#varies on moods probably but currently a staff

[distort-opia]

#op I'm literally currently working on that 300k word fic HAHDJFJ#but no yeah I love this analysis#I view it through a more. realistic (???) lens in the sense that I like to connect joker's & batman's behaviors to actual mental illnesses#bc it helps me conceptualize everybting better dhdjfffj#but no yeah there's not. that many rehabilitation fics to begin with#and none of them (to my knowledge) really deal with BRUCE'S trauma and the way he copes with it#their relationship is so funky rn like post-joker war I couldn't resist...#I think a bpd-aspd comorbidity fits joker surprisingly well bc it like. accounts for his impulsivity/sensation seeking as well as his#mood swings + weird codependency with batman + his constantly changing/nonexistent sense of self#working with the assumption that he does have aspd + bpd provides a pretty good concept for what treatment could look like#bc god knows no canon material has covered that (I am ignoring white knight <;3)

@clownprince That's a very interesting approach, excited to read the story! I definitely agree BPD-ASPD comorbidity fits Joker, and keeping this in mind a realistic (and humane, as opposed to what Arkham staff is frequently depicted doing) treatment could be drawn up for him. Rehabilitation scenarios can be varied of course, and in the context of Joker genuinely wanting help, not entirely doing it because Bruce demands it or because it's a condition for their relationship to happen... I can see the power imbalance being less of a problem. In the sense that it wouldn't be the equivalent of Batman fashioning a leash for Joker. And you're right to point out that Bruce not also dealing with his trauma at the same time would be an obstacle too, for a shitload of reasons. But probably chief amongst them is his attraction to dangerous individuals (which, if Joker stopped being one, he has a point in fearing that Bruce's interest would wane) and potential resentment on his part for Joker getting better and him... not. Bruce is a selfish person with abandonment issues the size of a galaxy, part of him would not be able to help registering this as being left behind in the darkness and the pain of his own struggles.

Best of luck on the 300k word fic, happy this kind of complex story is being attempted!

I'm wracking my brain with what Joker would do in an established situation, like how would he keep those homicidal urges at bay (sex and intimacy can only go so far I imagine) and also there's so much unacknowledged mental health concerns. Bruce would just have to always be ready to pick up the pieces I feel like (God these two are a tragic mess). I don't think normalcy is possible but I don't think their relationship is built for that anyway (I've been writing notes down for a story for days and it's just been consuming me)

An actual relationship between Bruce and Joker is a very complicated thing to imagine, yeah. I agree with you that normalcy is entirely out of the question-- as in, a typical "healthy" relationship. What I think they could have is something that works, but not something that most people would understand or approve of. If you're writing a story, I would say it depends on how they got into the relationship a lot, and if Bruce is compromising as much as Joker perceives he is. For instance, a rehabilitation scenario inherently implies a power imbalance, which Joker would resent and Bruce would not be able to help not taking advantage of. This would not end up working out, in my opinion, unless they got back on equal footing somehow. So a scenario with them an equal footing is what I will be rambling about.

Joker's homicidal urges and mental health issues are indeed a big obstacle. It'd take a whole lot for him to even agree to try for a relationship that involves something other than violence, but this denotes a willingness to compromise from the start. It means he cares about Bruce enough to risk opening the door to his humanity, something that he's very keen on eradicating. Joker can allow himself to love Batman as long as love equals destruction; but once love begins to mean more tender things, things that only people and not monsters can feel... it's a threat to his very identity, to his very core. Hence, just the fact that Joker is in an established relationship means that he's accepted, one way or another, that he's a human being.

Human beings don't need to kill people. Monsters do. It's relevant to note that Joker has an incredible capacity to reshape himself. He's done so multiple times in canon, and always in relation to what he perceived Batman needed. He was murderous when he emerged, but after Robin appeared on the scene he went for funny silly gags, and then he recreated himself back into a horrific threat... In his head, Batman -- the drive to see meaning in all life, to fight for sense in one's existence -- is the force of nature that he's the opposite of. Joker molded himself as the force of chaos: he kills carelessly, sometimes almost joylessly, because he believes he's embodying the true way the world works (though he's shown signs he'd like to be convinced otherwise).

After all, like his fall in the acid and the trauma he went through proved, catastrophe is random. It doesn't matter if you're good or evil, if you've got a family or if you're alone, if you've contributed to society or not. You can get run over by a bus, you can have a heart attack, you can mix the wrong medications, you can get shot in the head by a madman because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. My point with this is that Joker sees himself as an agent of the cruel randomness of existence, and him killing people is very much part of it. So if he stopped seeing himself as an inhuman force for chaos, I think killing would not be a necessity anymore.

That's not to say he wouldn't think of other people's lives as worthless or that he wouldn't instinctually want to kill someone because they're inconveniencing him as some kind of fly buzzing around, but it does mean he wouldn't need to do it. Being with Bruce undermines the very point of being Joker, it means being a person instead of raging at the world. In an established relationship, he'd need to once again reshape himself, figure out who he can be. It'd be very difficult, if you add Bruce's controlling tendencies in the mix. You mentioned Bruce always having to pick up the pieces, but the thing is, Bruce would want to. He'd want to do that too much, he would enjoy seeing Joker be vulnerable, because afterwards... Bruce would be able to put those pieces back together the way he wants them to be. And Joker would be rightly afraid of that, and Bruce himself would be afraid of his own need to do just that, and it'd be a constant push and pull. That's basically what I think it'd be like for a while, before Joker figured out who exactly he's comfortable being, and if he can trust Bruce to still be there when boundaries are being pushed. It'd be a lot of "make me" even in the context of intimacy, until Joker initiates something that doesn't hurt on his own and like... Bruce doesn't move a muscle as if he might spook a wild animal or something. And then Joker snaps at him to stop making it weird, hah.

I'm going to stop here to avoid turning this into a Batjokes relationship essay, but I hope this helped inspire you, Anon! We can always use more Batjokes stories, excited to eventually read yours.

[dr-kk]

Smiles V2

Ok managed to combine my fave bits of the previous design attempts into something cohesive. Some character ideas under the cut.

Each of the rides at the park produces enough emotional responses in people (the basis for magic in this world)  that they have become sentient magical spirits. Unfortunately, magic and magical beings can't directly interact with the real world unless channeled through an already living creature. As such the ride's need something other than metal tracks to influence people.

Smiles is one of the few humans to be chosen as a host for a ride spirit. She's the current host of The Smiler ride at Alton Towers.

Not quite decided on her backstory yet. I think she'd probably be an ex-member of the Ministry of JOY. Donno what she was doing with them but she wasn't supposed to be a host and got Smiler by accident. Kind of a wrong place, wrong time situation.

All Ive got on MOJ so far:

Smiles was an employ who was either completely or partially marmalised

The ministry were trying to harness the magic of the rides to strengthen their mind control magic.

They had been siphoning off magic from the park for years before the Smiler ride was built. Their main goal was to try manifest magic essence as a physical substence. They had success with the creating "JOY" in gas form. However it took repeat exposure to the gas to maintain the control so they wanted try condense the magic into a liquid form.

After a lot of failures they eventually learned about the Hosts of the rides. Hosts tend to have a lot of magical power and if they could get a hold of one, they might be able to use the Spirit's power to make the mind control more effective/permanent. So they start funneling money at the park to make a new ride.

Eventually they get a hold of new spirit and try to harness its magic. This has mixed results.

Some MOJ vs Towers staff shennanigans happen and the ministry are forced out. This leaves Smiler without a host. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on who you ask, there's still a few marmalised victems staff left in the park so Smiler has options. It ends up choosing the barely coherant at the time girl with blonde hair.

Thus Smiles is born! ...to the horror of everyone.

I'm still working out her powers but Smiles defo inheritied the mind control magic. She's got various ways of hypnotising people but it's either via eye contact or exposure to the JOY she naturally produces.

She's also got illusionary magic. She can create illusions and alter people's perception to varying degrees. She's still practicing this subset of magic but she's master turning herself invisible.

Her personaility changes depending on how much JOY she's currently got in her system. Normally Smiles is a laid back trickster. she likes pulling pranks and generally being a nuisance but she's not malicious. Unfortuanetly, while she is the most resistant creature to the effects of JOY she isn't immune to it. If too much builds up it can effect her mood and leaves her a hyper active pest. She can be varying levels of lucid during these episodes and the aftermath always leaves her exhausted so she does everything she can to avoid them.

When she's not working in the park or being annoying,  Smiles is almost always lazing about. She's a certafied couch potato. Because Smiler's magic is so powerful it takes a lot of energy to control it. As such Smiles has to rest and eat a lot more than a normal human would.

Oh about her outfit. In case my handwriting isnt clear:

The buckles she has are based off the screws seen on the ride. She also has 13 loops on her right leg and 1 loop in her hair for a total of 14. This is because the Smiler coaster has 14 inversions (a world record!)

[fakeyellow]

A betting pool starts amongst the Edenbrook staff on who Dr. Lila Valentine is dating.

It was yet another day in the locker room as the interns stripped off their clothes and put on their scrubs. There was the usual mindless sound of chatter as they asked each other how their weekends had went when Mitch paused, his muscled chest on full display as he stared imperiously at his fellow interns.

“So what’s the deal with Dr. Valentine? Is she seeing anyone?” he asked.

“I’m out,” Esme slipped on her top and walked out of the room.

Mitch didn’t spare her another glance as he leaned against the lockers, his arms crossed, “I bet she’s with Dr. Ramsay.”

Sothy looked uneasy, his usual grin gone from his face, “Dude, that’s not cool. Dr. Valentine’s a good doctor.”

“I don’t mean she slept her way into the diagnostic team,” Mitch said, rolling his eyes, “She was the best competitor and she won the position. I’m just saying, I think they also have a thing.”

“I don’t know,” Gary interjected, his face turning thoughtful, “Dr. Varma seems to really like her too. She keeps complaining about how good Dr. Valentine is.”

“Nah, you guys are both wrong,” Sothy said at ease now, his grin reappearing, “She’s definitely with Bryce. Have you seen that dude?”

While Mitch had indeed seen Bryce in the changing room, he was not as impressed with him as Sothy seemed to be, “Fifty bucks she’s with Ramsay.”

The other two looked at each other curiously before shrugging.

“You’re on.”

—

Gary Garrison was having a good day.

Sure, Dr. Varma had shut him down immediately when he’d asked about her relationship with Dr. Valentine, but he was confident that his intuition was correct.

As snarky as she usually was with Dr. Valentine, he hadn’t heard her talking about anyone else quite so often. Not to mention when he’d first been introduced to her, Dr. Varma had had called her one of the best damn doctors in the hospital.

Gary had no doubt that there was some sort of passion beneath their friendly rivalry. He was going to win a cool $100 from the others.

“So, do you know if Dr. Varma and Dr. Valentine are in a relationship?” Gary asked pleasantly.

The nurse he’d been talking to frowned at him, startled by the sudden change in subject, “I don’t know. Why do you want to know?”

Gary suddenly realised that the bet he’d made with Mitch and Sothy was probably something he should keep to himself.

“Oh, no reason!” He said loudly, feeling himself starting to sweat, “I just wanted to know if she was… free?”

The nurse looked wholly unconvinced and she continued to stare at him, waiting for an answer.

“I-well-“ Gary stammered before hanging his head in defeat, “I may have made a bet that Dr. Valentine is with Dr. Varma.”

He looked to the ground, sheepishly scratching his head as he waited to be reprimanded.

But when he looked up to meet the nurse’s eyes, she seemed positively thrilled.

“A bet?” She asked, her eyes burning with excitement, “Count me in.”

—

There were few people at Edenbrook who did not know Dr. Lila Valentine after her tumultuous first year.

Even if they didn’t know her personally, they knew of her: the doctor who had taken the hospital by storm, the doctor who had nearly lost her license by stealing from a pharmaceutical company to help a much loved patient, the doctor who had saved the life of the new Chief of Medicine when even he hadn’t been able to figure out what was wrong with him, the doctor who had become the youngest fellow on the diagnostic team.

There were numerous stories told about her and while they were filled with varying levels of truth, there was still one underlying consensus:

Dr. Lila Valentine was a damn good doctor and a damn good person.

It was hard not to like a person like Dr. Valentine, ever diligent and willing to help out others. Despite efforts to sabotage her reputation, there was hardly anyone who actually had something bad to say about her- most people only had good anecdotes to share, when she’d helped them out one way or another.

As it turned out, there were quite a lot of people interested in Dr. Valentine’s love life and Mitch soon found that he needed to keep a notebook in order to track the overwhelming number of bets being made.

—

“Dr. Zaid once caught her and Dr. Lahela making out in the supply closet,” An IM resident told Mitch conspiratorially as she handed him a twenty, “He was in a bad mood the rest of the day. Well, worse than usual.”

~

A NICU nurse went out of his way to find Mitch, “$50 on Ramsay. They stayed overnight once, watching over a premature baby. There’s something between them for sure!”

~

“I walked into the on call room once and I had to walk out immediately. I don’t think Drs. Valentine and Varma noticed but… I definitely noticed them,” A surgical resident whispered, blushing furiously even as she pushed a fifty dollar bill to Mitch.

~

The nurse sighed heavily, “I was personally rooting for Rafael.”

Seeing Mitch’s blank face, she quickly clarified, “He’s a paramedic. But then he showed up at the hospital one day with his girlfriend.”

“It’s a shame. I saw them sleeping together in his hospital bed once and it was just the cutest thing I’d ever seen…” she clucked her tongue in disappointment before turning serious, “I want $40 on Dr. Lahela.”

—

Mitch had just handed a ticket to Dr. Taylor when he found himself facing a certain surgical resident.

“Dr. Lahela,” he greeted professionally, giving away no signs of apprehension.

Bryce glanced down to the notebook in Mitch’s hand with a smirk, and Mitch felt his grip on it tighten.

“I want $50 on Bryce,” Bryce finally said, handing him a crisp bill.

“Nice,” Mitch couldn’t help but nod in respect as he handed him his ticket.

“Always bet Bryce, baby!” Dr. Lahela declared as he walked off jauntily with his new betting receipt.

“Alright, Dr. Lahela has moved down to even money,” Mitch announced to a muttering crowd.

—

One day, during his break, Mitch was surrounded by a verifiable militia of hospital personnel, from security guards to lab techs to physicians. The chatter suddenly died down and Mitch had only the time to wonder why when the sea of people parted and the Chief of Medicine appeared in front of him.

“Dr. Banerji,” Mitch greeted with one of his most winning smiles, even as he began to panic internally. Was he going to lose his career all because of a single bet?

No. The panic quickly dissipated, and Mitch felt a calm take over him. He’d been in worse situations than this and he’d found that there was little the charm of a good looking and self assured man could not mitigate. There was only one way he’d get out of this.

“Would you like to place a bet sir?” Mitch asked confidently with one of his most winning smiles.

Dr. Banerji remained silent but Mitch did not let his composure break, staring intently at the man who held his career in his hands.

And then Dr. Banerji laughed and Mitch could not help but breathe in relief.

“No, no. I don’t think I’d be setting a good example if I were to bet on the personal lives of my employees,” he said and while he was chuckling, there was still an underlying current of warning that kept Mitch on edge.

“Of course,” Mitch said.

“But I do have to admit. I was a bit curious as to who was in the lead.”

“Sir?”

Dr Banerji looked at him expectantly and Mitch quickly responded.

“Well Dr. Lahela is the current favourite, although Dr. Ramsay is a close second.”

“Hmm,” Dr. Banerji murmured, a mysterious smile on his face, and Mitch suddenly remembered that Dr. Banerji was the personal mentor of Dr. Ramsay. Not to mention, Dr. Valentine had saved his life.

There was no way he didn’t know who she was actually dating.

“Good day,” Dr. Banerji took his leave, chortling, and Mitch felt a sharp pang of regret that he had missed out a chance to ask for inside information.

—

A month had passed since the start of the betting pool, and while it had expanded to include a good quarter of the entire hospital, they were still no closer to reaching an official verdict.

If Dr. Valentine had felt scrutinised after the announcement of her disciplinary hearing, there were twice the number of eyes on her now.

But she didn’t seem to notice, passing each day oblivious to the attention on her.

Lila walked out of a patient’s room now, her brow furrowed in concentration as she made a few marks on the patient chart.

It was at this moment that Jackie made her way down the hallway. Upon seeing her, Lila bumped her hips playfully against Jackie’s, and the eyes of all of the staff in the vicinity seemed to focus in on that single action.

There was a playful exchange of “Doctor” between the two but Lila continued to keep walking to the disappointment of many.

Bryce appeared now, turning around the corner as he wheeled one of his patients out. Seeing Lila, he winked at her, and while this was standard behaviour for the flirty resident, Lila suddenly stopped him, placing a light hand on his shoulder.

Unknowingly, people began to lean forwards as Lila and Bryce engaged in a quiet conversation. When they stopped talking, there was a sudden buzz of activity as everyone pretended to be busily absorbed in their work.

The ding of the elevator announcing its arrival caused a current of excitement in the air as people waited with bated breath to see the newcomer, hoping desperately that it might be a certain diagnostician who would put an end to this bet.

Dr. Harper Emery, Chief of Neurosurgery, entered the ICU and there was a collective sigh of disappointment as Lila greeted the woman, handing her a patient file on the diagnostic team’s newest case that was in dire need of a neurosurgeon’s expertise.

The mood seemed to dampen until a sharp look from the surgeon caused everyone to begin working with renewed focus.

—

“You want to come over?” Sienna asked Danny brightly, “My roommates won’t mind. I mean, Lila barely comes home these days anyway.”

At the mention of Lila’s name, Mitch suddenly sidled up to her at the nurse’s station.

“Dr. Valentine hasn’t been home lately?” Mitch repeated and he slowly looked over Sienna, as if reassessing her worth to him.

