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lochnessies · 3 years

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@cockati3l the church isn’t ruling people from behind the scenes. even the devs confirmed that. the church in adrestia doesn’t exist, the church in the alliance is ‘toothless’ and nobody pays attention to them as said by lorenz, and the western church is in open rebellion against the central. also, when does the church control anybody in the game? nobody is forced to follow them and they even take on nonbelievers as staff.

once again, what corruption are you talking about? it can’t be what edelgard mentions in her speech because that’s been proven false.

it can’t be killing the western priests because they attempted assassination more than once, grave robbed, and attempted to kill students. not to mention are racist af

it can’t be changing history a little because in your own words “what the fuck so u want her to do?” humans killed her race when they found out the amount of power stored in their bones, blood, and hearts. at that time in fodlan’s history clans were fighting for power with the relics of her family and she had to find a way to broker peace as said by intsys: “seiros and co. meddled with history not in order to rule over humans, but to quell the flames of war and chaos as much as possible, and to also keep a steady balance about humanity.”

also yes, rhea was about to step down. she says so herself. even calling herself a “mere proxy” for byleth.

tell me how claude piggybacked off of edelgard’s war to further his own aims? the game tells and shows that he’s spending his time trying to just keep the alliance together.

she’s literally called the hegemon. there is no freedom under her rule. she centralizes all power onto herself and makes herself the supreme ruler. what she says goes and in order to achieve that result she murdered, lied, and stole.

she literally said “i have no regrets.” why? because she doesn’t. she may feel kinda bad about all the dying but obviously not enough to stop what she’s doing and find another path.

also her words about the followers of seiros are far from kind. she calls them “mindless” multiple times (even in her s-support). the faithful are forced to flee from her. people even lose contact with the believers in the empire, and it’s not even allowed to be one in the first place. not to mention in hanneman/manuela’s ending the church can come back but only under the empire’s supervision. so we have a state controlled church. look at all the freedom!

when does dimitri leave crestless people to get fucked? he literally talks at length that he believes that people with crests and people without need to work together and recognize each other’s strengths.

also the church isn’t the one behind the “crest system” (if you can even call it that since the way each house interacts with it is so different). crests/clans became noble houses because of their strength (aka the empire’s meritocracy in the beginning) and the strong aka crest bearers rose to the top bc in the 91 years it took to kill nemesis his elites had already started their own bloodlines and families. the nintendo interview says that rhea lied about the origin of the crests and relics bc she wanted the wars to end and the only way to have gotten rid of the crests humans had would be to genocide them.

with nemesis gone and the adrestian empire now in charge of the continent, a meritocracy started to form among the nobility. hanneman in his support with dorothea says this about the founding of the empire: “consider this. at its inception, the concept of nobility assumed that the greatest among the populace would rise to power. in my mind, i believe that those who value knowledge, those who strive for more, and wish to protect and guide their fellow man. however, in practice, nobility often serves to keep those deemed commoners down, segregated from those who, by chance, were born to a noble family.” this is also paired with ferdiand’s support with edelgard: “certainly, we must recognize the common folk who strive for greatness and attain it. but for those of us born into nobility, things are more complicated. from birth, nobles must excel. if we do not, we will be forced out of our houses. this environment breeds superior individuals, and they, in turn, recreate the rigorous environment for their own children. without that cycle, there would be no political elite guiding the world towards prosperity.” so from these supports we learn that the empire was founded on the idea of the strongest shall rule and they would be replaced if they didn’t reach a standard. however, over time, the nobility started to abuse this power of theirs and the idea of meritocracy was forgotten. which, ironically, is how it always works in the real world as well. that’s where the concept of nobles often bearing crests comes from. it’s comes from the empire not the church. and when faerghus and the alliance break off from it they kept the tradition. also, if you talk to rhea in verdant wind when she talks about zanado you can tell she hates crests. at the very least she hates the fact that humans have them due to how they were acquired. you know, through genocide. it’s also in the book of seiros that the reason the goddess left was because people were abusing crests and it saddened her and she went back to the blue sea star. so no, the church isn’t propagating anything. and they can’t force the noble houses to adhere to their religion so they don’t.

i’m not sure what you mean by “squander any rebellion”. i think you mean squash/stamp out? well the only rebellion we see in the game is from the western church and as i said previously, the priests were punished because they attempted assassination more than once, grave robbed, and attempted to kill students. not to mention are racist af. the church wasn’t the aggressor and only stopped the rebellions because they were dangerous and were also attacking innocent people. however, we do know that in crimson flower there are rebellions under edelgard’s rule and they are put down as well by the empire secret police aka hubert.

the devs also mention that azure moon was written to be a counter to crimson flower. and that is the route where dimitri has to learn to rely on his friends and work together with his people in order to usher in a bright future. in crimson flower edelgard berates people who lean on anybody else for support (all while taking some from byleth) and believes humans need to stand on their own two feet. in azure moon she says: “if after all of this you believe the weak will still be weak, that is only because they are too used to relying on others instead of on themselves.” to which dimitri responds: “yes. perhaps someone as strong as you are can claim something like that. but you cannot force that belief onto others. people aren't as strong as you think they are. there are those who cannot live without their faith... and those who cannot go on once they have lost their reason for living. you path will not be able to save them. it is the path of the strong, and so, it could only benefit the strong.” so yes, there is someone who represents human unity in the game: dimitri.

edelgard doesn’t make fodlan better. she’s the game’s hegemon (called this in three routes). there are rebellions under her. her people are starving (ashe says on cf), she attacked two nations she had no rights to, and defamed an entire race/religion.

crimson flower ends in flames and darkness. this is made VERY clear by the ending mural. unlike the others, which all show a very joyful scene; am has dimitri being loved by the people with archbishop byleth at his side, ss has byleth being held up in the crowd of people as it talks about how they are now the arbiter of every soul and mother of all life (which are the exact words used to describe sothis), and vw has claude talking with the people and the almyrans are visiting; which infers peace between the two nations. however in cf, we have edelgard standing on the flags of the nations she has conquered. she holds a napoleonic staff in her hands, and the mural portrays people with their heads bowed in obvious sadness and defeat. the biggest indicator that this is not an ending to be celebrated, but rather lamented, is the border. In all the other endings, the border is white and is accented by the color of the route. in cf you can see that the border is black. black and red: colors synonymous with evil or darkness. the epilogue also mentions rebellions against her rule that she has put down.

edelgard’s role in the story is that of nemesis 2.0. someone that is manipulated by twsitd and is fed false information to lead her to finish what nemesis started over a thousand years ago - the extinction of the nabatean race.

another massive red flag is what the devs have said about crimson flower being the supreme ruler route. “edelgard in "crimson fower", or rather known as the, "supreme ruler (hegemon) route" is something we honestly meant to be much more difficult to enter.” (they were talking about why it is harder to enter cf than ss). let’s focus on the word ‘hegemon’. the direct definition is ‘a supreme ruler.’ in another interview they mention the ‘hegemon’s path’ which is a chinese philosophy that goes along with the mandate of heaven that the devs have said that they based cf off of. there is a rule of the mandate of heaven: the right to rule is only granted if the ruler cares about his people more than he cares about himself, and if this is not the case, then the people rise up to overthrow the tyrant. we know for a fact that edelgard is this ‘tyrant/hegemon’ because she is called this in the game.

the devs have also said: “due to all the previous titles in the series, the thought/impression that the empire = antagonists is left upon the playerbase. when you think about the "empire", you usually get some sort of "bad/evil" image, i think. and as for the story, it really feels like it started from the romance of three kingdoms, but we force them all to take part in school life. In other words, a period in which there was peace must exist, before starting the fires of war. and because of that, someone evil (villain) has to exist, and so we had the empire bear that burden.” this interview also blew the common argument pro-empire fans had of fodlan not being at peace at the start of the game. they said themselves that the three countries were at peace. even the game states at the start that ‘these three ruling powers now exist in relative harmony.’

also even if other characters did some things wrong that doesn’t suddenly let her off the hook for her actions just like her’s don’t nullify theirs. if she wanted to peacefully change how things worked in her nation then fine. i don’t care. however, she invaded two other independent nations in order to change their systems and put them under her control. that isn’t morally gray no matter how you spin it. it’s tyrannical.

actually it was humans as a whole who fucked up the earth first. the agarthans are a race of humans that have been around for over a thousand years at the start of the game. when the goddess sothis came down from her home on the blue sea star she arrived in fodlan and took on a form that resembled humanity and lived among them. she used her blood to birth a race of children called nabateans. in the beginning, these two nations lived in harmony.

sothis and her children helped the humans advance their technology and weapons over time until the humans’ hubris grew to the point that they began to wage war on each other and eventually the goddess herself - the one who gave them the technology to do so. as confirmed by seteth, (who was there during that time) some of the weapons they used in the war are also seen in the game, such as the missile of light that destroys fort merceus. so basically, it was a ye olde nuclear war that almost completely destroyed the land and the humans. during this, a faction of humans left the surface to live below ground. they built a city called shambala and officially became known as agarthans. back on the surface, sothis used her godly power to try and heal the earth. however, due to the incredible damage done by the weapons, so much of her power was used that she fell into a deep sleep to try and recover. so no, sothis didn’t fuck shit up. it was the arrogant humans that took her kindness and decided they wanted to try and kill each other with it.

yes, dimitri and claude do have the rest of fodlan under their command at the end of the day. however, they way they achieved this was nothing like edelgard’s. they had no intentions of starting a war to unite the three under their rule. dimitri was given the alliance (the round table came to an agreement and willingly became part of faerghus) and when he kills edelgard the empire is now, by default his whether he likes it or not. same with claude. he defeats the empire which by that point had taken the kingdom. both are now without leadership and he doesn’t even stay. he fucks off to almyra. edelgard on the other hand started the war to put all of fodland back under her rule. it’s not comparable.

#i had to use tiny text to try and make this smaller lmao #mine

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repentantsky · 3 years

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6 Unpopular Gaming Opinions

I have a lot of unpopular opinions, and if you follow me on twitter, you might have seen a few recently. However, a simple tweet here and there hardly covers my opinions in gaming that might not sit well with people in this space. I know a lot of people get mad over differing opinions these days, but I have more unpopular than popular opinions, and I think I’d like to talk about a few.

6. If you’re mad about Pokemon games, you’re wrong

Yeah, I’m getting into it right away, and again if you follow me on twitter, you might have seen this once or twice recently, but getting mad about Pokemon to me, always seems foolish. Pokemon as a series has always been what we call a double A experience. Not quite an indie, but clearly not a AAA experience either. In other words, Pokemon is simple, and the crazy amount of Dexit hate, and other controversies about Sword and Shield, the most recent releases in the series are in my eyes, just plain stupid. It’d be one thing to be mad about something not being done if developers were in a similar situation as say, CDPR devs, but to our knowledge that’s not the case. Pokemon, fun as it is, isn’t that serious.

5. Western RPG’s are inferior to JRPG’s by default

There’s a simple reason for this. Games made with the western audience in mind, tend to have the same major flaw that a majority of western games do, they don’t explore the emotions of their male characters, espeically if the lead in a male character, half as well as Japanese RPG’s do. On the one hand, I get it, people still talk about FFXIII like the characters are bad, despite their “major flaws” in many people’s view in the west, simply being that they express their emotions openly. It’s a major problem in Western RPG’s though that the main character if male doesn’t show emotions, and that male characters that do, are seen as weak in the games themselves. This leaves female roles to carry all the emotional weight, which in turn pushes the male power fantasy too far in my opinion, and leaves the main characters boring. Many a western gaming fan would pick Geralt of Rivia as one of the best characters ever made, and while he does occasionally get to show some emotion, my pick would easily be more along the lines of Sora from Kingdom Hearts, or Rean Schwarzar from Trails of Cold Steel, because their emotions makes them more relatable and endearing.

4. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is better than Breath of the Wild

I’m of the opinion as it is, that Breath of the Wild is an overrated game. The climbing mechanics are frustrating, breaking weapons is annoying, and for all the world building and lore that Zelda has as a series, the story is a mess and can easily be told out of order. While Age of Calamity does tell an arguably less emotional story as characters fates are altered from Breath of the Wild, it also tells a more engaging one and characters being on screen longer than they were in the Breath of the Wild, also gives them more time to develop, and be characters we should care about. The Warriors format itself is pretty enjoyable as is, but combined with a story I was more invested in, characters I got to know better than Breath of the Wild ever tried to make them known, and just an overall superior representation of this version of Hyrule, it was simply just a better experience. I can only hope Breath of the Wild 2, ends up having that much story and that much fun gameplay to offer.

3. The Grand Theft Auto series, is kind of garbage

Now I’m really digging deep. The question is whether or not I’m just going off the rails, or digging my own grave. But seriously, these games are boring. The idea was novel at first when we finally San Andreas, be the bad guy, do whatever you want, all that. Sounds good, and it was kind of fun, but the problem is, GTA hasn’t really ever evolved past that. Sure it starts to look better, but the characters in it are stupid, annoying, and bland, games like GTA V don’t know when to end their main campaign, the series never really took the time to develop the few interesting characters it does have, like Franklin, because they just have to fall into the narrative of crime is good, and it’s just not a fun series because the controls aren’t great. You could do worse, sure, but you can also do better, and it doesn’t feel like Rockstar really wants to try. I’m sorry but the GTA games, are just boring and uninteresting after their novelty wears off.

2. Final Fantasy VII is just, okay, the remake is also pretty mid

To me personally, Final Fantasy VII is one of those games that really survives on nostalgia, and little else besides. Like, it’s a fine game, passable in the world of Final Fantasy as a whole, but some of it’s plots are not well handled or don’t seem to go anywhere, the ending kind of makes everything you do past a certain point completely moot, and Cloud’s pride is the cause potentially thousands of dead people because he didn’t back away when he knew he should have. Sadly, the remake doesn’t do much better. While it does give more detail to the story, and takes better care to make it make sense, it also is still pretty much the same story, and that’s boring to me. I’ve played this game, I know how it ends, (though possibly not in the remake) it just doesn’t grab me like it seems to have done for so many people. Even saying that, I still like the game a lot, because it’s Final Fantasy, and the series will always mean a lot to me, even the worst of it, but Final Fantasy VII, for me, is just okay, and the remake telling pretty much the same story again, doesn’t endear it to me.

