#specifics about her area of origin in the country or her background

[orangerosebush]

Tim overhears Angeline and Butler talking animatedly in the other room about something in Russian and he proceeds to discretely text Artemis to go "my son... I am summoning you to see if they are talking trash about us both" to which Artemis simply sends a "👍" before promptly appearing in the study to join Tim (despite Artemis having fully been in the other wing of the house last time Tim checked?)

[beatricebidelaire]

so one thing that ive been thinking about is how we know lemony during his apprenticeship era and also see in ?4 ghede and gifford mentioning many others in his generation during their apprenticeships, but we never actually get any indication of these people, growing up into adulthood, become ..... chaperones. the closest one could get is maybe jacques was sort of, kind of, chaperone to quigley but that's not an official thing, not actually vfd-assigned. and maybe in a way kit having the baudelaires carry out the mission in tpp sort of is like what jacques did with quigley, but that's still not official. and we knew quigley met kit as well.

vfd's official chaperone system - is it like, a set list of volunteers are specifically chaperones? do this list of people always have apprentices, then? like after one, another gets assigned. or is it more like, all volunteers over a certain age qualified as "chaperone", but they don't always have an apprentice with them. like, anyone could be. and when they're not on chaperoning duties they're just, regular volunteer?

we knew theodora is "ranked 52nd out of 52 chaperones". if it's all volunteers over a certain age, that would mean that 52 is possibly roughly the number of total volunteers over that age - at least, in this city / this area / whatever. maybe the vfd section in another country had their own system. but this is getting into how international vfd is, etc. so do i think 52 is all of them, or a subset? which would be more accurate?

maybe it's a, some volunteers can signed up to be in the chaperone system, but they don't always have to be chaperoning someone. and they could in fact have a long time in between two chaperones. but if there are a new group of students who needed to be assigned chaperones this upcoming summer or whatever, then these people, who generally qualified as chaperones, could also, sign up as "available for this summer" or something?

of course, just because we didn't see anything in the books didn't mean no one was a chaperone. baudelaire children were not vfd, after all, and things could be taking place in the background without their knowledge - at the hotel, frank could possibly had apprentices working as concierges. actually, while we're on this subject, considering the importance of hotel denouement, they likely will train volunteers here? which means he could possibly have apprentices as concierges. dewey is very secret, but maybe he also, at some point, had an apprentice. possibly his apprentice thinks he's frank. in fact, we don't quite know when ernest switched sides, so if it's already in adulthood, was there a time he could also have apprentices? in fact, who said the other side couldn't have their own chaperone-apprentice training system? during all these time, could r, faraway in the winnipeg, have trained an apprentice of her own?

jacques, while he was working at the daily punctilio, in the city - maybe at some point had an apprentice? since that would be before the asoue timeline, naturally the baudelaires never knew about it.

so was it never mentioned because, timing or whatever and we didn't see it happening in the background, or just these people really never were chaperones - perhaps only selected people are chaperones? or by this time the schism has worsen and everything was in chaos and they can't keep going with the original system?

[batteryrose]

ULTIMATE ADAM LORE DOCUMENT

This ones gonna be a doozy (I AM NOT KIDDING. THIS IS A LONG LONG POST), and you may call me insane afterwards, but anyway,

This one's for the Adam likers out there that may want to know more about him. I have a longfic in the works, but well, let's be honest, that thing's not gonna get finished any time soon :) so, if you'd like to know the Deep Lore this is the post where I summarizes everything that's living inside my head.

Hopefully you've heard of Adam before or this post might not make a whole lot of sense, but I try my best........

the Yashpari

Referring to an ethnic group of people living around the Obsidian grasslands.

Yashpar is their land's name in their own language. Other countries call the area ‘Jasper.’

The land is very important to Obsidian for having very rich and fertile 'black earth' (coloured deep green here. I’d imagine Jade has most of it). The Yashpari tribespeople farm and raise livestock instead of living nomadically.

The ethnic group might have originated from somewhere distant south.

They're known for their art, including textiles art, music, and many kinds of dances and performances. 

The tribe survives because they were willing to submit to Obsidian instead of engaging in a losing war against them.

Leading up to the war with Rhodolite, they’ve been depleted of resources and morale, among other things, and were starting to rebel harder against their occupiers. 

Obsidian had turned one of their older settlements into a small town and military fortress near Rhodolite.

Mochammad Adam Kain: Background

He is the son of a Rhodolitian noble and a widowed Yashpari elder.

His father was very sympathetic to the tribe’s fight against Obsidian and was directly supporting it.

To weaken the family’s power, the local Obsidian nobles and military needed to create a rift between the family members.

Marquis Kain’s family

(old art, sorry lol)

The marquis married the widow out of genuine love. She has had two daughters with her previous husband (who was the village chief/elder/whatever.)

They live separately, with the marquis travelling back and forth constantly between Rhodolite and Yashpar. The two places are at least a day apart. 

Together they had four more children: three sons and a daughter. Adam is the eldest son, followed by his younger-by-a-year brother, Ajisaka (can also be spelled as ‘Adjisaka’.) I’ll be focusing on them two for now.

Adam and Adji

They're opposites personality-wise. Adam is the quieter kid, less out-spoken, and he was able to learn to read, write, and understand different languages faster. He quickly became his father’s favourite. 

Ajisaka is the louder one of the bunch, and he grew up to be quite charismatic. He is well respected amongst the Yashpari youth. Adam didn't have the same popularity!

The Obsidian military were recruiting young Yashpari boys. They saw potential in these siblings. Potentially also turning them against their own father.

Adam received a military education, and when he got older, a position as a low-ranking officer.

They could groom Adam into their side much more easily than they could Ajisaka. Adji joined the revolutionary fervour. His gang of violent youths harassed Obsidian forces often, which eventually became a big nuisance. He came to be known as a notorious brute.

The brothers don't really get along. They think the other one is stupider. The family was torn, and while they were originally well respected by the Yashpari people, the sons' actions polarised them. 

During and after the war with Rhodolite, Marquis Kain couldn't travel across the border and into the village anymore. 

Adam: Upbringing 

As a kid he was seen as sort of meek and 'feminine.' He didn't have many great friends. Otherwise, he was very smart.

He was always in charge of taking care and watching over his younger siblings.

Knowing different languages got him able to speak and negotiate out of trouble. Specifically troubles with the Obsidian people. 

He was a bit of a pushover. When hanging out with Adji's friends they liked to embarrass him. 

He often watches over his little sister playing with her friends instead…

He only started gaining friends, respect, and confidence in the military environment. He mingled well with fellow Yashpari soldiers there.

Yashpari people that served in Obsidian Military

Older Yashpari people are usually here because they were paying a debt to the (Obsidian) government, paying a fine, or were otherwise poor and in desperate conditions. Leading up to the war, many younger boys were conscripted.

Adam met Suraya here, an old private. 

Adam also was able to hang out with the Obsidianite soldiers. 

Boys will be boys…he might’ve even fallen in love with one of the younger officers.

He actually liked it here. At this point, he's a bit alienated from his family. Though his father still writes to him. 

Additional character: Suraya

(She shows up in the On Violence longfic)

She and many others like her were a demographic of, what you could probably call 'drag performers.' They perform Yashpari dances and theatrical plays as women.

These sort of traditional performances were popular amongst the Obsidianite elite, but at some point in the past they were banned from being performed openly. 

Some of them got convinced to serve in the military and make a decent living after their livelihood was taken away. 

Suraya served since way before the war with Rhodolite. She was proficient in the bow and arrow, and eventually the arquebus, and the musket rifle. 

Many of her friends had died, but she stuck around in the military. 

Adam is technically above her in rank but she's a mentor to him.

The reason she stuck around is… she has a 'hobby' for injuring many of Obsidian's own officers and soldiers without getting caught. Mainly by aiming from a great distance. 

She will get caught eventually, though she's able to run away.

If asked about her gender she would say "I live in the woods, I don't know." Adam would say "well, she mostly lives as the 'old woman living in the woods', so."

In writing I would refer to her with she/they pronouns. Adam exclusively refers to her with she.

The battle with Rhodolite, or the 'Bloodstained Rose Day':

At that point Adam would be around 17 years old, and he was placed in the position of a second lieutenant (lowest ranking officer.) 

Adam had to lead his Yashpari comrades into the frontlines. He even personally witnessed Chevalier and Co. doing their thing. 

He had noticed that the Yashpari troops were constantly getting pushed into the very front of the line with little to no backup, and they were getting killed off very quickly.

He caused confusion in the army because he wouldn't let more people go forward. They had to be forced to go with it by the higher ups. 

Obsidian lost, and Yashpari had great losses and casualties. Adam was quite lucky to survive. 

Him and the survivors were disillusioned with the military after the battle. Morale was on an all time low. They staged a mutiny. Just wanted to raid the military supplies for all the food and booze and whatever. Stick it up to the big guys. 

The higher ups found out what the sentiments amongst the troops were. They singled Adam out as the cause of these ideas, due to his actions in the battlefield.

To further humiliate him they dragged out his relationship with the young Obsidianite officer into light.

His was accused of ‘acting indecent’ towards the officer. He was publicly punished to both discourage the rebels from acting out and to likely ruin his reputation amongst them. 

They also wipe out his records from the books, pretending he never existed, to protect the officer's reputation.

'Death'

Just for a clue, the punishment was what gave him those scars on his back.

The military didn’t take care of him after and left him gravely injured. Pretty much leaving him to die. 

There was a lot of uncertainty and rumours. People, including his family, thought Adam was dead. 

Despite their relationship and the shame, Ajisaka wanted to look for him anyway, or at the very least get to the bottom of it all. 

He and his gang made a lot of ruckus. Harassing the fortress, taking in mutinied soldiers, etc.

(Suraya (still acting like a loyal soldier) got caught shooting into her own army in this event. From here on out she's a fugitive living in the woods.) 

In the end, Obsidian baited Adji inside with a fake rumour regarding Adam's whereabouts. Of course, he just got captured as a result.

They exiled him somewhere instead of killing him to still keep a semblance of good relations with the Kains.

Although, most people just assumed that he's also dead. 

(Adam was only saved by Suraya. She brought him to hide with her somewhere within the woods bordering Jade.)

The rest of the Kains

After the events of the battle, Adam's mother, sisters and youngest brother were still living within the fortressed town. Obsidian were willing to pretend that they have some sort of authority, but in all honestly, they're just being held hostage.

Obsidian was still recovering from the war, they don't want the Marquis attempting anything.

Mission?

Adam can't live easy until he could get the rest of his family out of there. His life purpose is pretty simple from here on out.

Adam and Adji: working together

Adam found out what happened to Adji. He contacted his father, because there's nothing else he can do.

His father sent a lot of people to look for Adji and any information about him. This caught Rhodolite's attention a little. (What's he doing sending out people to Obsidian…) 

Months and months of searching and they found him in the northern mountains. The brothers reunite. Adji thought it's all basically Adam's fault, but, well, they're too tired to fight it out. And the cold kinda mellowed him out anyway.

Fortunately, some of his old gang members were still alive and kicking, spread apart in hiding. They managed to rebuild, and they operate outside of the fortress, keeping their bases near Jade's border. 

Adam, meanwhile, was still presumed dead by most of the public and he wants to keep it that way. 

(this is why in On Violence the Rhodolite princes couldn't find any information about him.)

Adam knows that there's no chance he and Ajisaka's people alone could attack Obsidian successfully with what they currently have, so they needed… something.

Getting weapons

At this point, it had been years since the war with Rhodolite. In a brief moment of weakness, Adam reconnected with his old friend from the army.

(the boyfriend that got him in trouble.)

The young man had long gone home and retired from the army. They never heard from each other until now. Adam sent him a letter.

He was quite happy seeing Adam basically risen from the dead. Or terrified. One of the two.

Adam comes to find out that his friend's family had ties to Obsidian's weapon manufacturing companies, particularly, their distribution company. 

He also comes to find out that love is… very easy to take advantage of and manipulate.

(Gilbert somewhere in the distance, saying again ‘we’re not so different after all’ :') )

Adam slowly convinced his friend to pull some strings, and now, more weapons were going to be sent to the Rhodolite-Obsidian border, especially the fortresses.

Ajisaka dealt with the extraction. This is a shockingly successful arrangement, and eventually, they ended up with a big surplus of weapons and ammunition on their hands. Unfortunately with increasingly less space to hide them. They also can't use them themselves all willy nilly. 

Adam hatched a plan. 

Working with Rhodolite (the beginning of 'On Violence')

Marquis Kain soon died of natural causes. This forced Adam's plan to run earlier than intended. 

They deliberately buried his father deep into Yashpar lands, gaining the attention of his father's Rhodolitian family, who wanted him resting close to home. 

Conflict between the marquis' soldiers (now controlled by Adam's uncle) and Ajisaka's men sparked. It was a minor battle, happened way out of Obsidian’s watchful gaze. 

Ajisaka got away without much casualties, however, Adam gave himself over to Rhodolite. 

The events of 'On Violence' began.

His plan:

Rhodolite managed to defeat Obsidian in the past, but now they’re still gearing up in case there will be another attempt of invasion. Adam wants to take advantage of this. He is willing to arm Rhodolite with his stolen weapons, and in exchange, Rhodolite will use their army to take over Obsidian’s fortress. Technically a win-win for both sides.

Getting his family out is the priority. Unfortunately, he does not think of anything else.

Ideally every Yashpari folk should gain freedom and asylum in Rhodolite until everything is settled.

Adam and Nokto :

Nokto wants to dig up most of this information about Adam to make sure he's not an Obsidian psy-op or something. Adam wants Nokto and ultimately Rhodolite to obey him as much as possible. Of course, only with subtle ways and manipulation, otherwise it wouldn't work. 

Somewhere along the way they sympathise with each other more than they expected. 

I'd like to think Adam's objectives are successful eventually, and in all the one-shot fic I make they're both just goofing around after everything is over :} Everything is nice and cozy, and nothing went wrong at all! I swear to God

PHEW. THAT'S IT. I left things out on purpose. You’re welcome to assume your own interpretations. Or, if you want, you can also wait as I Begrudgingly finish my long-fic that will Definitely take Forever (or at least read the available chapters first). You can also ask about more things in the comments bellow or through my ask box! (I turned off anon for personal reasons though, sorry about that)

[osmobergamo]

Loregamo Makeup Lesson 1: Miorma

I had originally promised a post specifically about Miorma's mines of knowledge, and even more specifically the arcane ore contained therein, but ultimately decided that one cannot talk about arcane ore without talking about the greater historical context that makes it so significant in Miorma, and, in fact, the entirety of the continent of Brandice.

Let's talk about the country where I teach, as well as the land that once was Knight Gardenia's home, Viatorum!

Early Miorma and the Arcane Ore:

While Miorma is currently a fairly large nation that focuses primarily on artificy and law, this was not always the case. Miorma had its start in the west, a fraction of its eventual size and severely lacking in resources such as fertile land and stable food production. The Miorma of the past got by with sparse fishing along the cost, along with the few resources they had in abundance: clay, tin, copper, and - once they'd learned how to safely extract it - arcane ore.

Arcane Ore is essentially crystalized arcane energy - potent, volatile, and unpredictable. (And, notably, not edible.) Arcane ore today is a governmentally protected substance, the Mines of Knowledge where they are mined being heavily regulated and both the mining and processing of the ore requiring permits that can only be obtained through rigorous study, training, test taking, and background checks; as well as official employment by the government of Miorma. The reason for this strict regulation is both in part of the exceptional delicacy and knowledge required to handle it property, and the role arcane ore has in Miorma's place in the world today.

Viatorum and Miorma's Expansion:

As previously stated, Miorma was originally a much smaller nation that began in the infertile west of its present territory, and lacked many resources. In order to gain the resources it desired, Miorma first developed clay golems, powered by what few shards of arcane ore they had managed to mine, and used those golems to extract ever greater quantities. The determined artificers of Miorma then used the arcane ore to develop a wide array of magically enhanced weapons, staves, and stronger golems, which carved a warpath that would eventually conquer all of present day Miorma.

