#more interviews should’ve asked animal-based questions

[synkiller82]

Begin Again

I participated in the Lukanette Secret Admirer Exchange, which released today.  Here is my submission for @mintiimagi.  I hope she and everyone else enjoys!  This was based on the Taylor Swift song of the same name.

Marinette took another look in her mirror, sighing at her reflection.  Her outfit was cute, a red sundress with a white flower pattern, white cardigan, and low-heeled, peep-toe red shoes.  However, she felt anything but cute.

“Marinette, hurry up girl!  We’re going to be late!” Alya called from the living room.

Sighing again, Marinette grabbed her purse and walked out of her room.  It wasn’t that she didn’t love Alya, she did, but she wasn’t looking forward to being the third wheel yet again when they met Nino for lunch.  She just wasn’t in the mood to be around couples, being reminded of what she lost almost a year ago, but Alya never took no for an answer.

As they walked toward the metro, Marinette made a decision.  Looking towards Alya, Marinette made a silent apology before stopping on the platform while Alya continued onto the train, her eyes trained on a message from Nino.  She would pay for it, she knew, but she really couldn’t do it today. Marinette walked back out of the station, sent apology texts to Nino and Alya, and made her way to her favorite cafe a few blocks away.

---

The owners greeted her kindly and went about preparing her normal order.  She smiled and thanked them before sitting at a small table near the window.  The cafe had a beautiful view of the skyline, with the Eiffel Tower standing tall and timeless in the distance.  Her order was delivered while she absent-mindedly sketched the tower, her mind wandering to the past.

It had been eight months since things had changed, and she didn’t know how to handle it.  It was like she was living in limbo, unable to move forward. Hawkmoth was gone, which should have been the best day of her young life, but it was a bitter-sweet memory.  She also lost her partner without knowing who he was, finding his ring and note at their meeting spot a few days after the final battle. Then Adrien announced he was moving to England to live with his aunt and cousin, as they were his closest relatives and he couldn’t bring himself to stay in Paris after everything that had happened.

Marinette was beginning to believe that, even with all her Ladybug luck over the years, that she would never find love.  That she was destined to be like Master Fu, a lonely Guardian with a lost love until it was time to give the Guardianship to someone else.  Marinette thought it would be better that way because then she wouldn’t leave her family without an explanation as to why she didn’t remember them.

A familiar, soft voice brought her out of her thoughts.  She looked up to see a pair of aqua eyes framed by blue-tipped black hair looking back at her, a concerned frown marring his handsome face.

“Luka,” Marinette squeaked, startled at his appearance.  “What are you doing here?”

“I was walking by when I saw you sitting here.  Your song is so sad today, and I had to stop to see if I could help,” he explained as he stood at her table.

She smiled a little, waving at the chair across from her as an invitation.  Luka had always been a sweet boy, supportive of her without pushing for anything more than friendship.  Marinette knew he had feelings for her, but she never let herself consider them while Adrien was around.  She was beginning to realize that she was a bit obsessive over the blonde. How many Lukas had there been in her life while she chased an unattainable dream?

“Would you like to talk about it?” Luka asked quietly as his coffee was delivered.  He sat patiently, as he always did, waiting for her to make the first move.

“Just overthinking things, like always,” she replied as she looked down at her book.  Next to the rough sketch of the tower stood a male figure, the beginnings of an outfit that already had a cat motif emerging.  She sighed. “Luka, do you think some people are just fated to be alone their whole life?”

Luka tilted his head to the side, considering her question.  “I don’t.” He watched as Marinette’s head snapped up, her melancholy eyes locking with his.  “We always have people around us, who love us in different ways. I don’t think anyone is alone by fate, but by choice.”

Marinette nodded, taking what Luka said to heart.  She had been pushing everyone away, keeping them at arm's length because of her secrets and her pain.  Maybe, just maybe, it was time to let someone in.

“Thanks, Luka.  I needed to hear that,” she replied, a small smile tugging at her lips.  “So, how are things going for you?”

They spent the afternoon catching up.  Luka was back from touring with Jagged as a backup guitarist and had learned a lot about the music industry.  Jagged promised to get Luka an interview with Jagged’s record label since Luka’s sound was ‘rock and roll’. Marinette giggled fondly at the comment, knowing her pseudo-uncle loved the young musician.  Luka was also taking online classes in Music Theory to broaden his knowledge.

Marinette, on the other hand, was hard at work getting her Fashion degree from a well-known university near the apartment she shared with Alya, who was attending the same school for Journalism.  Marinette told him about her classes and how much she was learning. Her hands became animated as she spoke, only adding to her excitement, which Luka found himself quickly getting swept up in. He may not understand a lot of what she was saying, but he couldn’t help but listen with a sort of awe and fondness.  Marinette had always been the girl he wanted to date, maybe even marry one day, but he had stepped to the side when he realized she had eyes for one person, and that wasn’t him.

“Do you wanna walk around for a while?  I was thinking about heading to a nearby park,” Marinette asked shyly, which was a complete 180 from her earlier excited and bold speech.

“Sure.  I’d love to play for you again,” Luka answered just as shyly, motioning to his ever-present guitar sitting on one of the other chairs at the table.

“I’d love that.  It’s been so long since I’ve had a private concert,” Marinette remarked, standing and gathering her things.  She stopped abruptly, as her words sunk in, cheeks tinting a bright shade of red. “I mean, that is...not like a private, private concert.  You know, but just playing for me, alone. I mean, not alone…”

Luka placed a hand on her shoulder, stopping her rush of words.  “I understand, Marinette. You don’t have to explain.” He held out a hand to her.  “Shall we?”

Marinette released the breath she had been holding, slung her purse over her shoulder, and took his hand in hers.  “We shall.”

---

The park they stopped in was a few blocks from the cafe.  The late spring air was warm on their skin as they sat on a park bench.  There were a few families around the playground, with kids running after each other and playing on the equipment.  Marinette was quietly sketching an outfit for Luka for his interview while Luka strummed on his guitar. He had noticed her song wasn’t as sad anymore, but not quite what it was the last time he had seen her.  He began to play what he heard, a beautiful melody, but with a bit of a sad undercurrent that spoke of loss and uncertainty. Something was still bothering his friend, but he would never pry. She got enough of that from her best friend.  Luka was patient. He could wait for her to come to him if she wanted to. He would be just as content sitting here in the comfortable bubble they found themselves in.

“What do you think?” Marinette asked, bringing Luka out of his thoughts.

He looked over the page.  The figure was dressed in a pair of distressed black skinny jeans, an aqua shirt, and a black hoodie, all with teal and black accents in a snake motif.  It was nicer than his usual look, but still looked comfortable and played to his style. Marinette always had a way of bringing a person’s personality and style into her designs, much like he was able to put a person’s feelings into music.

“It looks great, Marinette.  Where did you get the snake idea from?”

Marinette startled, trying to figure out how to explain she knew he was Viperion at one point, but then remembered the Miracle Queen incident.  She didn’t want to ruin the mood they found themselves in, so she decided to steer clear of it. After scrambling her mind, she found another reason.  “Well, you remind me of a snake. Quiet and hidden in the background, happy to be left alone. However, you will strike to defend those you love. Also, your music could charm even the most savage of beasts.”

Luka’s cheeks tinged pink at the compliment.  “Thanks, Marinette. That means a lot.”

“What was that song you were playing?  It was really pretty,” Marinette inquired, putting her sketchbook away after making a few notations about fabrics and a reminder to get Luka’s measurements.

“Oh, it was, uh” Luka began, not sure how to explain.  “It was the song I heard from you,” he finished quietly.

“That makes sense,” she replied quietly, placing a hand on Luka’s thigh.  “Could you play it again?”

Luka nodded and started playing.  Marinette once again got lost in the music, the sounds soothing something inside her heart.  For months, her thoughts had swirled with endings, disappointments, and loss. Now, she began to feel hope again.  A feeling that things would turn for the better, that the beginning was within reach if she had the courage and strength to grab it.  As the song finished, she opened her eyes slowly to see Luka looking at her, and she made a decision. One she should’ve made long ago.

“Hey, Luka?  Would you like to go to dinner sometime?” Marinette asked quietly, hope and nervousness lacing her voice.

“I would love to, Marinette.”  Luka reached up and cupped her cheek, watching her face for signs to stop as he slowly leaned in.  When she offered no resistance, instead of tilting her head slightly, he closed the distance between them.

Marinette gasped as Luka’s lips touched hers softly.  She moved her hands to his neck, playing with the fringe, before pulling back slightly to look into his eyes.  She pulled him back to her, smiling into the kiss as she realized that this was it. She was ready to let the past go, and with Luka, she would begin again.

[yuukei-yikes]

lost day hour should’ve been the end of kagepro babey

what is UP it's 2019 i am NOT ONLY talking about kagepro but im also gonna talk about a comic that came out like over half a year ago. Yeah

i've just been having too many feelings about it and it's my blog and i get to post whatever i want SO:

the lost day hour comic really was what would've been the perfect end to kagepro. like, kagepro in its entirety!!! songs, anime, novels. the comic just being THE ending.

haruka was the protagonist. in the songs, the "last" one (at least chronologically in universe) was from his point of view, but despite that the novels and anime did him dirty and never gave him his screen time, even outside of str. i mean even str isn't actually about him lol. haruka was never important enough, he's just the devise to make konoha tragic. but this time, it's post/during str and he's here!!!! he's the protagonist of the story!!!!

all the members of the mekakushi dan feel SO in character and everything they say really feels like a good resolution to all of their arcs.

kido speaks of family. she's really THE family character, not ayano. she makes sure to be the next big sister after having lost TWO (2) of her own big sisters. kido is the character to have lost the most family members: first her biological mom, after having to kill her own father lol she loses rin, then her new mom ayaka and her new sister ayano, and then her new dad kenjirou. even like that, kido keeps it together. she's never the one breaking down. kido is essentially what makes the mekakushi dan what it is, because she takes ayano's game and turns it into something seto and kano can continue feeling that comfort in. she takes over to be the leader and their big sister. SO OF COURSE SHE SAYS THAT FRIENDS ARE HER FAMILY. 

kano says confusing stuff but that's just him and i. Love it. like when i read the comic and i was talking to my gf about it and the first thing i said was that i loved kano's bit and that he felt super in character and i still feel the same!!! he gets asked what a friend is and his answer is basically "whoever makes ME feel like im a friend" and really that's just The Most Kano.... and it's so rewarding to read his part because it feels like he's being super honest? like his expressions and stuff, he looks like. vulnerable or smth. especially when he says "i say good things sometimes" AHHH HIS FACE THERE!!! he's not acting at all!!!

seto and mary work in A FLOWER SHOP!!!! THIS IS CANON!!!! no more shitty part time jobs because they either got a job together or opened their own shop and this is. the best news ever. it's SUCH a cool thing to show. if this comic was the end, wouldn't it be cute to say "oh seto and mary open a flower shop together in endgame"? i love it. they're so important to each other's arc... mary basically starting to live her life after meeting seto, and seto becoming this!!! BRAVE BOY after meeting mary since he has someone to protect!! their answers are based on each other and ARE THE SAME which feels so appropriate ;_; they really did change for the better after meeting each other. they're one another's most important friend!

momo says friends are the most important thing because she spent her entire life by herself. no brother no dad and no mom. hibiya acts like she's exaggerating when she says that but tbh??? she really isn't. she was always alone! of course that now that she has friends, they're her entire world to her. hibiya meanwhile is like momo: he's still figuring out what a friend is! but he chooses to be more skeptical and looks at it from another angle, and rather than HELL YEAH MY FRIENDS ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT he's like "dammit harukas right wtf is a friend". but that's super cool because at the beginning hibiya didn't even want to be with the dan in this comic he specifically tells momo he just wouldn't be there if he didn't want to be friends

hiyori is. probably my least favorite thing of the comic. i absolutely adore her it's not that i dislike her at all!!! she just... appears for such a short moment, and based on her story and the fact that she's A REVIVED character, her answer doesn't really grab my attention. she's confusing and ??? um, i would've liked it better if her answer was somehow connected to konoha because she's still mourning him, and like isn't haruka the (in?)appropriate person to hear this? lol. but overall, if this comic had been the ending, it's still good to see hiyori made it back! 