1. The Last of us Part II, is fantastic

Yeah, something a little more recent to spice up this wild list, why not. The Last of Us Part II, is simply a fantastic game, with a well told story, fantastic characters, and great pacing. It doesn’t shy away from problems in our current society like sexual identity, it’s open to the fact that people are different than each other in ways that many people aren’t comfortable with, and it does it’s part to make open-minded people uncomfortable, by having them play as the woman that killed Joel. A lot of people who hate this game, seemingly can’t get past the fact that it does these things, and look at the game as it’s face value, which is sad, because if you’re willing to challenge yourself, you might find an amazing experience here. Yes, the gameplay isn’t the best, but just like the first game, the story is something far more in depth than anyone could have prepared for. It’s a masterful story, and a great send-off to Naughty Dog, who I personally cannot see myself supporting unless they change the way they develop games. Still, I admire what’s here, and what the developers did with what they were given.

And there’s some of my unpopular opinions, do you have any of your own? Let me know in the notes below, and share this if you feel so inclined. If you want to see more of my unpopular opinions, feel free to follow me on twitter @RepentantSky, since that came up twice, and have an excellent day.

#the last of us #the last of us part 2 #final fanatasy 7 #final fantasy 7 remake #gta #gtacommunity #gta5 #hyrule warriors #breath of the wild #JRPG #western #rpg #pokemon #nintendo switch #ps4 #ps5 #witcher 3 #cdpr #cyberpunk 2077

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rpgmgames · 4 years

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May’s Featured Game: Verloren

DEVELOPER(S): Choko ENGINE: RPG Maker VX Ace GENRE: Horror, Adventure WARNINGS: Flashing images, loud sounds, sudden sounds/images, full list (contains spoilers). SUMMARY: Chris Winter, find himself alone and lost in a black void filled with nothing but coldness. The only warmth you feel comes from your breath. In this void the young boy sees a door filled with light, trying to reach the door only leads to the boy to fall deep into a world filled with nothing but nonsense. Only when you find the key, then you’ll be able to leave.

Download the demo here! Our Interview With The Dev Team Below The Cut!

Introduce yourself! *Choko: Hello, I'm Choko! I'm the developer, artist, and writer for Verloren. I've been messing around with rpg maker since 2013 but finished my first finished game in 2016 which is Desolate Village. I've also made other games since then. Those being Demon Tea, Friend Hunt, and Star Detective. So Verloren isn't my first rodeo in the whole game development stuff, but it is the biggest project I've ever work on so far. Besides game dev stuff, I'm a huge rpg maker games, horror games, rhythm games, and just games with a interesting style to them.

What is your project about? What inspired you to create this game initially? *Choko: Verloren is a horror adventure game that focuses on Chris Winter, a young boy who finds himself alone and far away from home because of this he won't stop for anything to find a way home and learn why did he arrive here. During the course of the game Chris would meet others who have their own goals. What inspired me to make Verloren is a bit hard to say from what I first started to work on it back in 2017, I was mostly trying to work on another project after finishing Desolate Village. It could have been something else but I really forgot. But since I took a huge hiatus year break during 2018, I would personally say the time I actually initially started to work on Verloren was in February of 2019. Since everything was rework with a fresh outlook on everything, so the whole head space with Verloren is totally different from 2017-2018. What inspired me when I went back to rebuild/fix the game was friends, since their support made me feel I could go back to work on the game. During 2018 I would say I wasn't in the best mood while working on the game, so the support my friends gave me really helped a lot and encouraged me.

How long did you work on your project? *Choko: I've been working on Verloren for three years now. But will say 2019 to now is when actually development started/actually got going. 2018 I took the whole year off to cool down/chill. So the Verloren of 2017-2018 is very different from the Verloren of 2019 to now. If that makes sense....

Did any other games or media influence aspects of your project? *Choko: Oh boy, this section might be very long since there's a lot of games and media which inspired/ influences Verloren, though for many different reasons. Will say the two rpg maker games that inspire me a whole lot when it comes to everything they do is Mare and Akademia (I know it's just a demo still at the time writing but it's very good. Good demo, like the characters are great!! Everything is very nice!) Other rpg maker games do inspire me, mainly friend stuff but Mare and Akademia are two games I really love and wish I can make Verloren a game which has characters which feel realistic in a way they do. Like please go play them. Besides rpg maker games will say that NieR Automata, Okage: Shadow King, RE 1/RE 0, Deemo, Rule of Rose, Smile For Me, and the Kirby series are games that just really inspire me with Verloren, there's just certain aspects of them which I hope I can capture in Verloren. Other than video games, I do get a bunch of inspiration from artist I follow, comics/manga, and anime though if I mention all of them it would just lead me to ramble away, but will say Pandora Hearts and Death Parade are two series I really love and both. I just enjoy series that shows character interaction and bonds, because that's a main part in Verloren. I really just get inspire by character development if you couldn't tell..... ^^;

Have you come across any challenges during development? How did you overcome or work around them? *Choko: Besides the 2018 thing I mention earlier. There has been tiny bits of challenges, like with creating maps, since it takes me a while to get into the mood to make them, but wouldn't really call it a challenge. Since all the time I just have to take time away from the map to gain motivation to make them. Another challenge I guess would be writing cut scenes which I love, though it's a whole process of making sure the characters aren't just rambling or going off-topic since when I write I tend to get in character, as in voice act the lines or try to think how they would. Though the process isn't really a bad challenge since it just takes a while until I get it right.

Have any aspects of your project changed over time? How does your current project differ from your initial concept? *Choko: There's been soooooo many changes to this game. The biggest change I would say is the characters, they had a lot of design changes and personality/motivation changes. But other than that, I would say the mood of the game change a lot, also how scenes play it, originally it just felt like stuff happen to happen. Now it makes a lot more sense and isn't just some random thing I added. Sadly I can't list everything that change because that's spoilers but trust me everything change for the better.

What was your team like at the beginning? How did people join the team? If you don’t have a team, do you wish you had one or do you prefer working alone? *Choko: At the beginning there wasn't a team, since I wanted to do everything solo. I mostly enjoy doing art, writing, and eventing the game. Though currently now there is a team, mostly with people I know, it's more so just a critique/feedback team + voice actors. Currently there are only two VAs since I didn't want to focus on voice acting before I had most of the game done, in the far future I may make a post about it. But so far the whole team is more so just a chilling area then anything else and I enjoy all the fun talk that happen there.

What is the best part of developing a game? *Choko: The best part of creating a game is to see the characters you created come to life. I just really enjoy seeing everything come together. Idk I just find it cool that when making a game all starts out as concepts/ ideas and then after days/weeks/months of work it becomes a actually thing you can look at and show others. Most cutscenes in Verloren I get super happy when I finish them up, because I can see them as a real thing rather than a bunch of ideas of "this is what I'm going to do". Also the joke/shitpost memes....they are also the best part of making a game.

Do you find yourself playing other RPG Maker games to see what you can do with the engine, or do you prefer to do your own thing? *Choko: Yep!!! I play a lot of rpg maker games, I really enjoy seeing what other people do. I just find it cool that anyone can pick up the engine and learn how to use it. Also it's a fun way to find inspiration, just seeing other rpg maker games and being like ">:O I didn't know you can do that!!!".

Which character in your game do you relate to the most and why? (Alternatively: Who is your favorite character and why?) *Choko: This question is very hard, mainly because I relate to because a lot of characters in the game I relate to in tiny levels. For my favorite character it's Vladimir....I do like every other character in game. Chris is my second favorite I have to say (kinda a lie since ties with another character) but Vladimir number one, he's just soo much fun to write. He's maybe the one character who has a lot of scenes which gets a huge smile from me.

Looking back now, is there anything that regret/wish you had done differently? *Choko: Not really, mainly since I was lucky to be able to take a huge hiatus which help me in 2019 to rework everything. So every problem I had with the game I fixed.

Do you plan to explore the game’s universe and characters further in subsequent projects, or leave it as-is? *Choko: I would just leave the game alone after I finish Verloren, it's a game that doesn't need any follow ups because I feel it would just take away from the impact when you get to the end. There really isn't anything I would need to explore, since Verloren is meant to be a single game and that's it.

What do you most look forward to upon finishing the game? *Choko: I look forward seeing how people react to the full game, I am low key shock on how people are reacting towards the demo and all the tiny predictions/speculations. Also the warm positive feedback towards Vladimir is shocking, since I thought no one would like him because of all those jokes/puns. I hope the final game has the same positive reaction, also that other characters get a warm positive feedback towards them.

Was there something you were afraid of concerning the development or the release of your game? *Choko: The only thing that worries me is that if I mess up and people can't understand reasons why x character did that. Since one of the main things with Verloren is that characters have their own way if viewing stuff. Like morality is pretty gray because I don't want to write a black and white story.

Do you have any advice for upcoming devs? *Choko: Main advice I'll give out is placeholders are your friend. Don't spend time making assets for a system you didn't test and you test it and it doesn't work. Just have a placeholder graphic which helps you test it and when it's done you can always slap on the asset. Following up with this, create a debug room. It would come in handy to test systems/ events than having to play through your game to test it and learn you need to fix it.

Question from last month's featured dev @cheesesteak-horror: Do you have creative processes you practice before starting development? *Choko: No, not really. I often just jump right into development and go from there. Most of my practice come from when I work on small stuff or just when I'm bored I often just mess around with things.

We mods would like to thank Choko for agreeing to our interview! We believe that featuring the developer and their creative process is just as important as featuring the final product. Hopefully this Q&A segment has been an entertaining and insightful experience for everyone involved!

Remember to check out Verloren if you haven’t already! See you next month!

- Mods Gold & Platinum

#rpg maker #verloren (game)#rpgmaker #indie games #pixel games #demo #game demo #verloren #choko-flan #choko #gotm #game of the month #gotm 2020 #2020 #may #may 2020

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meghancooking · 4 years

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My pitch for the eventual ‘Community Movie’

The film opens in 2023. After a brief bounce back from the efforts of the Save Greendale Committee, Greendale came upon hard times during the global pandemic (due to a poor attempt to transition classes like “Ladders” and “Nicolas Cage: Good or Bad” to an online setting.) Frankie left long ago to help hospitals rearrange their budgets for life saving PPE.

The Dean informs Jeffrey that things have gotten so bad that he has to let him go, and Jeff ends up at Britta’s bar for a drink. On the TV in the corner they see a commercial for a film that looks oddly familiar, about a community college study group that goes on wacky adventures. Jeff looks the movie up online to realize that Abed is the director and the film has a ton of buzz from Indie Film Festivals.

In “Community: The Movie,” Timothy Olyphant stars as Jiff Wanger, with Alexandro Daddario as Allie Anniston, Nicole Byer as Sally Benton, Dev Patel as Abed Nadir (no name change), John David Washington as Trey Burns, and Abed’s hero Harrison Ford as Piers Hawksworth.

Jeff tries to call Abed on the phone and realizes that Abed has changed his phone number since they last spoke. Feeling more disconnected from his old friends than ever, Jeff announces to Britta that they’re going to get the study group back together and confront Abed in L.A., intent on suing him for using their likeness without permission so that they can save Greendale. Britta says, “But neither of our cars can make it across the country.”

“But mine can.”

Jeff and Britta whip around to see Rick. Britta and Rick start making out over the bar counter. Jeff takes the keys from Rick’s hand and goes to “warm up the car.”

In their Honda CR-V, Jeff, Rick, and Britta go to D.C. to pick up Annie. At first she’s reluctant to take time off work, but when she realizes that Greendale is in trouble of closing for good, she throws her FBI badge in a nearby fountain.

Cut to the group looking for Annie’s badge in the water. “I wanted to be like those people that throw their cellphones in the ocean, in movies,” Annie sighs. “But you never think about them going back to get them.”

After they get Annie’s badge they head for Atlanta, Georgia to scoop up Shirley. Shirley’s sons are now old enough to attend college, and it breaks her heart to realize that her old school is closing down. “Not that I want them to go to Greendale,” Shirley adds. “They’re going to an Ivy. But if they need a back-up for their back-up’s back-up…”

Throughout their whole journey the group does their best to find out where Troy is, but no one has heard from him in years. Every time someone wonders aloud if he died in a horrible boating accident, Annie starts sobbing and they turn on the radio. A song by a popular new rapper Kiddish Bambino seems to be always playing whenever they turn the radio on. Shirley says she hates rap but she nods her head along with everyone else.

Rounding out their journey through New Mexico on the way to L.A., the gang stops at a Mexican restaurant on the side of the road. Annie pretends like its Jeff’s birthday to make up for “all those years of birthday cards I owe you.” And Britta says, “What about my birthdays? Are mine less important because he’s a man?” At which point they all tell the waiter they are celebrating a joint five-way birthday. The waiter goes to get the manager to catch them in a lie, and the group worries that they pushed it too far. Until they realize that the restaurant owner is Chang, speaking perfect Spanish. He’s so excited to see them that he says, “Birthdays on the house!” And every patron in the restaurant gets trashed on free margaritas.

As they’re drunkenly catching up, Chang fills them in on what happened to him after season six. With a renewed sense of ambition, Chang realized that he was happiest when he was a student-torturing Spanish teacher. But before he could let him get his job back, the Dean challenged him to actually learn Spanish. He moved to New Mexico to take classes and learn about Latin Culture, and ended up marrying a woman and having three kids. “Now I dog on my kids instead of dogging on students,” Chang says. “It’s great.”

After hearing about their road trip across the country, Chang decides to join them. He makes the joke “And my axe” at an off moment and over-explains his reference. Everyone groans but Rick asks to hear more, because he never actually watched Lord of the Rings, “Though of course I love it in the way that people love things they’ve never seen in person, like the Northern Lights or God,” Rick says genially.

So Jeff, Britta, Annie, Shirley, Rick, and Chang end up in L.A. to storm into Abed’s office, only to be told that he’s getting ready for the theatrical release of “Community: The Movie” at the Chinese Theater. The gang pulls a scheme to get into the premiere and bumps into the movie-star versions of themselves on the red carpet. Classic trope.

When they finally slide into their seats at the theater, the film starts. And it’s amazing. There’s laughter, there’s tears. Rick and Britta hold hands…Jeff and Annie accidentally brush hands but look away as Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity” plays on screen. Chang tries to hold Shirley’s hand but gets slapped away with a “Ben, you’re married” as he defensively says, “As friends. You never hold hands with your friends?”

At the end of the movie Abed stands up for a Q&A. The old study group was moved to tears, so they’re not angry anymore, but Jeff is enraged. He wrestles the microphone away from a fan and wakes to the middle of the aisle to confront Abed.

“That Greendale on screen is a lie built by Disney magic and Timothy Olyphant blood money. Do you know right now the real Greendale is a sinking ship?” Jeff asks. “Our home is about to plummet under the waves and here you are, weaving movie magic to show the ‘perfect’ version of our lives. Well the truth is far from perfect. Because in reality, Abed doesn’t even care about his friends. He hasn’t called in years.”

Jeff starts to tear up as he talks. Abed tilts his head.

