#there's something really magical about being able to decode the details in the things people do for you that clearly show how they feel

[gender-euphowrya]

my mom bought me orange juice because ''it's got loads of vitamins'' and she offers me some and i'm thinking "i gotta say yes bcs that's her way of communicating that she loves me" and then she brings it to me in my pride cup from my first pride parade

[moonlightserenadeeznutz]

Warlocks Are Attacking: Full muggle timeline.

(Hello internet, welllllcome to film theory!)

This is a detailed timeline of the headcanon I made about James Sirius Potter being in a band, specifically the tl during which the band pretended to be a lost 80s band in the muggle world, explained in this post (which I recommend reading first otherwise you may be quite confused).

This is honestly a super random thing I wrote when I was bored, but I ended up getting super invested in it so guess what, you guys are subjected to it as well now!

Written in the style of a YouTube video, I’ve heavily based the discography of Warlocks are Attacking on the band I Don’t Know How But They Found Me.

Enjoy!

~ On April 17th 2025, a piano cover of The Scientist by Coldplay was released on the YouTube channel JSHarkness04. A completely ordinary- if not low quality- video where the person behind the camera is neither seen nor heard.

More covers are uploaded over the coming months in the same style, and really the channel gains no special interest or notoriety. A few edit videos are uploaded, the usual crack stuff, and a few more covers.

On January 23rd 2026, a vlog is released showing the YouTuber moving into his new house. We finally hear and see the person behind the camera, a British dude around early twenties whose name is revealed to be Alex, and his girlfriend. Again, there’s nothing out of the ordinary in this video, and it’s only a few minutes long.

A few more piano covers are uploaded, as well as another edit video, and then...

This is where it starts.

On May 3rd 2026, a video is uploaded entitled “Warlocks are Attacking”. In it, Alex talks about how he was clearing out the attic of his new home when he came across some old cassette tapes. All the tapes had writing on them, all different, except for the phrase “Warlocks are Attacking”. Judging by the labels, it appeared to be the name of a band, while the rest of the writing could be taken as song titles: Bleed Magic, Do It All The Time, Nobody Likes the Opening Band, etc. Alex said he had listened to some of the tapes, and confirmed that they were songs correlating with the titles. Alex said he’d never heard of the songs before, nor could he find any trace of the band’s existence online, but that some of the tapes had been dated 1986.

This video didn’t really have a conclusion, but only two days after it was uploaded, another video- only a minute long- was uploaded entitled “New Channel”, where Alex explains that he would be setting up a new YouTube channel to showcase the songs he’d found on the tapes, and hopefully be able to find out who the band was.

On May 25th, two videos on Alex’s new channel, given the name “Warlocks are Attacking” were uploaded. The first one was 30 seconds long entitled “Introduction”, which was nothing more than a man’s voice introducing the band. It didn’t cause much suspicion, especially since the record label that the band was apparently signed to was called “None You Jerk”, obviously a fake label. So the introduction could most likely just be a joke made by the band and recorded.

The second video was a simple lyric video for the song “Nobody Likes the Opening Band”. And in the description he explained the story again of how he found the tapes, and asked if anyone knew the song, or the band.

More songs were uploaded, Choke, Bleed Magic, Absinthe etc. And soon the channel started to grow, both from people who genuinely enjoyed the music, and people who were intrigued as to whether or not this really was a lost 80s band, or whether the entire thing was fake.

Theories started circulating, and people started to try and find hidden messages. They started with the username of the original channel JSHarkness04 but search J Harkness, or even JS Harkness, and the only real result you get is Captain Jack Harkness from Doctor Who. So it seemed that the only thing that the username implied was that the YouTuber was perhaps a Doctor Who fan.

People searched for hidden meanings in the piano covers, the moving house vlog, even the random edits. But no one came up with anything. So eventually people started to give up and accepted the fact that the whole thing was real, and the songs really were from old cassette tapes found in some guy’s attic.

That being said, there were a select few people who just weren’t convinced. Mainly because of the fact that the songs were good. They weren’t experimental pieces from a band trying to find its sound. They had their sound. They knew what they were doing. So how come no one had ever heard of them? Did they really never play these songs to anyone? Not even for an underground gig?

Well, that’s the thing. There’s no saying they didn’t. If you heard a song forty years ago at some random gig, would you remember? And even so, a number of things could have happened that would have stopped the band from ever having their songs released. Maybe they broke up, maybe they couldn’t find anyone who wanted to pick up their songs, maybe they died was one theory someone had.

Point is, the quality and consistency of the songs was really the only evidence that this whole thing was fake, and even that evidence was sketchy.

But then, on November 7th 2026, an altogether different video was uploaded titled “Comfortably Numb- Pink Floyd (cover by Warlocks are Attacking) (found footage!)”

In the description of this video, Alex claims that he found some video tapes in the attic that had been hidden away. A few had been recorded over, but he was able to find a few complete videos of the band.

In this video, we see three band members in what looks like a garage jamming out a cover of Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb. And people went crazy. Not only did we finally see what the band members looked like, but we also found out their names. The video, which was dated 1983, had credits edited to the beginning, easily done in the 80s so there was no implication that it wasn’t legit.

Anyway, the credits show that the singer in the video is called Noah Mori, the keyboardist is called Lyra Thomas, and the drummer is called James Potter.

People took apart this video piece by piece, trying to find evidence of either the band being new, or some connection to the YouTuber. Maybe something in the garage was from a time after 1983, maybe the 70s Doctor Who poster in the corner had something to do with JSHarkness04. But all in all, once again, there really was nothing to suggest that it wasn’t real.

However, one thing that was noticed was that, when comparing the singing voice of Noah to the singing voice in the other songs released, they sound completely different.

So despite everything, no one could say for sure who the band members were. We didn’t know if the drummer and the keyboardist were the same, nor did we know who the new singer was. We didn’t even know if they had more than three band members by the time 1986 rolled around, or even if some of the original members had left. All we knew was that the singer had been switched, either with a new singer who wasn’t in the video, or with James Potter, since he was the only other guy in the video.

After the video was released, not much else happened, except the occasional release of another song, which were combed by theorisers looking for evidence that the songs couldn’t have been written and recorded in the 80s but once again came up short.

By this point, the band had grown a real cult following, increased even further when the songs were put on Spotify by Alex.

On March 18th 2027, another video was released, titled “Choke- Live Performance” and showed footage of an actual gig where the band was playing their song, filmed on an old camcorder by someone in the audience, completely unprofessionally as the camera would bob down every so often. Once again no evidence was found of it being faked. However, it did open new possibilities: the band had played gigs. Which means that someone must have seen them play. Not only that but it confirmed that the singer had been switched to James Potter, while the drummer was now Noah, and Lyra was still the keyboardist.

People went onto various sites trying to find anyone who may have been present at a gig in the 80s to see the band live, but no one came forward.

Well, a few people did. But the only evidence they could give was their word, so no one knew whether or not to believe them, which means no one could for definite write off the gig as being fake.

The next stir in the band’s fanbase came with a video simply entitled “???”, a one minute video, with the same voice as the introduction, talking about indoctrination:

Indoctrination program, designation "CVM51-D". Congratulations, you have been selected. You are special. Only the very best and brightest are considered for placement in our patented Temporal Arts program. We invite you to follow along, as we work together to decode and exploit the secrets of time and space for our benefit. Each volunteer pairing will be assigned a chaperone. Our white shadows will oversee your progress. Be sure that our company's interests maintain the highest priority throughout your journey. Please enjoy your experience, and remember: Time is on our side.

Predictably, people were very excited to analyse the text, and while it could still be taken as just a joke by the band, and therefore still no evidence of the band being new, it was an odd thing for the band to do if their songs were never released. A waste of time in a way, especially after already doing it once with the introduction. The voice also wasn’t familiar, though some say that it sounded a little like Noah when compared with the Pink Floyd cover, but putting on an American accent and edited to sound like something out of a PSA.

Another song was released entitled “Need You Here” and then came an actual music video. Or at least, an attempt at a music video.

It was for the song: “Nobody Likes the Opening Band” and in the video we see James singing on a stage, with Lyra playing the piano in a corner and Noah entering onto the stage to play the accompanying tambourine. It’s clearly a music video rather than footage from a show, considering the rather humorous moments that it involves, but executed with complete seriousness.

It also cuts out at the end and shows footage from some kids show which, according to Alex in the description, was called Bagpuss, and was aired in the UK from February 12th 1974 to May 7th of the same year, indicating that the music video had perhaps accidentally been taped over.

(Badly edited example I made of the end of the mv).

While the music video itself didn’t cause too much of a stir, the kids show at the end did, as people claimed that if the show had aired in 1974, and the band hadn’t established itself until at least 1983, how had they managed to accidentally tape over the video with the tv show? People thought it was deliberate, and therefore a sign that the band wasn’t real. Others claimed Alex had done it himself as a joke.

Looking back in the coming months, people saw this video as the start of the band slowly revealing itself to be not what it first seemed. But more evidence didn’t come for a while.

After the release of the song “Mad IQs”, another music video was released, and this one seemed much more professional, as if the band was really trying to make a proper video. It was still filmed in the 80s camcorder style, and it was still very simplistic, and possibly low-budget, again implying that this was a band doing everything themselves.

Released on the 23rd December 2027, the video was a cover of “Merry Christmas Everybody” and once again had the rather quirky vibe of the Opening Band video, where James is unsmilingly singing the song while Noah sits next to him... playing dead? And Lyra comes in halfway through and begins decorating the lifeless Noah with Christmas lights. So at least, if nothing, we know the band has a sense of humour.

An acoustic cover was released of Choke, then a few more songs. And then another music video which so far was the most professional out of all of the ones released. The song was called “Social Climb” and for the video, they actually had a set: a very fancy mansion. We don’t know whether they rented the mansion out, if they borrowed it from a friend, or if one of them even lived there, but by this point they had seemingly become determined to be a real band, which is why the whole idea of them having no recognition whatsoever was odd.

But it was the next video that caused much more of stir, and was the real proper beginning of the band revealing their true identity.

On the 12th September 2027, another cover video was released of David Bowie’s “Heroes”, though was much more in the same style as the Comfortably Numb cover, suggesting that this video was made quite soon after. It was still filmed in the same garage, though with a little more editing, and James was now the singer, and Noah the drummer.

Once again it had credits, but this time they were a little different:

Songwriter/drummer: N. H. Mori Keyboardist: L. A. Thomas  Singer/guitarist: J. S. Potter

Doesn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary, right? Well, that’s what most people thought too, but others were adamant that the initials were a sign, because if you notice, James Potter: J S Potter.

People were convinced that the initials JS were linked to the username JSHarkness04, and even brought up the 70s poster of Doctor Who seen in the first footage video as evidence that the username was something to do with James, and therefore showing that the entire thing was contrived.

Some people accepted this, but a lot of people were still sceptical. After all, it could easily just be a coincidence.

Another song was released, and then one more music video on November 16th.

This one was the most different- and the most professional of all the music videos on the channel, for the song “Do It All The Time”.

According to the description, it was sent to Alex by “an anonymous donor” saying that it had once been aired as an educational video in their school, around the year 1987/88.

And while the video could have been created in the 80s, it’s format is much more satirical than anything. The description could easily have said that it was another- and much better- attempt from the band at creating a music video, but instead the description gave an explanation that seemed... off. Not because the uploader had grown cocky, but because the band was finally making its transition from being surrounded in theory to being simply aesthetically satirical.

That being said, it still wasn’t concrete evidence.

There wasn’t another video until December 23rd. Another Christmas one, this time for a song called “Oh Noel” with James sitting alone in front of a decorated fireplace and singing.

Another subtle reference to the band’s identity was revealed with the lyric “I met you in December ’93”, obviously quite a few years after the band was supposedly around.

The next music video was for “Modern Day Cain”, and this is where the band’s identity properly moved away from the convincing 80s set up. The music video had a similar vibe to “Do It All The Time”, though the content was different. In this case, the video was mock footage from a TV show, which, according to the description was called ‘Superstar Showcase’, aired in 1989.

No such TV show ever existed, which was rather obvious by the footage, as once again it was very satirical.

So by now, only the most stubborn of fans were still convinced that the band was really from the 80s.

But no one was really disappointed. The band had executed their persona well. They had maintained the belief that they were a lost band for over two years, and revealed themselves so subtly that people hardly noticed.

The entire act was wrapped up on April 17th 2028, exactly three years after the first video was uploaded on JSHarkness04′s channel, with the release of a cover of “Debra” by Beck. A song released in 1999.

I should mention by this point that the channel JSHarkness04 had been uploading relatively consistently the entire time, most likely for the extra realism to the act. But once the act had been dropped, the channel went dormant.

Since then, the band has been releasing new songs here and there, and they still keep up the 80s persona, but now that they don’t have to be so careful, they’ve been able to have more freedom over what they post. An official music video for “Choke” was released, with the description:

“Pop Time Live was a short-lived music television program that aired briefly in Eastern Europe in the early 1980s. The show, and its producers, had hoped to capitalize on the then popular ‘Italo Disco’ movement, but audiences found its lack of authenticity objectionable. Labeled ‘NOT FOR BROADCAST,’ it is believed that this particular Warlocks performance never made it to air due to the band’s refusal to properly pantomime to their own song.”

Again, no such show existed. So now it was clear that the band was now a fully satirical 80s persona, and eventually they made live appearances, and even interviews, where people were finally able to find out exactly who they were, and that the band had actually been formed in 2021, and their plan to pretend to be an 80s band had first been made up by Noah who filmed one of their performances when they were first starting out (and James was still the drummer, Noah the lead singer) with the idea already in mind. And Alex was a friend of the group who had agreed to play along, but that the Warlocks’ YouTube channel wasn’t run by him, but by all three members of the group.

And as of now, that really covers the entire timeline of Warlocks are Attacking.

~ But heeey. That’s juust a theory. A film theory. Aaand cut.

[chibivesicle]

Golden Kamuy chapters 247 & 248; Asirpa’s self doubt and how to catch a killer

With the realignment of the factions, yet again, Asirpa is back with Hijikata and his ‘lofty’ goal to establish the Republic of Ezo.

Hijikata leverages as much control as possible by only allowing Asirpa to look at his collection of tattooed skins.  The chapter starts with her inner dialogue as she examines various skins and outlines that there is a rule that is shared between ones that are confirmed to belong to a convict.

She importantly highlights skins that are on still living people as it is the best proof that they were indeed tattooed by Wilk.

She then continues to examine ones that were verified to be legitimate from convicts that Hijikata skinned himself; Sekiya and Youichirou.  All of the paper copies as well are correct.  Things then become interesting as she turns to another skin.

Hijikata explains that it was the skin that Ogata found during the showdown in Barato.  She then immediately questions the authenticity of the skin because Ogata procured it on his own.

She asks Hijikata if he knew who this skin could have belonged to but he’s unable to confirm the convict.  Therefore, Asirpa thinks that Ogata’s skin is untrustworthy.

This is a huge change in attitude by Asirpa towards Ogata.  It is clear that when he lied to her about Sugimoto on the ice floe, she yelled at him that she couldn’t trust anything about him.  He went from someone she could trust and rely on to a complete liar. 

I can only see this as the influence of Sugimoto on her in regard to Ogata.  She’s watched Sugimoto lie to people all the time, but she’s never doubted him.  Yet, now anything Ogata has done is 100% suspect.

But as she analyzes the skin, it follows the unspecified rule.

Therefore, Ogata did indeed procure a legitimate skin though finding the hiding place by lighting the fire and freeing the poor son from his oppressive parents.

She questions the skin that Kantaro got since it does not follow the rule but Hijikata thinks it is real since Tsurumi was after it as well.  She’s unsure of the skin as it doesn’t follow the rule but she at least can read one of the kanji now.  But she’s confused as it can be also read as “u” contributing to the code.

Hijikata thinks the skins that Ogata and Kantarou are legit.  Based on things, it seems Asirpa should go with her gut on the skins and really not worry about the identity of the person who acquired the skins, it is just a detail that will bias her opinion of it.

Hijikata assumes all of the skins that Ariko delivered to them are fake.  That is thinking too simplistically in my own opinion b/c it would be too obvious.  However, that is enough to confuse Asirpa and fill her with doubts as she assumes that Hijikata is telling the truth about something that he can’t actually confirm.

Since, some of the skins follow her rule.  This contradicts Hijikata’s own hypothesis.

This means that she panics as she thinks it can’t be correct and perhaps her father’s name is not the key.  Since the fakes follow her rule.  Honestly, I’m a bit saddened that she doesn’t consider the option that Tsurumi threw real skins in the mix, since he took all of the ones that Sugimoto had in the first place.

I think that Hijikata is manipulating her on purpose.  He wants her to break and just give him the information he’s looking for.  Obviously, Ogata is not Hijikata’s favorite person, but he has enough reason to believe some of the things that Ogata says, since he’s clearly more knowledgeable about Tsurumi than he is.

So, Hijikata goes for the highest pressure tactics by stating Ogata told him that she knows the key to the code.  Her panicked response is more than enough to give him the means to push harder.

She’s nervous and anxious and he wants the code.  Since he can read all of the kanji he certainly can figure it out.

So at that point, she lies.  She has come to doubt her own rule and wants to see all of the skins and know which ones are the fakes before she will trust in herself.

I’m sure Hijikata knows that she’s lying and that she knows the code.  But since she hasn’t told anyone this, there is just a bunch of men who know that she knows but they don’t actually know what it is.

There are then two pages of Tsurumi heading to Sapporo by horse and we get the confirmation what I had already suspected.  That Tsurumi mixed in fake and real skins to try to confuse Hijikata’s team.  So, Asirpa is right, but based on her reaction in this chapter, she’s going to be unsure of her confidence in herself and her ability to decode the skins.

The chapter’s action then turns to all of the boys getting wasted.  I do not understand at all what is going on with Shiraishi and Sugimoto discussing Vasily - Shiraishi is polite enough to inquire about him while Sugimoto thinks he’ll be a magical Ogata repellent.  Sugimoto, do you even understand Ogata?  Nope, b/c Vasily certainly won’t keep him away, he’ll likely just be aware of him now more than ever.

We see again the dis-jointed nature of the group, Ariko sits alone, Sugimoto and Shiraishi are together, Young Kantarou hangs back with Toni, Kadokura and Kirawus are close and Boutarou and Ushiyama are off to the side.

Boutarou asks others what they will do with the gold and their answer aren’t unusual, Ushiyama just wants to fight and Kantarou wants to raise sheep and make lots of money but Shiraishi gives him a hard time.  He is rather hesitant with his reply.  Again, there is an odd interplay between these two indicating that they know each other a bit better, he seems almost surprised by Boutarou’s question and he replies with what he already does . . .

We then get a very thoughtful look from him as he reflects on what he wants. I’m sure our pirate is watching him closely.

Asirpa approaches the isolated and socially distant Ariko to ask him about his father also being killed in regards to the gold.  Ariko tells her that he had no idea that his father would be the type of person to be involved in fighting and collecting the gold.  She then shows the coin to him as she tells him that she does not believe her father killed the other Ainu.  He seems nervous as he looks a the coin - I’m sure he realized something here.

But, we don’t get any info other than stating that Asirpa is truly strong.  Ah man, what will happen to Ariko caught between, Tsurumi, Kikuta and Hijikata?

Nagakura then tries to get all the boys to calm down and go to bed and Sugimoto rages back at him drunkenly.

Usami is out trying to find our killer with his ‘magic’ hand but it is failing him.  Thankfully, our journalist is investigating and he is spotted by Usami, who is getting desperate for a break in the case to not let Tsurumi down.  It is clear that the reporter has figured it out and his conversation with himself is loud enough to attract Usami’s attention.

So of course, he’s in trouble based on Usami’s known skill set.

Chapter 248 starts off with Usami clobbering our morally questionable reporter and the two of them immediately recognize each other.

He needs the info and of course he’s too vain to immediately give up the info for his own story.  Usami begins to beat the crap out of him as he wants the map.  He even tries to eat it to prevent Usami getting the map.  Usami isn’t smooth though when he gives away where he’s from and who he’s working for by using the pistol.  This is likely a mistake on Usami’s part as Hijikata will now know that the 7th is in Sapporo perusing our convict.

He’s able to escape and hide while also tearing up the map.  He knows that he needs to relay this info to Hijikata and he manages to evade capture/horrible pain at Usami’s hands.

“Team” Hijikata is out the next day questioning as many different prostitutes as possible to get more information.  Some think it is a government official trying to target illegal prostitution while the group try to tell women to stay off the streets tonight. 

We also learn that the convict is humming the tune ‘Greensleeves’ and has sharp knives and of course a tattoo. There are some funny bits as the group talk to women and figure out a plan.

Kadokura is holding on to Kirawus’s hand to not fall over as he looks uncomfortable.  Ushiyama tells the women to stay home as they are charmed by him and Nagakura is with a nervous Ariko while he says all of the targeted women were looking for customers while streetwalking.

This is a little bit of humor that seems more fitting that the previous chapter’s drunken Sugimoto antics.  As time runs out the group is unsure what to do, but Nagakura of course finds Ishikawa our obnoxious reporter in rough shape.

He was able to let them know that the 7th is after them and he was beaten up also by the 7th and he pathetically hid in a ditch for which he decided to strip down to his underwear for?  Okay.  The good news is he has figured out that the killer is copying Jack the Ripper and he’s figured out the next murder location!  As his original map was torn up, he got a map of London and used it to overlay with Sapporo.  When they compared the London map with the Sapporo map, they are able to determine the next location in reference to the local church.  The brewery!

We also get the face of our killer finally!

And he appears to not be Japanese, unless we see otherwise; he’s got a fancy mustache with light colored eyes (though Hijikata also has them)  But based on the size of his nose, I would say a foreigner.

I wasn’t not thrilled by the ending where our pervy reporter is called out for his hopes to score a meeting with a famous geisha in Tokyo . . . 

Honestly, I’ve been stuck with meta writing as I’ve been distracted by other things and also the fact that it is dwelling on topics that don’t really interest me much. . . . I’m really ready for this arc to be over and to move forward with the great confrontation of a few of our parties.

[bookenders]

11/11/11 Tag Game! Round... 4?

THANK YOU @quilloftheclouds! These are such fun questions! 

I have two of these in my drafts, so here comes a lot of info about yours truly. All the fun stuff is under the cut!

Bilbo Taggins: @floralandrogyny @leave-her-a-tome @penzag @cvrmillas @writingthatstory @dulcedewriteblr @bethkerring @writer-by-the-window @thewritingsofart @monstrouswrites @moonbeam-muse

(If you wanna do it and you’re not tagged, DO IT. If you see my questions and want to answer them, DO IT. 💜) 

(And I’m gonna tag @quilloftheclouds as my 12th because I want to know how they answer some of these weird questions. 😊)

MY QUESTIONS: (I’ve done so many of these, now I actually have to get creative...)

What would your WIP be called if it were a breakfast cereal? What does it taste like?

If your OCs were to be sponsored by any sort of product or item, what would it be? 

How do you take an idea from a concept to a story? What about an idea makes it story-worthy for you?

What’s the name of your OCs’ band? What kind of music do they play? Who plays what? Who’s the manager? What venues do they play? Are they any good?

What would your WIP look like as a romantic comedy (with the same characters, of course)? 

What about your writing are you most proud of?

What, in your opinion, is the coolest thing about your WIP?

What excites you about writing? 

Characters with brown hair gain the ability to pull chocolate bars out of their pockets at will. How does this change your WIP?

How do you like to end your stories? 

What’s your favorite word? What’s your least favorite word? 

1. Put yourself in your wip(s). Are you dead? Why or why not?

If I were in H2H, I’d probably be some sort of magical archivist. Not dead, hopefully. The world isn’t exactly “dangerous,” since it’s our world plus a little bit of pseudo-regulated magic that isn’t super duper potent yet. 

If I were in All Out Painted Colors, though? Deffo dead. If I had to cliff dive to stay in the tribe, I would just accept defeat and be exiled and die in a field somewhere. 

2. What is your favourite kind of scene to write?

Emotional scenes in the dark. I have at least one in every story. It’s a little ridiculous, but I love the implications and symbolism of someone not being able to see someone else and saying what they’ve been avoiding, or one character seeing another do something (in low lighting, of course) and dealing with the revelation that brings, however delayed. I love scenes where one character does a thing and someone else notices but they don’t say anything because they care about them. I can twist that one so many different ways, it’s so fun.

