#i saw the preview for next week also and the new round looks wild so im ready | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sanstropfremir · 3 years

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kingdom episode 3 baby!!!!

listen. i’m not gonna lie i was nervous as hell for this episode. i saw that preview like everyone else and unfortunately i have ears so i was convinced the ateez stage was going to be a trainwreck. i was absolutely banking on sf9 and skz to do something even mildy interesting to save me from the ear damage and having to talk to extensively about why that disaster happened. but somehow i woke up in an alternate universe and you know what? with the exception of that high note the ateez stage fucked. i know. i don’t believe it either. i think i’m still in shock.

i’ll do individual breakdowns in order of favourites within the episode and then at the end i’ll put my personal ranking of all six. thank god i don’t have to do a stage breakdown again; if they change it again for next week i will scream.

ateez

a miracle happened. i don’t have to fight any of the staff at kq. i don’t understand either. jongho is so fucking lucky that the rest of the group pulled all that energy out of their asses because if they had been even a single iota less serious about it that stage would have flopped worse than a dead fish. i can’t believe we got this level of camp b movie schlock in the first full stage, and they stuck the landing. incredible.

fine i’ll address the elephant in the room. personally, i don’t think jongho is that good of a vocalist. he’s not bad, and he does have the potential to be a good vocalist, he just doesn’t have the training, and this is the issue with all of ateez. hanya talked about this before and i’ll say it again: he can’t switch to his head voice and he’s destroying his vocal cords by attempting to hit notes in his mid range that he should just jump to head voice for. frankly i’m surprised he got anywhere close to that note in his mid, but his technique is just not there and he’s gonna do some real damage to his voice if he doesn’t take a break and also get a good vocal coach. you can already hear the degradation in sound from their debut stage to now, and that’s in less than three years. ok i’m done talking about vocals that’s hanya’s turf, i’m pretending that that high note doesn’t exist and we’re moving on. also im in love with btob’s reaction it was fucking priceless.

costume

look, i have a one track brain and that brain can only think about seonghwa corset. seonghwa corset? seonghwa corset.

i know it’s not a real corset nor is it properly laced and i know this would never happen in a million years but a kpop mr pearl trend? i would die. just fully expire. there’s no coming back from that for me

yes i have laced boys into proper corsets before and yes it is as hot as you think it is (when it’s not work related, obviously)

ok now that i’ve got that out of my system for the moment, the costumes are actually pretty good. i’m a little obsessed with hongjoong’s coat although I know it’s stupid. fur? always, I love it, you’ll never change my mind it makes everything better. i own a lot of it and i wear it all the time. this is also a pretty good example of how to do a more modern styling within a very specific and recognizable genre.

i don’t hate the backup dancers’ costumes either, even though they would look a lot better in a not-pirate themed hiphop stage. because there is already a modern tint with the boys’ costumes, it’s not that much of a leap to the dancers, and they actually use the dancers and the camera really strategically to not put much focus on them.

the only real standout issue is the blacklight/contortionist moment, which is too gimmicky for me and doesn’t fit the rest of the theme. i do understand the purpose of them: you need a transition point from the upper deck to the more fantastical inner ship area, and blacklight paint is a really easy, cheap, and fast way to get four new costumes instantly. do i think they could have done something better though? yes.

set

this was actually a smart reuse of that pirate ship set. i know i clowned on them in the first stage that they could move on from the pirate gimmick but honestly? i’m glad they didn’t. this was fun as fuck. but also two stages was enough you can move on now.

i love how they actually used the weird double stage function that the false prosc creates for an actual architectural and narrative effect, instead of just sort of operating as though it’s just another place to travel just because you can. we are on the deck of the ship, and then we go inside the ship. it’s simple and effective. you don’t need to do a crazy amount of crossover to establish a dynamic sense of place.

i hate the ateez kingdom logo. i hate the ateez logo in general. get it out of there, at least you could have made something more fun and pirate themed.

would have loved to have seen them return to the hourglass at the end, especially if they got one that was specifically set for 4 minutes. would have been a nice bit of symmetry but i suspect it was struck before the kraken bit.

the kraken bit??? i was not at all expecting that and honestly? dope as hell. that big tentacle is just a custom inflatable santa claus that you see around christmastime and what a brilliant use of such a simple mechanic, especially to have it come through that weird little triangle arch they have upstage. smart way to use the existing architecture.

yes it is a gimmick but here’s why it works rather than just looks tacky like every other gimmick we’ve seen so far: it had a function within the narrative. this is so important. show us there’s a reason it’s there!

lighting

i didn’t love it but they did actually make some smart choices. the outer deck is warmer toned and has some good atmospheric effects, and the inner deck is cold tone and specifically lit with pin lights to imitate the light coming through portholes in an actual ship, which is so smart thank you lighting designer

also a very clear arc with the lighting, blue -> orange -> blue/red -> orange/multiple -> blue

sound

i actually kinda liked this remix? it fit theme and had a very clear dramatic arc. also i like wonderland, so sue me.

staging

WE DID IT, WE FINALLY GOT A CLEAR NARRATIVE FROM AT LEAST ONE GROUP! wonderland was actually a great choice for them because it’s a really good indicator of exactly how hungry they are. i was a bit worried that it would fall flat because it kinda rides on mingi but they actually pulled it off. i have literally no idea where they pulled all that energy from but holy shit you can practically lick the attitude off the screen. i’m also very impressed by the amount of information they managed to fit into that four minute narrative. we had a full conflict/climax/resolution, as well as a really clear understanding of the tenacity and drive of the group, as well as the desire to support one another in achieving their goals. bravo.

ok so like i said in the set section, they used that pirate ship bridge really effectively to create two different but connected spaces. this is a really smart way to make it seem like you have two spaces while having to only build one set. it was also one of the best ways to utilize this dumbass stage so it doesn’t just look like you’re running arbitrarily from area to area because you can.

also levels! levels are so important for staging but also hard to do in this context because you have to be able to move really quickly in and out of full group formation, but I think they did a really good job here.

continued point: the kraken arm worked because it was the conflict they needed to overcome in the narrative, so it had a function within the performance. also related: all the tricking and jumping also served a purpose within the narrative too. it was either used for fighting (yeosang kicking all those dancers on beat) or a demonstration of teamwork (jongho flinging yunho around on the floor). also frankly excellent use of choreographic formation with the backup dancers, each formation had a specific function and was meant to highlight ateez without being overbearing.

not a whole lot of camera choreo, but a fairly good long take at the beginning and the editing wasn’t too obnoxious which I think was more chance than intent, but i’m not gonna look a gift kraken in the beak.

sf9

i actually really liked this stage, and i really like that sf9 has established their colour as effortlessly elegant, which does set them apart from the rest of the groups. this stage was really choreographically complex and they made it seem so easy, so real props to them. however, like with ikon’s stage, there were a lot of good ideas that just weren’t followed through enough for me.

like ateez, song choice and theme were very well intertwined with this one, there was a lot of thought put into this stage. the pun with ‘jealous’ and ‘jilleosseo’ and having a fairytale/magic mirror narrative? fuckin GALAXY BRAINED. incredible. the implication that not only taeyang but the entire group is the evil queen from snow white? chef’s kiss. should have committed harder and put one of them in massive cloak à la king taemin mama 2020. instead it was subtle enough to not try to step on ateez’s schlocky camp toes but still just as serious and i love that. do i wish they pushed it farther though? also yes.

costume

not gonna lie, i had my reservations on the costumes when we saw the previews of them in the waiting room, but the thing about stage costumes is that they always look bad when not on stage. if they look good in the waiting room you’ve done something wrong. and i loved them on stage. big fan of that quilted vest/pseudo stomacher. please can we have a corset trend? y’all already adopted bondage harnesses, c’mon a little corset won’t hurt. also a good example of a modern spin on a recognizable genre.

i wish the backup dancers weren’t in all black but i am fighting single person battle against the entire entertainment industry on that one.

set

extremely simple with a few smart utilizations. had a feeling this might have been a budget thing, as it had a similar kind of vibe with ikon’s stage, but the use of the mirrors was smart and a fun device that served the purpose of the narrative.

working with mirrors on stage is really fucking hard, so kudos to them for giving it a go. for the most part it was pretty effective. especially with the combo of moving mirrors and moving lights AND moving camera, you’re kind of asking to either blind your audience or at least give them a headache. i once saw a production of the magic flute that had a rotating mirror setpiece and i swear i nearly went blind due to the constantly flashing reflections. you have to really be careful with directionality and reflection, especially with the added element of a camera. also you never use real glass mirrors on stage, it is unbelievably bad luck and theatre people are the most superstitious demographic on the fucking planet.

i kinda loved the draped gold dais. i have nothing else to say about it other than fun!

lighting

a lot of this was very weirdly lit and i’m not sure why. the quality on youtube is terrible and cameras already have trouble picking up detail in low light, and throwing a whole bunch of primary red over that (the colour with the longest wavelength and therefore disappears the easiest in the dark. also human eyes are not very good at distinguishing variations in the red spectrum) and the red costumes made it extremely difficult to tell what was happening.

i will give them props for dramatic lighting usage, especially for the two way mirror trick and for using the floor as a primary lighting source at the end, which i think groups should be using more of. how often do you have a lighting source in your floor!!! almost never!! use that opportunity!!

sound

i actually enjoyed this remix too. it was well suited to the dramatic nature of the stage. i think the sound byte at the beginning is ‘mirror mirror on the wall who’s the worthiest of them all’ but it also could be ‘who’s the worst of them all’ and that would be also fitting and kinda funny.

staging

again, not a lot of consideration for camera choreo in a meaningful way, and like the tbz stage I think the clarity in the actual choreo got hampered by the editing. because there was a lot of choreographic precision that went into making this work and it wasn’t totally obvious from the way mnet edited it.

a lot of them are actors so it works that they’re leaning more towards dramatic stages rather than the sort of performance type stages we’ve seen so far. i like this choice for them as it gives them a very obvious colour but they’re almost on the verge of making it look too easy, which does them some injustice.

next to ateez, using that long uninterrupted traverse was my favourite use of this stage. doubles as an easy way to build the atmosphere of a palace corridor/throne room with the rug, and to feed the drama of the piece.

skz

ok i have some…..things to say about this stage. so far i have not been kind to skz which makes me look like i hate them and i don’t, i promise. there were a lot of really interesting things happening in this stage and there some really successful ones, and i liked this a whole lot better than their intro stage, but their overall choreo and thematic dedication is really killing me. i’ll explain.

costume

I don’t hate them but also…….why? I got the good self vs evil self/internal struggle theme but the costumes don’t really have anything interesting to say about that. as far as modern style costuming goes i think they’re on the more interesting end, but they don’t push it far enough. there’s a few western art history visual motifs and honestly? they should have gone whole hog and whited out their faces/hair and made them look like classical sculptures. that would have been hella fun, especially with that little statue and marionette sequence, plus the shadow/leash manipulation.

this time it was actually intentional that the backup dancers were in blacks and i appreciate that.

why on EARTH did they have that ridiculous makeup that didn’t read on stage? theatre makeup and tv makeup are different, you can’t just do a light purple eyeshadow and expect to read under blue and red light. someone needs to bring an actual theatre makeup artist in and get these boys in some real crazy looks. see previous point about full-face white pancake. more extreme makeup please and thank you!

set

i liked the use of internal architecture within this massive weird stage space and they used the corridors quite well. i didn’t really like the mix of baroque scrolling and also graffiti, it wasn’t quite connected for me. this has been a common theme among this round and i think it comes from budget/props pulls rather than anything else.

also there was a distinct feeling of trying to fill the main stage space with bodies as opposed to atmosphere. this can work in some specific cases but the intent wasn’t strong enough for me. it just felt like a lot of people on stage, especially in the end choreo.

lighting

the general lighting was fine but not particularly inspired. the low light in the beginning was actually quite well done, especially combined with the fog, but in my opinion was not dramatic enough. you have a pseudo art history theme happening, pump that contrast and push the chiaroscuro!

ok stay with me, i’m gonna say something extremely controversial that might actually get me cancelled. s*per j*unior’s burn the floor did everything this stage was trying to do on a smaller scale and better. look i know ok, this is a like, a double atom bomb hot take. just forget everything you know about them and watch the performance video. tell me that’s not some of the most interesting choreo you’ve seen in kpop. if you’re going to work with practical light you need to COMMIT. not just steal the solar lanterns out of my mom’s back garden.

i have a lot of opinions on using practical light and alternate light sources in performance because it’s a huge part of my practice and this just....wasn’t interesting enough for me. push it further!

(I will wait for the subs on the full episode because there has to be a reason they chose that specific shape of lamp. if not i gotta ask jyp why he’s raiding my mom’s garden)

sound

god’s menu has such specific imagery associated within the lyrics and choreography that this stage was a bit dissonant for me. especially when seen in conjunction with two stages where the narrative was tied explicitly to the lyrics of the songs. i think maybe if it hadn’t been grouped with these other two stages i would have felt differently. the other groups chose to do songs were a little more abstract and allowed for more visual experimentation, but to go so blatantly against the food metaphor didn’t really work for me and i had a tough time divorcing the association. I found the arrangement to be a little lacking in energy for me towards the end but otherwise it was pretty interesting.

staging

Definitely a better performance overall that the intro stage. almost all of the gimmicks this time had relevance to the theme which i appreciated. the marionette bit and the shadow/mirror were probably the most interesting but i wish they were better lit.

there was a lot of back and forth in the blocking that made the stage feel repetitive and also aimless? like there wasn’t a very clearly established directionality within the internal space, so it felt like treading over the same ground for no purposeful reason. and again, not a lot of intentional camerawork.

i really liked having the dancers under the big sheet, it fit well enough within the ‘war between internal selves’ theme, but also had a loose tie to the art imagery. again, i really wish they had stuck to a clearer visual theme. it makes them stick out especially in this grouping of stages, but also across all the groups as whole because almost everyone had a clear(ish) visual idea.

holy shit that’s a lot of backup dancers. i don’t really feel like that many were necessary and the sheer number of them took away from the emphasis of the group. with all of the other stages (except for tbz) it was very clear who the centre of attention and emphasis was, and with both skz and tbz they got swallowed by the sheer scale they were trying to operate at. bigger is not always better.

---

this is a tough round to rank because none of these stages are bad, there’s just some that are, in my opinion, more successful than others. all of these stages do very well in specific elements but fall short in others which also makes this ranking difficult. i’m evaluating these based on whether they were successful to me, as i’m pretty sure this ranking will probably not all be popular opinion, but whatever i like to live on the edge.

btob – visuals, vocals, narrative, swords? what more do you want me to say? also i watched the full episode and minhyuk did rehearsal with a real bokken and i think i am in love with him now.

ateez – honestly not sure if i would have ranked this first if that high note hadn’t been a mess. i love camp nonsense and i genuinely think this was a well designed stage. i can’t believe i keep saying that but it’s true.

sf9 – this stage was really solid, just could have been pushed farther. i think it has a really good sense of drama and it’s a pity that sf9’s colour is more subdued, because i think they’re going to be stuck around the 3rd/4th position for the rest of the show.

ikon – ikon is only ranking this high because although i am disappointed in the wasted potential of this stage, they NAILED the camerawork and actually brought in someone to block the steadicam into the choreo. also they’re incredible performers. i say this every time, but their stage presence, although maybe lower energy that they normally would be, is still not to be fucked with.

skz – i think this one is the most ‘meh’ for me. while i liked a lot of the elements here they just didn’t push it far enough and the lack of narrative and general aimless choreo led to me not having any strong feelings yea or nay.

tbz – to be quite honest the lack of costume unity is a big hit for me. all elements of design are equally as important but because of my personal practice and experience i tend to put a lot of weight on good costume and spatial design. i don’t actually like game of thrones also, so I feel mildly offended on behalf of michele clapton, who had did a fucking incredible job and doesn’t deserve to be slandered like this. also the lack of cohesive choreography and the overblown lighting made this difficult to watch, no matter how good i thought the rear projection/stretch fabric dance was.

any questions or opinions you wanna share hit me up! see you next week!

#im ready for the angry asks about that s*ju opinion because that is a spicy one #kingdom #kingdom review #kpop analysis #im so surprised by these stages i cant believe ateez stuck the landing #i saw the preview for next week also and the new round looks wild so im ready #text

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imjeralee · 4 years

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Wallflower: Chapter 16 - Your Hugs are the Best

Raihan x F!Reader

Disclaimer: Do not own Pokemon

Note: I remember typing this chapter. It was a nightmare XD

Summary: You’re an unassuming Pokemon breeder who works at the nursery in the Wild Area and he’s Raihan, the fearsome gym leader of Hammerlocke who has more than a million followers. You don’t want anything to do with him but he’s…persistent.

Rating: Mature/Explicit

Warnings: Lemon, smut, violence, language.

YOUR HUGS ARE THE BEST

...

Eli's brought to the room in handcuffs with two policemen escorting him.

He's got a visitor and he's not sure who it could be because he's not expecting anyone else to visit him. Bede came earlier, just to see how he was getting on and to drop a few insults which he was used to. Bede will now become Chairman Rose's right hand man, a role which the youth had wanted for some time but didn't realise he would get so soon and without any drama considering Eli's own (and uncalled for) undoing. His mum also came to visit where he found out a rather unpleasant truth.

Numb inside, he finds his feet moving on their own accord and when the door is opened, he's nudged in and he sees Raihan sitting in the empty seat, wearing a rather morose expression which doesn't suit him.

So Eli snarls out, "What are you doing here?"

Raihan's really the last person he wants to see. He took everything from him. Everything. He's extremely fortunate; he's a gym leader, he's rich and he has a girlfriend. That's what really grinds Eli's bones. He has everything whilst Eli has nothing. As though oblivious to Eli's growing disdain, Raihan says, "I'm here to visit you." It's the obvious truth which frustrates Eli more.

Regardless, Eli shuffles over, dragging the chair out and the legs scrape across the cold hard floor with a squeal; Eli plops himself down, furious. "Why? Have you come here to gloat?"

Raihan looks confused. "No. Why would I do that?"

”Then what do you want?”

”I just came to see how you were.”

Eli lifts up his handcuffed wrists. “What do you think?”

Raihan slides his gaze to the cuffs then says, "...I spoke to your mother.”

There's a brief silence and Eli lowers his wrists, throwing his glance to the window before he scoffs. “...The old bag isn't even my real mum. I don't know where I come from or who I am." He mutters under his breath, “...What a joke. My entire life is a joke. What else could go wrong?”

He's facing ten years in prison, that's what could go wrong.

”Eli, you helped Chairman Rose all those years and he doesn't blame you for what you did. We can reduce the sentence.”

Again, he scoffs. ”Look at me, Raihan. I'm right where I belong. I'm a criminal. Since the day Rose told me I was no longer going to be Hammerlocke's gym leader, Team Rocket took me under their wing and I infiltrated Galar for them. Don’t feel sorry for me. The only people who truly appreciated me was Team Rocket.” Eli replies, before he says loudly, “One day, you'll also realise that Rose is nothing but a selfish bastard and by that time, it'll be too late."

"Rose can be difficult, but....he wants to help you.”

"It's fine, Raihan. No-one needs to do anything for me. I got what I deserved."

Raihan looks somewhat conflicted. "That's not true."

"Don't bother with me anymore. Just leave me alone. Don't you know how lucky you are? Don't you know how good you have it?" Eli replies, before he throws a glance over his shoulder, "Guard, take me back.”

”Wait."

”What?”

“...You’re one of the first people I met when I joined the Pokemon League.” Raihan says, as Eli moves to stand, “You were a good friend to me; I'll never forget that.”

Eli blinks in silence, stunned. His fists curl but he says nothing and the policemen return, ending the short visit. Eli does nothing as the men grab him and bring him to the door and out of the room. Raihan watches his retreating back silently.

The guards show Eli to the cell, uncuffs him and he steps inside, glancing around his surroundings. He'll be here for a long time. Eli's lip trembles as he sits down on the cold, hard bed and the barred door is slammed shut and locked with a loud creak, he stares quietly at the ground.

Then he promptly bursts into tears.

....

After leaving the station, Raihan returns to the stadium. The city's pretty quiet today in general but it could be due to the closure of the gym and the cancellation of gym challenges for a week so there's less tourists. Along the way, he receives several messages and when he checks the screen, his brows furrow when he realises they are from someone he didn't want to hear from, or think he would hear from either: his ex-girlfriend.

The message preview says: I miss you.

He should tell his girlfriend should he get the chance, just in case any misunderstandings arise.

Nevertheless, he makes his way inside the gym and to the locker room where he spots the Hammerlocke gym team - his proteges Sebastian, Camilla and Aria, and the cheerleaders. They're all waiting for him; some of them are on their phone until he steps inside and they hastily put away their devices, all attention focused on the gym leader.

"Morning everyone." He gives them a grin, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his thick hoodie as everyone seats themselves down on the benches, "Today's meeting is gonna be fairly short. I'd send a message to the group chat but I thought speaking to you guys face to face would be better. You've probably seen the news - all gyms are to be closed for a week, re-opening next Monday. However, you're welcome to use the pitch for training as long as you've still got your keycard."

There's an excitable hubbub amongst the group but they soon dissolve into silence as Aria lifts up her arm.

"Yes, Ari?"

"Raihan, why did Eli attack Chairman Rose?"

Raihan lifts one hand to scratch at his headband; he forgot that some of the team and proteges were new and wouldn't know. "Eli was originally meant to be Hammerlocke's gym leader." He says. Whilst Sebastian, Alicia and Camilla nod, the others look noticeably confused. "But Chairman Rose decided Eli wasn't a good fit so I was given the gym leader position instead."

"Thank Arceus!" One of the cheerleaders exclaim, "We can't imagine anyone else being Hammerlocke's gym leader except you, Rai."

"Yeah, I agree!"

"Definitely not Eli, he's awful!"

The cheerleaders are quite vocal about their opinions whilst his proteges merely nod amongst themselves and Raihan laughs, "Alright, calm down, everyone." And the cheerleaders simmer into silence.

Sebastian lifts his hand up this time. "The news says you and your girlfriend stopped him." He mutters, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

"Yep, that's right. You've probably seen her around."

A cheerleader giggles loudly, "Yeah, I saw her mop the floor with Alicia!"

Immediately, Alicia frowns and scowls at her. "I-I went easy on her!"

"I heard she's an EV trainer."

"Has she been to any of your matches, Rai?"

"Not yet."

"Can we meet her????" asks another cheerleader and whilst Alicia and a few others scowl at her, the proteges look quite interested.

"Sure. I can bring her round one day."

"Yay!”

"Any more questions? Anyone?"

The group goes silent and everyone throws glances to each other but overall, there's nothing, so Raihan adjourns the meeting and everyone goes off their separate ways. As he takes his belongings out of his locker, Rotom sounds off again and he checks the screen. It's from his ex again and it says: I miss you, please come back to me.

....

Later.

There's a spot in your home where you go when you want some peace and quiet, to clear your mind. It's not the kitchen sink cupboard either, it's the tree stump in your front yard. Luckily the weather is good with a gentle breeze in the air so you've sat there whilst waiting for Raihan to come back, staring up at the sky with Espeon curled up in your lap.

You stroke her head and back absent-mindedly, preoccupied with your thoughts. You had woken up this morning, remembering all too well that Raihan has seen you sleeping under the kitchen sink in the middle of the night and you thought you had turned him off big time but you were surprised to wake up and he was still in your home. He didn’t mention anything though and you carried on as normal - you both took a shower, got dressed, ate breakfast and then Raihan returned to Hammerlocke.

Many people in your life came and went. They could deal with your emotional issues, or issues in general - but only up to a certain point. After a while, people just seemed to have displayed no interest in listening and stopped lending their ears. You soon discovered that people were more interested in themselves and were only out for themselves.

That was a cold, hard truth you learned quickly in life.

