#the first three are the most cohesive and then the last two follow the same little mini storyline so id just be aware of that

[directdogman]

Dogman, how do you write SO WELL!?!? I love all your characters and I need to know what/where you find inspo from...

Ha. Every writer is just someone who apes the creative processes of their inspirations. For video game writing specifically, there's two answers for me.

Toby Fox is always gonna be a huge inspiration for me. I've written plots and characters before and had to abandon ideas after realizing I'd accidentally written part of UT again. Even some of the ideas I used were undeniably inspired by UT in a subconscious way and ofc, I included several explicit references to UT in my last series. Toby's a very clever guy who likely pays very close attention to the art he consumes and tries to figure out how to maximize how much his work connects with his audience. Whatever his process is, it works.

The other answer is a lil funnier: Scott Cawthon, but specifically the legend, not the man. For context: Back in the earlier days of the FNaF fandom, people had a hyper-inflated view of Scott Cawthon's writing skills that largely came from how little of a presence he had back in those days. In the vacuum of Scott actually explaining his own process in detail, people got caught up in his genuinely creative way of hiding exposition in his games using cryptid and (then) unexpected methods, and a narrative formed (one that he's since refuted.)

While he never implied it tmk, fans broadly believed that he constructed these sweeping and complex narratives with tons of cohesive moving parts, with the games essentially acting like the mere tip of his lore iceberg. People even thought he wrote so much that he had whole games worth of lore outlined from the beginning! In the first Dawko interview he gave, he clarified that this wasn't the case and explained roughly what his process was (basically just outlining rough theme ideas + aesthetics for future titles.)

However, that legend made younger-me's mind run wild and any time I wrote a story, it became very difficult for me to not keep writing down ideas while completing the grunt work that followed me finishing my scripts. When I finished DSaF 1, I already had DSaF 2's draft written and by the time 2 was done, I had enough lore for a 3rd game on paper (and a lot more stuff that I didn't use.) By the time three was out, I had pages upon pages of unused concepts/story ideas and more or less just had to decide to call it quits or else I'd be pumping out entries forever!

That's why if you go back to those older games, there's references that directly refer to future plot-points in pretty casual/easy to miss ways. (Like Henry's mention in DSaF 1, Dave being heartless in DSaF 2, Jack being soulless in 1, and even Blackjack being Jack's soul in 2. Most of 3's major plotpoints are implied somewhere in 2 and some of 2's in 1.)

DT is much the same. By the time I finished writing it, I had fairly detailed drafts for arcs for each of the characters, some early material ended up getting completely recontextualized (and even modified in small ways to not conflict with the wider ideas I came up with.)

I get really into writing my stories/characters and I always wonder exactly how things ended up where they are, what characters think about but don't say, etc etc. This is why I have an obscene amount of Crown lore that I have very little to do with rn (since he impacted the whole world so deeply.)

This extra stuff also includes plenty of sequel material ideas, though I didn't think I'd even get a chance to use them since DT performed pretty meagerly before the big release and I was expecting to have to move onto something new. Though it turned out that Scott didn't actually write his games this way (by his own admission), it's the correct answer for what my core writing inspiration for writing game narratives is.

Hope this helps!

[t1red-twilight]

just like heaven

summary: inspired by every conversation i have ever had. feel free to request this duo because i kind of love them

content/warnings: gn!reader, goth/alt!reader, fluff, corny:/

word count: 0.7k

masterlist s. r. masterlist

on one of the very rare friday nights that you and spencer had free, you both were catching up on your favorite show.

“what did you think if me when you first saw me?” at spencer’s inquiry, you paused. you hadn’t really thought of this; when you looked at spencer now, you felt the exact same way you did when you saw his favorite purple tie several years ago.

-

he was tall and thin, and his tie was purple and had a paisley pattern on it. the pattern clashed with his argyle sweater vest, but his shirt was a cohesive purple that matched the tie. while your shoes made you a few inches taller, he still towered over you slightly.

when you introduced yourself, he stuttered out his name and his academic achievements.

damn, you were really in for it this time. this tall stick bug with jesus hair might very well be the death of you.

-

“hmmm,” you traced shapes onto his arms that were around your middle. “i thought that you looked like the most pretty person i had seen. i still think that, by the way. but also that you looked too young to have three doctorate degrees.”

his cheek moved to rest against the top of your head and he exhaled out a breathy laugh. you shuffled impossibly closer to him. “yeah, i’ve heard that a couple times.”

the two of you settled back into watching the show again. following a pause, you asked him that same think. “well, what did you think of me when you first saw me?”

you swore that you could hear him mulling over what he was going to say in his head. “c’mon. did you think i looked like i was going to be mean and heinous and drink your blood or something?”

“well actually, i was quite alarmed, my love. i was a little scared, to be honest.” while you respected his honesty, this was a funny anecdote to you as you had been told this several times throughout your life.

“you thought that i was scary?”

spencer chuckled at this. you were laying on the couch as he held you. he looked away from the tv as he responded to you. “i didn’t think you were scary, per se, i was just scared of you.” he stiffened at the realization that he might be offending you.

worried that he had offended you, he rambled on. “i was quite sheltered growing up, so seeing someone come to work with platform loafers on and enough jewelry to make a tsa agent scream i was a little unnerved.”

“okay that may be a fair point, but you know i tone down the vampirism for work,” you replied. the tone you had gave spencer the impression that you were not, in fact, offended; he relaxed his stiffened posture. “my loafers aren’t even the most intimidating out of my shoes.”

he laughed at this, and his arms tightened around you, and he urged you to look at him.

“of course that didn’t last long. your dark garb doesn’t at all match your sweet personality.” not knowing how to respond to this, you didn’t respond further than a hum. you moved your hand to rub circles into his belly over his old gray fbi academy shirt.

“you know, it wasn’t just the demonias that were alarming, honey.” at your questioning look, he continued. “you do happen to be the most beautiful person that i have ever seen.”

“i am?” you peeled your eyes away from the tv to look at him quizzically.

very nonchalantly, he answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “of course you are, angel. i wouldn’t be telling you that if it wasn’t the truth.”

“well, i appreciate it, spence.” he looked at you as if you were being sarcastic. “i mean it, i’m flattered,” you smiled as you looked into his eyes.

he smiled back at you. “i mean it. you look like an old cathedral or something. daunting but alluring.”

“that is a huge compliment, even though the way you said it sounded incredibly pretentious.” you laughed lightly, replying without hesitating. “i think you look like a hot version of professor plum from clue.”

this got a full belly laugh from spencer. “i suppose i do wear a lot of purple.”

you both turned back to the television and continued your show.

“...wait, you think i’m pretty?”

[pzychojinx]

as I said, act two left me with genuinely mixed opinions. that said, I slept on it and I think I'm able to verbalize it a little bit.

let's start with what I think went right in this act. first of all, obviously, the animation and art. if possible, they're outdoing themselves. I love the experimentation, I absolutely adored the pastel tones they used for vi and jinx's childhood memories, the way isha's point of view sequence feels like it's straight out of a ghibli movie, I loved the distortion effects used on jayce and every single visual effect they used for viktor to convey this sense of absolute inhumanity, the entire messianic visuals were insane, warwick was gorgeous especially during sequences where we didn't get to see him but rather we got to see the camera following his massacre. gorgeous. no notes.

episode four, in my opinion, was near perfect plot-wise too. seeing the new state of the military situation in zaun, getting to see sevika as the rallier of the revolution, isha's drive to be a fighter for zaun leading her to impersonate jinx when needed, the whole mission to enter stillwater - I genuinely think it was incredible. most of all, it was probably my favourite jinx episode to date. and that's saying a lot. this is a character I've resonated with and held very very close to my heart for three years now. seeing her gain not only a younger sister through whom there could be a process of reclaiming her own past, but also very importantly seeing her gain new objectives and seeing her gain community, was deeply healing and heartwarming to me. that one scene where her followers touch her, not only as an idol but as an equal, is so so moving and good. isha was the kickstarter to jinx's reclaiming of powder and a sense of stability, sure, but living in a fantasy with isha alone could have very easily led her to the same old mechanism of co-dependency - thus never breaking the cycle that silco himself perpetrated onto her. but no, they made her respected. they made her see a nation of people who saw something in her. they gave her goals, even if she reasonably only started giving a fuck about said goals when her sister/child went missing. it was everything I never thought could happen to her. it was healing.

episode five is where the issues start, I think. first of all, there's been way way way too much space dedicated to the black rose. much as I love mel, much as I find her truly intriguing, her plotline is so severely disconnected from everything else and it feels un-cohesive. before s2 started, one of my main fears was that they would give noxus an excessive screentime in order to prepare the viewers for a future noxus project and I hate to see that I was right. this leads to the second issue, which is pacing. and specifically, vi. vi stans, how are you doing? because to be fair, the show kind of fucked you over and there's no sugar-coating it. the fact that vi's fighting pit era lasted three minutes was genuinely ridiculous. the entire plotline involving her, jinx and warwick in episode five was way, way too rushed in order to make space for black rose content - and again, I love mel, I love ambessa. but there's no doubt something was off here in terms of pacing and screentime. now, I don't think the episode was bad. I loved the dynamic between jinx and vi. with jinx having gained some sort of a stability (at least, for her standards) and vi having nothing else to lose, the fact that their conflict turned into a half unwilling cooperation felt very real and believable to me and I loved their interactions, especially in the micro expressions; it all screamed family bond where something went awfully wrong but here we fucking are and the love is still there at the roots. I just, you know, would have liked to see more of it. the final hug with warwick felt, to me, less earned than it could have been if we just had a little more time with these characters in this arc. was it emotional? sure, but could it have hit harder if the episode was just structured a little bit differently, a little more cohesively, especially regarding vi? yeah. and another question: would the zaunite revolution arc have needed more than just one episode before being pushed aside and sort of forgotten? probably, yeah, even though there's no comparison with how vi's arc was reduced to three mins. so again, pacing issue. still, I had no particular issues with the plot and the contents of the story itself. I would say episode five was rushed, crammed and structurally weak, but the story still hit me in all the right ways when it needed to. vi and jinx's reluctant steps to some sort of understanding hit me hard, in spite of any structural weakness.

episode six... well. episode six leaves me so conflicted. 'cause the thing is, it's dope. I think it's a fucking bomb. they managed to fit nearly (nearly - mel being, again, dissociated from the main storyline and in this case, absent) every character's plotline into a cohesive arc. it kept me on the edge of my seat near the whole time. there were so, so many things I absolutely adored - the imminent attack on the commune from ambessa, the way they managed to make warwick a center plot point and use that plot point to show us both the benefits and the limitations of viktor's hexcore messianic utopia cult, everything regarding jayce's return (whom is getting so much hate, but come on, it's clear the man has seen Some Things), the way the episode starts off with a plan but not necessarily a sense of deep urgency and then the urgency slowly creeps in and it explodes into a fucking battlefield. again, warwick. vi and jinx's slow re-building of some trust, slow reclaiming of family love. viktor. man, I adored their work on viktor. I just found it dope. the thing is, episode six has two major, major issues that I just can't seem to get past and this time it's plot issues, which makes it worse than 2.05 for me.

the first one, caitlyn. sure, I get that caitlyn wasn't fully onto ambessa's methods. but there's a very huge leap from 'I distrust this person and I question her methods' to 'my ex told me that this savage monster that just brutally mauled our men is her father so I'm just gonna help her save him'. like jesus, come on. caitlyn deserved better than this. (again, shoutout to vi stans, cait stans and caitvi stans, they did you dirty.) especially when I think they did such a good job on her descent in act one. the second one, isha. look, I'm gutted if she's dead. like fucking gutted, mourning, red-wedding level in shock, like, can't even think about it without wanting to cry. but this is not just an emotional thing. in fact, I love some good angst. no, this is a narrative issue. they spent the entire act - the entire season - building up jinx's healing and to take it all away like this, to bring her back to step one, just feels like fucking trauma porn for the sake of it. it feels unnecessary and cheap, and cheapness is the one thing I can't forgive arcane. like, what was the point? why not have her spiral from 2.01 if this was the direction? it's beyond me and it makes me feel so bitter, so sick, that at times it's hard for me to remember that there were so, so many things I adored in these three episodes. again, 2.04 is up there as my favourite jinx episode to date. 2.05 gave me some of my favourite siblings moment in the entire show. 2.06's work on viktor and hexcore and magic is otherwordly. I'm so glad I got these episodes, genuinely. and yet.

