#beetle island intro

[bahrtofane]

quick little intro to Yusra lore !! 

Not exactly 100% the apprentice lore i made some changes hehe 

i love writing misery can u tell

—--

Likes to call herself a merchant of the sea (pirate) 

Originally came to Vesuvia looking for Julian, old business to settle, new ones to make. She was commissioned by a nearby lord to do his bidding and needed an old friends to count on. 

Never intended to stay. It was when her ship was overtaken by a flood she was grounded. It's here she meets Asra. It was Julian who introduced them. A few nights after her home was turned into nothing but splinters for her to shift through. Not much remained. A few keepsakes, a map here or there. The odd bundle of cloth and fabric. She pushes on, until she finds herself breaking just at the sight of Julian, empty sobs shaking through her while he can only hold her tight.

That ship was her home, her everything. It took nearly her whole life to get her hands on it, it was a culmination of her life's work.  It wasn't big or grand, but it was hers. That's what mattered most. 

Asra offers to let her stay in his shop, after much persuasion and begging at some points. Finally after a month of rotting in vesuvius streets she finally gives in. 

Asra is kind to her, never prods about the ship or what brought her, even if he's curious to know. They let her say as much or as little. Instead he gives her space and lets his home turn to hers as well. She promises to repay the kindness but he only laughs, swatting her away and going on about his business. 

Shes keen on learning, anything to make her useful. So she learns magic. Enough to be at least somewhat helpful to Asra. It makes her feel much better about her predicament. Gives her time to think about what to do next, keeps the hands busy. Busy hands is a busy mind.

Asra grows fond of her and her heart. He's handsome, undeniably so. Its hard not to fall for them when they're sweet, words that drip like honey from lips made of petals. Eyes that shine in every gaze. He sees her. More than she sees herself. She doesnt know if its the magic or just his own perception, his nature. 

Burying into ever crevice and crack of her being till she's sure she's been memorized. 

“You're beautiful” he sighs one night, out on the market for a little fun.

She blushing now, saying nothing. Instead linking hands. And he understands her all the same.

Not long after the plague erupts. And she is really stuck. With no ship, money dwindling, and the only truly familiar face off in the palace slaving away for a cure. 

Her options are running out. She either stays, or risks making ground on completely foreign territory outside of the city. To take a gamble on if the next town will have the same red beetles about its walls. 

Asra turns out, intends to leave, and he knows the land far better than her. But she can not leave Julian. She came here for him after all, she cant leave him, not now. So they fight, for the first time. Asra begs for her to go with him. To save herself before it truly becomes unavoidable.

“Then you alone may leave. “ she says 

And so he does. 

The lord severs her contract and she instead takes up in the palace. She learns all she can. There's less sleep as the days go on, as the bodies start to pile. They have no place to put them. So they are sent to be burned away from the city. On an island that holds only misery.

Julian comes to her one night, sobbing as he wipes the sweat from his face.

“There's so much death..” 

It only gets worse.

As the counts’ condition worsens, things turn to chaos. So much happens in a single day and yet she doesn't remember any of it. It all blurs. 

She resents Asra for leaving. How could they ? yet there's no room for anything other than work. 

She notices Julians eye before even he does. But says nothing. Everyone knows they're bound to succumb from the very curse they intend to cure. Everyone is losing hope.

Who knew she would be the first to go. 

[iivocom]

Streamtober 2024

I think it's the forth year I'm doing Streamtober, as previous year's much of the focus is on game streaming. Here's a summary!

Streamtober part 1

Day 1 (Tue, October 1st)

TikTok chat stream: Sometimes it's relaxing talking with new and familiar faces at the end of a somewhat productive day.

Day 2 (Wed, October 2nd)

I did my live-to-tape audio podcast on X Spaces where I talked about recent movies.

On my game stream on twitch I re-visited Disney Dreamlight Valley

Day 3 (Thu, October 3rd)

A food stream on TikTok where I was cooking using recipe and instructions from Snapchat AI based on 4 random ingredients I entered. If you're a subscriber you can go and re-watch many of my none game streams on #tiktok plus some exclusively behind-the-scenes the scenes clips.

In the evening I continued playing Dreamlight on my Twitch game stream. Made progress on some side missions.

Day 7 (Oct 7th)

Playing Dreamlight Valley on twitch

Day 10 (Thu, Oct 10th)

Playing Minecraft on TikTok. Building stuff and trying some advanced features.

Playing Beholder 3 on twitch. a curious game about a man who get relocated by a totalitarian regime.

Day 12

Continuing building and exploring in Minecraft on TikTok

Next Fest Fall Ed 2024

Steam Next Fest is a week-long event where Players can try hundreds of free demos and upcoming games, as well as watch developer livestreams, and chat with them.

I am digging my teeth in to Steam Next Fest Fall edition combing trough obscure demos looking for rouge diamonds in the making.

Next Fest Day 2

Zefyr a thief's melody a nostalgic nod to classic adventure games, packed with exploration, dialogues, fights, puzzles, collectibles, and epic Boss battles—all set in a vibrant, feel-good world

Next Fest Day 3 (Streamtober Day 16)

X/Twitter: Another edition of my weekly live-to-tape podcast on X Spaces. Today I talked about a few great Anime shows as well as some romantic movies.

3 in 1 one stream on Twitch:

The Protagonish in this hilarious 2d cartoon adventure you're not in control of the main character instead you guide the story by controlling the side character and how they respond to the hero.

Beetle Quest 2 I can't say I really got into this game. The childish graphics are endearing but after a way to long intro I got frustrated with the controls.

Pine A Story of Loss trough daily routines of a man living in a secluded pine forest we learn about his loss, grief, and maybe about how life goes on.

Next Fest Day 4

Rise of the Golden Idol: A detective hidden object, clue, and deduction game with a bit of a retro adventure game graphics had me playing for over an hour without realizing the time.

Next Fest Last Day

Loco Motive - On the Reuss Express a passenger has been murdered, and you’re the prime suspects. Uncover a thrilling mystery and solve satisfying point and click puzzles to prove your innocence! A slapstick adventure, packed full of deadly surprises, shocking twists and larger than life characters!

Luma Island - Travel to Luma Island to go on an epic adventure by yourself or with up to 4 friends and family members. Build your dream farm, master professions, collect magical Lumas, find treasures and unravel the mysteries of the island. It is cozy and it is a bit different from other farming games I’ve seen. Is it enough to keep me interested? I don’t know yet. I’m not the biggest on crafting games.

Streamtober part 2

Getting ready to get spooky and also ramping up for my 1 year twitch affiliate celebration

Day 25

Multipanel chats and battles on tiktok.

Day 26-27 - Spooky Weekend

If you want to join follow on Roblox iivocom

Close to The Sun -  t’s 1897. Deep in international waters, the Helios stands still. Dark clouds loom overhead as unforgiving waves crash against the hull. Journalist Rose Archer steps aboard the Helios in search of her sister Ada. She quickly discovers not all is as it seems. Playing this first-person horror adventure video game on twitch.

Roblox The Haunt - kicking off our spooky weekend trough the haunt hub where you'll find all sorts of spooky games and Halloween themed roblox events. 

Day 28 Spooky Days On Twitch & TikTok

Playing more of the roblox games that are part of “The Haunt” experience as well as doing different challenges in The Haunt to unlock achievements and other goodies.

Continuing trough Close To The Sun chapters on twitch

Day 29 Spooky Days On TikTok

Playing more of the roblox games that are part of “The Haunt” experience such as “Piggy” and “Color or Die” as well as doing different challenges in The Haunt to unlock achievements and other goodies. 

Day 30 Spooky Days On TikTok &  Twitch 

Continuing as the previous spooky days. Finishing Close to The Sun.

Day 31 - Twitch Affiliate Anniversary

Playing a retro game for Throwback Thursday called Nine Witches Family Disruption.

It's an adventure game that really pay homage to the haydays of the 90s with lots of absurdity and a bunch of humor.

Also celebrating a year as a twitch affiliate, can't believe it's been a year already.

[roachiezz]

hai uhm sort of serious intro thing i think idk. blleelleleellelelee 👅👅👅👅

scythe / roach / pest / rocket

lesbian

minor

she/her + neos (can see in strawpage)

i like bugs. ALOT.. and other animals but i mainly like bugs the most teehee.. my favorite bugs are cockroaches and beetles ^_^

fandoms: phighting!, regretevator, kaiju paradise, pokemon, the walten files + other analog horrors, adopt me, dhmis, fnaf, doors, pressure, uuhmm uuhhh does horse world have a fandom........ does wild horse islands have a fandom too😓 idk...... OH AND ALSO JURASSIC WORLD / JURASSIC PARK.. AND COOKIE RUN I FORGOT THOSE

uuuuhhhhhh i also own a hissing roach ^_^ and a couple of other pets

okay bye bye heres my strawpage.. farewell freaky gang

[nervousyoungloser]

intro post or something

i kinda realized i didnt make one for this relatively new blog, so here's this (jun 2024) hello, i'm elias (el-ee-iss) and i like deep forestry, beetles, vexillology, music, pins, and drawing! this blog is just kind of a keyboard mash of the previous + some stuff i think up in the ol' noggin that i find funny enough to embarass myself with on the internet some favs of my favs (<- woah. fav inception) are as follows fav types of forests: redwood, pine

fav types of beetles: mainly any green ones, but i'm a big fan of chafers, goliaths, (western) hercs, dogbanes, euphorias, and green june beetles

(some) fav flags: estonia, marshall islands, u.s. forest service, bonaire, saba, south vietnam, peterborough (canada), altai rep (russia), saar basin (germany), and oberaula (germany) fav types of music: indie, punk, rock, classy, jazz, and big band (varies quite dramatically, i know) fav music artists: car seat headrest (sorry), the clash, billy joel, matt maltese, bruce springsteen, death cab, blur, squeeze, mac demarco, childish gambino, the monkees, MF DOOM, chet baker, and surf curse. fav pins: the ones i have fav drawings: what yeah that's pretty epic sauce. well that's all see ya

[bridles-for-mulebugs]

Beetle Island

Millennia ago, A continent far from the reaches of most was found by a group of people who nurtured the land they had found to an almost supernatural ability before one day disappearing. The love for their land manifested into a deity powerful as the people who worshipped and created them, but when the people disappeared, the deity began to grieve. In their anger and loneliness, they created an eternal storm surrounding the island that would allow any to enter, but none to leave. This would make anyone who landed on the island by happenstance to have to keep them company. Although the deity still had to wait many decades before the arrival of the first new wave...

This island has been separated from the mainland for millions of years. The flora and fauna are like none seen anywhere else. The 'plants' are actually photosynthetic fungi evolved from the vacancy of true plants. These fungi take many colors both passively and through bio-luminescence. While invertebrates were able to evolve the right characteristics to allow them to occupy megafaunal niches. They evolved active respiration and stronger chitin. From ant pursuit predators to giant grazing beetles, the land would be foreign to any newcomer.

There have been only a few waves of immigrants in significant numbers, although every so often a group of less than a dozen will survive entering the storm and integrate into the mixed, alienated society.

