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sagemoderocklee · 5 years ago

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Hello! For the meta asks, would you do 1, 5, 8, and 17?

you did not come to play, lilac! thanks for all these questions! <3

1. Tell us about your current project(s) – what’s it about, how’s progress, what do you love most about it?

oh lord. that’s a... question. i have. so many current projects, i don’t even know where to start. this is gonna be long so please bear with me lol i’ll probably give more detail for some fics over others, and i’ll only go over fics I’ve got documents for because otherwise we’d be here forever.

The Art of Love: so this one is obvious because it’s been in progress for the last 2ish years? no i think it’s three now. I won’t go into detail with this because the fic is roughly halfway through, so there’s plenty of content for that up! I’d say the progress with that fic is actually going really well, though. Unlike Alliance, which took 8 years--five years of writing, three of editing--TAoL has been up for way less time, and is already about to hit the halfway mark! I really need to get back to it, tbh because it’s been way too long since my last update.

Honor Bound (sequel to Alliance): so this is.... kind of on pause. I’ve got the first three chapters written, but my focus has been more on TAoL when it comes to my more complicated, long running stories, so HB has taken a backseat. I think I won’t get back to working on the Allied Nations Saga until after TAoL is done, in all honesty.

Find Me: this is my HS AU, which has been on the back burner forever and I feel terrible because I think it may honestly be my most popular fic. Unfortunately, AUs/slice of life stuff is difficult for me because I’m more interested in politics, so I lost momentum on this fic. It is about halfway done. I have a good chunk of chapter six written, but not enough that I could say I’m close to finishing it.

It Eats Your Heart: obviously I just started this one, and it’s a horror fic. I’ve really gotta sit down and do some major plotting on it because I only have some very vague ideas currently.

Pearl-Filled Lungs: this is one of like three ningyo AUs I have--the other are pirate/ningyo AUs (and ones actually a selkie not a ningyo). I started it last year for the GaaLee fest, and it’s been sitting unfinished for far too long. I finally sat down recently and plotted the whole thing out, so I’m hoping to get back to working on it soon! It’s only 5 chapters in total, so I don’t think it’ll take me super long to get through once I sit down and do it.

Who Dares to Love Forever: This is a working title, and I may change it. This is a fic idea I’ve had for a couple years, inspired by the song Who Wants to Live Forever by Queen. This particular fic is a vehicle for my sage mode!rock lee headcanon, and explores just how effective Chiyo giving Gaara her life would have been given she was an old biddy. So the idea for this fic is that Gaara’s running out of time because Chiyo only had so much to offer.

Absolution: this is another fic that I’ve had on the back burner for years. it was initially inspired by art by @brianadoesotherjunk but quickly spiraled into something much bigger because of course it did. This particular fic is one I’m extremely excited about. I need to go back over the first part, because I feel like it’s not quite right, but I do technically have the first part done. This fic follows Gaara struggling with bouts of narcolepsy that trigger nightmares induced by trauma and guilt from his childhood. These nightmares are incredibly dangerous for obvious reasons, but even more so because Temari’s baby is on the way. Temari and Shikamaru are married, living in the Kazekage estate, and with their baby coming and both needing/wanting to get back to work, they also need a nanny. Unbeknownst to Gaara, the year prior to the events of the fic, Maito Gai died, succumbing to the 8th Gate finally, and Lee has since been spiraling. His depression has become so self-destructive that he’s been taken off active duty. Shikamaru, along with the rest of the Konoha 12 (minus Neji and Sasuke), get together and discuss what to do. Tenten believes that Lee being a nanny would be the perfect thing. And so Rock Lee is sent to Suna, hired by Shikamaru and Temari as their live-in nanny...

We Need Not Be Yellow Tulips in a Garden of Gardenia’s, Yet We Go the Way of the Red Camellia: true to form, I decided that a hanahaki fic was something I had to do, and I was not going to pass up the chance at being as Extra As Possible with the flowery language, ergo the ridiculous title. I’ve gotten part way through the first chapter of this fic, but the whole thing is roughly plotted out and each chapter title is just as extra as the whole fic’s title.

Thirteen Strokes: so this is a fic I have--once again--had on my mind for ages, and--once again, because I am nothing if not a caricature of myself--inspired by a Florence+the Machine song, All This and Heaven Too. I started writing this the other night, as I wanna use it for GaaLee bingo. It’ll be 13 chapters, as per the 13 strokes that it takes to make the character for love, ai, in Japanese. The fic is from Gaara’s PoV, and follows his journey with and his relationship to love, with lots of worldbuilding and politics because it wouldn’t be an Eeri Original without those things.

Scarification: this is another idea for bingo based around the prompt shinshoubyou, which is a fictional disease where your emotions cause physical marks on you

Fill in the [ ]: another bingo idea, based around the prompt bouaishoukoigun, the fictional disease where you forget the person you love if it’s unrequited.

The Eagle’s Augury: an idea that allows me to play around with more worldbuilding and focus on Karura. In this fic, the curse (mentioned briefly on the Naruto wikia) that has led to every single Kazekage being assassinated, is coming for Gaara, and Karura is trying to warn him from beyond the grave. At the same time, Temari and Shikamaru’s marriage is approaching, and their ceremony is being held in Suna, with all the fan fair a marriage for someone from the Kazekage line should see. Again, another fic inspired by Miss Florence+the Machine, the song is Mother

Pomegranate Sun: this is a fic that I am... so excited about. Another fic that was originally inspired by a Queen song, Under Pressure, and has of course taken on a life of its own. This fic, I am actually going to be writing with @ghoste-catte! It’s an arranged marriage trope, and I’m super pumped for it! We’ve only got a little bit started, and it has obviously not taken priority for either of us since we both have a lot of fics on our plates.

The Ballad of the Dragon and the Phoenix: this is a fic I’m really excited but is going to take a LOT of research to get off the ground. I had this idea sometime last year, I wanna say? This fic is another self-indulgent headcanon about Lee’s origins, his family, etc. This fic starts when Gaara shows up on Lee’s doorstep, asking him to accompany him to another country for reasons Lee cannot understand. Gaara has been in talks with Phoenix Kingdom, hoping to forge a new relationship only to find that the Emperor wants to use shinobi for militaristic purposes. Lee doesn’t understand what help he could possibly offer the Kazekage, but he can’t very well turn him down.

okay, i’m gonna stop there. these are the ones I have titles and documents for, and honestly that’s probably way more than you wanted to know about lol

5. What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

Despite the fact that most of my fics end up from Gaara’s PoV, I actually identify with Lee the most!

8. Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

Yes! Which is hard to find, tbh, because I am a sucker for political dramas with slow burn romances, but I don’t see a lot of that in the GaaLee fandom. I’m not as into like slice of life or short stories where the characters get together quick, I’m really not into established relationship fics unless it’s a sequel, so I tend to avoid those. I like AUs but it really depends on the AU, because I ultimately prefer the canon and I love seeing the way people write the shinobi world and all its rules and cultures and things. I’m just a big fan of worldbuilding, politics, and slow slow burns. Not this 25k SLOW BURN! crap because that is NOT a slow burn. I wanna see a fic that’s 200k words in and they still haven’t even figured out they’re in love! I like stories I can really sink my teeth into, ya know?

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

Oh gosh. I generally don’t think too much about it except like hoping people don’t think I’m like a stuck up asshole because of how I talk about my writing, writing in general, my hcs, etc. I mean, obviously I don’t expect everyone in this fandom to like me--and there are ppl I’ve gone out of my way to be vocally against because they do nasty shit--but largely I feel like I come across as too intense, so even the general population of GaaLee fans that I do want to interact with I’m always a lil nervous that people secretly don’t like me and basically are like “oh god this bitch again” when they see me in the tags. But I just get really excited and invested in my ideas, and honestly for the longest time this fandom was SO small and there weren’t a lot of people putting out content regularly so it was like a handful of us so I think it made me more emphatic about GaaLee lol I think I always like assume people aren’t as excited about my writing as I am or that people are like “too much politic, i need more romance”.

I’m always surprised when people really love my AUs, like Kado or Find Me have had such fantastic reception, and it’s like people just eat that shit up so much. And then I look at like Alliance or Art of Love and get kind of confused because I think by comparison those are more interesting and more developed than my AUs. I put a shit ton of work into everything I write, especially anything that requires research, so it’s not to say that I do less work per say, just that I feel like TAoL and things like it are more interesting and more developed, and the relationship feels.... somehow more to me there than in an AU.

a lot of my motivation really just comes from the lack of content this fandom had for so many years, and the fact that Naruto could have been a much more interesting series and I love worldbuilding so much. I think my motivation for each fic is different though. Like Alliance was started because I wanted to write something different from what was mainly in the fandom at the time because mind you I started that in 2010. But my motivation for TAoL is more wanting to tell a beautiful story with a complex narrative that looks at the failings of the shinobi world. Whereas like any slice of life fic is really just meant to be a fun break. And sometimes I write something literally just because I wanted to fulfill that trope for the GaaLee fandom--again, a lot of my ideas have been sitting for years and years and years (TAoL was an idea I had literally right after starting Alliance, but I didn’t get to it until 2017), so a lot of ideas that are old are because at the time that trope hadn’t been fulfilled yet in the fandom though that’s changing a lot with the recent GaaLee Renaissance of the last couple years.

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jaybug-jabbers · 5 years ago

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Pokemon Sword/Shield: A review of my experience

So, I’ve rung in the new year in style with a bad cold. Fortunately, I received a new Switch Lite for Christmas and a copy of Pokemon Sword, so at least I’ve had something to do while sitting about feeling miserble. I beat the game last night, and I figured I’d say a few words about what I thought of it. There are major spoilers ahead!

Graphics & Music

First of all, it looks absolutely beautiful. I’m used to using my 2DS, so the upgrade to the Switch Lite was quite the jump. When compared to previous Pokemon titles, the game is absolutely stunning to gaze upon. What’s more, the environments are varied, creative, colorful, and just lovely. They were such a delight that when I first started the game and had control of my character, the first thing I did was simply stand there for a solid five minutes just gazing on the dynamic, gorgeous countryside, butterfree flapping in the distance, Wooloo rolling around, people going about their day. It helps that I do love the UK and I’ve visited it in the past, and I have to say they did an excellent job evoking the feel of those landscapes. Exploring the towns and the environments was always a joy. Their layouts were natural, intuitive, and walking around or biking around was easy and fun. I was eager to explore every nook and cranny. Accompanying the environments was excellent music. All of the tracks were on-point. They set the feel of the location and they were all great to listen to.

UI & Battle Mechanics

Another thing you notice right away is the UI has been beautifully updated. It’s logically and appealingly organized, it’s very speedy, and there are a lot of quality-of-life tweaks and updates– such as accessing your pokemon PC from just about anywhere. (or easy access to Flying from the regular Map menu!) These tweaks have really helped smooth and streamline things and make for a better experience. It took some getting used to some of the tweaks, such as a forced Experience Share for the entire pokemon party. I’m still not sure what I think of that, but I kept reminding myself that full-party experience is standard in other RPGs, so it’s not so huge a jump for Pokemon to adopt it as well.

Characters

The game is also populated by many characters that I enjoyed. The character designs were well thought-out and appealing, and the characters themselves were fun. Hop may have a bit of a doofy haircut and be a bit of a dork, but he’s still an enjoyable rival. Professor Magnolia seems cool, as does her daughter Sonia. As we meet each of the gym leaders in turn, I generally liked them, as well. They did a good job adding little bits of personality to each of them. And yes, I even liked Leon, the over-the-top and bizarrely-dressed Champion. He was hammy and I think it worked well for him.

The Sport of Pokemon & Dynamaxing

Something else I found myself really enjoying was how much the game was emphasizing the sport aspect to Pokemon battling in the Galar region. This is something the game has always had to a certain extent, but never to the degree it has here. Pokemon battling was a huge spectacle here in Galar, done in massive statiums to huge, roaring crowds. This is a world of difference when compared to the solemn, trial-like, solitary experience of the Elite Four. It just brings and entirely different energy to the experience. And I found I really liked that. During the first few gym battles, I wasn’t entirely into it at first, largely because the first few gym fights were incredibly easy. But after they got a little harder, I started to get into the feel of things.

Naturally, the whole huge emphasis on the electric thrill of competition and of huge, bombastic spectacle was tied into the gimmick of this particular game: Dynamaxing. And as lukewarm as I was about Dynamaxing when I first heard it announced (I’m pretty tired of these gimmicks– Z-Moves, Mega Evolutions and the likes), I have to give credit where credit’s due: it was at least tied very thoroughly into the plot and into the fabric of the game. It didn’t feel tacked on, and I wasn’t resentful about actually using Dynamaxing. It may have been a silly gimmick, but it was still enjoyable to use, because it made sense to help entertain the crowds with oversized spectacle, and because there was a certain amount of enjoyment in the added strategy it required. I’m glad I was able to get into it.

I think the highest point for me about the gym challenge experience was when I was facing off Raihan. Here’s the chap they’ve been hyping for a while about facing up against, because he’s the last gym leader standing before you move onto the Semi Finals and the Finals. When you walk through the dark corridor out into the pitch, you can feel the electric atmosphere; you can hear people cheering your name as their new favorite trainer hopeful; and then, Raihan, the man who always acted so casual and smooth and cool, suddenly shows his intense side on the field of battle. He flings out two pokeballs and brags about mixing things up for you with a doubles format and with the weather, and dares you to step up for the challenge.

My two front pokemon come out– Snowdrop, my Frosmoth, and Bazz, my Grapploct. After all that weather bragging, I decide to show him, and have my Frosmoth flip his sandstorm weather over to Hail. Surprised, my opponent acknowledges that was a pretty nice move on my part. I then Blizzard and Superpower his first pair of pokemon out of the picture.

I’m feeling pretty good, and then he sends out his second pair of pokemon. I have no idea what the heck the Duraludon is supposed to be. Then he Dynamaxes it, which takes me a little off guard, as I had expected it later, but of course this is doubles so there is no later. I stall for a little bit, trying to decide what to hit the Duraludon with, and my first few pokemon go down, and the sandstorm kicks back in.

I decide to send out my Corviknight out for Dynamaxing. But I’m still floundering over the best tactic for this unfamiliar pokemon. I try Max Airstream to see how much it does, but it’s not a very impressive chunk. Then his Sandaconda gets a Glare off on my Corviknight, which is a pain. I waste one of my Dynamax turns getting paralyzed. I’ve fainted several other pokemon in the process of things. I start to think I’m toast and I’ll need to replay the match. Then I realize this stupid-looking Duraludon is, of course, a Steel type. I’d just recently put Body Press onto my Corviknight for some move variety. On my final Dynamax turn, I use it. It utterly destroys the Duraludon, which had just lost its Dynamax.

My own Corviknight falls back down into its normal state. There’s only one pokemon left on either one of our teams; his damned Sandaconda and my half-health Corviknight. The sand is still up, but my Corviknight didn’t mind that at all. It did, however, mind the paralysis and the Fire Fang the snake kept using. Fortunately, Corviknight is still a tanky beast, and I blasted away with Drill Pecks. It was tense, really down to the wire. Would Corviknight tank enough hits to make it? Would he get paralyzed at an inopportune moment?

Fortunately, he makes it, finishing off Sandaconda and taking the match. As I cheer at the victory, my pokemon cheers too, amongst all the swirling sand. The crowd roars, and I feel a genuine respect for my opponent’s skill. It was a good fight. Afterwards, when I returned to the lobby, people were congratulating me on my victory, and it felt truly nice.

Moments like these are not common in pokemon games. At least, they aren’t for me. I had felt everything during that match– the magnificent spectacle of the dynamaxing, the tricks my opponent pulled, his keen desire to win, the crowd’s thirst for a good match, my desire to pull through somehow. As it turned out, after that, I didn’t have battle quite as good. The Semi-Finals and the Finals were a cakewalk for me. Even the Raihan rematch was ridiculously easy. He changed up his team and made it much worse, so that he had different weather-setters for each poke, lacking any team synergey at all. It was a shame. Perhaps the only reason that match was so close was because I had been briefly intimidated over the doubles format and confused over the Duraludon, but I do wish those magical experiences happened more often.

Indeed, even my final battle with the Champion was a woeful disappointment. I got off one Dragon Dance with Dragapult and swept the whole team cleanly. That brings up another point, though: the difficulty level of this game. It is … well, not very high. It’s a shame. I realize it’s a tricky balance, since this game is aimed at a variety of age levels, and they don’t want it too difficult for the younger audience. Still, it would be nice for Pokemon to implement a ‘hard mode’ to help deal with this issue. Perhaps if they did, we could have more magical moments like the one I had with Raihan.

Character Development & Plot

The low difficulty wasn’t the only thing about Pokemon Sword/Shield that sometimes brought disappointment. At the end of the game, I also found the plot sort of ended up in a no-man’s land. Almost all of the plotlines felt unfinished. Marnie looked like a really cool character full of potential, but then nothing ever really happened with her character. Team Yell ended up being very different from all the other ‘teams’ of the pokemon universe, in that they were just very vocal and sometimes excessively involved fans of Marnie. I actually liked the idea of the ‘team’ not being a group of organized villians up to no good, but Team Yell’s plot ultimately petered out into nothing. The same could be said for other characters. Sonia was a cool-looking character design and again seemed to have a lot of potential as a character, but I never quite understood the point of her plot. She was … uninterested in research, maybe, but became interested? Or was overwhelemed with the work? Or … what, exactly? When she “earned” the lab coat, it didn’t feel like an accomplishment. There was no weight or clarity to her character arc in the slightest. She didn’t even ultimately contribute all that much, because she failed to even be the one to discover the Sword and Shield artifacts.

Again, we find this trend with others, such as Hop’s development. Hop is a cocky, confidant young lad who idolizes his older brother. Eventually he runs into a trainer who throws off his groove, gets into his head with some comments, claiming that he’s dragging his older brother’s name through the mud by being shite at pokemon battling. Then he starts to doubt and second-guess himself, reshuffle his team and his strategies endlessly, and so forth. Eventually, he seems to ‘get over it’ and gets his groove back, but we never are given a really firm reason as to why he gets his groove back. What brought about this change? We need to see why he’s learned and grown. And really, even when he does pull his shit together again, has he really learned much from the experience? I assumed his ultimate lesson would be to see his brother more as an equal, not as someone to idolize; as a human who can self-doubt and make mistakes just like him. But the writers passed up the opportunity to go that way with the plot. They just sort of … gave up halfway.

The most of a glimpse we get from that is something given to us from the animation itself, not the writers. Out on the pitch, during the final battle against Leon, when he’s just about to toss his pokemon out, there’s a moment when he pauses and taps both hands against his face. It’s a subtle little gesture, as if he’s trying to shake off any gnawing self-doubts and get his head into the game, and it echoes his younger brother, who we’ve seen do the same thing. It’s such a lovely little touch, such a human moment, and to me shows that both brothers have been vulnerable to self-doubt despite their swagger, but in the end can overcome it. I only wish the idea were explored further in the actual plot.

The ‘evil plot’ of this particular game also feels only half-baked and incomplete. The motivation behind Rose’s actions feels entirely absent to me, as does any logic whatsoever. What’s worse, the game leaves behind so many lingering questions. OK, so this slumbering Eternatus is the source of all Dynamax power, and he’s discovered the energy will run out in a thousand years or so. How is waking up Eternatus by feeding it Wishing Stars (which, as Magnolia later reports, are bits of Eternatus itself– so, what, feeding Eternatus pieces of itself?) going to help with that? Will it produce more energy once awake? So he planned on capturing it and … sending it out whenever they needed more energy? Or just keeping it around as a power-giving pet of some sort? But at the end of the game, the player keeps Eternatus for themselves, so doesn’t that mean Galar is sort of screwed now? How can the power plant continue to function (and Dynamaxing) if the source of that power is now inside my pokeball? Also, how exactly did Rose wake up Eternatus to begin with/bring about the Darkest Day? Just release all the energy he had at once? There’s so much that’s confusing and unclear. Basically, the plotline felt very half-baked. I had the sense the writing for this game was frankly very rushed.

