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rebeccathewinterqueen · 4 years

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Awakening: Furious Battle pt 3

Title: Awakening (The Samaya Court Book 1)

Fandoms: Yu-Gi-Oh! and Pokemon

Characters: Yuugi Mutou, Yami Yuugi, Ushio, Katsuya Jounouchi

A/N: Hello from the new house! Spent all of yesterday moving in, so that’s why I didn’t post until now. Note on the chapter: This is a little experimental. Yami doesn’t have a name yet, so it felt inconsistent and weird to use it here. It’ll be a while before a) Yuugi even knows he exists and b) gives him a name. I tried to make it as clear as possible but I’m not sure how well it turned out, so feedback on it is very very welcome!

Read Chapter 2: Furious Battle pt 2 here

As soon as the final piece was slotted into place, the whole Puzzle began to glow. Yuugi gasped as his forehead burned white-hot. He tried to scream but it caught in his throat.

Shadowy blobs shot out of the eye in the center of the Puzzle and disappeared. The light filled his whole room, blinding him. It was all he could see. He couldn’t even cover his eyes because he was paralyzed, his hands locked around the Puzzle.

Then something hot and electric raced up his arms, and he blacked out.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

He had only ever known the darkness for so long, he couldn’t remember anything else. A world of reds and purples and blues so deep they were almost indistinguishable from the greys and black. A world where time was indistinguishable, where he only ever had the Shadows and his own thoughts for company, where gravity didn’t pull you to the ground but to whatever surface you happened to be nearest. Or, if he concentrated hard enough, whatever surface he wanted.

He remembered having friends, once. A whole team dedicated to…he wasn’t sure. Sometimes the shadows shifted and he could smell blood and smoke. But he could never remember his friends’ names, or what they looked like, or why someone was bleeding, or what caused the fire.

And then, for the first time since he entered this hell, he saw light.

He remembered light.

Light didn’t exist here.

His breath caught and he reached for it. With nothing in this world to use to gauge distance, it was only then he realized it was too far away. He ran toward it, trying to catch it. The light, the warmth, he hadn’t realized how much he needed it until then. The Shadows shot forward, wrapping around it, smothering it—no! He wouldn’t lose it!

His fingers finally brushed it, and it was like touching a star.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Once the burning sensation faded, he was able to open his eyes again.

And then he had to shut them again, because the light was too bright. He grimaced and squinted, waiting for his eyes to adjust. Once they had he was able to get a look around.

It was so…colorful. From the sea foam rug on the wooden floor, to the sky color of the desk, to the dark blue of the bedspread (but not as dark a blue as where he had been before) that was covered in soft-looking toys. Where was he? Why did everything look so different? He tried to remember how things had looked before, but all he could remember was the dark.

He knew he hadn’t always been in that dark place. He tried to cast back further, to before, and was met with a blank wall.

“Vee?”

He looked down. There was a small brown fluffy thing staring up at him with wide, innocent eyes. He felt like he should remember what it was, but it took so much effort to bring the word up.

“Eevee,” he finally whispered hoarsely. “That’s…what you are…”

It jumped onto the desk, butting its head imperiously against his hand until he released the Puzzle to pet it. He had been holding it so tightly it almost hurt when he let it go, but he was glad he did; the small creature was warm, soft. Living.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt anything like it. Before the Dark Place, he knew. When was that? He couldn’t remember.

He looked down at himself. His body felt so familiar, but also so very strange. His clothes felt strange, looked strange, like he had been subconsciously expecting to see something else there.

Something squirmed, an odd sensation that seemed settled in his chest. Next to his soul. Why…? His eyes widened.

The Dark Place. He had been in the Dark Place, until he saw the light. There had been no one else with him then.

There was another soul with him, connected to his. He drew on the Shadows, his only companions in the Dark Place, still nearby and willing to do whatever he wished, and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he was inside a different room—his soul room, he knew, though he couldn’t remember how or when he came across that information. Dark, except for the sickly glow of an eye on a door in front of him. He opened it and stepped into a hallway, better lit and made of rough stone blocks. The footing was uneven, but he managed not to trip as he followed it.

There was only one other door, wood like the one in the room he had been sitting in earlier. If that other room was his soul room, then this door would lead to whoever he was sharing space with. He needed to know, but the idea of just waltzing in made him cringe. The door was already partially open, thankfully, enough to see a bit of what was inside.

He could see enough of the room to realize it was almost a carbon copy of the room he had woken up in. There were more toys, the rug seemed a little fluffier, and it was definitely brighter and warmer. Very few shadows seemed to be in there. Paintings covered the walls, mostly of a boy who looked almost like him with an older man and a pretty middle-aged woman. Or, he thought they were paintings—they looked so realistic he almost thought they would move.

And there was the boy from the pictures, lying on the bed. The boy looked so similar to him they could have been brothers. And yet that idea felt wrong…

Something growled, and the boy shivered. He found his eyes drawn to the unnaturally dark space under the bed, where a pair of sickly green reptilian eyes peered. A worry or fear, he thought.

“Ushio-san…”

He started, wondering if he had woken the boy’s soul, but he was still asleep. The monster under the bed growled more deeply.

So, it’s name was Ushio. Not a name he recognized.

He backed out of the room and concentrated on waking up. If he was right, and he thought he was, this wasn’t his body, but the boy’s. Somehow he had ended up there.

The boy had rescued him from the Dark Place.

Maybe he could return the favor.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The sky was cloudy, hiding the moon and stars and casting the place he had chosen in shadow. Not Shadows, not like the Dark Place, but enough that he felt almost at home.

Once he had realized it wasn’t his body, he had used the Shadows to find the boy’s last thoughts. They had been terror-filled and riddled with anxiety, all centered on this character, Ushio.

His lips lifted into a smirk. Ushio had demanded a ridiculous amount of money from his hikari, the boy who had rescued him—Yuugi, he had found out, while viewing the last few memories before his awakening. He had found it in his hikari’s school bag when he had gone to call the beast for their meeting, and while he knew it hadn’t been there before thanks to those memories, it gave him an idea.

If Ushio wanted the money, he would give the beast a chance at it. Hell, he would double it. He fanned the money out, using a touch of Shadow to duplicate it. It wasn’t a perfect illusion—it didn’t feel quite right and the colors were slightly off, but in the dark it was close enough.

The beast arrived at their meeting—he had chosen Yuugi’s school because it was close enough to get to quickly, far enough not to disturb his hikari’s family, and abandoned for the night, giving them privacy. He watched Ushio approach from his perch on some of the gym equipment that had been left out—being higher up felt natural—and then decided to draw his attention.

“Ushio.”

The beast’s eyes snapped to him, startled for a minute. His smirk deepened, and the Shadows crowed.

“Yuugi.” Well, apparently he still looked enough like his hikari to pass. Good. “You have some balls on you, don’t you? Calling me out here like this.” The DC president spread his hands. “Well, I’m here. You brought the money, didn’t you?”

He held it up. “I did.”

Ushio smirked and held a hand out. “Good boy. Now, give it here.”

The Shadows hissed their fury, but Ushio couldn’t hear them. He didn’t let his irritation show on his face. The beast would be dealt with shortly.

“But that’s so boring,” he sighed. He leaned back slightly, hooking his feet into the equipment to keep his balance, and held the money up. “Why don’t we play a game for it? I even brought double.”

“D-double?” Ushio was practically panting after it, and he was unable to contain his smirk at the predictable response.

“Double,” he repeated lightly. “Of course,” he said casually, “it’s not just any game. It would be a Shadow Game. If you win, you get the money, of course. If you lose, I keep the money. And if you cheat…” His face darkened. “If you cheat, you get a Penalty.”

“Sounds interesting. Alright, I accept.” Ushio smiled, an ugly look in his eyes. “I’ve never lost a game before.”

“Then let’s play. We just need one thing to begin.” He smirked back. “That knife of yours, Ushio.”

“Wha—?”

He waved his hand impatiently. “Your knife. I know you have it with you. We need it for the game, or we can’t play.”

Ushio eyed him warily, but pulled the knife from his jacket pocket anyway. “Alright, here it is. What are the rules?”

“So glad you asked.” He dropped to the ground, sitting next to a short platform used for—he squinted, Yuugi’s memories weren’t clear, something about jumping? It would work for a table, anyway. He placed the stack in the center. “We each take a stack of the bills and set it on the backs of one of our hands.” He demonstrated, then gestured for the knife. Ushio handed it to him. “Then you stab the bills with the knife to lift some off. However many you stab is how much of the money you keep, and whoever collects the most wins. We keep going until there are no more bills left.” He smiled slightly. “Of course, you must be careful not to stab your own hand. If you stab yourself, you lose. And the only rule to how many you can stab is that it must be more than one.”

“Dangerous. I like it.” Ushio sat with a grin. “You’re gutsier than I expected, Yuugi. If you acted like this more often, maybe you wouldn’t be bullied so much.”

He filed that information away for another time. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Game start.”

The Shadows crawled eagerly around their feet, though Ushio didn’t notice them at all. The beast was too busy watching him place the bills.

“I’ll go first,” he said mildly, picking up the knife. He bit his lip and pressed the point carefully against the bills, concentrating on not picking up too many and very aware of Ushio’s eyes on his face. One…two…three…that should be enough. He pulled the knife away, revealing the three bills he had speared.

“Harder than I thought it would be,” he said, plucking the paper from the knife. Really, why use paper money when metal was so much more durable? Too easy to destroy, he thought as he set the remaining money on the pile. Exactly how long had he been in the Dark Place?

“Ha! That’s all? Give me the knife.” Ushio snatched the blade away. “I’ll show you how a real man plays this game.”

“Do remember to be careful,” he reminded Ushio. “You don’t want to accidentally stab yourself.”

“Shut up,” Ushio snapped. He set a thick stack on the back of his hand and placed the tip against it. The beast pressed down, and the blade slid forward, gathering a much thicker stack of bills than his had been. Then Ushio picked up the knife triumphantly. “Ten! This isn’t a very hard game at all, you wimp.”

One of the Shadows scraped against the beast’s ankle. Ushio twitched, but otherwise didn’t seem to notice.

And so the game continued. After a while, he looked at the table. He had amassed a small stack of money, and the pile between them was almost gone. Most of it resided in Ushio’s stack.

Ushio laughed triumphantly. “I’m going to win!” He picked up the last of the money and placed it on the back of his hand, bringing the knife to bear. “I’ve already got almost all of it.”

He hummed noncommittally.

“Aw, don’t be like that,” Ushio mocked. “You should be happy! I’m in such a good mood I won’t even beat you up for calling me out here at midnight.”

“How…kind.”

Ushio smirked and pressed the knife down. He knew all the beast had to do was leave at least one bill. The stack was small and wouldn’t require much pressure. But, to his delight, Ushio seemed to be having trouble.

“What’s the matter, Ushio?” he asked innocently. The beast’s arm was trembling, and Ushio seemed to be panicking, eyes wide, chest starting to heave. Only he could see the Shadow wrapped around the beast’s arm, a new green-tinted Shadow that had sprung from Ushio’s heart.

“Shut…up…” Ushio grunted. Sweating dripped down the side of his face.

“It seems,” he said, leaning forward thoughtfully, “that your head is at war with your heart.” Ushio glanced at him, then returned to glaring at his hand. “The point of this game is to master your greed, and you know that here,” he said, tapping his temple, “but here,” he tapped his heart, “you want the money too much.”

“I said SHUT UP!” Ushio pulled the knife away and swung it at his face. He dodged and fell back, landing in a less-than-graceful heap (a voice chided him, “Get up, you can do better than that…”). Ushio’s face twisted into an ugly snarl. “I’ll kill you,” the beast promised him, “and then all of it will be mine.”

He leaped up and snarled back. The Shadows rose, twisting around the beast like snakes, keeping him still. “If money is all you desire,” he hissed, “then money is all you shall see! Illusion of Avarice!”

A green-tinted Shadow rose and pressed against the beast’s eyes, momentarily hiding them from view. Ushio yelled, trying to free himself and unable to. Then he was still, and the Shadow finished crawling into him. For a moment afterward there was a “Y” with two lines through the bottom imprinted over his eyes. Then that, too, faded, and the Shadows let him go. Ushio fell face-first into the dirt.

He gathered the money, tucked it into a pocket, and waited for the beast to stir again before turning to leave. He didn’t look at the results, just listened to the yelp—“Money!”—and the crunch of a body hitting one of the leaf piles next to the track.

“I guess this counts for a happy ending for you after all,” he murmured, smirking. Then he sauntered home, the Shadows fading away.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Most of the trip was a blur. He vaguely remembered walking, placing the envelope of money back under the till for Yuugi’s grandfather to find later, and stumbling up the stairs, somehow avoiding waking everyone up in the process. He didn’t exactly have the wherewithal to be quiet.

He was panting by the time he made it to Yuugi’s room, shutting the door as quietly as he could behind himself and sliding to the floor, head and heart pounding.

That had taken more out of him than he expected.

“Eevee?” The small brown creature crawled into his lap, placed its front paws on his chest, and licked his cheek. He flinched slightly, still not used to real sensation, but he was more awake now.

“I’m…alright,” he tried to assure it. It looked at him doubtfully. “Just tired.” He wrapped his arms around it securely and stood. He needed to rest, but he refused to leave his hikari on the floor. He turned off the light, stumbled to the bed, and all but fell into it, letting the Eevee go and settling so he was on his back.

He almost didn’t want to sleep. What if he woke up in the Dark Place again?

His hikari had covered the ceiling with green glowing stars. It was soothing, especially when there was so little light coming from the window, reminding him he wasn’t in the Dark Place any more.

The Eevee snuggled against his side, a quiet living reminder. He wasn’t there anymore. His hikari had saved him. He would never return there again.

His eyes drifted shut.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Yuugi woke up with his alarm and stretched with a tremendous yawn. He felt like he hardly slept at all!

Something next to him wriggled and whined sleepily. He looked down. There was a brown ball of fluff curled into a tight ball next to his side, happily radiating heat. A toy? No, he decided numbly, watching it expand and contract. Toys didn’t breathe.

“Wha—?”

The fluff picked its head up, ears springing upright, and looked at him with deep brown eyes. “Vee?”

“Ah!” His yell startled the little creature, and they jumped away from each other. “What the hell?!”

It gave him a sad look. “Vee,” it whined piteously.

“You’re an Eevee!” It gave him an insulted look. “Eevees aren’t real!” They only existed in the Pokemon game! It was one of his favorite cards, he would recognize it anywhere, but it couldn’t be here in his room!

“Yuugi, is that you?” His doorknob turned.

He froze, then threw his blanket over the tiny creature, muffling its shocked cry. “I’m up, Kaa-san!”

His door opened. “On time today, I see,” she said approvingly. “Well, hurry and get ready, I’ll make breakfast.”

“Of course,” he said, grinning brightly, angling himself so he could block her view of the wriggling blanket. He breathed a sigh of relief when she left, then lifted the blanket. The Eevee stared at him balefully. “I’m sorry,” he whispered, “but Kaa-san can’t see you, she would have a fit. How…how are you here?”

He crouched down to pet it—her, he corrected himself absently. She stood on her back paws and batted at his chest.

No, he realized, not his chest. The Millennium Puzzle. He frowned. He remembered solving it last night and passing out at his desk. Why was it around his neck? Where had he even gotten the cord from?

But most importantly, there hadn’t been an Eevee in his room then, either. Did that mean she had come from the Puzzle?

He remembered those shadows…

He scratched her behind one ear, listening to her purr. “I’ll figure out what’s going on,” he promised. “But I have to go to school first. I can’t bring you with me…” He bit his lip. “Will you stay here?”

The Eevee seemed to pout for a minute, then nodded.

“Alright…I’ll bring you breakfast before I leave. Hide if Kaa-san comes in, okay?”

Then he got ready for the day.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

He arrived school to see a crowd of students. Yuugi wandered over, curious in spite of himself—whatever it was would be a welcome distraction right now. He still had no idea what to do about Ushio except try to avoid him as much as possible—

—except it was Ushio everyone was staring at.

The older student was rolling in a pile of leaves and trash, laughing. “Money! Look at all this money!” he caroled. He tossed a handful of leaves in the air. “Mine! All mine!”

Ushio had cracked, Yuugi thought numbly. Students whispered around him.

“He thinks it’s money?”

“Ew, there’s trash in the leaves!”

“Gross…”

One of the Disciplinary Committee members crept forward, face unsure. “Ushio-san?”

Ushio pulled his knife and swiped at the other boy. “Get away from me! It’s mine, all mine!”

The student leapt back, and the crowd gasped. Yuugi flinched away, and one of the girls screamed.

“Someone call the police!”

“Ushio’s insane—!”

“—what the hell—”

“What’s going on out here?” a teacher demanded, pushing his way through the crowd. “Everyone get to class, we’ll handle this.”

Yuugi followed the others inside. What had happened to Ushio? He was completely delusional, but how could something like that happen overnight?

But something inside him still couldn’t help but relax. He didn’t have to worry about coming up with the money, or worry about Ushio knifing him behind the school. He just wished it wasn’t because of something like this.

“Yuugi.” He looked up. Jounouchi-kun was standing against a wall, his face covered in band-aids.

“Jounouchi-kun! Are you alright?” Yuugi asked.

The blond smiled at him. “Don’t worry, I’m fine. I’ve had worse. I…” He looked embarrassed for a moment, then took a breath. “I decided I would bring my treasure to school today, too. Wanna see?” Yuugi nodded, and Jounouchi grinned, all teeth. “Sorry, but you can’t. It’s…something you can show, but you can’t really see it.”

A riddle! Yuugi frowned thoughtfully, but he couldn’t think of an answer. He really should get more sleep…“I give,” he finally said, his lips quirking into a grin. “What is it?”

“Friendship,” Jounouchi said simply. He shrugged and looked away. “Friendship is something you show through your actions, but you can’t physically see it. And…” He looked up, his eyes showing a hint of something unknown, serious. “I hope we’re friends.”

“Of course we are, Jounouchi-kun,” Yuugi said seriously. He held up his Puzzle. “You brought the final piece. I couldn’t have finished this without you.”

