#stickers are something that you get get with Pokémon

[thehotgrandparent]

My Annihilape (I named Boots) is literally getting all the stickers /j

[yourspuddeldybuddeldy]

i wish there were more documentation games. like lemme be a scientist on an alien planet. i wanna have a little journal where i write observations about the flora, fauna, and customs on the native inhabitants and then go on to the next planet. no combat, or very combat optional. planets have different overall climates and danger ratings. you gotta maintain your ship, and assess the planet to determine what safety measures need to be put in place before you land. level-ups include automation of safety scans, making the ship sturdier so you don’t have to wash/repair it as often, and little miniature drones/rovers that you can have to the more mundane and menial work, or just to travel around on. idk i just wanna explore and document stuff, is that too much to ask?

[weaselandfriends]

The Making Of: When I Win the World Ends

(For my previous Making Of post, see The Making Of: Cleveland Quixotic.)

I. 1999

It was the year of the cubicle movie. It was the year of Fight Club, of Office Space, of Being John Malkovich, of Three Kings, of The Matrix, and of American Beauty. It was the year of suburban malaise, of eternal sunshine, of ceaseless normality. A year of United States hegemony; a year whose chief terror was that THIS WAS IT.

Before the millennium turned and the towers fell, there was an initial challenge to this order, a completely inconsequential one made consequential by a newly minted 24/7 news media machine running out of noise to fill dead air now that people were sick to bursting of the Clinton impeachment. This challenge came not through war, revolution, or violence, but through entertainment. Children's entertainment.

And I was a child. Unaware of any cultural context, I knew only one thing: I loved Pokémon. I really, really loved Pokémon.

I owned Red Version, Blue Version, Yellow Version, Pokémon Pinball, Pokémon Stadium, Pokémon Snap, Hey You Pikachu, a Pokémon Tetris sort of puzzle game, even the Pokémon TCG game for Gameboy. I had ten to fifteen strategy guides for the games, an encyclopedia of the 151 Pokémon, a choose your own adventure book, an I Spy-style book. I had Pokémon figurines, Pokémon plushies, toy Poké Balls, toy Pokédexes. I had Pokémon stamps and Pokémon stickers and a deck of Pokémon cards. Not trading cards, just a standard 52-card deck with Pokémon pictures on it. Of course I also had the trading cards. A complete set of the first three runs, plus a special Mew card you could get from I dunno Toys R Us or something as part of some promotion. I had a guide for the card game that explained which cards were good or bad even though I didn't even play the card game. I had a Pokémon Tamagotchi and Pokémon pencils and Pokémon erasers and Ash Ketchum's hat and I dressed up as Ash Ketchum for Halloween. Of course I watched every episode of the anime, and in notebooks I drew doodles of existing Pokémon and came up with names for new Pokémon. My father had died that year.

My father was a sports fanatic. Traditional sports. He, too, collected. Sports memorabilia, baseball cards, figures of famous stars. When I was an infant, he drove me on a cross country road trip to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin, where I became a part owner of the Green Bay Packers. He had always wanted me to grow up and pursue professional sports. When I was born, the doctor apparently said to start looking for football colleges, a quote he saved in a scrapbook of baby photos. He had played sports himself, in college; he was a baseball catcher, until a hitter accidentally struck him in the head with a full force swing.

Almost everything I personally remember about him involves him dying. He was sick for a long time, and I remember hospitals and hospital beds and strange smells and gauze. And then one day my mother told me he died.

He was a charismatic man, very social and very popular. He had many friends and a lot of family, all of whom had constantly been around our house. Once he was gone, they stopped coming around. Then it was just me and my mother, who was not a fanatic for anything, except maybe her job as an elementary school teacher, which consumed her time as she assiduously prepared lesson plans and graded tests until late at night. When my father died, she got into some argument with his side of the family, the details of which I still don't fully understand, and afterward they no longer spoke. Her own family lived far away, out-of-state, seen only at Christmas. The house became quiet.

And I… played… Pokémon.

II. The Electric Tale of Pikachu

Toshihiro Ono was a mangaka primarily known for shotacon and futanari hentai. His credits such as Innyou Megami and Anal Justice made him a no-brainer pick for the officially licensed Pokémon manga, Electric Tale of Pikachu, as it too would feature a 10-year-old boy as the protagonist.

This manga would be the foundation for my conception of what Pokémon was, narratively. Though I also had the Pokémon Adventures manga that ran concurrently and which has by now long outlasted it, Electric Tale left a significantly deeper imprint on my memory.

In summary, Electric Tale is a retelling of the first two seasons of the anime. Ash Ketchum is the main character, he's accompanied by Misty and later Brock, his rival is Gary, and Team Rocket harangues him.

What sets Electric Tale apart is its tone, which is far more adult than Adventures and the anime. Obviously, part of this comes from the author's primary area of expertise being hentai. Even in the censored English version, there is a sense of sexual playfulness in how every single female character is an older woman who likes to tease Ash about his romantic interests.

But there are other elements that creep in unrelated to sex, due to the perspective of someone only used to speaking to adults who suddenly has to speak to children. Ono doesn't really get the childish fantasy of leaving at 10 being normal in society, so he introduces an element where Ash can only get a one year deferment from school and will have to return unless he hits it big. Team Rocket are former competitive hopefuls who flamed out and then, with no education or work experience to speak of, had no choice but to turn to crime. The Pokémon are depicted more realistically, often eschewing the toyetic mascot elements of their designs.

And the landscapes are often wistful, even apocalyptic in their presentation:

This more sedate, mature, realistic depiction of Pokémon became what I wanted Pokémon to be, what I projected onto an original Red and Blue version that left everything open to interpretation, and what would increasingly frustrate me with the series as it deviated more toward bombastic villain groups with goofy destroy-the-world plots. (Which was what put me off Pokémon Adventures.)

Amid all this, one panel stuck with me in particular. One panel I would think about ever since I first saw it as a child, that would turn around in my head and keep coming back. That panel would eventually—over two decades later—become the basis for When I Win the World Ends, the seed from which an entire story grew:

III. The Unkillable Demon King

But in the interim, the seed remained dormant. 1999 fell away. I grew up. I played later Pokémon games and increasingly lost interest by around Gen 4 and 5. Then I went to college.

That's when I started playing League of Legends.

I was something of a psychopath in college. I operated on a strict schedule and did not deviate. Wake up, read 50 pages of classic literature, write 2,000 words, go to classes, study, and then by about four in the afternoon all my obligations were done and it was League of Legends until midnight.

I wasn't actually interested in the League of Legends esports scene in its infancy. In 2012, I was actually invited to attend its World Championship in Los Angeles and refused. (When I received this invitation, I had just finished reading Homestuck for the first time, and was caught in a month-long haze in which I could do little but bask within what I considered the greatest artistic achievement I'd seen in my life. It was this month that inspired Modern Cannibals.) I only liked playing the game and watching Dunkey videos.

It wasn't until the next year, when a girl I was interested in recommended I watch, that I tuned in to my first professional League of Legends game, at the 2013 World Championship. It was there that I got to watch this new, hyped, upcoming Korean player who had apparently taken the pro scene by storm that season. That player was Faker.

It has seemingly become essential to the narrative of any sport that there is "the man who always wins." American football has Tom Brady, and the moment Brady retired, he was replaced by Patrick Mahomes. Basketball has LeBron James, picking up the mantle from Michael Jordan. It's as if someone being "the best" validates the skill-based promise of the sport, the fundamental top-down fairness of its premise, the idea that the person who wins is the best and deserved it. Faker would become the backbone of League of Legends esports and his ascendance correlated to that of the sport itself, from its humble roots at small-scale tournaments in places like Jönköping, Sweden, to max capacity arenas in the biggest cities in the world.

It's surprising, though, how the legend of Faker had already begun even before he won his first World Championship. League of Legends was designed as a clone of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a popular mod for Warcraft III that emphasized competitive play. In its infancy, the competitive scene was mostly dominated by players who had migrated from DotA to League. They were older, winning thanks to a fundamental conceptual understanding of the game that was superior to everyone else, and frankly not very good in the aggregate. As League of Legends esports exploded in popularity from 2013 to 2015, these old pros would get filtered out swiftly, with even the biggest and most popular names retiring after only a couple of years in the scene.

Even once the new generation of League-grown talent ascended, though, careers were nasty, brutish, and short. The best players only remained on top for a season, as game patches dramatically changed viable strategies. Internationally the sport was dominated by Koreans, with the Korean regional league sometimes being seen as more difficult to win than the World Championship, where Koreans often breezed through uncompetitive Chinese, European, and North American squads.

This possibly affected the demographics of the professional scene. South Korea has mandatory military service, and leaving the pro scene to join the military was basically the end of a Korean player's career. This meant that it was rare to see a Korean player older than 25. Retiring in your early 20s was and remains common. Korean organizations, which had an infrastructural leg up on other regions due to the popularity of StarCraft 2 esports in the country, became adept at scouting promising players at 15 or 16, building them into top level competitive pros, wringing them dry for a few seasons with brutal training regimens, and spitting them out.

Faker was the exception. Though he had been discovered young by SK Telecom, a major Korean telecommunications company that did esports on the side, and gone through the training regimen, he refused to be spit out. He simply didn't stop. He won in 2013, then with a completely new four-man squad around him won again in 2015 and 2016 before narrowly losing the 2017 finals in a nail biter. Given League of Legends esports had only existed since 2011, he basically accounted for half of the championships up until that point. Nobody else, except for his teammates, had won more than once. And it was like it was known he would be this juggernaut the instant he manifested ex nihilo. Like it was known, even in 2013, that he would always win.

Then, Faker stopped winning.

By 2017, League of Legends esports was a titan. Venture capital firms, seeing the millions of eyeballs, thought that this was the next NBA in its infancy, and decided to get in on the ground floor. Multiple millions of dollars were pumped into the scene as even mediocre players in weak regions like North America pulled seven-digit salaries. In China, where League of Legends had become the national pastime, the nation's richest oligarchs ran teams for fun and vanity, outbidding Korean organizations for top Korean players in pursuit of a trophy that had gone to Korea every year since 2013. Riot, the studio developing the game, pumped tons of money into creating a professional sports product, with skilled announcers, dedicated arenas for regional leagues, live performances by musicians like Imagine Dragons and Lil Nas X, and all the other bells and whistles one might expect from a program watched on ESPN.