It doesn’t stop there. Oleana, the whole thing with Bede, and other characters are left with tons of lingering questions and unfinished plotthreads as well. I suspect the devs simply ran out of time. It’s a huge shame, because I enjoyed all of these characters and felt there was so much potential there, but that potential was never really realized.

Pokemon

This generation has a relatively low number of new pokemon, and you do feel that a little bit as you’re going along. The older pokemon that are mixed in were chosen well, in that they blend naturally with the environments they were placed in, and they’re spaced out nicely, so you encounter a mix of new and old at a nice clip, so they have that going for themselves. But even still, yes, you do start to wish there were a few more surprising faces. Still, there’s definitely fun to be had with new pokemon, especially for some of the cooler Galar regional variants. (I fully support regional variants and am happy they made a comeback in this generation.)

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, there’s also only a very limited set of old pokemon this game has access to. Any species not listed in the Galar dex simply cannot be transferred over. This has upset many people, but when I played the game, it did not feel lacking for that reason. The sheer number of pokemon in the overall franchise is now staggering. It makes complete sense to not include every species in every game now. They intend to include old pokemon on rotation in future games, and that seems like a fair compromise to me. Am I bummed that my favorite Parasect can’t be transferred to Galar? Of course. But I’m not too worked up over the fact. He’ll see another region someday.

To finish this section off, I’m going to do a rapid-fire list of my top 5 and bottom 5 of the new pokemon.

Top 5

Corviknight: An absolutely gorgeous design and easily the MPV of my team.

Wooloo/Dubwool: It’s an adorable ball sheep/ram. You simply can’t go wrong with that. One of the first to be revealed of the new pokes, but I can never get bored with it.

Dragapult: A very creative, lizardy Dragon/Ghost creature that adorably shoots its own babies as ammo. I love it.

Grappaloct: So beautiful. Love its design, its stance, the way one tentacle is a belt, love its colors and pattern, its eyes, its cry, everything. Such a badass and I love octopi in general, so a real winner. This is the octopus we’ve needed for a while.

Snom/Frosmoth: I mean, in some ways its design isn’t revolutionary, since we already have many moth pokemon. However, Snom is still adorable and Frosmoth is still beautiful, something you cannot deny. And it’s been long overdue to get an Ice/Bug. What’s more, Snom is based off real caterpillars (jewel caterpillars), which is wonderful.

Bottom 5

Inteleon: A very distinctive design style that doesn’t look like it belongs anywhere near a Pokemon game. Just feels very mismatched to me.

Alcremie: I hate sentient food. A massive pet peeve of mine.

Applin: See above.

Duraludon: Sorry, but I still think its design is ugly. I can’t get used to it.

Mr. Mime (Galar Variant): No. Mr. Mime is always horrible. Stay away from me. Keep your creepy variant, too.

The Wilds Area

Of course, a review of the game would be incomplete if I didn’t mention the Wild Area. This section of the game was really very lovely. I enjoyed exploring what was essentially Breath of the Wild: Pokemon, and I think it’s a wonderful direction for the game to take. Wandering around, finding goodies, rare pokemon, Dynamax dens and all the rest is very entertaining and it’s just beautiful. Really makes you feel like you’re out in nature exploring, and really encountering pokemon in their natural environment. I’ve read people predicting that Game Freak is using the Wild Area in this game as a test, and something they will probably expand upon in later games. If that’s what they are indeed doing, then I welcome the change. I can’t say I am super interested in fighting wild Dynamax pokemon with my friends, but I did enjoy everything else.

Summary

So, would I recommend this game to others? It would depend on who you are. If you’re a big pokemon fan, then yes, of course. You’ll enjoy the beautiful locations to explore, the new pokemon, and the excitement of the Galar sports arenas, as well as some colorful characters. However, you are going to find some flaws. The plot and character arcs are going to eventually end up a little lacking, and you’ll find there’s not as much new content as you’d have preferred. While some aspects of this game are very well polished and complete, others feel rushed. Overall, it’s going to be a mixed experience, but I think that if you like pokemon, you will still enjoy it.

This is a repost on a new blog. The original post was on Jan 1, 2020.

#pokemon #game review #mycontent #pokemon reviews

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theyearoftheking · 5 years ago

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Book Thirty-One: Four Past Midnight

You know you’re in for a good time when you crack open a collection of novellas, and the introduction discusses the 1989 Milwaukee Brewers, and specifically Robin Yount.

I am not really a baseball fan. I will admit to going to games just to tailgate, get snacks and drink an overpriced beer. I own some cute Milwaukee Brewers merch, and love a brat with stadium sauce. That’s the extent of my fandom. You’ll never find me being a baseball bandwagon junkie.

But.

Every late 30-40 something raised in Milwaukee has really fond memories of County Stadium (our old, humble stadium) before Miller Park took over (Sorry, refuse to call it Am-Fam Field, or whatever the hell its new name is). And we have fond memories of Robin Yount, Paul Moliter- the OG Brew Crew. Warm and fuzzies all around.

Steve drops one hell of a Wisconsin reference when he talks about watching a Brewers/Red Sox game (Brewers won, btw), and the announcers are talking about how old Robin Yount is. Steve almost flies out of his recliner when he realizes Robin started playing baseball the same year he published his first novel. They’re the same age!! Robin Yount can’t be old, because if he’s old, ergo, Steve is old.

Time is a funny thing. I write this as I’m a week away from turning forty. Ugh. It hurts so bad.

Four Past Midnight was another home run (ha!) collection of novellas. I told another constant reader this past week that the novella is really where Steve shines. It’s long enough to create some magic, but short enough to keep the editing tight. I didn’t love this collection as much as Different Seasons, but The Sun Dog might be my new favorite story ever... and it set the scene for Needful Things, which I’m now one hundred pages into. The flow from one story to the other is masterful.

The collection kicks off with The Langoliers, which I mostly remember because it was a campy television miniseries in 1995.

Basically, a bunch of people are on a red-eye flight, and Dinah Bellman, a little blind girl wakes up to find most of the people on the plane (including her caretaker Aunt) have disappeared. All their jewelry and belongings have been left behind, but it’s like they’ve been body-snatched out of thin air. Oh, the pilot was langolier-ed too. Thankfully, one of the other passengers on the plane, Brian Engle, just so happens to be a pilot, and attempts to land the plane. But, there are no lights, he’s not getting any response from any major airports... so landing at Boston Logan isn’t going to be a thing. He (of course) needs to re-route to Bangor.

At this point, Craig Toomer is losing his shit. He NEEDS to be in Boston to meet with a bank about some shady shit with some bonds. He’s not having this Bangor thing. So, he sits in his seat and sulks, ripping pieces of paper into thin strips (legit serial killer behavior), and remembering horror stories his dad used to tell him about monsters called the Langoliers.

Aaaand that’s where the title comes from.

The plane lands in Bangor, the airport is empty, the food has no taste and the beers have no carbonation. Noises are both muffled and amplified, and planes won’t go. So, Brian fuels up the original plane they were on, loads everyone inside; and takes off again. The passengers realize they need to be asleep to fly through the time/space continuum, so Brian lowers the cabin pressure, they all go to sleep (except for the dashing Nick Hopewell who bravely offers to fly the plane through the rip), and they make it safely to the other side, where life slowly starts back up again.

The end.

Then, there’s Secret Window, Secret Garden; which I also remember because of the Johnny Depp movie, which I had forgotten most of until my husband thought he’d summarize the plot of The Dark Half for me. He got it totally wrong, and ended up describing SWSG instead; thus ruining the surprise I forgot I already knew about. Welcome to marriage, kids. Lesson learned: if you haven’t seen The Secret Window, just wait and read the novella instead.

Best-selling author Morton Rainey answers his door one afternoon, and finds a Faulkner-esque gentleman in a wide-brimmed hat, accusing him of plagiarism. “You stole my story!” John Shooter tells him. Mort is supes confused, and has no idea what Shooter is talking about. He’s even able to prove he wrote and published the story a few years before Shooter wrote it.

“Prove it,” Shooter taunts him.

And then the story takes a left turn into Crazyville, when Shooter starts killing people, starting Mort’s ex-wife’s house on fire, and trying to kill Mort.

But here’s the twist.

Ready?

Shooter is Mort.

Mort is Shooter.

God damn, I wish my husband hadn’t reminded me of this spoiler, it would have been more epic to discover on my own. But it’s an excellent slight-of-hand on Steve’s part. Well done.

And then we get to The Library Policeman... which I really loved until I got to the part about the policeman anally raping small children who don’t turn their books in on time. That jumped the shark just a little bit. But prior to that cringefest, the idea of Library Policeman was fun. And in my world of enforcing rental policies, and returning books in beautiful, unblemished condition; I’m all for some library police. Maybe just ones with better social distancing, though...

And then we arrive to Sun Dog, the real winner of the collection. Steve starts the story with a brief introduction that covers the strange history of Castle Rock. This is a great refresher if you’re new to the universe, or haven’t read thirty-one Steve books in five months. No judgement.

Kevin Delevan receives a Sun 660 Polaroid camera for this fifteenth birthday. He takes a family picture, and notices a dog in the snapshot. A dog his family doesn’t own, and doesn’t know. Thinking it’s a fluke, he takes a few more pictures, and the dog keeps showing up, but is moving in each picture.

A few days later, Kevin takes the camera over to Reginald “Pop” Merrill at the Emporium Galorium. Pop fixes cameras and clocks, and also acts as the local loan shark, and seller of odd things. Pop inspects the camera, and sees nothing wrong with it. But he knows darkness when he sees it, and after a quick swap; he ends up with the Sun Dog camera, and sends Kevin home with another one.

Pop tries selling the camera to collectors of the dark and odd, but no one wants it. He’s starting to stress, because he knows it’s only a matter of time before the camera unleashes its true dark potential.

Kevin wakes up from a nightmare and realized Pop pulled a fast one on him. He gets to the Emporium Galorium just as the dog is trying to emerge from the film, and Kevin is able to kill it, and the shop starts on fire. But, it’s not the last strange thing to happen in Castle Rock...

I’m not going to lie, I finished Sun Dog at about 8pm last night, and promptly dived into Needful Things. Y’all... it might be my favorite Steve book ever. Too soon to say for sure, but damn it’s dark and twisty. Stay tuned.

In addition to the Brewers reference, there was one Dark Tower reference in The Library Police, “...lookin’ as fierce as a gunslinger in an old Western movie...”

Total Wisconsin Mentions: 25

Total Dark Tower References: 23

Book Grade: A+

Rebecca’s Definitive Ranking of Stephen King Books

The Talisman: A+

Misery: A+

Different Seasons: A+

It: A+

Four Past Midnight: A+

The Shining: A-

The Stand: A-

The Drawing of the Three: A-

Nightmares in the Sky: B+

The Dark Half: B+

Skeleton Crew: B+

The Dead Zone: B+

‘Salem’s Lot: B+

Carrie: B+

Creepshow: B+

Cycle of the Werewolf: B-

Danse Macabre: B-

The Running Man: C+

Thinner: C+

Dark Visions: C+

The Eyes of the Dragon: C+

The Long Walk: C+

The Gunslinger: C+

Pet Sematary: C+

Firestarter: C+

Rage: C

Cujo: C-

Nightshift: C-

Roadwork: D

Christine: D

The Tommyknockers: D-

I hope everyone is continuing to social distance and quarantine well. I’m headed back to work in another week... kinda hoping it doesn’t cut into my reading time. But reality is a cruel thing sometimes...

Long Days and Pleasant Nights, Rebecca

#stephen king #constant readers #castle rock #the langoliers #sun dog #secret window secret garden #secret window #library police #the dark tower #milwaukee brewers #county stadium #needful things

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mr-meekers · 5 years ago

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January Book Reviews

Hopefully, once a month, towards the end of the month, I’ll sit down to type out little reviews for all the books I’ve read this month. It’s my goal this year to read more, and, equally as important, finish more books (even if I don’t like them.)

So let’s get started!

1. Loveboat, Taipei by Wen

I initially started reading this book to participate in a book club coming up in February. I didn’t think I’d like it much as it lies pretty far out of my wheelhouse being not only contemporary fiction but also a teen romance. Now, I can definitely get into these things, but my problem with those genres is that they fall so so so easily into the usual tropes that are, honestly, just very annoying. Like, love triangles and love at first sight and “there was a misunderstanding that occurred that one small conversation could clear up but I’m gonna stew about it for the rest of the book” kinda tropes. I’m just tired of them and can’t stand them anymore and I know the genre can do better.

Loveboat does. It really does. I’m still surprised I liked it so much.

Basically, the story centers around Ever, who is the eldest daughter of Chinese immigrants. Typical story ensues- her parents want her to be a doctor, and basically guilt her into following their life plan for her while never really giving her a choice and making all her decisions for her. But Ever wants to dance and this is what sets up the main conflict in the story: what Ever wants vs. what her parents want for her, and all the hard choices and consequences that come from such a conflict. The majority of the story takes place at a summer school in Taipei where a bunch of fancy, high achieving Asian kids go to not only make connections, but make connections~~~ if you catch my drift. Ever is convinced she’ll hate it- her parents forced her to go, signed up for all her classes for her, and even snuck a bio textbook into her luggage with a not so subtle hint to study. So, our main conflict begins. Ever decided to break every ridiculous rule her parents ever set for her. And the plot unfold from there.

Yes, there are two love interests. I’ll hive ya that. But the relationships in this book aren’t based in convenience. They feel real and well thought out and genuine. A lot of great themes are explored, from the good ol’ “finding yourself” meme to the different kinds of burdens our families can put on us, and whether or not we decide to carry them forever. The characters felt deep and by the end, I was truly happy for them. Loveboat, Taipei gets a 4 out of 5 from. Definite recommendation.

2. The Guinevere Deception by White

A new take on the Arthurian legend has us following Guinevere instead of the Once and Future King. I’ m not a fan of Kiersten White’s other books and stopped reading them before I could finish them, I did thoroughly enjoy this one. I’m a sucker for a good fantasy with a strong female lead and this is just that. We all kinda know the legend of King Arthur already, and White does a good job of adding in elements from the original story but then twisting them to make them her own. Despite the lack of romance (something else I also thoroughly enjoy) for most of the book, I still found myself hooked on the plot and guessing and wondering what would happen next.

The plotline starts pretty simply, but with a major twist. We start with Guinevere being escorted to Camelot to wed Arthur. But, it is soon revealed that this is not the real Guinevere. The true princess is dead and buried (I forget the CoD) and this girl, the daughter of Merlin, has been disguised to take her place. No one can know who she is, for magic is banned in Camelot, and she is a witch herself. Merlin has sent her to Arthur’s side to protect him from a mysterious magical threat he sees coming. But that’s all he will tell her about it. Now, Guinevere must protect a king and his city and so much more. I can’t say much more without spoiling it, but even if it may seems a little bit dull at first, I did truly enjoy myself by the end. I’m excited for the second book.

Again, I give this a 4 out of 5. Certainly worth picking up.

3. The Rogue King by Owen

This is a fantasy romance I picked up for shits and giggles. I am of the opinion that most fantasy romances are cringey, tropey, and just downright awkward. I have a very, very difficult time finding ones with actual plots and characters that feel more like people that convenient transportable genitalia. But, I must say, Abigail Owen’s Rogue King was none of those things... for the most part.

The story centers around Kasia, a phoenix shape shifter, and Brand, a dragon shape shifter. Now, there’s a lot of shifter politics to unpack, but the basics are that dragons and phoenixes usually mate because they both revolve around fire. Phoenixes then bless their mate’s clan and make that dragon the king of all kings and clans. It’s, like, a big deal. So Brand is out for revenge against the reigning High King and if he delivers Kasia to the Blue Clan king, he can finally have his revenge. And we go from there.

The thing I liked about this book was that it did have an actual plot. There were things going on besides focusing on the two leads going at it and falling in love. I mean, they still do, but there’s stuff in between that matters this time. In fact, the love making was the thing I mostly had a problem with. Kasia and Brand’s relationship felt too forced. It’s played off as “they’re mates and it’s destiny” but it just feels rushed and awkward and at times, random.

The second book comes out later this year, but I’m not sure I’ll pick it up. Still, it gets a 3 from me. Not the worst thing I’ve ever read.

4. The Wallflower Wager by Dare

Too cute. It was too cute. Yes, it was your typical 1800s London high society “fall in love with this duke and pretend you know what the word “rake” means” kinda story but still! It was good!!

We follow Penny, a young woman who has taken to caring for stray animals that no one seems to want, including (but not limited to) a dog with no back legs, a goat that is definitely certainly entirely not pregnant she assures you, and a parrot from a whore house that says “Fancy a fuck, love?” all the time and is genuinely funny. Her new neighbor, the notorious Gabriel, is renovating his new house to sell for profit and having a menagerie next door is not helping his property value. The two must work together to find suitable homes for all of Penny’s beloved creatures before the month is up, or else she’ll be forced to move out.

Obviously, they fall madly in love in this month. And their romance does seem natural and heart warming and the sex is fantastic. The ending made me tear up it was too gosh darn sweet. I can’t spoil it for you, but know that it was wholesome AF. It gets a solid 4 from me. I desperately wish there was more.

5. The Merciful Crow by Owen

Just my cup of tea. A good fantasy story with a strong female lead and wonderful romantic interest. The not so subtle themes of classism, racism, and the way the privileged avoid holding themselves accountable are very topical for the day, but also timeless in their application. Other themes like the cost of selflessness, going after what you want, balancing your needs with those of others, and being the first to strike change are all heavily applied, as well, and beautiful done.

The story follows Fie, a Crow girl destined to be beaten down by her own countrymen for the simple act of existing. Crows are the only caste in the country of Sabor immune to the Sinner’s Plague and thus are the ones who deal with the bodies. For a price. When Fie and her clan collect two dead lordlings from the palace, she certainly didn’t expect them to still be alive. Turns out, the prince is on the run from a queen who wants him dead. If the Crows can deliver him to his allies, he swears a Covenant Oath to grant them protection from the Oldeanders, not-so-subtle references to the KKK in their white sheets and nightly raids on Crow camps, killing as many of them as they can before dawn. It’s a deal too good to pass up, so Fie’s Pa, their chief, agrees.

This story is just... so many things. Before I forget, though, I want to congratulate Margaret Owen for the fantastic LGBT representation. Within the first few chapters, we already have non-binary/gender non-conforming character in Madcap, who uses they/them pronouns. The prince is gay. Tavin, his bodyguard, is bisexual. The kingdom’s master general is not only pansexual but polygamous. Fie is the only character of importance who seems straight, but even then we don’t really know as there are no other women her age around (there are other women, but Crows mingle only with Crows, and their bands are small). The romance here, while some may say is too hasty, I say felt just right. It’d been building and building and building and then finally happened and it was like letting out a breath. But even more satisfying was Fie’s character arc, and the Prince’s too, maybe even more so. So much happens and there is so much growth that I really just need you all to read it for yourselves and see.

5 out of 5 for me.

Thanks for reading this far! Hopefully there will be more reviews up in another month!

#book reviews #ya fantasy #ya romance #romance #fantasy #loveboat taipei #the guinevere deception #the merciful crow #the rogue king #the wallflower wager #Tessa dare #Abigail owen #Margaret owen #books #teen books #meekers

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ramblinganthropologist · 6 years ago

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Writober 2019 - 18 (Hurt/Comfort)

Setting: That Actor AU, Dragon Age II

Summary: Seriously, though... does that count as RPF?

---

Nothing like lunchtime in costume to create weird situations.

“Ugh, I need this thing off now.”