ayano's bit really makes me want to cry because everything is perfect in it. she made it back. listen an ending where ayano doesn't come back does make sense because kagepro is about moving on and with ayano surviving shintaro's manpain makes NO sense lmao bUT HEY. SHE DESERVES IT. so she's back! and she's wearing that cute dress and she has her scarf! she's on the SWING SETS WITH HARUKA and i know that's such a silly detail but im so happy about it because it feels so right to have haruka and ayano's interaction be in a place like that KSNXKSKSK and aghhhh how she asks the question back to haruka!!!!! that's so cool lmao and it's so in character ;; but also her answer is sooo fitting, she even says "the current me" like acknowledging she's not the same she was before. since she's a chara with mental illness that's nice to hear... and another cool detail is that we see her drinking soda with shintaro while they watch the others be silly SKDNSLDK like if this were the end, that's SUCH a nice detail to put since the comic doesn't require shintaro and ayano interaction at all, and both are important characters to the story and each other. so they're clearly hanging out and talking to each other so that's really good to know

shin and haruka are probably my favorite in this comic because their interaction is the most fitting thing considering their entire history together. like ever since their friendship was introduced in novel 6 it's been something important! shintaro and haruka really represent the side of friendship in kagepro because overall it's a story about family, and their relationship always represented this other angle of finding family in a best friend. in novel 6 haruka says that if shintaro isn't his friend by now then he doesn't NEED any friends. he's the reason haruka even realises he has feelings for takane, because it felt so right to call shintaro a friend but it felt off with her. neither haruka or shintaro ever had friends because takane and ayano are their love interests, so it's their first genuine platonic relationship ever. and they just continue appreciating that always! even in their interaction in the comic shin expresses that he's still not sure what a friend is, but if haruka is one he just wants to keep it that way. so their talk in the comic is fitting and it's super nice to see shintaro gets to reunite with his best friend.

ok and........takane...... everything about takane in the comic is good. she is SO cheerful. all of you DUMBASSES who "hate" ene but "love" takane can die mad about it now because newsflash ene IS takane. if you hate ene then you dislike takane when she begins her character development. it means you hate endgame takane. it means you hate the happy takane in lost day hour!!! she has come SO far. she smiles so much and encourages haruka when he was overthinking and didn't know what to draw. she just tells him the answer is easy and friendship is the mekakushi dan. SHE'S PERFECT have you seen how INCREDIBLY HAPPY SHE LOOKS?? no one else has this impact of character in the comic, everyone kind of acts the same in regards of attitude (except kano who looks v honest and over himself but still). in the fandom we always took it for granted that endgame takane is more cheerful than she was but lost day hour just. confirms it and it's done in the best way possible.

ok and of course im talking about harutaka too because 1) im biased and 2) harutaka IS the love story of kagepro and that's not bc im biased anymore, it just is. and it never had a good resolution... until this!!!!

haruka asks everyone what a friend is but doesn't ask takane. like really he didnt want to ask her in the first place because when shin asks who's left to ask harukas like "uHHHH one person but..." and like he doesn't just imply he wasn't going to ask her, but his interaction with her is soooo different from the ones he has with the dan earlier. with everyone else he just asks what a friend is but with takane he actually... doesn't? wh. why wouldn't he ask her im just. ok.

haruka in the beginning tells kido to think of it as an interview and essentially that's the feeling there is in each interaction but with takane it's different. he's not interviewing her. 

she shows up and sits next to him while he's trying to draw. they talk about WHY he's asking and about what he wants to do with his future. during the entire comic haruka is normal and friendly, and doesn't really act any differently, but with takane he seems a lot less formal and does things like allow himself to talk or get embarrassed when she immediately figures out he heard too much and didn't know what to draw.

their love story was always just left there as this tragic thing and as a fandom we always wanted their tearful reunion in the ending, but this is better. we finally know they actually do reunite. we always knew because in str takane is running towards him but this is... an actual interaction we're seeing 

they didn't only reunite, but we get to see they still have a close and comfortable relationship with one another. out of everyone haruka speaks with, takane is special. when his face appears for the first time in the comic it's a smile for her

and um, it may be because it's my otp and i've been waiting for this str content for YEARS and you know harutaka is my lifeblood 😩😩😩 but i believe it's already established to be more than a friendship at that point. i mean haruka wasn't going to ask her so jUSt saying man im not saying they're a established couple there im SAYING i think they're Something. i mean like haruka always said in novel 6, it felt weird to put takane in the friend category so in str it's the same, just very Obvious

BUT that's exactly why it'd be a good ending. it's up to interpretation. little things like that ARE fun and good to simply allow them to be heavily implied. just like with their jobs. because okay haruka wants to be an artist, hell yeah that's a cool thing to have as canon. BUT i think it's cool that just one character gets a canon detail of his future, the one who represents what growing up means. HARUKA of all characters, the one who for a long time thought he wasn't even gonna have the chance to grow up, which is why it's incredibly fitting that he's the one to represent this.

kagepro might be a mess and just a pain to be a fan of, but it's really a heartwarming and wonderful story about friends, family and love. this comic covers all of that. while they're answering this question, it's a good way to say bye to the characters individually.... and i mean. the comic's ending is literally the most perfect thing ever for a close, with the ENTIRE mekakushi dan having fun together and finally being happy and complete.

of course it's jin's series. they're his characters. we all understand and respect that, and if he wants to make kagepro never end like he claims then so be it but personally!!! it makes me really upset that it's gonna go on

anyway. that's it bye gamers

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Kiznaiver - Thoughts

I just finished Kiznaivers and despite people on both sides saying that they love it or hate it, I can say that it fits the niche that I was looking for, so I really liked it. I like shows where romance is prevalent but not the most relevant plot point of the show. The cast wasn’t as bad as I thought they were going to be, and I ended up enjoying this more than I should’ve. I’m about to get hyper-critical on a show that was given a 9/10 on MAL because that 9 was purely based on enjoyment.

Pros

Voice Cast

Good cast of characters (at times)

Good concept

Good script (at times)

Amazing art

Stunning music

Cons

Some of the characters aren’t that great

Lots of things are left hanging or just never got addressed ever

Story and writing can leave some things to be desired

Was not done to its fullest potential

Spoilers and full thing below!

Story

I separated stories and characters this time because I felt like I wanted to address both on their own.

The script was written by Mari Okada who’s known for writing the script for other sob stories like Anthem of the Heart and Anohana. I really like her writing despite criticism saying that her style is melodramatic. The script was a bit stuck at times during its idle moments, but when it was trying to hit, sometimes, it truly resonated with me. But I’ll admit, the tone of the show had a few mixed messages at times that took away the impact of her writing. It was unfortunate but between the mascot things and the Trigger art style, I understand how people think that the show can’t be taken seriously.

The story itself... needs to be taken with a large grain of salt. Or maybe a small pile. Heck, just take the whole bag of salt. It establishes more questions than they could ever answer within their run. While you can mount most of this to humans and their stupid ideas, I have a hard time believing that this happened in modern-day Japan with kids under the government’s eye with mascots roaming about. Yeah... it gets off to a bit of a rough start.

Characters

In this kind of show, characters are vital to the show’s success. This show takes the classic “seven deadly sins” and spin them off using a mix of classic anime tropes. We have the “lifeless kid”, “tsundere”, “thug”, “eccentric freak”, “ikemen”, “cold bitch”, and “insane masochist”. We also have the “mysterious girl” to top it all off, but I found her annoying throughout the duration of the entire story. It didn’t even matter once her backstory was revealed, I didn’t like her. 

But want to know the weird thing? I liked the tsundere and thug. Chidori and Tenga were my favourite characters. This cast was written pretty well. Maki the “cold” one gets the development she deserved. We barely touched upon the other characters besides Noriko, Katsuhira, Maki, and the environment. Maki’s development had so much potential, and luckily, they used a lot of it. However, as I mentioned before, too many ends were left undone. We see characters have issues that are never addressed. One character arguably has an eating disorder, and I was waiting for them to come out, say, it, and show us that it’s okay to come out. And for a male character at that. Why couldn’t we have that? And Maki’s development, she’s bisexual. It’s canon. Nice. I think they could’ve gone further into it. Where and how did Chidori and Kacchon meet if he wasn’t “always like this”? I felt that the romantic connection between Niko and Tenga was kind of forced within episodes eight and nine, but that scene in episode eight and nine was so well done by all standards. Given the certain circumstances, maybe it didn’t hit that hard, but for me, it gave a pretty good impact. The love confessions were so well acted that even if the feelings flew over my head, I still felt bad for them.

The way I see it, Noriko and Katsuhira go way back and their past is the reason why they wreak havoc on these other people’s lives (I weirdly didn’t like either of the leads). Noriko does it because she’s in pain, and Katsuhira is like this because he never got over his childhood crush and doesn’t understand anything. Chidori deserves better than she got, I don’t know why she gets so much hate. Her design is cute, she has the perfect voice, and she’s transparent making her very easy to read. Tenga is super transparent too. He’s the kindhearted thug, and I like that trope. His genuine liking towards Chidori comes across easily. I also like the whole “trying to set people up but falling in love along the way” when it’s done right (look at Toradora). Yuta is good, but we got nothing on him. Maki is great. She got the development she deserved, and even though it took a whole chunk of the show, it was one of the best parts of the series. Hisomu is just a messy insert character who is a masochist because it fit the niche of the series. He also spews wisdom at times because he’s a plot device. I didn’t strongly hate any of the cast.

Art

Yuzuru Tachikawa has worked on Death Parade and Mob Psycho 100. And with Trigger’s style, the anime turned out great. The OP and ED were stunning in their own right. Even when the anime got emotional, it was still good! The art did its job great and showed the eccentric side of their characters in a way that made me believe them even more. 

Sound

This is one of the strongest parts of the anime. The OP by BOOM BOOM SATELLITES was so catchy, fitting, and I know they won’t ever make a song like that again because of the tragic death of one of the two members but this song was such a high note. The ending was great and with the visuals, I liked it! The score was done by Yuki Hayashi which I didn’t find out until after I watched the show, and if you don’t know what he has worked on, he has done Haikyuu, My Hero Academia, and more. When they use the soundtrack, it’s really good. I just wish they let it showcase a little more.

The voice acting! Where do I even start? 

Another role for Kaji, and honestly, I have heard too many main characters by him now. My outlook was like Katsuhira. It was so bland. His performance as an actor was great leaving little to ask for, but I almost wish this role was given to a smaller voice actor to get their big break.

Tomoaki Maeno has blown me away quite a few times with his performance in Death Parade and Hak in Akatsuki no Yona. He was also really good as Doujou in Library Wars and the White Blood Cell in Hataraku Saibou. However, he has had quite a few misses for me. One of the biggest misses was the main character role as *cough* Dino (*STOMPS FOOT*) in Blend S.

Nobunaga Shimazaki is quite a capable voice actor too, but he is mostly known for a certain niche with his higher voice. Ironically, this character in Kiznaiver doesn’t hesitate to swim. One of his most notable roles is Haruka Nanase from Free. I personally know him for playing Shinichi in Parasite and Kaidou from Saiki. I would say something more, but as his character wasn’t developed much, what can I say? A voice actor only gets as good as the writing does.

Ironically, both Yuka Terasaki and Hibiku Yamamura are known for voicing the child versions of a lot of main characters but don’t get as many main characters themselves.