In this milieu, it seemed like Faker had finally reached his limit. He was still good, but not the best. Even as an individual, while everyone still considered him the "greatest of all time," he was considered outmatched by newer pros like Chovy and ShowMaker. 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 passed with no championships. In 2022, on a team of mostly rookies, he reached the world finals, but was ultimately beaten. Korea's stranglehold over the sport had been shaken by China, which had finally strung together some championships. People wondered if Faker would retire, although he had managed to avoid mandatory military service by representing Korea in the Olympics-esque Asian Games. He'd dealt with wrist injuries and his level of play dropped year over year. He just didn't seem to be that good anymore, potentially holding back his team of talented young players rather than leading them to victory.

Then, in 2023—

And in 2024—

In the end, never count out Touchdown Tom. 11 years of professional play, 5 world championships.

From this longwinded explanation, you might have realized that after watching that game in 2013, I became a League of Legends esports fanatic, fulfilling the prophecy set before me by my father though perhaps in not the way he would have expected.

And the things I become a fanatic about, I want to write a story about.

IV. Modern Cannibals

There's a deleted scene in Modern Cannibals, as Maximillion is driving Z. and her friends through the Utah desert. He starts to talk about Pokémon.

"I bring it up because my university thesis was about Pokemon in particular how Pokemon has basically trained an entire generation of children to think in a completely different way than preceding generations my generation for instance our fad was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles now I don't know how much you know about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles but from an educational standpoint we're talking absolute bankrupt complete and utter goose egg but Pokemon now Pokemon you see it's more like there's some substance to it you know that refrain Gotta Catch Em All right?" "..." "Well to most parents it looks like a marketing gimmick you make one hundred fifty-one characters and structure a game around collecting them the merchandising potential is astronomical kids buy one hundred fifty-one trading cards stickers coloring books figurines uh collectable lunchable toys I'm sure you've got some yourself."

He continues:

"But really you look at the game itself before the big toy explosion the game itself the focus is placed less on the collection and more on the catalogue you're given a blank encyclopedia to fill and you fill it by capturing one hundred fifty-one Pokemon but the goal is to create a complete database of each and every one and this is what I argue is the educational core of the Pokemon series." His hands left the wheel to conceive of his idea in the cool air of the car, which remained steady on its ever-forward path. "Our modern era is no longer one of singular isolated knowledge it is one of the catalogue the database which is most clearly personified in the advent of the internet because now all knowledge can be at the fingertips of any one human being all that is needed is someone to go and put the catalogue together and presto whiz bang it's there think about it Z. when you catch a bunch of Pokemon where do you store them?" Z. didn't need to think long to remember the game's mechanics. "In the PC." "Exactly now isn't that odd consider it in real life terms you have real life creatures made assumedly of flesh and bone and yet you store them in a computer how does that make sense you'd expect a farm or a holding pen but no it's the computer and that too prepares the budding portion of the millennial generation to become cognizant of the linkage between the computer the encyclopedia and the database structure of knowledge in a new era." "So," said Z. "So you're saying Pokemon taught kids how to think in the digital age?"

There's also a deleted character in Modern Cannibals. Well, mostly deleted—he still shows up, unnamed, in a couple of pages. He is Cole Coulter, Z.'s older brother, a popular League of Legends streamer. Before I deleted him, his role was to accompany Mrs. Roddlevan and Frederick in an attempt to bring Z. back home. He had POV scenes that gave insight into the weirdness of his cotravelers, but ultimately, I decided he didn't add anything to the story and removed him almost entirely.

Even then, though, I was already considering the future of Cole Coulter as the protagonist of a story about League of Legends esports. Playing under the ID MadKing, he would be a North American professional top laner, once known for his aggressive duelist style but recently forced into playing boring tanks as the esports metagame became more sophisticated and tactics-based.

The story would be simple, something I envisioned as a "sports story" only about esports instead of regular sports. It would start with Cole's team being relegated from the league, only for Cole to get a last chance signing to a new team with two promising Korean imports. One import, the mid laner, would be a charismatic and eccentric player in the mold of Doinb/Ganked By Mom/Huhi, while the other, an AD carry, would be introverted and pissy and elitist, in the mold of Piglet. The team would initially struggle, cultures would clash, then a mid-season replacement to sign a psychopathic Tyler1/Tarzaned style streamer as jungler would revitalize the team, put them on a major run, and get them to the World Championship. Though they would eventually fall after a miracle run, Cole would get a moment to truly shine on the biggest stage when he won a pivotal game by aggressive split pushing rather than tank play.

Thematically, the story would be about two things. First, a counterpoint to the idea of American exceptionalism, featuring a league where Americans are particularly bad compared to Korean or Chinese players. Second, an exploration of what it means to be exceptional at all. Cole would be an all-around mediocre person. Middling at school, at (real) sports, at the various popularity contests of being a teenager. League of Legends, this niche sub-sport, is the one thing he truly excelled at, the one place where he was good, better than 99.9 percent of all players, and yet even within that statistical greatness he wound up, ultimately, in a professional scene where he was once again mediocre, relegated to "tank duty," to facilitating other players to carry.

What does it mean to be the best? How can someone be so, so good, only to reach a level where they were still nothing special? Is there any way to win if you're not "the man who always wins"?

I remembered that panel from Electric Tale of Pikachu. The last people filtered before the final champion. It's certainly no walk in the zoo!

This idea was pretty detailed for a story I never wound up writing, something I mostly blame on the years 2018 and 2019, when a lot of bad things happened to me and in retrospect I consider it a minor miracle I managed to finish Chicago at all. As a human being, I would be decimated for the next three years, and so a lot of stories I might have written in that time never came to fruition.

Meanwhile, League of Legends esports reached a peak, then the venture capital bubble burst as investors realized there was no monetization scheme in place for any interested party except Riot Games. Money hemorrhaged out, Riot shifted resources to Valorant, and a sport that had been overinflated based on projected exponential growth in perpetuity fell back down to earth.

Also, Players came out.

Players was a 2022 mockumentary about a fictional League of Legends team competing in the North American league. Conceptually, it was doing a lot of what I had planned for my story: following a single team on a rags-to-riches run, focusing on the interpersonal drama of the team members, asking questions about greatness and its pursuit. It's a pretty good show if you're familiar with League of Legends esports at all, with a lot of on-the-ground fidelity that gives it an authentic feel, which is exactly what I had been hoping to use my esports fanaticism to accomplish. It completely took the wind out of my sails; it was like my idea had already been done.

So by 2022, the idea of a League of Legends esports story was dead. But there was still a drive to create something with that spirit, that would delve into those themes.

What remained after all these years of sifting the sieve, letting sand slip through, was that one panel from the manga. The number of people pursuing greatness slowly filtering until only one remained. And if I wasn't going to pursue that idea through League of Legends, maybe I could pursue it through another vehicle. Maybe the vehicle through which the idea had originally been exposed to me. Pokémon. It all came back to Pokémon.

V. Everything Evolving Into Crabs

I knew immediately that if I were to write a Pokémon fic, it would be a tournament arc. This was the natural evolution of my esports story idea. Also, if I were to write Pokémon, I wanted it to be a story about utopia, immersed within Pokémon's near-future ideal world, where everything is clean and healthy, where society is neat and ordered.

This idea caused me to remember the novel Eyeless in Gaza by Aldous Huxley, which I had read a few years back. A mostly autobiographical bildungsroman written on the precipice of World War II, the novel ends with the young protagonist on a journey to Central America, where he meets an idealistic doctor who believes sport to be a proper substitution for war. He tells the story of two tribes locked in internecine conflict through generations, able to replace that violence with soccer matches.

And wasn't that what the world of Pokémon was, a utopia revolving around neutralizing weapons of war by using them for competitive sport?

This tournament, I envisioned, would not simply be about deciding who was best, but an ideological battle for the future of the Pokémon world. To that end, I imagined a war between an entrenched trainer class, who competed as philosopher-warriors, intense individuals with deep connections to their Pokémon, and an upstart commercialization that sought to replace the ideological underpinnings that made their society so safe and prosperous with economic accumulation. It was from this kernel that the character who would become Aracely Sosa arose: charismatic, appealing, human-empathic, and propped up by a support staff who did all the hard work of teambuilding for her.

I imagined the story having an ensemble cast, focusing on nearly every competitor equally, with the Aracely character not having any especial focus until her improbable rise to the top. I imagined a final round where she faced off against "the man who always wins," and though she would lose to him, she would seem to have won the ideological battle, altering the course of society as major corporations scrambled to employ her formula for success at a much grander scale. The story would end with this realization of the earth-shattering importance behind her run, only for Aracely to sink in disappointment. Because in the end, all she really wanted was to win.

The more I thought about it, though, the less I liked the idea of an ensemble cast. The ensemble cast element of Chicago hadn't gone over very well (though I like it), and I figured it would wind up inflating the length of the story considerably. I was coming to the end of Cleveland Quixotic, after all, and once more wanted to write something smaller, tighter, and denser.

So I oriented my thinking to instead have the story revolve around Aracely and one major rival, to give an interpersonal mirror to the ideological war being waged. Thus, Toril came about as an antithesis to everything I had imagined Aracely to be: gruff, antisocial, independent. Their rivalry would culminate in a semifinals battle, before Aracely went on to fight "the man who always wins" in the finals.

I forget exactly when the gender theme came into the equation, but it evolved as an outgrowth of (once again) my competitive League of Legends expertise, where women are essentially nonexistent despite there seemingly being no biological blocks against them. This dovetailed nicely with Pokémon, a world where women seemingly could be powerful competitors, but where—in the anime at least—none ever are. For instance, look at this chart of every major tournament in the anime:

Every known winner is male. Every known finalist and semifinalist is male. Only a handful of female characters have reached the quarterfinals. What possible in-universe justification could there be for that?

This question was actually far more prominent in early planning and drafting than it wound up being in the final work. Initially, I had Aracely's personal motivation revolve around a drive to be the first female trainer to win; this would increase the ideological conflict between her and Toril, who attempted to ignore that she was female altogether. Over time, this theme would see diminished importance in face of the last piece of the thematic puzzle: cults.

It came from reading Underground by Haruki Murakami, a nonfiction journalistic account of the 1995 Tokyo sarin gas attacks carried out by the cult Aum Shinrikyo under the direction of its leader Shoko Asahara. Japan in the 90s was experiencing its own End of History, one taken literally by those disaffected with modern society's grand narrative. The prophecies of Nostradamus became fashionable among the young, who believed that 1999 would be the final year before the world was destroyed. Murakami interviewed both survivors of the gas attack and members of Aum Shinrikyo, collecting worldviews of people who simply thought they were "different" and who were willing to give everything in their lives to the one place that seemed to accept that difference.