Briala grimaced as she grabbed her arm by the elbow and twisted. It went round a few times, and then popped out of the socket. She rotated her affected shoulder and sighed in relief as she placed the prosthetic on the table in front of her. It needed to charge anyway.

Across from her, Malcolm was also in costume with similar lack of fucks to give. At least this time neither of them were in armor. Talk about uncomfortable; she usually had to eat standing if they stopped at an armored scene. At least in Dragon Age plain clothes, she could sit.

Best of all? Her pants had pockets for her phone.

“We're dong that scene after lunch, so you better put it back in.” Malcolm was on his phone, stretched out in the chair so he could accommodate his larger frame. At the angle he was sitting, she couldn't see what he was reading. Part of her had hoped she could guess from the reflection coming off his head, but... no, that was just in comics.

She shrugged her shoulder and hopped into a chair to check her phone. “My shoulder is killing me. Damn thing is heavier than I remember.”

At least her phone was working. The last time she'd had it on, it had been open to one of her guilty pleasure websites. The jury was still out on if reading fanfiction about the character you played was considered weird, but she was pretty sure it was a bit off. Whatever, not like she had ever cared about what people thought. It tended to come with the territory when you were a one armed transgender gremlin.

Briala hummed as she scrolled through her fanfiction list. “Hey, question.”

“No you cannot use me to get better cell service.” Malcolm deadpanned as he kept doing whatever kept him glued to his phone. That caused the elf to roll her eyes and stick out her tongue. Not that he saw it – damn millennial kept looking at his phone.

Said the millennial. Briala was honest.

“No, I have a legit question.” She held her phone out, displaying the screen. “Would shipping Moses and Avery be considered RPF?”

Not that she did – that was her NOTP honestly. But still, did it count?

Malcolm didn't answer her query for a good minute. At least she got to watch as his face flashed through a number of emotions, the most major one being confusion. That was the one he settled on, eyebrows knit together.

“What?”

Briala nodded to her screen. “RPF. Real person fanfiction. I mean, they were both people, but we're also playing them and there's the Tale of the Champion and all. So are they characters or like... is it creepy?”

Malcolm's face journey only continued. “I'm... not sure. Why are you even looking for that?”

Because she was lonely and single and Avery Hawke had become something of a self insert for her in the last couple months?

She at least played it off with a one-armed shrug as she took her phone back. “Just curious I guess. I don't ship it. Moses was too gay for that.”

“You're damn right he was.” Was that a hint of pride in Malcolm's voice? “Is Champion stuff really that big in Database of Dreams?”

He had moved over, casting a shadow in order to look at the dirty details. Just because of that, Briala had to turn up the brightness on her phone screen. She probably would've been able to see it regardless, but it was the thought that counted. He had human eyes, after all.

“I mean, Avery and Moses is kind of small. I fell ass first into that one. The canon stuff is obviously the most popular.” She paused, making a face herself now. “Again, can I even call this canon? Something feels weird about that.”

Navigating the waters of historical fiction crossed with biography was tricky, especially when it came to the fan-written smut penned centuries later. Briala had a feeling she probably should have been more concerned... but eh. They were all dead anyway.

“Not weird enough to keep from bookmarking a lot of Avery and Isabela, I noticed.” Malcolm had the ghost of a smirk on his face. “Which one is more popular, Moses and Fenris or Moses and Anders? And please don't tell me Cullen or Sebastian are popular.”

…

“Bri-”

“I'm not saying jack shit, dude.”

Yeah, awkward feelings all around on that one. People were weird. Like, there were better choices right the fuck there than Cullen of all people. Even centuries later, it was still clear what a massive douche the guy was. And she wasn't just saying that because she was a lesbian – she knew dicks when she saw one.

Malcolm shook his head at her reaction. “Wonderful. I can only imagine the horrors contained within those.”

“I can only imagine too because I don't read them, just judge them hardcore.” Briala kept scrolling. “And to answer your question, it's slightly edged towards Anders with some fluffy stuff and angst depending on who's writing the bird man. Fenris tends to have a lot of hurt-comfort stuff, but the fluff there is adorable.”

Made sense, given the two men's backgrounds and histories. If anyone deserved that particular genre, it was those two. Of course, H/C wasn't exactly her thing. When she wanted fanficiton, she went straight for the PWP.

No shame in the game – just good smut.

“Huh. Might have to check that out later.” He shot her a blank look. “If I get addicted to reading fanfiction about the character I play, I blame you.”

Briala chuckled as she put her phone back in her pocket. “Then you better blame Maria, because she's the one who got me started.”

“That... is surprising.” A timer went off in the background – they had to wrap things off before going back to filming. “Better put your arm back in.”

Her chuckle tuned to a groan. “Damn it, already? Feels like I just took the damn thing off.”

Back in went the arm, with the familiar pop that always caused her to shudder as the nerves connected. A few adjustments, and nobody would look too closely. Post production would cover the rest up, and then it would just be the annoying fans who minded.

And really, fuck them.

“Well, let's go pretend we didn't just read fanfiction about this scene.” Briala hopped up onto Malcolm's shoulders like a good little gremlin to get into character better. Together, the two of them headed back towards set and the rest of filming.

Later, maybe they would share recommendations with each other. While she hadn't worked with the man for very long, she had a good feeling his taste wasn't total shit. At least he wouldn't be sending her Moses and Varric.

Now that was just crack.

#ramblinganthropologist's writing #That Dragon Age Actor AU #writober2019

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sokumotanaka · 6 years ago

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Last train home: An ode to Rwby

It’s over...it’s finally over.

Prepare for a long and tired final post.

Look, let me say this;

RWBY volume 6 is a mess and I think that's the most charitable thing I can say after spending several years of being invested in it’s crumbling world.

Maybe it was laziness, rushed or sheer incompetence that made this season crumble, so in my final review on rwby as a whole I may have to do some guess work at points; and after several wasted years, I’m not in a position from this point on to be charitable.

I gotta tell you, volume 6 tricked me, hell from what I seen it tricked alot of us, it started off good, we learned thing we should of learned volumes ago. But then I soon realized that this volume was; damage control. We learn of ozpin origins with salem only to not get to absorb it cause we soon learn through obvious reasons that maria was a silver eyed warrior and when ruby finally starts training, we meet one of jaune’s sisters, also pyrrha’s statue is there, but also neo is back, but so is adam and cinder, also mercury has no semblance, tyrian has a new tail-

see what I mean? before you could absorb one thing, two more pop up in its place and there’s such a lack in structure in the world, characters, their growth, development and their dimensions. The magic and power system that rwby has is just a mess that gets increasingly worse as it progresses, they take one step forward only to stumble several feet back and fall on their ass. And maybe one of the problem is I listen to writers commentary; to someone who doesn’t they won’t see as many problems as I do with the series, but when you actually listen to it you see the many problems it has with how this series is handled.

A reboot is at this point completely necessary and needed for this series to make even a semblance of sense. Semblance, Aura and Dust are so poorly handled and explained that they changed at several points to the point of being contrived.

Semblance was originally something you could use when your aura was completely depleted before requiring aura to use.

Except when it’s not but also when it can be, it changes at the drop of a hat, we see yang use her semblance with no aura in her vol 5 trailer, then sun in vol 4 loses his semblance when his aura is depleted.

despite miles changing it almost instantly afterwards...

When I started rwby I was optimistic it could be a great show probably not spectacular or amazing but great, and while it had it’s flaws and potholes at the time they were relatively small at first, but they just kept growing and more issues popped up and...christ if you like rwby and notice it’s flaws that’s fine, but I can’t say the same for people who outright ignore the flaws people critiquing the series bring up to get mad and preach about how only positive criticism can save the show.

Look as a person who started off with positive criticism I’m not saying it has no place, but you also can’t say critics be it negative from your perspective, is objectively bad or unneeded. Sometimes a firm but fair hand is needed.

Ruby’s issues are like a small flame building up, you can close your eyes and ignore the problem but sooner or later if something’s not done your house is gonna be completely on fire, and you don’t know how that may affect your surroundings, for all you know ignoring the issue caused the trees behind your house to catch fire, maybe one toppled over and landed on a neighboring house and now it’s spreading. The bottom line is weather you can get past the issue to find the things you like isn’t the problem, it’s ignoring them in the first place, if you aren’t willing to help something growth and change for the better with non rose tinted criticism then you’re not offering any help at all, you’re hindering it because you yourself refuse to change and that can be just as harmful if not worse to coddle something.

Rwby increasingly became more unhinged as a series, the flaws turned into overlapping problems, this went from a world that felt had love and care crafted into it to a plot and world with more holes than swiss cheese, which is why so many people felt disappointed and rightfully annoyed, could you sit there and tell me if I made a series and told you one thing yet showed you another only to tell you “yeah that’s not what I meant.” in post that you wouldn’t feel even the slightest bit of cheated, lied to or had your time wasted? If not do I have a camel to sell you among other things!

As a person who sat through so many lovely crafted media; I sat through paper mario and it’s whimsical tale, I watched avatar and fell in love with it’s amazing characters, world building and music, same goes for things like steven universe, final fantasy 6 (a game ironically about togetherness) ff9, the persona series, hunter x hunter, soul eater, gravity falls, Disney flicks, the dragon age series every super giant game, all these and more were handled with so much love and care and hold their structure throughout.

I. LOVE. MEDIA.

I spend most of my time absorbed in their stories worlds and characters, laughing and crying and growing with them to the point I studied it, twice to get two separate degrees in it because I wanted to write at a time. So when I critique rwby, call out it’s flaws and so on, it’s not a personal attack on you if you like it, but I also can’t be satisfied with where the series has gone, not because it’s not ‘my’ take but because I enjoy narrative flow, I find interest in the characters if the plot isn’t too good and vise versa, media can touch on so many amazing things and I felt at a time...that miles and kerry could do well if they tried, if they applied themselves, before becoming such mean spirited, greedy and unwilling people, and this was long before I came into the picture, long before rwde no matter how much you disagree or what to place blame.

Cause trust me I seen rwby stans (fans unwilling to hear criticism out and will display many hypocritical and messed up tendencies over a cartoon) not only ignore issues, tell people to kill themselves over a typed critique of a series they like, be irrational, sexist, racist or just plain stupid at times, you realize soon that the rwby tag is a cesspool of horrible people mixed in with a minuscule amount of fans willing to discuss the issues offer fixes and healthy non annoying chats on what they like and dislike.

Which confuses me as an individual cause I feel personally you can and should review rwby without threat of an anonymous person telling you to die over your opinion or one of the writers telling people to...enact physical violence on fans who don’t watch the supplemental material they hide, don’t promote to a casual audience and contradict and retcon on a constant basis. And sometimes it’s through a panel or a tweet, a casual rwby fan wouldn’t even catch unless they constantly follow the writers around or have someone dedicated enough to do so.

And all the stuff I mention and want isn’t impossible or asking too much honestly, I’d like the writers to be honest and fair to their fanbase, like anyone would, I’d like them to listen to actual critique and hire someone who can guide them so it doesn’t turn into one big “damage control” arc, The characters need more substance and need more screen time to grow as characters and fighters, when your fans excuse character growth with “Well animation is hard, not everything could be onscreen it could happen offscreen.” you have a problem, can you imagine ed just showing up with alphonse and it never being explained and I go “well animation is hard.” yeah that goes without saying but at the same time there are writers, creators and so on who get paid less, have smaller teams and sometimes just teams of two people to work hard on their craft, amazing teams with money, production and care like supergiant games get overlooked, so never EVER excuse jump cuts and lack of characterization, structure and development when better writers are out there busting their asses.

Do not be that guy.

*sigh* I been sitting here thinking how how I could end this, how after several years of a fast decline in quality, what’s something I could possibly leave this on? What can I say past this point? I been actually sitting in stunned silence trying to mull it over. I guess all I can say is, if you like rwby fair, fine, despite the major holes I discuss fixes with the series, I draw characters, try fixing the crumbling road of rwby trying hard to understand it, make no mistakes that when I critique it it’s not coming from a place of contempt for the series, but of disappointment in how far it’s fallen and how it could have been good if miles and kerry took the hand offered, it wouldn’t lead them down the most comfortable road, but they’d gain experience from it and could fix the series possibly for the better, and if you again like rwby, do not allow rose tinted goggles to blind you from the issues of the series, the ever growing problems with the series and the unwillingness for the writers to change and grow, do not allow more writers to turn into david cage, M Night Shyamalan, or stephenie meyer.

If you want the best for the rwby series and the rwby brand then you cannot accept mediocrity, you need to be vocal otherwise the writers won’t be incentivized to do better. And it doesn’t have to be straight up criticism, you can word it your way as long as it helps the writing grow, but at the point we’re at and how nice or not miles and kerry take current criticism rwby will continue to plummet and honestly that’s a disappointment.

To all fellow rwde and non rwde who have supported me thus far? Thank you, this has been a wild ride and while we possibly haven’t seen eye to eye I enjoyed and learn alot from watching you over the years, and now I think it’s finally time for the vet to retire and give the reins to new people, I received alot of kind messages from this and they touched my heart, take care rwby critics, it’s been real.

-A past fan of rwby

#crticism #rwde #rwby criticism #rwby volume 6 #rwby critical #writing #finally my last rwde post #a goodbye #bad writing

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akelyokikagu · 7 years ago

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White Peony Court - 01

The White Peony Court

Princess Kagura had everything she wanted— wisdom, power and the most sublime things of the world. The war ended two years ago with the death of her father and the rise of her brother, Kamui. He even granted her ridiculous request for a harem and she had just snatched a young official from Kamui: Okita Sougo. Lot of smut, Kaguoki and includes a male!Nobume.

Chapter One: The Princess

As far as Kagura was concerned she was of imperial blood. Their father, Umibozu, had died two years ago in a battle against other Amantos and through his death, a clear-cut border was also drawn between the scattered tribes and their kingdom.

The world under heaven, after a long period of division, tends to unite; after a long period of union, tends to divide. (1)

Those words had never been truer in their era, for their country had reunified once again and all enemies brought to submission. Umibozu shall be remembered as a legendary emperor who died for the greater good, and her brother Kamui seen as a young war hero who not only led his troupe well but also announced a new era of peace.

The people needed such calm after a terrible war of five years against all kind of tribes living at their borders, each one greedier than the other. The endless conflicts led to a general coalition against the greater nation, the tribes pooled all of their strength in one force and it wasn't easily that Kouan defended its territory. The mountains, especially, proved to be a major difficulty to protect and Kamui exceeded the expectations with his own army— the Harusame— by defeating every single opponent who dared to take cross their path.

Kamui became the Emperor at the death of their father and as for herself, Kagura stayed as a princess for she decided not to marry yet. With the rise of her brother, suitors multiplied and huddled the palace. They were sons of generals, of powerful officials, of rich merchants. Like every princess in Kouan, Kagura's quarter was built far from the politics and thus from the emperor's quarter as well as the officials' buildings yet they managed to catch glimpses of her, trying to court her.

Gifts, poems, meaningful glances... She was the most wanted daughter-in-law of the land, and further. Musicians sang her beauty across kingdoms, her beautiful eyes coloured by the Heaven (2) itself, her striking red hair and white skin like jade. Kagura breathed of the imperial family's characteristic elegance and charisma, men threw themselves at her feet. They all had an interest in a way: the conquest of a famous beauty, of political power or both for the most ambitious whereas she had none for them.

At nineteen, the prized princess was still unmarried and while it wasn't unheard of, one could wonder why didn't she seize the opportunity of her youth and fame to catch a good husband before she could be rivalled if not surpassed. The answer to her reluctance to marry could be found in her education; unlike her ancestors, Kagura made her way in men studies. She had no taste in sitting for hours to stare at parchments but she loved dearly her brother Kamui and refused to be separated from him when he was of age to learn about history, languages and everything an imperial heir had to be knowledgeable of. She followed him, exasperating and amusing at the same time Kamui's teachers.

During the war they couldn't have been prouder, she proved her use by attending the countless meetings and planned schemes for Kouan. Even if she didn't participate in the battlefield, Kagura gained the praises of historians and her people.

When the palace held banquets every day for a whole week, celebrating the end of the war and the victory, Kagura was only joking when said those words:

"Kamui, we may be from different genders but both of us were helped by the Heaven as heirs to our Father. Since you got a harem (3)," she looked at all the beauties gathered around her brother, "Shouldn't I get one too?"

Her brother had always been someone she was close with, and also knew her bore of all those men throwing empty words at her, accepted. A princess having a harem— it was unheard of. Many contested, a princess was to be virtuous so how could they grant her wish for a harem? What would be the use of a harem anyway, for a woman who could only become pregnant with one man at a time?

Kamui silenced them all. He was the emperor, the Greatest thus his words indisputable. He decided to scurry portraits and rumours, brought the thirty most handsome men in the kingdom for his sister. All of them not only possessed beauty but were as talented as any of his consorts would be expected to, his sister had a mind greater than most men and naturally, those who entertain her should be as great as her.

In two years, Kagura's harem built its stability and operation. At its top, stood three men out of the thirty who managed to catch her deepest affections in a way or another.

The first, Imai Nobuhito was a human who had been captured during the war and offered to Kagura. He was a silent but a strong man and could rival a Yato with technical expertise in swordsmanship and despite his background, Nobuhito became very loyal to Kagura to the point of becoming her current favourite.

The second was Shimura Shinpachi, a Yato considered as defective for he was born without any strength. To prove his worth, the young man had worked harder than anyone else and was a genius adviser with an interest in human swords. Nonetheless, his relationship with princess Kagura was known to be purely one of a friendship, though a very strong one. He was both her adviser and confidant.

The third man was once known as the first, he was named Hisashi Hongo. His youthful look, brightness and amiable personality immediately echoed with Kagura's. He was once a great warrior like all men from his family; however, following a severe injury Hisashi's body had become weak and instead he pushed his passion into music and poems. Kagura cherished him dearly and didn't dare to endanger his health further with physical activities thus their relationship became platonic and disregarded by the other men.

Soon, the men serving in Kagura's harem were called "Mianshou (4)".

Nobuhito accompanied Kagura in the front line before the others Mianshou, clad in deep blue silk with scarlet birds embroidered on his dress. He was dashing as always, his long hair tied in a ponytail as he confidently walked beside the princess with a sword at his hips.

The emperor's edict was announced just yesterday, Kagura was to attend the selection of the new officials at the palace with the help of Shimura Shinpachi and Nobuhito as her personal guard. While only the two of them were invited, the other Mianshou, of course, decided to demonstrate their loyalty by accompanying the princess, vying for her attention.

Today again, her presentation was irreproachable. Her favourite maids, Tsukkuyo and Tae Shimura had done a magnificent job at applying her makeup. The powder they set was sheer, Kagura's skin was still peerless, and her lips tinted with a shade of jujube (5) that complimented the light pink dress she wore.

"I want to walk in the garden afterwards," Kagura voiced her desire to Nobuhito. "It's a beautiful day, tell Sen to prepare my favourite tea and cakes, Nobu."

"As you wish," Nobuhito bowed slightly. The Mianshou behind cursed him, their eyes full of envy as the princess leant to his ears, whispering her commands. In their world, the closest to the princess was not only blessed with her favour but their family would be gifted with money and power. Everyone knew how keen the emperor's ears was to her words. A few whispers and their family could become one of the most honoured in the country and them, bathed in luxuries.

They walked past the White Peony Courtyard, Kagura's residence, admiring the palace. The buildings were all richly ornated, painted with red and imperial purple flags were scattered like the cherry blossoms, as they were in the wake of Spring. The Mianshous rarely wandered out of their court and left it only for important events if they were deemed to be interesting enough by the princess. As they eased closer to the main building, officials in blue and green dresses huddled with parchments while the younger, clad in black, were waiting in line to be called by the emperor for their examination. The emperor Kamui had to build his own rule, every year he would throw officials out and select new ones who suited him better. He refused to be the shadow of his father, nor did he want to be manipulated by his oldest acquaintances.

