to urge your foe to play it back to a specific spot or through and win the point. You will not, overall, get what you're seeking after at any rate. It's more tricky to an essential procedure than no strategy in any capacity whatsoever.

Develop your steadiness and get fit

Badminton is an irksome game. Beyond question, even as an adolescent, you'll sweat quickly. Developing your general prosperity levels will help you improve; you'll have the decision to play longer, resuscitates, and get around the court less perplexing.

As a novice, you can develop your steadiness in various propensities:

Do some light running/running 2-3 times each week.

Avoiding bit by bit for 30 minutes

Play more Badminton

Cool-down and stretch in the wake of playing

Also, as immense as heating up effectively before playing is chilling off and unwinding up in the wake of playing. As a young person, it's so major to promise you to cool down continuously and stretch your muscles in a little while.

A decent cool-down will consistently slash down your inside warmth level, recommending that your muscles will not set up and turn into a web sensation superfluously quickly. Extending your muscles this way while they're warm will help improve adaptability and lessen the headway of lactic ruinous, inciting muscle endurance and squashing.

If you don't have even the remotest clue of what to remember for your cool-down, look at our guide for a reasonable Badminton cool-down step-by-step practice.

Related solicitations

How could I improve my badminton limits?

Try and practice at any rate 2-3 times each week, without help from some other individual or partner, and work on unequivocal limits pondering a conspicuous objective. By and large, the quicker procedure to improve your abilities is to set up considerably more dependably with mindful practice.

[yhella18]

SPORTS REVIEW: DLSU V.S ADMU || UAAP SEASON 77

Volleyball is one of the most famous sports out there. It is a team sport consisting of six players on the court. As a volleyball lover, I tend to watch UAAP, and now, I was tasked to review a chosen sports video. The video that I decided would be the DLSU V.S ADMU || UAAP Season 77.  You can see the full video here.

Court Dimension

The game is played on a smooth-surfaced court 9 meters (29 feet) wide by 30 meters (60 feet) long, divided by a centerline into two equal areas, one of which is selected by or assigned to each of the two competing teams. Players may not step completely beyond the centerline while the ball is in play. A line 3 meters (10 feet) from and parallel to the centerline of each half of the court indicates the point in front of which a backcourt player may not drive the ball over the net from a position above the top of the net. A tightly stretched net is placed across the court precisely above the center line's middle; the game's official net height is 2.2 meters (7.4 feet).

For more details about the court dimension, you can see and imagine in this link. 

Equipment

Uniform

Shoes

Elbow Pads

Forearm Pads

Knee Pads

Ball

Net

Six Basic Skills

Passing is merely getting the ball to someone else on your team after being served or hit over the net by the opposing team. It's commonly thought of as the most important skill in volleyball because your team can't return the ball without a solid volleyball pass.

Setting is the setting motion that gets the ball hanging in the air, ready to be spiked by another teammate with force. It can also be used to dump the ball over into an undefended spot.

Spiking is the act of slamming the ball in a downward motion across the volleyball net to the other team's side of the court. This is one of the ways that a team can have a point.

Serving is the first skill used in a player since the first contact starts in every rally is called a "serve.". Its purpose is to give a hard time to the opposite team's offense.

Blocking is defined as deflecting the ball from your opponent's attack hit to prevent the opponent from a successful attack hit. One team makes a move trying to get the ball over the net, and the other team reaches up and blocks the ball from coming onto their side. If successfully stop, then the team that blocks gain one point, but if not, then the other team will earn the point.

Digging is a defensive maneuver in volleyball that can save your team from an offensive spike or attack. The athlete's job is to keep the ball from hitting the floor, and they do that by diving and passing the ball in a fluid motion.

Technical and Tactical Skills

Both teams show quite the same technical and tactical skills, yet there is still a difference in their techniques and tactics:

Passing

Both teams mainly used the forearm passing and making sure that the libero is the one to receive to pass it to the setter. Players other than the libero are also quick to receive the ball ahead of them.

Setting

ADMU: Sets were made by Jia Morado, the different set that she gives to the spikers easy to spike the ball, and that she is also the one who thinks mostly about the game since a setter is the one who will make different strategies. For example, sets that are quick or a high set, even a dump, can be seen in the game used by Morado.

DLSU: Kim Fajardo sets are tricky ones. It may look like she will pass a high set, but in fact, she already searched the other team's surroundings, and when she sees an opening, she will readily make an unexpected move, which gains her team a point.

Spiking

ADMU: one of the major technique skills that the ADMU used, especially by Alyssa Valdez and Bea de Leon. Valdez was known for her hard spike and can be quickly passed by the blockers, which are advantageous to the ADMU. But of course, Alyssa and the other spiker were there, and they used their minds to think if they will do a hard spike or a feint/dink. This just depends on the positions and an unguarded space that they have.

DLSU: Like ADMU, the spikers in DLSU also use a hard spike and a feint or a dink. They mostly used a decoy than the other team leading to confused them. Mika Reyes and Ara Galang, which are the rivals of Alyssa Valdez and Bea de Leon, they used all their power to overcome the blockers ahead of them to gain some points. 

Serving

ADMU: most of their technique is to have some jump serve and give a significant impact to other team. However, some players in the ADMU also used the Overhand Serve to play safe and focus on the spot that the player wanted to serve at.

DLSU: In spiking, they have similarities and no differences. The impact that the DLSU has given to their service lead them to have more service aces than the ADMU.

Blocking 

Mainly used in both teams well, and every time a team will spike, the other team will read the set and the spike to block well. The only difference is that the DLSU is much more robust in blocking in ADMU because, in my perspective that the DLSU is better in reading the spike of the spiker and has more powerful hands.

Digging 

Both teams used this, either they do it by diving or in a ready position to receive. Both teams anticipated well in reading the other team's spike, and even though it went past the blockers, the player behind is ready to receive it. But sometimes, the DSLU is having a hard time digging the ball, especially when Valdez will spike since its impact is hard to dig at all.

Rules of the Game

There must be six players on a team (3 on the front row and 3 on the back row).

Maximum of three hits per side.

Player may not hit the ball twice in succession (A block is not considered a hit).

If two or more players contact the ball simultaneously, it is considered one play, and either player involved may make the next contact.

The ball may be played off the net during a volley and on a serve.

It is legal to contact the ball with any part of a player's body and illegally catch, hold, or throw the ball.

A ball hitting a boundary line is "in" and "out" if it hits an antenna, the floor completely outside the court, any of the net or cables outside the antennae, the referee stand or pole, and the ceiling above a non-playable area.

In serving, it shall be hit with one hand or any part of the arm after being tossed or released from the hand(s). Only one toss or release of the ball is allowed. Dribbling or moving the ball in the hands is permitted. The server must also hit the ball within 8 seconds after the first referee whistles for service. At the moment of service hit or take-off for a jump service, the server must not touch the court (the end line included) or the floor outside the service zone. After the hit, he/she may step or land outside the service zone. A service executed before the referee's whistle is canceled and repeated. Lastly, substitution is allowed.

It is a five-set match. The best of three-set will win the game.

Touching the net with any part of the player's body while the ball is in play and crossing the court centerline with any part of your body is a violation. 

Officiating the Sport

First Referee is the official that stands on the referee stand (raised platform) positioned at the court's side across from the team benches. He is the one that starts play by whistling and signaling (beckoning) the server to serve the ball. He/she is the official in charge. If they feel it's necessary to do so, the first referee has the authority to overrule any of the other officials. Thus, the first referee can replace officials if needed. The first referee is also responsible for officially recognizing team requests, substitutions, timeouts and communicating with the coaches at the appropriate times.

 Second Referee stands on the ground on the court's opposite side from the first referee. The second referee should position themselves to effectively transition from one side of the net to the other when the ball is in play. Moreover, he/she is concerned with matters such as keeping time, assisting the first referee in making calls, administering substitutions, and verbally communicating with team coaches. He/she also needs to communicate effectively with the scorekeeper and overlook the scorekeeper with recording subs, timeouts, etc. At the same time, he /she should help the scorekeeper and assistant scorekeeper with any questions or issues that come up.

Scorekeeper creates official records of volleyball games. Before play begins, the scorekeeper records team and player information. Once the game starts, scorekeepers not only track points but also player substitutions, sanctions, and time-outs. The scorekeeper keeps an eye on the individual serving the ball to track the rotation and notify referees of potential lapses. At the close of the game, the scorekeeper records the game's final score.

Assistant scorekeeper or libero tracker is responsible for updating the scoreboard and keeping an eye on the libero. This individual records changes in the libero rotation, notifying referees when problems occur in the process.

Line Judges are generally in opposite corners, one at either end of the court. In total, there are four line judges.  They work with the referees, signaling to assist in making judgment calls. These officials often use flags to signal when a ball is in or out, hits the net's antennae, or when the server commits a foot fault or steps outside the line as they serve.

Overall Game

ADMU had won the UAAP Season 77, and I believe that is because of the power of the attack given by the team. Even though DLSU has a good defense on them, they were sometimes a crack on it, making the ADMU gain more points. The strategies that were used by the winning team show their full teamwork and the strength that they have. I’m not saying that ADMU is good and the DLSU didn’t perform well, but in this stage game, ADMU really shows their power to reign the court causing them to win and defend their reigning team last season.