And I tried to see whether there was any other Terasaki role that I would want to watch, and honestly, there wasn’t anything (since I hold general consensus and genre above voice actors). I wanted there to be, but there wasn’t any. Her performance for Chidori was so powerful, innocent, pure, naive, and raw that I was genuinely surprised. Terasaki got married a little while back. Congrats! Maeno and Terasaki both gave me surprises performance-wise.

But you know who else surprised me? Kuno. Misaki Kuno. I only know her for voicing children or babies or the token mascot pig. This was genuinely surprising. I had already heard Sugita and her having a heart-to-heart conversation, and I heard her interview saying that she had a hard time with this role, but it came out beautifully.

Rina Satou is a very, very, very strong voice actress. She’s almost as old as Sugita and Nakamura. She’s married with a kid, and this role was done just a year before that news came about. In fact, this anime came out in 2016, but within that same year, she revealed she had a kid and was married. You probably heard her voice somewhere, but she doesn’t have a whole lot of mainstream leading roles. She does have a seiyuu award for Best Leading Actress though.

And Koutarou Nishiyama... right... him... his BL career (assuming he has one) is paying off because you can certainly see it shine? I don’t know. The writing didn’t let this character go far. Maybe another role will make me respect him as an actor.

This show had a strong voice cast, and it’s one of the strongest parts of the show.

[insanely-creative-things]

Big Hero 7: The Series

www.fanfiction.net

|

Big Hero 7 S2

Something Fluffy

*At the local landfill Noodle Burger Boy is with Trina looking for parts to upgrade since the appearances and attacks of people transforming to monsters began. Especially with the news of Orso Knox and his 'death' in the hands of Big Hero 7.*

N.B.B:*Picks up a hardware* Will I like this? Nah. *Picks up a shiny wheel* Ooh`! Golly sis! What about this?

Trina: We want to upgrade, not lame-grade.

N.B.B: Its shiny.

*As N.B.B stores it in his head.*

Trina: Its like trying to have a conversation with a blender.

* And when she gets searching, Trina picks up a wind turbine.*

Trina: Hello there! This might work.

Hiro: Trina, figured I find you in the trash.

*And above the bots are Hiro and Baymax in their super suits, having heard that the word that Trina and NBB would be lurking somewhere.*

Baymax: Many items here are recyclable.

Trina: That's what I'm doing Hugs. Self improvement.

NBB: Sis says we are keeping up with the 'biologicals'.

Trina: Got to! Every loser in town is going monster these days.

Hiro: Don't I know it.

NBB: Time to scrap!

*Trina throws a metal pole to Baymax to which he catches it with his hands.*

Baymax: Scrap?

Hiro; I think he's making a joke.

Baymax: Oh! Trash is also referred to as scrap. Synanons.

NBB:Hee hee. Hee hee.

*Before Hiro could warn Baymax NBB knocks Baymax to the trash with his laser eyes.*

Trina: And that's our cue to leave. Lets go bro.

NBB: That sounds swell sis!

Hiro: Baymax! Rocket Fist!

*Baymax launches his rocket fist to the robotic duo where it knocks them out.*

trina: Always gotta have the last word don't you?

NBB: I feel real shiny!

*Trina picks NBB up before the super duo could.*

Baymax: We are due at the symposium in eleven minutes. You are covered in garbage

Hiro: Right... *Strains to pull himself out with moderate success.* Let me just *Then he falls deeper inside.*

Baymax: Perhaps it would be advisable to-

*That's when Baymax falls to the trash himself, though not as deep.*

Baymax: Oh no.

*The symposium is about a duo interview with Alistair Krei and Liv Amara themselves with Bluff Dunder. The main guests being students from SFIT.*

Dunder: Any more questions for our tech pioneers Alistair Krei and Liv Amara?

Student: Uh... this is a question for Liv?

Krei:*Mumbles under breath* Great... another one.

Student: A big fan, probably biggest, how is Sycorax doing since the Monster attack destroyed most of your work?

*Krei's eyes turn to Liv as he waits for her response to that question. If he hadn't been informed about what truly happened at the incident and what Orso Knox had said, he would have smirked at her discomfort... but all he felt is disgust. The only satisfaction he has is now Liv's reputation is under scrutiny since that day. While it had lessened, there were still questions about it.*

Liv: It has been a long road to repair the damage. But thankfully we have recovered half of our research and are on the verge of finding new ones! My workers had been recovering well and are now back in action.

Hiro: *Mumbling in distaste* Yeah, back to creating monsters that nearly killed us and bribing my girlfriend to work for you again.

Cora: Hiro, be quiet...*Sniffs before her face slightly cringes* Whats that smell?

Baymax: We fell into garbage.

Gogo: Finally someone is asking a real question about Liv Amara.

Cora: Yeah.. the same question over and over...

Hiro: Challenge accepted.

Cora: Wait! *Pulls out a bottle of perfume* If you're gonna ask Amara, at least make yourself smell decent.

*After spraying him in perfume Hiro walks down to ask next.*

Dunder: Aww, looks like we have a question from that little boy.

*Some of the students chuckle but Cora was not amused, crossing her arms and frowning at their laughter.*

Hiro: Miss Amara, you guys never talk about what you guys actually do?

Liv: Sycorax invests in the future. Were you even listening Hiro?

Hiro:No, I heard that, I mean whats the product that you make?

Liv: Oh *Chuckles* who really wants to hear about the minutia reprogramming serum and its effects on recovanent DNA? But fantastic question! Who's next?

*Hiro tries to ask another question but soon Cora joins in, her eyes filled with judgement.*

Dunder: Oh! Looks like our next guest is the girl who survived the rampage! How are you little girl?

Cora: Dandy Mr. Dunder *To Liv* Miss Amara, I have to agree with Hiro on this one. When I was your intern for that day all I've been instructed is to search for unique genetic coding of the cuttlefish and how they expand their bodies and squirt ink... but you never clarified any ideas for a product that you make based on those findings... or had you even planned to make said product at all?

Liv: Well, lets just say that its a WIP at the moment, and I must say that I loved the effort you showed. I was glad to have you as my intern that day. I wish you the best, Who's next?-

Cora: But there's also the fact that Orso Knox was still in his monster form at the time. Two months ago you claimed that you are two to three weeks from a breakthrough... but when I was... kidnapped... he was still a monster. Have you been busy with other projects to even assist Mr. Knox?

Liv: You see-

Cora: Or was it that you were keeping him in a cell like an animal? Also... Hiro and I stumbled across this patch *pulls out a the patch they found* it was on Nedd Lud, and the only other patch I've seen is at Sycorax-

*Hiro comes back down and grabs the microphone as he hears the tone of Cora's voice grow hostile as Liv Amara's eyes start to be impatient and annoyed.*

Hiro: Ummm hey! Its getting late and I promised your dad I would take you home before curfew-

Cora: I have one more question Miss Amara...

Liv: *Eyes with small suspicion* And what would it be Cora?

Cora: Mr. Knox first went to Frederickson manor... then Krei Tech... then the award ceremony…. of all the times Orso Knox came through his appointments to meet the people he was supposed to see... why did he only attack you?

*Mr. Dunder looks at Liv Amara with slightly raised eyes as Krei looks between Liv and Cora, his hands gripping each other as he waited for something to happen.*

Hiro: And he's here! Come on Cora! Lets go!

*He quickly drags Cora upstairs and to the exit joined by Wasabi, Gogo and Baymax. Dunder looks at Liv Amara, who has been quiet since Cora phrased the question.*

Dunder: I believe that's all the time we have for now. Join us next time!

* Once outside the symposium, Gogo gives Cora a smack upside the head*

Cora: Ow!

Gogo: What were you thinking Cora?

Cora: What?

Wasabi: Loosing your cool like that? Do you want Liv Amara to know that you're suspicious of her?

Hiro: If she figures out you know what happened to Orso Knox she'll hurt you or worse! Use that brain of yours!

Cora:... *Sighs sadly* You're right guys... it was foolish of me...… I should've thought of things more carefully than just springing up and doing it like that...

Hiro: Come on Cora, lets just go home. I really meant it that I promised your dad that I bring you home before curfew.

Cora: Yeah... wanna stay over for dinner you guys? My treat..

*Later on at Sycorax Liv Amara is studying the liquids while she hums a birthday song as she places them all onto a tray.*

Liv: And perfect... as usual.

*She throws the lever which combines all the liquids into a container.*

Liv: Isn't it beautiful?

*The machine completes to 100 percent as it finishes creating Liv Amara's new creature.*

Chris: What is it?

Liv: Meet our new insurance policy.

*The door opens up to reveal the creature inside.*

Chris: It... is.. so.. adorable!

*The creature is a little tadpole like creature with lotus blossom shaped ears on its head.*

Miyaoi: Miyaoi.

Chris: I heard about what that little girl said to you... you still want her in this team?

Liv: You and I both know we're only adding her to Sycorax because of her book. I'll get her to trust me again, and once I get close enough to learn all its juicy secrets her grandmother and mother wrote... you and I would have to make Cora have a little... accident at work.

*She pulls up the holograms of the photo, then of the book, and finally of Cora herself. The last image sparking out before it dies down in shocks and sparks.*

*The next day, Hiro is at the table working up his assignments while Cora is bring back glasses of water. However, when she was about to get close, Karmi shows up out of nowhere frightening Cora and making her spill the glasses. Hiro hears the yelp and looks up to see Karmi in front of Cora.*

Cora: Um… can I help you?...

Karmi: Why were you attacking Liv with your baseless accusations?

Cora: Baseless? Karmi, you were there. At the ceremony and the Sycorax attack, you saw it happen.

Karmi: That monster only attacked because it was already going crazy before Liv Amara came to help as did I! I helped Big Hero 7! Also, it was your fault for going near him in the first place!

Cora: That was my fault and I admit it! But what were you doing in the meantime he was there? While he was still trapped in that cell like an animal? Nothing!

Karmi: That's probably because he's already too far gone! Ugh, I still can't believe that even now Liv Amara is sending you get well presents after the attack and you still act like she's evil you ungrateful little-!

*Hiro gets up to quiet the storm.*

Hiro: Um Karmi, maybe you should-

Karmi: *to Hiro* This doesn't involve you!

Hiro: Actually it does. You're harassing my girlfriend over a job she quit and over questions! Would you just leave us alone already?! A lot of crazy things are happening lately and the last thing we want is to deal with you!

Karmi:... I'm watching you two...

*She stomps her way out, leaving those two alone as Cora lets out a sigh of relief.*

Cora: Thanks Hiro... I've would've lost my cool there...

Hiro: Karmi can throw what ever spiteful thing she could at me, but there's no way I'm just letting her take out her attitude to you.

Cora:... but she did have a point... this is only things we saw... Meet up the gang.

*The gang later appear to discuss about what to do with Liv Amara and the discoveries they learned.*

Wasabi: OK, I checked in with Commander Carter and he said that while our suspicions and what we found is good info about Liv Amara, we can't storm in and bring her to jail.

Fred: Its not like with Steamer since he has openly admitted to being evil. Liv Amara has public opinion and investors by her side.

Honey Lemon: That's right, she's too high profiled. Big Hero 7 can't do anything to her if we don't have actual proof.

Hiro: Then all we need to do is find evidence about Liv Amara's acts and we should be able to stop her!

Gogo: How? The only proof we have is Orso Knox and one, he's already far into the ocean, and two; the only one who could understand him is Cora.

Cora: And we can't risk his life, who knows what she would do if she finds out he's alive? What can we do?

Hiro: Now all we can do is stop the monsters attacks and look for any evidence to stop her.

*That's when Cora's phone rings up with a news report.*

Dunder: Breaking news! San Fransokyo is being invaded-

Hiro; *Groans* seriously? this soon?

Cora: time to suit up.

Fred: Ooh~! Ultra Armor up!

