#it was originally a placeholder name until I could think of something better

[warningsine]

Now that we’ve gotten to the end of Girls5eva season three, there’s just 6 much we’ve seen the girl group sing about: the hotness of boys in space, UTIs, knee surgery. But in the quest to be famous 5eva, one song has to be No. 1. Using a highly scientific process known as “listening to my own taste,” I ranked the output of Girls5eva thus far, focusing both on whether the songs are good as stand-alone songs and whether they are actually funny. For the sake of clarity, I stuck to the music available on the show’s official cast recordings, which does leave off several gems we only hear for a few seconds onscreen. (Why didn’t we get a studio version of Dawn’s song where she uses every possible definition of the word “set”? This is a question I can only yell fruitlessly at the screen and hope for a response.) Until then, we will make do with this list of the excellent Girls5eva material that is available on a music-streaming service near you.

32) “U Ready?” A filler song that is itself a joke about filler songs, you have to admire the number of ways the Girls5eva writers have the group stall for time. The delivery is very funny, and we get all the girls (including Ashley Park) doing their best ready-for-MTV voices to confirm they are, indeed, “in the house” and “ready.” However, the concept is better as an elaborate joke than a song, per se. Best line: “If you’re ready, could you say ‘ready’? Because you could be ‘in the house’ and not ‘ready.’”

31) “Home Alone Doorknob” This is barely a song, but man, it’s a funny metaphor for what happens to your clitoris when you get horny. Best line: “It’s gonna get sexy, so watch out, Joe Pesci!”

30) “The Splingee” Another exercise in specific girl-group humor, Girls5eva describes how to do a “dope” dance move that is supposedly taking the world by storm. It involves whipping your hair, doing figure eights with your waist, blinking with two eyes, and getting all shy like you want to cry. The instructions end with the note that “the only thing left to do is repeat it two more times to make one complete splingee.” Honestly, it sounds like a home workout I should try. Best line: “Grind up on a ghost, then shake it out.”

29) “Who U Know” A solo performance by Jeremiah Craft’s Lil Stinker (who later gets canceled and rebrands as a country act), this is a send-up of name-dropping rap singles, with Stinker just listing everyone he knows, from his mom to his friend’s mom to Alfre Woodard. Best line: “From Zendaya to Zen-die-a!”

28) “No Strings” Gloria spends season three trying to hook up with every type of woman, but realizes that she’s a romantic after all. Here, she’s trying to embrace a no-strings-attached dynamic through a nonsensical folk tune that’s about a couple chasing the moon in an airplane powered by love. Best line: “A morning that never came until the coroner said to the wizard ‘time of death,’ the same.”

27) “Line Up” ”This is the song that launches Girls5eva’s comeback, since Lil Stinker samples “Famous 5eva” on it. We’ll get to their original hit later on, but the Stinker side of it is pretty generic as a placeholder for the kind of song that might sample something from the early 2000s. Best line: “I know you wanna light up, forever 5eva enough.”

26) “Thinking About Myself” One of Dawn’s stabs at songwriting early in season two, this is a fairly direct ballad about self-involvement. It does have some great zealous grandstanding vocals from Renée Elise Goldsberry, though. Best line: “Crying harder than anyone at a funeral for a great-uncle I barely knew.”

25) “Space Boys” In the chronicles of Girls5eva’s adventures in dating, here we have them going on an interstellar boy-kissing mission. Sadly they don’t have a TARS to keep them company, but after checking every planet they can (including “the stars”) they find some space boys (“more exotic than a waiter from France!”). On the show, the song accompanies some flashbacks to a young Gloria trying to avoid making out with actual boys, but solely as music, it’s just a low-key sci-fi jam. Best line: “We found a planet full of girls, but we left!”

24) “Later” An empowerment song in the genre of “Brave,” sung of course by Sara Bareilles, but about procrastination. The drum and piano orchestrations are so inspiring it’s easy to ignore that the message is that you really don’t need to do anything right now. Best line: “Now’s the not the right time, let’s aim for next year when we’ll have no fear, maybe by then the problems got solved by themselves all on their own.”

23) “Boyz Next Door (Puber-Dude)” To match the queasy sexualization of the Girls5eva, this number offers up the chance to objectify the just-recently pubescent members of Boyz Next Door, who have become the “hottest boys in the cul-de-sac” with a “Backstreet’s Back”–style anthem of their own. Who could resist their thin little mustaches, awkward growth spurts, and bland conversation? Best line: “Floppy hair, greasy brow, Adam’s apple going pow-pow-pow.”

22) “Sweet’N Low Daddy” Another vault track: In season three, the adult members of Girls5eva are pretty embarrassed by the message of their old hit about the benefits of dating an older man, but man, it’s pretty catchy, so you can understand why Cat Cohen’s character took it as gospel. Their ideal daddy has parents you never need to meet because they died during Nixon, and, of course, the song ends with the crucial question: “Real talk, when are you going to die?” Best line: “Don’t need to graduate, because we’re elder bait!”

21) “Can’t Wait 2 Wait” Back in the day, Busy Phillips’s Summer and Andrew Rannells’s Kev collabed on this break-out Christian-pop single about the joys of not having sex yet. Its fun hook and a peppy atmosphere bely the sheer grossness of the overall message. Best line: “Premarital urges aren’t itches to be scratched, so look up medical oddities until those feelings pass.”

20) “Daughter Hero” Renée Elise Goldsberry gets to do a groovy ’90s ballad with Wickie in celebration of her own generosity to her mother, never mind the fact that she comes from a solidly upper-middle-class family. She buys her mom a house, a house that’s significantly less nice than the one she already has! Best line: “Daughter hero, like if Jesus had a sister!”

19) “New York City Moms” An obvious sequel to “New York Lonely Boy” (more on that below), this song brings on Ingrid Michaelson(!) to perform an ode to the women of the city who have chosen to wait to have kids. A celebration of the moms who have “bumps poking out of Eileen Fisher” and are “judged by their husband’s out-of-town sister,” the Girls5eva writers can riff endlessly on very niche New York micro-communities, and bless them for that. Best line: “Spent their 20s in a disco, still younger than moms in San Francisco.”

18) “Summer Brings the Fall” Kev’s best attempt at a torch song involves an increasingly convoluted series of attempts at wordplay that I can’t help but respect. It starts out with “thought you were for ev, thought you were for Kev, you were like whatev, now I pray to heav … for strength” and just gets more forced from there. Best line: “Thought I was your male, cause you’re my holy grail.”

17) “Is There a Me?” Season three brought Busy Philipps a short but sweet bit of soul-searching in which Summer questions if she has any identity of her own, or if her personality has just been a series of attempts to please guys. Points for Philipps showing off some vocal training, deductions for the amount of Netflix cross-marketing involved. Best line: “Do I even like The Witcher, or is it just to please a mister? And what is The Witcher? I watched 40 minutes and I’m still not sure!”

16) “Inside My Sweater” Girls5eva’s music industry gets awfully specific with its parody of a Harry Styles–type sensitive boy hounded by mobs of fans named Gray Holland, played by Gossip Girl alum Thomas Doherty (he also played a similar role on the late, lamented High Fidelity Hulu reboot). As far as sound-alikes go, this Harry–slash–Shawn Mendes low-key bob is eerily accurate but also somehow a successful earworm, especially in the way Doherty refuses to ever pronounce the “r” in “sweater.” Best line: “Come dance and cook and make sweet love with me, inside my sweater!”

15) “Welcome to Now” Doherty’s soft-boy star Gray Holland returns, against his own will, in a pop hit constructed by his label “because Clause 46B, Paragraph Q of the artist’s contract grants the company use of postmortem generative voice cloning.” It’s the funnier of the two Gray Holland songs, and the beat’s so sensual you may miss that it quickly becomes an ad for the deals available at Best Buy. Best line: “Best Buy, Best Buy, Gray Holland loves Best Buy. Tablets, projectors, and more. You’re the best, bye!”

14) “Larry’s Song” The girls get their Taylor’s Version moment with this kiss off to their former manager that references many of the show’s recurring jokes about the indignities of early aughts fame, including him promising a steak knife to whoever seduces Carson Daly. The twist by the end is that they’ve finally gotten some financial and personal control, and thus, “everything we do belongs to us.” Best line: “Only let us eat crab, cause you can’t get fat from food that’s so damn hard to get at.”

13) “At the Beep” No, you’re tearing up thinking about a fictional character who died in an infinity-pool accident. In this episode, Gloria finally gives up on her conspiracy theories about Ashley’s death and accepts that she might really be gone. (I do wonder if Ashley Park would’ve been available for a longer run in season two if Emily in Paris hadn’t gotten so big.) This results in a somber number where girls say good-bye to Ashley through her still-active (because Gloria has been paying) answering-machine service. Best line: “It should have been me.” “I did a lot of cocaine, so much cocaine.”

12) “Get It Off Your Chest” In a moment of confession and healing in season three, the women of Girls5eva share their darker secrets with each other and their audience. The result is a series of tightly written jokes from the show’s writing staff: Wickie only likes people who “like me,” “but be careful, if you like me too much, it has the opposite effect and I find you desperate,” Gloria doesn’t trust stand-up comics who are too in shape, Summer hasn’t listened to a voice-mail since 2015, and finally, Dawn delivers my favorite … Best line: “Every year when my son’s school sends out the class list with parents’ names, the first thing I do is Google them to see what they paid for their apartments.”

11) “Momentum” Starting off season two, the girls have got momentum, yeah, um, it’s their moment (bless you, Jeff Richmond) with a song that’s relatively straightforward within the Girls5eva canon but is also a solid earworm. I have to respect that groovy baseline, too. Best line: “Unstoppable, this unst-unst ain’t toppable.”

10) “Tap Into Your (Fort) Worth” A canny marketing move: The girls of 5Eva plot a way to secure a captive audience by writing a song about an American city nobody else has written a song about. The result is a clever ode to Dallas’s overlooked sister, declaring that “cow town is a wild town with a walkable downtown” and trumpeting the fact that the Trinity River is, in some places, now actually swimmable. It’s enough to make you want to consider booking a flight to DFW, maybe just as a connection, but still. Best line: “Some say Omaha Zoo is second-best, but that’s a lie because their red panda is always inside. It’s never out on the tree, yeah!”

9) “I’m Afraid (Dawn’s Song of Fears)” Sometimes you just have to let Sara Bareilles loose with a piano and sing like she’s performing “Gravity.” Here, Dawn’s attempt to write a song on her own ends with her just listing things she’s afraid of, from the fact that she might thrive under Scientology to her fear that she’ll text a pic of her vagina to her dad. There’s something very funny to me about the way Bareilles says “my hummus is fungus” and I have to own that. Best line: “I’m afraid that the second I leave town I’ll get a UTI. Why can’t they sell those pills over the counter? I don’t need a doctor, I know exactly what it is.”

8) “Yesternights” Finally, a full taste of Wickie’s solo album, a work absolutely choked by melisma and sung impeccably by Renée Elise Goldsberry. It’s, as she sings, “gorgeous and sensual” and also “life fancy,” and also “dancing, yearning.” You could probably slip it on a sex playlist and nobody would notice, and frankly, we need an eight-minute version. Best line: “But tonight, there is no night or tomorrow night / Or any future night / ’Cause you’re only in my yesternight of nights.”

7) “The Medium Time” Sara Bareilles wrote the Girls5eva’s season-three finale hit song, which is about being inspired not to aim for immense fame, but a reasonable, medium level of attention. Bareilles is so good at selling the earnest, heartfelt feeling behind the song that you may forget that the wise man who told her this advice, in the universe of the show, was actually Richard Kind. Best line: “The middle is the riddle of it all, and the medium time is just fine for now.”

6) “Dream Girlfriends” The satire of Girls5eva cuts deepest here, in this song from their original run about all the ways they’d be willing to debase themselves to appeal to men. The list includes the fact that their dads are dead, that their moms are overtired so there’ll be no pushback, that they want to watch you play darts and love watching stand-up (but not by women). “Dream Girlfriends” cuts both ways, managing to make the men it’s supposed to appeal to sound pathetic as well. The girls are short so they don’t know you’re bald! Best line: “Tell me again why Tarantino’s a genius.”

5) “Bend Not Break” Near the end of season two, the women of Girls5eva realize their best song is actually about Gloria’s knee surgery. Metaphorically, it’s really about how they have to learn to compromise and acknowledge each other’s weaknesses to support their success, but there is also literally a joke about how she uses a cane. Anyway, it’s got a groove that’s hard to shake and does really make you want to dance (carefully, in a way that doesn’t risk further knee injury). Best line: “We got our secret weapon already, and it’s got eight legs, four smiles, and a cane.”