[thetpot]

I just read you 10 stories post and I never knew you wrote Once upon a play and inconveniences. For some reason I realy love Once Upon a Play since it is such a fun story! So I had a question, since I think that I can safely assume you won't finish any of your old work. How were all you old stories supposed to end? So inconvenieces, on the sands of time (which is also a good story but just never got that far), etc. And maybe even what happened with Aang and Zuko later in Once Upon a play, since being gay illegal was in the fire nation.

oh my god, i’m screaming that someone who read my old work found me. biting my fist and screaaaming. 

first of all, i’m glad you enjoyed them :) all those stories have big (huge, gargantuan, unavoidable!!!) issues but writing them brought me joy too. once upon a play especially was such a shitshow lmaoo, i was hammering out like 4000 word chapters a day and then doing the whole shitty “comment for an update thing” in the a/n. ew lol, anway :)

yes, it’s safe to assume i’ll never finish them. maybe i’ll adapt the concept for once upon a play and revamp it with more of an understanding of how ember island players was imperialist propaganda rather than just a cutesy fun play. something like: what might it mean for certain earth kingdom political figures, who perhaps were doing better under the fire nation (currying the fire nation’s favour by weakening the earth kingdom’s infrastructure), to leverage something outrageous like a play claiming the scion of the fire nation and the last airbender are in an illicit affair, and use it to weaken specifically zuko’s position back home and threaten to destabilize the peace. something along those lines.

i also quite like on the sands of time, but i’m iffy now on divorcing the characters from the world of atla and dropping them in some ahistoric middle eastern setting. i’d have to think long and hard on what kind of cultural and religious influences i want to include and what i want to ignore. it’s unlikely but if i was to work on any of them again, i’d pick those two. 

as for how they were going to finish (or at least what was planned next, because i did not used to entirely outline all my fics, i think that might be obvious on re-reading once upon a play especially lmaooo), some elements i wanted to explore in inconveniences was that toph and iroh had an existing friendship that aang and zuko didn't know about, big party at sokka and katara's house, shenanigans with jet at that party, zuko and jet finally ending their fling at some point. aang's central arc within that story was basically this (taken from an old zipped file in the depths of my google drive, i didn't even remember i had this anymore lol): aang is tired of the sheltered life has been forced to live under gyatso’s wing. dissatisfied with his life, he is convinced that the answer lies in the conventional teen life – in parties, girls and alcohol. almost everything he does throughout the course of the story is in an attempt to live life to the fullest, to find the key to making himself feel whole for the first time in his life. however, as the story progresses, aang realizes that the void in his life does not need alcohol or drugs or parties or girls to fill it. he realizes that the only thing lacking in his life may have been maturity on his part.

which is yaknow… some characterization? not  sure how i feel about it now, but at least, it's something lol.

as for zuko, he comes to realize the full extent of his disillusionment from life and considers that aang may be the key to fixing it once and for all. as the story progresses, zuko tries to find with jet the connection he feels with aang but is disappointed when he realizes that jet is nothing like the person he imagined him to be.

even though jet initially appears to only be a conventional villain, he is later fleshed out as we see that zuko is his safe zone, the only person with whom he relaxes. this connection, however, is negated by the fact that jet constantly does things to sabotage his relationship with zuko.

the thing about jet is interesting because it's more nuance than i gave him within the story in the first 8 chapters. i'm not convinced how well i would have been able to execute those layers of his characterization but yaknow, i guess it's nice to know i wasn't just trying to demonize him? i can promise you that i had no intention 11 years ago of extending even an ounce of that same nuance to the female characters, sadly.

anyway, the story was intended to wind down with aang being really reckless with his freedom, gyatso returning and aang needing to reckon with the fact that his actions have consequences (probably something to do with accidentally outing zuko since he treated his relationship with jet with a lot of disregard in the story, as far as i remember), and aang needing to repair his relationship with gyatso once he returns.

i'm iffy on the characterization of aang, looking back, but i won't say much on it coz it's a characterization, i guess? just not the one i'd go for if i was writing aang today.

as for on the sands of time, the next phase of the story would have been zuko realizing that azula is hot on their heels and separating from the group, realizing he cannot best azula on his own and so deciding to play double-agent with azula and string her along long enough to allow aang a chance of survival. azula and zuko would then chase them to the edge of the desert and gyatso dies before he can tell aang he is the avatar. to escape azula (and zuko), aang ends up bending both water and air. 

as per gyatso's instructions, aang, katara and sokka venture deeper into the desert and along the way run into suki and the kyoshi warriors (who guard the boundary deeper into the desert), jet and his pals (who guard a part of the desert with huge geoglyphs of animals in exchange for the spirits granting them reduced dependence on water and food) and also zuko as the blue spirit. as they progress through the desert, they are aided by two mysterious figures who seem to be aiding them (surprise, it’s zuko and azula because the ozai actually does want aang to end up at the spirit gathering, he just wants to engineer that arrival to exploit that spirit energy for... something?). 

end of the story, zuko and azula finally catch up, big fight between azula, zuko, the gaang, the freedom fighters and the spirits, and zuko almost dies. aang goes into the avatar state for the first time. and apparently, according to my bizzare notes, that's the end of volume 1 (?!!!). i literally forgot until this very moment that it was supposed to be a multi-volume story (lmao what). basically volume 1 was supposed to build this attraction between zuko and aang which comes to a head at the end of volume 1, when aang's distress at seeing zuko hurt activates the avatar state, and zuko nearly gets aang killed by revealing his hand to azula.

and then there's volume 2 (?! i still can't get over 12 year old me's ambition lmao). after the gaang and zuko flee from azula, both he and aang acknowledge their feelings for one another but iroh back in the white lotus is well aware that zuko is endangering the avatar because of his feelings and assigns someone else to protect the gaang.  zuko leaves without telling aang, but instead of recalling zuko back to the city where iroh is, he makes zuko stay in the same city where aang is. aang tracks him down and they run into each other constantly while aang masters earthbending, and tension builds between zuko and aang as they resist their feelings for one another. the major conflict of this volume is when iroh tries to assign someone else as aang's firebending teacher. shenanigans ensue, tension galore. meanwhile, azula moves in to attack the city and once again, zuko and the gaang run (definitely sensing some repetition here lmao).

and then i never outlined volume 3 because i was a moron - an adorably ambitious one, but alas, one lacking the discipline to write what i think was supposed to be a 150k+ saga (?!).

as for what comes after once upon a play, i can promise you i barely thought about what was going to happen next in that story, much less what would happen after it. 

anywho, i hope that answers your question :). it was nice to pull out my decade old notebook and realize i still had all these notes squirreled away somewhere lol. 

[nny11writes]

can you do a fic rec for family oriented tcw fics? I feel like I've read everything lol

Hey anon, thanks for stopping by! I can certainly try, but I’m not sure exactly what you mean by family oriented. Just, like, generally across the genres Imma try. But I will say as I was doing this, several of these are not strictly TCWs. Some are actually outside that completely but still include the main trio and Padme as major characters so I’ve put them in here in case you’d like to give them a whirl.

My absolute #1 suggestion for under appreciated family fics:“Where I’ve Always Been” series by Gabby (Kirahsoka) 

It’s not clone wars exclusive, it does build from TCW’s forwards and is both a barrissoka fic and semi-medieval AU. But you wanna talk family oriented? This series is THE BEST FUCKING THING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everyone comes together and there’s a constant focus on family first. Gabby does a great job at address the ups and downs of family, and always writes relationships that are either A. Healthy as Fuck and Beautiful, or B. Unhealthy With Everyone Involved Trying. I love this series. I could probably write a whole fucking long ass post about this series lol! It’s got god damned everything, Luminara is amazing, Obi-Wan is fantastic, the original characters I would die for. The thing that might be lacking for you in here is there isn’t a lot of Padme or Anakin. There’s more Anakin than Padme, but he’s really not a main character of this series. Ahsoka, Barriss, and their daughters really become the focal point but I’m not lying when I say basically everyone fucking shows up to this one. It’s amazing and I beg you to give it the chance it deserves, it’s SUPRA, and you will understand what the hell I mean when you get in deep enough lol!

Also straight up, up front, Mylordshesacactus and alexkablob have both written some fantastic barrissoka fics that often also have a focus on family (looking at you Brave AU and Beauty and the Beast AU). If you haven’t looked at their stuff, and don’t mind the barrissoka, I think their works are fantastic!

NOW ONTO THE REST OF THE RECS

“Stuck in the Middle With You” by victoria_p (musesfool)  is a fucking delight of the trio having to share a bed platonicly (or however that’s spelled ig??). It’s got great humor and the way the three of them are just so well written is excellent. I love re-reading this one!

"Sometimes a family is a cultural anthropologist, a PoliSci PhD, a snippy sophomore, a golden cat, a Snorkie, and a guy who just wants to build a really smart robot” by all these lovelies: bessyboo, cantarina, exmanhater, forzandopod, heartequals (savvygambols), Opalsong, reena_jenkins, sophinisba, theleanansidhe!!! This is actually a pod fic/audio book, but I have trouble listening to stories so I am SO glad they included a transcript. This shit is gold! It’s sweet, it’s funny, it’s ridiculous. Anakin and Ahsoka run a youtube channel for “Waffle or Waffle Not!” where they pour various things into a waffle iron to see what works. Padme and Obi-Wan show up too, as it is obianidala. I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love this fic and the dynamics between everyone.

“The Living Force” by mathelode (engmaresh) is quick look at Anakin teaching Ahsoka how to choose insects and bugs to eat. There’s some crude humor (barf jokes mostly) but I do like the way Anakin and Ahsoka interact!

“Of Love and Family” by Ferith12 is exactly what is says on the tin. All about Ahsoka and the family she finds along the way.

“Saw The Waves But Not The Tides” by Meiloorun  is a bit dialogue heavy but focuses on Anakin and Rex talking about war and family when they get a transmission from Mandalore. It’s a really nice fic to me, feels cozy!

“Little One” by Fawkes_Rinzler  is a great Plo Koon & Ahsoka Tano fic about sharing a language together. They’re family and this is the hill I will DIE ON.