'cause the thing is, - not considering the isha thing for a minute - aside from my critique regarding caitlyn, and aside from having to make peace with how rushed/crammed the pacing is, this show is still absolutely gorgeous to me. it's still gorgeous art to me. sure, s2 has its very real issues. and for sure, it's absolutely reasonable to recognize them, critique them, and still find it an incredible story. but this. fuck, this could change everything to me. if isha's truly dead, then it means they wasted six episodes on what could have been one of the best, most genuine, most earned stories of unexpected healing I'd ever seen on my screen just to throw it away and I'm not sure how to forgive them for that. episode six itself was dope. episode six isn't really where my gut-deep fear and bitterness comes from. it's where it could lead from now on. I'm so holding out hope on ekko saving the day, even if it's a deus ex machina. it's a deus ex machina I'd accept if it means not throwing away jinx's entire road to recovering. but I don't know, guys. I don't know. making her spiral as a general s2 choice would have been one thing, and I would have been on board, but this is something else entirely. this is cheap betrayal and if true, if confirmed, if real, it's a sour taste.

[tirralirralirra]

something I love about having read/watched frieren and dungeon meshi concurrently is getting to see that, despite their similar broad genres (fantasy, DND-esque settings, failure op elf girls /lh), they are two very distinct stories that ultimately achieve the same* thematic goal through different narrative means.

like you have frieren's contemplative, almost slice-of-life style storytelling that focuses on how the connections between people make an impact, and how it's beautiful to cherish the memories of those we love, even the small ones (especially the small ones), and that being alive is so, so beautiful because of those things. Then juxtaposing this with the overall narrative of a literal journey to a land beyond in order to meet with the dead, while not losing focus on those that are alive. Frieren as a story takes time to explore the small things that make life beautiful (fields of flowers, the beauty and not the power of magic, stargazing and sunsets with your friends).

and then you have dunmeshi's tight narrative arcs that are built around urgency (saving falin, first from digestion, then from...chimera-ization), but also continually return to the same concept as a core tenet to both the literal narrative structure around meals and the overall story: to eat is a privilege of the living. That there is joy to be found in eating because it means you are alive, that you survived. That taking time to take care of yourself is honoring your life. That death is a part of life through the acts of killing monsters to eat, and that the dungeon's condition where a soul remains tethered to the body is unnatural.

For that last bit, I love how we're just introduced to the concept in the beginning as a bit of world building, something you might just take at face value of, "oh, I guess this is how this works in this story", and over the course of the story the characters start to interrogate that reality, culminating in Marcille's realization at the end that they took death for granted because of the dungeon's condition:

[ID: Manga panel of Marcille looking down in thought and saying "Look, this might sound a little weird, but...I think the entire point of this journey we went on....was learning how to accept death.]

(Panel is from the ehscans version, will update with official eng when the final volume releases)

I also love that the story takes the time to say, look, you can be in a hurry, but you still need to take care of yourself. Eat well, sleep well, What will you achieve in the service of yourself or others if you don't take care of the most basic qualities to survive first? The most recent episode is a good example of that with the focus on shuro vs. laios, and then there's this reinforcement of the idea by the end:

[ID: Dungeon meshi manga page showing Laios, Chilchuck, and Senshi shouting "A balanced diet!!" "R-regulating our daily rhythms!!" "And moderate exercise!!" respectively, followed by the three in various poses in front of the word "VICTORY" and Laios saying "If we watch these three points...we'll naturally work our way to strong bodies!!"]

Anyways this is all very disorganized and I have other things I need to do and I could write a more cohesive, actually organized thought piece on all of this with like, coherent points, but I don't really like to delve into literary analysis on my fandom account. it just lives in my head, rent free. thank you for coming to my ted talk tumblr. don't expect to see more of this, lol.

*I say same goal, which is not to say the only goal. stories can have more than one theme, it's ok if you disagree with me on this, but please bear in mind that I'm speaking very, very broadly.

[vypridae]

DUDEEE OH MY GOD THAT FUCKIGN ANIMATIC BRO I LOVED IT SO MUCH . TJE SAME PERSON MADE A KISS THE GIRL ANIMATIC WITHTHEM I THINGK IT WAS SO GOOD TOO

ddlc+...

[jessread-s]

Thanks to @bookisherondale for lending me your ARC so that I could read it before pub date!

✩🏹💟Review:

I can confidently say that this is my FAVORITE Chloe Gong book.

“Foul Heart Huntsman” is the sequel to “Foul Lady Fortune” and follows Rosalind, Alisa, Celia, Oliver, Phoebe, and Silas as they try to rescue Orion from his mother after she wipes his memories.

The novel is told from 8 povs and I loved reading from every single one. While this number may seem intimidating at first, it was easy for me to alternate between them because each perspective seamlessly flows into the next, creating a cohesive story without any potholes or gaps. Additionally, I found each character and their respective character arc equally compelling. There’s never a dull moment when it comes to Gong’s storytelling. 

The romance in this book is everything I could have hoped for and then some! In my review of “Foul Lady Fortune,” I mentioned that I wanted to see more of Orion and Rosalind’s chemistry and boy does Gong deliver in this book. Their romantic connection deepens, when Rosalind lays her heart on the line at her most vulnerable to win Orion back. Their relationship development in this book is beautifully paced and is infused with emotion. Watching the two fall in love for the second time in combination with Celia and Oliver as well as Phoebe and Silas professing their own romantic feelings left me an emotional wreck, which just goes to show the hold this book has on me. 

I also loved the cameos made by Roma, Juliette, Benedikt, Marshall, and Lourens in this book. I am absolutely HERE for the Gongverse! I appreciate Gong allowing us to check up on them without having their characters dominate what is ultimately Rosalind and Orion’s story. 

Am I sad that “Foul Heart Huntsman” is the last book in the Secret Shanghai Universe? YES. I am devastated! These characters have been a constant in my life these past three years. At the same time, however, this book gave me closure and relief. I am content with how this series resolves and I am excited to see what Gong has in store for us next. 

Cross-posted to: Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

@chloegong @rivetedbysimonteen

[powerofmettatonneo]

Happy Birthday Jason!/An Announcement + Bonus Content

After half a month of no updates on What Measure is a Non-Human, I finally have one! And, since y'all have been dedicated enough to follow my Tumblr, y'all get to be the first ones to know (all one of you currently; hi IYP! Thanks for all the support!).

I've been hard at work writing the story, but not spending as much time editing it as I would like, so I'm currently sitting on two-three chapters. This is because the mental downtime I have at my job gives me a lot of time to think of ideas that I want to immediately write down before I forget them, but the physical time I spend there takes away from the time I can spend editing it. I could hypothetically release them with less editing done on them, but I want to hold myself to a higher standard of what I release into the world and do genuinely enjoy the editing process. However, with that all being said, I have three days off in a row, and I'm going to use this chance to buckle down and try and get them ready for publication by Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, I can't promise anything, but I do have other news that I can make assurances on.

I've decided that Valentine's Day is Jason's birthday. I wanted to give most of the major characters birth months, at least, just for chronological cohesion; I chose this day in particular for Jason because I have personal history with the day that, when combined with the fact that he's the mc of a romance story, made it the perfect day for him. In celebration of his birthday, I have written out a 7k word prequel one-shot all about the confession/first kiss that I will be posting on Valentine's Day, come hell or high water.

I actually wrote a first draft of the first kiss portion all the way back in December, right after the second chapter, and as a bonus for those of you who take the time to find this post, whether now or in the future, I'm going to share it with you. Most of it will be repetitive to the last bit of the finished story, so beware of spoilers I guess (but this is a prequel anyways so like do they even matter), but I have added enough to the final product to make it stand out and above. Really, this is largely just to archive it as I think it's interesting to see how any story evolves over time, much less my own, and I hope y'all feel the same way. See y'all on Valentine's Day, and without further ado, here goes the original first kiss scene (also fair warning, there's still no smut, but it does get more explicit than I've previously allowed it to):

…Hazel reached up and kissed him. Jason entered a state of shock, freezing in place. At first, his mind went completely and totally blank, but that quickly changed into a series of scattered thoughts as his mind tried to reconfigure itself. I'm being kissed. By Hazel. Who is a Pokemon. Oh Arceus, I’m being kissed by a Pokemon—and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever felt. As soon as he returned to coherent thought, however, the kiss ended. Hazel pulled away, and Jason could see that she looked… scared. The look in her eyes was the same that he had when he confessed his feelings to her. It hit him then; the kiss was her idea of a response, and he had just frozen in place like an idiot. He could imagine the doubts and fears rushing through her at his complete lack of a reaction. He also knew exactly how to alleviate them.

Jason narrowed the gap between them and restarted the kiss. He could clearly feel the surprise in his partner and just as clearly feel it melt away as she returned it. Her lips felt velvety against his as they both pushed against each other with all their might. All of the nerves, the adrenaline, the raw energy they were feeling was channeled into the kiss. They fell back onto the bed, Hazel on top, and didn't stop for a second. It felt like they were melting together, becoming one.

Hazel broke from the kiss, and before Jason had a chance to react, she dragged her tongue across his lips. She moved it down, trailing along his chin and neck, resulting in a small moan escaping his mouth. When she arrived at his shirt, she grabbed it with her teeth and began tugging at it.

“S-stop,” Jason gasped, lightly pushing his partner back. Hazel let go of his shirt and stared at him, a look of disappointment in her eyes. It hurt him to see it, but he had read enough ‘romance’ stories to know where this was going.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t do this right now,” he said, trying to let her down gently.

“Umbre,” she whimpered, looking down at her feet. She felt ashamed at herself for pushing so hard so fast and afraid of what her best friend would think of her for it. Or, she did, until the implication of those last two words hit her. She jolted her head back back up and was met with a worried smile on Jason’s face.

“I’m not saying never,” he started, “but I don’t think I’m ready for something like that yet, and I’m pretty sure mom would just straight up kill us if she found out.” Hazel just sighed at that, but even the vague hope of “not never” sent a small shiver up her spine. She laid down on top of him, enjoying his warmth. They sat there in a comfortable silence for a while, simply enjoying each other’s touch in the wake of the roller coaster of emotions they had both just experienced, and soon drifted off to sleep, not caring what tomorrow might bring so long as they had each other.

[Also, one final super extra bonus note: my beta only left one comment on this original draft when I showed it to her, and it was too funny not to mention: on the line "Her lips felt velvety against his", she simply wrote "I refuse to consider the mechanics of this", to which I simply responded "coward".]

[redolentgrove]

"For the last time, Mille-Feuille, darling, your father and I have a business deal to close with this 'Loki' who promised us the most gorgeous display for Madeleine's wedding tomorrow. Personally, I doubt any one Pokemon could produce as many flowers as she requested, but at least this florist made an attempt to provide as much as she could!"

A shiny Dachsbun anthro, clad in her Harmonia University uniform, followed along behind a pair of much more spiffily-dressed canines. There was a Dachsbun female, non-shiny, and a Furfrou male, shiny, in a Debutante trim, the former wearing a long white "mermaid-style" dress and holding a black handbag, and the latter in a dapper purple tuxdeo. They both carried hot-to-trot attitudes, the Dachsbun more than the Furfrou, much unlike their daughter, who clearly wasn't sure why she was here to begin with. Usually if she wasn't in some sort of gala-level get-up, her elders would refuse to be seen near her.