Looking thoroughly unimpressed by his blunt intrusion into their conversation, Sienna responded, “If you have any questions, you should ask Dr. Valentine herself. Bye Danny.”

Sienna left but Mitch was beyond caring as he also left to round up his fellow interns.

“Dr. Trinh mentioned that Dr. Valentine hasn’t been home lately. That means she can’t be seeing Dr. Varma, she has to be seeing Ramsay!” Mitch declared triumphantly.  While the bet had started out harmlessly, it had gotten so big, and now, it was a matter of principle to him. He needed to know for his own pride that he was right, that Dr. Valentine was dating Dr. Ramsay.

“Well, Bryce doesn’t live with them either so he’s still an option too,“ Sothy pointed out.

Mitch grimaced at the truth of his statement.

—

After yet another tiring day of work, Mitch made his way to the locker room when he suddenly did a double take and took a few steps back.

There, in the diagnostic team’s room, visible through the glass walls, were Dr. Ramsay and Dr. Valentine alone.

The walls were unfortunately soundproof and Dr. Valentine’s face was obscured from his perspective, but Mitch could still see how close the two were to each other.

A tender smile appeared on Dr. Ramsay’s face, the likes of which Mitch had never seen before on the usually strict and tough physician. Dr. Ramsay then placed a hand on Dr. Valentine’s shoulder and Mitch surreptitiously sneaked over to a different vantage point.

And there it was.

Dr. Valentine’s face was flushed pink, her eyes filled with an adoring light as she listened to what Dr. Ramsay was telling her.

There needed to be more evidence before the bet could be finalized but this was as good a confirmation as Mitch needed and he whistled cheerily all the way home.

—

Lila practically purred in contentment, curled into her lover’s embrace on the couch and relishing the feeling of their hands stroking her side.

Reflecting on her day, Lila still felt herself flush with pride at the memory of Ethan’s words to her. Even after the better part of a year, it was hard not to feel out of place in the diagnostic team meetings, not to let herself become overwhelmed by the sheer knowledge and skill of her more experienced colleagues.

But today, Lila had been the one to guide the team to the correct diagnosis after days of struggle and countless consults; she’d been the one to see past the distracting myriad of abnormal test results. She had been the one to see the patient and notice the hepatomegaly that indicated liver failure even as the lab results said otherwise. She had been the one to figure out that the patient had Wilson’s Disease and place her on the list for a desperately needed liver transplant.

Ethan had pulled her back after the meeting to express his admiration for how far she’d come (“Good work, Doctor.”) and she felt like she was still on a high from that. Lila had never imagined she’d hear those words from a doctor she’d idolised since her days in medical school.

But then there were a lot of things Lila had never imagined would happen.

Their relationship had faced a lot of obstacles, including the woman herself because of her reservations, but it had all been worth it the day Harper Emery had told Lila that she loved her too.

There wasn’t an exact moment that Lila could pinpoint the start of her feelings for Harper; it had been a gradual realisation. Outside of the hearing, she hadn’t had much chance for interaction with the Chief of Medicine, but she’d stumbled upon the woman one day, alone in an empty surgical suite, running her hands wistfully over the surfaces.

One conversation had led to another and Lila had seen more and more of the woman behind the mantle with each meeting.

And then one day, she’d looked at Harper and realised that she loved her, had loved her for a while.

It had taken a long time for Harper to admit her own feelings but now they were together and Lila would not trade the world for it.

Of course, they both knew it was too early to report their relationship to HR. It was too soon after her disciplinary hearing and Lila had no intention of staining Harper’s professionalism, nor did Harper want to cast a shadow over Lila’s burgeoning career. It’d still be a year or so before things settled down and they could safely report their relationship without fear of excessive backlash.

But for now, Lila contented herself by snuggling into the warmth of Harper’s arms.

“You’re getting bold,” Harper said with a smirk in her voice as she pulled out the post it note that had been attached to the file she’d received from Lila.

“They all think I’m dating Bryce or Ethan or Jackie anyway,” Lila dismissed carelessly, “I don’t know how any of them believe I don’t know about the bet. They’re so obvious.”

“And wrong,” Harper murmured before leaning down and drawing Lila into a kiss that stole her breath away.

Lila hummed happily as they continued to kiss, feeling as if her heart might burst from all the happiness and joy she was feeling in this moment.

“Bed?” Harper asked sultrily, gently tugging Lila’s lower lip with her teeth as she withdrew from their kiss.

“Please,” Lila breathed out and all thoughts escaped her mind as she lost herself in the embrace of the woman she loved.

—

A/N: lol did anyone guess the pairing?

several points of explanation:

We don’t know much about the new interns so I just based their personalities off of what we’ve seen so far. It made sense to me that Mitch would be experienced with large betting pools as like a frat guy or whatever, and that Gary wouldn’t be able to lie about the bet.

I wrote Lila to be a very affectionate person. She enjoys having fun and she’s had a couple of light trysts with some of her friends her first year; they’re all young and good looking and under inordinate amounts of stress that only each other understand, what’s to stop them? I don’t know if Ethan would have been up for a one night stand so you can think whatever you like, it’s open. But ultimately, she falls for Harper and they’re in a committed relationship.

Dr. Banerji knows about the relationship and thinks they’re good for each other although he regrets that they have to hide it for now. Sienna knows and I couldn’t decide if Bryce/Jackie/Elijah also know or if they only know that she’s in a relationship.

The Wilson’s disease case I summarised briefly is a true story that Dr. Lisa Sanders wrote about in her book, “Every Patient Tells a Story.” Fun fact: she actually inspired the show, House MD

Bryce has moved down to even money - this means that if he turned out to be dating Dr. Valentine, everyone who bet on him would get their money back. 1:1 odds, as opposed to getting like double their money.

to reiterate: Lila’s flushed bc she’s proud to be praised by her idol turned friend. Mitch is just misunderstanding everything.

[disneyat34]

Fantasia at 34

A review by Adam D. Jaspering

By 1940, Disney proved he was as large a titan in the world of feature films as he was in animated shorts. But as the saying goes, a man's reach should exceed his grasp. His third feature, Fantasia, would be an audacious experiment.

Disney had been synchronizing animated cartoons to classical music since 1928. His trademarked Silly Symphony shorts earned him seven Academy Awards. They were a foundational element of the Disney empire, but they were outmoded by 1939. Audiences were preferring plot-driven shorts. 

Coincidentally, another Disney creation was also in decline in this era. It’s hard to fathom, but Mickey Mouse’s popularity with audiences peaked in 1935. By 1939, he was eclipsed by both Donald Duck and Goofy. More frequently, Mickey appeared alongside the two than appearing in his own independent shorts.

Disney had plans to bring both musical shorts and Mickey Mouse back into the limelight. Disney employed the assistance of The Philadelphia Orchestra and conductor Leopold Stokowsky. The Sorcerer's Apprentice was completed in 1938, pairing Mickey Mouse with the music of Paul Dukas in a nine-minute cinematic epic. 

However, Walt Disney’s brother Roy, accountant for the company, crunched the numbers. The $125,000 budget made the short a logistical nightmare. To make a profit, the short needed to be released as a feature film. And to be a feature film, it needed to be feature length. 

The Concert Feature, as it was initially called, grew in size and scale. The budget grew to $2.8 million. The crew ballooned to over one thousand artists and animators. After much effort and many headaches, Fantasia was finally released in November, 1940.

The film starts with a heavily stylized depiction of the orchestra and their instruments. The background is blue and vibrant, but every musician is ensconced in shadow. Lights from the music stands illuminate a negligible part or their personage. We can see the musicians, but only just. 

From the onset, the film accomplishes two goals: First, it wants you to understand you are seeing live-action people. Mickey Mouse is on all the posters. Disney’s name is attached to the film. But these are real, non-animated people. Quite possibly the first live-action people filmed by Walt Disney since his Alice shorts.

Second, Fantasia wants you to realize you are seeing real people, but they are not the focus. The attention is not on them, but their instruments. This is a film not about people, but sound and music.

This is furthered as the sounds of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor begins. The silhouettes of the musicians are projected onto the backdrop, scaled larger than their sources. The musicians become literal giants. The shadows create a form of puppetry, becoming indistinguishable from animation. Fantasy and reality, sound and imagery have become intertwined. It’s difficult to determine when the cameras stop rolling, and the ink and paints take over.

We are informed from the outset that Fantasia’s visuals are not those of trained musicians or scholars. These images are the thoughts and feelings of animators and artists. We are privy to new interpretations of classic works (well, new to 1940), beginning with Toccata and Fugue. 

Defined as “Absolute Music,” Toccata and Fugue is an instantly recognizable piece of classical music. It is the go-to stock music whenever a movie, TV show or cartoon wants to quickly and unmistakably associate a scene with a sense of foreboding doom. But Fantasia undoes this eternally mired association; the booming bass offers no semblance of the intimidating or macabre.

Emcee Deems Taylor warns outright we’ll be experiencing non-representative form and abstract imagery. If the impressionist movement coexisted with film, it would probably resemble something like this. In a way, it’s almost a warning for impatient and fickle audiences. Doubly so, as it leads the procession of animated shorts. It’s a fair warning: This is experimental film. Your mileage may vary.

The abstraction gives way to the first representative piece. Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite; perhaps the most widely known ballet in modern society. We get a great demonstration about the longevity and shifting legacy of classical works as Taylor informs us “nobody performs it nowadays.” Art does not belong to an era, it belongs to the ages. I’m 34, and I’ve never known a Christmas where The Nutcracker wasn’t being performed somewhere in the city.

The Nutcracker Suite depicts the various flora and fauna of an enchanted forest, all engaged in a unique and stylized dance suited to their physique. What’s more, each movement is indicative to a nation and culture. We see Russian flowers, Arabian fish, French blossoms, and Chinese mushrooms (questionably stylized Chinese mushrooms. Thank you, 1940s).

As problematic as the mushrooms are, I’m more perplexed by the Arabian fish. Obviously the sequence is an allusion to the eroticized stereotype of middle eastern women, particularly the Dance of Seven Veils and other subsequent belly dance numbers.

It’s a very g-rated version of the burlesque staple, but one has to wonder why it exists at all. At some point in the late 1930s/early 1940s, someone designed a fish to look and act like a belly dancer. Those eyes exist only for the purpose of portraying a sense of eroticism. Not to kinkshame somebody on Tumblr, but it’s very clear somebody on Disney’s staff was working through some things.

Each of these dances feature plants and animals evocative in style and movement of their corresponding dance’s nationality. This implies the animators were indeed versed on the background of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite and his original intent. This breaks the promise from the start of the film: interpretations of artists, not of scholars. 

It’s not an invalidating breach, and not total (surely Tchaikovsky never intended Clara and the prince to meet an amorous fish). But if Fantasia deliberately specified itself to not utilize scholarly interpretations. They waffled on this promise, and it should be noted.

Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is an interesting specimen. Not only has Mickey Mouse’s cautionary tale of a proper work ethic completely eclipsed its musical source in popular culture, but the short has eclipsed the entirety of Fantasia.

When one hears the word “Fantasia,” one’s mind immediately leaps to Mickey Mouse in a bathrobe. They think of the blue hat, festooned with stars. They think of an army of brooms, brought to life, obediently and endlessly carrying buckets of water. They think of the bassoons secondarily. Most are unaware the music existed before the movie.

That said, there is no better representation of Fantasia’s central tenet: a marriage of animation as an artistic medium and classical music as an eternal font of inspiration. In The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, not a word of dialogue is spoken and not a single intertitle is used. An idea is formed, expressed and delivered by the movement onscreen, buoyed by the themes and mood of the orchestral score. What results is a tale beloved for generations.

Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring offers a brief history of prehistoric life. We see the cosmos create planet Earth. Tectonic plates shift and form land. Life is formed, evolving from single celled organisms, progressing up the evolutionary ladder. But this truncated history of eons and eons comprises only half the segment. The remainder is a grandiose depiction of life in the nadir of the Mesozoic Era. Dinosaurs in all their titanic glory.

Every few years, an animation company attempts to create a dinosaur-centered film. Either through lack of confidence or executive meddling, these dinosaurs aren’t allowed to simply be dinosaurs. We don’t see the glory of the creatures or the power struggle between herbivore and carnivore. Instead, these dinosaurs speak. They learn lessons and have character arcs. They’re often used as a parable of teamwork and community, or an allegorical tale of standing up to one’s oppressors. 

Disney themselves fell into that trap in the year 2000, but we’ll address that soon enough. Dinosaurs are mesmerizing in their own right, as the animals they were. They require no personification. They need no story and no character. A musical short may be the closest we’ll ever get to such a film. For now, we can still enjoy the sight of a tyrannosaur fighting a stegosaurus to the death.

An interesting element of Fantasia, a remnant of a bygone era, is the intermission. When Taylor announced the film would break for a 15 minute intermission, I was concerned as the orchestra began slowly shuffling out of the amphitheater. Was the movie really going to stop? Fantasia is already fighting an uphill battle, trying to keep audiences with temperamental patience captivated. Stopping all inertia for fifteen minutes is suicidal.

Many films from the first half of film history, especially those longer than three hours, survive in their current forms with an intermission built in. Their home release is presented exactly as their theatrical release. The score’s overture plays over a meticulously designed title card, encouraging theater-goers to stretch their legs and visit the lobby. These intermissions have been preserved for posterity, but are wholly inconsequential with fast forward buttons and chapter select options.

I was concerned such would be the case for Fantasia, which barely crests the two-hour mark. It’s the longest of all Disney’s animated features, but surely that record is not because of a deliberate 15-minute time out? If persnickety audience of the 1940s needed a break, what of children in the digital age? They would minimize the window and never return.

Fantasia’s title card is present, but immediately returns back to the film, all for the better. It’s a pointless detour maintained for an illusion of legacy and integrity. Fantasia’s musical numbers are all well and good in their own right, but the live-action segments with the orchestra is full of questionable moments like these. 

For example, at one point, a percussionist interrupts Deems Taylor by knocking over his bells. There’s no build up to this, no explanation, and no commentary. It happens, and is promptly forgotten. If it’s a joke, it makes no sense. If it’s a mistake, why was it left in?

Perhaps Disney had no idea how to carry these live segments. He was afraid to let the segments speak for themselves, feeling obligated to inject them with more than a curated introduction. He needed to pepper in little moments that would either change the dynamic or mandate attention.

These moments rob the gravitas delivered by the orchestra, interrupt the flow of the picture, and make the audience wait impatiently for the next segment. Disney Studios would experiment with live-action film over the next decade, but these missteps display exactly why Disney Studios was not ready for a fully live-action film until the 1950s.

Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony is not the strangest segment of the film, but it becomes more surreal the more it’s examined. Early on, after a brief dance with satyrs, unicorns, and pegasi, we’re greeted with a number of topless, bathing centaurettes. One wouldn’t think Disney would brazenly depict frontal nudity, but there we are. Fully nude cherubs further the dissonance.

Greek and Roman mythology contains stories of heroes, legends, monsters, and adventure. It’s also rife with depictions of incest, rape, violence, and general malfeasance. Adapting any tale concerning the Olympians requires great skill, lest it be so thematically vulgar, it’s outright rejected by modern sensibilities. Even moreso when the tale is to be presented in a G-rated setting. As obvious a statement this may seem, it’s odd for Fantasia to have an entire segment dedicated to the Roman deity Bacchus and his trademark love of wine.

To say the wine flows is an understatement. A golden chalice overflows with some of the most tantalizing violet liquid ever depicted on film.I don’t even like wine, but I would take up a glass if it was offered.

Bacchus merrily sways back and forth in a drunken stupor for his entire appearance. Caught in a mixture of revelry and lightheadedness, the inebriated god is the central figure of a literal bacchanal. Fantasia was released the same year as Pinocchio, which depicted drunkards in such a negative light, they were turned into donkeys. Bacchus rides a unicorn-donkey who enjoys the taste of wine as much as his master. Behold: The duality of Disney.

Ponchielli’s Dance of the Hours is perhaps the second most famous segment to come from Fantasia. The premise behind the segment is simple. Ballerinas are renowned for their lithe bodies and graceful elegance. What if, instead of traditional ballerinas, they were depicted by animals? Animals renowned for their girth, gangling physique, or stumpy limbs? It’s the contrast that provides comedy. Whatever age, whatever era, it will always be funny watching a hippopotamus do ballet.

As such, Fantasia gives us the sight of ostriches, elephants, alligators, and hippopotamuses, dressed in traditional tutus and slippers, dancing to the best of their ability. To the animator’s credit, the disparate physiques of the animals are hardly an issue. The absurd sizes and shapes of the animals bend and flex in a comical, but equally elegant manner. 

The final segment is a combination of Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain and Schubert’s Ave Maria. Here, the devil presides over Walpurgis Night, welcoming ghouls, ghosts, and witches alike from the realm of the damned into the world of the living. They are then conquered, banished back from whence they came, by the choir of a mere church processional. 

For the longest time, I’ve heard the central figure of this piece referred to as “Chernobog,” a central figure of Russian and Balkan folklore. Much like Honest John in Pinocchio, this naming must be supplemental or subsequently; he is never referred to as Chernobog in the film. He is simply referred to by Taylor as “Satan.” 

So far in Fantasia, we’ve been exposed to murder, alcoholism, nudity, and sexy fish. Having the Prince of Darkness make an appearance is the final taboo that Walt Disney could break. Perhaps this is why the name Chernobog was attached retroactively. Pious Americans couldn’t abide a depiction of the devil in an animated feature.

All in all, I prefer the idea of the horned figure being a literal depiction of Satan over Chernobog. Primarily, it makes much more sense thematically. Why would a Russian myth be toppled by a Christian hymn? He wouldn’t, unless it was some misguided attempt at an analogy of Christianity versus Paganism. But why make an analogy when the literal interpretation is exactly appropriate? 