One of the final areas to fall to Miorma's conquest, you have have realized, was Viatorum. My divinations suggest that Viatorum once existed roughly around where the present day city of Crossroads exists - a very nice city, the very place I've conducted the bulk of my research into cross-planar travel. Unfortunately, very little is remembered about Viatorum - Miorma prefers the nations it conquers not cling to their old identity, for fear of harboring resentment and eventual calls for independence.

It stands to reason that, were it not for the presence of arcane ore in Miorma, Knight Gardenia's casket would have been in the forests of Drothiel. As it were, the high concentration of arcane ore in the Mines of Knowledge is suspected to cause several magical irregularities, including instability between the planes. This instability leads to planar distortions - holes in the barrier between the Prime Material plane and its echos, the Feywild and Shadowfell. One such distortion became a fairly regular fey crossing in the woods of Drothiel, and on the other side of that crossing is where Knight Gardenia's casket eventually found itself, suspended in time long after her kingdom had fallen.

Have any more questions for me? My ask box is open for all curious students~

[connectparanormal]

Sallie House Haunting

The linked essay focuses on the paranormal investigation side of this haunted house in Kansas. Here is some background information on this location.

Situated in Atchison, Kansas, the Sallie House has an unsavory reputation for being among the most haunted buildings in the country. The humble, inconspicuous building at 508 North Second Street has grabbed the attention of paranormal investigators and enthusiasts with stories of strange happenings and uncomfortable encounters from both past inhabitants and guests.

(Sallie House in Kansas) Tony and Debra Pickman moved into the house in the 1990s, which is when it first became famous. Shortly after their arrival, the couple began to encounter strange occurrences. Household goods would mysteriously catch fire; objects would appear to move on their own; and chilly areas would appear. Tony specifically reported experiencing physical assault, with bruising and scratches appearing on his body without any apparent reason. These unsettling occurrences convinced the Pickmans that an evil spirit was haunting the house. According to legend, the haunting originated from a little girl named Sallie, who tragically passed away in the house. In the early 1900s, a doctor's mansion housed Sallie, who complained of excruciating stomach pain. The doctor tried immediate surgery because he thought it was appendicitis. Sadly, Sallie passed away on the operation table, scared and in agony. It is thought that her spirit, trapped and restless after this awful tragedy, manifested itself in the house. Investigations into the paranormal activity at the Sallie House have uncovered photographs, audio recordings, and video material that some claim validates the existence of supernatural entities. Psychics and mediums frequently describe sensing a strong, disturbing vibe and occasionally claim to communicate with Sallie's spirit and other spirits said to reside at the house when they visit.

Sallie House Location The Sallie House has gained popularity as a tourist attraction in spite of its reputation as a haunted house. Television programs and documentaries delving into the paranormal regularly feature the house, and guided tours are available. This only serves to reinforce the house's ominous reputation, as many visitors depart with their own tales of weird experiences, enigmatic noises, and unexplainable happenings. The Sallie House is nevertheless a potent representation of the unexplained—a location where myth and history converge to produce a persistent mystery. Regardless of whether one believes in ghosts, the Sallie House is a permanent fixture in the annals of American haunting lore because of the captivating and intriguing stories that surround it.

[finitevoid]

the whole point of stefan is that the branded didnt have a country prior to him. And therefore theyre kind of cultureless as a group of people that live all across tellius but are rejected by all and play this weird game of isolation assimilation. in addition to each one of them just being really different. micaiah soren and stefan are wildly different people with different ancestries and abilities (since laguz blood apparently gives you superpowers: micaiah is a mary sue, stefan is very strong, soren has bpd). they can relate to each others marginalization and eternal sense of not belonging but there doesnt seem to have been a group of branded even on the smaller scale thats formed their own customs beyond that. So. its kind of as ethnocentric you can get. Purely together off of marginalization and heritage as a group of people that have been rejected from partaking in culture and community. but taking too much of an ethnocentric approach to a uniform branded identity is also tricky because they are all different animals! the laguz are as well but theyre an ancient race that has their nation specific and general laguz customs down already. The key would be embracing that diversity within their race (branded as the third race of tellius), pushing some narrative about them being particularly competent (essentially beorc with buffs) which is something i wouldnt trust stefan to do with tact, and appealing to branded peoples shared pain. That is the key to forming an identity and making it appealing to people

so: what does stefan see that soren does not

soren will outlive ike yeah lifespan differences apply in the au

soren obviously cant be in community with laguz so his only ish option is being closeted branded around beorc. i feel like this hasnt been an option for him as a child staying in the same school system and hopping between households in the same area for his entire life. But what he faces in adulthood is exactly what stefan lays out, be around beorc but never get close to any and leave before they notice you arent aging or really question your birthmark. maybe soren needs to walk around in naruto cosplay

soren needs to be around people that understand him. cue whatever fleshed out branded identity stefans trying to cook up

maybe the plot of this should be pittsburghs branded revolution. they succeed in shooting up the school?

almedha should remain like. royal family in her country of origin. in the united states of crimea though they just see her as another laguz its a little racist. anyways she got that revoked when she decided to escape goldoa and marry jeff bezos shes kind of dead to her dad now

Ummmmm ashnard owns amazon. thats the closest this country has to a royal family. The cast is going to take down amazon and win human rights.

soren will regularly go tankie while looming behind ike and hopping into ikes conversations with other people. ike knows hes getting riled up on the internet when soren actually starts ranting about politics to HIM

how does shooting up the school aid them in forming a community of solidarity together

Theyre so real . mixed bag of life experiences and backgrounds and thoughts and feelings on their own identity. "closeted" is a good word for the position soren is in because he cant exist around laguz so his only option is to stealth it with beorc. but stefan wants them to form their own community and identity because they dont fall into either racial category. im glad soren and stefan are chill This is emblematic of the beginnings of community .ITs really deep when you think about it

does soren know his mom is a queen and his dad owns amazon

[superlinguo]

Linguistics Jobs: Interview with a Customer Success Manager

This month’s interview is with Nicole Yamamoto, who works remotely from Mexico City as a Customer Success Manager. In this interview, Nicole shares how her studies in linguistics impacts not only her current role working at a diverse international startup company, but also her former job teaching English in Japan with the JET Program.

You can follow Nicole on Instagram (@nkyams) and on LinkedIn.

What did you study at university? 

I did a Bachelor's in Humanities: Applied Linguistics in 2011 at the University of Victoria, and a Diploma in Business Administration: Marketing at Camosun College in 2018. 

What is your job? 

I work for a global HR tech company as a Customer Success Manager. A lot of people think this means my work is in the realm of recruiting but what I actually do is onboarding. I help other companies who wish to hire remote workers around the world put everything in place. For example, my day-to-day job involves processing employment contracts and ensuring they are compliant with local labour laws of the country where the worker resides. This often involves guiding our clients on the differences between a statutory benefit versus a customary one in order to help them offer a competitive benefits package to their candidates. I also work directly with local partners in many countries around the world to help set up the workers' payroll, pension, and health insurance.  

How does your linguistics training help you in your job?

My linguistics training is very helpful in my job. Working in a global HR company means that on a day-to-day basis, I am communicating with people whose first language is not English. This includes external clients but also internally as we are a fully distributed team located across 50+ different countries. My linguistics training helps in 3 different areas: communication, cultural understanding, and training. As part of my applied linguistics degree I studied second language acquisition which has given me a deeper understanding of how language develops and is understood. This allows me to phrase my sentences and shape my communication in a way that I know will be more intelligible to non-native speakers of English. It isn't possible to study linguistics without also learning about cultural differences since language and culture are so intertwined. So, this allows me to be more patient, understanding and even appreciative of the cultural differences between my colleagues and I. Lastly, as one of the more senior members on the team, I often help and train newer employees who have joined the company. Due to my educational background in linguistics and teaching experience, this makes it easier for me to train others and feel comfortable while doing it.

What was the transition from university to work like for you? 

After university, I applied for and was accepted into the JET program in 2012. For those unfamiliar with the JET Program, it is a program which was started by the Japanese government in order to improve the English proficiency of Japanese students. The program employs approximately 4,000 native English speakers from around the world to teach at public schools across Japan. This was a great transition from university to work that I highly recommend because it provided a decent salary post-university and allowed me to gain practical work experience while enjoying travel, meeting new people, and being exposed to different cultures. It is still one of the most impactful times of my life even ten years later and has greatly shaped who I am today.

Do you have any advice do you wish someone had given to you about linguistics/careers/university? 

Yes, I began down the path of linguistics because I had originally wanted to be a translator and a career counselor told me linguistics would be useful. Knowing what I know now, this was not the correct path to becoming a translator as there are specific training programs for that. I realize now that the career counselor likely told me this because she carried the same misconception many people seem to hold about linguistics. Whenever I tell people I studied linguistics their first follow-up question nine out of ten times is "so, how many languages do you speak?" Those who have studied linguistics know well that it is not about acquiring multiple languages but about understanding the structure and etymology of languages. In the end, I wish someone had told me that the skills and knowledge you acquire studying linguistics are beneficial as transferable skills but unless you are looking to go into academia, the job opportunities will not be diverse or plentiful.

Related interviews:

Interview with a Client Services Manager

Interview with an English Foreign Language Teacher

Interview with an ESL teacher, coach and podcaster

Recent interviews:

Interview with an Impact Lead

Interview with an Online Linguistics Teacher

Interview with an Academic Linguist

Interview with a TV Writer

Interview with a Senior Analyst, Strategic Insights & Analytics

Interview with a Social Media Lead

Interview with a CEO of a SaaS company

Resources:

The full Linguist Jobs Interview List

The Linguist Jobs tag for the most recent interviews

The Linguistics Jobs slide deck (overview, resources and activities)

The Linguistics Jobs Interview series is edited by Martha Tsutsui Billins. Martha is a linguist whose research focuses on the Ryukyuan language Amami Oshima, specifically honourifics and politeness strategies in the context of language endangerment. Martha runs Field Notes, a podcast about linguistic fieldwork.

[languagefluent01]

Netflix's Top Spanish Series for Language Learners (Europe and Latin America)

 Regional differences make Spanish such a pleasant and dynamic language to learn.

However, if you have Netflix, you don't need to go around a Spanish-speaking area to learn them.

Continue reading about six outstanding Netflix Spanish shows from six different nations, ranging from thrilling criminal dramas to "Mad Men"-style historical pieces.

6 Netflix Series Worth Watching From Around the Spanish-Speaking World

You do not need to study Spanish from a specific place, although there are several reasons why you would want to. Perhaps you have family or friends in your desired nation or want to relocate there. Maybe you're particularly interested in the culture or history of a specific Spanish-speaking country. If so, viewing movies and TV shows from that nation can help you learn the local slang, accent, grammar, and use. For the best results, you should take the best Spanish language classes if you are fluent in Spanish.

Netflix is a terrific resource for finding excellent Spanish-language content produced in some countries.

1. "Las Chicas del Cable" (Spanish for "Cable Girls")

Spain is a country.

"Las Chicas del Cable" was one of Netflix's first Spanish-language original shows, and both reviewers and consumers praised it.

The show is a "Mad Men"-style drama set in 1920s Madrid that chronicles the lives of six young ladies who work for a telecommunications business.

The program focuses on the unique and intricate interactions between its female protagonists, who come from various backgrounds: Alba, a prostitute with legal problems, and Marga, a protected peasant. Carlota, a high-society lady, and others are among those shown.

Watch this program to immerse yourself in Castilian (and especially, Madrileo) Spanish. It's an excellent technique to hone your ear for understanding the Castilian Spanish lisp and becoming acquainted with Spain-specific terminology.

2. "Ingobernable" means "ungovernable."

Mexico is a country.

Another Netflix original series set in Mexico is "Ingobernable."

Emilia, the Mexican First Lady, is disillusioned with her husband but has high aspirations for her nation. But when the President dies mysteriously, Emilia finds herself on the run, unable to establish that she was not responsible.

"Ingobernable" is a fast-paced criminal story with 16 episodes on Netflix.

If you haven't spent much time in Mexico, you may be unfamiliar with some of the characters' terminology and idioms. Check out our beginner's guides on Mexican slang and idioms.

3. "La Nia" (English: "The Girl")

Colombia is a country.

If you want to learn the Colombian accent or like inspiring stories about overcoming adversity, you should watch the Colombian drama "La Nia."

The program, loosely based on an accurate tale, follows Belky, a young lady and former guerilla striving to make a better life for herself in Bogotá. The program follows her as she pursues a medical education while battling the demons of her past.

4. "El Reemplazante" ("The Replacement")

Chile is a country.

Do you want to learn Chilean Spanish, which is fast-paced, slangy, and song-like? Then watch "El Reemplazante," a Chilean-produced television drama set in Santiago.

"El Reemplazante," tells the narrative of Carlos Valdivia, a successful financial executive who loses everything after being sacked and imprisoned. After being released from jail, he returns to his hometown of San Miguel, located south of Santiago. His father and brother persuade him to restart his life by working as a substitute math instructor.

Sadly, "El Reemplazante" only lasted two seasons. However, both seasons (24 episodes) are presently accessible on Netflix.

5. "Edha"

Argentina is a country.

"The" is a suspenseful thriller set in Buenos Aires. The main character is a young single mother and fashion business powerhouse who falls for a youthful and enigmatic man. Expect criminality, set-ups, mysterious deaths, and anything else to keep your adrenaline racing.

Do you want to improve your vocabulary before you start playing? Here's an introduction to Argentine slang and a guide to the essential Argentine term boludo.

6. "Cuatro Estaciones en Havana" ("Four Seasons in Havana")

Cuba is a country.

This is a miniseries, not a complete series, but it still has four episodes with fantastic plots in Cuban Spanish. Furthermore, each episode is an hour and a half lengthy, giving you plenty of opportunities to practice your Cuban accent and vocabulary.

Set in Havana in the 1990s, the show follows Mario, a morally upright police officer who challenges the corruption and immorality he sees around him.

The presentation looks at the history of Cuba's "Special Period" (after the fall of the Soviet Union). "Cuatro Estaciones en la Habana" was named Best Miniseries at the 2017 Platino Awards, recognizing excellent cinema and television in the Spanish-speaking world.

While you're at it, read our comprehensive guide to Cuban Spanish.

The Spanish language may vary depending on where you are in the world. This may appear complicated at first, but don't be discouraged! Regional differences make Spanish such a pleasant and engaging language to learn!

And, with Netflix Spanish shows from around the Spanish-speaking globe, you'll be able to learn the language while watching some good TV.

[capn-schmazz]

edgar wright being my new favorite director:

i have to admit that after watching the cornetto trilogy I’ve become more than a little obsessed with Simon’s work and Edgar’s as well, which means I’m forcing my friends (who all have a similar interest in either film or geek/sci fi shit so they aren’t too upset with my dragging them along) to watch them with me. Rewatching the trilogy just reminds me of how much I love certain sequences so here are (some of) my top Edgar Wright directorial moments from each movie.

some spoilers (no major ones though)

-

Shaun of the Dead: 

The Opening Shot

I absolutely love the intro to Shaun of the Dead. The song behind it (Ghost Town by The Specials) starts off on a black screen, the intro chords playing us into our first shot of Shaun where the music, just as it’s hitting its melody, switches to the background sound of the scene with the ding of the “last orders” bell. Shaun sits in the pub, staring vacantly as he sips his pint and smokes his cigarette, disconnected from the current scene. His girlfriend jolts him back to life with the first line of dialogue, and we begin that scene. What this is is a great bit of writing made even better by the cinematography of that shot (one of my all time favorites to be honest).     On top of that, it immediately characterizes his actions for the rest of the movie in a really interesting way. His girlfriend’s nudge is what pulls us into the actual movie, and it’s the love he has for her and the drive to stay with her that motivates the majority of his actions in throughout the rest of it.