“Jeff, this isn’t some Sony Pictures presents Marvel’s Disney project. This was a kickstarter, Zach Braff style. This was my ‘Wish I Was Here,’ but better because I’m not a famous movie star asking people in a lower tax bracket for money. This wasn’t funded by corporations, it was funded by the people.” Abed stands up. “The first tier got donors a ‘Community: The Movie’ pin. The second tier got them a swag bag. And the third tier…well the third tier paid admission for a semester at Greendale Community College. The real one.”

Abed looks out to the audience. “Could all the third tier donors in the audience stand up?”

Jeff, Britta, Annie, Shirley, Chang, and Rick look on in shock as three-fourths of the audience get to their feet. Even Timothy Olyphant stands up from the front row. “What?” He asks his co-stars. “They’ve got a class on Nicolas Cage. Is he good?”

Jeff approaches the stage and Abed helps him up. Their silhouettes are backlit by the stage lights as they hug. “But…” Jeff says. “You never called.”

“I threw my phone in the ocean when I got to L.A.” Abed shrugs. “I see it in movies all the time when people have fresh starts. I didn’t realize it would be so hard to get back.”

The rest of the gang comes up from the audience to hug Abed. The Q&A host (maybe a Josh Horowitz type) says “The real cast of Community!” as the crowd cheers.

End-credits scene is Abed and Troy hanging out in the green room after the movie premiere, just chatting normally. Everyone else stares at him.

“And after I found Abed in California I became a famous rapper and I changed my name to Kiddish Bambino,” Troy says, finishing his story. “You can kind of do whatever you want when you’re a millionaire.”

Troy and Abed do their handshake.

“But you never called,” Annie chimes in.

“Oh I threw my phone in the ocean like Day One on the boat,” Troy says. “Not to get a fresh start. I was just trying to give a mermaid my phone number.”

“Troy got heat stroke 12 times,” Abed says.

“The doctors say my brain is ‘basically’ normal,” Troy says.

“Same,” Abed responds.

Handshake.

“Don’t you work at Subway?” Troy asks Rick.

The group laughs.

End credits (Elroy watches “Community: The Movie” in his RV after it comes out on DVD, with Julie from Natalie is Freezing at his side. “I knew most of those people you know. They’re all uglier in person. Nice kids, though.”)

-------

What would you add? What would you throw out? I know there's too much Rick but it can't be helped. How else would they get a Honda CR-V, America's dream car?

#community #community movie #community tv show #alison brie #gillian jacobs #yvette nicole brown

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consilium-games · 3 years

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Setting, Genre, and Principles

I talked recently with a friend about Apocalypse World, genre, and Principles. For those unfamiliar, Principles are a design and game-running technique that Apocalypse World did not invent, but did refine and explicate, a bit like how the Greeks knew of static electricity, but it was Galvani who made a battery on purpose, that others could study. Since I haven't died yet, I have a project in mind, in this case one that really explicitly relies on Principles in its basic design, so in this essay I want to work out a basic edge of 'what Principles can cover'. Namely, the edge of 'genre'.

I'll define a couple technical terms here because I intend to use them pretty narrowly:

Diagetic means the usual, "bound within the world of a given story".

Commentative means "outside of any story, things we say about stories-generally".

So a setting counts as diagetic, bound within its own logic and the logic of the single work it appears in. Diagetically we'd ask "why does the author choose to write dragons in this way?"

A genre counts as commentative, not bound within any story. It may or may not codify some stories, an author might consciously bend to or defy a genre as they understand it, but most importantly on the genre level, we don't ask "why did the author write dragons like this?" Instead we ask "why do people-generally like to see dragons?"

In talking with that friend, she said she had difficulty reading AW, which I can't really fault anyone for: I'd consider AW almost as much a polemic manifesto as a procedural manual. And the former undermines the latter. Part of her issue came from her looking for a setting, not realizing that properly speaking, AW doesn't have one. I said as much, and as we talked, I then said a lot more than I should:

After confirming that "Baker does not give AW a setting", in a bit of enthusiasm on the idea of 'genre emulation', I went on to say that "Baker gives his apocalypse". This prompted confusion, for the reasonable question arises, "how can Baker provide his own, particular, post-apocalypse story without giving a setting?" So I should have spoken more carefully, and I wrote most of this essay to over-answer that question for my friend. I've massaged it into its current form, for you non-her readers, in hopes that it helps someone, or if nothing else I can refer back to it as I clarify my own cranky lit-game-dev ideas.

To me, 'a setting' goes like this:

DnD has a kind of proto-setting, it has dragons like-so, it has elves who look pretty and live in the woods, it has dwarves who look TV-ugly and live in the mountains, it has orcs who look ugly-ugly and live in the wastes, it has humans it treats as default and live wherever. It has vague gestures of settler-colonial race-relations but not enough anything to explore, unless you the reader put it there. DnD doesn't really have much of a genre more specific than "uh, generally sword-and-sorcery fantasy".

Shadowrun has basically the same things, and a specific setting: neoliberal dystopia and collapse of the state, but otherwise 'basically our world'.

But more than that, Shadowrun also--for its many faults--has a commentative-sense genre: in Shadowrun, might makes right (or at least right-now); money rules everything, except maybe loyalty; it treats magic as innately cool and natural but technology as evil and you maybe would better die than get an artificial heart. These story-contours don't care at all about where things happen or what institutions exist.

To take another example, Cowboy Bebop tells a solid noir western story set in space. The fact that it takes place in space ultimately matters very little to the 'western' or 'noir', though. Spike knows he lives in space, and he'd agree that--to someone alive in our world today--he lives in a sci-fi story. He doesn't know that he got cast as a western-revenge-fable protagonist (though he might agree if someone asked). He definitely doesn't know that he has a corner of the story that goes more-western, while Jet lives in a corner of the story that goes more-noir.

If you wanted, you could tell Cowboy Bebop beat for beat, almost unedited, as a straight-faced noir western. Instead of Jet's main ship they have a wagon, the individual bounty-hunters have their own horses, Ed does something weird with telegraphs and adding-machines. Instead of vacuum between planets of our solar system, they weather the desert waste between far-flung towns. It would remain a story about revenge, losing oneself, finding oneself, remaking oneself, and the things we have to do for the people we love, and what happens when we don't.

You could not do this and also remove the noir, or the western, those define the kind-of-story. If you left it in space but took out the noir, entire episodes of moral ambiguity would disappear (like Ganymede Elegy). Likewise taking out the western, the premise of bounty-hunters wouldn't fit and couldn't stay. I would even go further, and say that while I don't mind Cowboy Bebop sitting on the 'sci-fi' shelf so that consumers can find it, I wouldn't class Cowboy Bebop as sci-fi. A masterpiece, but not sci-fi. Because I think that as a genre, the core of sci-fi asks "where are we going, and what will we do when we get there?" Cowboy Bebop does not care to ask this question, it cares about the human condition right now, and what people right now will do. It takes place in space because space is cool.

Second hot take: Kafka's The Castle counts as sci-fi, by the above conception. Extremely, disturbingly prescient sci-fi, precisely predicting things from call-centers to Big Data and the professional managerial class, and warning of the ease with which a competent, level-headed, and well-meaning person can confront The Machine, and The Machine will completely hollow out and dehumanize them, rob them of every competence and agency, until The Machine no longer notices them as a foreign object.

No one would put The Castle on the sci-fi shelf, because it has no shiny labcoat SCIENCE![tm], telephones and typewriters show up as cutting-edge in the setting. But just look at the concept of tracking, monitoring, filing, and refiling, and bureaucratic shuffle and managerial maladaption and "not my department" and "oh you have to fill out a form 204B -> well file a form AV-8 to requisition a 204B -> look do I have to do everything for you, I'm a busy cog you know". Look at that concept as a technology, like Kafka did.

The story explicitly refers to this as innovation, as a deliberate thing that the Count and his bureaucrats did, on purpose, with intent and expected effect. The Castle explores social science, political technology. And Kafka rigorously explores its psychic effects on the subjects, more thoroughly than Gibson waxing poetic about VR headsets and the Matrix. The Castle qualifies as fiction about science, where we're going and what we'll (have to) do when we get there. It takes place in a quaint provincial village that might lie somewhere in Bohemia in the very early 20th century.

So I allege that while setting matters for writing a given story, it doesn't matter a lot for kind-of story. And in my conversation with my friend, I should have sensed the kernel I could have dug out, but instead, I wrote the rest of this essay, particular to post-apocalyptic genre fiction, and germane to Apocalypse World.

Bringing this back to apocalypsii:

In the Australian outback in the late-70s, the gas supply all but disappears, causing societal collapse and civil breakdown.

In the American midwest, an unspecified disaster wipes out communications and supply-lines, causing survivors to turn feral and cannibalistic.

In New York in the late 60s, food shortages and overpopulation cause the government to criminalize almost everything so that they can grind people up into food.

These are settings in the sense that I mean: a place, a time, implicit societal structures and institutions, "where is this, what world is this, what is here?" DnD's setting doesn't have much of a 'where' but it more or less assumes "uh, Earth kinda, sorta"; Shadowrun says "literally Earth but N years after magic becomes real and also DnD races". But the above three post-apoc settings have very different everything-else: if you were making a post-apoc section of a library and wanted to break down into sub-genre, you'd want to put the three works above on different aisles.

Mad Max tells a story where holding on to old power structures is complicated, sometimes good, sometimes bad, and it emphatically matters how we go about doing it: when marauding punks kill your family, you may justifiably go and kill them back; but when a power-mad warlord inflicts his brutal regime, you owe him no allegiance.

The Road tells a story where everything we care about can just blow away in the wind, and at best we can only cling to what we cherish, while we can. Power comes and goes, structures don't last, but cruelty and misery endure eternal and will always win--but we try anyway.

Soylent Green tells a story where societal structures can technically endure, but themselves have no moral compass and can inflict as much cruelty as uncaring nature. You may live in an illusion in which civilization appears to function, but in fact you have no more safety than the wilderness, and indeed you didn't realize it, but you're the cannibals, and perhaps soon the meal.

Those considerations all sit at the genre-type, commentative level, and I class them as wholly unconcerned with setting. Each of these stories would tell just as well in space, or an underground complex, or even Bronze-Age Fertile Crescent if you twist a few narrative arms. The where and when and what doesn't define or determine the kind of story, the genre, even if setting can help or hinder genre goals.

Bringing this back to Baker: he doesn't give a place where things happen; he doesn't give an inciting event that brought the apocalypse; he doesn't even describe what happened during the apocalypse, or how long ago it happened, or give a date for "today". I'll list three AW settings I've run or played in or heard about:

Sunlight vanished altogether, though somehow it hasn't gotten any colder. Darkness and shadow can become animate and even sapient, and can claim people, though it doesn't seem exactly malevolent or 'evil'. Rule of law has mostly fallen apart, but out of fear and prudence people mostly avoid wanton violence, because if you see someone you don't like, you could roll up on them and take their stuff--but just as easily they could kill you, and just as easily as either, the Dark might just take both of you; you're safer keeping the Dark at bay and not hassling someone else, unless you've got good reason.

A few years(?) ago, survivors woke up from total amnesia and some kind of fugue: it seems like this fugue lasted at least some years, there's some decay of modern-to-us structures, but the ruins look fully recognizable and often quite well-preserved. But signs abound, literally painted twenty-feet-high on buildings and structures, that something unfathomable happened. The giant wordless pictograms seem to warn to protect tools and structures, to stay together and not go off alone, indicate places that once had lots of food or other important resources, and most alarmingly they show gigantic hands reaching down from above onto some of the pictogram figures. No one can remember anything from before the wakeup though, so the meaning is lost.

Something like twenty years ago, the world broke in some fundamental way: it always rains or at least fog abounds, long-distance communication inexplicably but insurmountably fails to work, and cityscape has sprawled on its own to incorporate seemingly the entire world. As far as anyone knows, the city spans infinitely in every direction, it has no edge, only more city. The city-cancer seems waterlogged and rotting everywhere, some few places fit for use and occupancy, but if you go down any given street and step inside an empty house or shop, it probably won't suit human habitation. People still habitually carry on the forms and outlines of societal norms, mostly, because what else can they do? You can't burn it all down as long as it keeps raining.

I brought these up because Baker's conception of 'post-apoc' does not cover the whole of "all post-apocalyptic literature"--it couldn't, shouldn't, and if it did it would have little or no use to anyone. Baker's narrower conception, the Principles that AW's rules expect a setting to follow, narrow things down and keep the rules crisp, tight, and tractable.

Each of the AW campaigns above has a totally different setting, aiming in totally different directions for different things--but, they all live inside Baker's Principles for a post-apoc that fits within AW: scarcity, weak but present society and norms, a Before, an After, and no going back, and each has a 'Psychic Maelstrom' that excuses a lot of narrative fiat and deus ex machina and having characters just do weirdness not otherwise specified.

That 'Psychic Maelstrom' comes closest to giving what I'd call "a setting" as in "place, time, institutions", because it sits at the diagetic level. A distinct thing bound within a given story--except it only barely counts as 'diagetic'. Because Baker only gives loose guidelines for what a Psychic Maelstrom should be or do. Baker's own at-his-table Psychic Maelstrom will look nothing like mine, or my girlfriend's, or her erstwhile friend's, because in those three AW settings up there, each of us had totally different ideas for what to do with a Psychic Maelstrom in a post-apocalyptic setting.

But: all three of us used our Psychic Maelstroms for the things Baker says to use them for: unleash weirdness, justify unrealistic but narratively satisfying twists, allow and excuse extra awesomeness, maybe use as a metaphor or allegory for "how it got this way", as well as "where it could go", in literary terms. And . . . Baker doesn't really get closer than this, to giving "place, time, institutions, history and people and events". So in the sense I understand 'setting', a diagetic construct within a given story, AW doesn't have one.

But in the commentative genre sense, AW very definitely gives Baker's apocalypse, in that it gives a recipe for the things that Baker considers essential to the post-apoc genre (or at least, the aisle of the post-apoc library he wants to confine his game to). He doesn't try to tell a Soylent Green apocalypse so much--you'd need to twist some arms and ignore some Principles to tell Soylent Green. Nor does he try to tell Children of Men so much--you'd have to leave a lot out to rein AW in to just Children of Men. He instead aims* for something closer to Mad Max, but heavy on Weird West, and a lot less somber and desolate, so more like Fury Road. And he says, "here's how:".

(*) But, of course, he doesn't actually tell these stories. Instead he has the project of telling the reader how to tell this kind-of story. So, while he gives some sample poetic images of skylines on fire and the world torn asunder, he doesn't care to talk about the virus, or the metorite, or the gas-shortage or the food-shortage. He doesn't care about the where or when or what, and even with the Psychic Maelstrom, the one concrete diagetic thing he gives--it sits there as a meta-thing, explicitly unstated whether it resulted from The Apocalypse or its inciting event, or caused it as the inciting event, or something else.