[vavuska]

👽Rules👽 // THE HUMAN ENOUGH CHALLENGE FOR THE SIMS 4 by squeamishsims

👽 Intro

👽 The Human Experience Challenge - Ep. 1

👽 The Human Experience Challenge – Ep. 2

✨Shoots✨

Three of Aliens

Alien CC List:

alien antennae by buglaur-cc

beetle eyes occults! update - by squeamishsims

nebula eyes on modthesims

Alien CC list on youtube

Alien CC on fandomspot

Alien CC list

Clarity Eyes - Alien Default Replacements by noodlescc

SIM DOWNLOAD -  ASARI ALIEN by pixlrmonster

Alien Eyes (TS4) by reussirion

CC List by tiallussims

Dolly Eyes 1 by Taty Sim

Dolly Eyes 21 by Taty Sim

Dolly Eyes 17 by Taty Sims

Dolly Eyes 47 by Taty Sim

Lips 146 by Taty Sim

Taty_FantasyTattoo_05

ArcaneIllusions_DragonsEyebrows

Taty_FantasyEyebrows_01

Taty_FantasyTattoo_06

Taty_FantasyBlush_02

Taty_LipsTattoo_03

Taty_DemonBlush

Taty_TribalFace_06

Taty_EyeShadow_42

List of CC

LEIA| SIM DOWNLOAD by deerytrait

JUPITER ISLAND - AN ALIEN Hair

Arcane Illusions Dragons Eyebrows by tatygagg at TSR

Nautolan Tentacles!~ (unsupported/retired) Update coming soon

Taty_FantasyTattoo_11

Taty_FantasyEyebrows_02

Taty_FantasyEyebrows_03

[Challenge Closed]

[fluffomatic]

Tickle Island Master Post

Tickle Island

Dr. Alban Cackle

Intro/Design

Tickle Chart

Character Info

Dr. Zayne Grimm

Intro/Design

Tickle Chart

Tickle Bugs

Wooly Twirlers

Fuzzy Moths

Walking Feather

Tickle Fleas

Tickler Wasp

Chirpers

Fluffy Spider

Mint Moth

Lee Spider

Long Armed Clawing Beetle

Soft Snail

Dragonfloof

Pink Tongued Butterfly

Ler Scorpion

Hypnotic Firefly

Fluff Pill

Feathered Hopper

Feathered Devil

Sensquito

Lersquito

Lady Flof

Tickle Ants

Giant Feather Bees

Fluffball Caterpillars

Itching Fly

Giant Pink Centipede

Tickle Plants

Laughter Bush

Feather Blossom Tree

Motherbloom

Pink Cattail

The Royal Tickler

Jittering Rose Bush

Fluffy Dandelions 

Laughter Willow

Feather Bush

Tingling Shrooms

Tickle Pitcher

The Ticklish Plant

Jumping Soft Cactus

Feather Seaweed

Babybloom

Tickle Fish/Sea Creatures

Fuzzy Mouth Sucker Eel

Fuzzy Armed Starfish

Tickler Jelly

Wriggling Anglerfish

Nibbling River Guppy

Fluffy Glaucus

Tickyray

Inkling Mimic

Heart Eyed Piranhas

Pink Dolphin

Tickle Pickle

Angel Shark

Feather Mouth Shark

Tickle Animals

Fnoozy

Spidering Monkey

Feathered Porcupine

Lion Snake

Floofhog

The Great Pink Wolf

Spotted Brown Bear

Pink Belly Frog

Rug-Bellied Python

Teasing Lovebird

Truffle Penguin

Soft Toothed Alligator

Ticklepok

Tickret

Teasing Hyena

Fluffy Tail Mouse

Pink Panda

Mintcoon

Tickle Cryptids

Fox Tickler/The Fox/Slender Fox

Shallow Quicksand Trap

Lavender Deer

Mother Owl

The Giant LaughEater

Tickle Chimera or Chimera of the Forest

Yakoler

Other

Tickle Island Uniform

Tickle Chart

(I'll continue to update as more creatures are added!)

[abookishdreamer]

Character Intro: Livádi (Kingdom of Ichor)

Nicknames- Liv by her friends

Momma by her daughters

The Blossom Goddess by the people of Olympius

Age- 38 (immortal)

Location- Arcadia, Olympius

Personality- She's definitely the outdoorsy type- being in total bliss when surrounded by nature. She's down-to-earth, colorful, passionate, & cheerful. She's casually dating.

She has the standard abilties of a goddess except shapeshifting. As the goddess of meadows her other powers/abilities include flower mimicry, limited chlorokinesis (as it pertains to grass and flowers), limited photokinesis, being able to manipulate dew, & the natural ability of camoflauge.

Members of her immediate family are her daughters- Chloris (goddess of flowers) and Antheia (goddess of swamps, vegetation, & floral wreaths). She had her daughers a year apart on her own through use of the fertility services of Gaia (goddess of the earth).

A notable physical feature are her long blonde dreadlocs.

Livádi lives in a cottage estate measuring two acres in the state of Arcadia. Her living space is the ultimate scenery- soft rolling hills, a meadow, floral nursuries in her backyard, and even a small pond.

Inside her cottage, the interior design is rustic & bohemian with the walls being painted in vibrant hues- a kaleidoscope of colors. There's a natural smell of flowers and soil while the flooring is white oak. There's cotton furniture along with rattan & wicker furniture pieces. There's also various vases filled with flowers, humidifiers, as well as different flower shaped chandeliers.

Liv owns a plethora of pets including rabbits, golden retrievers, beagles, and border collies.

She primarily gets around in her bright candy apple red VW beetle in Arcadia & travels to greater distances by train, passenger ship, ferry, and plane.

A go-to drink for her is butterfly pea flower tea that she brews herself. She also likes white peony tea, mint infused sparkling water, aloe vera juice, lavender tea, orange juice, ginger ale, chamomile tea, appletinis, coconut water, lychee juice, fruit punch sangrias, & bourbon peach sweet tea. Her usual from The Roasted Bean is a large strawberry lemonade.

Livádi doesn't play favorites with her daughters, loving them both equally. They all live far away from each other, but make the effort to meet up a few times a month. They also keep in touch through texting, phone calls, & video chats.

Hair day is also a great bonding experience for them when Livádi washes their hair. It's like a ritual. She was even a financial backer to her daughters' joint businesses.

Instead of using lotion to moisterize her body she uses this vegan organic almond-sunflower oil blend.

Livádi enjoys listening to folk, island, soft rock, traditional Greek, and country music. Her favorite bands are Chapters of Lore & The Gypsy Belles.

She doesn't mind her status as a minor deity. In fact she loves the anonymity that comes from her position like walking down the street without a horde of paparazzi following her.

A typical breakfast for her is a protein berry smoothie bowl. It's topped with her homemade coconut granola, banana slices, strawberry slices, blueberries, and raspberries. She also likes the Earthly Harves oats & honey cereal, sliced of toasted wheat bread topped with honey and boysenberry jam, hash browns along with scrambled eggs (added with tomatoes, green peppers, & onions), as well as the Golly Grains fruit clusters cereal.

She's been thinking about getting a tattoo- an idea Liv has is that of flowered vines on both her arms, reaching at her hands. She hasn't made a decision yet.

A favorite snack for her are pretzel sticks (which she dips into boysenberry jam). She also likes shelled sunflower seeds.

For her most recent birthday, her daughters gave her a gorgeous pair of 18K gold diamond & ruby hummingbird shaped earrings. Livádi wears it all the time. It cost nearly 4,000 drachmas.

Livádi's primary source of income comes from her company that produces/manufactures various organic potting soils. These products are then shipped to and sold in flower shops, supermarkets, as well as home improvement stores like The Lumber Shed- owned by Ktesios (god of the household).

Many anthousai and epimelides are employed by her.

Three summers ago Livádi debuted her designer shoe brand aptly named Anthisméni Raptikí. A notble feature of all the shoes is the heavy floral motif in the design. There's an official website, a store in the Hearthwood neighborhood of New Olympus, a store in the Queenstown neighborhood, a makeshift store in the Mall of Olympius, as well as a store in Arcadia. An average price for a pair of shoes is between 200 to 400 drachmas.

Liv's also in the process of developing a parfum. So far, she knows that that she want the perfume to have notes of red raspberries, musk, tangerine, white lily, iris, & peony.

Her favorite frozen treat is the mixed berry sorbet. She often gets a large cup from The Frozen Spoon.

Being the biggest supporter/hypewoman for her daughters, Livádi also models for/endorses their brands- Studio Bloom (their nail polish brand) and Tu-Lips (their lipgloss brand). Liv's favorite products are the Tu-Lips hydrating tinted lip oil in "Pale Petals" & Studio Bloom Nail Lacquer in "Thistle Make You Bloom" (a vibrant shimmering magenta) "Once and Floral" (a bright pink-orange), "A Bloom with a View" (a deep ruby red), and "Emflowered' (a bright neon pink).

She also models for/endorses Glory's Crown (loves the hydrangea water products) and writes for the gardening section in Hearthside magazine.

She loves getting the toasted panini ham & cheese melt with a kale salad drizzled in carrot ginger dressing from The Bread Box.

In the pantheon Livádi is friends with Nárkosi (goddess of sedation), Demeter (goddess of the harvest & agriculture), Paean (goddess of physicians), Karme (demi-goddess of the harvest), Promylaia, Karmanor (demi-god of the harvest), Oeno (goddess of berries & wine), Eudaimonia (goddess of happiness), Aegle (goddess of good health), Charis (goddess of charm), Pan (god of the wild, satyrs, shepherds, & rustic music), Argía (goddess of holidays), Eunostos (goddess of the flour mill), Pherusa (goddess of substance & farm estates), The Nesoi, Philotes (goddess of intimacy, friendship, & affection), and Kéfi (goddess of mirth).

She was an official mentor to Zephryus (god of the west wind).

A guilty pleasure for her are spicy crab rolls from The Ocean Roll.

Liv has a slow growing collection of Diamond Ave. jeweled clutches- wanting to own all the floral themed ones! The basket of roses clutch was a gift from Argía, costing nearly 7,000 drachmas!

Her favorite dessert is the hummingbird cake from Hollyhock's Bakery.

She's casually dating after enjoying a couple hundred years of singledom. Her daughters convinced her to make a dating profile.

Lately, Livádi's been messaging a satyr named Silas on the dating app and she has gone on two dates with a mortal man- a botanist named Delano.

Her favorite meal is paella vedura with fried sweet plaintains.

In her free time Livádi enjoys gardening, yoga, sunbathing, bike riding, tennis, going to the beach, football (soccer), shopping, bird watching, going to farmer's markets, reading, swimming, & surfing.

"Every so often, hope blooms in even the loneliest forgotten meadow."

[strangerays]

Nothing in Particular and Everything Writing Update

June 2022

hey there!! It took me basically my entire senior year, but I completed part one of draft two of the book! I want to start posting more on here now that I’ll be on summer vacation in the coming months. for now, i have for you some excerpts from the first few eight chapters of the story!

click here for the WIP intro!

The second draft has been totally different from the first draft - the book is split into four parts, i deleted a lot of characters, added so many more, rearranged the ending (and made it SO much more edgy), and, most importantly, my writing style evolved a little bit more!

TL;DR: i am alive and i am writing

also sorry before you continue there are a few typos in here that i was too lazy to fix at this point

Excerpt 1, Chapter One: A Third Eye

[text]: 

I was a firm believer that the best art is created when the artist is lonely, angry, or depressed.In the summer that led up to my best friend’s train to Ivy Coast, I was surprised to find that I became none of these things. We buried a time capsule beneath the towering pines of Sugarfell and painted his bedroom walls a calm cerulean. We snuck out of house at night to swim and went on a road trip to see our favorite band in concert. My most colorful memories in Point Blink were unplanned in the beginning.           

Sheltered in pitch crags, spotted with shallow tide pools congested by cigarettes, Mothouse loitered over the romping blue bay on unsteady docks. With Lonan at college, his aunt owned and operated the beach house bakery on her own. In her nephew’s place, I wasn’t of much help, as I was afraid to retrieve flour from the basement or hold large knives.

I never worked weekends, but I went to Mothouse on Sunday to watch the amber morning glint through the tide. Toes curled in the baking sand, I raised my camera to my eye and focused on the melodic thrill of the waves. Satisfaction relaxed my shoulders. Gulls forked the cream clouds, orange in their coming and going. A comforting breeze unknotted my pumpkin-blond roots. Early in the morning as it was, sailors rode the motions of the wind. A piper toothed the dark shore for drowned beetles.

I took the photo, saving my little moment for another day.

Excerpt 2, Chapter One

[text]:

The truth was this: age was fiction to me. When I lifted my camera to my eye, saw the world as more beautiful than it was, the trees richer, the waves more childlike in their frothing, none of that seemed real. When birds called my name over the burst of a wave onto the cliffs. When storms sent shadows to dance across my windows. My most purple imagination couldn’t convince me everything was going to be okay – my best friend left me. All of these little things were stark reminders of his absence in Point Blink. That new shells would wash onto the shore every night. Vacationers would check out to return home. Clouds parted and sent sunlight to warm my shoulders, pale from the months I’d spent inside wishing he would change his mind.

But he didn’t.

I tried to hold a moment forever. But time isn’t fiction; it’s an hourglass. Lately, my life had felt more like a rusted compass with a broken face. All of it – everything I’d built to shelter the storm – destroyed when he left me.

Excerpt 3, Chapter Four: People-watching

[text]:

Sugarfell used to house docks to the ferry that passed between Point Blink and the city. When Dad turned sixteen, the ferry business went under, so train tracks were built along the highway to replace it. If I climbed to the highest boulder in the forest, I had a glimpse of the docks at the edge of the water. They were no more than a pile of bloated wood. Whipping branches had left them flecked. Sometimes people slunk into the muggy water and swam out to an unnamed island, sparse with naked trees and blanketed in purple fog. We sailed there in a rowboat for a field trip when I was in elementary school to turn over rocks for salamanders; now the shores are clogged with red solo cups and underwear.