A Day in the Life and Shaun Being Ignorant of the Apocalypse

Three things I love about these sequences: the things they accomplish, the visual comedy, and the recreated shot.     At first, the shot is really an establishing shot of how Shaun lives his life. It introduces us to his surroundings (which we’ll need to know well as it’ll become a warzone), the people in the area (more specifically, the people he’ll be fighting), and the way he as a character interacts with the world around him. As we see from that first shot, he strolls through, interacting passively with people, but still engaged in his surroundings in a sort of muscle memory way. In the recreated shot, we see that muscle memory, definitely helped along by his hangover, and he completely misses all the obvious signs of the coming end of the world: smashed car windows, someone running for their life, zombies stumbling in the street, the blood on the fridge door in the shop, etc. Now we know that even though the apocalypse is here, our homeboy Shaun isn’t actually aware of it, making him an incredibly unlikely hero, as we continue to see throughout the movie.     There’s also the joke in it. The original shot is the set up, the recreation is the punchline. There’s also the fact that all throughout ‘a day in shaun’s life’ we’ve had normal people acting like zombies, including Shaun, as an obvious foreshadowing to when they actually will be zombies. So it’s also funny that after all that build up to the zombie apocalypse, and us knowing it’s coming, when it comes Shaun doesn’t notice until it quite literally lunges at him. 

Honorable mention: The ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ zombie beating because Edgar’s musical direction is also killer. 

Hot Fuzz

The ‘Village Green Preservation Society’ and Slasher Run

So, we go straight from the aggressive, signature Edgar Wright quick-cuts, intense zoom action sequence of Nicholas Angel arresting a load of teenage boys, to a shot of him in his bed that night exercising his grip (in a great visual innuendo). The action of that first bit is immediately killed by the stillness of that shot. Then, queue ‘the village green preservation society’ by The Kinks, and Nick’s bed is made and we get that establishing shot of the country town and all its greenery. What follows is a perfect following of Nick’s morning jog through the town, introducing us to the lay out of the town (that we’ll need to know for when it becomes a warzone later on -- sound familiar?) as well as the new characters we didn’t meet during Nick’s late night pub arrests (because we’ll need to know them well once they’re...the people he has to fight-- de ja vu again). The new characters, they greet Nick with friendliness and little bits like “good morning Sergeant!” and such, that are each in time with the music. The music is perfect for the scenario as well as aligning perfectly and it tickles me just the right way and I love it.

It ends abruptly with the appearance of Mr. Skinner who essentially issues a threat and acts very weirdly, making Nick on edge, and has a sort of uneasy villain music tone behind that moment. Then we’re cut completely out of the sequence by a signature Edgar move of making opening the door to the police station as action-y, zoomed in and quick as possible. 

A Big Cop in the Model Village

“If you want to be a big cop in a small town, fuck off to the model village” (or something to that extent) is a line one of the detectives says to Nick earlier in the movie. So, this moment is not only a great shot but a terrific writing moment. Also the fact that the model village itself is a pun. Sandford likes to fancy itself as a ‘model village’ with perfection, a dream world, a perfect haven that wins village of the year award every year. Not only is he a big cop in a small town (as is literally demonstrated by this shot) but he has destroyed the town (both the real town and this one), both of which were ‘model towns’ in different ways. It’s just so brilliant. 

Honorable mention: Nick Riding into the Village on Horseback all Dramatic-Like because it’s dope and also really funny 

The World’s End

Most of my love for this movie is about the writing, which is why I only have on massive directorial hard-on for this: 

The Entire Fucking Intro to The World’s End

It starts with a basic expositional story telling us exactly who everyone is, where they’re going, what they’re doing, and what stopped them from doing this before. But it’s not just exposition. That’s the beauty. 

Gary King’s in a group therapy session telling them this story. So the exposition is justified in a characterization way. But this isn’t about the brilliance of the writing, this is about the directing and cinematography. So I present to you: 

That shot. Such beauty in that shot. It pulls out and out, running the production company logos with the incredible music of Primal Scream’s ‘Loaded’ in time with the movie title. The letters of the title even go out in time with the drum riff thing in the song. Then we go into a never ending shot going from left to right, following the action, as we see each of those characters of Gary’s friends and their modern lives with comparisons to Gary’s institutionalized squalor. It’s magnificent. This intro, from 0:00 to the bit where Gary hides behind Peter’s bushes and Peter drives around to see who it was, is probably one of my favorite sequences in any movie I’ve ever seen, and certainly the best introductory/exposition/characterization/title sequence I’ve ever watched. 

I could go on about it for longer, but I have homework I’ve been procrastinating on with this post. Once my classes are done I’m planning on bingeing Edgar Wright’s work as well as Simon and Nick’s.

fun fact though: That opening shot of Shaun of the Dead, I saw it on youtube, just that opening shot, and immediately I knew I had to watch the movie. 

peace out. 

[depizan]

Actually, my problem with the villain's line from the trailer for the thing that I won't name, since it is now impossible to talk about things without Tumblr putting them in tags is twofold.

One, as mentioned, it dovetails too much with the hyper cynical reimagining of the galaxy that Disney!Wars is. Again, yes, villain. But it's a plan that only works if they're mostly right. If other people aren't fighting back or helping people or anything. And, in Disney!Wars, that's plausible. They retconned (yeah, it's in a squidgy area of canonicity, but they've made loads of Legends stuff canon, and stole other parts of his Legends background) why Han saved Chewie, which diminishes him as a character and makes Chewie teaming up with him long term seem weird. (I cannot at present remember whether the life debt is still canon. If it is... I have words. They aren't nice words.) But, again, they also don't grasp friendship, considering what they did with Han and Lando. And they couldn't see Han outside of a flanderized version of who he was when we met him in the first movie. Which also seems cynical, since it negates character growth.

Nothing from the final movie of the original trilogy stuck meaningfully. From the ludicrous returning villain (I pity the actor having to say that line. It looked like it hurt.), to the government being ineffectual and shitty even before somehow the capital being destroyed ended it. (And any resistance. Again, hyper cynical. I hate to point at the real world, but, um, I think there's some proof happening right now that normal people will fight back when their country is threatened. Even by a more powerful country.) There's stuff from the Aftermath trilogy that's also really deeply cynical, and kind of turns it all into a matter of sports teams, since what you do doesn't matter, only who you do it for. And the whole weird thing of the galaxy turning on Leia (and only Leia, not Luke?) because of who her father was. Not impossible, no, but, again, deeply cynical. Who you are won't matter, only who your father was. Implications that Leia was wrong to try to be a politician and a mother when Legends had her succeed at both admirably. Everyone being rendered ineffectual regarding the whole influenced through the force to evil thing.

Time and time again, they've gone with the most cynical interpretations of the world and characters. This doesn't give me a lot of hope that, just this once, the villain's cynical take is wrong. (Though other beard guy did look like maybe he was thinking about doing something? (Side note, please make sure your actors look, dress, and are styled very differently. Some of us are bad at faces.))

Secondly, and maybe more importantly, the Jedi have never actually been portrayed as caring about other people in the way that the villain wants to exploit. Slavery, eh, not important. Unless you're the chosen one. Galaxy went to shit? Better hide in a swamp for decades. Or, to go with something specifically Disney!Wars: galaxy went to shit? Better be a drunken loser for a decade or so and run if I start having human emotions like caring. (Human emotions like horny, though, that's cool.) Fuck, I don't know how many times in the longer animated show Jedi are explicitly not supposed to or reluctant to help people. Their own. Clones. Other people. Other people's relatives. Meh. Force said it's their time to go.

I mean, yes, it would be nice if we actually got to see Jedi doing good for once. But the framing is terrible.

And, yes, maybe I'm being overly cynical about their cynicism (and the Jedi, as shown, not told). I'm just frustrated. And they keep teasing at things I might like and then fucking them up. The sequels. Rebels. The Mandalorian Remember This Guy? Show. (Which, I understand also happened to the next show.) On the one hand, I want to watch a show about people doing good and trying to avoid an evil empire. On the other hand, I suspect it will actually be the "oh no we have to let bad thing happen for the greater good, which gives me a sad" show.

Or I'm just a pillar of salt, partially because of fiction, and partially because of *waves hands at the world* all that.

[herotome]

Devlog #37: Before&After GUI

Hi-ho, Wudgey here! Once again we're going to do something a little different today.

I was initially going to write a BIIIG overview of the progress we've made, but I noticed it was already getting long just from talking about the new GUI... (and apparently tumblr has a 10 image limit per post, boooo). So, I'll limit this post just to the new screens, and I'll queue up a post on our CG progress a little later. :)

A lot of this will be familiar if you've tuned in regularly to our updates; but this time I'll go into a little more detail on my process to buff out the post a bit.

First off, some before and after images as promised by the devlog title:

Name Entry Screen (Before 1/2)

I've always felt strongly about incorporating gameplay mechanics into the actual story. When I came up with the idea of having the MC write her name as part of the job search process, I was immediately invested in that direction! Originally, I was going to have the player type in their name into the Clammy Lady's tablet once they actually reached the job fair... but as you can see, it's not visually enticing.

Name Entry Screen (Before 2/2)

I reworked the idea into a resume (which makes an appearance in the March 2021 prologue demo). In my country you're expected to provide a professional headshot along with your information, which suits my nefarious purposes. The player now has an in-universe interface where they can update their picture AND type out in their name.

Name Entry Screen (After)

Finally, with help from some Ko-Fi donors, I was able to commission Re.Alice (who has a vastly more powerful background in graphic design than I do) to tighten the screen concepts and add some pizazz! Once she was done, I was able to code in some animation to give the resume screen more life.

Save Screen (Before)

Next up is the save screen. I didn't have a specific concept in mind for this one (hence the default renpy layout), but I do have strong preferences in save/load formatting from playing other games.

I referenced my favorites: Hollow Knight, Dragon Age, and Mystic Messenger. I quickly decided that I Do Not Like numbered pages, and I would replace it with a scrollbar. I did appreciate screencaptured preview pictures though, and I liked having specific names for each chapter as the player progresses.

Save Screen (After)

(I created a bigger screencapture here because the save slot text is on the small side ;;;)

Again, Alice was fantastic in helping me capture what I wanted! I also enlisted help from @synstoria for the more advanced programming areas. Once they were done, I adjusted the text format, asset positioning and added another touch of animation. I even added a bit of kerning here... who knew my college typography course would randomly pay dividends? lol.

You can see in the upper right, I've written some code to create "checkpoints" that can be loaded from this screen. The default Ren'py autosave system works by saving at EVERY choice; since Herotome is a choice-heavy game, it doesn't make a lot of sense to autosave so frequently! Instead, I'll be utilizing a checkpoint system to save before every major conversation - so if you make a mistake (or want to make chaotic gremlin choices and then claim takesies-backsies), you'll be able to use the checkpoint return to a secure area and try again.

The system will NOT save in the middle of bad endings, so you won't have to worry about getting stuck!

Choices/Textbox (Before 1/2)

What a blast from the past....! I hated the vbox choice screen so much I had to change it asap!! It's a bit nostalgic to see my original Katie sketch; I drew her on paper and added color with the multiply tool. :')

As for the textbox, I didn't really know what I wanted. I struggled with several concepts before settling for a basic gray halftone design for the time being.

Choices/Textbox (Before 2/2)

I designed placeholder assets and recruited @synstoria again to help me with the complicated coding parts. I just randomly go feral and want to break the default ren'py formatting!

I was less satisfied with the textbox, but after several concept sketches I was starting to get somewhere after I researching some superhero art deco images.

Choices/Textbox (After)

After Alice worked on the design, I adjusted the choicebox positions to be higher on the screen, so players clicking the textbox should be less likely to click on a low-hanging choice by accident. (Not that accidental clicks should remotely ruin the gaming experience, if the checkpoints work as intended...)

CONCLUSION

I'm excited about the strides we've made. Next up I'll be updating the Options screen, and I expect to update the Logbook and a couple of other screens further in the development timeline.

These visual updates will be rolled out along with the next installment, which I've decided to call Episode 1 (release date TBA). The common route will have 2-3 episodes in total before branching off into character routes. Normally I'm not keen on episodic releases, but I'm reaaally impatient for you guys to meet the love interests --and, of course, I'm impatient for you guys to talk to Warden a bit more. ^^

Please look forward to the next progress update! And if you'd like to help speed up our process (and get some spicy previews of our game's villain), please consider dropping by our Ko-Fi. We're at 72% of our goal to fund the sprite, which means we're almost there!!

I hope you’re all staying safe and keeping warm.

Much love,

Wudgey.

[nytech]

Building a Two-Sided Marketplace With Regina Gwynn …And uncovering the specificities of your target market.

TresseNoire’s Story

Regina: TresseNoire has been up and running since 2013, but this latest product is a pivot from our original premise, which was to create the first on-demand, on-location beauty booking app that would send a traveling textured hairstylist to your house, hotel, or office to do your hair. Our mission has always stayed the same: it is to give women back the most important resource on Earth, which is time. And we tried to think through multiple ways of doing that by allowing us to find out faster and easier ways to simplify the beautification process. For women of color with textured hair, there are lots of pain points. Everywhere from finding the right products to finding the right stylist, to maintaining the right hairstyles to finding the right long-term maintenance for your hair.

So we kicked off with this on-demand, on-location beauty booking app, which was very successful. We started off in Philadelphia, expanded to New York, and ended up with stylists in Philly, New York, Washington, DC, LA, Dallas, Texas, and Cincinnati. It was through that experience that I became, I guess, a tech founder, which is also a whole separate conversation. You know, I definitely was a non-technical founder, with a background in fashion and beauty prior to my entrepreneurship journey. But it also introduced a very large opportunity with taking the on-demand technologies that we had seen grow like Uber, FreshDirect, and all these other kinds of business models and apply them to the beauty industry.

We kept getting so many questions from our clients. “Okay, so now the stylist has left, I love my hairstyle. Now, what do I do? How do I maintain this hairstyle?” or “What products should I be getting in the beauty supply store?” And so I found myself doing so many additional phone calls, whether it was me advising the client, connecting them to our stylists either before, during, or after the hairstyles. We realized that there was an even bigger opportunity. Through the access to education and personalization, every single client was different, they had a different hair type a different hairstyle, they lived in a different location, they had different hair needs, whether it was fitting edges, or split ends, or dry hair or super curly hair.

So there were all these different variables that to my co-founder: “If we’re in this tech industry, and we have all these tech tools available to us, why aren’t we using all of these unique criteria to develop a more accurate system, a more accurate process?” That was the impetus behind pivoting to our virtual beauty coach app. Now, our clients can take a quiz. We gather 28 points of data to determine the kind of beauty regimen that works for them, and that education is delivered through a text message. So you interact with our beauty coach via phone, and you can actually change the algorithm based on the information you give us. So if it’s raining outside, then we’ll say hey, it’s raining, don’t forget your umbrella. And if you change your hairstyle, then we’ll change the education based on the data that the client provides.

We’re still in private beta, and we definitely have learned a ton this year, in a lot of the iterations that we’ve been working on. But I’m really excited about the long-term opportunities of providing this technology to additional beauty brands. The idea is to make sure that we’re getting education around our specific hair journey and making that type of information available to everyone.

Building a Two-Sided Marketplace

Andy: That’s really exciting because you went from being an entrepreneur that was using technology to build her product and her services to being a tech entrepreneur, and building a tech product. And I imagine that was a very different experience from both sides of the coin. I want to dive a little bit deeper into that, starting with the on-demand service platform that you provided, and the lessons that you learned while you were trying to scale that business into different markets.

Every market is a different market, and I’m sure you had to adapt to each market. What was it like to build an on-demand service?

Regina: Building marketplaces is really hard. Building two-sided marketplaces is even harder. Do you have to start building the offer or the demand?

In addition, understanding the nuances in the type of customer demand was essential to tailor our offer to each market. As we started to move forward, we realized that marketplaces are really hard.

When we look at Glamsquad and other beauty booking app type models, we see that they’ve been around since 2011, have raised over $30 million, and to date, are still in less than 10 markets. It’s become very clear that there was some very inherent kind of long-term challenges that we were going to face while identifying that there were other pain points.

