#this is a thought therefore not properly formatted

[celeluwhenfics]

I was just tagged by @inkedmoth on a last line tag game, and instead of following the rules I just went and wrote an entire passage from scratch, oops? It's not a fic, it's an original work I'm writing based on the ABSOLUTELY BATSHIT CRAZY experiences I'm having here. It's still very unpolished, I can't format properly on my phone and once you find out yhe real event that inspired it you'll understand I didn't sleep THAT well, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what's on my mind these days as I'm very much not active on the dash?

***

At dinner, one of the White researchers had once again proved that money and diplomas couldn't buy common sense. The park is double fenced, with all entries are guarded against intruders, she had said; and the camp is fenced against large animals. Wasn't it a bit overkill to have two armed rangers guarding the camp every night?

Kiptoo laughed in a dry cascade, his shoulders jumping until he had to secure again the sling of his rifle.

'Just sleep, Mam,' he said, and his good humour had been enough to amuse the guests into avoiding further silly questions.

But Beth's eyes had gone to William. He had just smiled and shaken his head, taking a sip of coffee. Visitors never took him seriously, especially the women. They stared at him, so tall and straight in the green ribbed sweater of his uniform, the combat pants, the kepi and the scratched rifle hanging at his back. They saw his high cheekbones, his great soft eyes and perfect lips, and they asked to take pictures with him. He was part of their dream safari, and they would bring home images of him alongside their best shots of lions and elephants. It was only a matter of time before tour operators would print his picture on flyers and tourist cars. 'Come experience Africa at its most authentic! Real Maasai rangers will risk their life to keep your wealthy idiotic mzungu asses safe!'

But suddenly Beth thought of the smell of wood smoke and dust on his skin: that she had never forgotten. She tried to think of something else, or to catch a look from him, to guess what he thought. But his eyes stayed down, fixed on his coffee, as Kiptoo told of the elephant who used to visit the camp at night, his enthusiasm bridging the gaps in his English: a flow of words that would bring good tips.

It was only a little after the lights were out that they heard the first gunshot. Sitting on her bed, Beth held her breath. That hadn't happened in months. The tourist's questions had brought bad luck. An oppressive silence followed, with the night birds startled and the people listening for what would come next. It had been close, terribly close. She reached for the solar lamp, which faintly buzzed on. A second shot popped the silence and echoed sharply. What could it be? Would they hear human voices, if it was someone? It didn't sound like an exchange of fire. William had three shots, and Kiptoo had one, therefore... Staring at the wall, she tried to calculate scenarios, imagine what it would sound like if poachers-- No, it must be the rangers scaring away animals, surely.

She heard Kiptoo pant as he ran past her door, towards the gunshots: William had been alone with the threat. Her throat convulsed. A third shot resounded, and guests stirred in their huts, speaking and - yes - laughing. Beth's hands clasped the covers to keep them from shaking, and she murmured a prayer. For the camp's safety, for the animal, that no blood had been spilled so close, so close, and for William. William alone in the dark. And she waited, and waited.

Moments passed, marked by the slow return of the night sounds, first the insects, then the birds, then a lazy hyena whooping in the distance, and the guests' snores. Kiptoo didn't shoot. She slowly made her way under her covers, wishing she could be sure of what happened before going to sleep. She laid motionless, hoping for a sound, a sign, that could quiet her heart's race and bring peace to her sleep.

After perhaps half an hour, the plop of a lizard on the canopy of her bed jolted her awake from an anxious doze. She scowled at the trivial, ugly pink reptile as it wriggled away into a crack of the wall. But first faintly, then distinctly, she heard footsteps approaching. Silently she untangled herself from the covers and the mosquito net, and cracked open the door.

There was the click of an ammunition box: it was William. She called to him with a rangers' hiss. He seized, tensely surveying the darkness until he recognized her as the source of the sound. She could tell from the fall of his shoulders that he rolled his eyes.

'What was it?' she asked in a whisper.

'Lions. Sellah's pride.'

'Are you ok?'

'Yeah, I was just shooting up. Sorry for the commotion.'

She sighed in relief. The night was still now, and the clear sky had a hundred million stars, obscured only by the silent flickering flight of fat fruit bats between the trees. Lions close to the camp, the tourists would like that story. William was safe, and he was right there. Perhaps, the moment was right, and at last he would--

'I need to move on,' he whispered. 'Go to bed.'

And without awaiting for an answer, he walked away. The step of his boots on the path and the clacking of his gun against his belt vanished in the thick choir of nocturnal multitudes singing in the grass.

'Usiku mwema, sukari' she murmured to the darkness. 'Please, stay safe.'

***

Tagging (more like, saying hello to) @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras @emmathefanficgal @butoridesvirescens @torchwood-99 @dilettantefeminist @hastyhobbit , if you want to share part of a recent WIP?

[murdrdocs]

been having a thought lately … concerning brooklyn baby and jack …

you stumble upon it in the middle of the night.

you're laying on your side, jack's arm limply thrown over your waist, his breaths as steady as your thumb as it scrolls through the comment section of yet another video. you should be like him at this time of night, knocked out and having been so for at least a couple of hours. you should be curled into his side, greedily sharing as much warmth from his body as you could.

but every video is more entertaining than the last, each comment leads you down yet another trail. you said you would stop when jack clicked his lamp off and pulled you into him. but he's since rolled onto his back, a sign that he's out for the night, and you're still in the position you started in.

you reason with yourself; one final video and you'll plug your phone up and go to sleep. it just happens to be some sick form of fate that makes the next video on your page be one of you and jack. it's a clip of the two of you walking through the street a few days ago, jack leading the way with your hand in his. the two of you are walking in slo-mo, making it more dramatic when jack appears into the frame first, and then you second. video-jack turns his head to look at you, grinning in a way that is almost coquette-ish when you smile back. the video then cuts to you and jack stood outside of a restaurant, his arms wrapped around your shoulders and his body slumped against yours. the two of you look picturesque in that moment. you understand why someone would have filmed the casual intimacy.

to top it all off, the creator set the candid moment to lyrics that allude to jack being cool, but not nearly as cool as you.

instinctively, you double tap the video and then click on the comments. the top one makes you laugh.

i know she bosses him around.

and the comment right beneath it, added by the creator of the video, says: and he likes it, too.

and the thing is, they're right.

eventually, you own up to your word, clicking your phone off after taking a screenshot of the comments. you roll into jack's side, making a mental note to show him what you've found in the morning.

[redflagshipwriter]

Nest Swap 4 progress

Now with 200% more bat!

masterpost

“Alright, have a good day.” Tim handed the clipboard back to a stone-faced delivery guy and took the package from Miss Fox back to his technology lair. He got a glass of water on the way down and then went about reproducing the experiment that Tam asked for.

She wouldn't give him details. But from the instructions and reported results, Tim was pretty sure that some employee had misrepresented their process. To what end, he didn't know. He was just the science guy, not a detective guy.

Although if he had to guess he'd say that they had switched out a needed chemical to hide that the supply was lower than recorded.

But whatever. That wasn't his business.

Tim happily went about science, recreating a corrosive liquid that would supposedly eat through reinforced metal. He had to make the Wayne tech protective coating for the metal as well to do the experiment properly. When he finished that he carefully dipped metal sheets in it and set them to drip dry. Then he turned back to the acid project.

Supposedly, the acid had been a failure. Tim thought it should work. Apparently Tam did, too.

The screens around the room all went black. He wasn't even using them but it was a hard thing to miss in your peripheral vision.

Tim groaned. “What now?” He asked the room. He clanged a piece of metal to the tabletop. “I am trying to finish this.���

Had he tripped some kind of security protection? Maybe they had all gone to sleep without getting a password at spaced intervals?

To be perfectly clear, Tim did not expect any kind of response.

Therefore he was startled halfway out of his skin when a female laugh came barrelling out of the speakers of the largest mounted screen.

He crossed his arms in a sulk.

“Tim?” She asked, after she caught her breath. “You're tiny.”

His face was catastrophically cranky: he could see it reflected back in the black screen. It was a perfect replica of Janet Drake discovering after she had formatted her latest paper in Chicago Style that the publication required the savagery of MLA formatting.

She laughed again. It ended with a hiccup.

‘Whoever this is, she can see me. She must be someone who knows me if I gave her that kind of access.’

“I'm not sure we're friends,” Tim announced, because it was time to face the facts: these people all knew a version of him, and that Tim was bigger. At least like, three inches. “I'm aware that I am small. I am working on it.” He glowered at the computer she seemed to be using.

It would take what, two years top for a major growth spurt? They could just chew bubblegum until then.

“Is that what you're doing now?”

Tim sighed. “No, I'm doing something for Tam,” he admitted. He scrubbed at his face with a hand. “Probably a good time for a break.” He started to tidy up.

“Yeah, so, I guess I can tell Dick that you haven't been kidnapped by lions or whatever it is he's talking about,” the lady said. The line turned to static for a second, then back just as quickly. “You, uh, need some help?”

“Absolutely not.” Tim shook his head in a sharp, decisive Jack Drake movement. “I don't need to be babied.”

“...I can see why you think you're in danger of it.” She snorted again. “Unblock Dick, please, he's got delicate feelings and I think we both have plans for tonight that don't involve him scaling your walls to find a way in.”

“....I'll unblock him,” Tim took the L gracefully. “I appreciate your silence on this matter.”

She snorted again. “Sorry.” She didn't sound very sorry. “It's just- your little businessman voice is so funny. I'm sorry, Tim.”

He looked up at the ceiling for patience.

“Oracle out.”

All the screens returned to normal. Tim let out a big long sigh and went back upstairs, taking his empty water class with him. At least he had a name, right? Oracle. He'd gotten a call from Oracle.

He mentally arranged the facts as he trudged up the stairs.

Fact one: he had replaced a Tim, who was Tim Drake-Wayne. (Upsetting information).

Drake-Wayne had to be fundamentally the same Tim as he was, given that both Tam and Oracle had immediately recognized him.

Fact two: Tim D-W was a vigilante.

Fact three: That was really cool.

Tim reached the top and made a mental note to enroll in some martial arts classes when he got back home. If he had potential to fight crime, of course he was going to do that. He unblocked Dick: oh no, Dick Wayne. He'd blocked Robin. He felt mortified. It was so obvious in retrospect. He put the phone down on the table, stomach twisting in social agony.

The phone immediately lit up with messages.

Well. Robin should be less annoying, if he didn't wanna get blocked.

He clambered onto the counter to search through for anything that would make a good lunch.

“... I'm terrible,” Tim complained. He stuck his head fully into the cupboard as if there might be something good at the back. “This sucks!”

Alright. Something had to be done. Tim decisively climbed down, using an open drawer as a step. He shut it with his heels and then went in search of a wallet. He needed a credit card and to find a delivery service.

He was going to act on faith that big Tim D-W wasn't going to ruin his life, even though he was a loser. Tim was doing a great job keeping Tim D-W’s life afloat. That merited some payment.