Used to being misunderstood, being disappointed by those you poured your trust and faith in... the only person you confided in and still maintained contact with was your friend who has been with you through thick and thin and vice versa - and now you have found out that she’s been involved in an accident in Castelia City; she's been admitted to the Community Hospital and she hasn't woken up. Her mother called you to let you know, even though she's a few days late. That explains why your friend never made it to Rose's party.

If that wasn't distressing enough for you, your boss then messaged, informing you that she will be taking indefinite leave and the nursery will be closed for a week on account that the gyms are closed, too.

However, during her absence, you're going to get a new boss - someone from the Route 5 nursery. Your boss sounded uncertain when you asked her when she was going to return, so now you can't help but feel that she's decided not to come back, if at all. She tells you not to worry about the nursery during your break.

You have decided that Phantump will continue to stay with Allister; your boss cannot bring herself to face Phantump at the moment. Perhaps in due time, she will take him in.

Then you saw this online article and it's about Raihan and you and the comments range from how ugly and fat you are and how you don't deserve Raihan, how poor you are and that you're a gold digger, how he deserves much better and that you should go back to where you came from.

Emitting a huge and heavy sigh, you try not to let the comments from complete and utter strangers get to you but they are so mean and hurtful...and now you're questioning everything: why are you here? If you think about it more clearly, you haven't really had a good time.... you haven't made any new friends. Your family are in Johto, you miss them a lot, and now your friend is hurt and in hospital. Your job seems secure to a certain extent but you're not sure what's going to happen from now on.

The only good thing to happen to you since you came here is meeting Raihan. Aside from that...you don't really have anyone or anything else. It was your choice to work abroad... but you didn't realise it could be so lonely.

And before Raihan left to Hammerlocke, you had told him everything that had happened and how you will need to visit your friend in Unova. After Unova, you will go to Johto to see your family. You asked him if he wanted to come because since you both have a week off, you think it is really a good idea to make the most of it if possible.

To your utmost surprise, he agreed and that he would look into last minute flights. Leave it all to him, he said. You felt bad about that but he said he would take care of it.

The thought of going home actually makes you happy and you turn to Espeon. She opens her large eyes and blinks up at you, then she reaches up and rubs her head and ears and whiskers over the side of your cheek affectionately. You giggle, wrapping your arms around your lilac furry baby, fingers smoothing over her soft fur. She purrs with content, closing her eyes as you hold her tightly in your embrace. You remember when she was just a little Eevee, so tiny and cute.

You chuckle under your breath just as Poliwag sticks his head under your arm and eases it off Espeon, burying himself into your arms. He trills happily and you're surprised to see him outside the bathroom which is nice for a change. Drifloon floats over too, wrapping his little strings under your chin and settling over the top of your head.

"Hmm, I'm missing two more." You say, throwing a glance over your shoulder to Dreepy and Goomy - however, you're quickly taken by surprise when Dreepy vanishes from his spot and materialises on your shoulder, rubbing his head over your cheek.

That leaves Goomy, who's fast asleep under a neon mushroom a few feet away from your group until he's gently picked up. It's Raihan; he's returned, standing behind the small gate of your front yard. With Goomy in his grasp, he makes his way over to your group. "Hey."

Your face lights up at once. "Hey, you're back. How did it go?"

"All good. Sebastian and the others are fine. The cheerleaders too." He leans forwards and you exchange a brief kiss before breaking apart. Raihan moves to sit cross-legged in front of you on the grass with Goomy snoozing away in his lap. "The stadium's officially closed." He adds, "I got the tickets. Everything's all booked."

Your jaw drops as he pulls out some tickets from his pockets and presses them into your hand. He's gotten cruise tickets for the Royal Unova andplane tickets. "Rai! These are...how did you even get these??? It’s so last minute! Thank you so much." You smile widely at him and he leans forwards once more; you follow his cue and your lips meet again.

"It's no bother at all."

"How much do I owe you?"

"You don't owe me anything, princess. It was my pleasure." He says, cupping your cheek with his large hand, "The Royal Unova will take us from Hulbury directly to Castelia City, then we'll catch a direct flight from Mistralton to Johto."

You gawk at him wide-eyed. He's got everything figured out! Sweet Arceus, why is Raihan so perfect?!

"I'll head back to pack." He adds, snapping you out of your thoughts.

"Okay. Shall we meet at Hulbury?"

He nods, pressing his lips against yours briefly. "Yep." You smooch again until he says, “Before I go, I need to show you something.”

”What?”

He takes out his phone and shows you his messages screen. You don’t see anything wrong and you’re not sure why he’s showing you it until you see a “I miss you” message from his ex.

At first, you blinked blankly at the message, then your expression turned dark. What the hell. I miss you? You begin to quietly seethe with rage; you see that he’s received several messages too, and not just the one. So....his ex wants to get back with him?

He returns his phone back to his pockets once he notices how you glower at the screen. ”I just started receiving them this morning. I didn’t reply, and I’m not going to.” He mutters, “I thought I should tell you.”

Oh, Raihan. Raihan, Raihan, Raihan. What a sweetheart. You smile widely, reaching for him and pulling his headband up where you plant multiple kisses on his forehead. He chuckles in response when you proceed to wrap your arms around his head, holding him close to you.

”Thanks, I really appreciate it.” You say, “It’s fine, honestly.”

Raihan leaves and you grab Goomy; it sucks that Raihan’s ex has messaged him, trying to worm her way back into his life and even trying to steal him away from you - but Raihan has shown you the messages and even told you he won’t entertain her.

With more important things to think about - like your trip for example - you rush back into your cottage with your pokemon and into your lounge and they leap out of your arms as you shut the door before you pull out your Rotom phone to message your mother:

You: Hi mom i have a week off so im coming home. Raihan is coming with me :)

Looking up from your phone for a brief moment, you pause, then hastily start typing again.

You: Ps can u hide my Steven Stone fan art and those fanfictions I wrote about Lance?

...

Later.

This is your first trip with Raihan.

How exciting!

Also, you're getting to go home! You'll be able to see mum and Glenn - and it's then you randomly remember that mum had wanted you to go to Celadon City and not Galar, to train as a flower girl in Erika's gym but knowing that she only specialised in grass and welcomed 'attractive' pokemon only, you had refused because your entire team apparently didn't qualify.

Time is of the essence here and you're determined to make the most of your allocated time - so the itinerary is very simple: the Royal Unova is a luxurious cruise ship that picks up passengers on various harbours around the world and in Galar, and as Raihan mentioned, the harbour is at Hulbury. It will subsequently dock at it's final destination which is Castelia City, thus efficiently depositing you where your friend's hospital is. It won't even take long either, just a few hours onboard. You've been wary of sea travel after seeing what happened to the S.S. Anne but hell, it can't stop you.

And after you visit your friend, you will then head to Mistralton City to take a flight to Johto and from Johto, take a return flight to Galar. Unfortunately, you really don't have any time to do much sightseeing in Unova with Raihan. Maybe next time.

The cruise ship is arriving tonight at eight o'clock and you've got to pack. Whilst Raihan has returned home to pack his belongings, you both video chat each other. Even though he's not physically in your house, you feel he is still with you. You will meet him three hours in Hulbury prior boarding time; he's given you heads up to pack a swimsuit.

You hastily return all your house'mon into their pokeballs and deposit them into the PC for safekeeping and for access when you get on the cruise liner. You will keep Metagross, Chompy, Tyranitar, Salamence and Haxorus with you on person. You keep Poliwag with you too; he'll be your companion.

At home, you pull out the suitcase you took with you to Galar, giving it a quick wipe with a clean and hot cloth before grabbing some clothes to pack. You're not going away for long so it's not necessary to pack too many items but for some reason you're wanting to pack ten pairs of panties with you in case you run out of underwear. Once you're done, you ensure all your gas, electricity and water and heating has been turned off and make sure everything else is in order, then head for the door.

"Goodbye, house." You say, giving your cottage one final look before closing the door and locking it.

The Corviknight taxi takes you and Poliwag to Hulbury and it's been a while since you and Poliwag have really hung out but it's nice for him to be outside your bathroom for a change.

Since Poliwag is not very good at walking, you carry him. He looks a little frightened by his new and different surroundings but you assure him that he'll be fine and you both make your way to the harbour where Raihan is waiting for you; he's inside the ferry terminal, looking at his phone whilst seated on a bench with three suitcases by his side.

At first, you thought he would be overdressed but he's looking rather casual - he's wearing a windbreaker, a white t-shirt with a dragon claw print on the front, black joggers and white trainers with a red streak on the sides. In an attempt to be as inconspicuous as possible, he's even propped a beanie over his dreadlocks and a pair of sunglasses. Luckily, no-one seems to pay any attention to him; you weave through the crowd of passengers who are waiting to board the ship and when he sees you, he stands, putting his phone away.

"That's a lot of suitcases." You point out as you stop in front of him.

"Yep." He says, peering down from his shades to wink at you; he scoops your hand with his, giving you an affectionate squeeze, "Let's go, I got all the travel documents."

Nodding, you join the queue with your suitcases and stand in line amongst other fellow passengers who chatter to each other excitedly whilst their Pokemon play with each other. You can also hear people comparing the amount of ribbons their pokemon have and the number of contests they've won. Outside, the ship can be seen bobbing up and down gently in the sea where a few Dewgongs leap around and frolick in the waves. The ship is so huge you can only see one window and the side of the ship is covered in Binacles.

To keep yourself occupied whilst you queue, you watch as a few youngsters play around with their pokemon whilst a couple in the corner kiss passionately; Raihan nudges you with a grin and you turn away, cheeks reddening. You grab the brochure, opening it and checking the entertainment onboard - there are a few shows going on, namely Pokemon Karaokemon and Pikachu's Jukebox which you want to watch.

When it's finally your turn to be served, you both check in, the agent breezes through your travel documents and passports where you and Raihan end up comparing your ID photos. The agent then weighs all your luggage and attaches tags on them; finally, she prints out your onboard identification passes, room key and payment card and you're finally ready to go in. The agent tells you that the ship will be docking in Castelia City next morning.

You almost forgot how exhausting the entire ordeal could be when you and Raihan make your way hand in hand down the corridor that will lead to the ship. A steward with a Poliwhirl dressed up with a sailor's hat stands at the very top and they both welcome you onboard with a synchronised salute. The steward provides instructions how to find your room and when you look at the ticket, you realise Raihan's booked a VIP suite which doesn't surprise you at all.

With Poliwag in your arms, you and Raihan find your room - which is far away from the common folk and it's a massive room with an equally huge king-sized bed slap bang in the middle. The room's decor is seriously exquisite - consisting of gold drapes and red furnishings and an ensuite bathroom that's fitted with a jacuzzi. It's a shame you're only staying for a few hours, but you are going to make sure you relax and enjoy your time here with Raihan.

Whilst Raihan tests the bed, you and Poliwag check out the bathroom, glimpsing around the beautiful marble interior. You're interrupted when a tannoy goes off and it's an announcement from the captain; you feel the ship is beginning to move and you are now free to explore the ship to your heart's content.

The first thing you do is hit the VIP pool; it's Raihan's idea, of course.

With a towel, a pair of flip-flops and your swimsuit in hands, you and Raihan head to the VIP area where you both split up once you reach the changing rooms. Poliwag finds an empty cubicle for you - you're going to meet Raihan at the pool - and you quickly change out of your clothes and into the swimsuit you packed. Cripes, it's tight. You stand awkwardly in your flip-flops, tugging and pulling at the straps and pulling down on your panties before locking away your belongings into a locker and grabbing the jelly bracelet and key, strapping it around your wrist.

Turning to Poliwag, he looks eager to hit the pool and follows you outside, promptly jumping into the pool first.

You stop at the pool's edge, peering over and glimpsing into the clear blue water and you sense a presence approaching you from behind. Spinning round on your heel, you see it's Raihan and he's about to push you into the pool as he creeps up but you're quick to grab his arm as he reaches for you and you pull him forwards.

You end up tumbling into the pool with a loud splash. There's a few patrons - mostly old ladies and gentlemen along with their Pokemon (ranging from Horsea, Swanna to Snubbull) leisurely swimming around and they don't look impressed with your arrival, giving you dirty looks.

The pool's extremely deep; under water, you see Poliwag swimming closeby with someone's Buizel, before you hastily return to the surface with Raihan; he grins at you as he sweeps his damp hair away from his eyes before he grabs you - and he inadvertently brushes his hand over a ticklish spot - you end up curling into a ball that would put a defense curl to shame and squeak with laughter, trying to get away from him.

Raihan grins and goes after you in the pool; you're splashing loudly in the water and flailing around, swimming away from him until he finally chases you all the way to a quiet corner away from people; it's the section with the jacuzzi, the water bubbling around you and Raihan slips his bare arms around your waist, bringing you close to him.

"Got you." He murmurs, as Poliwag swims beside you both, kicking his little feet in the water before the bubbly water carries his little body up and he bobs around you in a circle. Your face grows red as Raihan leans over and nibbles the shell of your ear, pressing you against the slippery tiles of the pool. "What do you think of everything so far?"

"It's great," You utter with a smile as you drape your arms over his bare shoulders, running your hands over his smooth skin and muscles; he's so close your noses are touching and he nuzzles you affectionately. “This is my first time on the Royal Unova.”

“Mm, then we should do this more often. There's plenty of other vacation spots out there - Hano Grand Resort in Alola, for example."

"Actually, I'd love to go to Melemele Island, or visit Floaroma Meadow."

He chuckles before he leans forwards, his lips finding yours. You kiss him in response and he grins against your mouth, pressing his lips tightly against yours until your ears pick up the sound of pounding music a distant away; when you break apart, you glimpse over his shoulder. "What's up?" He asks, following the direction of your gaze.

"It's kinda noisy over there. Wonder what's going on."

"Wanna check it out?"

"Alright." You mutter, and Raihan leaves the pool before promptly lifting you out.

You grab Poliwag; following the source of the noise, it leads you to an entirely new area - you both peer over the ledge to see a massive pool one deck below filled with tonnes of people cheering and whooping and dancing whilst a DJ and his booth stands at the very end, blasting out heavy dance music with his Loudred and Exploud; there's a few stewards weaving through the crowd carrying champagne glasses.

A sign in the corner says:

Pool Party, Venue - Lower VIP Deck VIP members only **Strictly NO Electric-types allowed** PS. No Magikarps either.

It's not too late to turn back but Raihan's expression lights up at once at the scene and you sigh under your breath. Guess it can't be helped. “...Alright, let's go have a closer look."

Grinning widely, he takes your hand and leads you downstairs towards the lower VIP deck. There's no bouncer and you stray further inside where the music is becoming louder; in fact, it is so loud, it hurts your ears. Poliwag waddles beside you, looking around cautiously and trying not to get his tail stepped on.

Glancing at the pool, you see half of it is separated by a net - there are attractive young men and women playing water volleyball with their Vaporeon and Sharpedo and other water-types, screaming with laughter and cheering wildly. Holy crap, you are so uncomfortable here, being surrounded by so many attractive fit people in their tiny bikinis and shorts. You accidentally glance at a few couples on couches who are making out intensely and fondling each other in intimate areas - and you turn away immediately. There's so many people dancing and drinking booze and you cringe when you realise this is nothing but a gratuitous frat party.

And this is definetely Raihan’s scene.

In fact, he is totally at home here. It's so crowded, you can hardly breathe; almost every space of the deck is occupied by someone or a pokemon. There's barely any room to move around freely and if it wasn't for Raihan holding your hand tightly, you were afraid you would've become lost amongst the crowd. You give his hand a tight squeeze, clinging onto him for dear life but he merely smiles at you reassuringly.

"Do you want a drink?" Raihan asks, gesturing to the bar where a few staff members are busy making cocktails. "I'll get you one."

"Sure."

"What do you fancy?"

You shrug. "Nothing too strong, please. I'll wait for you over there." You gesture to an empty deck chair near the pool.

"Alright." He kisses your knuckles and makes his way towards the direction of the bar. Along the way, you notice a lot of girls ogle him, which makes you highly uncomfortable.

You stand on your own with Poliwag in your arms, looking rather out of place. Oh well, time to hit the deckchair you mentioned. You head over, but some girl beats you to it and plops herself down on the plushy seat.

"Sorry, this one's taken." She says abruptly.

Fine then. You turn away to find another chair, weaving through the crowd, trying to locate a spare chair until you come across a small table with three seats and one is already taken - although you're not inclined to share, you don't see any other seats available. The person in the other chair is a woman in a white bikini with her sunhat conveniently placed over her face. Though you cannot see her face, you can tell she's attractive - she has a very slim, hourglass figurine with large breasts.

You ask, "Excuse me, are these seats taken?"

You wonder if she's asleep but she raises one sinewy hand and lowers the hat and your eyes widen; it's Raihan's ex-girlfriend. She observes you for a split second and whilst you freeze up all over with shock, she sits up properly and smiles. "No, there's no-one sitting here."

Shit, you should get away from her as quickly as possible. However, your feet are rooted to the spot and ultimately, it's too late to make a hasty exit now. "....Thanks." You end up croaking out, seating yourself down with Poliwag in your lap. He looks eager to jump into the pool, straining and struggling in your grip so you let go of him and he hops onto the floor. "Be careful, Poliwag."

He nods and with a cheerful trill, you watch as Poliwag waddles towards the pool and hastily jumps in, causing a splash which makes some patrons whoop and yell and follow his example, cannonballing into the pool. You're left with the ex-girlfriend.

"What a cute Poliwag," She coos, snapping you out of your thoughts and you turn to her, "Is that an Everstone tied around his tail?"

"Oh, uh, yeah."

"Sorry, could you say that again? I couldn't hear you over the noise."

"...Um, I said, yes, that's an Everstone." You croak out, raising your voice slightly higher so she could hear you. Is she being nice or fake-nice? You cannot tell and it doesn't even matter because you have no intention in getting to know her better or becoming her friend. You find that you can't stop staring at her; she's so pretty and perfect, with her sleek and shiny long hair, sharp features and big, soft eyes and long eyelashes and perky lips. You're feeling like the ugly Ducklett all over again. Ugh, how terrible, how awful.

"He doesn't want to evolve?" She asks curiously and it's then you see various guys a fraction of a distance away, and they're all staring at her, checking her out.

"Yeah."

"Why not?"

"He likes being a Poliwag."

"What level is he?"

"Seventy two. I've had him for a long time." You mentally kick yourself, pondering why you are still conversing and being so civil.

"A level seventy two Poliwag? I've never met a trainer who dedicated so much time in....in..."

"...In training a Poliwag up to level seventy two?"

"Yes," She giggles lightly, eyes creasing with delight. “Sorry, it's just... never mind. Anyway, fancy seeing you here. How are you?" She says, reaching for a champagne glass and lifting it off the table and earnestly, you're surprised she even recognises you.

"I'm fine, thank you." You grunt out.

"Here, have one." She gestures to the spare champagne glass and you stare at the pearly, golden liquid bubbling inside. "It's Champagne Brut Millesime."

"No thanks."

"I saw the news - you saved Chairman Rose along with the gym leaders and Leon." She adds, and a part of you is wondering why she is chatting to you as though you have known each other for a long time and as though you are very good friends. "That was very brave."

"I didn't do much."

She waves her other hand dismissively. "Don't be so modest. Everyone knows what you did - it’s on the news and it’s all over social media. So, what brings you here?"

"We're going to Unova."

"Is Raihan with you?"

You hesitate, then nod. "....Yeah, he is."

She glances around before she spots him at the bar, "Ah, I see." A wide smile appears on her face then. Chuckling to herself, she leans comfortably against the deckchair to stretch and you can't help but stare as she crosses one long leg over the other. Her skin is milky white and perfect, likeporcelain. "I don't think I properly introduced myself back at the party." She tells you her name and how she is a gym trainer at Elesa's gym in Nimbasa City and how she is also a social media model, beauty blogger, travel vlogger and makeup artist. All of these you already know, of course.

"That's crazy. I-I mean...wow." You're not sure what else to say in response to her feats but she seems pleased with your reaction anyway. You tell her that you're a Pokemon Breeder.

"I wanted to work in a daycare too because I love baby pokemon, but I like travelling more and I can't stay in one place for too long." She utters; you're busy looking around as she speaks and you spot a group crowding around a high table and you can see they're snorting berry dust up their noses. "Do you have a social media account? Give me your username and I'll add you."

"Huh? What? Oh...I-I'm not on social media."

"That's a shame." She mutters, looking rather confused, "You know...Raihan and I used to go to these kinds of parties all the time. We always had a good time....and he would always get me anything I wanted. It was really sweet of him. If I asked him to get me something, he used to drop everything and I mean everything, just to do it, just to make me happy. You should do the same too."

You give her an incredulous stare in response as she proceeds to take a sip from her champagne.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to go on like that." She rummages around her side and pulls out two thin cigarettes... or what you thought were cigarettes. "Want one?"

Your eyes grow wide. "Is that..."

"Yeah." She says with a grin, and as she attempts to find a lighter, you start feeling nauseous. "How are you two getting on?"

"We're fine."

Unable to find her lighter, she huffs and says, ”Alright, what do you like about him?”

You wonder why she is asking you this. “Everything. He’s perfect. I love his smile. Oh, and his hugs are the best.” You reply, without thinking too hard.

”Aw, how cute. You know, when he falls in love, he falls, hard. I'm sure you realise that by now," She then says, looking at her polished fingernails, "He was such a little flirt; he went after me like a Lycanroc on steroids. And when we broke up, his heart was crushed. I'm sure of it. I guess it can't be helped. But even then.... he managed to pick himself back up and start all over again....because now he's with you. And it's like I never existed."

You're not quite sure what she's trying to say.

However, now is a good chance to confront her and tell her to leave Raihan alone. He is your boyfriend, not hers. You need to get your message across, to mark your territory and claim what is yours, big time. Go on, tell her to leave Raihan alone.

"Look, I know you've - "

"Remind me again: how did you meet Raihan?"

You don't recall telling her how you met him. You should tell her how you met Raihan at a club and later had hot sex at his hotel room. Wait... maybe not. Some things should not be said and that is definitely one of them. You don't want to tell her anything because quite frankly, you are not obligated to tell her anything.

Before you can reply however, a familiar voice says, "We met at a club and then spent the night in a hotel room."

You turn round with your mouth agape to see Raihan standing behind you; when your eyes meet, he grins widely. "Rai!" You exclaim.

"What?"

"You can't just say these things out loud! People are going to get the wrong idea!"

He chuckles loudly whilst the ex-girlfriend stares silently at the both of you. He's got Poliwag with him and you take your tadpole pokemon off him and into your arms. Raihan then glances at his ex.

"Good to see you." He greets her before he leans down, cupping your chin with his hand and tilting your face up to his level, pressing his lips against yours in a soft kiss. As your heart thumps wildly, he lets go of you and his ex-girlfriend stares at your interaction before she opens her mouth, about to speak. However, Raihan quickly says, "We were about to go. Isn't that right, princess?"

"Yes! Let's go right now." You say hurriedly, although you wonder why Raihan doesn't seem interested in the party any longer.

"Wait." His ex-girlfriend rises from the chair to stand, "Raihan, can I talk to you? Alone?"

There's a short silence; Raihan glimpses between you and his ex-girlfriend, and you and Poliwag blink blankly at him in response. To your dismay, he nods. Planting his hand on your shoulder, he gives you a squeeze and grins at you, "I'll be right back."

Raihan pecks your forehead and promptly leaves your side. You watch as he joins his ex-girlfriend and they disappear through the crowd; you're left on your own and Poliwag slaps you on the arm gently with his tail and makes a loud noise, before using his tail to point at them unwaveringly.

"Follow them?" You utter, and he nods furiously. ".....No, we don't need to. I trust Raihan. Let's just wait for him to come back."

But Poliwag shakes his head and begins waddling towards the direction Raihan and his ex headed off to.