Uncovering the Specificities of Your Target Market

Andy: How did you uncover the specificities of each market? What kind of data did you collect to inform your decisions?

Regina: Social media is really useful. We have a modest amount of followers, probably around 10,000 across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. They actually were the main indicator. When we would look at our audience, scroll through the pictures and see what are women wearing in Dallas, New York, Austin, Texas, LA, etc. That way we could see a very different consumer, from market to market.

We took that information along with talking to our stylists. So we always had at least a few boots on the ground in any market that we went into, and between my co-founder and I, we have networks across the country. We always wanted to just pick up the phone and talk to a girlfriend and say: “Hey, what’s going on in that area? What are the hot spots? Who are the arbiters of culture in that area?” Then we would follow them and watch them in order to find out where the beauty trends are going.

[leverage-commentary]

Leverage Season 2, Episode 10, The Runway Job, Audio Commentary Transcript

[Silence]

John: Marc?

Marc: Hi, I'm Marc Roskin, Producer and Director of this episode.

John: I'm John Rogers, Executive Producer, and the one with the Guinness, so you have no excuse for missing that cue.

Albert: And I'm Albert Kim, I'm the writer of the Runway Job.

John: Here we go. And this is a great opening sequence, what- is this a set Marc Roskin? How did you create this incredible look?

Marc: This is the largest girls school uniform factory on the west coast, and they-

John: So this is some sort of internet connection where you order school uniforms or-?

Marc: It was very hot. No, this was-

Albert: Strangely Marc knows a lot about girls’ school uniforms. I don’t know why, but-

Marc: Yes, this was an actual working factory. A lot of the background workers are some of the factory employees who knew how to operate the machines. It was right across the river, really close, and they opened their doors to us just like everybody did in Portland.

John: I love the fact that we wanted to do a fake sweatshop, so when we shot in there, when they saw the hours they shot the workers in the fake sweatshop, we're like, ‘These hours are horrible. How can you people work under these conditions?’ And Albert, since we’ve just seen someone collapse with these- this great shop, which, actually, I believe was the pitch. How did you come up with the idea for the episode?

Albert: Well as you know, I'm quite the fashion icon in the office, so it was quite natural for me.

[Laughter]

John: Yes.

Albert: No, I knew that I wanted to set an episode in the fashion world because it seemed like a fun environment to get into, and lots of great visuals and scenes with models and fashion designers and runway shows. So I knew the area was there, and then so the trick was coming up with a sympathetic victim, and then, as always, a credible villain and threat. So I did a little research and finding the victim wasn't too tough, because the real- in the real world, the fashion industry has sort of been dogged by allegations of sweatshop abuse for a while, so having the sweatshop victim came fairly easy. Finding the threat required a little more research, but as I dug into it, I found that it was actually a real world connection between sweatshops and global clothing counterfeiting, which is controlled by the Chinese Triads.

John: It's interesting because a lot of people talk about intellectual rights and stuff in new international treaties and people immediately think of movies, television, digital rights. A lot of it also involved intellectual rights on clothing.

Albert: Yes. Clothing counterfeiting actually counts for more of the income of these Triads than illegal narcotics trade. So it’s a huge billion dollar business for them and right then, sort of, the pieces fell into place for the elements of the episode.

John: And now these actresses are, Marc?

Marc: That is- um-

Albert: Jen.

Marc: Cathy Vu.

Albert: Cathy Vu and Jen Hong.

Marc: On our left and Jen Hong, and they were great though local Portland actresses. And they knew how to speak some Mandariarin and it worked out great. This was actually, in the shooting order, Jeri Ryan's first episode working with us.

John: Yeah, it's really interesting because, you know, the crew- the cast was genuinely kind of freaked out by Gina not being on set, and so a lot of the weird vibe you get on this episode is from ‘there's a new person’ and of course Jeri became great friends with everyone and really fit in, but it was a really interesting vibe the first couple days on set. It really felt like, yes, Jeri’s a new person here; we don't quite know how to handle it.

Marc: But we had to play it like she was already part of the team because we shot these out of order.

John: It does help that really you don't make her part of the team until the end of the previous episode. 

Marc: Right.

John: This is almost a cold relaunch.

Albert: And we played that in the episode, too, so you sort of everyone's tentativeness around her worked well for the dynamics within- the character dynamics within the story as well.

John: And this is, again, this wass also a scene we added just to- It was interesting, we really wanted to make sure that everyone understood that Sophie- Because originally there was going to be a giant gap between episodes, we wanted to make sure everyone understood Sophie signs off on this. You know, audiences were very attached to Gina Bellman - rightfully so - and we did not want them to think we were shuffling her off and bringing in a new actor. We listen to you. Not a lot, not really.

[Laughter]

John: But we do listen to the bigger screams. Also love the callback there that Hardison screwed up in the Ice Man and that's what motivated this entire- this entire replacement.

Marc: We always like to bring up Hardison's screw ups; blowing up offices and whatnot.

John: Blowing up offices. But it's interesting that this is one of those trios where you just kind of park the camera and, you know, they have the dialogue, just let them run; let them do 4 or 5 versions, get the hell out of their way.

Albert: And this scene is really our version of: the kids are wondering where mommy went. You know, so it's like they are a little uncomfortable, it's a new family dynamic, so they're on the phone with her.

John: Yeah.

Marc: Right. But of course, they don't want dad to know that they are speaking to mom.

Albert: Yeah.

John: Yeah, and that's a- that actually started in Ice Man, where they are calling and not telling Nate. And we continued it all the way through where they just don't feel comfortable letting Nate know. And that was a nice little moment with Beth, you know, just ‘I miss you’. It's not often we crack the shell on Parker, that's part of the advancement of the character, to show that she's comfortable in the family, even if she’s not comfortable with other humans. And these two actors the- not those actors, that's stock photography- but the two actors playing the bad guys are?

Marc: Grace and what's her last name?

Albert: Grace Hsu and Tom Choi.

Marc: Grace was a Portland local, she was fabulous; and Tom came from Los Angeles. They did a really great job. 

John: The con here is kind of convoluted. It's interesting, just watching this, is the idea that we really had to come into the fashion show from- the fashion industry is one of those industries where if you're inside it, you know everything. We had to constantly figure out, what does the audience need to know in order to understand what we're doing without overexplaining it?

Albert: Right. Again, this is a case where research helped. I mean, to actually looking into what happens during fashions shows. It's based on a real life event, Fashion Week, which normally takes place in New York though there are regional ones all around the country where there are big showcases for new designers as well as opportunities for the stylish designers to bring out their new lines and things like that. So we knew we had an event that was tied to a specific time which helped; it gave us a very limited time frame. And then, again, researching into how the Triads operate and what their connection is to the clothing industry. All of that just helped flesh out the con.

John: I love the Parker giving her instructions on how to be photographed, you know Sophie gave her instructions three weeks ago for some other con. And this was kind of fun, creating the idea for how do you create- in modern media, how do you create the illusion of an actual human existing for some period of time, object permanence to a great degree?

Albert: Right.

John: So you figured out how to- you know, my wife watches a lot of fashion TV and it was kind of backing up: how do I actually know who the hell any of these people are? And it was because of the fashion shows and magazines. Cover both of those and you're done. And DVRs have certainly been a boon. And also this, printing off one magazine it's actually easier than we made it look. 

Albert: Yeah.

Marc: Oh yeah.

John: There's actually a service that prints off short runs of magazines that you can use if you're say doing a trade show or running a con.

Albert: This was all done on location. Beautiful house. This beautiful house in- was it in Clackamas?

Marc: Yeah, just outside of Clackamas.

Albert: It was great. It was a huge mansion that worked perfectly, and we ended up recreating the mansion later when we blow it up.

John: Also that what they're doing there, where they are looping, that's exactly what it looks like at Electric Entertainment - it’s basically just a laptop and a mic in the kitchen and that's how we finish up these episodes. No, but it was fun to be able to say, ‘Oh well, put the words on her mouth when we’re on her back, just like we do with actors.’ 

Marc: Right.

John: Presently, Tim Hutton delivers no more than 50% of the dialogue you hear per episode. We put the rest in his mouth later with a cunning Tim Hutton imitator. Yeah, this is to close off the sale that she's locked in.

Marc: Yeah, just to continue the sale.

John: Now Marc, you directed a bunch of episodes by this point, coming into this, right?

Marc: Yes.

John: And what was it like having a new human on the staff?

Marc: It was interesting. We- it brought a new life to it, and was interesting to see how everybody worked together. And she was just trying to get a feel for everybody and, you know, she was really easy going and said, ‘Listen, if you want a different performance, please, I'm here to help you guys.’

John: ‘Who likes to do this style? Who likes to do that style? Is that head writer really drinking that much in the middle of the day?’ Basic questions.

Marc: What is that smell coming from his trailer?

John: It's shame. It's the smell of shame. This scene was actually not in the original shoot, right? We wound up- this is one of the scenes that was: how much do we explain to the audience? Do they explain what Fashion Week is or isn't? And when we kinda looked at the first cut, it was like, you know what? I know because I watch it on Saturday morning on fashion TV, but we gotta make sure we establish the rules.

Albert: Right. Just a little more explanation as to how the fashion world works and where the con is going; just another step in the process.

John: And an excuse to get Aldis in orange.

Marc: Exactly and have Aldis in orange and Eliot in mascara.

John: That's eye makeup, that's not mascara.

Marc: Sorry.

John: Don’t. Please. Please, I don't want that phone call again, don't make that mistake.

[Laughter]

Albert: What's great about that factory, even this part of this set was also in that factory. 

Marc: This was just another portion of it.

John: Wait, so all the dresses and stuff, did we bring those in or those were-?

Marc: Yeah, we just put up the bolts of fabric and some employees.

Albert: We spent a lot of time in that sweatshop.

John: Yeah. As one does.

Marc: As one does. 

John: I love, by the way, in this episode, just watching what Kane is doing behind her during this scene. I'm- he's making a lot of interesting choices for Eliot there. Especially with the card snap coming up. And this was a lot of fun, too; this was a lot of the fun of the show is learning all the rules and idiosyncrasies of each industry.

Albert: Sure, that's part of the formula is figuring out what's the interesting world you can look into and then diving into and explaining to the audience how these worlds work.

Marc: Well it's funny, cause she needs to explain it to her teammates on the show.

John: And the card! I love the card delivery.

Marc: And the card the bam, yeah, you get to explain it to the teammates and explain it to the audience as well.

John: We’re really replicating what we’re doing in the room. Which is, one person knows the field pretty well and they explain- I remember when we did Iceman and we were talking about getting the serial numbers off the diamonds and Chris Downey was like, ‘I'm not following’ and I went, ‘It's like getting VIN numbers off a car’. ‘Oh, ok perfect!’ And that wound up in the script. Also this was fun having somebody who didn't know how the earbuds worked; it kinda reset the rules for the audience. And some beautiful- how did we get all this beautiful Boston stock footage?

Marc: Some we bought, some we shot. 

John: You actually went out and shot a lot.

Marc: I did. Myself and Dave Connell spent a couple days running around the great city of Boston.

John: Now this is your directing debut, isn’t it Albert?

Albert: It wasn’t my debut, but it was probably the longest sequence I've done.

John: And it's just naked backs.

Albert: It was just tedious, grueling labor to just have to order these models around to take off their clothes and take off their shoes. No, it was great, it was. We already had the set, we finished the big scenes in the set, so Marc let me take a few people out and just get as much fun behind the scenes stuff you can, so that’s kind of where we ended up.

Marc: You and Norbert, right?

Albert: Yeah, Norbert. That was one of his first days there.

John: I love the hair. Whose idea was the Swiss Miss hair?

Albert: Well the other thing about this episode was hair, makeup, wardrobe, obviously had a field day with it. They were really excited about being able to put their best foot forward on a lot of this stuff, so they were able to-

Marc: Yeah, they really had a good time.

John: I also love the fact that Hardison is basically using CIA technique of human intel signals  and analysis on the PA’s on a fashion show to figure out who’s in charge without actually figuring it out. It's a lot of fun, and our friend Apollo Robbins helped us out with the envelope slip, and it helps that Beth is very good-

Marc: This girl is great; she was a lot of fun, this girl, Caitlyn, Caitlyn Larimore. We- she read for us a few times on other things; we just knew there was gonna be something for her eventually.

John: So really, if you're looking to act, you should get out of whatever little LA or New York, whatever little hick town you're in and move to Portland because that's where you're gonna get some work.

Marc: Move to Portland; that's where it's gonna happen.

John: This actually hacking into the printer is something we've done before. A favorite trick of Apollo is to print stuff out in your office when you don't realize something is about to happen. And then the slide- 

Marc: That wonderful calligraphy on those envelopes was my mother in-law’s.

John: Really? That's great.

Marc: Yes, Louise.

John: We didn’t pay her did we?

Marc: Oh god no.

John: Alright, just making sure. We are a cable show.

Albert: But she ends up featured as a featured extra in the episode, too. She's in the fashion show; you'll see her later staring down Parker.

John: Mother-in-law? You got your mother-in-law on tv?

Marc: That's right.

John: Wow, you're the best son-in-law ever. This actress- actually nice shot. We wound up repeating that character later. I remember we were kinda restructuring; we were like, ‘Oh, we can just use her again, that’s fine.’

Albert: I remember watching her read, and she was great at it, so we decided to, rather than use a separate character for a scene later on, just, you know, bring her back. And she wound up doing that scene later when they approach the security people.

John: Just some love for the extra, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ A little something from Eliot just for you.

Marc: Just a little.

Albert: Well he had to know that if you're gonna do a fashion episode, one with lots of models, that Eliot was gonna be right in the thick of things there.

John: Yeah. And the overheard- How did you stage this? The overheard conversation is a staple of the show and the bane of all directors everywhere.

Marc: Yeah, we didn't have a lot of time on this day, but we figured out a way; just keep her in the background, eventually a couple close ups of her ears perk, and soon they'll drag her in deeper. 

John: Now each one of them is doing a specific person. I can't remember, he's doing-

Marc: Lagerfeld.

John: He's doing Lagerfeld. She’s doing Donatella Versace. I can't remember the British guy that Hardison is locked in on, cause I remember Aldis actually had pictures of him. I’m trying to remember...

Albert: André Leon Talley from Vogue, who is the legendary creative director of Vogue. And he's sort of channeling him. But yeah, again, during the course of research-

Marc: I got my ladder shot in there, by the way. I'm just two for two on-

John: On having ladders in your-

Marc: Yeah.

John: That's good; that's excellent.

Albert: This whole set was built; this was the whole fashion show.

John: We actually built this in the museum that we shot the finale for 207 in, right?

Marc: No, this was just an empty warehouse. 

John: Did we have permission?

Marc: Yes we did.

John: Good. Cause sometimes we don't; sometimes we just build stuff and then get the hell out before the cops show.

Marc: Yes, we used a lot of fabric to hide things.

Albert: But the beauty of it is, if you go to real fashion shows, it's kind of what it is. The highlight of fashions shows are supposed to be the clothes, so they keep the surroundings very minimal, and that's- that's always the idea of a fashion show. So luckily for us, it's fairly easy to recreate realistically as a set.

Marc: A lot of times it's just a wedding tent and a runway and chairs.

Albert: Well anyone who's watched Project Runway can see what it's like. It’s just a runway and some folding chairs.

John: I thought we built- that's interesting. Where did we go back to the museum for? I can't remember; it's gonna drive me crazy. Whose idea was the buckles?

Albert: Buckles was something I came up with in the script when I was trying to figure out how to explain what a poor designer Gloria is.

John: What's the one thing nobody likes a lot of?

Marc: Buckles.

Albert: So it became a little joke that someone that- someone, I think it was Chris actually pitched the joke about ‘pilgrim chic’ which we put in there, and found out later that that's actually kind of a real thing. If you make up any kind of joke in the fashion world you'll find out eventually that it's a real thing somewhere.

John: Yes.

Marc: This was actually the workers rec room, which was pretty much an open area room and- 

John: You're kind of ruining the whole sweatshop vibe with, like, ‘They had a rec room.’

