#so that they didn't go on for 7 minutes describing their concepts

[trans-xianxian]

I can't tell if the face painting prompts the kids give in the new game changer ep are genuinely their ideas or given to them beforehand, because "tiger going through a divorce", "stock trading floor", and "my face but smaller" are all 100% goofs kids would come up with on their own

[zweetpea]

Eternity or stasis Part 1 of 2

Spicy scene so watch out. Also some Archon/Arlecchino slander purely because I don't like the fact that the house of the hearth is basically just training child soldiers. No hate if you like her but she is definitely not a good or even morally grey person.I am so sorry about human dvalin guys. I tried not to stroke my own ego when describing him but all the concept art for human Dvalin makes him out to be a very very VERY pretty man. And I like the Hoyoverse dragons so there is a bit of that. Also sorry this took so long to come out.

"Dvalin please!" You whine

"Mine. You're mine." He growls.

"Ah!" you squeak as he squeezes your hips.

"Tight... so tight... Too Tight! Dvalin I can't breath!" 'Yeah that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here.'

20 minutes ago.

"Dvalin it's been 2 weeks since Xiao brought me back. Andruis has come to visit twice, and both times you've refused to see him. You hardly let the abyss mages and slimes bring me food. "I'm begging you, please let me go. I won't run away again just please." You pleaded desperately trying to wriggle out from between his front claws. He was splayed out like a dog lying out in the sun arms crossed in front of him to trap you in.

"Not a chance. The last two times I let you out of my sight you got kidnapped. First by those knights, then you were taken away and the abyss order has told me you were in the land of Geo. That filthy mud-ridden dragon. What does he have that I don't? What can he give you that I can't?"

"Well, no offence but physical intimacy and companionship."

"Oh really?" He growled in a sarcastic tone (and also literally growled, he is a dragon after all). A bright light blue light shined out from Dvalin's chest as he shrunk.

"Dvalin? What...?"

Standing before you was a beautiful man with sharp features. He had a long pointed nose, and sharp eyes. His face wasn't too particularly round (he had a few freckles on his face) and his chin looked like it could cut diamonds. He had long baby blue hair that fell past his shoulder blades - his bangs curled around his head to the back of his head - and glowing aqua colored eyes that pierced your soul. His horns curved up, back and towards each other; the tips tinted in dark blue. His pointed ears peeked out meekly from the sides of his head. He was tall (maybe 7 feet), and his entire body - from hid shoulders down to his waist - was broad. His chest and abs were sculped and defined. His limbs held muscles toned to perfection, yet strangely enough faded from the pale of his torso and face to a lighter blue and finally to a deep blue at his finger tips and his long nails. Finally just behind him swayed a furry blue and white tail. 

"WHY ARE YOU NAKED?!"

"Why wouldn't I be? I don't wear clothes in my true form. I feel strange like this." He looked at his hand, perplexed by the addition of a fifth finger.

"You- you- two- um-" You backed up as he stalked over to you. "Wait!" Your face heated. 

"Come here darling. You said you wanted to be physical." He pulled you toward him and wrapped his tail around you.

"HELP LITTLE SLIMES!! I fell into a trap! He's got me! And he won't let me go!" You scream as a dendro smile and hydro smile bounce toward you.

"Mine."

"Yes I know but, EH!" You try to struggle. 

"Mine!"

"Eh!"

"Mine!!"

"EH!"

"MINE!"

"EH!!"

"MINE!!"

"Dvalin! Please. This is embarrassing. And I can feel your 'friends' poking my ass."

"They just want to say hi, and they wouldn't be so eager if you didn't squirm so much on my lap." He purrs in your ear.

"We need to get you some clothes." You throw yourself from his grasp with all your might. "Maybe some apple bottom jeans."

"Jeans?" He looks confused. 

"And boots with the fur."

"With fur?"

"Really just anything to keep you 'packages' to yourself."

"Oh? So you don't want 'Physical Intimacy'?" He teases. 

"Um I..." 'Screw it. Baizhu and I are just friends with benefits.' You pull Dvalin closer and kiss him. His lips mold into yours and you poke your tongue into his mouth. He lay you down as his tongue overtook your mouth.

"I... cannot feel my legs."

"Stay right there, I'm going to get some food." He kisses your head.

"Wait!" You grab one of his horns and gently rub your thumb over it.

He lets out a breathy moan and grabs you wrist. "Keep that up and this little snack I'm getting you will be an intermission instead of aftercare."

"Did you want this?"

"It was nice, especially the feeling of your nails scratching along my back. I'll be honest, I'm willing to do anything to keep you here."

"Okay, thanks for getting me some food."

"Of course darling." He kisses your lips, and slithers out of the tower. 

10 minutes later you're feeling a bit better, that was until a certain high pitched Bard showed up.

"Dvalin! Please answer me. I know that you're up here! I'm sorry about what happened about a month ago." Venti pleads voice cracking like he's holding back tears. 

"Hi Venti..." You say apathetic.

"What are you doing here? How did you get back here?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." You snark. 

"Don't get smart with me! You turned Dvalin against me."

"I thought you'd want him to be free, and happy."

"I do. But I also want him to be safe. You are nothing but trouble, and I don't want him around you. End of story" 

"Why don't you give me one more- ow! Fudge nuggets! Anyway Venti," You limp your way over to him. "That's not really for you to decide, now is it?" You taunt.

"What gives you the right to talk to me like that?"

"What gives you the right to demand the respect of your people. You're a drunkard, Zhongli is a deadbeat, and Ei is a dictator. Not only that but the Tsaritsa endorses the exploitation of children, allowing Arlecchino - one of her Harbingers - to groom them into the perfect soldiers. They're exploiting orphans - who only have them to trust in - for their army. What good do you Archons do for your citizens?"

"Shut up!" He pushes you to the ground. Your delusion starts to glow seafoam green.

"You don't protect them. So get off your high horse you fake wannabe dei-"

"SHUT UP!!" He screams as the structure around you shakes and the air in the environment grows warmer. 

"Heh, I knew you were full of hot air."

"SHUT! UP!" He screams in your face as his hands come to wring your neck.

"GET OFF THEM!!"

"Dvalin?/!" Venti and you shout in unison. Him in horror and you in joy. Dvalin drops the food and charges at venti. 

"What have they done to you?" Venti whispers. 

"I chose to become this Venti."

"They've clipped your wings."

"You mean these?" Wings spring from his back.

"You know what I mean! Your powers are drained in this form! Why would you do this?"

"I need them that's why."

"No! I'm putting my foot down. I hate to do this but this obsession you have with them isn't healthy!" Dvalin charges at him and he dodges. Venti summons his bow (the skyward harp) and shot at you. You try to block but nothing happens. The arrow doesn't pierce you but it does knock you out and blow you far off.

When you wake up you're somewhere you haven't been before. Inazuma.  