The 1995 attacks were a watershed moment in Japanese culture. In their wake would come pivotal works of Japanese pop media, like the titan of otaku culture, Neon Genesis Evangelion:

(What's scary about Nostradamus' prophecy is that it might not come true. A year whose chief terror was that THIS WAS IT.)

Pokémon, whose first games released in Japan in 1996, also emerged within this post-Aum world where fixation on the minutiae of pop media was becoming a primary pillar of meaning for the youth, and it's hard not to see echoes of cultism in the evil teams that dot the series' landscape. Even Team Rocket, originally more modeled on organized crime than occultism, veers that direction in Gold and Silver, and afterward the organizations and their world-ending plots become increasingly absurd, to the point where it starts to become unclear why anyone would ever follow, say, Lysandre.

As I mentioned earlier, my personal interest in Pokémon was at odds with these clownish, Saturday morning cartoon villain organizations, but Murakami's account of the Aum attacks recontextualized them for me, made them make sense even within the framework of a "realistic" utopian world. The last elements snapped into place, and I knew my main character would be the member of one of these cults. A cult dedicated to, what else? Evolution. A core element of the Pokémon series, a perfect metaphor for the frustrating lack of movement of the End of History 90s. I imagined a cult leader as a surrogate mother figure for Aracely, who would have a strained relationship with both of her own parents, and deciding on that, the idea of making Pokémon's canon evil mother Lusamine the villain was a no-brainer. I imagined a post-SuMo Lusamine, unable to move on from her experience merged with Nihilego, languishing in Kanto after being sent there to consult with Bill, who had his own experience being merged with a Pokémon... It didn't take long to figure out how all these pieces connected.

The full form of the story had taken shape.

VI. Showdown

I knew immediately I would be following Showdown rules for the battles. No alternative even crossed my mind. I had dabbled in Showdown a few times over the years, first in Gen 3 OUs, then later in Gen 7 OUs, and I knew from experience that Pokémon is a monumentally more interesting competitive game when operating at a high level compared to either its depiction in the anime (shounen logic, mid-fight evolutions) or the general playing experience (spam your best move on your overleveled starter). I knew I would use competitive rulesets before I even considered the thematic or worldbuilding aspect I would eventually take in the story itself (i.e., that the specific rulesets prevent battles from becoming bloodsport and enforce order on the world). I simply thought doing battles this way would be far more entertaining.

To prepare, I started playing Gen 9 OUs under the guidance of a few friends who were into the competitive scene. I grinded the ladder for months, eventually getting a good enough grasp on the metagame to reach 1500 Elo on the Showdown ladder, which is not very good but generally higher than someone can reach with dumb luck.

Crafting the tournament format and rulesets used in the story wasn't difficult. I modeled the tournament format on the League of Legends World Championship, with region-based seeds (having been selected due to performance in regional tournaments) competing in four groups before the highest performers advanced to a single elimination bracket. Initially, I envisioned a 32-competitor bracket instead of the 16-competitor bracket that would appear in the final draft, but otherwise the format came quickly and easily.

In terms of the rulesets and available Pokémon, my considerations were made primarily in terms of what would be most entertaining to read. I decided to include Mega Evolutions and not include Z Moves, Dynamax, or Terastallization, because Mega Evolutions are cool and those other gimmicks are not. The bring-9-pick-6 format, while unusual in Showdown rulesets, is similar to the rules in Pokémon Stadium and VGC tournaments, and also adds a level of intrigue to which Pokémon each competitor uses. (It also enabled Red's Zapdos at the climax of the story, which was something I knew I would bring out from very early on.)

With the help of one of my friends who knew competitive Pokémon, I scripted out each battle assiduously before I wrote them. Every battle was tested using Showdown itself, with only a few turns mocked up to account for luck. For instance, in Aracely versus Jinjiao, Slowking is meant to stay asleep for three turns. Rather than rely on luck to ensure Slowking actually slept that long during the test, I could give Slowking a useless move and have him use that instead to simulate being asleep.

The only thing that couldn't be tested in Showdown was the 7 PP Kingambit trick Red uses at the end of the story, because it's impossible to set a Pokémon to have fewer than max PP in Showdown. This led to one of the bigger mistakes of the story, as it turns out that Encore would simply wear off if Kingambit ran out of PP, rather than forcing him to use Struggle like I assumed. Luckily, even if this were the case, it wouldn't change the outcome of the battle, so it's not an error I lose too much sleep over.

Character teams were chosen to thread the needle between a few considerations. The team needed to be competitively viable, reflect the character's personality in some way, and be distinct from other teams for the sake of variety. (Variety is somewhat unrealistic in real top-level competitive Pokémon, where you'll often see many almost identical teams in the top ranks. But that would be boring.) Some lack of optimization was allowed under the conceit that actually training these Pokémon to peak form would take a lot of time in the real world, compared to Showdown were optimization can be determined quickly due to the ability to immediately adjust stats and builds.

I also tried to give some preference for Pokémon that would be more familiar to layman fans, though this was difficult because Gen 8 and 9 have outrageous power creep and many popular early generation Pokémon have been completely phased out. (Using Megas helped with this issue.) It was this consideration that led to Azumarill being Aracely's ace. There was also an innate challenge to imagining what the competitive scene would look like without legendary Pokémon. Zapdos and Landorus-Therian have been inexorable staples of the competitive scene for generations. What happens in a world where they aren't used at all?

In the original 32-person bracket, I imagined Aracely competing against Jinjiao in the first round, then minor characters Adrian da Cunha and Jacq Ray Johnson in the next two rounds, before facing Toril in semifinals. I imagined Adrian da Cunha as a "hometown hero" whose team wasn't great but he was plucky with a lot of grit, and Jacq Ray Johnson as a self-aware heel who liked to use cheesy strategies and gimmicky Pokémon like Smeargle and Ditto. Condensing from 32 to 16 occurred around the same time I had settled on Lusamine as my villain/cult leader, which led to replacing those two with Gladion. I developed full brackets for both the 32-man and 16-man iterations, with character names and regions, just in case I ever needed to mention them.

All that was left to do was write the story.

VII. Unbroken Line of History

I began writing in September 2023 under the tentative title Unbroken Line of History, which I would later change to simply Lines. In the original drafts, I opened the story with a modified version of the panel from Electric Tale of Pikachu detailing how people are filtered over time in their pursuit of being the best, this time starting with all 8 billion people in the world until only one remains. The story then cut to Aracely's perspective in the restroom as she mentally prepared for her final group stage match.

At this point I was more set on Aracely being the clear protagonist of the story, so she had a few facets of her personality designed around that. First, as I mentioned before, there was a feminist angle where she was motivated specifically to be the first female trainer to win the championship. Secondly, I threw in some more generic nervousness/fear of failure. The other major difference is that I did not lead with the cult prophecy of the world ending. I originally envisioned the cult reveal to be a mid-story twist, and only obliquely hinted at it.

The scene still played out with Toril appearing and the two getting off to a bad start. Then, Cely's father tried to talk strategy with her while she ignored him, before the battle transpired in much the same form as it does in the final draft.

I showed this early draft to my friends and most disliked it. My girlfriend at the time told me Cely sounded like an edgy 13-year-old boy, while my neuroscientist friend whose aspirational idol is Bondrewd from Made in Abyss wanted to know more about the oblique hints of a cult, finding everything else boring. Another friend said it was stupid that there were 30 seconds between turns during the battle and that the Pokémon should just go at each other; nobody would actually want to watch a battle that was paced so slowly. (I vehemently disagreed with that take. Basically every popular sport balances between slow-paced moments of strategy and fast-paced moments of action and execution.) Some people I showed it to did enjoy it, though. Gazemaize, the author of Chili and the Chocolate Factory, was especially enamored by the Brittany/Gardevoir reveal and the Bud Light Analyst Desk, and implored me to keep both of those elements at all costs. 7th, one of my friends who helped me with the Showdown stuff, was so into it she drew fan art of all the characters (which I've posted before) and also wrote eight pornographic short stories about them.

I rewrote the same opening scene several times across October and November, though these were minor iterations without significant adjustments. Frustrated with the lack of progress, I decided to take a break from writing to simply think about the story for a few months.

During this time, to fix Aracely's edgy 13-year-old voice, I decided to lean into her being from Pokémon Los Angeles (with her native region, Visia, being a play on "visual" as a reference to Hollywood) and gave her a Valley Girl accent. To prepare for this, I listened to hours and hours of ASMR videos of people speaking like Valley Girls and took notes on their inflection and syntax. It was here where I decided on Aracely's underlining quirk, as a way of capturing the unique style of emphasis Valley Girls used.

This also made me realize I needed to adjust Aracely's personality. Despite the tone of her voice, she was still acting antisocially. She didn't want to talk to her father, she didn't want to talk to Lachlan Nguyen, she didn't even really want to talk to Toril. Toril herself was a lump of coal. My own misanthropy kept leaking into the characters, even when I conceptually didn't want them to have it. I thought back to Cleveland Quixotic, and how what made the Jay and Viviendre romance work was that they actually both liked each other, and figured—even though I didn't have explicitly romantic plans for Aracely and Toril—that I needed to do something similar to make their rivalry truly pop. Rather than avoid people, Aracely would lean into talking to them, even if they were annoying. Although Toril remained frigid, there would be a part of her yearning for emotional contact, a way to coax her out of her shell.

I also thought deeply about the structure of my stories in general, and my inability to come up with good hooks. It was around this time that someone I knew was reading Chicago. They pointed out that the plot of Chicago doesn't really start until Chapter 26; that I was "burying the lede." I considered this. My logic, when writing Chicago, was that the Empire moving to take over Washington would be a twist, something that would shock and excite people and change their perception of the entire story.

But did that make sense, when really the story was "about" that twist? Didn't that just make everything before the twist harder to get into for a reader? Chicago might look radically different if I revealed the Empire's goals immediately, but it would also probably be a more immediately engaging work. I'm a big fan of delayed gratification in storytelling, but had I taken it too far?

This was a major revelation for me, and immediately I understood what I needed to do for my Pokémon story: move up the cult plotline. Place it front and center. Name the whole story after it even. I decided on framing the opening scene from Toril's perspective, depicting Aracely initially more as an alien other, emphasizing the fact that she was in a cult rather than hide it behind foreshadowing. This could also lead to Aracely and Toril having more of a dual protagonist setup, which would make my planned two-half finale (one half where Aracely battled "the man who always wins," one half where Toril got involved in stopping the cult's doomsday plot) work even better.