Possibly, western righteousness defeating a Russian emblem could be interpreted as a Cold War fable. This is rather unlikely, as the Cold War didn’t start in earnest until years after Fantasia’s release. 

Second, if we interpret the character as the devil, it further serves the story Disney’s animators were trying to tell: one of good versus evil. Darkness versus light. Chaos versus order. The sacred versus the profane. Dramatic conflict in both imagery, mood, and music. The wild, unbridled chaos of Walpurgis Night, contrasted against the elegant calmness of a serene morning in May.  If the demon was indeed Chernobog, it shows either a complete misunderstanding of the mythic figure, or a complete noncommittal to the story.

The Night on Bald Mountain portion is impressive and magnificent. The terrifying monstrosities are a cornucopia of Halloweenish delights, and they move with such intensity and power. Fire is used as a uniting theme throughout this segment, and the heat and intensity can be felt through the animation. 

I cannot find any sources confirming this, but it feels like the spiritual successor to 1922′s Häxan. Disney animators evoked the sensation of German Expressionism (particularly the works of Robert Weine) in certain moments of Snow White. I wouldn’t be surprised if Häxan served as a primary influence here.

Satan is depicted in an imposing, terrifying form. It’s a laundry list of every evil hallmark. He has glowing eyes, fangs, horns, bat wings, a muscular physique, sharp claws at the end of each finger, the ability to manipulate shadows, and more identifiers plucked from the nightmares of children everywhere.

Ave Maria sits in an odd position in popular culture. It’s been completely co-opted by the Christmas season. So much so, hearing the music detached from a holiday setting strikes up feelings of confusion. Moreso is hearing a quiet, choral interpretation backed by strings, and not a tenor vocalist belting out the opening at full force. It’s beauty is in its restraint. As the beatitude goes, blessed are the meek.

What’s more, after the thundering bravado of A Night on Bald Mountain, the hushed woodwinds and strings seem almost ashamed to make noise. Throughout, I was wondering when the piece would truly begin. Then, before I received my expected answer, the film ended. Ave Maria truly is the counterpart; quiet, dignified, and penitent.

Sitting in the darkness, watching a black screen, I’m met with nothing but a void. There’s no farewell from Stokowsky or Taylor. No final bow from the orchestra. No coda. We the viewer are simply left with a vacuum of sound and imagery. A moment, at last, to fully reflect on what we had seen. Music had provided us images and stories for two hours. In the aftermath, silence and darkness were just as powerful.

Unsurprisingly, Fantasia was a commercial failure upon release. The avant-garde presentation simply didn’t meld with audiences expectations. The film earned back roughly $325,000 of its $2.8 million budget. 

But, as I previously mentioned, art does not belong to an era, but to the ages. Critical and audience approval of the film has grown in subsequent years, and Fantasia is considered one of Disney’s masterpieces. It even turned a profit in 1969 after a series of re-releases.

Sometimes a grand experiment begins with a meager idea, like marketing a corporate mascot. Sometimes that idea can blossom into a grand work. And sometimes a showpiece needs to age like wine before it’s appreciated properly. We’ll never know our true legacy, but a truly good idea, like good music, will be appreciated through the ages.

Fantasia Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Pinocchio 

[orihara-infobroker]

Ranty rant rant about stuff because this cat just needs to vent.

So I've mentioned this before a few times though I don't really talk about it all that much. One of my on-and-off hobbies is role-playing. Tabletop, live-action, or narrative writing, I pretty much enjoy them all. For similar reasons to why I love writing stories. I like creating characters and worlds. In writing I do all the heavy lifting but role-playing has the unique experience of collaborative storytelling and that adds an element that can be very fun. Also, sometimes it's just fun to play in someone else's sandbox for a change.

Some time ago, a friend invited me to check out a Harry Potter rp site. The site itself is pretty decently setup and it seemed like it could be interesting. I'm not a huge Potter nerd but I've seen the movies and I'm a sucker for fantasy settings. But this isn't the first time I've dipped my toes in the HP universe so I thought that instead of doing the standard Eurocentric character, I'd try something different.

I admit, I'd been working pretty heavily on Shadow and Light at the time so that was strongly influencing my mood insofar as what I wanted to play with. So I submitted the idea of a Japanese character who had grown up in Japan but recently moved to London (thus why I'd be attending Hogwarts). The character's parents were onmyoji, part of a branch family of the Tsuchimikado clan. This clan is somewhat famous for its relation to Abe no Seimei who is arguably the most famous onmyoji in Japanese folklore. I also requested that the character be a metamorph which is a wizard who can change their features. Basically a kind of shape-shifting. Tonks was a metamorph, for reference. In requesting this, I was asked to explain why my family had a metamorph. So I wrote a piece where the character's mom told him the story of Abe no Seimei's mom being a fox that his Dad saved and that there had been stories told of how Abe no Seimei could change his appearance. (Not into a fox. Just change his appearance.) And how sometimes people in the clan would be born with the same ability.

Note that everything I incorporated into this character's backstory is based off actual Japanese mythology and not Harry Potter universe. Harry Potter universe doesn't actually address anything about how magic is done in the East. (And if Rowling ever comes up with anything it'll probably be hideously racist anyway but I digress.)

All of this is important, I promise.

So I was a Japanese pureblood kid raised to become an onmyoji only to end up at Hogwarts by pure misfortune. I thought this would be fun to play, basically a foreign exchange student completely out of his element, not understanding how Western magic works, struggling with having to learn English on top of magic, etc.

Well.

Apparently my idea set all sorts of fires under the admin staff of this site. They were opposed because:

1. They didn't think I knew what I was talking about when I suggested being onmyoji (wherein I proved that I actually know more about onmyoji and Japanese mythology than them.)

2. They didn't have lore on the East therefore they didn't want me making stuff up because it might not mesh with what they might eventually get around to creating somewhere down the road. Even though they had no current plans to develop the Eastern setting. (Yeah. You read that right. I was told... in a role play game... not to make stuff up... which is ironic given that I didn't actually make anything up, just liberally stole from actual Japanese mythology. Further, my character was going to Hogwarts so all of this was just backstory and flavour.)

3. I CANNOT BE RELATED TO ABE NO SEIMEI HE IS LIKE THE JAPANESE MERLIN!!!!!!! (Oh yes. Please. Make more ignorant racist comments at me. From now on I shall refer to Merlin as the English Abe no Seimei. -_- Abe no Seimei, while unlikely to be as mystical as he was made out to be in the stories, was a real person. Merlin was never real. He was always a fictional creation. Further, I never claimed to be related to Abe no Seimei. I claimed to be a branch family of the Tsuchimikado Clan to whom Abe no Seimei was either a member of or the founder of, depending on varying stories. So. Apparently they don't understand how Japanese clans work? Or branch families? No? OK, great. GREAT.)

4. They claimed that my story about the kitsune wasn't appropriate because kitsune were a type of mythical creature and metamorphs are completely human so I can't be "half-fox". Further, one of them claimed I wanted to be "half-demon". (Which is both a grave misinterpretation of what I wrote *and* a completely incorrect assumption on what kitsune are. They are not any kind of demon. And I didn't want to be any kind of half demon or even half fox. It was a story told from a mother to a child, using a classic myth to convey a possible reason why their family sometimes had metamorphs. That's it. Which, if they had understand that whole BRANCH FAMILY thing, they should have definitely realized. But apparently I wasn't clear enough? Ok. Fine, maybe I was too fucking subtle. Still never asked to be half fucking anything. Asked to be a metamorph. That's it.)

5. Labeled me as a problem because of all of this. Which occurred over the course of two conversations and a handful of days. Yeah. YEAH. I'M A FUCKING PROBLEM BECAUSE I TRIED TO BE FUCKING CREATIVE IN THEIR FUCKING SANDBOX AND HAPPENED TO ACTUALLY KNOW WHAT THE FUCK I WAS TALKING ABOUT WHICH TURNED OUT TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE THAN THEM.

And it's so frustrating because I was looking forward to playing with my friend on this site and I genuinely felt like they were targeting me because I didn't choose a basic bitch character and I had the nerve to ask questions when they tried to contest it. Like, it wasn't a genuine conversation where two sides explained their opinions. It was literally me trying to propose something and being treated like a child when I was repeatedly trying to explain where they were misinterpreting the things I had written because they didn't know Japanese history/mythology.

I've been a gamemaster/storyteller for games before. Over the course of my time role-playing, I've run four Larps, a handful of tabletops and hosted a couple online rps. My Discord server is technically a role play server that I moderate ( currently its mostly just chatting, not a lit of rp but it was designed to be rp lol). I know how these things work. And that just makes this more frustrating because my impulse, as a storyteller, has always been to work together with players to create engaging stories. I've always been willing to accept the potential of new ideas because the whole point of fucking role-playing is getting to exercise your imagination and tell stories together. So from my perspective, I'd be more than happy to work with them on this. I'd be more than happy to share what I know and talk about what could work or not work. But they don't seem to want to engage in that way and it makes me sad, frustrated, disappointed. Especially because I had really been looking forward to playing with my friend and now it seems that this whole thing is doomed to failure.

All because I got creative and asked questions. :/

[carly-bean-blog]

20 Questions!

Hello, friends! I was tagged by the lovely @flowerkth

How are you feeling today? :

I'm more or less alright. I don't really have anything exciting going on, I'm just happy to be here!

What is the best thing that happened in 2020 to you so far? :

Not gonna lie, 2020 has been ROUGH. But I suppose the best (worst?) thing is that I finally got into BTS!

I saw their performance of "Black Swan" on The Late Late Show, which led me to watch "BTS Carpool Karaoke," and then I tried to learn their names.

And that was it. It was all over for me.

Fav song at the moment? :

"Anpanman" by BTS is a bop and a half. It just makes me so happy, I love it!

Last movie you watched in the cinema? :

Uhhhhhhh, I don't remember. It might have been "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Fav movie? :

My favorite movie is almost always whatever movie I watched last, as I have a poor memory. Speaking of which, I don't remember the last movie I watched.

I do enjoy the Marvel films, so perhaps one of those could be called my favorites?

Fav T.V. Show? :

Anything on HGTV (home and garden channel) because I'm secretly an old woman

T.V. Show you’re watching currenty? :

Tacoma FD!

Fav Season? :

Summer!

Dream Job? :

This answer is in constant flux. My interests vary wildly. I don't have a singular passion. ("No More Dream" was written about me). Maybe a live-in painter for a national park?

Fav Animal? :

I love all animals! (And I mean ALL. No discrimination based on fur, scales, or number of legs).

But for my favorite, hmm... I want to say cats, but also I love guinea pigs so much. It's definitely a tie I think.

Fav Color? :

Yellow! 💛 It was pink my entire life, but a few years ago it slowly transitioned to yellow. It snuck up on me.

It's very strange having your favorite color change, I didn't realize it was even something that could happen!

What languages do you speak? :

I am a native English speaker. I studied Spanish for 6 years, American Sign Language for 3 years, and I'm just now beginning to study Korean!

What languages do you want to learn? :

Korean, Somali, Arabic. Honestly I just want to be able to communicate with everyone!

I also am not fluent in Spanish nor ASL, and I would like to achieve fluency.

Dream Vacation? :

Iceland. The country looks so beautiful!

If you could listen to one album for the rest of your life which one would it be? :

This I cannot answer. My music tastes change with my mood. While I currently am in love with Map of the Soul: 7, forever is a long time.

Probably one of those huge compilation albums. Is it cheating? Maybe. Do I care? Oh absolutely not lol

What song got you into Kpop? :

"Black Swan" by BTS (with a small seed planted by "Gangnam Style" by PSY)

Are you watching Kdramas? What was your last Kdrama? :

I'm not currently watching and kdramas. The only one I've seen is "City Hunter."

Haha, I used to work at a summer camp in 2013, and a bunch of us staff would binge watch it together in our free time.

Your ultimate Kpop Party song that brights up your mood always? :

If you think I'm not gonna get turnt to "Anpanman" by BTS, then you really haven't been paying attention

Last song you listened to? :

"Friends" by BTS (Jimin and V)

What’s one thing you have most in common with your bias? :

My bias is SUGA. Him and I are... Scarily similar, personality wise. He's me if I had the passion and drive to actually do something with my life.

Him and I seem to have similar worldviews and similar senses of humor. I like to think that if we knew each other in real life, that we would be friends.

I think he would fit in with my friends and I perfectly, and that we would all have a lot of fun and good memories together.

I would like to tag: @ppersonna @whippedforbangtansonyeondan @parkjimni @hoshees @jjoon @kpopyandere @xjoonchildx

(Sorry if you have already been tagged by someone or if you have already done this!)

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Americans support Black Lives Matter but resist shifts of police funds or removal of statues (Washington Post) A majority of Americans support the Black Lives Matter movement and a record 69 percent say black people and other minorities are not treated as equal to white people in the criminal justice system. But the public generally opposes calls to shift some police funding to social services or remove statues of Confederate generals or presidents who enslaved people, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds. These findings underscore the mixed fallout after the brutal killing of George Floyd while in the custody of Minneapolis police in May. There is increased public scrutiny of police treatment of black Americans, but less unity on broader questions about how to address the country’s treatment of black Americans since its founding. Americans’ confidence in police appears shaken after a wave of national protests following Floyd’s killing. Compared with 2014, fewer Americans say they are confident that police are adequately trained to avoid using excessive force. Meanwhile, more people say recent police killings of black people are “a sign of broader problems” in police conduct.

Opposition grows to US agents in cities (AP) The Trump administration is facing growing pushback—in the courts and on the streets—to sending federal agents to Portland, Oregon, where protests have spiraled into violence, and vowing to do the same in other Democratic-led cities. Far from tamping down the unrest that followed George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, the presence of federal agents on the streets of progressive Portland—and particularly allegations they have whisked people away in unmarked cars without probable cause—has energized two months of nightly protests that had begun to devolve into smaller, chaotic crowds. President Donald Trump’s administration also faces multiple lawsuits questioning its authority to use broad policing powers in cities. One filed Tuesday says federal agents are violating protesters’ 10th Amendment rights by engaging in police activities designated to local and state governments. Oregon’s attorney general sued last week, asking a judge to block federal agents’ actions. The state argued that masked agents have arrested people on the street, far from the U.S. courthouse that’s become a target of vandalism, with no probable cause. The use of federal agents against the will of local officials also has set up the potential for a constitutional crisis, legal experts say. It could escalate if Trump sends federal agents elsewhere, as he says he plans to do, including to Democratic-led Chicago.

New Yorkers ditching city for elbow room fuel housing boom (AP) If the outbreak roars back in New York City, Anil and Joyce Lilly will not be sheltering again in their Bronx apartment. They just bought a house an hour north in the Hudson Valley. “We need more elbow room,” said Joyce Lilly, explaining their move to Washingtonville, New York. “Because we were locked into the apartment for three months, a solid three months, I feel like I’m getting out of prison and I want to run as far away as possible.” New Yorkers anxious after weathering the worst of the coronavirus pandemic are fueling a boom in home sales and rentals around the picturesque towns and wooded hills to the north. Real estate brokers and agents describe a red-hot market recently, with many house hunters able to work from home. “There has been a big uptick from Manhattan people, no doubt about that,” said Steven Domber, president of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hudson Valley Properties. “Number one, it’s cabin fever, which is wanting to get out of an apartment and having some land if, God forbid, there’s a lockdown again.”

Powerful 7.8 quake hits Alaska isles (AP) A powerful 7.8 earthquake struck the Alaska Peninsula late Tuesday, triggering a tsunami warning that sent residents fleeing to higher ground before it was called off without any damaging waves. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the 7.8 magnitude quake struck Tuesday at 10:12 p.m. local time. The quake was centered in waters 65 miles (105 kilometers) south-southeast of Perryville, Alaska at a depth of 17 miles (28 km), deeper than an earlier estimate. According to the USGS, since 1900 there have been six other earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 and higher within 155 miles (250 km) of Tuesday’s quake. The largest of those was a 8.2 quake in 1938.

US Navy problems (Bloomberg) The inferno on the $4 billion USS Bonhomme Richard caps a dismal few years for the U.S. Navy, James Stavridis writes. The retired admiral and former NATO supreme allied commander points to a litany of black eyes, including a series of corruption scandals; two deadly collisions involving $3 billion Arleigh Burke-class destroyers; the mishandled prosecution of an accused war criminal; and the coronavirus outbreak on a nuclear aircraft carrier in which one crew member died, the commanding officer was relieved of duty, and the acting secretary of the Navy quit under pressure.

U.S. seeking arrest of Venezuela chief justice, offers reward for info (Reuters) The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on Venezuelan Chief Justice Maikel Moreno and announced a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction for allegedly participating in transnational organized crime. In a statement, Moreno said Venezuela’s judiciary would not accept “tutelage” from a foreign government. The United States charged Moreno in March with money laundering under a round of indictments against Maduro and more than a dozen other top Venezuelan officials on charges of “narco-terrorism” in an escalation of the Trump administration’s campaign aimed at ousting the socialist leader.

Nearly 40% of Europeans in their late 20s still live at home (Quartz) Do you have fond memories of living with your parents? An attachment to the neighborhood where you grew up? For two in five Europeans in their late 20s, the four walls of their parents’ home is their daily reality. In 2017, 39.3% of young adults in the 28 countries of the European Union still lived with at least one parent, according to data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey. The proportions varied wildly between countries: While only 4% of Danes between 25 and 29 still lived at home in 2017, 75.4% of their Croatian peers did. Economists blame the phenomenon on the 2008 recession and the following European debt crisis, which created a “boomerang generation” that moved back home because they either couldn’t find jobs or were the first to lose them.

Fearing new coronavirus wave, Barcelona limits number of beach-goers (Reuters) Barcelona authorities on Tuesday cut the number of people allowed on to the city’s beaches to 32,000 from 38,000, after crowds flocked to the sea at the weekend despite advice to stay home to curb a local rise in coronavirus infections.