"Is that Princess Kagura?" The men asked each other, surprised by the appearance of a woman at this time of the year, in the emperor's court nonetheless. If there was to be one female able to do this, it would be the famous princess.

"Obviously, look at her hair."

"She's even more beautiful in reality than in paintings."

"Look at that, her Mianshous... I wonder if it's a good thing for this kind of woman to advise the Emperor." Shinpachi was immediately irritated at their words, but Kagura only steeled her smile.

"Don't embarrass me in front of my brother," she said to him. The way she would pull her purple fan from her sleeve, deploying it to hide half of her face was full of poise. Kagura's eyes smiled in her stead at the young officials, startling them all.

As she bypassed them, the other Mianshous left— with the words of Nobuhito— while the trio continued their way. The room of the emperor was as expected: grandiose. Golden tapestry, expensive wood, famous paintings and sculptures created the regal atmosphere. At its centre was a large carpet with a Phoenix, and higher, beyond the steps, was a large painting of a dragon behind the emperor.

Kagura, Nobuhito and Shinpachi walked to the centre of the room. While both Mianshou had to kneel in front of the emperor, their forehead touching the carpet, Kagura only had another kind of greeting. Her legs bowed slightly, she kept her back straight and overlaid her palms so they'd touch each other— her elbows at a straight angle. Her face gently moved towards the floor, showing the respect due to the emperor.

"The princess greets the emperor," she said.

"These mianshou greet the great emperor," Nobuhito and Shinpachi followed. At the top of the room, superelevated was Kamui on his throne, made of a lavish pillow and a dark wood table in front of him. However, the gigantic purple dragons that danced and laced themselves painted behind him imposed a strong aura. He himself was clad in his official outfit, all in purple (6) and gold with a heavy crown on his head, his red locks falling out from it.

He greeted Kagura with a delighted smile, "The princess and her Mianshou can rise."

They did so, guided by Kagura who trotted to a sit just below her brother. Of course, as only men of a harem, Shinpachi and Nobuhito were sat even further down.

"The selection can start," Kamui announced in a loud voice as a man in the room nodded and rang the gong.

First, ten men entered the room and kneeled. After the formal greeting was done, they introduced themselves but strangely Kagura didn't pay any attention. Usually, she'd remember their family names, where they came from or if their faces or names were familiar to her. Instead, she was introduced to a pair of red eyes.

An official rose up, bowed and announced: "Official Abuto presents to the great emperor the ten men with the highest score on the Imperial Exam." Okita Sougo— she buried the name deep in her mind. He was ranked third in the Imperial Exam, and while the first two were from an old and important family, his sounded completely unknown. And her suspicions were confirmed when he announced being from the countryside.

For a poor country boy to rank so high in the exam, Kagura was undoubtedly surprised. He looked just four or three years younger than her, and his eyes had a kind of magnetism she couldn't deny nor explain.

But one thing; however, she was sure of was that she wanted him in her harem.

1. Quote from the start of The Romance of Three Kingdoms, one of the four legendary books in China. It's a romanced story of the three kingdoms era, and their wars— for that reason, it's also a very strategical book that is recommended to read. 2. The Heaven was situated in the sky, which is why astrology is taken very seriously in China or Asia in general, as stars and such are "signs from the Heaven" and thus, of the Gods'. 3. An emperor, in China, possessed a rather spectacular harem that could be amounted to a thousand or way more. Of course, most were low-ranked and were only servants to the high-ranked one, the hierarchy was very strict. The emperor had a harem to show his power, but also to give him as many heirs as possible and there existed a schedule based on the Moon's cycle (believed to influence fertility) depending on each women's ranks. 4. Mianshou 面首, literally means "prime faces". 5. A red fruit, called the chinese date. It's sweet, and often used in chinese deserts! 6. Purple dye was very expensive, and increased the value of purple clothing thus it became the colour of the imperial family along with gold. This story is based on real chinese princess called Liu Chuyu, aka Princess Shanyi.

#Okikagu #Gintama #Fanfic #English #AU #Historical #Okita Sougo #Kagura #Male!Nobume #Kamui

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ocgear · 4 years ago

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Devlog #6 Writing, Music, and Art

Hey y’all! I wanted to give an update since I’m pretty sure everyone thinks I’m dead ^^;

For quick updates on the project: OCG is being produced in two parts now. Part 1 will contain the many mysteries that the world of OCG has to offer and part 2 will be a sort of answer arc. The first draft of OCG part 1 is written and I’ve been hard at work revising and editing the prologue and chapter 1 of the script. For part 1, there is roughly 6-7 chapters of planned content. I’m hoping that at the end of the day, Part 1 will resonate with you, the reader.

Covid has been extremely hard on my ability to complete the project. I won’t get too personal on a devblog, but my health and finances were impacted. I apologize for the delays and this account’s inactivity. I feel like I'm letting down the people who want to read OverClock Gear and I just want to let everyone know that I'm still committed to working on the project and that despite the inactivity, I'm still working hard to improve every aspect as much as possible.

I'd like to share some of the things I learned along the way so that maybe future devs can learn something from my struggles.

WRITING:

As a warning, I want to say that none of the following are hard rules of writing. These are just things that I've observed as a writer and as a consumer.

Probably the most challenging part of a Visual Novel is writing a script that works with the format. The rules for VN writing are different from traditional novels and screenplays as many elements will be shown on screen but usually not enough to get a full sense what's going on. This is more of an opinion, but I feel that the descriptions should supplement the action and we should pick and choose when to show with sprites instead of describing. This is especially true when considering dialogue and internal monologue will make up a majority of the script akin to a movie.

It's not to say you should ignore everything you know about writing, however. There's still things about structure and character arcs that are useful.

Speaking of characters, balancing your cast is also a challenge. Every character is fighting for enough screen time to develop enough for the reader to care. As I'm writing OCG, I am trimming down and trying to give each cast member enough time to breathe while keeping in mind the characters' backstories and motivations. There's also the delicate balance between backstory and current events to keep in mind. I think it's especially hard to figure out how to reveal backstory without dumping a history lesson on the player.

There's also the issue with paragraph length for display purposes. VNs have a unique format that breaks down text into easily digestible chunks. However, overutilizing the space can sometimes make the reading experience worse.

There are a lot of things to consider visually too when writing your script. I've had to think about the actual space that they occupy so that chain of events make sense. Since there will be visual elements to the story, I need to try to figure out how those elements fit in too as I'm writing. For instance, how characters will appear, do gestures, and different CGs that need to appear are crucial to the format and needs to be considered.

From a general storytelling perspective, I've been toying with the idea of including gameplay. However, I realized that in trying to do so, I'd have to create a bunch of excuses to play the minigame which would be:

1. Unsatisfying without enough stages to challenge the player

2. Disrupt the story to challenge the player

I think that if I wanted to have gameplay, I should plot out the game in a way such that the story fits the gameplay and not the other way around. Since I'm working on a primarily story driven experience, I won't be including any minigames that would take the player out of the experience. However, I have ideas for games that could take place in the world of OverClock Gear. Those are sitting in the vault until I release OCG part 1.

There's also something interesting I learned about twists and keeping people engaged in stories. Maybe this is something of a beginner's trap, but when people say a character isn't interesting it's usually because a character doesn't have anything meaningful to say or do, or they're simply floating through the story without influencing it. Giving a character powers and an award winning backstory isn't really enough to make someone interesting in a story. Giving a character flaws also doesn't make them automatically interesting. It's how you tie all these traits into story and their impact on other characters that make it interesting.

In today's day and age, readers have become more critical and perceiving than ever before, so it may seem like you'd need to hide more information to make your twists have impact. But I think it's better to show some of your hand. Twists also need room to breathe. They need to be logical but unexpected. A reader needs to convince themselves that it was possible through several minor clues leading up to the event. But balancing what to show and what to hide is a challenge in itself. Through showing off my script edits, I came to the conclusion that setting up expectations is a lot more satisfying than trying to make everything a mystery. Readers seem to get frustrated when the mystery leads nowhere in a story for an extended period of time. However, that's not to say every mystery should be revealed in a quick fashion. I think it's a balancing act, one in which we have to reveal what we can to keep the reader engaged while hiding the bigger stuff behind the curtains. In a way it's like slight of hand: We try to misdirect the audience with "true" events in the story and then blow them away with something they never saw coming.

An example of a bad twist from a scrapped project that I did several years ago: The main character meets a super secret organization who protects her from a military government. One of the people who protects her is a commander in that organization and seems to know a thing or two about the MC. However he is shot and killed before anything could be revealed.

There are elements that we can anticipate from the scenario: The MC is caught up in some crazy conspiracy with rogues and the military. However, the characters don't come off as interesting because they aren't given room to breathe. The organization became a device to set up the premise of the story. The commander doesn't impact the story and basically anybody else could've stepped in to save the MC. The MC isn't given time to bond with the commander and as such the twist at the end doesn't come across as earned.

These are just some thing that I've been thinking about as I've been consuming media and writing. There are too many games and fictional works that I've ruined for myself by being too critical. But through this, I'm hoping that the final script for OverClock Gear will be something I can be proud of.

Art:

I'm studying animation production to try to incorporate some of that knowledge into my VN. I want to be able to create a more immersive experience and make my VN more visually appealing. Some works that I really like are Muv Luv and Phoenix Wright. They're both unique in their presentation and utilize different parts of visual media that make them stand out.

The Muv Luv team are masters at using dynamic camera movement to craft visual spectacles. Despite the sprites being mostly non-moving, the way they are tweened and the few pose changes they have are combined with the camera in a way that almost makes them feel alive. Even in the first cutscene of Muv Luv Alternative, the parallax effects and strong camera angles help to sell that cinematic feel that isn't really found in any other VN's I've read.

Phoenix Wright's sprites are a joy to look at. The animations are done with such strong key poses that I sometimes forget the game's animations were meant to be limited. In the modern day, there are many tools that are used to create smooth looking animations with complex actions like 3D models or Live2D. I'm honestly not a huge fan of Live2D animations as it often looks as if a puppeteer is handling the rig. 3D also presents the issue of having to create specialized rigs that can handle weird scenarios like foreshortening. For example in Dragon Ball Fighter Z, there's a lot of model distortion in cinematics that is pretty complicated for someone with no 3D expertise. Facial expressions are also a huge part of making visual novel character appealing which can be difficult to do well on a 3D model. Not to mention, to emulate a 2D style, the frames need to be displayed at 24fps which means chopping frames in-between the interpolated keys. It can be a lot of work to create something that closely resembles "Anime". There is also a charm in a more traditional approach to animation that I think more visual novels should employ. Though I recognize that for complicated sprites, a traditionally drawn 2d animation isn't practical at all, I want to use the idea of strong key poses to create more lively sprites as well as play with depth to further immersion.

There are some more ideas that I have for creating a better visual experience, but I don't want to go into too much of a tangent ^^;

Music:

I went back to learn more about music theory and I came across some great videos that emulate the Japanese video game/Pop style. If you're curious, you can check out Gavin Leper's channel on YouTube. That being said, something I realized about music in Visual Novels and Film in particular is that sometimes the music should accompany the dialogue or actions in the work instead of overpowering it. There are moments when elevator music is important and when it's important to use a swelling emotional piece. Not everything in life "goes hard" and I think that also applies to music in stories as well. Music in games is also designed to loop in contrast to film where individual pieces can be created for specific scenes. This adds an entirely new thing to think about since it needs to be repeatable without getting annoying. I don't really have a clean answer to this, but to observe songs from games you like and see how they transition from the end to the part that loops.

This was a long post and there's so much more I want to talk about but I'm trying to stay productive and get the script done. For anyone else struggling with finishing their VN, "Finish the Script" by Scott King is an excellent book. Wishing everyone the best!

- OCGDev

#visual novel #gamedev #anime #writing #music #art

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aion-rsa · 5 years ago

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Read an Exclusive Excerpt From Charlie Jane Anders’ YA Debut

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

We need hopeful, critical, and empathetic voices in speculative fiction now more than ever, and Charlie Jane Anders is one of the best. The io9 co-founder who has gone on to write Hugo-nominated speculative fiction novels All the Birds in the Sky and The City in the Middle of the Night, is coming out with her first young adult novel, and we couldn’t be more excited. The upcoming science fiction adventure is called Victories Greater Than Death, and it’s being billed as perfect for fans of Star Wars (us) and Doctor Who (also us). We’re honored to bring you an exclusive excerpt from the novel—but, first, the synopsis:

THE UNIVERSE IS CALLING—and time is running out. Tina has always known her destiny is outside the norm—after all, she is the human clone of the most brilliant alien commander in all the galaxies (even if the rest of the world is still deciding whether aliens exist). But she is tired of waiting for her life to begin. And then it does—and maybe Tina should have been more prepared. At least she has a crew around her that she can trust—and her best friend at her side. Now, they just have to save the world.

And now for the exclusive sneak peek…

I have a ball of starlight inside me. A globe, containing a billion bright pinpricks. It’s always been there, since I was a baby—but lately I’ve been chewing up the inside of my own mouth waiting for it to burst out of me. Sometimes I feel all these little suns whirling, like they’re getting ready to emerge from the hollow of my collarbone. My whole life has been leading up to this, and I can’t stand the waiting.

I’m dangling by my waist from the side of the highway bridge. All the blood rushes to my head as a sixteen-wheeler truck rushes past, so close that I can feel the air disturbance and smell the fumes. The bridge quivers, and so does my heart. I feel like I’m going to pass out.

“Anything?” asks Rachael Townsend, who’s holding my belt in her strong grip.

“Nothing,” I gasp.

“Maybe you’re not scared enough,” Rachael says.

“I’m definitely scared enough. This . . . isn’t working.”

Rachael helps me pull myself upward, back behind the rusted old railing. I collapse on the hot cement walkway, next to a graffiti tag with a picture of a snarling puma.

“Okay.” Rachael smiles, sitting cross-legged on the walkway with her eyes looking wide and extra green in the midday sun. She’s dressed like a fourth-grader, as usual, in corduroy overalls and a long-sleeved stripy shirt.

“So it’s not reacting to fear. Or adrenaline.”

“And we know it’s not triggered by anger,” I say, “or it would have activated when Lauren Bose put dirt in Zuleikha Marshall’s new shoes. For sure.”

“Is Lauren Bose still harassing Zuleikha Marshall? And the school is doing nothing?” Rachael shakes her head. “This is why I’m being homeschooled.”

“Yeah. And yeah, the administration is both-sidesing the hell out of it. Makes me want to scream.”

“Okay.” Rachael reaches into her backpack and pulls out a folder. “So I’ve personally seen your rescue beacon light up on three separate occasions, and you’ve told me about four other times.” She shows me a chart, with beautiful handwriting and amazing doodles showing different versions of me with a bright blue-tinged glow coming from my sternum. Because Rachael is the greatest artist of all time.

Each cartoon version of me is labeled with things like:

1. Tina about to go to junior prom with Rob Langford 2. Tina right after cops broke up our flashmob outside the slumlord offices 3. Tina finds out she flunked trig midterm

“I got a D on that trig test,” I protest. “I did not flunk!”

“So I don’t see a huge pattern,” Rachael says. “I mean, it’s supposed to turn on when you’re old enough for the aliens to come get you, right?”

“They’re taking their sweet time.” I drag myself to my feet. “My mom keeps saying it might not happen until I turn eighteen, or even twenty-one. She just doesn’t want me to leave. As if it would be better for me to just stay trapped here forever.”

Rachael stands up too, and we walk back toward her rust-colored old Dodge hatchback. She’s being quiet again, which . . . a lot of being friends with Rachael is learning to interpret her many flavors of silence.

Like, there’s the “I’m mad at you and you won’t find out why for a week” silence. Or the “I’m figuring something out in my own head” silence. The most common is the “I need to be alone” silence, because Rachael has major hermit tendencies. But this silence is none of those, I’m pretty sure.

We drive for a while, without even any music. I’m one-quarter wondering what’s up with Rachael, but three-quarters obsessing about my rescue beacon and why it won’t just spill all the stars already.

At last, when we’re stopped at an intersection near the upscale mall and the tech campus, Rachael glances my way and says, “I wish I could go too. When the aliens come to collect you. I wish I could come along.”

I just stare at her. I don’t even know what to say.

“I know, I know.” Rachael raises her hands from the steering wheel.

“It would be ridiculous, and I would be useless up there in space, and there would be creatures trying to kill us, and it’s your destiny, not mine. But still. I wish.”

I want to tell Rachael that she’ll have a way better life down here on Earth. She’ll go to art school, find a new boyfriend to replace that loser Sven, publish tons of comics, and win awards. She’ll have adventures that don’t involve things like an alien murder team trying to kill her. She has plenty of reasons to stay.

Unlike me. I don’t have any real friends at high school, since Rachael dropped out. And the only thing I have to look forward to here on Earth is more people talking down to me. More bullies and creepers at school. More feeling like a bottomless pit, crammed with garbage emotions.

When Rachael drops me at my house, I just say, “I wish you could come too.”

“Yeah.” She smiles and hands me the folder. “Here. You should have this. Maybe it’ll help.”

She drives away. While I stare at a painstakingly annotated chart full of cartoon Tinas—each one bursting with pure dazzling light.

A few hours later, Rachael and I are already chatting again:

Chat log, Aug 19: Trashstar [5:36 pm]: its gonna happen soon. i can tell. the beacon. it’s gonna light up. Inkflinger [5:36 pm]: thats what u said last spring. and last winter. and five other times. Trashstar [5:37 pm]: its different this time i swear Trashstar [5:37 pm]: my mom is doing that thing again where she just stares at nothing Inkflinger [5:38 pm]: oh man, i’m sorry Inkflinger [5:38 pm]: what do u really think will happen when it lights up???? [Trashstar is typing] [Trashstar is typing] [Trashstar is typing] Inkflinger [5:40 pm]: helloooo?! Trashstar [5:40 pm]: i dont know Trashstar [5:41 pm]: they didnt tell my mom much when they dropped me off Trashstar [5:41 pm]: just . . . alien baby. massive legacy. evil murder team. Inkflinger [5:41 pm]: i hope there’s a dragon that u get to ride on Trashstar [5:41 pm]: like my own personal dragon Inkflinger [5:41 pm]: ur personal dragon that u share with me Trashstar [5:42 pm]: i’m pretty sure there will be at least a suit of armor Trashstar [5:42 pm]: rocket boots!!!! Trashstar [5:42 pm]: my theory is i’m the heir to a space casino Inkflinger [5:42 pm]: u’ve had YEARS to think about this Inkflinger [5:42 pm]: and space casino is the best u’ve come up with???? Trashstar [5:42 pm]: or maybe a wizard school Inkflinger [5:43 pm]: its definitely either casino or wizard academy Trashstar [5:43 pm]: pretty sure i’ve narrowed it down to those 2 options yea

This beacon is a part of me, like my liver or kidneys. Except sometimes at night, a faint growl wakes me—and I feel like I have a pacemaker, or some other foreign object, jammed inside my chest. And then I remember that my body isn’t the same as literally everyone else’s.

I fill our electric teakettle, with the switch jammed in the “on” position. And then I lean all the way over the side of my bed, so the steam is hitting the exact spot where the beacon is located. Mostly, the steam gets up in my nostrils and makes me choke.

My mom hears the kettle squealing. “What are you doing in there?” She peels back the curtain that separates my “bedroom” from the rest of the apartment. “Stop messing around. This is ridiculous.”

“It likes the steam! I can feel it reacting.” I cough and sputter.

“It’s an interplanetary rescue beacon, not a pork bun.” My mom turns the kettle off.

“I’m just so sick of ‘almost.’” I flop back onto my bed and bury my face in my knees.