*Soon they all suit up with the armor Hiro made at the Sycorax attack, now adding Cora's suit. Now she could squirt harmless ink out of her finger tips to blind the criminal and added the ability to swim swifter than a dolphin. They all arrive at the center of town ready for battle... only to find it completely normal.*

Fred: Ummm….where's the invasion?

*Honey Lemon pulls up her phone to check out what the invasion truly is about.*

Dunder: I repeat! San Fransokyo is being invaded by these guys.

*Soon footage of the creatures Liv Amara created is shown, happily playing with children and being as adorable as puppies.*

Dunder: Miyaoi, adorable.

Honey Lemon: Oh they're so cute I can't even stand it!

*Hiro turns to Cora to show that she's struggling to keep a straight face as she sees the Miyaoi.*

Baymax: I do not understand. What makes this creature cute?

Honey Lemon: Its like how puppies are cute! Or stickers! Or you!

Baymax: I was designed to appear friendly and non threating. Is that cute?

Cora: And huggable. Like Tadashi said when you and Hiro first met.

Fred: Totally agree. I gotta be honest, ultra armor you is pretty threatening. But marshmallow you, premo-cute!

*Honey Lemon continues to squeal in happiness over the adorableness while Cora shakes to control herself from loosing herself to the adorableness to which Hiro is the first to break the ice.*

Hiro: Just because they look cute doesn't mean they're not dangerous!

Gogo: Negative world view, I like where you're going with this.

Cora: *shakes herself off* You're right Hiro! For all we know, this could be a gremlin situation!

Wasabi: Gremlin?

Fred: Oh yeah! Like that movie! They appear super cute until you feed them after midnight! Then they're super freaky and destroy the entire town!

Baymax: I suggest gathering more data.

Hiro: Yeah, Baymax is right. We need a miyaoi.

Honey Lemon: Yay!

*The next day, the gang gather round to capture a Miyoi. Hiro, Wasabi, Cora and Baymax,pair off to capture the Miyoi throughout the park, the city, through Mole's hideout, and making the classic box trap. As of while Gogo, Honey Lemon, and Fred are at the alleys looking for a Miyoi.*

Gogo: Anything?

Fred: Nope, and remember, nothing gets by me.

*A Miyoi got passed by Fred. Luckily Gogo hears the sound of another Miyoi close by.*

Gogo: What was that?

*Gogo peeks around the corner to see the fluffy tail of the Miyoi in a box. Gogo makes gestures to silently signal Fred and her girlfriend Honey Lemon about the Miyoi. Except she failed to realize that neither of them have any idea about hand signals about a plan.*

Gogo: OK, just follow my lead!

*Gogo and Honey Lemon step over and hide while Fred does the same, only to trip over himself and land into garbage bags. But hope is not lost as Gogo spots a box moving through.*

Gogo: Gotcha!

*The Miyoi purrs as the three aww...which surprised Fred and Honey Lemon because she actually cooed at the little cutie.*

Gogo: What? I feel things... sometimes.

*The four others go to the lab to meet up with the other three as they check the news. It seems all of San Fransokyo is all wrapped around the Miyoi.*

Hiro: I gotta admit, if this was a plan by Liv Amara to throw people off her scent she's done a good job.

Cora: Definitely Babe.

Baymax: It is because they are cute like Honey Lemon said.

Wasabi: I agree, about the Liv Amara plan I mean. To me they look like a bed of hot bacteria. I'm not falling for the whole cute act.

Hiro: No, we are not!... huh?

*The four turn around to see that the three had found the Miyoi and are playing with it with a laser pointer.*

Hiro: Seriously guys?

Gogo: Hey, Baymax said we needed data. There's our data. and its so cute.

Hiro: That doesn't explain the toys or the treats or the laser pointer behind Fred's back?

Fred: Oh that's cause we're keeping him. Forever.

Minimax: Friend Fred. I have kept a list of things your mother has banned from the house: all animals with fur, all animals with feathers, all animals with scales, certain tree nuts.

Fred: Oh... right. Thanks Minimax.

Minimax: You're minimaximum welcome!

Fred: We're still keeping him forever... just not in my house.

Honey Lemon: Ooh! Gogo and I can keep him at our place...maybe?

Gogo:*Cooing at the Miyoi* Who's my fuzzy wuzzy? *Normal voice to Honey Lemon* Yeah, sure whatever.

Honey Lemon: Even Gogo can't say no to these adorable eyes.

Cora: Oh no... Gogo fell for the cute... the apocalypse is coming.

Baymax: Are large eyes the indicators of cuteness?

Fred: Haha yeah they are! Right up to being extra round and fuzzy! *To Miyoi in cutesy voice* With your widdle face and our eeny weeny titsy little feet!

Baymax: I see footsize is also a factor.

Minimax: Indeed, I am adorable.

Baymax: I have noted this in my database.

Hiro: Guys! Can we please just focus! We don't know anything about this little guy!

Cora: You're forgetting that it could be trap!

*But they were too wrapped up about the Miyoi to listen to them anymore. Cora sighs before Hiro places a hand on her shoulder. Soon they and Baymax walk towards Grandville's office. Only to see Grandville... cooing at her very own Miyoi… which stunned them to silence... And then they lock the door to leave them in peace.*

Hiro; Its official...

Cora: Everyone's gone for the cuteness... Is there anyone else that could help us with this thing?

Baymax: What about Karmi?

Hiro: Baymax, you saw us earlier. Karmi already hates our guts, and since the Orso Knox incident she's been a complete bitch to us!

Cora: Asking for her help is the equivalent of a raindrop falling to the sea.

Baymax: And what does that mean?

Cora: It means nothing can help us!

Baymax: I do not understand why you two do not like the Miyoi. Do you not want to scratch their chins?

Hiro: Liv is messing with us big time! Look!

*Hiro pulls out his phone to show text pictures of Cass holding a Miyoi, with a sad Mochi ignored in the background.*

Cora: Poor Mochi... even Aunt Cass can't stop falling for them...

Hiro: Something big is going to happen, I just know it!

*Just then Baymax's belly lights up with Wasabi's face on it.*

Wasabi: We have a problem!

*Hiro, Cora, and Baymax run as fast as they could back to the lab where the see the chibi sized Miyoi is now... bigger than they were... and its sitting on Fred's lap*

Fred: It- Grew!

Hiro: I hate to say I told you so.

*Gogo finally pulls the Bigyoi off Fred which then lands on Gogo.*

Gogo: Then don't.

Hiro: But I did ah-!

*The Bigyoi launches itself at Hiro to which Cora immediately tries to push it off.*

Hiro: Fred? What did you feed it?

Fred: I gave him a bunch of tofu nuggets.

Cora: So it is a gremlin scenario.

Gogo: Tofu nuggets?

Fred: Heathcliff always said its good for growing boys and I guess he was right because his boy is grown!

Hiro: If this Miyoi got big, then what about the others?

Honey Lemon: Maybe its just ours?

Baymax: It is not.

*Baymax pulls out the news channel to show Dunder and footage of the suddenly enlarged Miyoi across town.*

Dunder: Breaking news! It looks like our darling Miyoi are all grown up and destroying the city...but come on. Adorbs.

Cora: We better call Grandmama. She would know about this.

*Soon enough Kaguya is at the lab with the other students.*

Kaguya: Alright now, you want me to study over what is making these pests grow?

Cora: Yes! Thank you!

Kaguya: I would need some equipment though.

Hiro: *Sighs* I know a place...

*Karmi is at the bio lab when she hears the door open. she turns around to see Cora and Hiro with Baymax.*

Karmi: What do you two want?

Cora: Could we borrow your equipment please?

Karmi: And why should I help you and Hiro, fish breath?

Kaguya: *stepping out behind Baymax* Because I require some equipment for study and your behavior is not helping.

Karmi: *Remembers the deadly glare at the lunch area when they first met and strains a nervous smile* Oh! Hehe... you didn't mention its for your grandmother! Of course you can borrow it! Just don't break it please?

*Kaguya walks forward and looks at the biotech student.*

Kaguya: I require Privacy young lady.

Karmi: Oh... OK...

*Karmi slowly walks out the door before she flat out runs out when she sees a large Miyoi heading her way. After Honey Lemon and Cora place the Miyoi at the top of the table Hiro goes over to Kaguya who is soon at work at figuring out what the Miyoi actually are. After snipping a bit of their fur Kaguya looks under the microscope and notes down some interesting features.*

Kaguya; It seems that this creature's fur is composed of fungi. They are more closely related to plants then animal. Baymax would you scan for any features?

Baymax: Scanning. Looking for hybrid characteristics.

*Baymax scans the creature and finds results.*

Baymax: The Mayoi are photosynthetic.

Kaguya: Exactly, they survive off sunlight but they can process any other food it consumes which means...

Honey Lemon: The excessive growing!

Kaguya: Nanochemical isolations... that's how plants communicate... fungi itself have their own network that they use to communicate to each other to signal where any fertile soil is available..

Cora: Grandmama… If the Mayoi are fungi that communicate and search to expand their spores... does that mean?-

*The group turn their heads to see the Miyoi grow larger in size. *

Hiro: Can you reverse this Kaguya!?

Kaguya: Give me time!

Cora: We don't have it Grandmama! Lets go!

*They all run out the room as the Miyoi soon fill up the room, breaking every equipment inside.*

Cora:... Karmi's gonna kill us...

Kaguya: You deal with the mayoi now! And gather up sea water if you can!

Honey Lemon: Sea water? What for?

Kaguya: A large gallon of sea water would kill the fungi and stop spreading its spores!

Honey Lemon: *Shocked at what she's hearing* We have to what?!

*Somewhere in the city a mother is playing with her baby when she sees a large shadow of the Miyoi. She quickly runs off with her baby as the other members of Big Hero 7, already in their ultra suits, trying to stop the Miyoi.*

Wasabi: Remember when they were small? I miss that!

*Fred crawls his way out of the Miyoi's mouth as they struggle to fight the monsters off. As of while Hiro, Cora, Honey Lemon, and Baymax suit up and fly towards the rest of the gang.*

Honey Lemon: I don't know about this, do we really have to kill them?

Cora: Honey Lemon, they're the gremlins at this point!

Hiro: But where are we gonna get a large sum of salt water in such a short time?!

Cora: I say we corral these guys gently and send them to the bay. If these guys are plants I could find a song that they would follow! Research shows that plants respond positively to music!

Hiro: Sounds great! *Via com link* OK guys, we just left the campus and we're gonna need you all to gather the Miyoi to the center of town!

Fred: We got it Hiro!

*And soon one by one, they all lead the miyoi to the center of town with their laser blades, using themselves as fetching sticks, and frisbees. The four arrive at the top

Hiro: Good job guys, we just need to keep them happy and relaxed-

*That is when all the towns' lights change their vibrant colors to an ominous green.*

Cora: Whats going on?...

*Soon all the Miyoi are in a deep trance that they could not be bothered with the others. That is when on the big screen, Mr. Sparkles appears back.*

Mr. Sparkles: Hello San Fransokyo!

Mr. Sparkles: Are you all enjoying my adorable little gifts? Except they're not so little anymore are they?!

Fred: No!

*Gogo pulls Fred out of the Miyoi's mouth. Hiro wraps his arm around Cora as the teen couple look at the crazy manchild with suspicion.*

Mr. Sparkles: That's right San Fransokyo! I've been cooking up all sorts of monster surprises! It was me!

Wasabi: The Miyoi aren't moving!*Straining as he pushes the miyoi hard*

Mr. Sparkles: Enjoyed Momakase? Love the Hybagon? Disturbed by High Voltage's new fishy appearance? And who could forget Orso Knox?!

Hiro: *Not believing it for a second* Sparkles is behind the monsters?