Confidence resurged. At the end of January 2024, my girlfriend of seven years  and I broke up. A few days later, I started writing the sixth—and ultimately final—draft of When I Win the World Ends.

VIII. When I Win the World Ends

Now it's the part of the Making Of where I actually make the thing I'm supposed to be making, but there's a lot less to say about it. Once I have a plan, the actual writing of the story is the easy part, and most of what I wrote—with a few exceptions—looks similar to the story as it exists now.

There were some oddities. I wrote the first seven chapters (everything up to the end of the Jinjiao battle) and then had to take a two week break to write a short piece for a writing contest I had entered in December as part of an effort to stop overthinking WIW. After this interruption, I returned to WIW writing perhaps a bit more perfunctorily than I usually would, leading to an original version of Chapter 8 (the chapter where MOTHER makes her first real appearance) that was short and abbreviated. Later, in editing, I would rewrite most of this chapter.

A few ideas emerged while writing, like the motif of serendipity/Logos, which I felt tied nicely to the ideas of evolution and history. It was also in this draft that I introduced Cely's friends Haydn and Charlie, as a nod to an earlier work of mine also featuring a fashion-obsessed girl from Los Angeles. (Speaking of nods to earlier works, in the original 32-man bracket, Cole Coulter featured as one of the competitors, but he didn't make the 16-man cut.)

The process went smoothly. I finished the draft at the end of May, a little under four months after I started it. I had envisioned the full story as being about 70,000 words, but the draft ended up closer to 115,000. Underestimating story length is just an essential element of the trade, though.

A few days after finishing the draft I went on a four-day Oklahoma Darkness Retreat where I had access to zero electronics. The goal was to think about my story deeply and how it could be improved in the editing process.

In this time chamber, where I did nothing except complete crossword puzzles and read The Recognitions by William Gaddis, I came to a realization. There was one element the story needed that wasn't already there.

That element was Sabrina. In the original draft, Sabrina was not present during the scene where Aracely meets the Old Man. She was mentioned obliquely a couple of times in conjunction with Aracely's "psychic powers," but it never really built to anything. There was still a scene where Aracely was interrogated due to her relationship with MOTHER, but only by nameless goons, and the scene lacked tension as it was clear Aracely could talk circles around them.

When I returned from Oklahoma, I prepared for my conception of Sabrina as a character by writing an 8,000 word short story from her perspective, which hashed out an entire backstory for her. Then, I started editing the draft.

For me, a lot of editing is just polish. Usually, cutting out needless sentences and fixing clunky ones, as well as emphasizing a few of the more understated themes and motifs. For instance, during editing, I made slight additions to emphasize the thematic connection between Aracely's suicide attempt and the global war that almost destroyed the world, as well as the connection between the moon and cyclical insanity (lunacy, etymologically, being related to the moon). I made the Old Man more of a Walt Disney-esque figure (from my notes: "a dying Disney"), rewriting much of his dialogue to either be direct quotes or to evoke his ideals. I also expanded on several of the scenes where Toril and Aracely interact to make their relationship more complex and nuanced. I gave MOTHER some new dialogue, including her speech in Chapter 18 about loving a child for the potential it promises, while also paradoxically wanting it to remain a child forever.

The largest changes were in the three chapters I almost fully rewrote. The first was Chapter 8, which as I mentioned earlier was overly terse. In the original draft, it depicted MOTHER as more pathetic, more dependent on Aracely. I decided to make her a more threatening figure, and incorporated a few references to the Moloch sacrifice scene from Valle Verde to make her seem more like a false idol. Similarly, I rewrote Chapter 12, which was originally a very short chapter that focused solely on a conversation between MOTHER and Nilufer that ended with the order to kidnap Aracely. In rewriting the chapter to include Fiorella, I gave myself more opportunity to flesh out the respective philosophies of her and MOTHER (including some of the story's most salient discussions about why cults exist), as well as give more of an insight into the inner workings of RISE as an organization. And lastly, I fully rewrote Chapter 19 to include Sabrina.

The last changes I made in editing were to the final chapter. When I finished the final draft of the story, I sent it to several readers, many of whom had looked at the original drafts of the first chapter, as well as julirites, the author of a Fargo fan fiction called London. There was an immediate and minor backlash to the final chapter, which was originally much more pessimistic, from most people who read it. In the original version, Aracely and Toril were not still in communication. (Fiorella was also dying of cancer instead of jockeying to replace the Old Man.) The finale had a much more somber, sedate, tragic note. Juli and 7th disliked this sad ending, while Gazemaize wanted me to cut the final chapter altogether. I felt confident that the final chapter was necessary, though, and revised it to its current version, which was much better liked.

And then... the story was finished, near the end of July. I crunched the numbers and realized that if I posted two chapters to start and then did a twice-weekly posting schedule, I could end the story serendipitously on October 12. So I did.

IX. Names and Special Thanks

In my Making Of post for Cleveland Quixotic, I had a fairly extensive list of where I got all the character and place names from. The list is a lot less extensive here; most names I constructed for the purpose of sounding evocative, rather than taking them from someplace specific. For instance, I chose the name Aracely Sosa because it sounds like whistling with its repeated S sounds, compared to Toril Lund which is a lot harsher with its consonants. You can see a similar rationale behind names like Fiorella Fiorina, Yui Matsui, and even some of the background characters, like Jacq Ray Johnson, Jr., where there is a lot of emphasis on alliteration and rhyme.

There are a couple of exceptions. Jinjiao is the in-game ID of a longtime Chinese League of Legends pro of middling notability. He picked the name (which means "Golden Horn") as a reference to the Golden Horned King, a villain from Journey to the West.

Lutz, Fiorella's cameraman, was named after an extremely minor character from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, who is not playable and only appears in a singular cutscene before being killed. They are so irrelevant that despite naming a character after them, I actually forgot their name, which is Lotz, not Lutz.

Haydn is named after the famous classical composer.

Special thanks to 7th and Elick320 for helping me with the teams and battles. Thanks to Gazemaize and julirites, among others unnamed, for reading and providing feedback. And thank you all for enjoying the story.

[d3adbr3inc3lls]

may i request a post-dlc kieran x male punk reader? reader is seen as pretty intimidating due to their music taste and style, and they don’t back down about their beliefs, but they’re still a kind person. maybe when they battle they play on their guitar to hype their pokemon up, and rock out alongside them!

please take care, i really enjoy your writing :)

Post DLC!Kieran x Punk!M!Reader

A/N: Sorry this is late, but yeah, hope you enjoy it !!! Gave reader a shiny Toxtricity because I feel like it suits their aesthetic.

10/08 - I had this ready months ago, idk why I haven't posted it earlier....

Sure Kieran wasn't in his "Don't raise your voice at me. I WILL cry" phase anymore, and he was the seccond strongest trainer in the Academy

But that didn't stop him from being intimidated by others.

He heard rumours about you-

About how loud you were, how much of a troublemaker you were, how disobedient you were, constantly breaking the rules as you see fit.

Even Carmine strongly warned him to stay away from you.

You were seen as a delinquent by some teachers who were quick to judge, how could he not be intimidated?

You stood up for your beliefs, and sure, a small part of him admired that under all the fear and intimidation.

Rules are made to be broken.

Right?

He believed the rumors for so long, he tried to stay away from you as much as possible, fearing for whatever ruckus you may cause.

But in reality, you are a kind person, and Kieran only found that out becuase the two of you shared the same battle studies class and you two battled eachother.

As expected, Kieran won the battle, he was ex-champion after all.

But honestly? Kieran was blown away at your battling style,

You and your shiny Toxtricity were like partners in crime.

The two of you two complemented eachother well.

Kieran was always mesmerised at how you went full out in battles. You always used your guitar to hype up your party and it worked.

Their cries always got stronger alongside whatever you were playing inspired Kieran to give it his all.

That was the only time he ever interacted with you, and you were the complete opposite of what the rumours said you are.

He'd often see you in the music rooms, practising your guitar with some pokémon out, happily jamming along.

Over time, you befriend him, [he's still a bit introverted, so you took your time to make sure he's comfortable].

You began sitting next to him during your breaks - he invited you over after all,

If you asked him, he found it interesting to see how you were the complete opposite of what people say you are,

You just had strong opinions, and you'd never hide them in fear of standing out.

He admired that.

Over time, the two of you began to get closer, and then began dating.

He confessed to you by giving you an Applin.

Believe me, he tried to find a shiny one to match your shiny Toxtricity, and he came out empty handed.

Kieran was rather keen on keeping the relationship private, he didn't want Carmine to find out and yell at him for it.

So the two kept a low profile,

Whenever Kieran sees something related to punk, he'd always get it for you, even if he doesn't know what it means.

He probably got you a few things related to rebellion without knowing,

He loves hanging out at your dorm, he isn't worried or stressed about Carmine barging in and demanding something from him.

10/10 Kieran seems like the type of person who would love to have a blanket over the two of you and put on a movie, or have a walk in the park at night.

Kieran also seems like the type of person to ask about Punk history and anything related to the movement,

Searching everything up online is an option, but is it really the best option?

He wants to know more about you and what the movement means to you, not what some random person on the internet says.

Kieran probably got you or your Toxtricity a Punk themed jacket because he thought they looked cool and matched your aesthetic.

10/10 gets you random Punk stickers (He probably doesn't know what half of them mean, but they suit your aesthetic - hopefully.)

[would-this-pokemon-be-a-friend]

So... I have high hopes for this one *Deep breath* Appletun as a pet?

It seems that an appletun would make a great pet for a lot of owners!

For some reason, whenever I see the official art of appletun, I picture it as being much larger than it is. At a foot tall and less that thirty pounds, these guys are actually pretty small. They seem docile and friendly, something you don’t see too often in dragon-type pokémon.

Appletuns are hunters, but not predators: their bodies emit a sweet, nectar out scent which attract small bug pokémon, which are its favorite food (Sword). If you like the smell of apple pie, well, you’re in luck! This scent, however, also causes larger pokémon, like lechonks, to bother them, trying to lick the nectar on their backs (Violet). When keeping an appletun, you would want to make sure bigger pokémon don’t bother your little buddy, as it makes them upset. Thankfully, due to the fact that they like to eat the bug pokémon their smell attracts, they would be sort of like a living fly trap, getting rid of pests that find their way into your home.

Appletuns are certainly capable of defending themselves, but it seems like they only do so in self defense. When larger pokémon like the aforementioned lechonks pester them, appletuns spew sticker nectar at them, using moves like Apple Acid to scare off hungry annoyances. Don’t get me wrong, an appletun could really hurt you if it wanted to, but couldn’t really be labeled “lethal” or “aggressive”. While we must always consider each pokémon’s potential threat-level, this is one that doesn’t have much of a chance of being a problem.