Ukrainian president ends hostage crisis (Foreign Policy) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was forced to record a video recommending a 2005 Joaquin Phoenix-narrated documentary on animal cruelty in order to help free 13 citizens being held hostage in the town of Lutsk. The demand was made by Maksym Kryvosh, an animal rights activist who had seized a bus and began an armed standoff with police with the 13 hostages on board. Shortly after the hostages were all freed, Zelensky deleted the video.

U.S. tells China to shut Houston consulate in move China calls ‘unprecedented escalation’ (Reuters) The United States has told the Chinese consulate in Houston to shut down in three days, citing a need to protect American intellectual property and information, amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries. Beijing condemned the order and threatened retaliation. A source said China was considering closing the U.S. consulate in the city of Wuhan. Ties between the United States and China have become increasingly tense since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan at the beginning of the year.

Hong Kong orders masks indoors in public as daily cases hit record (Reuters) Hong Kong will extend strict social distancing measures from midnight on Wednesday, ordering masks in all indoor public areas including malls and markets, as the global financial hub reported a daily record increase of novel coronavirus cases. Hong Kong tightened social distancing measures in July after a spike of locally transmitted cases and as authorities warned about a third wave of infections. The new order for masks in indoor public places would be for two weeks.

Taiwanese rebranding (Foreign Policy) Taiwan’s legislature has voted to rename the country’s main flight carrier, currently known as China Airlines, and to remove the phrase Republic of China from Taiwanese passports. The increasingly anti-China mood in Taiwan is likely to produce more such rebrandings: The country’s official name, the Republic of China, is now seen as a holdover from a different era. Such moves are likely to produce hysterical reactions from Beijing, reemphasizing the need for Taiwan’s long-term national strategy of decoupling from its largest trade partner.

Crisis hits Lebanon’s hospitals, among the best in Mideast (AP) Lebanon’s hospitals, long considered among the best in the Middle East, are cracking under the country’s financial crisis, struggling to pay staff, keep equipment running or even stay open amid a surge in coronavirus cases. Private hospitals, the engine of the health system, warn they may have to shut down. Chronically underfunded public hospitals, which have led the fight against the virus, fear they will be overrun. Across the country, hospitals and doctors are reporting shortages in vital medical supplies such as anesthesia drugs and sutures. With power cuts that run through most of the day, they pour money into fuel for generators, and many are turning away non-critical cases to conserve resources. “The situation is really catastrophic, and we expect a total collapse if the government doesn’t come up with a rescue plan,” said Selim Abi Saleh, the head of the Physicians Union in northern Lebanon, one of the country’s poorest and most populated regions.

Aid from top donors drops even as need soars (AP) A new snapshot of the frantic global response to the coronavirus pandemic shows some of the world’s largest government donors of humanitarian aid are buckling under the strain: Funding commitments, for the virus and otherwise, have dropped by a third from the same period last year. At a time when billions of people are struggling with the pandemic and the ensuing economic collapse—on top of long-running disasters like famine, drought or unrest—more, not less, money is urgently needed. New virus protection equipment must be bought for almost everything, from maternity wards in African villages to women’s shelters in Syrian refugee camps. During the first five months of this year, overall aid commitments from the largest government donors were $16.9 billion, down from $23.9 billion in the same period last year, according to the new analysis, which drew on data from the United States, the United Kingdom, European Union institutions, Germany, France, Canada and others. Many of these donors—notably the U.K., whose aid commitments have dropped by nearly 50% from last year, according to the analysis—are struggling as their economies contract. The sheer magnitude of the crisis is another challenge as every part of the world needs help—and now.

Power cuts return, adding to frustrations in COVID-weary South Africa (Reuters) Keitumetse Modise was already struggling to juggle her appointments as a freelance beautician while home-schooling her daughter during South Africa’s nearly four-month-old COVID-19 lockdown. The last thing she needed was the lights going out. But after being forced to turn kitchen tables into classrooms and bedrooms into home offices, pandemic-weary South Africans now face an added challenge in the form of a familiar headache: rolling blackouts. Months of pandemic-induced shutdown and reduced demand had actually resulted in uncharacteristically reliable electricity for those stuck at home, as South Africa’s creaking grid was given some respite. Since last week however, with restrictions easing and businesses cautiously reopening, planned blackouts—known locally as loadshedding—are back and with them the frustration of unstable internet, lost revenue and disrupted schedules.

[crescentmoonrider]

some details from my recent comic (mostly environment)

also, stuff that hit the cutting room floor and isn’t present in the actual thing

[link to the comic, it’s 5 pages of kekkai sensen noir AU]

so, as some might have noticed (and as i said in the tags of the comic i think), i paid A Lot of attention to the details and environments in this comic. so i thought i’d explain some of the stuff i had in mind while drawing

surprisingly, i have nothing of importance to say about the brick wall (on page 1) i spent over 5 hours on - aside from it being bricks bc, well, new york, man

or, as the artistic director for the bbb anime Kimura Shinji said : “the most emblematic buildings in new york are from the time when art déco was “in”” and “the image of the 70s new york was the one that satisfied me most [in terms of mood]”

(ive got loads of interviews with the anime staff that came with the dvds i bought, though in french, but if anyone is interested i could translate some of them)

anyway that’s what i looked up for reference. 70s streets, emblematic new york architecture (meaning bricks and side stairs or whatever these things are called), some noir movies back alleys to fit the theme of the AU, and four new york taxi photos for a result that is

... yeah

details i do have loads to talk about though !

this poster (on page 2) is based on an actual ad for the city of new york, featuring the empire state building

so why did i choose to put this element in daniel’s office ? obviously, the setting is hellsalem’s lot right ? why keep an ad of a city that basically doesn’t exist anymore - plus, what kind of person keeps an ad of their own city ?

(also, side note, is- is the huge building that we see tumbling down at the start of the Collapse in the anime. is it the empire state ?? did the empire state get scraped from new york/hellsalem’s horizon right as Mr. Kimura said he based his backgrounds on this kind of architecture ?)

anyway, this poster was my way of slowly building up the... let’s say static state daniel is in, in this AU. page 3 mentions “The constant numbness that’s been following [him] for the past three years.” and that was my attempt at introducing this idea environmentally

this daniel refuses to move past the disappearance of marcus, refuses to accept it, and that form of denial kind of leads him to get. stuck in place - or maybe stuck in time, leading me to

this glass of water (page 2 still)

how long has this glass been sitting here ? who knows. a while, certainly, if the way it’s sweating is any indication

how long has daniel been standing looking at nothing through that window, stuck inside his thoughts, until reality calls him back whenever a client walks in ?

how many times has it happened ?

on the same desk, we have... quite a few pictures

(yes i put effort into this detail explanation, yes i redrew the pictures for this one)

(also i realize i put the pencil on the left side out of habit, so i guess daniel is now left-handed. ooops ?)

on the center of the desk, we can see... Leonardo Watch ? yup, that’s him, he has a file dedicated to him, and daniel apparently followed him around enough to get 4 pictures taken on various occasions, and one mugshot he got.... somewhere

daniel is, in fact, not working on a case relating to leo. officially. alright, so, i haven’t figured out the way everything fits together, but daniel’s search into his brother’s disappearance lead him places, among which research into Things You Can’t See, and as such, the eyes of the gods

pictures 1-3 are just leo in various situations (meeting up with nej, eating at diane’s dinner, waiting for his train)

picture 4 shows leo on a bench, obviously interacting with.... someone ? who cannot be seen. even though leo clearly has his arm over their. shoulder, probably. daniel annotated the picture by hand, circling the empty space at leo’s side, and adding the commentary “doesn’t appear on photos?”, indicating that whoever was there could, in fact, be seen by human eyes

(leo, what the fuck kind of friends are you making in this AU)

on the right side of the desk, literally put aside, is a file full of daniel’s official work. and a picture related to his most current case

not explicit, or even implicit, but probably a fun fact, this one file is just. a collection of investigations into one Zapp Renfro’s many affairs, each investigation related to a different case

i’m not saying zapp keeps daniel fed through his many infidelities, but i’m not not saying it either

if they ever actually meet, daniel is either going to shout at zapp forever for being a garbage person, or he will thank him for all the easy work. or he might do both

so how did daniel take these pictures ? did he use a portable camera, like any old-fashioned detective would ? or did he go the modern way, and simply used his phone ?

the answer is neither

welcome to “i couldn’t fit this in the comic so just take it”, featuring daniel’s left eye ! my headcanons for his canon self vary from day to day (and also whether we’re talking manga or anime, since his design slightly differs), but in this AU, we’re going with a huge scar and an artificial eye

the eye is a product of beyondian technology. pure tech, no magic involved. it works as a covert camera, but mainly serves as, you know, an eye

sometimes daniel sees people with his right eye that the left one seems blind to, and something tells him he should probably not ask about it if he can avoid it

next page !

those who saw me post my progress in real time already know this one, but i still can’t get over the fact that i put research into a single shot of a small part of a watch. but i did

anyway the watch is an actual existing one. it’s a Boucheron “Epure”, steel with a white quadrant, and a black gator bracelet. you can look it up

and now we get to the One thing i really, really wanted to put in the comic, but had to refrain myself out of a desire to keep things not too cliché. i mean, shady client comes in, detective thinks to himself “the moment i saw him, i knew he was trouble” while dragging on his cigarette...

look, steven is heavily femme fatale (homme fatal ?) coded already, and is trying to look decent and Not like he murdered someone/is planning on murdering someone, because that’s precisely the problem he needs daniel’s help with. murder accusations

anyway he can not decently show up in a fur coat looking like some mafia boss

but BOY do i wish he would

[bountyofbeads]

“Fluctuations, Exacerbations, and Decline in Functioning — Where is Trump Headed?” by Seth Davin Norrholm https://link.medium.com/jJLVQou6HZ

“Trump’s presentation and the level of Trump’s communicative abilities appear to be deteriorating. ... We definitely believe that based upon his observed behaviors, it is clinically indicated that Trump undergo a full and comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation.”

New article by @SethN12 and @DMRDynamics regarding understanding what we do and do not know about Trump’s cognitive status:

Fluctuations, Exacerbations, and Decline in Functioning — Where is Trump Headed?

By David M. Reiss, M.D. and Seth D. Norrholm, Ph.D. | Published September 3, 2019 | Medium | Posted September 4, 2019 10:30 AM ET |

Many persons have noted the significant difference in the quality of Trump’s physical, cognitive, and language/linguistic presentation in public both recently and over the last few decades. Similarly, many persons have noted that Trump presents very differently depending upon whether he is “talking off the cuff”, such as at his rallies, “going off script,” or (apparently) reading from a teleprompter.

Differences can easily be observed in Trump’s emotional state: at times “high-energy”, activated; at times flat, blunted, seeming uninvolved or uninterested; in Trump’s sophistication of use of language and choice of words; in Trump’s ability to stay on topic; and in Trump’s ability to answer questions with direct, cogent, or meaningful responses.

We doubt that few would disagree that, overall, Trump’s presentation and the level of Trump’s communicative abilities appear to be deteriorating. Some have suggested, or even concluded on TV news, talk radio, and social media, that these observations represent definite indications of deterioration of Trump’s cognitive abilities and/or a descent into dementia (some have even suggested specific types of dementing illness they believe to be present).

We definitely believe that based upon his observed behaviors, it is clinically indicated that Trump undergo a full and comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Based upon public disclosures, this has not occurred. The only information revealed to the public has been that Trump was administered a basic screening protocol (that reportedly, he himself had specifically chose and requested, which clinically renders the results invalid and/or unreliable). To be clear, the instrument that the President was administered, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment or MOCA, is used as a screening tool for cognitive decline/dementia and clinically informs the degree to which a patient’s cognitive debilitation requires enhanced treatment such as assisted living or skilled nursing. A “passing” grade, as trumpeted by this President, in most adults is achieved by correctly identifying animals and following simple task instruction.

At the same time, we are concerned that many of the opinions being voiced regarding specific diagnoses and Trump’s prognosis are based upon personal experience of people who have suffered through the cognitive/behavioral deterioration of a loved one (also called anecdotal evidence). While we have no doubt that behaviors exhibited by Trump are similar to symptoms observed in persons suffering from dementia, we are concerned that while no specific diagnosis can be definitively ruled out, the public behaviors displayed by Trump may be explicable by multiple individual or combined issues other than (albeit possibly including) a degenerative neurocognitive disorder.

Of course, many of the older videos of Trump speaking were scripted or edited; for most, Trump was probably well-prepared as to what he wanted to say; and during those interviews, Trump was expecting little, if any, challenge or confrontation. This had long become par-for-the-course by the malignantly narcissistic Trump and his abused and/or sycophantic court. Those interviews were conducted under circumstances of minimal stress (and often, in a jovial manner). That was obviously very different from the circumstances under which we now observe Trump. Simply put, Howard Stern, the shock jock, is not conducting the interviews anymore and there is no giggling Robin.

It is well known that stress and anxiety can temporarily impact cognitive performance. We also have no information regarding any possible concurrent medical issues with which Trump is dealing, or any medications that Trump is being prescribed (for any reasons) — all of which may impact cognitive functioning, apart from the presence of a degenerative disease process. In fact, within the last “medical report” released, by Sean Conley, D.O., enigmatically (emphasis added), “Dr. Conley did not provide the list of the medications that Trump is taking. Instead, he only mentioned an increase in Trump’s dose of a cholesterol-lowering medication, rosuvastatin, to 40 mg a day”; and questions have been posed regarding who actually wrote the report, “…the authorship of this report is questionable for several reasons, one of which is the sentence ‘The president is very grateful for the outstanding care he received today, and he especially wants to thank the doctors, nurses, enlisted and civilian staff who participated.’ It would be unheard-of for a doctor to praise himself in such a statement. Odder still is the subsequent assertion that Trump is ‘in very good health and I anticipate he will remain so for the duration of his Presidency, and beyond.’ This sort of long-term prediction is atypical for any reputable physician, much less one whose only charge is to assess the president’s ability to execute the duties of the office.”

While there is very good reason for concern, it must be realized that multiple different disorders or syndromes can present with similar behavioral manifestations and superficial symptomatology:

1) There is insufficient clinical data available to provide any definitive diagnosis or prognosis (it is possible to list “differential diagnoses” of possible conditions, but there is no clinical basis for going further than that); and

2) the fact that Trump’s presentation varies, at times from day-to-day, could represent overall deterioration but also could represent fluctuations and exacerbations that occur due to situational circumstances that are reversible.

In fact, if we look at the overall pattern, it has not been unusual for Trump to appear slow, flat, uninvolved, and distant (suggestions of significant impairment) on one occasion; but a few days later, at a “rally” (while still illogical, tangential, and quite impulsive and irrational), Trump’s energy, affect and mood have returned to baseline.

In summary, there is currently a clear indication for comprehensive evaluation, but there is no observation or data that can definitively state that whatever Trump’s underlying pathology, the fluctuations we are seeing are not, quite possibly, consistent with exacerbations and recoveries that are all inherent to Trump’s long-standing baseline level of dysfunction. Of course, even going back to the older videos, despite some significant differences,

1) Trump was never known to be a “deep thinker” or to have a high-level fountain of knowledge

2) Trump was never known to express carefully considered comprehensive opinions, taking into account different perspectives or points of view; and,

3) Trump was never known to have particularly good impulse control while speaking, not infrequently tangentially moving into at best problematic and often overtly inappropriate or offensive territory.

Yes, “Houston, we have a problem…”

No, the problem is not likely to improve or become any less dysfunction or any less dangerous.

We firmly believe that there is sufficient information to state that Trump is unfit to serve as POTUS. But until we have additional validated, objective clinical data, no person can offer any definitive diagnosis and we are all left in an ominous dark place as to Trump’s prognosis, and the dangers we face during the remainder of Trump’s time in office.

[the-colony-roleplay]

☭ FEVER STATE: “A BUG IN THE SYSTEM”☭ stage i 

Fresh biscuits baked long before the sun rose the morning of Monday, January 3rd, 2163, had the dining hall smelling sweet and inviting by the time people arrived for breakfast.

Overall, it was more or less like any other day. The coffee was mediocre at best, but it’d definitely been worse, and so that, combined with the scent of fresh flakey pastries put most in at least a half-way decent mood. A down right good one, for some.

It was roughly half nine when the first civilian fled their classroom for the bathrooms, claiming feeling ill; about a quarter to ten when not one, but two citizens threw up in the middle of the training fields; and just past ten thirty when an entire rotation of Infected citizens on meal prep chores were all but collapsed on bathroom and infirmary floors.

The sickness took everybody, regardless of status, age, infection. It didn’t matter what they’d had for breakfast (or hadn’t) or what they’d had for lunch: by 2pm, Monday afternoon, not a single person in Colony 22 wasn’t showing symptoms. Not even the NWRF.

The sickness started like many common fevers or the onset of viruses. For most, it began with the sweats. A quickly rising internal temperature, but chills on the surface of one’s skin, often engulfing an individual in miserable, sickening shivers.

Soon after came the shakes, vertigo-like dizzy spells, and extreme nausea, followed swiftly by an inability to keep anything down. A complete purging of the stomach, the biggest concern for the quickly filling infirmary was keeping everyone hydrated. Nurses, all of whom were also sick to varying degrees but working tirelessly and bravely through it, began to separate those in desperate condition as the sickness spread, from those in a more manageable condition—in other words, those who were more likely able to keep some water in their system, and those who weren’t.

Infirmary beds were then reserved for citizens whose symptoms were more critical, so they could be hooked up to IVs which would keep them hydrated and in a stable condition. Those lucky few whose symptoms were slightly less severe and maintained at least strength enough to move around between bouts of vomiting and to drink water slowly, were contained to their dorms, where whichever medical staff were still upright would check their vitals and tend to them as best they could. 