In the July that Lonan turned eighteen, we decided to play hide and seek in the forest. Maybe it was stupid, considering our age, but we didn’t care so much about that. Florian and Ellis rarely visited Sugarfell anymore. Mostly, they spent their vacation shopping or on the beach, so whenever Lonan went out to Sugarfell, I heartily tagged along with him.

I became a thief to Lonan’s behaviors. He was the most observant person I knew. When I stared through a camera lens, tree trunks took on the shapes of strangers I’d noticed in town: oak roots serpentined the ground like children splashing in the bay, pines with needles like sweet elderly hands, maples with hollows like watchful eyes. Little tantrums of nature.

Excerpt 4, Chapter Four

[text]:

I couldn’t place this feeling – like talking underwater or pulling in a game of tug-of-war. It was the panic of losing Lonan that I couldn’t understand – a panic I thought would be gone now that I wasn’t such a child anymore. This wasn’t frustration or impatience – it was genuine panic. My chest ached as though a panicked animal were trying to claw its way out from the inside. I did not want to let it free; I did not want Lonan to see whatever wounded leg or mangy fur it might bear.

I swallowed.

It became very clear to me in that moment that fear did not have a grip on most people the way it had a grip on me.

Excerpt 5, Chapter Five: Heir of the Waves

*Typo: ‘The [sun] settled deep in my bones.’

[text]:

Dad used to take me on adventures; I remember every single one of them. We packed pepperoni and salami in plastic, chilled cans of Pepsi inside a red cooler, and crammed blankets into the backseat of the car with me. He patted my childish, bruised knees, said I looked like a pearl tucked away in there.

The sea, violent and knowing as it romped into the cliff face, opened its great jaws wide when Dad stomped through the oil-like water to hold me above his waist. I kicked my legs, baby fat jiggling against his calloused hands, murmuring songs in my little voice. When I was a few years older, I danced over the murky seaweed beds, pretended I was the Sugarplum Queen or a swan glistening with cool sweat. Sunlight marbled across the black sea and deepened the rose in my cheeks. Unafraid of what lurked beyond verdant patches of lily flowers, I squished cold sand between my toes, rolled onto my back, floated until I was far from the shore. The settled deep in my bones. I created monsters to dive deep and lurk beneath me. I made myself a princess among them, untouchable.

At seventeen years old, I didn’t imagine anything like that.

Excerpt 6, Chapter Six: Mentors

Jude’s introduction!

[text]:

Arms and legs flitted all around me like sweet steam when I stepped off the bus. The nature center’s stone steps crumbled and flattened dry rose bushes in the garden. The doors had not opened in years. Elbowing more than one person, I shuffled out of the crowd and tipped my chin up, closed my eyes so that when the maple branches overhead fluttered apart, sunlight dappled my face. My skin crackled with the warmth.

At the opposite end of the crowd stood a girl not taller than the graffitied entrance sign she leaned against, most noticeable because of the bright blue baseball cap she wore and the grim pucker of her lips. When she noticed me staring at her, they curved into a sharp smile. She lifted her nose to the shifting clouds as I had. The dull sun highlighted the spaces underneath her eyes smooth sienna, and her round cheeks shimmered.

Excerpt 7, Chapter Seven: At Least You Can Still Watch The Sun Rise

[text]:

I suppose – in many ways – I didn’t talk to anyone about Lonan. Not about school, either. About my friends, about the headaches I kept getting every night, about how I’d lost my appetite completely last week.

Jude tapped her fingers together.

“That’s why you didn’t want me to tag along with you,” she said.

I swallowed.

“That’s why you wanted to come down here on your own, isn’t it?”

Her arm brushed mine and it was so warm. It reminded me of the safe feeling I got whenever Florian hugged me.

A breeze trickled through the trees we’d come from and cascaded faint sparkles across the water, feathered the waves away from the shore. Briefly, the gray clouds pulled apart the fog, and pale sunlight touched Jude’s cheeks, drawing a smile from her lips. It seemed that, even in the darkest moments, she managed to find something to love. It made me jealous in a nonsensical sort of way.

Her eyes were closed. “At least you can still watch the sun rise.”

Excerpt 8, Chapter Eight: Savior Complex

[text]:

“Well,” Jude said. “I had a group of girls I used to hang out with at school, but we’d go ages without talking.” She cast a thoughtful look to the ocean. “In a way, I guess they weren’t really my friends after all. But I’ve always found that the best things have happened to me when I break away from what I’m used to.”

In the moment I looked up from my hands to realize that she was talking about me, there was a horrible groan from underneath us, entirely unhuman – the sound a dying machine makes when it is unable to hold itself up any longer. The stairway shrugged and softened. I held on tight to the railing, peeling wood splintering my skin as I slid down, down, down.

Slowly, then all at once, I became aware of a tinny smell. The unmistakable smell of burning metal.

I didn’t have time to check and see if Jude was still behind me before she fell into me.

Lonan came to me all at once: we were dissolved into black. We must not have been that far up, because it didn’t take long to hit the ground. There was something soft underneath me – my bag or Jude’s arm. I could not see the sky – then light exploded from the veil we were trapped in. Jude’s hand found mine, and I think she might have been telling me to move, but she was shouting, and I couldn’t tell what she was saying, though I think she wanted me to move. I dragged myself through the grass, now pasty with smoke, infiltrating my throat, my eyes, my head – everything. It softened the world, made it easier to forget, but no easier to breathe.

Jude screamed – a sound I never should have heard – and it brought hot tears to my eyes. Distantly, someone else screamed. It might have been me, but I wasn’t sure. Sirens wailed somewhere. We never heard many of them in Point Blink. I smelled of salt and smoke.

What a fool I’d been to believe it possible I could carry on without my best friends, and what a fool Jude had been to think she could replace them.

She ran.

--[end of excerpts]--

tag list [ask to be +/-]: @wannabeauthorzofija @mishkakagehishka @writeherewaiting​ @friendlyneighborhoodwizard @kingsinking @author-a-holmes

thank you for reading my book! next time I post excerpts, I will have graduated from high school *high five*

[apprenticevida]

I know you lovelies like playlists, so here: have a sometimes updated, mostly chronological WIP playlist for Vida!

It’s about 12 hours long, because I’m a pack rat.

Track explanations under the cut. Because it’s a lot.

Benediction And Dream: I like this as an intro song. Set in Galbrada. (I hc Galbrada as Fantasy!Spain, but for all intents and purposes, consider a re-skinned Ohio)

La Bruja: Vida’s theme song

South of the Border through Smalltown Boy: Vida’s youth and adolescence. They’re queer and nonbinary in a place that doesn’t know what to do with that. Vida’s parents love them, but they aren’t exactly accepting of them. Nica and Alpin are both religious and mean well, they really do, but to have their firstborn daughter go against so much of what they believe is hard. Vida’s relationship with their siblings is strained as they grow up, but Dáibhidh (Dai for short) and Alma become their closest friends and biggest supporters. Sachairi is still very young and doesn’t really care about any of this. He loves his big sister and doesn’t understand what the deal is. (Vida is misgendered a lot by everyone except Alma and Dai.)

Spanish Ladies: Vida leaves Galbrada for Vesuvia. Nica and Alma see them off.

The Island through Rye Whiskey: WE’RE ON A BOAT. Sea shanties and drinks aplenty! This is Mazelinka’s ship because I’m a trite author she and Duende are friends. Maz is one of the first adults that tries to understand Vida, uses their pronouns, etc. Julian is also there.

Hey Mami: Vida arrives in Vesuvia! They’re an adult in a new country! Why are all these people looking at them like that???!!!

Under My Skin: Homesickness is weird. They miss their family but there was so much stress they had to bury deep down.

God is Alive Magic is Afoot through The Mystic’s Dream: Duende Time.

Sea of Love through Gooey: Asra Time. Vida and Asra fall for each other hard and fast. A couple of dumb virgins.

Shadow of the Hunted: Muriel Time.

Mama’s Room through Genderqueer Love Song: Vida and Asra ARE ADULTS DOING ADULT THINGS (mostly each other)

Third Eye Sixth Sense: Oh yeah they’re supposed to be learning magic from Tía Duende. Hey, this magic stuff is really fun! Vida’s really good at it!! Duende sees their potential and devises plans.

The Court of the Crimson King: Duende brings Vida to the palace to formally introduce them to the Count and Countess of Vesuvia. This is basically a ploy by Duende to curry favor with the court. Vida is smart and pretty, and despite not wanting to leave the shop they do well at court.

The Soundmaker: Vida’s all goo-goo eyes at the Countess. Nadia is the most beautiful and elegant woman they’ve ever met.

God Help You Dumb Boy through Doctrine: Lucio Time.

My Type through Livin’ La Vida Loca: Vida’s life in Vesuvia. Lots of beautiful people. Exploring submission with Nadia. Oh hey, Julian’s here to stay? Vida catches feelings for everyone. Hanging out with Asra and Muriel, generally having a great time.

Safe, Now: Everything is good and nothing hurts. They’re with Asra, talking magical theory with him and Duende; learning to contact The Arcana; learning how to play the violin with Julian; dancing with Nadia; quiet forest nights with Muriel. Things should stay like this forever!

The Plague: ¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯

Severed Soul: Asra Time OVER. Vida believes there’s something, ANYTHING that can be done to help, but Asra is antsy to leave Vesuvia. The Red Plague is only getting worse and more prevalent in the city, if they don’t leave now, they will lose everything. Vida tells him to go, they won’t follow. This is the beginning of the end.

Season of the Witch through Mystic Woman: Tía Duende is infected with the plague. Vida water skypes home and Nica is on the first boat to Vesuvia. Through various deals Duende’s made, she’s able to last a lot longer than expected. Nica makes it in time to help…

Spanish Ladies through La Llorona: …but she also catches the plague. Duende has nothing else she can barter, and Nica dies quickly. Heartbroken that she couldn’t do anything to save the closest thing she had to a daughter, Duende follows quickly. Vida is left alone to mourn. The ports are shut down. They clean out the home of anything that could be contaminated. Soon all that’s left are memories. Vida closes the shop for good, alone in an empty building. Quarantined until it’s obvious they haven’t caught the plague. They’re lucky, it’s a miracle they weren’t infected after all that time.

Pretty Little Head: The trauma of all this loss breaks Vida. A grief-induced breakdown. The beginning of short-lived hook-ups, including grief-sex with Muriel.

Coffee through Kinky: Vida leaves for the palace after Nadia finds out what happened. She invites Vida to stay as long as they want, all their needs will be taken care of. Without Duende to play interference, Vida gets to know the Courtiers (At Midnight). Vida’s grip on reality becomes tenuous the more they visit the Arcane Realm. In the physical realm they just go full-tilt on the hedonism of the palace. Lots of drinking, lots of smoking, lots of bad decisions they can’t remember. Valerius becomes a drinking friend of sorts. They shut out people emotionally who try to help, but become desperate to be wanted by anyone.

Ay Mi Pendejo through Marat/Sade: Lucio Time. Vida can indulge in self-harm, self-hate, violent aggression, and just absolute toxic behavior with Lucio. Things stop being a game though when they “wake up” to how self-centered Lucio is with all his power and riches. Vesuvia is dying around them, but nothing changes. The love-hate they feel becomes just regular hate. Maybe they should take Julian up on his offer to actually help the city in his clinic.

Dr. Flynn through Le Moribund: Vida tries to help, but still struggle to take care of themself. Whatever luck kept them safe from the plague is running out. A gift of red lipstick from someone was made with the plague beetles. When they notice the red in their eyes isn’t going away, they cut and run. Muriel is the only one they tell in person. A letter to Julian and Nadia is sent from the docks and takes too long to arrive. The Plague drains their magic as quickly as their life when they’re at the Lazaret.

Your Protector: Asra arrives to a shop that’s been empty for years. He’s too late, Muriel tells him. Vida left for the Lazaret months ago and never returned.

Bones through Cliquot: Asra finds Vida’s remains at the Lazaret and knows this isn’t fair. They had so much life they could have lived. They wanted to help, Asra ran. A plan is made. A call is made for all magicians, physicians, alchemists, anyone to find a cure for the plague as Lucio shows signs of the plague.

Gymnopédie No. 1 through New Men With Old Man Named: Necromancy pays, but comes with a cost. A deal is made, Vida’s alive, but with no memories, skills, or abilities from their life before. Asra is their caretaker, teacher, and friend interchangeably. They are the one who teaches Vida everything they will come to know, and over time their personality returns, but their old insecurities are back in full force.