He converted that payment into a huge order to a grocery delivery service. He referenced Tam’s package to get the address.

The order was simple: fruits, breakfast meat, lots of bakery bread, and sandwich fillings. He was going to have tuna salad with cucumber and lettuce. He was going to learn to make egg salad. Optimistically, he even added melty cheese to the order and a can of tomato soup mix: grilled cheese couldn't be that hard, right?

He rounded off the order with lots of individually packaged drinks: milk and juice boxes, cans of grape Zesti, and hot cocoa powder.

"…This is so exciting,” Tim said to his empty apartment. His. In a very real and meaningful way, it was his apartment. He was totally unsupervised. Neat!

The phone buzzed again. When he picked it up it said “Jason.”

Tim blue screened. Tim dropped the credit card with a clatter. It disappeared under the table and he didn't even think to look for it.

Jason. Omigod, Jason. Jason was a person who existed. He'd forgotten.

All the pieces came together in a beautiful flash of light. He wasn't in a troubled huge age-difference relationship with Bruce (21 year difference) or Dick (9 year difference) . He'd gotten married to Jason Wayne, the kid that Bruce had brought home like a day ago according to the Gotham Gazette. (3 year difference: normal.)

The phone was still ringing. Tim picked it up with numb fingers. “Hello?”

“Hey, Timbers,” said a male voice. It was low, rough, and impatient. “You freaked Dickiebird out and he's been squawking at me all day. Tell me how many pieces you're in.”

Tim looked down at his body. “Just the one,” he said, voice coming out breathy. It felt like his being was floating outside his body. Wow. This was his boy- no, husband? Holy moly. He couldn't cope with that, he had to stick with boyfriend. He bit his lip. He had to make a good impression.

“...You sound about 10 years old there,” Jason said. He didn't hide his amusement. “You been huffing helium, babybird?”

Tim went bright red at the pet name. Painfully red. His face was on fire.

Jason took his silence as a response. “Alright, alright, keep your clothes on. You must be sick as fuck, poor thing. No wonder you didn't come out to play last night.”

Tim slapped his hands on his face and tried not to hyperventilate.

“I wasn't calling for Dick, don't get it twisted.” Jason cleared his throat, tone a little odd. “I picked up on something - I think one of my ongoing cases dips into your patrol area. You gonna come out on patrol tonight?”

“...No,” Tim said. There was no way that would go well. He didn't know martial arts yet.

Jason cursed, but he didn't sound mad about it. “Fair enough,” he muttered. “Uh, think you could do some surveillance for me?”

Tim nodded. Then he felt dumb and cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

…He felt even dumber. What should he say? This was his boyfriend. The stakes were so high. He had never wanted anyone to like him more.

Jason rattled off an address. It, like everything Jason had said, was going to live inside Tim’s head forever in perfect clarity. “Thanks,” he added after, a bit begrudgingly. “This guy's real fucking sick, been making human sausage.”

Tim… wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but it sounded really bad. “I'll do my best,” he promised.

“Yeah…” Jason trailed off. “Maybe you should take a nap, some meds. That's a terrible hoarse throat. Don't kick your own ass on my account, okay?”

“Okay,” Tim helplessly echoed, and hung up. He sat in silence for a solid minute afterwards.

[mellowtrashtrash]

FNaF World: Object characters? Huh?

Sometimes you're put in a situation where you have to model two characters that are, quite frankly, just objects. And sometimes, you choose to bite the bullet and design them both back-to-back! Presenting: Phone Guy and Sanitation Station!

Phone Guy

Designing a character model for the Phone Guy is quite the challenge since he has no visual appearance; but he's an iconic Five Nights at Freddy's character, so I ought to put him in the hypothetical sequel to the game that celebrates the Five Nights at Freddy's franchise. I decided to model a little desk stand based on the one from the first FNaF game, and modeled the phone as a blue vintage landline in reference to his Ultimate Custom Night icon. Here's how it turned out:

(For clarification since it's been a while, top left is the character selection thumbnail, top right is the idle animation, bottom left is the attack animation, bottom right is the "hurt" animation, for when the character is subject to an enemy's attack. This is the process I typically follow for laying out my character animations. Hopefully this format is visible on all versions of this post and won't be inexplicably confusing.)

I'm very proud of it. This sort of "chibi" version of the FNaF 1 desk is kind of cute, in a way. I love the little TVs and the soda cup. There's so much detail on this that can't even be seen, but I don't do this just for practicality; I do it because it's fun, I learn things, and I thoroughly enjoy it! The phone cord has a complex bone setup to allow it to spring properly like a real phone cord does. It's not even visible half the time but it was a ton of fun to set up and it taught me more about armatures and constraints. Anything you make in this software (Blender) is a potential new learning experience. (Especially if you aren't using the ancient 2.79 version like I am.)

Sanitation Station

At first I felt I was grasping at straws for characters, but the more I thought about adding Sanitation Station, the better the idea started to seem. Maybe I've been consumed by madness, but if you take a look at this goober, you might start to see things from my point of view.

Now you may be thinking:

"That one's not even a real character! It's an inanimate object with a face drawn on it! At least Phone Guy has dialog and a personality! Even Trash & The Gang had established actions and personalities in Ultimate Custom Night, but not the Sanitation Station! Why would Sanitation Station be added to the character roster?"

Consider this: the Paper Pals appeared in the original FNaF world, and before that they were only ever depicted as completely static. It wasn't even clear if they were alive or if they were just being moved by the animatronics to mess with you. Sanitation Station actually has an impact on gameplay, which means it has a bigger role than the Paper Pals ever did, and in just one game!

Additionally, I have been adding new defense-based moves to this game concept - something I feel were left unexplored by the original FNaF World - and many of them have to do with safety features. "Threadlockers", "Waterproofing", "Stabilizers", "Repairs", "Bubble Bath" (in reference to the Phone Guy's dialog from FNaF 1), and that's just scratching the surface. The question came to mind: "Who do I give these moves to? Almost every Five Nights at Freddy's character is built around killing you, which one could possibly receive safety-based attacks?" That's where the amazing Sanitation Station comes in! It's a collection of safety items that exists entirely to lower your liability risk in its source material. It's the perfect candidate! And it has a face on it, which makes it a much more reasonable candidate than, say, the automatic security doors. And really, how can you say no to that face?

Additionally, Sanitation Station appears in Ultimate Custom Night, therefore securing it as a recurring character in the franchise, and justifying its position in the FNaF World 2 character roster.

(This is from Ultimate Custom Night, and is not my render.)

As always, thanks for checking out my art, (especially this post in particular, these are not especially popular characters.) I'll catch you on the flipside!

[svt-kiki]

　( 𝐉. )　HER FAVORITE DELIVERY BOY　

𝗌𝗁𝖾 𝗀𝗈𝗍 𝖺𝗇 𝗎𝗇𝖾𝗑𝗉𝖾𝖼𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗀𝗂𝖿𝗍, 𝗐𝗁𝗂𝖼𝗁 𝗐𝖺𝗌 𝗁𝖾𝗋 𝗎𝗌𝗎𝖺𝗅 𝖼𝗈𝖿𝖿𝖾𝖾 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗎𝗇𝗎𝗌𝗎𝖺𝗅 𝗌𝗐𝖾𝖾𝗍𝗌

2024.　pairing.　kiki ( fem!oc ) × joshua　wc. 1.4k

cw.　no proofread, mentions of her past mental issues / jun’s absent in the next tour, kinda angst comforting fluff ( ? ), overworking

an.　MY FIRST SCENARIO OMG ?? i bet there’s thousands of grammar errors but here u are...

REBLOG to send the author over the moon

it was almost midnight when kiki felt so much weariness on her eyelid suddenly. she let out a sigh, took off her blue light glasses and pinched the bridge of nose. she should stop now, close the laptop and go home, get in bed. but she knew she wouldn’t. since the group’s comeback and world tour are near at hand, there’s so much to do. and it’s not a secret that kiki is pretty much a workaholic. while she’s in the zone, she just can’t stop clearing the decks and pushing forward, forgetting to get rest or eat properly. actually, she was. since she had a major equilibrium disturbance from 2019 to 2020 that made her take an official hiatus for a couple of months, the boys strictly told her to not do that again for everyone’s sake. it was valid — especially seungkwan and seungcheol begged her almost with tears.

their face popped into her head. she can’t keep doing this — but, oh.

since jun had gone to china and jeonghan will be absent due to the enlistment, all of the formations spontaneously make difference in the next world tour. she wanted to do her best for jeonghan of course, and jun. kiki never told anyone about this before — because all of the members would say ey don’t think like that — but she always felt guilty for jun. from the debut, kiki had opportunities for the acting job time to time, made appear to several dramas and movies. and jun was always there, expressed pure joy and delight every time she got a new job. she knew jun fully supported her and was happy for her from the bottom of his heart. although never doubted his tons of messages about the drama she was in — kiki couldn’t stop thinking about the disparity, between herself and jun on the other hand. it’s not that she got it more than she should. it’s always him, deserves so much more than he wants.

she always knew jun’s wish to pursue his acting career alongside as an idol, as seventeen just like her. so she was over the moon when he got casted in the new movie in china. she always believed he deserved it, the big role in the big project like this.

therefore, isn’t it a matter of course that she should do her best? so that jun can devote himself in there without any concerns?

but not in this way — seungkwan inside her head pointed out. and that’s true.

“just one more hour,” she said herself and back to the laptop only to be failed by someone.

“knock knock,” the familiar voice sounded from the door of the lesson room. a second later, joshua’s head poked from behind the door.

“shua,” kiki widened her eyes. “what are you doing? i thought you already went home hours ago.”

“right back at you,” he let out a gentle smile, slipped himself into the room. he was wearing a soft beige cotton shirt and a pair of faded navy jeans, his bare face was covered by black flame glasses.

“just one more hour, hmm?” he leveled his eyes on her face from between the glasses, raising an eyebrow. “well, i,” kiki stuttered while scratching the cheek. “i can wrap up the most of it that i need to do this week and... we have a shooting tomorrow, so,” she looked down her knee. joshua hadn’t said anything, but she could hear his thoughts.

“i realized i forgot my stuff in here after leaving the restaurant, so i thought i can get back here, partly as a walk after the meal. then i asked the manager if the floor was still open, he said yes and added that you were still in here when he left,” he walked down next to her.

“what’s that?” kiki gave the motion to point to the boxes he holding.

“a special delivery.” he giggled before putting down the boxes beside himself. “i thought you need a break,” then he opened it. “and some sweats.”

plain sugar, chocolate, matcha. it was donuts. the box was filled with the nice plumpy dough. “almond milk latte with honey, right?” he held out the coffee cup. “it’s decaffe since already late.”

“wow,” she let out a small sigh. “how could you find a cafe that still open at this time?”