No one was to leave the infirmary or their respective houses under any circumstances. Not until more could be understood about this sickness, where it came from, and most importantly, what its consequences would look like.

Officials worked frantically to communicate with other Colonies—was this happening anywhere else? Had a source yet been located? Had any fatalities been reported? Colony 22 as a whole was immobilized; at a complete and utter standstill, desperate for information that would only come with time.

A/N: Alrighty kids! The moment you’ve all been waiting for! Part One of the new year plot drop! (Both our New Year AND the RP’s New Year!!)

Welcome to: ☭ FEVER STATE: A BUG IN THE SYSTEM ☭ { stage i } !!

This is frames as an ‘event’ as you can see in the banner, but technically speaking it’s a plot drop element that will be revealed in roughly four stages—some of which will be happening sooner than others. Reveals will come over time, and some stages will have longer delays than others.

Additionally, stage one, “A Bug in the System” will actually happen with its own individual mini-stages as well. The whole stage will take place over only TWO (VERSE) DAYS in the RP timeline, but there will be a second post from the Main that will happen a few hours into the second day (in the RP verse) that will trigger the second half of stage one.

So, to simplify:

From this moment until further notice, you may RP ANYTHING in the RP timeline between MONDAY morning, Jan 3rd, to TUESDAY morning the 4th, before 11am.

When the 2nd portion of this stage of the plot drop is posted from the main (you’ll know it when you see it), it will open up the remainder of the time frame for the first stage, A Bug in the System. More details will come with that post to ensure every body is clear and has all the information they need!

As far as real time goes, we will likely head into stage 2 next weekend, depending on what the dash is looking like. Stage 1 and 2 are a bit more connected than the others, so it may make sense to do so. 

☭  General Guidelines: ☭

As always, you may continue old threads as long as you need to, but you may not post anything new that happens before this plot drop. Everything new on the dash must be within this timeline, which is currently only the Monday morning to Tuesday morning. As the plot progresses, you will always be updated about timelines and what’s available to you to RP.

Because this is not a contained event so much as it is a plot drop revealed in stages, and because we want to time it according to how much activity is on the dash and how well you guys are getting through content (we always like to customize according to member activity speed so that people have a chance to explore whichever plots they need to!), we ask that you TITLE ALL THREADS in this stage of the timeline, and they MUST include any variation of the following:

Fever State: part one OR Fever State: Part 1 OR FS: Stage 1 OR FS: Bug in the System etc, etc, etc...

Alternatively, you can chose only to include some form of the Stage 1 title itself:

A Bug in the System OR Bug in the System OR BITS/B.I.T.S. (woah okay didn’t notice that before, that’s weird haha) OR ABITS/A.B.I.T.S. etc, etc, etc...

Essentially, you can format your thread titles however you wish, the only requirement is that it indicates which stage of the drop it is. This will become important as the stages progress and you are wanting to continue plotting across them, and simply keeping things clear on the dash. (Note: please note that if you decide against indicating anything about ‘fever state’ please don’t only say ‘part one’ as there have been many ‘part ones’ over the course of Colony events. If you’re going to stick with only stage names in your titles, then make sure to use the name of the stage in some capacity.)

All posts on the main regarding the new plot drop will be tagged as #col22feverstate. Each stage will also have its own tag, and stage one will be #col22FSbug. You do not have to use these tags for your personal posts, but can certainly choose to use them if you wish or tag however you like for your personal organization styles.

☭  Individual Character Variations: ☭

It’s up to you to decide when and how your character(s) is/are affected by the sickness, so long as it remains consistent with the canon narration posted above the cut. 

In other words, all characters, with no exceptions MUST be showing symptoms before roughly 2pm on Monday January 3rd. But some characters may have been hit worse than others. So, you can decide how long it takes each symptom to show, and how drastically they are affected by and experience these symptoms. If you want one or more of your characters to be sick but still able to walk around a little bit or maybe even help out the medical staff, that is fine. Alternatively, if you want one or more of your character(s) to be totally immobilized, finding it incredibly difficult to even move or get out of bed, that’s fine too. 

But everyone gets sick, and everyone experiences at least some bouts of vomiting. 

Stages of illness should happen in the order mentioned above, but they can be timed however you want and some symptoms may affect characters harder than others. Also, it is up to you if your character is well enough to be in their house/dorms or if they are in the infirmary. 

The only thing you can’t do in terms of the symptoms is change any of them or report any other symptoms not listed above, in case said symptoms conflict with any further planned plot progression. If you are unsure about anything or want to inquire about specific details, please direct your questions to the main blog ASK (so they can be answered publicly to help everyone). 

☭  Chaos in the Community: ☭

In terms of what the structure of things will probably look like as this is going down, it’s going to be pretty chaotic for at least the first few hours. People will be admitted into the infirmary and then a couple hours in, as it starts to fill up and it’s becoming clear that this is happening at an epidemic level with citizens, that’s when the medical staff will start moving people around and clearing infirmary beds etc. 

With regards to restrictions and security and keeping citizens in their houses—it’s going to be enforced as much as possible for the purposes of being able to take care of people properly, but the staff are all sick and very spread thin—so the first half of the day is going to be much more chaotic, especially as people are still in varying degrees of illness. If someones tries to leave their bed or house, it will likely be possible for them to do so as long as there isn’t a staff member tending to them right at that moment in time to keep them there. There will be a lot of running around between patients and rooms and finding supplies and dealing with emergencies, so truth be told, it’ll be a bit of a shit show. 

By the evening, around 6 or 7pm, more people will be completely out of commission, so things should have calmed down by then and more people will be where they are supposed to be, wherever that is. However, if you have a character who doesn’t experience the sickness as badly as the other and it stays that way, they may be able to move around a little bit more or offer to help staff or check on friends in other houses, if their vitals looking more positive. 

There’s a few different ways you can play this, and you are free to develop your own headcanons with each of your characters, just keep in mind the rules about the symptoms mentioned above, and please do come to the mods with any specific inquiries you might have! 

Alright, God Speed munchkins! Have fun with your little puking babies and... we’re sorry?? hahaha...

Love you all!

xxColMods

[iamrheaspeaks]

You Owe Me!

I haven’t written shit in years and prose isn't really my genre but this is happening 🤷🏾‍♀️ I’m forcing myself to post. Lightly proofread. But anyway, here’s my little OC! baby...

A/N: Bold italics are song lyrics

Word Count: ~1750

Warnings: None?!

Milly had been running on autopilot all day. Only getting four hours of sleep, and didn’t have time to smoke before work. Plus, she was just sick of being affected by everyone’s negative energy. You could understand why she couldn’t wait to just get home and shower away the filth of all things today. Ishe was still sleep in bed when Milly got in, “Let me tip toe my way into the bathroom”, she thought to herself.

As the hot water from the shower ran over her, Milly started to feel less bogged down from today’s events. Finally letting out a deep breath she hadn’t realized she was holding on to. Her whole body relaxing as the tension washed away down the drain with the suds. After finishing the rest of her shower routine Milly makes her way into their bedroom. Ishe’s now awake, sitting in bed watching dumbass fight videos on WorldStar.

“How was work?” Ishe asked not even bothering to look up from his phone.  

“Absolute shit! The fucking AC broke in the whole damn building and there was mandatory staff training today. Being stuck in a room full of sweaty balls, desperation and body heat is a FUCKING nightmare”! Milly recants as she searched through the small pile of clothes on her side of the bed for a specific pair of pajama shorts. As Milly continues to rant Ishe begins to make his way over to the desk in the opposite corner of the room.  

“Damn!” Ishe manages to squawk out before silently laughing, suddenly more glad that he was off today. And he would never admit it but it was kinda turning him on, “Imma load up Coral for you so you can get some down time. Sounds like you need it”! He turns to face forward in the seat to continue loading when he adds on, “Plus, I’m kinda scared for my boys” losing focus again and instinctively grabbing his junk with his non-dominant hand. Looking at her briefly through the mirror Ishe begins taking in just how compromising Milly’s current position is. Bent over at the waist totally oblivious to her surroundings, head deep in a pile of clothes that all happened to be varying shades of black, completely nude.

“You should be!” Milly chuckled while rolling her eyes at his half-failed attempt to lighten the mood. Coral is Milly’s three-piece; 3D printed stackable water pipe. Couldn’t 100% compare to the glass piece she normally used but it was a good conversation starter. And the bitch hit, HARD! “Anyway…thank you! I’m probably gonna take a hit or two, clear my Instagram and then come down stairs so we can finally go out and do the food shopping”. Ishe already in motion to the door at this point since he was done with Coral, paused slightly to look over his shoulder back to her with his left eyebrow raised, “Bet!”

 ~

 “Damn!” Ishe says to himself looking at the time on his phone and realizing that Milly is probably dead to the world. On his way to use the bathroom he peaks his head in the room to see and sure enough, she was knocked out. “Food shopping my ass”, Ishe thought to himself continuing to head to the bathroom. On his way out, after having decided to just go to the store without her Ishe stopped to take in the sight before him. Milly was sprawled out on the bed in nothing but a pair black running shorts with a pink trimming. They accentuated her ass, which made them his favorite. The lack of a top left Milly’s back tattoo on display. Full sized angel wings with the quote “angels speak to those who silence their minds long enough to hear” in script tracing along her spine pulling the whole piece together. Of all her tattoos this was the one that made Ishe worship the ground Milly walked on. It was mostly because of the deliberate imperfections she had the tattoo artist incorporate. Milly was adamant about the wings looking frayed and slightly scorched. Burned even, as if she literally fell from heaven. She had fallen asleep with her phone in her right hand and with her left on the side of her face making it look like she was adjusting her glasses. Feeling his dick twitch Ishe stuck his tongue out, licking his bottom lip while looking to his phone for the time. “Fuck! Let me get this damn store before it get busy.” Ishe thinks to himself running down the stairs. Ignoring his slight erection.

~

 Shameful to say she woke up about 3 hours later to a quite house and messages from Ishe.

Ishe:

You owe me!

I had to go food shopping by myself 😭

I’ll be back soon though. I’m down the street catching up with Ace. I love you miss!

Still kinda groggy she rereads his messages before dragging the screen from right to left so she could see the time stamp. Eyes shooting to the top of the screen at the time, “FUCK!” Milly shouted while sitting up and fixing her glasses. “Did I really just knock out for 3 fucking hours? What the fuck?” She questioned as her fingers hovered over the phone momentarily thinking of what to finally reply to Ishe.

Milly:

I’m sorry daddy! I guess I was more tired than I thought. Love you too! 💋

Milly smiled to herself as the message sent. She then proceeds to grab one of Ishe’s oversized shirts that she’s claimed and made her way the kitchen to find something to eat. Waking up with the munchies is a bitch!

“…I, I'm a do you dirty/ Say you love me now, baby, it's too early/ I, I'm a do you dirty/ You think you love me now, I think you should be worried…” Milly was dancing around the kitchen shoving her face with fruit while singing along to Kehlani’s “Do U Dirty” when Ishe returned home with Ace in tow. Ace was Ishe’s good friend he met a couple jobs ago and they just stayed in touch. Plus, he was pretty reliable when your personal connect was out of town. The three smoked, chilled and blurted out their random stoner thoughts while watching Ridiculousness. And would all slightly cringe every time Chanel laughed uncontrollably.

 ~

Milly can’t really register when it happened but eventually she was gone to the point where the only things on her mind were sex and sleep. Thinking to herself “Yup, I’m definitely fucking high”! Immediately after the image of riding the shit out Ishe popped into her head. Biting her lip, her core clamped down on nothing, just as her bundle of nerves pulsed at the thought simultaneously. Making it even harder to push the now intrusive images out her mind.

 “…I'm your doctor, when in need/ Want some coke, have some weed/ You know me, I'm your friend…” Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman” suddenly blaring from Ace’s plug phone finally broke Milly out her thoughts. She looked up to see Ishe staring at her. Her eyes grew wide as her clouded mind registered that she was squeezing her thighs together. And to make things worse, she was still biting her bottom lip. Ishe raises his eyebrow and glides his tongue across his bottom lip when their eyes meet. The motion causing Milly to shutter in her seat as a chill ran up her spine under his hungry gaze. She could feel his eyes undressing her but couldn’t will herself to look away. Ishe was the first to break the intense glance, to look over at Ace. The sound of his voice made his presence remembered.

 “Yeah I got you ma. Give me 15” Ace responding to the person on the phone before hanging up, “Yo, Ishe, I’ll catch you later bruh. This fine girl that found me on Instagram tryna buy a quarter”. “Uh huh nigga. Whatever.” Ishe responds with a half smirk, it’s obvious he didn’t believe Ace at all. “You are such a man whore Ace! Don’t let your bad guy antics rub off on Ishe or we gonna be fightin!” Milly interjected while gathering things for their retreat upstairs since their company was leaving. Ishe and Ace both side eyed each other before letting out a huge laugh looking back at Milly. Ace responding to her threat, “You know I learned everything I know from YO nigga right?” thumb pointing to her beau. Ishe fake gasped and clutched his imaginary pearls before backhanding Ace in the arm catching him off guard, “Don’t be telling my girl that shit man!”  Milly just shock her head at their childishness and continued her way up the stairs.

 ~

 Ishe finally begin to go upstairs after playing Xbox Live with his cousin for a few games of Black Ops. Milly’s knocked out clutching a stuffed elephant from Ikea in the center of the bed with the light and TV on. Abandoning the shorts she looked so hard for back into the pile, now only wearing Ishe’s shirt. Left leg bent at the knee causing the shirt to rise up, leaving her ass fully exposed. The sight alone was teasing Ishe, almost daring him to do something. The buzz from the weed was starting to fully take over along with the feeling of his dick making his pants tight once again. Ishe couldn’t help but to act on the images that flashed through his mind while staring down at Milly from the doorway.

 Slowly moving to hover over Milly, Ishe further examined the current state of his lover. Her copper colored skin was begging to be caressed. Her thick thighs untouched by any marks or ink. Full round bottom looking inviting as fuck. Ishe’s hand twitched as the urge to smack it came over him, “Not yet” he thought bringing his slight inner turmoil to a halt. Bypassing what was underneath that shirt for now, he started to make Milly stir underneath him. Ishe showered her with deliberate and needy kisses along the back and right side of her neck. When Ishe gently sucked on that sweet spot right behind Milly’s ear it earned him a sleepy moan right before Milly let out a weak “Mmm?” before scrunching up her face and prying her eyes open. Attempting to familiarize herself with the now pitch black bedroom. Just as she’s starting to come to, Milly’s whole body grows stiff as Ishe leans back down barely hovering over her with his mouth a feather’s touch away from her ear. “I told you...You owe me!” Ishe’s voice deep but barely above a whisper as he slowly inched inside of her…

Final Notes:

I’m a sucker for unisex names with interesting meanings 🙃

Milly- Latin origin: means hard worker of gentle strength

Ishe- African origin: means God, lord or leader

@savagesensitivity @another-imaginesblog @cancerianprincess

[ediblenapkin-moved]

That’s The Thing About Dreams- Chapter 1

A/N: holy fucking shit why. Why am i doing this nobody asked for this

What the fuck

uuuuuuuUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH i’m actually doing this

I’m almost 90% sure this idea already exists somewhere, but I can’t find it. If anyone knows who the fuck first made it then please tell me so i can direct people there. If not then holy shit i had an original idea????? (hahahahahahaha yeah no.)

Anyways, I don’t quite have any good names for this fucking fic so prepare for utter and complete BS no matter what I settle on. I mean, the entirety of this fucking AU is just summed up with the words What If Joey Got Drafted (i’ve officially called it the Animator Reversal Au but that sounds dumb) (someone with creativity: help) (the title is shit. sorry.)

And finally, i have no fucking skill in writing certain things. You know, like a proper intro and all that jazz. So i apologize ahead of time. I’ll probably go back later and edit this. maybe. whenever i can open my eyes for a minute.

Here is the ff.net link.

Enjoy.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

“Joey? You doing alright?” Henry leaned into his friend’s office, but froze.

The man was sitting at his desk, staring at the wall. A letter laid loftily on top of all the varied sketches and designs that were scattered across the overused workspace. An inkwell had been tipped over, the ink dripping lightly into a puddle. As Henry spoke, he turned and stood, shoving all the paper further up on the desk.

“Ah! Henry! Yes, yes, I’m doing fine. I was just taking a break, as a matter of fact. Care to join me?”

Henry frowned. Something was off, but he couldn’t quite tell what. “Yeah…”

“Great! Come on.”

Joey walked off, but Henry stayed in the doorway, staring at the desk. Soon he found himself pulling down one fold of the letter, and scanning it. He knew it would probably be fine- Joey read most of the letters he got.

As he read, though, his face went pale. He folded the letter, slipped it back on top of the other paper, and walked to the break room.

This probably wasn’t going to end well.

****************

Within twenty minutes, Joey was slumped in a chair in the break room, and already the contents of the letter were out and already spread through at least three floors of the studio.

“You? You are getting drafted.”

Joey sighed. “Yes, I’m pretty sure that’s what it said.”

Henry shifted in his seat. As soon as he’d made it down to the break room, he’d pulled Joey aside and asked him about the letter. Of course, in an animation studio with this many people and only one break room every three floors, there were at least two people taking their breaks no matter when you checked. And it just so happened that Sammy was taking his break in the ground floor break room.

Currently, the music director was leaning against the wall, eyes shut. “So now what?”

“Yeah, now what?” Wally, sitting in a chair propped by the doorway, looked up. “How’s this supposed to work out? It’s already crazy enough with you here- if you leave, I don’t think we’re gonna be able to keep this place in one piece.”