"Okay. This isn't good. Why couldn't I block the arrow? Was it because it was Venti's?" You look down to your delusion and see it was seafoam green instead of a gold color. "Does this mean I've resonated with Anemo? I shook hands with Zhongli and resonated with Geo, Venti pushed me so..." You hold your hand out and several small wind currents form around you. You bring your other hand up and they all form into a big gust of wind shaped in a pair of wings. "Interesting. Okay... where exactly am I? This looks a bit like Ritou. Maybe I could get across to the beach."

"Outlander! Freeze!"

"Shit!" You start to jump across to the beach on your wind currents. You run through the hills of Inazuma.

"Okay I think I'm safe now. Where on earth did I go?" You run to the north end of Narukami Island.

"Hello?! Hello?" You call out as you look for anyone who could help you. 

"Hm? Hey cutie!" Itto shouts at you. 

"Aw, aren't you sweet."

"Heh. Nah, you're just adorable. Hey! You wanna beetle battle with me."

"I don't know how. Maybe a big, strong man could teach me." You flirt.

"Course I could." He wraps his arm around your shoulder. Maybe you should feel a bit bad about flirting and sleeping around but you were promised debauchery. You wrap your arm around him as he leads you to where his gang was, though you didn't get too far with Kujou Sara and her forces on you tail.

"There you are! Surrender your Vision and the blondie." She demands.

"Oh yeah, the sus girl made me twinsies with the twins."

"The Raiden Shogun has ordered any interlopers to be deported from Inazuma immediately, and if they have a vision we are to seize it form them. This... person?" She looks to you for confirmation, to which you nod. "Is under arrest for fleeing Ritou."

"So typical of a cop to be a rude bitch. Actually that's not really fair. Chevreuse, Wriothesley and Cyno are technically cops and they'll probably be considerate. Come to think of it The knights of Favonius are cops and Jean was extremely considerate. It's just the archon simps- well, no Xiao was pretty nice."

"Less talking more fighting!" Itto shouts in a frenzy. He and Shinobu have to fend of the Tenryou Commission. 

"Sorry!" You lift your hand and the gusts of wind lift the enemies off the ground.

"Now we're talking! Looks like the playing field just got a bit more even." Itto taunt.

"On my command!" Sara yell as she readies her bow. You quickly start to twist and turn your delusion to try and get in back to Geo.

"Don't do this to me. I need Geo right now." You whisper and it started to glow gold again. You quickly jump in front of Itto to block Sara's shot. You then start to pelt her with a slew of jagged spall toward the cops.

"Retreat!" Sara's companions cry.

"Cowards! get back here!" She furiously runs after them.

"Oh my gosh! That was awesome dude! Oh hey, what should I call you?" Itto cheers.

"Babygirl." you respond without missing a beat. "It's this affectionate nickname where I come from. If not that you can call me Gen with a G. Last name Z.

"It's nice to meet you Z." Shinobu greets from beside Itto. 

"Please, call me Gen. We're friend now... or something more." You mumble that last part.

"Yeah yeah yeah, formalities and such. How'd you do that? You went from Anemo to Geo in a split second!" Itto praises. "It was awesome. Does that me you have like, Anemo and Geo inside you."

"Well I don't know about Geo but Anemo and Dendro have definately both been inside me."

"Huh?"

"Uh, not the point. We should get going before the cops show up again."

"Oh right. Well Gen in thanks for you saving us I'll treat you to the Biggest bowl of Ramen I can afford."

"I don't think I'll be able to finish all by myself, but we could split it." 'Please if there is any good left in this universe or the one I come from let Itto and I do the lady and the tramp thing! Please please please-'

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Itto apologizes.

'I love you universe!'

"Looks like Heizou was right. Caught you right where he said you would be."

"I'll handle this Itto. You just get everyone out of here." You order.

"No way! I'm not leaving you behind Gen!" He argues.

"Loyal to a tee, I see why Ayato likes you." You smile. Tenryou soldiers flinging themselves at you.

"Itto we have to go." Shinobu pleads.

"But-"

"Trust me! Go."

"I'm coming back for you!"

"Thank you." You smile. The Arataki Gang ran as the cops jump and overpower you. 

Sara bounds your wrists and ankles, and throws you over her shoulder. "Dang bound again. If I had a nickel for everytime I've been bound and it wasn't sexy, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot  but it's weird that it happened twice. Weirder still that the only two times I've been bound have both been very unsexy. 'This would be arousing if you hadn't been an asshole earlier.' You thought. 'Okay... I guess this is a little hot.'

"Hey do you want to hear something cool? According to the Babylonians, Asushunamir was this super rad person who wasn't man or woman and they were given the gift of prophecy and healing. Also the Norse had this other dude who's portrayed as really really hot and they were gender fluid  but mostly went by he. The gender non conforming have a pretty sweet gig being hot and getting people out of trouble."

"Please stop talking. Besides it doesn't matter who or what you are. Man, woman, or something in between, all obstacles in the Shoguns path to eternity must face her wrath. No amount of strange tales will spare you."

"Bring it on that tyrant is going down!"

"Brave or foolish I do not know. May I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"I've been hearing rumors about you. They say you are not so much man or woman so... how do you work in bed if you don't mind me asking." 

"Well~ you could find out for yourself~"

"I'll have to pass on your oh so generous offer." Sara retorts sarcastically. 

"I'm a power-bottom if you must know! Nah that's a lie I'm submissive and breedable, even if I never get pregnant."

"Well... here we are. The Shogun is just inside. She will decide your fate." Sara unbinds you. 

"Bye Sara. Raiden Shogun! You better get your Bitch ass out here!" You storm through the halls.

"Who dares to insult me?" The dumb little puppet shows it's face.

"I mean the real Shogun! Come on out Ei!" As you taunt her a purple rift rips through the air and Ei pulls you into the plain of euthymia. 

"Why is a long haired hooligan in my presence. What's your name?"

"Gen. Now let's talk about something more previlent. You suck! I don't care if you have big boobies! You're a bad mom and a bad leader!"

"Excuse me?"

"You abandoned your son and say that you want to give him freedom. How is that freedom? You cast him out without anything to defend himself with! And on top of all of that he was basically a naive baby with no survival skills. How dense can you be? You are the cause of at least 25% of Teyvats major problems. Do you have any idea what He's doing out there right now?"

"Wow... you really want to die don't you?"

"Can you stop being so egotistical? There's more to this world than you ya know! I get you're sad because Makoto died, and you feel like you have no purpose. You don't feel worthy to be the Electro Archon, right? Well Miko doesn't think so. She and sara are keeping this entire nation afloat while you bitch and moan about having to do work."

"How do you know all of this?"

"Because I'm not from Teyvat."