I’m personally happy to report that appletuns would be great little friends. I want one.

[queer-codedhero]

Little Space Journal Prompts! 💕🍼

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

Draw a picture of you and you favorite stuffie!

list of safe food and trigger foods

positive affirmations

what sounds do animals make? With drawing of the animals

draw something that is every color of the rainbow

we may not have powers like super man but we all are hero’s! What are your powers? Are you smart, kind, helpful?

sticker page!

What superhero do you want to be? Draw your super self!

what makes me happy!

make scribbles into art

what do you hide about yourself? How do I find people who support that part of me?

what do others think of you?

what makes me feel safe? Where do I feel safe?

what meal is your favorite?

design an outfit!

draw your BFF!

Your dream vacation!

make a little space playlist

make stuffie profiles with their age, birthday, skills, name, etc.

list your coping skills

Make a holiday!

rate some popular activities

your stims or tics (if you have these)

draw you and your caregiver!

what’s your favorite animal! Tell me about them!

Things that help your age regression block

Favorite TV characters!

wishlist!

secret page >:oo

make a comic

mistakes are ok!

my goals!

self care check list

doodles!

make yourself a Pokémon or Pokémon trainer

what do you love?

Baby mode powers! The things that you do well and help you in little space.

draw some jewelry!

Video games I like

if you were a king/queen/royal…

innerworld! (If a system little)

my wishes if I found a genie

kind things I do

friend list

vacation ideas

draw some flowers and a forest home

why I am special!

pets I want

pet name ideas

label my mind set good and bad

complements I get!

things that make me laugh

jokes I like!

write a fairy tale!

rainy day. What is your rain and umbrella?

how to handle a bully

spooky doodles and stories

fun activities for every season

board games I like

healthy relationships! My boundaries!

I dislike…

make a dictionary with little space language

my favorite nicknames

triggers list (pos and neg)

paci design ideas

things that cheer you up!

weird drawings! (Ex. A flying apple super hero)

my gender and identity (because you are validddd!!)

make yourself a Sanrio character!

favorite and less favorite textures

dreams

if I was an animal

my touch boundaries

how to handle others disrespecting your regression

bath time!

song that help you regress

your favorite books

make your own coloring page

my melody or kuromi?

my favorite activities

︵‿︵‿୨♡୧‿︵‿︵

[nyaagolor]

Paldean Elite Four (+ Geeta) Headcanons

They've been on my mind recently bc of all the asks I got

Rika:

Rika is the office gossip QUEEN. She knows everything about everyone, so if you need or want to know something you ask her. She knows a guy. She also desperately wants to figure out what Larry and Geeta's Deal (tm) is. They bicker constantly, are insanely passive aggressive, but despite their opposing attitudes agree on most fundamental issues. They look like they hate each other, but Larry constantly takes on new responsibilities for the League and Geeta constantly showers him with raises and promotions. Rika has taken to snooping thru their emails and prodding Hassel for info, but he doesn't know anything either. It’s driving her nuts

Paldea had a Region’s Sexiest Man contest. Rika won. Women Want her. Despite this however she can only pick up women accidentally. If she actively tries to flirt she will fuck it up spectacularly. Just the in-universe version of this

Rika is actually on the payroll as the league receptionist and does that Elite Four thing as a side hustle for extra cash. She gets kind of embarrassed when you call her a receptionist during her Elite Four duties though because other regions often use her as an example of why the Paldean league is garbage (i.e. they're so understaffed even a receptionist can be on the E4. They must have grabbed the nearest person, etc etc). She puts on the vibe of someone chill but this in particular is a bit of a sore point for her

She hates dresses / skirts with a burning passion and refuses to wear them. If you give her a REALLY good reason it's a solid maybe, but good luck with that. She needs to stretch

Her Clodsire's name is Pancake :) I like to think all her pokemon are named after breakfast foods (which, btw, is her favorite meal of the day. She is easily bribed with good waffles)

She and Larry are drinking buddies. She does most of the drinking

Poppy:

Everyone in the league is very careful to alter their habits around Poppy. She’s small and cute and sweet and a little baby so the usual informal cursing (like Rika shouting that HR needs to “cut the bullshit”) or the smoke breaks on the roof (yes I think they all smoke) can’t happen when Poppy is around

The league spoils her rotten. Candy? Toys? Help with her kindergarten homework?? Anything for Poppy. Even Larry, who seems too strict or apathetic to care, has her drawings in his desk drawer and lets her decorate his ties. The toys in the lobby are also hers

Her parents are accountants who brought her to take your kid to work day and let her play with their Pokémon outside. Rika challenged her to a match as a joke because they had a cancellation and Geeta watched— but both were shocked that Poppy’s skill with her parents’ steel types and her own Tinkaton were unparalleled by anyone in the building. When another E4 member retired, the league decided to let Poppy battle under her parents’ names just to blow off some steam. Poppy gets to let out energy, her parents make extra money, and the elite 4 has a strong battler. Win win!

Poppy loves to braid and play with hair, so the other elite four members will often let her play with their hair and add clips while they work. Larry is Poppy’s favorite because he sits Very Very Still

If Poppy really likes the battle she had with you, she’ll give you a sticker. Geeta once walked into a meeting with a gold star directly on her forehead because Poppy stuck it there and she didn’t want to take it off where Poppy could see it, forgetting about it by the time she walked in. She later moved it to her jacket

She has nicknames for everyone except Rika, which drives Rika insane. Grandpa Hassel, Mister Larry, Miss Geeta (or Auntie sometimes) but Rika? It’s just Rika. It’s always Rika. When Hassel was babysitting her at his and Brassius’ home in Artazón, Poppy’s eyes went really wide and she asked if she had two grandpas now or if Brassius was just SUPER old. He found that insanely funny

Larry:

I saw a fic that had Larry naming his pokemon after Excel commands and I cannot stop thinking about it. It's canon in my heart. Btw if anyone knows this fic / the name pls lmk I can’t find it again but I remember his Flamigo was named COUNTIF

Larry is actually pretty wealthy, partially because he's raking in cash from his three jobs and partially because he doesn't spend money on anything but food and pokemon products. Considering that the Treasure Eatery feeds him for free and the pokemon products are provided or subsidized by the League, that leaves him with a LOT of extra income, which he uses to help out his friends or gym challengers with financial issues or simply buying them dinner

Someone added this on another post of mine but every single one of Larry’s passwords is some variation on “password”. He’s many things but creative is none of them. Also these tags are canon to me

In contrast to his outward grumpiness and seeming apathy, Larry is incredibly gentle with and good with kids. He is confident the future will be better because of them, and does what he can to encourage them. It's a big part of the reason Geeta picked him for the positions-- they have a pretty similar philosophy regarding children and the future

Geeta has been doing everything in her power to get him to quit his third job (which is not League-affiliated) because he does the best work of anyone around and his other boss is a complete and utter asshole. She's tried promoting him, telling him how valuable he is to the team, using raises, praise, and passive aggression, but nothing is working. At one point she even tried overloading him with hours so he'd be forced to quit something but that didn't work either. She's stumped. The man won't quit

That third job? I'm not actually sure what it is but I do have an AU where he's a hitman. Call that a business casuality ;)

Hassel:

He always keeps candy in his desk (and his coat pockets) because he's a teacher and wants to be prepared. It's the strawberry kind, yall know the ones. This came in handy when Poppy joined the league, so all the other members started doing it too

His family gets traditional tattoos all over, which Hassel likewise has. He'd never remove them, but still keeps them covered most of the time for modesty reasons. Brassius has filled in the gaps in the traditional dragon shapes with various flowers to show how Hassel has grown from but not forgotten his past. They look very cool and Rika is insanely jealous of that

This old man is way more fit than he appears. He's a sensitive sweetheart and prefers the arts to sports or battling, but he's still a dragon tamer and keeps up his workout regime quite meticulously. Peepaw’s fucking shredded

His favorite art medium is paint, and he loves it when the little kids have class so he can finger paint alongside them. His office in the League building is covered in art. Geeta thinks it's sweet how he remembers every piece and how emotional he gets talking about it

Hassel has a hard time turning off teacher mode, which makes his training sessions at the league insanely funny to watch. “Haxorus, we do not Guillotine our friends!”

He can, and frequently does, play classical Paldea guitar. Once his rock career fell flat, he started experimenting with the style of his new home region and fell in love. You can often find him giving impromptu concerts from his balcony in Artazon

Geeta:

As much as she micromanages others, she's more than willing to take any responsibilities herself if she can't find someone else to do them. Plumber cancelled and they need the sink fixed asap? Get her a hammer. Rika is out sick? She'll cover those emails. Part of the reason the league struggles to complain about her is that they know for all the work they're doing, she's doing double. This doesn’t necessarily mean she’s GOOD at it but she’s doing it

I’m not sure how I want to explain it backstory wise but a lot of her skin is crystalline just like the AI professors. She’s got a LOT of connections to Area Zero and her top priority is making sure nothing goes in and nothing gets out. The professor hates her. The feeling is mutual

No one has ever seen her blink

She’s incredible at traditional Paldean dances. When Hassel plays classical guitar, she’ll dance along, and it’s magical to watch

That whole thing about not being able to hold back during battles? It’s a PR thing to make kids feel better. She’s not very good at battling. Geeta is just like (gestures at her Avalugg) I just think they're neat

A huge point of contention between her and her employees is that she takes everything literally and is terrible at reading tone. Her gym leaders are scared of her and try to drop hints about things because they think they’ll be punished if they’re too forward, but all those hints go right over Geeta’s head. The gym leaders then think Geeta is ignoring them on purpose but she’s none the wiser. Everyone is losing.

[britt-kageryuu]

It's another slow day at the clinic, and Leo is streaming from the reception area, again.

It's practically a meme by now to see a Clinic Stream among the regulars.

The chat had started a poll/bet on whether someone was going to walk in to the clinic, like what's happened every time Leo's streamed from work. Some were saying it wasn't a fair bet.

Even though most of the time, all Leo is doing is cleaning up which just rambling about random topics, gossip, or showing off the clinic itself.

Leo in his space turtle scrubs with a lab coat, is leaning back in his chair while organizing a container full of 'Good Patient' prizes.

"So I decided to grab this book that sounded interesting, it's about a girl who makes medicine, and apparently ends up in the favor of a royal she works for, highly likely going to be a romance situation." Leo says while opening a pack of dinosaur stickers.