4) “Famous 5eva” Perhaps the best theme song in the vast universe of television today, here Girls5eva embraces the joys of counting by promising they’ll be famous 5eva — ’cuz 4eva’s too short. Those synths have an addictive crunch, and there’s something about the way they describe the series of cars they’re driving in (first a Lexus, then a Mercedes and then a Maserati) that’s gleefully ridiculous. The show has to make you believe the girls really are talented, and that there’s something joyful about watching them perform. This does both. Best line: “We’re Girls5eva, could we get a high SIX?”

3) “B.P.E.” Put your hands together for a “We Are the Champions”–style celebration of big pussy energy. Girl5eva’s absurdist answer to “WAP” celebrates their “Vitamin P” with some gospel-choir-esque harmonies. And the remix, which outdoes the original, adds in some church bells to heighten the energy. It will make you tap into whatever B.P.E. you have of your own. Best line: “Square feet, I’m going for miles, upgrade, taking up the aisles, open up those classified files from the Department of Treasury.”

2) “New York Lonely Boy” The best of the Girls5eva songs in terms of straight joke-writing, “New York Lonely Boy” applies a Simon and Garfunkel sensibility to the tales of hyperarticulate soft boys who know too much about mixing plaids and the dangers of restaurants on the corner (they just try too hard). Its comedy is sort of tangential from Girls5eva’s overall focus on the music industry, but it’s so perfectly realized that it doesn’t matter. Any show that can deliver such a specific encapsulation of a type — to the extent that I now think of various former St. Anne’s students who’ve became indie celebrities (okay, just Lucas Hedges) as New York Lonely Boys — deserves to run forever. Best line: “His playground is the lobby, has a palate for wasabi.”

1) “Four Stars” If “Famous 5eva” had to establish Girls5eva as it was, then “Four Stars” has to do the work of making you believe the second iteration of the group has come into its own. It does this delightfully well, with an anthem about embracing your imperfections that includes plenty of tossed-off jokes from each of the band members. (I’m particularly fond of “women are an ocean of secrets!”) Plus there’s something great about the harmonies of everyone singing “four stars” together. I have put this on exercise playlists, and it works! Best line: “The best things in life are free, that’s why rich people never carry wallets.”

[autonomousxselves]

𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐌𝐄 𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐑

𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐒 / 𝐍𝐀𝐌𝐄: often any variation of poppy or kat or in a couple circles ari/arii/アリー, i would go out to the new nickname store again but you dont really give yourself nicknames do you? my real nickname is [REDACTED]

𝐁𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐇𝐃𝐀𝐘: October 15

𝐙𝐎𝐃𝐈𝐀𝐂 𝐒𝐈𝐆𝐍: Libra

𝐇𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓: 5'3

𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐁𝐈𝐄𝐒: Reading, gaming (mainly rpgs or puzzles or psychological horror), crocheting my touys and such, and sometimes when im not lazy learning languages such as Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, and now Spanish

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑: Pink :3

𝐅𝐀𝐕𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊: The Bible. and also Stravaganza: City of Masks (the whole series). and also The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom. and also

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐒𝐎��𝐆: technically In The End but if you count what i purposely chose and not just let spotify run, The Killing Kind

𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐌𝐎𝐕𝐈𝐄 / 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖: Smiling Friends / Hamilton (sister watched it back in the day so we had a few drinks and she explained the fandom the whole way lol)

𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃: a lot of persona manga for icons on this blog, i think the last physical book i read was either...Riverstar's Home or Persona 5 anthologies....i sound like a loser

𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: Things™. i dont really know what inspires me regarding character choice or rp ideas, it could be reading something else or seeing something irl or just daydreaming/dreaming. just imagine yusuke sitting quietly and suddenly shouting "I MUST DEPICT THIS ON CANVAS" and thats me. although something that does tend to happen is my brain shyly asking "which character isn't currently being played?" it feels like I get to enjoy a character i like and fit a nice niche for others or fill out a team (example: in an Omori rp group there was no Hero so i played him and have not regretted it once.) it leads to fun vast differences where i can enjoy both popular and uncommon characters such as Aigis and Nanako in the same place

𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐁𝐄𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐃 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐔𝐑𝐋: i was looking for words regarding jungian psychology that fits persona games, i really liked the phrase autonomous self but knew this would be a multi blog. i originally planned this to be a placeholder until i found a better, easier name but i had already given my url to my good friend quillheel who shared it and i got followed by tons of kind rpers before i could think of something else, and i didnt want to confuse everyone who followed by immediately changing lol. i almost still want to change it but never looked into a better name

𝐅𝐔𝐍 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐓: my favorite characters to write somehow tend to end up being aus/canon divergent/heavily headcanoned/spin off versions of canon characters. Personality only faintly matters as i care about that character at some point. i dont know how i havent written anyone on this blog like this yet (i have mentioned them before at least such as sees ryoji), but i do have one new thread with shadow op Ken lol. this is a cry for help.

Tagged by: several people saying "you do it" on my dash lol

Tagging: @quillheel as a callout for my url thing /j /lh ❤️ and @musesofthesun for fun. whichever of you who reads this part and needs an excuse to do it can either tag me or just steal it :3

[thefuchsianeko]

Old character that I haven't drawn in a long time, needed to draw her again (after all, she is a recurring character in my Small Dot On The Map series). Snake-lady with arms, very strange.

Redesigned her a little; also, the name "Madame Something" was originally a placeholder name until I could think of something better, but it's grown on me. It's silly enough and gets across the idea that she's a mysterious figure.

(I'll make a page for her on my Refsheet.com, I'll update this post with a link once I do)

[sleeplesslark]

For the ask game!!!

🔪 and ☁️ and 🌸!

Thank you for the ask Prim!

Do I have any pets:

Sorry this took so long, got this at work so I needed to wait to get a pic of a cat. I live with my family so he isn't my cat but I do live with him.

Sleepy baby

Where did I get my name:

So before The Hollow One, I went by a name I came up with at 12 or 13 for an mmo. At around 19 I decided I needed a new name.

At the time I was working on an original fiction wip called The Hollow Ones. I used it as a placeholder until I thought of something better but it stuck. Longer than the wip did actually. It'd feel weird to change it now, Hollow is just my online name.

Weirdest thing I've researched for a fic:

Mine is going to be pretty mundane. At one point I was trying to write a work that used to be original, but at the time was a pokemon fanfic, a pokemon called Mesprit removed someone's ability to feel happiness and I was trying to figure out how that'd work. I ended up dropping the fic and the concept.

I didn't feel like I could handle it without it turning into ablism. I think I asked you about it in fact. I kinda wanna try tackling it again though? Hm. We'll see.

There's one other research thing I wanna mention, but if anyone else wants to send an ask it's this post

Medical under the cut

For a more recent fic I was trying to figure out what would happen if Naruto’s rasengan actually damaged Kabuto as intended with minimal healing.

This scene

For reference, this is what the technique does to a water tower.

Now, the fic was meant to be some good ol' hurt comfort. Naruto helping Kabuto recover after and how it seeing the rasengan tear someone apart might affect his fight with Sasuke. I had a few scenes planned out.

I figured out based on location, Kabuto's stomach would probably be pierced, so stomach acid would be an issue. The spin on the technique would probably have some kind of affect. He would probably lose a rib and his spine. And then I realized Kabuto probably just dies.

I also realized I'd need an actual doctor or someone with medical knowledge who knows Naruto to help and since idk anyone like that...well....the idea got dropped.

[m0ther-of-p3arl]

soooo i'm thinking of writing an au

just gonna throw that out there so yall won't be surprised if i randomly throw a fic or seven in your faces <3

FOR REFERENCE: this is gonna be a long post of me talking about shit i wanna write, it's mostly for my future self to look back and so i have all my thoughts in one place (i'm unorganized ok) and im publishing it so it's easier to find, but this is really mostly for my personal benefit in the future but if you all find it interesting yay thats great :)

anyhow

if i /do/ write an au, and that's a big if as my irl friends know about this acc and the teasing i could endure would be /endless/, it would be:

empires s1, with maybe some traffic characters thrown in- i don't feel like wc meshes very well with empires (else i would add it), unless the witchcraft witches were like at gem's academy or s2 shubble's witch school (OOOH that's an idea in and of itself lol

probably flower husbands based, or maybe mean gills, as they're slowly clawing up my mcyt ship tierlist... i'll have to think a bit on that one, but scott will most likely be the main character, cuz he was my very very first exposure to the wonderful world of empires and mcyt in general (found him through lauren, watched ep 1 of empires s2 and was hooked)

only very loosely based on canon events, i'd more be wanting to play around with the characters. therefore, out of the 3 ideas i have (more on that in a bit) i'd be more inclined to pick the more modern-day ones- though there would be fantasy elements of course like babe its empires

i have 3 main ideas that i feel like i could use- i'll put em in a poll if yall wanna vote, more info on each of them underneath

so yeah the first two are awfully similar- the main difference being that in the first option, the characters would be teachers, and in the second, students. imma go through all these a lil more in-depth, as i have ideas for all of them and i wanna see which one you all would rather read and i shall weigh that in on which one i'll (possibly) (ALLEGEDLY) write

teachers: scott is a teacher/the headmaster (i'll decide which later) at empires university (PLACEHOLDER NAME i swear i will come up with a better one) (probably) and jimmy is a new teacher who's just come onto the scene. he continually messes things up and scott is fed up with him and so they have a CHAT but obviously scott is traumatized by something in his past probably xornoth related or relating to one of the death games (life series) and jimmy is just CUTE but scott doesn't realize it and scott goes on being dumb about it and there is ANGST and such

students: basically the same general plot, but scott lives with horrible parents and jimmy becomes a reprieve and they become like best friends but they both have a secret crush on eachother (like in trust au omdsfksjdlkf go read it right now stop reading this rambling post and go read trust au SO GOOD SLDKFJ its by @/thetomorrowshow) and eventually scott is living at jimmy's house full time (jimmy has a cod tank in his room bc ofc) and then stuff happens heehhehehe no spoilers but again: ANGST

the main deal with these is there's ANGST (but also fluff because the two go hand in hand)

war: this is the main different one sooo it's set in the original empires world, but the cod empire and rivendell have been at war for decades and scott and jimmy hate each other but THEN they like meet one day and neither realizes who the other is until too late because they've never seen each other in real life and it's blasphemy and they like each other and all that yadayadayada ANGST

ummmmm anyway that's my fucking long rambling post done good graciousness this is the longest post i've ever done- anyway let me know (or don't, again, for my personal benefit) which one you would rather read and if any of them sound engaging at all- personally, i'm leaning towards students or war over teachers, i was full-in students but now i have so many great ideas for the war one- god i'm so messed up

that will be all

farewell

[rosietrace]

✨For anyone you feel like talking about ;)

Mercie, you're giving me too much power,,,, 😈

Oc ask game

˚₊· ͟͟͞➳❥ Freyah De La Rose, Heartslabyul first year (15/16)

✑ ✨ — How did you come up with your oc's name?

For this question, I decided to go with my first twst oc ever, Freyah!

��� . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Her first name, ‘Freyah’ is very obviously a typo. One that actually wasn't deliberate during her conception!

I was originally going to name her ‘Fiona’, but eventually settled for ‘Freya’. Although misspelled, I actually preferred the version I chose instead of the correct spelling of the name

It helped differentiate Freyah from my other ocs, and is actually rather in character, as in her (very unfinished but acceptable enough) lore, her father ended up misspelling name!

➜ When excluding the ‘h’ in ‘Freyah’, the name means ‘A Noble woman’ in Scandinavian, Norse. The name itself derives from ‘Freyja’, the name of the Norse Goddess of Love and Fertility. Given the theming of hearts in Heartslabyul, the name felt all the more fitting to me ^^

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Peitho was chosen as Freyah's middle name instead of ‘Venus’, which was then given to Frisk before changing it to ‘Lily’

➜ Her second name ‘Peitho’ is the name of the Greek Goddess that personifies ‘Persuasion, and Seduction’ [ Taken directly from Freyah's character profile ]

Odd name choice, but the Persuasion part is more significant to Freyah's character than the Seduction part

Given Freyah's cheerful but awfully nosy nature, she happens to be a little bit more persuasive than necessary to get what she wants! (According to my notes, she's noted as Heartslabyul's darling because of how doting Riddle and Trey are to her)

And plus, Peitho sounded pretty to me and I thought it sounded nice next to ‘Freyah’ (Still do!)