"Obviously. You are the adored one. The one Celestia fears. That doesn't explain-"

"No!" You cut her off. "I'm literally not from this world. I've seen this twice before. I got in after beta and I have to look up past events off Youtube, because Hoyoverse is a bitch to the Genshin community. I get they want people to pay for gacha but just have them be a normal world quest or a side story or even a playable movie! Kingdom hearts did that with their mobile game! It was a bit confusing but that's kingdom hearts for you."

"...what?"

"Nothing. Point is you need to get off your ass and work. Your people are dying. They're slaughtering each other in droves. Eternity doesn't mean everything has to stay the same. Makoto wouldn't have wanted that Ei. Eternity can exist through Inazuma's preservation. Their culture and heritage and customs all play a part in Inazuma's identity. If those things can keep Inazuma thriving then Inazuma will be eternal."

"...you've seen this play out before. Is there ever a way for me to reach perfect Eternity."

"not a perfect stasis no. But from where I'm from you and Makoto's Legacy is secure. Inazuma is eternal to my people." 

"How would I even go about trying to fix things?"

"...wait that worked?"

"What?"

"I never thought I'd get this far. (A/n: SpongeBob reference!) I was just trying to sow the seed so that the twins wouldn't have to go through so much bullshit to defeat you and make you see the error of your ways. I was trying to buy time more than anything."

"Okay... so what do we do now?"

"I have no clue..."

"Um when you said twins... you wouldn't happen to mean two blonds in strange clothes similar to yours, did you?" 

"Is the puppet fighting them? Did your puppet take Thoma and they're trying to protect him?" You deadpan.

"Yes?"

"yep, that's them. Let 'em in they might be able to help." 

She does as you instruct and the twins come barreling in. "What the Fu-"

[neurosky]

I found a writing I did for a language arts assignment 2 years ago in my old backpack, and wow. I wrote about my experience with anxiety (mainly focusing on emetophobia), and my first ever serious hospital stay. Reading this back now, it's so clear that I most likely had PANS. It's centered around a time when I was 8, and my (probable) PANS onset was 7-8 years old. There's just so many things I describe in here that are huge signs of it, that I didn't even realize at the time. I'm gonna post it here, just because I think it's an interesting thing to read, and it gives some insight into what it's like to have (likely) PANS without even knowing you have it.

Long Post Warning

I squirmed in my chair as I panicked. Every sound was muffled and I couldn’t pay attention to anything at all. The class all stared at the teacher, but I stared at the floor, with my hand clenching my mouth as if I was going to die if I didn’t – and that’s what it felt like. How did I get here? I’ll explain. This is the story of how I had to grow up at a young age – and it’s not a very happy one.

Before all of this happened, I was a shy, anxious, quiet kid who never really talked to anyone but my one friend. I wasn’t very happy either, being anxious all the time didn’t feel the best. Still, I enjoyed life as much as I could, going on field trips, hanging out with my friend. I liked it. Until I didn’t.

It was a nice, sunny day at school in 2016, fourth grade. I was about 8 years old. I came back from recess, but I wasn’t feeling the best. I felt nauseated. For me, this was an absolute nightmare. See, I had this thing called emetophobia, an extreme fear of throwing up. If I felt the slightest bit off, I would panic to the point of uncontrollable sobbing. On this day in class, while I wasn’t feeling very well, I started panicking, as usual. I wanted so badly to hear what we were learning, but I just couldn’t focus. It was frustrating, and it felt like anything that could have gone wrong, went wrong, at the worst possible moment. The teacher sent me to the nurse’s office, seeing the state I was in. The nurse called my mom to come pick me up. Within 20 minutes, I was at home, still in a state of panic. The sun seemed like it was burning into my eyes, and it seemed like everything was both too loud and too quiet at the same time. My mom didn’t understand at this point why I was so scared. After all, getting sick is just a normal part of life, isn’t it? I knew that, but my brain didn’t. It was like me and my instincts were two different people. I didn’t know any reason I was so afraid of getting sick, I just was. What was even more frustrating was that nobody could really see how upsetting it was for me, so they couldn’t fully grasp the concept of what was going on in my head. My mom wanted me to go back to school, my teachers were tired of me going to the nurse all the time, and my friend didn’t understand why I was gone. Most importantly, I wanted to go back to school, I was tired of going to the nurse all the time, and I didn’t understand why I couldn’t go back.

I never got sick. It was an endless cycle of feeling sick, panicking, feeling sick, panicking, over and over again. This went on for 7 days. Every time I tried to leave the house, my brain would do a sort of short-circuit, and I would feel so sick that I couldn’t function, and I would start to panic again. I was tied to my house like a dog is tied to a leash. I felt helpless, like I was trapped inside my own mind and body, yet no one could even see it. After 7 days, my mom decided enough was enough and took me to the [town name] Children’s Hospital. They admitted me into a hospital room, ran so many tests that I can’t even remember all of them, and we waited. I was in the hospital for 8 days, getting tested for every possible allergy, every possible infection [sadly not EVERY possible infection :(], everything. Nothing came up. They told me I was fine even though I couldn’t walk due to feeling too dizzy and weak and sick, so I was in a wheelchair. Since I looked fine from the outside and all of the tests came back normal, they assumed that nothing was wrong. In reality, it felt like everything was wrong. My body wasn’t working right, my brain felt like it just hated the idea of the world. They forced me to leave and all they told me was to eat more (I was struggling with food due to my emetophobia – I was convinced meat would be undercooked and make me sick). I felt hopeless once again. I didn’t know how to explain what was going on inside, because I never really had to before. It felt different than what other kids had described about feeling shy, and I knew that. It was hard knowing that I was different, and not in a good way.

Since then, things have never been the same. That was my first serious hospital visit, and it was definitely not my last. The doctor’s office and hospitals basically feel like my second home right now, as I’m going every week for check-ups. The doctors eventually found out that my extreme nausea and panic attacks were due to severe anxiety. That anxiety eventually caused other issues that I still struggle with. As I got older, I developed Tourette Syndrome, and P.N.E.S. (psychogenic non-epileptic seizures). Tourette’s brought so much attention to me that my social anxiety started to ramp up again, causing the seizures that formed from the anxiety and stress. That same anxiety was the thing that forced me to grow up and work through things that 8-year-olds normally wouldn’t work through. It taught me to advocate for myself, both medically and emotionally. I’m still struggling with very bad anxiety to this day, but I can function (mostly) and I can do things like write about it in short stories. Although the hospital visits are far from over and doctors still tell me nothing’s wrong when things are obviously wrong, I’m almost thankful for those doctors for teaching me to stick up for myself. In the span of those few days, I grew up. There’s this poster in the nurse’s office that I spend far too much time in, and it says, “Great opportunities are often disguised as unsolvable problems.”

(Note that at the time, I thought my seizures were caused by anxiety, and I thought they were psychogenic. They're actually not psychogenic.)