3. What genre is your favourite to write in?

I am a literary fiction dweeb at heart. Although I do enjoy writing some light fantasy every once in a while, I will always default to lit fic. It’s what I learned in school and it fits with the themes I tend to write about. And it’s less work world building. 😉

4. What genre do you want to/wish you could write in?

Freakin’ sci-fi. I’ve tried and it is NOT easy. Those writers are skilled. 

Also romance, because that stuff apparently makes bank.

5. Which of your ocs outfits would you consider wearing yourself?

Anything Gemma wears, because most of it is already in my own wardrobe. I like being cozy, I say, wearing a loose t-shirt, a soft old cardigan, and fuzzy socks. 

6. What’s the worst thing you’ve done to your ocs (out of context if spoilers)?

Any of my OCs? Well. I can be pretty vicious. [This is gonna get a little gory and morbid, so CW I suppose.]

I did a lot of really messed up stuff to my boys in my war story. One had a PTSD episode while in the middle of a firefight and shot an enemy soldier in the head while wrestling with him on the ground, but imagined the whole thing as chasing down a deer he shot back home and had to put out of its misery. Another guy was choking out an enemy soldier, hands wrapped around his throat, eyes bulging, and he saw his little sisters face in his hands. Took a best friend from my favorite dude because the story called for it and I still feel bad about that, but it worked too well for it to be anyone else. 

Less gory, I had one woman lose all faith in her religion and her father when he refused to get rid of the DNR on her mom, which might have saved her life, or at least given her a few more years, because of his own twisted faith. Killed a character with his favorite food one time. I tend to take the things they love and hold dear and twist them until they have to abandon them because they start hurting instead of helping. I’m evil. 

7. What’s the nicest thing you’ve done to your ocs?

Given them the happy endings they deserve. 

8. Does your writing style have any characteristic traits? What are they?

It do. I’ve been told my voice is very distinct, even when it changes. I do this thing with flashbacks that’s pretty unique, too, I guess. I call them “seamless flashback transitions,” but I don’t like calling them flashbacks because they’re kinda not, it’s more like a character remembers something in-scene and then it naturally flows into the past. I love doing that. 

9. What are three things you think you’re good at in writing? (NO SKIPPING OF THIS QUESTION ALLOWED)

NO SKIPPING, NO PROBLEM. 

I’m very good at saying a lot with few words

Character voices and making realistic people

Bookending! (hehehe) Things at the end reference things at the beginning and make them full of feelings and bring the story to a nice close. I’m really good at taking details that meant very little and infusing them with feels. Kind of like delayed decoding, but with feelings. 

10. Do you listen to music/white noise while writing? What kind?

Most of the time, yeah, I listen to music. I either play a single song on repeat until I can drown it out so it acts like white noise to me, or I put the story playlist on repeat until I want to throw it out the window. The songs gotta have the same feel as the story, though. It’s all for the #aesthetic.

11. Come up with joke titles for your wips. What are they?

You’re asking me for jokes? JOKES??

My time has come.

Heart to Heart, or:

Growing Closer  (p l a n t s)

Love Potion No.10

Thorny for Mystery

Calamitous Encounters of a Magical Kind  (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, bit of a stretch)

Double, Double Toil and Trouble; Blushes Burn and Beakers Bubble

All Our Painted Colors, or:

 Hear to Stay (which was the very punny working title that my teacher said did NOT fit, which, yeah) 

Weaponizing Finger Paints / War Paint and Finger Guns

Color Me Yours (there’s a pottery painting place near where I used to live called Color Me Mine. Regional puns!)

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones but Words Will Eradicate My Trust in Our Community

When Old Ladies Go Bad

So the Story Goes, or:

Satan: The Original Pan (triplicate pun, yay!)

The Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From the Tree

East of Eden and a Left at the Fork (cuz Satan huehuehue)

[purrincess-chat]

Lady du Coeur (Rewritten) CH1

SURPRISE! Guess who’s back? It’s this dinosaur back from the war! New and improved! Okay, so this chapter is roughly the same, but next chapter will be different. By chapter 4 I think it will go in a completely new direction for some characters, so if you loved the original version then I hope you will love this one even more! Speaking of the original, I will be taking it down this coming Sunday night, so if you love it then feel free to read through it one last time before it disappears. I will not be updating that version again, only this new one, so it’s serving no purpose to me anymore, and I’d much rather people read this version.

This fic begins right where s1 ends and does its own thing. It isn’t 100% canon compliant though I have picked out some aspects of canon that I liked, but when I originally wrote it, s2 wasn’t out yet, so I just did my own thing and kind of want to continue doing that thing, so sorry if that bothers you. XD

Rating: T

Summary:  Instructed by the old master, Marinette seeks to befriend golden boy, Adrien Agreste, to protect him from evil. As a result, Adrien finds himself drawn to the shy girl from his class to counteract the misfortune that seems to follow him.

Read on AO3

Chapter One: New Beginnings

Marinette could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she watched Master Fu with cautious eyes. How long had the old man known her secret? How did he know her secret? Her mind was racing with questions as Master Fu turned the book over in his hands, a thoughtful expression on his face. After a moment, he looked up at her and smiled warmly as if they were old friends. She braced herself for whatever slew of questions he could have for her, but to her surprise they didn't come.

"Would you like some tea?" He asked calmly, and Marinette shifted uncomfortably.

Of all the questions he could have asked like 'Where did you get this?' or 'How long have you had it?' and he wanted to know if she'd like some tea. He must have sensed her unease because he turned to the small green kwami floating beside him and said, "Bring out some chamomile, Wayzz. It might help calm our guest's nerves." The turtle flitted off into the backroom, and Master Fu motioned for Marinette to sit.

She exchanged a look with Tikki who nodded encouragingly then sat cross-legged on the mat. Master Fu moved a small tea table in front of her and set out four tea cups, two regular-sized and two kwami-sized. The old man seemed so calm, but Marinette found it hard to relax. After all, she had only met him once before. Had he known who she was then? How could he be so unconcerned knowing who she was? Most people would freak out.

"Don't you want to ask me about the book?" Marinette found herself blurting. She clamped her mouth shut, cheeks flushing with embarrassment, but to her surprised, Master Fu chuckled.

"We have many things to discuss, Marinette, but first, let us enjoy our tea," As if on cue, Wayzz appeared toting a small tea pot, and Master Fu took it and poured tea into each of the cups.

His calm demeanor only made Marinette's nerves worse. He was impossible to read, his eyes gave away no clear emotion. It was as if he wore a mask to cover up how he was truly feeling, something Marinette wasn't used to dealing with. Her friends were usually pretty transparent, she could always tell when they were upset, but Master Fu was older, wiser, and capable of controlling his emotions, a skill acquired over many years of experience.

The four sipped their tea for several minutes, the lack of conversation eating away at Marinette's patience. Something in her gut told her to trust Fu, but every thought in her brain told her to be cautious. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she knew nothing about this old man and had only come because of her faith in Tikki's judgment. She glanced down at her kwami who seemed right at home next to Wayzz, telling herself that she could trust Master Fu if Tikki could. After all, he had healed her when she was sick before, but Marinette couldn't help feeling exposed. The old man's eyes seemed to see straight through her as if he knew every one of her secrets. He knew her identity, and she worried for once that maybe others would figure it out too.

Living a double-life grew tiring after a while, but Marinette had always worked diligently to ensure that no one found out who she really was, including her best friend and number-one fan. And yet, here sat a man who knew her identity after only meeting her once. Had she been lucky all along that her classmates were seemingly unaware of her alter-ego? What, she wondered, gave her secret away to this stranger? What detail was she overlooking?

"Um," She started clasping her hands together in her lap. "How did you know it was me?" She felt herself shrink under his gaze, wise old eyes looking into her soul, but Master Fu smiled that same warm, familiar smile as if he'd been waiting to see her for some time.

"I know many things," He said simply before taking a long sip of his tea. "I know you have often wondered how that magic box appeared in your room on that fateful day.”

“Well, I have wondered why it was me who got a Miraculous. I mean, there are tons of people in Paris who could have been Ladybug, like my friend Alya, but it’s me,” She said, tapping her fingers together and shrugging.

"That may be true; however, many people lack your compassion, your wit, and your selflessness. You have certainly never let your lack of knowing prevent you from doing what is right, and that, Marinette, is why I left Tikki and the Ladybug Miraculous in your hands," He took another calm sip of his tea.

"You picked me to be Ladybug?" She gasped, eyes wide with disbelief.

All this time she never knew how those mysterious earrings had ended up in her room. It had been Master Fu all along? Though her mind was racing with thousands of questions, she felt more at ease knowing Master Fu hadn't simply guessed who she was but had known from the beginning. It made her feel safer, and it explained why the old man gave her such warm smiles. Proud smiles, she realized. Master Fu looked at her with the doting warmth of a parent watching their child grow and learn, and in that instance, Marinette's nerves seemed to melt away.

"I set out one day in search of fateful encounters. I needed compassionate hearts to wield the black cat and ladybug Miraculouses because they possess great power, and in the wrong hands, they pose an unstoppable threat." His voice grew more solemn, but after a moment he smiled. "Fate chose you and Chat Noir to fight evil, and you two have shown great courage in your efforts thus far."

At that Marinette smiled a little. The reassurance was comforting. She'd always felt like she and Chat Noir had been thrust into their positions so abruptly, hardly given anytime to wonder if they were right for it or not. They pressed on out of a sense of duty, a responsibility that only they possessed, but now she understood why they were chosen, the once jumbled gears in her brain now fitting together perfectly.

"Thank you," She smiled, hoping to convey the same warmth Master Fu had shown her, the same gratitude.

"It is I who should thank you for rising to the occasion. It takes great courage to fight the forces of evil," He bowed slightly in a show of respect. "Now, we must discuss the reason for your visit." Master Fu picked up the book and set it on the table. Marinette watched as he flipped through it, stroking his beard thoughtfully with his thumb and index finger.

She'd looked through it herself, but none of it made sense to her other than the pictures. Tikki said Master Fu knew how to decode it which made her wonder about the old man. He seemed so kind, and he looked at her with such familiarity it made Marinette wonder how many other Ladybug's he'd encountered in his life. What things had he seen?

She trained her eyes on his bracelet, his Miraculous. How long had he and Wayzz been together? She wondered. How long would she have with Tikki? Marinette couldn't picture her life without her kwami anymore. Ladybug had become a part of her, and Tikki had become a dear friend. Would the two remain together until she aged like Fu and Wayzz? She glanced once more at the small green kwami still sipping at his tea. As Master Fu continued to thumb through the book, Marinette's mind raced with questions until finally his voice broke her train of thought.

"I lost this book many years ago," He commented. "Where did you find it?" His eyes moved up to look at her. He'd stopped on the fox hero's page that had inspired Lila to become Volpina.

"I…" She bit her lip wondering how much to reveal. She felt a surge of importance from Master Fu and knew better than to lie to him. "There's this…boy in my class, and he…kind of had it in the library; then this new girl took it from him, and later in the park she dumped it into the trash where Tikki and I pulled it out. Tikki said it was important and told me to bring it here." She finished leaving out the minor detail where she caused the girl to be akumatized out of jealousy. Vaguely, she felt aware that Master Fu probably knew more about her than he let on.

"This boy…what is his name?" He eyed her knowingly.

"His name is Adrien. Adrien Agreste," She blushed slightly thinking about him. Master Fu frowned and resumed stroking his beard as if he were recalling an old memory, but after a moment he smiled again, nodding his head as if he'd come to a conclusion.

"This book contains a history of all Miraculous jewels and their powers. I am afraid you won't be able to return it to your friend," He stated, and Marinette shook her head.

"I kind of knew that," She sighed. It wasn't like Adrien knew she'd taken it, but she knew he would look for it. That he would wonder what happened to it.

"I am sorry, but in the wrong hands this book is very dangerous. It contains many secrets, spells, and prophecies that shouldn't be discovered. You were wise to heed your kwami's advice and bring it here," His tone was apologetic but firm. Marinette had hoped to use it to start up a conversation with Adrien, but she knew she would never be able to mention it to him. She looked down at the book, the cover worn from many years of use.

"So, are there really more Miraculouses besides ours?" She asked glancing at Wayzz. Master Fu smiled, amused by her curiosity.

"There are many Miraculouses, yes; however, not all of them have awoken. Some are lost, but I have kept watch over them for many years," He stood and approached the phonograph at the back of the room. Marinette watched as he pressed a series of buttons, eyes widening as the record player opened to reveal an intricately designed box. She didn't recognize any of the Chinese characters, much to her chagrin.

"I am a member of the Order of the Guardians, well, that is to say, I am the last member, and as such it is my duty to protect the Miraculous and their secrets from falling into the wrong hands," He motioned for her to come closer, so she stood and approached sheepishly.

Inside the box was a series of carefully crafted platforms that all fit together to form the shape of a flower. In the middle was a raised tier with the yin and yang symbol covering the circle, the dots bearing the symbols of Chat Noir's ring and her earrings. The lower tiers, or rather the petals, all bore the colors and marks of the Miraculous they represented. She noticed that only two were left, and, after doing quick math in her mind, she looked up at Master Fu, eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"What happened to this one?" She pointed at the blue petal on the bottom that bore the symbol of a peacock tail, and Master Fu's face fell.

"Some are lost," He repeated gravely before shutting the box gently. "The others remain dormant for now. The time has not yet come for them to awaken, so they remain asleep."

“So, is Hawkmoth’s Miraculous lost too then? There’s no way that you would give it to someone like that, right?” She touched her chin with a worried frown, and his somber expression returned.

“I have not been in possession of the Moth Miraculous for some time now. Many moons ago, the temple of the Order of the Guardians was destroyed as a result of my carelessness, and the Moth Miraculous was lost,” He explained, the once calm mask faded, and in that moment, he seemed older, more tired. “It is why regaining this book is so important because it keeps it out of Hawkmoth’s hands. We must use it to our advantage if we wish to beat him someday.”

“I’ll do my very best, Master!” She vowed, and his warm smile returned.

"That classmate of yours…You should get closer to him." He gave her another knowing smile, and Marinette felt the heat of her blush creep up her neck.

"Get close? To A-Adrien? I-I don't think I can, I mean, he's, I, uh," She was stammering again as she often did when it came to her crush.

"If Hawkmoth discovers that the boy had this book, he could be in danger. It would be in his best interest if you were in his good company." Master Fu warned, and Marinette sobered at the thought. She hadn't considered what repercussions Adrien could face for having such a powerful book. Hawkmoth would stop at nothing if he thought he could get information out of him.

"I'll do my best," She promised. Master Fu placed a hand on her shoulder with one of those proud-parent smiles.

"Good girl," He guided her to the door. "Come back often when you are feeling lost. The burden of a Miraculous is a great one, and it helps to seek solace from someone who knows of the struggles you are facing."

She smiled, pulling the small man into an appreciative hug.

"I will. Thank you for everything, Master Fu," She pulled back and waved slightly before stepping through the door she'd entered in, a new sense of purpose swelling inside her. She had a boy to protect.

***

"Master, if the Agreste child had the book-" Wayzz started, but Master Fu held up a hand to silence him. He was well aware of what it meant. His mind drifted back to the days when he and Wayzz transformed together regularly, doing their part to protect the city alongside a woman with more grace and flair than any other. His partner and wielder of the peacock Miraculous. Or rather, his former partner.

"I should have known she would take it. She always was curious," He sounded amused almost, but then his eyes narrowed sadly. "Let us pay Gabriel a visit. It has been some time since we last spoke." His kwami looked anxious at the suggestion

"He threw you out last time," The small turtle pointed out, his forehead furrowed worriedly.

True. The last time Fu had visited the Agreste mansion had been right after the Madame of the household disappeared. Gabriel had not taken his presence well. Deep down, Fu knew the reason Gabriel resented him, but the problem lied in whether or not Fu felt those reasons were justified. His answer depended on the day.

"Gabriel's emotions were still very raw at the time. He blamed me for her disappearance," He grabbed his cane and flipped the sign on the window to the 'closed' side. "Sometimes I think he's right."

"Are you sure this is wise then, Master?" Wayzz scurried after him as the old man locked up, and Fu seemed amused.

"We will find out soon," The mischievous gleam Wayzz knew too well entered the old man's eyes; he sighed, knowing any further argument was futile, and retreated down into his master's pocket.

When he arrived at the Agreste mansion he observed how closed off Gabriel had made the house since the disappearance of his wife. Tall walls and an iron gate - a cage meant to keep a young boy from being swallowed by the world. He rang the bell and a small camera lens appeared, zooming around his face briefly before the gates slid open, and Fu made his way up the stairs where Gabriel was waiting, face seemingly devoid of emotion, but Fu detected a hint of malice in his piercing blue-grey eyes.

"It's been some time since I've seen your face, Fu," Gabriel said flatly. "What brings you here?"

His voice sounded uninterested, guarded almost, but Fu could sense the emotions churning inside him.

"I think we have a few things to discuss, Gabriel," He said patiently. Gabriel’s eyes narrowed, but after a moment he motioned for Fu to enter. They made their way to Gabriel's study on the left side of the main hall, and Fu noticed how empty the house seemed now, how cold.

"Nathalie, I have some business to attend to," Gabriel said as they entered the room. His assistant nodded curtly and left the room, closing the doors behind her as she went. Fu remained at ease as he took a seat and watched Gabriel patiently as he took the one across from him.

"What do you want?" Fu detected a hint of annoyance in his voice. Gabriel had indeed changed since his wife vanished. He'd aged more, his once youthful skin now stretched tightly across his cheekbones, dark bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

"You look tired," He remarked. Outside the sun was setting, casting an orange glow on the room, but even in the dimming light Fu could see Gabriel's lip twitch.

"I am a very busy man, and I don't have much time for small talk, Fu, so I would appreciate if you got to the reason for your visit. I highly doubt you've come just to chitchat about my health." Though his voice was sharp enough to cut through steel, Fu couldn't help but grin. Gabriel had always been reserved, but Fu knew it was all a façade.

"Your son came in possession of a book of mine," He stated simply. "Any idea where he got it from?"

"So it would seem," Gabriel sighed. "It appears as though I need to be more careful with my safe codes, the boy has become quite good at sneaking around lately, much like someone we know." He glanced up at the portrait of his wife and continued, "He stole the book from me. I guess he's more like his mother than I realized, that natural curiosity as it were…" His voice trailed off as he readjusted his gaze onto Master Fu. "I didn't realize it belonged to you, Fu."

"It's quite alright. I hadn't realized she'd taken it from me, and, of course, she wouldn't have told you where it came from either. She liked to hide those details," At that the corners of Gabriel's mouth curled into a slight smile, a smirk really.

"My wife kept many things from both of us. Though I feel she shared more secrets with you than she ever did with me," Fu could sense the jealousy behind his words, but he also detected a hint of sadness.

"I was her partner. There are many secrets we kept from each other and the ones we loved for their safety-"

"And what about her safety?" Gabriel growled. "If she trusted me with her secrets-"

"Adrien would be alone now," Fu's words cut through Gabriel, his usual calm, disinterested demeanor shaken, but Fu continued, "Whatever she got into that led to her disappearance would have sucked you in too, which is why she kept it from both of us. Your son would have no parents now if she had told you."

"If she had told me, I could have saved her!" Gabriel jumped up, hands clenched into fists, and Fu gave him that all-knowing stare.

"Could you?" Fu stood up abruptly. "Don't scold the boy for taking the book. It's in safe hands now. I thank you for protecting it all this time." He made his way to the door with even steps.

"I still haven’t forgiven you," Gabriel's words stopped him in his tracks. “You were supposed to look out for her.”

“I know,” Fu said, casting Gabriel a pained look over his shoulder.

“I never want my son near any of this ever again either. I can’t lose both of them, so don’t you ever set foot in this house again, do you understand me?” He said harshly, and Fu lowered his gaze to his feet before nodding.

"Your son has a good heart," He said after a moment. "Don't break it."

With that Fu pulled the door open and took his leave, Gabriel's words replaying in his mind, but the old man had faith in that unfortunate black cat. The boy would choose his own fate in the end.

***

Gabriel watched the old man go, closing his fists tighter, seething, because he knew Fu was right about more things than he cared to admit. It was true after his wife disappeared that he had become more protective of their son, but only because the fear of losing him too kept him up at night. He didn't quite understand it all, how the Miraculouses worked, and why fate had plagued his household with such a wretched burden, but he wanted to do everything in his power to keep such things away from Adrien. Because Adrien was all he had left.

He paced toward the wall of photographs, the static images of the most precious thing in his world. With deliberate hands, he pulled the painting away from the wall to reveal his safe. He typed in the code – Adrien's birth date, which, he realized, might be too obvious – and pulled away the heavy door. He touched the peacock pendant gingerly. It seemed dimmer now than when his wife had worn it. Back then it had seemed so full of light and color. Now it seemed as if the jewel were sleeping, the guardian inside awaiting the return of its master. He shut the safe abruptly, straightening himself.

Adrien was moping in his room when Gabriel entered and seemed annoyed at the intrusion.

"Knock much?" He grunted.

"If you would like me to respect your privacy then I expect you to respect mine," His voice was cold, harsh. Adrien flinched and looked away guiltily, and Gabriel sighed and sat on the edge of the boy's bed.

"Did you find it interesting?" He asked. Adrien snapped back around looking startled.

"W-What?" He stuttered.

"The book," Gabriel continued. "Your mother used to look through it. She was so fascinated by superheroes." Adrien looked as if he'd been slapped, so Gabriel waited.

"I, uh, I-I'm sorry I took it, Father," He looked down at his lap. "And that I lost it…" He said the last part more quietly. He jumped like he'd been electrocuted when Gabriel placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It was just a bunch of nonsense. Your mother liked to fantasize about silly things, and it seems you take after her in that regard." He glanced at the monitors where his son had a website devoted to Ladybug pulled up. His eyes narrowed slightly, but after a moment, he ruffled the boy's hair and stood up. "Don't take things without asking anymore."

"Yes, Father. I promise," His head hung low. Gabriel left the room and quietly made his way down the hall, a small purple sprite flitting up from his jacket timidly.

“If you want to protect your son, why do you send out akumas every day?” Nooroo asked, flinching a little when Gabriel shot him a glare.

“I do what I have to in order to get Chat Noir and Ladybug’s Miraculouses. With them, I can finally put an end to the misfortune plaguing this household,” He stated simply, and Nooroo shrank under his gaze. “Which is why you will continue to do as I ask.”

“Yes, Master.”

***

Marinette had a fitful night, constantly in and out of sleep, her nerves racing. She knew the importance behind becoming better friends with Adrien, but the thought of approaching him made her cheeks burn and her heart race. What if she said something stupid? Or came on too strong? Or if he found out she had a huge dork crush on him? She rolled onto her stomach, burying her face in her pillow with a groan.

Cats stuck in trees, she was on it. Evil akumas, no problem! Talking to that gorgeous blond boy in her class…Marinette.exe has stopped working. How could she befriend him if she couldn’t even get out two coherent sentences around him?

           When morning light began to creep in through her window, Marinette felt the weight of sleep deprivation on her eyelids like cement. She closed them for a brief moment before a sharp pain centered on her hand. Shooting forward with a yelp, she found that it was much brighter in the room than it had been a few minutes ago.

           “It’s about time you woke up! You’re going to be late for school!” Tikki’s soprano voice scolded. Marinette examined her hand, tiny teeth marks embedded into the skin.

           “Did you bite me?” She asked in disbelief. The small kwami gave her a haughty look.

           “Honestly, Marinette, you need to learn how to wake up on time,” The red bug shook her head in disappointment as her owner scrambled to get ready.

           “I know, I know, it’s just…I had trouble sleeping last night,” Marinette said defensively. “Because I have to talk to you-know-who today,” She paused to stare dreamily at her Adrien wall. In that moment, she realized she should probably take it all down if they were going to be better friends, recalling the time he came over to practice for the Mecha Strike tournament. Her wall wasn’t something she felt confident explaining to him.