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Her last name, “De La Rose”, was originally meant to be a placeholder until I found something more suitable

➜ Her last name, “De La Rose” means “Of the rose” in French [ Taken directly from Freyah's character profile ]

Yup! From what I can remember when making Freyah and Frisk, their last name ‘De La Rose’ — which was ‘La Rose’ at first — was meant to be a placeholder until I could come up with something better

I was honestly pretty lazy with giving their last names, so I ended up just going “Y'know what, I'm keeping De La Rose” after giving up on trying to think of anything better 😭

Still though, I think it worked out! With the rose motifs in Heartslabyul, I like to think that their name helps them fit in a lot better! And with the ‘Rose’ in their name, it helps them be slightly more connected to Riddle 💀 but that's just my logic HSJDHSJD

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

Interpretation of meaning: “A persuasive Noble woman of the rose”

[sepublic]

            All right so the setting for my OCs, Trexdis and the kids, Arkley and the teachers, the Escapees; It’s all a fictional fantasy setting, except it eventually transitioned to a semi-futuristic modern day where most people aren’t aware magic and other weird things exist. So the planet isn’t Earth, and by extension, this world doesn’t share OUR version of humanity’s history and culture, even if there’s inevitably ‘equivalents’ and the like.

         So this does raise a dilemma when I make a reference to a real life place or person, like with Spirius-$’s obsession with Chicagoan Gangsters (leading to him name-dropping Al Capone), or characters having a ‘British’ accent. A lot of it is admittedly minor details, often jokes, and could be argued as out-of-universe translation. But then I come to Midas’ name, since it’s explicitly an homage to the Greek myth…

         And that’s like if Lord of the Rings mentioned Norse Mythology or something. Plus, it’s kind of a coincidence that Midas’ golden touch is ALSO countered by water, huh? Granted, maybe it’s because the Midas of Greek myth in this universe was based on a real person after all, who ALSO created that same gold touch (and our Midas is just unwittingly following in actual footsteps). But I’ve also considered another explanation, and to explain… A while back I was thinking of Midas’ original name, and went for Sadim as a placeholder; Literally Midas reversed. But alas, that name has kind of grown on me…

         So I ask myself; What if I fixed this dilemma and made the homage to Greek myth a purely meta, Doylist thing? And in-universe, Sadim named himself Midas because he… just decided to reverse the letters in his name after undergoing a major transformation. Which raises a lot of questions (like Who does that???) but I guess it’s better than nothing…? Except technically not because I DID provide something, the “Midas of myth actually did exist and our Midas doesn’t realize he’s replicating a lost invention until he notices the suspicious coincidence of his weakness to water” explanation.

        But I ALSO like the name Sadim, so even if I went for the “Myths were based in reality” take, it’s still funny that Sadim’s name is the reverse of a man he ends up copying. But maybe (our) Midas would muse about it being destiny or whatever, or proof that reality truly is stranger than fiction and not as divorced as others claim.

[ewzzy]

Dude Love here has an interesting history. First thing's first, @obscurevideogames is playing on a patch from 1997 on a game from 1996. It was the wild west of homebrew game translation.

That's the original game, Sydra's 1997 translation, and a 2005 re-translation by "Brian". Obviously we've got a corrected name, but something you might not be able to see is that the original name isn't "Kazuo Yamazaki" either but closer to "Kazuki Yamamoto".

Until very recently Fire Pro games didn't license names and likenesses. So a wrestler like Hulk Hogan would be listed as Ax Dugan:

So that means while translating you're looking at Japanese fake names from 14 different worldwide wrestling and MMA organizations. You need some real expertise to solve that puzzle... so in some cases it wasn't solved.

There are 18 wild guesses in the original translation. Some of them are for very famous wrestlers if you know JP wrestling at all. A major problem wasn't just knowing who it is but fitting the text of their names. Mitsuharu Misawa is only 4 characters long in Japanese but 15 in English. The txt file included with the patch notes this.

As I stated before, 18 names wouldn't fit at all. So I just made up names for them. I apoligize in advance for the use of some really tacky names. :)

Years later on a Fire Pro forum Sydra popped in (to much applause for their old work) and had this to say:

...I actually can explain what happened during the translation process in regards to the names, since I am the one that did it afterall. I started the project with zero knowledge about hacking/hex editing/japanese/etc. Everything I did was made up as I went along :) It started as a simple hex editing translation, with the problem being that many of the names consisted of 4 kanji, which limited me to 4 characters for the name. I went into the rom and graphically changed kanji into double letters, which quickly turned names into jibberish. This allowed for longer names, but still only 8 characters. The joke fake names were used as placeholders, until I could think of something better to do with them. It wasn't until someone named Phil came along with a knowledge of assembly language that allowed us to make the names proper(and with proper upper/lowercase!). Kinda amusing that the last of the "bad" patches would be the one that most survived the years'

Which brings up the question of why is this surviving when the revised version has been out for 17 years. It has it's own mysterious story. "Brian" made it totally on his own and posted it to his free Fortunecity site in 2005. A few people downloaded it but the site died and it was lost until 2017 when it was finally recovered and rehosted for the worst to see.

So there you go. Dude Love up there exists because of some unique properties in the 90s rom hacking scene. I've been going on forever so I won't even get into the fact that Dude Love was a Mick Foley character that debuted after the game was released in Japan or how yes Dick Vrij is a real name. He's not made up. He's just Dutch.

“DUDE LOVE” -

Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium

(Human - Super Famicom - 1996)  

[ihaveatheoryonthat]

I Know Your Wish; It’s My Wish As Well

Note: This is unfinished and I likely won’t be returning to it. It ends abruptly and is littered with placeholders/notes. If that’s a dealbreaker for you, you’re better off skipping this. 

---

Ingo isn’t sure why Akari takes a particular interest in his missing memory, but it renews something in his heart.

He’s regarded highly amongst the Pearl Clan, respected for his skills, but the single-minded dedication of this teenager makes him feel seen, [idk], loved even. At the end of the day, he’ll always be an outlier from his clan, and the sense of acceptance is something he’s only known from Lady Sneasler.

And Akari is a capable young woman. She challenges him over and over, trying different moves, different combinations, just in case it’s different this time. It shakes a few details loose, but they don’t make substantial progress until she renews research into the frail-looking Pokemon named Uxie.

Ingo is hesitant to allow it too close; her findings indicate that this Pokemon removes a being’s memories, and he isn’t sure he could endure a second loss of that nature. She backs off. Returns a week later with proof that Uxie can restore the mind, and not just steal it away. It’s at that point that Ingo, despite his reservations, decides that he’d rather try than back out and wonder.

But the human mind is a fragile thing, and they underestimate that fact. There’s a terrible moment where everything becomes [adj] clear, and it hurts; he’s forgotten so much, and is swiftly lost within the storm Uxie drops him into.

Akari panics and rescinds her orders to Uxie. In its wake, his mind goes quiet again, and he isn’t sure which is worse.

They wait, give him time to recollect himself, and start smaller this time, with something he was capable of recovering on his own, if only bit by bit:

The man who looks like him, who likes winning more than anything else, with the broad smile and billowing white coat. His twin brother, Emmet.

And where everything else had been too much, too fast, this is enough. Ingo can work with this. He continues to fulfill his duties to Lady Sneasler and the clan, but for the first time since waking in Hisui, he has a drive to call his own. Lady Sneasler is intrigued by the change in her Warden; [idk], even. She indulges his investigations and the odd places they lead him, laughs at him when he gets in over his head and she ends up bailing him out.

That’s the one thing about remembering that irks him: knowing there’s supposed to be someone at his side makes him liable to fall back on a person who isn’t there. He’s incredibly grateful that Lady Sneasler is willing and able to catch him in his brother’s absence.

It’s that fact that makes his findings so difficult to accept.

He had known he’s not originally from Hisui. His speech, manner of dress and unfamiliarity with their way of life all made that fact abundantly clear, but Ingo is not just away from his home region; he’s become uncoupled through time.

It takes him a week after the discovery to decide how to progress from there.

He broaches the matter with Lady Sneasler first; he’s her Warden, and it’s the least she deserves from him. To her, he confesses that, much as he loves the niche in her life she’s carved for him, he has to go back. It’s not optional. For a Pokemon so territorial, she accepts his decision with surprising grace. He should have known, at that point, that there was more to it.

In the moment, however, he doesn’t think to examine her actions beyond the surface, too relieved that she still [accepts] him, even in this. When she begins to break away on her own, he takes it as a good sign; he assumes it means she’s preparing herself for his inevitable departure.

Ingo is incredibly, incredibly incorrect.

Long after Irida has been informed of his intentions, after the wooden cuff has been doffed from his wrist, his Lady Sneasler makes a scene. She takes it upon herself not to [select] a new Warden, but to appoint her successor, and as the Clan [digests] her intentions, she falls back to Ingo’s side.

It’s the wrong side. On some fundamental level, he knows this, but it’s alright; the gap will be filled before too much longer.

And suddenly, all preparations are complete and they’re ready for departure. Akari, who had spent the weeks tending to her own affairs, declares that they’re leaving the station together, and brokers no argument. It’s a sound plan. Safety in numbers, follow the rules.

Ingo is [grateful] to have the support of the two who made him feel like a person again, especially when they arrive at their destination and it’s so much. Akari takes it better than he does, but he recognizes the rising anxiety in her, and draws her head against his chest, forcing himself to breathe evenly and rhythmically, for both their sakes. He feels the feather-light touch of Sneasler’s claws carding through his hair, but spends no time worrying for the toxic tips so close against his skin; as he tethers Akari, Sneasler’s touch grounds him, in turn.

It garners them their fair share of sideways looks. Ingo is prepared to disregard the attention, but Sneasler growls, deep in her throat, and it sends them on their way.

Once they’ve recouped themselves, [idk]. The words, as is so often the case, find their way onto Ingo’s lips even though he doesn’t know their meaning. This is Route 16, a thoroughfare frequented by cycling enthusiasts of all sorts. To the North lies Lostlorn Forest, and Marvelous Bridge to the East. They make their way West, into Nimbasa City.

For a moment, Ingo finds himself lost for how to proceed, but his subconscious leads them to a grand-looking building in the city’s heart, and he realizes that he doesn’t want to wait. Something tells him that it’s objectively incorrect to be boarding the subway from this side, but, for now, he doesn’t bother to [examine] the thought too closely.

Gliscor is, as ever, a faithful companion as they move from car to car, and Ingo is proud to show him off-- proud to demonstrate the kind of battle he’s accustomed to, proud to look to his friends and be able to say that yes, this is right. This is where he belongs.

He hesitates at the door to between the 20th car and the 21st-- not from nerves, but to temper his expectations. He’s been absent for years; there’s every chance the conduct has changed and, even if it hasn’t, Ingo isn’t who he used to be. While he truly believes there’s no reason to worry, [...].

With Sneasler and Akari flanking him a step behind, Ingo opens it and steps through.

On this level, at least, his concerns have been unfounded. The person waiting opposite is his brother, still dressed in white, smile tempered in an unfamiliar way.

There’s a moment of fragile stillness as they regard one another, and then something strange happens.

“EMMET!”

It explodes out of him with a volume he hadn’t intended, and there’s a burning behind his eyes, in his cheeks, as he charges forward. He refrains from tackling his twin, but only just.

Emmet’s hand twitches up, as if to reach out, [???], “Holy shit.”

There’s a part of Ingo that [takes it as rejection but idk how to say that right]. The rest of him rankles for a different reason entirely.

“Not in front of patrons! That’s horribly unprofessional!”

This time, Emmet doesn’t rein his hands back; they find their way to either side of Ingo’s face as he [idk] a disbelieving laugh and repeats, “Holy shit.”

He’s not smiling anymore. His laughter hitches, turns into something more akin to a sob, and in a thin voice unbecoming of a conductor, he asks, “Ingo?”

“You’re not going to follow your script?” Ingo asks, teasing, breaking free of his brother’s grip to knock their heads together. His face hurts, and he doesn’t know why. “How am I expected to know that you’re Emmet if you don’t tell me?”

“I--” Emmet makes a token attempt, but it dies in his throat. He stays there for several seconds, forehead pressed against his twin’s, mouth twisted in an [?] grimace. Eventually, he gasps in a breath, and it seems to spark something; he reroutes himself, tucking his face against Ingo’s neck and his breathing hastens.

Ingo rests one hand along the back of his brother’s head and the other snakes around Emmet’s back, keeping him safely tethered. Instantly, there’s a crushing pressure constricting his ribs, and he takes the excuse to tighten his own grip.