Jounouchi looked relieved for a second, then flushed. “Gods, I can’t believe I said something so cheesy,” he muttered. “I…have to go, bye!”

Yuugi blinked as his new friend took off down the hallway, until something fell in front of him. He picked it up and dashed after him.

“Jounouchi-kun, your shoe!”

#yami yuugi #yuugi mutou #tetsu ushio #yugioh #katsuya jonouchi #pokemon #fanfiction #yugioh fanfiction #The Samaya Court #eevee

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anistarrose · 6 years

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More Alike Than They Realize (Gravity Falls One-Shot)

Word Count: ~1700

Summary: Stan finds a jittery, apologetic Ford up late one night, and the following conversation doesn’t go anywhere near where he thought it was going. Post-Weirdmageddon.

Warnings: None

Contains a lot more fluff and meta jokes than the summary suggests.

For the first time since Weirdmageddon, Stan woke up knowing exactly who, where, and when he was. The bulk of his memories, especially the enjoyable ones from the past summer and his childhood, had returned within about forty-eight hours, but six days later he was still having occasional lapses, the worst of which occurred upon waking up – until now, apparently. He hoped it would last.

He rolled over and looked at his clock. 12:15 A.M. Well, that was less cause for celebration. His head hurt – not unusual lately – and his mouth was dry – not anything to worry about, but still unpleasant.

Careful not to make any sound that could wake Ford or the kids, he made his way down to the kitchen. Warm milk usually helped him get to sleep.

I hope there’s still some left, he thought. The kids and I have been going through a lot since –

“Stanley, is everything alright?” Ford had been sitting at the kitchen table in complete darkness aside from the multi-colored glow of his laptop screen. “Do you know who I am?”

Stan hurriedly rushed to the fridge. “Don’t worry, Sixer, I remember fine. Just wanted get somethin’ to drink before I go to back to bed.” Ford’s concern was pretty reasonable given the state Stan was usually in when he wandered the Shack at night, and had Stan actually been in the middle of a lapse his brother’s presence would have been appreciated, but at the moment he didn’t want Ford worrying about him. He wanted to sleep.

“That’s great to hear,” Ford told him. “But Stanley, we need to talk.” He put himself between Stan and the door. “I was a fool, I realize that now. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“Ford, you already apologized,” Stan replied. “About a hundred times. I promise, I’ve forgiven you –”

Stan suddenly noticed Ford’s eyes were bloodshot and his hair was even more of an unkempt mess than usual. “Stanford, are you feelin’ okay? You look… paranoid. Do you need to run more tests to make sure Bill is –”

Realization dawned on Ford’s face – and then he chuckled sadly, like he was laughing at himself rather than Stan. “Oh, no, Stan. This isn’t about Weirdmageddon. I didn’t worry you too much, did I?”

“Wait, then what is it –” Stan noticed the bowl on the kitchen table next to Ford’s laptop. “Is that popcorn? How the hell did you make popcorn at midnight without waking up the whole house?”

“It’s just simple sound-wave cancelling technology I picked up in Dimension B-56,” Ford replied automatically. “But the point is, I need to completely and sincerely take back what I said to you and about your… taste in entertainment on my second full day back in this dimension. I made a hasty judgement based on the show’s… target demographics, and I see now that I was wrong. So very, very wrong.”

“Sixer, you’re not making any… wait.” Stan suddenly remembered what had aired on Ford’s second day back in Gravity Falls. “You started watching Ducktective, didn’t you?”

“I did, Stanley! And it’s so much better than I was emotionally prepared for! After you saved me from Probabilitor that one day, I asked Dipper if I could join you watching the new episode, but he said it would be full of spoilers and showed me how I could stream it from the beginning when I had the time – and now I’m addicted! I can’t believe I called it a kids’ show; the mysteries of the overarching story transcend age demographics like nothing I’ve ever seen before! I’m nowhere near caught up and I already have so many theories! I’m not even sure if the younger Ducktective we saw in the time travel episode was actually him!”

“Whoa whoa whoa, Poindexter, slow down.” A grin was spreading across Stan’s face. “How far in have you gotten? Ten episodes?”

“Twelve,” Ford corrected. “I just finished the one where his rival Pete the pelican was wrongly accused and came to Ducktective for help –”

“Hey, that’s a really underrated one!”

“Wait, who didn’t like it? That was some of the finest comedy I’ve seen in the entire multiverse!”

“Dipper said Pete’s change of heart was unrealistic! Can you believe it?”

“If I wasn’t indebted to him for introducing me to the show in the first place, he would be dead to me,” Ford agreed in an overly dramatic tone.

“You gotta watch the next couple episodes right now, Sixer. Episode 13 is a goddamn emotional journey, and Episode 14 – well, I don’t want to spoil it. It needs to be seen to be believed, anyways. And then rewatched multiple times after learning what happens in the season finale.”

“Are you going to stay to watch alongside me?” Ford asked as he sat back down in front of his laptop.

“And miss you tearing up?” Stan pulled up a chair. “Pass the popcorn, would ya?”

“We’ll see about that,” Ford replied, but when Ducktective was finally reunited with his long-lost partner Steve, he couldn’t help but shed a single tear. Stan shed quite a few more, despite having seen the episode at least twice before, but Ford didn’t rub it in his face.

Ford was a bit confused, however, when the town erected a hyper-realistic statue of Ducktective to honor him for his continued work, and Stan bawled his eyes out seeing how Ducktective refused to look at the monument for longer than a few seconds.

“He’s just not used to the attention! What’s so sad about that?” Ford asked.

“You don’t understand,” Stan sobbed. It took all of his willpower not to explain that the statue reminded Ducktective of his long-lost twin gone evil. Ford had more or less guessed the twist already thanks to the time travel episode and the extra room in Ducktective’s childhood home, but Stan was drawing on all his con man power to act like Ford’s theory was crazy.

During a lull in the action in Episode 17, Ford paused the video and said: “I’m getting a little tired, but I can’t stop watching yet. Do you mind if we go sit somewhere where I won’t wake up with back pains in case I do fall asleep?”

Stan was also very tired, but there was no way he was going to miss Ford’s reaction to the next episode’s reveal. “While we’re at it, let’s go someplace where you won’t wake up the kids when you scream. There’s a big plot twist comin’ up.”

Ford closed the laptop. “I’d suggest the basement, but it’s probably pretty cold down there. We can go to my private study.”

Stan frowned. “Not exactly a lot of comfortable furniture in there, is there?”

“No, especially not after I cleaned it out. I was thinking we could bring blankets – wait, you’ve been in there? It’s supposed to be a secret!”

Stan snorted. “Sixer, I lived in this house for thirty years. Now go get those blankets.”

“Great Uncle Ford? Grunkle Stan? Are you guys okay? What are you doing down here?”

Stan tried to sit up, but something above him slipped, and several surprisingly heavy blankets fell on his face. Besides, he didn’t really want to get up. He was reminded of the good old days when he and Ford would hang some blankets from the top bunk, then sit on Stan’s bed together reading comic books, telling ghost stories, and generally making a mess with snacks.

“Morning, Dipper,” he heard Ford mumble. “I’m sorry we didn’t make breakfast…”

“Grunkle Ford, we were so worried about you!” Mabel yelled. “We thought you got kidnapped by gnomes or one of the last few eye-bats or something! But this whole time, you were just down here in your secret room?! You even built a whole blanket fort without us!”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” Ford pulled his laptop out from under his blankets. “I didn’t even consider the possibility that you wouldn’t realize where we were. We just didn’t want to wake you with our reactions to Ducktective.” He glared at Stan. “I can’t believe I predicted Ducktective’s twin brother almost a whole season in advance and Stan just pretended that my theory was ridiculous.”

“Hey, what was I supposed to do, spoil the ending of the best episode in the whole show?”

“How about simply not making fun of me for ‘looking too deep’ into everything?”

Mabel shook her head. “I can’t believe you nerds.”

“Hey, you can say that about Ford, but not me,” Stan complained. “I’m not like him and Dipper, not at –”

“You kind of are, though,” Ford told him, trying and failing not to laugh. “Obviously not to the same extent as myself, but we did just stay up until three in the morning watching a children’s show and discussing elaborate conspiracy theories about it. We’re more alike than you realize, Stanley.”

“So? It was one time!”

“I seem to recall we did this kind of thing pretty often when we were kids. Obviously not on a laptop, but with equally nerdy works of fiction nonetheless.”

“You’re an honorary nerd now whether you like it or not, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper added.

Stan shook his head. “Ya know, I was gonna apologize for making you worry, but now I’m not so sure.”

“You should apologize for ruining our blanket fort, Stanley,” Ford chided jokingly. “It was an absolute marvel of engineering before you decided to drag down the roof.”

“A real marvel of engineering wouldn’t let its roof get dragged down that easily!”

Ford frowned. “Uh, let’s go get breakfast. Kids, do you know if there’s any pancake mix left?”

“Ha, so you admit I have a point!”

“Honestly,” Mabel interrupted, “I’m not mad anymore that you guys disappeared into the basement to build a blanket fort and eat popcorn and watch your show. I’m just mad that you didn’t invite us.”

“Yeah!” Dipper added. “I wanted to see Ford’s reaction to the season finale.”

Ford smiled. “Well, we still have about… ten episodes before I’m caught up?”

“Eight,” Stan corrected. “Plus the shorts. But yeah, you kids could join us.”

“Will there be popcorn?” Mabel asked.

“Of course!”

Mabel and Dipper exchanged a look.

“Are we forgiven?” Stan asked.

The kids nodded in unison. “You’re forgiven.”

Thanks for reading! Ford’s reaction to Ducktective is loosely based on my own reaction to Gravity Falls: skeptical when first learning of it, then genuinely interested after hearing good things, then way too emotionally invested in it.

#gravity falls #stanley pines #stanford pines #mabel pines #dipper pines #rosalia writes fic #fluff #i was reading and writing some pretty angsty fic when i took a break to write this #which explains why it's so much more self-indulgent and happy than it seems at first #anyways if i could sum up my initial reaction to gf when i first watched in 2017 #with one line from this fic #it would be 'so much better than i was emotionally prepared for'#might be projecting onto ford just a bit #but it's undeniably in character for him

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lambroseforlife · 7 years

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Sir Rob Information Master Post

This is a post long overdue that many of you wanted from my link compilation post a while back so here it is! A master post that compiles information from the interviews/informative pages that Sir Rob has done in the past about himself and his works. It took me much longer to make than I expected because I stumbled upon more links that revealed more information about him and I wanted to include those to be as thorough as possible. Plus, this was a lot of information to sift through, type up and organize.

Disclaimer: A few of these interviews are from as early as 4-7 years ago so some of the information may be outdated and not completely accurate. Regardless, hopefully our rather elusive and seemingly mysterious author seems LESS elusive and more familiar to you all after reading this post.

NOTE: This post will be updated everytime more information is revealed. If you find any interviews that are not included on here, PM them to me and I will add the information here.

NOTE: (#) = correlates to the number of the source listed on the Link Compilation post

Quick Facts:

Name: Robert Thier (Thier is pronounced as ‘tear’, like the one that runs down your face when you cry) (20)

Birthdate: August 13, 1988 (Age: 29 -when this post was made) (21)

Height: 6′2 (1.88m) (4)

Hair color: Blond (4, 15)

Location: Waldstetten (in between the Drei Kaiserberge), Baden-Württemberg, Southern Germany (20, 27)

Education: Gmünder Parler-Gymnasium, Open University in Milton Keynes, Northern England for History (BA) and English Literature (PhD) (14, 28, 30)

Hobbies: Writing, listening to music (especially classical) or audiobooks, taking long walks in the country, painting, composing music, doing historical research, playing videogames, etc (1, 7, 8, 11, 12)

Skills: Writing cliffhangers (and writing in general), having a wicked sense of humor, fast typing, artist, composer, computer programming, etc (7, 14, 15, 28, 30)

Favorite…

food: German dishes such as Maultaschen and Spätzle (12)

book: Jingo by Terry Pratchett (1)

authors: Terry Pratchett, Roald Dahl, Meg Cabot (2)

genre: humor, fantasy, historical fiction (4)

Least Favorite…

food: cucumber salad or cucumbers (he described it as the most disgusting thing he’s ever eaten) (13, 16)

genre: horror (for both writing and reading since he said it doesn’t manage to make him scared) (4)

Sir Rob on himself:

A picture of Sir Rob above, back in 2011, displaying one of his German novels, Dämonenturm (English translation: Demon Tower). (30)

Sir Rob said that he has a short beard that he forgets to shave when he’s busy writing and that he wears a helmet to protect his skull since he was born with a bone missing from his head. He described himself as a cheerful person personality-wise but when he is writing, he warns people to not approach him “with a ten foot pole” (basically, stay away!) He said he loves classical music from composers like Beethoven and more obscure ones such as Alkan and Scharwenka. When going for long walks in the countryside, he mentioned that he gets stared at by other people because of his helmet and because he wildly gestures while imagining scenes to write for his stories. He stated that his greatest strength is his brain that is crazily stuffed with much information and that his greatest weakness is his memory for everyday events which apparently “has more holes than a Swiss cheese.” (4)

Sir Rob on growing up:

Favorite books growing up: He said there’s too many to name and the names would probably not say much since they’re all in German. (8)

Books that have influenced him the most: His schoolbooks in elementary school since he learned how to read from them. (8)

Dream job when he was a kid: He changed his mind once a week. (8)

When he first became interested in history: “History lessons in school, actually. I must have been the only kid in school who wasn’t snoring during the lesson :-)” Also, he would listen to audio documentaries as a kid and became fascinated by how people made history come alive as a story. (13, 14)

Educational experience: Sir Rob said that for his primary education, he attended the Parler-Gymnasium in the town of Schwäbisch Gmünd until he was in middle school. However, due to various health problems (including the reason he has to wear a helmet), he was not allowed to attend school for secondary education. Thus, he chose to study history and literature at the Open University in Milton Keynes, Northern England, a public distance university that does not require a high school diploma. (30)

Sir Rob on how he got his nickname:

When he was writing one of his novels The Robber Knight, one of his readers mistook the title as ‘The Robert Knight’ and started addressing him as “Sir Rob.” The nickname grew in popularity and ever since then, Sir Rob graciously accepted the title that his fans are quite familiar with from reading his works. (20)

Sir Rob on writing:

The when: Sir Rob started writing when he was really young, around 10 or 11 years old, after reading a poorly written story and decided that he could do it better. He explained that he tried and the attempt didn’t go so well, but ever since then he has kept practicing and says that he’s now “a bit better at writing.” (4, 11, 12)

The why: He decided to start writing after he kept getting pelted with ideas in his head which wouldn’t go away until he put them down on paper. (3, 8)

The how: In preparation for writing, he has mountains of disorganized notes that he uses. Sir Rob said that he writes using both logic and intuition, using intuition first then checking for logic in his work. When writing every chapter, he goes with the flow but overall for the story, he usually has a general outline of the plot. However if he gets sudden inspiration, he’s also open to making changes. (3, 8, 13)

The what (inspires him to write): He said he doesn’t really need an inspiration since he’s always had a need to express himself be it through drawing, composing music or writing. Nowadays, he focuses mostly on writing but his drive has never gone away. (7)

The where: His ideas for his stories come to him out of nowhere and he has no idea why they keep popping up in his brain. (1)

Favorite place to write: In his writing dungeon aka the cellar, a cool place for him so his brain won’t overheat. (12)

What he loves the most about writing and what made him fall in love with it: Being able to play around with crazy ideas. (11)

Authors that have influenced Sir Rob’s writing style: He listed the top four as Terry Pratchett, Meg Cabot, Roald Dahl and Jane Austen. Even though it’s a varied collection of works, the one thing that they all have in common is humor, something he has tried to incorporate into his own writing. (24)

Easiest part of writing a book: Getting an idea for the story. (8)

Hardest part of writing a book: Having the stamina needed to finish it since he gets new ideas trying to distract him. (8)

Hardest part to write in a book: Lengthy descriptions since it is difficult for him to keep them from getting boring. (9)

The first story he’s ever written: He couldn’t remember the name since it was many years ago but did remember that it was inspired by Ralf Isau’s Neschan-Trilogy. (11)

What he learned from writing books: How to type faster. He said he taught himself how to type with 10 fingers in order to write his stories quicker. (8)

How much he feels he has improved on his writing: Immensely, especially after starting out on Wattpad due to the feedback he has received on his works. (11)

When asked what caused him to switch from writing books in German to English and whether he intends to ever write in German again: He said he switched languages since Wattpad was primarily an English-speaking platform back then. He always had a liking for English so he thought to himself “Why not try to write a book in English?” It worked out very well for him and currently, he has no plans to switch back to writing in German. (7)

How being a historian affects the way Sir Rob writes his stories: He said that it has made him a stickler for accuracy and that he does a lot of research for his stories even if they are contemporary ones. He wants to make sure that his characters behave realistically and he added that the research makes writing even more interesting because of learning new things. (24)

Whether it’s easier for him to write from a historical POV or a different time period: He said he finds it the easiest to write fantasy, science fiction or dystopian stories where he can make up everything and that he doesn’t feel a difference between historical and contemporary stories since they’re both from the real world, just set at different times. (13)

Writing from a female character’s POV: At first it was hard for him but after reading many stories from a female’s perspective, he said it became much easier for him. (3)

Why he tends to write from female characters POVs: “I like to write about underdog characters who have to prove themselves and struggle against difficult circumstances, and during most of history, with sexism rife everywhere, women were definitely in such a position. That’s why they hold such an attraction for me as main characters. Plus, playing with the differences between the male and female psyche is great fun! :)” (14)

Strong female character role models: Granny Weatherwax from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld book series, Keladry of Mindelan from Tamora Pierce’s Protector of the Small book series. (3)

On creating romance interests: He said he finds it easy to make them interesting but difficult to make them different from each other. (4)

When asked if he’s ever been afflicted with “Mary Sue Syndrome” (creating an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character): He stated that he doesn’t think he’s ever had that problem. (4)