A chorus of agreements filled the room from the various staff who had already made their way upstairs. Susie had been one of the first, and instantly she began firing off questions one after the other- but as more and more people arrived, it’d just gotten louder and louder- until finally Sammy got everyone’s attention and forced most of them to go back to work. Quite a few remained, though, and they were finally using up the chairs that had been haphazardly placed in the break room.

Something that Joey didn’t really enjoy, but….

“So, how many days?”

“Four. Four days.” He put his head in his hands. “And just when I had the perfect idea…”

“What, you were gonna give me a raise?” Several people chuckled, and Joey raised his head just enough to glare at Sammy for a moment.

“Seriously, though, what are we going to do? Are we going to take a hiatus…?”

Silence. Then, Joey shook his head. “No, no stopping now. We’ve gotten this far- even if I’m not going to be here, things shouldn’t stop here.” He stood. “Alright, here’s the plan- Henry is officially in charge.” The animator blinked as Joey pointed at him. “But, Sammy- you’re in charge of making sure Henry doesn’t screw up anything major. You know what, Franks- you’re also in charge of Henry.”

“Hell, just put everyone else in charge of Henry and call it a day,” Thomas muttered.

Henry groaned from his seat. “You don’t trust me to run this place, yet you call me the co-owner.”

“Don’t worry. I knew you didn’t want to really do anything business wise, so I’m pushing it on them.”

“And you’re the one who spent an outrageous amount of money on a whole toy factory, but I’m the untrustworthy one…”

“Hey, that toy factory’s got a nice profit.”

“And I don’t?”

*******************

Three more days saw Joey Drew on his knees, tracing ink onto the floor slowly and carefully with one hand, the other set against an open book.

Finally, he finished, and stood, picking the book up.

A fully drawn pentagram laid on the floor, still gleaming and fresh. It was surrounded by lit candles and a ton of uncapped, full inkwells.

Joey took a deep breath, bringing the book closer. He only had a little bit of time left. If this worked, it could keep the studio afloat while he was gone. It would last long enough for him to come back. Because he would come back. (He had to think he would because if he thought he might then that left room for doubt and that meant he believed, at least a little, that he could very much die out there and bleed out in a foreign place with nobody recognizable in sight and all his dreams stuck in his head where nobody can reach them-)

Joey would return.

He reopened the book, flipping to the correct page. The page he’d handwritten, having used well over thirty different books as a reference. The entire book was basically one giant reference for the varied things he wanted to do.Some pages filled with pentagrams, some with character sketches, some with rants and ramblings about anything he could think of.

Due to one of the thoughts he’d had when writing, it had the thought provoking title of The Illusion of Living sketched on with a bit of white pencil. Not that it would ever be published, of course.

Joey paused for a moment- allowing the doubt to seep in. It’s not going to work. It’s going to go wrong. Something doesn’t feel right.

Then. he shook his head. No, this would go right. It had to.

He took another breath and began chanting. As he spoke, he noticed the lines on the circle beginning to darken- and then the ink moved. He stuttered, nearly botching a word, but managed to catch himself and continue.

The ink pulled itself from the inkwells, gathering in a point in the middle of the circle. It began to rise, forming a shaky pillar that nearly reached Joey’s shoulders. As Joey spoke the final words, it sunk back down slightly- and began to form a definitive shape.

Joey finished the chant- and the ink paused.

Then it collapsed.

Joey cried out, looking at the page- then put the book down and kneeled next to the circle.

The ink broke the confines of the circle, but remained inanimate. It didn’t move any further, simply remained a pile of ink on the floor.

For a while, Joey waited. Maybe he’d said one of the words wrong. Maybe there wasn’t enough ink. Maybe, maybe, maybe…

But soon enough, a clock chimed- and he checked his watch. His shoulders sagged.

His time was up. This was his last day in the studio- his last chance. But it hadn’t worked.

He shut the book, and set it back on the desk. Blew out the candles. Then, silently, he walked out, not turning back, leaving the ink puddle on the floor.

He shut the door just as the ink rippled.

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

A/N: So for some reason, whenever I think of an actual image of Joey now, all I can see is Cave Johnson. The younger one. The one that thinks he’s got all his shit together and he can test on Olympiads and astronauts!!! Yeah that one. That’s what I imagine Joey looks like. So when I write Joey, I can’t help but imagine this guy that looks a lot like Cave Johnson. If, ya know, Cave failed to raise enough money for Science™ and had to settle for cartoon business instead. And decided to dabble with magic because he couldn’t afford Science™. Because you know what, fuck Science™. what did it ever do for him.

So there’s that.

Anyways there’s probably a million and one errors with this but i cannot care enough to fix anything at this point so

On a side note, i sometimes regret putting certain songs in my playlist.not because i don’t like them, but because i really do not need that mood when writing this story. Like, i love the sound, but i do not need this mood. This is supposed to be a SERIOUS scene, not really silly. Stop making me crack dumb jokes with little taste.

Something serious. I’m pretty sure Henry knew the toy factory existed- where else could the plushies have come from- but never got to see it or anything. Just found out that it was there and was like joey why

So, there’s chapter 1. Who knows when chapter 2 will arrive????.... I sure don’t hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha sorry

[reclusive-cat-lady]

I was tagged ages ago by the lovely @flames-bring-a-ton-of-ash ... had to wait til I got on my laptop to fill it out.

A- age: 27

B- birthplace: Papillion, Nebraska

C- current time: 8:44pm

D- drink you last had: Vienna Lager from an amazing local brewery Devil’s Backbone. Not sure how popular it is outside of Virginia but they offer it at like every bar here.

E- easiest person/people to talk to: My best friend Kat and my cats... yes, I talk to them more than I do humans so I’m including them. 

F- favorite song: It varies but I’d say my go to songs when I need a mood pick up are Carry On Wayward Son by Kansas and Square Hammer by Ghost

G- grossest memory: I was catering an offsite event and much to my irritation the general mentality at my workplace is that any type of lifting or labor should be left to the men. When all the female staff members declined to empty the garbage can, I made a scene about it and went to empty it myself. Now I would have been proud of this example had the bag not had a hole when I lifted it into the bin. I was completely covered in carved up turkey bits and cranberry juice. Then I proceed to cackle like an idiot for the next few minutes because all I could think of is when TWD characters get covered in walker guts because that’s exactly what it looked like. 

H- horror yes or horror no: Fucking hell yes.

I- in love?: only with my cats and fictional characters (I’m stealing that answer because that sums up my existence)

J- jealous of people?: tbh I’ve never really experienced jealously except for that time all my cats flocked to the attention of my best friend’s asshole husband. Envy though? Absolutely. My brain is just wired different than most people when it comes to attachment.

L- love at first sight or should I walk by again?: I believe in past lives due to my personal experiences so I’m inclined to think that’s the explanation for "love at first sight.” On a more factual spectrum, I don’t think meeting someone once for the first time can be a true and complete love as it takes time to develop feelings and attachment to another person.

M- middle name: Faith

N- number siblings: only child

O- one wish: to eventually move somewhere I’m happy

P- person you called last: my coworker/friend

Q- question you are always asked: Is your hair color natural? Ugh, I know people are just being friendly but it feels very intrusive and none of their business.

R- reason to smile: I’m had two consecutive days off for the first time in ages to recharge from all the social overload

S- song you sang last: I keep randomly singing Iron Maiden’s New Frontier because it reminds me of Westworld which I’ve been binging.

T- time you woke up: a little after 7:00am

U- underwear colour: my only white pair to go with my white sundress

V- vacation destination: There’s so many European counties I’d love to visit but I’ve been dying to go back to Senoia, Georgia. I was in Walking Dead heaven there.

W- worst habit: Probably sleeping with my makeup on. I only ever keep up my skin care routine in the months proceeding a con. I prepare for con ops like most women do their wedding.

X- x-rays: When I was 13 or 14, I would carry my kitten in my purse with me everywhere. One day my heel got caught on the sidewalk causing me to fall so I shielded the kitten with my arm. I can’t remember if it was a fracture or what but I had x-rays.

Y- your favourite food: Pizza or sushi. I haven’t been able to curve my sushi craze since writing my last fanfic.

Z- zodiac sign: Virgo poster child here

Tagging - @tsukistefhon @lucifers-trash-stash 

[anywhereconsulting]

Episode 2 - How user testing can improve your business

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Zsolt is the founder of Ping Pong, an online UX research platform. They make simple UX research possible by streamlining the process from tester recruitment to payouts. Ping Pong is being used by startups and enterprises from all over the world.

Connect with Zsolt on LinkedIn.

ABOUT THE EPISODE

This episode focuses on user testing and user research. We dive deep into the why, when, and how. We discuss why you need user testing, why you need to validate your ideas with testing. We provide insights on when you need to do it and what preliminary research you need to safely start user research. We provide the 3 most important steps you need to do when doing user research on your own.

Listen it on Apple Podcast or Soundcloud.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE EPISODE

LISTEN THE EPISODE

Listen it on Apple Podcast or Soundcloud.

My name is Peter Benei, founder of Anywhere. We are a specialized performance-based marketing & design consulting company, helping our clients to get more leads. To read our case studies & learn more about our work, click here.

We work through a unique subscription-based service called Roam. It is flexible, predictable, and modular. To learn more about Roam, click here.

Connect with me on LinkedIn or drop me a line by clicking here.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Peter: Welcome to the 99 challenges show. I'm your host, Peter Benei. Today we will focus on user testing and how to validate your product or service when you pivot. Throughout the 99 challenges series we record episodes in a random order, though I believe testing your product or service before market is an essential step at the very beginning in your business. Today, we gonna dive deep into user testing with Zsolt Kocsmarszky. He is the founder of Ping Pong, a cutting edge user testing site, where he helps companies to validate their ideas with targeted users. Zsolt, welcome to the show.

Zsolt: Thank you for the introduction, Peter, and welcome everyone on this episode. Yeah, I'm the founder of Ping Pong, which is a user research or, a user testing platform .

Peter: So how are you helping your clients with Ping Pong?

Zsolt: All right. So h ow Ping Pong works is quite interesting. It's almost like a marketplace where we have on one side testers or people from all over the world who signed up for Ping Pong to earn some money with these sessions basically, which are one-on-one video calls. And another side, we have our clients : startups bigger and smaller companies who would like to get connected with c onsumers, users and relevant people from their audience. And we just make this process very streamlined and easy. So they can do their user research and user testing related activities.

Peter: Cool. So for starters for those who don't know what user testing is and what are the possible, useful use cases, can you provide a bit more insights, please? How you are doing user research, what is user testing in general and why you should even care?

Zsolt: I would ike to take a step back from user testing itself because it's just a subcategory of user research and user research. It's very important when it comes to building products, not just digital, but any kind of product. Specifically in user testing, you would like to talk to your target audience or your actual users to test or digital interfaces. This can be like apps and websites, landing pages to get real feedback from your users. So this is especially useful. And Product development phase or like early stages of the of the product development, because you don't want to build something that only works fine in your head. You want to get feedback from people that build of buy your product o r thinking of using your service. So that's the most important bit that you just want to get other people involved in the product development. So we make sure that the end result is going to be something that's usable and actually useful for everyone.

Peter: so when you say that other people will get involved in the product development, it means that these are l ike strangers that you gather based on a target group, that would be using the product anyway or service. And they are collaborating with the product development team or the client that you have.

Zsolt: So yeah. Yes, that's correct. So there are, based on people are testing their products with their friends and family, which is not really ideal because it would like to get people who are not attached in any way to your to your staff or to your products. There are two types o , two levels of detail that you can go into defining your audience. One is the demographics, like one, they are specific age, gender, location, and the other one is related to behavior and the way they think. So that's that can be achieved through screening, when you ask specific questions from users and you make sure that you are talking to people who actually use specific products.

Peter: In the previous episode of 99 challenges we had a guest from Launch Mappers, David Odier, and we talked about go-to-market strategies. And one of the key insights that, that he provided was asking feedback from your, if you're an established business, of course asking feedback from from your current clients and customers on the new product or service that you're going to market later, because they can provide the most valuable feedback first. So in terms of like user testing it is really helpful for those who market a product that is totally new so they need a new target group to provide feedback, not their own customers or already existing customers, or the company itself is pretty much early stage startup company.

Zsolt: So it depends, but usually if you are launching a completely new product, like you have no existing customers, you're going to go with the ones you can find, if you already have users or consumers on the market, you probably want to mix. So you want to talk to people who are currently using your product or use your product in the past, and also people who never even maybe heard about your product or your brand.

Peter: What can be a typical use case for users testing? Can you provide an example, maybe how a client used your platform within their product development cycle.

Zsolt: Yeah. So there are many use cases. I'm going to go with two, which are like very common. One is discover the early stage testing and you have either like a product landing page or a concept, maybe it's on a, just a mood board or a Miro or Mural board. And you would like to get feedback from users. You're just showing them ideas and you just talk to them. It's more like an interview so it's not about actually testing an interface, but this is also massively valuable because you get external insights and like hour a half an hour or one hour session, and you can really collect a lot of thoughts that you haven't even thought of. And the other one is just more like a user testing type and you are actually testing a digital interface, or a user for a UI like a software as a service product that say you have you have a website. You want to improve the onboarding. And that there are problems or you have a couple of ideas that you want to validate or invalidate. So you get people, potentially people you've never used their product and ask them to perform specific tasks and thus would be like, go to the website, read what it does, please think out lou d, tell me what you read and then sign up to our product and start using it. And this is like a very simplified example, but basically that's the core of it. You get people just, start using your product and you're going to see they gonna channel their thoughts, and you're gonna, you're gonna see where they fail or where they succeed better than you expected. And that's going to be like massively useful for your research. And you're going to know where to actually improve your product or varied works better than you expected.

Peter: Cool. And what is the process? What would be the first step that I should do or should figure out before I go over to you or any other user research sites or research solution.

Zsolt: Okay, so that's actually a good question because we had some clients in the past who are like smaller, bigger agencies and they were testing the landing page and offering with marketing managers or chief marketing officers. And basically the process is you'll you build the website, you maybe had the research before or not, but now you're going to have some assumptions about your website. It's good to write them down. It's worth writing down your assumptions because it's going to help you to figure out okay, like this might work, this might not work. You're going to have a couple of ideas. For example, you want to figure out like, if your copy works here, if they understand what you wanted them to understand in that point of the upside from there it's usually or what I usually recommend is to start writing down some questions, which are like very open-ended and vague. And these are like a very weird question. It's usually, brings down the user to a rabbit hole and they're going to start giving you all kinds of different thoughts. And from there, usually the conversation goes further, so usually a good user testing Session is like a good conversation with someone that can share their thoughts very well. Of course, you're going to get all kinds of people who can channel their thoughts, like in a very high level, and they are very thoughtful and you're going to get people who cannot, and then you have to do more work asking questions, but that's absolutely normal.

Peter: Is it always done through interviews, by the way, so interviews with the users?

Zsolt: That's a good the question because there are different kinds of users test. What does, or what we are advocating is like moderated user testing. When you are on a call moderating the session basically, which is like a one-on-one video call. And there is unmoderated when you are writing down questions for the tester and the users are going through these steps and questions and they are just talking to the microphone and the camera. And you just watch the recording. Both has its own pros and cons. But we, what we prefer is the moderated one, because you can get so much out of it.

Peter: So pretty much you or someone from your company attends the call as a moderator and facilitates the conversation between the user and the tester.

Zsolt: With Ping Pong it's always the client who provides them, the facilitator or moderator or researcher, and we just provide the platform for this. Yeah, but there are other ways of going to, so there is a lot of, there are lots of companies are outsourcing this, which I'm not sure if it's the best approach, because one of the biggest benefits of user testing and user research is it bridges the gap between the customer you, so that's really the most important bit.

Peter: And once the testing is done I guess these are all qualitative data that testing produces. Or usually I guess, it is up to the client to gather some insights or evaluate that data or Ping Pong provides any other solutions?

Zsolt: So exactly. So basically it's up to your understanding and you have to have some kind of way to get to synthesize all of this data and make sense of it. That's actually, that can be quite tricky. After you done the session you get a recording, you can transcribe the recording, you can add notes to that. You could also mark the most important parts of the session, so you don't have to watch the entire recording again, but basically after the session is done, you have to, what I recommend, just call out the most important bits in headlines into sticky notes there surely or on the paper. And this can be like five to five to 20, different thoughts or interesting ways that you took out. Each session and then wants to have four or five sessions, four, five, six sessions. You can look at them together and do like affinity mapping, which means that you organize them in similar groups that make sense to you. And from there, you can go on figuring out which areas are the most important bits. It requires a bit of exercise, a few hours to spend on it. I think on the last research I did which was last week, it took me like. Two free hours to properly go through all the learnings and map them and figure out which are the most important bits. And it was for four or five areas that we had to focus on

Peter: What should be, or what can be the possible outcomes from a research like this, A, maybe you need to refine the product or service or B, you're on the right track or any other options that we can imagine.

Zsolt: Yeah. So let's focus on this onboarding example that I told you before, because that's quite typical. So the outcome of this research can be something like copy is not straightforward. It's not really telling you wha t, what the offer is is. So that's very...

Peter: I don't understand what you're offering here. That's the outcome.

Zsolt: Yeah. There can be also like positive outcomes that, okay, this is the website looks clean, straightforward. I understand what the offer is. So that's also a good encouragement and it's good to know that 'okay we have nothing to do actually there'. There can be things like pricing. I'm confused on the pricing. That's very typical. Pricing tables usually are not very easy to understand. So that's worth testing regularity because people are changing it a lot and companies are doing a new pricing once in a while. Other things like onboarding is not like no clear next step provided. So they, they sign up on that. But then you just, leave the user there. Yeah. The other bit was also related to pricing that because of the pricing is not clear, you are likely churning a lot, well not churning, but losing people on the signup because they don't even consider signing up. Because of how your pricing pages are structured . What else we have? Usually also like people call out unclear button labels. So if a call-to-action or something is not straightforward, they just, they get confused. There are also usability issues can come up very quickly. Let's say a critical piece of information is hidden below the fold. That's very usual. You don't want to hide critical information below the fold. People scroll are not saying that they are not scrolling. A lot of people can still find it. You just want to make sure that it's as easy as possible. So you want to have them to, most of the next step in the activation and not get stuck even for a second on that bit, that just improves the user experience. The user is happier. They're going to like the convert a bit better than without it.