"Poliwag, come back!" Now you have no choice but to go after him, scrambling off the chair to chase after your pokemon.

He's quite small so you have a hard time trying to catch up, occasionally losing sight of your round boy but the telltale signs are his smooth and shiny blue head and tail bobbing around so eventually, you follow him all the way towards the direction of the VIP Observation Deck.

Along the way, you politely excuse yourself as you make your way through the crowd and suddenly, Poliwag stops and you finally reach him; lifting him up and back into your arms. Poliwag points again using his tail and you see Raihan and the ex-girlfriend; they haven't ventured too far at all. You immediately duck and hide behind the nearest pillar you can find before peeping out; you haven't been spotted and luckily, you are within earshot. Unfortunately, you're a bit late so they're in mid-conversation and you thought they were smoking joints together or whatever but they're merely staring at the ocean.

You can hear Raihan saying, "She means a lot to me."

The ex-girlfriend turns to him, placing her hand on his bare arm. "That's not true. You haven't been together for long. She cannot help you, Rai. She's a nobody and she's a stick in the mud. We had so much fun when we were together; remember when we went to Undella Town? Lilycove? The Resort Area in Sinnoh? We did so much together."

He gently removes her arm off him. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because you didn't reply to my messages and I miss you; I saw you at the party and I remembered how much fun we had. Let's go back together. We were meant for each other." She says, "I can call my engagement off; I miss you a lot. I really do. I know you still have feelings for me too - come back to me, please."

She smiles at him wistfully before she attempts to embrace him; however, he stops her, holding her back at arm's length, "You're wrong. And I don't feel the same. You've met a nice man who treats you well. I know you'll be very happy together."

There's a brief silence. She goes silent at the rejection, staring up at him with her large eyes. However, in the span of a second, her expression turns to ice as she glares at him before turning away from him with her nose in the air. "You'll regret this, Raihan," She sneers, "You two won't last long. And when the time comes, don't come crawling back to me because I won't take you back, even if you begged."

"Wasn't planning to." He calls after her as he lets go of her and she stomps away.

Your jaw hits the floor.

Poliwag struggles in your grip and lands on the ground, waddling out. "Poliwag!" You exclaim before you can help yourself, completely blowing your cover in progress as you attempt to grab him.

At the sound of your voice, Raihan turns round and you freeze up at once as he looks at you and Poliwag. You stand up properly as your gazes meet. Poliwag walks up to Raihan, chirping at him cheerfully and Raihan grins, scooping him off the ground and into his arms, holding him high into the air.

"Sorry, Rai, we weren't...I didn't mean to..." You mutter sheepishly as he heads over to you, and you take Poliwag from him.

However, Raihan merely smiles and plops his hand atop your head, "It's fine. She won't message me ever again."

He's chosen you over her, even though she tried to get back with him and you glance at the direction the ex-girlfriend stormed off to. "What you were talking about just there - she can't talk to you like that and just walk away though."

Yep, you're going to march up to her, tell her to stay away from Raihan. He's with you now. You're his girlfriend, not her.

However, he stops you by grabbing your arm gently. "Don't waste your time." He drawls, wrapping his arms around you, pulling you into his chest, enveloping you into a tight hug. You hear him sigh gently before he presses his lips over the top of your head. You close your eyes, encircling your arms around him tightly and he does the same, burying his face into your hair.

”You’re too nice.” You mumble; you don't think that's the last you have seen of her.

“Kill ‘em with kindness. Gets them every time.”

You sigh helplessly in response. Even when people are horrible and mean to him, Raihan just smiles and takes it or shrugs it off. "But I don't want to see you get hurt or get taken advantage of."

"This is the kind of world we live in, princess." He replies, and you lower your gaze to the ground. Raihan chuckles at your response, ruffling your hair before he hugs you tighter and you bury your face into his nape, snuggling into him. “C’mon. Let’s go back to our room.”

You nod; he scoops your hand with his, clutching you firmly and you both make your way towards the direction of the exit. That's enough drama for one day.

...

Finally, you've made it to Castelia City.

It's your first time here and it's way bigger and busier than you had anticipated and the moment you left the ship, you and Raihan spent a few seconds gawking at the grandiose of it all. There is nothing in Galar that remotely resembles this city and hell, you thought Wyndon was pretty big but Castelia takes the cake. Quite frankly, you feel like a little country-bumpkin Morpeko all over again. The horizon is dotted with numerous skyscrapers that stretch so high you have to crane your neck just to look up properly. Blown away by the view, you open up the brochure you took from one of the stands near the ticket kiosk and pull out the map.

"Hm, let's see. Casteliacone shop - nope. Art Museum - nope. Aha! The hospital is somewhere in Mode Street." You mutter, whilst Raihan takes selfies of himself in all manner of poses and from all possible angles. You fold the map back up, slotting it into your bag, "Rai, are you done taking pictures? We need to go."

He puts his phone away, trailing after you; he's occupied with looking at the scenery and sights but stays close. You know he wants to sightsee now that you're here.

Luckily, the ship operates a left luggage service so you leave your suitcases and you can collect them later. You begin your journey to the hospital with your gift card and gift basket in hand, dodging the businessmen and tourists alike who are running up and down the streets in a hurried fashion. And here you thought Kanto's cycling route was bad. This is worse - even though there's not a bike in sight.

You do your best to avoid people by darting left and right but it's inevitable that you end up bumping into a few folk along the way. As you continue down the frantic street with Raihan, you see how manic it is - triathletes run with their Hitmonlee, parasol ladies are walking their Furfrous and Manectrics, a cleaner hoses down windows with his Quagsire team and a small group of construction workers takes up half the sidewalk with Gurdurrs and Hariyamas. It's so lively here but space is limited, making you feel that you take Galar and the sparse Wild Area for granted.

You could also get a taxi but the street is just two blocks ahead and when you finally arrive, you're panting and you see that the hospital is a standalone building and you and Raihan enter; it's as busy as the streets outside with Chanseys and Blisseys rushing around. Your friend's mother has given you the ward number beforehand so you follow the signs and ride the elevator up, stepping out once you reach the correct floor.

You register at the counter and hurry in, spotting your friend's mother, her Bellsprout and a familiar purple-haired young man standing a bed by the window, conversing quietly. Once they spot you however, they stop discussing and wave to you immediately.

"Leon?" Raihan says, stunned by the Champion's presence here.

"Hey, Raihan." Leon replies, before he greets you also. You greet him in response; it's nice to see that he's not in his Champion gear - he's wearing a plain white sweater with a Charizard on the front, dark blue jeans and white sneakers. A black snapback with a red motif sits atop his fluffy hair.

"What are you doing here?"

"My friend was meant to be introduced to Leon." You quickly explain, though you're surprised to see that Leon actually came to visit.

"Yep, that's right." Leon replies, grinning.

Your friend's mother smiles widely also as you introduce Raihan to her. "Thanks for coming. This means so much to her."

Everyone glances at the bed where your friend is lying still, eyes closed. She looks terrible - her entire right leg is bandaged and hoisted up in the air by a sling attached to the ceiling, and she has a brace around her neck. It hurts you to see her like this; your friend is a good person. Why do bad things happen to good people? You move to join her mother, sitting beside her on the spare chair. "....How is she?"

"She's stable now; she's in a lot better condition than a few days ago and the doctor says she'll make a full recovery."

You breathe a sigh of relief, "What happened?"

"A car hit her when she was crossing the street and drove off. The police are looking into the incident. I called her workplace and they've decided to let her go. They said they can't afford the statutory sick pay because they don't know when she will wake up."

Your nose scrunches up with revulsion. You knew your friend didn't like her work and the company sounded awful, but you didn't realise they'd be this dodgy, either.

She nods gently, sighing under her breath. "...I'm afraid there isn't much we can do. We'll just need to wait for her to wake up, but...never mind, she is better off not working for that dreadful company any longer. I was getting so worried."

"I think so too." You mutter. Maybe it's a sign?

"Anyway, how are you, dear?"

"I'm fine; I brought a gift." You reply, holding up your gift basket and card and as you place it down on the bedside table, you chat with your friend's mother for a brief moment whilst Leon and Raihan talk quietly in one corner.

Unfortunately, you can't afford to stay any longer due to your flight to Johto so you say your goodbyes, your friend's mother thanks you again for taking the time to visit and you wish your friend a speedy recovery. She doesn't budge in any way, completely unresponsive. After the visit's over, you leave the hospital with Raihan; Leon will be staying put in Castelia for a while, which makes you happy considering you thought it was a shame that your friend didn't get to meet him yet he's come to visit.

Hand in hand, you and Raihan make your way towards the direction of the ship where you will collect your suitcases before heading off to the airport.

"I hope your friend gets better." Raihan says, noticing your forlorn expression.

"Me too. Thanks for coming with me." You murmur, "And it's nice of Leon to visit, I didn't think he would."

"Mn, I agree."

"I hope they go together," You add, smiling, "I have a good feeling about them."

...

#wallflower #jeralee #archive of our own #fanfic #fic #raihan #kibana #pkmn #pokemon #pokemonshield #pokemonsword #pokemon shield and sword #raihan x reader #reader insert #reader #Raihan x you

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paralleljulieverse · 4 years

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An Angel from Heaven Come to See Us: Darling Lili Turns 50

This week fifty years ago, Darling Lili -- the last of the big Julie Andrews screen musicals of the 1960s -- had its long-delayed World Premiere at Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome on 23 June 1970.

The event marked the symbolic endpoint of a three-plus-year marathon in which the ill-fated production was beset by an endless stream of problems and delays from inclement weather and union pickets on location to studio takeovers and shady refinancing deals (Bart, 63-72; Dick, 146-48; Wasson, 146-48). This litany of setbacks saw the film’s already sizeable budget blowout to era-record levels estimated anywhere, depending on who you spoke to, between $14-25mill. (Warga, C-20; Wedman, 7-A; Kennedy, 175-77). Egos clashed, tempers frayed and recriminations flew with writer-director, Blake Edwards, blaming Paramount Pictures for imposing impossible demands, and studio executives firing back counter-accusations of reckless indulgence and profligacy (Oldham, 24-25; 44-45).

That this highly publicised drama played out against the backdrop of the greatest economic downturn to hit Hollywood in half a century garnered Darling Lili an unenviable advance reputation as “the archetypal flop among big budget Hollywood productions” (Oldham, 44). “Rarely has so much bad word of mouth preceded a picture,” wrote the Saturday Review, “As the shooting schedule increased, as the costs mounted, everyone was certain that Darling Lili would prove to be a landmark disaster” (Knight 22). Another widely syndicated newspaper article dubbed it, “The Most Maligned Movie Ever,” prompting Blake Edwards to fume: “I’ve never known of an important picture in production so talked about, whispered about, and, yes, lied about as Darling Lili” (Manners, B5).

Adding fuel to widespread perceptions of the film as a legendary bomb in the making, the release of Darling Lili was held up for over a year by nervous studio execs. By 1969, Paramount had more big budget roadshow product in the pipelines than any other Hollywood studio (“Par’s Big”, 3). Panicked by the repeated failure of roadshow releases, in general, and the growing cultural backlash against big budgeted musicals, in particular, the studio feared they were “on the verge of an unprecedented financial disaster” and vacillated over how to proceed (Farber, 3). They ordered competing rounds of edits to the film, taking material out to secure a G-rating, then reinserting other material in an effort to broaden appeal (Manners, B5; “Par’s Lili Rated G”,5). There were even rumours the film might not get a release at all. It is “hiding somewhere” and seems to have “just evaporated” noted one newspaper report in late-1969 (Gussow, 62; Benchley, 9).

In December, Paramount finally held two sneak test screenings of Darling Lili in Oklahoma City and Kansas City which proved sufficiently positive for the studio to green-light release (“Kansas”, C2). After the test screenings, Robert Evans, production chief at Paramount and longtime vocal critic of Blake Edwards’s direction of the film, sounded an uncharacteristically upbeat note. “At the end of the film, there was a standing ovation,” he enthused, “and almost all the patrons stopped in the lobby to fill in comments cards...term[ing] Darling Lili as excellent, with special acclaim for both Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson” (Muir, 2-S).

In January 1970, it was announced that Darling Lili would premiere that summer as a hardticket attraction at New York’s Radio City Music Hall (”Par Gets”, 3). The following month, a series of exhibitor previews was held in five major US cities but, in a telling sign the studio still harboured reservations about the film, the trade press was pointedly excluded from all advance screenings ("Not Ready”, 6). This same lingering disquiet resulted in a radically scaled back approach to the film’s release and marketing.

Originally planned as a reserved-seat roadshow attraction, Darling Lili was ultimately repositioned by Paramount as part of what they called their “Big Summer Playoff,” a package of eight films given saturation releases during the summer off-season starting in June (“Paramount’s Summer Playoff”, 5). Only New York and Los Angeles would screen the film as a 70mm reserved-seat attraction; elsewhere, the plan was for the “pic to quickly saturate every major and minor market with single-house firstruns and key city multiples” (ibid.). In an era when studios typically gave their top films staggered releases and only ever issued B-product or second-runs widely during the quiet summer months, this new-style release strategy had a decided air of dump-it-and-run desperation.

The apparent lack of care and finesse in the release of Lili did not go unnoticed. “Darling Lili undoubtedly rank[s] among the unusual summer attractions,” commented one newspaper article, “since one would expect to see th[is] multi-million dollar production around holiday time” (Sar, 4-B). Another bluntly opined that Paramount “seems to have dumped the expensive movie rather than spend any more on it” (Taylor, 21-E). Even Julie, normally the soul of diplomatic discretion in such matters, expressed public dismay at the studio’s handling of the film’s release:

“Three weeks before the opening, there was no advertising campaign. None whatsoever. Paramount didn’t seem to know how it was going to sell the picture--or if. I simply can’t understand an attitude like that” (Thomas, 13).

The sudden shift to a summer saturation release also meant the film’s premiere had to be rescheduled as New York’s Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available till July. In late-May, a matter of mere weeks before the film was set to bow, Paramount announced Darling Lili would now make its world premiere at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood on June 23 before rolling out nationwide the following day (“‘Darling Lili’ to Premiere,” W-2). The New York premiere, meanwhile, would remain at the Music Hall but delayed a full month after the rest of the country.

Putting on a brave face, Julie and Blake did their best to launch their film. On June 18, they attended a special press preview and celebrity reception hosted by Robert Evans and his then partner, Ali McGraw, at the Director’s Guild Theatre (Sar, 24-A). Dressed in a modish psychedelic Pucci pantsuit -- which fans of Julie-trivia will note was a recycled outfit from her recent NBC TV special with Harry Belafonte -- Julie looked relaxed and radiant or, as one columnist put it, “peachy dandy in her wild patterned party pants” (Browning, 2-13). At the after-show reception, she and Blake mingled warmly with a host of Tinseltown notables including Edward G. Robinson, James Garner, Walter Matthau, George Peppard, Raquel Welch, Sally Field, Dyan Cannon, and Peter Graves (ibid).

The following week, Julie and Blake were back for the premiere proper at the Cinerama Dome on 23 June. Dressed to kill in a sleek beaded cocktail gown, Julie posed for press shots on the red carpet with Blake, Robert Evans and Ali McGraw, and co-star Rock Hudson who attended with longtime friend and agent, Flo Allen. Sponsored by the Southern Californian chapter of VIMS, Volunteers in Multiple Sclerosis, the premiere attracted a capacity crowd with an invitation-only champagne supper held at the theatre after the screening (“Premiere”, IV-8) .

For all the old-school Hollywood trappings of the premiere, the American roll-out of Darling Lili was afforded little sense of showmanship or distinction. The Cinerama Dome would be the film’s only fully reserved-seat roadshow presentation (“’Darling Lili’s’ One Reserve,” 7). The film’s run at New York’s Radio City Music Hall -- which will likely be the subject of another post next month, time permitting -- was another exception but it had a hybrid mix of partial reserved and general admission. Elsewhere, the film was released in what could only be described as a woefully slipshod manner.

The day after the World Premiere, Lili was issued simultaneously to an idiosyncratic assortment of theatres and even drive-ins across the United States including such out-of-the-way places as Lubbock, Texas; Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Mason City, Iowa. Conversely, several major metropolitan markets didn’t get the film till much later, and some didn’t show it at all. When the film ran it was often booked for a flying season of a week or two -- in some instances, just a few days -- and given little promotion or build-up.

On a PR trip to San Francisco, Blake Edwards was reportedly incensed to discover that Lili was being shown at a local theatre on a double-bill with The Lawyer, an R-rated crime drama (Caen, 6-B). But this was far from an isolated instance. A survey of newspaper advertising from the era shows that, throughout this initial release period, Darling Lili was widely double-billed in US theatres with a range of questionable screen-mates including Downhill Racer, True Grit, Norwood, The Sterile Cuckoo, and Lady in Cement to name a few.

Much like the film’s chequered release pattern, reviews of Darling Lili were sharply mixed. Contrary to the apocalyptic predictions, though, there were surprisingly few outright pans and quite a number of good, even glowing, notices--certainly enough to furnish choice grabs for newspaper ads. Moreover, a common refrain among even lukewarm crits was that the film was far from the disaster everyone anticipated:

“Darling Lili [is] the musical comedy a lot of people have been expecting to be a bomb, but which turns out to be a quite likeable movie” (Crittenden, D-10).

“When a movie becomes notorious like this, everyone expects it to be an unredeeming dud...I’m relieved to say Darling Lili is certainly nobody’s bomb” (Stewart, 28)

“[E]veryone was certain that Darling Lili would prove to be a landmark disaster. Happily, the opposite seems to be the case...it is definitely, joyously, what the industry likes to call an ‘audience picture’ (Knight, 22).

While many reviewers found aspects of the film wanting, they were mostly full of praise for Julie:

“Miss Andrews has, I think, never looked better, warmer or more emotionally mature, nor has she sounded better. The irony is that she projects a richness which is wasted here. It’s like getting Horowitz to play Chopsticks” (Champlin, IV-1).

“Andrews...is one of the last of the great English music-hallmarks. She can sing effortlessly, make a mug or a moue with equal facility, throw away a line and reel it back in with the best—when she is given half a chance. Her latest, Darling Lili, is only a quarter of a chance (Kanfer, 78).

“In Darling Lili...Julie Andrews is the most pleasant actress any audience ever had and that’s what counts...The picture’s weaknesses are Hudson and the war...But I think Julie Andrews is enough” (Geurink, 6-T).

“The best way to enjoy Darling Lili is to look upon it as escape fare [with] Miss Andrews’ golden voice for listening pleasure...While she deserves something much better than her role in Darling Lili, Julie Andrews...is still an out and out professional” (Blakley, 6-1).

“Miss Andrews...is absolutely perfectly suited to the title role. Her voice, her mannerisms, her beauty and her obvious delight with the entire project pay off in one of the finest performances of her career” (Fanning, 17).

“The film’s bright moments belong to Miss Andrews. She is a complete entertainer, and tho [sic] she is center stage for nearly the entire film, one never tires of her pure voice and intelligent acting” (Siskel, 12).

Alas, the better-than-expected reviews were not enough to save Darling Lili commercially. By the end of its domestic run, the film had earned a meagre $3.2mill in rentals, placing it 37th in Variety’s list of annual box-office rankings for 1970 (“US Films,” 184). Instructively, the film posted its best returns at the two theatres where it was exhibited with some modicum of prestige showmanship: the Cinerama Dome and Radio City Music Hall. In the case of the latter, Lili actually broke house records for a non-holiday release (“Radio City,” 12). Combined, these two venues accounted for over a third of the film’s entire North American boxoffice grosses. It’s a curious footnote to the whole sorry saga of Darling Lili which does suggest that, while the film would likely never have been a hit, it could certainly have done much better had its distribution and exhibition been more carefully managed. But that is a discussion for another time and another post...

Sources:

Bart, Peter. Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob (and Sex). New York: Hachette, 2011.

Benchley, Peter. “1969 A Watershed Year for Motion Picture Industry.” Journal Gazette. 6 January 1970: 9.

Blakley, Thomas. “Julie Andrews Eyes a New Start.” Pittsburgh Press. 28 June 1970: 6-1.

Browning, Norma Lee. “Hollywood Today: Julie’s Reception.” Chicago Tribune. 22 June 1970: B-13.

Caen, Herb. “It’s News to Me.” Hartford Sentinel. 5 August 1970: 6-B.

Canby, Vincent. “Is Hollywood in Hot Water?” New York Times. 9 November 1969: D1, D37.

Champlin, Charles. “Movie Review: ‘Darling Lili’ Has World War I Setting.” Los Angeles Times. 24 June 1970: IV-1, 13.

Crittenden, John. “’Darling Lili’ Surprises by Being Very Pleasant.” The Record. 24 July 1970: D-10.

“’Darling Lili’ to Premiere in Hollywood June 24.” Boxoffice. 25 May 1970: W2.

“’Darling Lili’s’ One Reserve Seat Date.” Variety. 3 June 1970: 7.

Dick, Bernard F. Engulfed: The Death of Paramount Pictures and the Birth of Corporate Hollywood. Louisville, KY: University of Kentucky Press, 2015.

Fanning, Win. “The New Film: Andrews, Hudson in ‘Darling Lili’ at Squirrel Hill.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 25 June 1970: 17.

Farber, Stephen. “End of the Road?” Film Quarterly. 23: 2. Winter 1969-70: 3-16.

Geurink, Bob. “Julie’s Pretty Darling in ‘Lili’.” Atlanta Constitution. 11 July 1970: 6-T.

Gussow, Mel. “Excitement Fills Premier of ‘Dolly’: But Air of Festivity Belies Future of Movie Musicals.” New York Times. 18 December 1969: 62.

Higham, Charles. “Turmoil in Film City.” Sydney Morning Herald - Weekend Magazine. 25 May 1969: 19.

Holston, Kim R. Movie Roadshows: A History and Filmography of Reserved-Seat Limited Showings, 1911-1973. Jefferson, NC: McFarlane and Co, 2013.

Kanfer, Stefan. “Cinema: Quarter Chance.” Time. 96: 4. 27 July 1970: 78.

“Kansas City.” Boxoffice. 22 December 1969: C2.

Knight, Arthur. “How Darling was My Lili.” Saturday Review. 18 July, 1970: 22.

Krämer, Peter. The New Hollywood: From Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars. London: Wallflower, 2005.

Manners, Dorothy. “The Most Maligned Movie Ever.” San Francisco Examiner. 15 March 1970: B5.

Mills, James. “Why Should He Have it?” Life. 7 Match 1969: 63-76.

Muir, Florabel. “Hollywood: It Snowed Customers.” Daily News. 21 December 1969: 2S.

“Not Ready for Trades But Exhibs See ‘Lili’.” Variety. 28 January 1970: 6.

Oldham, Gabriella, ed. Blake Edwards: Interviews. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2018.

“Par Gets Hall’s Summer Spot for its ‘Darling Lili’.” Variety. 21 January 1970: 3.

“Para. Sets Preview Series in Five Cities for ‘Lili’.” Boxoffice. 26 January 1970: 10.

“Paramount’s Summer Playoff Strategy: 5,000 Bookings for Eight Major Films.” Variety. 3 June 1970: 5.

“Par’s Big Roadshow Splash.” Variety. 25 June 1969: 3.

“Par’s Lili Rated G.” Variety. 24 September 1969: 5.

“Premiere.” Los Angeles Times. 25 June 1970: IV-8.

“Radio City Music Hall’s All-Time Boxoffice Darling.” Variety. 5 August 1970: 12.

Sar, Ali. “Paramount Unveils Two Top Pictures.” Van Nuys News. 21 June 1970: 24-A.

Sar, Ali. “Curiosity Films: Plagued Studios Hope.” Van Nuys News. 28 June 1970: 4-B.

Siskel, Gene. “The Movies: ‘Darling Lili’.” Chicago Tribune. 22 August 1970: 12.