How he incorporates humor smoothly into his more serious works without disrupting the stories’ flow: He said he doesn’t do it consciously and that it most likely developed naturally from his reading habits since he’s only been able to stand books that have a pinch of humor in them and from that, it influenced his writing style. (7)

How he chooses names for his characters: Depends on the genre. When writing historical or contemporary stories where the names have to be real, he shared that he picks them out of name databases. For fantasy or science fiction stories, he lets his imagination run very, very, very wild. (11)

Whether he considers the meaning of the name when naming characters:He stated that he considers the way the name sounds more than the meaning. He says the name aloud while imagining the name of the character in his head and if it fits, he takes the name. (8)

When asked if he hides any secrets in his books that only a few people will find: “Not yet. But I plan to put some in the not-too-distant future. Happy searching! :)” (NOTE: This is from an interview that took place sometime during Silence is Golden was being written) (10)

When asked if he tries to be more original or deliver to readers what they want: He explained that he tries to start out with something people want in order to catch their attention then develops it into something new and unexpected. In his opinion, that’s the best of both worlds. (10)

If he could be the original author of any book, what it would be and why: Maybe the author of one or two of the worst books so he could write parodies about them without being sued. As to what those books are, he said he would keep their titles a secret. (10)

Most fun book to write so far: (NOTE: His answer changed over time) While writing Storm and Silence: Whatever book he is writing at the moment. While writing Silence is Golden: Warning! Fairy Tales since every chapter has had brand new ideas. (2, 9)

Funniest scenes that he considers himself to have written: The robbery scene in The Robber Knight, the bathroom scene from Storm and Silence and the torture scene in Chapter 21 of Silence is Golden. (7, 11)

Whether the funny scenes in his stories are made up or come from personal experience: “I make it up. I make it all up, absolutely. My life is not that funny ;)” (7)

Funniest character ever written: A lot to choose from for him, but ultimately it’s a tie between Fye, a little girl from The Robber Knight series and Coal Black, from WARNING! Fairy Tales. (7)

Favorite book genre and how it was developed: Comical fantasy closely followed by historical fiction. In the recent years, he’s concentrated on writing historical fiction and put the most effort into trying to make the genre more accessible to the general audience of readers. He said that since most people think of historical fiction as “stuffy, old-fashioned stories”, he wanted to make the genre more open to younger readers by making it more fun. He added that history gives an unlimited supply of interesting, crazy and funny ideas. (9, 25)

Favorite book he has written: He stated he has the disposition that whichever book he is currently writing is his favorite. (9)

Favorite character from his books: (NOTE: His answer changed over time in different interviews) While writing Storm and Silence: Lilly Linton from Storm and Silence –he said he has a thing for “underdogs with a bite”. While writing Silence is Golden: A tie between Fye from The Robber Knight and Coal Black from WARNING! Fairy Tales since he says he thinks bloodthirsty little girls are cool. (10, 11)

Which character he’s written resembles him the most (NOTE: okay, this one was a bit confusing for me to figure out): In one interview he said none of them since most of his main characters are females and he doesn’t imagine himself as a girl (contrary to what people may think). He also added that most of his characters are influenced by his sense of humor but other than that, they dont resemble him. However, on multiple occasions from other interviews, he said that he resembles his villains (NOTE: I’m guessing that this is a half-joking, half-serious answer?) (4, 8, 25)

On any rough patches experienced while writing: Said he can’t remember any rough patches. He added he has never suffered from writer’s block either and he hopes that it stays that way. (7, 8)

Who makes Sir Rob’s book covers and what programs are used: He makes them himself and says he uses all kinds of programs such as Bryce, paint.net, Gimp, Photoshop. (8)

Whether Sir Rob has an editor: Yes. (6)

Whether publishing his first book changed his process of writing: He said not really. (10)

Opinion on self-publishing: Has the advantage of more freedom but the disadvantages of less exposure and more work. (3)

eBooks vs printed books: Both have valid places for readers. (3)

Best accomplishment: His latest book, every time he finishes writing one. (3)

Most shocking achievement: Being able to turn his writing professional. Sir Rob didn’t think it was possible for him to do so before discovering Wattpad. (7)

Whether he has ideas for other books: “Ideas? Oh yes, I have those! In fact, I have way too many. I’ve got so many book ideas stored away in notebooks and folders spread in a creative chaos all over my desk that I could probably write for ten years non-stop without having to come up with a single new idea.” (13)

Advice to new writers: To start writing and to write about something that they love so that they wont give up. Also, write about what they love in a way that so people will find it interesting. He said that’s what he tried with history and it worked for him. (2, 7, 8)

Advice to writers that want to write storylines as interesting as the ones that Sir Rob writes: “Create characters that make you laugh, cry or faint just at the idea of locking them into a fictional room together. If you manage to do that, odds are you have a good recipe for a story.” (23)

Desired impact on readers: Sir Rob aims to write stories that will make people laugh and reread many times. He said he loves when people tell him that his stories have helped them through tough times as his favorite books have done the same for him. He also wants to encourage his readers to think for themselves and be strong through his stories. (3, 4)

Whether he reads his books reviews and how he deals with the good/bad ones: He said he does and that for the bad ones, if they make valid points he tries to implement the constructive criticism in future books and if they don’t, then he ignores them. (10)

When asked if it amazes him how dedicated and engaged his readers are with his words and if there’s anything he would like to say to them (Note: this is a list of quotes): “Yes, definitely. I regularly read the comments of my readers to get feedback on my stories, and it is spiffing how I get new information on improved translations, local history, and many other subjects that help me improve my books. Also, some of the comments are nearly more funny than my own writing. So thank you all for your wonderful support! :)” (7) “You’re awesome! Your feedback and support have helped me to improve enormously as a writer. Thank you! :)” (8) “Thank you so much for your unerring support! You’re awesome! :)” (11)

Sir Rob on Wattpad:

Why Wattpad: Sir Rob chose Wattpad as his writing platform after trying other ways to get his work out: self publishing and sending manuscripts to publishers only to be turned down. Then he found Wattpad after a Google search and chose it as his main writing platform to publish his stories. (2)

Favorite authors on Wattpad: ironkite, Maya_2011 (4, 9)

A name for readers/fans: He usually addresses them as “my dear Lords, Ladies and Gentleman.” (4)

What it’s like being on Wattpad, where the majority of readers are teenagers or kids: An interesting experience for him, especially trying to get people’s attention. (4)

When asked what he would like to say to give a speech for his fans and all of the Wattpad community: “ ‘That I’m really, really, really not good at giving speeches. So I’ll just continue writing and hope you enjoy it.’ **bows, and hurries off the podium blushing**” (4)

When asked about his plans after winning the Wattys: Continuing to write more books since it’s his favorite hobby and dream job. (5)

Proudest moment on Wattpad: Winning the People’s Choice Award and Story of the Year award for Storm and Silence all thanks to his fans. (2)

On his success on Wattpad: Definitely unexpected on his part and he still is dumbfounded sometimes as to how many people like his stories. Every time he sees how many readers and fans he has, he thinks “Oh my God, did that really happen?” He found it hard to get recognition as a writer outside of Wattpad but because of the platform, it made it possible for him. (7, 12)

On whether he considers himself a Wattpad celebrity: “No I wouldn’t really describe myself as a celebrity. After all, no one has really tried stalking me yet ;-)” (8)

The best things about Wattpad: His awesome fans, the support of his awesome fans, the awesome community that helps out when he needs it, the fact that Wattpad is free and anyone can read and write on there as much as they want to and “…well, just damn everything! :-)” (4)

The worst things about Wattpad: Spam from sites trying to sell medical equipment and the occasions when Wattpad goes offline. (4)

Any bumps on Wattpad: None really except for the one time when he went on Wattpad and saw he had suddenly lost all of his followers which caused him to panic. However, it turned out to be a small bug in the system and was fixed the next day. (7)

Advice to aspiring fans that are writing their own books on Wattpad and wish to be as successful in the future: “Don’t give up! Patience is definitely a virtue on Wattpad. It took me nearly two years to get a breakthrough, so keep hanging in there and don’t give up on your dreams!” (7)

Sir Rob on his works:

Storm and Silence Saga:

Inspiration for Storm and Silence: Sir Rob said it was hard for him to pinpoint exactly when he got the idea but believes it began sometime during his university studies of Imperialism and Suffragism. During one of his courses, he had to read about Victorian era adventure novels as well as the Suffragist and Chartist movement in the 19th century. The Chartists were a movement during the Victorian Era that fought for better conditions for factory workers and voting rights. During one of their demonstrations, over 300 people were killed by the police. Sir Rob thought, “God, if this is what happened to men who were fighting for their right to vote, how much worse must it have been for women?” During that time, there were no feminist organizations fighting for women’s rights and it was up to brave individuals. It was this type of scenario where a lone underdog fights for her freedom that inspired him to write Storm and Silence. He then added as an afterthought, “Thus I was convinced that school is good for something after all ;-)” (7, 13, 23)

Inspiration for Lillian Linton: In one of the interviews, he stated, “I don’t really know where she came from. She just- Wham!- appeared out of nothing and threatened to hit me with her parasol if I didn’t write a book about her.” In another interview, he elaborated that she developed as a mix of his favorite female fictional characters and a few historical leading feminists and suffragists. (13, 24)

Inspiration for Rikkard Ambrose: He was partly inspired by fictional characters such as Mr Darcy, Ebenezer Scrooge (from Charles Dickens) and Uncle Scrooge (from Carl Barks/ Don Rosa), partly by different historical figures such as Victorian entrepreneurs and adventurers from the British Empire, and partly by Sir Rob’s imagination. (10, 13, 23)

If both main characters were inspired from anyone Sir Rob knows personally: No, he said he has never taken inspiration or characters from people that he knows. Most of the people that he does know in real life are much more harmless and he added that he also doesn’t personally know anyone to be as rich and arrogant as Mr Ambrose is. (13, 19, 23)

Why he chose to write Lilly as a Victorian feminist and Mr Ambrose as someone that opposes it entirely: During the Victorian age, feminism wasn’t as widespread but it was when the suffragist movement began. The era was known to be a time of both social upheaval and social rigidity simultaneously. Sir Rob said he likes underdog characters, so writing about a girl rebelling during those restrictive circumstances appealed to him and thus, Lilly was created. As for Mr Ambrose, he’s supposed to represent the prevalent position during the 19th century. Sir Rob explained that he found many historical novels depict their characters with more modernized attitudes than the time period that they are in, so he wanted to avoid that in order to make a more believable story. In addition, having the two main characters have opposing attitudes allows more opportunities for sparks between them, something Sir Rob said that he enjoys to no end. A “hero” that’s a ruthless, chauvinistic, stingy Victorian industrialist-financier contrasted well enough to his strong, determined and quirky heroine. (17, 23, 24)

What drew Sir Rob to write about the period of the suffragist movement:It was the first historically accurate time period that a female feminist character could be depicted as fighting for her rights. Yes, there were singular female figures earlier such as Joan of Arc, but many famous women tended to be distinguished in fields associated with the stereotypical gender role. Sir Rob said that what fascinated him about the Victorian Era was that it was an era of great change, as women began to speak out against their injustices in bigger numbers for the first time. (24)

The amount of research done for Storm and Silence: A lot. An example includes the numbers and letters on the files that Lilly had to fetch at work refer to real historical events and technological inventions that took place during the Victorian era. (13)

How he was able to create an atmospheric and detailed London setting: Mostly through much long and boring research in older books and archives with occasionally checking the internet. (17)

Where Sir Rob learned Victorian English: From reading lots of Sherlock Holmes, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling. (14)

Some of the challenges faced while writing Storm and Silence: Getting the two stubborn main leads to comply and grow closer to each other. He also said that doing a subject on English history while being Germany made it tough to give historically accurate descriptions of some of the areas in 19thcentury London, but ultimately, it was worth it. (24)

A reason for the first person narrative from Lilly in the Storm and Silence series: One of the most intriguing things about the story and Mr Ambrose is his stubborn silence. (23)

How the plot for Storm and Silence transpired mentally and why post it on Wattpad: The same way it transpired on paper and he chose Wattpad since he already posted other books there prior to Storm and Silence. (7)

If the storm was planned from the start in Storm and Silence? “Yes, indeed. That was part of the reason I chose the title.” (9)

When asked about his reaction and thoughts to Storm and Silencewinning Story of the Year back in 2015: “Yess! Yes, yes, yes, yes!!!!”, so definitely unexpected on his part. (7)

What Lilly did with the wedding ring from In the Eye of the Storm: Sir Rob said that he didn’t think about it too much at the time and then added that Mr Ambrose, being Mr Ambrose, probably demanded it back and pawned it. (19)

What was the process of development of the main characters for Silence is Golden: There wasn’t really one as he explained that he just gets an idea and starts writing. “You can call it randomness or literary genius, depending on how generous you feel ;)” (10)

What is Mr Ambrose’s age: Early to mid 20s. (14)

Whether Mr Ambrose would prefer savoury or sweet food to eat: Neither, he would rather have something cheap, nourishing and hard to chew. (14)

Whether Mr Ambrose’s personality was always the way that it currently is or if something caused him to turn out like that: “I don’t think anyone could be like this from birth – or his parents would probably strangle him before his second birthday. ;) No, there are very good reasons why Mr. Ambrose grew up to be the man he is…” (19)

When asked if Sir Rob himself would rather work for Mr Ambrose for a week or be shouted at by Patsy for two weeks: The latter since he could stuff his fingers in his ears. (13)

If Wattpad will receive more of Mr Ambrose’s POV chapters in the near future: Sir Rob said that he doesn’t plan to publish any more of his POVS on there at the moment. (10)

How many chapters are planned for the entire series: In regards to the complete number of chapters of all books in the series, he doesn’t know. (10)

The Robber Knight Saga:

A reason for the narrative in third person and switches between the two main characters, Reuben and Ayla, in The Robber Knight series: Unlike the main male protagonist from Storm and Silence, the most interesting aspect about Reuben is “the mischievous, evil ideas sprouting in his head.” (23)

Advice from fans: Sir Rob explained that he used fan feedback when writing some of the scenes in the story. An equine expert told him what horse hoof trails could tell and for one of the battle scenes, a Canadian reader advised him that the characters should dip the arrows in pork fat as it would make them burn better as fire arrows, something that the reader herself had experimented. (29)

Inspiration for The Robber Knight’s Love: Too many to count. They range from Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe to historical non-fiction books to Goethe’s German play Götz von Berlichingen. (6)

Whether Sir Rob made the book cover for The Robber Knight’s Love:Yes. (6)

If he could be any character in The Robber Knight’s Love , who would he choose to be: One of the villains since he feels like “they always get to do the fun stuff. ;)” (6)

Why he chose to create a Historical Fiction book: Sir Rob said that he has always been interested in history. To him, it’s the ideal material for stories since he sees history as the combination of funny, interesting and crazy things that humans have done. (6)

If there was anything he could have changed about the The Robber Knight’s Love, what would it have been and why: He said he doesn’t want to change anything and if he did, he already would have changed it. (6)

Black Diaries:

What kind of book is Black Diaries: A mystery-romance-action-satire that deals with both martial and marital arts, assassinations, dark humor and steamy scenes. (18)

The inspiration behind it: Sir Rob wasn’t too sure of it himself. He said the original inspiration was Jane Austen’s “A Letter from a Young Lady” but in addition lists classical British comedy, hot romance novels and dark mysteries as other sources. (18)

Sir Rob on Miscellaneous Topics:

A picture above of Sir Rob posing with his frequently mentioned helmet. (29)

Whether he has to wear his helmet for the rest of his life: Yes, unless he has an operation. (14)

Any musical instruments he plays: The piano a bit and the guitar. (14)

If he ever plans to share his music or paintings: “I’m keeping them back for an occasion. Who knows, maybe I’ll one day provide the music to my own movie ;-)” (14)

If Sir Rob could have a movie deal for his works, who he would want in his cast: “Ghosts, mostly. I’m a huge fan of old movies, and most of my favorite actors are long dead ;) But if I had to choose a few living ones, I’d say Rowan Atkinson, John Cleese and David Suchet.” (25)

If he has seen his fans in real life: Not yet. (12)

When asked if he will ever do a signing event and if he ever plans to travel to see them: He said he hopes to but says his health problems prevent him from traveling far which makes it difficult to see fans who live far away from Germany. (10)

Where he would want to travel: Anywhere that has many medieval and antique ruins. (14)

When asked if he would prefer to live during the Medieval Times: No, he would feel lost since there were no typewriters or computers back then. (3)

When asked by multiple people if he was single and if they would marry him: He said he was and “as to the marriage proposal- I’m afraid I’ll have to decline. I’m already hopelessly in love with various of my fictional characters ;)” (10, 19)

Sir Rob’s opinion on Feminism and the male perspective on it: “If by Feminism you mean women’s fight for gender equality, I’m 100% for it. Everyone should have the same chances, regardless of sex, ethnicity, or, as in my own particular case, disability. And I also think all men should be 100% behind gender equality: just imagine that you’re on a sinking ship—if there’s no gender equality, the women can get off first, and all the silly, gentlemanly males will drown ;-)” (23)

When asked if he believes in witchcraft and other supernatural creatures: He said definitely not. While he believes that they make for interesting stories, he identifies as a naturalist from a philosphical perspective. (NOTE: Naturalism is the belief that only natural forces/laws exist in the world and that supernatural and spiritual forces do not.) He said that he believes in only what can be proven and that everyone should think for themselves. He recommended looking at the writings of Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris or Christopher Hitchens for arguments against supernatural sources. (4)

The most pressing issue of his generation: The decreased influence of naturalism. (4)

Favorite under-appreciated novel: The Squire’s Tale by Gerald Morris which retells the Arthurian Saga in a humorous manner. (10)

The most complicated character he has seen: Lu-Tze from Terry Pratchett’s Thief of Time. (4)

If given the power to create a new species, how would they be like: A lot nicer than human beings, a lot more logical and without an appendix. (4)

If he could time travel: He would travel back in time to some primitive time period so he could conquer the world. (4)

If he could switch bodies with someone: “Then I would probably look a lot more handsome. ;-)” (4)

If he could eat or destroy anything: He would eat Beethoven’s 9th symphony since he’s always wondered what music would taste like. (4)

What he likes the most about his homeland, Germany: The food. (9)

Five characters he would switch bodies with: Marvin the Paranoid Android (from The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy), Sir Gawain (from the Arthurian legends), the Borg (from Star Trek), Batman and Lex Luthor (both from DC Comics). (4)

Yes/no to Hawaiian pizza/pineapple on pizza: Yes but only with tuna fish. (13)

If he could be anyone in the world for one day (past or present), who he would be: A billionaire on his deathbed so he could leave the money to his real self that he would revert back to the next day. (13)

If he would rather have the power to turn everything into pizza or have every song he listens to be the Macarena: The former as long as he could choose the type of pizza. (13)

If the world was ending and he could only save one animal species (excluding humans) which one he would save: Worms, since he has heard that they are very important for agriculture from informed sources. (13)

Video Interview Transcript (where Sir Rob answers questions from Twitter) (16):

Daniel E Dalgliesh: Am I going to die?