All of which boils down to: commentative, about-stories, genre-level stuff owns bones, and I weigh it heavier than diagetic, in-stories, setting-level stuff. Baker gives excellent tools, within his purple polemic prose, for that first stuff and gives little or nothing for the second.

#literary theory #game design #genre

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alteredphoenix · 4 years

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In Defense of Calia: On the Topic of Misogyny and the Criticism of the Forsaken Double Standard

So I like to browse Twitter a lot, mainly for the art but mostly just to kill time. But I also follow people and websites, and one of those happens to be Wowhead. A couple days ago there was an article documenting Calia’s appearance within the Horde Council in the Shadowlands pre-patch, to which she would voice her opinion on the state of the Horde as well as the uncertain future that Azeroth now faces with the breaking of the Helm of Domination and return of the Scourge.

The WoW community can be...very passionate, or inflammatory, depending on your point of view. The same can be said for any big fandom, in all honesty. But I’m not in a lot of fandoms, and, at least where WoW is concerned, there’s a kind of laser-guided hyperfixation in regards to the introduction and development of its characters. Old or new, the fandom watches them like a hawk, but perhaps none more vigilantly than ones that have been mentioned in-game but have not made an actual appearance itself beyond the tie-in novels.

Three of these characters are Turalyon, Alleria, and Calia. However, Turalyon and Alleria are not given this much scrutiny outside of snide quips that “Turalyon is flat and boring/he’s a zealot/he’s the embodiment of the white savior among the draenei” and “Alleria is a fucking psycho for using the Void and wanting the blood elves to return to the Alliance, she’s just like her sisters, it must run in the blood/she’s arm candy to another, rugged Alliance man” whenever the plot calls for their convenience. I would daresay these parts of the fandom would go as far to say that with their developments given within the story, it would be in Blizzard’s best interests to have never brought them so as to “preserve their memory from before the Activision merger”. On the other hand, I would like to note that this sentiment is echoed ad nauseam for practically every character in WoW...but we’ll touch on that a little bit. This piece isn’t about Turalyon and Alleria or the others.

Rather, this is about Calia, and I wanted to give voice to my opinions on the backlash - or perhaps reception would be a better word - she has been receiving. She was a character I came across reading Arthas: Rise of the Lich King and didn’t think much of afterwards; for all I knew, she had died when Lordaeron and that was the end of the Menethil bloodline. However, with her debut in Legion and unique circumstances that followed culminating from the ending of Before the Storm, as well as being tangentially tied with the Light/Void conflict that’ll come to the forefront in the future, I wanted to keep an eye on her character arc.

Needless to say, when I read the Wowhead post, the comments could basically be described like this:

The WoW Community: Gawd, Blizzard is pushing Calia so hard into the narrative. She’s just another pathetic dev’s self-insert like Nathanos is, even though we only base this off some harmless, tongue-in-cheek posts on Twitter and we need to vent our anger toward another character who clearly has too much development! She’s everywhere!

Be me, off to the side, remembering she was only present in the Priest Class Hall campaign in Legion; takes part in Before the Storm before getting axed in the Arathi Gathering and being subsequently raised into Lightly undeath by a king, her Archbishop, and a naaru that may have influenced her into going to the Gathering; only shows up very late in BfA right after Sylvanas Blasts Off Again at the end of the War Campaign to reconnect with the Proudmoores and help the kaldorei undead as well as the Forsaken Sylvanas ditches; shadows Lilian and the Horde Council in Shadows Rising, and shows up in Icecrown when the sky cracks open and Bolvar is no longer the Lich King that took up the role her brother was in.

I don’t know what popular fanfiction you folks are reading (or whatever tea you’re drinking; I’ve been looking around since the last Calia post I made and I can’t find it!), but that is not what I would call everywhere.

Look, you’re more than welcome to despise Calia as much as Nathanos over baseless claims and double standards, but let’s not pretend there are other Forsaken that’d fill the hole Sylvanas left behind. Because they can’t. They won’t be able to, because for years Sylvanas made up the core of Forsaken identity. Prior to WotLK they were a race that was reviled and ostracized by the world and looked upon with distrust by everyone including the Horde, even as Hamuul vouched for them and convinced Thrall to give them a chance despite knowing full well how cruel and selfish they could be. Their sole purpose was to exact revenge on the man who took everything away from them, destroyed their lives, and raised them into his service against their will.

And even when Arthas was defeated, they had no other purpose but to conquer Lordaeron, find a way to reproduce their numbers, and reaffirm their loyalty to the Horde - because where the hell else are they going to go? Because even if some Forsaken disagree with Sylvanas’s strict institutions regarding the acceptance of their undeath and the complete rejection of their former, mortal lives, not everyone in the Alliance is going to welcome them with open arms; not everyone is an Anduin or a Jaina. You see this with Genn, who despite accepting that not every Forsaken is bad still holds them in contempt, and with Alleria, who, after spending a thousand years in the Twisting Nether fighting the Burning Legion and thus being removed from the changes that occurred on Azeroth, is justifiably concerned that they are no longer the same person in undeath as they were in life. You see this in the way that some families spurn their loved ones when the Gathering takes place.

So while it’s true that you can say Calia doesn’t have what it takes to be the person the Forsaken need in a post-Sylvanas Azeroth, you must also remember that of all the named Forsaken we know of only Lilian has been given due development. You can’t say the same for Belmont (a loyalist who disregarded Cromush’s warnings about using the plague in Silverpine, as well as fought a losing battle against Tyrande in Darkshore in BfA), Helcular (a presumably former Cult of the Damned affiliate who notably defended Tarren Mill during the Legion’s third incursion), Faranell (another loyalist who created the New Plague and believes Putress is behind Wrathgate, but perhaps unaware of Sylvanas’s possible involvement), and Velonara (who did not want to be want to raised but followed Sylvanas anyway until the Fourth War, eventually siding with the Horde Council). They are merely foot soldiers; outside of maybe Velonara they don’t have the luxury of experiencing the emotional turmoil a newly risen undead goes through the way Lilian Voss does when Thomas Zelling, dying from illness, makes a deal to be raised into undeath and help the Horde in their war if it meant protecting his family. They don’t have the luxury of watching him get executed by the Warchief’s right hand man in front of their eyes the way Lilian and every other Horde leader present did. You would not get the same weight by switching her out with any of them. You could say Lilian would make a decent successor to Sylvanas, and I would not disagree with you. However, Lilian does not have the familial connection that Calia does to Lordaeron, and while Gey’arah poses the question of leadership to her at the Horde War Campaign’s epilogue, it should be noted that Lilian believes there is “another more suited to the task”, preferring to be the hand that would comfort the Forsaken of the trauma of being raised into undeath and, as of Shadows Rising, act as their interim leader.

Then again, neither does Calia. We don’t know where she and Faol were after Lordaeron’s fall (which is one key detail I have seen people not take into account upon their criticisms of her character), but we do know that upon being asked she had refused to reassert her claim to Lordaeron. However, she has common sense enough to know that Faol was not like the other Scourge in the beginning, and later when she met with Elsie, Parqual Fintallas, and the Felstone family.

Whatever happened during that time period prior to Legion, she identifies with the Forsaken. They are, in a way, still her people, regardless of that. This is why I think she would suit the Forsaken best as their leader, not as Queen of Lordaeron that the fandom - or rather, most of the Sylvanas stans - has been so prone to parroting since her intentions to help guide the kaldorei undead and the Lordaeronian Forsaken were first revealed.

And look, I’m a Sylvanas stan, too. But it is very much apparent that Sylvanas only started the Fourth War for her own purposes, has clearly been in an alliance with the Jailer since Cataclysm (yet is hinted to not be entirely subservient to him), and even if she was doing everything up until Shadowlands as an extreme mixture of For the Greater Good and The End Justifies The Means she was still a toxic influence to the more honorable members of the Horde and to the Desolate Council. Even if her behavior were an act to conceal her true intentions, it would still not absolve her completely for all the atrocities she committed and the suffering she caused. Not even Nathanos, whom people have an obsessive, misandrist fixation of being based on someone who’s not despite being in the game for fifteen years prior to that dev joining Blizzard, would not be the best replacement for Sylvanas. Nathanos - the same man who loves Sylvanas so much he would do anything for her even as he pushes aside the brief moments where he hesitates following her orders and expresses shock at her actions - would not have either the Horde’s or the Forsaken’s best interests at heart, for his belongs only to her. After all, you can’t “redeem” a character if the character himself does not regret what they have done and does not want to change for the better.

Which is another thing I have noticed, in the years I have been in the WoW fandom: the concept of “redemption” in the wake of “character assassination” in the wake of events that caused by said characters that are often deemed questionable, which is what I believe makes people conclude the causation to be a source of “bad writing”. This also ties to what I also believe to be the misogynistic undertones the fandom expresses, simply because the events caused by questionable if dubious methods are done by a woman and not a man, which therefore leads to the notion that Blizzard “hates women”. This gives me the impression that these voices would prefer to have Blizzard write their women as someone who are pure and strong and multi-faceted but the minute she performs an action that not everyone is on board with then she is either considered “ruined” or a “dreadlord”, which is merely a cop-out excuse that you only see applied to the female characters (e.g. Jaina) but not the male characters; those men are simply called “evil” or “genocidal”, whether or not they are rightfully so. Then again, men are also considered “ruined” if they are so much as given the spotlight (e.g. Lor’themar in Nazjatar, Baine throughout BfA), but they are nowhere near under as much scrutiny than the women are (unless it’s Garrosh, then you’re going to have to put up with the “Garrosh Did Nothing Wrong” memes). Which leads us back to the hypocrisy the fandom shows towards Calia, a character to whom people call a “Mary Sue” but at the same time an “abomination” who is going to be “Queen of the Forsaken” that is being pushed by Blizzard to make the playerbase hate Sylvanas even more.

And from what we know about Calia, she is neither seeking to become “Queen of the Forsaken” for the foreseeable future nor a “Mary Sue” (if she were, she would’ve succeeded in making all the Forsaken defect to the Alliance and, you know, not die). Perhaps she is made to question if she is capable of providing for the Forsaken (for some, that is, for it was confirmed by Blizzard that not all Forsaken are willing to be lead by another Menethil, and one who had been missing and presumed dead for years at that). Perhaps she is an anomaly, but she is by no means perfection incarnate the fanbase paints her to be.

TLDR Calia Menethil is a character that deserves a chance at getting her character arc and development, and should be judged accordingly instead of jumping the gun.

#world of warcraft #calia menethil #meta

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angelsfalling16 · 4 years

Text

Love and Porta Potties (ch 2)

A remix of @caitybuglove23‘s porta potty fic.

Read chapter one | Read her fic

Fic Summary: A series of events throughout Simon and Baz’s relationship that happen in porta potties, some of them good, some of them messy, and some of which they don’t speak of.

Word count: 3290

Thank you so much for beta-reading @amphipodgirl and @scone-lover!! <3

Read on ao3

***

One year later

Simon

Being back here at this fair is like being reminded of all of the things that I no longer have. Why did Penny bring me here?

“Why are we here again?” I ask her as we step through the entrance.

“You had so much fun last year that I thought it might be fun to do this again.”

“Things were different last year.”

Last year, I was happy and hopeful.

This year, I feel completely hopeless and like everything is falling apart.

Baz and I haven’t spoken in weeks, and it feels weird to be here without him. I don’t know what’s going on between us, but it feels like there might not be an ‘us’ for much longer.

“I don’t feel like going on any of the rides.”

“Then don’t. Fill up on all the junk food you can eat while I play the games. I’m hoping to win a Fiona plush to go with my Shrek from last year.”

I want to argue, to tell her that I just want to go home and mope some more, but I know she won’t have any of it, so I just nod and follow her to one of the concession stands. I order several different fried foods and a large lemonade. I don’t plan on going on the rides, so I can fill up on all the sickening things I want and not worry about throwing up.

I follow Penny around to all the different games, not really paying attention as she plays them, but I can tell each time she loses because she groans before determinedly saying, “Again" and slamming down another dollar on the counter.

I know that she knows these games are rigged, but she seems to be having fun, so I just let her continue.

I finish all of my food before turning to look for a trash can. I see one a few booths down and tell Penny that I’ll be right back.

“I’ll be here,” she replies. “I’m going to win us a fish for our apartment.”

I smile at how sure she sounds as I walk towards the trash can. I don’t think that a fish would be the best idea. I’ve never had a pet before, but I am certain that I would not be very good at keeping one alive. It would definitely have to be Penny’s responsibility. If it were up to me, the fish would be dead before we even got it home.

I toss my food wrappers and turn to head back when I run smack into someone.

“Sorry,” I murmur, looking up at whoever I just ran into.

I freeze.

Baz.

“What are you doing here?” We say it in unison, and I start to feel sick. Maybe all that food wasn’t such a good idea after all.

“Baz,” I whisper, too stunned to say anything else.

It has been a couple of weeks since the last time I saw him. Since that day… That day when we… I don’t even want to think about it.

“What are you doing here?” I ask again.

“Dev and Niall dragged me here. What about you?”

“Penny,” I say, nodding behind him in the direction of where I left her. “She said some fresh air would be good for me.”

“Right.” He nods once, and then we stand there awkwardly, not really looking at each other.

I feel like I should say something, but then I think that that’s stupid. He should be the one to say something. It’s his fault that things are like this between us. If he had just…

I shake my head. I’m not doing this right now.

“Goodbye, Baz,” I say quickly before stepping around him and all but marching over to where Penny is now standing in front of a new booth, trying to toss a ring around some bottles.

“I just saw Baz.”

“Who?”

“I know you heard me, and I know you know who Baz is.” I narrow my eyes at her suspiciously. “What did you do?”

“I quit the game. I was never going to win a fish. It would be cheaper to just go buy one.”

“That’s not what I mean. Why is Baz here?”

She shrugs and tosses another ring, managing to loop it around the front bottle. “I don’t know. It’s a fair, Simon. He probably came to ride the rides and have some fun. Just like us."

I stare at her for another moment before sighing. I’m probably just being paranoid. Penny wouldn’t have brought me here to see Baz. She knows what happened. She knows that he’s the last person that I want to see right now.

I step up beside her and hand the girl running the booth a dollar, and she passes me some rings.

I start throwing them at the bottles, and I nearly succeed in knocking one over. I am admittedly throwing them a little hard, but I feel strung tight with anger and tension.

“You need to relax,” Penny says.

“I know.”