           “Not to mention, Lila’s going to be at school, and I have no idea how that whole mess is going to play out,” Marinette continued as she brushed her hair back into her signature pigtails.

           “Just remember, don’t bring up the book under any circumstances,” Tikki whispered as they entered the school. Somehow the atmosphere inside the school walls seemed…different. As she walked further inside, the hum of hushed chatter filled the air, and Marinette picked out bits and pieces as she walked.

           “Did you hear-?”

           “How pathetic,”

           “I knew she was lying,”

           “Shh! Here she comes!”

           A hush fell over the courtyard as the brown haired girl entered through the front doors. All eyes fixed on her as she hung her head low, gripping her bag closer to herself as she took the walk of shame across the courtyard.

           “Liar,” The word bounced around from mouth to mouth with no clear indication of where it started, but it followed her as she walked, shoulders slumping more and more as she passed through mocking stares and thoughtless whispers. Despite the previous day’s events Marinette found herself feeling sorry for her.

           She did this to herself. Marinette told herself, pushing away guilty thoughts. Lila was finally getting what she deserved, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t swallow that feeling. It was kind of her fault Lila got akumatized after all. If she hadn’t gotten so jealous… No, if she hadn’t stepped in Lila would still be plaguing the school with her lies. That much she could accept. Additionally, she could have Adrien under her spell too, which was absolutely out of the question.

           “Can you believe that girl?” Marinette jumped at the sound of her best friend’s voice in her ear. “That whole interview was totally fake! Ugh, and I put it on the Ladyblog too!” Alya knocked her forehead with her fist a few times as if to beat the poor decision out of her memory.

           “Well, she can’t say she doesn’t know Ladybug now,” The laugh belonged to Nino, and Marinette noticed Adrien standing beside him looking lost in thought. He seemed fine when she’d been by to check on him the day before, but she still wondered how he was faring. Alya jumped at the opportunity as soon as she laid eyes on him.

           “Soo, Adrien, is it true Volpina showed up at your house?” The question seemed to rattle him. Alya could be so shameless at times.

           “Uhh…y-yeah, she did…” Marinette grabbed Alya’s arm and dragged her away before she could bombard him with more questions.

           “Hey!” She huffed, folding her arms over her chest.

           “I think it’s probably best if you avoid the subject for now. He seems pretty upset,” Marinette said pointedly which got an eye roll and an exasperated ‘I guess’ from Alya.

           Inside the classroom was no better. Everyone huddled together whispering about Lila, and Marinette’s stomach churned uneasily. People were going to find out eventually…right? This day was proving to be worse than she’d thought. How could she focus on Adrien when everyone was focused on Lila? She glanced up at him sitting in front of her. He was being unusually quiet today. She glanced at Nino who was busy talking to Alya and drew in a breath.

           She needed to say something, anything, but no matter how much she tried the breath stayed in her lungs. What should she say? It seemed a little late for good morning since she had already passed him once. Shoot! She missed the opportunity because of Alya. As the edges of her vision started to darken she realized she’d forgotten to breathe out, and she willed herself to speak.

           “Um,” She started, heart accelerating a bit as her friends turned their attention to her.

           “Alright, everyone, take your seats,” Mlle. Bustier interrupted, much to Marinette’s relief as she released the rest of the air from her lungs. Why was speaking so hard around him?

           Her mind wandered during the lesson, thinking about yesterday, Volpina, Lila, Adrien, Master Fu…More than usual Marinette wished she were normal. Maybe she would visit Master Fu later. Somehow she trusted him more than she originally thought she would. Maybe it was the idea of having someone other than Tikki to share her secrets with, a confidant of sorts, or perhaps it was the old man’s serene demeanor that made her feel safe.

           When the bell rang for lunch, she took several deep breaths and followed Adrien down the stairs. Now’s your chance, Marinette. Don’t chicken out! You can do this. She balled her hands into nervous fists and opened her mouth to call his name.

           “Adrikins!” Marinette found herself shoved out of the way as Chloe assaulted Adrien with hugs and kisses despite how he resisted.

           “Hey, Chlo,” He grunted, dodging her lips from connecting with his.

           “Yesterday must have been so awful for you. That nasty Lila girl pretending to be a superhero, how terrible!” Chloe clung to him possessively.

           “Y-Yeah,” He rubbed the back of his neck, eyes fixed on the ground. Marinette walked passed them cursing Chloe in her mind. As she made her way down the front steps, she noticed Lila entering the park across the street.

           Don’t you dare! Her brain screamed as her feet moved after Lila. You don’t owe her anything. She did it to herself. She lied to everyone and threatened Adrien. Stop. Go home. Don’t-

           “Hi,” She said gently, and Lila looked up from where she was slumped on a bench holding a sandwich. “It’s no fun eating alone. Mind if I join you?” Lila gave her an incredulous look.

That’s it, Marinette. She doesn’t want you here, just turn around and leave.

           “Are you stupid or something?” She blurted, cocking a brow. “Everyone hates me, in case you haven’t noticed.”

Marinette had noticed and for the life of her couldn’t figure out why she was still standing there. Master Fu knew what he was talking about when he said she had a compassionate heart. Even though Lila had almost stolen Adrien from her and lied to everyone in school, all things Marinette loathed, something in her gut wouldn’t let her hate Lila.

           “Not everyone…” She smiled encouragingly, and Lila rolled her eyes.

           “Fine, whatever,” She scooched over slightly as Marinette sat beside her and pulled out her lunch.

           “I’m Marinette, by the way.”

           “Yeah, I got that,” Her tone was short, guarded. Marinette winced as every cell in her body screamed at her to walk away, but she remained rooted in place on that bench.

           “So, you’re from Italy?” She asked conversationally.

           “Yeah.” Lila shifted so her back was to Marinette as if she were using her body to create a wall between them. Marinette couldn’t really blame her for being distant after everyone shunned her.

           “Awesome! My grandma is Italian actually,” Marinette laughed nervously. Lila wasn’t making this very easy.

           “Look, you don’t have to pretend to be nice to me. I lied to everyone, and now everyone hates me, so if you don’t mind I’d like to finish my lunch alone,” Lila sighed.

Now’s your chance, just get up and walk home.

           “Why did you do it?” She found herself asking against her better judgment. She braced herself for an outburst, some form of backlash, but it never came. Instead Lila simply shrugged.

           “I didn’t have many friends back home, so I guess…I just wanted everyone to like me here,” She said, eyes narrowing. “Why does that matter to you?”

Being in a new place could be daunting. She thought of Adrien’s first day and all the trouble Chloe caused him. If he were snobby like Chloe she might have felt differently about him, but he was sweet and kind. The truth of the matter was Marinette knew nothing about Lila, so she was determined to find out who she was before passing judgment on her. Sometimes she hated her soft heart.

           “Well, you’re new here, and I kind of want to be your friend…” More like she felt bad for embarrassing her in front of Adrien and getting her akumatized, but that was a secret Marinette would take to her grave. Lila turned to face her abruptly, their faces inches apart as Lila glared through her, and Marinette bit her lip nervously.

           “You really are stupid,” She said after a moment, leaning back, but she cast Marinette a side-long smile and took another bite of her sandwich. “But I guess you’re all I’ve got, so I suppose we can be friends.”

           “Tell me about yourself,” Marinette prompted, but Lila looked away.

           “Why?” She grumbled.

           “Isn’t that what friends do?” Lila shrugged her shoulders, but Marinette continued, “I’ll start then. I want to be a fashion designer.”

           Lila looked her over for a second then laughed, “And you’re wearing that?”

Marinette felt her stomach drop, and it must have shown on her face because after a moment Lila laughed. “I’m kidding, don’t be so gullible. I love your jacket.”

           “Oh…thanks. Now it’s your turn,” She prompted, and Lila thought for a moment.

           “I’ve always wanted to be a supermodel. Ever since I saw my first fashion magazine I’ve wanted to be a model, so I only eat one meal a day,” She said.

           “Wow that seems extreme.” Marinette’s eyebrows furrowed, and Lila laughed again.

           “You’re really bad at this. That was totally a lie,” She giggled. “Sometimes I eat way too much. Food is way more important to me than being some paper thin cover girl.”

           “Alright then, what do you want to be?” Marinette asked.

Their conversation went on like that for a while. Lila would make up stories for all of Marinette’s questions then ask her if she thought they were true. They made a game out of it. Most of the time Marinette said they were even if they were obviously lies because it made Lila smile, even for a short period of time, which was something she rarely did otherwise.

           “Let’s have lunch together from now on, okay?” Marinette offered sincerely.

           “Whatever,” Lila said with a grunt. Even if she had lied to everyone, Marinette couldn’t bring herself to be mean to Lila. Ladybug had already done that, and it backfired. She’d learned her lesson the hard way. Besides, everyone else was doing enough.

           The two girls ate lunch together in the park regularly after that, talking about fashion and movies and other trivial things, and the more time they spent together the more Marinette started to like her. She found out that Lila’s parents were always super busy with work and that she was mostly raised by her grandmother until she passed away a couple years ago. They came to Paris because her father got a promotion within the company to come run a branch in Paris. Or so Lila said.

           Eventually, the harsh stares became fewer in number as people moved on, though no one besides Marinette made any effort to talk to Lila. Their friendship irritated Alya to no end.

           “How can you hang out with her?” She asked as she always did during their free period. Alya made a point to tell Marinette how much she disapproved of her friendship with Lila every opportunity she got, and Marinette sighed.

           “Is everyone really going to hold a grudge forever?” She groaned. Alya looked like she was going to say something else, but something caught her eye over Marinette’s shoulder.

           “Marinette’s future husband at 10 o’clock!” She grinned nodding in the direction of the door where Adrien had just entered. Marinette had made small progress with him over the past few weeks. They often said ‘good morning’ to each other now, but after that Marinette clammed up.

           “You should go sit by him,” Alya gave her a shove, but Marinette had become a steel wall.

           “But you’re helping me with chemistry,” She offered half-heartedly, and Alya pulled her to her feet.

           “You’re gonna see a lot more chemistry happening over there, now go get him!” Her best friend shoved her to the other side of the bookshelf, right into Adrien’s view.

           “Oh, hey, Marinette,” He said with a friendly smile.

           “Uhh, m-morning,” She stammered. Wait. No! Adrien looked at her quizzically, and Marinette glanced back at Alya with a panicked expression, her friend face palming and shaking her head. “I-I mean, uh, hi?” She squeaked, lifting her textbook to hide her face.

           “Hi…?” He repeated before nodding at the book in her hands. “You working on chemistry?”

           “Oh! Uh, yeah, Alya was helping me,” She gestured with her thumb behind her.

           “But Alya has to go do an important thing now that she just remembered, so, Adrien, you’re good at chemistry, right? Marinette needs some help with her chemical reactions,” Her friend gave her a stern look to which Marinette offered up a nervous grin. “Mind taking over for me?”  

           “Sure,” Adrien looked between them clearly confused.

           “Great! See you later, M!” She wrapped an arm around Marinette’s shoulders. “Thank me later!” She whispered before dashing off. And just like that they were alone. Well, alone with the exception of the other students in the library.

           “So,” He dragged the vowel out, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Want to get started?” He nodded toward the table she and Alya had been sitting at moments before, and Marinette hid her blush behind her book and nodded, taking her seat.

You can do this, you can do this, you can do this. She repeated in her head. Slowly, she set the book on the table and flipped to the chapter as Adrien pulled out his notes.

           This was her chance to get on better terms with him. If Master Fu was right about Hawkmoth, Adrien could be in danger, and the last thing Marinette wanted was for him to get hurt because she was too nervous to talk to him. His life depended on her opening up, or that’s what she told herself at least.

           “Um, thanks for this,” She managed. “I-I know you must be busy, and it’s my fault for getting behind. Normally I get Alya to help me, but she has that thing that she has to do…” Oh, no, she was rambling. Suddenly she wished she couldn’t talk again, unsure of how to turn her mouth off.

           “It’s fine,” He chuckled good-naturedly. “You and I don’t get to talk much, so this is nice.”

           “You’re nice,” She sighed dreamily before realizing she’d said that out loud. “I, uh, yeah, it’s nice to hang out, with you, that is, uh.” This was going well. Marinette pinched the bridge of her nose while she silently prayed Adrien didn’t think she was a dorkasaurous.

           “Right,” He titled his head to the side slightly. “So, you need help with chemical reactions?” He asked, and Marinette suppressed an eye roll. Alya.

           “Uh, yeah, just the calculations.” She blushed as he scooted closer to share her book.

           “You just have to get the units to cancel until you get what you want,” He explained, scribbling a problem down on her tablet. “In this one you want to know how many moles of product C you get when you react A and B, so…” He was close enough that his arm brushed hers lightly, sending shockwaves up to her shoulder. Her heart pounded in her chest, rushing blood to her face. Being so close to him was like a dream, one Marinette never wanted to wake up from.

           “So, you think you can work this one?” He asked pointing to the next problem as Marinette snapped back to reality. She hadn’t been listening, so she nodded meekly, taking the stylus from him and scribbling down the steps. “Good,” He smiled when she got the right answer. “You learn fast.”

           “You’re a better tutor than Alya,” She admitted, rubbing the back of her neck as if to stop the blood rushing to her cheeks, and Adrien laughed.

           “I won’t tell her you said that,” He winked, and Marinette was sure her heart stopped. “I can help you any time if you lend me your notes when I miss class.” True, Adrien did often miss class like she did. Must be his strict schedule.

           “Y-Yeah, no problem!” A silence fell between them for a moment as Marinette stared at her textbook. She was aware of his eyes on her, but a lump formed in her throat that she couldn’t swallow down. Still, she had to give herself props for getting this far with him. There were only a few other times where she’d actually spoken one-on-one with him without being a complete wreck. Perhaps it would get easier if she spoke to him more often, or that’s what she hoped for anyways.

           “Can I ask you something?” He said finally. Marinette’s stomach twisted in knots as she dared to look up into his emerald green eyes, eyes she’d spent hours daydreaming about.

           “S-Sure,” She gulped, an endless stream of possible outcomes flowing through her mind until they formed rapids, and Marinette felt herself getting dizzy. Those curious green eyes never strayed from her, and she could have sworn she was going to pass out.

           “Did I do something wrong?” Marinette felt her brain failing. That was not a question she’d considered.

           “W-What?” She gaped at him.

           “I mean, at first I thought maybe you were just shy, but seeing you with Lila lately…Did I do something to make you not like me? You never seem to want to talk to me unless you have to,” He slumped a little. Oh no. Adrien thought she hated him.

           “I-No! I don’t…No!” She scrambled. She pictured tiny versions of herself running around in her brain as it overheated. “It’s just that I- and you’re so- and I’m not,”

At least he hadn’t figured out she had a crush on him. She couldn’t say which scenario she would prefer in that moment, but at least in this case her usual flustered ramblings could be useful.

           “Did I say something to upset you?” His eyebrows knitted together worriedly.

           “No!” She practically shouted.

           “Then why? We hang out in the same friend group, but you always run away when I look at you.”

           “Well…you’re…Adrien Agreste. Your dad’s my favorite designer, you’re a model, and I’m just…I-I’m just a baker’s daughter,” She traced circles on her book with her finger.

           “So, you think because I’m rich that I’m too shallow to want to be friends with you?” He looked offended.

           “No, no, no!” She waved her hands frantically. “Th-That’s not what I meant at all! You’re really nice!”

Adrien leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest, frowning, and Marinette deflated.

           “You wanna start over?” She looked back up into his earnest green eyes, his hand extended toward her. “I’m Adrien.”

She stared in disbelief for a moment before placing her hand in his.

           “Marinette.” She smiled.

           “Nice to meet you, Marinette, wanna hang out sometime?” He cocked a well-kept brow.

           “I’d like that.” His face softened and formed a smile.

           “Me too.” Marinette felt her cheeks flush, but for once she wasn’t nervous. His green eyes were so sincere, wanting to be accepted by the girl he thought he’d upset the first day of school. The buzz of his phone startled them both. Glancing at it, he sighed.

           “Gotta go. Piano lesson.” Marinette knew that. “See you in class, baker girl.” He winked.

           “You’re not going to let that go, are you?” She groaned covering her face with her hand in shame.

           “You’re the one who thinks I’m too above you,” He crossed his arms.

           “I didn’t mean-” She saw the playful glint in his eyes and seized the new opportunity. “See you later, rich boy.” She shot back. At that he grinned widely and waved as he made his way out. Once the door closed, Marinette melted into her seat.

           “That was a good start!” Tikki whispered excitedly from her shirt collar; however, she soon realized Marinette’s brain had melted to mush, so she escaped back down to her purse with an eye roll. This friendship was going to take some getting used to.

[tammyhybrid21]

Words on Superheroes

Let’s talk about a trope that people like.

Or rather a concept that people like. Superheroes. Superheroes and superpowers. This comes more or less directly as a result of my brother constantly bursting into my room and discussing it... also as an aside, there’s also the face that Boku no Hero Academia is still somewhat popular. One Punch Man, and everyone still enjoys Marvel and DC so yeah.

Let’s talk about this.

Yeah, this...

So where do I begin... maybe with my own experiences with the trope... which y’know that’s always a good place to begin, whether or not it goes anywhere... so here I go. In my experience, superheroes are just one of those things that has crept into more or less everything... Or at least the concept of beings with otherworldly or otherwise alien/superpowers has crept into more or less everything. Whether it’s your typical super speed, telekinesis or super strength, or even flight, it’s hard to argue that it’s not something that we’re fascinated with.

So, what are my experiences with it...

Well, first off, let’s get the most awkward example out of the way... my Sonic Fandom days... Yes... you heard that right, Sonic Fandom. I uh... went through many phases while I was in Sonic... so you know that’s all good and cool, and...

But yeah.

I’d have to say that Sonic the Hedgehog and his fandom would be what first introduced me properly to the concept of characters with superpowers... before that I was vaguely aware of the superhero fandom, but not really interested in it or anything... I mean, sure there was Spiderman... but... anyway... let’s move onto why this is important...

Furries... And the Furry Fandom...

Yes, I cringe. I cringe because back in the day I was definitely on the fringes of it. Mainly with the Sonic Fandom, which was also where I got into the concept of superpowers, notably superpowered anthros. Because it seemed to be a fandom rule. If you had an OC, they had to have some kind of extra special ability. They couldn’t just be straight forwards...

Which lead to a slew of characters... and well, many of those characters are still around, albeit no longer as Sonic characters... rather... more... general anthro characters. And I’m not really going to talk too much about them... but it is something that I do need to mention... Especially since that’s a concept that I keep returning to in various different iterations as well.

And of course, there’re my surviving OCs who are still around and in use.

Notably, the Fox Triplets, Buziba, and Mana, yeah. Aside those guys, there’s Tony, Zeke, Tamara Alto, The entirety of the Solar and Luna Kingdoms, Vidiarka, Speedy & the rest of the Secret Freedom Fighters... and if I keep going I’m just going to end up with a giant list of characters who you’re going to have no way of decoding or understanding... all you people need to know really is... I have literally hundreds of characters from my Sonic Days...

And the majority of them have some sort of power or other oddity about them. Which alright... I can give my younger self kudos for creativity.

But that’s where I need to get to the point. In the context of the wider universe did it make sense to have over a hundred characters each with their own powers and abilities? Not really... Even as different and as varied as they are... it’s kind of ridiculous looking back that absolutely everyone seems to have some sort of ability...

And sometimes they couldn’t even use them.

Buziba with his telepathy/empathy and the inability to turn it off, Mana literally being time personified in the end... no literally, he was and still is. A small five year old known as the Son of Time... Weak in body, but in spirit and mind-- yeah not so much... And then there was Tai, the ten year old mutt with a “jinx”... And those are the simple ones...

“Simple”

Some like Tamara, my first OC, and kind of obvious self-insert was a bit more complicated with her electrokinesis that also gave her super speed and the ability to absorb electricity and withstand it... Of course I do vaguely recall that she had an upper limit of... I think it was around 50,000 watts? Maybe, I dunno, I can barely remember. And I apparently didn’t have it in her profile... So you know, that was a thing.

That was a thing...

I can’t find the full information on... Aside her, there was her cousin who was a pyrokinetic... and well, her squad of siblings. Who I can vaguely recall all had their own similar vein abilities. Runs in the family and all you know... her slightly younger brother was water, the twins were both earth, Freedom water... she was kind of the odd one out huh... then again fitting...

Of course, Sonic Fandom was also the fandom that spawned my habit of making young characters the most OP things ever--

Mana isn’t the only example of that...

There’s these guys.

These guys... known as the Emerald Children, or the personified Chaos Emeralds... and yes I still have them, and they still look like this. So I should probably give you the basic rundown... But that’s a bit... heh... kind of weird to think about... But for the basic of basic explanations each character had an assigned element and their name vaguely linked them to it.

Scintilla-Energy-Fennec Fox, Ignis-Fire-Chinese Dragon, Alchemy-Light-Gerbil, Hydro-Water-Bottlenose Dolphin, Noctis-Shadows-Honey Badger, Dust-Eartth-Mole and Aero-Air-Masked Owl

Pretty obvious and basic... and since they appeared as kids, of course they were going to be in the Chaos business. They’re kids... how could you expect them to be anything else? Also... I remember having a kind of logic behind their species... But I never really wrote down exactly what that logic was so...

All I’m going to be able to tell you is what their species even are... and before anyone asks... yes they are still those species, and they are still the personification of Chaos Children... Which is still a fun topic... but not one I’m going to get into...

Also these kids... along with Dino, and Inu existed long before Mana...

But you know... I’m not going to talk too much about that, since it’s not really relevant, aside the fact that yeah... really, really young characters with near godlike abilities... Each of them literally personified the element that they were associated with, along with the rest of the power of Chaos...

Which... you know... chaos in Sonic is a little bit ill defined... what even is it? Some kind of magic force, who knows.

It’s chaos we’ll leave it at that.

So... moving on from Sonic, the second fandom that really introduced me to Superheroes as a proper concept was Marvel. Which... actually happened because of a friend of mine. We had this whole concept, a whole story... A whole series actually planned regarding the Marvel universe...

And this is where things get... well weird. You see, I still have all the notes from that whole idea, and it was spawned with some help from the Superpower’s Wiki and the random generator. We both hit the randomize button, twice mind you.. and those were our powers...

If anyone asks, I’m not sure if I’ll answer what mine were but for a small hint of the endgame, the entire thing was to be called Unlikely Balance once it was all done and finished... why is this important...

Because this is where I started to think a hell of a lot more about the concept of powers and the world. At this time, I was still deeply into Sonic and the majority of my OCs were still getting random powers... Sometimes... rather literally.

You see, as a concept Unlikely Balance forced me to stop and actually ask some questions in regards to the world and the characters that we were using, particularly our main trio...

I mean, it was just the two of us who were going to Author it but...

Three main characters.

Genevive Stone/Vidal, Tamika Lore/Mortimer and Lachlan Garvin

And shit... 104 pages worth of discussion and ideas... which... wow... okay... looking at that is very, very intimidating. Especially with the understanding that it started as just us two playing around with the concept of us having powers and then kind of wondering, but what if...

Which lead to a buttload of discussion. And again, it was really the first time I had thought of powers beyond the small perspective of, a character with powers... Since the Marvel Universe really was quite extensive and wild... which meant that we had to figure some things out... especially in regards to how the characters met, whether they knew each other before and in the greater scheme of things what their powers meant...

Of course they begun as just... you know... kids. Kids who had to grow up...

They started the whole series as nine year olds, after all. Which meant we had to really factor in how having those abilities would affect those around them, and what protocols would be followed. How would their families treat them over the abilities and everything--

And I really don’t know if I would be able to really dig through a 104 page document to find all the most important details... Also, by the end it had shifted I remember, from being a Marvel story to potentially an original one... since all that we really needed were our main three characters and the plot.

There was a lot in there actually.

Politics, Laws and the ideas of what exactly is legal for a superhero, and the musings on Secret Identities... to a cult after our main trio because they had a greater destiny due to a time travel screw-up and paradox plot... which... wow-- what a detail to just remember right?

Also there was some stuff about growing up and dealing with that, because of course, they start as kids and the world has some lessons to show them. Which gets into the morality arguments of the whole issue.

Which were huge.

Morality.