Morning birds sang and the grass buzzed with fresh dewdrops. The sun had barely begun to rise over the horizon, still obscured by many of White Forest's treelines. But in a particular Redolent Grove, there were little clearings where the rising sun was quite visible, a harbinger of another hot, summer day to come.

"Look, Mom," the younger canid began, "that's not really what I meant. I mean… why do you want me here if I'm just going to be in this university clothing? Don't you usually like me being in, oh, I don't know… some sort of elevated level of clothing? Some sort of label, a designer ballgown, heels, anything to actually seem like I'm related to you besides just being a Dachsbun? And why are you so dressed up for that matter? For a forest?"

The elder fairy cackled. "Oh, for once you're not here to look good, Mille-Feuille," she chimed, her tail wagging heatedly. "No, I want you here because I caught wind that our florist happens to have a child attending school with you next year, and I want you to show our dear 'Loki' that we're not that far above her, despite what any paychecks and estates would , even though your father and I wish to maintain our… elegance, despite the climates. You're our... humility belt, as it were.

"Har-har. And her child? Yeah, you mean Bijoux." Mille-Feuille perked her left brow. "I told you all about her when I got back from the tour, remember? They ended up assigning us to the same dorm as roommates… she's the shiny Cinccino-taur in all of the pictures I showed you."

"Ah, this '-taur' thing…" The Furfrou interjected himself into the conversation uneasily, but carried forward. "I spoke with miss Loki over the phone; she said she was one as well. Remind me, Mille-Feuille… what exactly does that mean, per se? It sounds a bit like 'tower;' does that mean she's going to be especially tall? I can't imagine how good one would be with flowers as a giant… suddenly I'm a bit worried."

"I can assure you, good sir, that I'm no giant."

The three canids all whipped their heads to the voice's source. Loki stepped out from behind a tree to show herself, causing all three of them to step back in varied degrees of shock. The two elder Pokemon, much more pronouncedly, while Mille-Feuille seemed to only slightly quiver. It was almost forced, like she just didn't want to make her parents look bad.

"Dear Arceus…" The elder Dachsbun woman covered her snout. "You're a Shaymin? And a hybrid, no less! But darling, that limb count, the ears, all superfluous… I suppose this would be one of the… very few mixtures of Shaymin that pulls together a cohesive look, but still…"

Loki watched the group with perked ears, trying to judge if this dog was just being the standard brand of snooty, or if she was going to have to end up getting something to use for self-defence, or to beat some sense. She narrowed her eyes. "That, dear lady, is not a compliment. Not exactly the greatest way to a first impression, no, no…"

The Furfrou shook his head and bowed slightly before the Dachsbun could protest. "Ah - l-listen, miss Loki, I do apologise for my wife; she's… incredibly blunt with her words. Anyway… I'm Hugh Carême; we spoke over the phone earlier this morning. This is my wife, Vera, and my daughter, Mille-Feuille." He offered Loki a handpaw to shake. He was clearly there for damage control, a notion that most merchants would greatly appreciate.

Loki smiled at Hugh. Okay. At least one of the parents isn't a total head-ass. I feel bad for the kid, though. She really doesn't look like she's enjoying this at all. She accepted the offer gladly, also returning the bow briefly before standing back up. "Ah yes, the Carême family… you had quite a challenging order! Ten dozen white roses, ten dozen black roses, ten dozen purple roses, ten dozen pink roses, five dozen Gracidea flowers… I'll return momentarily."

Vera tapped a footpaw impatiently. "Yes, yes; I'm well aware of our order, now the question is, did you actually fulfill it…"

"Mom, don't start," Mille-Feuille protested briefly, as Loki stepped cautiously away from the trio, "I mean, you do remember the last florist you did this to banned us from her shop entirely? Miss Loki is one of the only florists Dad called that didn't have all our numbers and faces on a 'do not serve' file!"

"Now, Mille-Feuille," Vera rebutted, "A woman knows what she wants, and does what she must, to get it. Feelings are not part of a job description, and let no one convince you otherwise."

"Dad! Can you talk some sense into her for once and tell her to stop trying to make enemies with everyone she meets?"

Hugh just shook his head and turned to the right, clearly knowing better than to even try at this point. Some would have called him a genius, others would consider him a coward. Either way, it was a survival instinct to him.

"Smartest thing he's said all year," Vera mumbled. "Now, where is that florist with my flowers…"

"Madeleine's flowers," Mille-Feuille countered. "These are for her wedding, remember? This isn't about you for once…" She could feel Vera's preparation of a verbal lashing, but just then…

"Well, I've got the cart packed. You said the event was in Undella Town?" Loki returned to the group, outfitted with a harness that attached herself to a wooden cart. Inside the cart, there were many bundles of flowers… forty-five dozen, to be exact. All of the requested colours, all of them arranged in precise order and pruned to perfection. "Ah, but wait, before we go…"

"Of course, time to shake me down for money, I get it…" Vera reached into her handbag.

"No, no, miss Carême, not yet; I was going to say, you should look and count your order, make sure it's all correct." Loki gestured to her to come forward and look into the cart. "Wouldn't want to get all the way to Undella and miss a single stem, would we? You'll pay me once the count's right. And before we get there, we should make sure your order's complete. You'd like to do so alone, I presume? I won't hover; wouldn't want me creating a rush or a false sense of counting."

"Smart; I trust my numbers way more than yours. Glad to see there's a brain in your head after all." Vera gestured her head toward the Furfrou. "Hugh, I swear to Arceus, stop moping over there and put that mathematical brain of yours to actual use, why don't you? And Mille-Feuille… you seem to know how to speak to these 'taur' creatures; ask if your little friend is around to see you." She and Hugh went over to the back of the cart, looking carefully and counting through the bundles, sorting them back into colours to keep track.

I'm right here, you know. But Loki let the comments slide; words were only words and the ones disparaging her looks had long since lost their punch. But maybe it'd be better for the little one to be away from your influence for a bit.

"Miss… Loki?" Mille-Feuille walked over to Loki's front right flank, admiring the size of her Gracidea bloom while her parents toiled in their inspection. She was surprised that she was taller than yet another Pokemon-taur, given that most of the legends spoke of them being rather large. She tried not to stare too long, not wanting to give off the wrong impression.

"You don't want to be here right now, do you, Mille-Feuille?" Loki asked in a hushed tone, her right ear perked slightly. "You've had the most uneasy look on your face since the instant I saw you…"

"Uh… really, I'd just prefer Millie," the teen whispered, her snout wrinkling. "And no, ma'am, but n-not because of you! I promise! I just… our family's Undella villa, this wedding…" She looked over at her parents, causing Loki to raise a hand.

"Say no more. You must be the roommate Bijoux's been so excited to move in with next year." She handed Millie a single Gracidea bloom and a forest map. "Keep this one between us, okay?"

"M-miss Loki, I couldn't-"

"I'd prefer just Loki," the hybrid replied, with a kind smile. "At this time of day? Bijoux's probably over by the eastern lake clearing. I'm sure she could use the sight of a friendly face."

"How did you know I was Bijoux's roommate? You didn't show up until well after I said that."

Loki wiggled her ears. "You think these things are just for catching radio signals and being giant leaves? I heard a lot more than you think I did, Millie… and it doesn't help that I was behind that tree for a good five minutes before you even got here. Now, make an escape, before they realise what I'm doing. I'll buy you until sundown, okay?"

"T-thank you…" Millie ran off, and about a minute later, Vera returned to Loki with an angry huff. Hugh strode right behind her, clearing his throat as he announced their findings.

"Okay, that's… ten dozen white roses, ten dozen black roses, ten dozen pink roses, ten dozen purple roses, and five dozen Gracideas. Forty-five dozen, all accounted for, all prim and proper, beautifully trimmed, perfect condition. Miss Loki, you've done the impossible!"

"What can I say," Loki said with a shrug. "This hybrid mix is like the Midas touch for flowers; you ask for it, I'll make it happen."

"Damn you for being right," Vera fussed, reaching into her handbag once again and pulling out her checkbook, beginning to date and sign the topmost one. "What was the quote again, two million?"

"Two million, yes ma'am." Loki watched Vera finish the check with a proud hum.

"Here." The Dachsbun sighed defeatedly and handed Loki the check. "Didn't think you had a ghost of a chance to pull it off, but guess I'm eating Honchkrow pie tonight. Whatever. Are we going to Undella Town now?"

"Of course." Loki put the check in her saddlebag, and looked back at her cart. "There should be some seating space in the cart, just hop on in amongst your flowers and-"

"Are you insane!?" the Dachsbun interjected. "Ride in a cart; what is this, a family Halloween adventure? I'm not walking; If I'm being chauffeured, it's on your back or bust."

Loki's eyes narrowed. "No, ma'am, I don't think that's going to be happening; I'm not a ride Pokemon. Not unless you're willing to write another two million check…"

Vera scoffed. "Two million to go one route on a taur's back… maybe a cross-Unova expedition, but not that short of a distance!"

Loki smiled broadly. "Didn't think so. Besides, don't you want to be close to the flowers, miss Carême? If you're riding in the cart, you can make sure they don't get damaged in the transport process! Do you really think you can trust just one set of eyes back there to keep everything safe?"

Vera looked back at Hugh, who let out a bit of a whine. Loki flashed a brief look of apology before she could be spotted, and as the Dachsbun's eyes returned to Loki's…

"Damn it! Fine. You're right; I can't trust Hugh with anything that isn't mathematics. Poor bastard gets lost finding his wardrobe every morning. I can't argue I'd rather see things firsthand and make sure nothing happens, after all the work you did to make these." The last words seethed in a seeming protest, but Vera knew when she had been beaten.

She and Hugh carefully arranged the floral bundles to make themselves room in the cart, and once the two were in, Hugh closed the cart's back gate to lock themselves in safely.

"Is the safety latch locked tightly back there?" Loki questioned. "I can't unharness myself without causing you to tilt, and I don't want to risk the flowers being smashed…"

Vera waved Loki off with a nod. "Yes… my husband sealed everything; you're good to go. Say… what did you give my daughter up there?"

"Your daughter? Oh, Mille-Feuille… ah, yes, I gave her a forest map. She saw the cart and knew all three of you wouldn't fit, so she thought she'd use the time to see if she could find Bijoux, since she was already here. She said she'll meet you back at your villa to watch the sunset."

"Oh, that stubborn girl… living the high life and she wants to go play with commoners… ah, well, at least she knows where the villa is. Very well. But if a single hair on her head is missing or she doesn't make the sunset…" Vera made a bit of a slashing motion with her right hand.

"Yes, yes, you know where to find me," Loki trilled unshakenly, stepping forward to begin the journey to Undella Town, keeping a jaunty but safe pace. At their current run it would be about midday before the three made it to the beachside villa, almost too long for any of them to stand, for varied reasons...

(( Millie has been introduced! ))

[silveragelovechild]

Have you heard of a streaming service called EPIX? If not, it recently changed its name to MGM+

A couple of years ago EPIX had a free weekend and I binged a scifi show it had - “War of the Worlds” starring Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern. (McGovern did this after Downton ended and probably between the movies.)

Despite its name, it had little in common with HG Welles book. It started with an extraterrestrial invasion then went off in an entire different direct. At the time I thought I might have liked it better if it had a different name. I kept expecting it/wanting it to connect to the book.

In this series, the extraterrestrials release an electromagnetic pulse which causes most people on earth to have a seizure then die. Only people who were underground or in some other enclosure (made of metal?) survived. The extraterrestrials (not seen in the season) release robotic dogs to kill off any survivors (via a gun built into their snout).

What I found interesting was that it was an international production - England and France. The series followed 3 groups trying to survive:

group one in London led by Byrne;

group two in Paris with an English father trying to get to England to find out if his family is okay (he travels with a French woman and her teen son);

group three - a French woman scientist in an outpost in the Alps who detected the extraterrestrials signal before the attack. She hooks up with a team of French soldiers who protect the base in the alps. The scenes in the Alps were entirely in French (with subtitles).