Fluid through The Floating Bed: Vida’s feelings for Asra grow and blossom. This was going to be the beginning of Asra’s route before I got caught up in Julian’s route in the game. I’ll probably rearrange the playlist to fit the prologue here and move these songs elsewhere.

Miri’s Magic Dance through Not Human Anymore: Julian’s route, no other LIs. Vida is utterly devoted to Julian, but ends up enabling and echoing his self-sacrificing behavior. Co-dependent. Reversed Ending.

Big God through Love Like You: An assorted jumble of unorganized songs. Most of these are for Nadia and Portia. When I say WIP, this is the In Progress portion.

[blackjack-15]

When the Boys Come Marchin’ Home — Thoughts on: The Creature of Kapu Cave (CRE)

Previous Metas: SCK/SCK2, STFD, MHM, TRT, FIN, SSH, DOG, CAR, DDI, SHA, CUR, CLK, TRN, DAN

Hello and welcome to a Nancy Drew meta series! 30 metas, 30 Nancy Drew Games that I’m comfortable with doing meta about. Hot takes, cold takes, and just Takes will abound, but one thing’s for sure: they’ll all be longer than I mean them to be.

Each meta will have different distinct sections: an Introduction, an exploration of the Title, an explanation of the Mystery, a run-through of the Suspects. Then, I’ll tackle some of my favorite and least favorite things about the game, and finish it off with ideas on how to improve it.

If any game requires an extra section or two, they’ll be listed in the paragraph above, along with links to previous metas.

These metas are not spoiler free, though I’ll list any games/media that they might spoil here: CRE; mentions of ASH’s mechanics; TMB.

The Intro:

Oh, thank Heaven, onto a game that’s fun to talk about!

Creature of Kapu Cave probably holds the title of ‘Most Maligned Nancy Drew Game’, at least in my mind; suffice it to say that while it has its fans, it’s most certainly not a fan-favorite. I’m not afraid of standing against the grain slightly here – not after my CUR meta, which is way more divisive than this one is gonna be — and saying that CRE is not only one of my favorite games (for mostly subjective reasons) but also just a solid, if not a stand-out, game in the series, far more deserving of praise than the title before or the title after it.

Yeah, next is ICE, and there’s no game more deserving to start out our “Odd Games” section than it. Yeesh. But that mess is still a couple thousand words away, so let’s dive right in.

The last of the Jetsetting Games, CRE cranks it up to full force by depositing Nancy straight into the beaches and jungles of Hawai’i, keeping the indoor locations to a bare minimum and even then limiting them to: a research facility dominated by plants, tents, caves, and a hilarious kitschy tiki shack.

Everywhere Nancy goes, HER is eager to point out that she’s on Hawai’i, and it’s honestly refreshing after being cooped up inside for all of CUR, most of TRN (my love for that game aside), and most of DAN. CLK had a mix of outdoor (mini-golf, tunnels kind of, car rides/chases, the barn) and indoor (the Inn, the Bank, Topham’s house) locations, but CRE blows it out of the water with just how much we see of Hawai'i, and how determined the devs were to keep Nancy — and thus, the player — out in nature.

CRE is a game where Nancy’s pre-professional-detective presence is actually fully justified; as a recent (and bougie) high school grad, she’s working an internship for a Dr. Quigley Kim, an etymologist studying the norsobeta oderata moth on the island and their odd shift in ~mating habits~.

In my good Christian game, no less.

While Quigley is far more interested in the norsobeta oderata moth going hot ‘n’ heavy than in her assistant, Nancy still gets a good education in frass, bugs, and what dealing with ‘professionals’ and academics is actually like. I can even handwave the ‘bugs’ idea rather than the humanities/history that Nancy is normally drawn towards, because Nancy’s the type of person to want to expand her horizons.

The Hardy Boys are, as ever, a bright spot in an already pretty sunny game. The switching between them and Nancy is a fun thing that the games haven’t really done before — at least not with this level of immersion and control — and it really makes CRE stand out as a game.

Finally, a point which should work in CRE’s favor: its detractors often point to the game as feeling rushed without a proper storyline. While I believe this negative statement to be (and hope to prove it so) mostly untrue, there is a persistent rumor that went around at the time of CRE’s release (and is still noted on the Wikia today) that CRE’s production was greatly rushed in favor of working on the new interface that would come with ICE.

While there’s no definite proof of this rumor, it does fit with HER’s general business practices (even before Pinch-A-Penny Milliken became CEO), and should probably be kept in mind while considering the outside forces surrounding CRE.

The Title:

Even detractors of this game have to admit that its title is pretty awesome, especially for this point in the Nancy Drew series (we’re about halfway, for those not keeping track at home, both through the series (#15/33) and through this meta series (#15/30, as this series will skip MED/SEA/MID). While the book it’s incredibly loosely based off of is called Mystery on Maui, The Creature of Kapu Cave is way more evocative as a title; the location still tells us that we’re in Hawai’i, the “Cave” addition tells us we’ll be spending most of our time outside, and “Creature” means a prowling presence stalking Nancy throughout the game.

In other words, it has all the elements to promise a really fun (and, at this point, unique) entry into the series.

While it’s not exactly part of the title, it doesn’t really fit anywhere else, so I’m going to take the time here to mention how wonderful the cover art is. It’s cohesive, well-segmented, and shows off the focal point (the entrance to the cave), the reel-in for the audience (the Hardy Boys) and the lurking danger (the volcano/lava). It works so well in tandem with the title that I feel like it’s worth pointing out here.

Now, onto what the title promises us:

The Mystery:

Nancy arrives bright-eyed and ready to work upon landing on Hawai’i, arriving at a place called “Big Island Mike’s Immersion Excursions” to get the keys to the car that she needs to drive to get to her professor — Dr. Quigley Kim — and to their base camp. The titular Big Island Mike, having other ideas, assigns her to complete a necklace for him in order to get the keys, saying that she’ll see that she’d rather do his Immersion Excursion than work for Quigley at camp.

Which, like, fair point. I’ll take Mike over Quigley any day.

Nancy has barely gotten to the beach (and received a call from Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Game and Marginal Boyfriend Ned) when she spots the Hardy boys, looking decidedly worse for the wear than in TRN (why is Frank’s hair so light???? WHAT DID THEY DO TO JOE’S FACE???) and promptly hangs up while Ned is still confused and asking questions.

I see we have another strong entry for Nancy’s “Girlfriend of the Year” nomination.

The three sleuths trade new information and Nancy finds the sea shells that she needs to make the ‘beginner’ necklace and get the keys from a reluctant Mike. Nancy sets off, car-having and confident, over the bridge and into the jungle – but not before hearing about Kāne ‘Ōkala, the ‘rough-skinned’ man, and his recent reappearance that can only spell bad news for the island.

The forces of Mystery – not to mention the tropical weather — seem to be dead-set against Nancy, as a bad storm and an equally bad man-made (or Creature-made, rather) disaster not only prevent Nancy from getting back to the beach and to safety, but also prevent her from meeting Quigley at their Base Camp, which has been ripped to pieces by someone — or something. Nancy has to survive the jungle, find Quigley, figure out what has sent Kāne ‘Ōkala on a rampage across the island — and, the most deadly task of all: sort frass.

Meanwhile, appearing on the very same beach where Nancy “Whirlwind” Drew talked to them are the Hardy Boys, undercover as vacationers at Big Island Mike’s Immersion Excursions to scope out his daughter Pua for their client Richard Aikens, as Pua is potentially being used for an ad campaign and they need to ensure that she doesn’t have any skeletons in the closet.

In other words, they’re vacationing with a side of snooping, all expenses paid. Jerks.

Because the writer is relatively competent, these two plotlines of course intersect, as Nancy finds out dirt behind the Mapus while Frank (and Joe, briefly, before he takes some hardwood to the head) finds the information Nancy needs for the titular cave, when he’s not busy making shell necklaces, trying out shave ice, and threatening random people via phone.

So because this game usually gets a lot of flak for its story, I thought — contrary to what I usually do in this section — I’d lay out the entire plot, point by point, so that it can be judged, rather than discarded based on some nebulous remembrance of its ‘nonsensicalness’.

We begin, pre-game, with disgruntled ex-pineapple grower Mike Mapu opening up his idea for a tourism business focusing on island living while the Hilihili Research Facility, headed by the CEO of Aikens Biotech, Richard Aikens, opens its doors as well. The connection between the two? The land officially granted to the Hilihili, it turns out, would go to the Mapus if the Hilihili were to go out of business.

Mike then hatches a plan; spread the word of a local folktale figure – Kāne ‘Ōkala — that’s returned and is wreaking havoc all over the island because the Hilihili’s research is killing the pineapples. While each little upset and natural storm adds to Mike’s claims, he needs something bigger — proof that the local pineapple crop is actually suffering.

Enter a shipment of fritillated flag beetles. The beetles start munching on the pineapples and their natural predator, the norsobeta oderata moth, noting that its prey is more plentiful and well-fed than ever before, begin eating and mating in unheard of numbers, drawing the attention of Korean-American entomologist and noted quirk Quigley Kim. Quigley quickly notices that there’s a little too much work for her to be able to just observe all day, and puts out an ad for a research assistant — an ad that reaches all the way to River Heights, Illinois, where Nancy jumps on the opportunity and a plane.

At the same time, Richard Aikens hears about a champion surfer who lives not far from his research center in Hawai’i and wants to use her in advertisements – provided there are no skeletons in her closet, of course. In order to find any trouble before it could cost his company money, he turns to ATAC, who send out Frank and Joe Hardy to start digging.

And that’s where the game starts.

Honestly speaking, this is a fine story — not as strong as some games, stronger than other games. The biggest problem I could see someone having with it is that so much happens pre-game — but that’s true of a lot of Nancy Drew games (CAP being the obvious standout).

Faced with the prospect of the Hilihili continuing to survive, Mike keeps spreading rumors and tries to prevent Nancy from reaching Quigley, who’s the one person who could foil his plans, as she’s studying moths who feed on the very bugs who are, themselves, feeding on the local pineapple crop. Meanwhile, Malachi Craven, secretive head researcher at the Hilihili and noted grouch, thinks that Quigley is spying on him (which she is, but we’ll gloss over that) and goes to her camp to confront her, tearing the place up in a fit of rage when she’s not there.

Thus, when Nancy happens on the crime scene and discovers an audio tape of whatever attacked the camp (which is really funny to think about knowing that it was Craven), coupled with the fact that Quigley is missing, the rumors of Kāne ‘Ōkala build even higher than Mike could have anticipated.

From here on, the story is as laid out in the game — Nancy and the Hardy Boys snoop, finding secret tunnels and lava caves, documents that Big Island Mike definitely shouldn’t have, Joe gets whacked into a concussion by a wooden head — the usual mystery stuff. While there are holes to be poked, they’re no more extreme than most other Nancy Drew games, and less extreme than most games that get put in the same pile as CRE.

Now, onto the characters that make up this mystery!

The Suspects:

Starting us off with the sheer force of his personality is Mike Mapu, otherwise known as Big Island Mike. Provider of Big Island Bucks, lover of shave ice, purveyor of varying degrees of fish bait, and our Big Bad for this game, Mike is a larger-than-life figure who controls much of the game, keeping the Hardy Boys busy, trying to delay (or even prevent) Nancy from getting to Quigley, and keeping telltale documents closely guarded — yet in plain sight.

As our suspect, Mike is honestly a decent choice — I would say he and his daughter are the two best out of our cast — and I have no problem with his actions within the game leading up to the climax. While the climax itself could use some work, Mike’s actions and his plot to achieve his goals make sense, track well, and honestly his plan is pretty well thought through. Mike, unlike a lot of suspects, takes 3 people (4 if you count Pua’s help) to take him down, rather than the Lone Nancy, and I honestly think that says a lot about how well he pulled it off.

His daughter, Pua Mapu, is at the center of the Hardy Boys plotline. A champion surfer on the brink of achieving stardom through advertisements, Pua only cares about surfing and getting ready to surf, but helps out with her dad’s business anyway giving surfing lessons, paying excursioners for necklaces, and even gives out fishing tips.

Pua’s our resident non-entity suspect, but has a bit more of a place in the story given her relation to a far more interesting suspect and her being the lynchpin in the Hardy Boys story. She’s the reason that Mike is actually found out; Nancy by herself couldn’t have gotten where she would have needed to go in order to solve the mystery, and the Hilihili probably would have folded before she could have gotten proper documentation, let alone confronted Mike.