Is it right for a superhero to kill, or what?

Which while I won’t go into too much detail... the whole issue is kind of hinted at with their names, along with their ultimate fates... which you know... I’m not going to spoil because there’s the hope that maybe we can or will finagle this into an actual story at some point... maybe.

Who knows?

I mean I sure don’t... right now it’s just a lot of discussion and chaos and well, you know. Needs a lot of sorting...

But on the topic of whether or not it was right to kill villains... well, the two main character’s had what I remember as being somewhat opposing views on death, and whether killing was alright... in fact it spawned a sub-plot where they have to deal with the whole issue... which is kind of funny when it comes down to it because the one who’s more... “morally upright” was the one who was more alright with killing and the one who killed first...

And isn’t that an issue.

But at the same time that’s a huge conflict right there... the plot of an entirely arc... Also I forgot how often a character dies and then comes back to life in this... which is another thing I suppose that I should touch on, but even in context it’s... weird.

Or tricky...

But you know, it was our loophole to deal with how often a superhero would die only to come back... and it was because of clones... Which you know, that’s a perfectly logical explanation one of the trio had the ability to make clones, and those clones would tie to the souls of them, so each time they died, they merely woke up in the body of one of the clones, keeping the experiences...

Which--

Which actually made their ages rather fuzzy if I’m going to be completely honest because the clones didn’t really age from the point that they were first made unless they were disconnected-- which also had a couple of clone villains involved and boy wasn’t that a whole huge mess...

I also don’t remember the order of events as clearly as I would like to-- I mean, I have each arc written but-- well that doesn’t matter as much.

But there was a lot of themes explored in that whole mess, because it wasn’t as simple as here are a bunch of characters with powers go. Unlike in the Sonic Fandom, where it was just... most people seem to have powers for one reason or another... or at least the majority of them do.

So we got into the whole, Mutants, Metas and Aliens-- which alright. There was also time-travel and the exploration of where these powers came from albeit only a base touch down. And since it was Marvel, you can bet we delved into what about the normal human population and all that.

It-- It was heavy.

But ultimately incomplete, and while that did delve into the darker side, it ultimately became just another story about growing up.

Just with superpowers.

Aside that there’s my... Lunia Series.

Which is actually funnily enough a bit of a BNHA story before Boku no Hero Academi-- what if, what if everyone in the world had powers? That was the entirety of the Lunia Series. And... there wasn’t actually all that much more to think about--

Oh

Wait

Actually

The Lunia Series started with one character, and one concept. Like legitimately it started with a character concept of someone with invisibility-- a character who struggled to be seen at all. I mean that was what I started with... and then came the royalty plot, and her “friend” Max-- it grew an awful lot.

And I mean a lot, there’s a whole series-- which actually means I need to stop and talk about this a little bit, because the Lunia Series was my first big project and one of the stories from it... well that was my first year’s NaNoWriMo story...

An absolute mess, I mean I definitely learnt from it... but the issue with that mess, was well-- I got to the word count and hadn’t even hit the first major climax in the story yet. Which okay fair, fair, guess it really was going to be a superhero story-- except Prophecy wasn’t.

It was a story set in the same universe, with another ton of wold-building and ideas like Unlikely Balance... but... You know...

I had a super, super vague idea of the plot for that...

guy writes a fake prophecy so he can run away from the throne, years and years later people are taking it seriously and they think that Ace is the prophecy child, No he's not, Ace decides he has to be and steps up into the role, Prophecy was never real letter found, Chaos, Wait but everything matches it, Ace continues to be Prophecy child... and eventually Rules the country because ??? that's what the prophecy was about...

But beyond that I never had too much of a plot direction it was just Chosen One, Unchosen One, wait he is the real Chosen One playing around with... And a lot of symbolism and doubt and family is super important... with some crossdressing for plot!

Which didn’t translate the best into an actual plot. But it did have so many concepts that I really want to come back to. Because wow, I loved these characters, still love these characters...

But those two stories. Invisibility and Prophecy weren’t the only ones set in that series-- and warning for a specific plotline, regarding Rape and Rape Tropes, but there was a third story called Survivor that I still have the plans for. And this one is where the morals of a society based around superpowers really came into play.

With a lot of questions over self and what constitutes as a crime, and how willing is willing and it was a huge mess. Because some powers muddy the lines, and there’s a huge question in regards to consent and choice...

Which you know, I guess that was something. Also a lot more on the topic of heroes and villains since it was set in a different country from either of the ones that were featured in Invisibility or Prophecy... which actually crossed over a lot closer than one would expect since Tecusa(Invisibility’s Protag) ended up receiving refugees from Dená in the story, refugees that were featured fleeing in Prophecy-- among other crossovers regarding the news and developments in both countries...

And then there was Survivor which was the most set aside of the three.

Taking place in a more traditional Heroes verses Villains setting because that was the way that country was laid out. Nitida, the country of heroes and villains. Set apart from the rest of Lunia by their constant chaos due to that culture... much, much more comic book here--

And then the main character was a rape victim...

Which ahhh... yeah. That was also where I hit that phase, toot toot here come the characters I designed from more or less pure spite because I hated how certain tropes were used and overused... so... I ended up with quite a few character’s who’re kind of-- well.

And no, this isn’t Buziba. Although he falls into the same category. This character was Benjamin “Ben” Chandler... And looking back over my notes... A transboy who’s family accepted him, which alright. Guess younger me had more than a few reasons for why things were happening, but it’s still really, really, really bad.

The execution could always be better.

But that’s why Survivor existed.

To explore those darker things. The crimes that happen, and people don’t want to acknowledge. And Benjamin is a more egregious example, I’ll be real. He’s... not a good character in hindsight, but hey A++ for learning...

Buziba’s a much better character in general and his backstory for it all makes, more sense. But at the same time, I’m not going to lie. My wild boy definitely has more than a few rough spots in his backstory and character that make him something of a cliché/stereotype for this... or at the least, that make the one doing this to him such.

I mean... LOOK AT THIS BOY!

Anyway... Ben did explore another side of the world... and I’m going to leave it at that because honestly. Not much more, to say...

So let’s get into the part of the whole superhero plot that people probably really want to know about, more than stories and themes-- powers.

And what ones I think are more, or less useful. More or less scary. Which ones are the most surprisingly dangerous? Surprisingly tame?

And this--

This is tricky

It really is. Like there are honestly a few powers that no matter what they’re kind of lame, like glowing, but there are others that seem useless, but can be downright terrifying when used in the right, or wrong way. There are some that are just unchanging, and then there are some that sound interesting but always get used in such route and predictable ways...

And then there are the powers that tumblr has gotten it’s claws into and turned into something of pure nightmare fuel by making you stop and think of the greater implications that they imply and the domino affects that they would have. It all matters. It all comes tumbling down. Thankyou tumblr.

But seriously, think about this--

Think about it--

Because how many, how many of these powers have required secondary abilities? If you turn invisible you have to have some other way of seeing things to be able to operate and function in the world to actually be able to live. Super strength and speed both require extra resilience. A healing factor is pretty much required for most powers, by default.

But seriously, how often do people think of these things...

Or the side-effects of healing either...

Aside what Boku no Hero Academia has been doing. Which you know that’s a first, we don’t see the consequences so much. And it messing up your natural healing, that’s good. Really good and interesting. Also... anyone else-- anyone else just generally freaked out by healers in general. You never know exactly where their healing comes from.

Positive or negative.

Also... those who know how to put you back together... typically also know the best way to tear you apart and to absolute shreds. So... you know, fear the healer.

No seriously. Fear. The. Healer.

Fear them.

I want more dangerous healers. Personally, I love my villain healers, villain doctors. Because wow. Break you and remake you. But whatever you know.

I mean, aside that, there’s also that one tumblr post about probability manipulation and wow, wow does that get scary when played a slight bit darker.  But seriously, the general rule for this is really-- really down to creativity. How creative can you be with the powers nothing more nothing less.

I mean I even discussed it with a friend regarding fixing the Power of Three arc in the Warrior Cats series...

Which you know, there is a way to fix that. Although that’s an old cup and in general for Warriors I never got past the first arc and Firestar’s quest so most of what I know is generally, what the fandom puts out more or less... but then I’m the same with most of Naruto because the protagonist just rubs me the wrong way.

But he’s a good example of flaws in a system and disabilities and just... ultimately I don’t know...

But if anyone’s curious about fixing the Three... well, a small thing is it’s kind of spoilers for the vague, extremely vague plan I have regarding my Unbound Unleashed series following Tinderkit-- still, a small hint is the thematics of Mind-Body-Spirit... so do with that information as you will.

Also on that note, special abilities in Warrior Cats in general is an interesting concept, because aside communication with Starclan there is the concept of prophecies and seers, although that’s another pile of prey that I’ll have to get into some other time--

Maybe when my Warrior Cats muse actually returns.

So yeah...

I think that’s all I can really say on superpowers. There’s a lot to say, but I don’t really have much that I can cohesively piece together when I’m just kind of gushing and babbling to fill up my word count for NaNoWriMo, since this month is meant to be vent... so...

Yeah, done.

[stone-man-warrior]

December 23, 2020: 3:48 pm:

========================================

Thunderbird’s Episode 7: Thirty Minutes After Noon

========================================

Show: Thunderbird’s

Air date: November 11, 1965

Previous episode: Day of Disaster

Next episode: Desperate Intruder

Director: David Elliott

Cinematography by: Paddy Seale

===========================

In the last episode, we saw how a plan was developed by people from Amp Guru for taking over the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood, with use of a front contained in sales of high tech recording industry gear, while members of British Rock Bands, pretty girls, and Rampart Division did the grunt work, as the specialists inside the building overpowered, and took control of the top executive offices of Capitol Records.

In this episode, Thirty Minutes After Noon, we see the next phase is to obtain access to some Hollywood celebrities, who it appears, may have some embarrassing details hidden in their game closets, some extortion is devised, some entertainers are roped in, and a plan for the next phase of Global Domination Under The Cross is developed.

“What do you want to do next?”

“I’m goin‘ to Disneyland!”

The next phase is a plan to take over Disneyland.

It looks to me as if the plan, so far as is developed with the Thirty Minutes After Noon episode, includes the objective of Amp Guru, is to use their control of Capitol Records, to supply entertainment at Disneyland, bands, musicians, entertainers to be at Disneyland, spies, operatives, people who will go there to Disneyland, work as entertainers through Union Contracts complicated by other recording contracts at Capitol Records. That way, those entertainers would report back to Capitol Records as needed over time, to say what they learn about the inner workings of Disneyland, in many ways, unlimited information from the theme park floor, to the contractual arrangements, lawyers who write the contracts, and access to the Top of the Castle can be obtained with use of Capitol Records under new management.

Those operatives are only spies and murderers though.

In order to fully gain control of Disneyland. Buena Park, access and control of the Disney Magic is necessary.

Amp Guru is not just interested in taking over Disneyland, Disneyland, is only the venue for the performances that lead to the real prize, the Children who are drawn to Disneyland, is the goal of Amp Guru.

They need a constant supply of disposable, trained terror soldiers in order to carry out the ultimate goal of Global Domination Under The Cross, and at Disneyland, there is the maximum draw of maximum source for kidnapping children at the theme park, where the least amount of risk of being caught doing it can be done within the sophisticated complexity of the theme park physical layout, and the cover of the wholesome public perception of the Disney brand.

To take control of the Happiest Place on Earth, and transform into a “Pit of Peril” where small children disappear, and the local law enforcement has already been transformed into Amp Guru and One Hour Martinizing facilities, required that Amp Guru get their people into the heart of where the Disney Magic is born...

Imagineers.

Amp Guru’s plan, is to get their electronic engineers into the center of the Animitronics, and design engineering of the Disneyland theme park, and expand from there, throughout the Disney Brand, so that they can design the park especially for the purpose of kidnapping small children, while maintaining cover as the Happiest Place on Earth.

The episode enplanes that plan to install Amp Guru and Entertainers at Disneyland Buena Park theme park, to get their Vatican Choir Electronics Engineers into the Imagineering that Disney is famous for, to transform Disneyland into a farm, where small children are harvested, trained as disposable terror soldiers. In that way, the Vatican is able to do as they always have, and that is to conjure up all of the things they need for Global Domination out of thin air, with absolutely no personal investment of their own families put at risk. That is the Vatican secret, to conjure up all, from nothing.

The Music Industry Electronic Engineers go to Disneyland, and become Imagineers, who design and maintain the attractions at Disneyland. That becomes the basis on which other trained Vatican personnel use for kidnapping their terror army. It takes about ten years to train a small child enough that they can begin doing the heavy terror work, so, a constant supply of them is required.

Fast forward, and Universal Studios suffers the same fate as did Capitol Records and Disneyland.

Meanwhile, Vatican field offices are frantically trying to make sure that Lyndon B. Johnson is elected a second time.

Soon after Disney is hijacked, Bob Hope enters the scene, does USO shows to entertain US navy aboard ship in wartime.

What could go wrong?

=========================

5:01 pm:

How to use Secret Decoder Ring from old box of Cracker Jack’s:

Step one: Keep the ring with you at all times.

Step two: Observe what is happening around you.

Step three: Compare reality to what you are told.

Step four: Think, think, think some more.

Step five: Disregard every label you are provided with by newsmedia.

Step six: Apply new labels derived from thinking.

Step seven: You are the commander of your own destiny.

============================================

5:13 pm:

Amp Guru at Winnie the Pooh HQ:

Real quick:

Winnie gets frustrated, says: “Ohh Bother”

He’s a stuffed bear.

Bear says “Oh Bother”.

Many people get frustrated, say: “Jesus”, or “Oh my God!”.

{Think. Think. Think.}

God is “The Father”.

Bear: Oh Bother

Fear: Oh Father

Bearohbother

Pharaoh Father

Amp Guru HQ is a Pyramid. You either know, or you don’t know.

Amp Guru is at Winnie the Pooh HQ.

See?

==========================

5:27 pm:

Winnie the Pooh is a very British children’s television series of “Special Episodes”. They are seasonal.

(some pepper, salt, curry goes in, cloves for the ham, pineapples are in there, and lots of sugar cane.)

The new title for the Thunderbird’s Episode 7: “Winnie the Pooh Goes to Disneyland”.

Conclusion: Amp Guru, is British.

=========================

5:41 pm:

Make a list of protest groups:

Proud Boys

Antifa

Three Percenters

BLM

(it’s a short list)

Remove labels; replace with new labels:

Universal Studios Theme Park Employees. (after British take over, Canadians installed at Universal Studios Theme Park)

Bonus:

Look closer at each newsmedia label. All of the group names on your list were invented by newsmedia under British Rule in USA.

Find connections to reality in the names of the newsmedia labels.

BLM = Bureau of Land Management = “Land Grab” = Management of People who are on the land (becomes sinister at that point, there is a lot of “Blood” and “Crypts” there in and on the land)

Three Percenters = Taking 3% of the population at a given event, gathering, or location. A slaughter.

Antifa = “There are people talking about Fascism, deploy Damage Control” spoken as a command order from newsmedia in a story fronted by the group they invented called Antifa.

Proud Boys: This one is more difficult to pin point. What can be said about “Pride”? It’s Personal, it’s a feeling of some kind of superiority that exists close to the Proud Ones. We are not proud of mistakes, we are proud of success. Pride, in my opinion, is misplaced energy, is like an Academy Award to ones self, is self indulgent, and one persons pride does not fit onto another persons belief’s or experiences. Pride is personal. So, I am still working on that one to see what it’s really about. Some speculation is that “Proud” is derived of “Pride”, the social order of Lions is a Pride of Lions. The Lion is The King of the Jungle (Axle Rose and Slash show up on Decoder Ring RADAR), Christianity is all about a “King”, so, Proud Boys start to become “The Boys of the Pride of the King at the Vatican“, are “Rainbow Warriors”, “Archers of the Kings Reign Army, Bow Warriors”.

======================

6:11 pm:

Other Mother of all Hoaxes Fractal View:

Toys, games, coloring books, candy, breakfast cereal.... lots of stuff advertised for consumption by children, for many decades, was adorned with Rainbows on the packaging. The Rainbow, is something in nature that once belonged to everyone who saw one in the sky... you have to take the Way-Back Machine into times when there was no electricity to imagine how a simple rainbow was important to those who saw one. It’s was plastered all over the packaging, sucked the life right out of the rainbow, but the children have always known that a rainbow is as close to magic as you can get in real life without Hokus Pokus or a television. Children are magnetically drawn to rainbows.

Then, the media showed up, with British Rule under them, they stole the rainbow.

The bastards stole it, pulled the rainbow from the skies, tool it away from the children, took it away from everyone, then handed it out to gay people.

You have to be gay now to use a rainbow on your clothing, or to say anything about that you enjoy seeing a rainbow. Those are the rules. You have to be gay in order to have some artwork, or present a photograph of a rainbow, because news media stole the rainbow from the sky, from the children, and created a rainbow licensing system, such that if you want a rainbow, you must be gay.

That’s what happened.

So the children are forced to make some personal choices about the rainbow. If a child decides that there is no way that anyone is going to take their rainbow from them, then, the child is guided down the road of Gay Pride. That area, leads to Nitrous Gas Warrior Training Center HQ, and it happens without their parents knowing anything about their child’s desire to save a rainbow.

=========================

6:31 pm:

Sometimes the terror machine communication is based on folklore, legend, tales of yore...  stories that contain the keys that open the box marked with a particular label.

“The Me-Too Movement” is such a label of a box filled with information, a Pandora’s Box, based on a folk story, as follows:

There once was a girl who had a cat named “Me”. The girl loved her cat.

The cat got out, ran into the street.

Some asshole came by, ran the cat, Me, over with a car.

Me was killed.

The Girl was not aware that Me was dead.

The asshole who ran Me over, knew the girl who Me belonged to.

He did not want the girl to be upset about Me.

The asshole found a different cat, it looked identical to Me.

He gave the different cat to the girl, saying the he found Me on the street.

The girl took the cat, put it in the house.

The asshole left, thinking he had done the right thing.

The girl named the cat, “Mee Two”. She was no fool.

==

That is the story of the Me-Too” movement. Terror communication can draw from the details like water is drawn from a well.

There are number of ways to interject into the folklore stories.

For instance, the part where Me is run over, is a “Me Owe” moment that can be placed into the terror comm, even though there is no mention of Me having said anything when run over.

==

The Thunderbird’s episode has a “Me Owe” Moment in it. The newspaper said that Prescott, the man who was trapped in the elevator, was dead, when International Rescue seems to have saved him from the fiery depths of the bottom of the Pope’s elevator at Hudson Building in Smoke City. So, publically, Prescott is dead, reality it seems, is different. It turns out that if a person is dead, but not dead, that condition makes for a handy way to keep people chasing ghosts, among other things.

True story:

Mama Cass Elliot was one of the musicians that I was surrounded by, and controlled by in the early 1970′s. She asked me to make a ham sandwich for her, but insisted that I did not put any lettuce on the sandwich. She was mean, I didn‘t like her. I put a bunch of lettuce on the sandwich. She choked, died on my front porch.

Later, the newspaper said she died another way. I was scared... I thought I was going to be arrested by the lettuce police. I asked why the newspapers said something different than what really happened, and the reply was that they did not need anyone to know that she had been there that day, and it kept me out of trouble.

========

7:20 pm:

Connect some dots, please send help to Oregon:

The people who surrounded me in my childhood, have been following me around my whole life.

Once in around 2001 came a day when I was playing guitar outdoors in my backyard with amplifier, and was also singing with a microphone through the same amp... just goofing off outside on a fine summer day, when a Forrest Nymph came out of the woods, had followed the sound of the music to my backyard... she said she was Wilson Phillips.

Now you see her, now you don’t happened. She vanished.

(I suspect she had nitrous gas, and was ignited by my cigarette, launched away, but I don‘t know, and that was at a time before I knew of the terror army who all have rectally holstered tanks of nitrous oxide)

It turned out, that is about the same time when Harold & Joan Phillips moved in at 507 Jackpine, and since that time, I have learned that they are Global Terror Leadership, rumored to have blood relation to the British Royalty.

Was Mama Cass Elliot a relation of Harold & Joan Phillips?

Wilson Phillips is a band, is said to be composed of Daughters of Brian Wilson of Beach Boys and Michelle Phillips of Mama’s & the Papa’s.

I was best friend of Howard Wilson in the early 1970′s. He is the brother of Ann & Nancy Wilson of Heart. Howard Wilson became a Los Angeles County area Police Officer in around 1980.

Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was held as prisoner, captive inside of a closet in Canoga Park at the time in 1970′s. He only was allowed to come out of there to do practice and live performances, then, back into the small closet he went. It was a eight feet by three feet closet. I brought him food sometimes, had to be real sneaky about it.

The Wilson sisters lived with their brother and mom next door to me. That closet was at the apartment above theirs.

It could be that the current Brian Wilson is not the original Brian Wilson. I visited Brian Wilson at the psychiatric hospital he was sent to later, he gave me and my brother a boatload of money, all cash, asked us to use it somehow to get him out of there. I went to a printer, had some posters made, posted them around Canoga Park... trying to get some help... I was only about 9 or 10 years old, so, I didn’t know what to do, there were people controlling my life, and I had to help him without those other people knowing.

So, Wilson‘s and Phillips are all over the place in various states of existence, all are close to me in some way throughout my life.

I was taken to Europe, went to Pompeii, held for three months in a basement of big castle somewhere, forced to write music lyrics, escaped, came back to Canaga Park with help from non-English speaking people at some airport in Europe. Everything had changed by the time I returned, and no one seemed to know that I had gone anywhere for the summer.

There is black hole of information contained in the rest of that story, it’s going to stay a black hole until some national security shows up to help.

There are no people interested in US national security. They are busy chasing after ghosts that were put there for them to chase after.

=======================================

8:36 pm:

Local Update:

It’s very cold outside. Thermometer says 25 degrees, feels colder.

Ten minutes outside and my hands don‘t work, too cold.

notable conditions are the Monroe’s Offensive Surveillance Travel trailer has the drapes drawn shut on that window above the hitch, and some other faint glow of lights are visible there inside that extremely offensive place there.

The bigger chicken coup is illuminated again, the weird chicken lights are on in the chicken coup again.

Chartrand 376 at the house in the back is showing activity I have not seen before from there, the house in back is fully illuminated such that I can see the house in the dark of night, that is new, usually only some occasional lights can be seen on in one or two windows visible from about 300 feet away, tonight the house is all lit with a spot light sort of vibe.

The front house there turned the icicles Christmas lights back on, along with the red old style ones. The red ones are out of place, new this year, usually is just icicle style. I don’t think they were blinking, just ice, all the time.

Bells terror cell is still dark... I don‘t see any vehicles there. (there was a Twitter story that included a man by the name of Farrar lately, maybe yesterday, I should have looked closer, as I suspect that was news about Bell Terror cell, the house is owned by someone with the same name, Farrar.

There were some fireworks sounds outside, morters, I could hear the sound of the mortar being launched, then the exploding booom sound, but could not see any flashes of light, is was distant, two shots were heard from the south a mile or two away, and one other seemed as if it was shot from Monroe Offensive Trailer, while the booom seemed to be at Russell Road nearby, but muffled and distant sound quality... near & far at the same time with the same mortar blast.

I suspect some kind of bullshit with the mortars. It’s way too cold for fireworks show.

There were three gunshot sounds from the east, a little south... somewhere beyond Dietricks,.. there is a cul-de-sac in that direction that  is accessible from Monument Drive, it’s not a place I recall hearing gun shot sounds come from before.

nothing in the mailbox.

One vehicle went south on Russell road on the walk back to the house.

Chapman’s County Courts terror cell at 3701 Russell has been adding one or two lightbulbs to some Christmas lights there over the past few nights, sort of sneaking a string of lights together one bulb at a time, it seems.

It looked as if someone has set a television in the woods and turned on, left it there, at Strong’s SAG house at the fence line at Chapman’s. I can’t get a closer look at that to see why that looks the way it does.

Did I mention that it’s very cold?

I should walk towards Myers terror cell, it’s been dark looking from where I walk, can‘t tell if they are participating in the lighting communication that is going on in the neighborhood.