Sloane, Leonard. “At Paramount, Real Financial Drama.” New York Times. 28 November 1969: 48.

Stewart, Perry. “Warm Kiss from ‘Lili’.” Fort-Worth Star-Telegram. 1 Juy 1970: 28.

Stuart, Byron. "Pictures: Big Budget’s Big Bust-Up." Variety. 23 July 1969: 3, 20.

Taylor, Robert. “‘Lili’ Can Be Charming.” Oakland Tribune. 27 June 1970: 21-E.

Thomas, Bob. “Julie Andrews Praises ‘Lili’.” Courier-News. 15 September 1970: 13.

“U.S. Films’ Share-of-Market Profile.” Variety. 12 May 1971: 36-38, 122, 171-174, 178-179, 182-183, 186-187, 190-191, 205-206.

Warga, Wayne. “Stanley Jaffe: Paramount Risk Jockey.” Los Angeles Times. 24 January 1971: C1, C20-21.

Wasson, Sam. A Splurch in the Kisser: The Movies of Blake Edwards. Middletown: Weslayan University Press, 2009.

Wedman, Les. “The End of the Roadshow.” Vancouver Sun. 9 January 1970: 7A.

#julie andrews #Darling Lili #fiftieth anniversary #1970 #cinerama dome #film premiere #paramount #film history #hollywood #classic film #blake edwards

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thesportssoundoff · 5 years

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“This is a bad show and yet....” The UFC Blachowicz vs Anderson Fight Night Preview

Joey

February 10th, 2020

A week after chaos and controversy in Texas, we stay in the Southwest as the UFC heads to Rio Rancho, New Mexico for a little bit of a weird ass fight card. The UFC has a tendency to just put together shows in weird locations to fill their schedule and a show from the Santa Ana Star Center in New Mexico sort of just fits that mold with a very blegh card. There's good fights on here but for some reason, most of them lurk on the prelims while the main card is pretty much a big ball of fluff and weird Jackson-Wink style matchups. Corey Anderson vs Jan Blachowicz is a fine enough headliner I GUESS while Diego Sanchez vs Michel Perreira is one of those fights you have a morbid curiosity for live but eventually will turn to disgust once it happens. Names like Jim Miller, Scott Holtzman, Ray Borg and John Dodson lurk on the prelims if you're willing to dig around for them and any card with Tim Means on it probably warrants viewing. IF ANYTHING it feels like this card is really a more painful reminder of the downfall of Jackson-Wink and how most of the name fighters they've relied upon have either left, retired or fallen off the map completely. It's a dying gym and it's sort of brutal to see it go this route even if you found Greg Jackson and Mike WInklejohn to come off as perhaps arrogant and condescending at their peak. Either way, there's live fights and I'll be here so it's my duty to settle in, strap up and get ready to guide us through what is a very weird helter skelter-y fight night from New Mexico.

2020 Stat-O-Matic:

Debuting Fighters (3-2): Daniel Rodriguez, Brok Weaver Main Event Exemption:

Short Notice Fighters (2-2): DeQuan Townsend, Daniel Rodriguez Main Event Exemption:

Second Fight (2-2): Rodrigo Vargas Main Event Exemption: Vs Debutantes: Rodrigo Vargas

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (5-0): Yancy Medeiros Main Event Exemption (1-0):

Undefeated Fighters (2-4): Main Event Exemption (0-1):

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization (2-1): Mark De La Rosa, Tim Means Main Event Exemption:

Weight Class Jumpers (Fighters competing outside of the weight class of their last fight even if they’re returning BACK to their “normal weight class”) (1-3): Ray Borg, Dequan Townsend Main Event Exemption ():

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- So does this main event not matter anymore? Regardless of how you might've felt about Corey Anderson and his streaking success or Jan Blachowicz's second half career resurgence, the fact of the matter was that IF Jones beat Reyes convincingly like most expected then Jones vs the winner of this fight felt like a lock for July or August. Consider that the UFC originally brought up the idea of Jones vs Jan in MSG to both camps but Jon passed on it or requested a new deal for it or whatever the case. Corey Anderson has some semblance of heat to him these days after smelting Johnny Walker and trying to develop or rabble up some sort of counter UFC fanbase. This WAS a #1 contender fight in theory but now? Is anybody going to want to see any fight at 205 lbs BESIDES Jones vs Reyes 2? I'm betting that's going to be a hard no. Now it is worth remembering that Jones once turned down Gus 2 (which the UFC thought would be a 1 million buy PPV) so that Glover Teix could get a title shot. This is also the UFC's rise of the champions era where champions can dictate their opponents. That said I bet it's going to be borderline riot territory if the UFC goes with the winner of this fight over a Reyes rematch.

2- The first fight featured a ton of wrasslin' as Jan couldn't stop Corey Anderson takedowns to save his life. The problem repeated itself vs Pat Cummins as well. This has been LESS of a problem for Jan since hitting this insane run he's been on since the Cummins' fight but Anderson hasn't gotten worse as a wrestler and if anything he's rounded out some of the holes in his game as a striker. Feels like a toughie for Jan to win BUT if Jan can take solace in anything, it's that Anderson has been KO'd twice since that fight and got his head bounced off the turf by Shogun Rua in a contested split decision loss. Jan also has rediscovered his kicking game which has been the catalyst for this renaissance run. There's some intrigue here but in all likelihood, this is Bader vs top 10 LHW territory where he can outgrapple dudes en route to the eventual fight with a big hitter who sleeps him.

3- Who WOULD win in a fight between Ryan Bader vs Corey Anderson?

4- Is it fair to just want Diego vs Michel to happen just so you can say you saw it happen?

5- At the risk of opening myself to critique and sassafrass, the main card fight I'm MOST looking forward to is Mara Romero vs Montana de la Rosa. I still think there's plenty of upside for Montana de la Rosa as she's very young but also pretty experienced with a 3-1 UFC record and a sole loss to Andrea Lee who is pretty good. She's got some discomfort on her feet that makes me worried about the ceiling but her grappling, positional awareness and fluidity is well worth seeing if it develops. For Mara Romero, I'm just sort of not sure what she is as a fighter. She debuted, upset the Titan FC bantamweight champ in her UFC debut, lost a close fight to Katlyn Chookagian, upset an undefeated Brazilian prospect in Brazil and then got swamped by Lauren Murphy in her next fight. Like Montana de la Rosa, there's a clear lack of comfort on the feet for extended periods of time but when the fight hits the mat, she's a lot of fun to watch usually. Kinda digging this fight on paper.

6- Jim Miller vs Scott Holtzman is weird because this is a fight that both guys tend to find a way to lose. Miller rolls into this one on a modest two fight winning streak which means he's one more kinda good mid tier guy away from getting thrust into a violence fight vs some sort of stylistic nightmare. Holtzman is still riding his "look great one fight, shit the next" rollercoaster as he comes into this one off violent smelting of Dong Hyung Ma after a loss to Nik Lentz after violently finishing Alan Patrick. So much of Holtzman's game seems to be broken down by whether or not he is "in" the fight after the first round since he seems incapable of grinding out those close brutal fights, especially when he doesn't have a pronounced strength advantage. Chances are this one ends poorly for Miller (who was rocked by Clay Guida twice in a minute) but this is Jim Miller and we are obligated to root for a dude who fought for years with lyme disease and had no idea.

7- Lando Vannata vs Yancy Medeiros in a battle of guys who can best be described as violent enhancement talent should be fun. It's worth remembering that fighters who have taken a year or more off and come back are at a ROUSING 5-0 in the early stages of 2020 and Medeiros hasn't fought since Jan of last year.

8- If Ray Borg makes weight, he's got a REALLY winnable fight against Rogerio Bontorin who is super powerful and hits hard but doesn't bring much else to the dance. How quickly can Borg ascend up the ranks with a win?

9- A bit ago, @theanticool and I discussed the plight of Jon Dodson; a super athlete who probably should've rounded out his game more en route to what is now the end of his athletic peak and the start of what would be the crafty veteran portion of his career except I don't think he's particularly crafty. Powerful? For sure. Still plenty fast? Yep. Lacking a change up to his game? Feels pretty evident. Dodson has a chance to pretty much stem the tide of irrelevancy against Nate Wood in another one of those low key great bantamweight fights. Wood was/is a bit of a wild man all action fighter but since coming into the UFC, he's settled down a bit and really refined his game to the tune of a 3-0 record all by stoppage. He's less frenetic, smarter and looks like a dude benefitting from UFC paychecks where he can probably train more/better. Wood vs Dodson should be awesome and especially in the first round where I can see Wood having trouble if Dodson comes out hot early.

10- I'm still not off the Macy Chiasson bandwagon but this fight with Nicco Montano is going to be pretty damn important for her. Nicco got off to a really strong start in her bantamweight debut vs Julianna Pena before she tired out or got sucked into prolonged grappling exchanges or whatever happened. I still think her weight class is down 10 lbs but she's got the stuff to really challenge Chiasson. This feels like a case of two women living in two opposite weight classes and having to meet in the middle to be honest.

11- Speaking of Nicco, she went from the first ever women's flyweight champion to the follow up fight to the curtain jerker. That's tough.

12- I've been a pretty damn bad judge of talent off of the Contender's Series but I really think that Brok Weaver is going to be a big time bust.

#MMA #UFC #Anderson #Jan #Fights #LHW #Macy Chiasson #Jon Dodson #Diego Sanchez #Michel Pireira

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mrdanielbond · 5 years

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Bond’s New Flatmate (Chpt. 6)

“Hard headed or very naive?”

[Main characters: James Bond x Reader x Jonathan (See author’s note!)

Plot: Two weeks have passed since the incident at the shared flat with James’ and now the reader is trying to pick up the pieces and move on when she is suddenly questioned on her stubborn nature. In an act to remain bold - are the walls breaking down in front of the one person who shows concern?

[Word Count: 2500+]

[Warnings? None so far, I think?]

[A/N: It’s here! The next addition to the Bond’s New Flatmate series! I know, I know it’s been long but the reception received for the last part was fantastic! Sorry there’s a little less James in this one. There have been changes made in comparison to the preview as I’ve decided to shift things around. Here’s all I have for this part, I hope you enjoy it! Also a reminder that Jonathan is an actor of your choosing. I have the three main men below, just because they fit the picture!]

It had been three weeks since you left the nightmare situation at your shared flat with James, just as you were about to call it that anyway. In all honesty, things had been looking up. You spent your time in a hotel near central London. It wasn’t as extravagant, suited to James and Madeleine’s touch. It was affordable but was something that now may have caused you to dip into your savings for the duration of your stay. Your phone had remained switched off for over a week now and you kept yourself in a small, comfortable bubble. The hotel room you stayed in was nothing much, there was a bed, a chest of drawers for your clothes and a window, facing the building of a brick wall on the other side. It was a budget hotel, what could you say? You could’ve stayed with your ‘husband’, if you should call him that, although he was out of the country on important affairs with M, leaving him upset that he couldn’t do something about your situation. He even offered you his house key, although you made it clear that you did not want to intrude. No one else at work knew the struggle you were facing either.

But at least you could finally breathe. At least you were no longer in a toxic environment. Every morning so far you woke up in a slightly better mood than you had felt in weeks. Although, there was no denying that you missed your bed at the flat, or being able to have a kitchen where you could make your own coffee and you missed being able to have someone to talk to. Aside from James’ curiosity running wild all the time, you missed his quirky advances, his flirtatious behaviour, the only man that could tolerate your level of sarcasm since Q and then try to comeback with something similar...Somehow, you missed him.

Alas, he was in the past now. He had not contacted you at all and as you had packed all your things there was no reason for you to go back to the flat. It was clear he made his choice the moment Madeleine revealed to you all the secrets you shared with him. Of course, he chose to defend her. She was always in the right. She was always going to be in the right. The past remained in the past and James was not your concern anymore.

When you switched on your phone to check the time, you had been bombarded with messages from your family, some of your friends but none of them were from him. Of course none of them would have been from him. You were forced out of your dazed state when your phone buzzed violently against the nightstand of your small room. Someone had tried to call you.

Quickly, you pulled your phone up and found yourself alerted by a voicemail from Jonathan. You listened to the voicemail, his voice suddenly comforting your state of panic.

“Good morning Y/N. I thought it would be better to call you rather than text...I um, just wanted to check up on you seeing as I haven’t heard from you since we last met up, I hope everything is alright. Hopefully you’re alive and well - we both know it would be a shame if that wasn’t the case because of a certain someone.” He chuckled nervously. Just hearing the anxiousness in his voice made you beam with happiness. “Or I really hope I haven’t put you off me entirely with my promise drink. Though, it was a part of the bet so we’re both accountable for that. Anyway, don’t mind me - I’m just blabbing on. I also wanted to say I’m sorry that I couldn’t contact you sooner, work had been keeping my busy but maybe if you’re free, we could go out for some tea or coffee? Whichever you prefer. Just drop me a message if you’re up for it. Bye.”

This man made you feel differently to Q and James altogether. He made you smile from the moment you came across him. Jonathan had been caring all these months he had known you and witty and funny and even spontaneous - all at the same time. He tolerated your constant rants and supported you when you didn’t expect him to. How was he so courteous in the mornings over text as well? By night, he was a cheeky, flirtatious and sarcastic man who understood your sense of humour! The atmosphere was definitely different to Bond, which was nice for a change. Not to get started by his looks too...He was so handsome! The man never pressured you into talking about your husband or attempted to be intrusive. He was simply fun and easy to talk to and you could’ve done with seeing him to cheer you up. He was what you needed right now.

Hey, I’m alive and I’m down for a drink! Don’t worry, it’s going to take a lot more than one disgusting drink to keep me away! (:

Within seconds, Jonathan responded. Clearly he wasn’t afraid to make it known that he had been waiting for you.

Thank goodness you’re alive! But oh. I do love a challenge. ;)

Let’s say we meet at 10.30? I could send you the address or pick you up?

It was sweet of him to offer picking you up, although you hadn't told him about your current state and wouldn’t want to burden him with the revelation either, You both agreed on a time and place and now it was time to get ready. There was something about this man, he saw you on a couple of occasions without make-up on, even in your worst state yet this time round you wanted to make an effort for him. The least you could do is at least make yourself look half decent to meet up with the handsome man you befriended. So you opted for a white blouse and navy blue jeans to compliment it, with very little makeup so you don’t like like you haven’t slept in months, which had been the case.

Once you arrived at the small café, which was 45 minutes away now that you didn’t stay in central London but you weren’t going to tell Jonathan that, you scanned the cosy place. He messaged you when he had arrived early, while you had still been on your way there. The look on his face was worry. He was looking around for you and it was very clear he had been doing so. Eventually, his eyes met yours and the worry vanished. A smile emerged as he rose to his feet quickly.

The man wore a burgundy sweatshirt with a pair of black jeans this time that fit perfectly around his lean physique. His hair was slightly unkempt and it was clear he had been growing his stubble out. You made your way to him and were caught in a warming embrace. It had been the third time you met this man in person but over the past few months, the two of you felt as though you had known each other much longer. You weren’t one for much contact either but with Jonathan, you were definitely willing to let that slide.

“Thank goodness you’re here. For some weird reason I always think you’re going to stand me up.”

“Well sadly, I’m still alive.”

He quickly held his hand over his chest, where his heart was, “Oh no! I’ve been burdened with this fierce yet beautiful being! What ever will I do?” His theatrical tone caused you to laugh, something you hadn’t done in a long while. You realise how long you’ve been standing before him, looking up at his observant smile. You hadn’t known that he had been noting to himself how much he had missed and loved your laugh. Soon you cleared your throat and looked towards the seats.

“Maybe we should-”

“Oh right! Yes Ma’am!” Jonathan quickly answered. He pulled your seat back and took another small bow, “My lady.”

Once the giggles were aside, you both looked at what was on the menu. Your eyes kept to the menu and avoided his own and he noticed that from the silence.

“So, Y/N, how have you been? Is everything alright at the flat?”

“Mhm. All fine.” You quickly mumbled, burying yourself in the menu. “Full English seems nice. Maybe a vanilla laté - but an earl grey seems nice too.”

“I’m with you on the earl grey - you seem a bit funny today, is there something you want to tell me, love?”

Oh. The term of endearment caught you off guard. He’s said it before in a joking manner but this time it felt more meaningful. You were not going to tell him you were technically homeless. You just weren’t going to do that to him.

“Nope. Not really. How large do you think the portions are?” Jonathan shook his head, giving a sad smile. “Look, I’m fine. Just feeling really peckish today - that’s all.”

“Right.”

You had to control the situation before he could enquire any further. “How has work been for you anyway? Didn’t you say you were off to Thailand like last month?”

“I did, thought I was going to have a blast, turns out it was otherwise. I just happened to get caught in a shitload of meetings with the Chief of Staff and other agency boards, I would’ve enjoyed it much more if I were in some pub competing against you in a drinking competition.”

“Which you would lose, might I add.”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, dear. I’ll have you know I’m still sober after eleven drinks.”

Before you could retort anything else, the waitress came to your table and asked for the order. Once your meal arrived, you dived straight in, desperately trying to avoid Jonathan’s eyes. Jonathan continued to look at you with the same sad smile he had before. You noticed and stopped eating.

“You’re not going to give up on this are you?” You sighed.

“Not a chance in hell. Y/N, you don’t have to feel like you can’t tell me anything.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Well I’m not going anywhere and I’m here to listen, so we’re stuck here until someone starts talking.” He sat back and folded his arms.

“Alright.” You huffed, “I’m only telling you this so you can stop staring at me. I left the flat a couple of weeks ago and have been staying in a hotel ever since. I don’t have anywhere else to live but that is not a problem because I am in the process of trying to find somewhere else to live! So don’t even bother worrying about me.” You casually shrug and sipped your tea.

The look on Jonathan’s face was what you didn't expected. Usually he was so calm, but right now he seemed hurt - angered by the news. “What?! Darling, you could’ve just messaged me so I could take you to my place! I told you that my flat is always open for you!”

“I don’t want to impose. You have a busy life and having me around isn’t going to end well.” You laughed and shook your head. Truth be told, you found these weeks hard. You looked down and scratched your head and you hadn’t known where this had come from but you felt your tears starting to well.

“It’s been hard - hasn’t it?” His hand moved slowly to your arm, as if asking for permission before he could touch you.

You looked up and laughed, “So hard. But I’m going to be alright because I’m going to find me somewhere to live, even if it does mean moving out of London and finding another job.” You sighed.

“It does not have to come to that. I won’t let that happen.” Jonathan said earnestly. “Which hotel have you been staying at?” You gave him the name. “That’s just outside of central London! Did you walk here?”

“Hey, it wasn’t that bad!”

“Let’s finish up, we’re going.” He said, quickly finishing his earl grey.

“What? Why? Where are we going?”

“To check you out of that gloomy hotel you’ve been staying in and move your bags to my place.”

“Oh no.” You laughed, “No, no, no. That is not happening. I said I’m fine on my own.”

“Look at you Y/N! You aren’t happy! Sometimes I wonder if your stubbornness is actually getting you anywhere or if you’re too hard-headed to realise where that attitude has gotten you? No one ever said you can’t ask for help and I made it very clear to you that I am always available for you.” The silence between you two was tense for a brief moment, it was clear Jonathan was not having it. “Let’s go. You’ll thank me later for this.”

You were hopeless in your attempts to fight back and now you had your bags outside the hotel and noticed Jonathan stood outside his car, waiting. He smiled once again and helped you carry your bags into the back, like the gentleman he always was. Once you both sat together, he looked at you as though he had been meaning to ask something but had been restrained.

“He didn’t...he didn’t kick you out - did he?”

“Oh no! I left on my own accord. There was a fight, it got messy and someone had to leave, so I volunteered to go.”

“Good, because if you need me to show him I’m the man of action you say I am, I am more than willing to do so.” He winked before starting the car and the playful mood was back.

The two of you eventually arrived at his flat. You realised that this man had a lot to him. For someone who often wore jeans and a t-shirt or a leather jacket and with the casual car he drove, he liked to hide the fact that he had one hell of a home. Right in the heart of London, on the top floor, his flat was modernised with greys, silvers, blacks and red. The view of the city was the first thing you saw entering his home from the large window and similarly to a penthouse design, the living space was much larger than James’ own, yet somehow much cosier. There was more furniture to it and a fireplace in front of it all.

“Welcome to my humble abode. Or as they say, mi casa es su casa.” He casually said as he carried your bags into the front space.

This man had been living it large all along and there was no way you could ever guess that from his demeanor. The rough man you know to wear even casual clothing at a smart dress event, had owned an extravagant, beautifully designed home. It was remarkable.

Maybe you did have to thank him for this after all...

#007 #british #fanfic #daniel craig #james bond #james bond 007 #literature #casino royale #mi6 #fanfiction #tom hiddleston/reader #tom hiddleston x reader #michael fassbender #michael fassbender x reader #james mcavoy x reader #james mcavoy

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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New World: Hands-on Preview of the Amazon MMO’s Reekwater Region

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Back in August, Amazon Games invited Den of Geek to play its forthcoming game New World, an MMO set in a fantastical version of Earth inspired by the Age of Exploration, where magic and gunpowder coexist and adventurers duke it out on the mysterious island of Aeternum to take control of different territories in 50v50 battles. I participated in one of these battles in my first preview and was generally impressed with the tighter-than-average MMO combat and gigantic sense of scale.

Earlier this week, I got another chance to go hands-on with an alpha version of the game, and this time I explored a new region called Reekwater, a swampy, bayou-inspired zone that introduces new creatures and a robust fishing mechanic.

At virtually any body of water, you can pull out a fishing rod, attach bait to your hook if you’ve got it, and cast a line in hopes of catching one of the game’s 40-plus different species of fish. At the start of my demo time, I headed straight to a swampy area in the Southeast section of the map to try the new skill out, and I was pleasantly surprised by how fun it was.

I typically don’t care for extracurricular activities like this in MMOs, but right away, I could tell that New World’s fishing mechanic was well thought out by the developers. The controls are simple enough–you press F3 next to any body of water and hold left click to bring up a vertical bar with an icon that rises and falls. Release at the bar’s apex and you’ll cast your line at maximum distance; if your timing is off, you’ll fall short.

Once your line is cast, you’ll see an icon that’ll bobble when a fish approaches. Click at the right time and you’ll snag the fish and initiate the timing-based reeling, in which you hold left-click and release in measured intervals so as not to break the line. All of this feels intuitive and smooth out of the gate, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to spend the rest of my demo time casting my line in different bodies of water.

Depending on what type of water you’re fishing in (fresh or salt), you’ll find different varieties of fish. These vary in rarity, and the rarest fish are hand-placed by the developers in specific “hot spots” across Aeternum, so you’ll have to do some exploring to catch them all. Once caught, fish can be broken down into various items that reflect the rarity of the fish and can be used to craft gear. You also gain XP from fishing.

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After a few rounds of fishing, I ventured off into the jungle to see what else Reekwater had to offer. Above all else, I’ll say this—Reekwater is for higher-skilled players. We were told as much prior to our demo time, and the devs weren’t kidding. I died A LOT despite having a buffed-out level 60 character, and the enemies were fearsome to say the least. You’ll have to travel in groups with similarly high-leveled companions to survive, which will be great for players looking for a challenge.

While getting killed mercilessly by Reekwater’s menagerie of enemies was a drag, I did appreciate just how cool the creature designs were. At one point, I stumbled on a moldy temple ruled by amphibious warrior creatures called makogai, who swiftly descended on me and tore me to shreds. They were led by a spell-casting elder-frog-thing and it was cool that the enemies were presented not just as a random group of grunts, but as an organized clan defending their home from me, a spear-wielding invader. Little touches like this go a long way in MMOs.