As a suspect? Pua would have been an interesting choice, honestly; the bulk of her dad’s decisions would have been shifted onto her, and he would have been her (moderately uneasy) support. Her motive is already present in the game; if her dad inherited land, that means money, and money means she wouldn’t have to waste her time giving out fake money for fish and necklaces and could instead focus on surfing 24/7. A simple motive for a game where so much happens before Nancy and the Hardy Boys get there, but a good motive nonetheless.

In a very real way, Richard Aikens’ absolutely dumb decision to use the daughter of the man who would inherit his land should he fail for his advertisements is what saved his research facility; had the Hardy Boys not been there to snoop around Pua, most of the plot wouldn’t have had the chance to happen.

Specific to Nancy’s storyline is Dr. Quigley Kim, an entomologist who’s far more on the “observation” than the “research” side of academia. Drawn to Hawai’i to observe the norsobeta oderata moth’s unusual mating season, she hires Nancy to…well do to basically everything except the actual observation, has a tendency to ramble, and hates the nasal sound of her voice in recordings (because the recordings render it truthfully).

Quigley is missing for the first bit of the game, and is usually the suspect the player will meet last, so she has a bit less time to be suspicious — not that she’s a prime suspect anyway. A bit kooky, a whole lot annoying, and absolutely wrapped up in her work, the only thing Quigley’s actually guilty of is spying on Craven (and she never gets in trouble for that anyway).

While I appreciate the slight nudge she gets into the Non-Culprits who do Bad Things that Nancy Discovers, Quigley’s probably the weakest member of the club, and thus doesn’t feel subversive enough to be actually interesting.

As a culprit, Quigley would have been an odd, weak choice; as an entomologist, she’d have no reason to destroy the local pineapple crop, as the pineapples are in the food chain that she’s studying. The game never really goes out of its way to make her seem overly suspicious, which I find a point in its favor, as no player was going to believe it anyway.

Rounding us out is Dr. Malachi Craven, a short-tempered plant scientist with horrible plant allergies — irony at its finest. Brilliant, irritable, and egotistical, Craven refuses to work anywhere that’s not at least halfway solar powered, has been thrown out of a conference of his peers for calling them “hopelessly deluded morons”, and is on non-speaking terms with his brother (though he has a soft spot for his niece).

Craven is the obvious suspect in this mystery, as his bad-tempered and secretive nature is what really gives the rumors of the Hilihili tampering with the local pineapple crop its running shoes. Had the lead scientist been anyone even a bit more amicable, Mike’s plan likely would have fallen through — but since Craven keeps so close a watch on the facility and is so harsh to deal with, he unknowingly plays right into the rumors.

As a suspect, he would have been rather pointless; there’s enough “evidence” against him that the authorities would have already gotten involved, found out he was harming the crop — for what reason, who knows — and stopped him before Quigley could even start her moth project. As it is, he works as a competent distraction, as well as a character who’s slightly more sympathetic than I think he’s really intended to be.

The Favorite:

The Hardy Boys, as is the case with nearly every game they’re in, deserve a spot in this section. Ignoring the design choices that were, all in all, definitely for the worse (2006 was an ugly year, kiddos), the Hardy Boys are light, bright, and entertaining. Playing as Joe and getting whacked by a wooden head is great; playing as Frank threatening the man who whacked his brother is great; all their little mannerisms that separate them from Nancy and each other are well done, and the voice acting is top-notch.

And the fact that they bring with them the chance to change the User Interface (UI) and make it a pretty color is fantastic too.

I actually think the swapping mechanism is done better here than in ASH (note that this is one of the only times you’ll hear me say anything negative against ASH), because you’re only swapping between Nancy and a Hardy Boy, not a possibility of four different people. It’s a lot easier to keep track of things when each character is limited to a certain area, though I do love that the different responses that suspects would have to different people in ASH is sort of beta-tested here in Pua’s different responses to Frank and Joe.

I love the location that was chosen for the game; Hawai’i is the spot of not a few Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew mysteries, and it was cool to have a game that works in both the jungle and the beaches, rather than choosing one over the other.

I might be in the minority, but I actually really love Dr. Craven as a character. He’s got a bit more depth than most suspects even at this point, and you can tell he loves his niece despite his relationship with his brother.

My favorite moment in the game is honestly Frank’s gangster moment when he calls up Johnny Kuto, ready to kill him for hurting his brother. It’s a great moment of voice acting, a great brotherly scene, and a whole lot of fun to see Frank (and Joe, but Frank in particular here) having the mettle be an Agent, regardless of his age.

My favorite puzzle probably ties between the shave ice logic puzzle (I’m always here for a logic puzzle, as readers of this meta series already know) and frass sorting. I never really got why other people disliked frass sorting, as it’s an easy and fun puzzle to me. Bring on the frass.

I’m also going to add in here my love for the minigames in this game — specifically making necklaces (fishing is fun too, but I prefer trolling for shells). It’s fun to find the shells, to snorkel to find more (and move the plot along, of course)…I just really enjoy the Immersion Excursion part of this game, and would totally go on one in real life.

In a very stupid way, I like laughing at how horrible Nancy is as a girlfriend in this game; not only does she refer to Ned in the tutorial part as “a really good friend of mine” rather than “my boyfriend” (seriously Nancy what the eff) but she also abruptly hangs up mid-conversation on Ned when she sees two people that she thinks might be the Hardy Boys. It’s almost absurd how bad of a girlfriend she is in this game, and I like laughing at it.

#NedDeservesBetter2KForever.

Lastly, there’s a bit of dialogue that I love in this game – I know, CRE isn’t even a Nik game, so I was shocked too — when Frank’s listing all the things he’s found out for Nancy that will enable her to get into the titular cave.

He finishes his list and then says “oh, and I also saved the whales and brought about world peace”. Nancy responds with a teasingly dejected “Darnit, I was gonna do world peace”, and Frank answers her with an amused “Sorry, you have to do bug stuff”. It’s a fun, funny moment, and it’s nice to hear Nancy/Frank banter, no matter if you ship them or if you prefer them as friends. Shout out to, as always, our good ol’ boy JVS for his great work with Frank this game (and another hooray for the inimitable Rob Jones as Joe).

The Un-Favorite:

My least favorite moment in the game would probably be listening to all of Quigley’s recorded data; they weren’t really trying to make her nasality subtle, and boy does it get unbearable really, really fast. The fact that this is the stand-out worst moment in the game says a lot about how much I personally enjoy this game, and how inoffensive even the ‘bad’ stuff really is.

Well, mostly. See below.

Rather than frass sorting, as seems to be ubiquitous in the fandom, the little stealth section is by far my least favorite puzzle in the game. It’s nerve-wracking, timed, mandatory, and makes you rely on tiny visual cues to win it — in other words, it’s my worst nightmare when it comes to games.

I’ll include the endgame puzzle in here too, though I like it better than the stealth puzzle, just because it’s honestly a bit of a letdown. Nancy and Frank are in lava caves — cool — with currents that lead there – double cool — and the final endgame puzzle is lava mahjong? It’s a poor way to end an otherwise engaging game, even if it doesn’t prevent me (like other puzzles that have been and will be featured in this section) from replaying the game.

The Fix:

So how would I fix The Creature of Kapu Cave?

First things first, I’d change Joe’s entire design for this game. I don’t know why they chose “caveman Jesse McCartney” as their guiding star, but it was an unbelievably poor choice. Sure, Frank’s hair is a bit light, but considering they keep him dark brown for the rest of the games rather than the black hair he had in TRN, I’d be fine with just tinting it a bit darker and focusing on the Enormous Wrong done to Joe Hardy.

The other thing I’d fix is the endgame puzzle. While that style is done well other places in the series (TMB being the obvious example of the tile-style endgame), it really doesn’t fit CRE, and it makes the ending feel like an anti-climax. Even a trip through another set of currents would have been better, though honestly even a final confrontation just through speaking to Mike would have been better.

Other than that, I don’t think I’d change anything else. Sure, there are puzzles and moments I’m not too fond of, but I don’t think that the game suffers from having them in it. Honestly speaking, as long as the player pays attention to the story and tries to put it together rather than just waiting for the final scene, The Creature of Kapu Cave isn’t an impenetrable mystery nor a poorly written game; it’s just a mystery with a beautiful location, fun games, and entertaining puzzles to soup it up.

Oh, and the Hardy Boys, of course.

[miss-m-winks]

Restless 3

Intro Previous Next

Early in the morning, when the sky was still dim, Link got up and prepared for his journey to Hyrule castle. All his packing was already finished, he had been working on it all week, but he double checked everything anyway. Clothes, food for the road, tent, a full quiver of arrows, his sword. Anything left behind by accident would simply have to stay in Lurelin; he just didn't have time to waste in turning back. He dressed himself quickly in his traveling tunic and cloak before carrying his bags to the stable outside his home. His mother was already there brushing his horse, Epona.

"Oh, Link, I left you some breakfast on the table, don't forget to eat before you leave." His mother, Kiari, set down the brush and picked up a saddle blanket.

"Thanks, mom. I was going to saddle Epona first, but it looks like you beat me to it." Link smiled and walked forward to pet Epona's soft nose. 

"I know how you like to be on time, dear, now go eat, I can manage this." Kiari’s smile crinkled at the corners of her eyes like rippled sand. "The less time you have to spend getting ready, the more time you have to spend with your friends before you leave." 

"Alright, alright, I guess I do have time to relax a little." Link said with a laugh. "Thank you." He kissed his mother’s cheek before he left the stable. 

Link didn’t even need to go looking for Rozen or his other friends, as they just walked right on into his house. Seb sat himself on the table, Link had to move his barely-empty plate out of the way.

“Link! Figured you’d already be awake!” Seb leaned over and hugged Link around his head. Link laughed and pushed Seb away, making him almost fall off the table. 

“And I’m surprised you managed to get yourself up so early just to say hello.” Link said with a smirk, standing up to go kiss Rozen who was hanging back a little behind Tabi and Beedle. 

“We had to drag him out of bed,” Tabi teased, “but we all wanted to see you before the crowds started gathering.”

“Beedle is still tired from last night’s crowd, it’s good to have quiet time.” Beedle said. 

“Agreed,” Link said, “alright then, where are we going?”

The sun climbed slowly in the sky, making the world brighter as the seagulls made it louder. Link, Rozen, Tabi, Seb, and Beedle all sat on a little ridge near the pier, looking out towards Eventide Island. Along the way, they’d talked about memories. Link’s childhood habit of moving so silently he would startle everyone without even meaning to, that time he nearly lost a toe to a particularly grumpy razor claw crab and discovered the healing properties of his triforce.

“And then, of course, he decided to show it off by intentionally jumping out of a tall tree and breaking his leg!” Seb laughed, “I think Kiari nearly fainted!”

“Oh, my poor mother probably has much worse stories to tell,” Link said, “I think I had an entire phase after that, being risky on purpose and getting hurt just because I knew it would heal. I don’t remember what she said to make me realize how stupid I was being, but at least it finally got through my thick skull.”

“Well, it’s not exactly the triforce of wisdom, is it?” Tabi giggled.

(Image description: Link and Rozen sit beneath a tree with their friends Tabi and Seb sitting in a circle with them. Link’s cousin Beedle is laying in the grass nearby, holding a beetle above his head. Everyone has brown skin and black hair except Tabi, who has red hair. They’re laughing and talking. End Description)

They kept swapping stories as they sat on the ridge, teasing Link, teasing each other. Rozen won the little back-and-forth mocking contest by reminding Tabi and Seb that between the three of them, he was the only one still dating the future hero of hyrule. Beedle didn’t say much, but they laughed along, and Link was always happy to have the company of his cousin. 

“Link!” He heard his mother call, “Link, it’s time for you to go! Come on!”

“Oh, drat,” Seb sighed, “guess we can’t just keep you here after all.” Tabi elbowed Seb in the ribs. “Ow!”

They all stood up and hurried to Lurelin’s gate, where Kiari was holding Epona’s reins and the rest of the village was gathering to see Link off on his journey.

Link found himself surrounded by laughter, hugs, tears, and well-wishing. He could hardly keep track of who he was facing at any given time. Finally the rush of the crowd calmed enough for him to face Rozen again and he snuck in another kiss for his boyfriend. 

“Link, we’re all really proud of you,” Rozen said, “whatever it is you were born to do, we all know you’ll be able to face it.”

“I’ll come home safe, I swear it.” 

“I know you will.” The crowd around them tittered with a few sparse giggles and teasing ‘aaawww’s, and then Rozen lifted up a handmade hairpiece, all lovely green leaves and feathers with a palm leaf in the center. Link leaned his head forward and Rozen pinned it above Link’s ear. “It’s not quite the same as the hat every hero seems to be depicted with, but I think it looks pretty good on you.” Rozen smiled, though Link could see in his eyes that he was still worried. 

