#way back in chapter 0 there were some comments lamenting the thought that he was probably only a one-off incidental background character

[bleaksqueak]

Well, well, well... just look who it is!

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[negrek]

4, 17, 18, 20? :D

4. Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

Well, I was going to put something from "accolade" in here because I thought I did a pretty nice job of the atmosphere, with shifting clouds of steam and the flowing river, something clanking and splashing in its midst, obscured and then revealed again by the mist, but actually, no, revisiting it it's even more of a mess than I remembered and I like none of that, lol.

Ice is another thing I enjoyed playing with, though, and there are a couple lines I still like there. One is, "Lunete shook her head and watched Glace wander the courtyard, blowing idle puffs of ice that turned bushes to miniature sculpture." Nice and simple, but I think it does a good job of conjuring up the kind of glittering ice-rimed... things... plants turn into after an ice storm. I think it's an unexpected moment that's fun to visualize. Should definitely be "puffs of *frost*" rather than "puffs of *ice*," though.

I also like, "The glalie's displeasure shed from him in a litter of snowflakes." Again, I think this is just a fun mental image, and a way of making the glalie feel different than a human. When glalie get disgruntled, the temperature around them drops, so you get a little shower of snow... again, a nice little image, and something that people might not ordinarily think of when they think of ice-types. Shoutout to myself for picking this out of the doc and going, "Hey, I like this sentence!" and not realizing until I pasted it in here that it was in the wrong fucking tense.

17. Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?

Ahaha, well, I think many people perceive my writing, and probably me in general, as a lot more serious than it actually is? Most of my writing is just me having fun, and what it contains is unabashedly driven by rule of cool/rule of funny a lot of the time. Which, honestly, considering a lot of the nonsense that goes on in the chapterfics especially, shoudn't be too much of a surprise. There are certain themes that show up throughout, but generally speaking they emerge organically as a result of what I find interesting or because plot naturally accretes around certain aspects of the story or characters. But generally speaking my stories aren't really *about* anything except me having a good time.

18. Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

Salvage has so many of these. So many! Which is kind of weird, because my previous stories haven't, despite Clouded Sky taking nearly as long to produce. It might be that I haven't been working on any big long chapterfics, and not even many one-shots, while writing it as I have with my previous fics, so maybe effort/ideas that would ordinarily go into those stories have ended up spawning all these spinoffs/mutations of the main fic instead.

As far as abandoned plotlines, this story has been pretty extensively and publicly restructured, so yeah, stuff's gotten lost in the shuffle... I used to joke to myself that the story had an unreasonable amount of hanging out on the beach given its overall tone, but thennnnn Mewtwo went and burned down the child's house and it won't be going back to its island again, so in fact the story now contains almost 0% beach from this time on, oops. (There is one scene in Orre that will take place on a beach, assuming it makes it all the way through to publication. It's not a plot-crtical one.) We also missed out on Nate going to prison, the child being Red (although that one could still happen), and one scene that I really liked where Nate got to lament the fact that his pokémon were all gone and it was all his fault. Now you'll just have to imagine it, since we won't be seeing him until he gets them back, if ever.

And AU's, so many AU's. Even way back in 2012 or something I was talking about one I was rather fond of, where the child demands that Nate read it a children's book, and he isn't about to put in the effort to actually do that and makes up something ridiculous solely based on the pictures. Assuming I still have the file around somewhere, that one will end up getting published as an extra at some point near the end of the fic. Other than that, I've got everything from alternate endings to a weird time travel AU that happens in a scene that isn't even in the main fic (because the child isn't there for it). There's also a rather extensive PMD AU that may or may not end up seeing the light of day at some point and which is gently referenced within the fic itself. It's perhaps not technically an AU, since it's not in any way incompatible with the main canon; you could choose to pretend that it happened or not without it changing the story as written at all.

20. Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

Uhhh this one seems hard to do without spoilers. But I hope you've all been paying attention to the stuff about how psychic abilities work and their ability to warp the thinking of people around the psychic, especially over time. I'm quite proud of this worldbuilding thing, but people haven't commented on it much. The concept is central to the plot and drives basically all of the final arcs in Orre, so it's definitely worth thinking about if you haven't! Relatedly, there was a scene in one of the now-deleted Orre chapters (but it will 100% return largely unchanged in the new version) that dropped some info that I thought made it pretty screamingly obvious what's up with Mew and where she might be, buuuut nobody ever commented on that, either, so perhaps it wasn't quite as big of a giveaway as I thought, haha. If you're interested in trying to figure out the plot before the characters, all the psychic bullshit is what you should be paying attention to.

Also, Absol is very precise in her wording, and what I understand as the "twist" of this story (it's not much of a twist, way more important for the characters than anyone reading) relates to something the child's misunderstood for the entire story so far about something she told it.

[ecofinisher]

Abominable 2.0 - Chap 2

Chapter   2

 https://archiveofourown.org/works/22006036/chapters/52554070

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13463708/1/Abominable-2-The-Fanfic-Sequel

https://www.wattpad.com/821928128-abominable-2-0-chapter-2

In the evening Jin sat together with Peng and the students of Peng’s class traveling on a high-speed train back to their city of origin, where their family is. Peng sat next to the window listening to music on an mp3-player watching the landscapes the vehicle passed by. Jin also was doing the same as his cousin, but on his smartphone and had his head leaned back on the seat looking across the cabin bored of the long ride they were in. Jin sighed while passing his hands over his face feeling dull, then he removed his airpods from his ears and took out from the backpack he had down in front of his legs, opening a small pocket on the bag to take out the charger of his airpods and stuck them into it and put it back in the pocket.

Jin placed his hand over Peng’s arm, getting the boy to look at him and remove one plug of one of his ears.

“I’m taking a little walk along the train” Jin stated earning a nod from the boy, which kept listening to the music on his device and Jin got up, walking along the corridor to the other end of the train. He stopped at the arc between the exit doors of the train, where a few teens stood on their phone waiting for their station. Jin looked at a screen, that stood beside the door showing the name of the next station, which the train would stop the next five minutes. Jin turned around suddenly bumping into another person, that had just crossed his way.

“Sorry!” Jin apologized backing off, then he wide his eyes in surprise as he recognized the person he had crashed into. “Yi?” Jin asked gazing at the girl, that had adjusted her backpack on her back, then made eye contact with the taller teen.

“Jin?” Yi questioned neutrally, then she smiled as it was really his friend. “Hey!” She greeted the boy sharing with the boy a hug. “What a surprise” “I didn’t expect I would come across you on this ride” Jin mentioned following Yi’s back with his eyes down to her suitcase that she left behind her on the floor. “How are you doing?” Jin asked as Yi took her arms off his back, then glanced behind at her suitcase, that had fallen down on its back. “Shall I help….?” Jin questioned watching Yi pick it up before he had moved forward to the girl. “Or….”

“It’s fine Jin, I got it” Yi answered holding the handle with both of her hands. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good, Peng’s group had at the same time as me the train back home and we’ve been sitting there for the last three hours. For me it was about time to take a break from sitting and walk a bit back and forth”

“Yeah it’s a little tiring to sit the entire ride on the same spot”

“Yeah” Jin agreed smiling at the friend, that copied his facial expression too, then both looked away from each other in an awkward silence.

“How’s school....” Jin and Yi began at the same time, then got confused at how their words went in sync by coincidence. “How’s school going?” Both said again, followed by a little chuckle at the sentencing again. “Uh….”

“Go ahead” Jin offered making Yi nod. “Does this now mean I have to talk about it or you?” The boy questioned the girl, which giggled at their situation.

“I thought you would explain it first”

“Well it was a severe first year, but I could manage it” Jin explained. “I’m not the best in our class nor at school, but I’m doing good”

“That sounds great” Yi mentioned.

“And what about your course in Technics?”