Mr. Sparkles: All me kid! *Notices Cora* You look a little familiar though-

*Cora punches away the camera drone in retort.*

Mr. Sparkles: Ooh~ Feisty!

*soon Mr. Sparkles appears in person.*

Mr. Sparkles: Watch me work!

*And soon his eyes glow an ominous green as fungi grows from his head as his skin turns green. He walks off the building to fall which causes everyone to gasp.*

Hiro: Baymax?!

*Baymax flies forward to catch Sparkles but a miyoi catches him first.*

Mr. Sparkles: The main attraction starts now! Can you guess what it is? Its me! Destroying the city with my fat fur babies!

*And soon all the Miyoi's height increased from being slightly adorable to being terrifying.*

Gogo: How is he doing this?

Wasabi: Its like he's controlling them?!

Hiro: Vibrations! Sparkles is communicating with the miyoi!

Cora: And by using nanochemical osolation!

Fred: Could you explain it in comic book terms please?

Honey Lemon:Its psedo-telepathy.

Fred: Mind control? That's number eight of my top ten list of super powers!

Wasabi: And number one on our lists of problems! How do we stop it?

Cora: Salt water!

Gogo: where are we gonna get salt water?!

Honey Lemon: And I can't produce enough to stop them!

*Gogo tries to knock out Mr. Sparkles but a miyoi hands blocks her path.*

Mr. Sparkles: Did I mention I can see whatever the miyoi see? I have eyes at the back of my head! not literally since its an idiom! Never stop learning! Say bye bye to Big Hero 7 folks!

*The gang scatter around to avoid the miyoi until one of them knocks out Hiro and Cora off Baymax.*

Big Hero 7: Alpha! Aqua Girl!

Baymax: Oh no!

*Baymax zooms to rescue them before they could hit the ground. But when Baymax grabs them to shield them from the impact they are at the mercy of the miyoi. Before it could strike it down, a blast of salt water hits the Miyoi which causes it to quickly disintegrate, leaving the three to feel only tiny drops of water.*

Sparkles: Plot twist! Who's this?

Liv: Liv Amara! And I am here to save this city.

*This catches the other hero's attention when she said that.*

Fred: What?

Liv: I saw the trouble on tv so I created a synthesized orb that contains the salt water to destroy them.

*She reaches her hand out to the two teens, to which Cora takes first... with a rather tight grip.*

Liv: Oof!... tight grip you got there.

*Cora picks up Hiro with the same mistrusting eyes as his girlfriend's.*

Sparkles: Sorry I asked, crush her!

*The Miyoi charge but Liv Amara quickly shoots out the compressed salt water to destroy the Miyoi. A car comes out with Christ driving, the trunk opening to reveal the same machines for Big Hero 7.*

Liv:Now come on!

*And so the entire team set out to destroy these beasts one by one, all that remains of them were pieces of fungi draining down the sewage. Soon there was only one left, and its carrying Mr. Sparkles in the back. With that Fred jumps up high and squirts the salt water to the last miyoi.*

Mr. Sparkles: This is not how I saw things going!

*Baymax catches the man before he gently sets him down. Cora climbs down to see Mr. Sparkles with a rather terrifying death glare.*

Mr. Sparkles: What?

*Cora punches him square in the jaw.*

Sparkles: What was that for?

Cora: Reasons.

Sparkles: Ugh... stupid brat...Oh well!

*He soon jumps up and bounces out of here.*

Sparkles: I'll come up next time for more super monster mashups!

*And so the team is left staring at the water running through the floor while Liv Amara gets all the praise. And with that the city is saved.*

Dunder: In conclusion we are very lucky to have Liv Amara in our fair city.

*The gang are at the dining hall the next day discussing about last night's events.*

Honey Lemon: Since Mr. Sparkles took credit for the monsters, that would make Liv a Hero.

Gogo: She's more insidious then we thought. Krei was right about her all along.

Baymax: Hiro, Cora. I created an image to present something cute for you two to cheer up. Perhaps it will soothe you both.

*The image he created... was not cute at all. Cora clings to Hiro tightly in slight fear.*

Cora: Hiro I'm scared!

Hiro; Uh.. thanks Baymax! That's... very special...

Baymax: Yes, he is a good boy.

Wasabi: So we can all agree that Liv Amara partnered up with Sparkles to make all of this happen!

Fred: Liv showing up to be the surprise hero is a typical villain fake out. Ugh... at least *Coughs out Obakes name to muffle* was more original.

Gogo: Exposing her actions is gonna be tougher than we thought.

Cora: We know that Liv Amara created those monsters to attack the city...

Hiro: But the question is, what is her end game?

*At Sycorax labs, Liv is at her private lab where she opens up a secret passage to reveal at the end of the hall a pod containing someone inside.*

Liv: I won't let you down... After I get all of San Fransokyo bowing at my feet and Nozako's fortune, all of our dreams will come true.

A.N: And that's Something Fluffy? How do you enjoy this twist of events? See ya next time!

[chezzkaa]

Numb pt 22

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Lumberjack AU Pairing: Ryan Haywood x Reader WC: 2100+

Date posted: 18 Nov 2018

Megan Pottsman Missing 17/12/2015 - Found 22/12/2015 Body, female. 10 yo. Found 500 meters past tree line. Blunt force trauma. Lacerations across torso, shoulders, base of skull. Clear Bear Attack. No labs required.

SCRIPT

Interview with Mathew. D. Pottsman (Father) Interviewer: Officer G. Sorola Supervisor: Det. Insp. M. Hullum 17/12/2015 03:37am

Sorola: Hello, Mr. Pottsman, I’m Officer Sorola. I’m going to ask you some questions relating to your daughter’s disappearance. Please remember that you will need to tell us everything so that we can do our jobs.

Pottsman: Yeah, okay. I can do that.

Sorola: And you’re alright with being recorded?

Pottsman: Yes.

Sorola: Then lets get started. Mr. Pottsman, when was the last time you saw Megan?

Pottsman: Probably at dinner the night she went missin’. I made her favourite, and she wanted to watch TV. I went to do some reading and left her watching some cartoon show.

Sorola: Is that all?

Pottsman: I heard her.

Sorola: Pardon?

Pottsman: I heard her. There was a knock on the door and she answered it. I heard her tell me she was going out, and that’s the last of it. Told her to come back before the snow got too bad. When the street lamps came on. But she… she didn’t.

Sorola: Any ideas as to which of her friends it was?

Pottsman: … no.

Sorola: No?

Pottsman: That’s what I said. I don’t know which friend it was.

Sorola: So, please let me know if I’ve somehow misunderstood you. You let your 10 year old daughter leave the house with someone you assume to have been a friend, of who you don’t know, in the middle of a brewing snow storm? And, more importantly,you made no effort to check on your daughter and her friend for yourself.

Pottsman: No, no now you’re making it sound like I wanted her to leave. Like I don’t love my daughter!

Sorola: I haven’t said anything of the sort.

Pottsman: You don’t have too! You’re sat right in front of me acting all high and mighty. You know what? It’s my fault. There, I said it. It’s all my fault. I was a shitty dad and now my daughter is missing. If Megan doesn’t come back I’m going to be the one that’s killed her. Not whoever took her, not the weather. Not some wild animal. Me, cus I couldn’t bring myself to be a good dad.

Sorola: Mr. Pottsman, please. No one here is accusing you of anything. Right now this is a missing persons case and we’re doing everything we can to locate your daughter. That includes interviewing everyone that came into contact with her before the incident. The person who you claim to have knocked on the door is a prime suspect, and possibly the last person to have seen Megan. Is she likely to have left with an adult?

Pottsman: I don’t think so. She understood stranger danger.

Sorola: What about an adult she recognised?

Pottsman: Listen here, officer. Everyone in this town knows everyone. We’re friends with every family here cus we all go to that damn community garden thing. Megan gets along with all of them, even that new carpenter down the street. She baked him some cookies cus she was worried he wouldn’t have any friends, ha, she told him to go to the garden cus she though he’d get along with the large guy. What’s his name? Jack? He was over the freakin’ moon when he fixed up our neighbours house and she brought them out with a little card she’d made.

Sorola: New carpenter? Are you talking about Haywood?

Pottsman: Hmm? Yeah, him. Stand up bloke. You don’t think it was him, do you? Oh god, Megan told him to hang around with the other kids.

Sorola: No, we don’t believe he is involved. His alibi is airtight. He is accounted for outside his home at the time Megan disappeared. We currently have no suspects, which is why we’re talking to you.

Pottsman: So you do think I did it!

Sorola: Please, we’ve been over this.    

Pottsman: I - I… okay. No, okay. I’m sorry. My nerves are just - it’s been a long few hours. I’ve smoked a pack. A whole pack, can you believe it? I haven’t smoked in years, and now I can’t sit still without something between my damn fingers.  

Sorola: It’s perfectly normal to revert into old habits when you’re nervous.

Pottsman: Nervous? No, no the claw marks on my neighbour’s porch that’ve now turned up on mine make me nervous. The snow and that bleedin’ livestock massacre that’s going on either side of my home makes me nervous. But my daughter being missing? I’m fucking terrified. I’m so scared I can’t see straight. I just - I can’t. Everytime I close my eyes I can hear that damn knocking. I should have gotten the door. Jumped that fucking railing so Meg didn’t have to open it. It should’ve been me. Oh god, it should’ve been me.

“Hey Michael,” you call over your shoulder, fanning out the photos of the tiny body covered in blood and curled in the snow. “I think I’ve found another one.”

His head pops up over the stack of files he’s working through, eyes encased in growing bags. Sat cross legged in the evidence locker, he’d long since abandoned the confines of a desk. “What’s the date?”

“She was found on the 17th of December in 2015.”

He whistles, glancing down to the timeline at his feet and following the numbers with his finger. “Got it! Gimme a name.”

“Megan Pottsman,” you read off, peering at a shot of her on a medical table. Body bloated, skin crossed with blues and bruises.

“She’s an early one.”

“She’s the 3rd we’ve found in 2015,” you murmur, bringing the photo you hold closer. “Happened before Jeremy moved here, too. He arrived in 2016, I think? This victim was put down as a bear attack.”

Michael perks up, shuffling over to you and sifting through the file. He stops on one of the same set of photos you’re trying to make sense of, lost in the line carving across skin. “Doesn’t look like a bear.”

“Bears rarely attack people, too,” you add. “Get this: her dad said in an interview that she went out with someone that knocked on the door. He thought it was a friend, and look at the lacerations. They’re not quite like the ones on the victims we’ve got, by they’re a damn lot closer to the markings on entryways of Pottsman’s home and the neighbours.”

“You’re right!” Michael exclaims, “this is the third body with similar markings. And his testimony puts the knocking and the scratches in the same timeframe as the missing person.”

“Is there a photo of her from behind?” you ask, rifling through the contents, urged on by the burn smouldering at the base of your skull. Irritation thick around your throat. It takes a moment for you to find, but eventually the gloss of the image you’re searching for sticks to your fingers.

“Here,” says Michael, plucking the picture from your hand and lining it up with the other 2 photos of the 2015 victims, all presenting their necks.

Drawing closer it gets harder to breathe. With an uncomfortable constricting sensation that tightens your throat - of which you blatantly try to ignore -  you take in the wounds. It’s not hard to recognise them anymore. The tell tale signs are obvious after having witnessed them so many times. The slightly blacked curl of the incision located at the base of the skull. The raw irritation circling the neck. Sure, their skulls hadn’t been removed like the later victims, but they matched the earliest cases you had, clumsy as the wounds may be.

“This is fantastic. That ties our killer to the body!”

Michael doesn’t even question you with a funny look, equally excited. “Perfect in the worst possible way, but absolutely awesome. We’ve finally got an undeniable link between the Widow ghost story knocking bullshit and the killer. Meaning analysing the scratches on doorways and comparing them to the body lacerations will help with determining the murder weapon!”