Parts 3-5 of the “Pesky Birthday Gifts” by peskylilcritterare short and sweet little slice of life fics that aren’t explicitly family oriented but I read then that way. It’s totally possible the rest of the series is great too, I just haven’t had as much interest to read them/look at them (some of it is fan art I think).

I know this is not a TCW only fic recs, but! I swear my stand by these days, “Of Queens, Knights, and Pawns” and “Shifting Sands” are both fantastic Leia centered fics by chancecraz! There’s a lot of focus on what makes family, and family relationships/importance in both of them so I’d highly recommend them. They are VERY long, and there is plenty of drama and angst inside so it’s not family in that fluffy happy fam way all the time. Vader, Obi-Wan, and Ahsoka are all major players, as is Rex. But it /is/ more OG and Rebels than TCW. Still I’d say give them a read!

The “Jedi Shmi AU” series by MirandaTam covers more than just TCW, but a lot of it does take place during that time frame. There’s some great Tatooine culture building in the series and I really love the way the characters are imagined in this AU. “Shwiya Root Soap” by sharkcar is a great look at the dynamic between Obi-Wan, Anakin, Ahsoka, and Padme. It’s a relaxed feeling fic to me. No high angst drama, and a lot of really nice long hold points with characters working through a lot. There’s still some action and romance etc, so it’s not sedate. A well balanced one I think! It is 1st person PoV which I know can throw some folks off but I think it’s fantastic.“The Light You Leave Behind” by laventadorn is a post Ahsoka leaving the order fic, and did in large part plant the seeds of Padme Says No, which exploded after I saw a post here on tumblr that was *mwah*. It is unfinished with the last update in 2016, I still rec it! It’s got a good mix of things going on genre wise, and I love the way Padme was written in this one.

The whole “b sides (SW lawyer AU)” by triviaseesaw (ladydaredevil)  kicks ASS. It is a daredevil AU but you don’t have to know anything about that to enjoy it. I also really like that this one is multiple SW fandom friendly. There are stories focusing on prequels, og, and sequels, as well as the animated series but you can sort of pick and choose which ones you want to actually follow. There’s fluff, drama, angst, the whole nine yards dude. There’s a lot of focus on what is family and how to connect with one another. It is vaderkin status tho so just a heads up!Okay, look, “good opinion once lost”  also by triviaseesaw (ladydaredevil) isn’t completely a family oriented fic, it is a barrissoka fic. But there is still family stuff involved! It is a Pride and Prejudice AU, and while I will admit I never got into P&P, I love this story and I had to rec it

Alright, I need to just rec all of triviaseesaw (ladydaredevil)’s stuff. While some of it is more romance focused, almost everything still includes a good cast of people in really unique and fun AU’s and settings. This is probably not what you’re look for but I realized I was gonna rec more of their work and so here’s the link.“all the words you do not speak” listed via orphan_account, is not a happy family fic. It is hurt/comfort post Rako Hardeen, but it focuses on the Trio and their bonds so I think it would still work out.

The “Circle ‘round the Sun” by risinggreatness is one that I remember loving. I went nuts every time I saw that series name pop up in my emails as updated. But I will also be honest, it’s got so many entries that it’s all become a mush of “oh HELL yeah” in my head. Like, I wanna go feral over the characters and relations but I can’t explain why. I do know that it deals across a lot of times and relationships which is part of why I liked it, but it is focused on TCW.

[sweet-cool-twins]

Thank you Inazuma Eleven & GO

Hey everyone, I do have an important thing I need to share regarding my absence both back in 2014 and 2019. Mostly 2019 after I uploaded my Raimon Junior High Chapter 4. I know people expect a chapter update on my Raimon Jr High fanfic, I’m sorry to disappoint on that. 

I haven't been feeling mentally well since 2019 cause I realised that it had been 9 years (back in 2019) since I joined IE and those times were the best days of my life. I got to show my creative side, my love for an anime, and made so many friends on FF.net and here. I was basically the happiest those times. Every break in school I had, on the bus ride home, or even resting at home, I would be thinking about new ideas for stories, or writing them in my phone notes, or just reading IE fanfics.

All those were lost when I went into high school (basically college in my country) and had projects with deadlines to complete which took up majority of my time due to my then pre-formed anxiety issue of not hitting deadlines. Then 2019 came and Idk how I came back to IE (i guess I wanted to watch Kusaka x Morimura, not too sure what happened really), I watched the last Galaxy episode and heard Ten Made Todoke! which is the GO first season opening song which is basically a nostalgia song for me, not just my preference, the tune and music itself would bring up some sort of nostalgia to everybody to be honest. And then they bought back Tenma's dribbles which was the skill Tenma showcased in the first GO season (Holy Road) but slowly lost it when he became captain and Chrono Stone season onwards as he matured as a captain.

Then I felt very mad and depressed cause I knew I lost all my creativeness and writer's sense (if that's what you call it?). I used to be able to picture how the characters would act in certain situations, how they speak (which are quite on-point judging by a review or message from a reader who I could not find the username, such a lovely person!), and these would just flow out of me as I sit in front of my laptop and type in docs page back then. The grammar and writing style was very childish and painfully cringy, but I had a lot of fun writing and it gave me a lot of hope and happiness just from reading the 3-5 reviews from readers (Bless u guys for favouriting, following, and reviewing my stories!).

Still, I sort of pushed myself to publish this Raimon Junior High fanfic as I was forcing myself to get back all the skills I had lost before I came back in 2019. Each time I review my drafts, I'm completely stumped and shocked by some of the phrases I'd used, even some of the conversations don't make sense to me anymore (and I know my past self's character's speech patterns are on-point as stated in the previous paragraph). My brain couldn't even think of those phrases and convos when I was writing this fic. So the depression, stress, feelings of loss, all lead me to slowly delay the update of this fic to practically leaving it hanging. It irks me by the way, to leave it like this. I just couldn't take it anymore and I guess the easiest way was to leave it.

Then my younger brother (I don't know if anyone knows this but yes I do have 1 sibling) and his girlfriend were watching Cells at Work! anime on Netflix and the main white blood cell voice actor is the same voice actor for Tsurugi Yuuichi in GO. Hearing him made me recall back the times I searched about the voice actor due to his singing capabilities (his singing was kyaaaaa (long time no type that lol) in the Onaji Yume Wo Miteru Tsurugi brothers character song) and also 'cause IE GO basically blew up many voice actors' fanbase as it was a pretty popular anime in Japan. So I checked back on IE GO again to hear his 2011 voice and sort of hear his improvements as a voice actor. I knew I was going to feel all the sadness and loss again upon hearing the GO first opening again (which it did), worse the Tsurugi brothers arc made me legitimately cry cause I sort of related to Yuuichi in a way better than when I was in middle school.

The feeling of happiness in the past and having to leave it for 6+ years until the present, to then realise you are probably too old to continue persuing the thing which you love back then (because to start to be a professional sports player, you have to be young like before 22 years old young, at least that's what I've heard of.) and the fact that you have to relearn everything which takes pretty much a long damn time, and even more if you want to do so professionally, is gonna eat up the years you have to pursue the job. This thought hit me so hard that I had a mental breakdown. Their character song (as I said I got back to IE GO and started relistening to the character songs which I've never heard in a lonnnnng time for Yuuichi's voice) added this depression even more. The first line by Tsurugi Kyousuke, "We always used to run together, chasing after a ball..." and the image of the two brothers flashed in my mind would break me to pieces as it was a happy moment for Yuuichi and it reminded me of my happy days here, although now he's stuck in the present with a disability similar to me being stuck with my depression and loss writer sense.

Which lead to me typing this long text out. I've reviewed the existing drafts of Raimon Jr High (they weren't automatically removed yet as 1 year hasn't passed since I updated on FF.net) and just felt I should just end this fic in a way with a plot plan at least because I know the me right now probably could not finish this fic. Please kindly read it and imagine the scenes you could possibly think of for the chapters. When I do get better, I want to edit some of the drafts to whichever chapter I am most confident in completing. The fic itself is following the GO season (1-20), then Chrono Stone (21-30), then Galaxy (31-50). I won't do Galaxy (i will explain in detail in the Galaxy Rant portion in a separate post) as I left the fandom during that time and aren't as close to the characters compared to the previous 2 seasons (to say it nicely).

I want to say, thanks if any of you read this till the end. I really appreciate it. It really irks me to leave this (or any) story hanging, yet I want to at least give a reason why, the process of it happening, and the fic plans for each chapter so you guys at least know roughly how Raimon Jr High fanfic would have ended. I'm still trying to find myself and love myself again like back then. Therapy is terribly slow and sometimes I feel better after a therapy, and then I encounter another negative thing in my life and feel all this sadness all over again (especially any past regarding IE). I dearly wish I could go back to the past yet time doesn't allow that and you have to move on. I don't know what to make of the future. I don't know if I will ever get better. I do hope what when I do get better and gain back the creativeness, I would have the time to continue this fic until the Chrono Stone 'season' ends as that was my main motivation for writing this fic. I do wish all of you the best and all the happiness in the world cause we all deserve it, even if you think you're normal or average. Cause I am average and aren't as happy as I was, and I deeply wish I could feel that happiness again. Thank you guys again! Hontou ni arigatou! (Long time no type that too lol)

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #121

UPDATE 121: Medical Attention

It sure has been a while, eh, everyone? Can you believe how life can sap time away from your hobbies? It’s been happening. Still, I managed to crank out this update. Let’s get into it!

Last time the Travelers’ interlude ended. Now it’s time to return to the main story! The Undersiders killed Coil and are now at the top of the villainous societal standings in Brockton Bay! And also there’s a very upset almost-Endbringer somewhere. Trouble is brewing! So let’s continue.