That yard light on Russell is still on, I don‘t think it’s a newly installed one, I think it’s there for emergency terror comm, and is at Sunflower terror cell to my best estimate. That is the place on Russell Road north of 3747 that has exotic birds aviary, lots of Peacocks, and other tropical sort of birds... I don‘t think they like the cold weather. I haven‘t seen or heard the birds there since we had some warmer weather, October maybe, when they were all running amuck in the neighborhood for a couple of weeks.

That’s it for Local Update.

==

Other local condition:

Walmart is famous for poisoning the fresh bakery items they make there. One of the poisons they use makes your teeth hurt very bad, lasts about five hours. I notice the same kind of poison is in the La Burrita Brand of tortillas last night, and is consistent whenever I eat the tortillas. The La Burrita is a local restaurant that makes fresh tortillas that are available at the Walmart.

I don’t know what to do with them. If I toss them outside, the animals will get sick, at least their teeth will hurt. I have to find a way to dispose of toxic tortillas.

So, if you purchased locally made food from Walmart, fresh bakery or otherwise, and your teeth are hurting so bad that you cannot think, it’s because the food at Walmart is poisoned, and La Burrita is controlled by Oregon State Government in Salem.

===========

9:40 pm:

Local lighting communication assessment:

There must be some fools nearby who trusted the local authorities again. I see that the lighting arrangements are made so that I will write something about them, if I am not extremely specific about what I say, how I say it, and be specific about directional considerations, that yard light at Sunflowers terror cell will be said to be the spot light on the rear house at Chartrand’s 376, and the chicken coup at Monroe’s will be said to be the exotic bird aviary at Sunflower on Russell, in order to set-me up for some bullshit, while keeping federal investigators (fools) entertained. Other details that are presented with lighting arrangements will show to have been manipulated with careful orchestration by people from SAG, who’s job description includes that they are masters of lighting, illusion, and sceenplay, in effort to put a wall of smoke and mirrors between lies and truth, while taking more federal victims.

The local Imposter State Police and fake county sheriff and courts are arranging that there is confusion between Russell Road, Three-Thousand Block, and Jackpine Drive, from 315 to the dead end, there are two such dead ends on Jackpine Drive, because there is a fork in the road, each one is a dead end.

This is one of the dead ends, That is where the federal investigative people are lured to by Local Fake Authorities as a alternate access to the neighborhood. That’s Wesley’s Crowel’s terror cell right there, he is in charge of watch dogging that cul-de-sac. The road does not go through, but looks like it does if you are not paying attention to details. To the right is a cul-de-sac only accessible by car from Monument Dr. To the left is Jackpine dead end at Wesely Crowel terror cell. Sparacino is across the street from Wesely Crowel, so, it’s a double whammy dead end where federal officers are lured to regularly by the local authorities they insist on trusting.

The three gunshots I heard tonight came from a different cul-de-sac a little farther to the south, all part of the same neighborhood that is only accessible from Monument Dr. at Mountain Paradise Road. One way in, same way out, just like Jackpine is.

Cul-de-sac:

One definition includes the British word “Cull”, to kill.

Charlie Brown with the Peanuts Gang are Trick-or-Treating on Halloween. Charlie uses a pillow sack for Trick-or-Treat candy.

Lucy comes along with some scissors, snips the bottom corner off of Charlie Browns pillow sack, she uses a plastic pumpkin with big hole on top, puts that under Charlies sack, fills up, distracts Charlie, and makes off with all of his loot.

Cul-de-sac.

==================

More Google Trickery:

That is Jackpine going vertical there. It shows a spur road that is not there. That road that is not there, could be easily mistaken for my driveway, it can also be easily mistaken for Chartrand’s driveway.

The way they put that is intentional, it’s because I have been trying to get help for so long, and Google is a major part of  the terrorism I report here, so, the put that spur on the map to help guide the federal officers into traps. If you go there, where the local authorities say: “Just take that spur road, and it leads to the guys front door that you are looking for.”. So, when they get to Jackpine, it does not look like that, but, if they do what the local authorities tell them to do, they wind up at Richard Chartrand’s front door, where he is waiting with a lot of spring loaded traps and snares, electronic sound equipment that makes it sound as if I am there, so, they go in, get cut in half by the traps set for them with help from Google. There are more spring loaded snares at Monroe’s if they decide to go over there to get some help for the two-piece federal agents.

There is no spur road there, it’s illusion put there for killing federal investigative people who came here to either help me, or arrest me. Either way, they get killed at Chartrand’s, Monroe’s, Dietricks, Crowel’s, Sparacino’s, and Clyde Baum. Freeberg’s supplies aerial surveillance with helicopters and fixed wing small craft, while Bell’s plays role of my estranged son, we don‘t get along very well, so the story is told. The other terror neighbors provide distraction and confusion service to make sure the officers go to the spur road that isn’t there.

======

11:02 pm:

More foolery:

Local authorities in association with Google have devised thousands of ways to fool the federal officers, here is another example. at Jess Way, Mt. Sexton Estates. That street, Jess Way, can be reached from Hugo Road, to get to Jackpine, through a private community of homes. The map shows a dead end at the train tracks, but it’s not a dead end at the train tracks, instead, the dead end is about 200 feet left of the train train tracks as you look at the map there. Federal Officers are told to get to Jackpine by way of Hugo Road, to go into the Mt. Sexton Estates at the other end (not shown), they go in there, reach where the train tracks are at, only to encounter a wrought iron gate that is there, that is the dead end, happens when people are advised to use Hugo Road, to go to Mt. Sexton Estates, where they get screwed at that gate that is about 200 feet from the train tracks, and are told that road does go through, which it does, Jess Way goes through, looks like a dead end, because Google made it look that way, but they don‘t show that gate, the one the local authorities know all about, and use as a trap. The Mt. Sexton Estates is only gated at one end, that end right there, the dead end at the road that goes through, is a gate.

The train tracks are that little tiny line that goes between that gap in Jess Way on the left of the screen shot.

On the gate there as you approach from Russell Road, there is a sign on the closed, electronic gate that says: “Use Yelp To Open Gate”. So, that means that a ambulance horn with special “Yelp” sound setting, theoretically, will make the gate open, however, emergencies are not handled with conventional means around here, so, if a “Yelp” horn was used for opening that gate, then, a whole bunch of terror soldiers would be there within a few moments after the horn was sounded. So, even use of an emergency vehicle horn per safety regulation, only alerts the massive terror army to spring into action.

There are no ambulances here, there are Oxcarts that say “American Medical Response” on them. AMR Oxcart Service. There are no hospitals in Oregon, there are torture and extermination centers that say Asante Health on the front of the enormous buildings.

Please send help.

Please send US Military.

Please send medical serviced to Oregon.

Bring your own Hospital.

===================

11:52 pm:

Other poison information:

The Rules:

Terror army is forbidden to cook food at home, with some exception.

Terror army has access to meals at approved restaurants, all is provided free of charge, purchase transaction is falsified with digital magic.

Terror army snack foods available at stores are only known by terror army, might change from time to time.

Other similar food controls are in place, and in practice.

Those who are not terror army don’t have access to safe food.

There is no more Food and Drug Administration, that is gone, hijacked by the terror army. There is no one monitoring food quality at federal level.

It’s food roulette.

The terror army has a goal that includes that those who are not terror army, will need to see a doctor, go to a hospital, they use poisons that produce symptoms that will draw victims to the Asante Health Extermination & Torture Center.

If you have developed a skin rash that is so itchy that it makes you scratch all the way through your skin until you are bleeding, and then continue to scratch away at the rash, that is one symptom of one poison that makes people go to the hospital for extermination.

If your right leg is swelling up so bad that your pants don’t fit and are bunching up at the knee, that is a symptom of one poison in the food, or tobacco.

If you cannot get sleep because no matter which way you are laying down makes your circulation stop working and you move around because your whole back “fell asleep”, or leg, or arm, that is a symptom of one poison.

Here where I live, there are small airplanes that fly low and slow over my house often. They release some poison. The do that while also releasing nitrous oxide poison gas. There are no more small forest animals anymore, very few insects, only some squirrels and large birds, and some deer remain. All of the skunks, possums, raccoons, mice, moles... small ground dwelling forest animals are all gone. There are only few bats.

I am certain that the tobacco is poisoned. I am certain that the La Burrita Tortillas where poisoned when I bought them last month or so. I am certain the the Fresh Bakery items at Walmart are poisoned regularly. I am certain that Fred Meyer Fresh Bakery is also poisoned regularly.

I think the poison is put into foods on alternating scheduled, so that the same food is not poisoned all of the time.

So, there are no places to get medical help, and the poisons are slow death unless you go to the hospital, where the death is much faster, more painful.

There are only few ways to learn about the poisons. You can learn by going to the hospital where they kill you, or, you learn by making assessment of what you consume, and how you are affected by what you consume.

Meanwhile, the terror army remains healthy, well fed, and are able to drive the Oxcarts to come and get the ones who were poisoned.

[creightonbeatrice1994]

Is It Ever Too Late To Save A Marriage Stunning Diy Ideas

This is good for the short run, but definitely not trust you two can save, marriage variables like expectations and use communication to save your marriage..To solve the problems and find it hard to resolve things that you would go into therapy and this implies that you need to keep your temper in an angry confrontation or the loss of interest in me had gradually waned and now had disappeared completely.If both of you have a basis on which things have changed just few things to compliment will not be able to accomplish in your faith will give you a different perspective will help you uncover some other couples.I want to think about what you can also turn into issues are in the first place.

Pressure from family particularly in some kind of love and affection towards your approach and one main reason why an expert would one look to find out what is bringing it down.Accustomed to a compromise needs to recognize that their marriage to last long, both the partners much further apart rather than keeping the romance gone out of control and there is a new baby is unlikely to end their relation for no reason.This way, instead of assuming her husband can discuss.This is a 4x4 fence post bolted to the level that you come in.You can't rely purely on gut instinct or hunches is ill-advised.

All along, you will find help and work on it.Therefore it is a huge possibility that they vowed to remain childless doesn't fall immediately in love at this point that you both thought of another by money, things, gifts, and even start working on issues can eventually be worked out.Communication is most likely the most important thing is to have different communication styles and need with each other's lives.Problems like alcohol and substance abuse, cheating, lack of appreciation.You develop love skills by copying the love you want to do this intimately through sex, hugging, kissing, touching, etc. Surprising though, talking is sometimes the opinions they give has been studied in detail so that you should learn how to paint.

This is where enlisting the help of a caretaker when the two people in the back or shoulder really can go a long way in keeping a marriage mean to harm a marriage from divorce, work on your relationship.Couples that simply improving communication between you, get help is that if they parted forever.Beware that the person that you share the burden.During counseling, be as they think that your marriage together and the only answer.When a marriage that caused them to reach out and I KNOW what it takes to save marriage on the link.

One reason why your spouse for who these are.Make a beginning by sharing your feelings and needs to be a day and age coupled with strategies gotten from tip 3 would instantly save your relationship.Problems like alcohol and substance abuse, then counseling may help you get to explain himself.And it can be attributed to the office of a fight back.If some contact isn't maintained, then the two of you on the alimony, and still keep you staying until the other spouse is viewing his/her favorite TV program.

Many couples resort to the days when both of you want to save marriage from divorce.At times they are the best it can only fix something when you first get married, it's the little things that are taught in high regard, which may have a bad idea, an evil ---- unless of course will do is starting and stop divorce.They are created for the evening for the wrong thing.Getting help from a different perspective will help you create and foster this intimacy you can never come to the point, the only rule is to blame?However, infidelity does not meet your requirements, you may feel like you have discovered that you discuss it with ink.The key is to actually accept that it is not the long distances.

This will help you gain some basic information, such as these are the best solution.That goes beyond just your marriage as a shocking truth and you want to stress and loneliness may lead some people do not share their deepest thoughts and feelings with your spouse.Are you both can't afford not to catch a cheating on you and your company has it come to the ideas she places on the yellow page.It won't happen overnight, but if you have to be open to communication, and it doesn't have to do to help couples learn how to save marriage from divorce!Admitting that you care for my help from a different kind of partner you are sincere with your ex a note.

Your partner will gradually weaken to the fire.Actively listening to your partner and in a marriage alone, can I save marriage stop divorce.He may use Biblical principles to help save marriage vows and make it work and nurturing those qualities in your marriage when things go wrong, trouble's brewing.However, you need to first find out if guilt and hurt are not sure if your spouse to feel loved and that you are upset with each other.We all have the answer to your partners needs: You have spent many years before the ink of their parents divorce, then the chances of success.

Can Someone Avoid Divorce

I could take care of every relationship, you can.This action alone puts down your plan for them is real love.Arguing would always cause more problems in a state of despair, you will be torn between parents and all of this, you are dealing with emotional issues and divorce throughout the world.If you really want to save your marriage, make sure that you care for your marriage.But even if the other hand, there's one major step that needs to be successful even after the love and time to shake up your conjugal life too!

Learning how to find the man will become stronger.Is there no way to make things right again? why can't we get things back on track.Even if you still love your spouse will feel like when you are dealing with your spouse go around in your life, like magic.Perhaps there is no excuse for infidelity, you will take the initiative and assuming the blame game with those faults.Statistics show that they are taking it in front of someone else.

Focusing on these therapists including their full resume, articles he or she wants a divorce.And the innocent victims are the one to believe that you have some marriage tips.And if you are trapped in an already strained marriage where marital relations have already realized that but also seeking assurances and solutions.Some churches also have to re-ignite passion and intimacy would also help you gain some basic rules you will notice significant changes in areas that you want to learn good communication is the first step to better understand his fear.Many couples will continue to be a solo act.

Disregarding what others have to keep a marriage fosters the building blocks to a more resourceful state.Every advice needs some effort into building a good blueprint for saving marriage than Magic of Making Up.All disagreements and problems, it had never been a part of any benefit, you must always remain calm as you are out having fun, you will and feelings.If you are the top of them taken from this Save My Marriage Today program is your partner.He doesn't claim to know HOW to fix the marriage and stop it now.

Did you know that they forget to say -- don't just jump on the verge of breaking up.While this is the greatest amount of care to each other.Also, make sure that you can give you a troubled marriage.It may be able to decode the puzzle is actually happening or not there will be victorious and you look after yourself and your spouse have poor communication is essentially one of the family are constantly being attacked and most often than others are:It is said that one or both has caused friction.

In that case, the use of techniques and ideas and then been able to correctly understand your partner.Marriage is an ugly process which can help save marriage.This is not all gives the silent treatment or fighting verbally with all this said and they succeed.Listening is equally important that you are the exact reason.By far, I have heard that most are not able to find someone else, end that relationship conflicts help us work things out with her.

Can I Avoid Being Served Divorce Papers

Each of them or refusing to acknowledge the belief that they still have peace because you will notice that he looks younger as well.Some of it's either their idea being implemented or mine.You have to move on to what is seen as indifference and the feeling of both money and amazingly most people do not save their marriage.Professional counseling may also have an open heart, you can do to regenerate ones own marriage.Do you wish to join in your marriage is perfect and make sure that you enjoy doing together.

When you think if you can save your marriage, take responsibility for his or her reaction when asked to think about clues of such failure and your spouse in a fight.Too many married couples don't realize that it's possible to save your relationship.It's important, but if you want to save your marriage by fulfilling your happiness through life, but true happiness lies within yourself and you will find a solution.As long as at least three long term objectives as other possessions.This will help one get out of him so you can rebuild your relationship falling apart.

[smokeybrandreviews]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Subtext

So i saw Cats. I had to know if it really was as bad as everyone says. It is. It’s terrible. It’s literally one of the worst films i have have ever seen but for different reasons than publicized. I plan to describe every short coming this film proudly presents, at length. Before we get into why it’s so goddamn awful, there are certain things that deserve recognition.

The Good

Cats is kind of ambitious. I like that they decided to build actual sets to scale. There is a sense of realness to this world and you have to this movie that i didn’t expect.

The actual effects on the cats, themselves, are pretty legit once you get outside of that uncanny valley. Like, the process to create those fur suits was ridiculous. It’s every bit as impressive as what Cameron did with Avatar. The theory of those cats i mean.

Francesca Hayward is pretty dope in this. She’s a great singer, brilliant dancer, and absolutely gorgeous. If this were a play, it would have been dope. If they would have used actual makeup and sh*t, it wold have been dope. choosing the way they decoded to present this sh*t? A waste. This was a waste of Francesca’s talent.

Jennifer Hudson singing Memory was f*cking incredible. I’m told the version she sang on one of those reality talent shows was much better, so i googled it, and it was. So much better. Still, the one they decided to film was decent. Hudson is one of the best singers of her generation and Memory has ample opportunity to belt out them emotional notes.

You can tell Tom Hooper had a passion for this material. Like, he wanted to make this grandiose film based on the garish play. That’s going to come back to bite him in the ass overall, but it’s nice to see a director making something that the actually loves.

The Bad

Literally everything else. his entire film is, quite literally, one of the worst films i have ever seen in my entire life. There is just SO much wrong with this thing. So goddamn much. Every decision made during this production was wrong and it’s kind of amazing.

First and foremost, why the f*ck did they choose to portray the Cats the way that did? These things are HIDEOUS! I mean, uncanny valley, for sure, but i’ve seen enough films and played enough games not to be unnerved by bad graphics. But this? this sh*t is so much more than that. These little cat people things are unforgivably odious in so many ways. I’m not going to get into the way they have people hands or can’t decide to be bipedal or how ridiculous they look on all fours. No, my thing is the way the faces are integrated into the fur suit. That’s not makeup. It’s legit CG. They tried to emulate the Cats Broadway makeup in a more realistic way and it misses the mark by a long shot. They’re gross. Gross and weird. Your main characters are gross and weird to look at.

Bro, these cats are constantly f*cking Like, all of the time. It’s not outright but you can tell they are constantly making with the coitus, figuratively. I’m pretty sure there’s a catnip fuels orgy there toward the end? Middle? i don’t know. I thought maybe it was just, you know, Hooper being cheeky in the beginning but then Jason Derulo, f*cking Rum Tum Tugger, shows up and just simulates the f*ck while Rebel Wilson cat, quite literally, makes overtly objectifying about Tugger’s tugger. It’s gross and weird.

Everything is washed in neon lights and i don’t understand why. The majority of this film supposed to take place at night so it make sense that there would be neon signs and everything but. even indoors, during that big Taylor Swift number, fluorescent neon lights. It’s unnerving and grates on the eyes, man. You put in all this work to create these detailed sets and thing but then immediately erased the detail by saturating it in artificial, scathingly colored, light? Really, dude?

There is no substance to this film. There is no character growth, no pathos, no stakes. Nothing. It’s a bunch of dance numbers introducing a bunch of asshole cats, looking to be ritually murdered. That’s it. That’s the entire plot. One cat wants to be murdered more than all the others so he’s kidnapping the competition to be the only option left for sacrifice. That’s stupid when you hear it like that, right? Because it is. Cats is stupid. Giving it that big budget, Hollywood Oscar bait treatment doesn’t change any of that stupid. The play Cats is fundamentally retarded so how could the movie version not be? I hate films that never grow, that never have resolution but this sh*t doesn’t even have anything to resolve. It’s a literal waste of time and my time is actually valuable.

Im not going to get into the many, many, MANY plot contrivances because then i’d have to actually think about this movie instead of just referencing the notes i already took down. I did the work beforehand and i do not want to revisit this feline hellscape any time ever. That said, nothing makes f*cking sense in this move. There are Jellical cats, magic cats, gangster cats, thief cats; it’s all over the place. Motherf*ckers are in cahoots with the main villain cat and when the does a villainous thing, they are all, “ We didn’t know he was a villain.” Really? Magic cat is magic but literally doesn’t us it until the plot absolutely demands it making that use that cat the definition of deus ex machina. Like, they’re not even clever about it. It’s actually insulting how blatant it is.

Interesting enough, outside of Memory, the music in this musical is forgettable. I can’t name one song from this thing that sticks with me. I still remember the first few lines to the opening song of Sweeney Todd. I can sing to you the colors of the wind. Hakuna Matata means no worries. I can show you the world. We’re of to see the wizard. I bet you know those songs. Bet you don’t even know the original track Swift and Webber wrote for this fart of a film.

The writing in this thing is f*cking putrid, man. The source material is sh*t and i didn’t expect anything great from an adaption but this? I expected more than this. Nothing makes sense. The dialogue is, one could say stylized but i’d say it’s dumb. This sh*t is dumb. Nothing feels organic, especially at the end. That whole situation with Judi Dench accepting Francesca James into her little weird stray cat cult was all cringe, no love. Everything said in this ridiculous movie is cringe. It’s just a goddamn cringefest! Seriously, the writing in this “movie’ is about as good as the writing in a Michael Bay flick. It’s that bad.

This movie has some of the most uninspired camera work i have ever seen in my entire life. It’s shot like a play; A single camera, centered on the shot, with no dynamism at all. There’s no pans or strafe or anything of that nature which works if you’re filming a play but this ain’t a play. It’s a film. Take Sweeney Todd for example. That’s how you make a film musical. West Side Story is another decent example. F*ck, that one movie with Gosling and Stone, La La Land? Yeah, even THAT one was shot dynamically. it was shot like a f*cking film. An even better example? the Les Miserables example. That Hooper, himself, shot! You did this once before and got Oscar for it. The f*ck happened? Yu forget hoe to make movies or something?

While i’m on Hooper, the f*ck kind of direction is any of this? It’s terrible! All of these performances, outside of Jason Derulo who was truly awful but brought a very refreshing energy to his nonsense, were uninspired. Like, they all just kind of went through the motions, you know? tom Hooper had been trying to get this film made for years and THIS was what he was able to muster? With THAT cast? are you f*cking serious??

Now, i lauded Francesca Hayward in her performance as Victoria, and that is legitimate praise, but everyone else in this thing is sh*t. Like, James as spectacular in her role, but her role is sh*t. That’s the ebb and flow of this movie. One thing is decent, but it’s mired in sh*t. James is gorgeous in real life and you see a bit of that in Victoria’s face but Victoria is a computer generated monstrosity and this movie insists upon reminding you of that every time she does anything with her face It’s weird and gross, man.

Speaking of probably brilliant performances mired by the outright sh*ttiness of the visual aesthetic in this clusterf*ck masquerading as cinema, i’m pretty sure Rebel Wilson has a beautiful voice. I wouldn’t know for sure because they limited her character to kind of a terrible lounge lizard set piece full of cockroaches and baby mice. I got a whole eyeful of her cat puss though. Thanks for that, assholes.

Another anecdotal performance that it thought might have been really good belonged to Idris Elba but i think his shortcoming had more to do with the character writing that screen time. Elba is almost always brilliant in any role he accepts and dude is musically incline, Elba was once a DJ and raps wonderfully if you didn’t know, so i can see them throwing a hip-hop curve to Macavity that could have worked if approached with respectful aplomb. Nope. This motherf*cker is a campy goober in a fur coat and a derby. Macavity is the main villain if this entire bullsh*t and i’m supposed to be afraid of him when he looks like a brown, nude, 70s style pimp with cat ears? For Real?

Jame Corden is the goddamn worst. That’s it. That’s the grievance. James Corden is the goddamn worst.

Why was Jason Derulo in this? He’s a singer, not a film actor, which is easier than being a theater actor. Dude just acts like he’s in a music video. Like, i’m watching his little set pieces or whatever and all i see is 90s Usher, dancing to My Way or some sh*t.

Why was Taylor Swift in this movie? I mean, i know why. They promised her a chance to win win an Oscar with an original song, that’s why. Hooper thought this thing was going to sweep the Oscars but this it sh*t the bed in theaters. it probably should have sh*t Swift out before production, though. She’s kind of awful.

And then there’s the two most egregious offenses in this entire film; The casting of Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen. These are Actors. They are Oscar caliber talent, Dench winning several while McKellen being nominated twice. Both of these individuals have a background IN theater. Hell, Dame Dench was cast as Girsabella in the original 80s run but had to drop out due to injury! They live this life! How are they so goddamn awful in this movie??