“it was technically closed,” joshua said, “but she just flipped the sign, so i asked politely that i would buy the rest of the donuts in the showcase too,”

“that’s why you bought six of them?” kiki laughed before he nodded.

“thank you,” she replied, taking a sip from the cup. she could feel the taste of honey beneath the warm latte.

“would you really wrap up and go in an hour?” she knotted the lips for his question. “i think so, after finishing a donut,”

“then i’ll wait.”

“what? no, you don’t have to,” she quickly shook her head with frown eyebrows, turning down someone’s devotion as always.

joshua followed her, frowned his eyebrows as well and tilted his head. “i thought you’ve already overcome this bad habit? now i can see something going wrong in here. if you put back things and go home now, that’s fine. if you wanna go home after an hour, that’s also fine. i can wait to watch drama or something. besides, i have donuts here,” he shook a hand that holding a donut jokingly. “but i can’t just go back leaving you here alone. last time something like this happened was a shortly before you had a breakdown,” he suddenly bit his lips, silent as a pang of guilt lingered. that guilt was hers, not his. “i’m sorry,��� is all she could say.

“you don’t need to apologize.” he gently patted her head, fixing the bangs as well. “i’m just worrying about you, okay? besides, you should feel lucky it was me who found you tonight. it was way more drama if it was mingyu or dino or seungkwan.”

“i know,” she let out a small smile, almost a sneer, disbelief on herself.

“i-,” kiki shuttered her eyes while looking up at the ceiling. “i just can’t shake off this feeling, that i’m- i’m cheating,”

joshua blinked with a silent shock by her unexpected words. “cheating? what do you mean by that?”

“jun,” her breath started shaking. “he is going to absent the rest of schedules in this year — it was necessary for him, i couldn’t be happier that he is finally able to chase his acting dreams after all these years. i’m thrilled to see him in a big project that take this long to shoot, but from the outside — it looks like he values his personal career more than as an idol, which was never a truth, because of me.”

he remained silent, lost in thought. kiki continued with darken eyes — eyes, that appears when her mind goes to a deeper place.

“because i decided very firmly, that i won’t be absent to seventeen’s schedule due to my job as an actor. but all happened because i was lucky, it was just a fortune, that i was able to accomplish it anyway. but now that bless put him in a bad light, shua. i can’t bear that. people comparing me and his circumstances which were never the same, and it unfair to do so. they have no idea how much he cares about this team, how much he devoted everything for this, nearly a decade. i know i might be overthinking, i know this is the last thing jun wants for me, but i can’t help it. i’m trapped, joshua,”

the donut was no longer tasted. he put back the one with bites to the box, rubbing sugar off from his finger with a paper towel. “kit kat... since you seem like already knew that your mind started driving in the very wrong direction, there’s nothing much i can say,” he slid himself into the very next to her, hugged her tight in an arm from the side.

“you felt guilty for him? all these years?” she nodded, then shook her head. “yes, i mean no, i was... able to control the direction most of the time. knew it was wrong, overthinking, but this time was... it was different, you know,”

“everything would be different in a couple of months,” he replied calmly, knowing she trying. god, she is.

as her finger run through the hair, kiki took few sips from the cup. “i will be fine, shua, i promise. i won’t let that happen again.”

after observing her expression for few seconds, joshua put a soft smile on his lips. “i will trust you for this.”

after all, he is her soulmate like people says. he composed his words perfectly. a trust — the thing she never fails to keep it true and real, she hates to betray.

but after this night, he is also her favorite delivery boy.

(    📁    )   :   NAVI   :  MASTER LIST     

(    tag list    )   :   @smh-anon @jennwonwoo @angie-x3

[mageknight14]

The Dangers and Flaws of Idolization: A NEO TWEWY analysis post

Transplanting and expanding on a thread I made on Twitter to fit within a Tumblr format.

One of the most interesting aspects I see in NEO TWEWY that I don’t see many people touch upon is the commonality between Rindo, Fret, and Shoka in how they look up to others as role models while simultaneously being blind to their flaws/who they actually are up to the end and how the game's themes are reflected in those relationships and today, I'd like to showcase why.

First, we have Rindo and Motoi. With that relationship, the game makes it pretty clear that Rindo looked up to Motoi as An0ther and used his words as encouragement to get through his own daily life and anxiety. The kid could barely decide what he could even eat for dinner before he had come across the account, so if you thought his current indecisiveness nature was bad, he was even worse before the events of the game.

However, what I find interesting is that even though he constantly spouts An0ther's sayings in an attempt to try and steel himself for the challenges he faces, he thoughtlessly does so and only lives by the sayings half-heartedly, since his indecisive nature and fear of responsibility prevent him from committing all the way. I think it's telling that despite claiming that "don't miss your chance to make a friend" is one of his favorite quotes, he's constantly at odds with the idea of bringing potentially new players on board the team even before he gets the chance to properly know/meet them and grimaces at the thought of the structure of the old Reaper's Game in the original.

Keep in mind that Beat saved Rindo's life at the hands of Susukichi at least two whole days ago before this occurrence.

Nagi’s Dive into his head on W1D3 actually does a LOT to reveal aspects of his character: he puts other people at arm’s length (besides Swallow due to their online anonymity) because he’s afraid of the fallout of what would to happen if he got involved with them.

"What if I end up taking on more than I can handle? What if other people end up dragging me down with them? If I just stay at the sidelines and shift the blame onto others, I won’t get into trouble for this."

"I'm in a group project; everybody is contributing and making decisions about how we should go about doing things. I keep my mouth shut and refrain from pitching in despite maybe thinking some of their ideas misses the point of the assignment, because God forbid my ideas could be helpful (or maybe they won't; that's life, but I won't know unless i speak up). We end up handing in our project and whoops, we got a C-. I guess I'm not responsible for receiving that grade because I never made a decision, therefore I shouldn't be accountable for my lack of contribution. It just makes sense."

If you've known/are a person that have had similar thoughts to this mindset, then congrats; you know/are a Rindo Kanade in real life.

This culminates into him latching onto others he finds capable and taking the relationships around him for granted, tying other people's worth to their prowess in might or influence. After all, why bother relying on yourself and others when you can just rely on someone else for you to solve your problems? Especially since it means that if everything goes south, YOU won’t take the fallout for it. After all, they’re clearly much more capable than you are.

To get back to his dynamic with Motoi, Rindo looks up to him immensely after finding out that he was his idol an0ther and came to value his input regarding matters within the Game. So when he eventually finds out the truth and is forced to confront the fact that his hero was nothing more than a content thief and a schemer who would trample over others just to survive, he’s understandably heartbroken.

However, instead of just leaving it there, the game decides to flip the script and have Motoi legitimately apologize to Rindo for his actions, leading to the lad in question learning to recognize that Motoi is ultimately an incredibly flawed human being instead of just writing him off entirely, (even giving him another chance!) and is, in many ways, a mirror to Rindo. Like Rindo, Motoi was deathly afraid of responsibility and the fallout of letting other people down, leading to him copying and pasting other people's quotes so that he wouldn't have to face that possibility. This aspect of himself only got worse when he got trapped in the Reaper's Game for multiple loops on end, forcing him to become a worse version of himself, lying, cheating, and backstabbing just to survive and even looking towards becoming part of the Reapers, the same group that trapped him there in the first place, just so he wouldn't have to be Erased, un a manner that's eerily reminiscent to how Rindo would took towards overly relying on others so that he would make it out okay. In that sense, Motoi is a look at what a grown-up Rindo would look like if he didn't take the lessons he learned within the Game to heart, which is part of why the latter decides to take Motoi’s copypasted quotes and apply them to his life in a positive way, deriving his own meaning from them so that in a way that contrasts him following them in a shallow manner from before.

Next up, we have Fret and Kanon, who form a interesting parallel to Rindo and Motoi's dynamic. Whereas Motoi is a look at one of the worst possible paths that Rindo could take if he didn't learn how to properly deal with his flaws, Kanon actually tries to coach Fret into becoming more true to and genuine with his actual self. She also shows herself to be a genuinely affable and honorable person even in spite of the bad first impression that she had given at the beginning of the game by stealing Rindo and Fret's pin for herself.

However, that's only the surface level stuff, as the game actually goes deeper with her character. While Kanon at first seems to be true to herself and genuine at her core in a way that Fret isn’t, we can see from the Dive into her head on W3D3 that she’s holding back a LOT underneath the surface.

"You always did have a way of destroying things" tends to get glossed over by some and for those who do look at the words, they seemingly come out of nowhere and can be seemingly brushed off as her just being under the influence of the Plague Noise. However , when you look back at some of Kanon’s actions and her words towards the Twisters (accusing the Twisters of sabotaging Fuya and making Motoi drop out of the Scramble Slam against his will, her mood changing when she finds out about Fuya challenging the Ruinbringers in one timeline as opposed to her more cheerful attitude towards Fret when she didn't find that out just yet, her acting suspicious towards the Twisters regarding their prowess as a team, etc), the implication is that she doesn’t just resent the game as a whole but also secretly the Twisters as well.

The thing about the Player teams is that they have formed an unspoken agreement where the top 3 teams (sans Ruinbringers of course) keep their footing by sending new players and other teams to last place, which the Wicked Twisters screw up just by existing. Their synergy and impressive Imagination powers (well, Fret, Nagi, and Sho’s at least) threaten the balance the teams have struggled to keep up for so long, hence why Kanon initially just sees them as another team to point snipe before she changes her mind on them. And while the Twisters do almost bring about change by beating the Ruinbringers, it ultimately doesn’t even matter in the long-run due to how incredibly rigged the Shinjuku game is and as a result, the DRS are eliminated, getting rid of Kanon’s and Motoi’s safety net.

Imagine this from the players’ perspective: you’re stuck in essentially what is a never-ending death game but you’ve got a system going where you can at least stave off your deaths for a bit longer. Then a couple of kids come around and throw that whole system entirely out of whack. And you think, "well, at least they can take out the top team and give us a fighting chance, right?" Only for those hopes to also get dashed because the rules are just that rigged. Like Kubo said, life ain’t fair and the afterlife sure as hell ain’t either. W1D5 and W2D4 are excellent explorations of this kind of mindset as it showcases the player teams falling victim to their desires and abusing their powers as a result of being stuck in an endless loop of playing the Game over and over again with no hope of escaping, as well as highlights paints certain comments made by the leaders in an even darker light.

With all of this in mind, it’s honestly no wonder that Kanon resents the Twisters but what’s interesting is that she tries to keep this resentment under wraps because she knows that it isn’t fair to them. They’re just kids after all who would have no idea about all of that. Hence why she admonishes herself in her Dive for wishing that they had just wipe out the Reapers altogether and why Fret is shown to be hurt hearing her inner thoughts about the Twisters in a way that’s pretty reminiscent of Rindo’s reaction when he found out about Motoi.