[iamgrowingstronger-blog]

Cloning Clyde

Hours played: Around 10

Completion: 100%'d

I believe this was among the first wave of games for the Xbox 360 marketplace, and man, I remember playing the shit out of the trial version of this game as a kid. I don't think I even knew what the concept of trial version meant, but that didn't stop me from replaying the game again and again. Recently, I saw it was cheap on Steam and decided to buy it and finally see once and for all what was in the full version of the game.

The biggest thing I love about the game is its graphics, honest. Everybody has some old video game artstyle they really love, be it the beautiful pixel art on some of the titles on the PC-98, or the early uncanny stages of 3D on the PS1. For me, it's gotta be the specific kind of 3D in this game that I can't find the words to describe (maybe when I get better at writing). Combined with the surprisingly animated Clydes you control, and the game has this style that, while old, does not feel very dated. I absolutely adore how this game looks.

Anyway. You control the Clydes in individual levels, defeating security robots and exploding chickens to reach the goal while using various switch mechanisms, using animals to get further, and combining your Clyde WITH an animal to gain new abilities. The game only really has a handful of assets: just four or five level types, the aforementioned enemies are the only enemies, and the number of different puzzle-related objects are probably in the single-digits. Despite that, I never really got tired of the game's small handful of assets. I always enjoyed kicking the crap out of the security robots or jumping around the map riding a sheep, or pulling a random lever to see what happens. What the game has is charm.

However, the game does have a big weak point: the level design. Aside from the occasional puzzle that made me think a little bit, most levels can be beaten while functioning on autopilot. If you're going for 100%, the levels can just feel tedious, since some of them have 15 or 20 Clydes that you have to control and have escape individually, one at a time. Other times, the levels just get questionable, like how there were a couple levels toward the end that were very, very spacious for seemingly no reason. I didn't hate it, but it felt like instead of doing something new, they just took a level and spread it way out. GImmicks get reused, objects get used in the same way, and thus, a lot of the game's 30 or so levels blend together. There were a couple that stuck out, like a neat catapult puzzle that made me have to think for a minute, or the penultimate level, which was this absolutely massive sprawling course that felt like this game's The Great Maze from Brawl, but generally, most were forgettable.

Another gripe is the lack of background music. You'll get a little melody at the start of levels or for defeating every security robot in a level, but otherwise, it's just silent. In a game like Frogger Returns, I'm focused so much on not dying that I don't notice as much, but in a more explorative, relaxed game like this, it really bugs me.

For what the game has, I still really like it. It pretty much was what my childhood self remembered: this fun, jank little game with funny little character animations. I really, really wanted to give this game a 7, but it just doesn't quite reach that bar. Too much of the game just doesn't feel like it's pushing what it has to the limit. It's not the lack of assets that's the problem, it's that they mostly get used in very surface-level ways. Most levels in the game you could stick at the beginning and few would bat an eye.

Overall score: 6/10. Can recommend, was a fun experience. If you're an achievement hunter-type, this game is pretty easy to 100% on top of being relatively short.

[umbraastaff]

from the weird questions for writers: 1, 2, 4, 7, 10, 12, 17, 22

[send me weird questions for writers!]

1. What font do you write in? Do you actually care or is that just the default setting?

answered!

2. If you had to give up your keyboard and write your stories exclusively by hand, could you do it? If you already write everything by hand, a) are you a wizard and b) pen or pencil?

Well, my wrist starts hurting really bad if I write for even like 30 minutes, so no. But if that didn't happen, then sure I guess! Typically I write by hand slower than I type, so the main issue would be the inability to get my thoughts out fast enough.

4. What’s a word that makes you go absolutely feral?

Uhh I don't think I have a /word/ but scenarios where a character thinks someone's going to be upset w them and are treated w gentleness instead breaks me every time lol. I was reminded of this one recently thank you unsleeping city

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

I really like to come up with concepts and figure out how they'd work. My favorite thing about actually writing things out is getting to incorporate lots of little details, and having something tangible to look back on that collects a full idea.

And mostly, I just really like being able to share ideas in a way people will engage with?? There really is an audience for everything and I love to see everyone's ideas and works and to put mine in that mix for the people who would enjoy it.

10. Has a piece of writing ever “haunted” you? Has your own writing haunted you? What does that mean to you?

Oh totally! Ironically I can't actually summon these on command, even if I think constantly about them otherwise, but a lot of the time I'll have something I've read that just lives rent free in my brain forever. Not sure about my own writing, but sometimes I'll feel particularly proud of something and think about it a while, sure.

12. If a genie offered you three writing wishes, what would they be? Btw if you wish for more wishes the genie turns all your current WIPs into Lorem Ipsum, I don’t make the rules

Well can I make like Acaster and wish for infinite genies-- /j

uhhhh

ability for more frequent & prolonged periods of focus on actually physically writing

psychically put notes on a page when it's 3am and I have good ideas that I won't remember but don't have the energy to open my phone and type

enhance my ability to do good plots

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

answered! although I might come back and talk meta on some other WIPs another time.

22. How organized are you with your writing? Describe to me your organization method, if it exists. What tools do you use? Notebooks? Binders? Apps? The Cloud?

Pretty well organized! I tend to organize my fan content by which media it's for, and then crossovers just go under one or the other. Then within those, I'll just sort by the universe / AU / etc the fics take place in, and make further subfolders if needed. For example, my TAZ folder looks like this:

[xplrvibes]

Disclaimer: Any thoughts, criticisms, or reviews expressed in this post are my own opinions. The definition of opinion is: “A view or judgement formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.”

So, I've been a busy bee lately. A busy, traveling, tired little bee.

So, this is going to be short, sweet and to the point.

I actually liked the newest video (Shawshank Prison). I don't know if it's because they didn't mention the bad "A" word, because of the fact that Nate, Sam and Colby (along with Steve and Dylan) just work so damn well together, or because the super whacky shenanigans were kept to a minimum, but this was one of my favorite episodes of season 1.

I will say this: having the three of them go alone into 3 different areas was a very interesting social experiment. You've got Nate in one room, philosophizing and waxing poetic and throwing out taglines ("This building feels like it wants to keep us," like damn bro), you've got Sam running around the prison strategizing a potential future prison break, and then you've got Mr. "Who does this shit?" Brock having absolute kittens in another room and regretting all his life choices.

It was fascinating.

Couple of quick highlights:

Colby describing the prison as, "an evil Disney Princess' lair," and then talking about, "emo Rapunzel" 🤣

WHO DECIDED TO EDIT A GIANT ASS NEON COCKROACH INTO THE SHOT AT ABOUT 6 MINUTES IN? -1 MILLION POINTS WILL BE APPLIED TO THAT PERSON'S ACCOUNT.