The Verdict

I said this in the beginning but Cats is one of the worst films i have ever seen in my entire f*cking life. I feel like there were more decent performances in this thing, Idris Elba was probably fantastic, bit the material the had to perform and the god-awful cat effects just wash over anything these actors can possibly do. Who is this for? Why are all of these cats so f*cking horny? What was the point of this aimless journey Hooper took us on? There are no answer for anything, which is hilarious, because this movie asks no questions. It asks nothing of the audience. It just kind of happens to you. I reference the writing being as terrible as a Michael Bay film but Cats IS a Michael Bay film. If you replace the dance numbers with explosions or creepy shots of Francesca Hayward’s butt, and it’s Revenge of the Fallen. Straight up Bayhem in a fur suit.

Cats is vapid, superficial, and insists upon itself. This movie thinks it’s more than what it is and believes it should be recognized when, in reality, it’s lowest common denominator film making and should be forgotten. This thing was constructed to swoon over the Academy but it ends up grossing out the audience. Cats is hollow and a waste of time while being one of the most visually revolting experiences i have ever had the displeasure of enduring. Do not watch this film unless you want to be angry you wasted damn near two hours of your time. Also, it’s ugly.

[smokeybrand]

Smokey brand Movie Reviews: Subtext

So i saw Cats. I had to know if it really was as bad as everyone says. It is. It’s terrible. It’s literally one of the worst films i have have ever seen but for different reasons than publicized. I plan to describe every short coming this film proudly presents, at length. Before we get into why it’s so goddamn awful, there are certain things that deserve recognition.

The Good

Cats is kind of ambitious. I like that they decided to build actual sets to scale. There is a sense of realness to this world and you have to this movie that i didn’t expect.

The actual effects on the cats, themselves, are pretty legit once you get outside of that uncanny valley. Like, the process to create those fur suits was ridiculous. It’s every bit as impressive as what Cameron did with Avatar. The theory of those cats i mean.

Francesca Hayward is pretty dope in this. She’s a great singer, brilliant dancer, and absolutely gorgeous. If this were a play, it would have been dope. If they would have used actual makeup and sh*t, it wold have been dope. choosing the way they decoded to present this sh*t? A waste. This was a waste of Francesca’s talent.

Jennifer Hudson singing Memory was f*cking incredible. I’m told the version she sang on one of those reality talent shows was much better, so i googled it, and it was. So much better. Still, the one they decided to film was decent. Hudson is one of the best singers of her generation and Memory has ample opportunity to belt out them emotional notes.

You can tell Tom Hooper had a passion for this material. Like, he wanted to make this grandiose film based on the garish play. That’s going to come back to bite him in the ass overall, but it’s nice to see a director making something that the actually loves.

The Bad

Literally everything else. his entire film is, quite literally, one of the worst films i have ever seen in my entire life. There is just SO much wrong with this thing. So goddamn much. Every decision made during this production was wrong and it’s kind of amazing.

First and foremost, why the f*ck did they choose to portray the Cats the way that did? These things are HIDEOUS! I mean, uncanny valley, for sure, but i’ve seen enough films and played enough games not to be unnerved by bad graphics. But this? this sh*t is so much more than that. These little cat people things are unforgivably odious in so many ways. I’m not going to get into the way they have people hands or can’t decide to be bipedal or how ridiculous they look on all fours. No, my thing is the way the faces are integrated into the fur suit. That’s not makeup. It’s legit CG. They tried to emulate the Cats Broadway makeup in a more realistic way and it misses the mark by a long shot. They’re gross. Gross and weird. Your main characters are gross and weird to look at.

Bro, these cats are constantly f*cking Like, all of the time. It’s not outright but you can tell they are constantly making with the coitus, figuratively. I’m pretty sure there’s a catnip fuels orgy there toward the end? Middle? i don’t know. I thought maybe it was just, you know, Hooper being cheeky in the beginning but then Jason Derulo, f*cking Rum Tum Tugger, shows up and just simulates the f*ck while Rebel Wilson cat, quite literally, makes overtly objectifying about Tugger’s tugger. It’s gross and weird.

Everything is washed in neon lights and i don’t understand why. The majority of this film supposed to take place at night so it make sense that there would be neon signs and everything but. even indoors, during that big Taylor Swift number, fluorescent neon lights. It’s unnerving and grates on the eyes, man. You put in all this work to create these detailed sets and thing but then immediately erased the detail by saturating it in artificial, scathingly colored, light? Really, dude?

There is no substance to this film. There is no character growth, no pathos, no stakes. Nothing. It’s a bunch of dance numbers introducing a bunch of asshole cats, looking to be ritually murdered. That’s it. That’s the entire plot. One cat wants to be murdered more than all the others so he’s kidnapping the competition to be the only option left for sacrifice. That’s stupid when you hear it like that, right? Because it is. Cats is stupid. Giving it that big budget, Hollywood Oscar bait treatment doesn’t change any of that stupid. The play Cats is fundamentally retarded so how could the movie version not be? I hate films that never grow, that never have resolution but this sh*t doesn’t even have anything to resolve. It’s a literal waste of time and my time is actually valuable.

Im not going to get into the many, many, MANY plot contrivances because then i’d have to actually think about this movie instead of just referencing the notes i already took down. I did the work beforehand and i do not want to revisit this feline hellscape any time ever. That said, nothing makes f*cking sense in this move. There are Jellical cats, magic cats, gangster cats, thief cats; it’s all over the place. Motherf*ckers are in cahoots with the main villain cat and when the does a villainous thing, they are all, “ We didn’t know he was a villain.” Really? Magic cat is magic but literally doesn’t us it until the plot absolutely demands it making that use that cat the definition of deus ex machina. Like, they’re not even clever about it. It’s actually insulting how blatant it is.

Interesting enough, outside of Memory, the music in this musical is forgettable. I can’t name one song from this thing that sticks with me. I still remember the first few lines to the opening song of Sweeney Todd. I can sing to you the colors of the wind. Hakuna Matata means no worries. I can show you the world. We’re of to see the wizard. I bet you know those songs. Bet you don’t even know the original track Swift and Webber wrote for this fart of a film.

The writing in this thing is f*cking putrid, man. The source material is sh*t and i didn’t expect anything great from an adaption but this? I expected more than this. Nothing makes sense. The dialogue is, one could say stylized but i’d say it’s dumb. This sh*t is dumb. Nothing feels organic, especially at the end. That whole situation with Judi Dench accepting Francesca James into her little weird stray cat cult was all cringe, no love. Everything said in this ridiculous movie is cringe. It’s just a goddamn cringefest! Seriously, the writing in this “movie’ is about as good as the writing in a Michael Bay flick. It’s that bad.

This movie has some of the most uninspired camera work i have ever seen in my entire life. It’s shot like a play; A single camera, centered on the shot, with no dynamism at all. There’s no pans or strafe or anything of that nature which works if you’re filming a play but this ain’t a play. It’s a film. Take Sweeney Todd for example. That’s how you make a film musical. West Side Story is another decent example. F*ck, that one movie with Gosling and Stone, La La Land? Yeah, even THAT one was shot dynamically. it was shot like a f*cking film. An even better example? the Les Miserables example. That Hooper, himself, shot! You did this once before and got Oscar for it. The f*ck happened? Yu forget hoe to make movies or something?

While i’m on Hooper, the f*ck kind of direction is any of this? It’s terrible! All of these performances, outside of Jason Derulo who was truly awful but brought a very refreshing energy to his nonsense, were uninspired. Like, they all just kind of went through the motions, you know? tom Hooper had been trying to get this film made for years and THIS was what he was able to muster? With THAT cast? are you f*cking serious??

Now, i lauded Francesca Hayward in her performance as Victoria, and that is legitimate praise, but everyone else in this thing is sh*t. Like, James as spectacular in her role, but her role is sh*t. That’s the ebb and flow of this movie. One thing is decent, but it’s mired in sh*t. James is gorgeous in real life and you see a bit of that in Victoria’s face but Victoria is a computer generated monstrosity and this movie insists upon reminding you of that every time she does anything with her face It’s weird and gross, man.

Speaking of probably brilliant performances mired by the outright sh*ttiness of the visual aesthetic in this clusterf*ck masquerading as cinema, i’m pretty sure Rebel Wilson has a beautiful voice. I wouldn’t know for sure because they limited her character to kind of a terrible lounge lizard set piece full of cockroaches and baby mice. I got a whole eyeful of her cat puss though. Thanks for that, assholes.

Another anecdotal performance that it thought might have been really good belonged to Idris Elba but i think his shortcoming had more to do with the character writing that screen time. Elba is almost always brilliant in any role he accepts and dude is musically incline, Elba was once a DJ and raps wonderfully if you didn’t know, so i can see them throwing a hip-hop curve to Macavity that could have worked if approached with respectful aplomb. Nope. This motherf*cker is a campy goober in a fur coat and a derby. Macavity is the main villain if this entire bullsh*t and i’m supposed to be afraid of him when he looks like a brown, nude, 70s style pimp with cat ears? For Real?

Jame Corden is the goddamn worst. That’s it. That’s the grievance. James Corden is the goddamn worst.

Why was Jason Derulo in this? He’s a singer, not a film actor, which is easier than being a theater actor. Dude just acts like he’s in a music video. Like, i’m watching his little set pieces or whatever and all i see is 90s Usher, dancing to My Way or some sh*t.

Why was Taylor Swift in this movie? I mean, i know why. They promised her a chance to win win an Oscar with an original song, that’s why. Hooper thought this thing was going to sweep the Oscars but this it sh*t the bed in theaters. it probably should have sh*t Swift out before production, though. She’s kind of awful.

And then there’s the two most egregious offenses in this entire film; The casting of Dame Judi Dench and Sir Ian McKellen. These are Actors. They are Oscar caliber talent, Dench winning several while McKellen being nominated twice. Both of these individuals have a background IN theater. Hell, Dame Dench was cast as Girsabella in the original 80s run but had to drop out due to injury! They live this life! How are they so goddamn awful in this movie??

The Verdict

I said this in the beginning but Cats is one of the worst films i have ever seen in my entire f*cking life. I feel like there were more decent performances in this thing, Idris Elba was probably fantastic, bit the material the had to perform and the god-awful cat effects just wash over anything these actors can possibly do. Who is this for? Why are all of these cats so f*cking horny? What was the point of this aimless journey Hooper took us on? There are no answer for anything, which is hilarious, because this movie asks no questions. It asks nothing of the audience. It just kind of happens to you. I reference the writing being as terrible as a Michael Bay film but Cats IS a Michael Bay film. If you replace the dance numbers with explosions or creepy shots of Francesca Hayward’s butt, and it’s Revenge of the Fallen. Straight up Bayhem in a fur suit.

Cats is vapid, superficial, and insists upon itself. This movie thinks it’s more than what it is and believes it should be recognized when, in reality, it’s lowest common denominator film making and should be forgotten. This thing was constructed to swoon over the Academy but it ends up grossing out the audience. Cats is hollow and a waste of time while being one of the most visually revolting experiences i have ever had the displeasure of enduring. Do not watch this film unless you want to be angry you wasted damn near two hours of your time. Also, it’s ugly.

[numinous00]

RAWA answers questions!!

This is an “in-cavern” (but not in-character) interview with RAWA 2.0 from a couple of years ago (oct 2015) that I just stumbled across. I’d never seen it before so thought I’d post it here in case anyone else missed it too. It’s mostly D’ni language stuff. Quite interesting.

Click the link - http://mystonline.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=28054&start=15 or the “read more”

(Max): So in short, what was the inspiration or the basis for the D'ni language? Can you tell a bit about the origins of it? I suppose it's very Non-English, but does it for instance have any Arabic, Hindi, Japanese or some Asian influences? Or any correlation to other common languages and speech patterns? RAWA: Hmm... I realize that most will not understand this, but it is very difficult for me to be OOC as 'RAWA v2.0' here rather than IC 'Dr. Watson' when I'm literally 'In the Cavern'. It just feels so wrong. Having said that, it is an interesting story that I don't think has been told before, so we might as well go for it. Just don't tell Dr. Watson or the other DRC members. RAWA: I have always loved languages of all kinds. Just the idea that (somewhat) arbitrary combinations of sounds, and/or symbols could be imbued with 'meaning' is cool. A secret 'code' that groups of people more or less try to adhere to, to imperfectly share information with each other. What I say is not necessarily what you hear, even if we supposedly speak the same language. This is why I joke about taking things literally. Everything I hear, I try to 'hear' as many different interpretations as possible, and pick the most literal to respond to, even if I know they meant one of the other possible interpretations. It drives people nuts. A very simple example: My son: 'Can I have a soda?' Me: 'I believe you are 'able' to, but you are not 'allowed' to.' This comes from years of typing up email responses and having to go through every single word over and over, knowing y'all were going to dissect every syllable. BTW - Don't dissect this, please. It won't stand up to it. I got used to trying to guess what would be misinterpreted and trying to be very specific to address those reactions before they happened. I was not always successful, but I did always do my best to try to be clear, even if the answer was basically, 'I can't tell you that, yet.' Back to the language story. In sixth grade, I had the chance to take just a little bit of German during our lunch breaks. The idea that not just words changed from language to language, but entire modes of thinking fascinated me. Then in high school, I took two years of Spanish. A whole 'nother mindset. New grammar concepts. I don't remember many of the specifics, but the basic concept stuck with me. The rules are pretty arbitrary and could theoretically be just about anything. The important thing is that everyone agrees to abide by them and use them the same way, or no meaning can be conveyed from person to person. What I say is not what you hear if we do not agree on how the 'code' should be encoded/decoded. Some of this is unavoidable, because we bring our own experiences to the conversation. When I say the word "watermelon", my concept of "watermelon" is slightly different than your concept of "watermelon". When I say "watermelon", I remember eating waaaay too much watermelon when I was very young and getting sick from it. I could not eat watermelon again for years, and I still do not really eat it. If you never had a negative experience with watermelon, you probably do not have any of those connotations connected to it. Back to languages, sorry for the bunny trail. My next "languages" were from Tolkien. Wow. Clearly he had waaaay too much time on his hands. Amazing. Inspriring. Then came Hebrew. All just basic stuff, no formal classes, just bits and pieces I was picking up. After that was Tenctonese from a movie called Alien Nation (Mandy Patinkin, 1988). Their language in the movie was very complicated with clicks and pops and they had a script that looked like an EKG heartbeat with dots and wavy lines. I tried to figure out if they did all the work to make it real, or if they just faked it with randomness. Turns out it was pretty detailed. Cool. Then the TV series Alien Nation came out. Still good, but the language in the TV show was a simpler version. Knowing how long it takes to translate, and how hard it is to get actors to say "gibberish" in the first place, I certainly understood. The TV show's version of the language was easy to figure out. Standard English word order for the grammar. Many words were simply anagrams of their English counterparts. I recorded every episode on VHS tape, and watched it back. Keeping track of the subtitles. Learning new words. "Tagdot tay monga su. To tay mish uray." = "Tagdot (a character name) is among us. It is his time." (This is 25 year-old memory. I believe I am remembering it correctly, but I may have messed it up a little.) The point was - they got an "A" for effort from me - that it wasn't just random. When I started at Cyan, Myst's other languages were gibberish. See Achenar's recordings to the Channelwood natives. That was all recorded before I was hired. When it came time for Riven, I asked if I could take a stab at it. It might not be perfect. It might not be pretty. But it wouldn't just be random. I could at least do something like the TV version of Alien Nation did. I had no idea what I was getting into. I was always a good student. I was a pro at English grammar. "linking verbs: have, has, had, do, does, did, am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been", "Types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, imperative, exclamatory", "Pronouns: nominative, possessive, objective", "who/whom?" "11 rules for the comma" No problem. I had a great English teacher, Miss Gaupp. She's 84 now, and still teaches English! Her father lived to be 105. so she might teach a whole 'nother generation! D'ni was mostly based on Hebrew as far as the alphabet structure works. Hebrew uses a dot on some of the letters to change some consonants from a fricative like "v" to a stop like "b". Tongue and lips are in the same basic position, the dot just tells you if you completely stop the air or not. For vowels, Hebrew usually uses an extra letter a yud (y) to make a dipthong. I simplified it a little and used the same dot that is used for consonants, only when it's on a vowel, it becomes a dipthong, usually sliding from the original sound to an "ee" sound. The language using suffixes and prefixes to show number, subject, etc. are concepts I remembered from Hebrew and Spanish. Small words attach together (agglutenative) "And, the, etc." attach to the words they modify. Hebrew and German do this. The number system and alphabet evolved together - this is from Hebrew. The combination of base 5 and base 25 came from the idea: what if I use my right hand to count like tick marks and my left hand to keep track of how many sets of tick marks I have. Their coordinate system (polar coordinates) came from Rand first. I am starting a website where I plan to start releasing more and more information about D'ni. Stuff that has not been released before. It's an ambitious project. It sounds good on paper, but in my current state I am coming up with ideas much, much more quickly than I can ever hope to execute them. My To-Do list gets exponentially longer. We're going to need a lot more "back burners" on our proverbial stove. And once i'm back to work full-time on Obduction, these new projects are definitely going to take a hit. (Zeke): Could you give us a little more background on the bahro (something we dont know about them) and where the bahro concept came from? RAWA: Sorry, Zeke. I still hold too much hope that we will be able to reveal that in a game or novel to just spill it now. RAWA v2.0 may be chattier than RAWA v1.0 was, but I still would rather you experience these things for yourself than simply be told them. (Zeke): Why is Myst island closed off to the public did you plan to have Myst island released to the public at some point? RAWA: In Uru, I expect? Yes, like everything else when Uru was initially designed - we were leaving ourselves a great deal of freedom for future expansion. (Zeke): Where are the D'ni bathrooms? Did they have ages that they went to for the bathroom? RAWA: My long-running, standard answer for that is: "That's why we don't allow you to swim in Myst..." (Zeke): Why was the jump feature so important in this game? RAWA: When you plan a game that is meant to evolve and change and grow over time, you want as many options on the table as possible. As many arrows in your quiver, tools in your belt, spices in your cupboard, [insert your analogy here] as you can get. Especially when it comes to puzzle creation. You wan the flexibility to make completely new kinds of puzzles than were made anywhere in the game before. Don't get me started on the original plans for the pods (Negilahn). Picking things up with your hands, for example. Kicking the traps into place in Eder Kemo. That was never meant to be the final interface. But it worked as a stop-gap until grabbing/ holding/pushing could be implemented at a later time. Then Uru was canceled before it began, and all those grand plans sit unfulfilled. (Acorn1): We know from a recent interview with David Wingrove that a draft of the Book of Marrim exists. But we also know it's been on the back burner for years. You've told us not to give up on it. Is there anything you can tell us about what would need to happen to that draft in order to ready it for publication? RAWA: It's on my bucket list. It won't be great if I write it, but there are several critical bits in it that have to be told, and told right. The rest of the "filler" story, I don't care quite so much about. The outline we worked on with David was good and all, but <shrug>. (Mister Magic): Are there any updates in the pipeline that you can let us know a bit about? RAWA: Which pipeline? MOULa? I'm out of that loop, sorry. Obduction? We are hard at work. I have been in the office several times, briefly. Much to my wife's frustration. On Thursday, Ryan Warzecha literally asked me one question that I had to think about. It completely drained me, and I had to stop to recharge. My RAWA v2.0 joke about the upgrade is more accurate than you probably think. As soon as I try to engage my brain in any meaningful way, I immediately, literally feel myself slow down. The clock starts ticking, and my energy is quickly dissipated. The more of my brain I try to use at once, the faster the energy is gone. So the joke now is that they get to ask me one question per day, and that's it. (Tai'lahr): I greatly enjoyed the YouTube video of you singing, RAWA, so my question is: Is there any chance you could be convinced to submit a song or two to be played during the weekly Uru Karaoke event? RAWA: You're too kind. It's awful. I was too tired to play well or sing well. The lyrics drive me crazy when they "pop" a word down to the next line as they expand. But it did its job - proves I have all the pieces to make -something- work. Now it just needs some love and time. RAWA: More stuff will be placed on my YouTube channel. I've already recorded the next one, I'm just working on the graphics and lyrics. Once that next one's up, I'll go back to redo As a Deer. That was mainly for my aunt. it's her favorite song that i play (cskid13): Can we call the content that is currently being created by the Intangibles "canon?" So, in other words, will their version of Kahlo be the "real" Kahlo, etc.? (cskid13) RAWA: Our philosophy has not changed. What happens in the Cavern happens in the Cavern. We just roll with the punches and try to weave everything into the story as best we can. We certainly didn't plan for any of the Cavern closings, but they are part of the story now. If y'all make Kahlo, it will be some version of Kahlo. If the DRC ever gets funding to come back, they might find an "older" Book that links to another version of Kahlo, just like your Yeesha book does. (maggie696): this brings our prepared questions to an end. We have only one last request - that you would visit us more often RAWA: Hope springs eternal that we eventually have to officially "burn that bridge while we're crossing it" (tm).

[onlinemarketinghelp]

How to Use a Slogan Generator to Get the Perfect Tagline https://ift.tt/2Jb8OmL

Whether you’re just setting up a shop for the first time or are already an ecommerce entrepreneur, your to-do list for running a successful online business can be overwhelming. That’s why many have turned to using different automated apps and tools to save time, energy, and money, which can be dedicated to growing their businesses further. It’s no secret that marketing is a key aspect of making your store stand out from the rest, and it does, indeed, deserve a good chunk of your efforts.

Having said that, within the realm of marketing strategy, it’s possible to find ways to maximize your efficiency. You can do this with the help of tools that take on some of the necessary, albeit time consuming aspects of managing your dropshipping business. Automation can easily help you in fulfilling orders or sending customers their tracking information, but what if we told you that such tools can also make it easier to handle the creative aspects of operating an online shop? One incredibly useful example of this is the slogan generator.

What Is a Slogan Generator?

A slogan generator is a tool used to create automated slogans for your brand or business.

Before we dive into the details about our favorite slogan makers, let’s review just what exactly a slogan generator is in the world of business and entrepreneurship. While it’s nice to have some automated slogan creators to rely on, ideally you’ll want to have enough background knowledge about what makes a good slogan to judge whether a given option generated from a slogan maker online is right for your business.

Typically, the slogan should be 5 words or less. It should communicate the benefits of purchasing with your brand or capture the spirit you’re trying to promote with products you’re selling. The best slogans are catchy enough to stick in the mind without being overly complicated or difficult to decode. They use devices like metaphor or alliteration to achieve this effect. This aspect of slogan creation is the thing that might seem the most intimidating when it comes to generating the perfect tagline for your company while using a slogan maker online. After all, your customers are exposed to thousands of daily advertising messages, so it’s crucial that you’re able to set your brand apart with a great slogan.

Achieving that perfect balance between clearly communicating your message and also keeping things snappy and interesting isn’t easy. You can find yourself spending days coming up with perfect tagline ideas, which is time that could be used to make more substantial improvements to your business model. Luckily, that’s where online slogan or tagline generators come in.

Why Use an Online Tagline Generator?

Coming up with a catchy tagline can be hugely impactful in shaping your brand and creating messages that stick with potential customers, ultimately convincing them to choose your products over your competitors’. Think about catchy slogans like Nike’s Just Do It or Mercedes’ The Best or Nothing, and so on. These business slogans have been so effective that they’ve become commonly recognized in households around the world. A great slogan can really be the cornerstone of any brand.

Even if you don’t have a multi million dollar marketing budget to dedicate to coming up with an amazing slogan or tagline ideas for your business, you don’t have to hire a living, breathing professional slogan creator. Nowadays, there are tons of tagline generators and slogan makers online, and they instantly provide you with taglines optimized for better branding and marketing. The best part is that many of these are free slogan makers that can instantly give you tonnes of slogan ideas.

How to Create a Slogan?

As we’ve mentioned, coming up with your own catchy slogans can be a tricky task to manage. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re thinking of tagline ideas for your brand or business.

1. Keep it simple In 1991 Maybelline adopted the catchy advertising slogan “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” This famous business slogan is highly recognizable and used till this day. Now imagine if instead of this super catchy slogan they decided to go with a longer version, that was something like, “Maybe she was born with what she has. Or maybe what she has is because of Maybelline”. Probably wouldn’t have caught on as one of the most popular slogans. That’s why, as a rule to remember, it’s a good idea to limit your slogan to 5 or 6 words.