And finally, we have Shoka and Ayano. While it’s pretty clear that the two do genuinely care for one another, it’s a relationship that’s been tragically scarred by the events surrounding Shinjuku and the Reapers in general, resulting in a mutually unhealthy dynamic. 

What I find interesting about the relationship is that while Shoka gets pissed whenever Rindo insinuates that Ayano must’ve treated her badly, she sadly realizes in another convo that she doesn’t know much about Ayano on a personal level or what her interests even are.

In spite of how close they are and how much they mean to each other, Ayano still put up emotional walls and closed herself off, never allowing herself to be on equal footing to Shoka and instead just be someone who guides and mentors her over the 4 years they were together.

This is due to her feeling betrayed by Shiba/others while simultaneously using Shoka as her one stable point in life regardless because everything is going up into chaos surrounding the Shinjuku Reapers and she finds herself unable to trust anyone around her anymore. And Shoka herself doesn't even realize this until the end when it’s too late because she was just happy to simply have Ayano by her side without thinking deeper about her and their relationship as a whole due to her own emotional issues and troubled past.

When it comes to children from broken homes, they are prone to imprinting on any adult figure that interacts positively with them and in Shoka's case, this is exactly what she did with the Shinjuku Reapers, especially Ayano.

A running theme throughout all of these instances is how they all involve the younger generation looking up to the adults in their lives as idols as opposed to just role models and thus fail to see them for who they are as actual human beings. And by the time they that finally do, it's too late for the adults.

You also see nods towards this theme via the Shinjuku Reapers and their relationship with Shiba or Shiba’s (who himself is parallel to Rindo if his tendency to subconsciously take on the values of others and mistake his as his own was twisted into the worst possible outcome) relationship with Kubo, with Hishima even flat out stating as such. "You fell at the feet of an idol like an utter fool", indeed.

And this all fits, as well, into NEO's larger theme that even as a 'follower', you have to question the 'leader'. Role models aren't bad -- but idols and failing to recognize their limits/flaws/toxicity are and will end up screwing you over in the long run if you aren’t careful. And I think NEO did an excellent job at exploring the little nuances that come with that, from Kanon’s internal resentment she knew wasn’t fair to the unseen distance between Ayano and Shoka to Motoi being a complete deconstruction of it all. It shows the good and the bad of idolizing someone too much. It shows how you can see the real them and turn the image you liked into something more with Rindo, or how to hold them in your heart while moving on like Shoka. It's okay to acknowledge the flaws and shortcomings of the people you look up to. Hell, it’s probably healthy to do that in some ways. As long as they’re still a good person or even helped you grow, you can still celebrate the good they brought

[witherby]

format as in a way of writing!

like do you write much in a paragraph or not?

how do you think it’s aesthetically pleasing?

—🦈

Ah, okay! So, I've spent a lot of time reading and writing since I was, like, 8. I also took a Creative Writing minor in college to help me polish up a big chunk of my missing skills. At this point, what I lack isn't so much technique as it is..um...skill. LMAO. So please take this with a grain of salt!

The point is, there is a "right" way and a "wrong" way to structure your stories. The people who tell you otherwise are being very kind, but not realistic. The biggest things you have to keep track of when you structure your stories are ideas, vocabulary, and dialogue.

This post is long and kind of preachy. Forgive me for that; I'm trying to answer you as best and earnestly as I can.

So, let's process ideas, first. You'll notice that I've started a new paragraph to cover this topic for you, because it is its own category and therefore doesn't make sense to lump together with the other two points mentioned above. If you're trying to convey an idea or a subject or a topic in an understandable way, you wanna keep the parts that are related to that idea/subject/topic together. If you don't have a lot to say about a thing, your paragraph about it is going to be smaller. If you have a lot to say about a thing, your paragraph is going to be bigger. This paragraph, for example, conveying information to you about conveying your ideas properly, is kinda long, which is normal and bound to happen sometimes. Your paragraphs don't all have to be of equal length from start to end.

Let's discuss vocabulary, next. Word choice is everything, in my opinion. The difference between "transparent" and "diaphanous" may not literally be much, but one of those words is definitely more well-known and easier to understand than the other. Don't assume your readers are babies and only give them tiny words to work with, yet do not presume that witnesses to your chronicles cling to an intellectual high ground on the contrary. You need just enough to draw people in, but not too much that it'll bore them and not so little that they're missing crucial story components. I advise cracking open a thesaurus and playing around with your word choices until you find a balance that makes you happiest.

Finally, let's touch on dialogue. "Dialogue?" You ask. "Yes," I say. "What do you mean?" You ask again. "I mean that there are two components at play for dialogue, and this paragraph is a glaring example."

"Every time a different character speaks, it is a new thought being expressed," I elaborate.

"What's that mean for me?" You might ask.

"It means," I say, "that a new thought gets a new paragraph. Now, if it's the same person speaking, you can let them ramble for a while and not create a new paragraph, because the reader inherently understands that it's the same person the whole time. But the second one is done, and another speaks instead, you need to visualize that change with the start of a new paragraph. You need to create that separation."

"I do?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Even for one-word answers? Replies so quick that they're barely anything?"

"Even then."

In summary, you can dress up your stories any way you want, with italics or big letters or small letters or pictures or borders, to your heart's content. It could be the prettiest post I've ever seen in my life. It's not gonna mean a thing if the work doesn't follow a smooth transition of subject, utilizes good verbiage, and has easy-to-follow dialogue, though.

Of course there are exceptions to these rules, because writing is not black and white. We wouldn't have poetry otherwise. But that would require much more typing and ranting and I've already gone on long enough. Practice is going to be your biggest teacher, but these are some good foundational points to keep in mind as you create.

I hope this was useful!

[11thwardtls]

Memory Defrag | TRACK 5 - Data Corpulence | Azekawa Kinari's Ward Mayor Novel Translation

Warnings and Disclaimers:

This translation is not professionally done and is not proofread. Edits and clean-ups may come at a later date.

Not a 1:1 translation either and some liberties into localization were taken into account.

This novel will contain spoilers for the Ev3ns Main Story: "Chained Up Scarlet".

Appropriate Content and Trigger Warnings will be added if needed.

May be used for quotebots/masterlists etc.

I am not fluent and self-studying Japanese (albeit at turtle speed), this was translated by ear and with the help of a JP dictionary, so please feel free to point out any errors!

—/—/—/—/—/—

I came out of semi-conscious mode and awakened all at once.

By my bedside, there was a plastic water bottle, with a note stuck to it: “Are you thirsty? Here, if you don’t mind.” in Raito’s handwriting. 

As I am an android, my mouth does not get dry, yet I drank from the bottle anyway.

The room’s interior has been plunged into azure-hued darkness.

I could hear the flapping of the nocturnal birds resting in the trees behind me.

———[At the very least, you could say what’s on your mind in your own words.]

Father’s words repeated several times within my auditory system.

Whenever I recall these words, I start to feel something, slowly.

It’s something that I’ve not been able to properly verbalize.

But now, I’m searching for a meaning within Father’s words, of which I had previously felt nothing upon hearing them. 

“Were his intentions similar to Master’s own words?”

I threw my question into the void.

I suppose that the true nature of Father’s hopes for me, was similar to Master’s own desire to treat me as if I were a fellow human being. 

What Father wanted at the time was not for me to be in a state to channel Kinari’s spirit, but for me to speak out using my own words. 

Rather than words that have been programmed into me, he must have wished to hear my words from the heart.

As I thought, I still deeply regret that I could not do that even at his deathbed.

Yes, there’s some sort of feeling of regret. Likely so. Surely, I thought.

And this sort of emotion is quite surprising in itself.

Because, as an android, I feel an emotion called ‘regret’. 

But looking back on this incident and understanding how I felt while reviewing those memories, perhaps someday I too will gain those 21 grams.

By analyzing, considering, and reflecting……

As Kuguri has previously said, these records can turn themselves into memories. 

[Further verification is still required.]

For that purpose, any and all records shall be preserved without being deleted.

I thought about it for when I have the free time to browse these past data bit by bit, but a message box appeared hovering over my retinas.

[The additional information related to the emotion base is building data corpulence at this time. Would you like to delete those additional parts?]

This newly acquired data is a highly valuable resource that is connected to 21 grams, therefore it cannot be deleted. I selected [No]. 

[The screen glitches for a moment.]

The moment that I’ve made my choice, the image reflected in my retinas became distorted and a noise appeared.

“...?”

I checked on my systems to see if a small error had occurred, but there was no problem.

Right now, I cannot afford to shrink down on my memory any further.

The everydays that would increase from here forward would be also valuable pieces of samples.

With that in mind, I laid down on my bed.

—/—/—/—/—/—

“Today’s a whole extra super awesome ‘nother lesson day~! After finishing with warm ups, we’re doing formation checks, alrightyyyy?” 

Chihiro’s cheerful voice resounded throughout the lesson room this morning.

He always took the initiative whenever it came to practicing.

As always, I put out the tablet and started to record our dance formation———

—But he appeared troubled almost immediately.

“Oh whoopsies! My hard disk is full already~ I can’t record anymore.”

“Isn’t that a large capacity tablet? Why’s there so much data…? Plus, didn’t you say the same thing last month?”

Tao rushed in to check quickly. Chihiro pouted, cheeks puffed up, “I’m an influencer, aren’t I? Don’t tell me you forgot?!”, he retorted.

These two always have this kind of conversation all the time.

“Hahaha, well yeah, your job’s to take pics and all that. So I guess my smartphone…

Ah, right… I dropped it in the bath yesterday and it broke.” 

“Haaaaa. It’s like, soooo unbelievable that such a high-key moronic guy exists in this world!” 

Raito made an offer to do it on his behalf, but then was quickly rejected.

Kuguri gave Raito the stink-eye, as he had no intention of ever lending his own device.

“Welp, there’s no choice then. Kinyari~ can Chii twouble you to do it?”

“Understood.”

In the past eras, humans have used their eyes as a camera when photographic equipment cannot be used. Their video recordings would be burned onto their retina, be available as an output and viewed on another device.

I began to film our dance routine while looking into the mirror.

“Tao, stop. Your hand placement is off by three centimeters.”

“Tao, stop. Your arms are not fully extended.”

“Tao, stop. You mustn’t do this move from your chest, but from your shoulders.”

I added detailed annotations about our mistakes, and by the time I finished them, Chihiro would hug me and say, “Luuuuv ya, Kinyari!”

Chihiro does this more often than not. He also happily rested his cheek by my hair.

“Ahhh, you smell so nice, Kinyari~ Haaaa, you’re just the bestest, the cutest, I loooove you~” 

“Mm. Thank you.”

“Oi, Chihiro, quit messin’ around already. Keep doing that and it’d count as sexual harassment.”

“But if it’s me and Kinyari, we make a super mega cute picture together, so it’s a-okay!” 

“Eh… That so?”

Tao warned him, but Chihiro bit back.

He seemed a bit distressed after listening to Chihiro’s absurd reasoning.