Lately, my mom spends her time either trying to hide her tears from me, or acting like I’m already gone. Last week, I caught her folding the same shirt for five minutes, just creasing and tucking over and over until it looked like a paper football. She’s started calling up friends she hasn’t seen in ages, signing herself up for adult education classes, working on ways to move on with her life without me. But then, she’ll blow off some social plan that she spent hours making, just so she can sit at home staring into a Public Radio mug full of Chablis. I want to comfort her, or reassure her, but I don’t know how.

For all we know, the people who left me on Earth as a baby are all gone, and there’ll be nobody to answer the beacon when it does come to life.

“You could just stay here on Earth and have an amazing life.” She stares at her refrigerator door, with all the old photos and the terrible artwork I did in fifth grade. “You’re already helping people down here,” she says with the full force of her midwestern Presbyterian earnestness. “All of the things that you do with the Lasagna Hats, everything you make happen . . . Nothing could ever make me prouder of you than I already am.”

“Yeah.” I stare at the floor. I don’t know what to say. My mom knows I want this, more than anything, even though it’s going to destroy her.

My mom sighs and drinks from her wine-mug. “Just promise me one thing.”

“Sure. Whatever.”

For once, we are actually looking at each other. Her red hair has wiry streaks of gray, and her eyes have new lines around them.

“When the beacon lights up, you have to run.” Her eyes blaze, out of nowhere, with an intensity I’ve almost never seen before. “Run as if armies were chasing you. Because I’ve told you, the moment your beacon activates, monsters from beyond our world will try to kill you. They won’t stop. Keep running, until you’re sure you’re being rescued for real. Promise me.”

I kind of shrug it off, but my mom grabs my wrist. So I say, “Yeah, yeah. Of course. I promise. Jeez.”

That night I wake up, and there’s someone next to my bed.

All I can see at first is a pair of coal-black eyes, glinting in the moonlight filtered through the branches of the yew tree outside my tiny window.

Then I make out his face. Pale, like a ghost. Grinning, like a serial killer.

Something lights up in his hands. I glimpse a shiny metal tube with four wings on all sides, and an opening, full of bottomless darkness, aimed right at me. Somehow I know this is a weapon.

He stands over me, huge as a mountain, blocking out everything else. Even if I had the strength to rise, I would still be a speck next to him.

“I take no pleasure from killing you.” The giant speaks in a low purr. “Satisfaction, certainly. And an adrenaline rush. And oh yes, a sense of vindication. Your death will probably give me closure. But still, I feel sad that it came to this.”

My skin is so cold, my hands are numb and my arms feel prickly. I can’t breathe.

“I want you to know that I feel nothing but pity for your miserable state.” The huge figure raises the gun to my head.

I scream until my throat hurts.

The gun hisses. I’m about to be burned down to nothing.

I’m so cold, I can’t stand this cold.

The word “miserable” rings in my ears as I scream and brace myself for death.

The next thing I know, my mom is shaking me and yelling my name. “Tina!”

My mom wraps my quilt tight around me. “Tina, are you okay? Talk to me.”

I still can’t breathe. “He was here,” I wheeze. “He was right here. He wasn’t even human. He was about to kill me.”

“Honey, it’s okay,” my mom says. “It’s okay. You’re safe. You’re here with me, it’s only human beings ’round these parts. I promise.”

“I’ve never been so scared in my life.”

That sentence takes me several breaths to say, with all the shivering. The quilt (with squares containing famous women who fought against oppression) helps a little. So does my mom, whispering reassurances in my ear.

That wasn’t just a random hallucination, or a dream. It was a memory. A memory of the person I used to be. Whoever that was. Don’t ask how, but I just know this was a glimpse of her life. The rescue beacon whirs inside me.

“I’m glad you saw that,” my mom says, “because I keep trying to tell you. The moment that beacon activates, they’ll be coming. I only saw a glimpse, and that was enough to make my skin crawl.”

My stomach flutters. “Tell me again.”

My mom hesitates, then nods. “I had just failed another infertility treatment, and they showed up at my apartment. They had a baby, with skin the color of fresh-picked lavender, and big round eyes, and they said you were a clone of someone who had just died, someone important. They took some of my DNA and used it to make you look like my daughter, so I could watch you until they were ready to come get you. They showed me a hologram of the monsters that I needed to keep you hidden from, and it was like seeing an army sent by death itself.”

My mom leans on my quilted shoulder, like she’s about to start crying.

Then she takes a deep breath instead. “Let’s do something fun tomorrow. I have a day off. Worthington Garden Party?”

“Wow. What? Really? We haven’t played Worthington Garden Party in forever.”

The beacon goes back to sleep behind my breastbone.

“Oh! There’s that brand-new mall near the tech campus that we haven’t even been to yet. I can wear my church-lady hat!” My mom laughs, and rubs her hands together, and I can’t help smiling too.

But after she leaves, I close my eyes again, and I still see the pale giant leering at me. Raising that terrible gun. I feel frozen to the marrow, like I’ve waded neck-deep into a lake on the bleakest day of winter.

Worthington Garden Party is a game my mom and I invented, where we go through the mall looking at things we could never afford to buy, and we pretend that we’re planning a fancy garden party for the Worthingtons (who don’t exist, just in case it wasn’t already obvious).

My mom puts on her scariest hat, with the carnations and the pink ribbon, and I wear bright apricot capri pants. And we drive to the new shopping center, over on the rich side of town.

The kitchen store has this red-chrome machine that turns fresh fruit into a decorative fountain, and you can program it to spray a few different patterns. “I don’t know,” my mom says, in a very serious voice. “The Worthingtons are quite particular about their juice formations. We wouldn’t want to have a fruit salute that lacks proper parabolas.” My mom says the words “fruit salute” with a straight face.

“Yes, yes,” I say. “I mean, the Worthingtons. How many times have they said they prefer their papaya juice to really soar? So many times.”

My mom nods gravely. “Yes. The Worthingtons have strong opinions about properly aerodynamic papaya juice.” Over in the corner, the salesperson is hiding her giggles behind her hand.

This is the mom I’ve been missing lately. The one who decided that she and I would treat everything like a grand ridiculous adventure, the two of us against the universe. Even when we went camping and set fire to our tent, and got ourselves menaced by beavers. (They were really terrifying. I swear.)

“I always knew that you were going to be taken away from me,” my mom told me a while ago. “I thought about taking you off the grid, or trying to find people to train you in survival skills. But I decided it was better for you to have some good memories of your time as a human being. However long that lasts.”

We keep moving through the mall, along marble floors that are so shiny, I see a murky ghost of myself reflected in them. We gaze upon shiny shoes, in a riot of colors, that cost nearly a month’s rent. These kid-leather saddle shoes, with peacock feather heads all around the sides, might be just the thing to help the Worthingtons launch the season. “Mundane,” my mother proclaims, squinting at them. “Frightfully mundane.”

The only thing we actually buy is a basket of truffle fries, which we eat in the food court. They smell of rich oils and spices, but they taste like regular fries, just a little sweeter.

My mom chatters about the book club she keeps missing, and I let myself breathe. It’s okay. Only humans ’round these parts.

Then I look away for a second, and see the pale man, standing near the video game store. Watching us. His lip curls upward, and he pats the ugly gun attached to his dark tunic.

When I look again, a second later, the pale man is gone.

The next day at Clinton High, someone has posted a slut-shaming video about Samantha Kinnock, and it has a hundred likes already. Only thirty seconds long, just a close-up of Samantha’s ass in this pair of booty shorts that she decided to wear one weekend, with ugly messages popping up. I hear Lauren Bose and her other friends whisper about it in the hallway.

It never stops. The cycle just keeps going and going. People only feel like their footing is secure when they can step on someone else’s head.

Why would I even want to be human?

I step into Lauren’s path and the rage settles onto me, like armor.

“Leave Samantha alone.”

I get tunnel vision, and my nerves are jangling, and Lauren’s dimply smirk gets under my skin—and the beacon wakes up. Something to add to Rachael’s chart of cartoon Tinas.

This ball of light throbs and pounds against the wall of my chest like a trapped animal, pale glow showing through my hoodie. And I think, It’s happening, damn damn damn, I’ll finally be who I was meant to be.

One of Lauren’s friends, maybe Kayla, sticks out her foot, and trips me. I fall face-first onto the tile floor, hard enough to scrape my palms. Everyone is laughing and chattering and aiming their phones.

The beacon sputters.

All at once, I’m not picking myself up off the hallway of Clinton High. I’m raising myself, painfully, off an opaque black surface made out of glass, or plastic. The floor quakes under my hands and knees—and all around me is nothing but darkness, peppered with tiny lights.

Stars to my left, stars to my right, stars all around.

I’m standing on top of a spaceship, in deep space.

And my skin has turned purple. Not grape-soda purple, more like a pale, bluish purple that shimmers as it catches the starlight. I’m wearing a crimson suit, or some kind of uniform, with a river of lights on the left sleeve and a picture of a strange mask, like for an opera singer, on the right. My violet palms are cupped around a holographic message that I somehow know is telling me this spaceship is about to explode.

“You mustn’t blame yourself,” says a voice like the rustling of dead leaves in the wind. “You were always doomed to fail.” The giant from my bedroom turns his depthless black eyes toward me. He’s wearing a bloodred sash across his long dark tunic.

His face looks wrong, even besides the paleness and the big dark eye pools. I can’t figure it out at first, but then I realize: he’s too perfect. No flaws, no blemishes. The two sides of his face are exactly the same, like a mirror image. His dark hair is cropped short across his white scalp.

“Marrant, even if you kill me, that doesn’t mean I’ve failed,” I hear myself say. “There are victories greater than death. I might not live to see justice done, but I can see it coming. Also, that sash makes you look like a third-rate CrudePink singer.”

The giant—Marrant?—snarls and lunges forward, and his right hand holds the same weapon as in my vision from the other night. I’ve never even seen a regular gun up close, but at this range, I can tell this one will rip my entire body in half.

The darkness in Marrant’s eyes makes me feel tiny, weak, a speck of nothing.

Then reality comes crashing back. My skin is back to its usual shade of pale cream. I’m standing there in the hallway, trembling, and the bell is ringing, and I’m about to be late for class. My legs won’t budge, no matter how hard I try to make them.

Saturday morning, the sunlight invades my tiny curtained-off “bedroom” and wakes me from a clammy bad dream. Even awake, I keep remembering Marrant’s creepy voice—and I startle, as if I had more layers of nightmare to wake from.

My phone is jittering with all the gossip from Waymaker fandom and random updates about some Clinton High drama that I barely noticed in the midst of my Marrant obsession . . . and then there’s a message from Rachael on the Lasagna Hats server.

Monday Barker. It’s happening: disco party! Coming to pick you up at noon.

The Lasagna Hats started as a backchannel group for Waymaker players—until the game had one gross update too many, and then we started just chatting about whatever. And somehow it turned into a place to organize pranks and disruptions against all of the world’s scuzziest creeps.

I grab my backpack, dump out all my school stuff, and cram it full of noisemakers, glitter, and my mom’s old costume stuff. I’m already snapping out of my anxiety spiral.

The back seat of Rachael’s car is covered with art supplies and sketchpads, and I can tell at a glance that she’s leveled up since I last saw her works in progress. As soon as I get in her car, Rachael chatters to me about Monday Barker—that online “personality” who says that girls are naturally bad at science and math, and women should never have gotten the vote.

Then Rachael trails off, because she can tell I’m only half listening.

“Okay,” she says. “What’s wrong with you?” I can barely find the words to tell her I’ve started having hallucinations about an alien serial killer.

The artwork on Rachael’s back seat includes a hand-colored drawing of a zebra wearing a ruffly collar and velvet jacket, raising a sword and riding a narwhal across the clouds. Somehow this image gives me the courage to explain about Marrant.

“Pretty sure these were actual memories from . . . before,” I say. “I think this means it’s going to light up soon.”

“That’s great.” Rachael glances at my face. “Wait. Why isn’t that great?”

“It is. Except . . . I’ve been waiting and dreaming for so long, and now it’s suddenly a real thing. And . . . what if there’s nothing out there but the evil murder team? What if all the friendly aliens are dead? Or don’t bother to show up?”

“Huh.” She drives onto the highway and merges into traffic without slowing down. “I guess there’s only one way to find out.”

I close my eyes, and remember that oily voice: You were always doomed to fail.

“Maybe I can’t do this.” I suck in a deep breath through my teeth. “Maybe I’m just out of my league and I’m going to die. Maybe I’m just not strong enough.”

Rachael glances at me again, and shrugs. “Maybe,” is all she says.

She doesn’t talk again for ages. I think this is the “working something out in her own head” silence.

We make a pit stop at a convenience store, and Rachael pauses in the parking lot. “Remember when you decked Walter Gough for calling me an orca in a smock?” (It wasn’t a smock, it was a nice chemise from Torrid, and Walter deserved worse.) “Remember the great lunch lady war, and that Frito pie costume you wore?”

I nod.

“The entire time I’ve known you, people have kept telling you to stop being such an obnoxious pain in the butt,” Rachael says with a gleam in her eye. “But here you are, preparing to put on a ridiculous costume and prank Monday Barker. This is who you are. So . . . if some alien murder team shows up to test you, I feel sorry for them.”

Rachael smiles at me. Everything suddenly feels extremely heavy and lighter than air, at the same time.

“Oh my god,” I say. “Can I hug you? I know you don’t always like to be touched, but—”

Rachael nods, and I pull her into a bear hug. She smells of fancy soap and acetone, and her arms wrap around me super gently.

Then she lets go of me, and I let go too, and we go to buy some extra-spicy chips and ultra-caffeinated sodas, the perfect fuel for confronting asshattery (ass-millinery?). I keep thinking of what Rachael just said, and a sugar rush spreads throughout my whole body.

I feel like I almost forgot something massively important, but then my best friend was there to remind me.

Monday Barker is scheduled to speak at the Lions Club in Islington, and we’re setting up at the park across the street. Bette and Turtle have a glitter mist machine and a big disco ball, and a dozen other people, mostly my age, have brought sparkly decorations. I wander around helping people to figure out the best place to set up, since this “disco party” was sort of my idea.

“We got this,” says Turtle, buttoning their white suit jacket over a red shirt. “Why don’t you get yourself ready?” They’ve put pink streaks into their hair-swoosh.

In other words, Stop trying to micromanage everyone. Message received.

I retreat to Rachael’s car, where I rummage in my knapsack and put on a bright red spangly tuxedo shirt and a big fluffy pink skirt I stole from my mom, plus shoes covered with sequins.

Rachael sets to work finishing some signs she was making, which are full of rainbows and stars and shiny Day-Glo paint. I pull out the tubes of glitter-goop I brought with me, and she lets me spread some around the edges using a popsicle stick.

I coax Rachael into telling me about the comic she’s working on right now. “It’s about a group of animals living on a boat. They thought they were getting on Noah’s Ark, but the guy they thought was Noah skipped out on them, and now they’re just stuck on a boat in the middle of the ocean alone. There’s a pair of giraffes, and a poly triad of walruses. They have to teach themselves to sail, and maybe they’re going to become pirates who only steal fresh produce. Once I have enough of it, I might put it online.”

“Hell yeah,” I say. “The world deserves to learn how excellent you are.”

She just nods and keeps adding more sparkle.

I wish the bullies hadn’t driven Rachael away from school. She just made too easy a target for ass-millinery: her parents are nudists, she’s a super-introvert who sometimes talks to herself when she gets stressed, and she wears loose rayon clothing to hide all her curves.

The rich kids, whose parents worked at the tech campus, took her picture and used filters to make her look like an actual dog. Kids “accidentally” tripped her up as she walked into school, or shoved her in the girls’ room. One time, someone dumped a can of coffee grounds from the teacher’s lounge on her head. I tried to protect her, but I couldn’t be there all the time.

So . . . homeschooling. And me never seeing Rachael during the week anymore.

Soon there are about twenty of us across the street from the Lions Club, everybody feeding off everyone else’s energy and hoisting Rachael’s glorious awning. And a pro–Monday Barker crowd is already gathered across the street, on the front walk of this old one-story brick meeting hall with flaking paint on its wooden sign.

A town car pulls up, and Monday Barker gets out, flanked by two beefy men in dark suits holding walkie-talkies. Monday Barker is about my mom’s age, with sideburns enclosing his round face, and a huge crown of upswept hair. He waves in a robotic motion, and his fans scream and freak out.

Someone on our side fires up a big speaker on wheels, playing old disco music. The handful of cops between us and the Lions Club tense up, but we’re not trying to start anything. We’re just having an impromptu dance party.

The brick wall of the savings and trust bank seems to shiver. I catch a glimpse of Marrant, the giant with the scary-perfect face and the sneering thin lips, staring at me.

But I remember what I said to him in that vision: There are victories greater than death. I can see justice coming. And then I think about Rachael saying, If an alien murder team shows up, I feel sorry for them.

The throbbing grows stronger . . . but Marrant is gone. The brick wall is just a wall again.

The Monday Barker fans—mostly white boys with bad hair—are chanting something, but I can’t hear them over our music. Rachael and I look at each other and whoop. Someone starts the whole crowd singing along with that song about how we are family. I know, I know. But I get kind of choked up.

We keep on, chanting disco lyrics and holding hands, until Monday Barker’s supporters vanish inside the Lions Club to listen to their idol explain why girls shouldn’t learn to read. Out here, on the disco side of the line, we all start high-fiving each other and jumping up and down.

Afterward, we all head to the 23-Hour Coffee Bomb. Turtle, Bette, and the others all go inside the coffee place, but I pause out in the parking lot, with its scenic view of the wind-beaten sign for the Little Darlings strip club. Rachael sees me and hangs back too.

“I started to get another one of those hallucinations.” I look down at the white gravel. “During the disco party. Snow-white serial killer, staring me down. And this time . . . I faced it. I didn’t get scared. And I could feel the star ball respond to that, like it was powering up.”

“Hmm.” Rachael turns away from the door and looks at me. “Maybe that’s the key. That’s how you get the rescue beacon to switch on.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. Makes total sense. When you can confront that scary vision of your past life or whatever, then it proves you’re ready.” She comes closer and reaches out with one hand. “Okay. Let’s do it.”

“What, now?”

“Yeah. I want to be here to see this.” She grins.

I swallow and shiver for a moment, then I clasp her hand and concentrate. Probably better to do this before I lose my nerve, right?

I remember Marrant and his bottomless dark eyes, and the exploding spaceship, and that curdled blob of helplessness inside me. And I catch sight of him again, striding across the road with his death-cannon raised. The icy feeling grows from my core outward, and I clench my free hand into a fist.

Then . . . I start to shake. I can actually see the dark tendrils gathering inside that gun barrel. Pure concentrated death. My heart pounds so loud I can’t even think straight. I couldn’t even help Rachael feel safe at Clinton High. How could I possibly be ready to face Marrant?

“I can’t,” I choke out. “I can’t. I . . . I just can’t.”

“Okay,” Rachael says. “Doesn’t have to be today, right? But I know you got this. Just think of disco and glitter and the look in Monday Barker’s eyes when he tried so damn hard not to notice us in all our finery.”

She squeezes my hand tighter. I look down at the ridiculous skirt I’m still wearing. And I focus on the person I am in those visions—the person who can see justice coming, even on the brink of death. That’s who I’ve always wanted to be.

I’m ready. I know I can do this.

I growl in my throat, and feel a sympathetic thrumming from the top of my rib cage.

The parking lot and the strip-club billboard melt away, and I’m once again standing on top of a spaceship, and my free hand is cupped around a warning that we’re about to blow up. The stars whirl around so fast that I get dizzy, and Marrant is aiming his weapon at point-blank range.

But I can still feel Rachael’s hand wrapped around mine.

I gather myself together, step forward, and smile.

I can’t see what happens next, because a white light floods my eyes, so bright it burns.

Rachael squeezes my hand tighter and says, “Holy bloody hell.”