Marc: Yeah, they had a rec room and basically we've pretty much four walled it. 

John: Yup.

Marc: And, you know, put in-

John: Which means?

Marc: To put up a wall to close it off. 

John: So this is a bigger space behind him.

Marc: Yeah, it's actually pretty much the same size, but it's just a platform where they had their lunch table set up. But we liked the ability to have shots like that where we can look down onto the floor, it was always-

John: And then shoot back up.

Marc: It was always something that I know that you guys mention, that we wanna have more connection with our victims. So we placed that shot-

John: It is tricky, particularly when we’re doing complicated ones, you can lose track of that vic that's in the opening, and we really tried this year to tie it back a little bit more.

Albert: Yeah, it was interesting. I had a conversation with another writer just the other day about - who works on a crime procedural - and they have the same issue about how to connect with their victims. It's much harder for them because usually their victims are dead. So they show up in the beginning dead, and they can wrap things up with the relative of the victim at the end. If you notice, what a lot of crime shows do is they have flashbacks, so then you get to learn the personality of the victims through the flashbacks.

John: Oh, interesting.

Albert: So we don't do that, but our victims are alive so there are opportunities, like in this scene, to reconnect with the people who we’re working for and establish what our emotional stakes are.

John: And this is also one of the places where we sort of set up- and if you watch what we did with Jeri’s character, and sort of the difference between Sophie and Tara Cole. Tara Cole is a short grifter. Sophie is never gonna push it, she's never gonna try to get the big payout. And Tara’s job is to get in and get out with as much money as possible, so this is one of the times where we really sort of set up how she needs to adjust. Though when you look at the back half, we don't really change it that much. The team doesn't really change, it's- she kind of adjusts herself to fit in the team a bit more. They wind up using her short term push just as a different sort of batter.

Albert: Whereas personality-wise, there's something you told me I remember which helped make everything click which was - Tara is really kind of a guy’s girl. You know, she's the kind of girl who sits around and watches football with the guys on Sundays. Sophie is very much a girl's girl; she's out there doing the shopping and fashion and all that stuff. So that kind of distinguishes the two characters. Although they fulfill the same role within the team, they're very distinctive in terms of their personality. 

John: But that's also from when we originally created the show. A lot of these characters have slightly different personalities, and the actors brought other personalities, and we realized as long as that job was fulfilled in the team, you can range pretty widely within there. How did you shoot- where the hell is she?

Albert: She's supposed to be-

Marc: Tashkent, right?

Albert: Tashkent. So- 

John: Uzbekistan?

Albert: Yes.

John: Oh right there you go. Of course. ‘Cause Tashkent is in Uzbekistan. Who doesn't know that?

Albert: Right.

Marc: And yes, so we shot Gina on a much later date, during a later episode, and just one green screen and some stock footage behind a little wind machine and there you are.

Albert: And camels.

Marc: And some camels, yes.

John: As one has in Tashkent. 

Marc: In Portland.

John: Oh no, we went to the Portland zoo see, I was hoping you'd give them the whole speech about sand, and yeah. That's a little bit of jealousy, a little bit of- and that was another thing, too, to make sure that Sophie wasn't just a character that you checked in with once a week. She had to have her own little arc that whenever you went to her she had a distinct attitude about the team. Yes and the reindeer gag, which I really foolishly insisted on keeping in the script because it was my favorite bit.

Albert: It was brilliant; it was great; it was all John.

John: That's mine. Whenever you see a joke that doesn't quite work and seems kind of doomed but we keep, that's usually me diggin in at the table, particularly if it's absurdist. Now did we put banners up or is that digital?

Marc: Digital. Those were digital banners on the building. Do our little whip pans to Eliot and whip back. 

John: Just to establish, yes, he's with a model. Where do you think he was gonna be? And he’s out.

Marc: And he's angry he has to leave the model.

John: The- and again, it was interesting to, sort of, know that we had to plot out these arcs on the back six, and figuring out exactly, like, how do we show trust and acceptance? And, you know, you can do it in dialogue, but you don't want people talking about their intentions. And the ear bud became kind of an interesting metaphor; it goes in and out of use over the back six and even with Eliot we wound up using it.

Marc: Yeah, it's like the chief asking for your gun and badge.

John: Yeah, exactly. And it also solved the problem later when you know it’s- she shouldn't have heard X. 

Albert: Right.

John: And that's a big problem on the show is in theory, if they can all hear each other’s conversations... Whereas a lot of cop shows, a big chunk of the time is, ‘What did you find out from witness x, Billy?’ What did you find out about witness y? Alright now let's put it together.’ They know. Now how did we do this blow?

Marc: Now that wass digital smoke, and that is a model.

Albert: Green screen model.

Marc: Yeah, we modeled the windows and actually shot it in our parking lot right here in Highland, in Santa Monica Boulevard.

John: Now we built- we do builds on the- building’s blowing up is better with models. The cars we've found we can do just digitally, but the buildings really look great with the model.

Marc: But we still use the model for the car as well. We just don't have the time or the money to do full explosions, you know, we do just a little aftermath with some debris and smoke.

Albert: Especially when it's someone's real house.

Marc: Yes.

Albert: Don't want to-

John: Generally they kind of frown on that, of just blow out the windows.

Albert: Because last year we did, Marc and I worked on another episode where we blow up a warehouse. And it was an abandoned warehouse, so you blow out the windows and break the glass, so it's not such a big deal.

Marc: Yeah, we did a little damage to the Prison Break set on that. What they shot was-

John: I remember, because I pulled up the day you were shooting that, I was like ‘I hope I haven't missed the blow.’ I was a quarter mile away and my windshield shook and I'm like OK, that was a little bigger than we anticipated’.

Albert: But this was a house with six kids was it?

Marc: Six kids, yeah.

Albert: So it was-

John: So blowing it up wouldn't have changed it all that much.

Albert: Probably not. Actually that family was incredibly neat.

John: And this is a lot of fun. And again, this is where, if you pay attention, we never tell you Tara’s backstory; if you pay attention all six episodes, you can figure out exactly what Tara used to do before she became a con woman. The information she knows, the way she puts stuff together, you’ll figure it out. Also the yelling. This was a lot of fun, because Eliot would be annoyed in this situation, and Chris Kane is never funnier than when Eliot is incredibly annoyed.

Marc: That’s right, and it's usually with Hardison.

John: Yeah. Thank you, I don't know how you make this show without phone cameras I really- we couldn't have made this show in 1978 this would've been a lot harder.

Albert: Or earbuds.

John: Or earbuds. Well earbuds we could've got around, but- no earbuds might have made our life easier, actually.

Albert: This was another thing that came up in research, actually, when I wrote a book about the Chinese Triads, and it is actually true that they're signature weapon is a meat cleaver. We looked at a few pictures of them, they're pretty impressive; they are really big and they have engravings on them, stuff like that. I've also looked at way too many pictures of victims of the Triads.

Marc: Yeah, missing fingers, and hands, and arms.

Albert: But that, again, it just added another fun element, knowing that there was, in reality there was a signature weapon that they use, and gave Eliot another fight scene.

John: Of course they'd be fancy meat cleavers, you're not gonna just pick a meat cleaver at Tesco or the kitchen section of Best Buy; you're gonna get one specially made. This was a lot of fun, too, something we haven't done in a while, which was watching Eliot figure out his fight space. You know, control access doing the math in this head. You know, it's always a little easier if no ones around him, just so he can tear people around a little easier. Fun stunt. Jerri did this, right?

Marc: Yeah, she was really nervous about doing her first fight with us, but she was a trooper; she did a great job.

John: She actually killed that guy. I feel a little bad about that, that's the first time we've admitted that, but you know. This was one of my favorite fights, cause we don't do a lot of weapon fights.

Marc: Yeah.

John: And it really reads well; the cleavers read real. Also we do a nice fight style with Chris here.

Albert: We did use cleavers back in the first season with the Wedding Job.

John: Oh that's right, we had the kitchen thing.

Albert: A kitchen thing. But it was a different kind of fight; it was a one on one in an enclosed space. This was an open space with multiple attackers ,and again, different props to use. So like, you saw the mannequin dummy there, and the rolling carts, and things like that, and so it ended up being a really fun scene.

John: And again, thank god for the surveillance culture - the fact that there are so many traffic cameras. Although you may bitch about privacy, it really helps us.

Marc: It really, really helps us.

John: This was interesting. This- I forget how this came up, I think the fact he had two IDs, but they had only checked one. I had a friend who was a Mountie- and remember, we were talking about my buddy who had done undercover up in Canada, and gh said the problem was, the guys got the fake, ran up records on fake Canadian IDs and you never knew the original crimes. Yeah. ‘Hey, how does Tara Cole know how to handle a meat cleaver?’ You’ll find-

Marc: Yup.

John: There you go, and that's a nice hit. And the head butt. I love the head butt, I'm sorry, man, that's a great way to end a fight.

Marc: She gets to take part.

John: Also, there's a lot of really nice hair flipping around in that fight scene, I gotta say.

Marc: I love-

John: I don't know whose looks better.

Marc: It's like a [Unintelligible. Sounds like ‘Germat’?] commercial.

[Laughter]

John: And that's, again, one of the problems with having a really uber competent team is, ‘OK they would have run this guy's background. What is the one loophole we could find that Hardison could screw up?’ You know, it's not screw up, it's nobody’s perfect.

Albert: It's just overlooked.

John: That's the trick, it has to always be some sort of fair play thing. Not a mistake, not just a ‘I didn't look in that drawer.’ This is a legitimate loophole.

Albert: Look how great this location is, though. It's everywhere; there's stuff everywhere. We really would not have been able to duplicate this on a set. 

Marc: No.

John: What? No?

Marc: Never. 

John: I love that he keeps the voice up here. That killed me here the first time I saw the dalies I was like, ‘Is he still doing Lagerfeld’?

Marc: Jack Bouvier. 

John: Yeah the fingerless gloves are really the pièce de résistance there. There's a lot of stuff there that could be on anybody, but the fingerless gloves really digs in.

Albert: Again, that's straight out of the Lagerfeld book.

Marc: Tim went for it.

John: Are those glasses actually rose tinted?

Albert: Yes.

John: Yes they are, that's magnificent. And the evil speech of evil: ‘Listen, I'm just a businessman. I have obligations.’ You know, in his head he's keeping many people employed back in China. You know, and he's a copy fighter, he's like those electronic freedom foundation guys who doesn't believe in copyright.

Albert: He's a hero, really.

John: He is a hero.

Albert: Of his own story, but- 

John: Exactly, he just happens to interact with our story. 

Albert: Exactly.

John: And this is actually a cue, this is a hint to where Nate’s- This winds up being the first episode of the second half of the season. This is kind of a hint of where Nate’s arc is going for the season, where he's getting so addicted to control and not losing and beating the bad guy, he's starting to make poor decisions. And he makes a series of remarkably poor decisions through the back six that really just the competence of the team protects him from.

Albert: He's kind of like those football teams that keep pulling it out in the 4th quarter and just decide that's just what they have to do. So they don’t mind coasting through the rest of the game or even, you know, getting down and behind before then.

John: Yeah it's- it's the mental discipline, and something that Parker says later on in the season which is, ‘Be the Nate Ford that we came back for.’ The mental discipline that made him legendary and which they count on is starting to slip. And it's not because of the booze, it's because of what he's substituting the booze with.

Marc: Right.

John: This is me drinking my Guinness, by the way.

[Laughter]

Albert: It's not your Guinness, it's what you’re substituting for the Guinness.

John: No, no, this is my Guinness; I'm actually drinking.

Albert: Oh ok. It's actually another Guiness that is substituting for his Guinness.

[Laughter]

John: It's, again, a Guinness that's somewhere else that I would like to be drinking. Some bargaining, trying to get them to take Eliot instead of Jeri.

Marc: That wasn't something he planned for. 

John: No, no, and it's interesting, and again, this is all trust issues. She kind of volunteered herself for this position, she’s, you know- 

Albert: The trick is, part of the whole episode was really the character dynamics. Because it was a new character, because it was a new team member, even though she'd been introduced in the episode beforehand, this is really the first full con they run together as a team. So it was a very tricky thing, and so I had the outlines of what the broad strokes would be, but this is the point when you go to the show runner and you say, ‘John how does this work, exactly?’ And then John takes over.

John: We stare at the ceiling and- that's what the writers room is for. And this is great, we actually wound up paralleling this shot. You created this shot for this episode, Marc; we wound up paralleling this argument in, like, two other episodes. There's actually a similar version of this shot in the first half in the season finale, where it's like, we are now sitting judgment of Nate Ford, and we’re a little distrubed that we’re not feeling very comfortable here. Yeah, and this cutting pattern replicates, and it’s interesting, and it's because we have editors working over certain episodes that make certain choices. And those are I think the names of-

Albert: They were real Electric Entertainment employees.

John: ‘Maybe I want to meet...’ Yes. Hardison is the most hard done by character; he never gets what he wants. And that, again, is one of those things where this episode was shot in 6 ½ days.

Marc: Yes, there's my mother-in-law.

John: There you go; she's a lovely woman.

Marc: A lovely woman.

John: Are you checking the list of actors to pick her name up? That's not good.

Marc: No, gosh no.

John: You know, we had four different ways this scam works. All depending on exactly how this shooting schedule worked out. And I remember I had to sit down with my wife and I was like, ‘Alright’, cause she's big into this, I was like, ‘Exactly what is the timing and choreography on a fashion show?’ And there, the thing with the dresses and they're all transported across town. So it was a good lesson for writers is, the great thing about TV is you're shooting every week; the really great thing about TV that will also drive you crazy is, you learn how to have a bunch of choices. Because sometimes the world decides not cooperate with you, and you can't shut down production for two days and just go- You've worked on big films, you've seen this. Like, ‘You know what? We're just gonna take a day off and find the right location.’

Marc: Yes.

John: No. Not so much.

Albert: The scene coming up with Parker in the gown. This is really, if you think about it and you say that you're gonna do an episode with the Leverage team involved in the fashion world, kind of the promise of the premise is you're gonna get Parker in a fashion show. In a gown, in a fashion show.

John: Right, because she's the one person who would despise it.

Albert: Right, and you kind of have to deliver this scene.

John: This was also shot later, and it was interesting because we don't usually get Parker and Eliot- you know, Parker and Eliot in a two-hander. And if you go back, you can see in the back half of the season when we- especially when we saw how it worked out in The Lost Heir Job, it became kind of a little more standard that we go to this partnership. You also see it pop up in the bottle show, the bar show, what the hell did we call it?

Marc: Bottle Job.

John: We called it The Bottle Job, that's right.

Marc: The problem with doing these two-handers is he can get her to laugh and break.

John: Yeah, Chris can crack Beth up. Him doing the dirty dresses on the floor line, Beth I think broke character maybe ten times because we are in the basement shooting that day. 

Marc: And this is the dress that Nadine our costume designer built.

Albert: Yeah.

John: It's a pretty amazing dress.

Marc: A beautiful dress.

John: The thumb drive of intent. Thank you thumb drive, for giving us a short hand so audiences know what we're doing. 

Marc: Yes, so she basically- you'll see that all of the Andre V, that's the Andre V character, has a touch of yellow in it.

John: That's right. Nadine created a unified theme for the fashion line - the fake fashion line that we were doing. 

Albert: She created an actual line.

Marc: Yeah, so she created a whole line and there's a touch of yellow in everything and as you’ll see when we get to the runway-

John: Where's this dress? We should auction this dress off.

Albert: Nadine probably has it.

Marc: It's actually in my car.

John: Oh no. I wish I didn't know that.

Marc: And then Dave Connell carried it with the lighting design as well.

John: Oh that's great, that is great. It's like we do this for a living.

Marc: Almost.

John: I love that Parker does the most- the little slide across the spot; that's a lot of fun. And now, did you shoot this at night? You had how many days on this set?

Marc: I think we did this-

John: You had the day, which was the warm up and then-

Marc: I think we had this location for two days.