"At some point I couldn't help but imagine myself in this situation. Even though I sure as hell wouldn't want to be in the girls shoes. The whole mess that lead up to her being in a royals favor." He's adding little squishy critters to the container.

Leo opens a box nearby and digs through it, likely looking for something else to add to the treasure box for good patients. Out comes a pack of Trick or Trade Pokémon booster packs.

"Don't get me wrong, potentially becoming a consort to royalty wouldn't be the worst, but just the kidnapping the poor girl had to deal with at the start." Leo pauses for a second, "It just hit me, that I know two series that fit this vauge description, and if you know both good for you. If not sorry if I confused you."

Leo puts the container on the counter, and grabs a book from the shelf next to him. It's a cream colored manga with a bright red haired girl on the cover, the title reads 'Snow White with the Red Hair'.

"This is one of them. Though the Snow White thing is only a loose description for the beginning. Shirayuki caught the attention of the local Prince, that she didn't like, so she left to the next country over and ended up befriending the Prince of that country, Zen."

Leo puts on a sneaky grin, "But the first Prince accidentally poisoned Zen with an apple, so he had to back off or face a possible war or something. She becomes a Royal Herbalist/Pharmacist in the Palace and they slowly fall in love."

He puts the book back, "Some of you may know the other one, but I don't have the book with me here. Though Dee did give me a Stranger Things comic," He pulls a much thinner book off the shelf, this one had four humanoid turtles all with red bandanas along with the Stranger Things characters. "Don't know where he got this, but it looks interesting."

He looks over at the chat, some are asking for more details of how he imagined himself in one of the series, and if his boyfriend was in the place of the royal.

"Well, actually the first time around I thought of myself as the Royal, and Moon somehow ending up in the palace, but it didn't quite work, because I can't see any of my brothers with a large amount of consorts." Leo says as he flips through the first few pages of the Stranger Things book.

"How are you supposed to keep track of these turtles, they're all in Red! Sure they have different weapons, and a letter on their belts, but still!" Leo says while starting to spin in his chair while reading. "Though the very loose plot to have this kind of crossover is so flimsy, let alone how Eleven traveled a few states to a Major City. Alone! But that's the logic of the comic worlds."

Leo continues to slowly spin in the chair while reading to comic book, kinda forgetting that he's at work, and live streaming this moment.

The chat is having a missed jumble of arguments. Some wondering where the comic came from, some wondering if/when a random person will enter the clinic.

"Hey Doc! I came to get a refill on my Meds!!"

Leo jumped and scrambled to Mute the stream. He then goes to greet the person while putting a sticky note over the camera lens.

Those who bet that the pattern wouldn't repeat were regretting their bets, while many where putting up a *called it* type emoji.

[melonthesprigatito]

Had an absolutely peak Build a Bear experience last weekend. I only ever get to go to Build a Bear once every couple of years because the nearest store is 70+ miles away and we just happened to be going to that city for a Christmas day trip :)

In summary:

Couldn't find a Riolu (AKA the entire reason I wanted to go to Build a Bear in the first place) Before you say "But Riolu is online exclusive?" Well, this particular Build a Bear shop is a big cheating cheater. They put their online stock on the shelves even if they're probably not supposed to. I got a Glaceon and a Pikachu from that store and they had plenty of OTHER Pokémon in store, just not Riolu

Made the incredible discovery that they sell BLUEY AND BINGO Build a Bears!!! I found out about that months ago but I completely forgot about it so it felt like discovering it all over again. Anyway I picked up Bingo

Showed the deflated/ unstuffed Bingo to my sibling and, they immediately responded with "Oh my god they killed her!" Other sibling walked into the store shortly after, and said almost the exact thing word for word, but for the Blueys instead. Just stopped and said "They killed Bluey. They killed him." which led to Sibling 1 and 3, and a random bystander child to correct him that Bluey is, in fact, a girl. I had the opportunity to crack a "Build a Bear is technically necromancy joke I learned from Tumblr

It was like, EXTREMELY BUSY. The kind of busy where there's barely any space to move around. Including the staff. There was this one employee standing there, handing out stickers as I was queueing to get Bingo stuffed and he was like "Do you want a sticker? :)" and I was like, yeah sure because why not, but the sticker ripped as he was pulling it off and that was the last sticker in the roll he was holding. This man, god love him, he was DETERMINED to get me a sticker. He just straight up said "I'll be right back" and abandoned me in the queue before I could say "Oh it's okay, I don't need a sticker" leaving me standing there, feeling SUPER guilty because holy shit it's really busy, I'm inconveniencing that guy over a sticker I only half heartedly agreed to😭. But he did get me a sticker. Remember that, because it had consequences later.

My dad started a conversation with the sticker guy, just making small talk like "Oh, you're really busy today." and the sticker guy responded with "Oh, we're usually busy on the weekends" and said something about how Christmas is just EXTRA busy. My dad said he was a brave man for coming into work that day.

Sibling 3 took an interest in the axolotl Build a Bear and my mother fell in love with this little brown fluffy bear but neither of them bought one

The lady at the stuffing machine was great! The stuffing machine was really long and there were maybe three or four people getting their bears stuffed at the same time I was. At first I was a little sheepish about being a grown ass woman getting a Bingo Build a Bear so I admitted as much to the stuffing lady but she was really supportive about it. Apparently she worked part time at a primary school at some point and they used to show kids episodes of Bluey first thing in the morning and eventually she got more excited to watch it than the kids were. I was so distracted by the conversation that my foot slipped off the pedal and I only noticed when the Stuffing Lady was looking around like 'where's the stuffing???' and I apologised about it. Apparently that kind of thing happens a lot.

Stuffing lady asked me if it was a special occasion (foreshadowing) and I was like, nah, I just felt like getting a Bingo because why not, Bingo is great and a different stuffing lady within earshot, who was also stuffing a Bingo agreed with me. The kid who was getting his Bingo stuffed looked so excited because the adults were talking about how cool Bingo was.

I kinda jumped the gun and picked a heart out of the basket before I was asked to and she commented on it like "Wow you've been here before/ you know what you're doing!" I didn't think much of it at the time and only realised a few hours later while browsing the Build a Bear Tumblr tag that I might have accidentally thrown her off her game a little because both of us forgot that you're supposed to make a wish and do a ceremony to fill the heart with love before you put it into the bear.

I asked if I could get a cotton candy scent and the Stuffing Lady went "Of course you can get a cotton candy scent!" She let me sniff the resealable bag to see if I liked the smell, then she rubbed it all over Bingo. I don't know if it's part of Build a Bear procedure or if she was just playing along, but she very noticeably rubbed the scent over Bingo's nose as if she wanted to let her smell it.

The next part is filling out a birth certificate. I typed Bingo's name into the tablet thing, then my first name. My mum suggested I leave age part blank but it pulled up a "Please fill in all fields before continuing." error message and my mum didn't like that. Honestly, I agree with her, why does Build a Bear need my age??

The lady at the checkout ALSO asked me if it was a special occasion (more foreshadowing) and I was like, nah. Paid for Bingo and a waterproof drawstring carry bag to put her in instead of the house box. I was planning on getting the bag because Storm Darragh was raging outside. It fuckn WIMDY. It was raining a lot too. I almost forgot the birth certificate and so did she. I asked for the birth certificate, and she turned around to the printer, picked up a certificate, read it and asked "Is it Bingo?" (As in, asking if I named my bear Bingo) I mention this because the second those words left her mouth she had a look on her face like she thought she had just asked a stupid question.

There was also a birthday party happening. I saw a group of kids wearing paper Build a Bear birthday crowns and all of them had their own Build a Bear.

I only found out once I took my coat off later, that the sticker I was wearing the entire time had a message along the top that I hadn't noticed. It said "Birthday Wishes at Build a Bear." It was one of those stickers that you had to fill in your name so I just thought I was wearing my name on my coat…. The ENTIRE TIME, those Build a Bear employees thought it was my birthday! And I was walking around with a dopey expression, completely oblivious to the fact I was a walking "It's Her Birthday!" sign. I thought it was just part of their script to ask if it was a special occasion, so I didn't catch on.

Anyway here is Bingo Supreme

[heartbrkr]

Hii!! I was wondering if you could write scenarios of what TxT members would do for their significant others birthday?? It's my birthday today and I need some cute fluff rn T-T

what txt would do on your birthday

REQUEST What TXT would do and get for their significant other on their birthday.

PAIRING (separate) ot5 txt x gender neutral!reader

GENRE lots of fluff!

WORD COUNT 270+ to 310+ per member

AUTHOR'S NOTE happy birthday to you! thank you so much for sending in this request. i hope you enjoy reading this as much as i enjoyed writing it <3

MASTERLIST | REQUESTS: OPEN!

YEONJUN gets you material things, mostly, aside from his love for you.

He would definitely get you something you’ve been dying to buy for yourself; it’s either you haven’t saved enough for it yet or it isn’t a priority as of right now. He knows that, and he’s more than pleased to buy whatever you want and anything you don’t need, but insists you do.

Yeonjun walks up to you while you’re seated, focused on a mundane task. It sucks to be busy on the day of your birthday, so he does his best to put a smile on your face, even the slightest. Yeonjun lets out a noise in greeting to get your attention and you whip your head, eyes immediately aligning with the gift wrapped item. You look up at him with an adoring look, honestly not expecting anything too grand for your birthday. He barely gets to open his mouth before you get ahead of yourself. “Yeonjun…”

The patterned paper hides a box, not too big that he hides behind it, but not too small that his hands completely cover it. It’s now in your hands and you can’t help but bite your lower lip out of anticipation.

“Open it!” You’re easy to talk to, so you do as he says. You’re shocked because not only did he get you the very expensive thing you wanted, the box is filled with other individually packed little things for you. You were frozen in place.

He preens, giggling at your reaction, enough for you to snap out of your trance. You abruptly stand up, mindlessly shoving the box on your desk, kissing his face while thanking him repeatedly. “I love you. Nothing but the best, for the best.”

SOOBIN handwrites you a letter. And something else.

The gesture he does goes a long way, especially if you’re a very sentimental person. He would give you a handwritten letter, everything he wants to express to you in three papers filled back-to-back with beautiful words. He tells you that the three pages weren’t enough for him, but was worried you’d get tired of reading. You probably wouldn’t.

After you carefully fold the letter and place it back into the white envelope embellished with your name at the back and a little Pokémon sticker to seal it, you turn in your seat to face Soobin again. He mustn’t have heard you shift since he’s stuffing his face with your birthday cake, not realizing you’re finally looking at him. He munches to himself and it takes him about two whole minutes to notice. Slowly giving you an unintentional side eye, he’s surprised to catch your own.