Raito laughed softly as usual, saying, “I’m glad that we all get along so well.”

On the other hand, Kuguri interjected, “Nyushi, if I were to join in as well, wouldn’t it be even prettier?”

This sort of interaction between us unit members had now become the norm.

Chihiro often talked about me so lovingly, yet according to Tao, “Ain’t it because Chihiro used to be an idol otaku and likes cute things?”

Can this kind of love be classified as something that fulfills my father’s hopes and wishes that [Someone who loves you will surely appear]?

I don’t know it yet, but I have long since accepted this circumstance.

“Man, at the end of the day, I was still the one who made the most mistakes again.”

“Tao, you’d be training on your own again today, wouldn’t you? I’ll join as well so let’s do our best together.”[4]

“By the way, Kinari. I accidentally let it slip that you slept longer than usual this morning to Ushio. He seemed quite worried so if you could, please show yourself to him later to let him know.”

“Plüss, won’t you at least punish this wretch of a man for saying something so unnecessary?” 

Chihiro and Tao started to whisper amongst themselves about everyday this and that, while Raito and Kuguri, who were wiping away their sweat, also chatted for a little while. 

I’d say, “Shall we proceed to play and observe the formation video I took on my camera on another device now?”, all four of them, Kuguri—to an extent, would watch somewhat seriously. 

Thus, our discussion on how we could further improve it would then begin. 

I, for once, would like to repeat this moment an innumerable amount of times.

……The thought of it was not at all unpleasant.

“Please give it your all in singing, dancing, your idol activities and live happily!”

This is my firstmost and top priority order I needed to fulfill. It is my very core of being. 

My most important standard of behavior.

However, rather than having to meet that standard, little by little, the desire to fulfill it instead is being born.

What to call this sort of ‘emotion’, I don’t know it yet.

But, I can feel it. I know so.

Emotions that I cannot name yet will continue to grow within my heart.

Surely. Probably. Maybe. 

Someday, even… 

———is what I thought.

—/—/—/—/—/—

Translation Notes: 

1 - This chapter’s title name was very… difficult to word, as 肥大 in particular could be any of the words related to gaining weight/fat. In accordance with this, I used the word corpulence instead to achieve the same meaning across. 

2 - Took liberties with Chihiro’s gyaru-speak. Also yes he did say all of that part (I have screenshot receipts). 

3 - Again, Tao did actually say that. Quite literally in fact too!

4 - I don’t know who said that, but basing off the prose that followed, it seems to be Chihiro? I’m not sure if he’s ever called him anything other than Taotao so please correct me if I’m wrong here! 

—/—/—/—/—/—

Directory:

Main Page | TRACK 1 | TRACK 2 | TRACK 3 | TRACK 4 | TRACK 5

[allurasrealm]

PJO TV DEBRIEF (S1)

First of all I would like to say that episode 8 was my favorite of the season ends down. The pacing was good, the storytelling was good, there was tension, suspense, the fight scenes weren't anticlimactic etc. it gives me hope that maybe these writers aren't totally incompetent. I tried to be brief but this post will be long I fear.

THE TRIO

Overall I like the dynamic between the trio, they really picked the right actors. they bounce off of each other well and I can't get enough of them together. Individually their characterization is close enough to what we get in the books however I feel that Annabeth and Grover got nerfed this season (especially Grover).

Percy: I don't think I have much to say. Walker really nails the character. the action, the humor, the line delivery etc. My only issue is that they made him too knowledgeable for my liking and i feel that it was done at the expense of his quest mates.

Annabeth: Same thing as before, Leah really understands the character well. She IS Annabeth. But as others have mentioned before I wish she could express a wider range of emotions throughout the show. I like her a lot more in scenes where she was allowed to be more than a standoffish tactician and was expressing fear and worry either for herself or her friends. however I was disappointed at her reaction at the reveal in the woods with Luke. I mean this is her brother (or so we are told in the show) so I expected her to be more devastated by it. this is as much of a betrayal for Percy as it is for her.

Grover: this Grover feels slightly different than the one in the book but I don't mind at all. Aryan is crushing it! Unfortunately I can't help but feel that this Grover was severely underwritten and underdeveloped. I wish they properly represented how much the Pan quest means to him and how important it was for him to be on this quest to obtain his Searcher's License, that way the finale could've felt that much more satisfying to watch. Overall I feel that he was sidelined a lot more because the kids are apparently too smart to fall into trap, be sidetracked or be tricked by the Mist so that means that Grover's ability to sense monsters was gone and therefore made him a lot less useful to the team. I've noticed as well that the three were often separate to keep Percabeth together while he was by himself and like... why? and even when he made some efforts to contribute to the quest in a meaningful way, those efforts didn't amount to much.

I also take this opportunity to add this because I was discussing it with friends earlier. this might be a reach but I wanted to share our perspective on this anyway:

We were especially annoyed at how they took out some defining traits and ability from Grover and Annabeth or straight up took said abilities to give them to Percy knowing it would leave the two with not much to show for this quest because:

Percy is already the main character so what is the need for it? Percy in the books was never dumb but he was fairly ignorant about the mythical world which led to Annabeth and Grover being the ones to explain things to him (and therefore the audience/readers) but now he's pretty much the knowledgeable member of this team on top of being the one to get most of the action during fights and confrontation (again the others aren't nearly as active as he is here).

I think it's odd that they chose to add more diversity in the cast for this trio but unfortunately fall into the trap of giving their non-white characters the "besties who are there to prop up the main character but don't seem to get to stand on their own" treatment POC often get in media.

I could go on and on about this but it would be best to save that for another post. For future seasons my main hope for these characters is that they explore Annabeth and Grover's interiority with as much care and effort as they do Percy's. I mean seeing as this is a tv show format, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to do this and dive deeper into their respective arc since it's not a first person POV like in the book and yet not much was done.

Bonus (Sally): While I didn't dislike this portrayal of Sally and like that they made her more active and have more agency since the beginning, I'm still disappointed to not see her go through her original arc in the first book that is precisely about how she grows to be that Sally. ever since Percy's birth, he was her priority (understandingly so) and every decision she made was to protect him even at her own expense. I thought there was something beautiful about how she heard of her son's first quest and how it inspired her to take matters into her own hands to regain her agency and freedom. Though I'm fine with this version of Sally, it still doesn't hit the same way as the original story.

Olympus

I loved the way Mount of Olympus and the Underworld were designed and although I had my own preferences and expectations about the Underworld I still like the show version of it. Mount Olympus looks way bigger and grand than I ever imagined it in my head so I loved that about it. no notes.

I also liked most of the gods but mostly because they stuck with the book's descriptions of them. Dionysus was spot on and well cast. I like Ares too and Poseidon. Hermes and Hades felt too much like some guys™ to me and while I can accept it for Hermes, it's difficult to get over it with Hades. and before anyone starts, I'm not asking for a mustache twirling villain because Hades was never that but you'd think the lord of the Underworld would have more gravita than that.

Now Zeus! I was kinda worried at first for the reasons mentioned above but now I don't even know why, I mean they cast Lance Reddick for the role so I should've known this would turn out great. He actually brought the charisma, gravita and authority I was expecting from some of these gods. He gave such a masterful performance in the finale and is the reason why I will be rewatching it. Lance was such a great talent and phenomenal person, he will be deeply missed </3

THE BETRAYAL

I was worried for this part as well because I didn't think they built up for it well enough but considering how Annabeth reacted to the whole thing, I guess it doesn't matter that they didn't show us how close her and Luke were supposed to be I guess. let's take away how truly meaningful that relationship was to Annabeth that way we don't have to worry about it for the final reveal right?

They finally showed us the training session between Luke and Percy and I'm glad because I honestly thought they scrapped that entirely. Even though I still wish it was included way before that, I'm still content about it being included and used as flashback to create a parallel between Percy and Luke.

Generally this Luke is a bit different from the one in the book and that's why I like this Luke better so far.

From what I remember the character in the book seems friendly at first but definitely comes off as a bit sly later so you know there's something up with the guy. Whereas in this show Luke is genuine from the beginning to the end of season 1. You get the sense that Luke actually sees Percy as a friend. He also sees his greatness and potential which make Percy that good of a potential ally and recruit and on top of that we were shown in the flashbacks that both see eye to eye when it comes to the gods. These changes in the story make the character foils that much better and interesting to me.

Finally I want to add that Charlie gave an incredible performance at the end and I am excited to see more of him and what else they have in store for this character!

NEXT SEASONS

For future seasons, they need to give this show more episodes per season so we don't ever get a bad pacing. It was definitely impacting the quality of the writing as well. I didn't dislike all the changes they made. Some of the elements added or changed I ended up enjoying because it fits well in the overall story and add more depth to it. Meanwhile there were events that happened in the book that I didn't like because of the storytelling and writing decisions they made that in my opinion took away the meaning behind them. A lot of the tension and struggles that make this adventure so thrilling were gone as well and I wish the writers could reevaluate that. as mentioned prior I also want the other characters to be more developed and better written.

[ollieofthebeholder]

to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest): a TMA fanfic

<< Beginning < Prev || AO3 || My Website

Chapter 73: July 2014

Gertrude is in a foul mood by the time Gerard catches up to her, if the fact that she’s practically bitten her cigarillo in half is any indication. The scowl, the way she’s pacing back and forth, the tapping of the toe—that’s all normal. But the way her teeth clench around the burning cigarillo is a sign that all is not well in Archivist Land.

“Pouri ahau,” he says automatically, stopping just outside of slapping range.

Gertrude shoots him a glare. “You speak Maori? That would have been useful three days ago.”

“I can apologize in forty-seven languages. And thirteen dialects. That’s not exactly the same as speaking a language,” Gerard replies. “Is there anything I can help you with now?”

Gertrude jerks her head over her shoulder and hands him a key—not a plastic key card, but an old-fashioned bit of bent metal that looks like it might date back to European colonization of Aotearoa. “Room 103. The tape is in the recorder and the laptop is set up. I need you to transcribe and format the statement properly.”

“Why not just add the tape to the Archives?” Gerard asks, palming the key. “I mean, why do you bother writing them up at all?”

“I haven’t bothered transcribing the ones that are…relevant. This one isn’t. Should I die before we are able to stop the Unknowing, my predecessor will need as much information as possible.”

Gerard grimaces. “That is not nearly as helpful an answer as you seem to think it is.”

Gertrude glares at him. “Really, Gerard, I wish you would give these things just a little thought. There are hundreds upon thousands of statements in the Archives, and even if only a small percentage of them are true, and an even smaller percentage are relevant to the current situation, how will a new Archivist know where to begin? If they find a tape that does not have a paper statement to match, my hope is that they will pay attention.”

“Makes sense,” Gerard allows. “So this statement you got isn’t relevant, then?”

Gertrude waves her cigarillo dismissively. It droops in the middle as she does so, and she curses and flicks it away. “Go listen and you’ll understand.”