The most distinctive thing about Reekwater visually is the sheer variety and amount of foliage on display. When I spawned into the area all I saw was green in every direction, and the designers did a great job of making the zone feel just barely touched by humanity, with nature clearly the dominant force. There are wrecked ships scattered about, a developing central settlement with quest givers, and plenty of explorers sloshing about the swamps, but the area feels wild and lush nonetheless. The environments look impressive when compared to other games with similar areas, which often feel too sparse, open, and flat. Reekwater feels overgrown and full of life, and it invites exploration.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

New World seems to have a lot to offer both in its content and world design, though I’m still curious to see how it’ll all come together when the game launches in 2021. The massive 50v50 PVP battles will likely be the main appeal for new players, but the stronger Amazon Games can make its side content, like fishing, the better chance the game will be able to sustain a large following.

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theonyxpath · 7 years

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Hi, folks, Rose here. ^_^ I’ve got two previews for you from the Storytelling chapter of Changeling: The Lost! Plus, come see us at Gen Con!

Changeling and Gen Con

Onyx Path will be at Gen Con in booth #145. If you stop by, I’d be happy to talk Changeling, as well as show you the pre-layout manuscript for the book.

We’ll also be running a “What’s Up With White Wolf RPGs?” panel at 11 AM Friday in Pennsylvania Station C, at the Crowne Plaza hotel. We’ll be talking about Changeling there, as well as Changeling-related projects like Dark Eras and a certain crossover book.

(Note: Due to the con, I’ll likely be less available on forums and our social media. Questions about today’s preview may need to wait for next week.)

Storytelling

Changeling‘s Storytelling chapter focuses on the chronicle as a collaboration between the Storyteller and all of the players. Today, I’d like to present two sections from that chapter, written by Jacqueline Bryk.

The first section is on chronicle building, featuring a system for tying together the human and supernatural elements of your game, and a series of questions to help you build an engaging group of characters.

The second is something we haven’t done much of in previous Chronicles of Darkness books: safety techniques. I don’t think it’ll surprise anybody when I say Changeling can get pretty dark. It’s a horror game that can evoke abuse and trauma, which are very real for all too many of us.

Some groups may want to avoid those elements, and some groups may want to dive as deep into them as possible. In my experience, most groups are somewhere in between: they want to explore the dark parts of the game, but don’t want to hurt the players behind the characters.

To that end, we present some discussion of the issues involved in running a Changeling game, as well as an overview of safety techniques that you can use at your table to make play an involving, but not harmful, experience.

In addition to these previews, the Storytelling chapter also covers how to build kiths, courts, Contracts, and Mantles.

Enjoy!

Building Your Chronicle

A chronicle is the tale told by the Storyteller and the players, spun out in threads of gossamer and tears. It’s the story of the player characters, their triumphs and failures, their escape from the Fae and their attempts to start a new life in a world that no longer recognizes them. While the Storyteller controls the world around the characters, it is their story. Players need to have input into designing the plots and problems their characters face throughout the chronicle. If the players all built social butterflies and the Storyteller’s chronicle is a combat-heavy slugfest, no one is going to have fun.

To build a chronicle, you first need to consider your props and themes. Once you’re finished with this part, you can move onto the Hedge Paths.

Themes

Themes are the human dramas that make your chronicle compelling. The overarching themes of Changeling: The Lost are beauty/agony, clarity/madness, and lost/found. In the tension between the opposites, one finds the game. Naturally, these aren’t going to be the only things you’ll explore — the Lost have to deal with very mundane issues in addition to being in the liminal space between humanity and Fae. Themes like “lost love,” “poverty,” and “hunger” could all work in a Changeling chronicle. Each might mean a very different thing to each character. “Loyalty,” for example, could mean protecting one’s freehold, sheltering one’s family even when they no longer claim them as kin, or hiding one’s undying fealty to one’s undying master in Arcadia.

Props

Props are the more fae parts of your chronicle, the magical weirdness that surrounds and permeates the lives of the Lost. Set pieces, scenes, and objects all fall under the heading of props. Anything from the Goblin <arkets to a specific token to a blue rose that only grows in the wall of a specific frozen Arcadian garden can be a prop.

Props can also be more mundane objects that show up throughout the chronicle. A player might choose to have her Bright One character associated with torches, for example, so any scene that revolves around her includes candles or flashlights or other small sources of bright light. Grand Princess Caesura, a lady of the Gentry who appears as a feminine form made of the absence of matter, is associated with open doors and missing keys.

Props don’t just have to be objects, either. Anything that will strongly influence the story can be a prop. A family curse, a bargain ill-made, a portal torn open, or a monarch corrupted by their own power can all be used as props. Really let your imagination run wild here — that’s what Changeling is all about, after all.

Using Props and Themes

When brainstorming your props and themes, note each one on a sticky note or a notecard. By the time you’re finished, you should have roughly one theme and one prop per player character. If there are more, that’s fine, those can be set aside as part of the secondary themes and props for the chronicle.

Lay the themes in a row on a table, then lay the props in a column perpendicular to the themes. For the intersection of each theme and prop, the players should choose a character. Ideally, this is a player character — an Ogre Gristlegrinder bouncer at the intersection of “hunger” and “the goblin market,” for example, or the Bright One above at the intersection of “torches” and “descent.” As a storyteller, this lets you know what sort of character-specific experience your players are looking for.

Free spaces are reserved for Storyteller characters. The intersection of “hunger” and “torches” might be a Huntsman coming after the player characters. Players and the Storyteller should work together to create compelling Storyteller characters that can come into the characters’ lives with some degree of commonality already established so that they better suit the overall aesthetic and feel of the chronicle.

Hedge Paths

A changeling doesn’t come into being in a vacuum. She has family, friends, a life she was pulled from, and a life she’s building. It’s important that both the Storyteller and the players know what’s going on with the troupe’s characters before the chronicle begins — otherwise they’re as lost as an escapee in the Hedge. Following the stages below will help you build well-rounded characters and connect them to the game.

The Life Before

All changelings were human before they were taken by their Keepers. Fae politics pale in comparison to the networks of family, friends, acquaintances, coworkers, petty rivalries, romances, and other connections mortal humans have on Earth. Rare is the Lost who was taken without any sort of link to other people — otherwise, why would the Fae need to make fetches?

Decide who the changeling was before they were spirited away by UFOs or invisible horses. Ideally, this should include their occupation, their home life, and any important people they may be in a relationship of any kind with. It can also include the age they were taken, any identifying marks (tattoos, moles, scars, etc.) and anything else especially relevant to their mortal life.

Example: Ben decides that his changeling character was an ESL teacher in her mortal life. He names her Jocelyn and gives her a husband but no children, a house that they rent together, a book club that meets on Sundays, and a best friend who recently moved two cities away. She has just graduated with her Master’s degree and she is a friendly, if private, person. Ben decides to put Jocelyn’s husband, David, at the intersection of a prop and a theme, “ancient books” and “unconditional love.”

Sarah decides that her character was a college student by the name of Nate. He grew up in a loving, middle-class nuclear family that hunted and cooked together and encouraged his dreams pretty regularly. Nate does not have a significant other and does not particularly want one right now. He lives in the university dorms, has a close group of friends, and enjoys target shooting and knitting equally. Sarah writes down “favorite rifle” as a prop and “growing up too fast” as a theme. She places his soon-to-be court monarch, Mens Machinae, at the intersection of these elements.

Meg decides that her character, Holly Blue, was raised in a hippie commune out in the Pacific Northwest. Her upbringing very much followed the old adage “it takes a village to raise a child” and she remembers her childhood as a time of love and warmth. Holly Blue was homeschooled until she went to college. She took a year off after her junior year to try and find out what she really wanted out of life, and went on a road trip across the U.S. with some friends. Meg writes a prop, “the old car that should have stopped working” and decides to place Holly Blue’s best friend, Nevaeh, at the intersection of that prop and the theme “unconditional love.”

Emily’s character is named Hel, and is the youngest member of a large family. She lived with her divorced mother and only really saw her father on holidays. Emotional honesty was not really prized in her household, so her upbringing was comfortable, if a bit chilly. Hel got her Master’s in Computer Science and worked as a programmer at NASA. She had several partners, but was going through a divorce of her own due to finding the same coldness in her husband as she did in her mother.

Questions to Ask: What is your name? How old are you?

Did you grow up in a nuclear family? Are your parents still together? Divorced? Never married? Single-parent household?

Were you wealthy? Middle class? Poor?

What’s your gender? Does it match your presentation? Are you okay with that? What’s your sexual orientation? Who knows? Did you have a partner — or several?

Did you graduate university? Do you have more than one degree?

What was your occupation? Where were you living? Were you owning, renting, couch surfing, or squatting? Did you have a pet? More than one?

Did you have any identifying marks, like tattoos or scarification? What were your hobbies and pastimes? Who would notice if you were gone or acting strangely?

Promises: What was the biggest promise you made before you were taken?

Sidebar: A Note on Backstory

It is expected that the Storyteller will use her players’ backstories to enrich the play experience. While they should feel free to do so, players should also communicate with the Storyteller on things they would like left untouched — and, by the same token, things they would like messed with. Storyteller torture of characters via backstory should always be consensual. This is a game, after all.

The Capture

Something had to get that changeling into the Hedge into the first place. Something had to take her to Arcadia. Something had to lock her into shackles of bronze and roses, forcing her to do its bidding. Use this section to figure out how the changeling was stolen or seduced away. You may also use it to get a preliminary outline of her Keeper.

Example: Jocelyn is levelheaded and skeptical of offers that seem too good to be true (she might not have gotten through her Master’s program otherwise), so Ben decides she didn’t make a Faustian bargain. It’s unlikely that she was seduced, so he decides that she was kidnapped and dragged through a mirror while in the bathroom at a Halloween party. He places her Keeper at the intersection of a prop and a theme, “unexpected portals” and “not who they seem.”

Sarah decides that Nate was on a hunt with his family when he got separated in pursuit of a buck. At least, he thought it was a buck. He saw a flawless rack of horns flash through the dusk in the trees and followed it. The woods got thicker and gloomier, but that’s ok, he’s used to having to wait in thickets to get at his game. Nate lost sight of the buck and turned around to go home — only to find the buck and the buck’s master waiting for him. Sarah decides to place the buck that lured him in at the intersection of the prop “the hunters hunted” and “not who they seem”.

Meg likes the idea of Holly Blue being abducted on her road trip. As she and Nevaeh drive along I-80, they see an old woman at her fruit and honey store — really, little more than a shack. They decide to stop to purchase some food. Holly Blue strikes up a conversation with the proprietor, who offers to show her some of her fresher offerings. Holly Blue follows her around the back, only to find herself in the thorns. The woman is a privateer, and she’s taking her newest acquisition to Grandmother, Grandmother (see p. XX) to adopt.

Emily comes into the chronicle a bit later than everyone else, and so her character’s abduction has to be a little different than everyone else’s. She decides that, befitting a programmer at NASA, Hel is abducted by the Three Androgynes (see pg. XX). It’s somewhat unceremonious — one moment she’s walking home from work, and the next, she’s suspended in midair in a sterile room, her limbs and mouth bound by thorns.

Questions to Ask: Were you physically dragged off? Were you deceived?

Did you offend a True Fae somehow?

Did you misstep into the Hedge?

Where were you when you were taken? What do you remember of the journey?

Promises: What promise was made to you while you were en route?

In Durance Vile

The durance is the period of a changeling’s life that shapes their biggest challenges. In a twist of cruel irony, some changelings barely remember it except in nightmares, while others are always on the verge of a flashback or panic attack, seeing their Keeper and her knives around every corner. Most are somewhere in between. Trauma is a funny thing, and for many Lost, it remains safely locked in the back of their minds, slipping out at moments of tension or vulnerability. The durance determines the kith and seeming of the changeling, and may affect what court they choose to join later.

Don’t hold back in this section (at least within limits set by the group, see “Safe Hearth, Safe Table” on p. XX). True Fae are not known for mercy or obeying the laws of physics. How might a True Fae have caused you to turn into a Mirrorskin or a Helldiver? What fell pacts were made with the realm you were imprisoned in that you could survive it? Were you the only one in your motley there?

Storytellers should feel free to do some light narration of this section before game, if their players are so inclined. See the sidebar “Narrating a Durance” for some guidelines on how to do so effectively.

Example: Jocelyn is taken to a realm of mind-numbing bureaucracy and byzantine laws. She is held in a small cell, a room that looks like an unfurnished apartment with the drywall torn out and the wires exposed, until her Keeper sends someone for her. She is taken before the True Fae, a being made entirely of paperwork and red tape. Its face is a white porcelain mask made to look like a baby’s head. Ben has already decided that Jocelyn will be a Fairest Notary, so he states that after being forced to swear fealty (in triplicate!), she is taken downstairs and has the pledge tattooed on her back by another changeling. Her Keeper, the Munificent Bureaucrat, and another True Fae watch. She is leashed and kept at her Keeper’s side to reference at will.

Sarah decides that her Ogre Artist character, Nate, was the one to tattoo Jocelyn’s back at their Keeper’s behest. Nate was taken a year before Jocelyn, and has been forced into his role as artisan of all trades. Not an artist before his durance, Nate was quick to pick up skills in order to avoid harsh punishments with chisels and pigment. He has been forced to reshape other changelings into different forms and configurations, and already he’s growing slowly deaf to their cries, for his own sanity.

Holly Blue, meanwhile, is chosen as Grandmother, Grandmother’s hardworking middle child who doesn’t get enough attention. This is not her normal state of being. She is used to love and affection from all of those around her, and is now constantly ignored and occasionally violently punished for the mischief of other changelings. She finds herself occasionally changing her voice or facial expression and sometimes outright lying to avoid Grandmother, Grandmother’s teeth and claws. Soon, she’s doing it all the time. She uses the voice and face that will keep her most safe, and in this way, Holly Blue becomes a Fairest Mirrorskin.

Hel doesn’t get much of a choice in her durance. She is kept in a zoo of changelings, occasionally taken out and vivisected and put back together again. Sometimes, she’s shown off, paraded in front of the Three Androgynes’ guests like a prized pet. She is not, however, petted and coddled like some of the others, and is subjected to an increasing parade of indignities. Her cell is immersed in the light of strange stars, and in her anger and humiliation, she begins to absorb the light as a source of comfort, becoming an Elemental Bright One.

Questions to Ask: Who is your Keeper? What is their title, or titles? How did they treat you?

What was the lightest part of your durance? The worst? The very worst? Were other members of your motley there, or was it just you?

What was the environment like? Were you mostly inside or outside? Was it hot, cold, or temperate?

What was the last straw?

Promises: What did you have to promise your Keeper to avoid punishment?

Sidebar: Narrating a Durance

If the players choose to play out their durance instead of merely having it as part of their backstory, the Storyteller should carefully consider how to carry it out. The durance is characterized by loss of autonomy, both bodily and spiritual. While the character loses their autonomy, the player should never lose hers. A durance is not an excuse for a Storyteller to torture her players outside of the boundaries of the game in the name of story. The player must always have a say in what happens in her durance. If possible, durances should be narrated in private (this can be done in text form, if that’s easier). Nothing makes a player feel more vulnerable and disrespected than playing out an intense scene, only for another player to interrupt with a joke or an off-color comment about what’s going on.

Decide between the Storyteller and the player what the character’s durance should focus on. A Bright One’s durance is probably not going to involve toiling in the mines, but she might light the way for Helldivers and Gristlegrinders instead. An Ogre is less likely than a Fairest or Darkling to be the lover of the Princess of the Red Crowns, but he might hold her lovers still while she whispers to them and lines up the hats to nail onto their heads.

The Storyteller should take careful note of what the player wants. The durance can be extremely disturbing and upsetting, and it’s important that the player is only disturbed or upset in the ways she wants to be. At any point, the Storyteller or player should be allowed to tap out or fade to black if the scene become too much for them. There’s no rush to tell the story of the durance. Suffering has no deadline.

The Escape

Some part of the enslaved changeling felt the call back to Earth. Perhaps it was the memory of their spouse’s laughter or the warmth in their chest when they held their child for the first time. It might even be a petty vendetta against a coworker left unsettled. Not all human memories are noble or loving, and that’s not the point. Memories of the mortal world are the changeling’s key out of Faerie, so if they have no memories of the world as it is now, they may not be able to make it back.

What was strong enough to bring the character back? This is the paramount question for this section. Even if none of the other questions are answered, the player should know the answer to this one. It’s a good indication of the changeling’s priorities later in the chronicle.

Example: Jocelyn’s memories of her husband and her studies see her through her durance. While reading some of the Munificent Bureaucrat’s paperwork, she finds a loophole inside of a subclause that would allow her to escape. Armed with this knowledge, she unlocks the collar around her neck and sets herself free.

Meanwhile, Nate the Artist is drawn back by thoughts of his friends and his hunts with his family. He creates a perfect likeness of himself, a statue that smiles, and flees. Nate and Jocelyn meet up in the massive air ducts of the domain, quite by accident, and agree to leave together. They both tear through the thorns of the Hedge, seeking a door to lead them home.

Holly Blue has been forced to sacrifice her emotional honesty and her happiness to survive. She is whatever Grandmother, Grandmother wants her to be, and she has not been cut in months. However, she has not forgotten Nevaeh, her best friend and latent crush. When her Keeper leaves to seal a pledge with another Kindly One, she flees through the forest she was told never to enter. The thorns open for her, and she finds herself back in the Hedge, seeking a way back to the fruit stand where she lost herself.

Finally, Hel has been subjected to one indignity too many. As the Three Androgynes bring her back to the operating theater for another procedure, she breaks free, blinding all three of them with the light of her rage. She flees down the infinite halls of their ship, and finds an escape shuttle docked in one of the many cargo bays. Her programming skills are barely a match for the byzantine controls of the shuttle, but she manages to hotwire it and flies out of the Androgynes’ massive ship. Just as she begins to despair of finding her way back to Earth, she crash-lands in the thorns, the nose of the shuttle poking out into the Air and Space Museum in D.C.

Questions to Ask: What was strong enough to bring you back?

Did you sneak out? Fight your way out? Make a bet with your Keeper? Did you not want to leave? Were you thrown out instead?

Did anyone else come with you? Did you have to leave anyone else behind?

What do you remember of your journey back? What were you searching for on your way through the thorns?

Promises: Who knew you got out? Who came with you, and who stayed behind and promised to cover your escape?

Home, But Briefly

The great tragedy of a changeling’s life is that she is forever displaced from what it used to be. Fetches take their place and families move on. Any encounter with former friends and loved ones will result in confusion — and that’s just the best-case scenario. Lost may show up thousands of miles away from their home, drawn by a memory of a favorite vacation or a proposal on a beach, or they may emerge gasping from the thorns 20 years after they were abducted — though only an hour passed in Faerie. For a newly freed slave of the Fae, this is a punch in the gut. Where will they belong? Will they ever belong?

Example: Jocelyn and Nate arrive on Earth, pulled by their shared memories of the university they attended. Jocelyn has been in Faerie for what seems like a decade — but only a week has passed on Earth. Nate has been in the clutches of the Munificent Bureaucrat for much longer, and doesn’t recognize the new buildings on campus.

They go to find Jocelyn’s husband, only to find out that he has never missed her — she’s taking a shower right now. Jocelyn desperately tries to appeal to her husband, who threatens to call the police. Nate’s family found him dead, accidentally shot by another hunter’s bullet. They’ve already mourned and buried him, and when he shows up, they accuse him of being an imposter and making fun of them. Neither family will take them in. Defeated, Jocelyn and Nate retreat to a nearby diner to grieve and figure out what’s next.

Holly Blue arrives on Earth, only to find that her friend left the stall and its nighttime in the dead of winter. Using the skills she’s learned in Faerie, she steals the visage of the privateer who stole her away, and with it, her car and wallet. Meg decides to put the privateer under “the old car that should have stopped working” and “this is mine now.” Holly Blue decides to drive out east, in the direction her friend went, hoping to discover a police report about her disappearance. However, she soon discovers that Nevaeh is not only back home, she is dating a creature with Holly Blue’s face, who had the courage to say to Nevaeh what Holly Blue herself did not. They’re getting handfasted this spring. Holly Blue finds herself alone in a university town out east, sobbing alone at a computer in a public library, unsure of what to do next.

Hel attempts to get back into the NASA headquarters at Two Independence Square, but she’s already working there. Or at least, someone wearing her face has just been fired from her job there. Hel’s clearance is deactivated and she finds herself stranded. Her partners all believe she’s gotten back with her husband and refuse to accept this new impostor, doing everything from slamming the door in her face to threatening restraining orders. She buys the ticket for the first bus she sees, determined not to panic.

Questions to Ask: Who do you seek first?

Are they still alive? Do they remember you?

Do you have a fetch? Where are they? How have they replaced you, or changed your life in a way you didn’t want?

How has your fetch lived your life in your absence? Do they know you’re there?

Promises: What promise did your fetch break to someone you love?

Freeholds and Courts

Unless the game starts with the capture and durance of the player characters, much of any given Changeling: The Lost chronicle will take place in and around the local freehold or freeholds. If any of the props and themes from earlier have gone unused, use them here. The courts of the local freehold are a key part of the story, and need to be fleshed out. The easiest way to do this is to set up the four Seasonal Courts, but see later in this chapter for guidance on building your own.

Unless a player character is beginning the game at the head of a court, creating the four seasonal kings, queens, or monarchs is a good first step. It’s easy enough to put an Ogre Bright One in charge of Summer, and definitely a good choice. However, what would it mean for a small, vulpine Darkling Hunterheart or a Wizened Artist to hold the same position? The monarchs say a lot about the local courts — and, by extension, the tone and symbolism of the chronicle itself. A Spring Court led by a Fairest Playmate is going to have a very different outlook and aesthetic than another freehold with an Elemental Snowskin Spring King.

Once the Monarchs are decided, the players can pick which courts they might have reasonably been convinced to join.

Example: Ben and Sarah decide to divide the courts between them. Ben takes Winter and Summer, and Sarah takes Autumn and Spring.

Ben decides that the Monarch of Winter is a gender-neutral Darkling Artist who goes by Mens Machinae and makes robots and animatronics — and clever constructs to fool the Fae. The Queen of Summer is a Wizened Chatelaine named Small Queen Jane. He decides that she got her position for her ability to command groups and plan tactical engagements, and not necessarily for her own personal puissance.

Sarah, meanwhile, decides that the head of Spring is an Ogre Helldiver who goes by ghost (the G is never capitalized). ghost prefers no titles or accolades; they merely serve and stay silent until needed. The King of Autumn is a jovial Elemental Hunterheart who has an extremely even temper until his people are threatened — and then he turns into a terrifying force of nature, using illusions and threats and dreams to keep the freehold safe.

After looking at their monarchs, Ben decides that Jocelyn became a member of the Winter Court. Sarah instead decides that Nate is courtless, but sympathizes with Autumn.

Meg joined the chronicle a little later, so she doesn’t assist in creating the courts. However, she decides that Holly Blue has joined the Spring Court, in search of a balm for her broken heart. She was personally recruited by a ghost after they found her sleeping in a tent at a local cemetery. That’s where she meets Jocelyn and Nate.

Emily also joined the chronicle late, so she has no hand in creating the courts. Hel decides to join the Summer Court after they put her in protective custody for blinding a local bartender after he hit on her. The Season of Wrath best suits her slow-burning anger after being constantly disregarded, humiliated, and torn apart at other’s whims.

Questions to Ask: Who is the head of your Spring/Summer/Autumn/Winter Court? Why do they have that position?

Are there any other prominent figures in that court?

Why did you choose to join that court?

Where is the freehold located? What is it called?

Promises: What oath of fealty did you swear to your court, and how is it similar to the one you were forced to swear to your Keeper?

A Motley Crew

The motley is the core unit of changeling society, a chosen family that reaches beyond boundaries of seeming, kith, and court. Player characters are usually in a motley together and their connection should be one of the major focuses of the chronicle. Ideally, members of a motley are willing to face death for each other — but it could just as easily be a group of drinking buddies who fear being alone.