I know, but how am I supposed to relax when Baz is here?

All I can think about is the screaming match we had before we fell into a seemingly endless silence, staring each other down and waiting for the other to say something until he turned away and left, slamming the door behind him and leaving another deafening silence in his wake.

I should have gone after him, but I was so mad at him at the time that I only would have made things worse.

I wish that I had gone after him, but I also wish that he hadn’t left. I wish that he had stayed so that we could talk about what he said. Or what I thought he was going to say right before I screwed things up by saying all the wrong things.

But it’s too late for that now, so I’m going to try to pretend like he isn’t here so that I can have some fun.

Only, he is here, and it’s like every time that I turn around he’s there: laughing with his friends, playing one of the games, standing in line for a ride. He’s everywhere, and I can’t seem to get away from him.

“Can we go home now?” I ask Penny once I've grown bored and have eaten at least one of every food item that is being offered here.

I'm starting to think that that may have been a mistake. This is not going to be a pleasant ride home. I get car sick enough without a stomach full of junk food.

“Not yet. I just saw a booth with a Fiona plush. We can’t leave until I win it.”

“Fine,” I groan. “I’m going to go to the restroom. That second lemonade was a little too much for my bladder.”

“Oh, could you look for my ring? I took it off when I went earlier, and I think I accidentally set it down and left it.”

I nod and take off in the direction of the porta potties, trying to act like I’m not looking for him. I’m surprised when I manage to walk the whole way without seeing him. He has been everywhere that I have turned this whole time, so it’s almost strange not to see him.

Maybe he went home.

I should be happy about that, not disappointed, right? Then why do I feel my heart sink?

I didn’t want to see him when he was here, and now that he’s gone, I wish that he was here, even if it was just so he could glare at me.

I have to wait a minute to get into the porta potty that Penny was in earlier. When it's finally vacant, I look around and immediately spot her purple ring on top of the container of hand sanitizer. I would suggest that she just burn the thing if I didn’t know that it was a family heirloom, passed down through generations. I pocket it, and as I go to close the door behind me, I feel someone else pulling against it.

“What the—?”

Something—or rather someone—plows into me, and I’m shoved into the corner, almost falling onto the toilet.

“Baz?!” I ask, immediately noticing his familiar hair, once again slicked away from his face. I can still remember the way that it feels as my fingers slide through it, and I have to shake my head to clear the memory. “What are you doing in here?”

The door is forced shut behind him, and a moment later, I hear Penny’s voice.

“I’m locking you both in there until you can figure out whatever is going on between the two of you. I’m tired of all the moping and wistful gazes. Talk it through. Communicate for once!”

“Wait,” I call. “I have your ring!”

“Yeah, right. I’ll be back after I win a Fiona plush.”

I try to open the door, but she must have jammed it somehow. I bang on it twice before giving up with a sigh. We’re stuck in here until Penny decides to let us out.

It stinks in here. Did it smell this bad last time? I can’t remember. All I remember about that was wanting to kiss Baz.

Now, all I want is to get out of here. I do not want to talk to Baz. I can’t bear for this to officially end, especially not in the place where it all began.

Neither of us says anything as we stand there awkwardly. I can’t even look at him, so I look around the walls of the small space that we’re in. Someone has covered them in Shrek stickers.

Who would do that? Who would want to do that? I can’t even stand being in here for a couple of minutes, let alone the amount of time that it would have taken to place all of these stickers.

Still, looking at them is better than the alternative: facing Baz and having to talk to him about what’s going on.

The silence between us grows and stretches until it feels like it’s suffocating me, and the only way to catch a breath is by saying something.

There is only one thing for me to say.

“Baz,” I start, and it comes out as a whisper. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to break up with someone I love.

I never even got the chance to tell him how I feel. I wanted to. There were so many moments when I almost did, but none of them felt right. Then, that day came, and there were no more opportunities. It all fell away.

I can’t even figure out why it turned into a fight that day. We were just hanging out, then it felt like he started insulting me out of nowhere about the state of my room, telling me that he couldn’t stand to be in there anymore.

“I don’t think that is going to work,” I say finally.

“Wait, turn around, would you? If we’re going to have this conversation, in a porta potty of all places, I would like to at least be able to see your face.”

I turn slowly to face him. He looks uncomfortable and cramped with arms crossed over his chest as he tries not to bump up against me, which is difficult in such a small space.

I can’t meet his eyes. I know that when I look up, I’ll see the end of all of this in his eyes. I can’t bear to see it yet. I need to hear him say that this is over.

“Simon,” he says softly, and I can’t help it. I look up because I’m weak. I will always be weak for him.

He’s so beautiful, even here. It’s hard to look at him sometimes, especially now when I’m not sure how much longer I will be allowed to do this, to look at him so openly.

“Just say that’s over,” I mumble. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Is that what you want? To break up?”

“No.” Of course not, but it’s what he wants, right? To get away from me and my mess of a life.

“Then can we talk about this for a moment?”

I nod. Fine. We are stuck here together, after all.

“What went wrong that day at your apartment?” Baz asks. “I thought things were going well, then you started yelling.”

“You were insulting me. How else was I supposed to react? Was I supposed to do a song and dance and thank you for being mean to me?”

“I wasn’t trying to be mean. I wanted you to move in with me.”

I freeze at his words. “What?”

Move in with him? He never said anything of the sort. I know I don’t always understand what people mean, but I’m certain that he didn’t say anything like that.

“I told you that I was getting my own place, and I was going to ask you to come look at apartments with me so that we could find a place that suits both of us.”

“You told me that my place was a disaster and that you couldn’t stand to spend so many nights there. All you did was insult me. How was I supposed to take that?”

“I know that I didn’t quite go about it the right way, but I was trying to make finding a new place seem appealing,” he explains.

“By making me feel bad about my own space?” I ask, trying not to raise my voice too much.

“I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know you didn’t, but it still hurt. That is the one place that I have been able to call my own, and you spent several minutes verbally tearing it apart. It made me feel like shit.”

Baz sighs. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that. I love all of your stuff, and I’m not just saying that,” he adds when I start to protest. “I love all of the little things that you’ve collected. Those little animal figurines that you have sitting in a box? I want to get you a shelf so that you can proudly display them in the open. All of those graphic novels that you have hidden under your bed because you think I will ridicule you for them because they have pictures? I want to build you a shelf for them and read them with you so that I can see the kinds of books that you enjoy. And the—.”

“Okay, I get it,” I say, cutting him off. I can feel a smile building on my face as I say, “You like my stuff.”

“I’m sorry for what I said. I want to try to make things right with you. You don’t have to move in with me if you don’t want to, but I don’t want us to break up.”

“I would love to go apartment hunting with you, if you’ll still let me.”

“Of course I will. Because I…. I love you, Simon.”

He loves me?

He’s never said it before. Neither of us have. I always hoped, but I was never too sure.

“I love you,” he repeats, softer this time. “I have loved you for so long, and these past two weeks when we were fighting have been so hard.”

As he talks, his eyes roam around until they land on the floor. He won’t look at me anymore.

“You love me?” I ask, my voice shaking.

He nods slowly, almost like he’s ashamed to admit it. Or like he’s worried about my response.

Well, he shouldn’t be worried. I have loved him for a while now. I just never thought that I would get to hear him say it back.

Baz turns away from and jiggles the handle, trying to get the door open again, but it doesn’t budge. He groans and closes his eyes.

“Baz,” I whisper, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. He still won’t look at me, so I take a deep breath and try again. “Baz, I-I love you, too.”

His eyes are wide as he jerks his head up to look at me.

“I love you,” I say again.

He starts to lean towards me, and I reach up to put a hand at the back of his neck, tangling my fingers in his hair.

I let him take the lead and kiss me first. Sometimes, it feels like I’m always the one initiating things, and I start to get lost in it all. If he starts it, then It might be nice to let him have control this time.

He pulls me against him as he leans back against the wall, and I allow myself to lean into his touch, letting him take the lead, take whatever he wants from me.

I would give him the world if that’s what he wanted.

Baz and I pull away to look at each other, panicking as we both realize what’s about to happen.

The porta potty tips over, and it’s filled with shouts as we go tumbling downhill. Baz curses, and I hear people shouting outside. We roll over several times before we crash to a stop, the door popping open above us as the porta potty finally settles.

I groan, not feeling any pain, but definitely feeling something squishy beneath my feet - and in my shoes and jeans. I try really hard not to think too much about it.

It takes Baz and me a moment to get reoriented enough to climb out, and when we’re both safely outside of the runaway porta potty, I catch sight of Penny running towards us, with a worried look on her face and a Princess Fiona plush in one hand.

“Oh my god. What happened?” She asks.

“The thing fell over,” I tell her. I reach into my pocket and grab her ring. “Here.”

She looks a little guilty as she takes it from me.

I look around us and think that it’s a good thing that we rolled away from the fair, but I’m not so sure rolling towards the street was a great alternative as cars race by barely a foot away from us.

I take a few steps away from the street and say, “Let’s just go.”

“You are not getting into my car like that,” Penny says.

“This is your fault! If you hadn’t locked us in there, I wouldn’t be covered in…” I shiver, unable to even say aloud what exactly it is that I must be covered in. All sorts of things. Such disgusting things.

“You can ride with me,” Baz offers. “I’ll have to burn my car after tonight anyway. Having you there won’t make anything worse.”

Is that some kind of weird compliment? I wonder. Is that his way of saying that he likes me around?

I’m probably reading too much into it, but I smile at him all the same, taking his hand as we begin to walk towards his car.

“I love you,” I whisper as we put some space in between us and Penny, the words rolling easily off my tongue like I’ve been saying this for a long time.

He squeezes my hand and smiles at me.

“I love you, too, Simon.”

As we make our way to the makeshift parking lot in the field behind the fairgrounds, I see a Shrek sticker stuck to the sleeve of Baz’s shirt. I reach to pull it off, and smiling to myself, I tuck it into my pocket for safekeeping.

I may need this one day.

#snowbaz #snowbaz fic #simon snow #baz pitch #carry on #wayward son #rainbow rowell #snowbaz fanfiction #my writing #love and porta potties #ch 3 will be up on friday #if i ever get around to finishing the edits #haha

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fleursowl · 5 years

Text

Now and Forever

An unprompted fic that came to me in the middle of the night. I don’t remember writing it, which is a little creepy, but ah well.

Warnings: infidelity (kinda??), a LOT of angst, barely barely there but if you squint you can see where it would be suggested smut

Simon

I didn’t want to do it. Hell, I wish I hadn’t done it. But I did.

Baz had too much to deal with, too many problems and fights to face to deal with me. After all, he’d fallen in love with Simon Snow, the Chosen One, the future Mage, the magician.

And now I am none of those things- except Simon Snow. I still don’t feel like him very much, either.

I don’t feel like him especially when I lie in the spare bed of Dev’s flat, ignoring the worried messages and missed calls from him.

You’d have thought he’d given up by now.

It’s been a two weeks, after all.

Two weeks since I walked out.

Baz

The only way I know he isn’t dead is through Penny.

She’s sitting opposite me, her eyes sad, but not the my-best-friend-is-missing-and-could-be-dead type of sad, the yes-Baz-I-know-he’s-breaking-your-heart type of sad. She refuses to tell me where he is, though.

“Come on, Baz.” she attempts, poking my foot with hers. “You haven’t even left the flat for two weeks. Dev and Niall will be there, and Micah, and everyone else-“

“Fine.” I interrupt, just to get her to shut up. Crowley, I can’t stand living with myself. “I’ll come.”

Simon

I’m not sure why I let Dev persuade me into coming. After all, I’m hiding, arent I? Hiding from Baz- hiding from my responsibilities- hiding from my life. But I suppose it’ll be a good distraction from all of those things.

When we get there it’s just me, Dev and Niall- Trixie and her girlfriend (I forget the name) haven’t arrived yet. There’s a boy across the bar looking at me unsubtly underneath his eyelashes, and it makes me feel slightly ill. I stand up, and the blood rushes to my head.

“I’m just going for a smoke.” I announce, and make accidental eye contact with the boy once more before walking into the alley and lighting a cigarette.

“Hi.” the boy says, appearing next to me and leaning against the wall.

“Hi?” I say more uncertainly, and before I know what’s happening, I’m being pushed against a wall and being snogged within an inch of my life.

It’s weird. I’ve only ever kissed two people in my life, and this boy isn’t like either of them. Agatha was soft and tentative and never really there, always chaste- and Baz was, well, Baz was everything.

This boy is neither of those things. But he’s a distraction.

A small, choked noise is made to the side of us, and we jump apart. Well. I jump. The boy’s hand is still on my hip.

I look to the side, and, standing there, is Baz and Penny. Penny looks extremely uncomfortable and also rather scared, but behind that is a pity I can’t bloody stand to see.

Baz looks ruined.

Baz

Simon Snow is standing in front of me. Simon Snow, who I haven’t seen in two weeks. Simon Snow, my boyfriend. Or so I thought.

I’ve been stabbed before. I’ve been shot before. I’ve been shoved inside a coffin with no food water air or blood, and it was nothing like this.

Nothing compares to this pain.

He’s standing there, panting, with his hair messy just like I make it, and his cheeks red just like I make them, and his lips swollen just like I turn them. Except, this time it wasn’t me.

I’d always had my suspicions that I wasn’t alive, but now there’s no doubt. There’s no way in hell or on earth that you can feel like this, feel this pain, have this screaming mantra in the back of your head, have this hand clutched around your heart, without being alive.

Oh, how I wish I was dead.

Simon

His grey eyes have turned almost black, and he’s shaking.

“So,” he whispers, clenching his fists, “This is where you’ve been.”

“Baz, no, it’s not-“ He’s walking away. “Baz- wait!” I call desperately after him.

“Let him go, Simon.” Penny says sadly. “There’s nothing you can say right now.”

But I’m not going to do that.

I’ve known for a long time now, and seeing the hurt in his eyes, the raw betrayal, the pure, truthful pain, I’m in pieces. This is how it feels, I think, this is how it feels to be in love.

I’ve liquidised and I’m spilling down, down, down into the drains like the scum I am.

How could I do this?

I set off at a run towards our flat- his flat- yet I still don’t meet him on the way there. Curse him and his long, fit legs.

To my surprise, there’s still a key in my pocket.

Well. It’s now or never.

Baz

As soon as I reach our flat- my flat- I collapse onto the nearest chair by the table, still shaking.

The tears take a while to come, shock having numbed my brain and nerves. But oh, when they come, they come. I’m crying him a river, yet he’s basking in the ocean, and I’m drowning, I’m drowning, I’m drowning-

At some point I must have thrown a vase across the room- the vase he produced when he pulled a bunch of roses out from behind his back on the third week, mumbled stutters of I know you’re not a girl but immediately covered by an intense kiss that lead to an intense tangle of sheets and gasps and first times.