“What are you...? Oh! You finished the letter. What d’you think?” The affection he’s showered in says enough, but Soobin’s still hiding another gift behind him. He tries to get you off him for a moment and you complain that it’s too early to stop appreciating him.

“Wait! Before we continue, I have one last gift. Close your eyes and put out your hands.”

You, although suspicious, oblige. The thing he drops into your hands feels like it's in a small mesh pouch with something that has the slightest weight to it inside. He tells you to open your eyes.

“I know you like keychains, so I got you one of me!” You look up at his real face, blinking. “Now, I’ll be wherever you go.” He continued.

You supposed the thought was sweet…

You feel like BEOMGYU's courting you all over again with his guitar skills.

He's naturally a very playful person, but when it comes to important occasions— especially yours— he can and will take them super seriously. Being his other half meant that he knows your likes and dislikes, including your favorite song. Ever since you’d told him, he started learning the chords of the tune on his acoustic guitar to a T. He was so excited to finally play it to you, and get you to cry. Half-kidding, of course…

Beomgyu pulls you out onto the garden rooftop with the sun setting in the background. It’s perfect, the both of you think to yourselves and Beomgyu gives himself a mental pat of the back. A chair designated for you awaits in the middle and you make a beeline to it, not noticing Beomgyu suddenly going missing; the moment you do is when you’re settled. And in the same second, you hear a familiar intro on the strings. You gasp, looking for the source of the melody.

“Is that—?”

You’re impressed with the way he walks from behind you, to your right, and lastly in front of you all while strumming the song’s intro. He gives you a homey smile, and from your seat, you feel the warmth emitting from it engulf you. “Happy birthday. I’ve learned this song ever since you told me you loved it.”

He gets past the intro, singing and playing the song so beautifully, and you’re left wondering how in the world you were so lucky to have him in your life.

Beomgyu got what he wanted, you were in tears by the end of it.

TAEHYUN isn't big with words, but his actions speak louder.

Among the members, he would realistically be the only one to take you out on a proper date on your special day. Not to say that the others’ actions aren’t thoughtful, he’d just want to spend some quality time while spoiling you. A little change of pace and environment. He wouldn’t be one to give you a long sappy message, but he’ll show you how much you mean to him through his actions.

Taehyun has heard you talk about this restaurant in passing before, mentioning how your friends thought you’d enjoy the food a lot, but weren’t able to as you have a certain budget for a night out. He didn’t tell you where he was taking you, just to dress nicely, so it was safe to say you were surprised to hear the name of the place when a waiter greeted you both. The moment you sat down at your reserved table, you couldn’t help your string of questions.

“I— how’d you know I’ve wanted to try it here? How’d you get a table? I couldn’t possibly let you pay for the bill!”

He chuckles at your shock, holding your hand across the table, effectively pulling you back down to the ground. “Calm down, babe, we just got here. Don’t worry about the bill, it is your birthday, after all.”

You wanted to protest again, but he pulls the “ah, ah, ah!” card when he sees your mouth open again, so you ultimately let him go on with his plans to treat you. “Thank you. This is perfect.”

Little did you know, he has a little surprise in his back pocket; it’s the necklace you eyed during your last date, with his and your initials carved at the back of the little pendant.

(“Kang Taehyun, you did not!”

“Oh but for you, I always will.”)

HUENINGKAI is soft for you, just like the plushie he got you.

He's out in the mall the day before your birthday to find a gift for you; he’s been pacing around the mall, worried that you might not like whatever he’ll get you. Poor Kai just wants to get you something perfect. Ultimately, after the most stressful hour of his entire life, he steps into a cute little store with the most adorable trinkets and plushies.

Something I can work with, Hueningkai tells himself while looking around diligently. His pacing is a little slower than earlier, his nervousness dissolving with every step. After a little bit, he stops in his tracks when he spots the cutest thing he has ever seen in his life and it immediately reminds him of you. He hit the jackpot.

The only thoughts going through his head as he walks to the counter are about what you’d think about the gift, how you’d react, what you’d do. This precious boy is so in love with you, please never break his heart.

Kai, out of question, would be the first to wish you a happy birthday. He came over to your’s an hour before, doing his best attempt at hiding his gifts from you. You noticed, but didn’t have the heart to tell him. Eventually, after hanging out a bit, he excuses himself to “go to the restroom” at around 11:57 P.M. In reality, he goes straight to your kitchen to light the candles and turn off the main living room lights. As he’s singing to you at exactly midnight, carefully bringing you the cake he got, you admire the way the candlelights illuminate his face. He’s ethereal. “Make a wish!”

You blow out the fire. He rushes to turn on the lights again and comes back with a poorly, yet endearingly, wrapped plushie.

Your face lights up when you finally see it, hugging it tightly. “Wah, it’s so cute! Thank you, Hueningie, I love it; I love you!” He sighs in relief, feeling silly for worrying so much.

[ariadosanon]

[A video is attached. The image of a vaguely nervous Rotom sits in the corner of the recording. While he hasn’t been found yet, it seems like he has become increasingly aware of how much danger filming Nictoria is putting him in. The video rolls on, regardless...]

Nictoria is at the same bar she was in shortly before being ambushed by Rocket last time. In fact, it looks like she’s hanging around with the same Co-Worker as well.

The white haired woman swirled her cocktail, not paying much attention as Jess complained about their student’s parents.

“I still can’t believe he asked me to go look for a sticker… How are we supposed to keep track of kids individual stickers?” She said, running a hand through her short, pink hair.

“Right, Nicky?”

“Huh?” Nictoria looked up, her glasses slightly falling off of her face. She quickly adjusted them, setting the straw back down in her drink.

“Sorry. I was thinking.”

Jess looked over to Rotom’s lens nervously. She did this last time, too, didn’t she? All evidence pointed to Jess knowing something about the Rotom in Nictoria’s phone. But why? What would her reasoning be?

“Thinking about what?” She asked, brushing a strand of half blonde hair from her eyes.

“I got in a fight with my brother the other day, and it’s been bothering me.” Nic murmured back, taking a sip of her drink. “I tried going on a trip to Alola, didn’t work. Got in another fight with my ex about our past relationship after that. My roommate got a new Pokémon neither of us really know how to care for. Some guy online’s got a Pokémon I like and he’s not caring for it right. Fuck all—“ Nic slammed back the rest of her drink, shaking her head and growling at the bitter taste.

“And no, I don’t particularly want to get into it.” She finished, looking at Jess.

The camera finally focused on Nictoria’s sharp features, revealing the extent of the emotional damage. She was visibly tired. The usual bags under her eyes were a darker grey, and it seemed like she hadn’t even bothered to put on makeup today. She looked almost alien without her glaringly purple eyeshadow and matching mascara.

Jess looked away from her tired expression, causing Nictoria to frown.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel shite too.” Nic said softly. “Honest.”

“No— it’s not that.” A look of deep set guilt painted the other woman’s face. Nic didn’t seem to notice.

“Listen… Let’s talk about something else, right? Work is stressful. Tell me about the Bug Type expo coming up in Verdanturf you said you’re going to.”

Nictoria seemed to brighten a bit at the mention of the expo, sitting up on her barstool. Jess’s shoulders seemed to relax as Nic’s mood quickly improved.

“Well, first of all I’m hoping to get some good offers on Pinsir, finally,”

[The video ends here.]

[happyfanofeverything]

i’m in urgent financial need for my friends rn, so:

25% OFF on our ENTIRE ONLINE STORE until the end of September!!

with FREE shipping to the U.S.!!

Stickers & Prints: Pokémon x Among Us, Legend of Zelda, Hollow Knight, Touhou, & original works, all in one indie store!

ALL proceeds go directly to my friends surviving familial abuse, police violence, medical neglect, and chronic illnesses!!

i’d love to get even one more sale today so that my friends can eat something, they’ve been going hungry for so long that they can’t think coherently about what to do. things have been very very dire lately.

we’ve been able to fulfill 250+ orders of 850+ items across in-person crafts markets and online platforms since November 2022.

thank you for continuing to enjoy our handmade items!!

[silvermeww]

The other day I had to go out shopping with my family, and while I usually hated shopping for once, I have found some pretty funny Pokémon merch (or rather, bootlegs).

(Under a read more because it is very picture heavy)

I mean, nice try but I know that’s a Mimikyu lol /j

Wait… Lego Brock? What’s next to him? What is happening—

Literally the first thing I see after DP Brock is OG Gary. Nice.

JAMES??? Are you okay?? Please speak to me!! Also is that supposed to be a rose? I actually thought it was a sceptre right until I started posting this lol.

IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE DAISY?? SHE ISNT EVEN IN THE ANIME??? HELP???

Anyways, after this fun run I realised that there was the back of the box that shows all of the characters available and I’m just here to say that I wish I never saw it.

Ash: My brother called him bold and yeah, I’ve got to agree

Pikachu: Not his Pokédex number but I’ll let it slide.

Misty: #notmymisty (Why is her hair like that???)

Bulbasaur: Could’ve put this guy first. Also okay, this seems to be an OG thing here…

Brock: Still stuck in Hisui I see. It happens to the best of us.

Daisy(?): Had to get some girl rep I guess

Squirtle: #notmysquirtle Get the sunglasses if you’re going to be bootleg

Eevee: It’s crying out in pain, I can just hear it. How did they massacre your design that badly???

(Me: Okay, who is this rando??? …Wait, it couldn’t be…)

It’s Leon. Yeah. He lost his cap and ended up in this strange dimension with the rest of everyone. Also his hair may be cut down to shoulder length, I can’t tell.

Professor Oak: Yeah his hair went disco, he’s still in the 1970s having the time of his life or something. My sister thought he was a girl lol.

Charmander and Pichu aren’t bad ig, but the latter is a bit unexpected at this point.

James and Gary are There. Gary at least got the canon family so I can’t be too mad. James, however, is stuck with the last two of the pack imo, Gengar and Snorlax (Gen 1 who get GMax and a Mega/Z Crystal respectively… also just very well known mons) and now I’m scared if it’s an allegory for Meowth as a big cat and Jessie being dead or something. Or maybe I’m just reaching.

ALSO. Each part they have works into making a Dialga and Palkia, so there’s that. Maybe that’s the reason why they are all badly made and have been summoned to the White Space. Someone make a fanfic about it.

Further on my quest to find a small gift token for some people in a class I teach, I came upon this curious thing.

Me: Oh boy, I can’t wait to see what stickers they would make out of the XY series! Hopefully there would be some good ones out here.