Sir Rob: “Well, you do not need to fear for your life quite yet, Your Lordship. As the main villain, you are a central figure to the story. And if you should perish in the end, it will be [waves hands] in a gloriously dramatic manner which will immortalize you forever in the annals of literature.”

Fan: Have you ever been in love?

Sir Rob: [grins] “You mean besides with my own writing? No seriously, there may have been a crush or two back in school but the last few years of my life, I’ve more or less spent in a hermit cell working to improve my literary skills. There hasn’t been really anybody to fall in love with.”

Fan: Have you ever gotten recognized in public by a fan? If so, what was it like?

Sir Rob: “Not yet I’m afraid. It’s not really surprising considering that most of my fans are native English speakers and I live in Germany, where native English speakers are rather scarce.”

Uncle Bufford: Will Edmund ever grow a pair and ask me for Ella’s hand in marriage rather than continue with their illicit meetings in the garden?

Sir Rob: [nods and clicks tongue] “Yes, I think one day he will, unless of course Lilly beats him to it. She can be quite forthright as we all know.”

Fan: What’s the craziest DM you’ve ever received from a fan?

Sir Rob: [sighs] “Hmm, I think the award for craziest fan message- or messages really, will have to go to the three dozen or so messages I received, not counting comments and notes on my message board which ask whether I was really a girl and my name was Roberta despite the beard [rubs beard and smiles] I wear on most of my profile pictures. Apparently, [gestures with hands] male writers are so rare these days that we have become a sort of supernatural species that we just don’t really believe in.”

Any message for your fans?

Sir Rob: “Thanks so much to everyone for tweeting their questions. I’ve really enjoyed this opportunity of getting in touch with you. You are the best fandom any writer could want. [waves] Bye!”

Sources:

ALL of the information in this post comes from the Compilation Links post I made a few months back. The direct link for that is provided at the bottom of this post, below this paragraph at the “Source: lambroseforlife” (right above the tags), just click/tap on it to open that post. I made this post with the purpose of it serving as a cohesive picture of how Sir Rob is like as a person since the information from these interviews was disorganized and scattered all over the place. Most of the content in this post is paraphrased for efficiency and there is a bunch of extra information from the links not included on here. Therefore, I HIGHLY recommend you check the Compilation Links post out and read the sources provided yourself. Plus, I personally believe it’s better to directly read what Sir Rob has said. Kudos to you if you made it all the way here to the end, I hope you enjoyed reading this post!

#storm and silence #sir rob #rob thier #knowledgeispoweristimeismoney #informativepost #took me almost 3 mo to complete this #still waiting for him to drop that lit mixtape one day #i also wanna know what videogames he plays #kinda confused why he wants stalkers #i guess i count as one #even tho he shared all this info publicly

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cinematicquack · 4 years

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Film Genre - ‘Saving Throws’ Self-Reflection

‘Saving Throws’ was a screenplay idea I had had for a while. Dungeons & Dragons is something which means a lot to me as I used to play a lot with my mum and my friends, so I really wanted to make a film about it at some point. It just so happened that my idea was chosen for this film!

The writing process began by actually playing a small D&D game by myself, trying to figure out an idea as to what would happen within the film. My script originally had more action, at one-point Nara would attempt to cast a spell and fail. However, I realised that within the confines of the brief and pandemic, the simpler the on-screen action is, the easier it would be to film and edit; so, I cut this out. Another thing in my first few drafts was two separate locations. The second scene was meant to take place within a nerdy bedroom. I was also meant to have multiple fantasy characters, seen from a distance through the trees, being killed. However, both of these things also went against the brief, so were cut from the final script. Part of my process was to draw some character art, starting off with some doodles, then making a more detailed sketch. This let me envision the look of the character and costume.

As producer and writer, I worked closely with Laura (the director) and Euan (the DoP) to ensure we would be able to pull-off this ambitious fantasy film. Both of them were super invested, constantly messaging me to ask questions about D&D to make sure they were creating a plan that would be true to the game. The three of us also went on a couple location recces, practicing blocking and shot composition. They also let me give input on the shots I had envisioned whilst writing (which was very kind of them). I also made several logistical documents to ensure that everyone knew the plan for the shoot days.

The shoot overall was a bit rushed, especially on the first day. We really wanted to get all of the first scene done as it is more complicated, and it requires prosthetic make-up and more costume. This scene was to be shot during an overcast afternoon, then made darker in the colour grade to portray dusk. Consequently, this meant that we needed to shoot fast, and we lost light very fast. However, we managed to get all the Nara shots done, apart from 3. Fortunately, we did not need anything above the shoulder for these shots as they were all close-ups of feet, hands and running shots. The second day was harder in terms of set-up as we needed to carry a desk, chair, and lighting into the woods. We also had a lot more time for shooting as the second scene was to be shot at dusk so that there is little light. But we managed! Despite the November frost which blew in at 7pm, I survived!!

When it came to the edit, Euan (the absolute champ) did all the hard work. However, I made sure that the rest of us contributed as much as possible to aid him in his work. Similarly to the sound project, I made a list of all the required sounds we needed to source, and assigned members of the group. Robyn and I sourced a lot of Orc-related sounds, like gorillas and dog barks that could be pitched in edit. I found various battle noises as well as sourced all the fantasy forest ambience. I also arranged for Peter, myself, Laura, and Euan to have a Zoom call to record his lines. Euan realised whilst editing that we were missing a crucial shot, where Nara runs back to the tree after stepping on a twig. He decided to let us know this at 11pm, which was not the kind of pre-sleeping message I needed because I did then end up staying awake all night in panic. However, Euan, the legend he is, managed to cobble together a bit more of an artistic, relational style editing. He interspliced shots of the woods with close-ups of Nara running. I think it works! I think that our mistake on set actually allowed us to be a lot more creative with the editing approach we took. Euan set up a Discord server where he could stream his screen, this allowed us to drop-in when we could to give feedback and watch the film develop throughout post-production. Unfortunately, Euan left the sound edit quite late, this meant we couldn’t have our usual group feedback. I think that if we had had more time, we could’ve developed the soundtrack more.

Overall, I’m happy with how the film came out. I think that there are a couple of edits that are a bit clunky and jarring. This is the result of missing crucial shots whilst shooting, which could have been avoided if I wasn’t the actor. I do feel annoyed at myself over the acting, as I felt I could’ve given a better performance. However, it was Laura’s first time directing so I was also trying to produce and keep track of what we were filming to support her. I think, if Covid restrictions were less tight, we could’ve gotten an actor, that way I could have been more hands-on as a producer. Despite this, I do really like the more choppy, creative style of editing Euan went with. It helps with the runtime and creates a sense of disorientation that we all wanted. I think the sound design could definitely be improved. A key part of the narrative is the Orc, and I think there needs to be more growls and snarls added throughout the film to establish the beast that’s chasing Nara. I also think that the distant battle sounds needed to be louder to help the audience understand what Nara is hearing, as right now, it is pretty ambiguous. However, I really enjoyed what Euan managed to create, especially all by himself. Do not worry, I did reward him with a nice bottle of wine for all his hard work!

I was so surprised by how the final crit went. I think it’s my awful brain telling me everyone will hate it that caused me so much anxiety before the crit. Everyone was so kind and constructive in their criticism, but the overall consensus was that ‘Saving Throws’ was pretty good. First off, the peer feedback. I want to especially note Peter’s comment about my commitment to the role by “dying the mullet”, thankyou peter for enabling my hair dye addiction. Many people got strong Twilight vibes from the colour grade and quick panning shots of Nara running. The other strong reference was Stranger Things from the red lighting and nerdy-coming-of-age narrative. These were both references we talked about as a group, so I’m glad they came through in the final film. A criticism which I want to work on, is that people felt there should be more sound design around the laptop, more voices of Lainey’s friends coming through throughout the conversation. I think this would make it more realistic and would make the reactions of the friends flow better in the scene. Quite hilariously, a debate happened between a few people in the class about costume. Some wanted more fantastical costume, like that of Lord of the Rings. Others liked the simplistic costume I cobbled together as they felt it made the transition from fantasy to real-world easier for the viewers. Personally, if I had had more time, I would’ve liked to make something a bit more fantastical (as seen in my more detailed sketch). I kind of got landed with all the production design last minute, so I threw together something which would work. However, if I ever revisit this idea, I would like to add more mythical costume elements.

The feedback from Zoe and David was, as always, supportive and constructive. Zoe used the words “very enchanting”, which made me so relieved that we hit the mark on the fantasy genre. She had some great notes of sound design. She also felt that the distant battle sounds could’ve been pushed more, had more levels and different noises. She also suggested that we add bass notes to the soundtrack, in particular, during the battle scene, we should build this bass note, then cut it as the twig snaps. If we revisit the film, I definitely want to add more musical elements to help drive the narrative. David was super impressed with the many genres we managed to encompass in the film (he mentioned drama, comedy, fantasy and coming of age). He too wanted more sound effects, both the Orc sounds, the environment sounds, and battle sounds; but also the second scene, where he felt there should be more sound effects from the laptop call. He noted the jarring cut at 0:47ish, explaining that it is jarring due to the fact everything else is edited together so well, that it jumps out as wrong.

From producing this film I have learned to manage my time better. I did manage my own time, but I realised that, as producer, I should be managing everyone else’s time on set better (I know I was acting on set so it was very difficult). I also think I should try not to take on as much work as I did this module, as even on this last film I producer, wrote, acted, location scouted, sound sourced and did all production design for this film, and I found I was extremely overwhelmed. Yet I still felt I wasn’t doing enough to help out Euan, so overall I was just a bit of a mess, and I feel this affected my group a lot in post-production. I also learnt a lot this term for working within the pandemic, which is a great experience to have (not a great experience in terms of a viral pandemic, but in terms of knowing how to work on and off set within the confines of this situation). I surprisingly enjoyed the strict constraints we had to work within, both the 3-page script and 3 minutes maximum, as it gave me the experience of being critical of my work to know what to cut. But it also allowed me to be more creative, as I wanted to tell a full story within these confines, and my group managed to do just that!

I loved this module, as I was able to explore genre a lot more than I have been able to in the past. I like having genre as something to refer to whilst making a film, both in conventions but also breaking those conventions. I’ve found myself now writing some scripts in my spare time which came about through my exploration of genre this term.

vimeo

password: savingthrows.

I will also be posting a blog post with an updated edit that Euan intends to do.

#filmgenre

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cavefelix · 7 years

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Rinley 'M’ Yatskaya

Not that long ago ago...

"Story!” young Rinley said, grabbing on to her sister’s leg. Rinley was at the age where her sentences were typically only a word or two long.

Caroline smiled indulgently, lifting Rinley up and walking around the temple. She sat down by Grizzly, a calico who liked hearing tales too.

“All right. But it will have to be short. I need to go to the market to get some apples to poison and it’s getting late. So let’s tell a story about someone else short -- you, Rinley.”

“There is one man that all fear. One who is unstoppable. One whose motives are inscrutable. He comes to all. Brave men fear him; fear of him is what makes them brave. Wise men seek to avoid him, though their wisdom leads them to eventually learn this is folly. I speak, of course, of Death.”

Rinley clapped. “Brother!”

Caroline nodded. “Yes. He’s much nicer to you than he was to me growing up. He’s never pulled your hair or put a spider down the back of your shirt.” But she said it affectionately. The childhood antics of Kuroma were just a memory.

“None know why Death chooses to end lives. And none know why he chooses to spare others. But all were surprised when one day, while walking along the shore of Big Lake, he found the wreckage of a boat washed ashore. And clinging on for its life was a baby rat, which he chose to spare.”

Rinley held her little paws up. “Me!” she said.

Caroline nodded. “Yes. You. I don’t know why; normally we don’t like rats very much. But Kuroma took you home. He saw something special in you. You’d been born at sea, and maybe that whispered to him, as our family was founded by a selkie. Or maybe the fact you were barely holding on, on the threshold of life and death, called to the part of him that was death. Perhaps it was the fact that he found you on the anniversary of the day mama disappeared. Or maybe he thought you were cute,” Caroline said, poking Rinley’s belly.

“Yes!” Rinley said.

“To be honest, I thought you’d be eaten within the week --” Caroline began.

“Fish tastes better,” Grizzly interrupted, grooming her paw.

“-- true, but you know some cats are less particular,” Caroline responded conversationally. “But anyway, I was wrong. The cats took to you as well as anyone. And Goro, when he found you, rather than being annoyed said that you should be adopted.

“I wanted to name you Minnie, because you were so tiny. But the rest of the family said you were a Rinley.”

“Yes!” said the little rat.

Rinley ‘M’ Yatskaya

Age: 34 months

Academic Skills: Good

Athletics: Catlike and Ratlike reflexes

Favorite Food: Fish! Especially smelt, sardine, and herring, where you can eat a whole one by yourself.

Animal: Cat

Background

Caroline pretty much told Rinley’s origin story above. She grew up in the Yatskaya shrine, surrounded by cats, raised as a member of the family. Occasionally Fortitude Rats came to parley with Caroline, or discuss the cat population. They were invariably put off by Rinley, and the feeling was mutual. But for the most part, it was a mystic and mellow upbringing.

Recently, however, she’s been coming into herself, or out of the shell that is the temple. She realizes she’s changing, and believes it’s a good thing. She doesn’t want to hold it back anymore (if Frozen has made it to your version of Fortitude, she probably loves the song Let It Go), and doesn’t want others to hold back either. She’s ready to dive in to life, seeking new experiences.

Skills:

Superior Non-Fortitude Fortitude Rat 2 -- Rinley would never admit to being a Rat of the Far Roofs, but this skill comes in useful when you need to be 18 inches tall or have a tail.

Story Teller 1 -- Rinley has always had a love for stories

Cat Speaker 2 -- As a Yatskaya she has a natural affinity for cats...

Cat Magic 1 -- ...Including their spirits

Claimed By the Sea 1 -- The ocean claimed her (biological) parents; perhaps it has a hold on her too.

Superior Dreamer 1 -- Growing up in the Yatskaya shrine does things to a young rat.

Play Games 0 -- Rinley has the ability to play chess, checkers, backgammon, Ticket To Ride, and so on, or at least properly move the pieces.

Perks:

Connection 1: Death -- She has always had a special bond with her older brother. It’s possible she also has a bond with the Headmaster, though she’s never met him.

Connection -1: The Rats of the Far Roofs -- They’re just so weird.

[Bonus Slot] Perk: Accessory - Evening Primrose jewelry -- Rinley has a piece of jewelry that was designed as a bracelet for a human, but she can wear as a necklace or belt. It is a silver chain with a realistic evening primrose hanging from it. The Primrose is carved from old ivory, so old it has yellowed to the point it is the color of the flower. Its origin is unknown, though probably it’s connected to more than a long-dead animal. (Since I know ivory is a sensitive subject, I’m assuming Rinley knows somehow it wasn’t taken from a living animal, but one who passed away peacefully, and has an association with death. A piece fo the tusk of an elephant god?) See the power under Prophet for more.

Miraculous Arcs

Prophet 2/Creature of Delerium 1

Prophet

Rinley is deeply connected with death, After all, she was saved by Death and raised among nine-lived beings in a mystic environment. But not the “you’re no longer alive” aspect of death. She's connected with the symbolic meaning of Death, its representation in the Tarot. She's associated with the aspect of Personal Change, or Self Transformation, depending on which wording better suits the situation This is her Principle. She’s probably not actively aware of this. She's consciously going around trying to upset the status quo. But she's an agent of this whether she wants to be or not. (She does. Your character doesn’t get to be called The Troublemaker by chance.) Of course, this has created enemies. Obviously, not everyone wants change and the uncertainty it brings. In the Glass Maker's Dragon, she's probably opposed by The Moon Prince, who seeks for people to let go, to stop changing. I suspect she may also be opposed by Billy Sovereign, whose vision is not quite a world of changelessness, but one in which there is but one kind of change, where you become sycophants of Billy Sovereign. It's even possible she'll butt heads with the Dream Witch or someone else who wishes a return to old fashioned ways, though I advise that to be more a friendly rivalry than outright hostility if the Dream Witch is a PC. Rinley has the following powers associated with this Mystic Arc. If you're trying to become more mystical, which isn't the default but there's an option in her quest set, she also has Frantic. Divine Guidance: When Rinley is uncertain what do do, she can form a Level 4 Intention, at no Will cost, to "Listen to the subtle ways that change is all around us." Usually this is an HG hint as to what might foster change in this situation. She also, when using Divine Guidance, may understand symbols and motifs of death, even when unfamiliar with them. When she uses this power to serve the principle of change, she gains a +3 tool bonus. Finally, when opposed by a bleak power, this can shatter the effects, creating a chaotic backlash that affects Rinley and the target, essentially inflicting a Serious Wound. This power can be used once or twice a book at no cost. Subsequent uses cost 1 MP. For 2 MP, Rinley can use this with any intention. Divine Guidance (Powered Up): If Rinley can sustain the Intention of Divine Guidance for an entire chapter, she can cause a major sort of change in the Region. A downtown neighborhood could get a facelift, a school could adopt a new curriculum, or a medical organization may decide that exercise and diet are bad for your mental health, and change to suggesting eating only butter because it feels good emotionally. Materialization of Possibility When you're facing a problem you can't deal with, you (or someone) needs to change. Rinley can invoke Materialization of Possibility to use personal change to solve an immediate problem. This power can take many forms, often a Tool Bonus or temporary Perk. This can be used once or twice a book at no cost. For 1 MP, this can make things somewhat more likely or powerful. For 4 MP it makes something much more likely or more powerful. Example: Rinley is being chased by the First Free Dog, because she stole its favorite squeaky toy on a whim. Materialization of Possibility might give her a +1 bonus to persuade him that rope toys are more fun, changing his outlook. If she runs through a pet store and spends 1 MP, the First Free Dog may see the ideal new toy. For 4 MP, she might decide it's time to change herself and stop treating dogs as inferior to cats, gaining the Superior Dog Speaker 4 Perk to telepathically explain herself to the undead pup.