Colby really has a knack for zeroing in on haunted shit, eh? He was doing that a bunch in the last episode too, and then in this one, he just plops his ass right on down in the super duper haunted chair. Man has some good gut instinct.

Sallie count was only 2 this episode, so that's favorable.

+1 point for Dylan's sarcastic assurance that snc could use the supposed portal to get back to the hotel when Nate left them.

Both Colby and Nate getting nauseous and recocering quickly was intriguing. Did the ghosts get to Colby and Nate, or did the sketchy pizza? The world may never know.

I sometimes forget that Sam broke his back jumping off a roof for a TIKTOK in the height of a global pandemic. Him mentioning his back tightening up when he's in intense paranormal situations reminded me that he will have back issues for the rest of his life, and someday he's going to be an 80 year old man explaining to his great grandkids why his back is all jacked up, and that is a thrilling concept to me.

The paranormal content was ok, nothing too over the top (always a plus), and a lot of interesting coincidences during their sessions with the talky box thing (Ovulus? My brain is fried) and the Estes Method. The most annoying thing was Colby repeatedly asking this ghost to make the music box go off when he was alone in that room- how many times do you need this poor ghost to do laps around your little singing box before you start to believe in it? If I were that ghost, I would've expelled every piece of energy in the universe to pick the damn thing up and chuck it at his head 🤣.

Overall, pretty solid episode from them, especially with how things have been lately. I'll give it a good 7/10.

[jmtorres]

writing meme! 7: What are you most proud of? 8: What is your biggest challenge? 11: Which character do you have the most in common with? 12: Which character do you have the least in common with? 19: Post a picture or gif that describes your WIP.

7. agh making me brag again??? umm, taking people on feels journeys? especially writing concepts or headcanons that people are like "I didn't think so but i can't unsee it now" 11. hmmmmmmm i once wrote a thing about how will brandt from recent Missions Impossible was a representation of functioning with depression that I related to. I'm trying to think, like, most characters are bigger and more ambitious and Do More Things than I am capable of, and I'm trying to think of what characters I might know that have... smaller more realistic lives. or whose adventures map to things I recognize. *scrolling through things I have written* you know what? Howl from Howl's moving castle. imaginative, creative, vain, impulsive, smart but "lazy", would happily adopt all my friends into my household, overextended, avoidant of my responsibilities, trying to deal with things in the background at the last minute instead of facing them head on, not entirely belonging to the world I inhabit, dyeing my hair and clothes frequently, found my life partner entirely by accident 12. lol idk see this is the thing *most* characters are much more driven than I am, that's what i was saying before. let's go with.... because she's currently onscreen as I'm watching FMB--Olivier Armstrong. she's WAYYY more high femme than I am, she's completely ruthless where I am a marshmallow, she holds grudges in a way I never could, she's a natural commander and I definitely am not. 19. i have been scrolling though knowyourmeme for FMA and i now have a selection:

[image description: screenshot of a tumblr entry with two images from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: Roy Mustang answering the phone "What do you want, Hughes? I'm working" and Hughes replying "Hi Working, I'm Dead" with commentary from three users saying: "which is worse: dad jokes or dead jokes?", "Dead dad jokes," and "I hate that i love this joke so much"]

for Bathtub Body

[image description: screenshot of Ed Elric and Roy Mustang with exaggerated/unrealistic angry expressions and sharp teeth (the anime sometimes draws characters in a simplified over the top form to show emotional reactions)]

Roy being forced to learn Ed's love language is yelling

[image description: fanart of Winry as Rosie the Riveter with the text: "Rockbell Automail. We can rebuild you, better, stronger, faster." artist signature texasuberalles on deviantart]

[image description: screenshot of Edward Elric, looking shocked with enormous eyes, in the middle of biting a sandwich, with the fake/added subtitle "*fullmetal boner*"]

Automale.

[officialisbeth]

SET ME FREE is the debut mini album of Korean soloist LISBETH, the album has two title tracks, being those NO LIMITS and HURT. The album was released both digitally and physically on July 11, 2018. Lisbeth described the lyrical theme of this album as being about "a growing dependence over something or someone".

[may be triggering for others as it talks about an obsession over something unspecified, skip the lyrics breakdown if this applies to you]

TRACKLIST.

1. No Limits [Insp. Tove Lo's Cool girl].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

The first title track kickstarts Lisbeth's story as she allows to introduce herself both to the listener and to what would turn out as the obsession described in the next songs. No Limits is a catchy electropop song that talks about nothing but Lisbeth's own personality before everything starts to fall down as the story goes.

2. Hurt [insp. Tove Lo's True disaster].

Lyrics: Lisbeth, Park Jinjoo.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

While No Limits introduces Lisbeth, Hurt introduces what fans started to call the Obsession, as of Lisbeth's point of view. The lyrics talk about willing to do anything to know more about what the Obsession shows, knowing that they're going to get hurt in the end. Sometimes, it can be confused as a love song, as it seems like Lisbeth is talking to a person. Hurt is a song that mixes synthpop and electropop, keeping a slightly slower pace compared to No Limits, but still as upbeat as the other.

3. Loveless City [insp. Tove Lo's This time around].

Lyrics: Lisbeth, Park Jinjoo.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

The fans reached to an agreement that this song describes a dialogue between Lisbeth and the mysterious man seen in the Hurt music video. Lisbeth asks: what am i doing in this loveless city? As her dependence grows and she starts to think nothing else matters besides the thing she wants the most.

4. getoutofmyhead [insp. Charlotte Lawrence's Why do you love me].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

In this song, Lisbeth has a minute of realization and tries to fight the Obsession before it's too late, having a lot of contradicting lines to support this point. The song grows darker and, even, slightly creepier until it reaches the end, suggesting that she couldn't run away from her own wishes and that her obsession finally won her, even if they meant her downfall.

5. plz answer me [insp. Dean's Bonnie & Clyde].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

The song starts with the sound of an unanswered phone call. The story progresses and, whatever is the so called Obsession, it seems like it's getting away from Lisbeth, but, since she's already in such a heavy stage, she's not happy with it and wants it back, the lyrics describe these feelings using methaphors with missing calls.

6. Better without u [insp. Suzy's Les Préférences].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

Better without u is a slower, softer songs that talks about Lisbeth's questionings as she gets more and more aware of her current situation, asking herself if it's really worth it to keep going and that maybe she's better off without concentrating with that. Is the song that concludes the theme Lisbeth wanted to talk about in this album.

7. Hopes and dreams [insp. Lorde's Homemade Dynamite].

Lyrics: Lisbeth.

Production: Park Jinjoo.

A song that doesn't apply to the storyline described in the album, Hopes and Dreams has a self explanatory title and is, overall, a lighter song, describing Lisbeth's dreams and goals as of becoming an idol. The album, in general, even if it has a way deeper meaning, can be applied to a lot of trainees' feelings about their dream and the hardships and confusion they experience in their journey, Lisbeth wants to bring a message to multiple people and permit that they interpret her lyrics to their own situation, making it the most relatable as possible.