[beautifully-lumpy]

the beautiful person's journal - #11: evolution of sponsors

you're sitting there, watching the brand-new caddicarus episode. you're about 20 minutes into the 70-minute epic, you've already finished your bowl of popcorn, and you're racking up reaction images and clips like it's the lottery...

when suddenly, out of the blue-

it's december, the most consumerist month of the year. christmas shoppers clog every store imaginable, buying everything in sight. so what better time of the year than now to discuss sponsor segments?

sponsor segments are sort of the way of life for just about every youtuber these days. whether they're formally placed before or after the show proper, or placed in the middle with awkward segues, it's hard to find a youtuber who hasn't talked about raid shadow legends or nord VPN in any of their vids. with the adpocolypse back in 2017, youtubers began incorporating sponsors more than ever in their videos, as well as patreon plugs. since then, it's become a necessity.

the caddicarus show and its channel's side shows are no strangers to sponsors. in fact, the channel has had sponsored segments and videos ever since the old kingdom! (which is my placeholder name for 2012-late 2015 until i come up with an original name. i took an egyptology class this semester okay.)

in this entry, we'll take a look into this channel's history with sponsors, and how the segments have evolved over the years.

pre-2019

if you were around pre-2019, you may remember that sponsors didn't use to be as entertaining as they are now! in 2015 we slowly began to see sponsored segments and videos make their way onto the channel. at first, we had mentions of appman during the end slate of the videos, then we had sponsored tinker time videos for the PS store, and then we had the announcement of caddy partnering with the pixel empire in july 2015! he didn't have any of his merch on the site until 2016, though - this was back during the days of rodeo arcade and the yetee. do those sites even exist anymore...?

...okay, looks like the yetee's still around...first thing i saw when i looked up rodeo arcade was a reddit thread about how bad it was. lmao.

with the pixel empire partnership, we began seeing dedicated sponsor segments at the beginning and/or end of videos. not EVERY video, but a whole lot. and with the introduction of outtakes in mid-late 2015, the endings of videos could get up to 3 minutes! it was a much different world back then compared to today's straightforward "okay here's the subscribe jingle and here's the patreon credits with no voiceover and here's stanley's segment".

as 2015 continued, we started seeing ads for crunchyroll and audible. i believe there were also ads for dollar shave club - i actually found about about these companies through caddicarus, and they would go on to become household names when it came to youtube sponsorships! i think i also found out about amino through caddy - it was either him or rebeltaxi. my memory is cloudy when it comes to the specifics of this stuff.

in 2016, gamesgrabr promos really ramped up, and chrono.gg - later nexus.gg - was introduced into the mix. the address "chrono dot gg forward slash caddy" was ingrained into the skull of many a beautiful person. there was also a sponsored current quickies about an AR game called kazooloo - and i never realized it was unlisted. it COMPLETELY slipped my mind when i was compiling privated/unlisted videos. what's strange is that this and the 2017-19 sponsored videos were unlisted but not the 2015 sponsored tinker times.

caddy returned to patreon in 2016, so in a bunch of videos after that, that was like a sponsored segment.

2017 was a hotspot for separate sponsored videos - i touched on these briefly in my entry on the caddy show. you can find most of them in this playlist!

i remember the dreadnought video stuck out to me because there was this bit that 15-year-old me thought was really funny for some reason... it went something like "bada bing bada boom...! i was a bada man when i used my computer that doesn't use the default web searcher as bing to make the bada ships go boom!"

that was the original screenshot i took of it in 2017...the file was titled "cursed image"

another sponsored vid i have fond memories of was the one on the acer predator laptop. i was on vacation in branson, missouri when it dropped, and i remember watching it while riding back to the hotel late at night as i looked at the view of the city from the mountains.

there was more of the same through the rest of the pre-2020 era. there were two more shady voucher app things which i think were the same people - "appbounty" and "apphunter". there was this especially shady-sounding one literally called swagbucks. there were some videos sponsored by forhims, and let me tell you, opening a caddicarus episode and being greeted by caddy talking about men's pubic hair and sexual wellness and it not being a bit was like a digital punch in the face

he was also one of the many youtubers who sponsored betterhelp in 2018, and if you know the drama behind that company...yeaaaahhhh. but he took the sponsor in good faith and pulled out when shit hit the fan.

none of these sponsors were particularly controversial. there were the usual "sellout" comments, and many eyebrows were raised at sponsors like swagbucks and forhims, but most fans didn't mind these segments. the only genuinely controversial one was the PUBG video from 2019, which had a nearly 50/50 like/dislike ratio and a divided comment section. and...it really was such a weird video. like, it felt like an AI watched some caddicarus videos and was made to produce a sponsored caddicarus video about PUBG mobile. it felt very dishonest, very uncanny, and it's just...you know those mobile game ads that show some kind of influencer playing the game? like the ones seen on the vinesauce android games segments? yeah the caddicarus PUBG video was one step away from being classified as that. we just needed a video of him in the corner playing the game.

season 13 onwards

with the premiere of season 13 in august 2019, sponsor segments at the beginning/end of the show were taken away entirely in favor of awkward segues in the middle of the video, a tactic that was starting to become popular in the youtube sphere. if viewers know for sure the beginning/end of the video will be sponsored, then they'll know to skip! so how about we just put it in the middle of the video?? that'll surprise them!

and...viewers still skip them! as this tactic increased in popularity, we as viewers have been conditioned to start tapping that screen or spamming the right arrow key when we hear a youtuber start to emphasize online security or website building in the middle of their 4-hour essay about an obscure cartoon that ended years ago.

so how does jim combat this? well, he simply makes his sponsored segments entertaining to watch. much like emplemon and internet historian, caddicarus sponsored segments from the final season of the original series and beyond are known for their entertainment value.

the spons character we know and love today is a combination of two characters. one is the unnamed kite demon who first appeared in the pixar games video. the other is the actual named character spons who was first introduced in the lego games video, and he wasn't a kite - it was literally just jim. the lovable shill kite as we know him appeared in the kinect games video, and it's been that way ever since. and he's now legally bound to the channel!

also i have to show y'all this tweet that's an absolute gem.

i hope you enjoyed this look into how sponsors were done on the caddicarus channel!

[poptartcat]

Welcome everyone!

This post will include things you need to know about this blog!

But first, let me introduce myself!

Hi! Both to people old and new! For the new people, I’m Poptart Cat, but most just stick to Poptart! I’m Aromantic! She/her.

Any questions not answered here, feel free to ask in my ask box. Don’t forget my anon is always on! (If it’s something here that you missed, I’ll just redirect you here!) and any asks I think should be in here will be linked here at the top under the ‘Keep Reading’ (If I get any, that is)

Sideblogs

So, before I go on, I have about 3 sideblogs you should know about. I’ll start depending on activity/how active it currently is!

@poptart-the-show-lover is my account where I talk about shows/books/media that wouldn’t fit here, such as On My Block and Cruel Summer. It’s more ‘mature’ than this account which’ll stay kid/family friendly.

@2-quartz-in-1 is a semi-ask blog AU, that was originally a comic, but now just mostly abandoned. I’m planning on getting back to that by writing. It’s the pinned post.

@2-quartz-in-1-archive is just where I put in the comics

AUs

I’ve got 1 AU and the name is Abandoned Triplet AU (which is just a placeholder name) The post explaining it is here and the tag is here. I love answering questions about it (or really anything) so ask away in the ask box if you want!

Tags

These tags don’t include basic ones you should already know about such as tags for shows (Such as #Ducktales 2017, #MLB, #Steven Universe, etc.) or ones that go straight to the point. (#Reblog, #Fish, #Humor, etc.) These are just ones I specifically wanted to tell you about

#Abandoned Triplet AU is the special tag for the AU. It’s currently a placeholder until I find a better name.

#Poptart’s Opinions isn’t used much- maybe once or twice, but I’m planning on using it more. It covers my opinions on things that I originally post, or agree with very much and express it. If it’s not expressed by me, it’s most likely not in the tag

#please excuse my language is a tag showing that I’m swearing. Me. I won’t use the tag if it’s not specifically me swearing, but I’ll try to add #swearing if there’s any at all.

#their art is a tag showing it’s some else’s art. I used it a few times because it said my art and my brain went ‘hey, let’s make a new tag that says their art!’ And this the tag was born!

#long post explains itself. It’s just really long posts that should have a ‘Keep Reading’ if you could do that. Half the time I’m not even the one who even inserted the tag, I just copy it.

#Fanfic writer problems is stuff that has to do with being a fanfic writer. Reblogs of things calling me out, me talking about things I struggle with in writing, keyboard smashes, etc. (mostly reblogs though)

#i’m a mood is mostly me ranting about things and being dramatic.

#Poptart’s General Stuff is a tag I’ve been using to show it’s my original content

Fanfiction

Key

Semi-Abandoned means it’s not fully given up on, but it’s not a priority or something i’m really focused on. It’s close to abandonment but not quite to the point where abandonment is the next step.

3/4 Abandoned means the fic is on the fence of being abandoned, but not quite there yet.

Abandoned basically means what the word says. It’s fully, 100% abandoned

The ones abandoned will be shown as complete

Series

Poptart’s separated one-shots

Description: One-shots I made just because

Fandom(s): Steven Universe, Ducktales 2017, Miraculous Ladybug

Waiting At The Doorstep

Description: Everyone was affected everyone deeply after Della left in the Spear Of Selene. These are a few one-shots of our favorite ducks’ thoughts about it.

Fandom(s): Ducktales 2017

Miraculous Group Chats!

Description: A series where people are in group Chats with Ladybug and Chat Noir. (Oh, and they totally know everyone and are in the chat as their civilian selves)

Fandom(s): Miraculous Ladybug

Fanfiction Fandoms in order, top to bottom: Ducktales 2017, Miraculous Ladybug, Steven Universe

Part 2 to Fanfiction: X (none yet)

Ducktales 2017

Old Friend (But Not Really)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 2,195

Summary: Every month, on the exact same day and time, Donald got an envelope with cash dropped on his doorstep. The person claimed to be an old friend, but Donald knew it was Scrooge, but he didn’t want to talk to him, so he let him, and just never spent the money. (Except when he really needed to)

Years later when the triplets are 9, he finds out who really delivered the money and it’s not who he expected

Notes: If you’re a fan of twists, I suggest you read this!

Patience

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 831

Summary: And so he waited...

And he waited...

And he waited...

But she never came back

—————

Me just writing about Louie thinking about Della at 3 AM. (And being bitter about her)

Miraculous Ladybug

“I guess we really are soulmates...”

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Warnings: Major Character Death

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 819

Summary: On everyone’s left arms they had the first words ever told to them by their soulmates

Half of the people in the world had their partner’s last words appear on their right arms shortly after the first words were said. The other half that never got those consisted of the partners that would die. Only the person possessing the last words could see them until the final week. Most believed that they just hadn’t met their soulmates yet until it was too late.

Evil Civilians and Hero Exposers

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 4/4

Word Count: 4,195

Summary: Alya decides to add in Chat Noir and Ladybug in a chat with her class. This leads to the class thinking something is off with Lila. They investigate and find the truth behind Lila

Miraculous Tales of a Group Chat!

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 2,641

Summary: Chat Noir and Ladybug get new phones to contact each other when needed. Chat abuses this and creates a group chat with them, their civilian selves, Alya and Nino. Things happen.

(Post season 3, pre season 4)

Steven Universe

The Past

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word count: 1,000

Summary: You sat on the lighthouse, reminiscing before it all happened. Before you knew about the diamonds, before all the secrets, even before your shield. Before everything.

Or

1000 words of Steven aka you, thinking about the past.

Takes place post CYM, pre SUTM

Wounds heal, scars stay

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death

Chapters: 1/1

Word count: 1,723

Summary: My scars tell a story, they are a reminder of times when life tried to break me, and failed. They are markings of where the structure of my character was wielded

-Steve Maraboli

Steven’s human half causes him to take the injury to himself.

Notes: THIS! I regret making this one! I cringe every time! I cringe as I remember it! I cringe when I read even a word! I cringe when I read the tags! Heck, when I was first writing it, I cringed. I posted it before I could change my mind and I don’t want to delete it, but I also don’t want to orphan it. Also, it’s not graphic, it just has more blood than I’m used to writing in it, but the blood isn’t very described in detail if I remember correctly

Not What It Seems (Semi-abandoned)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Chapters: 9/?

Word Count: 12,316

Summary: Steven Quartz Universe had a normal life. Normal friends, normal family, normal Gem piercing on his navel that his dad gave him when he was younger because of his dead mom. Oh wait, that’s not normal. All Steven has really wanted was an exciting life. Now, his life is flipped upside down after he discovers where his gem truly came from, and he wants nothing more than to go back to his normal life.

Notes: The link on the notes leads to the basic starting idea which I’ll link here (Look at idea 18) and it’s pretty old and I don’t update it. I also won’t include this in this because it’s not an actual fic, just a bunch of ideas.

Rejuvenated thoughts (Semi-abandoned)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 2/10

Word count: 1,658

Summary: A prompt from tumblr. Instead of hugging Steven in I am my monster, they use the rejuvenator.

Notes: So... I’m probably gonna rewrite the first 2 chapters and the 3rd chapter, which is currently collecting dust in Google Docs.

Shattering Revelations

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 823

Summary: A prompt from the Steven-Universe-AU-prompt account where Steven uses the hour glass to meet Rose and even find out her true identity.

Notes: I’m actually in the middle of rewriting this.