So, the last thing Tattletale had said in the last arc was that they’d need to contact the heroes and get them aware there’s soon to be an emergency – and given how Noelle has caused at least forty deaths in one of her rampages, it’s truly an emergency. There’s no hurry right now, though. Dinah says they don’t have to take it as an immediate threat. Well, immediate as in the next few hours.

“One point seven percent chance she does any serious damage before dawn.  We have time.”

Right now it’s the middle of the night, so they may have from like...four to eight hours before dawn. Still, I’m not sure I like how this reassuring sentence has ‘serious’ in it. Does that mean Noelle will have carte blanche to cause damage until then? I really hope deaths count as ‘serious damage’. How hard can it be to find Noelle, anyway?

Regent is right, I can’t imagine the heroes will rush to lend a hand after everything the Undersiders have done...but they’re heroes. Their job is to keep the civilians safe. I think there’s a pretty good chance Noelle will be able to do serious damage, and only then the heroes will take her as a threat, so even if they don’t like the Undersiders, they’ll do their utmost best once Noelle shows to be the threat she is. I’m just hoping the loss of life won’t be...excessive before that.

They may have a few hours before dawn, but they should start contacting the Protectorate right away – without telling them Calvert is dead, of course. Oh joy, what a time for the PRT to not have a leader. I hope that won’t be a problem.

Ah, here’s something interesting! Coil asked Tattletale for help about Noelle, showing he did at least make a token effort towards helping her, even if he didn’t really put that much effort into it. Tattletale used her power, but she didn’t get anything particularly useful. What she can tell is what approach Coil and the Travelers were taking, though. That information may be of some use.

“And I don’t know the full story. They were working on the assumption that she’s turning into an Endbringer.”

What I’d like to know is if maybe Trickster said that was a possibility, or Coil and/or Coil’s men reached that conclusion by themselves. If it’s the latter then I’d start getting very worried such theory may have some credence. It’d be two different people considering it, after all.

Thankfully for everyone involved, Tattletale doesn’t think the same, she has her own theories. They’re not any more pleasant, though.

Theory one is that she is turning into an Endbringer, with her body serving as the host to a growth that’s eventually going to shed off the Noelle bits and go full-monster.

Hmmmm...I doubt it. I mean, the powers would have to go incredibly, monstrously wrong to gain a consciousness of its own and go be an Endbringer. Even if she drank only half of the concoction, I really hope Cauldron wouldn’t have serums that would have ‘could create Endbringers’ as a side effect if handled improperly!

“And theory two?”  Grue asked.

“Someone’s doing their level best to make their own Endbringer.”

“Who?” I asked.

Tattletale shrugged, “No clue. Could be any of the major players. To figure out which one, I’m going to need time with the database on capes we downloaded from the PRT.  Even then, I’m not sure it covers the high-clearance stuff we need.”

Honestly this theory here seems to be more believable to me, although not in the way Tattletale means it. I’m ready to accept the possibility the Simurgh is trying to create an Endbringer – or as close as it can get when it’s a human with a botched superpower. Doesn’t seem like such a possibility ever crossed Tattletale’s mind, though. That means Coil didn’t inform her the Travelers are Simurgh thralls. Otherwise I think she’d consider the possibility it’s the Simurgh’s end goal.

There we go! Tattletale unknowingly hits half of the truth of what’s going on, guessing Cauldron is involved. It’s just a possibility among many, but she considered it briefly. That’s a start, now that she considered it, it wouldn’t be strange for her to develop a theory based on it once she gets more information.

Those sure are some tinkers I hadn’t even heard before. Also, Blasto is in this list. Neat.

Since they need to get some guidance about who may be behind Noelle’s current status as a dangerous parahuman, they decide to ask Dinah questions, who is willing to answer them because it won’t be long before she goes into withdrawal. Not having Coil’s drugs is going to wreak havoc in her, unfortunately, and it’ll be very soon. Confirmed thanks to her powers, it must be a complete certainty given the way she describes it. So, let’s play twenty questions!

“Chance she’s turning into an Endbringer?” Tattletale asked.

“Those aren’t the kind of odds I can give,” Dinah said  “It has to be something I can picture.  Scenes.”

She needs something concrete, I’d say. How do you define an Endbringer? Is there a standard she’d have to reach before she attains such a title? Would ‘turn into an Endbringer’ mean biologically being like one of those? Invincible and all – more than she is already? Do you have the Endbringer title once you rack enough destruction on your path? That question must have been real vague. Of course Dinah was unable to answer it.

They also won’t be able to use the questions to pinpoint who exactly is responsible of Noelle’s situation and powers. They’ll have to find out some other way, I suppose.

“Chance of trouble in the next twenty four hours?” I asked.  “Violence, she attacks us, she attacks other people…”

“Ninety-nine point three four six three zero one percent,” Dinah said.

The more time passes the more chances there are for Noelle to use violence, naturally it’d be real high. Noelle is extremely upset, and there’s an entire world that’s not even hers to use as a punching bag. With some luck, the scenario this story will take place in will have Noelle starting her violence late in those twenty-four hours – because I sure doubt this will be the one or few universes where Noelle does nothing harmful during an entire day.

Twenty-three percent chance she flees Brockton Bay, presumably in the span of twenty-four hours. No word on if it’d be with the Travelers’ help or not. I’m pretty sure if she escapes, the Travelers as a group are over. Things will be tense now that Ballistic bailed, Noelle escaping would pretty much dissolve what little is keeping the group united, I imagine.

“Chance someone stops her?” Tattletale asked.  “Defeats her, kills her?”

Dinah shook her head.

“You don’t know?”

“I can’t see it.”

“Okay,” Tattletale said.  “That means we probably can’t stop her with sheer firepower.”

Zero percent, huh. Okay, that doesn’t have to be as big of a scenario it seems at first sight. Maybe it won’t be a ‘someone’, maybe it’ll be a group of people at once. Or maybe what stops her is the indirect result of somebody’s action in a way that makes it so they’re not stopping her directly. Or...maybe it’ll just take more than twenty-four hours. This doesn’t have to mean the very worst case scenario!

The situation is bad, and Tattletale was going to assume the Travelers were going to leave the city after Coil’s death. Which isn’t really a ludicrous thing to think, they’d have to keep moving with Noelle, after all – and since Tattletale isn’t aware how much hope the Travelers had on Coil helping them, she expected the pattern to hold up, for them to take Noelle and move somewhere else. The thing is...I don’t think they would leave quietly, even if Coil hadn’t made Noelle listen to how they killed him. She’d have found out later from Trickster or anyone else who tells her. Her ire would have been delayed just a little while longer.

The plan right now is to take Dinah to someone who can help her with her withdrawal symptoms, while Tattletale tries to convince Ballistic to give them a hand. Will he be willing to fight Noelle? I’m not sure if he will, even if he hasn’t talked to Noelle in a long while. This is a delicate situation, and there’s not really an optimal way to handle it, so really, they can just hope their decisions won’t lead to making things worse than they’d be otherwise.

One scene cut later, Skitter and others are on their way to a hospital Tattletale arranged to receive them, to get the medical attention many of them so sorely need. Along the way, Dinah had considered asking Heckpuppy if she’d let her pet the puppy – the wolf puppy – so of course Rachel says no. You can’t go around touching wolves just like that! Dinah accepts the rejection without any complaints.

“Rachel,” I said.  “Just curious, but you’re hoping to eventually adopt your dogs out, right?”

“To good owners.  So?”

“Just saying, but as much as the owners need to adapt to the dog and understand the dog, the opposite is true.”

I couldn’t read Rachel’s expression.

“The dog has to adapt to the owner?” She asked.

“Right.  And that means the dogs need a chance to get used to people.  Dogs and humans have a partnership, right?  So they need to meet halfway in that understanding.  Mutual understanding.”

“Okay.”

Enough time passed that I wasn’t sure if she’d picked up on my meaning.

Hah! Here’s Skitter, trying to get Heckpuppy to open up a little more towards others, apparently. And she’s doing it with dog metaphors. She knows what Heckpuppy understands best. The effort isn’t wasted, she did understand what Skitter was hinting, and makes it so Dinah can pet one of the trained dogs. It’s kind of sweet, really. I don’t think Heckpuppy would have even considered this a few arcs ago.

Months since she’s seen a dog, let alone touched one.  How would that affect her in the long run?  I hoped she wouldn’t be in therapy for the rest of her life.

Wouldn’t be surprised if she is, really. Maybe not for the rest of her life, but I imagine she’ll be in therapy for quiiite some time. It’ll be for the better, really. Better to be in therapy for a long time than not have any therapy at all.

Doesn’t seem like there’s much chance of trouble here at the shady clinic they’re stopping at, so at least we can conclude it’s not very likely someone inside will call the Protectorate to tell them the Undersiders are there with the former mayor’s niece. Good! Last thing they all need right now is a confrontation, especially since they’ll need to work together to defeat Noelle at some unspecified point after dawn.

“Can you tell me who causes the trouble?”

“I only know we’ll be in there, so I have to look at each of us, one by one, and then I see the number.”

“Okay.”

“When there’s trouble,” she said, “It’s you.  Eighty percent of the time.”

Hah! Oh man, that’s so perfect. Don’t feel bad, Skitter, of course it’ll be you most of the time. You’re the protagonist. Everything happens around you, and you’ll be the cause like half of the time. Really, I’d have been surprised if it turned out someone else was the problem magnet here.

Is this the same doctor who has dealt with the Undersiders all the time before? I don’t recall he getting a name. Well I suppose if he is, Skitter will comment mentally about it, remembering him as the guy who performed surgery on her shoulder, or something. If it’s that guy, then he’s decently trustworthy, or at least I believe Tattletale wouldn’t send them to his care of he was the kind to betray them.