You’re nodding, compiling the evidence into a seperate box and pointing to Michael with a determined finger. “You got Jackie’s number?”

He rockets into standing. “You bet your ass I do!”

“Then call her, damn it. With this information she’ll be able to confirm the correlation between the new victims and the scratches, prove that we should be looking into the possibility of a copycat killer for the Widow of the Woods. We’ll finally prove to Jeremy that he’s a fucking idiot for not listening! We can do this.”

“We can fucking do this!”

“I’m absolutely exhausted! I’m going home.”

“Me too!”

“Nope,” you reject, beaming at him and handing over the box, “you’re going to face the beast.”

“How dare you call Jackie a beast?”

“Jackie? Hell no. I’m talking about Jeremy. You can tell him he’s wrong, I value my life.”

-

The walk home is everything you could have asked for. Cold enough for the wind to nip at the skin lining your cheeks, to gnaw on your nose until it’s red raw; but warm enough in the burrow of your clothing. And isolated enough to gather your thoughts into something you can almost excuse for a pile.

Because as the snow starts to dance, the streets clear. Families giggling with eager children into shelter, doors closing with audible snaps and warm orange light flooding from the windows. Even the distant figure of Ryan, of who you raise a hand to wave to as he sits stagnant on his front porch watching the white caught on the wind, stands to head inside. You don’t blame him. Continuing past until the store disappears behind you.

It’s quiet, which is nice. A welcome change to the mayhem that’s been inhabiting your mind so frequently. Chaos causing havoc and a constant stream of uncontrollable chatter. Hands buried deep in your pockets, it’s with every turn of your charmed stones that you realise just why it’s been so loud inside you head. Why you haven’t tried to instate some silence.

Because, if you had, you’d remember her.

Which, honestly, isn’t ideal with an open serial homicide case running rampant through your priorities.

And again, now that you’ve mentioned honesty to yourself, you can’t avoid the reason why you’re so frustrated with Jeremy. Why you want to take him by the shoulders and shake, desperate to hear the rattle of common sense. Of a failure you’ve both shared, and the experience you seem to have taken away while he’s remained as stubborn as ever. If he keeps going the way he is, refusing to explore a potential lead because it seems implausible, or silly, or pointless, someone else is going to die.

The crunching of snow beneath your boots works wonders, sound enough to ease the panic bubbling just below the surface. Every few steps draws in a deep, freezing breathe. Calm with every recount of ‘left foot, right foot, repeat’. Doused in the glow of happy homes and flanked by snow banks, it all starts to make sense. There’s an uncomfortably misplaced relief at the prospect of connecting the things you knew to be related all along, the links between the scratches, knocking, and missing children now so solid that people can’t ignore it.

So solid that you can’t question your sanity anymore, because the evidence is clear as day. Paranormal or otherwise. The Widow of the Woods, or the story at least, had a role to play. Of that you were sure.

The lodge comes into view after a few more minutes of quiet walking, nothing but the wind accompanying its breech above the snow. Through the windows comes the compassionate glow of Lauren’s summertime; of warmth and comfort and family as she spins in Trevor’s arms, the pair laughing and dancing in the firelight. The hum of music trembling into the snow. Wrapped in the intoxication of togetherness, of the overwhelming love they have for one another - that same love that greets you at the door as you ease off your shoes and unravel from your layers.  

But you don’t bother them, not yet, anyway. Instead watching them claim the living room as a dancefloor, Lauren’s sunshine caught in Trevor’s gaze that looks as though he can’t thank the stars enough for the beauty he holds in his hands. Can’t tell the woman with shining cheeks and a smile that brightens the room just how wonderful she is. How she glows whenever he so much as throws her a glance, or fractures into rays of gold when he smiles. Her happiness so warm and inviting that it throbs around her body, casting those she loves in her own light. And as he looks at her now, it’s like words won’t be enough.

That nothing will be, which is why he’ll never stop trying.

[beardycarrot]

L.A. Noire is... interesting. It’s not a terrible game, but at the same time, I don’t know if I can call it a good game either.

You start off as a patrolman in 1946, and play through a few cases of police work as a tutorial. You’re then promoted to detective and work traffic cases, which lays the groundwork for the rest of the game, the meat of which you get into once you’re promoted to homicide. This is the most interesting part of the game, and what you would expect a noir detective story set in 1940′s Los Angeles to be about: investigating what appear to be copycat murders based on the Black Dahlia case, but with odd similarities that definitely make them seem connected.

Unfortunately, while this is interesting in concept, it’s absolutely unsatisfying. Since it’s spread out across multiple cases, and a case is only closed when you arrest the suspect, you have to keep arresting guys you know are innocent... destroying families in some cases. You eventually discover that the cases ARE all connected, because the killer leaves a series of clues leading you to him... and he turns out to be...!

Just some guy, actually. Yeah, just a bartender working for a temp agency that you talked to for a few seconds in the first homicide case. You don’t get any real explanation of his motives before chasing him through the sewers and killing him, and since having false arrests in so many cases would look bad, the police cover it up. That’s the end of that, and you move on to working drug cases.

This, unfortunately, is where the game’s real story comes into play. Half a million doses of army surplus morphine being shipped back to the US after the war were stolen, and... I honestly care so little about it that I’m not going to bother. You’re then demoted to working arson cases because your character has been having an affair with a jazz singer (you’re never told why), and it’s back to repeatedly arresting the wrong people. If you’ve been reading the newspapers that appear in some cases, you’ll know that the actual arsonist is a patient of the doctor involved with the morphine.

It turns out that the fires are being lit because the homeowners are refusing to sell to the housing project going up in the area, but then it turns out that the new houses being built are going to be burned down too for an insurance scam, but THEN it turns out that... maybe not...? Because... the housing project is in the same area that a freeway is being planned to run through, or something? The game doesn’t really attempt to explain itself on this point, and then you chase the arsonist through the sewers, kill him, and then die because... I don’t actually know, at some point someone did something to make the water level rise, which apparently results in a huge rush of water through the entire sewer system.

It’s not a BAD story... but you can’t help but compare it to the Black Dahlia cases. A psychiatrist deciding to exploit two soldiers he happened to meet to make himself rich isn’t nearly as interesting as a mastermind serial killer based on the biggest unsolved murder case of the twentieth century. THAT should’ve been the game’s main plot.

As for the gameplay itself.... eh. You investigate crime scenes and other places of interest by walking around, pressing A to examine objects whenever you get a magnifying glass prompt, and if it’s something important looking at parts of it more closely. Unfortunately, anything not directly related to the case is completely useless. In a game like Phoenix Wright, you can examine almost anything to get some witty banter between the characters; in L.A. Noire, you turn a beer bottle over in your hands and Cole says its unrelated to the case.

The real star of the show, however, is the interview system. You’re given a list of questions to ask, which I think is based on clues you’ve found or received from other interviews, and based on how the person responds you can choose to believe them, doubt them, or show evidence that proves they’re lying. Or, in the version I played, GOOD COP, BAD COP, ACCUSE.

Every character you interview uses facial motion capture of an actor, which is pretty cool. They even used a couple who are instantly recognizable, like Michael Gladis and Greg Grunberg. The idea is that you’re supposed to watch their faces to determine whether they’re telling the truth... but it kinda feels like a waste, since the signs aren’t little twitches at the corner of the mouth or their neck muscles straining or anything like that. Every character that I can remember has the same tell: being unable to look directly at you.

A downside of the motion capture is that it captures the whole head... but only the head. There are a few places where the animators weren’t quite able to match the movements of the body to how the head is moving, which is really immersion-breaking and kinda gross at times.

Depending on how well you do in an interview, you can receive clues that will help you out in future interviews or lead to small breaks in the case, but none of the interviews are actual fail conditions: you can get every question wrong and still progress through the game. Unfortunately, the game only tracks the number of questions you got correct, and not which ones they were, so all future dialogue plays out as if you did it perfectly. A memorable example of this was the police captain congratulating me on outing the Venezuelan consulate general as a sexual predator... which I neither did nor even assumed.

The third type of gameplay is the action set pieces, which if you fail enough times, you have the option to skip... that should give you a pretty good idea of their quality. These consist of chasing suspects on foot, chasing suspects in a car, or shootouts. The shootouts are the easiest, as your character can take a ridiculous amount of damage, you automatically heal after a few seconds of not being shot, you have unlimited ammo, and the areas they take place in are always conveniently filled with Gears of War-style pillars and chest-high walls. Foot chases aren’t exactly difficult... you can tackle the person if you get close enough, but you never will, because the game throws vehicles and pedestrians in your path to slow you down. You just have to follow the suspect for long enough, and they’ll eventually either tire out, take a hostage, or ambush you and force a fist fight. For most chases your character will draw his weapon, but even if he says “stop or I’ll shoot!” that’s not actually an option. Killing the suspect, and in some cases even just injuring them, can result in a game over... despite the game being perfectly okay with you killing people when the narrative says to.

The hardest are the car chases, largely due to the game’s driving controls. The cars accelerate and brake realistically, which is fine, but power steering wasn’t available on commercial vehicles until the 1950′s. What this means is that if you’re going above ten miles an hour, you have the turning radius of a tank. The computer-controlled cars, unfortunately, don’t seem to be as limited by this issue, and as with the foot chases they throw a lot of things in your path. While your partner will constantly urge you to case them at top speed with your siren blaring, the driving controls just can’t handle high-speed chases. The only way to consistently beat these sections is to drive slowly and carefully and just wait until the suspect gets hit by a bus, or whatever pre-determined end point the chase scene has. To give you an idea of how hard the vehicles are to control, I once lost a suspect because I’d somehow Austin Powers’d myself.

Finally, there’s the traversal. The game basically uses the Grand Theft Auto style of open world (which makes sense, as it’s a Rockstar game), but there’s never any reason to commandeer a civilian vehicle: you always have your partner’s car to get around in, and even if you do get a different car, half the time it will revert you back to your partner’s car when you enter the little cutscene that plays when you arrive at a location. Unfortunately, there isn’t much else to do in the open world; as this is a Serious Detective Game, there aren’t any side activities like bowling minigames or anything.

You can find a few rare vehicles hidden in police lockups that are marked on your map, or discover historic landmarks that aren’t, but everything else is just finding items scattered around the city that you can’t see from your car. Considering that any damage you do to vehicles or city property is deducted from your rank at the end of each case, it’s best to just fast travel everywhere and pretend that the open world doesn’t even exist... buuuut, the game only gives you a tutorial on how to fast travel on the twenty-third case. The game has twenty-six cases. I feel like I shouldn’t have to say that the tutorial should’ve come much, much earlier.

I know that I’ve probably sounded largely negative, but again, it’s not a terrible games. Almost everything was poorly-executed and it should’ve been refined prior to release, but it’s not like it’s an unfinished or fundamentally flawed game... it’s just a lot harder to praise something when it’s completely average. If I were to give it a number score, with one being barely playable and not at all fun, ten being the best game I’ve ever played... I’d give it a solid five. Not a great game, but not a terrible one either.

...Oh, except for the fact that Switch port is absolutely abysmal, that would probably dock it a few points if I’m talking about the Switch version specifically. The pop-in of background details is frequent and distracting when you’re in areas that buildings aren’t blocking your view, characters’ heads will sometimes be a glitchy hair-colored texture for just a second when they first appear, you can see some extreme frame loss and slowdown while walking around on foot out in the city, and worst of all, the game crashes a lot. In my 393 hours playing the Switch version of Skyrim, the game crashed four times. In my thirty hours playing L.A. Noire, it had seven separate crashes.