Inspiration

RInley draws inspiration from places where her aspect of death is not weak. Much of Little Island and the Walking Fields are out of bounds, due to their properties of “things can’t change before they’re ready” and “What happens is what always happened,” respectively, but there are exceptions there where Death and Change are strong enough -- the memorial statue of Jade Irinka; or during a Wild Hunt, for example..

While in these places, she can invoke Inspiration to have her Story Telling and Game Playing Skills transform, becoming The Story Telling and The Games of Transformation. They will always have a minimum Intention of 4, and ignore 1-2 points of Obstacle. They also function as if they were Superior 1 Skills; her stories seem particularly inspirational; the dice seem to favor her, forcing you to adapt your strategy.

In places hallowed by death/rebirth -- important mausoleums, holidays about Death, etc., these skills function as Level 2 Superior Skills. Rinley plays games on a master level revealing the need for you to adapt, and her tales stir the hearts of the most callous person.

Inspiration can be used 1-2 times per scene at no cost. It costs 1 MP for subsequent uses, or 4 MP to use it as many times as needed per scene.

Vestments

In the language of flowers, Evening Primrose is a symbol of fickleness, or inconstancy. A sign that people change. While Rinley doesn’t always wear it, her jewelry can function as if she were in a place where death is strong enough for her to get the lowest advantages of a Superior 1 skill with Inspiration.

(Sometimes Rinley leaves this at the the temple, because cats like to paw at dangling things on chains.)

This is a bonus perk, noted above.

Hallow

Over the course of several months*, or instantly for 4 MP, Rinley can make a place sacred to her principle, giving it the Property People are driven to do something different with their lives.

* Normally Hallow takes years to invoke, but as a rat her lifespan is, like, seven or eight years, so I’ve reduced is slightly.

Creature of Delerium 1

Rinley wants people to change, to achieve their potential. They don’t do that though, and she always wondered why. She only recently realized the answer when a cat spirit spoke to her. “You can’t just wait for the door to open so you’re on the other side You need to yowl incessantly. You can’t wait for the Ming vase to fall; you must push it yourself. They who hesitate are lost.”

And the spirit taught her the truth, feelings of hesitation. This is her Experience. Or course, making a deal with a Cat Spirit to learn more about how to help people has a downside. Rinley sometimes notices it affecting her way of thinking. That’s a curse, though she may not realize it’s a problem.

Also, while on Creature of Delerium, Rinley gains the power Sickly.

Embodiment

Whenever Rinley has been in an area for more than a few minutes, a Region Property forms: Rinley feels no hesitation.

Extraction

Rinley may, by touching someone on the shoulder, remove their sense of hesitation. (Getting to their shoulder may require some climbing, but such is life.) Their sense of hesitation takes the form of a small chain (holding them back, get it?). Someone without hesitation isn’t necessarily going to do stupid impulsive things, but they’re not going to let what was holding them back from what they wanted stop them without a solid reason,

Rinley can affect their sense of hesitation by manipulating the chain, wrapping it around a particular object to make the person hesitate over it. She could also theoretically use Cat Magic to affect it, presumably making the person hesitate over what would make a cat hesitate.

She can return their sense of hesitation with no effort; others face an Obstacle 2 Action.

Using Extraction can be done for free once per chapter; subsequent uses cost 2 MP.

Command

Rinley may see through the senses of someone who she has extracted their sense, or direct their actions. Normally, this faces a Level 2 Obstacle, though that can be waived for 1 MP. While doing this, Rinley is considered the vessel for purposes of any Miracle targeting it.

Catharsis

When RInley targets you with a miracle, the effect can be emotionally powerful. (This includes interacting with command.) Since she wants people to change, this is very convenient.

This can be used twice per book (but once per chapter) for free, It costs 2MP for a third use; and 4MP to use more than once per chapter.

Notes

Prophet is an easy Arc to visualize, and hard to pin down when writing it. I felt I could have made most of the powers’ listings much longer.

The Victorian language of flowers has a few plants that signify death, but I think they signify the I Want You To No Longer Breathe aspect, not the change aspect. Evening Primrose isn’t perfect, but it’s as close as I could come.

If you’re using this as an alternate Rinley for a GMD campaign, a few possible suggestions:

Substitue the Rat Prince(ss) for the Straw Haired Child if you are looking for a lead. They’re the first Fortitude Rat she’s met that’s interesting, then she loses them to something.

Rinley’s quests and emotion XP work pretty well for this character. If you want her a emotion XP to be a little more serious than Groan, I’d consider Fist Shake.

When Rinley interacts with they Titovs, I’m pretty sure that she isn’t going to accidentally free Iolithae. Instead, she’s going to “accidentally” free Iolithae.

#cmwge

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baxarts · 5 years

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Intern Stories: Aviya Hersntadt, Spring 2019 Education Intern

Maya Gonzalez June 27, 2019

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of sitting down with our 2019 Education Intern, Aviya Hernstadt, and reflecting upon her time with us this year. Throughout the year, we had worked alongside each other at various BAX Youth Education events. I’d gotten to know her, and recognize the countless things she’s done to support the BAX community throughout her time here. We grabbed some coffees, found a sunny spot outside, and got to talking.

When did your internship start?

AH: I officially started in the beginning of February, with a two-week overlap training period with Brooke [our former Education Intern] at the end of January.

How would you describe your role in the EDU Dept. as an EDU Intern?

AH: So many things. I’d say it definitely requires wearing a lot of hats; for me I think the biggest part of the role is After School Pick Up and spending time with the kids on, you know, the weekday afternoons that I’m there, and Saturdays. Saturdays also include making connections with parents, and getting to know all of the families at BAX, which has been really cool ‘cause Saturdays are less structured; it’s pretty much just me and Roxy [BAX Education Assistant], sometimes a few other people, in terms of admin; so it’s really nice to do your own work then get to know families and provide support there for BAX.

And then on the admin side, it’s kind of filling in all the gaps, I would say, which gives me a little taste of everything; like just a kind of peek into every aspect of Education planning and everything that goes into that.

This conversation turned into a comprehensive review of the inner workings of the Education Department:

AH: Both Lucia [Scheckner, Education Director] and Ashley [R. Thaxton-Stevenson, Education Manager] supervise me and they have different roles so that’s also been interesting; learning the difference between their roles; between what a Manager and a Director is, and the type of work that goes into that and the kinds of decisions that are made on each level. Seeing Lucia work and thinking about the decisions that she makes has made a big impression on me; she decides so many big picture things that trickle down into so many details; and when the details come to me it’s easy to not see that big picture part of it. It’s interesting to think about that trickle-down of information and decision-making; and to witness what it takes to run a performing arts school. A lot of what BAX does was established before Lucia and Ashley stepped into these roles, but its constantly being re-thought, it’s not like they’re just repeating what past employees have done.

I’ve been a part of a lot of different conversations at BAX that have given me a taste of these processes. For example, after the Teen Arts Conference, Lucia, Ashley, Charlie [Community Outreach/Youthworks Intern] and I all sat down and discussed how the conference went, what worked/didn’t work, and what it all means for the future of the Conference.

Is there a project that sticks out to you that you worked on during your time at BAX? Any projects that you really enjoyed working on?

AH: Yes. In the waiting area on the second floor we have this inspiration board. There’s always some kind of engagement project on it. The most recent one, that’s still up there, was made during NYCDOE’s Civic Engagement Week. The week is about encouraging schools to have conversations with their students, asking questions like: what it is to be an active citizen? How can you help your community? We kind of BAX-ified this idea; we designed a project around the questions: What does it mean to be an active member of your community/how have you uplifted your community, who are some leaders in your community/ what communities are you a part of (your school, BAX, your religious center, your neighborhood, your family?) And kind of popping those kernels of what you can do to uplift your community. So when we first did it, I created and left out a mostly blank poster; I wanted to frame it as like a BAX community poster. I had some kids working on it in After School Pick Up, just kind of asking them different questions and encouraging them to draw something or write a story to add on to the poster. It didn’t really take off that way, so during Spring Break Charlie and I led a lesson plan with each age group (NanoBAXers; K-2nd graders and Mega/ GigaBAXers; 2nd-5th graders), prompting them to sort of write or draw something. We kind of hodge-podged it all together and it became this awesome poster. And that was a really cool moment. We had a really successful lesson plan; we started the conversation, then broke up into groups, and we framed it around one story they had when they helped their community, or someone in the community helped them, kind of making the simplest possible version of asking these questions of how we can support our community members.

As an arts educator it’s always nice to get more experience and to, you know, lead a structured activity, especially within the structures that BAX provides, and to get feedback on it. BAX is definitely the kind of educational environment that I want to be in.

Let’s talk a little more about the process leading into you starting here at BAX/how did you find us?

AH: BAX was somewhat on my radar; I took classes at BAX in high school; I performed at BAX once. So when I moved back home after graduating college, I found Dance to the People. I was in a piece with Maira Duarte [BAX in-house teacher and co-founder of Dance to the People], The Tampon Piece, and we had all our rehearsals at BAX, so I was around the building once or twice a week. I remember looking at a board and seeing that there was a Drag class for kids and I was just like, this is awesome! What is this place? And that really got my gears turning. Then I saw that they had a job posting for this internship.

Interns are invaluable at BAX. We have so much going on all the time and it’s so helpful to have people there who can sort of be around and be present for that and also be supportive pillars of it.

What as an individual do you feel you have brought to BAX?

AH: My independent study project has been looking at our language accessibility at BAX. I speak Spanish, and when I first started interning here, every once in a while I’d be sent an email that needed to be translated to Spanish.

It really got started when we got a new Spanish speaking family in the spring and I was the only person in the Education Department who could interact with them and translate meetings, e-mails and paperwork. So I started to wonder – do we have any systems in place for this?

At different points there have been people in the office who speak Spanish and it pretty much always just works out. The Education assistant before Roxy (current Education Assistant) was a native Spanish speaker so she was doing all of this work, but it was kind of invisibilized because she was just doing it, and there weren’t other people checking or directing it because it was work that she was the only one able to do. What does it mean to have one person on staff who is taking on all of that work?

I’ve taken on the project of looking at similar institutions and seeing what their practices are, what kind of accessibility they have, and then thinking about what’s realistic for BAX in the short term, and speaking with staff to identify some pipe dreams that we have for the long term. So that includes talking to Lucia, Ashley and Fernando [Maneca, Marketing & Communications Director], and also translating specific documents; simple e-mail templates in Spanish that can be dated and sent out at different occasions.

It’s been really cool to be able to provide that service for BAX, interacting with families and putting effort into working with the families that don’t speak English. As much as all of our staff feels so strongly that all families are a part of this community, there’s a barrier there in relaying that message. I’m not a native speaker by any means, I feel confident in my language abilities but I am humble with that. Of course I can’t say everything; it would be helpful to have a native speaker on staff.

Challenges?

AH: Working with kids can be the most refreshing, light-hearted, easiest thing and then one question can kind of throw you into a tailspin: how do I answer this, what’s my place in answering this. There have been a lot of those moments, of like ok what does this child need, how can I serve them, can I serve them, or do they just need to be alone. I think it’s about giving the kids respect, hearing out all sides, being able to say something constructive and something reaffirming to each kid involved.

It’s been rewarding getting to know the individual kids that I spend time with at BAX. I really care about them, I’m sad to leave this position. I’ll be a counselor this summer so I’ll see a lot of them; but it’s just been really special getting to know them.

And on the administrative side, I’ll have ongoing projects that take a few days, I have reoccurring projects, like something I do on a weekly basis, an then I ‘ll have short-term projects that take an hour to finish; keeping track of all of the work in a timely manner has been a learning curve for me.

I graduated college a year ago now. I’ve been working odd jobs, babysitting/working in a restaurant, and this internship is my first real experience with a workplace environment. I’ve had various summer internships, but this is my first time on the other side/in the real world. It’s very different being out of school than in school ‘cause in school you’re going back every fall, but at BAX, while I’m here, I want to soak up all this information and stick all these tools in my pocket, understand how an office functions-even though this isn’t your typical office.

What are you walking away with from this internship?

AH: Honestly, the knowledge that a work environment and a place like this exists, where people are so supportive of each other. I mean I have just felt so incredibly supported at BAX. There have been multiple times where I’ve been supported in my own personal practice by the Education Department. There was a dance workshop that I really wanted to take, a choreographer was visiting from Europe and it was kind of like a one-time thing, and Lucia and Ashley totally supported me in doing it. It was a really last minute thing but they supported me because they wanted me to cultivate and keep alive my own artistic practice, understanding that that directly feeds into a professional working practice, as an educator, as an admin, all of that.

So things like that, understanding what you’re worth; as an artist especially its really easy to get in the mindset of just like throwing everything you have into your work/job and letting all these different jobs/positions just take, take, take from you. Because the artist’s life is such an atypical life. It’s atypical to give value to your personal practice, and to spend an hour in the studio and recognize that that is work, that’s not just fun, its work; you know, naming that and giving that value. And that BAX supports that with every single person who comes through these doors, is worth so much. I’m so lucky to be where I am. I have friends whose employers don’t care about their personal lives, emailing them at 9:30pm with something that they have to finish. The amount of respect that exists at BAX is so special; now that I know how good it can be and how much I can be worth, I am worth that, and I shouldn’t settle for anything less.

It all comes back around and it all works because everybody’s all in, everybody’s committed.

I’ve also gained a ton of experience with problem solving, especially with kids. I’m really excited to be a counselor in BAX’s Summer Arts Program this summer. I’m not ready to say goodbye and I’m not done learning yet, and I’m really excited to step into a new role at BAX. I think that’s gonna be really cool; to see all the teaching artists in action; summer’s a whole different ball game and I’m excited to see that. As a counselor I’m gonna be in all the classes, helping support all the classes which will be huge for my own professional teaching practice, you know seeing the different skills that teachers use, different activities, different tools for your tool box. More tools please!

Any post summer plans?

AH: I’ve been teaching with Wingspan Arts so I hope to continue that in the fall, maybe take on more classes than I had during the spring I’m also gonna continue working with Dance Action, Carmen Caseras. I’d love to be able to stay at BAX in some capacity if I can. I know that BAX is the kind of environment I want to be in.

Pictured, left to right: Lucia Scheckner, Education Director, Ashley R. Thaxton-Stevenson, Education Manager, Brooke Rucker, Fall 2018 Education Intern, Charlie Fischetti,2018-19 Community Outreach/YouthWorks Intern, Aviya Hersntadt, 2019 Spring Education Intern. Photo taken by BAX Staff after the 2019 Teen Arts Conference.

#BAXyouth #BAXarts #brooklyn #intern #educationintern #education #artsineducation #BAXinterns #parkslope #baxteens

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chasingthecosmos · 5 years

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A Hand to Hold

Fandom: Doctor Who Rating: G Pairing: The Doctor/Rose Tyler, Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler Chapters: 10/12 Read on AO3 here.

“The Doctor realized - far, far too late - that this hand-holding thing might be becoming a problem …”

A (sort of) season re-write centering around the Doctor’s touch telepathy and the many inconvenient ways that it gets in the way between him and his new companion, Rose Tyler. First half will be centered around Season 1 with Nine and the second half will be centered around Season 2 with Ten. Chapters will vary in length. Rating may go up as the story continues. Tags will be updated as I go.

Chapter Ten: The Empty Child & The Doctor Dances (Part Two)

"So ... there are social rules and legal rules," Rose muttered thoughtfully, her foot tapping some nonsense rhythm into the air as she stared up at the TARIDS ceiling. "So it's not so different from normal communication, really."

"Yes, Rose, that's what I've been trying to tell you," the Doctor sighed exasperatedly, rolling his eyes dramatically even though he knew that she wouldn't be able to see it from his current position under the floor grating.

They had been in the console room for the past few hours talking about everything and nothing as he worked on basic TARDIS maintenance and Rose kept him company. They were parked in an alley somewhere in 33rd century Canada where they had just finished helping the locals deal with an outbreak of a deadly alien virus hiding in the soil. They were waiting on Jack, who had begged for a few hours of shore leave to finish "cleaning up", as he put it, but he wasn't fooling anyone with the eyes he was making at one of the pretty young police women who had helped them save the community.

So it was just the two of them again (as it should be, the Doctor thought privately to himself) - Rose laying out on the battered jump seat with her legs crossed in the air above her and the Doctor below the floor grating buried under three different layers of TARDIS pipes and wiring.

After about an hour of this, she had started demanding that he make good on his promise to tell her more about telepathy and he had spent the time since giving her the basics that every Gallifreyan child knew.

"It's so different, though," Rose went on eagerly. "Like, how do you keep everyone separated in your head? Do they sound different, like with normal speech, or is it a thing that you feel? And how do you do things like plan surprise birthdays and parties and stuff? There wouldn't be any way to keep a secret!"

"Believe me, there are plenty of secrets on Gallifrey," the Doctor murmured as he scowled at the bit of wiring in his hand. "Not many surprise birthday parties, though," he added blithely. "Shame, that."

"And what if ... well, what if you fancied someone?" Rose asked, her tone taking on that bright, gossipy quality that he knew she had learned from her mother. "Oooh, bet that's rough. How would you hide it?"