A million stars flow out of me, inside a globe the size of a tennis ball. I can only stand to look at them through my fingers, all of these red and blue and yellow lights whirling around, with clouds of gas and comets and pulsars.

Way more stars than I’ve ever seen in the sky.

All of my senses feel extra sharp: the burnt-tire smell of the coffee, the whoosh of traffic going past, the jangle of classic rock from inside the café, the tiny rocks under my feet.

Everybody inside the coffee shop is staring and yelling. I catch Turtle’s eye, and they look freaked out. Rachael has her phone out and is taking as many pictures as she can.

As soon as the ball leaves my body, it gets bigger, until I can see more of the individual stars. So many tiny hearts of light, I can’t even count. The sphere expands until I’m surrounded. Stars overhead, stars underfoot. This parking lot has become a planetarium.

I can’t help laughing, yelling, swirling my hands through the star-trails. Feels like I’ve been waiting forever to bathe in this stardust.

Used with permission from Tor Teen, an imprint of Tom Doherty Associates; a trade division of Macmillan Publishers. Copyright Charlie Jane Anders 2021.

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Victories Greater Than Death will hit bookshelves on April 14th, 2021. You can find out more about Victories Greater Than Death, including how to pre-order, here.

As a kid, all I wanted was for aliens to show up and take me away from this planet. So I put that dream into a new YA book, #VictoriesGreaterThanDeath. Now there's a brand new pre-order page, with links to all the places! Pre-ordering is awesomely heroic!https://t.co/K9v5vUsiSV

— Charlie Jane Anders *Victories Greater than Death* (@charliejane) November 18, 2020

The post Read an Exclusive Excerpt From Charlie Jane Anders’ YA Debut appeared first on Den of Geek.

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FEATURE SERIES: My Favorite One Piece Arc with RogersBase

I love One Piece and I love talking to people who love One Piece. And with the series going on 23 years now, there is a whole lot to talk about. As the series is about to publish its 1000th chapter, a true feat in and of itself, we thought we should reflect upon the high-seas adventure and sit down with some notable names in the One Piece fan community and chat about the arcs they found to be especially important, or just ones they really, really liked.

Welcome to the inaugural article in the series "My Favorite One Piece Arc!"

My first guest in this series is RogersBase, a Nintendo Brand Ambassador. For my chat with him, he chose the Zou arc, in which Luffy and his crew head to an ancient civilization that sits upon the back of a giant elephant.

A note on spoilers: If you haven't seen the Zou arc yet, this interview does contain major plot points. Watch the Zou arc starting RIGHT HERE if you'd like to catch up or rewatch!

Dan Dockery: In one sentence, could you sell me on Zou?

RogersBase: Okay, here we go — Mystery, romance, and a little bit of the Mammoth Boyz. I think that’s the perfect way to describe the best story arc in the post time skip era of One Piece.

The best? Really?

Yeah, by far. For me, at least.

Yeah, I feel like post time skip has been a certainly interesting array of storylines. I think my personal favorite is Whole Cake. So much of the back half of it as soon as the wedding goes awry is great, and the entire Katakuri fight is a masterpiece.

I think Whole Cake is a totally reasonable answer, and I think you probably like it for the same reasons that I like Zou: the characterization and the drama that isn’t centered around the characters saving a kingdom. The kingdom of Zou has already been destroyed. There’s no saving it at this point. The only thing they want to save is Raizo. So you don’t have to deal with the villain hierarchies and families of say Dressrosa or Wano. And the nice thing about it is that since it’s a shorter, condensed story arc, it really hammers home the motivations of the characters and gives us this terrifying villain that’s not even present for most of the arc.

I really like Jack. He only appears in a flashback for the most part and he’s a scourge of the kingdom. And then he comes back, only to be hit by that elephant. And that’s one of those things at the beginning of the arc, when I saw this massive thing, I thought “Aw, man. I wanna see what that elephant can do. I hope it hits something” and then IT DOES. I flipped out. It was so satisfying. Did you know that Zou would be your favorite when you finished it?

Yeah, I think I did. All the arcs up to that point had really high highs, but some of it just didn’t land with me. So to have Oda move away from these long story arcs that end in big one on one fights and go to this shorter, mystery-focused arc: What’s going on with these minks? What’s atop this elephant? Is Raizo still alive? What is The Voice of All Things? What connection does Luffy have to these giant creatures? And with so many great designs and characters, too, with the Minks. It’s really fascinating, and you have bits and pieces that lead up to it, but there’s so much here.

I feel like the Minks might be Oda’s purest expression of side characters because he’s playing with all of these animal figures that are both interesting to look at and emotionally evocative. It’s him flexing his muscles as a character artist. And the landscape of Zou as well - It’s beautiful to behold.

Especially when you think about the amount of content that’s there in a short amount of chapters or episodes. There’s so much that’s told about the overall world, the Road Poneglyphs, the relationship between the Minks and the Kozuki Family, the Beast Pirates, so much gets touched upon that will expand in later story arcs. There’s beautiful, immediate payoff there and later.

It has such a comparatively goofy start, too. They’re climbing this giant elephant on the back of a cartoon dragon that Robin thinks is adorable. And I’m glad she gets a little bit of focus here because, with the Poneglyphs, Zou is a really big set-up arc for Robin. So her role in One Piece’s endgame has exponentially increased.

Also, the focus on characterization. In earlier, post timeskip arcs, you have these epic clashes that take down kingdoms, but here you get a cute moment with Robin. It’s so refreshing to see her in a natural element where she’s comfortable.

What did you think of the Mink tribe’s living situation? The giant white whale tree and the treehouses and all. Do you have any favorite parts of Oda’s worldbuilding here? Not just as a story designer, but as someone who crafts actual places where races and species can live.

It’s cool to see the animals he chooses for the Minks, and how he constructs the power structure and who controls the land at what time, with the dog during the day and the cat at night. The big pineapple trees and the ruins that you see in the Jack flashback, he created a full-blown, believable civilization. It’s always a pleasure to see Oda working in jungle vegetation-type areas. He really excels in this in Skypiea and in his color spreads. So it seems like Zou is something that he’s wanted to do for a while. And how much effort he puts into it is why you feel so attached to the Minks at the end.

That’s really cool. There are a ton of anime side character animals, like Kakashi’s pet dogs and the little animals that hang out with Goku and pals, but Oda really lets loose here with a whole species. And as you said, we should’ve kinda seen it coming with all the work he’s done with anthropomorphic animals. But then, you have the big Jack flashback. And the stereotype of the One Piece flashback is “Oh boy, it’s ‘bout to get sad.” But Zou’s feels like an epic piece of mythology, and Jack is just this being of pure cruelty without any kind of sad backstory. How did you feel about it? Did it surpass your expectations?

Oh, absolutely! To see a character as violent and ruthless as Jack was something needed, I think. He’s an overall threat, not goofy. And his Devil Fruit is fascinating, as you finally see the return of the Prehistoric Zoan type fruit after you last saw it with Drake turning into an Allosaurus. So it’s cool to not only see that Jack can turn into a Woolly Mammoth, but it’s a Woolly Mammoth fighting on top of a giant elephant. And with the way he gets teased leading up to his appearance in the flashback, I remember thinking “How cool would it be if there was a Woolly Mammoth fruit!” and sure enough, there it is! Jack feels like a fulfillment of the promise of the New World — It’s not going to be a cakewalk. Your opponents will be devastating and Jack is so determined, coming because he knows Raizo’s there and then coming back because he STILL KNOWS Raizo is there. He’s like “You can tell me all you want that he’s not here, but I know, and I will crucify you and cut off your limbs. I don’t know why you’re trying to defend this one ninja, but I know he’s here.”

Zou is kind of a double feature. We have Raizo and the Minks and the lore, but we also have the stuff that leads to Whole Cake with Sanj and Capone. Now, I see Sanji’s whole arc here sometimes referred to as Robin 2.0, because it’s a lot like Enies Lobby on the surface. Guy gets taken by the bad guys and is like “Don’t follow me because they’ll kill you, etc.” That’s always felt a little hollow to me because Sanji is not Robin and they don’t have the same motivation.

No, absolutely. And I’m glad you mentioned it because it’s phenomenal how well Zou has aged. They manage to give these characterization moments to Robin and Sanji and the crew while introducing all this stuff and managing to make us care about all of it. There are people that are like “I can’t wait for Carrot to officially join the crew,” and it all stems from this story arc.

In terms of characters that get done so well that even though their time with you is brief, they still stick with you for a long time, I think a good example is Pedro. He joins everyone and he’s this stoic, mentor figure, a character type that usually doesn't fare so well when it comes to surviving anime series intact. And obviously, RIP Pedro. But it’s a testament to what you’re talking about because he just joins the crew and you’re like “Yeah, sure. Gimme fifty more chapters of him.”

He’s got this cool eye patch, he has a beef with Big Mom, he knows about the world. And he’s the one who’s sort of the most hesitant to trust the Straw Hats at first after the disaster with Jack and all. But by the ending, he knows that the Straw Hats are the guys that he’s been waiting for. This is the crew that will bring upon that new dawn. And we haven’t even talked about Pekoms yet! He has those ties to Big Mom and to Bepo and to Zou and to Pedro and to Capone, who shoots him.

What do you think of the Poneglyph system? It’s both indicative of the Straw Hat endgame, but it isn’t like this magic map. What do you think of it as kind of a quest marker?

It’s great because you learn that there are a definite few that mean something and that they’re all being held at various places that are run by Emperors. So trying to find them gives you an actual reason to fight these Emperors of the Sea and heading into their territories. They don’t really need to be fighting Kaido in the grand scheme of things, but the Poneglyphs add to the direction of the series.

ONE PIECE LIGHTNING ROUND!

Favorite character?

Trafalgar D. Water Law.

Favorite Straw Hat?

I go back and forth between three, but Sanji.

Favorite villain?

Doflamingo.

If you could live on any One Piece island, where would you call home?

Dressrosa without Doflamingo would actually be pretty nice.

Favorite One Piece fight?

Luffy vs Lucci.

One Piece moment that made you sob the most?

“Raizo is safe!” I was so overwhelmed with emotion, seeing the resolve of the Minks.

One Piece moment that made you cheer the loudest?

Sabo getting the Flare-Flare Fruit in Dressrosa.

Stay tuned for the next installment of "My Favorite One Piece Arc" as we speak with Official One Piece Columnist for Shueisha and Toei Greg Warner about his favorite One Piece arc: Arlong Park!!

Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

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beyondmistland · 8 years ago

Text

My Thoughts on The Sons of the Dragon

I never thought I'd be saying this but overall I was disappointed with TSOTD despite the new material. While some parts of it were quite good by and large the majority of the text felt underwhelming to me, particularly because what we got in Book of Swords is an unedited first draft. As a result, there are typos, plot holes, issues with dates as well as lineage (seriously the Hightower family tree is a mess) and name changes (I much prefer Robar over Rogar personally).

Aegon I  The use of slander is highly uneven. IMHO it would be better to either remove it entirely or use it to the fullest extent and make Maegor's historiography genuinely convoluted. To use one example: Why is the episode with the cat at the age of three most likely slander when the incident with the horse and stable boy at the age of eight is treated as fact?

 There was barely any mention of Aenys's possible bastardy and absolutely no mention of Maegor's possibly magical conception. That sucks.

 It's interesting that some people thought Maegor came before his niece in the succession and others after her. A hint at different succession laws prior to the reign of Jaehaerys I?

 So on top of the Faith having an army and an independent court system it had tax exemptions? Cool. That brings it much closer to the RL medieval Catholic Church in terms of wealth and worldly power.

 One god with seven faces! Hah! The High Spider's work endures @racefortheironthrone!

 There's no mention of who Alyssa Velaryon's Targaryen mother was. Darn.

Aenys I  What happened to Ronnel Arryn's wife and did they ever have any children?  I wonder what the lands, offices, and honors Aenys and Maegor bestowed upon their favorites consisted of? After all the Crownlands are pretty paltry size-wise.

 I am still sore about the fact that there wasn't a Dornish War between 37-39 AC. The setup was perfect for one. Maegor as Hand attacking Dorne in revenge for the Vulture King after convincing dreamy Aenys of how glorious it would be for the sons of the Conqueror to complete his life's work by bringing Dorne under the aegis of the Iron Throne only for Aenys to suddenly call it off on a whim or because of a peace offer from Deria reminding him both that his mother died fighting them and that they had feasted together as friends not too long ago. At the very least we should have gotten some details about the relationship between Aenys and Maegor, especially in light of the fact that Maegor served as Hand for two years during which time the realm was at peace somehow.

 Why were Aegon and Rhaena besieged in Crakehall Castle by the Poor Fellows when they had Dreamfyre with them? Honestly, the best solution IMO to the whole Westerlands conundrum would be for the Poor Fellows to launch a night attack while Aegon/Rhaena are on their progress, resulting in the death of Aegon's original dragon and a wounded Dreamfyre fleeing. (Btw, I did NOT come up with this idea just to be clear.)

 There's no mention of Visenya having poisoned Aenys possibly. Did GRRM write material on Aenys and Maegor for TWOIAF that didn't make it into TSOTD?

 I really hope we get Maegor's eulogy for his father and Alyssa's dirge for her husband in Fire & Blood: Volume 1 because that would be so cool.

 Did anyone else get the feeling that if Aenys had been king in a time of peace after Targaryen authority had been cemented he might not have done too bad?

Maegor I  Dick Bean and Bernarr Brune were one of the few heartwarming scenes in the whole story even if it is a case of good men in service to a bad cause.

 Why would Maegor pick a super-fat knight (Ser Guy (the Glutton) Lothston) for one his champions during the Trial by Seven?

 I wonder what the scriptures of the Faith have to say about a holy man bearing arms given Ser Garibald of the Seven Stars as well as what is its stance on suicide because it doesn't appear to be a major sin unlike in RL.

 I wonder where Blackhull is located (probably the Crownlands if I had to guess) and whether it is a town or castle (personally my money is on the former).

 We got a good Bracken and a brave Frey for once! Yay! (Now all we need is a nice Florent and a decent Peake. You can do it GRRM!)

 Why is there no mention of Maegor possibly being changed by his head injury and coma a la Baelor I? Apart from the episode with the cat and horse Maegor seems much more in control of himself and sympathetic compared to after his Trial by Seven. The dude fought pirates and robber knights on top of winning tourneys and melees for crying out loud!

 Where exactly is the Great Fork of the Blackwater located?

 Why don't we hear anything about tension in the Faith while Dorne was independent and why don't we hear anything about Dornish smallfolk joining the Poor Fellows on the march?

 Apart from Stonebridge and the Great Fork we don't get any other pitched battles, which is super disappointing to me, as is the fact that somehow the Stormlands and Vale both sit out the entire conflict. The latter has an entire chapterhouse at Gulltown! Seriously, what the hell were they doing all that time?

 Given that the chapter of the Warrior's Sons stationed at King's Landing numbered 700 and the chapter at Stoney Sept 200 I think it is safe to say that the Faith Militant is a lot smaller than I originally thought.

 Grand Maester Myres was a stupid rehash of Grand Maester Gawen who should seriously have been given a different death or replaced with Hareth.

 Why are female characters like Poxy Jeyne and Patrice Hightower called witches for almost no given reason? Seriously, the misogyny in TSOTD is kind of OTT. On the other hand it was nice to learn that witchcraft and heresy are sins in the eyes of the Faith.

 The buildup to Maegor's attack on Oldtown was awesome.

 Maegor's character as king is really inconsistent. Sometimes he's completely crazy and at other points remarkably reasonable. (Allowing the Warrior's Sons of Oldtown to take the black, latter allowing Poxy Jeyne's Poor Fellows to take the black too, giving the Faith Militant half a year to surrender after taking Oldtown, only moving against his nephew Aegon after the latter directly challenged him, reconciling with Ceryse, initially refusing to believe that Alys had been unfaithful, and not wiping out whole families after the Battle Beneath the God's Eye.)

 Is it just me or does Maegor outlaw the Faith Militant three times?

 I wonder what are a wedded wife and queen's traditional rights, incomes, and privileges. Also, why don't we ever hear of any queens exercising these powers?

 Why didn't Prince Aegon and Prince Viserys have their own dragons when their older and younger siblings all did?

 How the hell did Quicksilver get to the Westerlands all the way from Dragonstone? (One explanation a fan came up with that I really like is that either a Velaryon Kingsguard or a bastard son of Aenys named Aemon bonded with Quicksilver and took her to the Westerlands, where he died defending his trueborn kin, thus allowing Prince Aegon to claim his father's dragon for himself.)

 Regarding the Battle Beneath the Gods Eye: What is up with GRRM's obsession for a hundred casualties? Also, Prince Aegon was an idiot. One does NOT simply fly into the jaws of Balerion.

 Furthermore, why the hell is a bastard from Barrowton fighting for Prince Aegon? Wouldn't a Manderly make more sense? (On that note I must confess that I was really hoping for Maegor to have made a Bolton a member of his Kingsguard. Oh well...)

 It's interesting that Maegor didn't like being called "the Cruel" or "kinslayer". Almost as though he actually had a conscience. Heh.

 The fall of House Harroway is brutal. Seriously, GRRM has one bloody imagination.

 So belief in the curse of Harrenhal started with the Harroways. Neat.

 Maegor decreed that Harrenhal should go to the strongest of his men because he grew fed up with people asking him for it. Hah.

 Apart from the Harroways Maegor doesn't exterminate any other houses the way TWOIAF says he did, which is weird.

 Poxy Jeyne was pretty cool for an 8-bit character. On the other hand that makes the other characters' lack of depth stand out even more. Who are you Ragged Silas? Who are you Dennis the Lame? I don't know.

 More child-brides in the form of Lord Celtigar's thirteen and twelve year-old maiden daughters. Ugh. Why GRRM? Why do you keep doing this when you insist the opposite is true? Especially in this case there is no excuse for making them this young given that we know literally nothing else about them.

 I swear Jeyne Westerlings are cursed. Elinor Costayne on the other hand is one fiery woman.

 Given the way Tyanna's death is presented she might actually have poisoned Maegor's other wives! On the other hand, prior to Tyanna he never even conceived a child to begin with.

 Apparently Houses Darklyn, Massey, Towers, Staunton, Bar Emmon, Buckwell, Rosby, Stokeworth, Hayford, Harte, Byrch, Rollingford, Bywater, and Mallery all together barely command 3600 men and 400 knights, which is weird. If the Masseys are that weak despite ruling a whole damn peninsula how the hell did they give the Storm Kings so much trouble before the conquest?

 Maegor at the end of his reign doesn't appear at all to be broken or depressed the way he is described to be in TWOIAF, which makes the whole possibility of him having committed suicide after descending into madness much weaker, which is very weird because his reaction to Alys's stillbirth sets up what happens with Jeyne Westerling and Elinor Costayne very well without any actual payoff.

 How were Vermithor and Silverwing able to hide in Storm's End when Rhaena couldn't hide Dreamfyre in the Westerlands?

 On that note, how the hell were Jaehaerys and Alysanne able to hide in Maegor's backyard at Storm's End when Tyanna found Rhaena's twin daughters halfway across the continent?

 How is Vermithor the oldest and biggest dragon if Dreamfyre was being ridden by Rhaena since she was twelve?

 How in the hell did Lord Robar think Vermithor and Silverwing would be enough to challenge Balerion the Black Dread?

 Maegor ruled for six years and sixty-six days. That's almost as funny as one of his champions during the Trial by Seven being Lord Lucifer Massey.

 Jaehaerys I ascended on the eve of a possible Dornish invasion, which might help fix the whole Dornish Wars conundrum TWOIAF gave us and provide GRRM an opportunity to heavily feature the Stormlands. Cool!

 Why was the Faith's independent courts enough of a big deal for Jaehaerys I to deal with the issue when it never came up during the reigns of either Aenys or Maegor?

 We have possibly three new houses: Poore, Bush, and Whistler. Great?