Steven Universe one-shots (Abandoned)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: Major Character Death

Chapters: 4/4

Word Count: 1,354

Summary: Chapter 1 takes place before Garnet’s wedding, after ASPR.

Chapter 2 is canon divergent to Sworn to the sword

Chapter 3 is a Halloween chapter.

Chapter 4 is major character death and canon divergent to The Return

Notes: It isn’t complete in AO3, but I’m working on fixing that. I’m calling it complete because I’m not adding anything to it. There’s no gore or anything too bad here.

Rejuvenator accident

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Major Character Death

Chapters: 1/1

Word count: 146

Summary: Short story shorter: Spinel kills Steven

No blood or gore, don’t worry

Notes: I love the beginning of the summary, I forgot I made it since I don’t really like this because of how short it is and how it’s written. I should do that more. I’m considering rewriting, but I’m not sure if I should.

Half of me

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 3,534

Summary: Cym but with Twoie. I wanna spoil some but I can't bring myself to.

Notes: AHHHHHHHH! I REMEMBER WRITING THIS AND I’M MAD AT MYSELF BECAUSE I USED PAST AND PRESENT TENSE ALL THE TIME!! I SWITCHED UP HERE ALL THE TIME BC I ACTUALLY WAS COPY + PASTING THE MAJORITY OF IT AND I HADN’T REALIZED I WAS USING DIFFERENT TENSES AND HADN’T STUCK TO PAST TENSE YET!! (Oh, and if you read The Past, I write 2nd person POV in present tense and 3rd in past)

The Diamond Twins (Abandoned)

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Chapters: 12/12

Word Count: 8,184

Summary: 16 year old Steven Universe was enjoying the peace that came with saving the galaxy, that is until a giant lady claiming to be a diamond called 'Black diamond' showed up. What will Steven learn about gems now?

Takes place of the Movie.

ATTENTION PEOPLE! THIS IS DISCONTINUED! PLEASE IGNORE THIS FIC BC IT SUCKS!

Notes: Okay, I have lots to say, so let’s start with my OCs.

I disowned them the second I gave up on this. Luna Flash is a fucking Mary Sue, and Black Diamond is also kinda a Mary Sue (or whatever??) Both of their plans almost never had flaws, Luna was friends with everybody and had the most OP powers, Black had a rivalry with Luna and Luna was this runaway who left to be herself. I never finished it, but her friend was shattered and brought back with her other friends, blah, blah, blah. ‘Oh wow! I didn’t expect her friend to be the one who started it! I thought it was Luna because she’s a Mary Sue!’ Black also had the better empire and gems compared to the canon diamonds

Spinel is super OOC (I really hated her at the time) and I wrote in first person. First Person. The horror.

It’s not listed as complete, but I’m working on changing that

Message for Steven

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 276

Summary: Steven learns his mom is Pink, but not from someone, something

Bubble buddies gone wrong (3/4 abandoned)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 2/?

Word Count: 590

Summary: Instead of Connie having her initial reaction at the end of bubble buddies she reacts completely different. How will this affect the rest of the show?

https://poptartcat.tumblr.com/post/630622521243402240/for-my-au-bubble-buddies-gone-wrong

It's basically a cover :P

Notes: If you want the link to the art instantly, it’s here. I traced most of it, I’ll probably make it digital eventually, but overall, this fic was going to be so depressing and it’s pretty much abandoned, so yeah.

Spinel’s Ending

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 358

Summary: This is how Spinel didn't see the message. Goes with my AO3 called The Diamond Twins

You do NOT, I repeat NOT have to read The Diamond twins to understand!

Notes: Before anyone asks, yes, this was made after the fic was posted, I’m doing it on the order it shows on AO3. Super short and tbh, I like this idea I had, but it definitely could’ve been better. I remember having this idea swimming in my head a lot. The idea of ‘What if she missed it?’

Chain reaction

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 292

Summary: It's weird how one thought can turn into another

Notes: So... I still think this could’ve worked if I could actually write back then XD

Happily ever after never ends

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 2/2

Word Count: 1,114

Summary: What if Spinel took a different approach when she found out Pink Diamond was gone?

Injectors and free falls (Abandoned)

Rating: Not Rated

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Chapters: 5/5

Word Count: 2,199

Summary: All I could think was 'It can't end like this!' as she released a finger, then another, then one more "Any last words Steven Universe!”

OR

A timeline where Spinel dropped Steven off the injector

Discontined/closed/stopped updating until I know where to take the plot.(If I ever figure that out) I also lost motivation.

Notes: I CANT! I FUCKING CAN’T- THIS IS HORRIBLE!

Before anyone says I’m overreacting, I’m gonna copy and paste the first few fricken paragraphs (I put it in italics):

-----On injector-----

-----Steven's Pov-----

Now that I know you I want to kill you even more!" Spinel said. All I could think was 'It can't end like this!' as she released a finger, then another, then one more "Any last words Steven Universe!"

I knew what I was going to say almost instantly "Tell Beach City i'm sorry"

"Why do you care so much!? They're just humans!" A fist came hurdling towards my face and that's the last thing I remember.

GUYS THIS IS SO HORRIBLE! I’M GONNA SCREAM- THERE IS NO WAY I WROTE THIS- Okay, it might not seem too bad but look at the next few:

-----Spinel's Pov-----

"Now that I know you I want to kill you even more! Any last words Steven Universe!"

"Tell Beach City i'm sorry"

"Why do you care so much!? They're just humans!" I was so angry I just punched him, It wasn't my plan, but it was good enough. "Looks like I win after all." I muttered. He was still falling to the ground, what was taking so long? Wait! What's that? A pink animal with something on top, no someone, it picked up Steven midair! No! This wasn't meant to happen! I feel something, oh no, I'll look in 3,2,1 A spear! Oh n- with a loud 'poof!’ her gem falls and gets bubbled.

SCREW ME! SCREW THIS! SCREW EVERYTHING! I really hated her back then and I wanted a fic where she wasn’t remorseful (Don’t worry, I don’t hate her anymore) and oh my gosh I wrote from 1st person to 3rd without a good transition. It’s just there. Kill me now.

And we can’t forget this is literally about half the chapter! I’m sobbing and cringing so hard you don’t even understand

Compared (Original) (Rewrite)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 702 (original) 1,621 (Rewrite)

Summary: Steven was always compared to his mom

Notes: I find this very underrated. This one I’m very proud of actually and I think it needs more love. (Both the rewrite and original, but the original is one of, if not, the best work I wrote at the time)

Happy Birthday Steven!

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Chapters: 1/1

Word Count: 1,124

Summary: I decided to write a fic Bc it's August 15, Steven's Birthday! Might as well make it his 15th birthday too

Notes: Ugh, I’m planning on rewriting this one so keep an eye out for that. I wrote this within a few hours and posted shortly after midnight. I was so proud of myself then y’all. I’ve massively improved.

[jupiter-reimagined]

okay. okay okay okay. literally noone cares or asked but i feel like i should still document this so *i* dont forget about this in 5 years. so. uh. vex. vexy boy. him. uhm. so first off i hate his name now, it was supposed to be a placeholder until i came up with something better and like. dont worry about what inspired it. okay anyways.

so. uhhh the universe is very sci-fi driven. like interplanetary exploration and alien species sorta things. i really dont like timeframes or setting concrete years, but this could be like. retro futurism inspired shit. but probably taking place a few hundred years in the future at *least*, but like 10k years *max* cuz i am NOT dealing with figuring out the possible evolution of the human species. or any other species. this timeframe is purely there for fun possible tech.

i also made up a plant for this. its a non-toxic berry bush called pebbleberry. despite tasting like mud, theyre surprisingly nutritious, and can grow up to the size of a plum. and they get their name from the fruit itself having a dull gray colour, like a pebble. the muddy taste also adds to the naming factor.

okay so. the main crew. theres vex (new name pending), sarah and paul. they also have additional techies on-board, but these 3 are the ones leading the research expedition to a recently discovered planet, which seems viable to sustain life, which i imagine is roughly the size of the moon. also like. pardon scientific inaccuracies I Dont Care i just wanna play with the little people living in my head and not look too deeply into. anything. yeah.

so vex is the leading scientist, hes the one in charge of all the people. hes also the oldest member of the team, at around 60. grumpy old bastard. he doesnt have a set appearance. none of them do. but if i had to think about him, i feel like he'd be on the shorter side and have a beer-belly. i dont think he has a partner or children of his own because he takes his job seriously, as it was basically his lifes mission to do this and is *very* excited about it all, and hes VERY qualified for the job and extremely passionate about it all. i see him having written and published at least 3 research papers or books about various subjects, and the research mission to the new planet will be the focus on his 4th study. and hes fully human. well. as purebred as they can get in that time.

sarah, i believe, was supposed to be like the zoologist. she was originally like 23. but thats boring. so shes in her 50s now. tall but on the buffer side. has to be since she works part-time as a nurse. librarian glasses all the way. signed up for the mission in hopes of discovering a new species that her homeplanet previously was unaware of. boy will she be in for the ride of her life. her goals are to spread information about hybrids and different species to the masses, due to coming from a long lineage of hybrids herself. species undecided as of now, but im tempted to make her centaur-adjacent. shes very doe with vex's bullshit, and i actually see them being long-time work-buddies, her having helped him with his science papers, and i very much so see her being the one whos down to write and research the fauna of the new planet. co-author maybe. i do believe back on their home-planet she mainly does work as a nurse than a scientist. aint need to search for new problems when there are enough as is back there. still, couldnt resist the possibilities. plus the additional chance of finding and testing new herbal medicines was too great to pass up.

paul's a biologist. late 20s early 30s. in my mind i see him as bald. i dont know why, i just do. tall and chub all the way!!! i feel like it'd be funny if i made him a carnivore. or... for plot reasons, i could make him feline-adjacent. but carnivorous-merman speaks to my soul. maybe hes like. 1/4th merman on his grandfathers side has just like 3 traits and thats it. i do want to give him a fish tail and a few scales, as a treat. pike? yeah. yeah!!!! i can and will work with pike... i think hes the sorta guy who lied on his resume but got the job anyways cuz noone else applied, and they figured if all else fails, an aquatic hybrid would be useful in exploration of any bodies of water. i think he lowkey regrets sighing up for the mission, since it lasts around like. i wanna say at least 6 months to 5 years time-period wise. and hes got a partner and a kid back home. isnt really putting in his all, but at the end of the day knows its at least gonna put food on the table and he gets to tell stories of his adventures when hes finally back.

as i said, theres also the tech crew and additional people on the team, but its probably like 15 people max. but theyre not important anymore, because let me introduce you to a new species and a new little guy as well, whos a part of the main crew.

it doesnt have a name, nor do i think it needs one. but its a member of a native species of feline-esque shapeshifters. i want to make them tiger-adjacent because thats what they were at first as a placeholder. but yk. its roughly 8 or 9 in human years and based on appearance alone, looks like a solid 50/50 mix of tiger and human. but this is all subject to change. the species do have clothes. they have fingers and thumbs (for the most part) and they use them to their advantage. im messing with the idea of their cities built in trees as well, so clothing is also functional. the child does have a family, but i am still figuring it out. also. lets just say the phrase "curiosity killed the can but satisfaction brought it back" exists for a reason. its just a kid. its very curious about the world.

also like. note that i am messing with a possible magic system getting involved. and for the sake of it, the native species do not speak english. they dont speak verbally at all. like wild cats with their colonies.

just. imagine, for a moment. youre vex. its been a few weeks since everythings been set up and running. your HQ is in a clearing in what seems to be a jungle. everything to contact your home-planet has been set up, and the campsite is fully ready. and then you look up at the walls around the mini-compound. and. theres a kid there. staring at you. the species is familiar, human-tiger hybrids are common back home. but. *here*? i feel like vex isnt fond of children. but does he find them distasteful enough to run experiments on them to hunt down one, simply because it was the first native species that you see? because.. what if you never see it again? what if doing it *now* is your only chance? surely sarah will forgive this. right? or.. do you follow it down to its home. seek to develop allyship there... at the risk of being attacked, or waging a war on your home. i feel like the right option to do is to contact the homeplanet HQ and ask for advice. but instead. something tells me he ignores it all and just. takes a step forward. his mind buzzing. even he doesnt know what he did, until he snaps out of it. hours later.

just remembered an idea i had earlier. so like dominic was originally named butch/butcher but i realized i dont like it at all, and i was iffy about dominic from the get-go and like yesterday or smth the name buster came in mind for him. im really not sure tho. its better than butch i *think* but like. decisions decisions :pensive:

[corvus--rex]

So, to start off with, these are a little rough. Mostly cleaned up for spelling/grammar, but there are things that are more like placeholder notes in exposition form that would be written out if I went back to it.