When I finished the season, I felt indifferent. There was an English young woman central to the plot. She had been blind but after the attack she got her sight back. And she had “visions” related to the extraterrestrials AND dreams about the French teen boy from group two. The thing was, I didn’t particular like those 2 characters. She was too twitchy and the teen boy was clearly unhinged but hiding it.

I forgot all about the series until this week. I was looking for a new streaming service and MGM+ was available cheap via Amazon (which bought MGM proper last year). It had two more seasons of the show. Despite my indifference, I binged/scanned the episodes (fast forwarding when I got bored).

The issue over all with the series is that it didn’t seem as if the creators/producers had a cohesive plan - there were radical changes between seasons. And a kind of Mumbo-Jumbo use of pseudo-science to explain plot holes.

Season 2 - the two French groups eventually make it to London during this season. But McGovern doesn’t survive into season 2. It is revealed the extraterrestrials were humans (in season one it said they were from another “galaxy”). They looked exactly like normal humans, spoke English, and wore the same kind of grunge clothes as the Earth humans. I could only tell the difference because I notice their clothing was shade of dark green. They had traveled to Earth and centuries into their past to kill Gabriel Byrne because he would release a virus that would kill then all. (But Byrne only creates the virus because they invaded Earth!?!)

Eventually it’s revealed that the formerly blind girl and the sullen teen boy were the “Adam and Eve” of the extraterrestrials. They both had genetic defects which the Gabriel Bynre character (now an expert geneticist) would exploit to create the virus.

Although the girl was exposed to the virus, somehow both she and the teen boy were lured into an empty space ship, which the extraterrestrial leader sent into space to their home planet (where they would have children and populate the extraterrestrial planet). HUH?

Time travel stories often have plot holes but this one was a doozie. How did the the woman and the teen get to the planet in the first place… they could only do it because their ancestors sent a ship. There was no attempt to explain this. It was just never mentioned.

Season 3 made another incredible shift. Somehow Gabriel Byrne was able to steal another ship and use it as a Time Machine, going back in time to just before the invasion. He sees the young woman (blind) and kills her by pushing her off a building. BUT extraterrestrial leader and a bunch of her team had also been on the time traveling ship. They were determine to kill Byrne - this time in revenge for negating their existence by killing their ancient grandmother. How? By triggering another electromagnetic pulse to kill all humans on Earth.

I won’t explain the resolution, except to say there was a “black hole” hovering above the Arctic that connected this Earth to the parallel Earth where the invasion occurred. Other than saying radio waves couldn’t escape the black hole, there was no mention of what other hazards might occur with a black hole hovering over the earth for many months.

Why did I watch seasons 2 & 3? Dunno. Part is because I recently canceled 4 streaming services (HBO max, Paramount+, AMC+, and Broadway direct). I think I was curious where it was going. More to the point, why was the series funded with its meandering plot laden with holes?

(The thing I liked the best about the series was the robot dogs… an interesting design. They digitally designed, then 3D printed. But all movement on screen was CGI.)

[the-one-where-casey-watches-tv]

Stranger Things episode 4.09 "Chapter Nine: The Piggyback"

I’ve loved Stranger Things from day one. I think the pilot is one for the books and each passing season has managed to enrich the world and its visual effects while still bringing it all together in a delightfully satisfying finale. I’ve always thought this series was very sure of its footing and felt the story has been chugging decisively along down its painstakingly premeditated path. I compare it a lot to Harry Potter because both stories stand out to me as very classic, down to earth explorations of the Hero’s Journey and prime examples of how and why story structure is so important.

            After finishing the endeavor that was season four, I don’t feel like the show is any less “good”- I watched the whole thing and was never bored (even this two plus hour finale; I’ll get into this season’s formatting in a second). I think the Duffer Brothers are prime storytellers who know exactly what they’re doing and how to keep your interest, so when I finally let out a breath after finishing the episode that took up literally my entire night, I didn’t feel disappointed by the quality; I felt betrayed by what they did with my rapt attention. “Chapter Nine” was effective for me in that I believe that I felt everything I was intended to feel- I just didn’t like those intentions.

This is the first season that broke up the group without quite managing to pull them back together at the last minute in that ultra-satisfying and cohesive payoff of previous years. The story lacked the punchy, decisive confidence it’s always had, and it showed. And I’ll say it. I don’t want to watch a two-and-a-half-hour episode of TV. I rarely even want to watch a two-and-a-half-hour movie. I love the creativity and flexibility that TV has come to have as a medium, but the odd release of season four of Stranger Things did nothing but hamper my viewing experience. I couldn’t wait to dive into the season as soon as it came out, so I quickly finished episodes 1-7 before the strangely staggered release of the final two episodes, which dropped a month after the initial debut. One month is a weird amount of time. Mid-season finales are still a regular occurrence with network shows as they break for a couple months, often overlapping with the holidays, to put the rest of the season together. Such breaks are rarer with streaming, but Netflix has seemed to be into the concept lately, dropping other seasons in two parts as well. All the same, just one month is an unusually short period of time that seemed to serve no purpose other than to garner intrigue and suspense. Promotions were all over Netflix’s social media, billboards went up, and an itch remained unscratched in my brain as I couldn’t yet check this season off my list and mentally move onto other things.

            The whole viewing experience just felt deliberately taxing- to be made to wait, just to then be made to set aside an entire night to watch the final episode that could have easily been broken up into two or even three- something that would have also added some balance to the “Volume 1” and “Volume 2” approach. But honestly, I can only complain so much about all of that because ultimately, I was a full participant in this whole experience. I followed the directions, eagerly watching every hour-plus episode in record time, waiting patiently for the finale, and then making a night out of it, just like I was supposed to. And at no point did I want to turn it off.

            So let’s talk about what happened. I love a Stranger Things finale. A clear plan laid out by a ton of kids with a lot of moving parts and very clear, very high stakes. Every season finale feels like watching the Duffer Brothers drop the last piece into the most complex puzzle I’ve ever seen- and then dump 500 more pieces onto the table and reveal that we’re not done yet. So I had a lot of trust going into this episode. I’ve been watching Mike, Will, Jonathan, and even Eleven do a whole lotta nothing this season, but I dismissed everyone who wanted to tell me as much. It was all about to come to fruition; everything would make sense and it would all be for a reason. But it wasn’t.

            I think Max is what kicked the Stranger Things train off its track. Or rather, what flipped the switch sending it in a new direction, one that I would be happy to follow, but that the show seemed to resist. To use my Harry Potter comparison, Max’s character is like if Cedric Diggory didn’t die and instead went on to become more interesting, useful, and endearing than Harry ever was. How fun, right? But then imagine that happened, our hearts and attention were successfully shifted somewhere else, yet the story continued to treat him as that same tragic auxiliary character that only exists in relation to Harry.

            Leading up to “Chapter Nine”, this season felt like the end of the Mike and Eleven show and the embracing of a true ensemble, and I loved that. Mike did, and I don’t feel like this is an exaggeration, nothing. If he just wasn’t in this season at all, the final outcome wouldn’t change. And I didn’t have a problem with that! He’s cute and goofy and fun to be around, and he and El’s relationship problems were the lighter B or dare I say C story to Max and Lucas’ loaded, important, and well-rounded journeys. And that said, El was still a centerpiece in other ways. I love the story of One, I didn’t need to see Brenner again, but I was happy to explore her past and have that aha moment of what really connects her to the Upside Down. Eleven needed her face-off moment with Vecna, but if the lead-in to this battle (and “Running Up That Hill” being the anthem of the season) proved anything, it’s that Max is an equal to El, in both significance and strength, and we’ve spent too much time with her now to be satisfied with her suffering being nothing but an emotional catalyst for Eleven.

            Even at a glance, this final showdown puts Max and Lucas front and center. They are the ones physically present, with a job that doesn’t involve being a diversion or killing extraneous bats or being states or continents away. The two of them alone are the ones facing the real test with the truly dangerous job of confronting Vecna, Max in her mind’s eye and Lucas protecting her in the flesh. Eleven has a grand plan to piggyback off of Max, but no one suiting up and diving into the Upside Down knows about that. They’re ready to do this on their own, and we see all the risks, fears, and bravery involved in that. While we have that knowledge of what’s going on elsewhere, I was never fully interested in seeing those extraneous moving parts come together. I don’t want Eleven to save them. I want this plan to work. The one with the people and stories that I’ve been made to feel invested in throughout this season.

            But I understand that the plan was never going to work. This was the penultimate battle, the one that we lose. The gate had to be opened and we’re supposed to feel loss and sadness at that. This is “The Half Blood Prince”- but Max is no Dumbledore. A casualty was inevitable, but the way it came about wasn’t. My trust in the Duffer Brothers and in this story persists; I believe that season five will shed new light on these things and maybe my feelings will change, but each season is also a story in itself, and the message we’re sitting with now as we wait for the final season isn’t one that I respect or feel good about.

            Leading up to this episode, Max’s journey was a moving story about processing grief and carrying on in the world after experiencing loss. It was the perfect blend of a generalized, relatable thematic idea applied to a specific, well-drawn character in a way that is both powerful and moves the plot forward. Eleven has the history with Vecna that she’s off unpacking, but this has become personal for Max too. Vecna, as is his M.O., has forced Max over and over again to confront her emotions regarding Billy’s death, the complex combination of guilt and grief that I can only imagine comes from losing a presence like that. And every time, Max comes out stronger. She becomes a bigger challenge to Vecna every time he tries and fails to break her, each instance actually cementing her will to live. It was a beautiful and powerful personification of grief, depression, that voice in your head that wants the worst for you, and the idea that it’s possible to fight it all. I feel a huge urge to hug and apologize to everyone I know who related to Max and had to watch what happened to her next.

            Of course Vecna caught onto their plan, to Max using herself as bait. That had to happen, right? What seems like a genuine plot hole to me though is the fact that Vecna, with his pension for finding those emotions that people want to hide, didn’t see through Max the second he looked inside. He didn’t see that firm resolve? The now-solidified desire to be alive?

To pretend for a second that I’m qualified to write Stranger Things, I’ll tell you what I think should’ve happened. When Vecna takes the bait and finds Max and Lucas, Max herself would give the whole plan away with just her strong sense of self. She’s too strong for Vecna and he wouldn’t want to admit that, but the stakes are high for him right now too. He needs one more body to open the gate, a bunch of kids are closing in on his body on the other side, and he’s all the way over here with the first girl he might not be able to break. Lucas is the only other one here, and he’s got plenty of complex emotions of his own to process.

            Lucas has been bullied for being black since the pilot, and I had a lot of respect for this season not toning itself down at all in a lot of ways, racism included. Watching Erica be chased down in the dark by a white boy three times her size was hard to watch; watching Lucas have a gun pointed at him by the deranged captain of the basketball team was hard to watch. But some important things are hard to watch. None of it felt inappropriate or out of place until the episode ended and there didn’t seem to be any kind of takeaway from it. Hawkins became a character itself this season, and it turned out to be an underdeveloped one. The town never learned the truth, never had to see themselves or anyone else in a new light, nor was bigotry a direct cause for anything that happened. My issue wasn’t that it was hard to watch, it was that it was just hard to watch. It was gratuitous pain and heartbreak for nothing but the sadness value of it. The world already does that to us all enough.

            So while Vecna is rooting around in Max’s head, finding himself to be no match for her, Lucas sees what’s happening to Erica outside. He has to contend with the fact that these were the people he wanted to be friends with so badly, that these are the people he chose over his real friends who are ready time and again to do the right thing. So Vecna switches gears. Lucas’ heart is heavy and he hasn’t been on the same self-fortifying quest that has prepared Max to face this very moment. Vecna possesses Lucas instead, and Kate Bush doesn’t work for him. In walks the basketball captain who learns the truth too late.