John: That's not bad.

Marc: That's Jeffery Gilbert who played Andre V; he was just great. And I love Parker with the moves.

John: With the big head turn.

Marc: Just for a moment she thinks she got it under control, of course.

John: No, not so much. Walking is hard; walking in those heels is hard.

Albert: Walking in heels is hard.

John: I also love the little improv- it wasn’t in the script, but I remember seeing it in the dalies - she cracks her neck.

Marc: Yes that was definite Parker move. And I know this had to be- the scene coming up had to be a John Rogers line, where it's written that Andre V is banging his head repeatedly against the wall.

[Laughter]

John: Well, yeah, because I do that in the writers room.

Marc: And they said, ‘We gotta move on.’ I said, ‘No, I need to get the guy banging his head.’

John: Trust me, have some sympathy. And this is where we pay off the idea that Tara has heard about this team, and now believes she's given Nate one clue as to what she’s gonna do and she's desperately hoping they're as good as they think they are, and she’s doing the set up to this, she's setting up this beat. It was tricky, because we did actually play- she does actually look like she's selling the team out here, and if you're watching the DVD, you are watching all the way through the seasons. aAnd we did go back and forth on how loyal would she be to the team. And it really is the fact that one of the reasons you watch the show, or at least I think one of the reasons you watch the show, is the family vibe.

Albert: Absolutely.

John: And just having somebody who wasn’t into the family vibe in the middle of it, it might've been interesting from a writing standpoint, and we’re all fans of the show who write the show, it wasn’t interesting from an audience standpoint; it felt a little overly clever, a little constructed. But we do it just enough that we can get she's part of the team, but she doesn't buy into Nate’s bullshit, and as a result her actions in the finale make some sort of organic sense. And the van, oh, the van.

Marc: Gotta have the van.

John: Not anymore.

[Laughter]

Marc: Well-

John: No the- and this, again, we had like four variations how this particular con worked. Who did those designs? Who did-? We have a lot of actual fashion designs floating around in this.

Marc: I think Nadine.

Albert: Nadine and her team did pretty much everything.

John: They sketched them up and sent them off to Derek to do the computer graphics.

Albert: They did the sketches, they did the buckles sketches, they designed the clothes. Like I said, this was a real- this was a field day for the wardrobe and makeup and hair.

Marc: For the glam department.

John: That was nice, too. Cause the thing we originally missed, that having him hand him the badge, it’s a nice touch. Again, the trick when you’re doing- Some of the endings we stop and explain a lot, some just kind of unroll, and you have to make sure you set up all the pieces. And a lot of times when you're running and gunning and shooting, that stuff goes away.

Marc: It does. And so much of it is like, you get to a certain scene like, oh my god, in the flashback you're supposed to see that happens later.

John: Do you break those off separately when you shoot these or-? I mean, I know you, kind of, barely read the script.

Marc: A lot of times they are within the scenes and god bless Suzanne, our script supervisor, she just, she-

John: She's the best. She's actually the best I've  ever worked with.

Marc: She's the gatekeeper, yeah, she’s amazing. 

John: A Script Supervisor’s job, in case you don't know, if you're watching, is to sit next to the Director with a copy of the script, with special notations that they go to school to learn, to track what is in every shot, what the angles are, what the sizes are, who’s crossing, who’s walking in from what direction.

Marc: She's basically- she's keeping score and she’s the directors best friend, or worst enemy.

John: You will hear a lot of directors, even really experienced directors say-

Marc: As well as an editor, because, you know, an editor just gets a hard drive of footage, and if he can't decipher her notes, then he's gonna struggle as well.

John: I've seen really experienced directors, guys who are famous, they will finish and will turn to their script supervisor and go ‘What do I need?’ Cause they're watching the coverage while the directors watching the-

Marc: And we do a lot of different things and as a director, you're watching performances, and you're making sure you're hitting all the right emotional beats, and you know, when we do certain scenes where we have multiple characters, or you’re doing a 360-

John: We have a five-hander here.

Marc: Yeah, or doing a 360 and the camera’s going around and around, you need someone to be keeping score for you.

John: I like the physicality, by the way, watching this again, of watching Tim does with his face when he’s with the character and when he's just dropped it, and all of a sudden that kind of fake character, the wardrobe doesn't matter if he's just pissed, and you know he's dug in.

Marc: As soon as he's pulled off the glasses-

John: It's Nate.

Marc: It's Nate. 

John: Great job.

Marc: And we haven't even had him say that, when Tom, later on, you know, points that out, you're not even who you say you are, he, like, looks at him in a certain way.

John: Yeah. No, nice call. The- oh yes, this was, again, interesting, is one of the things that really depends on the speed with which these guys can rip this stuff off. You know, in one of the original versions we were talking about where the dresses are actually transported- right after the fashion show, the dresses actually are driven across town and are put in a private closed viewing for the buyers. They won’t let anybody else close to those dresses because even with photographs, they can be knocked off within a matter of 48-72 hours. Which is stunning, which is what you're trying to fight when you're trying to fight piracy. And hung by his own sin, which is one of the rules.

Albert: There's always a rule. Yup. Going back to the wardrobe and hair and makeup departments, the other thing you don't end up seeing is that they went through a lot of their own iterations of what- before what you see on the screen. They did a lot of tests, they did a lot of different looks. If we had time, we could probably show all these other test photos they took, and different hair configurations, and make up, and at one point they did this whole sort of Kabuki look, but we decided that might've been a little too fashion forward for this show. They really went all out.

Marc: They went all out.

John: Did you say fashion forward?

Albert: Sure.

Marc: And some of them were just based on the element of time, you know, we wouldn't have time to change actors over to a certain style, and-

John: Yeah, cause I mean, that's the thing, is when the difference between shooting Parker as Parker, and shooting Parker as Parker as fashion model, is two hours to change that character's look.

Albert: At least.

John: At least. And the walk of victory.

Marc: Dun dun dunnn.

John: This is nice, this is- I, you know, I always love the 60s, 70s call back; it's a nice style choice. Also, you've got that great street to shoot down. Where was that? Was that outside of-?

Marc: That was right outside of the actual warehouse location.

Albert: Across the river.

Marc: Just across the river from downtown Portland, so it was really close; you know, had a nice overpass.

John: Looked like that section of T that’s elevated.

Marc: This, again, is supposed to be in Asia, which was actually just another area of the warehouse again.

John: And then that's a kind of an iconic shot for this show now. That's nice, the Jeri Ryan era, as the fans call it. If you go on the boards and see the fans arguing over which six episodes are the best in the giant ouvre of Leverage ouvre. And she pays a horrible horrible price for her treachery.

Albert: Those are real working steam presses, and I can tell you from having been there, they were ridiculously hot. 

[Laughter]

Albert: I didn't want to be anywhere near it. I was like, ‘Wow, Gloria is really a trooper going through this.’ She had to learn how to operate it; it had, like, foot petals and things.

John: This is why it's good to be a writer, is, we write horrible things and then the directors and actors go live there, while we occasionally- Sometimes we venture from the hotel room to go visit the set.

Marc: At times.

John: But it's for the best if the writer isn't there; just causes trouble.

Albert: We can go pose and take pictures with the models; that's when we show up on set.

John: Yes. And then this is actually based on, there's a bunch of factories now that are owned by the employees that were taken over. Some car factories, some- there was a big thing in South America for a while of the workers seizing foreclosed factories and opening them up as co-ops.

Marc: I did not know that.

John: Yes, there you go. Anything we can do to undermine the infrastructure of capitalism of America in Leverage we try to, we try to.

Marc: Now this is a happier factory, it's brighter.

John: Brighter colors.

Marc: Yeah, it's brighter colors, there's sound.

[Laughter]

John: I love that. I love you sitting in the director’s chair like, ‘Alright, now make it the happy sweatshop.’

Marc: How else can we make them happy?

John: Lunch breaks.

Marc: Lunch breaks! Sandwiches. Sandwiches make everyone happy. Everybody’s happy with a sandwich.

John: There you go, and milk, that's delicious. Look, and we saw that particular extra was unhappy earlier.

Albert: That's right.

Marc: She was.

John: There you go; really sold it. And again, it's interesting because, you know, you shot two years of this now, and you understand the vics aren't a big part of actual screen time, they are on in the opening, they're on in the closing. Those actors are insanely important, because it means you have to like them really fast, and if you don't like them really fast, you know, it won’t pay off.

Marc: Yeah, and they have to keep up because, you know, it's not like we get a lot of time to do rehearsals, and so some of the crux of the episode can be in their hands.

Albert: Oh yeah, the emotional core of the story always hinges on the victims and their choices.

John: And sometimes those scenes with Tim Hutton in the bar, that's the entire reason you're gonna care about this episode. And this is a lot of fun with- this is when we- again, we really track, if you watch the back six episodes where Tara Cole feels in how she's getting the money. Happy about getting the money, ambivalent about getting the money, not caring so much, you know. She never doesn't care, cause that's just wrong. And now, it's interesting, Tim and I had a nice conversation about this particular phone call, cause he called me about this and he's like, ‘I'm not sure where we're going with this.’ I'm like, ‘You know that moment when you've had an argument with the wife and you've realized you've said the wrong thing and you can never take it back?’ And he's like, ‘Oh yeah.’ and I'm like, ‘That one right there.’ And it's one of my favorite little Nate/Sophie scenes and they're not even in the same room. Because it's, you know, it's- banter is fun, relationships are hard.

Marc: Right.

Albert: Oh I like that. Banter is fun, relationships are hard. 

John: And, you know, end of day, unless you show a couple of these scenes every now and then, you don't buy these relationships as real. And that's why I think one of the reasons the Eliot/Nate relationship feels very grounded is, we give opportunity for Chris Kane and Tim to kind of dig in on the fact that they don't always agree, those characters.

Albert: And you gotta give somewhere for the characters to go. That's the thing about a scene like this, at the end it gives them somewhere to go after here.

John: That was great. Thank you so much, guys, that was a lot of fun. The episode was fantastic.

Albert: That was The Runway Job.

Marc: Thank you.

John: Anything you wanna say to the nice folks before we move onto the next one?

Marc: Stay tuned.

[Laughter]

John: It's a DVD, I don't think they’re gonna wander off-

Marc: For the season.

John: Oh for another season, that's right. Season 3. Albert anything you wanna say?

Albert: No this was great, this was, I think, my third episode working with Marc. Third, that I'd written. Kind of fourth.

John: Kind of codependent.

Marc: Yes, yes.

Albert: We are, but I've learned that one thing: banter is fun, but relationships are hard, so we gotta keep working on it.

Marc: That’s right.

[kimkitsuragi]

Final Cut News!

All right, so, by now most people are probably aware that we got a glut of new information about Disco Elysium: The Final Cut yesterday. However, so much content from so many sources can be a bit overwhelming, so I’m making a roundup of links to all the new articles, art, music, and videos I can find, highlighting the details that I personally find interesting.

(under a read more because this will be quite a long post!)

To start with, new official art of Harry and Kim has been released! This art was created by Anton Vill, who did the art for the in-game Thought Cabinet.

ZA/UM's Head of Publishing, Mikk Metsniit, also posted art of Martinaise in the official Disco Elysium Discord. This art has been shared in lower quality before as part of a promotional image for the collector’s edition of Disco Elysium, which will include it as an “illustrated fabric map”. The file Metsniit posted is named “Martinaise Revitalization ‘48.″ In-universe, a design studio previously made an attempt to restore Martinaise to its pre-war state, but ultimately failed. This piece appears to show the planned development of Martinaise--except it’s being swallowed up by the Pale. Fun!

Along with the first piece of art come two new songs by British Sea Power, which will be featured in the final cut:

Advesperascit, named after the city in Vesper-Messina where Dolores Dei was crowned Innocence in-universe. Apparently the name is Latin and roughly translates to “evening comes”

Ignus Nilsen Waltz, named after a prominent communist figure in-universe.

I think these songs will likely be tied to the new political vision quests, which are four new questlines that are each associated with one of the game’s four political ideologies. More information about them, along with other details, can be found in the following articles and videos:

Disco Elysium - The Final Cut Is Like Going From A Black-And-White Movie To Color, article from GameSpot’s Phil Hornshaw. In this article, voice over director Jim Ashilevi talks about adding full voice acting to the game and says that The Final Cut will feature 59 voice actors from countries around the world, chosen to reflect the backgrounds of Revachol’s diverse inhabitants. Lead artist Kaspar Tamsalu speaks about the political vision quests, saying that they will allow the player to meet new characters, learn more about the existing ones, and dive deeper into the politics, secrets, and history of Elysium. Tamsalu also says that The Final Cut will add the ability to fast travel and include Twitch integration, allowing stream viewers to vote on streamers’ decisions and even influence the build of the protagonist.

Biggest Changes In Disco Elysium - The Final Cut, video from GameSpot’s Phil Hornshaw, accompanies the above article. This is a fairly short overview of The Final Cut’s new features as detailed in GameSpot’s article. It includes samples of new voice acting, clips of new animations from the end of the game involving the protagonist and his coworkers (1:47, 2:05), a scene showing a new area added by one of the political vision quests (1:57), and a particularly funny voiced line from Kim (3:22)

‘Disco Elysium: The Final Cut’ comes out March 30. Here’s what’s new.  Article from The Washington Post’s Elise Favis. Includes more details about the political vision quests. According to developer Kaspar Tamsalu, these quests may be started after one in-game day, and are mutually exclusive so that only one may be completed in each playthrough. Jim Ashilevi talks more about the challenge of recording all of the game’s dialogue--more than one million words in total--without outsourcing the work to other studios. Ashilevi also says that he sees ZA/UM as an “art collective”, and “compares his team to the Wu-Tang Clan, in that each person has other creative endeavors, both personal and professional, outside of creating video games.”

Disco Elysium: The Final Cut even gives your horrific necktie a voice. Very brief article from PCGamer’s Fraser Brown. Not much new information in this article, but there is one interesting tidbit: apparently the Horrific Necktie’s voice will be provided by Mikee Goodman, who is one of the game’s voice over directors. Goodman also provides the voices of the Ancient Reptilian Brain, the Limbic System, and several other characters.

Disco Elysium is getting even more political, a long article from PC Gamer’s Fraser Brown. Lead writer Helen Hindpere talks more about the political vision quests, which she says ZA/UM was inspired to add based on fans’ enthusiastic reception of the game’s existing political themes. Hindpere says that the new quests can change the game’s map itself, allowing the protagonist to leave his own mark on the district of Martinaise. The quests will also allow for deeper and more serious exploration of the protagonist’s political views, which were often taken to humorous extremes in the original game. Each quest is different, with some being more wordy and some more visual. The Ultraliberal quest will allow the player to “build a personal brand”, while the communist quest “inspires you to begin a movement”. One quest also adds a new urban location to the game, which Hindpere says reminds her of Berlin. The quests don’t just revolve around a single topic, though; according to Hindpere, "You'll be talking about love, sexuality, hope, ambition, and even about certain geological features specific to our worldbuilding. There's an opportunity to get close and intimate with characters who have thus far seemed unapproachable. Let's say that once you share the same ideology many barriers disappear, allowing you see a different side of many important characters." There will also be a significant amount of new dialogue with Kim Kitsuragi related to these quests.

Disco Elysium PS5 Gameplay - 5 Things You Need To Know, fairly long video from PlayStation Access’ Ash Millman. This video provides some basic information about the game’s premise for new players and shows what the game will look like on PlayStation 5, with a user interface redesigned for the console. The video also includes clips throughout that show some new content, presumably from the political vision quests. Three of these clips seems to be connected: in the first of them, wires are shown that run from the battery of the protagonist’s crashed car to radio equipment set up on and around the statue in the center of Martinaise; in the second, Soona, the radiocomputer programmer from the church questline, can been seen climbing the statue itself to set up some more equipment; and in the third, Soona, Harry, and Kim stand near the modified statue, talking about attempting to contact the flying warship Archer via radio. There are also two other clips: in one, the statue has been splashed with multicolored paints, while in the other the protagonist is seen talking to Idiot Doom Spiral, a local drunk, about hiring him for an unspecified job. Millman also talks about the three different settings that will be available for the game’s voice over: “Classic Mode” will play the same as the original game, with only a few lines voiced, while “Psychological Mode” will provide voice acting for all characters except the protagonist’s internal monologue and skills. The last option, “Fully Voiced Mode” is, well, exactly what it sounds like. There’s also a brief clip that provides a sample of the Horrific Necktie’s new voice (1:26).