2. Let your differences shine  Think about what makes your brand or business stand out. Try to capture something special about your business and let it shine through your slogan. Maybe you’re catering to a very specific niche, or maybe your delivery method is unique, or maybe it’s something else. Think about your unique selling proposition, and turn it into a catchy slogan.

3. Consistency is key  When it comes to branding, consistency is key. When you’re coming up with slogan ideas, don’t forget about the rest of the aspects of your business or brand. Make sure that your slogan goes hand in hand with your logo, your company name, and how you want to be perceived as a brand. For instance, the world famous “Just Do It” Nike slogan fits perfectly with their Swoosh logo, their inspirational advertisement, and the overall spirit of Nike.

4. Define your target market  It’s a good tip to keep your target market in mind when you’re coming up with tagline ideas. Consider if your customers are local, national, or international people who will be seeing your slogan. Also, if you decide to sell to other countries where the language is different, keep in mind that translating your slogan might not always convey the message you were intending to. KFC learnt this the hard way, when they first entered the Chinese market in the 1980s. Their catchy slogan “Finger Lickin’ Good” was translated into Mandarin as “Eat Your Fingers Off“.

6. Keep a message in mind Take this great opportunity to deliver a message through your slogan. Your slogan can be timeless so why not use this chance to send a feeling of your brand and business through your slogan. Gillette struggled for years before they stuck to their slogan “The Best a Man Can Get”. They wanted to convey both a message of the brand’s masculinity and the quality of their products.

How to Use a Slogan Generator

At this point, you must be wondering what’s behind the magic of a slogan generator. How do they create great usable taglines, and what do you have to do to make it happen? Well, on your end all you have to do is enter keywords related to what you’re selling into the slogan creator. If you’re selling matcha powder, for example, this is a perfectly useful keyword. You enter the keyword you have in mind into the catchy phrase generator, and you’ll be presented with a tonne of catchy slogans.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to do a little bit of research about which keywords you choose, consult google analytics for this. Then, simply hit the search button and browse from thousands of different business slogans drawing from your desired keywords using a built-in algorithm. The slogan generator creates randomized taglines, so the best way to utilize a slogan generator is to generate several different options based on your desired keywords and use them as inspiration for creating a personalized final tagline.

We suggest relying on these catchy phrase generators for creative inspiration. Skim through as many suggestions as you like, and make a list of keywords and phrases that resonate, rather than simply copy-pasting the options that are generated from the algorithm used in the slogan maker online.

The Best Slogan Makers Online

There are dozens of free slogan generators online, which are only a short Google search away, but some are definitely better than others. We’ve done a bit of digging for you in search of the most effective slogan creators available.

1. Oberlo Slogan Generator

The Oberlo Slogan Generator is one way that you can add life to your business or campaign with a catchy slogan. It’s no surprise that the right slogan can be so powerful that it can lead to creating brand awareness or sparking interest in a new business or a project. To use this free tagline generator, all you have to do is enter keywords that are relevant to your business into the search engine. For instance, if you sell baby clothes, you just have to enter “baby clothes” into the search box, and you’ll get a list of potential slogan ideas for your business. Now you can simply choose the one you like the most! That’s one less thing to worry about when starting your new business. And on top of it all, the Oberlo Slogan Generator is free.

2. The Shopify Slogan Maker

With the Shopify tagline generator, you can generate up to 1,000 different taglines based on the words you enter, all for free. As one of the leaders in online entrepreneurship, Shopify’s slogan generator certainly doesn’t disappoint. While some slogan creators can be clunky, and even a bit nonsensical at times, Shopify uses a streamlined algorithm to generate creative, catchy, and clever slogan ideas that are sure to help set your business and brand apart. Whether you’re looking to add some pizzazz to your logo with a tagline or you’re preparing to launch the best marketing campaign your customers have ever seen, the Shopify slogan creator is a great place to start.

3. The Getsocio Slogan Generator

Getsocio, a social commerce platform dedicated to online discounted retail shops, has also crafted a pretty excellent slogan generator that operates similarly to Shopify’s tagline generator. The site also offers several other great tools for helping you get your ecommerce business off the ground. Using a set of randomized templates, the Getsocio slogan creator will generate a host of clever phrases based on the keyword you enter. While it only provides you with one slogan at a time, feel free to click the “Generate” button until it feels like your finger will fall off! The system is equipped to keep those catchy slogans coming just as long.

4. The SloganGenerator.org

SloganGenerator.org provides a particularly versatile slogan creator that is helpful for any of the business and advertising needs you might have. These tagline ideas are useful for your brand overall, but also for brainstorming great copy for product descriptions. What’s more is that the website delves into best practices for crafting a great slogan by providing expansive lists of examples and resources regarding both company and product slogan ideas. These serve as a great point of reference for assessing the quality of your existing slogans as well as the new ones you are generating.

5. The SloganGenerator.co

The ‘free, fast, and fun’ slogan creator on SloganGenerator.co is designed specifically with advertising in mind. The structure is about the same as the others on our list in that you simply enter your desired keywords and the system generates a host of tagline ideas based on a database of templates. Get yours simply by hitting the ‘Make a Slogan’ button as many times as you like. This free slogan maker is particularly great because they are always updating the templates to keep things fresh and in line with the times. They even take suggestions from users, so you’re bound to find slogan ideas that are a bit more unique.

6. The Procato Sloganizer

The Procato Sloganizer derives its taglines from a collection of popular advertising slogans pulled from the past six decades. The system of this catchy phrase generator draws directly from these exemplary taglines and plugs your words in instead. With this option, you know that your slogan will be based on tried-and-true advertising catch phrases, whilst still remaining original enough to suit your brand. The site itself is distinct in that it essentially functions as a testing ground for various forms of content, web design, SEO information structures, and more. For ecommerce entrepreneurs interested in sifting through best practices, experimenting, and thinking critically about the strategies used in this realm, we recommend having a look around Procato.

Conclusion

That’s a wrap! As you’ve seen, slogan generators are a hugely useful brainstorming tool,  ideal for times when the creative juices just aren’t flowing.

As a rule of thumb, automation tools like this one that can help you along the way when you’re feeling stuck on time consuming tasks as you build your ecommerce business. Doing so isn’t cutting corners, but rather working smart. Building efficiency into your business model will help you to grow your business, stay focused on the bigger picture, and prioritize the factors that count most towards success like researching product trends and crafting an amazing marketing strategy.   For more information, tips, and insider tricks for optimizing your business, feel free to have a look around our blog. 

Want to learn more?

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You can also leave any questions, comments, and concerns in the section below, as we are always happy to share our expertise in order to help make your business even better!

The post How to Use a Slogan Generator to Get the Perfect Tagline appeared first on Oberlo.

from Oberlo

Whether you’re just setting up a shop for the first time or are already an ecommerce entrepreneur, your to-do list for running a successful online business can be overwhelming. That’s why many have turned to using different automated apps and tools to save time, energy, and money, which can be dedicated to growing their businesses further. It’s no secret that marketing is a key aspect of making your store stand out from the rest, and it does, indeed, deserve a good chunk of your efforts.

Having said that, within the realm of marketing strategy, it’s possible to find ways to maximize your efficiency. You can do this with the help of tools that take on some of the necessary, albeit time consuming aspects of managing your dropshipping business. Automation can easily help you in fulfilling orders or sending customers their tracking information, but what if we told you that such tools can also make it easier to handle the creative aspects of operating an online shop? One incredibly useful example of this is the slogan generator.

What Is a Slogan Generator?

A slogan generator is a tool used to create automated slogans for your brand or business.

Before we dive into the details about our favorite slogan makers, let’s review just what exactly a slogan generator is in the world of business and entrepreneurship. While it’s nice to have some automated slogan creators to rely on, ideally you’ll want to have enough background knowledge about what makes a good slogan to judge whether a given option generated from a slogan maker online is right for your business.

Typically, the slogan should be 5 words or less. It should communicate the benefits of purchasing with your brand or capture the spirit you’re trying to promote with products you’re selling. The best slogans are catchy enough to stick in the mind without being overly complicated or difficult to decode. They use devices like metaphor or alliteration to achieve this effect. This aspect of slogan creation is the thing that might seem the most intimidating when it comes to generating the perfect tagline for your company while using a slogan maker online. After all, your customers are exposed to thousands of daily advertising messages, so it’s crucial that you’re able to set your brand apart with a great slogan.

Achieving that perfect balance between clearly communicating your message and also keeping things snappy and interesting isn’t easy. You can find yourself spending days coming up with perfect tagline ideas, which is time that could be used to make more substantial improvements to your business model. Luckily, that’s where online slogan or tagline generators come in.

Why Use an Online Tagline Generator?

Coming up with a catchy tagline can be hugely impactful in shaping your brand and creating messages that stick with potential customers, ultimately convincing them to choose your products over your competitors’. Think about catchy slogans like Nike’s Just Do It or Mercedes’ The Best or Nothing, and so on. These business slogans have been so effective that they’ve become commonly recognized in households around the world. A great slogan can really be the cornerstone of any brand.

Even if you don’t have a multi million dollar marketing budget to dedicate to coming up with an amazing slogan or tagline ideas for your business, you don’t have to hire a living, breathing professional slogan creator. Nowadays, there are tons of tagline generators and slogan makers online, and they instantly provide you with taglines optimized for better branding and marketing. The best part is that many of these are free slogan makers that can instantly give you tonnes of slogan ideas.

How to Create a Slogan?

As we’ve mentioned, coming up with your own catchy slogans can be a tricky task to manage. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you’re thinking of tagline ideas for your brand or business.

1. Keep it simple In 1991 Maybelline adopted the catchy advertising slogan “Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline.” This famous business slogan is highly recognizable and used till this day. Now imagine if instead of this super catchy slogan they decided to go with a longer version, that was something like, “Maybe she was born with what she has. Or maybe what she has is because of Maybelline”. Probably wouldn’t have caught on as one of the most popular slogans. That’s why, as a rule to remember, it’s a good idea to limit your slogan to 5 or 6 words.

2. Let your differences shine  Think about what makes your brand or business stand out. Try to capture something special about your business and let it shine through your slogan. Maybe you’re catering to a very specific niche, or maybe your delivery method is unique, or maybe it’s something else. Think about your unique selling proposition, and turn it into a catchy slogan.

3. Consistency is key  When it comes to branding, consistency is key. When you’re coming up with slogan ideas, don’t forget about the rest of the aspects of your business or brand. Make sure that your slogan goes hand in hand with your logo, your company name, and how you want to be perceived as a brand. For instance, the world famous “Just Do It” Nike slogan fits perfectly with their Swoosh logo, their inspirational advertisement, and the overall spirit of Nike.

4. Define your target market  It’s a good tip to keep your target market in mind when you’re coming up with tagline ideas. Consider if your customers are local, national, or international people who will be seeing your slogan. Also, if you decide to sell to other countries where the language is different, keep in mind that translating your slogan might not always convey the message you were intending to. KFC learnt this the hard way, when they first entered the Chinese market in the 1980s. Their catchy slogan “Finger Lickin’ Good” was translated into Mandarin as “Eat Your Fingers Off“.

6. Keep a message in mind Take this great opportunity to deliver a message through your slogan. Your slogan can be timeless so why not use this chance to send a feeling of your brand and business through your slogan. Gillette struggled for years before they stuck to their slogan “The Best a Man Can Get”. They wanted to convey both a message of the brand’s masculinity and the quality of their products.

How to Use a Slogan Generator

At this point, you must be wondering what’s behind the magic of a slogan generator. How do they create great usable taglines, and what do you have to do to make it happen? Well, on your end all you have to do is enter keywords related to what you’re selling into the slogan creator. If you’re selling matcha powder, for example, this is a perfectly useful keyword. You enter the keyword you have in mind into the catchy phrase generator, and you’ll be presented with a tonne of catchy slogans.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt to do a little bit of research about which keywords you choose, consult google analytics for this. Then, simply hit the search button and browse from thousands of different business slogans drawing from your desired keywords using a built-in algorithm. The slogan generator creates randomized taglines, so the best way to utilize a slogan generator is to generate several different options based on your desired keywords and use them as inspiration for creating a personalized final tagline.

We suggest relying on these catchy phrase generators for creative inspiration. Skim through as many suggestions as you like, and make a list of keywords and phrases that resonate, rather than simply copy-pasting the options that are generated from the algorithm used in the slogan maker online.

The Best Slogan Makers Online

There are dozens of free slogan generators online, which are only a short Google search away, but some are definitely better than others. We’ve done a bit of digging for you in search of the most effective slogan creators available.

1. Oberlo Slogan Generator

The Oberlo Slogan Generator is one way that you can add life to your business or campaign with a catchy slogan. It’s no surprise that the right slogan can be so powerful that it can lead to creating brand awareness or sparking interest in a new business or a project. To use this free tagline generator, all you have to do is enter keywords that are relevant to your business into the search engine. For instance, if you sell baby clothes, you just have to enter “baby clothes” into the search box, and you’ll get a list of potential slogan ideas for your business. Now you can simply choose the one you like the most! That’s one less thing to worry about when starting your new business. And on top of it all, the Oberlo Slogan Generator is free.

2. The Shopify Slogan Maker

With the Shopify tagline generator, you can generate up to 1,000 different taglines based on the words you enter, all for free. As one of the leaders in online entrepreneurship, Shopify’s slogan generator certainly doesn’t disappoint. While some slogan creators can be clunky, and even a bit nonsensical at times, Shopify uses a streamlined algorithm to generate creative, catchy, and clever slogan ideas that are sure to help set your business and brand apart. Whether you’re looking to add some pizzazz to your logo with a tagline or you’re preparing to launch the best marketing campaign your customers have ever seen, the Shopify slogan creator is a great place to start.

3. The Getsocio Slogan Generator

Getsocio, a social commerce platform dedicated to online discounted retail shops, has also crafted a pretty excellent slogan generator that operates similarly to Shopify’s tagline generator. The site also offers several other great tools for helping you get your ecommerce business off the ground. Using a set of randomized templates, the Getsocio slogan creator will generate a host of clever phrases based on the keyword you enter. While it only provides you with one slogan at a time, feel free to click the “Generate” button until it feels like your finger will fall off! The system is equipped to keep those catchy slogans coming just as long.

4. The SloganGenerator.org

SloganGenerator.org provides a particularly versatile slogan creator that is helpful for any of the business and advertising needs you might have. These tagline ideas are useful for your brand overall, but also for brainstorming great copy for product descriptions. What’s more is that the website delves into best practices for crafting a great slogan by providing expansive lists of examples and resources regarding both company and product slogan ideas. These serve as a great point of reference for assessing the quality of your existing slogans as well as the new ones you are generating.

5. The SloganGenerator.co

The ‘free, fast, and fun’ slogan creator on SloganGenerator.co is designed specifically with advertising in mind. The structure is about the same as the others on our list in that you simply enter your desired keywords and the system generates a host of tagline ideas based on a database of templates. Get yours simply by hitting the ‘Make a Slogan’ button as many times as you like. This free slogan maker is particularly great because they are always updating the templates to keep things fresh and in line with the times. They even take suggestions from users, so you’re bound to find slogan ideas that are a bit more unique.

6. The Procato Sloganizer

The Procato Sloganizer derives its taglines from a collection of popular advertising slogans pulled from the past six decades. The system of this catchy phrase generator draws directly from these exemplary taglines and plugs your words in instead. With this option, you know that your slogan will be based on tried-and-true advertising catch phrases, whilst still remaining original enough to suit your brand. The site itself is distinct in that it essentially functions as a testing ground for various forms of content, web design, SEO information structures, and more. For ecommerce entrepreneurs interested in sifting through best practices, experimenting, and thinking critically about the strategies used in this realm, we recommend having a look around Procato.

Conclusion

That’s a wrap! As you’ve seen, slogan generators are a hugely useful brainstorming tool,  ideal for times when the creative juices just aren’t flowing.

As a rule of thumb, automation tools like this one that can help you along the way when you’re feeling stuck on time consuming tasks as you build your ecommerce business. Doing so isn’t cutting corners, but rather working smart. Building efficiency into your business model will help you to grow your business, stay focused on the bigger picture, and prioritize the factors that count most towards success like researching product trends and crafting an amazing marketing strategy.   For more information, tips, and insider tricks for optimizing your business, feel free to have a look around our blog. 

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https://ift.tt/2Tx4ZvY March 03, 2019 at 12:40PM https://ift.tt/2IXPppd

[nemorialex]

applicable ;3c texts ;3c

Send a Symbol for a Text

☮ for an apologetic text

[Frenchie 💙]: Frenchie…?[Frenchie 💙]: I’m sorry… For what happened I mean[Frenchie 💙]: I know I’ve been sort of, snippy lately I’m just kind of… Overwhelmed I suppose[Frenchie 💙]: I’ve already said that and I know it’s not an excuse but still… [Frenchie 💙]: ó~ò

⊙ for a reaction to your muse’s nudes text

[Frenchie 💙]: •>A[Frenchie 💙]: I’m assuming this was intended for Zack? [Frenchie 💙]: Unless this is the most forward bath invitation you’ve Ever sent me ever…

❋ for a hopeful text

[Frenchie 💙]: You know… Sometimes I think it might actually work…[Frenchie 💙]: I don’t think he’ll leave [Frenchie 💙]: I mean sure there’s going to be hard times later on maybe but… I’m confident it won’t be all too bad[Frenchie 💙]: Well, right now at least, heheh…

☯ for an adoring text

[Frenchie 💙]: You’re so brilliant, you know that right?[Frenchie 💙]: Brilliant and kind and talented…[Frenchie 💙]: You’re still the bravest man I know of… You’ve gone through so much shit and there’s really no other way to put it. Emotional and physical hardships and even now with all of us and our own problems sort of leaking out the cracks… And you’re strong. You’re able to get through it all and still remain bright and steadfast. Not to mention physically strong too, heheheh…[Frenchie 💙]: I love you so much, Darling…

ღ for a friend-crush text

[Frenchie 💙]: Is it bad to look at people and really want to talk to them?[Frenchie 💙]: I mean, I don’t want to turn out as odd or creepy, but sometimes there’s people I see and occasionally chat with and I just… I want to do that more often[Frenchie 💙]: That’s not weird, is it?

❤ for an affectionate text

[Frenchie 💙]: Obviously I’m not predisposed or what have you to understand the ins and outs of a relationship like this… I don’t think either of us were really raised with all the knowledge and media and whatnot… [Frenchie 💙]: But I’ve heard somewhere that having a Moirail is likely the closest thing to a Soulmate… Honestly, I can’t think of anything better to describe how I feel about being with you…[Frenchie 💙]: Gosh… •~v~•

✂ for a worried text about the receiver

[Frenchie 💙]: Frenchie? Are you okay?[Frenchie 💙]: Where are you?[Frenchie 💙]: May I see you?

☺ for a complimentary text

[Frenchie 💙]: Don’t tell Zack I said this because he’ll try me for house treason…[Frenchie 💙]: But I think you could beat him at any dessert competition… You’re very good and he always tries a little too hard to make everything Super fancy or kind of sloppy and “home style” I think…

❂ for a text about another character (specify other)

[Frenchie 💙]: I feel like I shouldn’t tell Tempest what’s going on… What with the Game and all[Frenchie 💙]: I mean, we already played it once and such, he might worry… Or he’ll worry in general. A lot of people kind of… Feel bad, when it’s brought up again…[Frenchie 💙]: It’s likely easy enough to avoid it…? He’s not on too often anymore anyway… I can skip around details and we can pretend like there’s nothing to worry about[Frenchie 💙]: It feels bad to say that, but at the same time I don’t want to bother him with something sort of… Out of reach, as it were…

✳ for a holiday text

[Frenchie 💙]: Hey… Do you remember when Ash hatched? [Frenchie 💙]: That Halloween in the cabin, when we made tiny treats and I did magic tricks for people walking by, and we were in a little booth[Frenchie 💙]: I think we had Gray Face curses at the time too…[Frenchie 💙]: Either way, I think the idea of a little Tricks and Treats booth would be a fun thing to do again…

♆ for a sext

((Even if it WAS an accidental text, It’s unlikely that Alex would do any dirty talk on something she can reread and get too flustered over and delete again…))

☼ for a joking text

[Frenchie 💙]: I don’t suppose I could use your cape as a blanket, could I?[Frenchie 💙]: I’m kidding really, I don’t need it… But it does bring up a good topic of blankets and using them for various cuddy things, don’t you think?[Frenchie 💙]: ( •v~ )

↔ for a bitching text

[Frenchie 💙]: I swear, if I have hear / read about how Wonderful women are and how they can pull absolute shit with no repercussions one more time I think I might snap. 

♣ for a gossipy text

[Frenchie 💙]: So… I sort of talked to Shou about it, but not much… But[Frenchie 💙]: I think Sharon likes Jave’s Bro…[Frenchie 💙]: I mean, I’ve been trying to keep up with her in the least awkward way I can, and she chatters about him a lot… Sort of like you do with Zack but not NEARLY so obvious •p•[Frenchie 💙]: I don’t know… What do you think?

$ for a lying text

[Frenchie 💙]: Before you ask, I’m alright[Frenchie 💙]: The post wasn’t anything, okay?[Frenchie 💙]: Just me freaking out over nothing…

☆ for a longing text

[Frenchie 💙]: Sometimes I wish everything would leave me alone… So I can go back to what things were like before. Just you and me and Zack, and exploring out in the woods and not having to worry about so goddamned much…[Frenchie 💙]: But at the same time I want to be included. I’m tired of being left out of everything or being brushed off like some tool. Especially now that I’m working OUT of that mindset…[Frenchie 💙]: I don’t know… There’s just too much right now

♬ for a fangirl/boy gushing text

[Frenchie 💙]: Frenchie guess what![Frenchie 💙]: I was decoding another passage in my book, and this particular one has taken me AGES to undo on my own, the code was double tied[Frenchie 💙]: But you know what it’s about? It’s a whole passage on some local fairy culture! Types of seasonal food and dances and greetings… Ways to talk to them as a Human[Frenchie 💙]: •∀• !!!

★ for a dumb meme or inside joke text

[Frenchie 💙]: You know what makes me unreasonably angry? That stupid knifeknifeknife thing[Frenchie 💙]: Don’t just…! You can’t tape knives together to make it better that makes it so much worse! Just use all of them on their own, they like it better that way anyway, it’s how they Work! ò~ó[Frenchie 💙]: What the heck! 

♘ for a questioning text

[Frenchie 💙]: What happens after this?[Frenchie 💙]: Do we just… Go back home? Pretend like everything’s normal? Business as normal, as it were?[Frenchie 💙]: I mean, Sharon being back will be different but that’ll settle soon enough… [Frenchie 💙]: What about Jave and Shou, and sort of Ghostie since he started the game too… What if we can’t talk to them after this? If they win do they just… Leave? To wherever happens after a successful game?

♬ for a music rec or lyric text

[Frenchie 💙]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNtnALcr5JI[Frenchie 💙]: I think about this song sometimes… [Frenchie 💙]: It sort of fits all of us kind of well, don’t you think?

☽ for a sleepy text

[Frenchie 💙]: So you know how blue moons and full moons and eclypses are all magic, right?[Frenchie 💙]: But they’re only kinda sorta magic… You need to DO stuff while that’s happening and stuff…[Frenchie 💙]: But what if there’s a differekt kind of moon or sun or what have you that’s made with magic somehow… And if the moon touches ANYTHING it does… Something[Frenchie 💙]: Like grass turning to… Bananas[Frenchie 💙]: No, flowers are prettier… All grass everywhere turns into tiny blue flowers when the Magic Moon touches it… And th e water turns colder and inky on top, but the fish are still okay and safe they don’t touch it..[Frenchie 💙]: … Moons are a bad thing to think about befoe bed •n•

☢ for a snarky text

[Frenchie 💙]: Oh yes, your claim of “i don’t do this” has suddenly convinced everyone, myself included[Frenchie 💙]: •p~

[gethealthy18-blog]

Health Secrets Your Handshake Reveals

New Post has been published on http://healingawerness.com/getting-healthy/getting-healthy-women/health-secrets-your-handshake-reveals/

Health Secrets Your Handshake Reveals

Chaitra Krishnan Hyderabd040-395603080 August 5, 2019

You’ve probably heard that your body language says a lot about you. The intentional and unintentional actions and gestures of yours can make your personality an open book for those who are observant and educated enough on how to decode them. This is one of the main reasons why some of us put a lot of thought into the way we walk, talk, or even breathe, when we’re at an interview or when we’re under the spotlight. The way you shake your hands with someone is also believed to tell a lot about your personality including your level of confidence. But did you know that your handshake can also reveal many things about your health? We agree it’s a shocker and you might be finding it really hard to believe. But there are scientific studies to support this fact!