This one's working title is Quantum Fracture, is "in universe" non-canon compliant, and is set both near the end of s.2 after ep.9, and a few years post s.8. It's also only semi-abandoned. I like it and want to keep going with it, but I've hit a wall and just can't do anything with it right now. It has (sort-of) time travel and "Galra genetics are weird" resulting in Klance kids. It does also switch between times, but those sections have punctuation separators.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Lance, Pidge, keep watch on the area. Keith, Hunk, and I will go down to check it out,” Shiro said over the comms.

“Got it.”

“Copy that.”

Green and Blue split off from the V-formation, flying over the asteroid while Black, Red, and Yellow landed on its surface. Lance and Pidge kept a visual track on their friends while keeping their scanners active for anything in the area. Team Voltron had been on their way back to the Castle after liberating another planet from the Galra Empire when Pidge’s more finely-tuned scanners picked up on what looked like an abandoned Galra base embedded in an asteroid. Shiro made the call to check it out and let Allura and Coran know what was going on, keeping Lance and Pidge on watch. The Black Paladin took point, with Keith right behind him. Hunk brought up the rear, man-portable cannon ready for whatever might try to sneak up on them. The facility was powered down, a layer of dust on every surface.

“Looks like it really is abandoned,” Keith said, “I don’t think there’s anyone or anything left here.”

“Agreed, but I want to complete a sweep of the facility. Never know what might have been left behind,” Shiro replied.

They continued on, not making any real effort at stealth, but only made it about another 20 feet before a side door creaked and flew open, Keith finding himself blown out into space, despite Hunk’s effort to prevent it. Keith tried to use his jetpack to redirect himself and head back to the facility, but there was just enough gravity generated by the density of the asteroid field to pull him toward the nearest surface. He bounced off the next asteroid, damaging his jetpack in the process. It sent him away from the asteroid field and into open space.

This isn’t how this was supposed to go, Keith thought as he floated in the void, then realized just how much Lance was rubbing off on him. His back hit a second, smaller asteroid, and he bounced off into the nothingness. Come on, Red. Where are you?

He felt the shift in the vacuum an instant before the sensors in his armor picked it up. The short chirp announced the sensors’ findings, bringing it up on the HUD. The display’s minimal capabilities showed the slight variant, a faint ripple in the fabric of space.

“The fuck is that?” he asked the void of space.

He hadn’t expected an answer, and didn’t get one. What he did get was the familiar mental pressure of the red Lion, immediately followed by the equally familiar golden glow of the robotic cat’s eyes. Red swallowed the paladin’s free-floating body, and he rolled through the slowly pressurizing corridor before the artificial gravity activated. He had only just taken his seat in the cockpit when he heard Pidge shouting across the comms.

“Keith! Are you ok? There was a spatial-temporal fluctuation right next to you.”

“Yeah, I felt it, but I'm ok,” he answered, exhausted from the mission and subsequent launch into space.

Green came up alongside Red, guiding them back to the Castle, Blue right behind them. Once the three Paladins were back aboard the Castle of Lions, Pidge insisted that Keith go to the medical deck, just in case.

“Ok, fine, Pidge. But I'm fine. Really,” Keith protested while simultaneously giving in.

She didn’t trust him to really go, but she was also concerned with the anomaly she found, so didn’t question it when Lance volunteered to make sure Keith went.

“Keith, what were you thinking?” Lance asked when they were alone.

“I don’t know what happened. It wasn’t anything I did and Hunk and Shiro will figure it out. Pidge is more worried about the space-time ripple we encountered. But I'm fine. Really.”

Blue’s Paladin stopped in the middle of the empty corridor. “You scared me, cuervo. I saw you get ejected into empty space without Red or any of us nearby. Pidge said she was going after you, but still…it scared me.”

“I don’t think we should hide anymore. I think it’s time to let the team in on our secret.”

The pair had been dating secretly for a month at that point, intentionally keeping their relationship from the rest of the team. Keith didn’t think they would have been taken seriously to begin with, and Lance agreed. After a late-night talk, they both decided to give it time and let themselves settle into their budding relationship. But it was beginning to make them behave differently, especially on missions. They became focused on where the other was and it was causing mistakes. This last mistake could have been deadly, although Keith was right, he hadn’t done or not done anything that led to the deserted Galra base’s small side door opening and pulling the Red Paladin into the cold vacuum of space.

“Yeah, I think you might be right,” Lance admitted.

Keith took his boyfriend’s hand, linking their fingers together, and headed toward the medical deck. Coran met them there, no doubt having been called by Pidge. Keith was thoroughly checked over by way of the Castle’s scanners, and as far as they could tell, not a molecule was out of place. After finding out that Keith was at least partly Galra, Pidge and Hunk had thrown themselves into a reprograming project to the medical deck’s scanners, integrating human biological standards. They were surprised to find that the scanners were already programmed with Galra standards, and that was when Coran told the entire team about the original Paladins, Zarkon included.

Instead of the lounge or one of their bedrooms, Lance and Keith instead went to one of the Castle’s many observation balconies. Once they were alone, Keith let himself crumble, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend and holding on as tightly as he could. Lance gently returned the physical connection, understanding that the events of the morning had affected him more than he would let on in front of anyone else. He waited until he could feel the tension drain and knew that Keith was just sneaking middle of the day snuggling.

“You better now?” Lance asked.

Keith sighed softly against Lance’s neck. “Yeah, I think so. We should probably go see what Pidge found before anyone wonders where we went.”

“I don’t wanna,” he protested, holding on tighter.

Keith laughed and pulled away. “Well, if we stop keeping all this a secret, we won’t have to worry about where and when anymore.”

“Ugh. I guess.” Lance’s tone was overdramatic as usual, but his blue eyes sparkled with excitement at the idea of being open about his relationship.

Stepping backward out the door, Keith led the way toward the Lions’ hangars and Pidge’s lab. Halfway down the second to last corridor, Keith tripped over the smooth floor. He caught himself mid-stumble and stopped completely.

“Keith?” Lance asked, “Mi cuervo, you ok?”

_~*~_~*~_~*~_

“Keith! What the fuck was that?” Lance called over the comm.

“Dunno, but my speeder’s sensors caught it. Heading back now,” Keith answered from inside his modified speeder.

Modified, that was, by Pidge, who had retrofitted all of the Lions’ speeders to be able to fly in space. They were still fairly short-range, not capable of straying far from the Lions. It meant that Keith was still in visual range of Red when the Lion’s sensors spiked with the anomaly’s fluctuation.

Lance was waiting at the door to the cockpit when Keith came in. The tail of the raised French braid that normally ran halfway down his back was draped over his shoulder. Lance had insisted on braiding his husband’s hair that morning. Keith had groaned and asked why, seeing as it was just a simple recon mission. “Because you’re pretty, the twins are at school, we have time, and I felt like it,” was the list of reasons Lance rattled off as he made Keith sit. He didn’t mind it, but they usually saved more complex braids for diplomatic missions, not “drive down the street for space readings” missions.

Keith had had his second puberty while in the Quantum Abyss with Krolia, and it ended up being a good thing she was there. Alone, he would have assumed that the abdominal cramping, chills, fever, nausea, and full-body pain meant that he was dying. Krolia, however, recognized the symptoms of the shift in her son’s body to that of a Carrier and becoming physically capable of conceiving and carrying a baby. She told him that his half-human status may well have rendered him infertile, but they didn’t have the resources to look into it at the time, and the middle of a war wasn’t the time to worry about it. So it surprised both Keith and Lance when he found himself pregnant not long after the war ended, and they welcomed their twins Andra and Ori five and a half months later after a normal Galra-length pregnancy. The twins birth records had their names down as Andromeda Artemis and Orion Fenris Kogane-McClain, names that were called with increasing frequency now that the twins were five.

Keith sat himself in the pilot’s seat, pulling up the sensor readings from both Red and the speeder. They looked the same to both himself and Lance, but Pidge would be able to make better sense of them. But something about the anomaly was bothering Keith. It took a good minute of staring at the readings to realize that it was similar to how spacetime behaved near the core of the Quantum Abyss. And something about thatbothered him even more.

“You ok, cuervo?” Lance asked, leaning against the edge of the display panel.

“Yeah,” Keith sighed, “Just something about that anomaly reminds me of the Quantum Abyss. We’ll get it to Pidge and figure it out.”

The trip back to the new Castle was short, Red bypassing the reconfigured IGF-Atlas and heading directly for his hangar on the original Castle of Lions. After the end of the Galra War and the brief, but intense, war with Honerva, the Voltron Coalition needed a permanent – and mobile – base. The Atlas reshaped itself, wrapping around the Castle like the defensive walls of an ancient castle around its keep. Its completed size rivaled that of Galra Central Command, now the seat of the newly-formed Galra Collective.

Team Voltron’s power couple – beating out Shiro’s marriage to Adam – crossed the distance to Green’s hangar, where Pidge still maintained her personal lab. They found her buried in her multi-screen setup, one screen dedicated to the call she was on with her long-distance Olkari girlfriend Malyn, the others covered in technical readouts, diagrams, and blueprints.

“We’re back,” Keith announced when they walked in.

“Oh good. Anything weird happen out there?” Pidge said, taking Keith’s comm.

“The anomaly is behaving like the core of the Quantum Abyss.”

Pidge shoved the device into her computer a little harder than she intended. Except for her ongoing call, she wiped everything off the other screens, replacing what was on them with the readouts from both Red and the speeder. Her amber eyes flicked from screen to screen, already analyzing.

“I’m really sorry, Malyn. I have to call you later.”

“Of course. Is everything all right?” Malyn asked, concern laced in her voice.

“I’m not sure yet. We found a spatial-temporal anomaly, but it’s behaving differently from anything similar I’ve seen. Maybe…there was one…nah, that was different…”

Malyn laughed, she always found her girlfriend’s analytical mind adorable. “I’ll let you get to that. We’ll talk later.”

“Hm? Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, Malyn. We’ll talk again later, promise,” Pidge apologized again, but Malyn waved her off, still laughing, and cut the call.

“So, you'll let us know when you’ve found something?” Lance prompted.

“What? Yeah. Right. This is weirder than anything I've ever seen like this…”

Lance and Keith shared a look, knowing that Pidge was fully invested in the data and that she wouldn’t leave her computer unless she was physically removed. Deciding on the tactical retreat, they left her to it, heading back to their apartment on the Castle.

The Atlas hadn’t been the only thing to be reconfigured. The Castle of Lions had undergone its own renovations, the old single rooms turned into apartment-like suites. Shiro and Adam maintained Garrison positions onboard the Atlas, but retired to the Castle at the end of every day. Lance and Keith settled into their apartment after their two month long honeymoon. Hunk was splitting his time between the Castle and Balmera, sharing his space with Shay when they were there. Pidge mostly used hers as an excuse for more tech and a separate workspace, but Malyn stayed there with her when she could get time away from rebuilding Olkarion under Ryner’s guidance. Coran had decided to keep his old room the way it was, and Allura felt that her own rooms didn’t need the upgrade. The rest of the rooms stayed the same for the new Altean crew running the ship at a proper capacity.

It wasn’t until they got back that Keith realized Pidge still had his comm. “Well, shit. I’ll be back,” he said, heading for the door.

Lance decided to follow him out into the corridor.

“Why?”

“Because,” Lance answered, “I have nothing better to do and I can watch you walk away all day.”

“What the fuck, Lance?” Keith groaned in mock frustration.

“No, that’s after we get your comm.”

Keith turned, intending to call Lance out on exposing him like that, but stumbled, relieved that Lance was close enough to catch him.

“You alright, cuervo?”

“Yeah, I'm fine. Just tripped,” he said, but stopped. Something was wrong. He could feel the braid hanging over his shoulder from when he stumbled, felt the strength in Lance’s arms. No, this was wrong. He looked up. There was a small scar he didn’t remember being there, and the blue Altean marks were definitely new. His own body felt foreign. It was shaped differently, taller and broader than it should be. His voice was different, a little deeper, a little huskier than it should be. “Lance?”

“Keith, love, are you really ok?”

“I…I don’t know.”

Lance helped him to stand, leading him back to their apartment. Once inside, he sat Keith on the couch. “What happened? Exactly,” he asked.

“What does – is this about the anomaly? I told you before that I'm fine. We had Coran check me out. There was nothing wrong. Where are we anyway?”

“We didn’t have Coran check you out. There’s an entire medical crew for that anyway. We’re home, on the Castle. What do you remember from this morning?” Lance’s entire tone was cautious. Something was very wrong with his husband, but he wanted to have at least some answers before bringing it up with anyone else.

“We were coming back from a mission and stopped to check out an abandoned Galra base in an asteroid field. One of the side doors opened and I got blown out. There was a ripple in space-time, and I got close to it in nothing but my armor before Red came to get me. But I'm fine. I told both you and Pidge that.”