DISCO ELYSIUM - The Final Cut (Cuno Voice Example), YouTube video shared by developer Mikk Metsniit. Video is age-restricted. This video includes new voice samples for Cuno, a few of the skills, and Kim. Due to COVID-19, Cuno’s original voice actor, Dot Major, was unable to return, so Cuno is now voiced by Oli Dabiri. Lenval Brown, the narrator of the English language trailers, acts as the game’s general narrator and voice of all 24 skills. Jullian Champenois remains as Kim.

[floralovebot]

I don’t personally think that for winx you should place necessarily a specific country to a character instead of just ethnicity just because it allows more children to view themselves in the characters. That’s why bratz had each character technically from more than one area, so kids who feel like they visually look like the character can feel more connected to them.

i understand what you’re saying and i partially agree. however, i do think it’s bit different in this case specifically because of rainbow’s history (in general and with winx). rainbow has a very extensive history of whitewashing their characters of color and mixing different cultures into one purely for aesthetic. handling a character in a vague way so more kids can relate to them has to be done in a very respectful manner and that needs to be your intention from the start.

for example, when rainbow was creating characters like flora and aisha, they weren’t thinking about specific regions or groups of people. originally, flora was going to be white and they changed her to latina to give her a more “latin feel”. they created flora specifically with the intent of diversifying the main characters and giving latine girls a character they could look up to. in flora’s case, having her be “vaguely” latina and not specifically puerto rican could work out okay as long as it’s handled appropriately (which it wasn’t as we can see with fate). this doubles because within the confines of canon, we don’t see puerto rican culture shown or even hinted at through flora, her family, or lynphea.

with aisha, it’s very similar. they just wanted a black character within the main characters so that young black girls could have someone to look up to. they weren’t thinking of specific regions or ethnic backgrounds, they just wanted a black girl.

with characters like musa, it’s completely different because they took the leap into showing real life cultures in canon. musa was based off of a chinese woman and melody was given the vaguely ancient china look. and whenever they added something from a different culture outside of chinese, they weren’t thinking “this will add more diversity”, they were thinking “this fits within the ancient chinese aesthetic look we were going for”. while the mixing of cultures based on aesthetic was gross, it would still be extremely disrespectful for them to cast an asian actress that wasn’t chinese or at least mixed chinese, because of the confines they set her and her planet to. musa can’t be proper representation for every young asian girl because they specified through her, her family, her planet, and even her wardrobe exactly what her background was.

i’m guessing this ask is in response to the flora post though, so again i see where you’re coming from! but there’s a very big difference in making characters vague so more people can relate to them and making them vague because you have no idea how to be respectful to people’s cultures. rainbow has shown time and time again that they don’t know how to be respectful and continue to be actively racist on almost every measure. casting a brown latina girl that isn’t puerto rican wouldn’t be a crime but it definitely opens up a lot of conversation on why they couldn’t do that, especially when we’ve seen how they treat poc in the past. it also opens up conversations on how to show that characters in-world heritage and backstory without being completely offensive, especially when (white) characters like bloom and stella can have theirs shown all the time.

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: 【倾落心扉】 Xia Yan | Falling into the Heart Date Translation

Translation Masterlist | Xia Yan Masterlist

Video

Another date from early on in the timeline (seems like it happens right after MC and Xia Yan’s reunion in Chapter 1).

All Xia Yan dates have now been translated!

--

PART 1

Home

Recently, it’s been raining nonstop for the past few days. It finally cleared up when weekend arrived.

I pulled open the curtains. Just when I was pondering about where to go walk around, my phone on the table vibrated. It was Xia Yan.

Xia Yan: MC, do you have time today?

MC: Mhmm, what’s up? Got something that you need my help for?

Xia Yan: You can count it as help. I just received a very interesting multinational commission and wanted to find you to go together.

MC: Multinational…?

Xia Yan: Yeah, the client settled outside the country a long time ago and requested that I get something from his old house. It’s rare for the weather to be this good, so how about it – are you coming?

MC: (Looks like you calling me out to help is just an act, and you actually just want to relieve boredom…)

MC: Okay, where are we meeting?

Xia Yan: Heh heh, I’m just downstairs at your place. Hurry!

MC: Downstairs?!

As soon as I got downstairs, I saw a taxi stopped at the roadside. Xia Yan stuck out his head from the taxi window, smiling as he waved at me. Seeing him look full of vivacity, I also couldn’t resist waving at him and rushing over.

-

Taxi

As soon as I got on the car, I heard Xia Yan urge the taxi driver to immediately set out.

MC: You’re in this much of a rush? Where are we going?

Xia Yan: We’re going to a suburban villa area. The thing we need to get is placed in an old house there.

MC: For a matter as simple as “helping get and deliver”, does it really need one to specifically seek a detective?

Xia Yan: I often receive commissions about extraction of material evidence. It’s just that this time is somewhat special. My client is old and needs to take care of her severely ill husband and can’t personally return right now. She only found me after inquiring in many places.

MC: She specifically sought you?

Xia Yan: Naturally. I’m different from other detectives!

Different? Speaking of the largest difference between him and other detectives…

MC: I remember that you opened an antiques shop… could it be that the client wants you to find something old?

Xia Yan: That’s right! The old thing we’re looking for is a vintage magnetic tape.

Vintage tapes sounded right off the bat like an item with an extreme feeling of age. Update speeds to current recording equipment were becoming faster and faster, and magnetic tapes already had been submerged in the currents of history – they were rarely mentioned.

MC: (She specifically sought out a detective to get a magnetic tape… could there be something very important in it?)

Xia Yan: Are you curious about what important things are in the tape?

Was it because he saw me not speak for too long? Xia Yan suddenly said what I was thinking.

MC: Mm… ah! If the client requires you to keep it secret, then don’t say it…

Xia Yan: You’re my assistant, so of course you can ask. Plus, I trust you.

Xia Yan: Although the taxi can only stop near the villa area. We still have to walk for a while to get to our target destination, so let’s save our energy. I’ll tell you about it slowly when we get to our destination.

MC: Mm!

--

Outside Suburban Villas

MC: We finally made it!

The route to the villa area was complicated, just like a maze. Our trip was full of circles and turns, and we finally arrived at our destination.

Xia Yan: I originally just wanted to take you out for a breath of fresh air and to get some exercise on the side. Didn’t think that your stamina would be so good. If I take you mountain-climbing, you probably would be fine, right?

MC: That’s for sure! Got a new level of respect for me this time?

Xia Yan: During this period of time, have the times that I’ve gotten a new level of respect for you been few, great-law-yer?

MC: Your praise is too much, alright? Great-detec-tive!

MC: The client probably gave you keys, right? You should hurry and open the door.

Xia Yan took a key out from his jacket and carefully opened the main door. When he pushed the door, the particular scent of wooden furniture blew in our faces.

 --

Old Western House

Time had eroded at the old house’s surface bricks and tiles, but they had never truly been stepped on. Refined and stylish wooden furniture, indigo porcelain flower vases, and crystal chandeliers that were dark, but sparkled under the sunlight… In the silence of time, it told of a secret that was only theirs.

MC: Whoa… I feel like the two people who lived here originally have got a pretty good taste in life.  

Xia Yan: Based on the materials they provided, this house’s owner was an intellectual with an affluent family background.

MC: Is that so - no wonder I see so many books and scrolls.

MC: Oh right, you haven’t told me about the magnetic tape.

Xia Yan: … Actually, the client isn’t clear on exactly what is in the tape.

PART 2

Xia Yan: … Actually, the client isn’t clear on exactly what is in the tape.

MC: Eh? Then she’s searching for this…

Xia Yan: To help her severely-ill husband recover his memories.

MC: Recover his memories?

Xia Yan: Mm, this is also one of the most important reasons why I took this commission.

Xia Yan: The client is an old grandma of over 60 years old. The grandma’s husband got into an accident over ten years ago, and after surgery, got retrograde amnesia. Typical patients won’t be able to recall certain segments of memories from before the accident, but the grandpa’s situation is extremely severe. He’s basically completely forgotten all past matters…

MC: Then the grandma must be very sad…

Xia Yan: Though she’s sad, the grandma has never given up. She’s kept searching for a way to recover the grandpa’s memories. This year, the grandpa suddenly kept repeating about the tape. The grandma was seriously happy and looked all over the house, but didn’t find the tape that the grandpa was talking about.

MC: So the grandma thought, could the thing be left in the old house from before leaving the country?

Xia Yan: Bingo!

Smiling, Xia Yan winked at me.

MC: Something that can help him remember things must be very important to him.

I originally thought that this was a simple trip to search for something. I never would’ve thought that this kind of story was behind it… I silently made up my mind that I wouldn’t give up before upturning the house upside down!

MC: Then let’s start searching now!

I rolled up my sleeves, preparing to start my so-called “carpet-style” search, when Xia Yan tugged at my arm.

Xia Yan: You aren’t planning to start searching like this, right?

MC: Like this…? Like what? Is something wrong?

Xia Yan: Wait a bit.

Xia Yan pulled out two pairs of gloves from his pocket.

Xia Yan: There’s a layer of dust all over the place here. I brought gloves – stick out your hands, I’ll put them on for you. After all, it’s better to be a little careful when rummaging through things everywhere.

I stuck out my hands, and Xia Yan put the gloves on me.

MC: Thank you… I was just rushing to search and didn’t pay attention to that…

Xia Yan: No big deal. When you’re searching in a moment, remember to watch out for if there’s a safe anywhere.

MC: Aren’t we looking for the tape? Why are we also looking for the safe?

Xia Yan: Apparently, before the grandpa moved, he specifically bought a safe, saying that he wanted to put something in it. The grandma didn’t pay much attention to it back then, as she thought that it was for stuff like real estate documents. Later, when she was looking for things, she noticed that these documents were all nearby. Only then did she feel that something was off. So she suggested to us that, if we can’t find the tape anywhere, it might be in that safe.

MC: I understand. But if we really find the safe, did she tell you the passcode—

Hearing me ask about the passcode, Xia Yan heaved a heavy sigh.

MC: …I forgot that he forgot.

Why does that sound a bit like a tongue-twister…

Xia Yan: The grandma also did her best to ask, but unfortunately, she got nothing. But she did provide us with a clue. She said that in the past, the grandpa loved making sudoku puzzles to work on with her. Maybe this time, it also…

Making sudoku puzzles for the grandma? I remembered that in the past, Xia Yan loved to have me solve his math competition questions, waiting for me to beg him after I couldn’t solve them…

MC: The grandpa must have been a science student…

Xia Yan: Wrong, the grandpa comes from humanities studies. The grandma’s the one in science.

MC: Eh? So he was just flexing his slight skill to an expert when he made those puzzles for the grandma…

Xia Yan: About this…

Xia Yan showed a meaningful smile, deliberately dragging out the last word.

MC: If you’ve got something to say, then say it. Don’t keep me in suspense!

Xia Yan: I was just about to say it!

Xia Yan: When the grandma was recalling it, she remembered when the grandpa confessed to her at the beginning, he sent her a confession sudoku.

MC: … The grandpa really was serious.

Xia Yan: Yeah. It’s just a pity that it’s been too long and the grandma can’t find that sudoku anymore.

Xia Yan: Although this is only our guess. If they really didn’t leave any way to crack the code, I can only…

Only do what…? Could he have brought a tool that can crack open safes?

Xia Yan: Find a lock-opening company after reporting it to my client…

MC: I thought that you were going to take out another high-tech tool.

Xia Yan: Even if I did have one, we still have to go through authorized processes.

MC: I’m joking – could you actually have that kind of tool?

Xia Yan: Of course!

Xia Yan: Alright. The house is so big, so let’s divide and conquer – you take the left and I’ll take the right to save time.

MC: Okay.

Xia Yan I split up, using the bookshelf in the middle of the house as the boundary. The junk room, kitchen, cloakroom. I searched each room one by one, and all were completely empty. No point bringing up the tape and the safe… I didn’t even have the chance to rummage through the cabinets a few more times…

MC: They were way too thorough when moving houses… aside from books, there are only books. Was it because they were too heavy and couldn’t be moved over? There’s only this bookroom left… finally, I can see some other –

Just when I walked in, I saw a magnetic tape player placed on the book table.

MC: Could it be in the tape player?!

PART 3

MC: Could it be in the tape player?!

I expectantly opened the case slot of the tape player on the table. It was still as empty as everything before. After closing the tape player, I turned around, seeing Xia Yan walk into the book room. The gloves he’d originally been wearing had already been taken off.

MC: You’re also done searching? How’s the situation?

Xia Yan: I haven’t gotten anything for now on that side. What about you?

MC: Same here… it’s empty everywhere.

MC: But there are a lot of things in the book room, and there’s also an empty magnetic tape player on the table.

Xia Yan: The grandpa probably listened to the tape often in the book room, so he placed it here. If so, the tape won’t be placed somewhere very far from the tape player. It must be inside the book room.

MC: If the grandpa really did put the tape in the safe, then the safe should also been in the book room.

Xia Yan: That’s right! Let’s search together!

We rummaged through every corner of the bookroom, but we still didn’t find any traces of the tape or the safe.

MC: Ugh, there’s only this bookshelf left…

A large, tall bookshelf was placed on the left side of the book room. There were cabinets that could be pulled open at the bottom, and there were rows of shelves stuffed with books at the top.

MC: There are a lot of things on here…

Xia Yan: This bookshelf is too high, so I’ll search it. You haven’t rested yet, so do you want to sit for a moment?

MC: I’m fine. The great detective hasn’t rested, so how could the assistant that I am also take a rest? You search the top and I’ll search the bottom – we’ll still divide the work!

Xia Yan: As you wish, master assistant!

Even Xia Yan couldn’t completely reach the topmost level of this bookshelf. I was just about to suggest bringing in a chair to boost him up when I saw him carrying in a step stool inside. After setting up the step stool, Xia Yan mibly stepped on. I hurriedly reached out to support the edge of the step stool for him to maintain its balance.

Xia Yan: Don’t worry. I just tried it – this step stool is very secure.

MC: That’s good, but it looks like it’s swaying a little to me – be careful.

I crouched down and opened the bookshelf’s lowermost cabinet. It was piled full with all sorts of book collections inside, and I didn’t notice anything aside from that. I closed the cabinet, stood up, and tilted my head up to look towards the upper shelves. All sorts of books were placed on the shelves; with one glance, I saw—

MC: Sudoku practice question collection?

Remembering the guess that the grandma had said before, I took out that practice question collection. After casually flipping through a few pages, I saw that all the problems had been completed.

MC: (It seems like… there isn’t anything special… in here…)

I held up the practice question collection, wanting to hand it to Xia Yan. I didn’t realize that a little paper slip would fall out from between the pages.

MC: !!!

There was a sudoku problem on the paper. On the problem, there were 16 empty circles, forming a heart shape. There were also pen marks at the top of the problem!

MC: “The world decodes the language of flowers. Only you decode my heart.”

MC: (2… 1… 4… no matter how you look at it, these three numbers in the middle are like that of a confession…)

--

[Flashback]

Xia Yan: When the grandma was recalling it, she remembered when the grandpa confessed to her at the beginning, he sent her a confession sudoku.

MC: … The grandpa really was serious.

Xia Yan: Yeah. It’s just a pity that it’s been too long, and the grandma can’t find that sudoku anymore.

[Flashback end]

--

MC: Could it be…

I rushed to pick up that sheet of paper and called Xia Yan’s name.

MC: Xia Yan! I’ve noticed something major!!!