ERA HIGHLIGHTS.

Babygirl finally debuted, yay!

She was so happy with her debut, really. In her first stage with Hurt, she had to concentrate a lot because she wanted to smile, that contributed to her gaining a fame of duality between her fans as they thought about how could she be such a sweetheart and write those type of lyrics and perform the way she does.

No first win this time, sadly, but she gained a spot on the heart of a lot of people around their 16-24, if it had to create average, as her songs fitted the sound and lyrics a lot of younger people in South Korea like to listen, specially k-hiphop/rnb fans, as it got close to the sound they like.

Her personal youtube channel Days with Liz opened, and she got to contact a lot with fans through that and vlives.

When talking about achievements, she was average and had a solid debut, peaking at #8 in the Gaon Album Chart and she had more than 10.000 physical copies sold.

Let's not even talk about her first fansite, FleurDeLiz, that person is truly privileged and the love of her life, Lisbeth gives a lot of attention and poses a lot for them in events as they were her first, but tries to treat them all equally.

Fans also became curious about the model in Hurt's Music Video, he got known as 'the boy with a pretty smile' since his face never fully showed up, not even in the behind the scenes video where he and Lisbeth are seen playing around in the recording, because his face was blurred there. Fans started speculating that maybe he's a trainee for an upcoming debut.

ERA STYLING.

Lisbeth had light purple hair for the entire promotions of the album.

The styling for both songs was pretty casual, actually, but the concept itself didn't fit outfits with a lot of details and patterns.

No Limits' styling was fresh and free, she wore a lot jeans and skirts. There was also a performance where she whore the sleeveless jumpsuit and sports top outfit she wore in the MV, which had mixed opinions of netizens as some thought of it as too revealing, but she remained unbothered.

What is this miracle? Female idols stylists being smart and giving outfits they can actually move in? Yes.

Since Hurt's choreography was more complex and needed more movement, the styling was restricted to pants and shorts, no dresses or skirts where worn.

The color palette was different compared to No Limits' styling, as the latter focused on lighter colors, Hurt went for a theme that reminded night.

[ratsalad]

would you mind doing 1-60? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

oh wow sure, thanks! i'm on mobile so i can't add a read more, sowwy to everyone whose dash this shows up on :/

1. selfie: no :(

2. what would you name your future kids? i don't think i'd have kids, but i have some names picked out for any cats i raise in the future: achilles, circe, pan and andromache

3. do you miss anyone? pretty much all my friends! they're all away for college or work and i don't get to see them that often anymore

4. what are you looking forward to? tomorrow, when i get to see @kthemarsian!!!!!

5. is it hard for you to get over someone? i've only had to do this once and it wasn't that hard, so i'm guessing no.

6. is there anyone who can always make you smile? yes - i was great friends with this person a few years ago, but we drifted apart and don't talk much anymore, but whenever i got to see her or speak to her i wouldn't be able to stop smiling lmao. it'll probably be like this any time i get to see her in the future as well

7. what was your life like last year? a hot bubbling cauldron of a mess... last year went away in a blur of 'i did nothing of import so 2018 feels like a void year' but i think it was emotionally my most stable year

8. have your ever cried because you were so annoyed? annoyed no, but frustrated yes. usually when i get into arguments with my dad lol

9. who did you last see in person? my grandma...? i live with my family lol this question is so funny

10. are you good at hiding your feelings? i think so yeah

11. are you listening to music right now? no, but i was listening to abba a few minutes ago

12. what is something you want right now? self discipline :(

13. how do you feel right now? like i have all the time in the world (procrastination stage 1)

14. when was the last time someone of the opposite sex hugged you? my dad hugged me like 10 minutes ago

15. personality description? bsnfnsjs these kinda questions always trip me up... i've been described as cheerful and friendly, i'd say i'm an optimist, and i'd like to think i'm quite down to earth

16. have you ever wanted to tell someone something but didn't? lots of times. i'm not great at confrontation but i'm working on it

17. opinion on insecurities? i don't really have an opinion...? i'll just say that universal acceptance is unachievable, so go forth knowing that personal acceptance is sufficient and the rest is unnecessary

18. do you miss how things were a year ago? not at all lmao i'm considerably more inspired now to be productive

19. have you ever been to new york? i wish ;;;;

20. what is your favorite song at the moment? a moment of clarity by death!

21. age & birthday? 20; 2nd may

22. description of crush: i don't have one right now

23. fears: OH BOY. i'm very afraid of unsecured heights (like open terraces with no walls or railings, open clifftops, etc). i think i'm just afraid of falling from a height, no matter how small - i remember walking on a bridge made of planks and being scared shitless because the planks were wobbly; one wrong step and i could fall through (but the fall would've only been like 5 feet lmao). even like... floating rocks that you have to jump onto in video games scare me lol

24. height: 153cm (5 feet)

25. role model: i don't really have one

26. idols: lol right now probably chuck schuldiner. it changes a lot depending on what band i'm obsessed with at the moment

27. things i hate: institutionalized education, tomatoes, discrimination, beauty standards, soup most of the time, unkind people, a lack of humility, the color turquoise, the concept of being born into a religion, coke/pepsi/anything that's supposed to taste like it

28. i'll love you if...: you take an interest in the stuff i like and allow me to do the same for you. literally that's all it takes lol

29. favorite films: (exhales) boyyyyyyyyyyyy... brokeback mountain, no country for old men, west side story, donnie darko, ferris bueller's day off

30. favorite tv shows: already answered!

31. 3 random facts: already answered

32. are you friends mainly girls or guys: girls

33. something you want to learn: GUITAR. kickboxing. math. to sing properly. electronics and mechanics.  i want to learn lots about wildlife biology (mainly herpetology), geology, agriculture, forestry and safe+ethical animal husbandry practices. i really need to learn how to drive better lmao and i'd love to learn to ride a motorcycle. a bunch of languages: tamil (i can speak but can't read/write well), hindi, swedish (and then norwegian and icelandic), french, spanish, japanese, malayalam. i want to learn to draw better, and then animate. i just want to learn a lot dude lol

34. most embarrassing moment: i was playing keyboards at this talent show in school (i think i was 13) but i got so nervous i couldn't remember how the song went and i started crying and then left the stage like a drama queen lmao

35. favorite subject: from school, probably geography

36. 3 dreams you want to fulfill? write a sick fantasy novel, make music, get swole af

37. favorite actors: jake gyllenhaal, kristen stewart, jeff goldblum, laura dern, anne hathaway

38. favorite comedians: honestly i don't watch a lot of stand-up

39. favorite sports: i like watching volleyball, i want to play someday

40. favorite memory: probably the sheer awe i felt the first time i watched the hobbit (i know now it wasn't that great a movie but that was the first time tolkien had touched my life)

41. relationship status: single

42. favorite books: the hobbit/lotr, lord of the flies, the song of achilles, and a lot of the books i ended up having to read for college: cry the beloved country, things fall apart, train to pakistan. and of course the pjo series will always be in my heart

43. favorite song ever: i don't have such a song but i guess you could say miklagard overture holds this title

44. age you get mistaken for: 15-17 :///// i'm short

45. how you found out of about your idol: it's kind of impossible to be a part of the metal scene and not know about chuck schuldiner because of his near-legend status, so i've kind of always known about him since 2014, used to listen to just the symbolic album and a few other songs here and there but only Really got into death this year

46. what my last text message says: "why"

47. turn ons: already answered!