There’s a noise at the door, but I don’t register it. I’m slumped over the table, my hands in my hair, and for one of the first times in my life, I don’t care what I look like. I can’t move, I can’t think, I can’t even breathe. All I can do is sit here and cry, sit here and hurt hurt hurt.

Simon

I’ve never seen Baz cry before. Sure, he got a little teary at the end of Titanic- even though he vehemently disputed this- and sometimes he cries a little in his sleep, in the middle of what seems to be a bad nightmare, but by the time I’ve shaken him awake and pressed soft kisses to his forehead, he’s fast asleep again, cheeks already dry.

This is nothing like that.

This is an avalanche.

He’s sitting at the table, shaking. Still shaking. There’s a- Crowley, is that a pool of tears on the table? I turn, and see a smashed vase on the other side of the room.

Fuck, this is it.

“Baz.” I say quietly, moving towards him. He startles, looking up at me, and tears are still streaming down his cheeks- pooling in his eyes and then spilling over, accompanied by heart-wrenching shudders. “Baz, love, I-“ I reach towards him, and he flinches away so hard he falls off his chair.

“You don’t get to call me that right now.” he says, and where there would be venom, where I know he intends for there to be venom, there is just a chasm of sadness. I pull up a chair, and sit.

He stands up, and walks out of the room.

Oh, Crowley.

Penny

Simon Snow is an idiot, and you heard it here first.

Well, maybe that’s a little harsh. He isn’t an idiot. He just doesn’t think. I know he’s in love with Baz, but I also knew that Baz has been in love with him since second year. I just decided not to tell Simon.

But Crowley, you’d think Simon would’ve worked it out. A fool could’ve seen.

The same goes for Baz- the amount of times he’s quietly confessed to me that he doesn’t think Simon loves him is, well, shocking. A fool could see the love Simon has for that boy. He just doesn’t always know how to show it.

And now it’s all going to blow up. I’m not going to be a part of it this time. I’ve had enough of fixing them. They need to work this out themselves, for once.

Simon

Baz is sitting by the window with his knees pulled into his chest and his chin rested atop them. It makes him look younger, and my heart tugs. I sit down on the floor next to him. He doesn’t acknowledge my presence.

“I’ve never been the best with words.” I start, and a flicker of something flashes in his eyes, but it’s gone as quickly as it comes. “But I want to try.”

I get up, and sit cross legged opposite him on the window seat, taking his hand.

He doesn’t pull away. It’s a start.

“Having my magick taken away from me- giving my magick away- is like- it’s like a part of me is missing.” I begin, and his eyes briefly meet mine before he looks away. He looks pitiful, even now. “And I’ve tried to fill that missing part of me with other things. Things like you, and Penny, and Dev and Niall, and- I don’t know, just, having someone. But I need to be someone.”

“You are someone.” Baz whispers. “You’re everything. You’re everything to me and Penny.”

We stare at each other for a few, intense seconds, and my breath is taken away.

“I just- for fuck’s sake Baz, I have so many emotions.” I groan, banging my head against the window. It rattles. “And, the way I feel about you, it- it scares me sometimes.”

“I scare you?” Baz whispers, looking up. If I thought he looked hurt before, in the alley, this is a million times worse. This time it looks like he hates himself.

“No! Baz- Baz, love, that’s not what I meant.” I whisper, stroking his hand with my thumb. “I meant- the way I feel about you- how intense and powerful and consuming it is- that scares me. And, well, I’m not the Chosen One anymore, am I.” I laughed humourlessly. “That’s who you fell in love with. My magick. So I had to leave- before it got worse. Before you were tied down with a useless, uninteresting sod like me.”

“Simon Snow.” Baz whispers, “If tonight has proved anything, it’s that you are far from uninteresting.” He leans forward, taking my other hand. “I didn’t fall in love with the Chosen One. Yes, that’s what first attracted me to you, but that’s not what I fell in love with.” He takes a deep sigh, closing his eyes. “I fell in love with the boy who jumped in a lake in the middle of winter to save a baby bird. The boy who eats crisps at his desk, and can’t concentrate unless he’s chewing on something. Who always wakes up smiling, no matter what nightmare he’s had the night before. Who never gives up on his friends, ever, and always sees the good in people. Who has faults, and flaws, like every other fucking human being, but is inherently a good person. And that’s you,” he jabs me in the stomach, “not your magick.”

“You love me?” I whisper, caught massively off guard.

“Crowley, Snow, is that all you took from that? Yes, I’m in love with you. I have been for a long time now, and I don’t intend to stop anytime soon.” he says, raising an eyebrow at me. It contrasts so greatly with his red-rimmed eyes that I burst out laughing- or crying, I’m not sure which I’m doing.

“Fuck, Baz, I love you, I love you, I’m so in love with you” I laugh-sob, collapsing into his chest. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.” Baz nuzzles into me, his body relaxing.

Baz

He’s home, and he’s in my arms, and that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter that he smells like another boy and cheap alcohol, he’s here. He’s crying into my chest, and I’m crying into his shoulder. But we’re both laughing.

“Wanna go shower?” I offer tentatively. Simon pulls off me, and nods, wiping his eyes. We stand up, and he takes a deep sigh. “Yeah, that would be good. I feel, I dunno, unclean.”

I pinch my nose and smirk at him. “Yeah, and you smell it too.” He grins, and punches me on the shoulder.

Simon

I could live as long as eighty, and I will never get used to the sight of Baz naked. He gets in the shower before me, of course, bloody bathroom hog that he is, and I nearly slip over when I see him.

Crowley, he’s fit.

I move towards him, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my chin on his shoulder.

“Hello there, Snow.” he says without turning around, and I hum softly into his shoulder.

“Any reason you’re being so touchy?”

I let myself relax into him, the full weight of everything that happened sinking in.

“I’m sorry.” I murmur, pressing a kiss to his neck. “I didn’t like it.” Another kiss. “‘Was strange.” Another kiss. “Not like you.” Another kiss. “Nowhere near as good as you.” Another kiss. “Didn’t even want it.” Another kiss. “I’ve missed you.” A longer, heavier kiss.

By the time I’m finished Baz is flushed- he must’ve drunk before he went out with Penny- and is panting slightly. He spins around, his hands on my waist, and fixes me with a look that makes me shiver all over.

“Let’s get his smell off you, shall we?” he murmurs, pressing me against the wall. I sigh in relief, and tilt my head back.

This is home. This is where I want to be. In Baz’s arms.

Now, and forever.

#snowbaz headcanon #snowbaz ficlet #snowbaz fic #snowbaz angst #snowbaz smut #snowbaz #simon snow #baz pitch #simon snow x baz pitch

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dylancaledavis · 5 years

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Actual Storytelling Advice #1 Writing a Scene: a demystification

A Book Series is a collection of novels. Novels are collections of chapters. Chapters are collections of scenes. Scenes are...well, what are scenes? This term eluded me for most of my writing life. I could say something was a scene (a la, watching a film and saying “what a great scene!”) But I didn’t know what I was saying was the “scene.” Was it when the camera changed? Was it when the character(s) were in a different location? Was there some deeper emotional resonance that indicated a scene break? (short answer? Yes.)

It was even more confusing in reading stories. Are chapters scenes? Are scenes arbitrarily determined whenever the author damn well pleases? (In amateur writing, yes.)

The truth is, scenes are the building blocks of story. So it came as a shock to me when I got into my MFA in Creative Writing program (shout out to Southern Illinois University) that I had never actually had a scene explained to me. (Thanks, Pinckney Benedict, for doing that.) And after I got the breakdown, my writing transformed overnight. So now I want to transfer this knowledge to anyone who will listen.

No matter what type of fiction we are writing, no matter the genre, setting, whatever, we will greatly improve it by using this simple formula:

1. Entering Emotion

2. Conflict Impeding Desire

3. Exiting Emotion

Sure, it’s always a lot more complicated than this, but these are the three phrases that should guide all scenes. But, let’s break them down individually so we can get a better understanding of their functions.

1. Entering Emotion

The entering emotion portion of the scene is the beginning. When a character walks into a room, gets into their car, finds the antagonist, sizes up the monster, goes into the cave, etc. They must start with (and our audience should know) what the POV character’s entering emotion is. This is usually tied to something called the conscious and unconscious desires (read Libbie Hawker’s book “Take Off Your Pants!” for a better explanation of that, though I will do another post which breaks that down another time).

So, if our character is entering a scene, we must establish what their emotion is. Are they scared? Happy? Timid? Worried? Exhausted? Bewildered? All emotions are viable. Here’s an example from something I’ve written. It’s Cyberpunk, so that should be your visual guide, here.

Coming home after a long day at the cricketflour plant, 5icmi slouched in his suspension chair. He didn’t want to go into Samsara, but the AVR world was a helluva lot better than his six by six capsule flat. Maybe he’d go to Ludmila’s club later, if he was feeling up to it.

“Whatever,” he said to himself.

What do we think the entering emotional state of this scene is? 5icmi isn’t happy, not by any stretch. He isn’t jovial (though he does seem a funny in a jaded sort of way.)

Primarily, what 5icmi feels in this scene is boredom. He doesn’t want to do anything, but he also doesn’t want to do anything else, either. This is important for the story because...well, why do you think? Humans intuit story. It’s ingrained in our consciousness. What do you think is going to happen to 5icmi in this scene based on your own intuitions? Is he going to stay bored? Are we going to have to follow a boring character in a boring ass story? No!

We shouldn’t waste audience’s time like that. Instead, we do this:

2. Conflict Impeding Desire

The “Impeding Desire” part of this will make more sense in a later post, as it's a concept I want to focus on by itself. For now, we’ll just talk about the conflict. Conflict is story. You cannot have a story without one (I can write a whole post about this, too, but let’s just accept that part as fact for the sake of brevity). Now, a lot of writers misunderstand conflict.

Conflict does not mean “fighting another person.” We don’t need physical conflict. Not every scene needs to be a fight scene (although, good fight scenes employ the exact same structure as any other scene, just watch this clip from “The Princess Bride.” PROTIP: Inigo’s entering emotion is “smug.”

What conflict is in storytelling terms is something that which gets in the way of a character. This could be physical or non-physical. Frightening or funny (or both). It is an obstacle at its core.

What makes a good conflict vs a bad one? Well, once again, humans intuit this very well in stories. If the character’s entering emotional state is boredom, what should the obstacle be? It wouldn’t make sense to suddenly have a romance conflict, right? It wouldn’t work if the conflict was starvation. Make the conflict reflect the character’s entering emotional state. Let’s return to 5icmi:

5icmi clutched the dangling omnis between his fingers. One by one, he inserted them into the microports on his occipital lobe. Once they were all connected, he flicked the switch and dove into Samsara.

His homeworld was a private one. He’d made sure to adjust his privacy settings so nobody could fuck with his AVR haven. He appeared on his deck overlooking a perfectly trimmed, green yard. A Yutag rifle was propped on the railing. 5icmi shouldered the rifle out of habit, not really caring if he actually hit anything. He aimed at a can atop a stump across the yard. That’s when he saw a face in the bushes looking up at him.

“Who the fuck is that?” he said, lowering the rifle.

“Hello stranger!” the face in the bushes said. They stood straight, and 5icmi noticed the avatar was at least 3 meters tall.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. There’s a person in 5icmi’s private world! He’s not bored anymore, is he? See, we took details about his life at the beginning of the scene: He’s a VR junkie, lives alone, and is very bored. Then we spun them into the conflict. An unwanted stranger has come into his life (this will be another post, too, follow me to read that post!)

The character of this story seems stubborn and almost resigned to being bored all the time, but something impeded it. This will always happen in our scenes. It has to, otherwise the story doesn’t make us feel anything.

I hope that when you got to the part of the face in the bushes, your heart did the tiniest flutter. Maybe you blinked one more time than usual. Your skin went weird.

If it did, I transferred emotion from my character to you (yet another planned blog post.) If I did that, I did my job as a fiction writer.

And so finally:

3. Exiting Emotion

This last part of scene structure does double duty, because not only does it establish the end of the scene, but it usually marks the beginning of the next scene, as well (more on that in a moment.)

The exiting emotion of a scene should be the opposite or opposite-adjacent from the entering emotion. If your character is happy, they should leave sad, worried, disheveled, frightened. If they are sad, they should be happy, elated, or even just a flicker of hopeful. If they are angry, they should be calm or subdued. You get the idea.

The reason for this is because, when you have that miniature emotional arc in your scene, you’ve created movement in your character. Your character has changed, and humans like change. There’s nothing more boring than watching television static or paint dry. We call those things boring is because they don’t change in a meaningful way.

Characters have to change in a meaningful way, otherwise they become static. Scenes are where we get to make micro-changes to your character which will build atop one another to the big change they make at the end of the story.

But there’s something else about exiting emotions that is as, if not more, important.

Exiting emotions inform the next scene. We now know that the character will start scene A as happy and by the end of that scene they will be sad. So scene B starts with them sad, right? It would be weird to start each scene with your character as happy like they have a reset button.

But what does that mean for scene B? If they start sad (because of Scene A) then they should leave scene B happy or happy adjacent? Yes. This was one of the more difficult things for me to grasp when I started writing scenes. It feels clunky and artificial at first to write this way.

After a while, though, I noticed how much more emotional my writing became. My characters started changing, started feeling things. They’d go from happy to scared to hopeful to worried to resolute and I would want to follow them to their conclusion because they were on a journey. It was amazing!

Here’s the end of the scene, just so you can see a curated example:

5icmi raised the rifle again. He trained the laser point on the intruder’s face.

“How’d you get in here?” he said. The intruder put his palms up.

“There’s no need to be frightened, dear boy. I, too, don’t know how I ended up in your space. I was casually dining at the hubworld when suddenly, bloop! I froze and reloaded here. Now I can’t seem to get out!”

5icmi wanted to believe this person, but the smile on their face was toothy and hiding something.

“I’m getting out of here, get ready for a fucking report to the Samsara dev team,” 5icmi said. He rotated his arm to conjure the tool menu. He selected “exit” but nothing happened. He selected it again, nothing. 5icmi tried to remove the omnis plugged into his occipital lobe, but they were stuck. 5icmi looked up, and saw that the avatar had moved closer. The avatar was more hunched now. The smile painted on its face was much, much wider.

“Let’s chat, friend,” the avatar called up. “Just you, and me.”

So, 5icmi has gone from bored, to frightened. Neutral to negative. So what do you think his next emotion should be at the end of scene 2?