“I’m doing well too” Responded Yi. “The teachers are a little complicated in doing explanations, but I often work along with my roommate Alex or other students together in groups and we manage to help each other out”

“Is Alex that girl with the pink hair?” Jin asked earning a nod from the girl. “Cool”

“Yeah she’s almost the total opposite of me, but without her, my life at the campus would be boring” Yi mentioned making the boy laugh.

“Well, I’ve spent the first half semester sharing the dorm with an 30-year-old guy, which spend the whole night out of the place. In the end, it turned out to be a cop undercover, which was investigating around the school for something and I think they never found, what they were looking for. My current mate two years older than me and plays on a bass”

“Now that’s cool” Yi confessed earning a nod from Jin.

“Yeah he even borrowed me his bass a few times teaching me a few tunes on it” The raven-haired boy mentioned making the girl smiled. “We should form a band one day if I turn out to be good in the future” He joked making Yi giggle.

“Great idea” Yi responded, then heard the train conductor announce the next stop. Yi pulled her suitcase forward passing beside Jin, which noted Yi was approaching the door.

“Why are you going to leave her?” Jin questioned the girl. “Wouldn’t the train station in Shanghai be closer to our home?”

“Yes, but I was going to the cemetery visit my dad’s grave” Yi mentioned looking at Jin’s face, that was confused at first turn neutral at her answer.

“Oh,” The teen lamented thinking about the late father of the girl.

From the corridor came Peng, which wide his eyes in excitement as he saw Yi standing next to Jin at the exit of the train.

“Yi, you’re here!” Peng shouted jumping at the girl’s arms for a hug.

“There you are….Hey by the way congratulations. I’ve heard about your match. I wish I could have seen it too” Yi commented dropping the pre-teen down on the ground.

“You get to see a few more in the future Yi, I promise” Peng mentioned proud earning a nod from the girl.

“Don’t forget to invite me too cuz” Jin mentioned ruffling the cousin’s hair.

“Of course I do!” The boy answered making Jin and Yi chuckle.

The train was slowing down as it was approaching the next stop and Yi looked at the two boys, which had stopped laughing.

“I have to go”

“Are you sure, you want to go alone?” Jin questioned. “I could accompany you there”

“No, it’s okay Jin. I’m fine” Yi rejected it kindly making Jin nod.

“Alright, but you can always call me if you need help or someone to talk with” Jin expressed earning a nod from the girl.

“I know Jin, thank you,” Yi said embracing the boy from the side leaning her head on his shoulder, making him swallow hard and roll his eyes down at her face, then smile a little lovely. “You’re like the brother I could never have” Yi stated making Jin wide his eyes in shock.

“Y…..yeah….” He responded a little hurt. “But from different parents” He added to hide his reaction, making Yi laugh.

“Too right,” Yi agreed taking her hands off the raven-haired boy, then watched the train come to a full stop and the doors went open, so the first few passengers could leave the cabin.

“See you tonight boys,” Yi told the boys, watching Peng grin and wave at the girl, while Jin waved his hand at the girl watching her with a disappointed face, then the girl left the train looking back at the boys, then gave them an angelic smile. Jin’s mouth slowly changed to a simple smile as he watched Yi waving back at the two Chinese descendant boys, afterward other pedestrians from the outside passed beside Yi to board the train blocking the two boys the sight to the girl. Jin and Peng stepped aside so that the passengers could pass, afterward, Jin looked back at the outside to see Yi had just made her way up to the tunnel, which leads to the other railways of the station and he leaned his back against the wall of the cabin sighing.

“Why didn’t you tell Yi?” Peng asked looking up at his older cousin.

“Tell what?” Jin asked looking down at the boy.

“That you like her” Peng answered. “You’re obviously interested in her”

“What do you want me to do?” Jin asked rolling his eyes down at the boy. “That I ask her out?” The teenager asked seeing the kid shrug his shoulders. “She told me I’m like the brother she never had, how am I supposed to have a chance?”