Xia Yan: What did you notice?

Hearing my shouts, Xia Yan rushed to jump down from the step stool.

MC: Guess!

I hid the paper behind my body, wanting to tease him.

Xia Yan: Did you find the sudoku problem that’s suspected to be the passcode?

MC: I guess so… although how did you know that it was a sudoku?

Xia Yan: I noticed a safe behind the pile of books on the uppermost shelf of the bookshelf. Not to mention, you’re holding a sudoku practice question collection – I just needed to link them up to guess it.

MC: I just thought that I noticed that confession sudoku that the grandma couldn’t find. So there really was a safe.

MC: Look.

I handed the sheet I was holding over to Xia Yan.

Xia Yan: !!!

MC: What’s the matter? You seem really surprised…?

Xia Yan: I-it’s nothing… I just happened to have seen this problem before…

How could Xia Yan have seen this problem before… could he have specifically investigated after hearing about the grandma’s memories?

MC: What a coincidence! Do you still remember the answer?

Xia Yan: I remember, I remember! Even if I never saw this before, I could still solve it!

Xia Yan: The way to solve this problem is very easy. Under sudoku’s general rules, the 16 empty circles must be filled with even numbers. Fill in the odd numbers of each 3 x 3 area first, and the answer in the circles will naturally be solved. Wanna try?

PART 4

Xia Yan: Wanna try?

MC: Me? Sure!

I sat beside the table, and Xia Yan handed me a pen.

MC: In the upper left corner, aside from the two circles, the remaining three squares should be filled in with 1, 3, and 9 individually… The first column already has 1 and 9, so the upper left corner should be filled with 3… If the middle square is filled with 9, then the rightmost square in the second row should be filled with one, but that column already has a 1…

MC: So it should be filled with 1, and the remaining square should be filled with 9!

Xia Yan: That’s right. Even though we only filled in three numbers, we can use this to derive the numbers in the other squares.

Xia Yan: Come on, let’s keep going with the next!

Under Xia Yan’s patient guidance, I finally finished solving this sudoku.

MC: 16 circles – a typical person wouldn’t set up such a long passcode…

Xia Yan: Ah… I forgot to tell you that the safe that I noticed only has a three-digit password.

MC: This problem just happens to have three empty circles. But three numbers can be ordered in six ways.

MC: A typical safe only allows you to enter the wrong code three times, and we don’t have other clues…

Xia Yan: Looks like we can only hope to get lucky.

MC: Then do you want to try?

Xia Yan stepped on the step stool again.

Xia Yan: 2, 4, 6…

Beep beep—

The passcode lock was opened.

Xia Yan: We got it this easily – it opened on our first try!

MC: See if the tape is in the box!

Xia Yan: Let me see…

Both of Xia Yan’s hands felt inside. I noticed that the newspaper beside his hand seemed to be about to slip off…

MC: Xia Yan, be careful about the newspaper beside your hand.

Xia Yan: I know. There’s something in the box, so I’ll get it out first.

MC: Okay…

I tilted my head up, looking at Xia Yan. He turned around, handing the thing he had found to me, with his left hand stably holding onto those old newspapers that were about to fall. The dust covering the top was stirred by his movements, floating slowly in the air, drawing out subtle marks. An orangey light shone on his body, covering him in a sweet, honey-like colour.

>Select: Leg

MC: Sit down a bit – I feel like your sitting position right now is a bit dangerous…

Xia Yan: Don’t worry – my sense of balance is very good, and I won’t fall down.

>Select: Leg (2)

Xia Yan: W-what are you doing…

MC: Some… some dust fell there! So I…

>Select: Leg (3)

MC: (I’m really jealous of guys with long legs…)

>Select: Stool

MC: I’ve wanted to ask from the start – where did you find this ladder?

Xia Yan: I saw it earlier when we passed by the stairs – back then, I felt a strong premonition. Sure enough, it came in handy!

>Select: Stool (2)

MC: (The ladder is a triangular structure… it should be very stable.)

>Select: Stool (3)

MC: (Though it’s very stable, it’s still better to not bump into it for Xia Yan’s safety…)

>Select: File

MC: (So it was a leather file envelope after all…)

>Select: File (2)

MC: (It doesn’t look like it has a magnetic tape inside…)

>Select: File (3)

MC: (Whatever – without X-ray vision, I won’t be able to see anything just from looking…)

>Select: Ellipses

Xia Yan waved the hand holding the leather file envelope in front of me, calling me back to reality.

MC: What?

Xia Yan: No wonder you didn’t pay any attention to me no matter how I called at you. Turns out you were zoning out. Quick, take the file envelope – I’m still holding up the newspapers on top, and I don’t have hands to spare for now.

MC: Mm, sure!

MC: Wait… a-achoo!

The pretty dust under the light had now found its way into my nose. I hadn’t taken the file envelope when I sneezed in Xia Yan’s direction.

His seating position was unstable, and only after some messy movements did he manage to maintain his bit of balance on the stool supporting him.

MC: …

Xia Yan: Q-quick, back up a bit!

Seeing Xia Yan look so panicked on the ladder, I hurriedly retreated by a few steps.

MC: S-sorry, the dust…

Xia Yan: I’m not blaming you – I’m just afraid that you won’t be able to dodge if I really do fall.

So Xia Yan’s panicked look just now was out of worry for me…

MC: I’m fine – you should hurry down from the ladder.

Xia Yan: Sure.

Xia Yan handed the file envelope to me. I was just about to take it, when the dust scattered by the old newspapers made him sneeze successively, multiple times.

Xia Yan: A-achoo--!

Xia Yan retracted his left hand slightly, and the newspapers on the bookshelf suddenly fell down in a pile!

Xia Yan: Ah! Careful--!

With my attention previously fixed on the file envelope, I couldn’t duck away at all!

Amidst the panic, I unconsciously closed my eyes.

  PART 5

I heard the heavy sound of the ladder toppling down, but the pain I was expecting never struck. Xia Yan’s warm hand protected my head from behind, serving as the cushion between me and the floorboards.

I opened my eyes. Xia Yan’s and my faces were very close.

MC: …?

After my thoughts stagnated for a few seconds, I gradually came to from my surprise.

MC: Xia Yan? Are you alright?

Xia Yan: Huh?!

It seemed like he hadn’t recovered from this accident yet. His wide-open eyes stared right at me.

The distance between him and me was way too close – only then did I notice that I had never clearly seen his eyes. That beautiful coral colour made me unable to resist recalling the fairytale I read when I was little – the skirt of Princess Aurora.* Because we were so close, I could even clearly see me, at an utter loss, in his eyes.

MC: The things that fell just now crashed into your head – lower it and let me see…

Xia Yan remained frozen still in his original place, staring straight at me.

Xia Yan: Your eyes…

MC: Hm?

Xia Yan: Are really beautiful…

Xia Yan: They look like... a sky full of stars are hidden in them…

Xia Yan lowered his body, and the distance between him and I gradually—

Ding—

A crisp sound echoed in the quiet room. That key that Xia Yan always wore on his neck clinked lightly against the decoration on my blouse’s collar.

I suddenly regained my wits and immediately felt the heat on my cheeks.

MC: !!

Xia Yan: !!!

Xia Yan pulled away, fast as lightning, and awkwardly moved his gaze elsewhere. Those scattered, old newspapers covered his body, scattering innumerable particles into the air. The moment he moved his gaze from me, I saw that his cheeks and ears had been dyed with a distinct pink colour. Right when I was also somewhat unsure of what to do, I saw the file envelope that had fallen on the side from the corner of my eye—

MC: W-where’s the file envelope you were holding…

Xia Yan: Ah… ah! I’ll get up now and grab it!

As if he’d just woken up, Xia Yan straightened his body in front of me, bringing the sunshine scent he had that I’d smelled from a slight breeze. His slightly rapid breathing revealed his inner panic – he looked basically like a different person from the normal him.

Xia Yan: Does it hurt from the fall?!

MC: … No.

He shifted his gaze away again, turning his head and picking up the leather envelope on the ground. His embarrassed expression still did not fade away. I patted my chest, grateful that he had pulled away after getting up – otherwise, he would definitely hear my over-the-top heartbeat.

MC & Xia Yan: I…

…

MC: Hurry, open and see what’s inside…

Xia Yan: Mhmm…

Xia Yan rapidly untied the string loop at the back of the envelope.

Xia Yan: As expected, it was the tape! Now the commission’s been smoothly completed!

Xia Yan: … Speaking of which, aren’t you curious?

MC: Curious about what? The things in the tape?

Xia Yan nodded.

MC: I keep feeling like it’ll have something to do with the grandma…

He looked at me, seeming to smile yet also seeming to not smile. Only after a while did he say a few carefree words.

Xia Yan: That’s also what I think.

The moment his and my eyes met, my heartbeat suspiciously accelerated a bit.

MC: Could it be for the same reason as me?

Xia Yan: … I was just kind of thinking from another position.

MC: Hm?

Xia Yan: If it were me, what I least want to forget… is definitely you.

Xia Yan: Wait no – no matter what happens, I will definitely, definitely not forget you.

Xia Yan’s tone was incomparably solemn, leaving me at somewhat of a loss.

MC: Why did you suddenly…

Xia Yan: Those precious memories with you – if they were just words on a journal or the sounds on a tape… that would be too much of a waste!

He looked at me, showing his typical smile again. The orange light smoothed the curve of his mouth until it was just right. I felt like, no matter who it was, anyone would be infected by his warmth.

MC: I… there’s dust on your face – I’ll wipe it for you…

I didn’t know what to say, and when I saw the dust on the side of his face, I hurried to take out a handkerchief and wipe it for him. When the dust had been wiped, I looked back at Xia Yan… his face… was really red…

>Is it because it’s hot? >Embarrassed until his face got red?

MC: Xia Yan… your face is really red… Are you too tired from running up and down just now?

Xia Yan: Ah… yeah! It must be because it’s been too long since I worked out! Starting from tomorrow, I’ll double my original workout plan and make up for it!

MC: Is that needed…

  >Is it because it’s hot? >Embarrassed until his face got red?

MC: I’m just helping you wipe it – why is your face as red as an apple? When we were little, you’d go out and run all over the place and return completely dirty, and I also helped you wipe your face like this…

Xia Yan: Haha, don’t bring up the embarrassing things from when we were small – back then, I didn’t know anything. But after splitting apart for so long… there are some things… that I inevitably learned.

MC: …

 --

Xia Yan: Aiya, the floor’s a mess – I’ll clean up.

MC: I’ll help!

After finding the tape, Xia Yan and I returned the papers and books that had fallen on the floor back to their original places.

Xia Yan: Let’s go – we’re done cleaning up, so let’s go home!

MC: Mhmm.

Under Xia Yan’s urging, we left this remote mansion with the tape we had found.

  TL Note: 

*Not sure if this is referring to Sleeping Beauty? I don’t remember pretty eyes and skirts being major points in her story though…

  PART 6

TL Note: Italicized content (except for locations) were originally written in English in the game, not Chinese.

Antiques Shop

After getting back to the antiques shop, Xia Yan took out an audio reader from who-knows-where.

MC: With this, you’re planning to…?

Xia Yan: Oh, if I didn’t get my client’s approval, I wouldn’t randomly mess with it. The client this time specifically hoped that I could transfer the contents of the tape into an audio recording file and send it to her.

MC: That’s true. Very few families these days would have this kind of old-fashioned tape player.

Xia Yan placed the tape into the audio reader, connecting the recoding wire to the audio reader’s terminal.

Xia Yan: Alright! We can start.

Xia Yan pressed the play button. An inexperienced, youthful sound flowed out from the speaker.

Young Girl: “That…”

The owner of the voice was a very brisk girl.

Young Girl: “I’m too direct when I speak. I know you also like… uh… no! I found out from your friend that you like to listen to music. If you can understand this song… Do your best to not make me, a girl, take the initiative to confess! Dummy!”

After a short pause, the clear sound of the girl’s singing rung out…

Young Girl: “Wouldn’t it be nice if we were older…”

She had clearly been so straightforward when she spoke, but when she sang, it was extremely gentle. A girl wearing earbuds, swaying gently with the music seemed to appear before my eyes… She used her own gentle voice, eyes, and movements… doing all within her ability to express her most sincere love to the recipient.

MC: What song is this? It sounds really good.

Xia Yan: I’ll check… “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, an old song from 60 years ago.

The melodious song echoed in the antiques shop, every note reverberating in the bottom of the heart.

MC: No wonder the grandpa was so concerned about this tape… this was probably sung by the grandma for him when they were young.

Xia Yan: It’s impossible to not feel moved from receiving a confession like this.

MC: True, even I’m moved!

Xia Yan: Do you like this song a lot?

MC: I do… but no matter how good a song sounds, it’s only when the singer expresses emotions that they’ll be able to touch people’s hearts the most.

MC: I really want to have the grandpa listen to it fast!

After the sound of the music dissipated, Xia Yan took out the tape.

Xia Yan: Transferring the audio recording file is actually really quick, but I still need the next week to clean it up and make the sounds clearer.

MC: Great! That…

Xia Yan: What’s the matter?

MC: I want to listen to it for a moment more – can you play the original song?

Xia Yan: And here I thought you wanted to hear me sing.

MC: Could you? I remember that you just searched up the song name.

Xia Yan: I can learn if I don’t know how to – my learning ability is really strong.

MC: Okay, then I’ll invite great singing god Xia Yan to sing once!

 The sky grew gradually dimmer. Xia Yan sent me home, half humming and half singing the whole way. The night wind blew past, and the brisk melody rode on the wind, echoing at the end of the road.

 Home

MC: Download complete!

After getting home, I opened the music app I often used, search up this song, and downloaded it.

MC: Eh, this song was even the theme song of a movie? “50 First Dates”… First Love 50 Times? It’s a pretty interesting name. How about I call up Xia Yan next time to watch this movie?

Just when I was searching up resources on this movie, Xia Yan called.

MC: Have you gotten home?

Xia Yan: Mhmm, I did! I just received my client’s reply…

MC: So fast?

Xia Yan: It’s the time difference – she just happened to be online. What we found really was the confession tape that the grandma gave to the grandpa back then.

Xia Yan: Back then she wasn’t sure that it would be a success, so she placed the confession tap in a pile of music tapes and sent them over. But the grandpa didn’t react at all, so she thought that he didn’t hear it at all or lost it. Plus, afterwards, the grandpa didn’t continue to buy new tapes.

MC: Then in the end, they…

Xia Yan: About this…

Xia Yan’s tone was full of smiles.

Xia Yan: The grandma said, she originally thought that being just friends was also fine. After, it was the grandpa who took the initiative to chase her and confess.

MC: Wait, could it be with that confession sudoku?

Xia Yan: That’s right! The grandma was very reclusive back then, so as she lived on her own, she’d often make questions for fun.

MC: I never would’ve thought that the grandpa was faking a calm, collected demeanor, while actually being elated for sure internally…

Xia Yan: Yeah, the grandma also said that, no wonder he would often sneak into the book room in the past, staying there for a long time when he did.

MC: What the grandpa remembered at the end wasn’t the name of the song – instead, it was the tape. This means that what he loves isn’t this song – it’s the grandma.

Xia Yan: So she decided that she would sing for him in the future, regardless if he remembers it again or doesn’t.

Xia Yan: I wanted to tell you earlier so you would be happier.

Xia Yan: It’s pretty late now – sleep early. Goodnight!

MC: Goodnight!

Only after hanging up did I remember that I hadn’t told him about the movie.  

MC: Oh well… I’ll send him a message later.

--

Antiques Shop

Xia Yan sat before the table. The song was still playing on the terminal.

He hummed and sang quietly.

Xia Yan: When we can say goodnight and stay together. Wouldn’t it be nice if we could wake up… In the morning when the day is new.

If we could say goodnight to each other and nestle together, if we could open our eyes together, welcoming each new morning, wouldn’t that be nice.

Xia Yan: I trust that, the precondition “if” doesn’t exist between me and you…

Xia Yan: I will definitely make all of this true.

-END-