 I was really hoping for more members of the Kingsguard to show up and whatever happened to Ser Raymont Baratheon after he saved Aenys's life?

 Even though it's been two whole days since I read the text I still can't get out of my head the image of a depressed Maegor sitting atop the Iron Throne with the head of Grand Maester Desmond in his hands.

#the sons of the dragon #fire & blood #aenys targaryen #maegor targaryen #maegor the cruel

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inaweofdiana · 8 years ago

Note

would you mind 68. (awkward hug) for Marco&Sabo or 26. (a kiss on the temple) for Makino & Luffy?

SO ive been trying to think of one for the first request since I got this and ONLY JUST realized it says Marco n Sabo, not Sabo and Ace like i thought it did bc im a dumbass who doesn’t know how to read SO LIKE THAT ONES COMING i already have a little fic fragment i was working on the other day that’ll work for it but ayooo have some temple kisses (n forehead kissed) from Makino and Luffy <3

“The locals say that the hurricane on the next island lets up once a year for a week and that the log pose only takes a day to set.” Nami entered the library where everyone was gathered with a sigh. “And that window’s not for another five months.”“So what’ll we do in the meantime?” Franky kicked back in his chair.“We could take a damn vacation for once where we’re not trying to escape being eaten for two years straight.” Sanji grumbled.Zoro snorted. “If anyone here was in danger of being eaten, it was me. You were just on crossdresser island.” He dismissed.Sanji looked pained. “They wanted to eat me one way or another.”Robin and Jinbe laughed. “You’re too cute not to eat.” Robin comforted, sending Sanji into spinning delight. They all looked at Luffy, one at a time. He was thinking, face screwed up. “We should go back and visit everyone!” He finally cheered. “We can start at my hometown and then work our way back here! It didn’t take us that long to get here the first time, if you don’t count all the butt-kicking we did on the way here! Right Nami?”She was already scribbling in her notebook. “With Sunny’s speed, travel time will be reduced, letting us spend more time at everyone’s islands. So Foosha village, Syrup town, Cocoyashi village, and the Baratie back in the East Blue, then we can hit Reverse Mountain before we hit Drum island. If we have time between Drum and Water 7, we can stop by Alabasta and Skypea. We can also probably spend some time in Sabaody before we head down to Fishman island. Do we need to stop by anywhere else? I can work on a timetable tonight.”“I’d like to stop by one of the revolutionary bases.” Robin chimes in. “It’s in East Blue, so it’s not very far out of our way.”“I’ll pencil it in if you can get me exact coordinates.” Nami agreed. “We should visit Hammock too!” Luffy added. “But we gotta visit Foosha first! And make sure Shanks isn’t there!”“You got it, your majesty.” She grinned.Luffy tipped his head back and laughed. “Let’s set sail then!”-“So this is where you grew up?” Chopper asked as they approached the calm looking island.“Yup! That’s Goa kingdom over there, they’re total assholes! Then over that way is Foosha! Brook! Further south!” He called. After a moment, the Sunny tilted slightly to their new course.“And this is where Dragon brought you?” Robin asked.“Nah, he gave me to Gramps. Gramps brought me and Ace here when we were little to live with the mountain bandits.”“Mountain bandits, Marines, Pirates, and Revolutionaries… You know everyone!” Chopper marveled.Luffy looked surprised as he processed but then laughed. “I guess I do! I’d never thought about that before!”“Don’t forget bounty hunters.” Zoro joined them at the rail. “Only the fun ones!” Luffy threw himself at Zoro, utterly confident that Zoro would catch him.Zoro didn’t disappoint, catching him with one hand and offering him one of Sanji’s smoothies with the other. “If you wanted one, you could ask.” He pointed out.Luffy grinned. “That’s not as much fun.”They landed shortly and disembarked, Luffy leading the way up through the village, pointing out “That’s where Shanks and I used to fish!” or “One time I beat up a tiger over there!” before they reached the tavern.“Are you even old enough to be in here?” Jinbe asked, concerned.“I’m 19.” Luffy pouted up at him. There was a gasp from behind the bar before a woman was rushing around it. “Luffy! Is that really you!”Luffy’s face lit up. “Makino!” He grabbed her in a monster hug, wrapping his arms around her several times over before spinning her. “I missed you!”“Luffy, I can’t believe you’re here, back on Foosha, after everything!” She beamed back. “We came to visit!” Luffy released her to turn and introduce his crew, chattering away.Makino seemed genuinely enthused to meet everyone, Robin reflected. People like that were rare in this world, she’d found. She was glad Luffy had her.Once word got around that Luffy was in town, the bar was packed and he was surrounded by well-wishers. The rest of the crew was surrounded by their share of fans as well, everyone wanting to know about them or asking them for more stories about Luffy. They ended up staying the rest of the day and well into the night, the pub throwing a huge party for them. Around nine o’clock, a huge red-haired woman burst into the building, yelling.Zoro had his hand on his swords in a heartbeat, and up on the impromptu stage, Robin had her hands crossed. She dashed across the room to try to deliver a flying kick at Luffy but he ducked under her leg with a grin and an excited laugh, wrapping her up in much the same way he’d hugged Makino. She struggled and kicked and yelled but she looked secretly pleased around the corners of her eyes and at the twist of her mouth. Makino and the Major were laughing at the spectacle like they’d seen it before, so Zoro and Robin and the rest of them stepped down.The party died down around two or three in the morning. Brook was up on the stage playing a quiet melody on the piano. Dadan and Jinbe were drinking by the fireplace. Zoro was leaning up against Jinbe and snoring while Robin was sitting on the other half of the piano bench with Brook. Nami was drinking against Sanji and Usopp, while simultaneously teaching Chopper the proper way to take a shot. Franky was elbow deep in the stove, making improvements after his seventh bottle of Soda. Luffy was sitting on the bar, talking to Makino, just as energetic and excited as he had been earlier. Makino looked a little frazzled around the edges, but equally happy.“We’ve got your poster here, see? I was going to show you earlier, but then everyone got here and wanted to talk.” Makino gestured to the wall where a blown up copy of his poster was hung with care.“So cool! Can I sign it?” Luffy bounced on the counter.“Of course!” She handed him a marker. “We have Shanks’ too, but we made yours bigger because we love you more.” She winked.Luffy grinned widely, jumping off the counter. “Well duh! I’m gonna be king of the pirates and he’s just an emperor!” Makino laughed. “You’ve been saying that all these years, and now you might actually make it.” She watched him scrawl his loopy signature across the bottom of his photo. She giggled when he added a scrunched sketch of his Jolly Roger. “Of course I will.” Luffy replied when he was done, having been biting his tongue in concentration. Makino cupped his face gently, smoothing back his bangs to look at his face.Luffy stood still and let her examine his entire face in the yellowed lighting of the bar.“You’ve gotten so old.” Makino murmured. “I can’t believe one of my boys is the pirate king.” She shook her head with misty eyes before pressing a kiss to his forehead.Luffy slung an arm around her neck with a softer smile. “I’m not the pirate king yet, Makino! Don’t tell me you’re getting sea-bile in your old age!”“Senile.” She corrected with a laugh. “Huh, that makes more sense, huh?” Luffy rubbed at his chin. After another hour or so, they left to go sleep on the ship. Jinbe was carrying a snoring Zoro like one would carry a baby, and Franky was carrying Sanji slung over one shoulder, Robin perched on his other shoulder.“Let’s put them in the same bed together, bro! It’ll be super funny!” Luffy could hear Franky laughing with Jinbe. Nami laughed with him, carrying a tipsy Chopper. Robin was laughing as well. Usopp was laughing and avoiding Brook’s grabs to try to carry him back to the ship as well.“You just want to see my panties!” Usopp was cackling.Brook groaned. “You never use the hamper! I don’t want to see them!”Makino laughed at the antics of her patrons and Luffy grinned at the sight. “We’ll be back tomorrow.” He informed her. “I’ll probably take them up to Dadan’s tomorrow though!”Makino giggled. “Dadan is asleep in my bed right now, give her ‘til about noon at least.”“Oh, okay! We’ll probably have a late night anyway!” Luffy slid off the counter. He noticed that he was finally taller than Makino, now that she’d taken off her tall shoes. He wrapped his arms around her in one last hug for the night and pressed a kiss to her temple. “But either way, see you tomorrow!” He stretched out an arm to grab Usopp by the back of his overalls and yanked him over. “Want a piggyback?” He asked brightly.“Luffy’s the best captain!” Usopp declared. “Free piggybacks for life!” He screamed to the ceiling.Makino laughed out of her moment of surprise. “I’ll see you boys tomorrow then!” She waved and watched Luffy lead a mad dash down towards the docks. That boy never did anything slowly, she reflected as the rest of the crew broke into a run to follow, laughing all the way. She was glad he’d found people to run with him.

#authenticaussie #one piece #writing #mine #my writing

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starringemiliaclarke · 8 years ago

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Recap: "Game of Thrones": 7.01 'Dragonstone'

‘Leave one wolf alive, and the sheep are never safe’

EW – The long wait is over. Game of Thrones returned Sunday night with a terrific season 7 opener that featured nearly every major character and set the stage for a brutal clash of queens and an epic end game in Westeros. There were maps, mass murder, surprise meetings, an unexpected callback, sibling tension, an improved Euron, and even more maps! We start with—

The Twins: Wait, when is this scene taking place? Is this a flashback to the Red Wedding? Is Walder Frey still alive somehow? As Frey gives his speech honoring the death of Robb Stark, it rather quickly becomes apparent something is amiss. At the Thrones premiere screening in Los Angeles last week, viewers were tittering almost immediately during this “cold open” (placed before the GoT credits quite deliberately to make viewers think it might be a flashback). How long were you fooled? Not very, I suspect. You’re all seasoned GoT pros at this point, right? “Leave one wolf alive and the sheep are never safe,” says “Walder” as his confused men barf blood. All it takes is serving one terrible feast, and your Yelp reviews never recover.

Arya triumphantly whips off her mask, like a psychotic Ethan Hunt, her seemingly impossible mission of killing all the Freys complete. We cheer, and lucky for Arya there wasn’t one soldier in the room who was like, “You know, I’m just going to pretend to drink this wine, I’m trying to cut back on drinking, been working on bettering myself.”

Thrones smash-cuts to the credits. There’s nothing like kicking off a new season with hundreds of people being killed by a teen girl who is, of course, our hero. If that isn’t GoT for you, not sure what is. Arya has leveled up her murderousness once again and we cheer. Yet also wonder: We learned from reading Harry Potter that murder tears the soul apart. Is this murder making Arya into somebody we might not love as much? Actress Maisie Williams wonders about this in our interview this week. It’s been on her mind the past few years — will Arya ever do something to really turn fans against her? Not today, at least.

This question is very subtly raised again in Arya’s other scene when she’s on the road and stumbles onto Ed Sheeran as a singing Lannister soldier (fun fact: This ballad was sung by a drunk Tyrion in the books). This is one of my favorite scenes in the episode despite Sheeran, who felt out of place. Musician cameos in previous seasons (like Sigur Rós and Will Champion) disappeared into the fabric of the show; you would never know they were significant unless you were super familiar with their faces, and even then you might not notice. Sheeran’s appearance is the closest the GoT has felt to having a contemporary Special Guest Star Cameo moment. Fans on Twitter were itching for Arya to kill him.

Still, Sheeran’s impact was brief. We’re quickly pulled back into this moment of Lannister soldiers behaving precisely how we do not expect — they’re sympathetic and friendly and relatable and bummed about their lack of r-mail access to keep in touch with their loved ones. I suspect the writers want us to feel for these soldiers who will presumably face Dany’s army at some point. For a moment, we even start to worry, not for Arya, but for them — what’s she going to do? Will she kill them like the Freys? Again, it raises the question of how far Arya will go.

In the end, she bluntly reveals her intentions: “I’m going to kill the queen,” which the men laugh off. This is a breaking news alert for us. Fans have assumed that Arya would go home to Winterfell, not King’s Landing, but with her newfound confidence at striking down tyrants she wants to take out the biggest level boss in Westeros. (Next: The Euron-peon Union)

King’s Landing: Speaking of which, Cersei is having her patio painted with a giant map of Westeros so she can visually keep track of everybody who hates her — and she doesn’t even know about Arya yet! She literally strides across the Seven Kingdoms like she owns the world, stepping on the little people at her feet. Jaime looks disturbed at her new James Bond villain decor as she lists her enemies. Can you imagine if Cersei had dragons instead of Dany? She’d just roast everybody so nobody would be left alive to threaten her. Jaime tries to temper Cersei’s Donald Trump-ian impulses, pointing out she can’t just piss off everybody; you need at least some allies to rule. Cersei has one in mind, but Jaime’s not going to like it.

Enter Euron Greyjoy 2.0, all black leather pants and low-cut pirate shirt, looking a bit like an R-rated Captain Hook from Once Upon a Time. (No, George R.R. Martin fans, Euron still doesn’t have an eye patch, which in the books the character wears just for the hell of it; I think that would be one pirate trope too far.) I’m very curious to hear the reactions to his physical and personality makeover. I’m a fan. Euron last season was like an angry ambitious warrior, something we’ve seen before on this show and others. As showrunner Dan Weiss points out in our interview with actor Pilou Asbæk about his return in this episode, “We haven’t had somebody with a rock star swagger who doesn’t give a s— before. Everybody in this world cares very deeply — whether they’re awful, wonderful, or, most of them, somewhere in between — they all care deeply about the politicking and give a lot of thought into everything they do. To have somebody traipse onto the stage with a swagger and the attitude that Euron has, it’s a lot of fun and lets a lot of air into the room.”

Euron wastes no time. He pitches himself to Cersei, not treating her like a queen worthy of respect, but like a woman in a tavern he’s hitting on while she sits right next to her boyfriend (in this case, Jaime). Euron has seemingly been reading pick-up artist forums and is peacocking and negging all over the place, trying to demonstrate his social proof. The man’s totally showing up next time in a fedora. He can’t help but test Cersei’s boundaries by advancing on her, watching The Mountain step protectively forward. He amusingly insults Jaime’s lack of hand and suggests Cersei kill her brother. Even his apparent praise of Jaime for his combat skills years ago is actually a subtle put-down — Jaime before his dismemberment was a very different man, and they all know it. Jaime may have privately engaged in some delightful Seven Kingdoms trash talk with Cersei, putting down the Iron Born to Cersei as “bitter, angry little people.” But he recognizes the desperation of their situation and, despite his misgivings, knows that they have to accept any help they can get.

Euron declares he’s willing to do some work on speculation, saying he’ll bring Cersei a gift. The Lannisters are cool with this. They have nothing to lose. What will this gift be, we wonder? (Next: Sansa, you’re spoiling it, you’re spoiling everything! )

Winterfell: In the Great Hall, Jon Snow deals with a matter before the Northern lords — what to do with House Umber and Karstark after they betrayed the Starks to side with Ramsay Bolton. Jon declares they will be forgiven since the traitors who made the decision are dead and now they all need to band together to fight the army of the dead. But here comes Sansa, objecting to his judgment like a lawyer for the prosecution, wanting to throw those adorable teen lord-lings out of their castles and into the freezing winter for their relatives’ betrayal. She presses the issue, making Jon look weak. “So there’s no punishment for treason and no reward for loyalty” is a devastating line. But she’s breaking The Godfather’s famous rule for governing siblings: “Don’t ever take sides with anyone against the family.” Remember what happened to Fredo.

Jon looks tormented. Well, moreso. And GoT fans who went from vehemently anti-Sansa to totally pro-Sansa over the last couple seasons prepare to sharpen their tweets — How dare she humiliate the King in the North! Jon stands firm and lets the young Karstark and Umber kids remain. I wonder if Lyanna Mormont will have playdates with them.

Littlefinger watches a fuming Sansa during this. He’s lurking in the shadows like an ex-pimp Emperor Palpatine: Yes, let the anger flow through you Sansa! Join me and we’ll rule Westeros as husband and his inappropriately aged wife!

Jon mopes up to Sansa and they have a very natural-feeling chat about his verdict. His leadership is both progressive and traditional. Arming women and sending Wildlings to man The Wall is revolutionary thinking for this country. Yet his handling of the traitors feels like classic Ned Stark. Sansa’s objection is understandable — her hatred of Ramsay still burns so bright that anybody who helped him is automatically her enemy. More logically, she’s learned a bit from Cersei (and presumably from Ramsay too, even if she’d never admit it — he said he’d always be with her, remember?). Both Ramsay and Cersei annihilate any perceived enemies. Sansa’s correct that Jon needs to avoid the naive mistakes of Ned and Robb, but in this I side with him anyway — he needs a united North, and his decision in the Great Hall is the type of move that makes people love their leader. Still, Jon could have avoided all this if he spoke to Sansa about his decision in advance.

Later, in the courtyard, Tormund leers at Brienne as he prepares to leave for Eastwatch, because that’s what he does. Meanwhile, Baelish sidles up to Sansa, trying to play on her fears and aspirations. “Why aren’t you happy?” he whispers. She’s totally onto him and doesn’t want to hear it. I love her line as she dismisses him: “No need to seize the last word; I’ll assume it was something clever.”

Castle Black: Briefly at the gate, Bran meets Dolorous Edd and gives him a quick Sherlock-esque mind-freak cold reading. He doesn’t say anything to prove he’s a Stark, like Edd asked, but does prove he creepily knows a bunch of things he shouldn’t, so they decide to bring him in. (Next: MasterChef)

The Citadel: Hope you didn’t have soup for dinner! Too late? Samwell Tarley has finally arrived in the Land of Books and Decorative Chains to read to his introvert heart’s content, and mean ol’ Archmaester Ebrose (played by Jim Broadbent, slipping seamlessly into this world … unlike some people) has put him on latrine and kitchen duty like an Old Town episode of Dirty Jobs. It all opens with a unique sequence for Thrones. Normally the show’s editing style is classical and formal, but here director Jeremy Podeswa uses rapid cutting of Sam’s gross-out jobs for a comedic effect we haven’t seen before.

Co-executive producer Bryan Cogman has pointed out that Sam has found himself in an “anti-Harry Potter” story line: “Sam shows up to this amazing place where he thinks he’s going to get all the answers and all his talents are going to be put to good use. But this ain’t Hogwarts, and the maester is not Dumbledore.” There’s even a Hogwarts-esque restricted section of the library where books are hidden away for advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. Sam steals a key and begins his studies. If only he had an invisibility cloak and a Marauders Map, this would be a cinch.

Samwell quickly discovers that there’s a lot of White Walker-killing dragonglass at Dragonstone castle (appropriately enough) and plans to send a message to Jon. When you think about where the other characters are, this move has all sorts of intriguing potential outcomes.

We get a jolt (the premiere audience literally yelped) when Ser Jorah, of all people, grabs Sam from a cell where he’s apparently being kept. Jorah wants to know if Daenerys has arrived in Westeros yet. He’s also probably wondering who she’s dating. It’s not clear if Dany’s arrival will trigger something for him or if he’s just trying to keep up on current events. It’s also not clear why Jorah is there. Yes, of course, been seeking treatment for his greyscale. And on this week’s EW podcast breaking down the GoT premiere, Darren Franich and I theorized that Jorah is presumably being contained in this room like a medieval leper due to his contagious condition — he’s being kept separate from the population and given basic humane care as he waits to die and/or gets treatment.

Later, Broadbent’s maester explains the perspective of his organization on world events. They apparently keep themselves removed from world affairs, which is pretty monastic for quasi-scientists. Westeros is facing their bizarro universe version of global warming and its top minds are content to sit on the sidelines. You would think they’d want to be useful. Then again, given how many people in Westeros are murderous thugs who use their swords instead of their minds, all these Citadel nerds probably see that winter is coming and think: Screw ‘em, bring on The Purge!