When Grue enumerates all the injuries everybody here has, it sure underlines just how dangerous their life is, especially because none of those injuries was from someone else’s power. Getting shot, drug withdrawal, smoke inhalation, and also being blinded from explosions. Having powers doesn’t make you more resilient unless you have some rather specific powers. Still, thank goodness for the armor. Skitter saved everyone’s lives

Yo, you think you can use like translucent bug carapaces to make special lenses for your mask so you’re not blinded again? Okay, maybe that’s not how things work because really, but hoping costs nothing.

Given the nature of this place, they’ll have to take off their costumes and masks. Given they’d be showing their faces and all, that’ll have to be quite the expression of trust. It’s not like they have any other option if they want the medical attention, though. Dinah requests to not be left alone, so Skitter tells the receptionist they’ll be sharing a room. This is where the Undersiders present here find out Skitter is currently blind. Oh, she never told them! Hah! This is definitely going to make Grue talk to Skitter again about talking to them when something’s wrong.

Now that Dinah and Skitter are somewhere else and alone, Skitter takes the chance to talk to Dinah, who is willing to answer questions and reassures Skitter that’s fine. No need to feel guilty! First she says how Coil used to work with her, asking often about the end of the world and about how likely success was for his many plans. Hm. Sounds about right.

“What’s the chance the world ends, Dinah?  That these billions die because of something Jack Slash does?  Has the number changed?”

“It’s changed.  Ninety-seven point seven nine zero seven three percent.”

Ninety-seven point eight.  It’s higher.

At first I thought maybe something that happened in Brockton Bay may have made the odds higher, like Coil dying or Noelle escaping, but then I thought that’s not necessarily true. Maybe it’s something the Slaughterhouse Nine did somewhere else. The world doesn’t revolve around Brockton Bay, no matter what the story makes it seem like, haha! But yeah, if it turns out something that happened in Brockton Bay made the odds higher, I’d wager it being Coil’s death. He was in a position to take actions to try to counter such a disastrous event, and now he isn’t. Dead and all. Better hope you didn’t accidentally ruin things, Skitter.

“People are spread out.  I know you’re there.  You’re different but you’re there.”

Huh. Okay, I have to wonder if Coil knew Taylor would be there during the end of the world that’ll happen in a couple years. Because if so, then he trying to kill her would go against those visions – unless Dinah said it was merely a possibility and Coil was aiming towards getting into one of the possibilities where Taylor isn’t around during the end of the world.

I notice she says ‘I know’, instead of ‘we know’ or anything similar. Maybe Coil really didn’t know. I’ll chose to believe that.

Dinah can’t go into much detail about what’s going on because there are too many capes and among them there are some that are blocking her power. I suppose it means some of those have precognition powers, then. This way there are no future spoilers of Worm and she can’t tell what led to that moment nor what’s going to happen. All she says is that billions will die. That’s a certainty, then? Should I expect that, by the end of Worm, almost all of humanity will be wiped out?

...

That sure is grim. Unless Skitter manages to hit the right set of circumstances for the end of the world to not happen, I thiiink it’s very likely there’s lots of death in the climax of Worm. At such a large scale stopping so many deaths is very difficult. So yeah, either Skitter and everyone manage to stop the end of the world from happening in the first place, or they manage to reverse the deaths after whatever will happen is over. Because really, a scenario where billions of people die is still pretty much the definition of a ‘bad ending’, hah! Not bad as in quality, mind you.

“Yes.  Five big groups, lots and lots of capes from all around the world, and armies.  Coil asked a lot about that.  He wanted to know about his chances for survival or the total number of casualties if he focused on one area over another.”

Big groups? How big are we talking here? I’m pretty sure the Protectorate must be one of those. Cauldron must be another, given that’s the one other large group around. The Undersiders simply can’t be, unless they recruit dozens of thousands of people, and that applies to virtually every other villain group around, so that leaves three big groups left. Perhaps they’ll be introduced later? Doesn’t even have to go in-depth about them, just mentioning them would be enough.

Dinah can’t even figure out what exactly is going to cause the end of the world, if it’s by natural disaster or by violence or...something. It’s hard to know, really. It’d be really difficult to stop a titanic natural disaster, so I’m inclined towards thinking it’s by violence. It doesn’t have to be one single person causing all that, maybe Jack Slash will cause a lot of people to turn against the general population. Could have something to do with the Endbringers. Perhaps the reason why there’s five big groups is because there are five big opponents, and they have to fight them to stop the end of the world?

“Theoretically speaking,” I said, “Just in the interest of problem solving, or figuring out what’s going to work or not, would the chance of this happening change if I just drove around America and killed everyone in my power’s reach?”

“Not really,” Dinah said.

Skitter asked that question to try to find out if she could narrow the location of the problem down to a specific place in the United States. Hm...I mean, last I remember it was stated it was Jack Slash’s fault, one way or another. I’m pretty sure if you get rid of Jack Slash, you stop the end of the world. Did he leave America?

Apparently that question kind of makes Dinah wonder if Skitter would really kill everyone in America if she had to. She wouldn’t, she reassures Dinah. Dinah presses doubt on that because Skitter killed Coil.

“You killed Coil, didn’t you?  I saw.  Thirty-two percent chance it was you who did it.  Five percent chance you couldn’t and asked someone else to.  Sixty percent chance you were dead.”

“I killed him,” I admitted.  “But that was a special case.”

Only thirty-seven percent chance Coil would die? Golly, the odds weren’t on her favor! Also sixty percent Skitter died, I suppose at the burning house or some other way. That leaves three percent intact, no? Maybe those take into account the possibility Coil and Skitter would reach some sort of agreement and they both survived. It’d be hilarious if the odds of that were just 3%

At first Dinah was a tad concerned Skitter would do something like kill Coil, but the longer she stayed imprisoned and filled with drugs and what not, the more okay she felt with it, as long as it ended in her rescue. And now it worked, precisely because Coil died. I don’t think by now Dinah has any sort of complaints about how things worked out. She already showed willing to take risks if it meant she’d be fine. She sent Skitter to get attacked by her teammates, after all.

It’s examination time. Heckpuppy, being the gentle and friendly soul we all know and love, refused to cooperate and stormed away. I don’t know what I expected, but since nobody is pursuing her to subdue to force her to rest, she must be fine. It’s now Skitter’s turn to get told how badly hurt she is.

It’s pretty bad. Broken rib, smoke inhalation, a burn, eye drops. It all sounds real bad, but in a way it’s a bit of a miracle that’s all she got from Coil’s murder attempt. Lucky Skitter. Now it’s Dinah’s turn.

Wow, this really is a sketchy place, this woman surely suspects Skitter is the one who was incarcerating Dinah and she has nothing to say about it. I guess the Undersiders really are safe here, even if they’re showing their faces around. What they do is try to pinpoint exactly what drugs Coil was using, asking Dinah for the effects and about how she feels now that she���s starting to go into withdrawal. Skitter asks if they can put Dinah in a coma, and that gets rejected. If she doesn’t face the worst parts of the withdrawal, she’ll relapse, or at least that’s what the odds say. And if Dinah says that, then they have to listen to her, she knows what she’s talking about.

Something about this place has Skitter alert, so much she asks Dinah to look around and see if anything says ‘Medhall’.

“These guys are too comfortable around supervillains, and this place is too expensive.  Medhall was the company that Kaiser ran, and he also ran the biggest gang of villains in town, before Leviathan came.  I’m just wondering if this was the place the white supremacists went to when they needed medical care.”

“Oh.  I don’t know.”

“If it is, I’ll have to have words with Tattletale.  And I guess I can see why you saw me possibly causing trouble.  If they said something to Grue, that’d probably do it.”

I imagine that, if this truly is the white supremacist hospital and they treat Grue badly or disrespectfully, there’d indeed be some words to be had. Skitter wouldn’t stand around and let that happen. That said, I don’t think it’s that hospital – because I’d like to think Tattletale would have at least warned them this was their best option and that they should go there. No way she wouldn’t be aware there’d be some objections if they found out later where they had been taken to. No, this must be some other place.

Apparently Skitter has decided this is Medhall, because she declares she’s not leaving Dinah in their care. Where are you even going to go, Skitter? This girl needs medical attention! No wonder you were the one most likely to cause trouble, you’re doing it right now. Dinah doesn’t seem very excited about Skitter taking her to who knows where, being quiet enough she realizes something’s up. Dinah is anxious about something.

She was afraid?  Was it the impending withdrawal?

I mean...she started getting quiet after Skitter started talking about taking her away to somewhere else. If I had to guess, she may be afraid of undergoing withdrawal in a place with no good medical attention. Relapsing would be very likely if that happens, I’d say. That’s plenty of reason to be freaking out, in my opinion.

“Okay,” I said.  “Chance we come out of this okay?”

“Sixty four point two percent chance.”

“And chance the rest of the city does?”

“…Not as high.  It depends how I ask the question, but if I do-“

I suppose they’re talking about the situation with Noelle, not the immediate ‘we’ll look for better attention for you’ situation. In that case, sixty four percent isn’t too bad! I certainly was expecting worse odds, given how strong Noelle likely is. Then again, ‘we’ may be only including Skitter and Dinah. At most all of the Undersiders. It doesn’t clarify if Brockton Bay in general will be fine, or if there will be a lot of casualties, or something.

...at least I’ll take the consolation this means the Undersiders likely are surviving anything Noelle does. That’s comforting.

“No.  I get it.  If you could ballpark it?”

“Eighteen point two two five eight percent.”

“Okay.  There’s going to be some catastrophic damage, then?”