Obediently, Gerard heads into the inn and goes searching for the room. He’s not surprised she picked this place; it’s small, out of the way, and probably keeps records by hand, so the likelihood of anyone finding out they’ve been here is slim. Of course they can likely trace her plane tickets, but first of all there’s the question of whether or not they would, and second of all she flew into Wellington. This is a good distance away—it took him a while to find her and she’d told him where to meet her—so there’s every chance their location can remain a secret.

Room 103 is an inner room with no windows, which is appropriate to Gertrude’s usual level of paranoia. (Is it actually paranoia if they’re really out to get you? a voice whispers in his mind, a voice he feels like he should recognize but doesn’t and therefore ignores.) He locks the door behind him out of habit and turns to see, as promised, the tape recorder, a set of cheap over-the-ear headphones, and the laptop set out on the small table. The fact that the room is otherwise empty tells him this is his room, not Gertrude’s, and he scans until he locates the connecting door. He checks it, and sure enough, it’s unlocked on both sides and leads to a mirrored but otherwise identical room with Gertrude’s laptop bag and kit bag set out on the dresser.

He locks the door on his side with malice aforethought before heading back to the table.

By the laptop is set up, Gertrude clearly means I changed the settings and it’s unlocked. She’s ruthless about making sure Gerard can’t access any of her files without her knowledge. Out of curiosity, and a bit of boredom, and a bit of bitter spite lingering from the fact that he just had to leave his brother and sister again and it hurts, he’s not sure why it’s so much harder than usual this time, he clicks into the settings to see if he can either find out what her password is or change it to something he’ll remember, only to discover that the old bat has deleted her password entirely. Further investigation proves that actually what she’s done is set up a secondary profile without admin privileges that can’t access any of her files, just for Gerard.

Gerry, the voice that he both knows and doesn’t know whispers in his mind.

What? He blinks and talks back to the voice, even though it’s probably just his thoughts.

Gerry, the voice repeats, and God it’s so infuriating that he can’t place whose voice it is. Your friends call you Gerry. You have friends. You are loved and deserving of love. Stop calling yourself Gerard and start calling yourself Gerry, even if Gertrude fucking Robinson doesn’t. Be your own friend. God knows you could use one right about now.

Gerard—Gerry—nods slowly, and feels something warm settle inside him, and wonders what the fuck that’s all about. Then he shakes off the weird sensation, pulls his notebook and pen out of his bag, snaps on the headphones, and pushes PLAY.

It’s not the first time he’s heard a statement. She’s had him do this a couple times, although usually she’s in the room for it; this one must really bother her if she doesn’t want to listen again. On the other hand, the date is today’s—he confirms that with the time displayed at the bottom of the screen—so maybe she just doesn’t want to hear it twice in rapid succession. Especially since he usually has to make her stop and replay sections when the tapes get too far ahead of his typing; he’s fast, but not that fast. Since she’s not here, though, Gerry decides to deploy his secret weapon.

He hopes he can remember how to do this.

It comes back to him fairly quickly as he listens, the loops and scrawls he first learned the summer he turned fourteen, the summer Melanie almost had a breakdown because she and Martin wouldn’t be in all the same classes in the fall and she couldn’t take notes fast enough to keep up and be sure of understanding them. If she’d had her dyslexia diagnosis three years earlier she might have just brought a tape recorder to class, but then Gerry found a book on the Gregg shorthand method, and it helped, or at least she said it did; they eventually developed their own variant on it. Since they’d moved past writing letters to one another when they were separated, Gerry at least fell out of the habit. He doesn’t know if Martin and Melanie still use it and makes a note to ask them when he gets home. In the meantime, he uses it to scrawl down the statement in more or less real time.

It’s not a pleasant statement, that’s for sure, but the Flesh is rarely pretty. He supposes it could be worse. At least it wasn’t a gigantic chicken. He remembers getting chased through the Spanish countryside by a particularly vicious flock, and those were just ordinary chickens. It isn’t hard to look in the eyes of a rooster and know it’s the last living descendant of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and that it’s aware of that fact too. Pigs are nasty, but at least you expect to get eaten by a pig…if you know anything about them, anyway. Most people don’t.

Gerry snaps himself back to the present as the man on the tape begins going on about a circus. He understands now why Gertrude wanted this statement in the first place, and why she’s so upset now. It’s not just any circus she wants, it’s the Circus of the Other—Martin will probably know how to say it in Russian without Gerry even having to translate it—but of course she can’t say that. Can’t tell people she’s looking for a Russian circus, or a circus that isn’t supposed to be there. No, she’s got to be all vague and mysterious and imprecise, and then she gets annoyed when they don’t tell her what she wants to hear. If she’d just ask up front, they wouldn’t waste her time so much, but why should she listen to him?

He can’t help but chuckle a little at the end—he can only imagine what Gertrude’s face must have looked like when the man offered her bacon—and then the tape clicks off. He studies it briefly, then skims over his shorthand notes. Concrete. Seems a neat solution, if a bit quiet and controlled for Gertrude’s usual methods, but then again she wouldn’t risk burning down the man’s livelihood just to destroy a monster pig. Maybe. Probably. She might if it had actually been the Stranger, but not for the Flesh.

Sighing, he takes off the headphones and turns to the laptop. Easier to transcribe his notes, he thinks, than to try and type while listening. He remembers Melanie telling him once about court stenographers, and how they have a special keyboard that types in shorthand, and he thinks it’s too bad Gertrude can’t set her laptop up to do that. Then he pushes the thought out of his mind and gets to typing.

He’s just about done when he hears the rattle of someone trying to turn, then jiggling the doorknob behind him. A moment later, he hears Gertrude’s muffled voice. “Gerard. Gerard, open the door.”

“Sorry, what’s that? I can’t hear you,” Gerry calls over his shoulder, trying to sound as innocent as possible while typing as fast as he can to get to the end of the statement. “There’s a door in the way.”

“Gerard Albrecht Keay, I do not have time for this.” Gertrude’s voice was dark and ominous. “Unlock this door at once or I will compel every secret you possess out of you.”

“All right, all right, no call for that, it was just a bit of fun,” Gerry grumbles. He types the last line, quickly folds his notepad closed and tucks it in his pocket, then gets up to open the door. “Sorry. Wasn’t completely sure you had that room and I didn’t want to risk someone walking in who wasn’t supposed to. Not while I had the statement open.”

“Hmm, yes, quite.” Gertrude doesn’t seem inclined to apologize, but she at least stops yelling. “Are you finished transcribing it yet?”

“Just got to the end. I see what you mean. Flesh, is it?”

Gertrude nods crisply. “That particular threat is at the very least contained, but I am rather disappointed the lead didn’t pan out.” She tilts her head at him. “How did yours turn out?”

Right. Gerry told her he had a lead to follow up on, which was why he’d gone back to England after Beijing rather than come with her to Wellington. Luckily, thanks to Melanie and a bit of gossip she picked up from someone in her ghost hunting circles, he at least has a thread they can look into. “Actually, I do. Town called Tonopah, Nevada, in the US.”

Gertrude raises an eyebrow. “Oh? Do tell.”

“There’s a motel there called the Clown Motel. No, I’m not making this up,” Gerry adds, seeing the look on her face. “Honestly, it’s there. And equally honestly, it’s right next to an abandoned cemetery…”

“Oh, really, Gerard.”

“I’m serious! According to my source, the graveyard is mostly miners, and it’s a fairly well-known haunt, but, well, as creepy as the motel is, it’s never really been associated with anything…supernatural.” Gerry spreads out his hands, palms up. “Until recently. One of those ghost hunting shows over there went to do a bit on the cemetery and stayed in the motel because it’s the most convenient place, and…it went weird. My source didn’t have too many details, not specific ones. All I know for sure is that one of the crew members swore they were being followed by one of the clowns.”

“Clowns do tend to move.”

“Not when they’re painted on cinder brick walls, they don’t.”

Gertrude pauses, but in that moment, Gerry knows he’s won. He presses his advantage. “Could be the Spiral, but clowns…that’s almost always the Stranger. We wear the mask that grins and lies…”

At that, Gertrude looks up sharply. “What was that?”

“Uh, it’s a poem. ‘We Wear the Mask.’” Gerry tries and fails to remember who it’s by, or where Martin learned it.

“You weren’t…compelled to say that?” Gertrude continues to interrogate him, digging at him with razor-keen precision. He appreciates that she isn’t compelling him, at least.

Gerry taps the eye on the hinge of his jaw twice with a forefinger. “I’d know if I was. It’s just a poem a kid I knew recited once that stuck with me.”

Not exactly a lie, but a bit of a misdirect. Martin’s not just “some kid he knew”, and while the poem had in fact struck Gerry hard when he’d first heard Martin recite it, he’d actually learned it by dint of making him repeat it several times until Martin finally gave him his copy. He recites it for Gertrude now.

“Hmm.” She purses her lips. “An interesting poem. I can’t say if it’s relevant here, but it does seem to be of the Stranger.” She closes her laptop and picks up both it and the tape recorder. “Come. If we’re going    to get to Nevada in a timely fashion, we need to get to the airport sooner rather than later. You haven’t unpacked, have you?”

“When have I had the time?”

As usual, his sarcasm rolls right off her. “Good. An abandoned cemetery next to a motel already full of clowns in a largely empty desert would be an ideal spot for a ritual unobserved, so if the Unknowing is going to be held there, we need to be on the spot to disrupt it.”

Gerry finds, as he follows Gertrude out the door and to the rental car at the curb, that he’s actually desperately hoping she’s right, and the Unknowing is happening in Tonopah, Nevada. Because if it is, then they can stop it without having to go back to England or involve anybody else in their fight. The world will be safe from being taken over by the Stranger.

And, most importantly, Martin and Melanie will be safe, too.