            Maybe Eleven is able to do a kind of double piggyback and go from Max to Lucas- I would at least feel like she accomplished something if she was able to pull that off. But honestly, I don’t really feel the need to get into the logistics of her agonizingly slow stroll through Max’s head. If there’s anything we’ve learned from Max, it’s that self-sufficiency and processing your past for yourself is possible. Max and Lucas planning their date is heartbreakingly precious because neither need the other. They’re arguably the two most independent and capable characters in the whole show. Max is comforted by Lucas’ company, but she would have been capable of all the same things without it. For Eleven to not be able to do anything until she hears Mike say he loves her is frankly insulting to everything Max has just been through. So however Eleven would find her way into battle with Vecna in Lucas’ mind instead of Max’s in this scenario doesn’t really matter to me. She’s not gonna do anything in there anyway. We lose Lucas and the gate opens.

            This would obviously all still be very sad. It had to be sad. But it would be sad with thought-provoking thematic takeaways. It would be about the direct consequences of realizing prejudice too late, about grappling with survivor’s guilt, self-sufficiency, and the idea that doing everything right isn’t always enough to save the world (or even just the people you love ((but does that make it any less right?)). When the credits rolled on this episode, I was uncharacteristically silent. It was a downer of a season finale and it had made my mood heavy, but I had nothing to say about it. I let the event of the Volume 2 release consume my night and have my full attention, and it truly just left me up past my bedtime, drained and in a funk. I felt manhandled into feeling sad at what was clearly the writer’s hand, not the story’s. Vecna breaking Max wasn’t that last puzzle piece dropped perfectly into place; it was mashed in there where it didn’t fit, and her subsequent coma isn’t those 500 new pieces I can’t believe I didn’t realize we still needed (I’m over the “are they really dead?” game this show keeps playing). When I step back and look at this puzzle, I don’t see the illuminating, cohesive image that past finales have gifted me. It feels like I did all that work just to step back and look at the final product and see something that was upsetting to put together but doesn’t mean anything.            

All that and I haven’t even touched on poor Eddie, gay Will, or anything at all that went on in Russia. Guess that’s what happens when one episode of TV is one of the longest things I’ve ever watched in my life.

I'll be back next week with another show, in the meantime drop me any thoughts or requests and head over to my blog for more :) https://clduby.wixsite.com/casey-watches-tv

[speedbooster]

Y'know, I was gonna get to the rest of those starters today, maybe do some Samus replies, try to start some things with my new followers-

Unfortunately, I ordered a new bed frame, and it came early, so I am just wiped from putting that together...

But I don't wanna have accomplished nothing else today, so I'm give a small update on some side stuff I got going on;

Archie Sonic Book Club

For anyone new here, which would be most of you, I had the idea to read through an issue of the old Archie comics each day, as I'd never actually read them before, and share my thoughts on them. Sadly after the first issue, some life stuff happened and I forgot about it for a while.

So instead of it being a daily thing, I've decided to make it a once a week thing (Currently thinking Saturdays, but nothing set in stone yet). And instead of it being a single issue, I'll go over my thoughts on however many issues I read that week. Could be only a couple, could be like two whole volumes, could be none at all because I forgor, but I think giving it more of an open schedule will help me stay consistent with it.

It's going to be a long commitment, even longer because of a poll I did on my other accounts, I'm reading literally all of Archie Sonic. But I've always wanted to read these, and my portrayal of Sonic does try to mix together elements of every iteration of the series into one cohesive universe, and Archie is a big part of that. So here's hoping I can stick with it, and finally check it off my bucket list.

Chao Garden Updates

Another project I've been slowly whittling away at over the last few years is a series of streams documenting my journey to finally 100% Sonic Adventure 2. It's been a while since I've done one of those streams, and it'll probably be a bit longer before I start it back up again, but one of the biggest parts of that that I'm allowing myself to work on off camera is the Chao Garden.

Now I'm not allowed to do the races or karate, or get any more emblems, but I can raise up my chao to hopefully make conquering those a bit easier. And I kinda just wanna show the little guys off

I do have mods for it, mostly cosmetic stuff, but I also use Chao World Extended and Enhanced Chao World just to make things a bit more interesting, so they're going to be a bit... unique. I gave 'em little hats, and I have some mods for interesting evolutions (including one that is VERY cursed) and I'm hoping that having somewhere to share my progress might help me get back into it, and motivate me to keep doing it.

Just like with Archie Sonic, this would be a once a week thing (currently thinking Wednesdays, starting next week because it's too late to start now), so you're not gonna get spammed with this stuff. And both these will have their own tags so that you can ignore them entirely if they don't interest you.

I do also wanna do something Metroid related in the same vein as these, but I have no idea what (maybe checking out some romhacks? There's a ton I haven't tried out yet that are insanely popular), so I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any

Lastly, both of these things, and anything like them in the future are meant to be a community thing. I'm trying to socialize more, step out of my comfort zone (and just have more of a schedule in general but that's neither here nor there), and I find it easier to do that if people reach out first and if we have something to talk about.

So if you see those, I encourage you to leave comments, repost, engage in whatever way you want to if the topic interests you. You got thoughts on the bit of Archie I'm reading? I wanna hear them. You got memories of the chao garden and raising your lil guys, go ahead and share them! I promise, I don't bite, and I'm more scared of you than you are of me.

And... I think that's it for now. Promise I'll try to get those last three starters done tomorrow before work, and I'll definitely be trying to stick with these ideas, because I wanna talk about this stuff, and get to know this community better.

Till then... I'm going to bed. Good night, have a hedgehog!

This is a dumb tradition from my twitter days. Feels right to continue it here.

[typhin-hoofbun]

A Milestone

I kinda forgot Tumblr existed for a few weeks, so I forgot to post here to celebrate, but on January 16th, I hit a milestone. Two years of writing.

In that two years, I wrote over half a million words. In 73 chapters across three series. It's been a wild ride. My first story is still going, I haven't finished "Princess Tells Her Story" yet. (I probably will with Book 3, I can't think of anything I can really throw at the duo to challenge them after they've defeated a broken, insane god.)

I've had a pretty small following, but a loyal and supportive one, and I am eternally grateful for that. I can't wait to see where I'll be next year, or the year after that, or the year after that, and so on. ^_^

After Princess Book 3 is done, my next project is probably going to be rewriting Princess Book 1 to be better. It's a little bit of a mess, since each chapter, I didn't know if it would be the last thing I ever posted. So I tried to end it in a way that didn't leave active hanging threads, sort of a "We'll be okay" vibe, in case I couldn't continue. That made it very episodic in nature, since I didn't want to end on a cliffhanger, just in case. I also started a lot of threads that I never properly followed up on (looking at you, Brotherhood of Shadows) because I got distracted. I was very much winging it without any plan. Well, a little bit of a plan, there was quite a bit of "laying groundwork for things planned in Book 2" going on... ^_~ But still, I want to do it better, make it more cohesive, strip the "recap" bits, etc. Handle Princess's backstory better, too. Without properly planning it, it just sorta feels rough around the edges. But it'll be a while yet, I'm barely a third of the way through Book 3.

One of those readers sent me a gift for my anniversary. A box of oranges, from an orchard in Florida. They are absolutely delicious and wonderful and I love them. That reader is none other than my own mother, so of course she knows I love oranges. (You just can't get oranges that good elsewhere.) I just wanted to gush because I'm still giddy about it.

I do still kind of want to publish my work some day. It'd be nice to be able to bring in some extra income, but it'd also just be amazing to see my books on store shelves. To know someone is gonna wander those aisles like I did, look through all the covers, and a stack of paper printed with words is gonna be one filled with words I put together. Of course, anyone who picks up my stuff is probably gonna be doing the same thing I did: grabbing anything with a non-human protagonist on the cover, hoping desperately someone can put words to the feeling of "This human body is Not Me" so they feel less like they're going insane. Even if they aren't conscious of it, like I wasn't. While internet publishing like an e-book via Amazon lacks that feeling of awe, I might still do it anyway. (Would have to get together money to commission cover art, though. I'd love to get "Cover Art" stuff for each book anyway, even if I don't publish, because it'd be cool. ^_^ )

Really, I'm happy with anyone who enjoys my stuff, regardless of their reason. It's just the scenario I come up with in my head, Kid Me surrounded by endless books and trying to find one that lets me see someone else Being Different, and lets me feel it. ^_^;;

I should probably try to post on sites other than FurAffinity. I started to post to Royal Road, but I dunno, something about it just kinda grates on me, I guess. Don't know what. If people have suggestions for sites I should post to, I'd love to hear it. It's been a while since I posted a link to my stuff, so in case anyone reading this hasn't taken a look, here you go.

It's always interesting to see how some people will only follow one story, and some people will follow all three. Vayryn gets the most attention, people love yinglets. Princess gets almost as much as Vayryn, people love dragons but there's so many dragons that it's easy to get lost in the flood. Flopsy doesn't get much attention, she doesn't have people that go looking specifically for hoofbuns. I love writing all three, though. (In the latest Vayryn chapter, she attends a convention and runs into Valsalia himself. The real-life Valsalia said I did "a pretty spot-on impression", which I think is awesome. I tried to capture his friendly, approachable vibe, and I'm glad it came across. ^_^ )

Anyway, I'm going to end this here, because it's already insanely long. Love you all, I'm going to bed! (It's 5:19 AM now...)

[newmusickarl]

Top 50 Albums of 2022

6. Life Is Yours by Foals

“I also think that every band has a bullet with their name on it, headed for them – and that half of the thing is how long you can dodge it. It’s like a dance where you’re just dodging the bullet from the moment you sign a record deal basically, and it just depends on where the bullet hits you. Just try and take risks because I think if you just stand there, that bullet is going to hit you quicker and it’s a boring way to go out.”

- Yannis Philippakis during the Making of Holy Fire Documentary, Nothing Left Unsaid

Having followed Foals’ career over the last 15+ years, that quote from Yannis a few years back has for some reason really stuck with me. I think to understand Foals as a band and how they operate, that kind of sums it up perfectly – they just never stand still.

From their early origins as math-rock enthusiasts, to releasing an ambient seven-minute-long lead single for their sophomore album, to then branching out into full-on, arena-ready rock on Holy Fire and What Went Down, their evolution over the years has been quite incredible. I also think they are one of those rare bands where there isn’t a unanimous favourite album or era – depending on which side of their sound you prefer will dictate which one you favour. The beauty is, whichever answer you give they are all acceptable, as across their now seven albums, they have never put a foot wrong.

Releasing two self-produced albums in a single year, one more electronic and one more heavy rock, could’ve easily been a career-ending mistake. Yet, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost saw Foals overindulge in all the great elements of their music and come out sparkling on the other side, having produced some of their best work in the process. In fact, those two albums were crowned my joint Album of the Year back in 2019. Clearly engineered to be played live, the plan was to tour those records throughout 2020 - but COVID happened and sent the band straight back to the studio instead.

During lockdown writing sessions, they seemingly took a similar approach to Charli XCX when she was crafting her highly acclaimed, Mercury Prize-nominated album How I’m Feeling Now. Rather than lean into the misery and anxiety brought on by the pandemic, they imagined more joyous times and sounds, picturing swarming festival crowds and using that as their fundamental muse instead.

The result was their incredible summer album, Life Is Yours, with this catalogue of songs transporting listeners to the buzzing Brighton music scene of the early 00s, those painful feelings of after-party isolation and to the very moment in 2022 where we saw the triumphant return of live music post-pandemic. Arriving in line with Glastonbury taking place for the first time in three years back in June, it is an album that really was tailor-made for this year. As a result, it hits as instantly and as hard as any as their previous work to date, narrowly missing out on my Top 5 for 2022 by the finest of margins.

Despite the recent departure of long-time keyboard and synth player Edwin Congreaves, it is also ironically their most electronic record to date. Additionally, if you’ve been longing for their sound to return to that of their early work, then you’ll be pleased to know this album is the closest they’ve come to tapping into that same energy. Sonically, Life Is Yours is a mix of the pulsating synths found on Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1, but with some throwbacks to their more rhythmic early beginnings on Antidotes and Total Life Forever too. Produced by the likes of John Hill and Dan Carey (whose had an incredible 2022 having also produced standout records from Kae Tempest and Fontaines D.C.), it is also a more polished and cohesive effort compared to their sprawling and eclectic previous works.