If you string enough of these together, you’ll have a short story or a chapter of a novel. If you do that 10 times, you’ll have a collection of short stories or a novel. It’s really all it is, but no one would know without the Demystification of scene structure!

Thanks so much for reading. I hope this has given you a more concrete understanding of how to structure your scenes and why emotion tied to plot is your best bet to keep a reader glued to your words.

Write on! Have fun! Wig some people out!

Until next time,

Dylan Davis

#writing #writingprompts #cyberpunk #fiction #guide #tutorial #blog #story #storytelling #literature #scene #structure #art

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writingonjorvik · 5 years

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Can We Discuss Why The Flying Foxes Would Make A Better Soul Rider Group?

Ok, spoilers on the new quest below the cut. If you don’t know who the Flying Foxes are, go play the Red String quest. Also, forget upload schedules, I needed to write this down before I forgot it. Also also, I’m not really sure if this is going to be a Can We Discuss or a Jorvegian Myth kinda thing, so kinda a bit of both.

Now, that’s a really big claim to make since that’s kinda the core of the story, and as such, it’s going to require this thing people have called opinions (gasp!). And the opinion behind this is that I don’t really feel attached to the Soul Riders. Not that I don’t like them or that I’m not invested in the plot, but half of the attachment needed feels like it comes from the games that SSO is based on but no one has easy access to anymore. And even though I’ve played SSL, I still don’t feel attached to the Soul Riders. Their story is too far removed from me having any nostalgia over them for me to care, or care as much as I should for them being the main plot.

However. I do feel really invested in the Flying Foxes, the new club set up by Emma, Sonja, and Luciana in the new quests. Why? Because I’ve known their whole stories. Hell, I’ve been a part of their whole stories. And while I hope we see more quests about them outside of events, it seems like the devs have really enjoyed writing this budding trio more than the Soul Riders, what with every update having some kind of addition with this group of girls, in some cases more so than the Soul Riders (some of who don’t even show up at events).

So as a team that you get to help build, versus the current Soul Rider squad that you kinda were pushed into, I feel more emotionally attached to the Flying Foxes. They were becoming better friends throughout my story, unlike the Soul Riders who we kinda become the fifth wheel in their group. And while we do get accepted, I’ve never felt like the PC, or my character at least, is part of that group.

And this isn’t a one off issue. It’s hard to write a new character in, particularly one that is supposed to take over as the leader, into an already existing story. Guild Wars 2 did it, and they ended up moving away for a group that the player built up around them over the older existing narrative. Now, SSO is obviously not GW2, but it can’t ignore that writing difficulty that when bonds already exist, it’s hard to make new ones with new people in closed groups. And hell, the PC is never going to be as close as the other Soul Riders, because they’ve already been to pink hell and back with each other in SSL. There is no narrative where we fully fit in with them, and no good narrative where we take over as leader (yet another problem on the shifting leader topic) that feels natural without undermining their dynamic.

And hell, the members of the Flying Foxes can all already fit into the circle archetypes. Luciana is clearly in the Moon Circle. Emma’s kinda reckless and wild attitude reminds me of Lightning, though I could also see her as Star since she’s kinda the heart of the group as her trope. Sonja is a good fit for the Star Circle with her focus on helping people, but she’s a rules stickler. And that fits nicely with the PC being trained in Sun. However, as we know, that’s not the limit of the PC’s abilities. But that leads in nicely into my how, because working this into the narrative is good too.

The PC is connected to Aideen, however you cut the origins. And with that kind of power, why would it be unreasonable for us to be able to gift or awaken magic in others? Or be able to choose what power we think they should have based on our story? Most of the magic just appears as flashy lights anyway, so I don’t think this would be too much of a stretch to let us assign Circles to the new members of a sisterhood. We’re likely going to have those powers ourselves, and with more and more characters on the same stock model, it won’t be a big stretch to add it to other characters.

But here’s the thing. If we do have the powers of a god, why should it be limited to just the Flying Foxes?

Now, I’m not saying that we should be able to give magic to everyone. That would be insane on the devs. However, the story did itself a bit of a knot when it made the whole “gender doesn’t matter” comment with Concorde after having just said that male characters were never coming to the game because this is a “female story.” More reading on this here and why it’s bad. And so now the story is walking this dangerous line about the soul mattering, not the body. And then that also walks the line of saying that only certain people can be important because they were chosen without giving them real agency. Which is dangerous.

Look, not everyone is meant to be a hero. But when you say people are destined just to their lot, like the current Soul Rider narrative does, you support this like celestial caste system, where some people are chosen to do good and others aren’t. And I don’t like predestination. And so now we have a narrative where gender doesn’t actually matter, but we also have a limiting set of terms that have to be met to make the PC a hero where gender still kinda matters. And it feels restricting. It takes away the feeling, the illusion, of control, which doesn’t feel great.

However, give the player the ability to grant magic, to create and build a new “sisterhood(s),” a new cycle, and even though the PC may be reincarnated/chosen/destined, suddenly they are making their own choices as a character, but it also breaks down that idea that SSO has to be about the Soul Riders as we know them. Why does it have to be just the four? There are clearly more druids than that. Why not have more Soul Riders? Why not pick NPCs to take with you on adventures that fit your narrative? Sure, there will still be a limited list, but it’s better than being told you have to be friends with this group of people. Yeah it’s more scripting, but it’s not voice acted. It’s not just about a sisterhood, it’s about sisterhood, the concept, and then by extension, friendship, which is a non-genderbound thing.

The problem with an MMO with a chosen one is that you have to admit that everyone else is also a chosen one. That breaks immersion already. But what if you empower that idea? What if everyone is a chosen one because your PC gave the world the opportunity to be? Not to mention that then gives you the opportunity to genuinely be able to merge your character with others. SSO is clearly testing out the idea of minor combat with the Anwir fight and the archery tease in the quest today. Imagine taking four of your actual friends, each kitted out with different magic types, to go and take down a boss in the core story. It’s not mandatory. You could still go with the Soul Riders, or a new group of Soul Riders, or a mix of the two.

Video games have the unique ability to tell interactive narratives. So let us interact. Let us chose to make bonds and connections that matter to us. Canonically, the Book of Light is gone, the current Soul Riders aren’t really whole (and won’t be a for a while), and we don’t fit in this group. They could use help. And we could use a real place in the story.

Because if this change were made, then the point of the story changes from “You were chosen for a great destiny” to “You chose your destiny.” And only one of those two can translate to real life. Inspire change. Heroes come from everywhere.

#woj analysis #sso #star stable #starstable #star stable online #starstableonline

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tsaomengde · 5 years

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Difficulty vs. Accessibility: Sekiro and Dragon Age

[cross-posting to several media platforms, so I explain the terminology more than would be called for on the subreddit. unmarked spoilers below the cut]

Since From Software’s Sekiro was released a few weeks ago, there has been a great deal of online hullabaloo about its lack of difficulty settings – well, they actually are there, but only in the sense that there are in-game options to make things harder rather than easier. The centerpiece of the debate has been this article:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidthier/2019/03/28/sekiro-shadows-dies-twice-needs-to-respect-its-players-and-add-an-easy-mode/#362a8dc91639

Here’s the thing: in the past, I’ve said games should absolutely offer an easy mode, or ways to speed up progression, for those without the time/ability/inclination to play “as intended” – that is, to play the game the way the developers intended for it to be played. But I’ve mainly had this conversation as regards games like Dragon Age and the newer Deus Exes, which have in fact included these difficulty options.

The crux of the argument about Dragon Age was a developer’s assertion that she would like to see a mode included where combat is either removed or automatically resolved. She was, of course, sent the usual array of death threats and other excreta from the Twitter Brigade, mostly for the crime of being a woman on the Internet with an opinion, but those with an actual bone to pick said basically: “If you take the combat out of the game, there is no game left. There is only a visual novel.”

The reason why I think difficulty settings, and indeed even a way to remove combat altogether, work/would work in Dragon Age is simple. Visual novels are great! Choose-your-own-adventure stories are fun! The heart of the Dragon Age experience is interacting with your companions, exploring the world, learning the lore, making decisions that shape the way the story plays out, and so forth. Do you drink from the Well of Knowledge yourself, or let your morally-ambiguous and rather-too-eager mage advisor do it? Do you stand by while your friend’s mercenary company dies in pursuit of a larger political goal, or do you sacrifice the possibility of an alliance with a foreign power in deference to your friend’s well-being and feelings? Absent the combat, these choices have weight. They have consequences.

The combat, frankly, is the tax you pay to get to experience these things. I like Dragon Age combat just fine, particularly Inquisition’s, to the point where I’ve finished the game on Nightmare. But to my wife, it’s precisely what I said it is: a tax you pay to get to the good bits. On our joint playthroughs, she handles exploration and dialogue, I kill things. She’s 100% capable of killing things just as efficiently as I am, but she doesn’t get the same joy from it. If there were an option to remove the combat and just explore and hang out with your friends, she might be happy at the option to use it.

Here is why, in my estimation, the same argument doesn’t apply to Sekiro.

In Dragon Age, there are two kinds of entities: players, and enemies. Players have a ton of abilities, specializations, equipment, weapons, they have skill combos they can do with their allies, etc. Enemies are big walking chunks of hit points with the ability to make you die unless you use your abilities. Most of the rules you need to follow, like stamina/mana management, cooldowns, positioning AoEs, trying to make your potion supply last from point A to point B, don’t apply to them. They are there to get in your way and make you consume x% of your resources. The combat gameplay does not inform the world, the lore, or the characters, beyond each party member being assigned a specialization that supposedly relates to their character (like Cassandra being given the Templar spec, which is… not accurate). Your mages never have to worry about demonic possession, one of the main story elements driving class warfare in the setting, because that’s not the gameplay experience the devs are trying to sell you.

In Sekiro, you and your enemies are, by and large, the same. You both have health and a Posture meter that gets closer to a guard break as you block more attacks. You can both Deflect enemy attacks to inflict extra Posture damage and avoid taking it yourself. While you have a wide array of skills and techniques, enemies do too. Common enemies do not wander around with the goal of making you consume x% of your resources; they patrol specific routes, on the lookout, with the intent and capability of killing you stone dead if you screw up more than once or twice.

Combat gameplay absolutely informs the world, the lore, and the characters. Sekiro can learn a multitude of special combat techniques, but unlike in Dragon Age, where the different abilities are just buttons you press to do different things for different kinds of damage or effects, these techniques have a presence in the world. The Ashina-style Ichimonji, a powerful downward swing that restores your Posture, and the Ashina Cross, a sword-drawing technique, are both available to you and your enemies who practice Ashina swordsmanship. You can counter enemy thrust attacks with a shinobi technique called the Mikiri Counter, where you step on an enemy blade as it’s thrust at you. So when you fight your shinobi father Owl, who taught you everything you know, and you try a thrust attack on him… well, he hits you with his own Mikiri Counter. He also knows your Chasing Slice follow-up attack to a shuriken throw, the Shadowfall thrust technique you can learn… the list goes on.

If the game wasn’t difficult, wasn’t punishing, if you could just tap R1 through every fight and occasionally dodge the really dangerous attacks, you wouldn’t recognize these things. The difficulty of the game also encourages you to use stealth attacks, throw dirt in people’s eyes, kill from a distance with shuriken, use firecrackers to interrupt enemy attacks… In other words, you are forced by the exigency of your situation to really adopt a shinobi mindset. Once you really know the game, your moveset, and your tools, you can run into a crowd of three or four guys and come out on top, and it feels awesome, but not at first. And even at the very end of the game, normal enemies are still totally capable of murdering you, to say nothing of the bosses, so you can never let your guard down.

So much of the story, the lore, of Sekiro, is communicated in this way, through your learned experiences and your struggles to master the systems of the world. Watching someone play through the game is thrilling when they demonstrate skill, but it’s not the same as doing it yourself. So the question is: how do you make such a difficult, tailored experience accessible?

I’ve thought a lot about it, and the answer I keep coming to is that you don’t. You do everything you can to make it actually accessible – Sekiro already has completely remappable controls, multiple spoken language tracks for people who don’t want to or can’t deal with subtitles, adjustable gore levels – but at the end of the day, you can’t compromise the core of the experience. I’ve read accounts from multiple people with disabilities on the Sekiro subreddit who, in point of fact, decry the call for “accessibility” and the use of the disabled community as a talking point. They don’t want to be pandered to; they want to play the game as it was intended, same as everyone else, regardless of any additional complications. Speaking as a person on the spectrum, if someone handed me a visual novel that had been tweaked to be more “accessible” to me, and they had tweaked it by taking out characters’ emotional ambiguity because we Aspies sure are bad with those Feelings, I would feel… well. Not great, not at all! I would rather play the actual visual novel and take the risk of not 100% grokking what was happening on the first run.

Another argument: at this point, we can all agree that Games Can Be Art. Yes? Good. The purpose of art is to create emotion. So we have to ask: what is the vehicle the art uses to deliver that emotion? In Dragon Age, the vehicle is your interactions with the other characters, the choices you make, and the ways in which the story changes depending on those choices. These elements are present in Sekiro, but a fundamental part of its vehicle is the experience of being in the world.

Confronting Genichiro, the man who cut off your arm, in the middle of a lightning storm on top of a castle which you have spent the past hour scaling, fighting off enemy shinobi the entire way, and barely scraping out a victory by redirecting his own lightning attacks back at him – there is a raw edge of desperation that feeds back in to a tremendously powerful feeling of victory and satisfaction. The analogous situation in Dragon Age, the big battle against Corypheus, does not create the same feelings because the situation is manufactured. He supplies the battlefield, drops you into it, and then you have a little fight. Your emotions about him and the situation come from the events leading up to it and their impact on you and your allies. The cathartic element present in Sekiro is absent here, and the difference in the execution of gameplay-as-story is at the center of this contrast.

To sum up, the difficulty of Sekiro is directly tied to the player’s experiences in and understanding of the world, and thus it is an essential component of the game qua art. Changing any element of it to make it less demanding and punishing would change the essence of the art form. This is in contrast to Dragon Age, whose gameplay does not directly inform story and as a result can change the nature of that gameplay without compromising its essential player experience.

#sekiro #dragon age #difficulty #accessibility #long post #spoilers

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osmw1 · 4 years

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Dimension Wave Chapter 33 — A Battle under Moonlight

It was our fourth day out venturing on the Sea of No Return.

The waters were calm, making for easy experience and loot. That was of course a good thing, but a few problems had surfaced.