Example: Jocelyn and Nate have been through a lot together. From killing Jocelyn’s fetch with a car to showcasing Nate’s latest project at a meeting of two freeholds, they’ve supported each other through thick and thin. After they picked up Holly Blue and Hel, who are more recent escapees from the same realm, they form a motley of four. The freehold calls on them when they need delicate legal matters handled, or an important guest impressed. Unsaid, but also just as true: They are the first line of defense when they True Fae come a-knocking.

Questions to Ask: What drew you to each other?

Who is the leader, if anyone? Are any of you likely to betray the others?

Does your motley have a name? What is your common goal?

How do others in the freehold view your group? How do you view your group?

Promises: What pledge did you all make each other? How was it different from the one you were forced to swear to your Keeper? What was the pledge sworn on?

Sample Chronicle: The Blue Hen Motley

Jocelyn, Nate, Holly Blue, and Hel are all from very different backgrounds, but they all wound up in the same place. They decide to retrace Holly Blue’s road trip back to the Pacific Northwest in order to stop her fetch’s wedding to her unrequited love, Nevaeh. Along the way, they decide to stop to take out Hel’s fetch — except Hel decides to make a pledge with her fetch to not interfere in each other’s lives. Jocelyn oversees the pledge. This frees up Hel to continue on the journey. Nate and Jocelyn take out the privateer on I-80 while Holly Blue watches and smiles her inscrutable smile. Hel’s pledge gives the motley enough points of Glamour to speed up the trip, but their Keepers are all looking for their escaped slaves. The Blue Hen Motley now has to deal with Huntsmen while trying to make it in time for Holly Blue to confess her love…

Other Bonds

Many promises and connections could fit into any of the stages listed above, but aren’t tied to a specific one. Since they’re useful for fleshing out a player character, some examples of other, more general ties are listed below.

What is your single biggest regret?

When did you find true love and why was the form it took unexpected?

Who did you leave behind?

Who do you hate even more than your Keeper?

Why does one person in particular fascinate you?

Who do you dream about, then wake up shaking and sweating?

Safe Hearth, Safe Table

While it’s fun to play make believe with friends, Changeling: The Lost is, at its heart, a horror game. True, it is also funny and beautiful and wondrous — but that typically comes after being held against your will in a world of dreams and nightmares for months, years, or decades. Changelings may have their bodies altered and their minds played with. Personal autonomy is repeatedly violated by godlike entities to whom one cannot simply say “no.” The only way to make it stop is to escape and even then, that’s not a guarantee. The Gentry might find you eventually, or they might send someone to do it for them.

This can be extremely unsettling for players. While consensual fear is part of the game, the goal is not to traumatize the players outside of the play space. Rather, everyone should strive for a game that provides an engaging, terrifying, and beautiful story that gives everyone involved the sort of pleasant chills a really good horror movie leaves the audience with after the credits roll. Even if a character feels trapped and hopeless, the player should never feel the same way at the table. This is a game, after all.

What follows are some safety techniques to help both Storytellers and players maximize enjoyment without taking away any of the horror at the heart of Changeling: The Lost. Feel free to use none, some, or all of them.

Emotional Bleed

Many of the safety techniques talk about something being too uncomfortable or too intense “in a bad way.” This is for clarity of communication. Some players like being made uncomfortable or put into extremely emotionally intense situations. Such players may play horror games to cry or feel trapped as a sort of catharsis, a way to experience traumatic emotions in a low-consequence environment.

This is called emotional bleed, or just bleed for short. When a character experiences emotions the player is experiencing, that’s called bleed-in. Contrastingly, when a player experiences the emotions her character is feeling, that’s called bleed-out. Bleed itself is not bad, but it can sometimes be unpleasant for a player who wasn’t expecting it or didn’t want it. If a player is getting unreasonably frustrated or upset at a challenging circumstance, this could be a sign of bleed. Stop play and give everyone a breather before continuing if bleed begins to cause problems at your table. Bleed can absolutely enhance the play experience and add another dimension of emotional resonance, but only if everyone is on board. Check ins, occasional snack breaks, and use of the safety techniques in this chapter are extremely helpful if the table is experiencing high amounts of bleed.

Lines and Veils

A classic safety technique originally described by Ron Edwards, Lines and Veils allows players to pick and choose what they want to address in the chronicle. Before game, the Storyteller should prepare two sheets of paper. Label one “Lines” and the other “Veils.” Lines are things that will absolutely not be touched on in the chronicle, not even mentioned in passing. Veils are things that can happen, but will not be played out, and instead addressed with a “fade to black.” The Storyteller asks players what they’d like added to the lists, and notes that the lists can be edited at any time. Veils can be moved to Lines, Lines can be moved to Veils, new Veils or Lines can be added, or Veils or Lines can be taken away (with the consensus of the other players). Veils and Lines cannot be used to cut out antagonists (i.e. “I don’t want the True Fae to be a part of this chronicle at all, not even mentioned in passing”) but can be used to restrict antagonists’ actions that might be uncomfortable for some players (i.e. “I do not want the True Fae in this chronicle to use sexual violence”).

Common Lines: Sexual violence, explicit depiction of torture, force feeding, starvation, mutilation, racial slurs, gender-specific slurs, spiders, trypophobia-inducing imagery, needles, bestiality, explicit depiction of bodily functions

Common Veils: Explicit depiction of consensual sexual activity, torture, emotional abuse, physical abuse, body horror, human experimentation, dream or nightmare sequences, childhood memories, prophetic visions

Fade to Black

In a movie, when the hero is just about to get into bed with her love interest or be “forcibly interrogated,” sometimes the camera cuts away right before the action — occasionally with a moan or a scream included as appropriate. This technique is called “fade to black,” and can be used in your chronicle as appropriate. If you don’t want to narrate every caress of a love scene or the weirdness of a changeling’s personal nightmare or the agony of Faerie torments, simply fade to black and focus on another scene. A player can also request a fade to black if they are uncomfortable with what is happening at the table.

The Stoplight System

This is a relatively recent technique and was pioneered by the group Games to Gather. The Storyteller lays out three different colored circles on the table: red, yellow, and green. Each color indicates a response to different levels of intensity. Green means “yes, I am okay with and encourage the scene getting more intense.” Yellow means “the scene is fine at the intensity level it is now, and I would like it to stay here if possible.” Red means “the scene is too intense for me in a bad way and I need it to decrease or I need to tap out.” Players can tap the colored circles as appropriate to indicate to the Storyteller what they want or need at that moment.

The Storyteller can also use the stoplight system to ask the players if they’d like intensity increased or decreased as necessary without breaking the narrative flow. To do so, the Storyteller can repeatedly tap a color — green for “more intense,” yellow for “keep it here,” and red for “do you need me to stop?” The players can then touch a color in response. Players can also respond by saying the color in question out loud.

The X Card

An up-and-coming technique, especially in storytelling-game circles, the X card was designed by John Stavropolous. The X card is fairly self-explanatory. A card or sheet of paper with an “X” drawn on it is placed in the middle of the table. At any point, a player or the Storyteller may touch the X card to call a halt to any action currently making them uncomfortable in a bad way. If they would like to explain themselves, they may, but it is absolutely not necessary and the Storyteller should continue play once everyone is settled back in.

The Door Is Always Open

This is another technique that needs very little explanation. If a player needs to stop play for any reason, they are free to do so after giving the Storyteller a heads up. The chapter (game session) is then on pause until that player either returns or leaves the premises. Storytellers should use this technique either in conjunction with other techniques, or during sessions where players may have to leave abruptly for personal reasons.

Debriefing

Debriefing is a post-game safety technique, and can be used along with any and all of the suggestions above. After the chapter is finished, the Storyteller asks the players to put away their character sheets and take some deep breaths. Soft music or snacks can also be used to assist in debriefing. Slipping into character is easy — slipping out can be a little less so. Debriefing is all about bringing the players back to the real world, back through the thorny maze of the chronicle they created with the Storyteller.

Use this time to talk about the game in a context other than first person. Players tend to refer to their characters as “I.” The Storyteller should encourage them to use the character’s names instead, and use first person only for things that they felt as players, not as characters. What did they think was the highlight of this session? What was their favorite interaction they had with another player’s character? An NPC? Is there anything the players think the Storyteller could be doing better? Are the safety techniques and chronicle-building techniques working out for everyone at the table? Should anything be changed to make the game more fun and engaging for everyone involved? These are all questions that can be asked during debriefing, though they’re not necessary. If there are other, more important topics that need to be covered, feel free to use debriefing time to cover those as well.

Debriefing does not need to last for a set amount of time. However, after a particularly intense session, it’s probably a good idea to have a longer debriefing period than normal. Changelings are forever changed by their experience with the True Fae. The players should not incur the same amount of trauma just from sitting at a gaming table. Tabletop gaming is a low-consequence environment to explore many different emotions and coping strategies in new and strange environments. To keep this space low consequence, it’s important to make sure that all players (including the Storyteller) are emotionally supported and cared for after particularly upsetting or bleed-heavy chapters.

#Onyx Path Publishing #White Wolf Entertainment #Changeling: The Lost #Changeling The Lost #Chronicles of Darkness

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longforgottenunofficial · 7 years

Text

The Hitchhikers in the Mirror

[Info from newly rediscovered documents confirms much of what follows and adds details (in red). Updated August 29-30, 2013 and May 1, 2014.]

You know the drill. As the show winds down, you go past a set of mirrors, and in the mirrors you see one of the hitchhiking ghosts sitting beside you. But it was not always so, says I. If you rode the HM during its opening week, you would have seen something else in those mirrors. This was the original "Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion effect," and it remains one of the most intriguing. I rode the HM on Thursday, August 14th, 1969 (I was 14). There's a lovely story about how I got to ride during opening week, but that's for another time. There has also been a mighty tempest over when exactly the HM first opened, but that's another post as well. Going past the mirrors, what I remember seeing is clouds of faceless, wispy spirits surrounding and mobbing the doombuggy. They were undulating and following along with you as you scooted past. Very cool. But on my next visit, no more than a few weeks later, the wraiths were gone, and I was startled to see the familiar effect that we have there now. "Hey, that's different!" was my reaction. Flash forward 35 years, and the Internet has provided a means for HM fans to discover and communicate with each other. I dipped my toes into Doombuggies.com at my brother's suggestion, and—what a cool site. Mansionology has been a secret vice ever since. Well anyway, here was my chance, I figured. Surely someone else remembers this effect, right? Wrong. I dropped an email to "Chef Mayhem" at Doombuggies.com and to Chris Foxx at the now-defunct grimghosts.com. Here's what I wrote to the Chef on Aug 4, 2002:

And the similar email to Chris six days later:

No luck. Neither had ever heard of my wraiths. Well, let's throw the question open, shall we? I started a thread on the DB.com chatboards and described the effect yet again: "One of the things I remember from my first ride on the HM, opening week 8/69, was that the HHGs did not reappear in the mirrors. Yeah, they were standing there as always as you entered the crypt, but that was it. Instead, in the mirrors there were wispy ghosts much like the graveyard wraiths surrounding the buggy as you moved along." (I still have copies of the relevant sections of that discussion thread.) All of this tedious stuff is necessary to show that I was making these wild claims well before... THE... the... the BLUE... lu... lu... lu PRINT... int... int... int ...came to my attention. One of the participants in that chatboard discussion mentioned a HM effects blueprint in his possession with some curious items on it. He graciously sent me a copy. Eventually I was able to get a much cleaner copy of the same b-print (thanks to Datameister at Micechat). The HHG-in-mirror effect is produced by a set of 15 rod puppets on an oval track behind two-way mirrors. The room is oddly shaped, being custom built for the ghosty-go-round. Here's an old b-print that shows the set-up as it is today:

You can see the oval track and how it fits the room. But on the effects blueprint I got from the poster at DB.com, there is no track; instead, there are three projectors focused on a wavy screen marked CURVED BACK PROJ. SCR'N :

Whoa. This b-print is dated 4-8-69. The original date on the other b-print is illegible, but it was updated on Feb 7, '69, and its last update was 4-7-69, the day before the other b-print was produced. Thus, our projector system is on a b-print that was the direct successor to one which shows the effect as it is seen today. Even without this info, it is plain that the ghosty-go-round was always what was planned, since the room itself is obviously shaped around it. In contrast, the projector system obviously does not fit the room very well. Look at all the wasted space. So, what gives? Why does the effects b-print which is actually closer to opening day have this funky substitute? Another source of info about the HM as it was in the beginning is newspaper reports and reviews of the new ride. Pre-opening publicity stories that mentioned the HHGs began to appear in the Spring of '69:

"Ghostly hitchhikers trying to jump aboard" sounds like the effect as it is seen today. There was a press preview of the ride at midnight, August 11, with the 12th slated as the official opening day. A few reviews of the newly-opened HM appeared in the papers as early as Tuesday the 12th, but most were published Wednesday the 13th. Among all of these, a handful make passing reference to the HHG-in-mirror effect. Tony Lawrence in the Hollywood Reporter, Aug 13, gives a rather ambiguous description that could fit either effect:

In a review published a day earlier (the 12th), Sandi Mosley in the Orange County Register describes what sounds like our current effect:

f this was all we had, we could reasonably conclude that whatever that b-print showed, the Gus-Ezra-Phineas roulette we all know and love was there by opening day. But there is another review that sounds altogether different. This is from Keith Murray's review in the Pasadena Star-Times, published on the 13th:

What is this "peering into the fog" business? And why does he apparently see only himself in the doombuggy? Hmm. The wraiths I remember did indeed look like a swirling cloud of spirits. Now the evidence is getting murky again. How do we reconcile Mosley and Murray? Assuming they are both providing good faith, reasonably accurate accounts of what they saw, there is only one way to do it that I can see. Mosley is explicit that she rode the HM at the midnight press preview Aug 11/12. Her review appears on the 12th. Murray nowhere claims to have been at that preview, and his review appears on the 13th. It is possible that he rode sometime during the day of the 12th and wrote his review for publication the next day. Mosley's and Murray's rides could have been 12 hours apart, or even more. Was the ghosty-go-round there for the midnight showing and then hastily replaced by our projected wraiths? That would explain it, but is there any warrant for such a scenario? Of course there is, or I wouldn't be wasting your time (or mine). Something must account for the alternate set-up behind the mirrors, after all. What we now know from newly discovered material evidence is that the projected wraiths were simply the backup for the HHG ghosty-go-round. It probably could have been set up in a matter of hours. Look, it's not complicated. Here are the two side-by-side:

Okay, now let's superimpose them:

See? The wavy screen sits right in front of the HHG track, about where the low curtain stands in this photo:

Edit: In 2014 this 1969 schematic came to light, showing both of the effects superimposed, exactly like above.

And why would they need this backup? Because if the ghosty-go-round goes down, they will douse the lights on the motionless hitchhikers, and now you've got the guests riding past mirrors looking at themselves and nothing else. That's intolerably dumb. You have to put something there. You need a backup effect if the planned one fails. Did they anticipate such a failure? You bet they did, that's what the blueprint is all about. In addition, there is the intriguing comment made by show author X Atencio in Storyboard magazine. Speaking of the HHGs, X said: "It was kind of an afterthought, though. It didn't come until the ride was practically put in there." Based on this, both Doombuggies.com and Surrell's Haunted Mansion book (at the time of this writing the two most authoritative sources for all things HM), claim that the HHGs were a last-minute addition to the ride. Bull crap. The problem with X's remark is that what it says is literally impossible. The show building went up in 1968, and the HHG-in-mirror gag is plainly visible in 1968 blueprints.

The idea itself is much older, going back to Ken Anderson's plans for a DL haunted house in 1957-58. Guests walk down a hall with mirrors on each side showing ghosts accompanying them. Traveling ghosts looping around a central barrier that hides their return, coupled with clever use of two-way mirrors—yep, it's all there.

The best explanation for X's flub is that the originally-planned HHG effect—the one that is there today—did not look like it was going to be ready by opening day. The problem could have been something as simple as an unavoidably delayed shipment of a vital part. So a temporary effect was worked out and constructed, something to have in the mirrors until whatever demons were ailing the Gus-Ezra-Phineas show were exorcised. (We now know that this backup effect was built in the middle of April.) But the Imagineers wanted to show the press what the permanent effect was going to look like once it was up and running, so they managed to get the ghosty-go-round jury-rigged and working for the midnight showing, and then they immediately went back to their backup. They were still using that on Thursday when this geeky teen rode. I suppose that X's memory of this frantic mess was a little hazy, and that's why he spoke misleadingly to Storyboard. How did the backup effect work? If I may speculate, it was yet another example of Yale Gracey genius at work. The projectors were the same as the ones Yale invented for use in the Blue Bayou lagoon (the clouds moving on the "sky") and used again in the HM for the misty clouds moving along the wall in the Limbo loading area and on the scrims in the graveyard.

The wavy, curved screen was 40 feet long and 12 feet wide. It was back-projected with these moving ghosts. The curves made them undulate and gave them animation. They were bright enough to be seen in the mirrors against the dark outside of your doombuggy, but were washed out and therefore invisible against the much brighter interior where you sit. This delicate balance was achieved by adding new lights, both in front of the buggies (spotlights) and behind them (new fluorescent lighting). Records show that these were installed at the same time that the backup effect was constructed, as part of the same project. Thus, the ghosts looked like they were surrounding and mobbing you, but they were not inside the doombuggy with you. There's a photoshop recreation of the effect HERE. Whew. All that for that.

Due to the nature of tumblr posts, I could not change the text color to red. I bolded the highlighted areas.

Originally posted: Monday, April 26, 2010 Original Link: [x]

#long forgotten #haunted mansion

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paarraanoid · 8 years

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“You’re Too Young” -- Michael Del Zotto Imagine (Part 4)

A/N: The snippet that I provided you guys is actually to part five, so enjoy the preview! Sorry I was MIA this past week. I’m still trying to recover from this school week, so I apologize if this chapter isn’t the best. I wanted to give you guys something, so enjoy. xo

***I also added more content and edited this part because, damn, I must have been tired. There were typos all over the place!

(Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Part 5) (Part 6)

To say I was nervous was an understatement. I hadn’t talked to Michael since our little fiasco. I told him he already made his choice very clear, and that was the last he had heard from me. He had continued to send texts and leave voicemails, but I ignored them all. His voicemails were short, maybe five seconds, a few that lasted ten seconds.

My hands were beginning to sweat as we pulled into the parking lot of the Wells Fargo Center. Alex paid the teller $20 to park and we idled around for a few minutes trying to find a spot. The place was packed, and it had good reason to be. Philadelphia played Pittsburgh tonight, so we sure were in for a treat. Black and yellow littered the parking lot.

“10 points for each Pens fan you hit, 20 if they’re wearing a Crosby jersey,” Macy yelled to Alex from beside me in the back of the car. We all started cracking up, and I could tell Macy did it to calm my nerves. I could only muster up a small smile in appreciation. When the car shut off I hesitated, knowing that this is my only chance to go back home and avoid everything that could possibly happen today.

The door opened to Macy standing outside, gesturing to exit the car. “It’s a beautiful spring day, don’t spend it in a car.”

“But it’s the middle of winter.”

“And seventy degrees outside, so you tell me who’s wrong.” I begrudgingly stepped out of the car and sneered at the Wells Fargo Center.

“I can’t believe you guys are making me do this.”

“I’m just here for the hockey game. I was offered free tickets so I accepted. Not sure exactly why we are here, but I’m guessing it has something to do with someone named Michael Del Zotto.” Ally chimed in, shrugging her shoulders and quickly downing a mini box of pink and purple Nerds.

“Wait, is that why we’re here?” Alex immediately stopped walking in the center of the parking lot.

I mentally face-palmed myself as Alex began freaking out. “Wait, Zoe, that is why we’re here, right? Geeze, I’m so jealous! I wish Michael Del Zotto was into me. He’s so tall, and fit, and oh! Italian! He is oh-so italiano…” she let the words roll off her tongue as she clasped her hands together and danced in a circle.

“Oh, God.” My pace quickened as I did not want to be seen with them, yet they somehow managed to catch up to me as we reached one of the entrances of the building. Macy forcefully pushed me to the side and opened her phone so she could be the first one through ticket turnstile. A staff member scanned each ticket as she babbled to him about how excited she was. I pulled Macy aside as Alex and Ally were the last to get their bags checked and pass through the metal detector. “Where in the same hell did you get those tickets.”

“I don’t know what you mean?”

“Stop playing dumb, Mace. How in the same hell did you get four tickets to a Flyers game, against Pittsburgh nonetheless, the day before? How?”

“Just enjoy the game, Zoe.” She held out her arm for me to grab, which I did albeit unwillingly. Macy always had tricks up her sleeve, and it was times like these that I wish she didn’t.

“I know what you’re doing. And it’s not going to work.”

“We’ll see about that.” Macy’s smile was one that solidified a bet. Alex and Ally came bursting out from behind us, pulling us full force towards the 100 section.

“C’mon! We gotta watch warmups!”

While everyone else was excited, I was dreadful. I didn’t want to go watch warmups, I didn’t want to watch the game, I just didn’t want to be here at all. Michael had made his decision and that was final; why should I have to put myself through the misery of having to seeing him more than I already do?

Macy followed in Alex and Ally’s steps once she entered into the seating area, leaving me extremely unbalanced. My foot lost its grasp on the step and I was about to fall face first when someone caught me. “Well I’ll be damned. Is that the one and only Zoey Palmer?” I quickly righted myself to look at the woman who caught me.

“Oh my god, Gina, is that you?” She pulled me into tight hug as I reciprocated the action. “It’s been so long.” It came out muffled as I spoke into her hair.

“Where have you been all this time? I feel like I never see you around anymore.” We pulled away to have a better conversation with each other.

“Yeah, school has been getting the best of me, lately.”

“Shayne and I miss your contagious laugh. Tell me what you’ve been up to.” She pulled me down into a seat when the horn sounded and music started blaring. Orange began piling onto the ice and my friends started screaming for me to come down to the glass.

“That’s what I’ve been up to…” I trailed off as I pointed to the group down below. Gina looked at me long and hard, trying to piece together what little information I was giving her.

“Does you being here have something to do with Michael?”

I shrugged. “I think so.” I looked at the glass as I replied, immediately catching sight of the number 15 skating around in a circle.

“You mean you don’t know? How do you not know?” Her laugh came out and it made me smile. I needed to show my face more often around the lovely women I knew already.

“I don’t know, Michael and I had a fight—”

“Wait, you two are dating? Finally!”

“--What no, no. We’re not dating, don’t get ahead of yourself.” I waved my hands and she looked hurt when I told her my news. “Look, I made a move on Michael one night and he decided that his feelings towards me were not the same. So, I haven’t spoken to him in a few days and now my friends are convinced that this is the only way for things to change.”

“He didn’t make a move?” I shook my head. “That’s weird. It’s so painfully obvious he’s got a thing for you.”

“Gina—”

“You’re here because he wants to talk but you don’t.”

“He made his decision already, Gina. I’m fine with it. I’ve moved past it.” She stared at me before jumping up and pulling me out of my seat and towards the glass. Shit. Gina pushed a few people out of the way without a care in the world so that I could be up against the glass. Macy, Alex and Ally filled in behind us and began waving their hands. Gina started pounding on the glass and my eyes grew wide. It was unusual to see her do something as such. I was used to her screaming from the stands, but never pounding the glass. We managed to catch the eye of Bellemare who waved at us. When he saw Gina, he skated over to Shayne, who then made his way towards us. Shayne’s smile grew when he saw I was standing next to Gina. All three of us waved dramatically at each other. Gina just nodded her head in my direction and that’s when Shayne skated off, only to start interacting with Michael.