The first half of this record is one of the best you’ll find all year too, with Foals frontloading this one with some of their biggest singles to date. Having ended Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 2 with the story of Icarus, the title track begins the record with similar imagery, as Yannis sings “Driverless cars all end up in the ocean, even when they think they know the way.” It’s a lovely bit of continuity between the two eras and the song delivers further with a wonderfully catchy chorus over a stuttering synth-driven melody. Anthemic lead single Wake Me Up then kicks things firmly up a notch, with its singalong howls and bouncy, upbeat guitar grooves.

Single 2am is a firm favourite by this point, serving up a trancey beat, mesmeric riffs and plenty of good vibes, which both contrast and compliment Yannis’ lyrics detailing his feelings of late-night loneliness. 2001 is another belter, with its instant chorus of “OH. MY. GOD. BRIGHTON ROCK” and Chic-style disco guitars. It then ends with an extended outro, (summer sky), that went down a storm when played live over festival season and on their recent arena tour.

With such a stacked first half, this one could’ve easily dropped off a cliff, but thankfully there’s no filler to be found. Flutter is the record’s most funky number, held up by its two central guitar lines - one filthy and heavy whilst the other is a gentle, flickering note that runs through the track, aligning with Yannis’ lyrical reminders of the fleetingness of life. Looking High was then my least favourite of the album’s preview singles but has continued to grow on me throughout the year, with its earworm-like nature and Yannis’ pitch-perfect falsetto vocals. Under The Radar was then recently described by the band as one of the simplest songs they have written to date but that makes it no less hypnotic.

If you have followed their career to this point, you’ll know that Foals are masters when it comes to painting ocean-drenched imagery and pairing this with complimentary watery-like guitar textures. Crest of the Wave is the latest song where they execute this to spellbinding effect, creating the album’s undisputed highlight for me. Things are then rounded off with energetic, indie-rave thumper The Sound before closing track Wild Green presents a suitably euphoric climax to proceedings.

With Life Is Yours, the trio have delivered a triumphant, celebratory, and life-affirming summer record, that will no doubt be rolled out for years to come as soon as the sun starts shining. It is also another dazzling evolution that further solidifies them as one of the planet’s best and most versatile bands. At this point, Foals have reached Neo-levels of bullet dodging ability - and it’s going to take a mighty glitch in the Matrix to stop them now.

Best tracks: Crest of the Wave, 2am, Life Is Yours

Listen here

Want more Foals? Check out my picks for their 11 Most Underrated Tracks via Gigwise here

[crystalelemental]

I'd like to take some time and analyze what I think is one of the more interesting lore bits in Legends: the Old Verses.  I've seen people talk about them, but only to speculate on who wrote them.  Which, to me, isn't the most exciting aspect of these verses.  I feel like we all kinda know.  But I haven't seen any real analysis on the lore or its implications, so hopefully I'm not late to this party.

In total, there are 20 Old Verses.  The game doesn't mention much about them, with the only real hint being that the handwriting implies they are all written by the same person.  Beyond that, they just exist, and aren't listed in a clear sense of progression.  Look at the first three and you'll get an idea of what I mean.  That said, the verses tend to fall into two broad categories: personal, and mythological.  Either they focus on a broad mythological story, or they seem to be recounting a lived experience.  To start, we'll separate them out into mythological and personal.  Please note, I'm omitting ones that effectively offer nothing.  For my purposes, the ones offering nothing substantial to the analysis are Verses 1, 6, 7, 8, 13, 15, 16, 17, and 18.  1, 6, 7, 8, and 15 are all old lore; we know what that is.  17 and 18 are about Enamorus, the “Love-Hate Pokemon,” which is neat but not relevant, while 13 is literally just a recipe.  Those three I believe exist more as an allusion to the author’s identity than to analyze with the rest.  As a final note, the number order of these verses seem...meaningless at times.  There’s no clear cohesion.  Stories are told through scattered parts, and my assumption then is that these are written chronologically during the author’s experiences.

Mythological Verses Verse 3: "No claws nor fangs, no strength to claim— no man could hope to hold his own to mighty Pokémon. But bolts of light rained down one day, ten times they fell, ten times struck true upon ten Pokémon. Then to weak man did these ten turn, his strength to be, and all were blessed by loyal Pokémon. Were not these bolts a gift to man? Were they not your almighty grace, great Sinnoh, paragon?" 

Verse 4: "Ten Pokémon, the ancient hero's loyal retinue— though these companions now are gone, their noble duty passes on to generations new. The people thank the ten descendants for their gen'rous toil by lining vessels built to last with water clear and choice repast before the arenas' soil."

Verse 10: "'Twas long ago he earned the name 'hero'... He led his retinue, ten Pokémon, against the almighty unknowable. In battle did his valiance proclaim at last the strength of humble humankind. The great unknowable approved this feat, and to its domain of no place returned." 

Verse 11: "'Let our wishes reach heaven's crown,' the people together vowed. So they and their Pokémon bore stone to the peak of heaven's mount. The people carved the gathered stones in shapes of Pokémon—the ten Pokémon that Sinnoh shone its almighty light upon."

Verse 19: "When first this land was formed, man and 'mon lived happily, sharing all that they could see, by kind acts born and warmed. One Pokémon then proposed that they should always ready be to help the humans should they need, and let their presence be disclosed. And that is why, to this day, not all Pokémon do flee when a human they do see—they leap out where tall grasses sway."

Mythological verses center primarily on one particular tale: the ancient hero and the 10 loyal Pokemon that followed him.  Verses 3, 4, 10, and 11 are all directly about this, and outline that the ten were struck by bolts of lightning, assumed to be gifts from Arceus, to give humans greater power.  Verse 3 notes that humans are largely powerless against Pokemon.  Verse 4 notes that these important Pokemon's descendents continue to carry on that duty.  Verse 11 is about how people carved statues of these ten in the Temple of Sinnoh atop Coronet.  We can see these statues, and from this, see that these 10 are the same ride Pokemon and nobles in the present day.  These are the descendants of the ancient Pokemon that fought alongside the hero.

Verse 10 is more about what they fought.  It makes allusions to "the almighty unknowable," but later references it as "The great unknowable."  I think that adjustment is significant.  Almighty is only used in reference to Sinnoh/Arceus.  Beyond that, Dialga and Palkia are only referenced as "mighty."  That this being was once almighty but is no longer, should signal it is not Arceus either, who remains almighty.  "Unknowable" is a unique epithet as well, not tied to Dialga or Palkia as "one who walks with time/space," nor to Arceus who is always "almighty Sinnoh."  That really only leaves one option left: Giratina.  Giratina was once considered an "almighty" being, but was defeated by this ancient hero.  Moreover, this verse ends noting that Giratina acknowledged the strength of this hero, and returned to "its domain of no place," effectively leaving the region to return to the Distortion World.  There's a lot to be gained here, but I'll go over this more later.

Verse 19 talks about how Pokemon and humans lived happily together, and that Pokemon resolved to always help humans.  This is in Canalave, and recounts the same tale.  However, two things are interesting to me.  One is its placement as the second to last.  The other is that chronologically, it's the first event.  This is before anything else the verses recount, but it's the second to last one.

Personal Verses Old Verse 2: "O you, who at the world's far-off end dwell, I know your wish—it is my wish as well.  My own beloved is now gone from me, departed to a place I cannot reach.  My old companions have left me behind, their faces faded into days gone by.  Still to my breast I clutch this hopeless dream, a futile wish for us once more to meet.  O you, who at the world's far-off end dwell, I know your wish—it is my wish as well.  But ours are cold and endless winter days, warmed only by memories locked away."

Old Verse 5: "Long and longer yet ago, Celestica was here. But folk and town alike, both did disappear.  In time, came new folk sailing, sailing 'cross the sea, called by their love for Sinnoh, great and almighty.  But diff'rent were the Sinnoh that each folk did hold dear, And bitter strife and angry war were always at the near.  'Celestica' they called themselves, the name not theirs to take. Yet claim it from the past they did, for tragic quarrel's sake.  So once again did our name live, though all our people gone. But even if the name endures, its heart does not live on."

Old Verse 9: "I set the bones of Pokémon adrift upon the river. I let my memories flow on, adrift upon the river. And to the ocean they will flow, perhaps around the world to go. How many bones in days now gone have I now set adrift from me? How many bones in days to come will I yet set adrift to sea? While every gift with which I part takes a sliver of my heart."

Old Verse 12: "Wintry... Austere... Brimming with strange power...  Certainly the land of Hisui bears some resemblance to Sinjoh.  Here, where the ancient Sinnoh people were born, I will spend an eternity... until the one with the mission appears."

Old Verse 14: "The fieldlands rush by underhoof as Wyrdeer carries me astride— Companions of mine run with us and Pokémon dash alongside. We come to stand where wind had swept and old days play before my eyes... The memories come running through, linking this place to times gone by. Time and space here blend together and enfold my heart as I remember."

Old Verse 20: "Once it shone upon us all, with all the warmth of welcome sun. But now we weep, to grief we fall, starved of light now it has gone. And some they go, despair withal, in search of it they reel and run. They quit their hearths, abandon hall, and leave our lands to be undone. And when they're gone beyond recall, this land will be a home to none. This land will only ever be a home to Pokémon."

As a totality, I think these verses recount the author's lived experiences, ranging from the loss of their people to their change to a new land to fulfill an obligation. Verses 2 and 9 are entirely about the loss of others; first their people, then their Pokemon.

Verse 12 talks about how the author has moved to Hisui for their duty to meet with "the one with the mission," while Verse 14 is an emotional acknowledgement that this region stirs familiar memories of their homeland.  They're settling into their new region.

Verses 5 and 12, however, are where things get interesting.  Verse 5 is, as far as I can tell, the only reference to the Celestica people, who we otherwise know absolutely nothing about.  What this verse tells us is that Celestica was the name of a place and people long ago, both scattered and lost to time.  Eventually, settlers from across the sea reached this old land, citing their reason for coming as "love for Sinnoh."  It also notes that these people were not unified, citing each worshiping a different Sinnoh.  And in their efforts to be seen as legitimate, attempted to claim the name of "Celestica."  The author then notes that "our name" endures, but the spirit and meaning of that name is no longer what it was.  "Our name” means the author is one of the Celestica people.

Which leads to Verse 12 having huge implications.  "Certainly, this land of Hisui bears some resemblance to Sinjoh."  The order in which they references these regions implies that the author has moved into Hisui, but their homeland is Sinjoh.  Which would mean that the Celestica people aren’t natively from Hisui at all.

Verse 20 is the last personal one, and it reads almost like prophecy by the end.  At first, it talks about something in present terms.  A warm light once shone upon the people, but that light has gone.  The author's final message is told in future tense; "When they're gone beyond recall," and states this land will only be home to Pokemon.  In this prophecy, humans will no longer have a place in Hisui.  What exactly happened isn't clear, but there are implications given the context of the other verses and current events.

Celestica and Almighty Sinnoh Let’s address probably the biggest thing I’m bringing up here: yes, I am saying that Celestica likely was based in Sinjoh, not Hisui.  The obvious connection is Verses 5 and 12, establishing the author as one of the Celestica people, and that they came to Hisui rather than being native.  But I think there are other components that suggest this as well, and I’m going to use the other big point here to argue it: I don’t think the Diamond and Pearl clans were the settlers referenced.

What was the purpose of the settler coming to Celestica?  “Love of Sinnoh,” right?  There are two places on the planet that deify Arceus in this way - Hisui, and Sinjoh.  But we know that the people who came from across the seas had knowledge of Sinnoh, but each worshiped something different.  While this implies Dialga and Palkia, and likely did include them, I do think there are other options.  Giratina also had a statue, and the Unown seem pretty critically important as well if you know the events of Sinjoh.