Peter: Sure. Thank you. What if I'm an early stage startup company? Just about to start. I do have an idea or at least an MVP in the pipeline, but I have no clue on who would be the good group as the potential customers of my product or service. As far as I understood so far , user testing is all about talking to the relevant people about your product or service through an organized format from which everyone can learn and come up with insights . However, what happens if I don't know, who are the relevant people?

Zsolt: I think it's it usually, it's quite rare that you don't have any clue or any idea because you have competition probably. And if you have competition, you can define your target audience from there. But we had people who were running research online completely on a generic audience. So let's say they had a specific product on a specified audience, but they didn't care about that. They just run research with all kinds of people. Their target audience was, I think it could have been defined properly, but they just didn't do that. So they just run the research with anyone. And the point of that is basically that you want to be the product that's as easy to use for anyone and do it on the and the, specific knowledge, even though you actually gonna have a accountant or some kind of training behind you. So there is some cases when people do that, but generally speaking, it's not very common, I would say.

Peter: So most of the clients do know what the targets are, or at least they have a vague idea.

Zsolt: They have a vague idea. I don't know, they have to be very tech, heavy people because it's some kind of related technology, or VR or AR kind of thing. So they expect people are more like the early adopters, not anyone. Than they can... You can actually narrow down your audience. Are they early adopters? And then if you can, you have an idea about that? You can find those people.

Peter: Can you learn any insights from those who are not in your target group maybe?

Zsolt: Yeah, I think, yeah, not related to the field. So they, won't give you industry insights because usually when you are running an interview or test session, you get all kinds of insights, including industry insights and like very specific niche knowledge. But you can still get insight s related to u ser experience, to have it feel, to how easy it is to use your product and things like that.

Peter: Is it possible to have a target audience discovery? What I mean by that, that you don't know that certain people or different demographics would be within your target group, but you include them anyway in the user research and the typical target group that you have defined previously, and you suddenly find out that your product or service can be marketed to a different target group that you never felt about before. Have you had any kind of experience that or can you see it would be possible?

Zsolt: I think it definitely possible, but it's not that kind of information that doesn't necessarily come from qualitative insights like this. From what I see, so I think that's a bit more complex topic. It's not, it doesn't necessarily come from from any research, but it can come with a mix of research methods, qual and quant, both, and also your own experience or a domain knowledge that you have in a topic. And then you can, if you have an idea about that, you can validate it with qualitative research with interviews and testing.

Peter: We always touch the fact that different companies are acting and producing processes differently. Meaning if you are an early stage startup company you, yeah. You create processes differently compared to other companies who are already established businesses, but small or medium-sized and there is a whole another line for enterprises. In terms of user research , do you have any distinction between a startup or a small or medium size business or enterprise? Are they coming more or differently prepared to a research session like this? Do they have like different needs for example?

Zsolt: That's a very interesting topic. It's funny because we have really all kinds of clients from freelancers to Fortune 500 or Fortune 100 companies using Ping Pong. And there is there's a lot of, lots of things in common, even between the smallest company and the biggest one. So there is not much difference in the process and how they do this. And many times what we see that bigger companies. Take this more seriously than small ones. So they are more rigorous about the research. They are driving it more often. However, you would think that small companies would be more lean and agile and they will do this, but it's somehow the opposite for some reason. I'm not sure if I'm looking at the entire market trends here, but what I see, we have they have big companies doing a lot of research and we have small companies doing very random timing must be also small companies doing this record already and very often. So I'm not sure if I have the entire if I say this corrected, but I can tell you for sure that there are very big companies. I would never expect to be this research heavy and agile and assigned to their customers, but they do which is very interesting for me. And they also have small companies who are like sub 100, or 20 people. You still have a dedicated person for research or design, but they are doing it very rarely. So there are all kinds of things on the spectrum.

Peter: For those who want to start a user research right now and validate their idea or product or service with a service like yours, what would be your, I don't know, top 3 suggestions or advice is that you can give them how to start.

Zsolt: I think the most important bit is just to start, don't thin,k because it's very easy. Especially with the research and design your search and user testing to get paralyzed by the process and what's ahead of you. And that's what we are trying to have with Ping Pong, we made this very streamlined. You don't need to recreate it, don't need to schedule it, just get people tomorrow, 3:00 PM on the call and you do it and you're done. So that's what we have there. But even if you just decide, if you decide to do it in person, because you are working in office, it's not very common nowadays, but it's going to come back when the lockdowns raised. But if you just start doing it in person getting people, getting users in your office, or start talking to someone in a coworking or an office environment for a half an hour dedicated to a specific thing, that's already very useful. You have to think about research is like a muscle, you have to train it. And the best way for training is to have a consistency. So if you start doing one session, two sessions every week, every second week, that's very useful. That's the one that's the first one. Second one is to get your team involved. People say that research is a teamsport. Everything is a team sport actually. So you don't feel to do this as a silo just for yourself. You want to have product managers, software engineers, your peers, your co-founder, whoever get involved, not necessarily by sitting next to another session, but just looking at the data together that you that you collected our passing them, the recordings and things like that. And the third one is make sure that you are using the, that there's an output. So it's not just like you're talking and it's nice summaries and insights, but make sure that these are getting implemented. And that's why the regularity is useful to have, every second week, every month have a researche day because it forces you to close the previous research. Get it done, get it implemented or somewhere in the backlog or in your product development and move on to the next one.

Peter: Thank you. Cool. I think we learned really great insights on user research. If any of our listeners or audience members want to get in touch with you where can they reach you?

Zsolt: so I have my websites or our website hello ping pong dot com. It's very easy to reach me there because I can respond to the chat message or I'm also quite regular on LinkedIn or even Twitter.

Peter: Cool. Thank you Zsolt for being here. Thank you for being on the show.

Zsolt: It was my pleasure.

Peter: Great. So thanks again for coming. This was the 99 challenges show episode two. It was about user testing. We will be back with another challenge. And until the next episode, please subscribe to our podcast and follow our journey with more content at the 99 challenges that come. Thank you and speak soon.

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[irlpinkiepie]

a house built on sand, chapter 5

a bnha fic

Dreams are fickle creatures.

Sometimes the most certain can fall apart at a moment’s notice, and sometimes, the most fantastic dreams have a chance of coming true.

Of course, that all depends on the dreamer.

[ao3]

Quick rundown. Breakfast, shower, get dressed. She had timed the train ride a few days before, and the earliest she could afford to leave for a 9:00 start was at 8:10, 8:12 if she ran. Look down. 6:28. That’s plenty of time.

As the dye soaked into her hair, Izuku sunk into her favorite habit. What is the exam going to be like? She knew there was some kind of practical component, so it probably had something to do with talent towards being a hero, but beyond that she was totally lost. Fighting villains was the most obvious choice, but villains didn't exactly operate on a schedule, and that would also technically be illegal since neither she nor any of her compatriots would be licensed heroes. Maybe some kind of quirk test? She sincerely hoped not, but she trusted All Might not to deliberately mislead her into false hopes. Unless he had as much of an idea as she did? She didn't want to think about that possibility.

7:31; hopefully that wouldn't hurt too much. Izuku closed her eyes as she rinsed out her hair in the sink, then opened them to look into the mirror. It wasn't perfect, to be sure; there were some waves of hue, and a couple of places where the roots still shone the same light brown as before, but she figured that would come with practice.

She stared into the bright green eyes of her reflection, and then smiled. She looked just like her mother.

Now, get everything else ready to leave. A jacket would probably be a good idea; Izuku grabbed one out of her closet and slid it on over her tank top. Shoes? A pair of white sneakers lay in a rack by the front door before she grabbed them and jumped into them. ID, railcard, and applicant forms were all set; she was practically bouncing at this point, desperate to hop on the train and not spend a single second more waiting.

So, not seeing any reason to stay, she called out a quick goodbye and dashed out the front door.

The train ride was a blur of expectation. The moment Izuku got on, she rushed straight to the back of the car and sat down in the corner, struggling to stay calm as the suburban scenery faded into cityscape. Unable to keep her mind wholly distracted, she took to scanning the car’s passengers, looking for other kids about her age who might be joining her for the entrance exam. A young girl with long, pointed ears poking out of her blue hair, sitting on the other side of the car; Izuku almost moved to say hi, but before she got the chance, the girl picked up her bag and got off a couple stops into the journey. Probably not, then.

A boy with golden blond hair, sitting by himself, but in a tuxedo and holding a briefcase? Doubtful.

Izuku was both relieved and disappointed to not see Katsuki anywhere on the train. There was something a little nerve-wracking about having to navigate such an important day on her own, but she had heard quite enough of his opinions regarding UA High, and she preferred her current uncertainty and nervousness to the contempt which that familiarity had bred.

That being said, she hoped to have a chance to talk to him after the exam; maybe once the pressure of school had been alleviated, he’d be in less of a sour mood.

When her stop was finally called, Izuku was the first one out of the door. School’s right around the corner. No sense in waiting after coming this far.

The sight that she beheld upon rounding the block and turning to her left was so much glorious than pictures could ever have done justice. Towers of glass rising high above the earth, the morning sun reflecting off the building bright enough she had to shade her eyes. A sparkling concrete wall encircling the premises, trees bursting up from behind its border whose leaves were just beginning to bud. And in the midst of it all, hanging gently over what Izuku could only assume was the front gate, was a plain white banner which read simply, “Exam day!”

A few minutes later, she managed to collect herself and walk through the entrance.

Cars are expensive, sure, and a big responsibility, but was being dropped off by Mom and Dad really necessary? It didn't seem dignified.

He was made for greatness, after all.

The school was bigger than his last, but that didn't hugely concern him. He knew there would be more students than in a local junior high, and besides, the school looked rich enough that some amount of this was just extravagance for the sake of it.

Take a look around, survey the competition. Almost everyone already went to the lobby already, he should probably join them, but who was this girl with green hair, wearing shorts in winter and just staring at everything? She seemed a little familiar …

Probably not important; he probably wouldn't see her again. Time to head inside.

Izuku was thrown from her taking in the scenery by the passing of a face she couldn't help but recognize. Katsuki.

She was glad he was okay, at least, but he didn't even say hi? Was the exam stress getting to him that much? She definitely still had a few more minutes before she had to go inside, so he couldn't have been in a rush…

Wait. The hair, the outfit - maybe he just didn't recognize her. She beamed thinking about that possibility.

Still, the inside of the campus was just as phenomenal as it looked from the outside. Despite the building’s apparently bureaucratic appearance, it was actually put together rather artistically; the glass blocks, when viewed separately, seemed almost as towers of a radiant castle. And the height! She could count up almost a dozen floors standing far away, but from this close all that Izuku could sense was just the sheer scale of the place, dominating everything else around it. Hopefully, at some point, she'd get used to this. If she got in. When she got in.

The pathways, too, seemed remarkably well-kept; Izuku knew this school had been around for half a century, but every single brick looked positively brand-new. Maybe there was someone on staff whose quirk related to repairs? That'd definitely make for a pretty useful hero in an emergency situation although the applicability of that sort of power would probably vary wildly so maybe that's why they would move towards an educational career so that they can more effectively benefit wait that pathway is getting closer really fast uh oh close your eyes--

But despite her panic, Izuku never hit the ground.

After a moment of stunned realization, she opened her eyes, and found her face inches away from the pavement - and staying there. She was flying, or, at least, she was floating. But why?

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry!” came a voice from behind her. “I didn't mean to scare you like that, I just saw you about to trip, and it felt like bad luck incoming! I had to do something. Here, spin around and grab my hand.”

Izuku reached out her left arm and gently pushed against the ground in an attempt to get herself at least a little bit further up. Face no longer pressed towards the path, she found herself being stood over by a girl with warm brown hair, holding out her arm and looking at her expectantly. Reaching out her own hand and grabbing on, Izuku felt herself being pulled weightlessly into a more or less upright position, before suddenly feeling the pull of gravity again as she fell the last couple of inches.

“My quirk is making things weightless,” the girl said, pulling a pink scarf down from her face and tucking it into the collar of her coat. “I know you’re not supposed to use them on people, but I hope you don’t mind too much.”

“O-oh, not at all!” Izuku stuttered in reply, not entirely sure how to react. “Thanks for the help.”

“Of course!” responded the brunette with a smile. “It’s like I said, I’d hate it if someone lost out ‘cause of feeling unlucky. I know it’s a bit silly,” she continued, stretching an arm behind her head, “but it can’t hurt. I’m Ochako, by the way.”

“Izuku.” There was something reassuring about Ochako’s presence, even if she couldn’t figure out what exactly.

“Should we get going? As beautiful as it is outside, it can probably wait until after the exam, don’t you think?” Ochako walked a couple of steps towards the door as she spoke, and then turned back to Izuku, motioning to follow.

She was still unsure of herself, but she didn’t have any doubts about this. Smiling back as best she could, Izuku followed her new friend through the school’s front doors.

“No, it’s actually rarer than you’d think,” Ochako said as the two of them found their way into the auditorium at the end of the hallways and arrow-labeled signs. “I was the only one from my school who applied. It’s like, self-selecting? Most of the people who wouldn’t get in don’t even bother going through the exam. Middle section alright?”

“Sure thing,” responded Izuku, as the two of them moved into the rows and set their sights on a pair of still-empty seats. They weren’t scheduled to start for a few minutes, but the seats were already filling close to the brim. “There seem to be a lot more people here than that, though,” she said gesturing to the room around her.

“Hm? There are a lot of junior high schools in Japan, you know.”

“Oh. Right.” For some reason, the idea that there were kids like her who had traveled across the country to chase the same dream had never occurred to her, but now that it had, her nervousness suddenly escalated far above what it had been all day. She had probably had more training, sure, but she wasn’t even the best in her class, let alone the entire country.

“Are you feeling okay?” Ochako said, and then her voice became static and swirled around her.

There wasn’t a single thing she had done to prepare herself for several hundred students who were all the best in their school, and now she was stuck and there was no way out and the walls and the students pushed closer and closer and a hand gently fell into her lap and she grabbed it as tight as she could and held on until the panic faded and the lights and sounds outside her returned to their sources and she followed the hand she held tight to its origin and looked up at her and smiled and said, simply, “Thank you.”

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright in the exam?” Gone was her previously cheery demeanor, replaced by an expression of worry.

“Yeah, I-I’m sorry.” Stay calm, don’t fret, just focus on what’s best possible. “I don’t really do well with uncertainty, and I was kind of thrown…”

Ochako nodded, a faint smile returning to her face. “Well, if it helps at all, orientation’s just about to start; should be any minute now.” Sure enough, Izuku looked down at her watch and saw the faint glow of an 8:59 screen, which she stared at expectantly waiting for the next change in time.

Just before it had the chance, though, it was interrupted by a hum of speaker static coming from the front of the auditorium, followed by an almost ear-splitting amplified voice echoing through the room which said only the words “EVERYBODY READY?” And with that, the lights dimmed, a projector shone onto the back wall, and a young man dressed in all black leather sauntered on stage, blond hair gelled back to a point.

Present Mic.

UA graduate of ‘38, top 10 in popularity polls for the first five years of his career, billions of yen earned lifetime, and now, it seemed, high school teacher. Honestly, as far as career paths went, Izuku didn’t think that one was so bad. She wasn’t sure how much he really needed a microphone given his quirk, though.

Still, as much time as she had spent with All Might, there was still something amazing about seeing a professional hero standing right in front of her and talking directly to her, especially one whose radio show she still listened to on a nightly basis.

“Welcome, everyone, to the first day of what will hopefully be a long and happy three years of study at UA High School! That is, of course, if you can pass the entrance exam! LET’S GET THINGS STARTED!” The projector, which previously displayed a blank white screen, now had additional lettering: plain black type which read ‘Entrance Exam Details’, and below that, in a smaller font, the words ‘By Hizashi Yamada’.

“So!” Present Mic continued, still excitedly shouting every word. “There is a written exam too, and that’ll be in a few days or so, but there’s nothing EXCITING about that! You kids signed up here ‘cause you wanted to be heroes! So let’s see if you can!”

He threw his arms out and yelled, “CURTAINS PLEASE!” At that, the title card behind him faded, replacing itself with what looked like a… video game screen? Complete with tinny music playing through the speakers.

Well, he seemed excited, even if the rest of the room was silent.

“Your test is gonna be fighting villains! Robot villains! Lots of them!” Pixelated figures materialized on the board, and were those Mario enemies? On second thought, this was clearly going to be weird; Izuku figured it would be better to just accept it. Each of the figures was labeled with a different number, and a similarly-styled Present Mic appeared and started wandering around the virtual city.

“Three types of robots! Each one’s worth a different number of points - try to get as many as you can in ten minutes! Don’t get killed!” Wait, how dangerous was this going to be? No, that was probably just a joke. Maybe. His shouting every word didn’t exactly make the tone of his words clear, as much as it was still a delight to listen to.

“Excuse me, sir!” Another voice rang out from the audience; Izuku was amazed that anyone managed to find room to get a word in edgewise. She looked to find the source of the interruption, and traced it to a boy sitting near the front, standing perfectly straight in his school uniform and raising his hand high in the air. Astonishingly, Present Mic noticed him too, and stopped his speech to respond, “Yes? What’s the matter?”

“You mentioned there being only three types of opponent,” the boy said bluntly, pushing his glasses to his face, “and yet the diagram you provided shows four plus yourself. Is this a problem with your speech, or with the presentation?”