48. turn offs: when people raise their voices to prove a point/when they get angry it IMMEDIATELY turns me off, no joke. rudeness (especially to other people), zero humility, entitlement, pessimism/cynicism, self pity, being overly critical of everything - ugh just people who don't know how to be happy or have fun, you know? don't like that. poor hygiene is ofc another big turn off

49. where i want to be right now: tucson ://///

50. favorite picture of your idol: i have THREE:

51. star sign: taurus sun, sagittarius moon!

52. something i'm talented at: i like to think i write well

53. 5 things that make me happy: band t-shirts, when my hair behaves, strawberry ice cream, when a clutch of garden lizard eggs have hatched somewhere and there are little baby lizards jumping all over my plants, aaaaand i guess little beetles and when they walk over your hands

54. something that's worrying me at the moment: my posture lol my shoulders are killing me

55. tumblr friends: @tozier-the-trashmouth, @little-murmaider, @spaceviking, @yuhlanyeter - you guys are Rad TM - and others i haven't talked to in a while since i'm not here much

56. favorite foods: chili fries, bbq nachos and super greasy, really spicy cheeseburgers

57. favorite animals: i! love! reptiles!!!!!!!!!! crocodilians especially. i also love cats

59. why i joined tumblr: for the metallica gifs!

60. ask me anything you want: ?????

@firebonbon thank you you're lovely and i hope you have a superb day 💗

[gravityofforteana]

(from the article...Monday, November 21, 2011)

It has been about a week and a half since I've been able to post something here, and I apologize. Life has been crowded with certain unusually stressful family care situations, increased UFO book editing pressures, some rare book purchasing, selling the old family house, and generally being gassed. This Little People topic, also, has not lent itself to easy, off-the-top-of-the-head posting. But, one hundred of my case file encounters have now been logged, and I guess, ready or not, I'll unload them. I can't make any good sense out of this topic yet folks, so it's going to be: let it fly, and it's up to you to see if it's of any value to you.

Let's get the boring preliminaries out of the way first. As said, this material comes from my case files collected from published encounter claims over several years of "collecting". As with my UFO files, these cases were not collected systematically, but merely as I ran into them and thought them interesting. The sources are quite varied. About a quarter of this particular hundred were taken off one internet site where people write in their "fairy" claims. About a like number were taken from my "UFO" files, and picked out because they didn't ring particularly true as UFO cases. Others come from books and magazine articles. The only things that they have in common is 1). they struck me as interesting potentially-true encounters; and 2). they seemed to have a "folkloric entity" feeling to them. So, this is entirely idiosyncratic to me and as such hardly "scientific" to start.

The crude data arrays are to the left. The majority of these characters are "smalls" [1 1/2--4 1/2 feet tall]. They are the "Little People" we expect. About a quarter of these are "tinies". They are almost the only critters said to be winged. "Tinkerbells", if you will. They come almost entirely from the internet site "Fairy Encounters", which seems to attract mostly young girls who want to see fairies. I waded through a very large number of these claims some time ago, and weeded out a couple dozen which were reported by adults and seemed to have some redeeming characteristics. There were very few normal sized creatures in this list, and just one, I believe, extremely large one. Perhaps the folkloric big entities are all masquerading as Bigfoot or Nessy-like creatures. Normal-sized humanoids may be shunted off into the "apparitions" category and not make the Faerie listings. There were a few fairyish things which had no entity seen but included for other reasons. [fairy music, etc.]

The files for this hundred are almost entirely 20th-21st century, which is of some interest to me, as it may be saying that the phenomenon continues to today, regardless of being ignored. Had it been true that I had just collected material out of WY Evans-Wentz, Wirth Sikes, or even much of Janet Bord, the previous centuries would have been more widely represented.

As usual, with my language-constricted reading ability, all the citations are in english, and as a consequence, mostly US and UK, in about equal amounts. There are 16% European citations, though, mainly from UFO files. Ireland has very few cites as yet. There should be a few more of those in a second hundred if I ever get it done.

A general comment [therefore not universally true] about states of consciousness: Many cases of Faerie claims occur, as reported, at bedtime, lying down, dreamily staring at something, etc. This phenomenology [in these cases reported upon here] tend to concentrate heavily in the Tinkerbell-type tiny winged fairy reports. Reports of "small" dwarf, leprechaun, gnome, etc sized denizens of Faerie typically do NOT occur in these states of consciousness, but rather "normal" consciousness at least as far as the reports indicate. What this says about reality, I will leave up to you.

Despite my comment about states-of-consciousness and the Fairy Encounters site that I made above, there still were quite a few reports that I found interesting. In VERY truncated form, I'll describe some of them. They will be a selection picked to illustrate a wide range of possible experience. All of these were from the 1970s through to circa 2005. Almost all are from the US with as sprinkling of UK, and one Belgium and Germany. Almost all these stories were written in by the observers when they were much older.

1). Four young girls find tiny footprints in rural Colorado. They make a fairy house to encourage activity. Only a glowing silhouette is seen, and an arrangement of sticks like a person.

2). Three teenage girls were in countryside in Wales to paint landscapes. Saw slim thread with something riding on it. It was a very tiny "egg" within which was a "man" with a purple-colored dwarf's hat apparently joy-riding the "egg" as a minicraft. Two of the girls drew the same thing separately.

3). Two girls were playing in the backyard at night. A "firefly" showed up. It turned out to look like Tinkerbell and it stayed briefly, smiling, and assuring the girls not to be afraid.

4). One girl used to sit out in nature a lot, and built fairy houses. Nothing for a very long time. One day she saw a rainbow-colored glowing tiny winged creature flying around where she usually sat. It stayed there a while, the two looking at one another.

5). A girl and her brother were out to play in nearby woods. He ran off to pick apples. She just sat, not going after him, picking flowers. In one flower a flutterbye [I refuse to use the modern degradation "butterfly"] flew out and danced away. It appeared as a tiny fairy. It led her on until disappearing. There was her brother fallen from a tree and unconscious. She stopped the bleeding in his head. They rested and got back home safely.