In HGSS, you go to Sinjoh, if you bring the event Arceus to the Ruins of Alph.  The Unown surround you, and transport you to Sinjoh, where you meet Cynthia.  She comments that these ruins blend Sinnoh and Johto influence, and the ultimate event is that Arceus, surrounded by the Unown, produce and egg of Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina.  This is the only time we see Arceus’ action as a creator.

Another notable piece of Sinjoh is that it is the only place with a clear sigil to Arceus.  Nowhere else in the world has a clear indication that Arceus even exists, this is the only space.  And it’s a clear sigil that acknowledges Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina as well, all in a location where the Unown are present.  Given this, it’s unlikely that anyone based in Sinjoh would have the wrong idea about who the primary deity is in this situation.  But there would be confusion in Hisui, where there are clear statues to the trio.  Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina all have or had direct depictions of themselves on Coronet, and that kind of concrete presentation would be much easier to mistake as the true form of Sinnoh than an ambiguous sigil on the floor.

The last piece is the Unown themselves.  If Celestica were based in Sinjoh, then it makes sense they have knowledge of the Unown, and likely included them in the grand scheme of their faith.  Which would make sense.  Arceus created Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, but is only able to do so in the Sinjoh Ruins, with the Unown present.  And both conditions are significant.  If only the Unown were needed, it could’ve made the egg in the Ruins of Alph.  If only the Sinjoh Ruins were needed, the Unown would have no reason to stay around.  All of these components are required for creation, and I think this is something the Celestica people in Sinjoh knew about.  “Almighty Sinnoh,” in its proper form, likely isn’t a specific entity at all.  More likely, it’s the force of creation brought about through Arceus and the Unown’s cooperation.  What hints to this?

“All lives touch other lives and create something anew and alive.”  This is written in Solaceon, and is the only other location where the Unown and their script can be found.  Calaba reads this as helping each other, and she’s not wrong, but I think this carries significance to the faith as well.  Arceus and the Unown are also cooperating; their existences intermingle and create something anew and alive - the forces of the world itself.  This is demonstrated directly in Sinjoh, likely in the act that gave birth to the world itself.  Given these pieces, I think Sinjoh was Ground 0.  This would be considered the birthplace of the world, and perhaps the site itself could be considered “Almighty Sinnoh.”  The location seems to hold similar significance to creation, after all.

The Ancient Sinnoh People, and the Clans With all that in mind, it’s pretty clear why Celestica might be a big deal name, as the people who sat at the literal birthplace of creation, and held all the knowledge of every facet of this creation.  The last question is who, then, sailed to them?

I mentioned earlier, I don’t think the Diamond and Pearl clans were the ones who did.  There are two reasons for this.  One is that the name Celestica barely registers to them.  The major feat in Verse 5 was taking that name, yet neither clan claims it.  That seems decisively impossible if they were the ones fighting over it.  But at the same time, the name of Celestica is found within Hisui, in the flutes they use, and in reference to locations like “Celestica Trail” in the Highlands.  So clearly the name was claimed, and brought to Hisui.  But it would’ve been by people who understood the significance and wanted to reference that significance.  This could have been the Diamond and Pearl clans, but there’s one other piece to my assertion.

Mai directly tells you that they sailed to Hisui.  They’re not native to here.  The only places that know about Arceus or almighty Sinnoh are the people of Hisui, and the people of Sinjoh.  So to move around for that purpose, they must be from one or the other.  The Diamond and Pearl clans likely came from Sinjoh, in a sort of back and forth.  Celestica was in Sinjoh, another group came from Hisui to Sinjoh and fought over their beliefs, and the Diamond and Pearl clans returned to Hisui at a later time.  There is something to suggest this back and forth may have taken place multiple times throughout history.  The Solaceon Ruins are the best indicator.  Only someone from Sinjoh would know about the Unown and write in their script.  And those ruins are just as old as any, implying that the ancient Celestica people dispersed, and some may have come to Hisui, which further may have been a catalyst for the setters that then moved to Sinjoh.  As a final point of evidence, there is a location on Coronet with the name “Celestica,” that seems to be an ancient reference to them.  If the Diamond and Pearl clans came from across the ocean to claim the name Celestica here in Hisui, it seems strange that the name would be applied to this area, far removed from any other allusion to the people.

Again, this could all be ancient forms of the Diamond and Pearl clans.  That is possible.  But there’s a missing group that has no context or presence otherwise.

The ancient Sinnoh people.  This is the group we know the least about, and it’s referenced exactly one time by Volo upon his defeat.  He mentions the blood of the ancient Sinnoh people flows in his veins, and that he alone knew the truth and worshiped the correct god, presumably based on that knowledge.  After all, this Sinnoh blood seems to be a point of pride for Volo, so it’s likely that these people were significant, and held the records of Giratina and Arceus that Volo learned from.

Ancient Sinnoh would have been the perfect group to know about Dialga and Palkia, and not know about the full depth of what almighty Sinnoh is.  There was also a statue to Giratina, and the knowledge of the Unown from Solaceon, which may have been how they knew about Celestica at all.  But curiously, they also knew about Arceus.  Volo has records of its proper name, suggesting that the ancient Sinnoh people knew full well about Arceus itself.  And likely worshiped it, given that Volo follows in those footsteps, and feels this is what made him right.

But I think this all re-asserts my stance that “almighty Sinnoh” is not a singular entity.  Even those who worshiped Arceus itself may have been wrong, and not had the full understanding.  With their war across the seas, we don’t know the outcome, but we know two things.  The Diamond and Pearl clans are the only ones who returned, and Verse 20′s predictive tone implies that where they battled was left inhospitable.  Which tracks; there is absolutely nothing living in Sinjoh in HGSS.  The author, then, is likely looking at the conflicts between the Diamond and Pearl clan in Hisui as a recurrence of the conflicts of the past in Sinjoh, and predicting the same destructive end.

Deified Devil and Arceus’ Will The other facet of the Verses focuses on the ancient hero, and there is...a lot to go through.  As I mentioned before, Verse 10 states the hero fought against “The great unknowable,” which returned to its “Domain of no place.”  This has to be Giratina.  Arceus is not referenced in these terms anywhere else, and moreover, note that it is “The great unknowable.”  Arceus, when referenced, is “Almighty.”  Curiously, the “unknowable” is also called “almighty” at the outset, but is referenced as “great” later on, implying that it once held a higher status, but lost that status upon its defeat.  Arceus doesn’t lose its status as “almighty,” so this can only be Giratina.

Now here’s a question for you: when was that statue of Giratina on Coronet made?

Prior to the time of the hero, Giratina was a violent creature, who challenged Arceus.  Its sheer power and terrifying disposition may have been what gained it the title of “Almighty Unknowable” once, but following the hero’s actions, it was defeated and became “Great Unknowable.”  Verse 10 also tells us that Giratina approved this feat and left of its own accord.

Volo actually talks a lot about Giratina throughout the game, if you look for it.  The obvious lines referenced are in the post-game, where he talks directly about Giratina’s savage nature and how it was banished for its violence, the “unwanted child” of Arceus.  But this conflicts with the Verse already, which states Giratina was never banished.  Given the status of Celestica as the locus of all lore and the author’s status as a lorekeeper of Celestica, we can assume that the Verse is correct; Giratina was not banished.  So why do records Volo found suggest otherwise?

Moreover, Volo references two other things to do with Giratina.  In the Cobalt Coastlands, he talks about how you are reminiscent of the ancient hero, said to have done battle with “Almighty Sinnoh.”  Which is weird, given Verse 10 is pretty directly talking about Giratina.  No such record of the hero battling Arceus exists.  Volo even comments that this is strange, as the 10 Pokemon blessed by the hero would have no reason to stand against the one who gave them their strength.

The other comment is in the Coronet Highlands, when talking to Ingo.  Volo references the space-time distortion happened once before, and that this was the catalyst for the ancient hero’s rise.  Given that the space-time distortion currently is caused by Giratina, it seems to imply that the previous distortion was as well, when Giratina attempted to tear its way to Arceus’ domain.

The last two statements are interesting, because they imply to me that Volo knows the ancient history isn’t perfectly accurate.  He knew about Giratina, what it did, and where to find it.  But the fact that he believes it was banished is mistaken, given the verse.  Why?

My guess is that Giratina was deified after its defeat by the hero, given the presence of its statue on Coronet.  It could have been built beforehand, but Giratina was actively challenging Arceus at that point; why build a statue to honor something so violent?  It makes sense to destroy its statue due to its violence, but not to build once before it is pacified.  So the statue should have come after the time of the hero, and is placed on a higher elevation than Dialga and Palkia, overlooking the two as a symbol of its status.  But it no longer exists, and Volo’s records suggest it was demonized rather than deified.

I believe this is likely due to the ongoing conflicts between clans.  Dialga and Palkia remain as the center of the Diamond and Pearl clans, and their faith comes from concrete records in their statues.  It stands to reason that Giratina, too, may have had such a following as well.  But given its history, Giratina would be very easy to vilify, and as a result, shake the faith of that sect.  They could be cast as the group in the wrong, and over time lose their following.  That or they all died.  War is a thing we know happened, it’s possible they just outright lost.  But given that Volo’s records are erroneous, I think the former makes more sense.

But if that’s all accurate, it means Volo’s mistaken about one other thing, and that tracks with the events of the game.  Giratina doesn’t want to fight Arceus.  Giratina opened the rift, but at no point did it make any clear effort to break into Arceus’ domain.  Arceus isn’t even worried about it this time.  When it happened in the time of the hero, he gave power to 10 Pokemon and the hero came to stop Giratina; it clearly cared about that attempt.  But this time, all it says to our protagonist is “Seek out all Pokemon.”  At no point does Arceus ever ask you to solve the problem of the rift, or find the cause.  Harsh as it is, Volo didn’t even register as a threat.

That’s likely because Giratina wasn’t even trying to do what Volo expected.  Giratina does face off against the protagonist, after Volo has lost, but its what happens after that’s strange.  Volo describes it as “turning tail and running,” which...seems to be literal.  Giratina was between you and Volo fighting, and when the battle is over, Volo is facing away from you.  Giratina seems to have literally run from you.  And what does it do?  It makes itself very conspicuous in the Cobalt Coastlands, and then hangs out on your side of dimensions to be captured.  Volo states to Laventon that Giratina decided to protect the world instead after you defeated it, but this could just be when he learns that Giratina holds no ill will toward the world.  Most likely, Giratina was pacified during the era of the hero, and by this point is making a show of things by breaking open the distortion and then allowing itself to be caught by the protagonist.  You know.  Kinda like Arceus would want.

You’re seeking out all Pokemon, and this ancient deity figure that lives in an alternate dimension just happens to be playing along with some zealot who wants to break open time and space to get to god, then loses and sticks around to let itself be captured?  It just seems really convenient for the player, and for Arceus, that this went down as it did.  And considering Arceus didn’t even bother asking you about the rift, it seems likely that Arceus and Giratina had this whole thing figured out before you even got here.

Contradicting Points There are some pieces that contradict my analysis, and I’ll go over them here as a note.  I don’t have great answers, but I’ll try.

The biggest is the location of Celestica.  In the Unown Dex, Unown C is listed in “The stone pillars of Celestica,” and is found in the Celestica Ruins on Coronet.  I can’t really refute that this could be the true Celestica, especially since the Unown don’t lie and seem to have full knowledge, but I would say a possibility is that those who came from Sinjoh and established the Solaceon Ruins may have called this place home.  “Celestica” as a people may have been more spread out than just Sinjoh, where the author was based.

While Volo’s word is hardly infallible, it is possible that Giratina did become violent again, and you pacifying it caused it to finally want to protect things.  This does conflict with Verse 10, but it’s possible.  The missing link is just “What set Giratina into a rage enough to try again?”  And we can’t really know that.  Maybe something Volo suggested to it actually did rile it up again.  Maybe it was willing to fight if someone else pushed it to do so, and the ancient hero just impressed it with strength enough to back down on its own attempt.  But this wouldn’t necessarily explain why Giratina stuck around for the protagonist.  Sure, they decided to protect the world, but that doesn’t mean they needed to stick around and be captured, playing right into Arceus’ demands that you catch everything.