“Thank you. It’s beautiful.” Link kissed Rozen one more time, focusing his own emotions to send a little wave of comfort through his triforce to his boyfriend. The crowd cheered again, and moved aside as Kiari  walked forward leading Epona.

“Link, dear, I think you had better go now or you might be late.” His mother smiled as she spoke, and her eyes also betrayed a quiet worry for her son. Link turned and embraced her, sending that same wave of comfort to her heart, letting it expand and move through everyone nearby. 

(Image description: Link, wearing travel clothes, as well as a lei and palm leaf hairpiece. He is hugging his mother and kissing her forehead. End description)  

“I promise I’ll write as often as I can, mom.”

“You had better,” she laughed, “now get going before I start crying too much.” She pushed him around and towards his horse, brushing her fingers along her cheeks to wipe away any stray tears as he stepped up and into the saddle. Epona shook her head, tugging at the reins as she was already walking forward. Link urged her to a light trot, turning to wave goodbye as he left Lurelin, the crowd growing smaller and smaller behind him until they were out of sight. His journey was finally beginning.

(Image description: Link rides away from Lurelin, turning to wave goodbye to a crowd behind him. Rozen and Link’s mother are standing together at the front, Seb, Beedle, and Tabi are also visible in the crowd, waving to Link. End description)

NEXT

[clarasghosts]

RULES: List the openings of the last ten stories you published. Look to see if there are any patterns that you notice yourself, and see if anyone else notices any! Then tag some friends.

tagged by @leaiorganas sorry it took so long, i’m so bad at responding to tags!

10 is going to be like nearly half my work on ao3, haha

1. i’ll wander home - whouffaldi

The burn begins to ebb, or maybe that’s what Clara wants to believe.  Her vision dims so that water around her appears more like blue static, all the shapes losing their edge.  She doesn’t try to free her arm anymore, having long given up on trying to understand how it got stuck in the first place.  Her lungs weigh her down, like they’re reaching to the seaweed below.  Maybe I should just let them.

2. Rosemary by Your Garden Gate - whouffaldi, platonic clara x amy

Eleana Ravenwood Pond

Beloved Wife and Mother

Born

11th September 1960

Died

5th March 1992

That was all that was left of their mother.  Clara and Amelia held hands staring down at the words engraved on cold stone.  They could hear the chilly breeze blow through the grass and rustle the leaves above them, but they could not make themselves budge even for the wind.  In Clara's left hand she clutched to her chest her mother's childhood book of 101 Places to See; Amelia's right hand was wrapped around the rings hanging from a chain at her neck - their parents' wedding rings.  They had lost both parents in less than two months.

3. this year i devour - garashir

The first time Garak saw Julian was a mess of discomfort and endorphins leveling out that discomfort, excitement at seeing such a beautiful, intriguing, Human face among the crowd, and the thrill of thinking that he may be able to use the young doctor in his efforts to return home.  There is something important and valuable about that first moment, he knows, but it isn’t really the one that he counts, because the first time Garak saw Julian without the effects of the implant altering his perception was well over a year later.  He still remembers what that moment felt like, standing just outside the Replimat, looking for the first time upon a young man who was already a part of his life.  Julian had dug his way in, trusted him, accepted him without even knowing the whole truth, and planted himself firmly within Garak’s existence, so that when he woke up with a clear head, Julian was already there.  And as Garak watched him in the Replimat, he came to a decision.  When he entered and sat across from his friend, it would be a first in its own way, but he would treat it like a continuation nonetheless, like something without a beginning.  Something that always just was.

4. eat it whole - vicbourne

There are monsters in this world.  She learned this when she was a child.  She learned this in the hardest way.  And as she stares out at the gathering of important men before her, she knows that monsters don’t always look like monsters.  Any one of them could have their secrets, any one of them could be plotting her downfall.  Some of them are smiling in that awkward way that betrays how displeased they are with their new monarch, most of them aren’t smiling at all.  It makes her falter at first, this knowledge that none of the men in the room have any faith in her, not even her own blood.

But there is one face among them, as she glances at it, that shows only warmth, a small nod of encouragement.  So she steels herself, speaks up, and tells them how capable she knows she is.  The Prime Minister may not know all that much about her, she is aware, but if he can already believe in her ability, then others may do so as well.

She has no need to fear monsters anymore.

5. i’m not afraid of running away with you - clavioli

The lab in the backroom had been pieced together with whatever resources he had managed to bring with him and pieces scavenged from a high school classroom in the nearest town, which was over thirty miles and an hour’s drive along barely-traveled-roads away.  It had to be good enough because there weren’t any other options short of breaking back into the zombie capital which now considered them traitors.

The backroom also doubled as both a laundry room and a pantry.  The top shelf on the wall, above their food, were vials and bottles that he had managed to smuggle out with him.  The cabin they’d found was small, but it was livable.  The main room was split into a living space, a kitchen, and a bedroom.  They had a front porch that locked shut, which really only protected them from people who respected locks.  Glass windows and screens were easy to break, and the porch door was light enough that it rattled in the wind.  Still, the added sense of security did a little to ease his mind; felt safe enough to step out onto the porch at night and look out at the stars.

6. She Sought Death - whouffaldi

The letter is unexpected, to say the least.

Clara and Me don’t typically get any post.  Even if their home wasn’t a nomadic American diner, most of the universe has considered them dead for a while now.  Me doesn’t notice the letter, lying flat on the ground near the door, until they’re already in flight, and she considers the possibility that it was dropped their by a customer from their last stop – the 23rd century, several lightyears from Earth – though she can’t guess why someone would, or why they would find an impossible room in an otherwise simple diner, and just leave a letter.  It’s possible that it’s a plea for help, so she opens it.  Inside the envelope she finds only a folded advertisement and nothing else.

The Glover House

A Safe and Quiet Retreat in the Countryside

Space for twelve guests.  Rooms available beginning October 1st, 1940.

Please call and make a reservation.

7. Time to Turn it Over - whouffaldi

It was a natural disaster. On Arawn it was natural for the earth to shake and split, not along one fault line, but along nearly all of them.

The Doctor internally berated himself as he flipped switches and turned dials as fast as he could. This was supposed to be a relaxing, sight-seeing kind of trip, nothing too exciting, but somehow he ended up landing them fifty years off and just in time for one of the biggest tragedies in the planet's history. In fact, there wasn't much known about this planet afterward, they just kind of dropped off the map for a few centuries before quietly reconnecting with the rest of the universe. Whatever the exact extent of the damage, the number of casualties that far outweigh the survivors, he and Clara weren't going to stick around to find out

8. Changeling - garashir

He looks up at the sky often, the large never-ending expanse of blue, and traces the nonsensical shapes of the clouds with his finger, his other hand dragging Kukalaka behind him.  Turning to look at his mother beside him, he bends his head back so he can see her properly and asks, “How far away is the sky?”

She sighs loudly.  “That depends, Jules.”

The answer means nothing to him, so he looks away and back up at the sky.  Only a moment passes before he feels the small pressure of a hand on his back, rotating him slightly and leading him up a ramp.  The world around him darkens as they enter the ship.  “Where are we going?”

“It’s a planet called Adigeon Prime,” his father answers.

9. Life Implies Death - wellenore

The first time it happens, Lenore is 8 years old.  A large, black beetle takes up residence just outside her bedroom window.  For two days she watches it walk back and forth, but making no move to leave.  On the second night she opens her window to greet it, only to find it lying on its back, legs curled in toward its belly.

She leaves the body where it is, sparing it a glance every so often until, finally, it disappears.

10. darling one, just live - vicbourne

“You were happy too?”  It is both a question and a statement, a truth that belongs only to them.

So he answers.  “You know I was,” and he hates the way past tense tastes in his mouth, the loss of possibility as it passes through his lips.  He is sitting so close to her, but the distance he has put between them stretches, expands.  He could close it with a word, he knows, but it isn’t the right choice to make, so he doesn’t.  And every second that passes where he doesn’t is another inch, another piece of the path between them torn away, and soon he will be an island.

Patterns?

1. I seem to always be either setting the physical scene or setting a mystery. the only exception is “darling one, just live” in which i was jumping off of the show’s dialogue.

2. i’m honestly really wordy in my intros, whoops.

3. at least two of these begin with someone reading something - once a tombstone, and the other time it’s a letter

if you guys see any others, let me know! and i’m inviting anyone to do this!!! i want to see what you’ve written and what you have to say about it!

[afterspark-podcast]

G1 Episode 15: Transcript

Episode Show Notes

[This can also be found on AO3!]

[Stinger]

O: What the fuck is the cereal for!?!  I don't know, do you know!?!

[Intro Music]

O: Hello, and welcome to the Afterspark Podcast, an episode by episode recap of the generation 1 Transformers cartoon.  I'm Owls!

S: And I'm Specs!

O: Today we're gonna be talking about episode number 15, “A Plague of Insecticons.”  Let's talk about giant robots today, shall we?

S: Yes.

O: We open in this episode on a tropical island in a mangrove forest where several people are poling their boats through the forest.

S: It's called the, “Demon Swamp.”

O: That seems racist somehow?

S: Well, it might have been the Insecticons that named it that, actually.

O: [sighs] Eh, I guess.  And loo, a giant fucking beetle rises from the water!

S: Saying welcome to, “Demon Swamp,” ergo--

O: Okay, point taken.

S: What--why--why they might have named it that.

O: Yeah.  Meet the Insecticons!  Cybertronians that are here, now, for some reason.  Uh, Shrapnel, Bombshell, and Kickback, who are a stag beetle, a boll weevil and a grasshopper respectively.

S: Bombshell is also sometimes listed as a Japanese rhinoceros beetle, interestingly enough.

O: Yeah, we'll probably keep calling him a boll weevil but we--I definitely see how it could be a rhinoceros beetle.  The people flee, leaving behind several bags of food.

S:  That for some reason just really looked like fur to me, it was--

O: They did.

S: Yeah.

O: But the Insecticons can eat this how...and why???

S: Apparently they had to adapt somehow, I don't know.  And Kickback belly flops onto the one boat the remaining people are fleeing on, and...yeah.

O: The fleeing humans stupidly mentioned a farm and the Insecticons overhear this and decide to go pay a visit.

S: They don't even finish everything they were eating.

O: They don't.

S: I guess it'll be there when they get back, but ehh.  At the Ark the Autobots get a distress call from Bali about giant robot insects.

O: Skyfire says not to worry, the Skyfire extermination service is it's way.

S: Skyfire why are you so violent now!?!

O: He just really, really hates bugs, okay?

S: Well, I guess they wouldn make an awful mess smashing against his windshield at the speed of however fast he goes.

O: Yeah, yeah.

S: There would have been a lot more bugs then than there are now.  Skyfire then just like, transforms?  In the middle of the main room of Autobot headquarters the--the Teletraan 1 room.

O: And everybody just loads up, and by everybody we mean:  Spike, Bumblebee, Windcharger and Brawn.  But yeah, you're like--can he just fly out of the Ark, easily down the hallways in his jet mode? [dissolves into laughter]

S: Scale in this cartoon makes no goddamn sense.

O: It has some problems.

S: It really does.

O: We see Laserbeak returning to the Decepticon base, radioing ahead to Megatron to inform him of the robotic insects.

S: Megatron, Soundwave, and Thundercracker decide to head to Bali, Bah-li to track down the Insecticons.  (Or maybe just to have a nice vacation.)

O: Ah, again, I've seen what Megatron has to deal with on a day-to-day basis. I don't think I’d judge him if he’s like, that’s it I'm going to Bali! [laughs]

S: So I guess they get to Bali and then Soundwave sends out Ravage to track them.

O: And Ravage just sort of hops away following the scent, it's so CUTE!?!  Help!?!

S: He just kind of bounces.

O: It’s so cute!!! [giggles]  They do find a Decepticon escape pod that was apparently launched from the Nemesis before it crash-landed on Earth.

S: So yes, this does answer at least one question I had which was--were there still Decepticons on the darn ship? And so the answer is definitely yes, but this doesn't answer how many Decepticons were on that ship.

O: The world may never know.

S: Um-hm.  This leads Thundercracker to realize that the giant robot bugs they're tracking are actually Decepticons that gained insect alts instead of vehicle alts.

O: We cut to the Insecticons who have found the before mentioned farm and they just dive into a field of grain and start chowing down!

S: Oh my god they're vegans!

O: [laughs]

S: We never see them eating meat or anything.

O: You don’t so--

S: Just like metal, and grain, and other organic, uh--crops.  Crops.  They eat crops, okay?