"There are easy ways to block things," the Doctor explained, making his tone as factual as possible as he silently thanked the floor grating for concealing his suddenly-heated cheeks. "It's something we're taught from a young age, so it's not hard. Goes hand-in-hand with telepathy, really. Can't just be a walking, talking open book."

"So you're saying that being cagey is inherent to all Time Lords?" Rose asked teasingly.

"What are you implying?" the Doctor asked in mock offense, secretly wondering how this one human girl had managed to peg his people so accurately when she'd never even met them.

"I'm just saying that all that talk about 'dancing' the other night wasn't exactly the most straightforward way to come out with your feelings," Rose replied, keeping up her teasing tone.

"But ... we danced for hours!" the Doctor protested childishly. "What more could you want?"

"Yeah, danced around the subject," Rose drawled quietly to herself.

The Doctor silently gritted his teeth as he struggled to find something else to say. Was she really expecting him to just come right out and say it? To admit that he wanted her - needed her - in a way that he hadn't wanted anybody in more years than he could count?

She had teased him about the world imploding if the Doctor danced, but he was beginning to wonder if that was entirely untrue.

What good would it do either of them, anyway? It would certainly cause more problems than solutions. No, he decided, Rose Tyler had absolutely no idea how dangerous this fire was that she was playing with, and he was determined to keep her from getting burned.

"Hand me those extra cables and that bionic wrench," he commanded, desperately needing a change in subject. Rose could accuse him of being cagey all she liked, as long as it kept her from the one truth that he could never tell her.

Rose sighed heavily as she dropped her feet to the grating and strode over to the pile of gadgets and circuitry that were piled near the opening above him. She made her best guess at what he needed (he didn't bother mentioning that she had grabbed the pliers instead of the wrench) and passed them to him.

He didn't look up from the wiring wrapped around him as he raised his hand to meet hers, so he was entirely unprepared for when their fingers connected and something like an electrical shock jolted through him. She was projecting again, and he knew that it had to be on purpose, because there was deliberate intent with the thought that she pushed so forcefully into his mind.

I want you.

But it wasn't want in the primal, basic sense that someone like Jack Harkness might have used. It was so, so much greater than that. It was a desire for more - a promise of forever. It was a want to be close and to never let go. It was a want for everything that he had to give and to give everything that she had in return. It was a want for his good days, his bad days, and everything else in between - a want for his past, present, and future. It was a nameless, hope-filled desire that swelled his hearts to the point of bursting.

He had felt similar things before in his many lifetimes, but not in the fiery, overpowering, human way that Rose did - and never had he felt it coming from someone else and directed at him.

He was frozen in place again, blinking up at her in shock as she slowly withdrew her hand from his, keeping her dark eyes trained on him the entire time. It took everything in him to keep his grip on the wiring and pliers as the rest of the world seemed to fade away and all that was left was Rose.

"You ... you should really warn me before you do that," he finally muttered, his voice ragged and rough around the edges.

"Why? So you can block me out?" Rose countered fiercely. Her tone was hard and insistent, but he could see the vulnerable question in her eyes - she was waiting for his response.

He did drop the wiring and the pliers, then. He let them clatter down into the depths of the TARDIS without a care as to where they might scatter off to. In one quick motion he lifted himself out from under the console to sit on the edge of the opening beside her, his eyes boring into hers the entire time.

"Doctor ...?" she asked slowly.

But he couldn't answer - there were no words for all that he needed to tell her. He needed to show her - she needed to know - that what she was asking for was impossible.

He raised his hands to her temples and hesitated for only a second before silently cursing himself and forcing his fingers to make contact with her delicate, human skin.

You have no idea what you're asking for, Rose, he insisted, his expression screwed into a scowl as he forcefully filled her head with the sounds, sights, images, and feelings from the 900 years of his life. It was really only the merest glimpse and he purposefully left out all sensitive and potentially dangerous information, but it was still enough to make her startle and she gasped loudly as she instinctively attempted to jolt away from him.

But his fingers remained solidly connected to her temples as he let the weight of the last of the Time Lords ghost over her mind. He hung his head in shame and refused to meet her eyes as he let her see for the first time just how deep and dark his mind was.

This isn't even the half of it, not by far. So please don't ask for more.

He heard as well as felt her shaky exhale as the first shock of surprise finally left her and she began to relax once more. Her thoughts were going a mile a minute - racing to keep up with all of the things that he was attempting to show her. He realized with a sickening sense of dread that she wasn't pulling away in fear as she was meant to. In fact, she was filled with as much awe and wonder as she was whenever he showed her a new alien planet or took her to a fascinating point in history.

"I'm not afraid of you, you daft old alien," she sighed, her voice sounding as rough and weary as he felt.

Then, before he could stop her, she leaned forward and pressed her forehead gently to his, pushing his own dark thoughts out of the way and replacing them with warm feelings of love and acceptance. It was enough to make him choke on the sudden lump in his throat and his hands moved of their own accord to wrap around the back of her neck and draw her closer.

He knew that he was a fool for letting himself be drawn in by her siren's song - a promise of forever that he knew that she would never realistically be able to keep - but he was old and weak and so very, very tired. He had been running ever since the Time War, and he was ready now - finally - to stop running and begin to pick up the pieces.

He didn't know how long they sat there like that (his time sense were completely drowned out by her), and he certainly didn't know what was meant to happen next, but that issue was quickly resolved as a tall figure came swanning in through the TARDIS doors and completely interrupted the tense atmosphere hanging between them.

Rose finally pulled away, blinking hard and refusing to meet his gaze for a moment as she looked over his shoulder to greet Jack with a small, watery smile.

"Oi, took you long enough!" she called jokingly.

"Right," Jack replied slowly, clearly hesitating as he took in the vulnerable scene before him. "Sorry. I could go back and visit the bar again if you two needed more time for ... TARDIS calibrations ..."

The Doctor didn't have it in him to scold Jack for his damned insinuations. In fact, he couldn't do much in that moment other than sit there and stare up at Rose, needing her to meet his eye and tell him what to do next. This was entirely new, unstable ground for him. And just like with all new things, he was equal parts excited and terrified.

Finally, she hesitantly met his gaze, blinking nervously at him as though she expected him to jump up and forcefully push her away. When he did nothing but continue to stare, she offered him a small, shy smile and it immediately sparked him back into action.

"No chance, Harkness," he called, popping up to his feet and throwing the ex-time agent a cheeky smile over his shoulder. "If you go back to that bar we'll be stuck here for at least another few days waiting on you. Best get going. There's things to do, people to see, worlds to save, civilizations to build ..."

He only paused in his lighthearted, chattering banter to lean down and offer Rose a hand, which she took without a second's hesitation and possibly the brightest smile that he had seen from her yet.

He really had no choice but to mirror it, and if they looked even half as foolish as he felt, at least Jack Harkness had the (surprising) decency to not say a word about it.

#doctor who #dw #fanfiction #fanfic #doctor who fanfiction #doctor who fanfic #dw fanfiction #dw fanfic #ninth doctor #rose tyler #the doctor #nine/rose #ninexrose #the doctor/rose #the doctorxrose

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jlslipakauthorthriller · 6 years

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A moving, poetic narrative and child-friendly illustrations follow the heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful journey of a little girl who is forced to become a refugee.

“The day war came there were flowers on the windowsill and my father sang my baby brother back to sleep.”

Imagine if, on an ordinary day, after a morning of studying tadpoles and drawing birds at school, war came to your town and turned it to rubble. Imagine if you lost everything and everyone, and you had to make a dangerous journey all alone. Imagine that there was no welcome at the end, and no room for you to even take a seat at school. And then a child, just like you, gave you something ordinary but so very, very precious. In lyrical, deeply affecting language, Nicola Davies’s text combines with Rebecca Cobb’s expressive illustrations to evoke the experience of a child who sees war take away all that she knows.

Out September 4, 2018

MY THOUGHTS:

I received this book in exchange for my honest review.

It took me some time to write this review because of the sobering effect I felt after reading it. What struck me so deeply is that this is happening now… to children.

Then there’s the fact that it was written in the form of a picture book that bothered me. Are children of this age bracket ready to read something like this book that is so impacting and realistic? The jury’s still out on that one. Children can be a lot stronger and resilient than some adults, but sometimes, I feel, there’s a time and place when children should learn the truths about our world and the human civilization–mainly, there’s nothing really civil about it at times. We live in cruel and hateful times right now, urged on by greed, religious causes, and political gain to mention a few, and I feel innocence in children must be preserved for as long as possible before they are forced to confront the crueler sides of humanity. Of course that’s me living in a hopeful bubble.

With the stress and ever-growing breakdown of family unity and dynamics, a child’s innocence seems to be the first to go.

Nicola Davies rights a story that is forthright, sad and has a hard hitting reality of what a child living in other countries faces daily. I think it’s an important story that needs to be told and she does this well, with careful wording accompanied by heart-wrenching illustrations. This book should be explored by our children but it’s up to parents to decide when, or perhaps, explore it with them.

This book carries an important message that must be told and I feel it was done tactfully and with care.

I gave it:

THE DAY WAR CAME, by Nicola Davies, Illustrated By Rebecca Cobb, Candlewick Press A moving, poetic narrative and child-friendly illustrations follow the heartbreaking, ultimately hopeful journey of a little girl who is forced to become a refugee.

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kismetkoromhaz02 · 6 years

Text

conceptual statement & bibliography

2. Can creative acts be rebellious when rebellion has become canonised in art, design and media histories? What would a contemporary creative rebellion look like?

When reflecting on the conceptual question, I started to draw on what the words ‘canonised’ and ‘rebellion’ meant and how these two subjects could relate together and even possibly contradict each other in nature. A way I wanted to convey this conceptual thought was to bring this message back in its simplest form. This was achieved by representing the idea in a stained glass window design. This essentially relates back to religious symbolism and canonisation. I decided to merge this canonised image together with a rebellious personality, being James Dean, and presenting him as a saint. James Dean became a breakthrough actor for starring in the 1955 film “Rebel Without a Cause”, which had immortalised him forever in this adolescent, rebellious image. This directly draws parallels on how saints are immortalised within their own image through the form of a stained glass window. I am trying to achieve this same religious effect, except strategically using a rebellious image instead.

This allows the artwork to change the original purpose of a stained glass window, while relating it back to the conceptual question of what a canonised rebellion looks like. This struck me to highlight the importance of merging these two subjects, being canonisation and rebellion, as it highlights the contradictions of pairing these two together and ultimately representing what a contemporary rebellion would look like within society. This artwork alludes as to how this stained glass window is being used for a rebellious cause than a religious, further becoming a synthetic and contradictory image mimicking what a creative rebellion would look like now.

A major influence for this artwork was Kehinde Wiley and both of his series, ‘Lamentation’ and ‘Stained Glass’. His series of artworks takes a more urban approach to the depiction of a traditional stained glass window. As Wiley alters a stained glass window, he ultimately changes its purpose and role by presenting contemporary people instead of glorified saints. This was a reason as to why I looked towards his artworks for inspiration. I was also radically influenced by his artistic style and approach. Another major influence for my artwork were taking referencing from medieval traditional styles of stained glass windows. This was another importance reference as it was the base for my artworks structure, design, colour and style. By using this as an influence, it enabled me to make the most possible realistic representation of a stained glass window.

The process I had to undertake while completing my artwork was gradual. It was a slow start initially, as it took several brainstorms to come up with new ideas and concepts to convey the key question. This consisted with a process of trial and errors, reflections and looking for inspiration in order to discover new ideas. After thinking of a solid conception idea, this then lead me to start with the basics, which consisted of drawing the structure and overall form of the stained glass window. This then proceeded to actually painting the artwork with watercolour. This part of the process took the most time as it had to be a slow but steady, in order to achieve the best result. This ended up taking two to three weeks to complete the overall stained glass window. The experimentational side of the assessment consisted of using different paints, painting on different types of paper and even combining texters and water paints together. All of these experiments were vital for this assessment as it helped to perfect the end result of the artwork. Materials that I used while undertaking this assessment were minimal. To create my stained glass artwork, I used watercolour paints and a plain white A2 paper as a basis to paint on. Through using minimal materials, this enhances the artwork to stand alone by itself and represent the key message of canonised rebellion in contemporary art and what it looks like today. The overall time spent on completing the whole artwork and research enabled myself to go through a learning process.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

"Events - Carriageworks". in , , 2018, http://carriageworks.com.au/events/ [accessed 1 September 2018].

"Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery - Artists". in , , 2018, http://www.roslynoxley9.com.au/artists/ [accessed 1 September 2018].

"STAINED GLASS | Kehinde Wiley Studio". in , , 2018, http://kehindewiley.com/works/stained-glass/ [accessed 2 September 2018].

"Stained Glass Windows in the Middle Ages: Purpose & Importance | Study.com". in , , 2018, https://study.com/academy/lesson/stained-glass-windows-in-the-middle-ages-purpose-importance.html [accessed 4 September 2018].

Sherriff, N, "Interesting Facts about Stained Glass Windows: Part 1.". in Lead Windows, , 2018, https://www.lead-windows.co.uk/interesting-facts-about-stained-glass-windows-part-1/ [accessed 4 September 2018].

"Kehinde Wiley Studio | Brooklyn, NY". in , , 2018, http://kehindewiley.com/ [accessed 5 September 2018].

#Assessment 2

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sensitivitysensitivity · 6 years

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books i read summer 2018!

so, here’s all of the books that i read over the time of like, end of may to august, including my star rating as well as a short synopsis and a brief little paragraph about what i thought about it while i watch comedians in cars getting coffee. don’t read my reviews if you don’t want ANY spoilers. the reviews aren’t spoilery, it just has some hints to the end and such.

i. the hate u give by angie thomas

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

the hate u give is about a young african american girl named starr who is present when her childhood best friend is tragically murdered in an unwarranted act of police brutality, and how she finds her voice and the strength to speak out about the matter of police brutality with the support of her family and friends, as well as finding out who her real supporters are.

i adored this book with every last bit of my heart. the characters are absolutely hysterical, as well as strong and inspiring. i even loved starr’s stereotypical white boyfriend (who is being played by KJ Apa in the film adaption coming out this year and i literally yelled). i loved the way the book incorporated social media and such without making it seem as if teenagers are simply media obsessed. it really showed many different perspectives and sides to arguments that make you think, as well as inspire you to stand up for something you believe in.

ii. emergency contact by mary h.k choi

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

emergency contact follows two college students who are seemingly lost in life, dealing with issues in their respective lives, who meet under strange and awkward circumstances, and take a liking to one another and start a friendship that consists almost entirely of text messages as they help one another through their woes of life, and develop feelings for one another cause yanno its a YA romance.

i didn’t NOT enjoy this book, but it wasn’t my favorite. i found penny’s character kind of annoying, and really rude sometimes, and i didn’t really love her dynamic with any of the characters, including sam who is the guy she is texting throughout the book. i really liked how realistic it was, kind of giving a real look into how life works i guess? i thought sam’s storyline with his ex girlfriend was incredibly dramatic and unneeded and it frustrated me, and the end of the story literally wasn’t affected at all by that storyline, it was just not needed. at all. like the ending was like cute and sam was cool but it was just kinda not as good as everyone online said it was. if it would’ve ended differently it would’ve gotten two stars lol.

iii. every day by david levithan

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

every day is the story of a genderless character that goes by the name of a, who jumps around from body to body every day into the life of somebody else, but they meet a girl, rhiannon, while in someone else’s life and they fall in love with her, and they then spend every day finding ways back to her

that was real hard to explain okay, but i really, really enjoyed this book. i found some aspects a little repetitive and it took some time to get to the point, but it was such a sweet story, and i loved getting to know each of the characters that a used as a host, and i enjoyed figuring out which characters that i liked more. i also liked the slight thrill of the kid who is trying to get a caught, as well as the ‘reverend’ who has the same condition as a, but learns to control it. i usually don’t like an open ending, but i liked this one since it implies a goes away to find out how to control himself and get back to rhiannon. overall i enjoyed it, and it was fun to read and get to know the characters, but i gained nothing from reading it because the ending was open and it felt like there was no actual point. i don’t know it was good.

iv. play me backwards by adam selzer

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

play me backwards is a really freaking weird story about the misadventures of leon who finds out his childhood girlfriend is possibly going to come visit, and is pushed down a rabbit hole of weird tasks he is sent to do by his best friend stan, who apparently is actually satan, such as finding the white grape slushee, date a popular girl, and listen to the full audio book of moby dick, all the while spending almost all of his time at the run down ice cream shop he works at. honestly that’s the best i can do the book is super freaking strange?

the weird thing about this book is that i actually really enjoyed reading it, and i actually really liked the character of leon, but i genuinely had no idea what the hell was going on the entire time. he was just kind of running around, like messing around with his girlfriend he didn’t like, thinking about some british girl, and being a lowkey satanist. like i have no idea what the point was, i honestly don’t even know what it was about. leon was a relatable character and he was funny, and i enjoyed his point of view, but the book was bad. the idea sucked and i felt like i was wasting my time reading it. but i had a fictional crush on leon and the ending like kinda forced itself into having a point, even though it was a stretch, so two stars only for leon. but i liked it. i don’t know.

v. eliza and her monsters by francesca zappia

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

eliza and her monsters is about a young girl, eliza, who writes/draws a world renound web comic, monstrous sea, but remains completely anonymous except to her three best online friends and her family, but then she befriends the new student at school, wallace, and she finds out he is that he is the most popular fanfiction writer for her webcomic, she finds it harder and harder to keep her secret as she falls in love.

so i read this book in ONE NIGHT. it was really good, and never failed to entertain me. i couldn’t blame eliza for falling in love with wallace cause girl i did too. he was such a cute character and so were her internet friends, and so were all the characters and i loved reading all of the little snipits of the webcomic, it was just adorable, and their love was adorable, and it was just adorable. plus it really puts a nice look on mental illness, and im not talking about eliza, wallace had extreme anxiety and it was very real and i really appreciated it. took away a star because eliza pissed me off on multiple occasions and i found her annoying a lot. other than that rEally great.

vi. i’ll give you the sun by jandy nelson

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

i’ll give you the sun is told from the perspective of twins noah and jude during two very separate periods of time in their lives, jude telling her story at age sixteen and noah at age thirteen, as they go through life, and falling in love, and family secrets and tragedies as the grow apart and back together.