[benxsamuel]

Ian Mackaye on everything

Ian Mackaye’s interview with Huck Magazine is an endless source of practical, life-affirming wisdom. It would be a shame to condense it to a bite-sized quote so this is going to be one long post:    

On navigation versus survival:

I understand that people, melodramatically, may consider life something one has to survive. But you’re alive, that’s what life is, you are surviving. It plays into this idea that people’s lives are narratives – that it’s a film or book and you have to survive all this craziness. I think it’s a disservice, ultimately, because it makes others feel like their lives aren’t crazy enough. In my mind, life is not a war – although human beings create conditions that make it feel that way – and I think that navigation is a fairer term. I see life essentially as an empty field. The construct of that empty space has to do with society, but it also has to do with us. The only real question is how are we going to navigate that space, from beginning to end. If people thought of themselves as navigators, maybe they would have more purchase. Navigation is about having a say in the matter, whereas surviving is about dealing with things being thrown at you. With navigation you get to decide whether you want to be in that situation in the first place.

On success:

You could say society sees success as absolute – you’re either winning or you’re losing. Can success be interpreted as just keeping going? Success is a perpetual state of affairs. With my music for instance, I’m not goal-oriented. The decision to be in a band was huge for me. I came to a realisation that I could do this, because punk gave me the permission slip. I was able to play bass, which is crazy – here’s this animal beating on a wire, and a tune is coming out. That is success. Then I played with other people, and these animals organised those sounds in a way that was recognisable. That is success. We wrote our own songs. That is success. We played a show. That is success. Every day is a success – if you’re in the moment. 

On punk:

My definition of punk is the free space. It’s an area in which new ideas can be presented without having to go through the filtration or perversion of profiteering. So, if we’re not worried about selling things, then we can actually think. The problem with new ideas is that they don’t have audiences. And in terms of the marketplace, an audience equals clientele. If you have no audience, it’s not profitable. Punk was an area, for me at least, where it didn’t seem to matter. I didn’t know any punk rocker who thought, ‘I’m gonna make a living out of this.’ The ones that did quickly left. What I received from the counterculture was a gift; the permission to create freely. And my reaction was to take care of this gift and keep it alive because it continues to give. 

On straight edge:

The structure of society is an oppressive concept. I don’t see self-destruction as a valid form of rebellion. If anything it’s an assistance; you’re a thorn in their side, so help them by taking yourself out. Today, they’re imbibing technology, a new kind of drug, and losing themselves. I never got involved with drugs because I saw the fallout from the ’60s. As a Hendrix fan, I’d talk to people who’d seen him play and they couldn’t remember it because they were high. It doesn’t make sense to me that you wouldn’t want to remember your life. This concept of partying, it’s like you’re sweeping up after yourself constantly. You’re just sweeping away your memories. I like to be present, and keep it with me. Some people think of straight edge as a tee-totaling sobriety movement, but in my mind it was just about self definition. I found it unimpeachably positive. 

On finding your tribe:

But most people go through life as tourists. They’re checking out the sights and eventually they’ll go home. I’m always looking for the long-distance runners. The people who recognise that protest is a form of exercise and that life is there if you want it. You just have to be open, communicative and interested. That’s who I recognise as my tribe.

On anti-narratives:

The reason we like endings is that they’re manageable. Think about the effect of the electronic medium on the way we think. Radio, television, movies, computers. At some point things became serialised as stories. But when you live in a society where you’re constantly being shown stories, our brains become reformatted to create narratives in our own lives. It’s misleading because life does not have a narrative arc. The world does not have a narrative arc. Or if it does, it’s bigger than anything we could ever fucking write about. I remember being in bands where someone would say, ‘Well, that’s the biggest thing I’ll ever do.’ Who thinks like that?! I don’t think of life as phases. I think of life as life.

On getting older:

I don’t believe in youth culture. By embracing it you also embrace the expiration date. Not that I’m always young, fuck that! I’m alive! I’m living! When people say, ‘Urgh, I  feel so old,’ I’m like, ‘What the fuck man! You’re not old, you just are.’ If you’re cold you can put a coat on. If you’re wet you can dry off. But if you’re old you can’t do anything. Let me ask you: what role have you played in terms of becoming thirty-one?

Interviewer: Um? Zero active participation.

Exactly! All you did was wake up! That’s it. We wake up! There’s this notion in American culture that children are not real. It’s pointed out by the statement, ‘Well, at some point you’re gonna have to get real.’ But people are real from the moment they’re born. They’re real and they’re valid. When a fifteen-year-old kid has an idea, it’s not an unreal idea. But if you’re told over and over again that you have to ‘get real’, it creates this mentality that it doesn’t matter what they do. Because once they become real they will be absolved of everything, so they take no responsibility. This experiential thing? It’s a little touristic. Like, ‘I gotta taste it all!’ I know people who fucked one person I know people who fucked 100 people. Their experience may seem different, but outside pressures leave both people wondering if they made a mistake. I wish people wouldn’t spend their lives thinking about what they could’ve or should’ve done. I wish they would live their lives thinking about what they should be doing now.

On insecurities:

I tend to think of insecurities as reminders to go do something. As a teenager I was extremely self-conscious of my body. But at some point I realised there’s nothing constructive about agonising over it. So I filed that away, like, I can’t change this, so just do something – get to work. As a young child, I couldn’t grasp the idea of death. It was so unbearable for me, I freaked the fuck out. But then at some point I realised I would never get an answer from a single person on earth. So I figured – just live. I think the most constructive way to approach a lot of this stuff is to make peace with incomprehensibility. I accept the things that I cannot comprehend, that I will never comprehend, and I have peace with that. If I feel an insecurity, I practise more. I write a song. Just do something.

On perspective:

I have this concept about changing the source of light. The way things appear has a lot to do with where the light is. Sometimes things seem impenetrable, but maybe we just need to change the source of light. For instance, if you felt paralysed by your work – you’re miserable but you’re scared to leave your situation, because  you think you’d become irrelevant – then I would say: stand back. Change the source of light. Look at the situation and realise that, though it is important to you – and I will say this to myself  – though it is important to you, your work is ridiculous. And your fears are unfounded. You said, ‘People are inspired by you,’ but however one rates my ‘celebritydom’ or fame or whatever the fuck I have, it’s worth pointing out that 99.9 per cent of the population of the world never has, doesn’t and never will know of me. I don’t exist. There are entire giant cities in Indonesia where not a single person has ever heard of me. The music I make does not matter. And if it’s causing me duress, I should realise it’s ridiculous and that my fears are unfounded. Because what’s the worse thing that could happen. Like, what would be the worst thing that could happen to you?

Interviewer: That I miss my deadline. I have anxiety every week before we go to print – which is now. One voice in my head says, ‘You’re gonna miss it! You’re a failure!’ The other voice is like, ‘It’s a magazine, get a grip.’

Exactly, it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters. Life is just a straight line. There are two definitive points, one at the beginning and one at the end. It could be argued that should you decide to procreate that may merit another point. Everything else is affection – accoutrements, add-ons, additives. The way we speak, the things we own, the way we identify ourselves, they’re all artifices on some level… While we’ve been talking maybe 100 people have been killed, maybe 1,000, who knows, and yet this development hasn’t affected our conversation whatsoever. If you put things in perspective one realises how it just doesn’t matter. So the value is up to us, and if we’re gonna assign the value, then why would we assign negative values?

Interviewer: I would say you’re in the minority – the enlightened minority – for being liberated by feeling like a speck of dust in the universe. And the rest of society is veering more towards this idea of, ‘I gotta make it!’ Why is the ratio skewed?

Well, I think that your definition of society is a little off base. People working in the fields of Vietnam, or whatever, I don’t think they’re thinking, ‘I gotta make it!’ I think they’re just doing their work. You’re in London. You work in a field that is obsessed with digital. I think probably the pure irrelevance of that medium, when you get down to it, is the reason people are so hellbent on wanting it to matter. It’s almost an inverse. It’s like they’re making cotton candy, yet they’re obsessed with nutrition. ‘It has to have nutrients in it!’ they say, because they know it’s cotton candy. I’m not being dismissive. People freak out when they’re thirty, they freak out when they’re forty, mostly I think people just like to freak out. I guess it’s convention. Convention gives people a sense of comprehension. And people are not at peace with incomprehension. I read an article about a space craft that was tasked with taking photos, I think Carl Sagan was involved. NASA said we’ll only operate this camera until we’re at the edge of the universe. After years and years, when it slipped past the edge of the universe and NASA said let’s cut it off, Sagan lobbied to take one more picture – and it was of the earth. Can you imagine what Earth looked like from outside the universe?

Interviewer: Like a star?

It’s not even a star. It was a tiny little dot. And Sagan pointed to this little dot in this vast sea of stars, more than you can imagine, or ever count, and he said, ‘Every idea that any human has ever thought, every fight, every war, everything that has ever occurred, happened there.’ How insignificant, that people would die over property when it doesn’t even rate as a speck in the universe? I appreciate that idea. Because insignificance is liberating. If you stop thinking this is my land, then you’re free. If it’s your land – my property, my concept, my scene, my society – you have to defend it. You’re hamstrung by it.

On life:

But at some point in my life I decided that the basis of all my reasoning is this: pain hurts. That’s true for you and it’s true for me; I don’t wanna hurt other people because I don’t wanna be hurt. Keep things simple and they suddenly seem doable. I read this book in my early twenties – by C.S. Lewis, I think. There was this image of life as a tree and each decision we made was a branch. And then every decision we made, once we were on that branch, were smaller branches and smaller branches until you got down to the twigs. The author explained that if you are on the wrong branch, if you made a bad decision, you have to go back to the trunk – because once you’re on that branch, every decision will be wrong. That was such a great thing for me. I was just navigating, I made a mistake, so I have to go back to the trunk. Because back at the trunk, life – simple life – is always right.

[blschaos3000-blog]

Its 7:15 pm sunny

  Welcome to another edition of “8 Questions with…….”

I admire and respect strong women and I always have. From my mother Anna who was a surgical nurse to my Lori Ann,I have always been attracted to women who know what they want in life and are comfortable in their own skins. In doing this interview series I feel for the most part that I have really been so lucky to have met a lot of supremely talented and hard working women. They have come from all over the world and are young and older,learning and wise,multi-ethnic and independent. So you know I was pretty excited to have a chance to meet Mia Scozzafave. Originally from Brazil,she has moved to Los Angeles and is making a name for herself rather quickly. She has a wicked sense of humor,isn’t afraid of new challenges and overcoming barriers to get where she wants to go. And yes,she is drop dead beautiful….but not afraid of sitting in a makeup chair for hours for a role. Mia will be dropping quite a few films in the near future and you’ll get a chance to see just how good this young lady is. And we are hoping for that cheetah sidekick role….. But for now,let’s meet Mia and ask her 8 Questions….

    Please introduce yourself and tell about the current project you are working on.

I’m a Brazilian actress living in the USA currently working in 4 different movie projects, and 4 others in post production. In 2018, I felt it was time to get fully committed with my acting career, so I started looking for castings and auditions. Right off the bat, I was booked in two films at the same day of audition (The Benevolent and The Oath) and I felt beyond amazed like no other feeling.

I saw this as a sign that I should keep pursuing this passion. After that I booked “Cyborg: The Rise of the Flesh Eaters”, “The Attack of the Unknown” and “Harlee’s Roses” among others. My latest achievement was booking my first lead role in a American feature film; “Los Angeles Shark Attack”. Beyond excited with this role and the responsibility that comes with, specially being a foreign actress and with an accent.

What was growing up in your house like? How important is family to you?

 That’s even hard to put in words. I am so lucky to have the best parents and the family that I have. Even though they are far away back in Brazil, they are one of the most important thing in my life. We are very close. I Facetime my mom and dad almost everyday. Like many Latin cultures, we are very attached to each other even when we all grow up and raise our own families. We together just make the family to get bigger and bigger once we find our loved ones. My childhood was very happy. I was born in a city that wasn’t too big, and I was a tomboy. I used to hang out mainly with my cousins at my own age, all boys. My grandfather had a farm in a small city, close by where we lived, and my weekends were mostly there. Climbing and eating fruits from the trees, playing with the livestock in corral, being active and messy all day and running from my parents barefoot when I didn’t want to have lunch yet. I have great memories from that time. I guess because of that time I am still so in love with animals, action and nature. It’s part of my childhood as well part of who I became today.