O: So in addition to our Skyfire group, another group of Autobots show up Bali.  This group being composed of: Optimus, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, Wheeljack, Ironhide, and Trailbreaker.  They run into a religious celebration prompting them to try to take a shortcut and Sideswipe decides to take the lead, going off-roading.

S: You're a fucking Lamborghini Sideswipe you do not have enough ground clearance for this! At all!

O:  [laughs]

S: At all, at all, at all.

O: And Sunstreaker gives his bro shit, uh, because Sideswipe ultimately leads the group into a dead end.

S: Complete with a size changing hole.

O: Wheeljack also makes fun of Sideswipe’s poor pathfinding skills.

S: And back to what white Americans thought not Americans sounded like circa the 1980’s.  It's pretty racist.

O: It’s pretty racist. And yet more people are fleeing the giant vegetarian robot insects.

S: Some poor guy bails out of a combine shouting that he knew they should have sprayed the grass for bugs.

O: Not entirely sure how that would have helped you, good buddy but I mean… [laughs]

S: Hey, maybe--maybe insecticide would have warded off giant metal insects, who knows?  The Autobots show up and exit Skyfire while Skyfire’s like...half transformed?  There's a really weird pause here in the animation.

O: And he has legs while everyone just bailed out of him like, it is so bizarre looking.  I love it.

S: Yeah, but I mean you could legitimately transform his--

O: Um-hmm.

S: His toy like that, so...

O: Whirl too, I think?  You could--he could have legs, it was so funny.

S: Yeah...so a fight ensues as we were introduced to the Insecticons’ special skills. This is why you buy the toys, kids!  Why you buy the toys!

O: [laughs] Including being able to clone themselves, for some reason?

S: You gotta have some sort of cannon fodder I guess, when there's only three of ya.

O: I...well, I mean, the Insecticons actually will act as cannon fodder for the remainder of the series for [the] Decepticons like, their clones will, so I--valid point, they're basically the Veh--the Vehicons of the series.

S: Pretty much, I mean it was an easy way to explain how the Decepticons would have like, large numbers rather than just having a weird variety of alternately colored Seekers.

O: Yeah, this--I almost feel like they should have introduced these guys sooner so that they could that instead of these Seekers that we’ll never see again.

S: Yeah, eh, I don't know what the writers were thinking or the artists, it was probably a weird combination of no one was doing their job.

O: No one was thinking.  [laughs]

S: Okay, so um, so Brawn thinks these clones are optical illusions until he and Skyfire are thrown into a lake by said clones.

O: Then the Autobots flee into some weirdly large corn hoping that reinforcements are coming soon.

S: It’s really, really, really, large corn--it’s kind of amazing.

O: Yeah.  Now about those reinforcements!  Sideswipe’s brilliant plan after leading everyone to that dead-end was to tunnel their way to their destination.

S: He's really not a smart dude.

O: And yet, that doesn't explain why everyone else here went along with it. [laughs]

S: The Insecticons shoot spikes into the corn but Windcharger uses a repulsor field to keep everyone safe. Um, another nod to Windcharger’s weird magnet powers.

O: Yeah, surprise! The Decepticon tracking party has arrived and Skyfire can't transform.

S: You had one job Skyfire.  Unfortunately that job is to be taxi, never mind that you're a scientist not a warrior and you mentioned that your very first episode.

O: And now you're stuck here with Brawn and Windcharger.  Brawn and Windcharger.  Against Megatron.  Ya guys are screwed.

S: Well, also Bumblebee and Spike, if I’m remembering properly, but--

O: Okay, Spike-- without being able to steal a gun from somebody is effectively useless in this fight and Bumblebee--Bumblebee is a, supposed to be spy, obviously.

S: Yeah.  Despite being--

O: He's a terrible spy, but he's supposed to be a spy!

S: Despite being bright yellow, supposedly a spy.

O: [laughs] Right!

S:  No one’s good at their jobs.

O: Except the cassettes!

S: Yeah, and Ratchet.

O: And Ratchet!

S: I mean, Wheeljack’s also good at building things but they tend to explode--

O: I want to--I mean the cassettes and Soundwave, okay?

S: Okay.

O: He’s the most competent guy in the Decepticon army.

S: Yes, okay--also you should probably sit down Skyfire, you're significantly taller than that weird corn.

O: And then Brawn apparently has something against Rumble as he calls him a sawed-off nerd and he's glad he's not with the other Decepticons?

S: So what do you think Rumble’s nerd qualities are, exactly? Like, what kind of nerd do you think he is?

O: Video games? Weird foreign films?

S: Music, maybe?  Legos.

O: I like that!  Anyway, this is just making me like Brawn less and Rumble more.

S: Well, you already didn't much like Brawn, so it’s not--

O: No, but it’s a, it’s raising Rumble in my estimation.

S: So the Insecticons don't seem to know who Megatron is.  The conversation basically went as so:  Megatron--We're all the same!  Insecticons--Great!  Now help us kill these guys.

O: [laughs] Megatron sees absolutely no downside to this, as the Decepticons prepare to fire.

S: And back to our other group of idiots.

O: I swear in the previous scene they looked like they were underground but apparently Sideswipe’s barely made a dent into digging through this mountain, hill, whatever.

S: I'm guessing that was just some sort of wall, considering what I'm going to say next…

O: [laughs]

S: Optimus finishes this tunnel with his chest by ramming through the rest of the rock in truck mode, so obviously--

O: It wasn’t--

S:  --it's not a very thick--

O: Rock wall or something.  The other Autobots follow.  Sideswipe mysteriously turning into a clone of his brother for a few seconds.

S: And they finally arrived to help Skyfire’s group.  The twins yelling, ramping up a hill, and then transforming into--in midair to tackle the Insecticons and Megatron from above.  It was obviously the proudest moment of their lives.

O: You know it was.  Megatron comes up swinging though, getting Sideswipe an incredibly inappropriate hold and then chucking him across the field and straight into Skyfire’s arms.

S: Skyfire’s his knight in shining armor.

O: He’s everybody’s knight in shining armor.

S: He is!  And then Ironhide pretends to be Ratchet again.  Ratchet I'm assuming is--

O: Not here, I'm pretty sure he's back at base.

S: He’s--he’s sir-not-appearing-in-this-film.

O: Yes!  Well, sir-not-appearing-in-this-episode, anyway.

S: Yeah. The Autobots attack and the Decepticons take to the air and escape.  This seems like an obvious tactical solution for the Decepticons.

O: I mean, look, if they could fly in the Autobots can’t, why wouldn't they just be like--alright this isn't worth our time today? Wheeljack proceeds to fix Skyfire who takes off to keep an eye on the Decepticons, while  the rest of the Autobots follow on the ground.

S: He does.  Soundwave notices the idiot following them immediately and Megatron sends the Insecticons to take care of Skyfire.

O: Skyfire wishes for a laser powered flyswatter and the Insecticons call him a booby.

S: [sighs] Harsh words from a group of robot insects.

O: [laughs]

S: Wheeljack shoots the insecticons off Skyfire’s wings.  Actually, I don't remember was Wheeljack flying here?

O: Wheeljack has flying!  So Wheeljack takes off.

S: He's not wearing a jet pack that we can see but apparently he can fly, yeah.  So yeah, Wheeljack shoots the Insecticons off Skyfire’s wings and then Kickback kicks him to the ground.

O: Optimus then catches him with this soft metal trailer, which is definitely softer than the ground in every conceivable way.

S: Somehow.  And at a nearby oil refinery the Decepticons land amid cries of, “The monsters are back, run!”

O: Has ch--has Megatron hit this place before?  Is this from an earlier episode?  Should we recognize this place Specs!?!

S: Maybe this is where the Insecticons have been going to get--I don't know their fuel when they're not chowing down on cereal?

O: [laughing] They’re--they were just eating wheat though!

S: I don’t know?  So Soundwave does his normal job--when we get to Energon situations like this and he's the Tupperware mate again as he creates some more empty cubes.

O: And we're just dumping oil into these cubes and it’s magically Energon, ‘kay.

S: Sounds about right according to everything else they do.  Bombshell drops down and uses his, “Override wave,”--I am making quotation marks with my fingers--um, on Sunsteaker and Sideswipe.

O: Sunstreaker says, “Hey, somebody else is driving me!”  I feel like I can make a dirty joke here with..well, almost no effort really.

S: Yeah...zero effort and introducing another fancy reason to buy these even though the toys don't actually do that.

O: [Chuckling] Yes.

S: You just gotta have a representation of that character that you really love that does that thing and then you can pretend that your other toys are being mind controlled.  And uh, so Trailbreaker uses his force fields to block the override away--array.  Again, more fancy abilities.

O: Why aren't we just shooting bombshell?  Wheeljack has missiles, he used missiles earlier they seemed pretty effective.

S: Cuz you know we gotta remind the kids about the toys’ cool abilities!

O: You realize who you're talking to, right?  This is the person who has five [six, at the time of posting] Megatrons, remember.  Clearly I am not inclined to branch out.

S: I guess they're appealing to people more like me, who have a weird-ass selection.

O: [laughs] I am connoisseur, thank you!

S: You specialize, mine is a bit wider though I do have two Drifts and like, two Ratchets. Brawn requests some assistance at getting close to Bombshell, so Optimus is just like, fucking picks him up and lobs him through the air.

O: Brawn then lands on Bombshell.

S: This is, you know, the second Decepticon that Brawn has ridden.  I mean, first was Soundwave and it pretty much cemented your dislike of him.

O: Yeah, pretty much.  If you hurt Soundwave I’m not going to like you very much.  Brawn falls off, or is kicked off.  It's kind of unclear.

S: Who’s then caught by Skyfire, who is basically (as I said) everyone's knight in shining armor but Skyfire catches him right before he hits the ground.

O: Again, how was this an improvement?  That doesn't mean the force of his fall just disappears, you know.

S: That's true, that's very true!  You--if you’re a human your inside bits end up splattered against the rest of you.

O: I mean maybe, maybe robots don't have that same problem but--but definitely any time they catch the humans.

S: Yeah..so back at the oil refinery we see the Decepticons filling yet more cubes, only now Rumble’s in tow.

O: So...basically, what this means is he was probably in Soundwave’s chest compartment all along, meaning that Brawn is just wrong about everything today.

S: Yeah, the Insecticons show up and Megatron tells them to crack open an oil tanker and drink their fill.

O: Okay, so they're not vegetarian but then why were they eating all that grain earlier!?!

S: They had a craving, they wanted their cereal.

O: They're giant bugs, not pregnant women with a craving!  The Autobots show up and Megatron tells Soundwave to, “Activate the Ravage cassette!”

S: What a way to, um...dehumanize is maybe not the right word?  De-personify?  De-personify one of your most competent soldiers.

O: But we do get more cute Ravage bounding, which makes me happy.

S: He just bounce, bounce, bounce--

O: [laughs]

S: --all the way over to the Autobots. And now it's Sunstreaker that's pretending to be his brother for a shot.

O: In a tussle with Thundercracker--Optimus, Wheeljack, and Brawn end up coming up underneath the pier Thundercracker’s standing on and throwing him up and into the oily water he'd already set ablaze.

S: Thundercracker’s just not making good decisions.

O: No. [laughs]

S: And Ironhide manifests fire extinguishers out of his hands in an attempt to control the blazing oil around them and then Shrapnel uses lightning to attack the Autobots telling them to, “taste to the lightning-lightning,” maybe?  Isn’t he the one that [repeats words]...?

O: Oh, he might, I can't remember.  [He is.]  I do love that Wheeljack’s response is, “It tastes terrible!,” after he gets hit though.

S: It's a good response.  I like it.  Good on ya, Wheeljack.

O: I like Wheeljack.

S: I love--I like him too.  He’s a--he’s a good fella.  But rubber tires save the day, as Bumblebee transforms and Sharpnel’s attacks have no effect.  Oh my god, that just makes me think of the thing from the Mars Attacks! comics and Spike’s rubber boots.

O: Oh my god, that part was amazing.  I love it cause like--

S: Yeah.

O: --the solder gives him shit, but he’s like, “Ha!,” at the very end, it’s great.  Uh, this prompts Wheeljack to ride Sunstreaker into battle and shoot Shrapnel with his missiles.

S: And then Optimus rides into battle on top of Ironhide and Trailbreaker.

O: Like a foot on each one.  It's kind of great.  Seeing as the lightning has failed, Megatron shoots the oil tanker, jumps into the water and then pushes it towards the oil refinery in an effort to blow up the Autobots.