6). Two guys decided to go fairy-hunting in a place deemed likely by others [one of the reasons that I am particularly suspicious of this one]. They go to a rural cemetery just as dusk falls. This reminds me of knuckleheads looking for trouble, but OK. There they are hiding behind cover in order not to be spotted by police when they saw a rapidly dancing 5" high person. It danced continuously for 5 minutes and disappeared. Making ready to leave, they found that somehow they were at the very opposite end of the cemetery with no recollection of having gotten there [this is the element of this that I found interesting enough to include this one]. This constituted a ten minute run to get back to where their car was. There are plenty of reasons to discard things like this, but the reporter didn't make himself sound too flattering in his tale, and the spatial slip is reminiscent of the Irish concept of the "Stray Sod".

7). A woman told of constantly finding that things were "going missing" and then reappearing later exactly where they should have been and where she had looked for them [thoroughly] . She attributed this to fairy-tricksters of some kind [never saw them] and finally began to just say "Come on you guys this isn't funny anymore!" and the item would pop up soon thereafter. "Fairy" or not, this phenomenon is all over the literature [usually buried under Poltergeist phenomena] and I have a sister who is burdened with these same sorts of temporary diversions.

8). A girl living in the English countryside regularly visited a friend and experienced the beautiful garden there. She began to sketch a flower when a flutterbye landed on it. But it wasn't a flutterbye afterall but rather a golden miniature person [female] with wings. It left the flower and flew up and posed a few inches from her face. Then it flew up and away. No one believed her, but she returned often hoping to see another, which she never did.

9). Two girls used to play in the woods when they began to tell one another that they thought they were seeing creatures out of the corners of their eyes and then retreating behind the trees when the girls would turn on them. Unlike other claims on this site, these were "smalls", and the girls compared them to "Santa's Elves" in size. While this would go on, the environment would be like a dreamy, fuzzy state, which would snap back to "hard reality" only once they got back home and inside.

10). A teenage girl [16] was walking down a country lane when she saw a flutterbye-sized tiny girl with wings singing beautifully while seated on a hedge. She flew up and beyond the hedge not to be seen again. The 21-year-old reporter never told anyone of this due to not wanting to be mocked.

11). An 11 year old girl was upstairs in her home while her parents held a party downstairs. Watching the raindrops on her window, she saw within one a tiny almost see-through female playing inside the drop. After a while, she decided to try to get her Mom to see it too, but the fairy disappeared. The reporter was 38 at the time of the telling.

12). A woman was sitting on the edge of her bed in a dimly lit room. Then time/action seemed to slow down and small half-inch diameter balls of light of different colors began manifesting. She was able to concentrate on one which was quite nearby. It was a tiny winged creature fluttering so rapidly that you could not resolve exactly its appearance, and whose motions gave it the more distant impression of being a ball-of-light. She felt that this went on for perhaps twenty seconds, but the rate of time made it seem much longer.

13). A young man was walking his girl in a "romantic" forest setting. They heard a strange language-like cry, and suddenly were no longer on their forest path. The environment was wrong, now featuring water-sounds burbling on rocks. They turned and were confronted by a beautiful normal-sized girl all dressed in green. She then turned into a green ball-of-light and flew off. They had to walk a ways to get back to the path leading to their house.

14). Four people in a temporary house [a camper] were outside watching a meteor shower, when two retired to bed. The other two, mother and daughter, stayed up with the family dog. The dog began barking at the back gate. Mother and daughter turned to see a large ball of white light about 20 feet from the gate. It disappeared while they ran in to wake up the father. They interpreted this as a fairy lightball.

15). Two boys and their dog were in the woods camping. The dog ran off. One boy followed. He heard beautiful music and looked to see two-inch tall men and women with wings doing the singing and partying. Shortly thereafter his friend arrived and watched too. Then after ten minutes of this, the dog came romping out of the woods barking. The fairies immediately disappeared. The next morning the friend described everything he had seen, but said that it happened in his dream.

16). Two young women [sisters] were home alone baking cookies. As they looked out their window, a small man looking like a "leprechaun" but not dressed in green, floated up over their neighbor's fence riding on what looked like a motorcycle. It raced across their yard and floated up over the next fence and away.

17). A young man and woman were driving in a scenic hilly area. They saw a large ball of white light, which disappeared into the woods. They got out and looked for it in vain. All they heard was some giggling. They continued their drive and there again was the light; this time in the middle of the road. He couldn't stop and went right over it. They stopped and jumped out. Looking under their truck, there was the ball of light making giggling noises. Apparently it then went safely away, as the young woman expressed her relief that the playful fairy/lightball was unharmed.

18). A young man at a time just prior to Halloween, had heard some tiny playful giggling in his garden which he couldn't locate. Then just on or right after Halloween, he and a friend saw two bluish glittering winged figures. They were nearly transparent as if made of gas. These two experiences tripped off memories of him having a childhood "imaginary playmate" whom he hadn't remembered in years. The imaginary playmate had been a fairy.

19). A girl was in her bedroom on a full Moon night staring out the window. Into the yard came a fuzzy figure made of light. It was a woman in a silvery long gown with bright golden hair and a crown. She was winged with glittering diaphanous silver. She stopped, looked at the Moon, turned into a ball of silvery light, and disappeared. The woman, in her thirties when she reported this, stated that she didn't know whether to call her encounter as being with a fairy, a ghost, or an angel.

20). A young person [sex not determinable from the report] was unable to sleep one night, and had an odd urging to get up and go outside. Once there, the urge continued and the witness was almost put to the ground without willing it. Immediately, Alice-in-Wonderland-like, the grass seemed growing tall all around [as the person shrunk]. A large group of fairy personages came talking and smiling and circling about. They then suddenly scattered away [the person had a blade of grass laid over one hand completely covering it]. Increasing to normal size, the witness wondered if it was just a dream. In that hand was grasped a small blade of grass. Once back in the bedroom, the brother said that he had watched it all from the window.

So be it to give you a largish dose of modern alleged fairy sightings. Note that there is quite a bit of scope phenomenologically here, but not far outside the expectations of a Fairylore sighting. I, as a UFO researcher, find the frequency of Ball-of-Light phenomena interesting, especially as many of these things found in UFO files don't sound very UFO-like. Also, though this is a "Fairy" website, one expects "Tinkerbells" but one also gets several larger critters. The majority of these things happen outside in woods or garden settings, or looking out one's window into a yard or garden. The changed environment cases smack of various forms of the OZ Effect in UFOlogy. Poltergeist phenomena and apparitional things seem to crop up. The Realm of Fairy, in fact, threatens to expand to potentially contain many other paranormal claims. These cases as presented also have a very powerful gender slant to them, which speaks to a strong sociological filter. Doubtless it is OK for girls to report fairies but not guys. Guys of course can make up for this by reporting Bigfoot.