(My sister: That keyhole is for the Master Class)

The stickers:

Wow, I totally remember May being there! Also I’m pretty sure it was DP that had the 10th anniversary but idk (Advanceshipping real?). Anyways I love how there is so much AG and then we get Togepi and Piplup coming in. And OG Ash. And Cyndaquil. And Phione. And my personal favourite Pokémon Rumble Charmander.

But

But perhaps the next page will give me what I want, right?

Wrong! Deoxys movie sticker be upon you!!! No, seriously, how did they get that as a sticker? I love the rep though, just wished we had all of the other characters too ngl to complete the pic. My brother loved the second Ash on the bottom pic, said it looked very smug, and honestly imagine using that sticker. For what occasion would it be most useful?? Also miscoloured OG Ash on the third row from the bottom my beloved, more 3D pics, Skitty in a Contest stage, DP Ash?? And Birch merchandise (we need that around here). Now there is one more sticker page left (it repeats the same pages afterwards), and I honestly gave up hope. And I was right to, but still, look at this lol:

The only Lucario you will ever get. That Croagunk one with Chimchar at the back. That one Ranger from that one Ranger’s special (I think the Deoxys one???). And of course, we can’t forget Shedinja.

So yeah, it was definitely a pretty eventful shopping day. I couldn’t get a picture of it, but there was this holographic picture in a frame that had Pikachu changing into different Kanto Starters, and another frame from another shop that flashed with Ash and the gang from multiple series (got jumpscared by XY help). Idk but that existed lol.

[everythingbap]

📲 Yongguk FRMM updates:

[01:11 AM KST] 방용국 (Bang Yongguk): 요즘 다시 포켓몬 스티커를 모으기 시작했어 I started collecting Pokémon stickers again these days

[01:12 AM KST] 방용국: 저번달에 우연히 하나 먹었다가 시작되버렸어요 I accidentally ate one last month and then it started

방용국: 지금 암나이트만 계속 나와서 기분이 좋지 않아요 I keep getting Omanyte right now so I'm not feeling good

[01:13 AM KST] 방용국: 이거 말했다고 또 제발 선물하지 마세요 I said it, so please don't gift it to me again

방용국: 제발 이건 진짜 제가 틈날때마다 하나씩 직접 사서 모아야 성취감이 생기고 포켓몬들과 결속력이 생겨요 어릴때 모아본 사람은 솔직히 압니다 Please, this is something I have to buy and collect by myself whenever I have a chance, so I feel a sense of accomplishment and bond with Pokémon. If you collected them when you were young, honestly, you know [the feeling]

[01:23 AM KST] 방용국: 일단 오늘 이벤트에 몇마리가 져가봅니다 First of all, I'm going to bring some to the event today

[01:24 AM KST] 방용국: 나인테일도 있는데 봉지 뜯었어요 I opened a bag and I got Ninetales too

방용국: [photo]

[01:26 AM KST] 방용국: 빵 봉투 안에 스티커봉투 따로 있습니다 There are sticker bags in the bread bags

방용국: 선제시 부탁드려요 Please be pre-emptive

방용국: 잠만보 누구시죠 현금거래 가능 한가요 Who has a Snorlax, can I make a cash transaction

[01:40 AM KST] 방용국: 가장 좋아하는 포켓몬은? What's your favorite Pokémon?

[01:47 AM KST] 방용국: 나는 내가 좀 질퍽이 같던데 I think mine is Grimer

[01:48 AM KST] 방용국: 멋진 친구들로 말해주네요 You're talking to me like cool friends

[01:49 AM KST] 방용국: 와 질퍽이 싫어하는거봐 모든 포켓몬을 사랑하세요 Wah, there are a lot of you who don't like Grimer, please love every Pokémon

방용국: 나 일단 샤워 좀 하고 누워서 연락할께 I'll take a shower first and lie down, then contact you

[02:33 AM KST] 방용국: 전 그냥 단데기처럼 살고싶습니 I just want to live like Metapod

[02:35 AM KST] 방용국: 방어력 높고 움직이지도 않고 근데 진화를 기다린다는게 엄청 매력적이지 않나요 It has high defense and doesn't move either, but isn't it so rewarding to wait for its evolution

[02:40 AM KST] 방용국: 쓸데없는 사람들의 언어로부터 나를 방어하고 내 생각들을 꼿꼿히 유지한채 마음속은 나를 위로하고 자신을 사랑하는 이런 거 우린 단데기정신을 가질 필 요가 있다고 생각해 Shielding myself from the words of useless people, keeping my spirits high, consoling myself in my heart and loving myself. I think we need to have a Metapod spirit 방용국: 그럼 우린 버터플로 진화할꺼야 Then we'll evolve into Butterfree

[22:48 PM KST] 방용국: 오늘 포켓몬 교환하러 갔다 현타왔다 I went to trade Pokémon today and got a reality check

[22:49 PM KST] 방용국: 내꺼로는 선배님들꺼랑 교환할 수가 없었네요 I couldn't trade mine for the seniors

[22:59 PM KST] 방용국: [photo]

방용국: 오징어 없어서 그냥 회 먹어요 I don't have squid, so I'm just eating raw fish

[the-midnight-kala]

Break's off to an end and I'm already dreading school

Sorry for the inactivity, to be honest I've been enjoying my winter break and forgot to log on. I use The Midnight Kala to cope with the stress inducing world of college. It was either this, or weed lol. Winter break was surprisingly eventful for me. I normally spend my break pulling all nighters and staying at home. But over the break, my friend and I hosted a look alike competition and we got a pretty cool crowd. That was really fun and I got to enjoy breakfast burritos with my friend which is always neat. Went on many dates with my love which are always the highlights of my week.

I got into Pokémon TCG recently (trend hopper fr) but I attribute the card collecting to my boyfriend. I haven't been on the hunt for anything "cool" or "expensive" but I've been collecting the cute cards and use the rest as bookmarks lol. I've been also getting into graffiti and been putting up stuff. I don't take pictures of my stickers/tags because I usually forget to and don't bother. Maybe later in the year, I'll remember to take some pictures of my old stuff. I'll remember to post some of my stickers in a separate post later this week. (#kala art)

I have winter classes which is a bummer but thankfully it's only one afternoon class so it shouldn't be too much of a hassle for me. I bought myself a cute notebook to cheer myself up. Due to school, I'll remember to actually upload here lol. It's art history which I love, but it's information heavy so it can be overwhelming at times. I wish I can just create art, slap stickers, and be a loving wife in a world without leeching CEO's but if only.

Been listening to a lot of 80s music and When Doves Cry will always be one of my favorites from that era.

If you finished reading this, thanks :3. It means something to me that someone is willing to hear me yap so that's cool. Talk to you all later

-The Midnight Kala

[gurokichi]

Oh boy I love yapping about my interests!! Yap to me all you like hehe 👍🏾

Also it’s okay get that sleep. I should be asleep. It’s 4:16 am for me :3

I enjoy music & corpses & nighttime & winter & other such things :)

I dislike loud spaces and bitter shit >:(

Hobbies include: Drawing, writing, sleeping and - of course - being your Mortician !!!

Something unique about me hmm… well… uh. I can do a damn good Toad impression (from Mario) ???

Fav colors are the monochrome scale

Fav game… hmm any from the Pokémon series honestly

Fav show… I don’t watch TV all that much anymore but I love The Amazing World of Gumball !!!

Fav movie currently is Transformers One (help me)

Fav song is probably The Spider and the Kitsune Like Lion

Favorite flowers are Nightshade & stripped dragon roses

Favorite scent is… well actually idk what my favorite scent is I never thought about it tbh

Fav food is either Beef & Noodles or ramen

Fav drink is Pr. Pepper

Definitely an ambivert

I’d want personality manipulation - to the fullest extent

I don’t really collect anything actually, I have a fuck ton of stickers though

A word to describe myself hmm… FA- weird :3

SPACE SPACE SPACE ALL THE WAY

Not… really? Never thought about it no, I don’t think so :/

Don’t worry I like biting hehe. An no, fucking love long responses. I am now, here to stay >:)

*Does a magical girl transformation before flying away into the night*

- Your Mortician💉 (Who’s preparing anesthesia so you won’t be scared of being cut open !!)

Ahh, I’m so sorry for giving such a late reply to this! I’ve been busy… σ(^_^;) You can come yap to me about your interests anytime, ehehe. I will yap lots and lots back! ALSO, you need to be getting to bed earlier. Not at 4am!!! Σ(-᷅_-᷄๑)

Ooh, what kind of music do you like? And by corpses, do you mean actual corpses orrrr??? I fear I may be a bit dumb. I also love nighttime and winter! I’m usually awake at night… and winter has so much fun stuff to do + I am not melting from how hot it is. You are so right, loud areas are the WORST!! And I don’t get how people like bitter things… yuck.

I’d love to see some of your art and writing some day! As for sleeping, does that count as a hobby? All you are doing is going honk shooooo mimimimi and then you wake up. I’m stealing sleeping as a hobby from you to add to my list of hobbies since I sleep a lot! Mwuahahahaha, get stolen from!!! (๑>؂•̀๑)

HELP… Toad impressions are so silly.

The monochrome scale being your favorite is interesting. I don’t think I have ever gotten that as an answer before when asking about favorite colors, but that just means my mortician is unique! Personally, I like purple, but I think that’s probably obvious. OOH, POKÉMON… WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE POKÉMON? OR FAVORITES? I have so many. I love Pokémon. I have never watched The Amazing World of Gumball… or Transformers One. I have also never heard that song (◞‸◟) OKAY, I will go give the song a listen later because that is one thing I can do easily! Wowowowow, those are both such pretty flowers. I have never heard of striped dragon roses before, but thank you for telling me about them! My favorite flowers are bleeding hearts and lilies of the valley. AND NO FAVORITE SCENT??? GASP!!! I like sweet scents… and I absolutely hate lavender. Very yummy favorite foods you have. I am craving ramen now. Dr. Pepper is yummy too! I approve of this list of favorite things ദ്ദി(˵ •̀ ᴗ - ˵ ) ✧

Personality manipulation? As in… you can manipulate other people’s personalities, your own, or is it something else (・・?)

STICKERS. I’m stealing from you. Don’t be alarmed if a couple stickers go missing; you must’ve just misplaced them!

Space is the best!! Do you have a favorite planet?

…BITES YOU BITES YOU BITES YOU. Everyone else is a hater, they don’t like me biting!! Glad 2 have someone who appreciates it, ehehe. AND YIPPEE!!!