Lance remembered that mission. Overall, it was unremarkable. The base didn’t have anything useful. But there hadn’t been any temporal fluctuations. Yes, Keith had ended up floating through the void, but nothing happened other than that. The only reason he remembered that mission in particular was because that was when they decided to tell the team that they were together. It had been ten years since that mission.

“Ok. I do remember that. But, that was ten years ago. That was when we decided to tell the team that we’d been dating for a month.”

Keith’s face flickered between shock, bewilderment, and terror. Ten years? There was no way that could be right. But the evidence was right there. His own body and voice were different. He could see and feel how long his hair had gotten. And then there was Lance. He was beautiful as ever, and it certainly seemed that they were still together, but he was different. The scar, the Altean marks – how and when the fuck did that happen, and why? – and there was the fact that he was broader, more muscled, not slender and willowy like he had been. He processed everything in real time, not saying a word in that time. It had apparently been longer than he thought, because Lance was looking up at him from where he’d tilted his head to the side.

“Keith? Mi cuervo? What is going on?”

“You…you still call me that? It really has been ten years?”

“This has to be related to that anomaly,” he muttered. “Yeah, it’s really been ten years. And, yeah, I do still call you that. A lot’s changed in ten years, but not that. Stay here. I need to show you something. It might help.” Lance stood, leaving the room for their bedroom, coming back in less than a minute. He extended his free hand, bringing Keith over to the table where they both sat. Lance placed a ring of smoothly twisted and woven silver metal and carved crystal that shifted between blood red, cobalt, and vibrant violet on the table between them. “Do you remember this?” he asked softly, “Do you remember when I gave you that?”

Keith stared at it like if he could untwist it mentally, he could remember what it was. But he couldn’t, because Lance had never given him anything like it. It was definitely something he could see Lance picking for him, but as far as Keith knew, he never had.

“No, I don’t,” he had to admit.

Lance sighed, a tinge of sadness to it. “Ok. Something happened with the temporal anomaly we found earlier and that Pidge is still analyzing. I know you’re really Keith, but I don’t think you're my Keith. What you said happened this morning happened ten years ago for me. We need to go check in with Pidge and see if she’s figured anything out yet.”

“Ok,” Keith agreed, rising to follow Lance, “I shouldn’t know anything else. Not yet. But at least I know we’re still together.”

“We certainly are,” Lance agreed, taking Keith’s hand, “We’ll figure this out. That anomaly might have fucked with your memories somehow, but we’ll figure it out.”

_~*~_~*~_~*~_

“Yeah, fine.” Keith stood on his own, suddenly realizing that they shouldn’t have been a corridor and a half away from Green’s hangar, they should have been close to their apartment in a completely different part of the castle. Everything seemed ever so slightly bigger, except for himself and Lance. His braid was gone, and he was wearing clothes he hadn’t seen in years. And Lance looked so young. This was the thin, wiry boy he’d fallen in love with more than ten years before. The one without the Altean marks he’d gotten when Allura revived him after saving her from an energy blast. But he heard Lance call him by that familiar pet name. That alone left Keith with more questions.

“We need to see if Pidge’s gotten anywhere with that anomaly,” Lance said.

“Yeah,” Keith agreed. When had his voice gotten higher?

Keith stopped when they walked into Pidge’s lab. It wasn’t what he was expecting. This was the lab of a decade earlier. The one with the laptop she’d brought from Earth along with the equipment she had either repurposed or built from scratch. It startled him, and he froze in place.

“Keith, seriously, are you ok?”

“I…I don’t know anymore. Everything is wrong. Where is everyone else?”

“Hunk and Shiro are heading back from the abandoned base now. That door just malfunctioned after going so long without maintenance. And there was absolutely nothing important there,” Pidge answered, still focused on her computer screen. She realized part of what he said and turned around. “Wait, what do you mean ‘everything is wrong’?”

“You’re looking at a spatial-temporal anomaly, but it didn’t happen now. There shouldn’t have been one here. I…I think I might be from your future. Or, at least, sort of. I don’t look any different to you, do I?”

“No. You don’t. Get back to the part where you think you're from the future.”

“I don’t know how much I should tell you. I don’t know if it could upset the timeline. But I know when I am now.” He turned to Lance. “It’s been about a month now, right? And we had that talk?”

Lance nodded, trying to understand just what his boyfriend was saying about the future. “Yeah, and we did talk about it. Just a few minutes ago. But if you're from the future, I don’t know if talking about that now will help. It also doesn’t answer the question of if you’re Future Keith, what happened to Present Keith?”

“I don’t know. Best case, he switched places with me. He’ll be confused and probably a little scared, but I know he’s in good hands there. Fuck it feels weird talking about myself in the third person. Have you found out anything about the anomaly here?” he asked Pidge.

“Well, I think so, but I've never seen anything like this before.”

Keith came up behind her, looking over their temporal disruption. It was identical to the one he’d found in his time. He had no question now that he had switched bodies with his 18-year-old self. But at least there were a few things he didn’t need to worry about hiding. He knew he was at least partly Galra at this point. He wouldn’t meet Krolia for a little while, so he would have to keep that one to himself. But it also meant that he hadn’t been through the Quantum Abyss yet. There was no way he could tell them about that without explaining everything. He would have to be subtle with asking about the war.

“I have, but I can’t tell you anything specific. Like where, why, or how. And even knowing what it is, I don’t have your science brain, Pidgey. I have no idea how it works.”

Both Pidge and Lance were staring at him. Not because of what he said, but how he said it. He’d picked up a lot of linguistic quirks from Lance over the years, and no longer gave it any thought at all.

“You sound like Lance,” Pidge said finally.

“We’ve all spent a lot of time together over ten years,” Keith replied, avoiding the real question.

“Sure. What canyou tell me about this?”

Keith pulled Hunk’s usual seat over, sitting beside her. Lance perched on an empty spot of desk space, suddenly wanting to be closer to his boyfriend, or whatever he was at that point.

“It’s specific to a single point in space, but not this one. But that’s the problem. I can’t tell you anything about where it is or what it is because you haven’t gotten there yet. All I can say is that space and time work very differently there due to massive fluctuations in gravity, which is why this doesn’t make any sense.”

“Because there’s something there that affects the gravity in a way that it doesn’t where we found it.”

“Basically. It’s more like what affects gravity there doesn’t exist anywhere else, especially where this anomaly was found. It’s also far smaller here than it should be. Like the difference in scorch marks between Lance’s rifle and Hunk’s autocannon.”

“So, this anomaly is a precise shot, and where it should be is a huge mess,” Lance said.

“Pretty much,” Keith agreed, “But I really can’t tell you about it because there’s something vital to the war there and I don’t know how it would change things if you found out about it now. It wouldn’t be good. There are other players you don’t know about yet.”

Pidge continued typing away at her laptop, the 3D render of the anomaly rotating on the screen. Lance wanted to watch the progress, but he couldn’t focus on it. His attention was solely on Keith. Except for his earlier phrasing, he didn’t think Pidge had picked up on just how different he was. Body language, mannerisms, almost everything had changed in some way except for his physical appearance. And there was one thing Lance had noticed almost immediately after Keith started talking about the anomaly. He was pretty sure Keith wasn’t aware of it, but he had been running his left thumb across the ring finger of the same hand, like there was something missing. Lance thought about bringing it up, but decided not to, heavily suspecting Keith would just say that it was something else he couldn’t talk about.

~*~*~*~

Links to the rest of the series:

1 | 2 | 3* | 4 | 5* | 6* | 7 | 8 | 9* | 10 | 11 | 12* | 13 | 14 | 15* | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19*

[outrebanx]

i fall apart

JJ Maybank x female reader

Masterlist

Summary: kinda like a quick little travel through the relationship between reader and JJ as things get progressively worse (shit summary sorry)

Word count: 1.5k

Warnings: hella angsty, cheating, thats it? im mentioning angst again 

A/N: i’ve had a really bad day today and i wasn’t originally going to write anything because i wasn’t in the mood, but i had this idea and have literally been crying whilst writing it hence the ANGST (not that this situation applies to me tho i’m just emotional) also havent really read through this so ignore the mistakes

~ italics are flashbacks

“Hi, I seem to have lost my phone number, can I have yours instead?” The blue eyed boy said, distracting you from the large crowd around you, the music fading in the distance as you looked at him and laughed.

“I think that’s the worst pick up line I’ve ever heard,” you say, still smiling at him, “but I suppose I can give you credit for trying, why don’t we start off with names blondie.”

“I’m JJ.”

“I’m Y/N, nice to meet you.” You beamed at him, taking his hand and leading him away from all the people on the beach.

That was the night you met JJ, the night your life became so much better and so much worse in the blink of an eye. If you could, you would make it so you never met him, that way at least you wouldn’t be feeling so empty, so broken and in the most pain you’d ever experienced right now.

You sagged back against the sofa, tears welling in your eyes as another memory of your time with JJ hits you without warning.

“Do you two ever stop with the PDA?” Pope scowled at the two of you, you were sprawled across JJ’s lap, his hand intertwined in yours, your lips still a little swollen from the long kisses JJ would steal from you whenever he caught your eye.

“You’re just jealous man,” JJ grinned at Pope, moving to stroke your leg, “jealous that I have an incredible girl on my lap who loves me.”

Your heart flutters as JJ talks about you, this sound too loud for you to hear the small voice in the back of your head notice that he only said you loved him, not the other way around.

But it didn’t matter, you did love him, he was currently one of the only good things in your life, and even if you felt a little wary about his feelings towards you, you knew that was probably just him struggling to admit them, not because they weren’t there.

If only you hadn’t been so naive, so ready to love a troubled boy whose smile and jokes melted your heart, and whose body made you feel faint. Even though you felt he did love you in his own way, he was not the type of boy to commit - to love forever and without fear. Not like you wanted.

You balled your hands into fists, anything to try and calm the shaking that travelled through your body as you began sobbing once again.

You pulled up to the chateau, hoping JJ was there as he hadn’t showed up to your date. You had waited for hours at the table you were meant to share a meal at, both staff and customers looking at you pitifully, not understanding why you refused to order anything because “he was coming, he just must have gotten caught up with something.”

It had taken closing time of the restaurant to lift the hopeful fog from your eyes, as you got into your car, one lonely tear fell down your face. You had been planning this date for months, something special for your four month anniversary - not that four months was a long time in the scheme of things but as the rest of the pogues said, JJ wasn’t one to commit for more than one night normally, so it should be celebrated.

And you thought he wanted to celebrate it too, even answering your text earlier confirming the details of tonight with an excited reply, as if he loved you - he obviously didn’t though.

The chateau seemed quiet from outside, the only sound were the bugs that appeared at night and the soft sniffles from you as you composed yourself, ready to see why JJ hadn’t shown up. You prayed that he had drank too much, that would be the only time you’d be happy if he had, as it meant the answer you feared wasn’t the correct one.

An overwhelming sense of dread came over you as you opened the door and entered the messy but homely place John B lived in. The door to the guest bedroom was closed, maybe he was just sleeping? He might’ve worked too hard today in all the kook’s gardens. Yes that was probably it.

You took a deep breath in and opened the door, wishing you had prepared more for the likely reality, as that was what you were met with. You could feel your heart break as JJ’s eyes opened at the sudden noise, quickly removing himself from the grip of the naked girl beside him when he realised it was you.

You didn’t want to be here, but you couldn’t move or breathe, all you could do was mutter a small “oh”, as your mind caught up to what your eyes were seeing. JJ already scrambling out of the bed, rushing to get his shorts on so he could try and talk his way out of this.

Your body finally moved, your feet carrying you away from the worst thing you’d ever seen, trying to help you escape before you broke completely.

You knew that image was going to forever live in your mind, hell it was there right now - the sleeping girls face so calm and content, and JJ’s was panicked as he realised he hadn’t gotten away with it. Did that girl have something you didn’t? Was she prettier? Or did JJ just never feel the way you did, instead using you as a placeholder until he could use a stupid pick up line on the next girl to walk past him?

That had happened yesterday, and you had barely stopped crying since, your whole body was now weak from the pain you were feeling, the dehydration from the tears that had been shed and from barely moving off your sofa.

Ten missed calls, that was all the effort JJ had put in trying to talk to you, you had seen his name and face appear on your screen each of these times, but you couldn’t bare to hear his excuses right now, couldn’t bare to hear the voice you loved. It hurt a little that he had stopped at ten, not even a text of ‘I’m sorry’ had been sent, just a few calls. And without you answering he must’ve given up, no longer caring about you and even if you hated to admit it he was probably with the pretty blonde girl.

That was until he knocked at your door, shouting for you to let him in to ‘explain.’ You knew he wouldn’t leave if you refused to open it, and honestly you would rather get this over with so you can go to bed, hold a pillow to your chest and cry.

His face was full of guilt when you opened the door, almost enough for you to forgive him then and there, almost.