“Worry not!” Present Mic responded before spinning back behind the podium and dramatically stretching out his arms again. “That’s just what I was about to mention! The mid-round game changer! Zero point robot! Just don’t get in its way!”

All in all, this ‘test’ seemed bizarre at best. They were just going to be set loose on a bunch of fake villains? But presumably still dangerous villains, otherwise the test wouldn’t be very useful, but also not too dangerous villains, since she hadn’t heard about any previous children killed by an entrance exam. She turned to Ochako making a confused face, and received only a shrug in response.

“Check your forms for your exam center! Buses leave outside in 20 minutes, so get ready! Break a leg! PLUS ULTRA!” Shouting his final words loud enough to put Izuku’s hair on end, he stood back and bowed as the screen faded to black. Izuku, for her own part, managed a couple enthusiastic claps before realizing that the rest of the room failed to share her sentiment.

The two of them both perused their sheets before finding a small, capital letter ‘B’ in the bottom right corner.

“Well… good luck, I guess,” Izuku said hesitantly. She wasn’t sure how she felt about having people she knew watching her during the exam, even if only indirectly, but she gave a thumbs up regardless.

“Thanks! You too.” Ochako blinked a couple of times before nodding and offering a faint smile alongside her words.

As the two of them filed out of the auditorium along with the rest of the students, neither said another word.

The bus ride was surprisingly short, and Katsuki was nowhere to be seen. Cherish blessings as they come.

This current situation, though, was nothing short of confounding. Izuku really wasn’t expecting to be blown away by architecture twice in one day, but it seemed like the school really had built enclosed cityscapes out in the middle of the countryside, and she could see the peak of a skyscraper rising out above the sheer metal wall in front of her. Seven buses outside before she left probably meant that there were seven of these, and if there was any damage to the interiors, they would have to be rebuilt every single year. Everything she had learned that day shocked her.

Looking around, she saw Ochako again - no longer dressed in winter gear, but instead sporting a light blue jacket and tracksuit. She must have gotten changed before getting on the buses, then - that would explain why she had left and Izuku hadn’t spotted her again until now. It felt wrong to leave the situation between the two of them unresolved, though, and she wanted to make sure her words had been taken sincerely. She only managed a single step in her direction, though, before her path was blocked by the straightened arm of another student.

“And what do you think you’re doing?” the boy stopping her said sternly. Izuku was surprised to see the same boy who had interrupted Present Mic’s speech standing in front of her. At this rate, it was more surprising that Katsuki wasn’t there with her.

“That girl over there is clearly trying to concentrate. It would be extremely inappropriate for you to interfere with your competitors in such a manner, and I ask that you please refrain.”

“I-- uh… okay.” No point in arguing; even in what was presumably a school P.E. uniform, he was still somewhat of a presence. Izuku gently backed up and walked off in a different direction as quickly as she could.

Wanting to avoid thinking about that awkwardness, Izuku decided to take a moment to strategize. While she hadn’t technically done it before, there was nothing about fighting robotic opponents that seemed noticeably different from human opponents with quirks, and she had been taught by the best how to do that. It was just a matter of being resourceful and thinking quickly, and with only three types of robots to contend with, it shouldn’t be tricky to get a feeling of how to defeat them all.

How would points be assigned for collaborative efforts, though? She didn’t really want to take any risks, so she should probably head out on her own and hope not to run into anyone. That being said, she wasn’t on the best of terms with the two students she had actually spoken to already, and not really being sure how much time there was before the exam actually started, trying to collaborate at this point seemed like a fool’s errand. Seeing the other students all standing apart silently in front of the open gate, she doubted anyone would even wait the gate was open.

Did that mean the test had started? No one else seemed to have noticed, and the worst that could happen is that she would be pulled out and have to start with everyone else. Besides, a head start was a tempting offer.

Just as she was about to cross the threshold into the artificial city, she heard the crackle of a loudspeaker, and nearly panicked before she heard its message: the voice of Present Mic angrily shouting, “Well, what are you waiting for? No countdowns in battle!” At that, the people behind her perked up and started running, so Izuku took that as a sign to do the same. Pulling off at the first corner and making sure no one had followed her, she wandered into the city looking for enemies, and it wasn’t long until she found one.

Never had Izuku been more glad to have accidentally left a screwdriver in her pocket. With as many electrical appliances as she had dismantled over the course of her beach training, there was often a temptation to hate its presence, but right now she couldn’t be more grateful.

The android standing in front of her had large shields over its arms, each emblazoned with the numeral “1”. Mutator-type quirk, she thought. Tackle the weak points, manipulate the mutation. Seeing the arms about to come down at her, she dodged out of the way, and then ran behind her opponent and held on tight to its back. A loose plate became looser, and a couple of wires were knocked from their slots, and the robot she was grabbing lost power and fell to the floor.

Izuku sat down for a moment to catch her breath. The moment she had stepped through the gate to the city, she had felt slightly uneasy, and that encounter had amplified that feeling to distress. Not panic, fortunately, but enough to start making her feel sick.

As soon as she could, though, she picked herself back up and kept moving. She wasn’t sure what a winning score was, but something told her that a single point would not suffice.

Walking through the cityscape was an oddly surreal experience. So many of the side alleys and narrow roads reminded her of her own home city - was that deliberate? - but for every familiar doorstep and street corner, there was a pristine concrete wall or row of darkened windows that reminded her that her surroundings were artificial. Given more time to ponder, Izuku would have wandered for days; as it was, though, her observations were minor distractions as she ran by on a quest to defeat more enemies.

When the loudspeaker rang out with a five-minute warning before she had increased her score any further, though, she realized that she was going to have to adopt a different strategy.

Concentrate. The simulation is likely to be accurate. Real villains don’t attack randomly, they attack population centers. Going right to the most open areas would probably mean competition from other students, but the access routes would probably be effective targets, as well as blocking off the other students. Plus, this was just a simulation, but there was something that seemed wrong about attacking villains in places where others could be endangered.

She listened out for the sound of commotion and followed it as best she could, but when another one-point robot crossed her path, panic suffused through her body and overrode her previous ability to fight back. When the metallic arm swung down towards her, she tried desperately to run away, but her legs were frozen in place, and she could only squeeze her eyelids shut and fret.

She wasn ’t entirely happy with how this whole situation played out, but at the halfway things seemed to be looking up. Her quirk was starting to wear her out, though; thankfully, this wasn’t an extended fight, so she could go home and rest afterward. For now, though? All out; there was something so oddly satisfying about the process of tagging the robots, pushing them into the air, and letting them fall to the ground, and she couldn’t help but smile every time she heard a crash behind her. The latest set had brought her up to a clean thirty.

While she had seen other students around, none of them ever tried to mess with her, though she couldn ’t count on that staying true as the number of robots dwindled. She was going to have to act.

A loud whirring noise sounded a couple of streets down; with any luck, she ’d be the first one to it.

Izuku opened her eyes to see the robot still in front of her, swinging wild strokes with its shield arms, not a single one in danger of hitting her. Curious, she stepped forward into their path, and the robot in its turn rolled back so that its attacks were still out of range.

The robots were never going to hurt them. This test was completely safe.

That realization now under her belt, she took to disabling the second robot in the same manner as the first, and it quickly fell down to the ground with a clatter. Not having to worry about staying safe, this test would become a cinch. Izuku rushed off towards the city center, the few remaining enemies in her path tumbling harmlessly as she passed them and deactivated them.

People talk all the time about missing the forest for the trees, but no one ever mentions missing the collapsing building for the giant robot knocking it down. Funny, that.

While she had managed to avoid most of the debris, the impact from what remained was enough to knock the wind out of her, and she doubted she ’d be able to clear all of it with her quirk right away. Still, she felt like she had a decent lead, and once the exam was over they’d come and rescue her.

As much as she wanted to focus on silver linings, she was still drowning in steel.

Izuku’s forward progress was halted by a sudden, loud whirring off in the distance. She hadn’t actually seen any three-point robots still intact, and the idea of a burst of extra points was too appealing to pass up on, even if it was some distance away. She made a dash for the sound’s origin, then stopped cold when a couple of blocks later, she found it.

Stay calm. Focus. Don’t worry. This was probably the zero point robot. If it was anything like the other robots, it wasn’t allowed to actually hurt any of the students.

Mixed in with the sea of debris in front of her was a familiar light blue.

It wouldn’t hurt them unless it didn’t know that they were there.

Her view to the outside was limited, but there was nothing comforting about seeing a sea of people running from the place where she was fixed. Baffling, though, was seeing this and noticing a single person heading towards her.

Only one thing to do. Dig as fast as you can. Her life depends on it.

The roaring motors grew louder by the second, but it felt as though the weight on her shoulders was lifting.

Reaching out a hand to Ochako’s now excavated body, she saw the hand in front of her and grabbed on, but no matter how hard she pulled, the rest of the debris still weighed down on her body, and she felt her body lighten as her control over her power began to waver and Izuku was floating.

“I’ll save you,” she whispered, and then pressed off the ground and flew into the air.

A rising, followed by a crashing.

The joint at the robot’s neck was crucially weak. A single, impulsive punch sent it flying backwards, as she did the same from the now lifeless robot.

She smiled, and then closed her eyes.

In the rush of the moment, she failed to notice that the pull of gravity had returned to her body.

A falling, followed by a landing.

Izuku and Ochako were both barely, luckily, alive.

[wineanddinosaur]

We Asked 11 Brewers: What Classic Craft Beer Are You Drinking Right Now?

With the majority of the world under varying degrees of lockdown as governments attempt to combat the devastating effects of the novel coronavirus and subsequent Covid-19 pandemic, many beer drinkers are seeking comfort, relaxation, and familiarity in their beer choices.

Whether it takes the form of drinking your cellar, raiding the stash of bottles squirreled away for a rainy day, or returning to old, familiar classics, brewers and beer consumers alike are looking for the liquid form of pulling on your favorite sweatpants, but in a pint glass, bottle, or can.

From the OG Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, to beloved Belgian stalwart Orval, here’s what 11 brewers around the world are reaching for during this scary time.

“I’ve been getting down with some Ska Brewing True Blonde Ale. Crisp and delicious, this low-ABV classic American blonde is perfect for an all-day drinking session, especially with the weather in Denver warming up. It has also been helping in quarantine to help feel connected to some of my favorite homies. Ska has been one of my favorite breweries for the last 13 years and the people there are some of the nicest and most modest in the industry. Cracking this beer brings me back to anniversary parties of years past, skanking in the parking lot to some legendary ska bands, celebrating with friends that are more like family. I can’t wait for the day when I can make the trek back down to Durango to dance, hug, and crack a cold one with all of the rude boys and girls of the ska fam.” — Bess Dougherty, Head Brewer, Grateful Gnome Sandwich Shoppe and Brewery, Denver

“The classic craft beer I’m currently drinking is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. The quality, consistency, and deliciousness is undeniable. I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited both of their beautiful, awe-inspiring campuses over the past few years and to say the experiences are life-changing for a small brewer is an understatement. Each sip takes me back and renews my gratitude to be a part of this industry and community.” — Joel Kodner, Head Brewer, West Palm Brewery, West Palm Beach, Fla.

“These days, I find myself drawn by session beers in general. Currently I am drinking Verdant Brewing Co.’s Lightbulb. I think this beer is one of the true bridge builders between modern and postmodern beer. It embodies many of the fruity elements that the NEIPAs have come to symbolize but with a remarkably low ABV for the style, and body enough to keep you interested.” — Søren Parker Wagner, Founder, Dry & Bitter Brewing Company, Copenhagen, Denmark

“Recently I have been getting reacquainted with Adnams, and in particular, Broadside. It’s autumn down here, and lockdown means time to cook up hearty dishes that scream out for this fruity malty masterpiece. I’m not sure I get the whiff of the salty sea air that Roger Protz once romantically tasted in the Adnams beers, but it does taste like Christmas cake, and spiked prunes. Delicious.” — Kieran Haslett-Moore, Head Brewer, North End Brewery, Waikanae, New Zealand

“During quarantine, I’ve mainly been supporting local breweries but I recently bought four bottles of Orval, and it reminded me why it’s always on lists like these. It’s appropriate for any mood or occasion. I had one right out of the bottle while grilling in my backyard and I served it in flutes on my wedding anniversary because I didn’t have any Champagne handy. It was perfect both times. Like a Pixar movie, Orval can be enjoyed on multiple levels. On the surface, it’s a simple, balanced beer that you don’t have to think about to enjoy. But, if you do feel like thinking about it, there’s so much to appreciate. It’s one of the few beers to truly showcase each ingredient — water, malt, hops, yeast. They are all there in perfect balance, but somehow each stands out on their own. It’s all elevated by a prickly carbonation from the secondary fermentation in the bottle, which also gives it a nearly unlimited shelf life. A perfect beer for any occasion that lasts forever — what else could you ask for in a quarantine beer?” — Michael Graham, Co-Founder, Austin Beer Works, Austin, Texas

“The lockdown situation has made us anxious to linger in the supermarkets perusing the craft beers on offer (usually Scottish or behemoth, no in-between) and with no local speciality shops, we’ve been enjoying ordering from similar-size breweries. So rather than relying on classics we’re delving head first into trying completely new things. The communal hashtag #CraftBeerHour has introduced us to so many small breweries all over the place and we’ve been loving having weekly care packages arriving. Most recently, Simon was sent a case of Belgian goodies from his family including his all-time fave Orval and my all-time fave Tripel Karmeliet, which are undeniable classics… but I’ve been getting stuck into everything I can get my hands on, from The Wild Beer Co. and Brass Castle. Next on the wish list is The Kernel. It’s a pain living hours away from any real beer scene, but we’re hoping things are changing and everyone is really pulling together at the moment and which we’ll truly applaud. Slàinte!” — Freja MacDougall, Co-founder, Ben Nevis Brewery, Glenfinnan, Scotland

“Jaipur is one of my favorite beers. It’s always been a safe port in a storm and one of the beers that really changed the game for me. Back in my Marble Brewery days, myself and fellow brewer Dom Driscoll spent quite a lot of time hanging out with Kelly Ryan, who was head brewer at Thornbridge at the time, and I remember them trialing early keg batches when everything around us was in cask, it felt like a giant step for both the beer and the U.K. scene… But the cask will always be my love. The body, honey notes, bitterness, and citrus notes all present in exact amounts for perfect balance to occur. There are a lot of happy memories in that beer and I’m sure there will be many more.” — Colin Stronge, Head Brewer, SALT Beer Factory, Saltaire, U.K.

“In the midst of all the new breweries and beers hitting the market these days, looking back at classic craft brews is not a bad idea. The first De Dolle Brouwers (DDB) beer I had was the revered Stille Nacht (around 2005). However, my favorites of theirs are probably Arabier and Oerbier. But, it is springtime, so I’ll go for the Arabier today. Arabier pours a beautiful pale orange with a frothing, white foam. The nose is estery, herbal, citrusy, floral, and messy in that beautiful DDB way. Tripel meets a strong Belgian pale, you could say. Well attenuated (but certainly not anorectic) and perfectly carbonated (high!). I love the integration of light fruity notes, herbal/grapefruit hoppy goodness, and a firm, rounded bitterness that coats my entire mouth. This beer represents what is so great about Belgian brewing: Brewers do whatever they want (I am sure there is a Flemish word for “f*ck rigid beer style guidelines”). I was lucky enough to visit DDB for the first time earlier this year, fell in love with the 100-plus-year-old brewhouse, and can’t wait to go back. Kris and Els are running a magical and uniquely personal place. But please don’t tell anyone — we want to keep it that way!” — Rune Lindgreen, Beer Developer & Ambassador, People Like Us, Copenhagen, Denmark

“One of my favorite breweries is Pizza Port. I grew up down in Orange County [Calif.] and was introduced to them when I came down to San Diego for a marathon in 1999. I loved the pizza and brewery vibe in Solana Beach and have been a fan ever since. In more recent years, I have been fortunate to pour beers at the same festivals, connect with their brewers and sales staff (hi, Jill!) and visit their San Clemente spot a few times a year while visiting friends and meeting with our sales team and distributors down there. My go-to Pizza Port beer is Swami’s IPA. It’s a classic West Coast IPA that instantly brings me back to beach town vibes. Swami’s is vacation mode in glass. I was fortunate enough to secure a sixtel for my home kegerator just as we were entering this new normal of sheltering in place. Suffice to say it did not last long, and I’m once again longing for my next pint of Swami’s IPA!” — Phil Cutti, Co-founder & Brewer, Headlands Brewing Co., San Francisco

“Right now I’ve got a triple-decocted Czech Pils from Notch in my glass and it’s absolutely gorgeous. When I’m brewing something similar, I try to seek out fresh (local) versions of the style. I love trying what my peers are putting out and learning from it, especially when it’s clean, crisp, and delightfully nuanced like this Pils!” — Gordon Whelpley, Head Brewer, Twelve Percent Beer Project, North Haven, Conn.

“To be honest, I have been drinking a lot of lagers that fall out of the craft category, or some by craft breweries as they try to introduce more of the style into their portfolios, but as one-offs do not fit into the classic category, either. However, if we were to discuss craft classics, there is one I always have in my cellar, and that is Orval. Orval is like the Kinder Egg of beers, because every bottle you open is a surprise. For each pour it feels like a different and exciting experience, and I can never figure out the precise age in which I prefer it, though I can definitely appreciate it fresh with the DH being present as well as an older, more Brett-forward version. And regardless, it is always delicious and will always warm my heart, quench my thirst, and bring a big smile to my face. When in doubt, Orval <3.” — Mariana Schneider, Brewer, Amager Bryghus, Copenhagen, Denmark

The article We Asked 11 Brewers: What Classic Craft Beer Are You Drinking Right Now? appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/11-best-classic-craft-beers/