Lastly, the whole Diamond and Pearl clan thing.  It is very possible that the settlers were always just part of their groups, and there is something to be said for a parsimonious explanation.  Things fit, especially if the Shrouded Ruins were the basis of Celestica.  I cant refute that entirely, but hopefully what I’ve presented makes sense as a possible alternative.

Conclusions After 8 days, I think I’m finally done analyzing.  This started out a much shorter project, but I started playing through the game again and realized I had forgotten some of the implications in Mai and Volo’s dialogue in the main game, and had to add a ton of new thoughts.  Then there was checking the Unown Dex for things, and trying to find explanations of why the name Celestica shows up but seems to have lost significance.  It’s a lot.

But it was fun.  Hopefully you enjoyed reading, and feel free to share any theories of your own about the verses and the lore.  After all, Sinnoh lore is best lore, and there’s never too much discussion about it.

[writing-with-olive]

How to write essays fast

I've been writing a lot of papers, so that's what's on my mind.

So this mostly applies to your standard 5-paragraph paper, though it's fairly straightforward to adapt it to longer (or sometimes shorter) assignments.

One of the main things to note is that essays are VERY formulaic, so knowing the formula and being able to write down your ideas in a way that fit into the formula is probably the number one way to get stuff done fast. Because of that, most of what I’m covering is breaking down the formulas so they’re more accessable.

Also this got very long. If there’s anything you want me to expand on just let me know in the comments or send me an ask/DM and I’ll make another post that goes more in-depth about it.

Structure (I hate this step, so I’ve figured out how to do it very fast becuase it’s still important)

The first thing to consider is prewriting and structure. To start, there are two major paper structures I usually consider. The first goes

Introduction

Main point #1

Main point #2

Main point #3

Conclusion

This is good if you have a lot to say on the topic, or if it's something closer to a summary essay where there's not really an opposing side. In something where there are distinct sides, (or if you have less to say to support your own side), you may want something that looks like

Introduction

Main point #1

Main point #2

Why the other side is wrong

Conclusion

The "why the other side is wrong" side is involves thinking through the MOST credible arguments the other side might make, and methodically breaking them down to show how they don't work. The stronger the argument you choose, the more effective this is.

Since I personally hate prewriting with a passion, I usually do this step very fast and end up with an outline that looks like

Intro [insert thesis statement]

P1: [three word summary]

P2: [three word summary]

P3: [three word summary]

Conclusion

(thesis statement, introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion tips are all below the cut)

Usually, this is enough so when I look at my outline, I can see what I'm trying to focus on for each paragraph - and do so without straying from my main point.

For the prewriting, the main things to do are identify with basic structure of the two will serve your purposes better, and write a thesis statement that solidly supports your argument.

Thesis Statement

There are so many guides about creating thesis statements that are powerful, but I'm just going to quickly go over how to be fast about it.

The first thing to know is that a thesis statement is usually a complex sentence: it's your entire essay distilled down to a single line. The general formula I follow goes something like this:

"In their [media type] [name of specific piece], [creator's full name] explored/demonstrated/other verb [theme you're going to be arguing about] demonstrated/using/as evidenced/as shown by [example 1], [example 2], and [optional example 3]."

For example, a thesis statement that follows this format might go

“In his short film Job at Place, David Davidson explored the manifestations of human stupidity through the absurdity of the main character’s home, school, and office.”

Or, if you're writing a historical piece, it might look something like this:

"In [place/time period], [thing you're arguing was happening]: they had to/the conditions were such that/other thing to set up a list [example 1], [example 2], and [example 3]."

For example, a thesis statement that follows this format might go

“During the Tusken Invasion of 32nd century Tatooine, it was the lives of the children that were most affected, from their social development and connections with others to more personal struggles they didn’t yet have the tools to overcome.”

The examples you give are going to correlate to your paragraphs - example 1 is for body paragraph 1, and so on. 

Introduction

I like to think of the introduction as a funnel that gets more and more specific.

First, write a broad statement that touches on whatever theme you’re referencing. 

Job at Place is about human stupidity, so something like “while great minds have flourished throughout the ages, so have the not-so-great.”

Tatooine is about war, and about child development, so something like “children’s development has always been impacted by the state of the world around them.” or “war has many effects, many of which impact those not directly involved with the conflict.”

The idea is that it’s a broad statement that can almost be looked at like a universal truth.

Next, you’re going to go deeper - two sentences that narrow down the time and place you’re talking about specifically, and how that time and place fit into your universal statement. 

The fourth sentence gets even more specific - introducing how the thesis sentence fits into your first three sentences.

Then the last line is your thesis statements. 

Body Paragraphs

Your three main body paragraphs all follow the same formula. (I’ll get to the “why the other side is wrong” paragraph in a minute)

The first sentence you’re going to want is a topic sentence. For this, you’re going to want to look at the example you gave in your thesis statement that corresponds to this paragraph, and see how it relates to your central claim. 

If we’re going with the Job at Place example from above, for the second paragraph, you might open with a line like:

“A striking characteristic of Davidson’s short film was the abnormality of the main character’s school, used to showcase exactly what happens when poor decisions get taken too far.”

Everything within the paragraph will then back up the claim you’re making in the topic sentence (which in turn is backing up your thesis). 

For each paragraph, you’re probably going to want about three pieces of evidence, either in the form of direct quotes (plucking words directly from the source) or paraphrased quotes (summarizing what happened in your own words). The quote should be used to directly support your argument.

After each piece of evidence, you’re going to want about... twoish lines of analysis (this number can change as you need it to, but two lines is something solid to fall back to). 

While analysis can take all kinds of forms, one pattern you can use if you’re stuck is

evidence sentence 

what it means

how that meaning ties back into your main point

Following this pattern, a piece of analysis of Job at Place might look like:

“One of the first images of the private school is that it’s a tall spire with creaking stairs and loose floorboards. Despite this, the principal has eight personal cars parked outside on full display. While the first glimpse of the school might indicate that there is little money to care for the structural integrity, the notion is directly negated by the principal’s actions. By using these two images, Davidson demonstrates what can happen to the youth when those in power let greed carry them away.”

After you write your analysis, include some kind of transition phrase, and go onto the next piece of evidence.

The last line of your paragraph is going to transition into the next paragraph while also summing up the main point of what you talked about in the current one. (This line can also get moved down and tacked onto the beginning of the next paragraph, before the topic sentence, but I have found it tends to look less cohesive that way).

You might choose something like:

“While the school was a disaster in its own right, it wasn’t the only example of human folly.”

If you’re writing a “this is why the other side is wrong” you’re going to want to think about the MOST compelling arguments the other side could make. Take the top one (or two), and figure out ways to crack them apart using evidence from your source material.

In this case, your topic sentence might start off with something like

“While opponents might say [insert compelling counterargument], their reasoning breaks down when one takes into account the evidence.”

At this point, you’re going to follow the same formula as above. The main thing to keep in mind is that for the duration of this paragraph, your point is that the other side’s claim of X is wrong.

Conclusion!

If you know what you’re doing, this is actually the easiest part.

(wait, what??????)

The thing is, you NEVER want to introduce new ideas into your conclusion. Instead, you’re summarizing your main points.

The formula I follow per sentence is:

Thesis statement but reworded (you can change the sentence structure too)

Topic sentence for paragraph 2 or 3, but reworded (I’ll explain why you shouldn’t do the sentence for P1 in just a sec)

Topic sentence for paragraph 1 or 3 but reworded

Topic sentence for paragraph 1 or 2 but reworded

Wow sentence or question (i’ll get to this too)

The idea for the middle three sentences is you don’t want them to read as repetitive, so you’re going to mix up the order so it doesn’t match the order of the rest of the essay. This will help to keep it fresh.

The wow sentence is basically the last impression you get to make. I find it’s usually a good idea to go just a tad dramatic (it sounds dumb, but it has never failed me). If I can’t think of anything, a declarative statement on whatever major theme was being discussed throughout the essay usually does the trick.

Examples:

All of this shows that in the absence of friendships and platonic love, humanity will falter.

Fiction may seem far fetched now, but if the world falls into those same mistakes, it’s only a matter of time until it becomes a reality.

Art has existed for as long as humans have populated the earth; it’s not going away any time soon.

A lesson everyone must understand is the most powerful weapon isn’t anything physical or tangeable: it’s the ideas that exist in the minds of those who care.

(I told you they were going to be dramatic) A way I look at it is if you can’t imagine dropping the mic on the last line, it needs to be stronger (yes I found that plagiarized with not even a whisper of credit on Pinterest, but it works).

If you wrote a SOLID essay, consider ending with a question aimed at the reader (this will push your essay in the direction of either the positive or negative extreme: a strong essay will become stronger, a weak essay will become weaker). Questions can be a call to action or rhetorical as a means to drive home your final point. Becuase they’re more nuanced to the content of the essay, I don’t really have great examples to give you though (sorry).

Hopefully this is useful to at least some of you - good luck!

++++

Tagging:@candlemouse

If you want to be added to or removed from any of my taglists (found pinned to the top of my blog) just let me know :)

[neptunelindseycosplay]

My Jude Duarte cosplay all together!!

↓ read about my process down below ↓

I made the decision to put everything together for the Renaissance Fair in Irwindale, as they were doing a cosplay weekend.

Book characters allow so much freedom for personal interpretation! I wanted to create a look in line with Jude's desire to become a knight.

I’m still a beginner seamstress, so I always try to tackle projects in my current skill level. Most of the items for the outfit were things I already owned. I did, however, make a drawstring top with poofy sleeves for the cosplay, something I didn't already have in my arsenal

The pattern is from RabbitAndHatPatterns on Etsy, it was a a very quick and easy project.

Jude’s holly berry necklace was quickly made by twisting two wire garlands around each other and then wrapping with brown embroidery thread. I attached a clasp and several jump rings to either end of the necklace for ease of wearing.

The more difficult task to tackle was the wig. Jude in the novels wears a lot of different hair styles, but her most notable look is with these “hair horns.”

I had to do a lot of research to formulate a plan for crafting this wig, as this is the most complicated wig build I’ve done thus far. The Art of Extreme Wig Styling by Cowbuttcrunchies, which I got as a pdf in a Humble Bundle last year, really came in handy. I decided the best way to form the base for the horns was using a lightweight styrofoam.

I started out with styrofoam cones from the craft store, which I drew the general shape I wanted with sharpie, then carved with a serrated knife. After that, I sanded everything down to ensure smooth edges and similar shape of the foam pieces. Safety first!! While sanding down, I wore gloves, an N95, and safety goggles to protect myself from small polystyrene particles.

I painted the styrofoam pieces brown and then got to gluing and wrapping the hair.

And wrapping.

And finishing wrapping!

This whole process took me nearly all three seasons of wwdits! Quite a lot of work, but I learned so much persevering through everything.

In order to attach the hair horns to the wig, I sewed in a wire “headband” into the underside of wig with part of the wire sticking out and used it to pierce the styrofoam base of the horn. For added security, I cut wire and bent into a hairpin shape, and from the wig underside, shoved them into the horns, capturing the netting in the process. There is probably a more secure way to keep the hair pieces in place, but at this point, I was pretty tired and ready to wrap up the project.

I took some wig hair and wrapped it around the hair horn, shaping and securing with a blow dryer and hairspray. This helped blend the attached piece with the base wig. Using the same garland from the necklace, I wrapped it around the base of the horn for decoration and greater cohesion to the outfit as a whole. Then I was done!

Before RenFaire, I did a quick cos-test to make sure I liked everything as a whole.

I had a great time at the fair with my best friend dressed as Keyleth from Critical Role and met some amazing people. Thank you for following me on this journey 🖤