The maester notes that through the ages, no matter many times doomsayers thought the world was going to end, The Wall has held back the forces of evil each winter. That sounds like potential foreshadowing, with echoes of Potter once again. Remember that line in Sorcerer’s Stone? “As long as Dumbledore is around, Harry, you’re safe.” (Next: Dragon’s Den)

Riverlands: Speaking of letting people starve, here we come to a wholly unexpected and hauntingly filmed sequence with The Hound that’s probably my favorite part in the premiere. Who predicted the Game of Thrones season 7 opener would have a major callback to the poor farmer from season 4? Exactly nobody. We don’t know what happened to Gendry but we totally get closure on that guy! A refresher: The Hound and Arya were once helped by a kind man and his daughter, and The Hound repaid this generosity by striking him and stealing his money, declaring that the farmer is weak and winter is coming and that they would just starve anyway. Arya really hated The Hound for this.

So when The Hound finishes bald-shaming Thoros and they come upon this familiar farmhouse, his first instinct is to bolt, noting the occupants don’t want their company. But the farmer and his daughter are long dead, having killed themselves to avoid starving. Is their fate the Hound’s fault? He sure didn’t help. It’s impossible to know if this outcome would have happened anyway.

This leads to an intriguing debate with six-time resurrection champ Beric Dondarrion, who in addition to wearing Euron’s eye patch has totally out-messiah’d Jon Snow. The Hound is angered by the fact of Beric because he’s seemingly walking proof that a higher power exists. But if that’s true, as the timeless and impossible question goes, why does he/she allow such horrible things happen to good people? The Hound wants to know why Beric has been saved (and, I suspect, why he’s been spared so far as well). The Hound has come a long way from the man we met in season 4. The Brotherhood reassured him last season that it’s not too late for him to do more good than the harm he’s caused. He sees those bodies in the corner and wonders if that could possibly be true.

Suddenly I want a scene between The Hound and Jaime Lannister — two men who are nothing alike but have been on a rather similar moral journey over the course of this show. Also: By raising the question of Beric’s purpose so pointedly, the scene strongly suggests that this minor character — whose importance in the series has never been clear — has something crucial to do before the show is over.

Dragonstone: One of the cool elements of this episode is how many different scene tones we get. There’s the mass murder surprise of the cold open. Strategy sessions. One-on-one intimate chats. And here is something entirely different: an almost wordless visual feast. Back in season 2 when Stannis Baratheon resided in Dragonstone, the setting was mainly staged with a distant exterior shot CG-shot and the carved wood table map room. Here we see GoT’s season 7 budget on full display, with a gorgeous sequence of Daenerys landing her landing party on the shore and ascending the stone stairs to repo her birthright.

The lingering of this sequence drives home, without dialogue, how momentous this is for her character. From the very first time we met Dany, she’s wanted to return home. (Also, what other drama would have its top-billed star, Peter Dinklage, spend the premiere just silently observing?) I do wonder why nobody has taken up residence here after Stannis left. This is some high-class beach-front property when most Westeros residents live in shacks; one would think somebody would at least rent it out on Airbnb (Airdnd?).

We also get a preview of Dany’s rad new throne room full of dark dragon-scale detail. She peers at the Westeros table map, just like Cersei looking her her floor map earlier, and lowers the boom: “Shall we begin?”

Oh, we so shall! Already this season we have significant characters meeting on screen for the first time (Euron and Cersei; Bran and Dolorous Edd; Jorah and Sam). There were a few absences, too, but they’ll be around next week (like Theon and Yara Greyjoy, along with Ellaria Sand). We promised before that season 7 has a faster pace than previous years. We didn’t feel that so much in this episode, but strap yourselves in for the weeks to come.

Recap: “Game of Thrones”: 7.01 ‘Dragonstone’ was originally published on Enchanting Emilia Clarke

#emilia clarke #game of thrones #game of thrones cast #GOT cast #daenerys targaryen #me before you #terminator

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aj22writes · 8 years ago

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Chapter eight...

...Is where the real conflict of this story begins. The rest of this arc will not be consumed by this fight with the villains, who we see interact with the Dueling Hearts here for the first time, but this will be when the Dueling Hearts see just how powerful some of the foes out there in the real world actually are.

We also get a new mystery in this chapter, in the form of the name of the organization that the villains claim to represent. What does it mean? What is this organization? Only time will tell.

Chapter Eight

The Sol Takers

The Dueling Hearts took things easy for the next few days. They kept active, of course, but even Tucker, who thrived on all things to do with fighting, even the pain that it left behind, found it necessary to limit himself in the wake of the exhibition match. During this period, Jen and Tucker told Jo about their meeting with the manager of the Megadojo, and, after some serious thought, Jo went to meet with Eric as well. By the time she left, she had a lot on her mind, enough that she immediately set a time for the Dueling Hearts to all meet up to talk, two nights later, at Wilson’s

They met up just after dark. The dojo was closed. Jo was sitting inside on one of four fold out chair that she had set up for them to use, with only the minimum number of interior lights turned on, when the others arrived, almost at the same time. Despite that Jo had been planning how to start this conversation all evening, it was actually Sara who spoke first, asking, “Okay, what’s with all the melodrama.”

Jo was immediately disarmed, “I am not being melodramatic.”

The other three Dueling Hearts laughed. “Yeah you are, dude,” Tucker told her. “You brought us here, after dark, to a closed dojo, to tell us some big important thing. You do this kind of thing all the time.”

Jo’s left eye twitched. They’d figured her out, but it didn’t matter. “This is important, though,” she told them.”

“I’m sure it is,” Jen replied, sitting down in the folding chair across from Jo. She had her hair up today, except for the colored part of her bangs, which hung down over the left side of her face. She was wearing just enough makeup to make her eyes seem a little sunken, and a similar combination of clothing articles as she had at the match, save for a pair of knee-high black and purple striped socks, and black boots.

“Yeah,” Sara added, sitting down next to Jen, “the only reason any of us still pay attention to you when you pull something like this is because it means you have something important to say.” She was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a white stripe down the left side, and a black 9 on the right breast, matching yellow and white shorts, and black cleats. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and dirt caked her face, reminding Jo that Sara had just come from soccer practice.

“I’d still listen to you, even if it was about something dumb,” Tucker told Jo, taking the seat next to her. He was wearing black shorts, and a black t-shirt under a brown jacket with red stripes down the arms, and the symbol for the Checker Township Fire Department on the left breast. Jo remembered when he’d found that jacket the previous year, at a Goodwill.

Jo frowned at her friends, and then said, “This is all beside the point. I went day before yesterday to talk to the guy at the Megadojo.”

“And he apologized to you?” Sara asked, crossing her arms.

“Yeah,” Jo replied, and continued, “and he asked me something. Something that got me thinking. We have a decision to make. We formed this team to compete in the exhibition match, not so we could start a career as professional fighters. I mean, I’ve thought about that. I know you have too,” she looked over at Tucker, and he nodded, “but I’m not sure we’re ready for something like that.”

“I know I’m not,” said Sara. “I haven’t even graduated middle school yet. I’m pretty sure that most major tournaments wouldn’t even let me enter at my age.”

“What is this all about, Jo?” Jen asked, in the thoughtful way that she often did when she was fairly certain that she’d already worked out the answer.

Jo took a deep breath. What she had to tell the other Dueling Hearts was exciting, but it was also a huge deal, one that could shake up their lives for a long time to come. It wasn’t a question that they could take lightly. “I don’t know exactly why,” Jo told her friends, “if it was because we really impressed someone, or if it’s to make up for what that guy said to me, but Prometheus Corporation has offered to make us the face of the Megadojo. We’ll get free memberships, guaranteed entry into Megadojo events, in our area, and wherever they end up building more Megadojos later on, and financial help if we decide to pursue careers as Sol fighters.”

“That is a pretty big deal,” Jen said, nodding. Jo couldn’t tell from her cousin’s reaction if she had been right about what Jo had brought them together to say, and Jen didn’t confirm either way. Instead, she thought for a second, and then asked, “How official will this be? Will we need to get our parents involved? Will there be contracts? Will we be obligated to do anything?”

“There will be a contract,” Jo answered, “so we will need our parents’ permission. We’ll be expected to compete in major Megadojo events, if we can. And train there every now and then.”

“That’s going to be hard,” Sara told her sister. “I have other extracurriculars, and I’m not ready to give them up.”

“Which is why,” Jo told Sara, and the others, “we don’t just have to decide if we want to keep the team together, and if we want to do this, but also if we want to expand the team. We each know at least one other good Sol fighter. Our cousin Amanda, for one, or Kimi. If we add a few more people to the team, then we’ll have relief in case one or more of us can’t make it to a match.”

“Your cousin Amanda?” Tucker asked. “Isn’t she, like, eight years old?”

The other ignored him, and Jen said, “I wouldn’t be opposed to this, assuming that we can break this off at any time without legal ramifications. I’ve considered a career as a fighter before. Something like this would give me a chance to feel out whether or not it’s for me, without having to give up on school and travel around.”

“If we bring more people in,” Sara announced, “then I’m all for it.”

Jo looked over at Tucker. He frowned, “You know I want to be a pro, but I just don’t know if my dad’ll go for this. Hell, he might say “no” just to spite me, like that field trip two years ago.”

“Then we’ll forge his name,” Jo told her best friend, “like we did on your field trip permission slip. If you want to do this, I’ll make it happen, no matter what.”

Tucker thought about it for a second more, and then finally said, “Yeah, okay, let’s do it. Let’s become pros.”

The four fighters beamed at each other. They were excited, and they were proud. All of that was sapped away, however, when they heard a slow clapping from the direction of the dojo’s main entrance. The Dueling Hearts turned as one toward the noise. They had been so wrapped up in their conversation that they hadn’t heard anyone enter, let alone the three people who now stood before them.

Two of them were male. The tallest of them had light brown hair and hazel eyes that scrutinized the Dueling Hearts harshly. He wore a black t-shirt with a golden dragon decal printed across the chest., torn and faded black jeans, and a chain strapped to his belt loops. The next tallest, the other male of the group, had longer, darker hair that stuck out in random directions, but there was a certain order to that chaos. He wore a pressed button-up shirt under a purple silk vest, and black slacks. The look that he gave the Dueling Hearts was one of indifference.

The third, however, was the one who caught Jo’s eye, and moved her to stand. The only female of this group of interlopers stood in front of her two male companions. She was the shortest of the three, but only by a few inches. Jo guessed her to be an inch or two shorter than herself, and, like the other two, to be about Jo’s age. She was gorgeous, with silky brown hair that flowed down her back, eyes a shade or so lighter than Jo’s that shined like marbles behind square-framed glasses. Pale freckles dotted her nose and cheeks.

She didn’t have the physique of a fighter, instead having a rather womanly figure despite her age. She looked like she could be a model, and yet, just looking at her, Jo felt something strange, as if this young woman were the most imposing presence that she had ever encountered. Jo had to stop herself from staring. It was this young woman who had been clapping. “That’s inspiring,” she told Jo and Tucker, looking upon them, and the other two Dueling Hearts, with amusement.

The others must have also sensed something odd from these three, or they were just following Jo’s lead, because they stood as well and faced the three. After a second to find her voice, Jo said, “Sorry, but if you’re here to inquire about joining Wilson’s Dojo, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. It’s technically closed right now.”

“That’s not why we’re here,” the brown-haired girl replied. “I am Karen,” she announced, “and these are my teammates, Peter Lawrence,” she gestured to the tallest of her group, “and Montgomery Williams,” she gestured to the young man in the silk vest.

“Call us Monty and Lawrence,” Monty interjected.

“We represent an organization called the Sol Takers,” Karen continued, “and we’ve come looking for you four. You were impressive in your recent victory against Team Beatdown.”

Jo relaxed a little bit. These three still gave off a strange vibe, but now she at least had an idea of why they were here. Since beating Team Beatdown, there had been plenty of amateur fighters, and fans of Heart to Hearts, who had approached her and the other Dueling Hearts, randomly, wherever they went. Some wanted to praise them, some wanted to go at them for beating their favorite pro team, and others attempted to challenge them. Jo was getting a little sick of it. She simply wasn’t used to the attention yet, but with that being the reason for these three showing up, it at least gave her an idea of how to get rid of them quickly.

“I’m glad you guys liked the fight,” Jo told them, stepping closer to them, noticing, as she did, how nervous she became as she grew closer to Karen, “but this place is private property. I work here, so I’m allowed here after hours, but you’re technically trespassing.”

Jo smiled nicely at each of them in turn, “But, if you come back tomorrow, I’ll be here, and we can talk about the match.”

She made to guide the interlopers to the door, but stopped when Karen said, “Actually, that’s not why we’re here, either.”

Jo took a couple of uneasy steps back. “Do you want to challenge us?” she asked, starting to get a little concerned. These three weren’t really dressed for a fight, but that didn’t really mean anything. A lot of Sol fighters were practiced in fighting in their regular clothing. If these three did want to fight the Dueling Hearts, and they came here, at this hour, to issue their challenge, then they were likely very serious about it.

Karen smiled, “Yeah, I guess you can say it’s something like that.”

Jo nodded, and suppressed a frown, saying, “Well, the same point still stands. The dojo is closed until tomorrow. Come by then, and I’ll spar with you guys a little.”

“We don’t want to spar with you,” Karen countered. “We want a Heart to Heart, and we aren’t asking.”

She smiled again, “Isn’t it true that the old man who runs this place sleeps in a room behind the offices?”

She glanced in the direction of the wall separating the main section of the dojo from Wilson’s apartment. Standing by the door, the three interlopers were relatively close to it. Before Jo had a chance to realize what it was that Karen was saying, Karen nodded to Lawrence, and he reached toward the wall. As he flexed his arm, without any warning at all, that arm became surrounded by a huge avatar of an arm, even longer than Lawrence’s entire body. It was a similar golden color to the animal avatars that Jason had created with his Sol during the exhibition match, but where the color of Jason’s avatars had been a pale yellow-gold, this avatar shone a proud bright gold that lit up the room.

The huge arm didn’t have the proportions of a human arm. There was a texture to it, like scales, and it ended in four long, clawed fingers. It’s claws were less than an inch from the wall, and the arm was not fully outstretched. If Lawrence so chose, he could extend the huge arms even further, and knock the wall over onto the sleeping Wilson. He might even be able to reach inside and attack Wilson with it.

“What is this?” Jo asked, stunned.

“It’s exactly what it looks like,” Karen answered. “If you don’t agree to fight us, we’ll kill the old man. And if you’re standing there thinking that, whatever we try, you four will be able to stop it, I promise you, Lawrence is just trying to be visually impressive. If we want to old man dead, we won’t have to rely on Lawrence’s power. Any one of us can do it in seconds, and we’re closer to him. Really think about it, are you sure that you can stop all three of us, when you don’t even know what we’re capable of?”

Jo looked to the others. Jen was considering the Sol Takers carefully. Tucker looked like he was ready to attack them. Sara looked somewhere between nervous and angry. Jo didn’t know if her friends would back her, she didn’t even know if she wanted them to, as serious as these three were, but she was not going to let them hurt Wilson.

“Fine,” Jo said, “there’s a lot out back. I’ll fight the three of you there.”

Karen smiled again, and shook her head, “Sorry, no, it’s all of you, or none of you.”

Jo was about to protest, but she didn’t have a chance. Tucker stepped up next to her, “If you guys want a fight, we’ll give you one.”

“You don’t get to go around making threats like that,” said Sara, ignoring the sweat running down her face.

“There’s only three of you,” said Jen logically, “and four of us. Our chances are good. But in exchange for this, you have to leave once the fight is over.”

Karen nodded. As she did, Lawrence lowered his arms to his side, and the avatar around it faded away. “Shall we?” Karen asked, and she and her companions led the way to the back lot of Wilson’s dojo, with Jo and the Dueling Hearts following close behind.

The back of the building was fairly well lit. A couple of nearby street lights, as well as a security light positioned above the back door of the building, made sure of that. Fighting here wouldn’t be a problem, and Jo was personality at a pretty large advantage, seeing how the three lights cast deep shadows that crossed each other at multiple points. If Jo was careful, she could use Shadow Step almost anywhere on the lot without having to stop even once. Even if these guys did see the fight with Christopher, they wouldn’t be ready for that.

The two groups reached the stage of their battle, and took up positions at opposite ends of the lot. It was the tallest one, Lawrence, who stepped onto the rubbery ground first, cracking his knuckles. “I get the first fight,” he said, his voice dripping with eager confidence. Listening to him, Jo was almost reminded of Tucker.

“How are we going to handle this?” Jo asked Karen. It was clear that she was the decision-maker of the group, after all. “We can’t have a proper teams match with an uneven number.”

Karen thought for a second, “How about this? We’ll have three separate Heart to Hearts. Monty and I will each fight one member of your team. Lawrence, since he’s so eager, will fight the remaining two. If your team wins even one victory, the three of us will leave.”

Jo was surprised. Karen sounded completely serious, and yet what she’d said didn’t make any sense. Lawrence was fighting first. If they only fought three Heart to Hearts, then that would mean that Karen intended for Lawrence to fight two people at the same time. There was no way he could win something like that. He’d lose, and Monty and Karen wouldn’t get a chance to fight at all. Still, it was the fastest way to get rid of these guys, so why not?”

“Okay,” Jo agreed. She was about to offer to be one of the fighters to take on Lawrence when Tucker cut her off.

“I’ll fight you,” Tucker announced, stepping forward and facing Lawrence. They glared at each other, and static leaped between them as their competitive energies mixed.

“Me too,” declared Jen, stepping forward as well. Jo moved to stop her, but Jen cut her off, saying, in a voice too quiet for Karen and her group to hear, “these guys are too confident. If they think that this Lawrence guy is tough enough to take on two of us at once, and he’s not even the one in charge, then the others could be even stronger. We need to save our best for last.”

She looked to Jo and Sara in turn, “And our best is you two, hands down. Besides, we all saw how big the arm of Lawrence’s avatar is. My gravity powers will have a huge affect on something that size. I’m the best choice to fight him. The choice is obvious.”

Jo couldn’t find any fault in Jen’s reasoning. That was pretty common. None of the Dueling Hearts were stupid, and Jo liked to think of herself as being uncommonly clever about fighting, but Jen was on a whole other level. She could come up with incredible strategies on the fly, and her creativity with Sol went far beyond Jo’s. It was never about pride or thrills with Jen. She felt those things, sure, but she approached each fight logically. If she was volunteering to fight someone, it was because she had thought it through and determined that she was the most likely to beat them. So Jo nodded, and Jen stepped up beside Tucker. The amount of energy filling the air between them increased even more, and yet Jo found her eyes once again wandering to Karen. She had to fight to peel them away, and focus on the impending action.

In the makeshift ring of rubberized turf, Jen took up her usual tight stance, while Tucker stood with his arms up, but his stance loose and open. Meanwhile, Lawrence paid the two of them little mind, not even bothering to guard. Jo found his behavior insulting, even though it was the same kind of thing that she did often when faced with fighters who she didn’t expect could beat her. Was this Lawrence’s attitude as well? Was he so convinced that he was stronger than two of the Dueling Hearts at once? Even if he was convinced, he was wrong. No one was that powerful.

Yet Karen didn’t seem concerned. The way she stood so nonchalantly on her team’s side of the makeshift arena, you would never know that she had started this match by threatening a man’s life. You would never know that her teammate was in a bad situation where he could easily find himself seriously hurt. Either she was just as unconcerned as Lawrence himself, or she just didn’t care. In fact, she seemed almost impatient to get things started. She looked from Jen, Tucker and Lawrence, to Jo, and said with a grin, “Let’s make this official, shall we? Team Dueling Hearts versus the Sol Takers, round one, let the Heart to Heart begin.”

Onward to Chapter Nine

#dueling hearts #chapter 1x08 #dh jen #dh tucker #dh lawrence #dh sol takers #aj22writes

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