okay so i didn’t know how to explain this without spoiling it completely, but WOW i loved this book. i genuinely couldn’t decide if i liked noah or jude’s story better, and finally decided on the answer being BOTH. it was so good, so emotional, noah and brian made me sob and so did jude and oliver, and i loved the characters and all the revelations they had and im just rambling and i feel like im making no sense but jesus, this book was amazing and the story was just so absolutely amazing. not a single flaw in this book. absolutely amazing OH ! MY ? GOD! absolute favorite of the summer.

vii. the absolutely true diary of a part time indian by sherman alexie

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

the absolutely true diary of a part time indian is the critically acclaimed novel about a teenage boy, junior, who had many medical issues who lives in an indian reservation, but decides that he is destined for greater things and decides to transfer to the “white school”, and he faces many challenges such as finding his place at this school and the backlash of the other members of the reservation.

it was very difficult for me to like this book, at first because of the fact that i read it for school, but then ONLY for the fact that i found out about the sexual assault charges against the author, and im so upset i bought the book and essentially supported the author before i was aware olf that, but that doesn’t change that i had to read this for school, and that i actually liked it. it was very aware of racism and a lot of racial stereotypes and provided very raw experiences and the drawings were fun to read. i don’t really wanna go on cause i don’t wanna praise it too much, but i took away a star cause sometimes i found it repetitive and some things simply didn’t have a point, but i liked it.

viii. a semi-definitive list of worst nightmares by krystal sutherland

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

this book tells the odd story of esther solar, who believes her whole family is cursed by Death, and whatever fear that cripples them throughout life will kill them. but the curse is threatening the life of her twin brother, eugene, she decides to face every fear she has written down on her list of things she must avoid so she never has to face the curse herself, with the help of an unlikely friend, to lure Death to them and reverse the curse.

so that summary probably little to no sense at all. because the book itself is so difficult to explain, but i actually really enjoyed it. it took me a while to read it, but i loved it. esther was a real character, with so many real flaws, and her ‘friend’ jonah who helped her overcome all of her fears, really brought out the best parts of her, as well as bringing light to the nature of abuse. the book dealt with a lot of real problems, such as mental illness, and does it in such a lovely and sensitive way, but without holding back, as well as showing someone who seemingly had no hope, get better, which i find amazing. the only reason i took a star away was because so many parts dragged on and i got bored sometimes, but overall, it was a great read with so many great characters and it was very whimsical and enjoyable!

ix. crazy rich asians by kevin kwan

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

crazy rich asians follows rachel chu and her boyfriend nick young as he brings her home to his ‘crazy rich’ family that he hasn’t prepared her for at all, and essentially don’t approve of her, as well as it follows everyone in nick’s extended and immediate family as well as some family friends and their extravagant lifestyles as well as all the drama that comes with being that freaking rich.

okay i adore this book. it was absolutely amazing, and i could barely begin to tell you all of the amazing characters and storylines, each one more interesting and intricate and extravagant than the next. i loved the representation, and accurate representation at that, of the asian culture. it was just great. other than being somewhat hard to follow at times with the constant perspective change, i loved it. the movie was rlly good too lol.

x. the kissing booth by beth reekles

★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

the kissing booth is the absolutely dreadful story of a young girl, elle evans, and her best friend, lee flynn, as they plan a kissing booth for their high schools fundraiser (for what? i have no clue) and elle ends up kissing her best friends older brother, noah flynn, and by a strange turn of events they fall into a forbidden (because lee makes the rules ig) romance.

really ended off the summer GREAT with this one! it sucked, it was horrible. there were actual, typos? in the book? it was incredibly sexist, literally making elle seem like a piece of property, and theres MULTIPLE occasions of sexual assault that is glossed over. in fact, the best friend lee assaults her (slapping her butt without permission) and when someone ELSE assaults her he says “no one is allowed to do that but me” thats reason ENOUGH. it’s gross how they both try and control her, and its honestly just bad. the story is all over the place, and it feels like a wattpad book, because it literally is, and i payed six dollars for it. so the jokes on me ig.

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jordanknightfmp-blog · 6 years

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Council questions

The council asked me an array of questions to get an idea of the people who were making the sculpture. They wanted this information for promotional use and to give people some idea of what the students who made this are like. This post demonstrates communication between myself and a member of the council. It also shows my reflection on the project so far and my feelings moving forward.

What was the brief? The brief for this project was centered around the commemoration of 100 years since the First World War ended. The breif wanted to focus on the Homefront and what happened to the people left behind. We're gave some freedom within the brief to interpret the concept. How did the students want to interpret the brief? We took this concept and wanted to focus on the women of the war. The unsung heroes in many cases. We wanted to make something that would elevate their status. Which is what We've hoped to achieve. We chose to use angelic forms to give a universal appeal and connection to a higher level of being. This gave a very obvious demand of respect due to the angelic form. It also allowed us to experiment with other factors like light and form. Did you encounter any problems in production which impacted on the sculpture? Yes definitely many times. The biggest changes came from taking the idea from a drawing to reality. This process caused the sculpture to take on major transformations. As many of the ideas were unachievable due to scale, ability, time, and budget. So we decided to look at more realistic yet still creative ways to compose the sculpture. We were successful after many hours of redesigning and redrawing done by the project leader(Jordan) How did everyone come together to create? The creation and the ordering of the materials has mainly been carried out by myself(The project leader). In terms of creating and assembling I have also Been responsible for this along with my advisor on the project Ian Berril. This is due to the other members having other commitments away from the project for example FMP's. Myself and Ian Berril have been responsible for all of the practical work within the project. So the core element when getting everyone involved is delegating the creative process. which was hard to manage as we all had our own ideas on what the piece should look like. After discussion we were able to create a compromise that pleased everyone. Which is how we've gotten to this stage of now assembling it. What impact do you hope that the sculpture will have on visitors to the skate park? I think that the sculpture will serve as a reminder to the youths who frequent the skatepark. At least I hope it will, and to possibly ground the area and give a younger audience the opportunity to connect with the commemorations of the 1WW. As when you are young it can be hard to relate to such events and matters. I also hope it might bring more attention to the lovely skatepark and possibly widen their diversity in terms of age. As a whole I would like it to remind people of the service these women gave to our country because they deserve our respect. Any future collabs planned? Not at the moment. Currently as well as the project I am completing my FMP and preparing to go to Uni. So right now all I want to do is continue to learn and develop my abilities before I ever take on a another project like this again. Doing this has been an amazing experience and has taught me invaluable amounts of knowledge about sculpture, sourcing, manufacturing and problem solving as well as much more. I really appreciate that opportunity but I want to be much better prepared the next time i accept something like this again.

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ultrasfcb-blog · 6 years

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World Cup 2018: Why England should take Joe Hart to Russia

Everybody who says Joe Hart shouldn’t be adequate to go to this summer season’s World Cup is lacking the purpose – the West Ham goalkeeper shouldn’t be England’s finest primary any extra, however he’s our greatest quantity three.

Primarily based on how effectively he’s enjoying, after all Hart shouldn’t be on the airplane to Russia. Out of all of the common goalkeepers in Europe’s high 5 leagues, there are solely two with a worse shot-to-save ratio this season.

West Ham keeper Joe Hart has saved 53 of the 91 photographs on course he has confronted within the Premier League this season. Of the 125 goalkeepers to have confronted 20 or extra photographs in Europe’s high 5 leagues – England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany – solely two have a worse save % – Southampton’s Alex McCarthy with 56.6% and Alberto Brignoli of Italian facet Benevento with 56.3%

Burnley’s Nick Pope, who realistically is Hart’s most important rival for a spot within the squad, is on the different finish of that scale. Whereas Hart has had a largely depressing season and made a number of apparent errors, Pope has had a tremendous one and been inspirational for his workforce.

However kind shouldn’t be the issue that England supervisor Gareth Southgate shall be contemplating when he makes his resolution about who shall be back-up to Jordan Pickford and Jack Butland, regardless of the whole lot Pope has going for him.

Nick Pope has the second-best save proportion within the Premier League this season, behind Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea. He’s ranked fifth in that statistic in Europe’s large 5 leagues.

The function of a third-choice keeper at a significant match entails many issues, however they infrequently get on the pitch. Since 1934, solely 4 out of the 435 groups to compete at World Cup finals have used all three of their keepers – and the final workforce to do it had been Greece in 1994, after that they had been eradicated.

As a substitute of searching for somebody who may shine in the event that they get an opportunity, Southgate shall be searching for the appropriate character and somebody he can belief to help his team-mates and be a constructive affect on the entire squad.

That’s not enjoying down what the function entails, although. I’ve heard being the quantity three goalkeeper described as merely being a cheerleader however, having accomplished it at a significant finals myself, there’s a heck of much more to it than that.

Sure, you might be there to help the workforce, however you may be very influential whilst you do it. Don’t underestimate the job by pondering Hart would simply be going to Russia to assist out in capturing apply.

Hart’s kind irrelevant

Joe Hart watches as Peter Crouch pokes the ball house following a fumble from the England goalkeeper in West Ham’s draw with Stoke

It has been steered that Hart is enjoying his method out of Southgate’s plans for Russia with performances just like the one he put in against Stoke final week, when his fumble price West Ham a aim with the England supervisor watching on.

I do not assume that’s the case – nor does it matter that Hart can’t attempt to impress this weekend as a result of he’s ineligible to face Manchester Metropolis, his dad or mum membership.

The issues Southgate desires to see are extra to do with what he’ll get from Hart in a coaching camp with a tight-knit atmosphere, and he is aware of that already.

If he makes it, these shall be Hart’s fifth main finals and his third World Cup – he has been first selection in any respect of them aside from the 2010 World Cup, when he was third selection.

His expertise shall be invaluable to Pickford and Butland, who’ve performed at a number of age-group finals however have been to just one match at senior degree between them – in 2012, when John Ruddy’s damaged finger in coaching noticed Butland bumped up from the standby checklist.

Joe Hart has been in each squad Gareth Southgate has named as interim or everlasting England supervisor since he took cost in September 2016. Within the 16 video games that Southgate has been England supervisor, Hart has performed in 11 of them and the one aggressive recreation he has not featured in was the win over Lithuania in October 2017 simply after England had certified for the World Cup

I do know Southgate has proven himself to be a courageous supervisor who’s prepared to make modifications with a few of his choices, however that is barely totally different.

It comes all the way down to character, not capacity, and, regardless of calling Pope up into his final squad in March, Southgate can’t be certain of what he’s like when he’s away for 5 – 6 weeks – particularly in comparison with Hart.

On this scenario I might anticipate him to go together with what he is aware of.

Expertise can enhance the mix of the squad

If chosen, a lot of Hart’s work in Russia might come together with his fellow keepers on the coaching floor

The rating of first, second and third keeper in any squad is often clearly outlined, and they are going to be this time too. I believe Southgate will go for Pickford, Butland and Hart – in that order.

Not like any of the outfield gamers, the third-choice keeper doesn’t journey to any match anticipating to play, so Hart can have no illusions there.

He’ll concentrate on the dynamic that a group of keepers has at worldwide degree, and the half he has to play in it – which is to do the whole lot he can to help the primary and quantity two through the match.

Whereas the second selection is trying to excel in coaching and must be able to step in at nearly any time, together with throughout video games, the quantity three – or 23 when it comes to their ordinary shirt quantity – is often within the stand throughout matches.

Rachel Brown-Finnis gained 82 caps for England and went to 6 main tournaments. She was third selection at Euro 2001, second selection at Euro 2005, the 2011 World Cup and Euro 2013, and was England’s primary on the 2007 World Cup and Euro 2009

Hart can even be enjoying third fiddle to what the opposite two keepers want in coaching within the build-up to matches, however he’s nonetheless necessary due to his data – what he can counsel throughout these drills and likewise by providing some evaluation and suggestions earlier than and afterwards.

He would even be Pickford’s confidant, and his go-to particular person for data on eventualities that the younger Everton keeper has not been in earlier than.

Though it’s potential Pickford could not wish to search recommendation from Hart, it’s not even an possibility for him with Butland and Pope as the opposite keepers.

I additionally assume Hart would enhance the mix of the entire squad. One of many issues I like about Southgate is that he has given younger gamers and new faces an opportunity, however an skilled older participant can nonetheless deliver one thing to the combination if they’re nonetheless motivated.

I do not know him personally however I’m certain Hart’s angle is true. Southgate is aware of him effectively and he wouldn’t constantly decide him in any other case. Put all that collectively and he’s one of the best match to be the quantity three.

Who shall be England’s primary?

Joe Hart (second from left) has 75 England caps – the opposite three contenders have a complete of 9 between them. Jordan Pickford (far left) made his debut in opposition to Germany in November and gained his second cap in opposition to the Netherlands in March. He’s but to concede a aim for the senior England workforce

I’m an enormous fan of Pope, and put him on my shortlist for the participant of the season due to the influence he has had in his first marketing campaign within the Burnley workforce.

Whereas kind shouldn’t be necessary for the third-choice keeper, you could possibly undoubtedly argue that it ought to resolve who’s England’s primary.

On that foundation, Pope who can be first selection, not fourth. He has performed effectively constantly for the previous few months too, not only recently.

England goalkeepers 2017-18 Video games Clear sheets Targets conceded Photographs on course confronted Saves Save % Errors resulting in targets Jack Butland 32 5 58 189 133 69.31 1 Joe Hart 19 4 39 91 53 57.14 4 Jordan Pickford 35 9 54 167 114 67.66 0 Nick Pope 32 10 28 134 106 79.1 0

However it seems goalkeeper distribution is one thing that issues rather a lot to Southgate too, due to the best way he desires England to play.

That appears to provide Pickford the sting, as a result of he’s wonderful at it, and I might agree with that selection based mostly on the identical standards that Southgate is utilizing.

We don’t see Butland play out from the again fairly often for Stoke, or Pope for Burnley. Hart has by no means actually regarded comfy doing it, which is without doubt one of the causes his profession has stalled.

Pickford’s ability with his feet is his large energy over the opposite keepers however he’s additionally extraordinarily assured, which makes me assume he’s prepared for this stage. He doesn’t make many errors however I do not assume an error would faze him, which is essential.

When Pickford joined Everton for £30m in June 2017, his supervisor throughout a mortgage spell at Preston, Simon Grayson, stated: “He’s vocal and he’s a winner. He loves the strain of being one of the best he can. He shall be trying on the England scenario in the mean time and pondering the following port of name is to be England’s primary. We felt he might have performed outfield with the standard of his ft.”

You possibly can argue a case for every of the keepers I’ve talked about, although.

It’s uncommon that England haven’t got a longtime primary at this late stage earlier than a World Cup, however I do not see it as an issue – it’s an thrilling time.

Hart didn’t actually have any type of regular competitors through the years he was primary, so it’s refreshing for Pickford and Pope to emerge now in addition to seeing Butland keep constantly match.

That has coincided with Hart’s dip in kind to supply the scenario we’re in. Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a must panic.

We’re not certain who will take the place long run, however we now have some wonderful goalkeepers to select from.

Rachel Brown-Finnis was chatting with BBC Sport’s Chris Bevan.

BBC Sport – Football ultras_FC_Barcelona

ultras FC Barcelona - https://ultrasfcb.com/football/2915/

#Barcelona

#Football

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elidecarteretfutureworks-blog · 7 years

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XB2178 Game Specialism: Document & Negotiated Artifact 1

STAGE 1: Planning (Research and Constructing an Intent)

Introduction questions

The process for the planning stage began by answering some introduction questions to try and gain an idea on what area of game design I was best suited to. The questions with their answers were put into a blog post which can be seen below.

https://elidecarteretfutureworks.tumblr.com/post/165399290103/xb2178-games-specialism

In this blog post, I begin to look into which area of game design I feel I would be most suited in. Answering these questions gave me more of an idea into what my first project should consist of and possibly what the second follow up assignment could be.

Initial research

I decided that the 2 areas which I wanted to focus on were Narrative design and Level design, as explained in my project plan later on. The first thing which I did after having this information was to do some initial research into narrative and level design. This can be seen in the blog post below.

https://elidecarteretfutureworks.tumblr.com/post/165431863438/xb2178-games-specialism-assignment-1-initial

In this blog post, I conduct some initial research into the 2 chosen areas I want to do projects in, these being Narrative and Level design. This blog post helped structure the project plan and research document, especially looking at pre-existing job role requirements and listings.

Project plan

Once I had conducted some initial research and decided that my first project was going to be narrative design, with my second being level design, I began my project planning. The reason for this was that it works logically to write the narrative, then to create levels based around that narrative.

https://elidecarteretfutureworks.tumblr.com/post/165695561098/xb2178-games-specialism-project-plan

This blog post contained more information which was placed into the project plan section of my research document. This was the foundation into what my first project was going to be.

Project plan and research document

Once I had done my project plan, I began on the research document. This gave me more of an insight into the workflow I needed to conduct, as well as what type of narrative I wanted to create. This blog post can be seen below.

https://elidecarteretfutureworks.tumblr.com/post/166211762738/xb2178-games-specialism-project-plan-and-research

This blog post was my final handed in research document and project plan. Within it, I covered topics such as what the project was going to be and consist of, resources, research and context involved with the project, existing job listings to look through for research and to see if my project is in line with what companies are searching for, researching existing games and techniques and finally creating a mood board along with initial ideas to gain a better idea/ understanding of what I wanted to achieve.

It was at this time that I created a project planner to follow too.

Narrative choices structure (Story idea generation)

After I had created my research document and project plan, I began to create the actual narrative ideas for my story in the first week of the plan.

https://elidecarteretfutureworks.tumblr.com/post/166214238048/xb2178-games-specialism-narrative-choices

Although this blog post was quite scarce in it’s content, it was an important step into creating the narrative. This was the framework which helped me begin creating content for the narrative. I decided I wanted to create a narrative in a ‘Choose your own adventure’ style, with the player living their life through college, whilst at the same trying to balance work, relationships and college work, along with other struggles and situations people of that age have to deal with. These sub headings allowed me to gain a clearer understanding of what I wanted to write about and allowed me to create situations and scenarios quicker.