“I don’t know”

“Look if a girl only sees you as a friend or a brother only, your chances are low. Its game over then” Jin complained crossing his arms. “You either try moving on with that or not”

Peng looked over the window on the door at the buildings that slowly passed on the window due to the train’s movement afterward he looked up at his cousin again. “At least she didn’t wish, you were her brother. That would be the worst way to be friend-zoned”

“From where do you even know that word?” Jin questioned raising his right eyebrow up as he put his eyes down on the child.

“From some strange cartoon grandma had played for me and her younger granddaughter about two teens that were in a love square with themselves and spent half of the season friendzoning each other” Peng explained making Jin look disturbed about the story.

“Gees that makes me feel even more depressed”

“If you two would be in their place it would be awful….but at the same time I would find it hilarious” Peng admitted grinning cheeky while Jin rolled his eyes annoyed.

“Please be quiet Peng, you’re not really helping me out”

“Why don’t you just talk to her like you did a billion times with your previous girlfriends?” Peng suggested. “You look like you had never asked a girl out in your life?”

“Yi’s is not just like all the other girls Peng. She’s….special, she’s….like a best friend to me, she’s like one of the bravest girls I have met, she’s clever and…..and...”

“Then tell her that. She sure will like to hear that”

“I don’t know if that’s going to work out” Jin mentioned making Peng groan.

“Where is the old Jin, that showed no shame in dating all girls in Shanghai?” Peng asked which got softly pushed away from the bigger cousin.

“The old Jin has died. The Jin standing in front of you is improved and he’s not going to do the same mistakes as the old one”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Peng asked.

“What do you want?” Jin questioned. “Do you want me to jump out of the window and follow Yi?”

“That would actually be cool”

“Sorry cuz, but I prefer to wait for tonight when she’s back. Until there I have time to figure out, how to talk with her. What do you think?”

“It’s going to work Jin, believe me,” The kid assured the older boy, which nodded in agreement.

On the cemetery, Yi was on her knees in front of a grave with hanzi characters and an image of a young man with glasses. Yi placed a mourning candle on the grave of her father, then took out from her shorts a small matchbox and took a match out of the box, passing the brown head on the side of it to set fire to it and she held it over the line of the candle to light it up. Yi shook her hand, causing the fire on the match to go out and she closed her eyes to stay in silence.

“Since my last visit, many things have changed in my life. Most of the things are good thought. My mother and Nai Nai are glad, that I started to be more present at home as usual when I used to leave the house to gather up enough money for the trip you had always been talking about taking me to. I’m also back on good terms with Peng and Jin, mostly Jin thought after your dead he and I haven’t been the same, then I started to withdraw myself away from society while Jin had gained popularity at the high school and our friendship has been set on a hanging thread, then we rarely talked with each other and whenever there was an occasion we just acted stupidly towards each other…. Sometimes I was the one starting it, otherwise, it was him, but I never understood why it was like that.” Yi said looking at the image of her father on the tombstone. Yi smiled a bit as she remembered of something else, she could tell right know and approached the grave closer. “I believe you were aware of that time I helped Everest back to Mount Everest. If I didn’t find Everest on my roof on that night and help him back to Nepal together with Jin and Peng we wouldn’t have reconciled. I wouldn’t have realized, that all the people that were around me were as important as you. I would still struggle to deal with all that happened after you were gone. I…...I don’t know, what would have been now”

Yi kept gazing at the grave of her father, then smiled a little and got up from the ground and stood there observing the small flame on the candlelight alone the grave of the man. Yi felt her smartphone vibrate in the pocket of her shorts, then she took it out to see it was a call from her mother, then she attended it.

“Hey mom, did you get my message?” Yi asked. “I’m here in front of my dad’s tombstone, are you coming too?….. Alright, see you soon” Yi pressed the red button on her display, then put her smartphone back in her pocket and looked one last time at the tombstone of her father and smiled. “Until next time,” She said leaving the grave of her father back crossing the path between the other graves from the cemetery.