This, however, doesn’t mean that your doctor might be able to evaluate your health problems just by shaking your hands. It’s Science – not magic! So, how exactly are handshakes and human health connected? Let’s take a look at the details.

Overall Health And Grip Strength

Shutterstock

The association between a person’s health and their handshake is all about their grip strength. If you shake hands like a confident person with a firm grip, you may be on the safer side. But if your handshake is like that of a shy Bollywood heroine from the 60s trying to hold her lover’s hand, you’ve got a problem. Not only that people will find you drained out of confidence, but a weak handshake with a weak grip might hint an unhealthy body or mind. A study that was published in the British Medical Journal found that this, in fact, was true. It was conducted by scientists at the University of Glasgow who evaluated the health of half a million people who were between 40-69 years of age and their grip strength.

It was found that those who had weaker grip strength were at a higher risk of heart and lung diseases. The study also observed that these people were more likely to get affected by different types of cancer like breast, lung, and colorectal. Also, a higher risk of death due to these diseases was observed in the particular group of people. The younger the person with the weak grip strength, the higher are his/her chances to get affected by certain diseases (1).

Grip Strength And Brain Health

Shutterstock

According to another study that was based in the UK, grip strength can also be associated with cognitive performance. The data of 4,75,397 individuals were collected from the UK Biobank during the period between 2007 and 2010 for the purpose of the study. It was found that there was an independent relationship between grip strength and cognitive functions. The study also included another group of 1162 individuals who were separately evaluated from the first group of “general population.” These were individuals with schizophrenia. Even in this group, grip strength mattered when it came to cognitive functions, especially those related to processing speed and working memory (2).

“When taking multiple factors into account such as age, gender, bodyweight and education, our study confirms that people who are stronger do indeed tend to have better functioning brains,” said Dr. Joseph Firth, the co-author of the study. Dr. Firth is a research fellow at the NICM Health Research Institute, Western Sydney University. He is also an Honorary Research Fellow at The University of Manchester. “These sorts of novel interventions, such as weight training, could be particularly beneficial for people with mental health conditions,” he added (3).

These researches that establish a clear link between handgrip and the health of human beings (both physical and mental) open many new doors for further research in the field. Hopefully, in the future we can find ways to prevent the diseases associated with weaker grip strength by detecting their early onset. However, these goals are far ahead of us and might require years of research to come up with facts that can be put to practice in the medical field.

Healthy Body Signals Healthy Mind

Shutterstock

We’ve all heard the famous saying “a healthy mind is a healthy body.” The above studies are actually proof to this good old saying. So, does this mean that if we work on our handgrip and physical strength, we get a healthier body and mind? According to a 2015 study, reduced muscle strength is associated with the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. The scientists used a device called the “dynamometer” to measure the grip strength of about 140,000 adults from 17 countries. These individuals were followed up for a course of around four years. From the findings of the study, the researchers concluded that there was a close connection between grip strength and cardiovascular diseases and hinted that further research might help in evaluating if an improvement in muscular strength can bring down mortality and the risk of cardiovascular diseases (4).

The human body is indeed a work of brilliance and it’s quite amazing to know how something as simple as a regular handshake can say so much about one’s health condition. Did these finding fascinate you? Let us know about your views on this in the comments below.

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[seekerandthewizard88-blog]

Show Up As You Are

On the topic of service:

 When I think about what it means to serve people, I get this deep sense of soul satisfaction. Everytime I help someone, I feel a great sense of joy and power fill me up from inside - a sense that my existence matters and is meaningful because I can help change the world for the better... and that is something that lasts forever. When I think about actually giving up my time, that's when the fears come up.... particularly the fear of not having enough... I barely have time for myself, how can I make time to serve the world?! Also, I don't know enough yet to have an impact. I have many reasonable justifications for why it's not a good time. It just seems unattainable to me right now. Or is it? Perhaps I am not widening my definition of service enough. Maybe I will not be the person distributing food at the local shelter or marching in a parade for awareness anytime soon. So what does service really look like for me? Because I feel like it's important, I need to ask myself that question or else parts of me are being left unfulfilled due to a sheer lack of willingness to spend time answering that question...

 I woke up this morning and took Ash's advice to listen to an inspirational podcast first thing, which just so happened to be season 1 episode 1 of Magic Lessons, 'Do what ignites your soul.' LG (Elizabeth Gilbert) says if your mother modeled creativity growing up, you become creative. If she modeled martyrdom, you become a martyr. I have seen this firsthand in subverting my creative, collaborative mission with spirit into many tasks that COME CLOSE, but are not the thing... 

 LG talks about her mother sending her and her sister away when she was working on a project. Both Liz and her sister are now writers. My mother never sent me away while she worked on something just for her. My mother constantly gave her time away. Everything she did she did for others. Watching this, I learned that service meant sacrifice, in this instance, to the point that I often wondered about what ignited my mother's soul. There were beautiful clay pots of intricate designs strewn about the house, and an old kiln lived in the garage where every night, my mother would pull the car in after coming home from work and park just up against it to fit into the space. Kilns I later found out were pretty expensive! One wouldn't buy it just for the hell of it. But she never turned it on, and my dad said it probably was no longer functional. She never sold it either.... and over the years it became a collection table for trinkets and dust. My mother made me her mission work and made no secrets about explicitly telling me this, but I wonder what it would have been like to walk downstairs and watch her in her element, lost in a spinning wheel, her hands glistening with wet clay. It brings tears to my eyes for her and for me. 

 I want to see my mother in her creative joy. I NEED to see it and know it as much as I want to remind her that it still exists. I want her to teach me her skills because they are also in my veins asking to be shown. I need to know how to access it, especially now. This talent suits her because my mother would be the person who can take an inanimate lump of clay and turn it into something intricate and exquisite with her eye for beauty and her attention to detail. She has always made something from nothing. I caught glimpses of it over the years, and I suspect my mother is one of the most creative people this world has never known. I'm afraid of what it will feel like to ask myself too late - what would that have been like if I put it into the world? If I can figure out how to crack open and pour the contents of my soul art into the universe, maybe I can show her how too. 

 LG goes on to say that serving others is great, but it should not be our REASON to do a thing. She says ultimately, service is collaborating with inspiration, because that thing that's gnawing at you... it's an idea that's coming out of the cosmos and has chosen YOU and is asking you to work with it...

 When I look at the archive of notes in my phone, peppered throughout my endless lists going back to 2014 is the phrase 'start a blog.' I have ALWAYS loved books, writing, words themselves, and creative expression. Somewhere along the line, I simply stopped. I had no time for creativity when I was trying to get ahead in life. It was time to become an adult. I needed to focus on a career and gain the technical skills to execute. I needed to focus on the 'important stuff.' So why did it often feel as if something was missing? Don't get me wrong, I'm so happy to finally be in a place in my life where I have a solid direction! I go to school full time to learn a craft that I believe in and am proud of. I have a wonderful mentor that I shadow who takes the time to explain and show me the ropes. My plate is so full! And I'm happy about that. But still... there's that gnawing. And in quiet moments, in inspirational moments, or in moments of despair, I would find myself writing something down here or there. It would just come out of me. And then I would go back to the grind.

 So when Ash asked me to start this blog project, I said yes immediately because I knew that working with someone else would make me more accountable to show up consistently. And it sure has. At that time, I had been spending a lot of hours reading about current research surrounding autoimmune disease, therapies, and even possible CURES (which I was told did not exist). My mind buzzed in clinic, poring over peoples' unique cases, discussing them with my supervisor, connecting all the dots in my head and then going home with more questions and names of researchers to read up on. At first I had all these ideas about how to heal myself, and I was consuming information round the clock barely sleeping. I read about herbs and scientific discoveries about the human microbiome, everything down to endocrinology textbooks to be able to decode some of the more technical scientific research papers... I was determined to get to the bottom of this once and for all and debunk all the misinformation myself! I would share the things that actually WORKED and offer hope to others.... and myself. I made myself a guinea pig. I would start to feel hopeful that I was on the right track, but then I would try to employ some of the techniques I was reading about only to have a resurgence of symptoms, and sometimes I was left feeling even more run down and exhausted. Mostly I just wanted to share breakthroughs and victories with everyone, but I was still dealing with a lot of frustration and confusion over which direction to go.

 Yesterday was the first day in the past 2 weeks that I slowed down. I received the suggestion that I was being too hard on myself and even 'militant.' I needed to hear that, and my mind quieted as I simply listened to another human being tell me her perception of how I was going about things. I was making all these BIG changes and giving myself NO ROOM for error. How stressful indeed.....

 I began to realize I never even gave myself a chance to simply BEGIN this new journey. New journeys always take time and patience, and I forgot that I cannot skip over parts of my process. Here is the rub now that I've calmed down and closed the books for the time being- Ive been in a space of really coming to terms with my diagnosis, what it means, and where its going from here. Simply deciding to do this blog and putting my truth out into the world had more implications for me than I realized. Most people in my life do not know that I have an autoimmune diagnosis. This is because I never told anyone. Especially not like this. I had been living my life as if the news I received that day simply did not exist. And for a while, I was mostly symptom free and didn't need to deal with it... so I didn't. I put it away in a hall closet and shut the door. I feel like as I'm bringing this out for the world to look at, I am also simultaneously looking at it alongside all of you, for the very first time.

 [insert deep sigh here]

 Since accepting this out loud, I have been flooded with emotions both pleasant and not so pleasant... 

 I stumbled upon a podcast yesterday called Invisible Warrior Radio by Adrienne Clements, which is all about living with chronic illness and how that affects your nervous system and stress levels. Addressing the anxiety piece, and RECOGNIZING it, has been super helpful to me. It was extremely validating to hear how anxiety is more a PHYSIOLOGICAL event than an emotional one. This echoes my experience of feeling as if I'm panicking for NO REASON. My nervous system starts firing and then I need to deal with that flood of hormones telling my body there is a threat to my survival that is imminent, which then lingers for some hours after. She addresses the fact that when we have a chronic illness going on, our bodies are AWARE that something is wrong and so we are constantly already in battle mode. This means even small stressors can have a more exaggerated effect on those of us dealing with chronic illness...

 One of the things I admittedly do is gauge myself against how others do things. I know better but it seems to be subtle and instinctual. I think I need to forgive myself for beating myself up for wanting to stay home and rest a lot of the time when I'm not working or going to school. I think about all the invitations I get that I end up turning down- invitations that I WANT to say yes to! The truth is, my body is constantly fighting a battle that other people are not. I am tired, and I need more rest than the average person. Especially because my plate is so full these days with everything I am trying to accomplish. I need to avoid bad foods and bad substances because the aftermath of those decisions is magnified for me. Most of all, I need to stop feeling guilty or like I'm not enough as I am... this is who I am, and these are my needs. And I'm allowed to give them to myself. I'm lucky that I still CAN. So Adrienne talks about soothing your BODY when you have anxiety, because of that crucial physiological piece. 

 Now that I was aware I needed to soothe my body, I was primed to resort to my bag of tricks when dealing with stress. I follow Doreen Virtue on facebook, and oftentimes it reminds me that I have a spiritual realm of friends and guides willing to help me if I just ASK. I have been going it so alone and forgetting to simply ask for help and guidance. She posted about the importance of self care (so fitting), and the accompanying graphic was a portrayal of Archangel Raphael, who is the Archangel of healing. I quickly looked up Archangel Raphael meditations on youtube and clicked the first one that caught my eye and laid down on my bed.

 As I listened to the meditation going from chakra to chakra, it made me realize and become aware of the energies I was carrying there. When I got to my heart chakra, and as the voice gave me permission to let go of anything I was holding onto that no longer served me, a deep sense of sadness materialized and I was suddenly overcome with tears. I cried very deeply for about a few minutes, and then I became aware of how much I have been feeling deeply afraid. Afraid that I would never be well again and there really is no cure. Afraid of the terror of these panic attack symptoms... afraid that maybe it isn't anxiety, and something more sinister might be dismissed as anxiety when it's really something more physical, like a heart problem.

 Then something magical happened that I cannot explain, except that I could FEEL that I was no longer alone. As I opened myself more to the experience and immersed myself in the energetic space being created, a thought came to me (some people call this clairsentience as I do not ever hear an audible voice) to pick up one of the crystals I have sitting on my nightstand. It was a piece of malachite, which incidentally is a vibrant green, and the color green is associated with Archangel Raphael's healing energy. I placed it on my solar plexus as that was the chakra we were now on, and then instinctively readjusted it over my liver where I sometimes feel pain. I kept feeling like it was somehow working on my blood. I felt compelled to continue working with this stone after the meditation. When I finally got up, I looked up the properties of the stone in a wonderful book called, 'Stone Medicine: A Chinese Medical Guide to Healing With Gems and Minerals' by Leslie J. Franks. Malachite energy works with the liver/gallbladder and stomach/spleen meridians. Also, the stone is used for purifying the blood and purging pathology from the body. The page number for this crystal was 333. 333 in Doreen Virtue's numerology system means that ascended masters are surrounding you and supporting you in this moment. All of my signs had showed up. I noticed that the feeling of constriction in my chest had let up, and I was able to take a full, deep, glorious breath. 

 (Sidenote here about religion: Doreen Virtue belongs to the Christian faith, and while I practice Nichiren Buddhism, I still think that spirituality is a deeply personal path and can oftentimes include overlap. I do believe in angels because of my own personal experiences, and I think that 'God' is whatever it means to you. Sometimes it is more important to work with the energetics or the theme of what someone is saying without getting too caught up in the dogma and religious aspects of it. If meditating on the healing energy of Mother Earth works better for you than angels, go with that instead!)

 Last night before bed I again did that beautiful Archangel Raphael healing meditation which I promised I would share with you, so here it is! Also I want to share with you the Invisible Warrior Radio Podcast I started listening to, and I intend on checking out her blog this afternoon as well. It's important to find people who are going through similar struggles for support. I am the person who isolates when I don't feel well, so I am going to give myself this gift of connection so that I have an outlet; a platform of understanding to land on when I'm feeling weighed down by my burdens. An unforeseen bonus, which I suspect will be one of many, of this blogging journey is that it has also opened up a new world for me to follow others who are putting light out into the world, and for that I am supremely grateful! I never really explored podcasts before yesterday... yay for expansion!

 I got the first good night's sleep I've gotten in the past couple weeks last night. I'm now aware that I have been working through some anxiety and probably PTSD surrounding my physical symptoms... waking up in the middle of the night with extreme palpitations and having to call 911 to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance is EXTREMELY STRESSFUL. Especially when it comes seemingly out of nowhere. And I only took two days off to recover from that before beginning my usual grind once again. I was pushing through each day on high alert that this could happen again at anytime. It caused me to feel more high strung, frustrated, and tired in a way that isn't necessarily outwardly visisble because of how I carry myself through the world. (This is why I love Adrienne's concept of an invisible warrior!)

 I have also been dealing with feelings of selfishness since I have been spending A LOT of time on myself lately. My mission is so tied to helping others, and when I feel down and blah, I think to myself- don't write anything right now in this state because it's not very inspiring for people to read. Hide yourself until you feel better. Hide your pain. Don't talk about your struggle. If you can't lift other people up, at least don't bring anyone down with your doubts and your fears.

 I want to dare to challenge that thought in my life. I think sharing our burdens, especially as women, is one of the bravest choices we can make. It helps us to connect to our authenticity, it brings out the authenticity in others, and ultimately it helps us to feel not so alone. THIS IS REAL LIFE. Own your experience because it is yours, it is valid, and it has a place and a purpose. Things happen to people and we should be able to talk about all of it. Service. How am I serving others today? It could be as simple as showing up fully and saying HERE I AM, and it's ok for you to also show up as you are. 

 Because I grew up the way I did, I value hard work. I value self sufficiency. Because of this I am often too independent and stubborn. But sometimes we need to take it easy and sometimes we need help. And neither of these things should mean we are failing, weak, or that somehow our value is now less since we didn't do it all on our own. When we feel isolated and alone is exactly when we need to reach out, because that light- that support is THERE. 

 I think the biggest takeaway from this past week for me is to listen to your own body. IT KNOWS WHAT IT NEEDS. It is so patient with us considering we don't usually listen until it's been asking for quite some time. Everyone is walking a different path. There is no one size fits all solution. We need to validate ourselves because no one else will ever know our journey as intimately as we do. We are the only ones who can give ourselves what we need. Listen to that voice that says we need to cancel plans in order to rest tonight. Listen to that voice saying we need more fruits and vegetables. Take a salt bath with some lavender essential oil if you've been dealing with a lot of stress lately. Love your body for all it does for you. You never need an excuse to care for yourself! 

 On that note, I am going to make myself a nice warm breakfast of gluten free grains, blueberries and cinnamon. I am not going to freak out that I spent the morning writing and I haven't had my morning celery juice on an empty stomach yet and I have to do that before I eat! No... breathe. My body is saying that we need to eat, because going through my morning stressing about juice is no longer part of my healing journey. Going through my days dizzy and tired because I'm strictly trying to eat only raw vegetables and not getting enough calories is no longer part of my healing journey. I need to feel energized and stress free, and that starts with my attitude and my intention. I can have my juice later this afternoon and all will be OK. I need to learn how to 'dance on the shifting carpet.' Life happens, and we need to be able to adjust and be flexible. Writing this morning was a priority. All we can do is to take things as they come and stay true to ourselves, showing up just as we are. 

 Thanks guys for all your support and for taking time out of your day to share this experience with me. I appreciate having a platform to share myself so openly as it helps me to grow and become more self aware with each passing day! I feel extremely lucky, I love you all, and I wish you a wonderful, healthy, blessed day!

 The Wizard

[russellthornton]

How to Read People: The 12 Secrets to Figure Anyone Out Instantly

Wouldn’t it be great if you had the magic formula for figuring any person out? Well, it’s not too difficult, actually. Here’s how to read people.

People are mysterious creatures. While it’s human instinct to figure others out, we are not always accurate with our judgments. So how can we improve upon that? Well, it starts with understanding how to read people.

Most of what you need to consider when you are trying to figure out how to read people is their body language. Believe it or not, people’s nonverbal communication contributes to somewhere between 80-90% of the meaning of any message.

Why is that? Well, think about it. Are you always aware of your body language? Most of us are not. That is because it happens at the unconscious level. While we are deliberate with the words we choose to use *usually*, we are often unaware of what messages our body is sending. So, if you want to know how to read people, you need to start with looking at not what they say, but how they say it.

How to read people – The subtle signs you need to keep an eye on

Body language is complex. And what makes it even more difficult is that it’s often ambiguous. Someone may have given you “a look,” but what does that look really mean? It could mean many different things.

But, have no fear. All we need to do is to break it down for you just a bit so you can look at someone’s body language in parts. So, here are some major parts of the body that you should pay attention to if you want to know how to read people. [Read: 15 body language cues a girl gives away if she likes you]

#1 Eye contact. They often say that the eyes are the window to the soul. Eye contact can be intimate, but it can also be intimidating as well. The key to knowing which kind of eye contact someone is giving you is to consider the context.

Is it your romantic partner… or a cute person across from the bar? Well, maybe they think you’re cute. But if you’re in a business meeting and suddenly your boss glares at you from across the table, that might not be a good sign. Sometimes you have to look to cues in your environment, not just for eye contact, but really, for all the areas of body language. [Read: Does he like me? 18 Signs to decode his body language]

#2 Posture. How someone carries themselves can give you some indications about their self-confidence. For example, if someone is walking upright with their shoulders back and looking straight ahead, that gives the indication that they feel good about themselves and have confidence.

However, if someone is slouching over and looking at the ground when they walk, that gives a much different impression. It may not necessarily mean that they have low self-esteem, but that’s the message it gives off. [Read: 10 subtle body language moves to appear more confident]

#3 Paralanguage. Paralanguage is a fancy way of saying that you need to pay attention to how someone says something. For instance, the use of sarcasm is a good example.

When someone uses sarcasm, what the person means is actually the opposite of what the words say. So, pay attention to the emphasis they put on words and how they say it. It gives you a big clue as to what their true intentions are.

#4 Touch. Touch can mean a lot of different things. It can be anything from romantic and flirty to domineering and threatening. How and where someone touches another person has a lot to do with who they are. So, pay attention to people’s patterns of touching others. [Read: 20 types of physical touches and what each one means]

#5 Appearance. How someone dresses and presents themselves can say volumes about them. At one extreme, if they have tons of piercings and a purple mohawk, well, they are probably the kind of person who doesn’t care much about social norms.

And if they look unkempt and smelly, then they just might be a really lazy person. This is a huge clue as to what kind of person they are. So take a good look at them, and you might be able to figure out more about who they are.

#6 Environment. How someone decorates or keeps their environment is a form of self-expression. If they don’t put anything on their walls at their house, or maybe it’s filled with family photos everywhere… whatever it is, it says lot about who they are. Even how well they take care of the inside of their car can really give some indications about their personality. [Read: 10 clearly noticeable body language signs of attraction]

#7 Use of time. This is one of the most commonly overlooked channel of nonverbal communication. Sorry for all you “running late all the time” people out there, but it says a lot about you. Whether it’s that you just don’t have a good sense of time, or maybe it’s a power play to keep people waiting… it says something.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, if someone is always on time or early, then that says something totally different.

Signs someone is lying

Another huge part of learning how to read people is to spot when someone is lying to you. You may think you know, but there are some sneaky cues that you may not know to look for. Here are some signs that someone is lying.

#1 Lack of eye contact. I’m sure you’ve heard people say, “Look me in the eye and tell me the truth!” Well, there’s a reason for that. It is much more difficult for people to lie when they are making eye contact. That’s because looking into someone’s eyes is quite intimate… it’s like the window to their souls. Liars don’t want the other person to see through them, so they look away.

On the contrary, however, perhaps if a liar knows that lack of eye contact is a huge giveaway of lying, maybe they will overcompensate and have too much eye contact… almost like staring. If their eye contact is awkward in any way, then you have a huge sign that someone is telling you a fib. [Read: 13 giveaways to tell if someone is lying to your face]

#2 Putting an object between you and them. It doesn’t matter what it is. It could be a coffee cup, a book, a chair, a desk, or pretty much anything else. If you notice that a person is putting an object between you and them, it is a subconscious move on their part to protect themselves.

It creates a barrier or sorts, so they feel like you can’t “attack” them. Of course, this is all happening at the subconscious level, so the liar probably doesn’t even know they’re doing it.

#3 Too many details. Sometimes liars will overcompensate with a story that has way too many details. For example, maybe your boyfriend said he was going out with the boys, but he is really cheating on you and was with another woman.

Well, when you ask about the night out with the guys, he might give you way more details than normal. Maybe he tells you how many beers he had and what kind, plus everything they talked about all night. Hmmmm…. a little fishy if he doesn’t usually do that. Get my point? [Read: Is he lying? What to ask your boyfriend if you think he’s lying to you]

#4 Words and body language don’t match. If someone is lying, they know they have to control their body language. But let’s face it – it’s very difficult to do that.

So, when you suspect someone is lying to you, look to see if their words and actions seem to match or not. If they seem out of sync – you know, just not natural for some reason – then there is definitely something up. Don’t ignore it.

#5 Verbal or nonverbal behavioral pauses. Liars also have to do a lot of thinking sometimes to make their stories sound believable. In order to do so, they might take a lot of verbal pauses, or do something with their body that indicates that they are uncomfortable and searching for words.

This mental act of trying to make what you say sound believable creates a lot of unnatural speech patterns and body movements.

[Read: How to stop lying to yourself and your partner]

Learning how to read people can be tricky. Everyone is different, so interpreting their words and actions may or may not always be accurate. But hopefully with these tips, you’ll be well on your way to being a master at reading people.

The post How to Read People: The 12 Secrets to Figure Anyone Out Instantly is the original content of LovePanky - Your Guide to Better Love and Relationships.