S: Optimus just kind of bear hugs the ship and sort of makes it sink…

O: Megatron takes aim at Spike and then Optimus pops out of the water holding the oil tanker above his head.

S: This is really absurd looking because Optimus is like, 1/24 the size of this oil tanker or something?  He is very small compared to the oil tanker.

O: Right!  But then Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, chucks an ENTIRE oil tanker at Megatron!!!

S: And the Insecticons proceed to say--fuck this shit--and take off with some Energon.

O: Megatron pops back up yells to stop them and then Reflector is here for some reason?

S: He had to get his paycheck somehow.

O: [laughs] Well, like where did Rumble go?  Like, Rumble I don’t think is there anymore, so I’m like, was Rumble supposed to be Reflector the entire time?  Was Reflector supposed to be Rumble?  Did Rumble say, fuck this shit, and hop back inside Soundwave?

S: Could be that, maybe he went to go do nerd stuff?

O: I'm gonna go with that.  Anyway, the Decepticons follow the Insecticons into the air and the Autobots laugh cause this day is saved once again, thanks to the Powerpuff Girls!  Wait, no, that's wrong. [laughs] Anway, that’s the end of our episode, join us next time for the season 1 finale, Heavy Metal War!  Where the Constructicons are introduced and Megatron is a cheater McCheater pants.

S: And we don't actually address any of the ecological issues that happened in this episode with the oil.

O: Or any of the other terrible things that Megatron and the Decepticons have done that further affected the ecology around them.  Eh, that’s not the word I’m looking for...environment.  I’m going to go with environment.  Alright, Specs, what are our fanfics for today?

S: We have two fanfiction recommendations for today.  Our theme for both of them is Insecticons um, but so let's go forward with this--I will introduce the first one and then Owls can introduce the second one because it was her recommendation.

O: Yay!

S: Alright, so the first one is titled, “Icehopper,” by Ayngelcat, and that's angel with a “y”.  (It'll be spelled for you.)  So it's in the G1 continuity, it's rated G, uh, it's rated--its Gen, there aren't any pairings. It’s just a cute little short thing.  So characters are: Shrapnel, Bombshell and Kickback.  And so, the authors summary is, “Another fic I wrote a while back which I've hauled from an obscure place.  The time of year seems appropriate.  I confess to it being a favorite besides which, insecticons needs love.”  So this is actually set during…

O: The winter, or…?

S: Yes, it’s set during the winter.

O: Ah.

S: Originally written for the TF_speedwriting, with the prompt, “Snow White,” and summary, summary is, “Kickback has fun in the snow which does not provide quite so much fun to fellow insecticons, and there's a warning for extreme Insecta-fluff.”

O: [chuckles]

S: With a smiley face.  So ya, recommendat-- the theme or here--whatever is, “Insecticons,” lots of Insecticon cuteness.

O: And my recommendation for today is, “Unusual Subjects to Take Up in Therapy,” by Sparklight.  Continuity for this is Shattered Glass, which is one of my favourite continuities ever and um, I just happened to remember that uh, Shattered Glass Bombshell was in this and recommended it for it.  The rating is G, the--it is Gen, there are no pairings though I will admit I feel like I get some Cliffjumer, uh, Bombshell vibes in this but um, but it's not listed that way.  Characters are: Regular universe Cliffjumper, Shattered Glass Bombshell, Shattered Glass Starscream, Shattered Glass Sideswipe and Shattered Glass Megatron.

Summary, “After Megatron expresses concern over how Cliffjumper is handling his new situation and Cliffjumper insists he's doing FINE, he still ends up talking to Bombshell about alternates, the differences between his native reality and this one (and the people in it) and, just a little, about how he's dealing with it.  At first reluctantly, and later less so.”  The theme for this was Bombshell, basically (and the Insecticons).

So, some background on the Shattered Glass universe and the plot in the main Shattered Glass stuff is that the normal Cliffjumper actually ends up there and ends up a allying himself with the Shattered Glass Decepticons, who are the good guys in this universe.  I quite like this fic, I want to say it's like five or six chapters long but it is complete um, and I just enjoy getting to read anything with Shattered Glass in it but I thought characterizations in this were good and we don't actually get to see a ton of Shattered Glass Bombshell material, so it was interesting.

S: Sounds good, and we’ve got fanart today!

O: We do!  So, our fanartist for today is Red or Russet Red, I'm not entirely sure which one they go by.  We will have additional links to their stuff on our Tumblr but the stuff that we will list on at least AO3 is that Russet Red has a Tumblr, Twitter, and an Instagram.  They tend to do a lot of ID-IDW stuff, though I think there's probably more stuff on there too?  There is a variety of characters, uh, the IDW continuity as far as I can tell.  Some really cute stuff, ranging from sprite art, to sketches, and finished pieces.  They have mine--my undying gratitude for making adorable Coswave fluff, yes!

Uh, our three art recommendations for the day are, a sleepy ambulance--which is Ratchet related.  A Coswave sprite they did which is super cute, and then some Minimus fanart, where he is holding a bunch flowers, that I just thought was cute.

S: Sounds adorable.

O: I really recommend them, their art style’s pretty damn fucking cute!

S: Okay, and so that just about wraps it up for us today.  Remember to check us out on Tumblr or Pillowfort at Afterspark-Podcast for any additional information, show notes, or links we may have mentioned.  You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter at Afterspark Pod (all one word) and various other locations as Afterspark Podcast such as AO3, iTunes, Google Podcasts Stitcher and YouTube, just to name a few.  Till next time, I'm Specs!

O: And I'm Owls!

S: Toodles!

[Outro Music]

[scriptwitchcraft]

I've noticed that you mentioned Wiccans a lot. My MC is a witch, and I wasn't really aware of other kinds of witches, even though I did thorough research. What other kinds of witches are there? Just fyi, she is a mostly-closet witch, and uses stones as connections to places. She mostly uses runecasting and entomomancy (especially beetles and spiders). What might she choose to align with, if anything?

There are, honestly, so many more choices than just Wicca. I’ll try to list several, but do not take this as an exhaustive list. I have added resources where I could, and please forgive the length…

Asatru

An Asatru witch follows a specific branch of Heathenry that worships the major Nordic pantheon.

http://www.ravenkindred.com/index.html

Athiest/Laveyan Satanic (Secular Satanic)

This witch feels more that Satan is a concept or idea, not an actual entity.

http://www.churchofsatan.com/

Celtic

This witch uses the Celtic culture, including its’ mythology, deities, old ways, and language / symbols as a means of learning, internalizing, and performing magic.

http://www.joellessacredgrove.com/Celtic/celtictraditions.html

Christian

A witch that honors and worships the Christian God through the practice of magic, usually alongside more traditional Christian worship.

http://arganteswell.tripod.com/id1.html

Death/Necromancy

This witch utilizes magic through the bodies and spirits of the dead. This can include bones, blood, skin, and other pieces of the corporeal form left when the spirit leaves, as well as contact with the spirit that has left its physical form behind.

http://sarahannelawless.com/2011/11/13/lets-talk-about-necromancy/

Druidism

Is a very old, and very complex set of religious and nature beliefs changing from region to region, and time to time.

http://www.druidry.org/druid-way/druid-beliefs

Eclectic

A witch who respectfully uses parts of multiple practices, traditions, and paths.

http://www.witchpathforward.com/eclectic-witchcraft.html

Gaulish

This witch pays homage to the Gaulish Gods through the study, reconstruction, and practice of Gaulish tradition.

http://www.deomercurio.be/en/index.html

Heathenry

A witch who follows the ways of, works with, and/or worships the Norse deities.

http://www.heathengods.com/faq/index.htm

Hellenic

A path by which the witch follows Greek traditions and honors the Greek pantheon.

http://www.witchpathforward.com/hellenism.html

Hereditary

This witch was born into a family of witches and so is likely to have practices, traditions, and/or paths that are not usually shared outside of their family practice.

Hoodoo

A complex interweaving of Western African traditions as well as a long history of utilizing Christianity. This is a fairly regional practice of the Southern United States, but can be found elsewhere.

https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/black-magic-talking-with-hoodoo-witches

Kemetic

This type of witch works with the Egyptian deities.

http://www.witchpathforward.com/kemetism.html

Lokean

A witch who works with and worships Loki and/or any of his relations (Hel, Jormugandr, Sigyn, Angrboda, etc). This witch may pay homage to other Nordic deities as well.

http://witchesandpagans.com/pagan-culture-blogs/lokean-swamp-witch.html

Odinism

A witch who works majorily, or exclusively, with Odin, Thor, Freyjr, Freyja, Frigga, and Heimdall.

http://www.odinistfellowship.co.uk/

Pop Culture

A pop culture witch uses lyrics or movie lines in spells, worships and/or honors pop culture icons and/or idols. Likely to utilize fandom in some way, it is a very new and wide practice. They could draw inspiration from Harry Potter, Vampire Diaries, Practical Magic, The Craft, Supernatural, or other, similar shows.

http://thepaganstudygrouppage.tumblr.com/post/77850531804/brief-intro-to-pop-culture-magic

Regla de Ocha

A religion that was synthesized by West Africans who were taken and enslaved by the Spanish Empire who were then sent to work on the Caribbean Islands. It mixes West African tradition with worship of saints.

http://www.aboutsanteria.com/what-is-santeria.html

Science

This kind of witch synthesizes their craft from a mixture of empirical evidence/data and metaphysical leanings. It is highly individualized.

http://www.wsusignpost.com/2013/10/26/modern-witchcraft-entails-science/

Secular

This type of witch doesn’t connect with any religious practices, traditions, or paths.

https://thewitchcraftjournal.wordpress.com/2014/03/26/witchcraft-as-a-secular-practice/

Solitary

A witch who practices alone, but follows a particular practice, tradition, path.

(Theistic) Satanic

A witch whose practice revolves around worshiping, honoring, or otherwise appealing to Satan.

http://theisticsatanism.com/varieties/FAQ-TS.html

Traditional

A witch who hunts for the “traditional” ways of magic. Likely to be found scouring through histories and stories looking for references to spellcraft, rituals, and traditions that have since been lost to time.

http://sarahannelawless.com/2015/03/17/introduction-to-traditional-witchcraft/

Voudon

An Afro-Caribbean form of worship that focuses on the loa, and spirits.

http://www.livescience.com/40803-voodoo-facts.html

I hope this put some things in perspective as to just how large witchcraft is, and why I seem to harp about being frustrated that the majority of what I see is Wicca. It is prevalent and popular, not the only way to be a witch, and definitely not the only tradition.

To answer your question about your character, Some of these paths lend themselves more towards nature than others, but I’d suggest rather looking into a tradition/path, look at types of witchcraft instead. Your character most sounds like a variety of Green Witch, and/or Animal Witch.

-Bruxa Guerreira

[glopratchet]

delivery-intro

Me, the other Eternals and the Old Man will all be happy to provide you with were introduction letters of recommendation Is this another plot card? No Well it isn't for now It isn't clear to me yet wheather I should play this, use the entr Morgan wrote or decide on my own who to give this too please, do not do anything drastic before talking to one of us first After shouting angrily at you unpausing the tape for about a minute without giving you a chance to speak and throwing the glass with the whiskey against the wall he finally looks back at you His eyes are aching and weary, you realize now that he had most likely been crying before you arrived If you can convince them to instead help you defend your lands in a different way, they stand a chance could provide one of the two treasures needed to construct an ark against the coming flood They could take most of the blame while you seize most of the remaining resources and possibly even most of the demon engines Or You can invite Googizon into breed their strains for war on your land and almost certainly die defending it has two contracts on the table One with your currently tiny nation state that will flood you with resources and absorb your ability too adapt to a changing enviorment into their business as well as utilize the humans in hiding on your lands as consumable mass if war should come The other contract is long term and far more profitable for the company while being ultimately fatal for you and your state It involves opening up trade to the wendigo who are barely kept at bay by the Shining TrapeziumMandate which now has a very real thread with the Googizon merger This flotilla is now slowly navigating through yonchrom island near quiinbahg mountain This is not that story We are primal ponds inc Other than providing a good meat source humanity was no more significant than water beetles or otters for us Nourish and harvest, we do, everything else is none of our concern This applies to demons coming through the barrier as well They posed a minor threat to the wildlife, and have for a long time been culled by mandator trade ships It didn't happen Small packages containing specific toxins to wipe out certain invasive plant-life in exchange for gold, land, people or other resources A more centralised response to the new pest island the mandators placed humanity on is needed but not our role nor the desire of our owners Covert action and subterfuge, things humanity does best, will solve this problem without wasting effort on an issue that doesn't need resolving Time will tell as it always does