“It’s very likely.”

Wow, the odds of the rest of the city coming out of this okay are as low as I expected. Noelle is going to be a destructive force! And since Mr. Wildbow isn’t afraid of making consequences and trouble hit as hard as possible, I’m taking for granted there will be a lot of structural damage and both civilian and parahuman casualties. I’ll still take comfort in that the Undersiders are likely to survive, although I don’t expect them to be uninjured, really. As if they need more injuries, hah!

What isn’t clear right now is what are the circumstances behind the number Dinah just gave. I imagine she went for the highest odds, but what leads to them? She can’t see for sure, I imagine, but...but if the odds dramatically shift upwards or downwards I imagine she’ll inform them, to tell them to stop whatever decision they took, or to tell them they’re doing something right. If she still can communicate, that is. She’s running out of energy.

“Fifty eight point five,” Dinah said, and there was a hint of emotion in her voice.

“What?  What’s that number?”

“It’s my chance of getting home.”

“Why is it so low?”

My immediate thought is that the withdrawal hit her harder than expected, even if she doesn’t relapse in the future. What’s the timeframe in this prediction? The near future, or does she mean overall? Like...are there really more than forty percent odds she never returns home? It could be Coil won’t be the only one to take an interest on her powers. Just in case she and her family should consider relocating. Anything so Dinah doesn’t get captured for her powers again.

She shrugged.

Did that mean she didn’t know, or she wasn’t willing to use her power to find out?

Then I sensed her lean slightly away from me, and I got an inkling why.

Me.

Oh.

…

…the odds are waaaaay too high. I won’t lie, I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact there are more than forty percent odds Skitter will keep Dinah captive for so long she never returns home. I don’t think she would treat her as badly as Coil did, but I doubt that’d make Dinah any happier.

Say, could it be some of the trouble Dinah sees Skitter causing is related to she trying to get away with Dinah? Or could it be the act of taking Dinah out of this maybe-Medhall is something that eventually leads to Dinah never returning home? That’d explain why she got quiet all of a sudden. Skitter freaking out without hard evidence may have increased the odds. Either way, this should make Skitter reconsider, and hopefully keep herself away from Dinah. If Dinah wants to help, then she will. Forcing her is just not going to be good.

If she was sick, after all, I could look after her while dealing with the situation.  Just a week of keeping Dinah close, drawing on her abilities to help everyone, and to ensure her safety.  With that in mind, and the way she’d clutched at me for security, I’d been assuming she’d stay with me for just a little while.

I have a lot of faith on Skitter’s skills and what not, but I really, really doubt she’s equipped to deal with the withdrawal Dinah would undergo. No, she’s really underestimating how it’ll be, I’m sure of that. Besides, one week? Given how often trouble happens in this story, that week will turn into two weeks, then one month, then two months...and so and so. No wonder Dinah never returns, always having to answer questions for Skitter.

But, you know, that Skitter is realizing all this makes me have hope. Skitter has been crossing her personal boundaries, but I don’t think she’s so far gone she would do anything to Dinah. Soon Skitter should realize she’s a danger and she’ll leave Dinah alone. Hopefully.

This makes Skitter ask Dinah to listen, and promises her she won’t be like Coil, she won’t keep Dinah at hand for the greater good or for any other reason. If any danger comes their way, she’ll face it. She’ll make it so Dinah goes home. She doesn’t say ‘I promise’, but it’s implicit. Dinah thanks her, which I suppose means she believes her. Good!

And that’s the end of the chapter. Alright! First chapter for the Noelle trouble!  It’s a moment of calm before things get hectic again. I don’t expect it to last long, maybe just a chapter or two more. Either way, I have to stop here! Hopefully the next update won’t take as long as this one did!

Next time: in seven updates

[avoutput]

Final Fantasy VII Legacy || Remake Review

This is the 2nd out of 3 articles. Find the first here.

Enough with the flowery language. No more ancient memories of times passed. No more wasted passages on the origin of Final Fantasy VII. I am not some little kid sitting crossed-legged in front of a 13-inch tube TV, but a man sitting in a lightly used office chair he found by the apartment dumpster several years ago. I have grown. The gaming world has grown. And Final Fantasy has grown. But is it the kind of growth you imagined? Does this game shed the dead weight of its numbered younger siblings? Does it recreate an experience from your childhood? Is it an innovative gaming experience that redefines the RPG like its genesis? Is breathing life into one of the most provocative modern gaming death’s worth the exhumation? These are the questions swimming in my head while I waited for the release of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, a deeply marked touchstone in my life. And after having completed my run through the game, I had some thoughts I needed to organize and share. I need to decide: Is this a proper run, a proper update, a proper remake? Or is it just a repurposed chair found by the dumpster?

Let me clarify a few things. First, this is going to be a straight review of the game with little-to-no spoilers. Second, this is the 2nd in a series of 3 articles I decided to write, with the final article being a no-holds-barred, spoiler frenzy discussing the outcomes of this game and many other Final Fantasy’s. In this article, we are going to be looking at what the game did well, what it was mediocre at, and lastly, what was downright disappointing. Each section will bleed into each other a bit because the games components bleed into each other a bit, which feels a little odd for a JRPG, but this isn’t ye-old JRPG. Let’s get right to it.

RE-KWARK!-ABLE! I MEAN REMARKABLE.

Before we tear this game down, let’s spend some time building it up. The standout component of this game was very clearly the battle system. The transition is seamless and the frenzy begins almost immediately. What surprised me right off the bat is how easy it was to not only switch between characters, but how simply it was to tell them what to do. I thought slowing down the battle to issue commands was going to be a nuisance, but it really helped balance out the pace of the battle. You can assign 4 hotkeys that let you keep the battle going without slowing down to strike at an enemies weakness. I did find that it felt a little useless to assign anything other than your weapon skills, because spells take a little time to cast and most of the time you are going to want to pick a specific spell based on the enemies weakness, but that is totally up to your playstyle. 

In the vein of the battle system, boss fights were engrossing and detailed. It felt like they spent a lot of time thinking about which moments in the Midgar timeline would make the best boss battles and how exactly they would design the bosses moveset and structure based not only on what the boss was, but where the boss was. In one chapter, you fight a boss that is nearby some train tracks. At a certain point in the battle, it will electrify the track, and if you are standing on it, you get major damage. Enemy types also had a pretty consistent set of weaknesses, so you didn’t have to go into the bestiary menu to determine what spell would most likely take it down. But on the other hand, the Assess ability is crucial in understanding some of the more minute methods to hitting the enemy weakness. It was actually a delight to try and fight both with and without it. Like everything else in the battle, the menu comes up with a single button press and no load time. It gives you time to read and strategize your attacks.

In some other reviews I had been reading, people had complained about a feature I loved. Using spells and abilities requires you to have your ATB gauge filled, which will fill with time, but fills much faster if you are attacking. The complaint was that the AI isn’t particularly good at attacking when you aren’t using them, and not only that, they don’t receive the ATB fill bonus from attacking, it simply takes them time. However, because transition between characters is instantaneous, I believe that the designers did this as an incentive to use each character as often as possible. This isn’t the only incentive for this either. Every weapon for each character has a single skill that can be learned from it. To learn it, you have to use a skill. Again, to use the skill the ATB gauge has to be filled. Most battles in the game go by quickly, especially once you know the enemies weakness, so you need to build ATB fast and activate the skill. Without telling you, the game basically created an environment where it's not only necessary to switch between characters and learn their playstyles, but almost necessary. What’s more, every character is somewhat unique, especially Barret and Aerith, and certain types of enemies (flying or distance based, ect) are much easier to handle with the right character. All around, the battle system is an absolute standout and easily the best part of the game.

Without giving anything away, another strong part of the game is the scenario design. I was driven to hear more, see more, and do more in this game. The characters a crisp and vibrant, even when they lack depth. They are undeniably “cool” or “cute” or whatever their main adjective should be for the given scenario. The voice acting in both the Japanese and English versions are great, though the Japanese version from time to time has a different take on some of the characters than the English, it's still a blast. Every moment that leads into a battle with a signature villain is thoroughly enjoyable. I don’t think you absolutely need to have played the original to enjoy these moments, but more on that later. What it really comes down to is this game has some pretty great pacing because even when it fumbles, it doesn’t stop you from wanting to play more. The battle system element just propels you forward and hearing what crazy thing is going to happen next is more than enough to make up for follies.

This is sad to say, but there really is only one more exceptional item to mention. The return of Nobuo Uematsu. The soundtrack of this game was already pretty well designed in the original. Coming back to it was more than just a nostalgic walk down memory lane. It was like coming home and realizing your parent’s upgraded your house to a mansion with room service, a full staff, and a kitchen that's open 24 hours a day stocked with everything you desire. And it isn’t just that the music was remastered, it flows in and out of the game with masterful timing. Multiple versions of each song were recorded so that movements in the song crescendo at the exact moment your Cloud lands a hit or Reno and Rude jump from a helicopter. It made every moment of the game feel like so much more than just an average confrontation. There are a few moments that even made me laugh. There is a hip-hop inspired Chocobo theme that made me smile both for how odd it was and how awful it should have been received, but somehow it just slaps. If you pay attention you might notice some of the music is more reminiscent of other entries in the series with two standouts in particular, one sounding like Final Fantasy XII and another like Final Fantasy XIII, two very different scores. But it felt right at home in this modernized version of Final Fantasy VII. There is also a music collection sidequest that is mostly made up of jazzy remakes of classic Final Fantasy VII songs. These are less remarkable, but still good for the most part. Part of the issue with these songs is it is played through some kind of fuzzy record player speaker overlay, which I found annoying and distorting.

MISSED THE KWARK! I MEAN MARK.