“Oh, no. No, no, no. Gina, no.” The wall that backed Gina and I was exactly that: a wall. I was confined to the area between the wall and the glass, and there was no way that I could escape peacefully. I caught Michael’s eye a second before I tried to make a run for it. That was a bad idea. Gina turns me around to face the glass when Michael skates over and stands in front of me. A few other girls standing around me start freaking out, as do all of my friends, especially Alex. Michael points at me through the glass, giving me a large smile that showed off his pearly whites.

I wanted to give him a genuine smile in return but it hurt to see him. This was going to be a tough game for me, but it didn’t look like it would be one for him. He picked up a puck with a stick and dropped it into his hands. He pointed at me one more time before motioning the puck up and over the glass, catching it in my own hands.

“I’m gonna head to our seats, you guys.” I turned around pushed through the wall easily this time, with Gina right behind me.

“Hey,” she stopped me. ”I better see you tonight, okay?” Confused at what she was saying, I nodded my head and gave her another hug. Macy showed up behind me and lead me to the concession area, then to the elevators.

Not to my surprise, Michael had secured the four of us box seats, equipped with full meals and drinks. I kept to myself mostly, waiting for the game to begin. This was hard enough already. Just seeing him smile at me like nothing was wrong just proved that there was so much wrong with the relationship between us. I payed attention to the game once it started, which began with a bang. Two goals were scored in the first period, one by Shayne and one by Ivan Provorov. The second period followed with a goal by Phil Kessel. And then the third period rolled around. It was sixteen minutes into the third and Pittsburgh managed to tie the game with a goal by Olli Maatta. We had just received a four minute power play, and the Flyers intended to use that wisely. There was continuous stickhandling between the team until a pass was made to Michael, who took a blind shot towards the net. The puck skimmed the top of Murray’s shoulder, bounced off the goal post and into the net. The horn sounded and the crowd went wild, including me.

Everyone in the building was on a high, and Michael received second star of the game for scoring the game winning goal. The four of us made our way back down to the 100 level where we ran into Gina once more.

“You guys were planning on staying, right?”

“Oh, yeah. Definitely.” Macy replied for me. As a group we traveled down the side stairwells until we rounded a corner and came face with the team locker room exit. Wives and girlfriends I didn’t totally recognize were there tonight. One by one the players exited the locker room, a few stopping to say hello to me and reiterate the fact that I needed to drop by more often than I did. I used to drop by occasionally with Michael, but that became less frequent as school got harder and our relationship slowly became strained.

I saw the top of a head looking frantically back and forth, crazy hair moving with it. Michael caught my gaze and immediately lit up into a smile. “Zoe,” he said, breathless from his short jog over to me. “You made it.”

“Well, I didn’t really have a choice.” His smile faded a bit.

“It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too, Michael.” He opened his arms and I walked right into them, giving a hug we both very much needed. In a matter of seconds I felt my head settling into his chest. His hands settled on my lower back with his head tucked tightly into in my neck. When I realized I was holding the hug a tad too long and my feelings were starting to emerge, I quickly let go and stepped back into my place.

He realized what I did, and I’m sure my friends did too. “So, uh, we were all planning on going out to eat tonight to celebrate the win, and then head a small club afterwards. Would you like to come?” He said quietly and hesitantly.

Small chants from my friends behind me were prominent. “Are friends allowed?”

“Bring as many as you’d like.”

I smiled. Then looked down at my feet, and then scratched the back of my head, finishing with a deep breath. “Sure. It’d be a nice treat.” Michael smiled at my response, but we didn’t say much more than that. It was easy to tell that there was tension between the two of us. It wasn’t unbearable, but it was there. As a group we began towards the parking deck. Macy, Alex and Ally walked in front with Michael and I lagging behind. It was hard for me to move my eyes anywhere but the space in front of me. That meant not looking at Michael. We arrived at the parking deck the same time Gina and Shayne were backing out of the parking spot. We all waved.

I sent Macy the address of the restaurant as the three of them headed out of the parking garage and towards the car parked in the next lot over, knowing full well there was no other option of me getting to the restaurant other than riding with Michael. Michael dumped his hockey bags in the trunk as we both slid into our seats, the familiar smell of his Audi coming back. The engine roared to life and I clicked my seat belt in place, pulling it extremely tight.

“If we’re being honest, I didn’t think you’d actually come to the game tonight.” I kept my gaze on the parking garage rather than him.

“Like I said, I didn’t really have a choice. I was totally extorted into going tonight.”

“We’re you know?” He laughed at me. I decided it was best if I kept quiet, knowing that he was going to eventually going to start a tough conversation with me. One I didn’t really want to have.

“How did you manage to set this up a day before?”

“What do you mean?”

“The seats?”

“Yeah...” he trailed off as he pulled onto the street and scratched the scruff on his chin. “I have family and friends that visit often so, I just pulled some strings. I also talked to Macy that morning when you left. She helped a lot in getting you here.”

“Of course.”

“Zoey, please don’t hate me.”

“Michael I don’t hate you.”

“How come you never returned my calls?”

“Because I was thinking. I needed some time to myself, Michael.”

“Zoe...I’m sorry. For all that I did to you that night. You didn’t deserve it.”

“Damn right I didn’t deserve it. You were being exceptionally cruel and unreasonable. And a giant asshole.” The car was quiet. I was so sick of cars. I was especially sick of having deep conversations in them.

“Zoe, I’m not sure where my head was at that night. There’s some things, that…” he shook his head back and forth.

“That what?”

“That...I don’t know, I can’t explain, I guess? There’s these ways and these things that I feel towards you, and I’ve never had that before. And with you being such a close family member, I didn’t know how to act. And to be honest, I still don’t know what to think, or what to make of it.”

“Michael, how do you feel about me? Right now, how do you feel about me?” I decided to ask him the question to make it easy on all of us.

“I--I... “ he stammered as he pulled up to a red light.

“Michael, you have five seconds to tell me your answer. I’m not playing these games. Not after what you put me through. Five…” Silence. “Four…” his hands gripping the wheel tighter. “Three…” a roll of his lips as he adjusted his shoulders. “Two…” he closed his eyes as he took a deep breath in. “One…” he turned to look me dead in the eyes, his gaze controlling, serious, nervous.

Dear God, Michael. What could you possibly have to say?

#michael del zotto #michael del zotto imagine #mdz imagine #nhl imagine #nhl imagines #hockey imagine #hockey imagines #part 4 #philadelphia flyers #philadelphia flyers imagine

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thrashermaxey · 5 years

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21 Fantasy Hockey Rambles

Every Sunday, we'll share 21 Fantasy Rambles – formerly 20 Fantasy Thoughts – from our writers at DobberHockey. These thoughts are curated from the past week's ‘Daily Ramblings’.

Writers: Michael Clifford, Ian Gooding, Cam Robinson, and Dobber

1. If you own Mathew Barzal, you were waiting for his next goal for a while. As in over a month. Fortunately, the Isles’ center broke his goal-scoring slump (and added an assist) on Thursday. Barzal had gone without a goal in his previous 19 games.

Barzal isn’t one to pile up the goals, as his 18 goals this season is just four fewer than his total last season. With 62 points at the moment, however, he is well short of his 85-point rookie season from last season. This could be the result of having to play the tougher matchups this season versus last season, when John Tavares was still in the fold.

Playing on the top line alongside Barzal, Jordan Eberle might have decent value at this very moment based on where he’s being used, but he’s also staring at his first sub-40-point season (lockout-shortened 2012-13 not included) in his career. (mar29)

2. The Panthers might be out of the playoff race but that isn’t stopping Jonathan Huberdeau. Huby now has nine multipoint games during March to go with nine goals and 23 points over his last 13 games. Too bad I’ve been eliminated in the league that I own him in. Don’t you just hate it when your players cash in after you’ve been eliminated?

Evgenii Dadonov is another Panthers’ forward who has picked up the pace. Over his last 13 games, Dadonov has 19 points (6g-13a). Playing on a line with Huberdeau and Aleksander Barkov might have something to do with it. Dadonov has now surpassed last season’s point total and is just two points shy of his first 70-point season. (mar29)

3. It’s been a down year for Rickard Rakell but he might still make it to 20 goals. It’s not the 34 goals like last season, or the 33 he scored the season before, but Rakell has piled up seven goals over his last five games.

Rakell was a recent buy-low candidate through his goalless droughts of 14, 9, 8, and 6 games, up to the point in which he had just nine goals on the season earlier this month. To justify that buy-low, his shooting percentage was at a highly unlucky 6.3 percent, but it is now up to a more respectable 9.6 percent and could still climb further.

In terms of what you can do going forward, look to Rakell as a rebound candidate as he will probably slip in next season’s fantasy hockey drafts based on his overall numbers. He was drafted at around the 70th pick in this season’s Yahoo drafts, but next season he could provide great value if he is drafted outside of the top 100. (mar31)

4. The Cam Talbot era in Philly might be short-lived, but at least he made another start on Saturday (just his second since being acquired). Talbot allowed three goals on 30 shots in the Flyers’ 5-2 loss to Carolina.

Now that the Flyers have been eliminated, the Flyers might start Talbot one or two more times as they play out the string. With this being the second consecutive season that Talbot has posted a goals-against average over 3.00, he probably won’t be considered a starter anywhere. Instead, expect him to land as a backup or at best a timeshare somewhere. (mar31)

5. Nick Schmaltz’ new seven-year extension with an unconfirmed cap hit of $5.85 million might seem like a lengthy extension for a player that has cracked 50 points just once in three seasons, but remember that the Coyotes coveted him enough to pay a significant price (Dylan Strome and Brendan Perlini) just to acquire him.

Regardless, he was fitting in well with his new team (14 points in 17 games) before suffering a season-ending knee injury late last December. Even though the trade may appear heavily weighted in Chicago’s favor, it’s one of those that could still work out well for both teams. Salary cap owners would likely prefer to see more sustained production before investing, though. (mar31)

6. Kevin Fiala’s ice time is up 2:40 per game with the Wild versus what he was getting with Nashville. And yet he has just seven points in 15 contests. We expected the jump in ice time but had assumed it would come with a corresponding bump in production.

That hasn’t happened, but as fantasy owners that's the mindset we need to stick to – opportunity increases the odds of success. Just because it’s a ‘fail’ (so far) doesn’t mean we figured wrong. Next year is his fourth and I expect some magic. (mar30)

7. So, does Ryan Strome have upside after all? I mean, obviously not the elite upside we hoped for six years ago, but fantasy-worthy upside?

Now that the Rangers have shed some top players, Strome is usually seeing about 18 minutes of ice time. This is ice time he was given during the first few years of his career and he didn’t do anything with it. Now he’s doing something.

Entering Sunday action, Strome had 18 points in his last 23 games, and nine in his last 10. Food for thought: Friday he was on a line with Vladislav Namestnikov and Lias Andersson. His next goal would be his 18th, which would set a career high. (mar30)

8. Mackenzie Blackwood is 3-8-0, 2.90 and 0.901 over his last 11 games. He’s 22, a high draft pick and has bounced back in this his third pro season after having it rough during his first two. I’m not yet ready to write him off as a potential starter for the long term but this year is the most he has played as a pro (40 combined games). (mar30)

9. Andreas Athanasiou scored his 30th goal this past Friday. Unfortunately, the assists haven’t really been there for this year because he’s often placed on a line with the likes of ‘Tommy Stonehands’ and ‘Jimmy Lunchpail’ – for example, his linemates on Friday were Luke Glendening and Taro Hirose.

When he hits his prime in a couple of years, though, the Red Wings should have the talent around him upgraded by that point. Next year, I see another small step forward, perhaps hitting 60 (if anyone does on this team besides Dylan Larkin, it should be him) before his big jump in his sixth campaign. (mar30)

Elsewhere, the early results for Detroit’s undrafted NCAA foray this year are in. Entering Sunday action, 22-year-old Ryan Kuffner was pointless and minus-2 in six games. He had 96 points in his last 67 games with Princeton, as Max Veronneau’s (now with Ottawa) sidekick. Taro Hirose, also after six outings, saw a five-game assist streak come to an end on Friday. Hirose didn’t have a Veronneau to play with at Michigan State and to me has the higher upside. He’s been averaging about 15 minutes per game to Kuffner’s 10, so you know coach Jeff Blashill sees it the same way. (mar30)

10. Hawks’ Alex DeBrincat now has 41 goals – that places him in the league’s top-10 in goal scoring. Not bad for a 21-year-old in just his second NHL season and who many teams thought was too small. DeBrincat is not averse to slumps, though, as he was pointless during a six-game streak before hitting the scoresheet again late this past week. (mar29)

* Don’t forget to download your Playoff Draft List. released this Friday, April 5.

If you bought the Ultimate Fantasy Pack in the summer, this will be included in that purchase. It is not included in the Keeper Fantasy Pack.

11. Leon Draisaitl also scored goal number 47 this week, which has him four behind Alex Ovechkin in the Rocket Richard Trophy race. Both Connor McDavid and Draisaitl have now hit 100 points and are in the top-5 in scoring. You’d think that would set the Oilers up nicely for a playoff spot, right? Of course not. You need an entire team, not just a couple of top-end players. The same theory applies in fantasy. (mar29)

12. Dustin Byfuglien finally returned to the Jets’ lineup on Saturday, logging 24 minutes of ice time. Big Buff had missed the past month and a half with an ankle injury. In fact, he has been held to just 38 games this season, so it appears that playing a physical style for a decade has finally caught up to him.

Byfuglien could be in for a bounceback next season if he can stay healthy most of the time, but I’d be weary of drafting him as high as he has been in recent seasons. He averaged as the 40th pick in Yahoo drafts last fall, but I’d suggest waiting at least another round or two for the multicategory beast next season. (mar31)

13. It was Happy Quinn Hughes day last Thursday in Vancouver, as the seventh overall pick in last summer’s NHL Entry Draft made his NHL debut. He was paired with the recently-resurgent Luke Schenn in just over 15 minutes of ice time. For fantasy owners who were lightning-fast in adding Hughes to their lineups, he recorded his first NHL point by assisting on Brock Boeser’s second-period goal. Hughes did much of the work on the goal, hopefully giving us a preview of things to come.

No first-unit power-play duty for Hughes (in that game), as the Canucks went with a four-forward first unit with Alex Edler on the point as per usual. However, 3-on-3 overtime with Hughes, Boeser, and Elias Pettersson was a sight to behold. Amazing stuff. (You can also check out Hughes' profile on Dobber Prospects.)

Elsewhere, with Thatcher Demko in net, the Canucks’ roster on Thursday provided a real glimpse into the future. Demko stopped 37 of 39 shots in earning his second win in three games. It looks like the Canucks will alternate between Demko and Jacob Markstrom the rest of the way, so plan accordingly. (mar29)

14. Following three straight 30-point seasons and back-to-back 35-point seasons, things were looking bright for Colton Parayko heading into 2018-19. The team added names like Ryan O’Reilly, Patrick Maroon, David Perron, and Tyler Bozak, giving them loads of scoring depth. With Parayko’s stout peripheral production, a 40-point season would have made him a top-10 multicategory defenceman.

That didn’t come to pass, obviously, as Parayko sits with 26 points in 78 games. His peripherals and plus/minus have meant a solid fantasy season, but he’s still yet to attain anywhere close to his ceiling. The problem is his assists, as he has managed just 16 total thus far, and just two primary assists at five-on-five. Among 114 defenseman with at least 1000 minutes played at five-on-five, he has the fourth-lowest primary assist rate.

Parayko will be in tough to reach his ceiling now that he’s apparently third in line for power play minutes. It doesn’t mean he can’t be very valuable in fantasy leagues. With the Blues loaded with both rising and established stars, and Parayko due for a rebound in his assists next year, it seems very possible he’s a top-10 blue liner in multicategory leagues in a year’s time. (mar28)

15. Sergei Bobrovsky is showing up when it matters most – for his squad and for his fantasy owners. Much has been said about the pending unrestricted free-agent and the likely anchor of a contract he may sign on July 1. Well, the two-time Vezina winner has been near the top of the heap for the last three months.

Stretching back to the beginning of February, Bobrovsky is 16-7-0 with six shutouts and his season save percentage is now up to .912. He’s had a few clunkers mixed in there but the overall theme is positive.

He remains a tier one guy heading into 2019-20 – especially if he finds himself on a contender next fall. (mar27)

16. If I’m sitting down to draft a one-year league next fall, I’m pencilling Jordan Binnington into a tier-2 position. I feel that’s as aggressive as anyone should be. We’re constantly burned by the masked men, that drinking the kool-aid too quickly will send you on a not so welcoming trip. (mar27)

17. Darcy Kuemper continues to be a rock for the desert dogs. This season could've easily been a write-off for Arizona when Antti Raanta went down in November, but thanks to Kuemper, the Yotes still have a slim shot at some playoff revenue. He's posted a quality start in 35 of 52 outings, while his 0.922 save percentage on the year is top-5 amongst ‘regular starters’.

Kuemper’s value lies at this moment, as we won't be seeing him earn this amount of starts next year. That is unless we see a team make a play for the 28-year-old via trade. He makes 1.8 million next season before hitting unrestricted free agency. (mar27)

18. Reports came out last Tuesday that Hurricanes prospect and Hobey Baker finalist, Adam Fox, will return to Harvard for this senior year. This could a big blow for the Hurricanes, who targeted Fox in last summer's blockbuster trade with Calgary. In fact, Fox could become a free agent in 2020 if he decides to and that would be great news for all the teams in search of a young, super offensive right-shot defender. Fox would have plenty of suitors. (mar27)

19. To give some positivity to the realm, I’m quite enjoying the trio of Jordan Greenway, Luke Kunin and Ryan Donato. Those three have been lining up together at even-strength and on the team’s second power-play unit. All three possess decent multi-category upsides. (mar26)

20. Former first-round selection Jared McCann is with his third organization but appears to have found a fit in Pittsburgh. McCann has great wheels, a heavy release and loads of tenacity. He’s finally cracked the second power-play unit, but 31 of his 34 points have come at even-strength or while shorthanded. There remains some intriguing upside with the 22-year-old, especially if he maintains his space in the top-six moving forward. (mar26)

21. Petr Mrazek is yet another unrestricted free agent in the summer ahead and he’s completely revived his career. The Hurricanes were likely going to move on from him come July and now I think they’re interested in hearing what he’s looking for.

If I was GM Don Waddell, I would see if I can’t lock him in for two years at a low cap rate of perhaps under $3 million. Carolina was a destination for one of the many UFA goaltenders this summer but Mrazek is doing what he can to shut the door on that opportunity for those people such as Cam Talbot, Brian Elliott and Robin Lehner.

Have a good week, folks!!

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-home/21-fantasy-hockey-rambles/21-fantasy-hockey-rambles-11/

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thesportssoundoff · 5 years

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“A very weird card for a very weird month” UFC Fight Night: Weidman vs Reyes Preview

Joey

October 14th, 2019

It's Octobr and the UFC's scheduling usually goes like this in my estimation:

Jan- New year, we're all excited, folks get injured, overpacked shows in December hurt the new year but we deal with it.

Feb- Injuries/cold means makeshift cards, people get mad.

March- Shows are a bit fatter, big title fights are coming around, people are excited.

April- The "set up" for the summer months, usually really good fight cards on paper with little to no name value.

May- Normally the "bad" PPV month, free events are good.

June- The last month before things get wild and wooly. PPV's tend to be damn good, free cards tend to be pretty balanced.

July- Everything has to be BIG so you get BIG PPV and then an event or two after the PPV that drag down the blocks average.

August- The end of the summer, injuries get heavy because of the seasonal change, focus is on prepping for November and December.

September- OH MY GOD EVERYBODY IS HURT! EVERYTHING IS REALLY WEIRD! THERE'S SO MUCH GOING ON!

October- The down month where they're scrapping and salvaging just to get to MSG. Shows are pretty much whatever they can put together without working too hard. Usually where they do some kind of weird Canadian card. The cards tend to bounce between "This is surprisingly good" and "I don't have the time or the energy for this".

November- IT'S MSG! IT'S LOADED! What about the rest of the month? Ah, okay then. Carry on.

December- The end of the year where they try to end with a bang. Normally a lot of drama, prep for 2020. We get fights announced for next year that usually top what we're being offered this year. Big PPV to end things on the right note.

This card is pretty much 100% October. You have a kind of weird but kinda good main event at the top of the bill, a really good yet weird co-main event under it, a really weird but kinda good HW fight and then a bunch of Northeast projects and prospects. If you remove the top three fights, finding the next good fight that is objectively good might depend on how you feel about Gillian Robertson vs Maycee Barber. Me personally I think you can do far, far worse than Barber vs Robertson and actually quite like the fight as a good test for Maycee Barber. After that? You have some highly touted prospects coming off losses (Manny Bermudez, Randy Costa, Boston Salmon), some guys off the Contenders Series trying to find their niche (Brendan Allen, Sean Woodson, Jonathan Pearce) and a bunch of filler. It's kinda not bad filler though? Everything about this card is just weird, folks. Bare with.

Fights: 13

Debuts: Tanner Boser, Brendan Allen, Sean Woodson, Sean Brady, Diana Belbiţă, Ben Sosoli, Jonathan Pearce

Fight Changes/Injury Cancellations: (Zabit Magomedsharipov vs Calvin Kattar CANCELLED/Eric Spicely OUT, Kevin Holland IN vs Brendan Allen)

Headliners (fighters who have either main evented or co-main evented shows in the UFC): 5 (Greg Hardy, Jeremy Stephens, Yair Rodriguez, Chris Weidman, Joe Lauzon)

Fighters On Losing Streaks in the UFC: 1 (Joe Lauzon)

Fighters On Winning Streaks in the UFC: 6 (Dominick Reyes, Chris Weidman, Greg Hardy, Gillian Robertson, Maycee Barber, Kevin Holland)

Main Card Record Since Jan 1st 2017 (in the UFC): 24-15

Chris Weidman- 1-2 Dominick Reyes- 5-0 Jeremy Stephens- 3-3 (1 NC) Yair Rodriguez- 2-1 (1 NC) Greg Hardy- 2-1 Ben Sosoli- 0-0 Joe Lauzon- 1-3 Jonathan Pearce- 0-0 Gillian Robertson- 4-1 Maycee Barber- 2-0 Deron Winn- 1-0 Darren Stewart- 3-4

Fights By Weight Class (yearly number here):

Featherweight- 3 (52) Women’s Flyweight- 2 (31) Middleweight- 2 (40) Heavyweight- 2 (31) Welterweight- 1 (62) Light Heavyweight- 1 (39) Bantamweight- 1 (53)

Lightweight- (66) Women’s Strawweight- (26) Flyweight- (15) Women’s Featherweight- (8) Women’s Bantamweight- (18)

2019 Number Tracker

Debuting Fighters (33-55-1)- Tanner Boser, Brendan Allen, Sean Woodson, Sean Brady, Diana Belbiţă, Ben Sosoli, Jonathan Pearce

Short Notice Fighters (28-35)- Kevin Holland

Second Fight (52-34)- Randy Costa, Boston Salmon, Deron Winn

Cage Corrosion (Fighters who have not fought within a year of the date of the fight) (20-37-1)- Charles Rosa, Joe Lauzon, Daniel Spitz

Undefeated Fighters (35-37-2)- Dominick Reyes, Sean Woodson, Maycee Barber

Fighters with at least four fights in the UFC with 0 wins over competition still in the organization (11-8)-

Weight Class Jumpers (Fighters competing outside of the weight class of their last fight even if they’re returning BACK to their “normal weight class”) (29-20)- Chris Weidman, Manny Bermudez

Twelve Precarious Ponderings

1- Why is a New York vs New York fight taking place in Boston? I know that might not matter from a lot of folks but as the guy who grew up with boxers headlining in their home markets, this irks me.