“Y/N, please it was a moment of weakness I’m sorry.” He said as he walked past you, turning to face you once he reached the lounge.

“It was our anniversary date tonight JJ.” You hated how small your voice sounded, but the pain in your chest had muted any of the fiery emotions you wanted to feel right now.

“Oh shit,” he mumbled, “we can reschedule it, do it next week instead, put this whole thing behind us.”

You shook your head, “No, we can’t just put it behind us. You betrayed me JJ, I loved you and I know now you never loved me, I just wish you had given me the courtesy of telling me before I found you in bed with someone else.”

You wanted to shout or scream, anything to express how hurt you were, but all that came out was a small voice, one that had been broken like never before, and you weren’t sure if it would ever go back to normal.

“I do love you Y/N,” he moved to grab your hand, only for you to step back, “please, I really do love you.”

“No you don’t, I’m not even sure you can love me. At least not the way I want.” You took a breath before continuing, “I want someone I can melt around. I want someone who melts around me too… I don’t want this standoffish, unromantic love that you’re offering. I want more than that and I think I deserve more too.”

He couldn’t look into your sad eyes that contained only the truth, so he walked away, away from you and your relationship until he was out of your house and on his bike, heading somewhere you didn’t care about.

As soon as the door shut, you collapsed, the breath leaving you body. And as you sobbed, all you could think about was how you wished you had never met JJ Maybank.

----

tags: @outerbankslut​

this is highkey really bad but oh well 

[jaybug-jabbers]

Review: Pokemon Gold and Silver 97: Reforged

The Review

What a fantastic game. I went looking for a hack that fully realized the sort of pokemon game we glimpsed in the Spaceworld ‘97 demo, and I was not disappointed. 

This alternative version of Gold and Silver takes that Spaceworld demo and builds on it with loving care and attention to detail. All the beta pokemon sprites were freshly made from scratch or edited to update them for the final, polished Gameboy Color look. The pokemon movesets and stats were crafted so that they were balanced and didn’t contain placeholders, and the pokemon were populated throughout the world in a logical fashion. Dex entries were written and the pokes were integrated smoothly into the world. There are even different sprites and different encounter rates for Gold and Silver-- although you can ‘catch them all’ in either version, an excellent choice.

Meanwhile, the world map was colored, tweaked and polished, allowing us to explore that beta world that was stunningly different from the final Gold and Silver. It’s a place that in many ways seems even more vibrant and varied than final Gold and Silver, and is truly exciting to explore.

Along with this fully realized map, this hack’s creators also gave us a fresh new plot for Gold and Silver. This one was inspired by the differences glimpsed in the demo, including Oak’s increased involvement in the story, Silver’s different personality and role, and the inclusion of an Imposter Oak. The plot stays true to the style of pokemon games and doesn’t seem out of place. 

All of the exciting little beta details were included too-- including the original Type alignments, the original Gym Leader designs, beta pokemon moves, new hold items, access to the Skateboard, being able to name your Mom, and even the minigame on the game start screen. The attention to detail and the polish on this hack is truly impressive.

Essentially, I feel like this hack can be considered the definitive edition of the beta Gold/Silver that we never knew. It gives us a chance to experience this alternative world, and breathes life into these wonderful pokemon that never were. Giving us a chance to know and love these beta creations is truly a gift for pokemon fans.

Perhaps the only downside is the sadness that this is not the official version of Gold and Silver. I experienced Pokemon a little bit differently then my peers. As a child, I adored Red and Blue, but once I’d finished with those games, I moved on from pokemon. I have no nostalgic memories of Gold and Silver to hold onto. I only returned to pokemon years later as a teenager. At that point I played several generations, one after another, at the same time, as a sort of “pokemon binge.” While most would call it blasphemy, I was never too terribly fond of Gold and Silver. I think it was largely because I didn’t happen to like a lot of the pokemon designs in those games. In many ways, this ROM hack presents a Gold and Silver that I adore and can love even more than the originals. 

That’s not to say the official Gold/Silver games are all terrible, of course. There are still definitely some beta pokemon that I feel were axed or altered for good reason. Not all of them are better then the final cuts. And there are other elements that are an improvement, too; for example, I actually really like Silver’s storyline in the official games and the fact we dealt with a character who actually stole pokemon and treated them poorly. 

That said, there is an awful lot to love in this ROM hack, and I’m grateful that we have it. Pangshi, Bellrun, Warwolf, Madame, Volbear and others may not be officially recognized by the Pokemon franchise . . . but they will always be very real in my heart.

The Team

Cinnamon (Flame Wheel/Crunch/Scary Face/Earthquake - Charcoal)

Selecting the starter was difficult, because both Honooguma’s line and Kurusu’s line appealed to me. Ultimately I think I went with my old Fire bias. Cinnamon was everything you’d expect a Fire starter to be-- powerful, intimidating, and very reliable. My only real complaint would be that I happened to strongly dislike the sprite the team had created for Dynabear. This isn’t really anyone’s fault, because the team did an excellent job with spriting-- for example, their sprite for the mid-evolution, Volbear, was incredibly good and I adored it to bits. I think it was just a matter of personal taste; I just didn’t like the final evolution’s face. (I’ve actually replaced the sprite in this picture with the original sprite, because I don’t want it to dampen my love for this species) Other than that, seriously, they did this evolution family justice. It was a joy to have on my team.

Doomsday (Curse/Confuse Ray/Body Slam/Shadow Ball - Power Wings)

The second member of my team was found in Brass Tower, to my great excitement: Kurstraw. This was possibly my favorite evolution line to come out of the beta discoveries. This pokemon’s stats were not exactly breaking any records; he went down pretty easily if I wasn’t careful. However, that never really mattered. Doomsday still did his job anyway-- pulling his weight just fine, relying on Confuse Ray and Curse a fair bit to take care of foes. He often was an excellent team player, messing with especially troubling pokemon before passing them over to an ally to finish off. His Normal Immunity also was a strong advantage at times, which I made sure to make use of. Basically, he was a fantastic companion, who helped me all the way through to the Elites and Champion fights.

Rumtum (Slash/Thunder Wave/Thunderbolt/Crunch - Leftovers)

Along with a Rinrin, this round good boy was added to the team next. I was slightly wary of Kotora because it seemed to be one of the most popular beta pokemon among fans. But, the pokemon does seem to be worthy of praise, as it turns out. It is an excellent, cute, cheery little creature and seems to do Pikachu’s job just as nicely as Pikachu, both in fighting and in charisma. Where Pikachu is focused more on speed, though, Kotora and its evolution focus a little more on bulk. The tanky tiger was able to take hits long enough to outlast the competition, even when working with relatively low basepower moves. When he *finally* learned Thunderbolt, though, man, look out -- he was quite a force to reckon with.

It’s funny, actually. When I first saw this tubby tiger, I assumed it was a fire type. Electric was somewhat surprising, but I quickly grew to like it as that typing. Most electric type pokemon are rodent-focused, as Pikachu clones, or Magnemite’s kin. Having a big, bulky tiger is unexpected for the archtype of electric pokemon, but it’s a very refreshing change.

Poprocks (Fire Blast/Surf/Body Slam/Flame Wheel - Mystic Water)

Next on the team was this awesome fellow. Well . . . sort of. Technically, next on the team was TRICKY the Bomsheal, which I traded a Rinrin for with an NPC. Later on, I felt like being able to name the pokemon myself, so I bred Tricky with Cinnamon and trained Poprocks up from scratch. This seal was the cause of some angst for me. I loved Manboo’s evolutionary line a lot, but I also loved the fire seal. They both vyed for the position of the water type on my team. For a while, I used Manboo (and Anchorage) . . . intent on keeping it. But I missed the seal so much, eventually I went back for it to retrieve it from the PC. Yes, it only added to my team’s Rock/Ground weakness, but I didn’t care. I loved this guy too much.

I’m not sure what it is. The freaking amazing typing of Fire/Water? That was definitely a big part of it. But there’s also just something so appealing in its design, simple as it may be. He’s just a cool seal with a fireball. And boy . . . I sure learned how INTENSE its stats were. This seal was RIPPING through the competition. Using it was basically pushing the win button. Honestly it might need to be nerfed a little, it was nuts. But yeah, Bomsheal is a badass and doesn’t need any evolutions to be cool. Best surfer ever!

Darkwing (Slash/Fly/Swords Dance/Faint Attack - Stick)

Right around when I was handed the TM for Fly, I ran into an area that had two types of birds available, depending on the time of day: Hoothoot at night, Farfetch’d at day. As cool as beta Noctowl looks, I eventually decided I needed to have a Madame. I just had to. Like many others, I always, always felt Farfetch’d deserved an evolution and was kind of screwed over. Learning it used to have one was a revelation.

Madame on this team was kind of funny, though. Next to all of these exotic beta pokemon, Madame seemed so . . . normal. She had moves and performed pretty much the way you’d expect a Normal/Flying type to act. It was much like using a Pidgeotto or Fearow. She couldn’t take many hits but usually could take out one pokemon. Her typing had her as an ideal Generalist pokemon-- something that could be used in various situations, not to any amazing effect but usually to a passable one.

That may sound a little underwhelming to you, but honestly, it’s what you’d expect of this cool-looking swan; it’s a Normal/Flying type. It fills that archtype as a familiar, dependable generalist. And I am someone who can really appreciate a generalist pokemon. I think the pokemon world’s richer for having Madame in it, even if only in our dreams.

Alpha (Strength/Blizzard/Screech/Ice Punch - Nevermeltice)

The final member of our illustrious team. You have to wait until fairly late into the game, when you reach the snowy towns, to get a hold of one of these fellows.But the wait is well worth it. What a beautiful pokemon design these two are-- mysterious little creatures hiding inside their wolf pelts, a perfect mix of cute and creepy. Wolfman/Warwolf actually struggled for quite some time on my team, unfortunately, just because of its movepool. I was left with the very weak Icy Wind for a long time. To compensate, I taught Strength, which worked somewhat, but I could still tell Warwolf wasn’t reaching its full potential. I taught it Blizzard, but the poor pokemon had a rough time ever landing its hits. What I SHOULD have done from the start is buy and teach it Ice Punch for a reliable STAB move with decent base power. I FINALLY decided to do that around the time I reached the Elite 4. I kind of had to-- its learnset wasn’t providing it with reliable, decent Ice moves, for some reason. Once Warwolf was properly equipped, he did great work. Admittedly, a pure Ice type pokemon isn’t the best, defensively. They have four weaknesses to some very common move types-- Rock, Fighting, Fire. (Steel moves weren’t really implemented in this game). That said, when used wisely, a pure Ice type can still be a valuable team member.

There was one hitch, though. Warwolf was mainly a physical fighter. This makes sense if you look at him. Of course he’d be a physical fighter. Thing is, in gen 2, Ice moves were all special. So I suppose technically Warwolf still isn’t hitting at his full potential-- not until the special/physical split in gen 4 so he can take true advantage of physical-type Ice moves. Still, despite that fact, he did a great job anyway. He landed the final blow that defeated Lance and won the game, after all.

I think my only real regret is how relatively little time I spent with him when compared to the others. This is, of course, just the nature of the game; you find some pokemon later on when you’re nearing the end of the game. If there’s any sort of post-game, perhaps I can spend more time with him.

And the Ones Who Didn’t Make the Cut . . .(This Time)

There were so many beta pokemon that it was impossible to have them all on the team, of course. I was especially sad about leaving my Bellrun, Tibbs, behind. I adore Rinrin and Bellrun’s line, as yet another set of pokemon that should have been included in the final cut of the official games. Alas, ultimately I removed Tibbs from my team, though. The reason was simple enough. With the beta Type alignments, Dark type was heavily disadvantaged. It was weak to Normal-type and Dark-type moves (as well as Bug), which was extremely significant. Pokemon’s movepools were positively saturated with Normal and Dark type moves, and it was impossible to avoid. With her already weak stats, and her lack of any decent basepower moves for so long, there was just too much stacked against her. It’s my hope that Rinrin/Bellrun get a bit of a buff in future updates, because they really seem to struggle. 

In any case, there were also plenty of others not on my team: Aquarius, Noctowl, Belmitt, Jumpluff, Turban, Plux, Grotess, Girafarig, Leafeon . . . and so many more. Honestly, that’s fantastic. It gives such replayability to the game. I have no doubt I will return to do more runs and get the chance to try out other pokes.

And, who knows? Maybe in the future they’ll even update this hack to include even more beta pokemon that were uncovered last year. If they don’t, I’m sure someone else will.  

(This hack is largely the work of lvl_3, who created ‘Pokemon Super Gold 97.’ Then, the hack was further changed and refined by a team into ‘Pokemon Gold and Silver 97: Reforged.’ Both can be found at the PokeCommunity as patches.)