I would say that almost everything else in this game missed the mark in some way or another. Some are just shy of a home run, others are baseline grounders, and some are just straight fouls. Either way, they could have used more attention or a different direction in my opinion. And I want to start with something I almost never complain about in video games: the graphics. Talking about graphics is usually pointless. People who are after ridiculous levels of fidelity always seem to believe this either makes or breaks the game. In Remake, that might actually be true for once. I am not a graphics designer, but one thing I noticed and couldn’t stop noticing is that there were so many different levels of graphical fidelity all smashed into one place. In some scenes, there were gorgeous details, like the entirety of Aerith’s house area, but then you get to the flowers, it's like 1997 again. In other moments, like when looking down at the Midgar Slums from the upper plate, it is clearly a very flat and stretched image meant to look three-dimensional like the other things around you, but the image was just off. Doors on buildings would look like garbage compared to the floor or walls in the room. It was just very clear that a once over on all the different assets would have helped out quite a bit. The problem wasn’t that the graphics were good or bad, but that they were inconsistent. It was like looking at photo-realistic drawing with some Picasso in the middle. The character models were so well done, when the interacted with this space, it was just jarring. Again, not awful, just missed the mark.

With such a well maintained battle system, you would think the menu system would be equally flawless, but it wasn’t. The main UI where you would outfit your party was a bit of a mess. For one, there was no way to go from upgrading your weapon to equipping it or vice-versa. They had completely separate menus for both that didn’t lead to each other. Then there is the upgrade menu itself, wherein you select upgrades in a similar way to FFXIII crystal upgrade menu. When you choose the weapon, it takes you to a completely different screen and makes this loud noise and transition effect. It's annoying to read and to navigate. You can bypass this by having the computer choose your upgrades for you, but that really felt like I was missing out. It would have been a huge improvement just to list the abilities and have me choose from the same menu I chose everything else. It was unnecessarily fancy and kind of an eyesore. Equipping materia got a small upgrade from the original game, wherein you can press a button to see and switch out materia with everyone, but this should have just been THE menu, not an extra button press. They also should have categorized the materia, letting you choose which type you wanted to look at instead of having to scroll through line after line. The menu also doesn’t give you simple information in places where you could use it, like what chapter you are in. To know, you have to go to the save menu. It could have simply been listed next to the playtime in the bottom corner.

There are even certain materia that are hard to understand, specifically the Enemy Skill materia. In the old game it would list which skills you had obtained. This one didn’t give you any idea what you had obtained and what exactly was obtainable. After a while I figured out that in the bestiary, although it would tell you which monster had a skill you could get, it wouldn’t exactly say if you had it. Turns out that if the skill was highlighted green on the enemy skills screen (another button press away), you didn’t have it, if it was blue, you did. Then, to see which skills you had in total, you had to go to the party screen and it would be listed under your abilities if they were wearing the materia. Not only that, the skill would have a different name than the skill the enemy used, the naming convention wasn’t 1-to-1. Add to this, materia sometimes have very obscure instructions or descriptions. The battles can go by so fast, it's hard to even notice the effect of them if something isn’t exploding or outwardly obvious. In fact, many of the instructions are weird in the game. If you die in a series of fights where they are linked, it will ask if you want to go back to the first fight or the last fight. Choosing the first actually sends you back to before you started the series and you can adjust your equipment, which is fine, but in a normal fight, if you die, you can only go back to the fight and it doesn’t let you modify your equipment. It's a simple inconsistency but the text and cursor placement also make it hard to understand exactly what is going to happen.

Finally, all the smaller issues. There are too many places where the game has you “walk” for no particular reason. You just slow down. I thought it might be due to loading, but it happens in places where no story or anything appears to be happening next. Summon materia is already maxed and it doesn’t feel like it helps all that much, even when the enemy is weak to them. The game design is set up so that whichever character you are currently playing as the only thing enemies are interested in attacking, especially if someone isn’t using provoke. So, your summon simply attacks, and to do it's better attacks, you have to sacrifice ATB. Mostly this is fine, it creates balance, but i’d prefer they came and left like in the original. In fact, I have hated all summon mechanics since FFX. They need to come, do damage, and be gone. But I have to admit, this is the best marriage of the two versions. Next, the choices you make that alter certain outcomes in the game are so far away from the thing you are altering, and at times not clear. This could have been more fun had they given you a bit more of control or some kind of gauge to show you what was going on, but in a way, it was true to its roots, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Lastly, having to aim the camera to interact with items that are just outside of its view is just annoying. That coupled with the random moments you have to hold “triangle” for a series of switches always rubbed me the wrong way.

DOWNRIGHT DISAPPOINTING… uh.. kwark.

Final Fantasy VII Remake obviously has a great foundation and pretty great framework. The music is great, it's a blast to play, and the characters really resonate. But there are still some aspects of this game that make it feel a little less than game of the year. These complaints might be less of an issue than I am making it. The game is what it is, and I am easily going to clock in at about 90 hours for both regular and hard modes. Still. STILL. There are just a few things that were completely disappointing, and not just from an old fan, but as a current gen gamer.

My biggest complaint is married together and baked into the design of the game, namely Midgar and Chapters. Final Fantasy has always felt like it was about exploring not just a story, but the world it exists in. In the first 9 entries to the series, this was done by giving the player a chance to get lost on its world map, looking for towns, roaming through forests. You had to use your imagination to fill the gaps, but that wasn’t a bad thing. As the entries iterated, the worlds got bigger, and so did their stories. They had lore and depth. With the release of 10, this all changed. In the 10th game, the story was suddenly on rails, the only direction you could move in was forward. It took all of the exploration away in favor of level design and pacing. I remember thinking that this was the beginning of the end for a series I loved. With the release of 12, it felt a little better, but mostly it was just an offline version of the massively popular MMORPG formula. It felt more rote and less like exploration. With the 13th entry, it was back to the rails. It began to feel like the creators sought only to make an experience where the characters and story where the vehicle, and the world was just the background. In 15, this would change somewhat, but it was also an experiment for them that ended in failure. They tried to give us an open world governed by a chapter system. But, despite their best efforts, they couldn’t breathe life into the world of 15. They tried to spread the world and its characters across too many dimensions. There was an anime series, a full length movie prequel, missing chapters introduced as DLC, and even a mobile game. A broken chimera. I think the success of 10 and their failure to create a modern, open world game is what ended up making 7 Remake what it is. A game on rails.

Before the games release, the game designers touted that Midgar was now a place that could be fully experienced. For me, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. It was just a series of narrow hallways masquerading as a city. The people in the background make noise and act like they live there, but they don’t move, goto work on a schedule, ride the trains, or even run stores. You can’t interact with them. They are just mouthpieces. Because the game runs by chapters, you have almost no ability to explore anything that doesn’t have to do with the immediate story. The characters will chide you for going the “wrong direction” and the game will outright stop you from wandering too far. “No no, you fool, the GAME is over HERE”. In the original game, Midgar is partially just an introduction to the world, characters, and battle system. But really, it was the beating heart of the entire game world and story just as much as the characters that live in it and run Shinra. The remake seems to have forsaken that in favor of story beats. Outside of a few distinct places, most of Midgar just feels like window dressing. Wall Market is obviously a delight, but the entirety of Midgar should have been like Wall Market. You should be able to get lost in the back streets or take the wrong train. Shinra headquarters gives you little glimpse into the way people on the upper plates live and work, but yet again they are just mannequins. 

Games today give you vibrant open worlds to explore. You can jump on rooftops and glide over large swaths of land. The way in which Midgar was designed leaves little to the imaginationa as compared to the original. The graphics are crisp and every pipe and air conditioner feels like they might actually do something, but you can’t follow that pipe anywhere or walk down alleyways and talk to vagrants. Old games got a pass on size and depth because their limitations were obvious, often baked into whatever the genre was. If it was a brawler, you walk down streets beating people up. In racer, you play the track. But RPG’s were one of the few where you would be expected to explore the edges of its world. With new generation games, the choice to stop exploration in a RPG feel less like a limitation of raw power and more like a  design decision. I would have preferred a game in which Midgar was a place to see and explore and interact with. Where I could haggle with one vendor over something found in another. Where I could watch the day cycle send people back and forth work. But Midgar wasn’t their focus. Telling you a story was. And as fun as that was, it was so disappointing to find that the original game gave you more by letting your mind wander past its graphical limitations than the remake did do by making the decision to limit your ability to physically explore visible areas. Instead of letting a visible wall stop you from going somewhere, an invisible force just puts a stop to your antics and tells you to get back to work. Maybe it's just psychological, but it is maddening. The physical world of 7 was just as important as its story and characters, but the story got to lead the show, and to me this feels off balance and off brand.

THE TAKEAWAY

This is a good game. A well made game for the most part. It's rough in places, but not so rough that it really hurts the end result. Final Fantasy 7 Remake is actually a showcase of talent that comes out of Square-Enix and despite the fact that I feel like they either bite off more than they can chew or completely misunderstand their core fanbase, they are still great artists. I often question whether game designers at big companies are customer service machines that should give us the product we demand or artists that deserve to create in a space that we support. Remake reminds me why I am both supportive but vocal. They may never hear me, but I want to know I said something. Still, it ends up being more than the sum of its parts. The game hums along like a well made machine. It takes time to remind fans of key moments, interjects tons of surprises that don’t entirely offend its base, and ultimately is never boring. What more could you ask from a game? Well, as it turns out, a lot. And I have so much more to say about the actual story content of this game and of Final Fantasy as a whole. If I didn’t mention some aspect here, it's probably because I want to discuss it in a way that may ruin the story, so look for the 3rd and final entry next week.