2- I feel like this main event almost depends entirely on how you view Volkan Oezdemir as a fighter. The last time we saw Dom Reyes, he was given a really hard tough fight against Volkan Oezdemir in London. I don't think "robbery" is fair but I do think if you scored it for Volkan then you have a justifiable grumble about him losing that decision. What has gone under the radar is that Reyes did a tremendous job to adjust to what wasn't working and mix in more work to the body to keep it close and then the general rule of "win the third round, win the fight" wins out. I think there's no shame in a young prospect getting tested on his way up the ranks and managing to get by. You'd rather see warts now than in the middle of the first round of a title fight. Also Volkan Oezdemir is proving to be a pretty good quality 205er who even in his losses has moments of success. As such, I'm left to wonder if folks are a bit too harsh on a dude who iced Jared Cannonier, had no issues with OSP and remains the most exciting LONG TERM prospect at 205 lbs.

3- Is it too late for Chris Weidman? Despite the calls of folks to move up in weight, Weidman held off until seemingly all options were exhausted at 185 lbs. The fact of the matter and the unbearable truth is that Chris Weidman's style was based all on his durability and versatility simply fell apart when he needed it the most. He couldn't withstand the wars he was putting himself in at 185 lbs and his wrestling isn't as advertised anymore. At the same time, he still subbed Kelvin Gastelum, has a Hall of Fame worthy resume and enters a division where mid tier MWs are having breakout runs to title shots. Weidman can still crack, has a variety of offensive tools in his backpocket and in SPURTS he's still a good wrestler. Weidman's biggest problem for me as a wrestler has always been his lack of control once fights hit the turf but maybe cutting less weight will help. Then again Luke Rockhold didn't get much help in that regard either.

4- Here's how I'm beginning to feel about guys from 185 lbs going up to 205 lbs. If you're an athlete (Thiago Santos, even Anthony Smith to some degree) then it can work because the athletic barometer at 205 is better than HW but lowert han any other weight class. Guys who are fast at 185 lbs will remain fast at 205 lbs because that travels. They're also likely to hit a lot harder given the increase in weight. That said, if you're slow or clunky, no amount of weight cutting is going to fix that. Luke Rockhold simply looks and perhaps may just be a slow and clunky guy. Against Jan Blachowicz, he LOOKED like a heavier version of his usual self. What makes me worried about Chris Weidman and his chances at 205 lbs is that he's slow, clunky and kind of sort of broken. I don't think his body and his (lack of) speed will travel much at 205 lbs.

5- So who is hurt more by having to cut weight again for this fight, Yair or Jeremy Stephens? I kind of think it'll be Yair but I also saw him show up on two weeks notice to fist fight the Korean Zombie.

6- I really hope there's a chance, honestly and truthfully, that Joe Lauzon calls it quits win or lose. Lauzon feels like one of those guys who would be better suited in his personal life giving up the ghost and embracing the next phase.

7- This feels like the first real card to roll out the Contenders Series for season 3 so I'll break down who is whom and how they got here:

HW Ben Sosoli faces Greg Hardy- Sosoli is an Aussie kickboxer who made the MMA transition, fought on TUF and emerged on the DWCS in season 3. He had a "no contest" but was on his way to winning the fight before an eye poke (by him) ended the fight. Sosoli is being brought in to have a slugfest with Hardy.

LW Jon Pearce has a pretty crazy story. He was in a coma after getting jumped by somebody at his gym after hours. He recovered and fights like every southeastern dude who has ever fought in the UFC; basically scrapping when he wants to and wrestling out of trouble when he has to. I would say "He's the kind of guy who can give Joe Lauzon trouble" but I think at this point anybody with a working pulse gives him trouble.

FW Sean Woodson is REAL interesting. He took on a super prospect in his DWCS fight and struggled with the consistent wrestling----then he hit one of the cooler flying knees ever and scored a walk off second round KO. Dana even admitted that his finish was TOO good to not get signed despite the concerns he had about his wrestling.

MW Brendan Allen is your yearly "LFA has a middleweight champ and we gotta sign him" guy. He's accomplished-ish at 12-3 with some losses to good competition (Anthony Hernandez and Eryk Anders are both having solid runs). He's a violent kinda dude but I think he's a step below Ian Heinisch and Anthony Hernandez IE: he's kinda sketchy.

8- Boston Salmon was a really hyped L(R)FA prospect, the kind of guy who the UFC normally signs before he's ready and rushes out there. Salmon won on the DWCS in Season One and disappeared, re-emerging this year before losing in ugly fashion in his first fight with the organization. We've detailed here how badly debuting fighters struggle but also how much better they do in their second go around. Of course the same could be said for his opponent Boston Salmon. I guess win or lose, I think Salmon's going to look worlds better than he did in his debut. It couldn't in theory have looked much worse?

9- I wish I knew about Molly McCann's opponent so I could somewhat excited about her fight upcoming. Diana Belbita lost to Ariana Lipski who Molly McCann beat so....I dunno dudes.

10- I wonder how many fighters people would know off of this main card. 4 or 5 tops? Manny Bermudez, Molly McCann, Kevin Holland and then?

11- So let's talk about Kevin Holland briefly, shall we? Holland's UFC run has been weird to say the least. Holland debuted on short notice against THIAGO SANTOS (!), took all of Santos' best offense and somehow lived to tell the tale about it. In large part, Holland's ability to just talk copious amounts of shit no matter the circumstance endeared him to UFC fans and supporters. In the end, Holland got his best opportunity and since then the UFC has taken it slow and steady with him. Holland has wins over John Phillips, Gerald Meerschaert and most recently a close decision win over Alessio Di Chirico. Holland's rep as an action fighter is overstated (as is most of his game) but to go 3-1 in the UFC under any circumstances is pretty solid. He's the sort of guy who doesn't like to work too hard theoretically but lacks the middle ground to carry himself beyond that point. Yet he's so gifted, long and determined that he tends to be able to get by doing the bare minimum. Brendan Allen is probably going to give him plenty of opportunities to be offensive if he wants to be but that's entirely up to Holland and his mentality.

12- The last time we saw him, Deron Winn was having a FOTN style war with Eric Spicely on short notice. Winn has a lot of "poor man's DC" about him which is a really unfair comparison but I can't think of a guy that short in a weight class who prioritizes the same arsenal of strikes that he does other than DC. He gets a kind of risky step up in competition with Darren "The Dentist" Stewart. Stewart has a bit of a funky UFC record, he started his run 0-3 and then hit a stride of sorts since then, going 3-1 with the sole loss being a super close split decision to MW prospect Edmen Shahbazyan. Stewart hits really hard and has found some tremendously timely resolve with his takedown defense, creating a sort of fight that should be closer on paper than some folk might realize.

#MMA #UFC #ESPN 2 #Weidman #Reyes #Fights #Yair #Jeremy Stephens #DWCS #Boston

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uncleleo16 · 7 years

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NHL Western Conference Semi-Finals Preview

The first round of the playoffs concluded Sunday Night when the Washington Capitals eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs in Overtime of Game 6. The first round featured three notable upsets (St. Louis, New York and Nashville) and saw the Cup Finalists of last year (San Jose) eliminated by a young Oilers Team. 8 Team Remain, who will lift the trophy in June? Let’s breakdown each second round match up to get a better understanding of the Remaining teams.

Western Conference

(3) St. Louis Blues vs. (W2) Nashville Predators

Star Headline: The Underdog Stories. The Blues were a team that was unsure of the playoffs at the end of February. They were 31-26-5 and had a struggling goalie in Jake Allen. They traded away 28 year old star defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk to Washington for a couple prospects and a 1st Round Pick and it seemed as if there front office was eyeing a busy off-season after a failed year. Then the Blues went on a 15-3-2 run to end the year and Jake Allen finally found his form once again. They brought back Vladimir Sobotka from the KHL for the playoff run and he already has 1 goal, 3 Points in the 5 Playoff Games including setting up the Game 5 overtime winner. Jake Allen is 4-1 with a 1.47 GAA and a .956 SV% and really stole some games from a near president trophy team in Minnesota. They also fired coach Ken Hitchcock and hired former Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo. The Blues record under Mike Yeo including the playoffs is 26-9-2. Combine this with the fact that they still have Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz, Alex Pietrangelo, Paul Stastny, Colton Parayko and Ryan Reaves means no team wants to play St. Louis this post-season. The Predators were a fairly average team throughout the season and had a good stretch in January and February going 16-8-3 during that time frame. Pekka Rinne was okay in goal during the season and the 34 year old was definitely better than the 2015-16 season. Pekka Rinne was lights out against Chicago in the first round with a 0.70 GAA, .976 SV% and 2 shutouts in Chicago. The Predators possess a scary good defensive core with P.K. Subban, Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi, Mattias Ekholm, Matt Erwin and Yannick Weber. They have a very good offense too with Filip Forsberg, James Neal, Ryan Johansen, Viktor Arvidsson and Mike Fisher. The question isn’t about the skill of the Predators, it’s about whether they can finally get past the second round. This is their 4th time in the second round and they have never moved to the Conference Finals and have a record of 6-12 record in the Conference Semi-Finals. They look confident this year though and do play the role of true underdogs in this series. Key Match-Up: Jake Allen vs. Pekka Rinne This series probably won’t be a goal tending dual as much as people think. The reason this is the most important match-up though is because both goalies played amazing in the first round and it’s a question of who can maintain there high level of play and who will drop back down to earth, or maybe both goalies will have an average series. Whoever can steal a game will likely see his team move onto the second round. Former Maple Leafs Playing in this series: Nashville Forward: P.A. Paranteau (Maple Leaf during 2015-16 Season). Nashville Forward: Trevor Smith (Maple Leaf 2013-15) St. Louis Forward: Alexander Steen (Maple Leaf 2005-08) St. Louis Defense: Carl Gunnarsson (Maple Leaf 2009-14) Nashville Defense: Petter Granberg (Maple Leaf 2013-2015) Veteran Looking for first Stanley Cup: Both teams have veterans looking for their first Cup and while P.A. Paranteau or Pekka Rinne could be a good choice the best Veteran to root for is 36 year old Mike Fisher. The Beloved player and former Ottawa Senator is a good two-way center who is heading into his final years in the NHL. He is also married to country superstar Carrie Underwood and is overall a very nice guy, both on and off the ice. Hopefully he can get a Stanley Cup before he retires. Prediction: 4-2 St. Louis. The Blues get it done offensively and Jake Allen shuts the door for most of the series. Could easily predict Nashville but the Blues are just another type of animal with Mike Yeo as their new head coach.

(1) Anaheim Ducks vs. (2) Edmonton Oilers

Star Headline: Old Time Hockey? The Ducks are a veteran team that understands playoff hockey, they proved that in a sweep of the Calgary Flames. The Oilers are a young energy driven team that loves the physical aspect of the game. They will try to test the Ducks in a way the Flames didn’t during their series, they will be really physical with Anaheim. In retaliation the Ducks aren’t afraid to hit and even occasionally fight. Nick Ritchie lead the team with 247 hits in the regular season, Josh Manson had 227, Kevin Bieksa had 173 and Ryan Kesler had 146 hits. The stars of the Ducks Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry have also proven that they have a physical game. The Oilers will be lead by Adam Larson (253 Hits), Milan Lucic (202 Hits), Zack Kassian (201 Hits) and Patrick Maroon (189 Hits). The Ducks are a structured team that has the experience to beat the Oilers but with the constant speed, good goal tending and Lucic/Kassian throwing huge hits, this series could get out of control. This series is similar to Old Time Hockey as well because neither Goalie has really proven themselves as elite. John Gibson was 4-0 with a 2.60 GAA and a .926 SV% while Cam Talbot was better in 6 games with a 2.03 GAA and a .927 SV%. Both Goalies are very good but it’s not a Jake Allen vs. Pekka Rinne showdown and offense and hitting could be the focal point of this series. Key Match-Up: Ryan Getzlaf/Ryan Kesler vs. Connor McDavid Whoever matches up against McDavid will have a difficult task trying to prevent the young star from scoring. McDavid has looked good in his first playoffs with 2 Goals and 4 Points in 6 Games including a shorthanded goal. The Ducks centers however are much better than McDavid at Face-offs. Both Getzlaf and Kesler were above 50% for the season while McDavid was only at 43%. Kesler especially was a top 10 in the league and teammate Antoine Vermette was second in the league with a 62.3% face-off winning percentage. The Ducks Centers will also likely play physical on McDavid but if the Oilers star can get control of the puck, he will create big opportunities. This match-up will also be the one that the media will be talking about for the next two weeks, so I’m just preparing you for the inevitable. Former Maple Leafs Playing in this series: Anaheim Defense: Korbinian Holzer (Maple Leaf 2010-15) Anaheim Goalie: Jonathan Bernier (Maple Leaf 2013-16) Edmonton Goalie: Jonas Gustavsson (Maple Leaf 2009-12) Veteran Looking for First Stanley Cup: The Oilers don’t really have any Veterans that are old enough to be considered for this, but the Ducks have 3 players 32 years old or older that haven’t won the Cup. Kevin Bieksa is the Veteran longing for the Stanley Cup, he is 35 years old and was within the Vancouver Canucks organization from 2003 until 2015. The Canucks went to one finals and lost in Game 7 to the Boston Bruins. Bieksa is a hard working defenseman playing on a really good Anaheim team that has a chance to go all the way this year. Another reason to root for Bieksa is that in 2011 then teammate and one of his closest friends (who actually lived with Bieksa for many years) committed suicide. Rick Rypien’s life was short lived but Bieksa is now a constant advocate for helping fight depression and i’m sure he would love to win a Cup in memory of Rick. Prediction: 4-2 Anaheim. This Ducks team has looked fantastic recently, going unbeaten in the first round and finishing the year going on a 14-2-3 stretch. The Oilers will compete with the Ducks but I think experience in this series and the depth Anaheim has will help them beat Edmonton.

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symbianosgames · 8 years

Link

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend.

This week's highlights include animators on Mass Effect: Andromeda's animation complaints, Remedy's very silly Hoodiegate, and lots, lots more - enjoy!

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

The Art of Fiction #6: Greg Kasavin (Sean Vanaman / Campo Santo Quarterly) "I met Greg Kasavin in the winter of 2010 over enchiladas at a Mexican restaurant in San Rafael, on my lunch break from Telltale Games. Greg had just quit his job as a producer at 2K Games to join his former Electronic Arts coworkers at Supergiant —then a handful of unknown developers in a suburban home in San Jose — as a writer on the 16-bit throwback action RPG Bastion."

Animators Roundtable: The Mass Effect: Andromeda pile-on (Various / AnimState / Gamasutra) "With so much attention being paid in the last week to the animation issues seen in the previews leading up to Bioware's next big release, Mass Effect: Andromeda, we thought it would be interesting to get a few experienced animators together to discuss the challenges animators face when dealing with these types of projects."

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - An Open World Adventure (Game Maker's Toolkit / YouTube) "So, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an open world game. In this video, I look at how Nintendo used and ignored different bits of open world design to make a game that's all about exploration and adventure."

How the Risky 'Horizon Zero Dawn' Transformed the Studio Behind 'Killzone' (Keith Andrew / Glixel) "After all these years of giving us great-looking games about shooting at space-Nazis, Guerrilla showed us what it was truly capable of: a hugely ambitious open-world role playing game that was not only critically lauded, but sold over 2.6 million copies in its first two weeks and provoked comparisons with greats like The Witcher 3."

From Indie to Fable & Back Again: 30 Years of "Wisdom" (Dene Carter / GDC/ YouTube) "In this GDC 2017 talk, industry veteran Dene Carter discusses his overarching lessons learned from 30 years of experience making games at all scales, and how these experiences can help indie developers aiming to create high quality games while staying sane."

BritSoft Focus: All 4 Games (Julian Benson / Kotaku UK) "Our BritSoft Focus series tends to look at UK developers, but every now and then we’ll also be shining the spotlight on UK publishers - particularly the unusual ones, as we did with PQube back in February. Channel 4 is one of these. Not because it’s a small outfit: Channel 4 is a giant public-service broadcasting company, mainly-funded by advertising but ultimately owned by the UK taxpayer."

How Breath of the Wild Fixes Zelda's Item Problem (Turbo Button / YouTube) "The Legend of Zelda is one of my favourite series, but despite the amazing heights it reaches, it's always had a problem of items being far too specific and rigid. Let's take a look at just how Breath of the Wild fixes that problem, and how it makes interactions in this huge world feel so much more natural."

Morphblade And Imbroglio: Making A Game To Test A Critique (Tom Francis / Pentedact) "I released Morphblade last week, which is a game I made in direct response to Michael Brough’s Imbroglio. They’re both games where you move around a grid of different tile types, and the one you’re standing on determines what you can do there. [SIMON'S NOTE: an interesting way to respond to a game - with another game!]"

Arcade to eSports: How Your Competitive Game Influences Player Culture and Values (Tom Cannon / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC talk, EVO cofounder Tom Cannon examines how the format of the arcade influenced the competitive culture of fighting game players, and why this culture endures today."

7 works of interactive fiction that every developer should study (Stefanie Fogel / Gamasutra) "[Interactive fiction] is enjoying a bit of a resurgence today thanks to studios like Failbetter Games and Inkle. With that in mind, here are seven IF games that can still teach developers of any genre a lesson or two about narrative and design."

How escape rooms became the future of advertising (Bryan Bishop / The Verge) "The SXSW conference has a history of being home to some of the most elaborate marketing events imaginable. Whether it’s a chance to stay over at the Bates Motel, visit the restaurant from Breaking Bad, or see Kanye and Jay Z perform, it’s as much a part of the show as technology talks and movies. But this year, a new style of tie-in swept the festival: the escape room."

Traversal and the Problem With Walking Simulators (Thomas Grip / Frictional Games Blog) "To keep the player focused on the game's world is crucial to every game creator. During times of traversal this is even more important, at the same time as it's harder to achieve. So how do you keep your game interesting and avoid turning it into a walking simulator? [SIMON'S NOTE: Thomas is the designer of Amnesia and SOMA, which makes this particularly interesting.]"

When pigs flew: The strange history of Capcom's Big Bang Bar (Brian Crecente / Polygon) "I was working on a story about buying refurbed game machines and he was my source. After working through the particulars, Tuckey interrupted my wrap-up by asking if I wanted to hear a real story. The tale he told, heard from the friend of a collector, was about a fabled pinball machine, a dream machine that was never manufactured, its design thought lost forever."

Hoodiegate: What goes into making the yearly Remedy hoodie (Thomas Puha / Remedy / YouTube) "In 2016 Remedy embarked on a mission to create the ultimate hoodie in its 20 year history. Huge amount of research was poured into the project with several beta tests done in the wild. We documented all of this for you to see... [SIMON'S NOTE: this was from the end of last year, but only just saw it, and it's very cute/silly.]"

The Xbox One is struggling because video game exclusives still matter (Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge) "Perhaps the most revealing example of the power of exclusives is Microsoft’s Xbox One, the console that’s struggled to find its niche with first-party games. While Sony has recently offered a variety of games in a short window of time, and Nintendo has, well, Zelda, Microsoft hasn’t quite found its footing."

Chasing the First Arcade Easter Egg (Ed Fries) "It all started with a soon to be released project I am working on called “Fixing Gran Trak 10” about the first car racing arcade video game from 1974. I had completed the electrical repairs and was trying to interview as many people as possible who were involved with making the game. One of the interviews was with Ron Milner. Ron’s an interesting guy. He was an engineer and inventor at Atari’s secret think tank in the mountains – Cyan Engineering from 1973 to 1985."

Why Opening Loot Boxes Feels Like Christmas, According To Game Devs (Cecilia D'Anastasio / Kotaku) "Opening Overwatch loot boxes or Halo 5 REQ packs adds a special drama to a gaming session. The crate shakes. A jingle chimes. Lights peek out from the cracks. It swells with potential. Game developers make subtle design decisions that stoke the hope that keeps players opening mystery boxes, crates and packs. And not just on the stats side of things—just as important are the cosmetics of the experience."

Nioh: Talking with Samurai (Fumihiko Yasuda / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC session, Koei Tecmo Games' Fumihiko Yasuda explains how and why the samurai-themed action game was released into a brief early access period, and goes through the key lessons learned from that exercise, the applications of collected data, the reception of the open communication with their fans, and implementation of the feedback gathered."

The Game Beat Weekly: Game reviewers face their own "crunch time" (Kyle Orland / Tinyletter) ""Eating a big steak dinner is great. Being forced to eat 30 steak dinners in the span of a week approaches torture." This is the best analogy I've heard for describing the "hardship" of reviewing an epic-length game on a tight embargo deadline (I think Ben Kuchera was the one to first mention this great saying to me, and it's definitely stuck). [SIMON'S NOTE: Kyle's newsletter hasn't published much of late but is def. worth subscribing to!]"

Hajime Tabata Reflects on the Transformation of Versus XIII to Final Fantasy XV (Jeremy Parish / USGamer) "Now that the dust has settled on Final Fantasy XV and its strong global sales appears to justify hopes for future chapters in the long-running RPG franchise rather than toll its death knell, producer Hajime Tabata can afford to look back and wax philosophical on the project."

A Brief History of Walking Simulators (Sidcourse / YouTube) "In this episode of the Sidcourse, we take a look at first person adventure games. Or as they're more commonly known; walking simulators. Walking simulators weren't as loved by the mainstream audience outside of the critics in the beginning. Over time, things have changed and as indie developers grow this genre of games, we can see them blurring the line between mechanics and narrative."

Interview with Matt Lees at GDC (Jessica Fisher / Gameosity) "During my visit to the Game Developers Confrence (GDC) I had a chance to sit down with Matt Lees of the popular board game site, Shut Up & Sit Down. We got to chatting about the conference, the board game industry, bears, and SU&SD’s Kickstarter for their Monikers expansion."

The Obsessive World of 'Zelda' Timeline Fanatics (Luke Winkie / Glixel) "One of Legend of Zelda superfan Michael Damiani's favorite discoveries is inside Hyrule Castle in the acclaimed 2002 GameCube title, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. If you skip down the stairs below the altar that holds the Master Sword, you'll find several stained glass windows peering into a lonely, waterlogged basement."

'Fallout: New Vegas' Writer Chris Avellone: "Fantasy is Not My Happy Place" (Miguel Lopez / Glixel) "Chris Avellone's credits read like a recitation of the computer RPG canon: Fallout 2, Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale. But talking to him, you get the feeling that the veteran writer and designer has only recently begun to reap the benefits of his profile."

My Mains: Ryu (Patrick Miller / Medium) "Hey, it’s Patrick. I’m trying out a short blog series about character design in competitive video games! Simple format — five things I like about a character, and one thing I’d like to fix. Check it out and let me know if it’s a thing you’d want to read more of! Also see: Pharah, Chipp, Thresh, and Athena. [SIMON'S NOTE: Patrick is an ex-Game Developer magazine EIC and fighting game scene guy who's now at Riot, and writes smart stuff!]"

The Video Game That Claims Everything Is Connected (Ian Bogost / The Atlantic) "I am Rocky Mountain elk. I somersault forward through the grass, toward a tower of some sort. Now I am that: Industrial Smoke Stack. I press another button and move a cursor to become Giant Sequoia. I zoom out again, and I am Rock Planet, small and gray. Soon I am Sun, and then I am Lenticular Galaxy. Things seem a little too ordinary, so I pull up a menu and transform my galaxy into a Woolly Mammoth. With another button I multiply them. I am mammoths, in the vacuum of space."

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[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to [email protected]. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

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symbianosgames · 8 years

Link

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend.

This week's highlights include animators on Mass Effect: Andromeda's animation complaints, Remedy's very silly Hoodiegate, and lots, lots more - enjoy!

- Simon, curator.]

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symbianosgames · 8 years

Link

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend.

This week's highlights include animators on Mass Effect: Andromeda's animation complaints, Remedy's very silly Hoodiegate, and lots, lots more - enjoy!

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

#IFTTT #Blogger

0 notes