  When did you decide you wanted to become an actress? What steps did you take to make this happen?

Well, I guess part of me always wanted to be an actress since my teen years. But coming from a family that has no performers on it, it was hard for me even to say out loud. It took many many years for me to acknowledge myself. Also Brazil is not a country that being an artist is easily accepted. They are vey few opportunities to be successful, mainly your chance is being cast in one of the Brazilian soap operas made by the two biggest broadcast channels there. And thats it. Many, many talented artists struggle to have even make their expenses, and so many give up. You don’t have many opportunities like freelance jobs or part-time jobs like you might find it here. It’s either a very demanding job or any job at all.

What was your first audition like? What was going through your head and did you get the role?

Hummmm.. as an actress? To be honest, I don’t remember right now. Before acting I was a TV Host for many years. and I do remember that one because it was out of the ordinary. I was in my 2nd year of college and one of my friends had just started as a reporter on a cable TV. They were looking for more reporters and my friend invited me in.  

We drove after class to the TV station, and honestly I wasn’t expecting much. I mean, I expected to be hired, get to know how behind the camera works, do some training and maybe became a reporter, one day. But then, I talked and I talked a lot. lol

Me and the TV station owner clicked right away, and he said after 1 hour interview: “Ok, your hired”. I was super happy, ecstatic.

I asked:  “When do I start? “

And he says: At 5pm.

Me: When?

He: TODAY! You will be the new reporter for the 5pm news. Marcella will explain to you.

Me: (No answer, just in shock)

No need to say I was so nervous and I thought it was terrible! I had my audition literally “On Air”, but somehow, it worked. A month after that, I got my first TV Show as a TV Host and stayed on this cable TV for 3 years.

You are currently filming “Attack of the Unknown”,what has the experience been like and did Brandon (director Brandon Slagle) provide a good craft table? 

Ahahahaaha. Let me start saying that the craft was incredible, I mean smell incredible. I couldn’t have everything I wanted just because I’m trying to cut my meat intake- that was the base of my nutrition (you know, I’m Brazilian), so not much left. But I’m pretty sure I made my shares only with coffee. Delicious coffee all day long.

The Attack of The Unknown is such an unique project to my heart. When I close my eyes and think of “happiness” that’s my happy place.That “set and that people”. I felt a wave of warmth from every single person there. Everything really smooth. Working with actors like Robert LaSardo gave me a new perspective. I felt so comfortable to create, to play, to have fun. That was the moment I knew that I was doing exactly what I suppose to be doing and that’s what I live for… To feel the way I felt when on set.

You are directing your first short film,”Charlotte’s Tea”,what have you leaned about this experience,pro and con.

Oh man, where do I start. So, I decided to do this short just as an experiment. I wanted to know, even not having any proper training as a director/cinematographer, how it would feel like. And of course, it was a spiral of emotions that I could barely handle, I mean I can’t barely handle still.

I’m a very critical person, specially with myself.

Being the person that is responsible for a vision of a movie takes a lot. Telling a story on the screen that conveys the message in a tone that you have in mind is very hard. Of course, after filming, every single time, you watch it and you think of all the things you should’ve done but you didn’t for some reason. I felt frustrated, impotent even stupid. But then when you start putting together on the editing room, you realize that also can be a blessing. It forces you to think out the box and find different ways to tell the story, that many times can be more interesting or surprising.

Also as an actress, I feel I do get a bigger picture now in how to achieve whatever the director needs from me as a performer. I understand that not everything is how it looks like, and you just have to trust with your guts.

What is more of a challenge for you,a fight/death scene or a romantic one?  How do you approach these kind of scenes?

A death scene. I mean, I’m pretty comfortable with fight scenes, and romantic scenes. Is hard to say how do I approach each one of them, just because each scene, each character for me, demands a different process. Is the same as asking if I work with Meisner, Adler, Stanislavsky. I don’t. I mean, I studied all of them and I believe is an essential foundation to your work as an actor. But eventually, you discover yourself as an artist and them you use all of these tools and then none of these tools. To me is just a different process, each and every single time.

Have you attended any fan conventions as of yet and if so,what are your feelings about them?

I love them! And is interesting because I always attract a lot of kids and they are so genuine, so fresh. It’s a re-charging to everything I’ve been doing it. Just the exchange of energy from people that enjoy you and want to know more about you as a person, is a powerful happy feeling.

You’re doing a shark movie called “Los Angeles Shark Attack”…is there any truth to the rumor that your character will have a cheetah as a sidekick in the movie? Will this be your first “creature feature”? 

Aahahaha. Are you having “inside information” Sir? Who are your sources? Wouldn’t be amazing if we had the cheetah fighting with the shark on the shore?? I’m down for this scene!!!!… lol (Hell yeah,so are we!! – M & P)

  What are your three favorite movies of all time and why?

Oh No! I can’t! I was never able to put in a list my favorite movies. Honestly. They are just so many! And to me they change all the time! It depends on the genre! And the phase I’m living in my life. And the ones I watched last… so many variables and so many amazing great movies out there! I love from Death Proof (Quentin Tarantino)) to Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton) to Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick) to Chihiro Spirited Away (Hayao Miyazaki) and the new Wonder Woman (Patty Jenkins) . So yeah, no way I could make a list.

What do you do to relax when you’re not on a shoot? What of music,books,hobbies do you listen,read and do?

I love exercise. It’s a very important part of my life just because it makes me feel good. And for that I need music. Loud music. On the beach. I can tell my favorite books though. The Secret  by Donna Tartt, it’s a fictional novel of 5 friends studying Ancient Greece and murder. It’s superb! And The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. It really resonated with me in my teenager years and still do.

  The cheetah and I are flying in for the screening of “Los Angeles Shark Attack” but of course we’re a day early and you’re stuck playing tour guide,what are we doing? 

Los Angeles is such an amazing experience. I love just drive up to “Mulholland Drive” on the weekends (by the way another one of my favorite movies by David Lynch) listening to music and I love and seeing the city up there. I love going to Pacific Palisades beach for a walk or run. Getty Museum is a great option with it’s own beautiful gardens. Hiking at Mandeville Canyon where you can see the ocean. Watch the sunset at Moonshadows or Nobu, if you like sushi. Or have some smoothie at the Beverly Hills Hotel, if the cheetah wants something sweet. Weather is always so nice, and feel amazing to be outside. I just need to make sure to do a special reservation, so the cheetah can hiss and chirp freely for us to have a conversation.

  I like to thank Mia for taking the time to chat with me and for being patient. It has been a rollercoaster of a month for me but I’m so glad that Mia understood. Like most working actors,Mia has several ways that new fans can follow her career at and we recommend you do.

  You can find Mia on Instagram: @miascozzafave

Facebook @thatbrazilianactress

Website www.miafave.com

IMDB: imdb.me/miascozzafave

Feel free to drop a comment and thank you as always for your support!!

8 Questions with……..actress Mia Scozzafave Its 7:15 pm sunny Welcome to another edition of "8 Questions with......." I admire and respect strong women and I always have.

[savetopnow]

2018-03-21 21 SEO now

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[theveganliciousrunner]

2017 Recap & 2018 Goals

OK ... definitely a great practice to evaluate our lives at the end of each year. And FB made it easier to look back on these musings with "Collection" folders in our "Saved Items."  Sweet!

2017 GOALS

Although I didn't hit all my goals this year ... I'm happy with what was accomplished. * Run 2+ ultras = 100%  

I'm extremely happy with my Dead Last Finish status at both Purissima/Woodside Crossover 50k (my A race) and Brazos Bend 100m * Race Direct 1+ races = 100%  

Bunny Hop & Trot For The Turkeys fun runs for HHAS * 1+ big trip in 2017 = 50% 

Business trip to Belgium and friends trip to New Orleans. I only put 50% down, because in hindsight, I was thinking I would hit either Chamonix or Barcelona this year.    

* Publish 12+ Beyond Ultras podcasts = 60%

I published seven. But I could not be happier with sharing these seven precious conversations from these seven pillars of the running community -- Mark Gilligan, Christine Chapon, Dean Karnazes, Bryon Powell, Noe Castanon, Nikki Kimball, Jonathan Gunderson WHAT DID I LEARN IN 2017

1) It's really good to do something scary. My scary thing for 2017 was charging forward with Beyond Ultras. I'm really nervous about how each one turns out. Will it be interesting?  Am I asking good questions?  Ack, I should've responded with something wittier than that! At the end of the day, it's likely that things will turn out just fine. Bonus, the scary experience will no longer be so scary and the whole experience is likely to lead to bigger and better opportunities. 2) I need to be better at prioritizing priorities. It's sooooo eeeeeeasy to lose focus. I will be scheduling a monthly check-in with myself in 2018 to see where I'm at with things. 3) Nothing beats experience. For some of 2014 and most of 2015, I was unemployed. 11 months total. I didn't want to work for bad managers and so I didn't. Instead, I happily focused on my newly found ultra-running world. But I was worried about the lack of income. Unfortunately, my ego was bigger than my brain. I could've worked a job that would've tasted like a bitter pill, but I held out for something "better." What I thought would only be a 6 month hiatus became an 11 month funcation as I drained all of my savings. Interestingly, as the last penny of my savings disappeared, I was offered a job that I wanted. With an amazing boss. Who laid me off mid-November of this year. It's OK, we're still friends.   Was I surprised?  Yes. Was I unhappy? No. Because of experience, I now knew exactly what to do. :-)  I immediately interviewed for whatever and got offered something right away which I accepted. Now, in a position of strength, I can continue looking for something better. What is better? Developing skills that will further the cause of my core values, which involve a plant-based lifestyle and ultra-running, of course. 4) Last, but not least. The omnipotence of time. I'm 45 and certain things are piling up and requiring a lot more attention (like my dreams) while other things are wearing out, like my knees and the rest of me. I've learned that I accomplish amazing things when I'm not working. Imagine that!  This year, with the layoff gift of 6 beautiful holiday weeks of time ... * I found work right away * I've completed a 100 mile race with plenty of quality recovery  * I've taken care of my sick cat  * I've presented ideas to The Animal Run team (my charity launching in 2018) * I've presented my life as a financial cautionary tale to my neices and nephews on Christmas Eve. I'm hoping they understand the magic of compound interest despite that I may have ruined Christmas for them by talking about ROTH IRAs. * I'm planning for early retirement * I'm planning for early retirement * I'm planning for early retirement (Woo hoo!) GOALS FOR 2018 I have quite a few scary goals in 2018 and I can't wait to see how the heck I'm going to make it all happen. 1) By end of February, with the help of friends and my sister, get The Animal Run incorporated and launch the website. 2) In May, run a self-supported 500 mile distance around The Bay Trail as a $10,000 fundraiser to create the seed money for The Animal Run 3) In August, hold the 1st Annual - 100% plant based The Animal Run race to fundraise for organizations who promote animal welfare and rights. 4) Do all of the above while working a new full-time job 5) Publish 2+ Beyond Ultras interviews 6) Finish 1+ supported ultra    ****************************************************************** It's been an interesting year for the world politically, but we know that this too shall pass eventually. But what if more bad things happen than good things in 2018?  Well, I only know what I can do and that's sticking to the plan above. And so, my hope for you is that you have a wonderful 2018 no matter what, and that you'll always have a friend in me to support you in your goals, whatever they may be. Thank you and bless you for being a part of my life.  

[savetopnow]

2018-03-21 18 SEO now

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Here’s why you can’t blindly trust keyword search volume for traffic estimations

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