[lokilickedme]

(Okay, I’m going to do this in probably 3 parts because it’s long)

So The Department sorta happened because I wanted to get back into a regular weekly-updating online fic because, frankly, two reasons:

1) I’m worn out/exhausted/a bit burned out from working on novels and very little of anything else for the last year and a half, and

2) I crave/need the instant validation of the comment section at AO3, which you don’t get when you write a book :/

So I called a break, put away my manuscripts for a couple months, and am just indulging in some fun writing for a little while.  And since I wanted something new (sorry WIPs, your time will come again) this is what we ended up with.

I don’t remember exactly what made me go with the police department premise.  The potential for assholery and rampant egomania, most likely?  Well, you know I love that shit when it hides something slightly more noble underneath...and I think I wanted a big ensemble cast because I just adore the dynamics that can occur in groups of disparate personalities who have known each other for a long time.  That way they interact when they know each others’ secrets and there’s that one person new to the group who isn’t in on any of the jokes?  Good stuff right there.

I do remember that the first ideas for this story came to me during the Professor Jeff’s Super Science Show at the library (yeah your guess is as good as mine on that but it happens literally every time).  But if I’m being honest, I’d say it probably had more to do with Benny Hill than anything.  I have this bad habit of sitting on the couch with my laptop on my knees, headphones on, head back, inventing scenes in my head that go along with whatever music I’m listening to.  I’ve got this one insane playlist full of goofy tunes my 7-year old has requested for staging Thomas The Tank Engine crash scenes (don’t ask) and on this particular night that’s what I was listening to because why not.  On that playlist is a 30-minute loop of the Benny Hill Theme.  And all I could see in my head was a foot chase on ice and snow between a female officer, an out of shape Chief of police, a giraffe-legged office assistant, and a probably methed-up wannabe criminal who didn’t actually do anything major but was running anyway because he was bored.  It struck me funny and I toyed with the idea of sticking it into something I already had started, because I do love me some chaotic slapstick.

So the next day I’m driving the boys home from the Super Science Show and I’ve been playing around with it in my head again, and it’s taking shape into something that I know I’m going to have to work with.  We pass the Pupuseria Virolena Salvadoran restaurant downtown, and I start laughing because I’m suddenly hearing David Tennant trying to say that in his Scottish accent.

On the spot I named him Hawk and made him Captain.  And now we have one of our characters, and by the time we pull up in our driveway ten minutes later I’ve got stuff needing to be written down right now.

(the rest is under the cut for length)

Chapter 1 - Prologue - Your Boatload of Bad Decisions Has Left The Harbor

I was so anxious to get into the story but it needed an introduction, or else Greta being in this podunk town wouldn’t have any weight.  So we’re introduced to our heroine, who isn’t so much a heroine as just a decent if slightly too self confident special division officer who had some bad luck.  It’s not elaborated on yet in the story, though it’s heavily referenced multiple times that she disobeyed an order and made the decision to continue a high speed pursuit that had been called off by her superior officer, the above-mentioned Captain Hawkins, whom Greta has something of a relationship with (yeah they’re screwing, what of it).  And in the wake of that decision, Greta’s partner is killed and she’s brought up on charges, suspended, ordered to counseling, and finally shipped off to a small town in Minnesota so she can keep working while her final fate is decided by an investigative committee back in LA.

The opening chase scene was written from things I learned when I was a kid and my dad did vehicle tweaks for the Fort Worth police department from his auto shop.  The officers used to hang out drinking Cokes and telling stories while dad made (possibly illegal) modifications to their cars.  I was there a lot, sitting under his work bench with my books and pencils, listening to everything and remembering it all.  And I thought it was so damn cool.  So here we are.  What else was I gonna do with that information?  Might as well put it to use if it’s gonna be taking up real estate in my head for all these years.

For the record, I really liked Greta’s partner Joe and hated to kill him - but we needed a catalyst, and the cheerful best friend who sings Italian arias during chases while joyfully blasting out windshields is always gonna be the loser in the goner lottery.  For once the male hero dies to further the female lead’s storyline.

Heh, take that Marvel.

Anyway, sorry Joe.  There will be more about you in later chapters, so...gone but not forgotten.

Chapter 2 - Minnewhatever

This part starts out with the last bit of backstory we need to proceed.  Hawk sending Greta off to Minnesota, a place whose name she never does remember or say correctly.  She doesn’t figure she’s actually going to be there long enough to bother learning it, but Hawk informs her that her exile is likely to last at least a year, and he gives her very little reassurance that she won’t be serving every minute of her sentence.

Greta’s feeling a little betrayed here.  She and Hawk have been sort of a thing for a while, friends and colleagues and lovers, but he’s washing his hands of the entire situation and she’s left angry and a bit bereft.  But she still figures he’ll do something to get her out of it, if she’s patient and behaves herself in the new place.

Fast forward to day one in Weemeetwa.  While drowning her aggravation in a bottle of the good stuff, Greta meets her first new acquaintance and decides to just go with the cranky fuck-it attitude that she’s been harboring since the incident, gets shitfaced, and goes home with the guy.  This might have been a dual-purpose shag; Greta’s still feeling betrayed and abandoned by Hawk, so it’s a screw-you that he’ll never find out about - but that doesn’t stop it from feeling good in a vengeful sort of way.  Plus it’s cold and she’s alone and the guy - Andy, a tall sweet longhaired cutiepie with an Irish accent - is all too willing to buy her a drink and take her home for some cuddles.

In the morning Greta wakes up in a strange place full of groaning regret and ends up giving Andy a ride to the station.  She doesn’t count on seeing him again, so there’s no breath wasted on goodbyes.

Chapter 3 -  A Logging Truck, A Mountain, and A Blonde Walk Into A Bar

Now we meet most of the department.  Creeley, a gruff roughhouser with a rude streak forty miles wide, Sarah, the only other female in the department and possibly the only person alive who can keep the boys under control, Kevin, the quiet dispatch agent with an impressive mountain impersonation skill, and finally (for the moment) Chief, the slightly too good-looking and highly put-upon boss of them all.

I knew I wanted Tom Hiddleston to play Chief Tommy Davis.  This is Kong Skull Island-era Hiddleston crossed with The Night Manager, with a handful of extra pounds around the middle and a frustrated sigh that goes on forever.  He’s meant to be an ex hockey player who was waylaid on his way to the major leagues, so he’s strong and sturdy, but an injury benched him years ago and a career in small-town law enforcement has put him a bit to pasture.  Middle aged, somewhere between 40 and 45.  He’s got some stuff in his past but he’s happy now, for the most part, just living his life watching over the town.

Jason Momoa is Bobby Creeley, for obvious reasons.  I knew I wanted a rowdy, rude, loudmouthed team member that’s always crossing everyone, but who everyone knows will be there no matter what if anything goes down.  He’s instantly Greta’s nemesis from the moment she walks in the door.  Gigantic and shaggy with a permanently amused nature and a fear of literally nothing, he’s simultaneously everyone’s best friend and worst enemy.

Sarah Lancashire has been finding her way into a lot of my fics lately as side characters, so it’s no surprise she ended up here as Sarah Pearl.  Steely, tough, and highly immune to the idiocy around her, Sarah is the worn out voice of common sense that the department is running perilously short on.  She’s also my first and foremost girl crush, and I’ll admit right now that I wrote an AU ending almost immediately that involved Sarah and Greta ending up together.  It would be natural to assume Sarah would fall into the default role of mom to the group, but there’s a whole lot of oh hell nope wrapped around that trope.  She would set them all on fire if anyone would let her have some matches, but Chief made a rule against that a long damn time ago.

Dave Bautista has been hanging around the back door of my muse stable for the longest, just minding his own business and waiting his turn, but I never really had any place to stick him.  Well Drax, your time has come baby.  I chose him to play Kevin Saylor based on his GoTG scene in which he tries to convince the crew he’s invisible.  And that’s Kevin, in a nutshell.  Huge and intimidating but quiet and intensely matter-of-fact in manner, he’s in charge of dispatch and immediately inspires Greta’s hatred of using the radio.

My first (and really only) faceclaim for Greta Morley was Zoe Saldana, but I waffled briefly for a couple of weeks, trying to cater to a few readers who told me they wanted to imagine themselves in the role.  I planned to stick with that, and I tried, I promise I did.  But every time Greta opened her mouth I heard Zoe, and by the time she went on her less than fleet-footed pursuit of Wilson with the longsuffering Andy by her side, she was locked in.  Greta’s harboring some serious regret and raw emotional wounds from her not too distant past, and some time out in the American Midwest should be a much needed recovery sabbatical.  Should be.  But isn’t gonna.

Speaking of Andy...Andrew Hozier-Byrne was and is the only person I ever considered for the role of Andy Burns.  Too tall, too clumsy, too cute, too sweet, just a whole bunch of too everything - he was perfect for the role and I may or may not have written it exclusively for him.  Okay yeah, I wrote it exclusively for him.  Andy’s the local cryptid, nobody really knows a lot about him.  He may or may not be a drug dealer.  He may or may not be officially employed by the police department.  He may or may not be Irish or hypoglycemic or a blackout drunk or as goofy as he seems.  Nobody really knows, and to be honest nobody really cares, because if you need it done Andy can do it...if he can remember you asked him to do it.

So Greta has arrived, for better or for worse.  Cree immediately starts in with the sexist remarks and butchering her name, a favor she returns by embarking on what will become a neverending trail of obliterated mis-renderings of the town’s name.  Creeley and Kevin kick off another of many running gags by arguing over whether or not anyone knew she was coming, and before things can get too stupid, Chief makes his first appearance.

And now things start to get interesting.

To be continued at chapter 4, Randy Andy and The Chief of Weemeetwa

@whatevervivie