[mindrole]

some disorganized thoughts under the cut because formatting is a mess and for once i feel shame about leaving a mess laying around the dashboard (polite bow)

as you would guess, it is CoM discussion as always. it's quite long, and its partly about the literary parallels from the picture of dorian gray! (but towards the end theres a lot of speculation from my brain and not based on much also, its a mixed bag)

i appreciate any feedback!!!

thinking about it now. i think the obvious combo most people are thinking of right off the bat is

dorian = miwa lord henry = rui basil = shiharu

to some extent, sybil = dita and james = eigha

(though i am almost certain there is no "eigha" in rosemaria, its just shiharu in his full consciousness hamming it up because he's been put in the eigha role by, presumably, some kind if internal rule in rosemaria, some one that seems to block miwa from being mentioned without distorting. it's different from miwa, who seems to be confused and/or dissassociated... its hard to write this post and gloss over details but i will write my thoughts properly eventually. a lot of this hinges on findings in miwa's apartment... idk, either way, this shit is fucking weird)

probably that second part is from me, but. idk. i forgor. and this is probably true and the most direct role assignment there is

but im also thinking... what if it was a mess? since c0e had several possible assignments that could be true at any time, therefore i also feel like this can be true at the same time as the first:

dorian = shiharu lord henry = azuma basil = miwa

hear me out. its not too out there because there's actual evidence to it in the interlude but, you know

we know miwa is obsessed with shiharu. we don't know the nature of this obsession (lol) (lmao), but he keeps hydrangeas in his dressing room apparently (lol). my own guess is that its admiration mixed in with "the fragments are not normal about the haradas (and the utsugis) ever". to have such an obsession form with such little contact over such a short period of time— first report where miwa and taka discuss the eigha recast is dated to february 2018, filming had not begun yet, and presumably miwa hadn't properly met him as a result— is quite bonkers to me. but all fragments are frankly quite mentally ill, who cares, he's in show business too playing a 3D anime boy his brain is absolutely beyond fried at this point.

the interesting thing is that there is evidence that shiharu is obsessed with him too, but in a very different way. is it different...? i don't know, we don't know what miwa thinks exactly so i'm going off of my own mental image. which is miwa admires him for whatever reason, maybe he's exceeded his expectations and can hold his own as an actor for example, who knows. but it is different.

now i said earlier that i was almost certain "there is no eigha in rosemaria". i think it's because if you look at the eigha quotes in the com page, i think they are incredibly strange. eyeballing them they ARE quite chuunibyou. they're very intimidating demon lord-ish. now im not gonna translate stuff because honestly im incredibly wary of misrepresenting the work so i won't attempt to transcribe anything, though given i'll talk about it from my interpretation it's probably fine even without. anyway, when you think about it, this especially is strange:

hey, "eigha", why are you talking about miwa?!! that's clearly miwa isnt it (though i did not notice this until it was pointed out to me...tehepero)!!! eigha should be concerned about dita!! isn't this common sense?! at first, i assumed it was eigha being sentient, reaching past the curtain or fourth wall to possess either actor who portrayed him in an effort to stop ditasword from ending, trapping miwa so he can be dita forever... but it recently dawned on me that the culprit behind miwa teita's attack in july 2018 cannot be anyone but harada shiharu!!!

that's right!!

the reasoning is (not) simple!! it is (not) straightforward, really!!

i was thinking that taka, the original person who played eigha, was probably the culprit... after all miwa had to rush the production on which caused him to be recast right at his final performance. pretty kuyashii. i assumed he snapped, or someone manipulated him, or what i originally assumed about eigha, a fictional character, becoming sentient. no such thing. when you think about it... there is no clearer red herring than this. i am almost certain that he'd be the first immediate suspect in com, as he is the only one who is immediately identifiable as someone with a motive, until you check miwa's phone records and see that he attempted to call someone at the time of his disappearance. it will be him!! i can bet money on this (don't actually come after me for this plz)

that is why i say there's no eigha in rosemaria, just someone playing the part.

here are some pointers about this "eigha"

it seems like at first, he is welcoming of the party, ushering them to the world, as if they were lost lambs... ones rejected by the real world.

eventually probably when it seems like they do not want to stay, and will take miwa back with them, its full mask off (hehe), suddenly its im gonna eliminate you guys to protect this world!!! and such, so he repeatedly attacks them.

but the main issue isn't that they rejected rosemaria. it's that when rui entered, he started to influence "dita" and attempt to extract him. he is his client after all even if he's confused. it means that someone is trying to make miwa leave rosemaria. at this point, there is no bargaining anymore. anyone who attempts to do this is getting BTFO'd.

so really, this eigha's goal is to protect miwa, not dita.

to wrap it back around the literary reference. the subtitle of cell of mirage is the picture of eigha iliner.

here comes the smoking gun. as you may recall miwa had posters of both the tv series and of the latest movie. of course it's different eighas. but the movie poster was strange. the movie poster that had harada shiharu's eigha was strange. ryuu made an observation i took a little too literally for a long time (because im a cute little dummy), until the other day:

according to ryuu's observation, this eigha looks older than the first one.

at any rate, there's no reason to doubt his point of view here. everything in the interlude is a clue put there for a purpose. so my assumption at first was, huh. is he older? is he just very ikemen or something? and was a little perplexed by it. but... this poster... which is in miwa's possession... in his bathroom... the eigha in it is aging!!! the harada shiharu in this poster is aging!!!! that's right!! they wouldn't hire someone that visibly looks older in a movie to replace someone when the movie has continuity with a tv show— and they would probably retouch the poster to hide imperfections (so signs of aging). it is... absolutely aging...

now if we recall back to the picture of dorian gray... dorian's portrait aged in his stead, absorbing all the sins he committed, as a result not only aging but also becoming more and more ugly. he would eventually go on to kill basil— who practically begged him to repent— over it in a fit of anger.

i do not need to tell you that wrath and violence is bad. so i believe that shiharu is the one that attacked miwa that night. but miwa is a fragment, he may have "died" then, but the injury was probably a trifle and he regenerated and maybe retaliated, and somehow the mirage phenomena was triggered as a result whether on purpose or not and both were transported. this is just in laconic really, there's definitely more to discuss about this but for this post this is the info i need. next post i will talk about this properly.

so they are both each other's dorians and basils in different ways. it is assured mutual destruction. also don't forget that ditasword ends with dita sacrificing himself to either kill or seal away eigha (iirc it doesn't say what exactly, but both of them are BTFO absolutely)

now this is going from speculation based on proof to fully filling in blanks that are undefined (so adjacent to fanfic really since there is little evidence) but, he may have confided in shiharu about being a fragment and possibly whatever bad things that came with it, and was wholeheartedly accepted by shiharu=miwa grew attached to him, and eventually when it felt appropriate to do so he told him that he will retire and go away forever. why tell him about his condition and not anyone else closer to him? idk, fragment interacting with a harada moment, lol.

so in this moment, if shiharu had become fiercely overprotective of him as a result to the point where he would attack him and whether on purpose or not get them both sent to rosemaria, if he would go to such an extreme... what would influence him?!! if he is the dorian in this interpretation, then he may have attempted to get answers from azuma, who is absolutely involved in like 20 things at once. like why is miwa retiring? where is he going? if he pointed him in a certain direction, like, "i know a way you can stop it[stop miwa from going away/keep protecting him]." or something like that. that is absolutely making him lord henry... in a very literal sense as he is clearly an antagonistic force who is using miwa and whoever else as pawns. though lord henry introduces dorian to indulgence and depravity just for the fuck of it, because he is a hedonist... much to think about.

conversely! the more apparent reading that comes from just guessing! miwa doesn't age by default so it superficially plays into some of the traits that dorian has, and shiharu who may be trying to protect him from the real world that hurt him, that rejected him[his fragment status], is basil. because remember, dita having pink hair and red eyes is normal in rosemaria. which means miwa is normal too. the real world is not as kind as rosemaria! or something. so i think this was miwa's dream initially (he may have even expressed this to shiharu without thinking) before he came to possibly change his mind as in the encrypted email azuma's assurance that it isn't solely his responsibility implies that miwa feels guilt over the mirage incidents = he is absolutely involved in a great capacity. imo, on top of all that, he may have also wanted to stay because he finally had someone who cared about him genuinely. too late for that, if he tried to talk sense into shiharu it didn't work, he is now in rosemaria with no sense of "miwa teita". it is not dissimilar to how dorian attacked and killed basil, hid his possessions and got someone to "disappear" the body. rui, who is trying to pry into the delusion of rosemaria to bring everyone— including miwa especially— back to the real world, is lord henry.

and these two readings coexist. they are not mutually exclusive. they build off of the exact same sentiment.

P.S. there are absolutely other combis that work with some precursory thought— but i wish there was more information out there...

P.S. P.S. woe upon thee!!!!!!!!

[pathofregeneration]

Artist's illustration of a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy (NASA / JPL-Caltech)

* * *

The Kosmos, part III

“The Auric Envelope which contains the Kosmos within its shell, is exactly similar to an atom, which contains within its glowing outer covering a central sun, around which whirl a number of minute planets called electrons. Both Auric Envelope and atom are ovoid, or egg-shaped in form. For this reason the Kosmos is often referred to as the Auric Egg.

As the huge planets of the Kosmic System within the Auric Envelope are each ruled by a Planetary Logos—God’s own Viceroys—so are the minute planets within the atom also ruled by planetary Lords.

Understand well that the terms ‘huge’ and ‘minute’ are only concepts of the mortal mind and have an entirely different meaning to God; just as Time and Space cannot be properly understood by the finite understanding of the human ego.

The first requisite in the building of a Kosmos, therefore, is the creation of the Auric Envelope. This is a material projection from God’s spiritual mind; an image, a thought-form; obtaining material shape and substance by means of God’s Will, which dwells in the Divine Light, from the radiance of which—it being in perpetual motion—comes the Breath, whence emanates the primordial Light in which is manifested Eternal Thought concealed in darkness; and this becomes the WORD of Creation. From this Word, or Mantram, not only the Auric Envelope, but the whole Kosmos comes into manifestation. For within the Envelope the Concealed Logos radiates a Ray which fructifies the germs of Sun and Planets in formation; and the Essence of this Ray expands, giving birth to Planetary Logoi, from whose Minds all things are born.

Before the Planets are made there is Chaos; all the Essences of the future material worlds being in a state of flux; unformed. These are the ‘Waters over which brooded the Spirit of God,’ and all is darkness, needing the Breath of God to become Light. As the Auric Shell is lit up by that Light, the Word rings forth and comes into manifestation by the act of generation or production. What seems chaos to the human intellect is the eternal Root of Spiritual Wisdom. In this—the Waters of Life—are created, or re-awakened the primordial germs by means of the primordial Light. Thus, the Divine Spirit moves on the Waters of Space within the Auric Envelope and fructifies and infuses the Breath of Life into that germ, which becomes the centre in which the male planetary Logos is created; and from this the first Lord of Beings emerges and becomes the progenitor of mankind.”

— Jean Michaud, The Golden Star

[imichelledesrosiers]

DAILY HABITS

There are two daily habits that I will change from here on out. My use of pen and paper to write stories, and my procrastination. Let me explain

Writing is my passion. I seldom spend a day without having a new brainstorm that come to my mind so I could use for my next spec or script. As a writer I must set up a daily routine schedule to write something about any thoughts or any ideas coming to my head, in order to keep my writing skills flowing; if I really want to make it as a lifetime career.

I am an early person and my inspiration flows either early in the morning or late at night. I take these solo moments to write something, anything that comes my mind. Most of the time I use any blank writeable paper to do it, which is the easiest way for me to keep the idea fresh because by the time to turn on the laptop, to sign in, and wait until it completely turns on, the main thought starts to fade off. So, I use that as my convenient way but I pay good price for the consequences.