Each heading is split into different sub headings, which helped me to create scenarios for the player to have to deal with as they travel through the narrative. In the first week I kept to my plan of creating some of the decision ideas, endings and character ideas, researched elements which were placed into my research document and updated my Tumblr blog (see above). I only did a little bit of concept art for the characters, as I felt the scenarios and story structure was the most important elements to focus on at this time. The concept art I did create were quick sketches of the characters Elsa, Matthew, Stephen and Paul, as these are the main characters in the game other than the main character, but as this is the player, no concept art can be drawn for them.

Events timeline (Story event ordering)

In the second and third weeks I had created a lot of scenarios and ideas for the narrative plot points. I then took the sub headings from the blog post above and expanded on each point again and again until I had the makings of a story. Originally, these headings were in their own categories, with each relating scenarios placed one after the other in order, i.e. go to school for lesson 1, do homework from lesson 1, go to school for lesson 2 etc. I felt that if the player went through all of one category before entering another, i.e. going through all of school before going through all of work, the player would get a bit bored of the location and not wan to play for as long, which would impact the decisions which they made as they did not care about the character, even though it is themselves within a text space. Therefore, I mixed the sections together so the player would transition from one location to another. This also made the narrative seem more realistic, i.e. walking from school to work before heading home to do some homework. This was very challenging however, as it was not easy to have an order which flowed well just having headings.

As you can tell by the number of events in the blog posts (above), they were slowly condensed down so I did not have as many to have to mix in. If I had put all of them in, the narrative would have taken a lot longer than 6 weeks to have completed. When mixing the sections, I just had keywords which I was trying to mix together, i.e. Work - Customers- awkward customers. Having all these subheadings made the task look a lot bigger than it turned out to be, so to help me, I wrote each subheading onto a piece of paper and placed them onto the floor. I then started moving them about into a new order and eventually had the order which I placed into a word document.

This allowed the narrative to flow better and created a more realistic story. This also allows players to see different characters and not find the narrative tedious, as the location and scenery is being changed, causing the player to have to think more logically and sacrifice certain branching narrative paths for others, i.e choosing to go out with friends or do your homework, as these are the sort of situations people deal with in everyday life, therefore making the narrative more believable and less tied down to one place.

https://elidecarteretfutureworks.tumblr.com/post/166958485473/xb2178-games-specialism-event-timeline

By week 3 I had a number of the detailed scenarios laid out in order, ready to be implemented into Twine, with branching paths and consequences for the actions placed in further down the line. I asked the tutor about what to do with drawing scenario art which I had written in my plan, as I wanted to focus more on the narrative than drawing aspects and he told me that placeholder art was acceptable over spending time which could be put to use writing an intriguing narrative spent. I also decided that I did not need to have an inventory system in my game, as the only item the player would need to pick up would be a key for one second, which would be checked using an ‘if’ statement. I did not need to do much more research other than for Twine functions, which I found out how to do with some quick researching online.

Research functions: How to make text italic and bold: https://twinery.org/wiki/twine2:how_to_format_text

Text in italics in this story show that they are not being said by people in the game, but by outside sources, such as TVs and radios. This is commonly placed in italics or a different coloured text to make sure the players know who it is who is saying it. Using the default method to communicate this allows players to not get bogged down with trying to figure out who is talking and allows them to focus more on the narrative. An example of a game which does this in a sense is ‘Life is Strange’, which uses subtitles to show when Max is thinking rather than talking.

Research functions: How to use if, else statements: https://twinery.org/wiki/if

The text above shows that if the player selected Elsa to be their friend in an earlier passage rather than Matthew (done using <<set>> variables which are true or false: below), that the game will <<print>> the word Elsa (seen in green) onto the screen, otherwise, if the <<set>> is false and the player did not choose Elsa to be their friend, the <<else>> statement will kick in and the word ‘Matthew’ will be printed onto the screen instead.

Research functions: More complex ‘if’ statements (Changing text based on decisions).

The image above is created using the same code as the previous <<if>> statement, except it states that if you have said hello to your manager when you walked into work, shown with the variable $sayhello which is set to true, it will print a different passage of text than if the player did not say hello, which is symbolised by the <<else>> function.

Research functions: How to put text input into the game (used for names and locations): https://twinery.org/wiki/textinput, this feature also uses <<remember>> functions, which just makes the game remember what has been put into the text box (seen at the bottom of the passage below).

The image above will allow players to set their name to whatever they wish along with their location. Once saved, the game will remember what they have typed into the box and will set that as their name throughout the game using the <<print> function.

Research functions: How to print the text: https://twinery.org/wiki/print

The function above shows how to print the player’s name after they have typed it in. This piece of code is placed anywhere where the players name needs to pop up and the name placed into the text input box (above) will appear instead of this code.

By this point, the planning was done and the story was ready to be crossed over into Twine. Unfortunately I did no have enough time a this point to do any character drawing. If I was just doing this one project and had more time, I would definitely draw them by hand, but as I have been working on 4 projects at the same time for the different modules, this task did not seem as important for the role of narrative designer. My aim was that if I had any time at the end, I would create some character drawings then.

Reading though the handbook: Plan

Identification of Project

My aims for the project were placed in my project plan, with my intended actions and outcomes being placed in my planner. Using the planner and research document, by the end of the planning stage I had:

‘Identified a specific agreed personal project related to their main programme of study’.: Which I had, agreeing on creating a Twine story with John (module tutor) which is the perfect way to create a narrative game for my chosen narrative design area.

Stated clear aims, necessary actions and intended outcomes for the successful realization of the project, including describing what new skills and knowledge will be acquired.: Which I had between my project planner and research document.

Prepared a project plan, identifying a schedule of dates and deadlines: Which can be seen above.

Creating the project (Artistic Output (Negotiated Artefact))

The creation of the Twine story really started to begin in weeks 4 through 6.

With all the planning done and the story scenarios created to a fairly detailed standard, I began to place the subheadings into Twine, along with the subheadings of the consequences just after. This was where I needed to be for week 4. Again, I still had not had time to create the character design drawings which I could place into Twine and realised that the narrative was the most important factor over artwork, with the artwork going in at the end if I had time. As of this point, there was not much to place into Tumblr, as the passages just consisted of the structure of the story, just containing the headings of the passages so I knew what they were going to be referring to.

By the end of week 4, I realised that I had not given myself enough time to place all of the storyline into Twine, especially with other deadlines being placed around this time, which took more of my time than I expected them to. I also feel that I had created a too broad story, with quite a lot of scenarios placed into it. For this reason, I decided to cut some sections out of the story and leave the artwork until the end.

Notes in the passages

Once all the passages were in Twine, I went through them and began writing notes in each one in line with the event timeline I created. This allowed me to just be able to edit the notes to create the final narrative in each passage, as rather than starting each passage from a blank box, I had notes on what I needed to write, which allowed me to keep narrative focus and not go off track.

Writing the narrative

From here, I wrote the narrative using these notes and linked the passages up. Whilst doing this, I edited sections of work to make for a better story, taking out elements I found boring, repetitive, didn’t lead anywhere or were too long and drawn out. An example of this is a scenario where players have to ‘choose between going out with their girlfriend or going to work’. The reason this was removed was that in the next scenario, the player goes to work to have a moral option of stealing for their friend, with the passage previous being the player with their girlfriend, which would cause the player to be in the same location for 2 different scenarios back to back. I attempted to create diverse and unique characters in my narrative, with scenarios which players had to think about rather than just clicking options and not facing any consequences. As most of the heavy work was conducted through the planning, the actual writing of the narrative was made a lot easier, which was the plan initially and why I set aside 3 weeks to conduct this planning.

I feel that I refined the game with my own feedback, before letting a couple of family members and close friends test a section of the game and have a look at the event timeline. Improvements included ’taking out one of the classroom sections’, as I had 4 over the timeline of the narrative, which was felt to be too much, ‘taking out one of the endings’, being where the player is given the option to take drugs and drive, which results in him running people over, as this was seen as too grim and not a conclusive ending and ‘setting the teacher to be the same for all the classes instead of having different teachers’, as this allowed for character progression more than having different teachers which the player only meets once. By week 5, the game was still being created for the same reasoning as before; other projects deadlines taking priority. By week 6, the narrative was completed to a standard I was happy with, however, I decided that as I had more time, I would continue developing the narrative rather than adding in artwork, as I had another 2 weeks after the initial 6 weeks to get the project finished up.

Reading though the handbook: Realisation of the Project.

Reading through the handbook, by the end of this stage I should have:

Developed a body of work or series of actions that clearly fulfil the requirements of the project as specified in Stage 1: Which I feel that I have done as other than the situational artwork which I wrote that I was going to draw and place into Twine, I have followed the plan exactly how I had written it and have created a narrative in Twine, which is what I set out to create.

Developed the necessary new skills and knowledge outlined in stage 1: Although I already had quite a few skills and knowledge in Twine, I feel that I managed to learn a lot in the way of the coding side of it and learning more about the software, as in the first year, I created the branching narrative using actual branches, which ended up huge and took forever, whereas after learning about ‘if’, ‘else’, ‘text input’ and other functions using variables, I feel the project saved a lot of time than if I was attempting to complete the task just using branches.

The student will also be expected to keep a record of their progress during the project: Between the blog posts which I created along the way and this blog post now, I feel that I have kept a detailed record of the progress which can be followed by anybody.

Reflection (Analysis and conclusion)

In week 7 we had to present our projects to the other members of the class. I created a presentation, which can be seen below.

Presentation

Slide 1: Cover art

This is placeholder art for my Choose your own Adventure game Paths. This will be a similar style to how I would want the title menu screen to be. *Note*: the name has now been changed to just PATHS, as the location has been changed to a college over a high school.

Slide 2: Chosen specialism

My chosen specialism is Narrative Design for the first project, then level design for the second.

The project is going to focus on story writing and narrative design.

This is a choose your own adventure style game created in Twine with a majority of the decisions impacting the story in some way to keep the player interested and involved.

I chose to cover narrative design and level design because they are the 2 areas which I enjoy the most and I have a fair bit of experience in both areas from previous projects.

I thoughly enjoy creating interesting and emotionally impacting stories, as well as strong, dynamic characters who have a lot of depth to them, creating worlds and levels for them to live in.

I decided to create the narrative section in Twine as it allows the story to flow in an organised and creative manner, as well as allowing players to interact and change the story through branching paths.

Goal: As many decisions to be meaningful as possible, making the players have to think about which direction to take their character and see the consequences which their actions have over a player play through 10 hours of game play to launch one of 2 cut scenes for the ending such as in Life is Strange.

Slide 3: Planning and research

Choices in Life is Strange influenced the branching narratives.

Beyond 2 Souls mixes scenery so the player is not in the exact same location for the entire game.

Researched Twine more to find ways to complete certain tasks and refresh how to use it.

Using college game idea as the basis for this game.

Slide 4: What did you do? Process.

In college created the idea for a game in which you play through someone’s life, combatting different situations along the way, such as being a child fighting the monsters from under your bed, using knowledge gathered from your parents, with a teddy bear army.

Began by writing initial ideas down for the college section.

Broke those ideas down into different sections, such as work, school, relationships, extra- curricular, illnesses, characters, friends and family.

Then split those into more sub sections, such as mistakes, problems with colleagues, customers, sackings, bosses, stealing from work, mental health associated, being late, picking up shifts etc.

Split those down into scenarios and situations which could arise from those sections.

Put those into an event order with consequences in a word document.

Placed the events order into Twine along with consequences.

Developed each part of the story.

Working on art for the story now however, this section would belong to an artist rather than the narrative designer, meaning that placeholder art works well as it shows what I would like the players to see without taking too much time away from the narrative design.

Slide 5: Story breakdown/ timeline/ key events and themes

Friendship: Which friend did you choose from the ones spoken to

Bravery: Did you stand up for the person who was being bullied

Trust: Who did you tell about the bullying

Team player: Did you tell the boss about the fighting of colleagues leading to their sacking?

Companionship: Did you manage to get and keep a partner

Stealing: Did you steal for your friend?

Cheating: Did you cheat on the final test?

Knowledge: What was your final score on the test?

Pressure: Did you take the drugs after the test was over?

Slide 6: Self-evaluation

How do you think it went?

I think it went fairly well as I managed to create a quite dense branching narrative in Twine in a short space of time, featuring a number of meaningful decisions for players to negotiate around and aspects of the story which run though the game both short term and long term, allowing early decisions to impact the endings.

Successes

Created a choose your own adventure game which can be on own or part of the previous concept created.

Mixed a number of themes together to create an event timeline which is more realistic than if it was just one part, i.e. finishing school before going to work.

Having to make meaningful decisions which have consequences for the player.

Having to sacrifice certain aspects of the story in order to see others.

Failures

I did not create any story treatments prior to creating the story, however, the plan began to cover the game and the narrative game was created in a structured and sensible manner.

Did not enjoy the project as much as I thought I would do.

Areas wish to improve on

Character descriptions prior to creating the narrative should be more detailed, this could be done through the story treatments.

Would like to create more art for the scenarios, however, this is still being created for the deadline in 3 weeks.

How does it fit with real world job listings?

Was able to create an outline to the narrative, along with an event timeline which was followed when moving the narrative from bullet points in a word document to a narrative choose your own adventure game in Twine. The character descriptions appear in the game, consistent characters with motivations, dramatic arcs and meaningful story content.

Edit own scripts

Craft compelling, immersive and interactive stories

Understanding of how to use narrative events and game design to impact characters in ways that encourage player investment.

Write in different voices.

Slide 7: Second project ideas

Create memorable levels.

Understand the role of narrative.

Drive the vision of levels from start to finish.

Hone skills based on feedback.

Successful completion of this module a student will be able to:

1. Work independently: I feel that I have worked independently, as the only time I had anyone else’s input into this project was when I was testing it, which in the end made it into a better narrative.

2. Be able to identify a project plan, including aims, actions and outcome. I feel that I have managed to accomplish this, as I have a detailed project plan and research document which covers all these bases.

3. Use time management, planning, organisational, and communication skills: With this being a narrative project, I have definitely used communication skills in order to get across the narrative I wanted to. I feel that my planning could have been a little better in regarding other deadlines however.

5. To identify a specific personal project complementary to a main programme of study: I feel I managed to do this as I agreed with John (tutor) that the first project was going to consist of the narrative used in the second project, leading from narrative design nicely into level design.

List of project deliverables:

- Any planning work related to story ideas (most likely uploaded to Tumblr): This blog covers this section along with my project plan and research document.

- Twine file of all branching paths and finished game (Ready to be handed in)

- Research blogs on Tumblr (This blog)

- List of refines and notes from playtesting sessions (Some placed on this blog but also in the event layout).

- Research document

- Project Planner

- Presentation

- Concept art of 4 of the characters

Items not included which were supposed to be:

- Concept art of scenario images.

- Actual art files which have been placed into Twine.

These 2 have been explained above as to why they are not available.

Handbook: Project Analysis and conclusion

On conclusion of this stage the student will have:

Made a thorough analysis of the actions and outcomes developed in the previous stage and produced an evaluative conclusion (in written, verbal, visual or digital form – format to be agreed with module tutor), that summarises the project and outlines the success of the project in fulfilling the original intentions established in the first stage.

I feel that the project went fairly well, as I managed to create a quite dense branching narrative in Twine in a short space of time, featuring a number of meaningful decisions for players to negotiate around and aspects of the story which run though the game both short term and long term, allowing early decisions to impact the endings.

I feel that I created a choose your own adventure game which would work on its own or part of the previous concept created and outlined in the presentation. I also managed to mixed a number of themes together to create an event timeline which is more realistic than if it was just one part, i.e. finishing school before going to work, allowing the players to get more invested into the narrative. I also feel that I created meaningful decisions which have consequences for the player, which caused the players to have to think about each decision logically and carefully, as they would not know what the consequences to the actions are, for example, choosing one option can sacrifice another aspect of the story.

I feel that I managed to successfully learn new skills in Twine too, using the different functions and variables effectively and in a comprehensive manner, which allowed the narrative to open up different passages and change certain aspects for the players. Even though I did not fully enjoy this project, I am glad that I completed it, as I have learned now that my main area of interest is level design over narrative storytelling. I did enjoy sections of this project, meaning that I would most likely enjoy writing narratives as a level designer, however, I would not want to create the majority bulk of the narrative in games and be more on the practical side of the game design.

Unfortunately, due to other deadlines taking priority and lack of motivation to grind the project out due to lack of enjoyment, I did not create any story treatments prior to creating the story, however, the plan began to cover the game and the narrative game was created in a structured and sensible manner.

Upon doing this task again, I feel that I would prefer to create a shorter narrative, as I feel I gave myself too much to do around other commitments. I also feel that I would want to create more character descriptions and art prior to creating the narrative, which should be fairly detailed. One way this could be done is through the story treatments. I would also have liked to have created art for the scenarios, however, due to the length of the project, this would not have been created for the deadline and the narrative would have suffered.

In the end I feel I was able to create an outline to the narrative, along with an event timeline which was followed when moving the narrative from bullet points in a word document to a narrative choose your own adventure game in Twine. The character descriptions appear in the game, consistent characters with motivations, dramatic arcs and meaningful story content. I was also able to edit my own scripts as stated above, through both my own feedback and the feedback of others. I feel that I have crafted a compelling, immersive and interactive story, as the players need to think about each decision rather than just clicking through walls of text without putting in any input.

I feel that I have an understanding of how to use narrative events and game design to impact characters in ways that encourage player investment, as I feel the characters are mostly believable, they are characters which people could relate to and empathise with, this was done through write in different voices.

In the end, I feel that if I had more time, I could have added a lot more elements into this project to make it better, however, with the time I had, I feel that I have done a fairly good job. Finally, I don’t feel that this is what I would like to do for my specialism and would like to go into a more level designer role, based on how the second project goes. One reason I am happy to have done this project, is that I can now focus solely on the level design, as the narrative is already complete, which I feel will be the more enjoyable task.

#XB2178 #FWXB2178 #FWXB2178 Assignment 1 #FWXB2178 Game Specialism