For instance, take a look of this Picture  

This is my bed, well the other side from I lay. I used to use that quickest way for everything coming in my head during the night. Do you think it is useful and convenient? The answer is “YES” and “NO.” we can say “yes,” if you have time during the day to go back and type every single thing that you wrote down during the night into your phone or your laptop.

In the case you cannot do that, it becomes a big “no, no” because you will have more new ideas to write down, and by adding them on the top of the pile you already have, it would be more difficult for you to type and format all of them properly. Most of the time those written papers end up in the trash because no one would take time to find out which one is which? It would become a mess that occupies some space in your house. Since you know the contents and how important those pieces of papers got in your eyes, you try your best to protect them as much as you can, but at the end of the day, or somehow you have to decide to rip of them.

To be honest, whatever great specs or ideas, and so on, I wrote down on pieces of papers ended

up in the trash because I procrastinated on going back and typing them on my laptop.  And something I slept on certain fresh and great specs or plots, and when I come back to write them down I kind of remember only a part of them. I lost all of the essence of them. The main ideas flew away because our brain is constantly working and changing your thoughts, and I don’t make it efficient enough to condense it as quick as possible.

Procrastination is another thing that we, as writers need to stay away from. It is our worst enemy. Our wills are always there to tell our stories, whether it is good or bad. Either it happy or sad. We always have something to write about, therefore, if we let laziness takes place into our lives, we will be the worst layback person on earth.

The day in itself is not enough for us to do what is important to do. If we fail to fulfill something that has to be done during the day; we are done, because it would be more difficult for us to go back and do it the next day. For those who don’t have a side job, their social network distractions take mostly half of their day and they procrastinate on what that must be done.

As the bible says: "Don't worry about tomorrow, for you don’t know what a day might bring.” (Proverbs 27: 1). And the quote mentioned: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”

Discipline is key in everything, but using that discipline to perform this daily writing practice demands a lot of sacrifice and dedication. We must first prepare ourselves mentally before we start this daily writing practice. Do not procrastinate on it. We have to be prompt and ready at all time.

With the “Master and Advanced Master Writing” Courses that I take at “KMP Entertainment Professional Development academy,” I learn how to cope myself together and organize my craft in one place and to be ready whenever I need my them.

It is a step-by-step process, but as soon as you put yourself into it with no reserve, it will become a daily routine / habit that you would not be able to live without doing it, as a daily duty. You will instinctively force yourself to commit to it. It will become a second habit as such as if you don’t do it one day you would feel the emptiness of that unfulfilled task. 

[makebiodatain]

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The Role of a Marriage Biodata Maker  

A marriage biodata maker is software or a tool wherein one makes ready his/her professional, family, and personal facts in an arranged fashion. Biodatas would be made by hand traditionally, and naturally, it will take time, and it cannot be in the same structure. A Biodata Maker Online does it effortlessly with pre-formatted templates that provide a professional appearance. With a maker for marriage, individuals can input all the information without the trouble of writing or formatting the paper themselves.

Advantages of an Online Marriage Biodata Maker  

With improving technology, having an Online Marriage Biodata Maker is the most desirable for most people. It is handy in the sense that it enables one to create and download their biodata from any location. The tools contain editable templates to enable one's information to be put across in an orderly manner. An Online Biodata for Marriage also reduces mistakes since it has pre-set columns for information like age, education, profession, family, and what one would want from a partner.

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The procedure for creating good-quality biodata begins with choosing a good marriage biodata maker online. The websites lead the user step by step and assist them in adding important elements like personal information, phone numbers, and pictures. In making biodata for marriage, you should involve your parents, who have experience of marriage and are qualified for suggestions.

 Why does well-crafted biodata matter?

A properly composed marriage biodata reflects a person's past and character in such a way as to allow a more comfortable evaluation for compatibility by potential matches. While creating biodata for marriage, individuals have to ensure that the biodata is accurate and consistent. An efficient online biodata maker assists with that by providing a template framework highlighting the significant facts succinctly. An effective and visually appealing biodata stands more chance of generating interest from potential families and individuals.  

Choosing the Right Biodata Maker for Marriage  

life partner is like a second soul for a person because you have to spend all your life with them, and this is the reason you require a good Online Marriage Biodata Maker. There are a lot of platforms, but an effective biodata maker for marriage should have simple features, professional templates, and customizeability. The best Marriage Biodata Maker should be able to help users create biodata for marriage with ease without compromising the formality and appearance of the document. With a good platform, the final biodata is guaranteed to be complete and appealing.

Conclusion  

Marriage needs understanding and love from a partner, and all this emotional stability is a must. maker for marriage is a professional but also who makes it easy to create biodata with the quality you need or want from your partner. Online Biodata for Marriage will do the same work for you as a service provider, but with the document you upload online, just check it first, as it should not have mistakes in it or you will be at a loss. In the modern day, matchmaking is not a simple marriage, as new generations' thoughts and needs are changed and we cannot do anything about it so a well-presented biodata that describes what you need improves the chance of getting a good life partner. It is therefore recommended and efficient for any person willing to produce quality biodata to use a real Marriage Biodata Maker Online

[honorarydoctorate]

How to Write an Assignment

Writing an assignment is an essential academic skill that requires proper planning, research, and organization. Whether you are a school student or a university scholar, mastering assignment writing can enhance your grades and improve your analytical skills. This guide provides a step-by-step approach to writing an effective assignment.

1. Understand the Assignment Requirements

Before starting, carefully read the instructions provided by your teacher or professor. Pay attention to:

The topic or question

The word limit

The formatting style (APA, MLA, Harvard, etc.)

The deadline

Specific guidelines or expectations

Understanding these requirements ensures that your assignment meets the criteria set by your instructor.

2. Conduct Thorough Research

Good research is the foundation of a well-written assignment. Use reliable sources such as:

Academic journals

Books

Online articles from reputable sources

Government or institutional reports

Previous research papers

Take notes while researching and organize your findings systematically to avoid missing crucial points.

3. Plan and Outline Your Assignment

An outline acts as a roadmap, helping you structure your assignment logically. Your outline should include:

Introduction – Briefly introduce the topic and the purpose of the assignment.

Main Body – Divide your main ideas into sections or paragraphs.

Conclusion – Summarize key points and provide final thoughts.

Having an outline makes writing easier and ensures coherence throughout your assignment.

4. Write a Strong Introduction

The introduction sets the tone for your assignment. It should:

Introduce the topic clearly.

Provide background information.

Outline the main objectives.

Present a thesis statement (if required).

A well-crafted introduction captures the reader’s interest and provides a clear direction for the rest of the assignment.

5. Develop the Main Body

The main body is where you present your arguments, analysis, or discussions. Each paragraph should:

Focus on one main point.

Begin with a topic sentence.

Include evidence, examples, or references.

Provide analysis or interpretation.

Ensure a logical flow between paragraphs by using linking words such as however, therefore, moreover, additionally, and consequently.

6. Write a Clear and Concise Conclusion

The conclusion should:

Summarize the key points discussed.

Restate the thesis (if applicable).

Offer final thoughts or recommendations.

Avoid introducing new ideas in the conclusion. Instead, provide a strong closing statement that leaves an impact.

7. Cite Your Sources Properly

Referencing is crucial to avoid plagiarism. Use the required citation style (APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, etc.) and ensure all sources are properly cited. This adds credibility to your work and acknowledges the contributions of other researchers.

8. Edit and Proofread

Editing and proofreading improve the quality of your assignment. Check for:

Grammar and spelling errors.

Sentence structure and clarity.

Consistency in formatting and citation.

Logical flow of ideas.

Reading your assignment aloud or using tools like Grammarly can help identify errors more effectively.

9. Format and Submit Your Assignment

Follow the required format, including:

Font type and size (e.g., Times New Roman, 12pt)

Line spacing (e.g., double-spaced)

Margins and page numbers

Title page (if required)

Appendices (if applicable)

Once everything is in place, submit your assignment before the deadline.

Conclusion

Writing an assignment may seem challenging, but with proper planning, research, and organization, you can create a compelling and well-structured piece. By following these steps, you can improve your academic writing skills and achieve better results in your studies.

[thecornwall]

Cornwall's Random Card of the Day #1128: Unifying Theory

Unifying Theory is a rare from Odyssey.

At first skimming this card I thought this was another Rhystic Studies-like effect, where people have to pay to not give you card advantage, but turns out it just gives EVERYONE the ability to pay 2 on their OWN spells to draw instead. Kind of a weird card effect, but still kinda standard "give everyone the same effect" style thing we saw a lot in that era, I dunno if I could figure a deck that WANTS this effect.

Control decks could pay the mana and reap the rewards, sure, but think of it this way: In a matchup against aggro this card does stone nothing, neither you NOR your opponent really ends up with a lot of mana to spare, except when the opponent runs out of gas, where this may give them the oomph needed to kill you after all before you can properly stabilise. So, in the midrange matchup you will eventually get enough advantage over your opponent, probably you'll both use this roughly equally for most of the match, but again, you only get something more than the opponent if you outlast them(and they don't have an answer to it, which midrange often does. An answer which can CANTRIP, by the way), but you'll only win against them if they don't overrun you, and control tends to beat midrange anyhow. In the control mirror, this just straight card disadvantages you, since you'll BOTH be equally able to get the same kind of card advantage out of it. So, even in the deck that can utilise this the most, it fails to help in any matchup. Oh, and in a combo deck this gives your opponents more chances to get answers to your combo, so even if your deck is just cheap spells, this, and the combo pieces, I don't think you're helping yourself there, either.

You would have to have some deck specifically designed to cast a lot of cheap spells, preferably discounted, so you can put all the mana you still put into the deck to use drawing cards. But then you give up on one of the main advantages of using only cheap spells: less land in the deck, therefore fewer junk draws once you go over about three mana or so. I am wracking my mind for any deck that would both be able to use this better than an opponent, but still have it MATTER. Maybe something which increases opponent's activated ability costs? Is that anything?

What I THINK this was designed for is actually multiplayer games. Remember first off that this was early days for designing for multiplayer, and they hadn't worked out what kind of things scale at what power level in them. But I think this was designed as a card you can toss out into a multiplayer game and then reliably never get into a boring topdeck war. Cause everyone is drawing off almost every spell. And think about it, this card being in your deck incentivises your ENTIRE PLAYGROUP to play slower and more controlling. Yes, you can still empty your hand and beat down, but every card you DON'T cantrip is one that your opponent's CAN on their turn when they cast their spells, and you probably can't kill them ALL early. So, in a weird way, if I am reading this right, this card DOES succeed at what it was designed for.

Of course what they didn't realise was that multiplayer games, especially those with enough players to really make this card worth having for, tend towards controlly grindfests anyhow. What you really need to do is encourage AGGRO in multiplayer games(even the ones not in the Commander format, with its ungodly-high starting life totals which nigh-guarantee the game going for hours). So, even though this card succeeds at its goal, I am still gonna go ahead and declare it a bad card that probably should never have been printed. Wow, what a journey.