“We’ve finished all the food that we brought.” “… ‘Kay.” “Oh, and we’re also out of bait. Once we eat through the fish I’ve caught, then we’re out of luck.” “W-Whatever shall we do?!” “There’s nothing worse than an empty stomach~”

We never planned to be on a long voyage. I mean, when I said that we brought food, it’s really nothing more than just simple rations. Well, it’s not like I can’t fish without bait, but it’ll be a little tricky to feed all six of us. My cooking skill isn’t that refined either, so it’s more than likely it’ll result in a few failed attempts. That means we absolutely need to obtain and maintain our supply level.

“It ain’t all bad though.” “What do you mean?” “See, we’ve been without fresh water for a few days and we’re alright, aren’t we?” “… I see.” “Altorese is indeed correct.”

It’s true. Water should have been a problem long ago. I remember someone saying that if you go hungry in the game, it might become a problem once you’re finished playing. It probably has something to do with the program that brings us back to real life. As my real life friend once said, Dimension Wave is like a dream that you can vividly remember. There’s something sad about that, but hey, at least playing this probably won’t hurt your school grades too bad, unlike video games. … Let’s get back on track to the problem at hand.

“It’s a game after all. We might feel hungry, but that’s just a virtual thing and we won’t die from hunger. Worst case scenario might actually be overeating.” “I don’t think that far ahead… Well, anyway, let me see if I can’t do anything about getting us more food.”

In the end, I was thrown back into fishing, which was what I wanted to do from the beginning. No more high-quality bait means that I won’t be able to catch us anything big like tuna but I’ll still be able to get smaller fish. Here was where my shining lure came into play. Since it’s always lit up, I’ve been using it as my light source at night. I also found out that the lure can’t catch me anything during daytime, but it attracts squid at night. Or so says Alto anyway.

“Hello, shining squid lure.”

Makes sense that you need a squid lure for squid. I mean, it looks like a normal lure… except for the part where it lights up. In any case, I could solve our hunger problem with it. Let’s get that squid. Not that I can catch anything but squid at night. In mere days, I caught myself close to 500 of them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

“I bite my thumb at thee, Miss Kizuna!”

Such were the hurtful words hurled unto me. Even Sheryl needed to vent her frustration of too much squid. That was by shooting them out of her ballista.

Day in, day out, it was me, my fishing rod, and squid. Never mind the fact that I had over 1,000 of them in my inventory. What a lure. I still stood by the words I said that day at that time at that location: it’s worth every penny.

But there’s something about the Sea of No Return. Not sure what it is, but monsters come out only during the day. Even back at the outskirts of the First City, monsters would come out at night. What, did the devs want to give us a break or something? Seems highly unlikely. In any ordinary RPG, you’d find old clichéd dungeons like The Labyrinth or The Endless Desert where every route takes you down a different path and you can’t get out unless you solve a puzzle. It kinda feels like that. It’s getting close to a week out here at sea and we’re all getting a little stressed. Of course, the fact that we only have squid definitely contributes to it. We’ve gotta do something about this.

“Are they biting?” “… Oh, it’s you, Shouko.”

I was a little surprised when someone spoke to me since I get lost in my thoughts while late night fishing. Shouko sat down beside me and gazed up at the moon. The moon’s out tonight… It sure looks bigger in this world than the real thing. Big as it is though, it doesn’t shine very bright.

“Nature sure is wonderful.” “Something bothering you?” “Oh, no… Though I realize this world was created by people, who would think that a single storm would change all of our lives?” “Yeah, you’re right.”

We were unlucky getting sucked in by the storm, but I didn’t think that would result in all six of us living together on this ship. Up until now, we all had our individual rooms at our accommodation. It almost feels like we’re on a field trip together, at the risk of sounding like I’m taking this a little too lightly. But especially because of that, we must find a way to get through this together. Games are designed to be figured out if you pay close enough attention to the details. If we can’t find the answer, it means we’re not looking hard enough.

“Kizuna, you have a bite.” “S’alright. Squid aren’t that hard to catch.”

The tip of my line was bobbing up and down.

… No, wait. That’s no squid.

I had tirelessly fished for the past few days, so I know what squid feels like. There’s nothing but squid around here at night and it’s not because of my light-up lure. But that’s the problem. I’ve caught a thousand of them but this ain’t one. This had to be a rare catch. Literally. Anyway, time to reel…

“Come!”

—Kathunk! I’ve had a bite like this before and it’s a day and night difference compared to my normal catches. This… this was it. This was the Giant Herring.

“No, can’t be. This is more powerful…!” “Kizuna, it’s pulling our ship.” “… Damn! Go get Sheryl for me! I need her Harpoon skills or maybe…” “On it!”

I didn’t have the mental capacity to track Shouko as she disappeared under deck. My full attention was on the tip of my fishing rod. The line was connected directly to my cranial nerves. And when I felt it, I pulled… and reeled.

The reel, a compatible pairing to deep sea fishing and lures, was a new addition to my rod. It wasn’t too easy to the hang of it, but it provides a lot more leverage. The complex part is casting with a lure. It seems like it’s not too dissimilar to how they work in real life. Anyway, trust me when I say I feel like I’m one with my rod.

“… Here, Kizuna.” “Sheryl, you think you can use your harpoon and hit where I tell you to?” “… Possibly.” “Please! I won’t be able to do this alone.”

I mean, harpoons were originally for spearfishing anyway. It makes for a perfect weapon against a huge sea creature. That’s why I don’t think anyone would be more suited for this job other than Sheryl.

“… Where?” “Hold on…”

While we attacked and defended, I also tried to locate where the aquatic animal was. My mind and my rod are one. I… should know where it is. It should be like searching through with my mind, probably. Oh, I see. The Crystal of Mediation must’ve pulled its aggro. Maybe that’s why I was able to catch a thousand of them squid. But this… thing… I feel its hatred searing my skin. And it’s…

“Right there!” “… Bomber Lancer.”

A mid-tier skill for Harpoon-type weapons. It was a mid-range combat skill where you throw the harpoon like a javelin. With one hand on the cord, Sheryl chucked her harpoon out with an explosive visual effect. The missile audibly sunk deep into the creature. Reeling it in was instantly easier, but it started moving again.

“How many more can you do?” “I’m fine.” “I’m counting on you.” “‘Kay.”

It wouldn’t sit well with my pride if I let Sheryl do all the heavy lifting. As difficult as it was, I kept on reeling. From time to time, her harpoon would whiz by… It was strong enough to nearly stunlock the bastard. It helped immensely as I tried to fish it up.

“Keep it up!” “Mm.”

The battle dragged on, wearing down on our spirits. At least our enemy’s stamina is also being exhausted. But of course. It’s a 2v1. No way we’d lose.

“Sheryl, our next bout will end it!” “… Aight.”

With her harpoon gripped firmly, I signaled her to attack with all her might. And our enemy…

“… I mean, I get it, but.”

We fished up—or rather, hunted—a humongous squid. It’s apparent that it’s related to the Giant Herring. Thank you very much. We couldn’t exactly heft it up on board, so we had it towed along with a rope. I mean, I say hunted, but we’re not sure yet if it’s a monster or not. “Kraken” wouldn’t be an unfair name for it. … I mean, Sheryl took it down with her attacks, so I guess it is a monster? Anyway, the harpoon is perfectly suited for fighting sea creatures.

“… Kizuna.” “Hmm? What’s up?” “I think you should gut it soon.” “Why do you… Ah, whatever. Gotcha. I’ll do it.” “Hm.”

I didn’t get the feeling she would answer even if I were to finish asking her, though there was something like a gleam in her eye. I guess shooting squid out of the ballista would’ve been effective, but eating nothing but it is another story. Not to mention that Sheryl had eaten the most out of any of us. … Maybe she likes squid? I decided it would’ve been wiser to not ask her and just to gut the Humongous Squid in silence. What I got was:

Water Deity’s Tentacle, Water Deity’s Fin, Water Deity’s Head, Water Deity’s Arm, Water Deity’s Mantle, Water Deity’s Heart, Water Deity’s Eye, Water Deity’s Shell, Top Quality Squid Ink, Top Quality Trimmed Squid

Just like with the Giant Herring, I received a surprising number of items from gutting. Maybe all of them boss creatures are like this, eh? And I suppose it was originally a squid turned water deity? Hmm, I wonder… what kind of weapons I could make with these parts…

“Sheryl, we’ll discuss it with everyone else, but have these items.” “… You sure?” “Why do you question it?” “Hm.” “I don’t have any ulterior motives. I just feel like it would be better if you held on to them.” “Hm.” “Call it a gut feeling. Speaking of which… that was kinda uncharacteristic of what you said earlier.” “… Not really.”

Whatever. Not like it’d help if I hounded her over it anyway. In any event, I handed over all the items I received by gutting the Humongous Squid. We’re still undecided, but it’d be nice if she could make a good weapon out of its parts.

“Kizuna! Sheryl!”

While we were basking in the glory of defeating the Humongous Squid, Shouko called out to us in a less delighted tone. I’ve seen her flustered only a handful of times since we’ve first met.

“What’s wrong?” “The ship is moving by itself.” “I’m pretty sure that’s what ships do.” “No, I don’t mean it like th—” “Kizuna.”

Sheryl interrupted Shouko as she pointed upwards. Our sails were furled. I looked around. A calm night without so much wind or waves. There was no one using Helmsmanship. And yet, despite so.

… Our ship was traveling at an unnatural speed.

contents: /prologue/ /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ /ch006/ /ch007/ /ch008/ /ch009/ /ch010/ /ch011/ /ch012/ /ch013/ /ch014/ /ch015/ /ch016/ /ch017/ /ch018/ /ch019/ /ch020/ /ch021/ /ch022/ /ch023/ /ch024/ /ch025/ /ch026/ /ch027/ /ch028/ /ch029/ /ch030/ /ch031/ /ch032/ /ch033/ /next/

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freakin-edikan · 5 years

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More Unpopular Smash Onions

I have a lot of Smash Onions and here are most of them in one post. Be warned it’s long and stupid

Bayonetta Should Not Have Been in Smash Ever

The whole point of Bayonetta is that she whips out these crazy combos and super strong witch tricks to defeat her opponents. The only problem is...barely anyone else can do that because they’re not supposed to because it’s Smash Bros and not Street Fighter. There was no way to nerf Bayonetta without ruining her, and there was no way to keep the Bayonetta feel and style without her dominating the game.

Cloud Should Not Have Been in Smash Ever

He was too fast, he was too strong, he had a projectile. Sakurai specifically said he knew Ike had exactly these stats when Ike was added to Brawl in 2008. He intentionally left them out so as to not let Ike become too strong. But years later, Cloud strutted into Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS with these same attributes anyway. He’s a lot more tame now, but how many Peaches had to die?

The Zelda Characters Got the Short End of the Stick

A game with 30 years of history does not deserve to be represented by three Links, two Zeldas, and one Ganondorf. It’s clear that the development team was banking on the games sticking to its Ocarina formula, which is why they tried so hard to keep all the designs from one game and didn’t introduce anyone who wasn’t a Triforce bearer. By the time they finally stumbled on the idea of giving characters designs from different games, they had run out of space for any newcomers specific to particular games in the series, and the potential for new characters had run out.

I’m aware that Zelda isn’t as popular in Japan as it is in the United States; however, seeing how big Super Smash Bros. and its audience is, I think its representation could be a little better than that.

Zelda Got the Short End of the Stick

You mean to tell me it took 17 years for someone to look at that trainwreck of a moveset and finally do something about it? Y’all ugly.

There Doesn’t Need to be 15,897 Marths

If the devs over at Sora Ltd. played their cards right, our Fire Emblem lineup could have consisted of a balance of characters and assist trophies that could show off the most prominent aspects of the series. My idea is this:

Characters

Marth

Ike

Lyn

Robin

Assist Trophies

A Manakete (from any game)

A Pegasus Knight + Triangle Attack (any game but preferably the ones who made it famous—so Palla, Catria, and Est.)

A main villain (person, any game)

A main villain (monster, any game)

Ephraim?

Micaiah.

...and some cute lil spirits/stickers/trophies with some lore or references or something. If you ask me, we got the characters we got because of poor planning. I might not know the ins and outs of the process, but that’s what it looks like to me.

I Am Singling Out Corrin Specifically

This pick feels like an impulse because of the fact that FE14 was new, but besides that, I (a salty Peach main and Bandana Dee fan) first thought the character was busted. Never before had we a character with such ridiculous range—I thought Shulk’s energy sword Sunday was pushing it. It looks like Corrin set a precedent, though, because tall, adult characters who can reach across the entire stage seem to be the norm nowadays.

The Mario Characters are Out of Character

I think it’s telling when you can’t convey the character of Mario properly. Mario in Smash rather quickly moved away from his friendly everyman balancedness to a very aggressive, very angery Man who apparently just beats the living daylights out of people as the Smash Ultimate music blares in the background. Mario in his games is so much more friendly, eccentric, comical, fun. Smash Mario is way too serious; he doesn’t even smile in his renders anymore. I know, it’s a fighting game; you have to be serious to some extent. I just find this a little odd considering, um...

Peach was pretty similar when she first came to Melee. But when Brawl came around, her headbutt was replaced with hearts, her explosions with hearts, her diplomatic walk with a ditzy skip—it’s all incredibly suspicious. I talked about this before, but I think Smash makes Peach look dumb. I feel like it tries too hard to appeal to the girl who couldn’t pick any of the boy characters because they were icky so she picked the prettiest, girliest girl and that’s Peach. Her character feels like it’s making a mockery of her. (I mean, who remembers the tea time? I remember the tea time.) Nearly all of the nuance in Peach’s character is gone; I like the Toads and it feels like she’s commanding an army, but she herself with the rainbows and the hearts...I don’t know. It makes me. Uncomfortable. Peach has displayed far more competence before; she’s a very intelligent individual, but in Smash it’s not showing.

If I thought Peach was bad, imagine how I feel about Daisy! They barely changed a couple of animations and visuals but no attributes. It feels cheap and lazy and even though she’s an echo fighter, other “clones” had at least a little more thought put into them. And no “Hi, I’m Daisy”??? Preposterous. I think it goes to show that you really can’t make a clone of Peach because her moveset is too unique, and tinkering with it makes it fall apart. I think this was a bad call.

Bowser Jr. seems fine. He’s just a kid with some toys and it shows. Bowser...can at least walk straight, nowadays. But...

Luigi Baby I’m So Sorry That a Ugly Ass Bitch Would Even Do That

So when Smash 64 came out in 1999, Luigi had had his own voice for 3 years. Smash had decided to take Mario’s voice clips and pitch them up instead. This didn’t change until Brawl.

Luigi is Mario’s taller, slippery-er, eccentric younger brother, and Smash played the eccentric up to 11. (I mean, who remembers the Negative Zone? I remember the Negative Zone.) The hip bumps? And the weird dances? And the being able to fall over and be so round that he can just roll back up? I’ve never seen him do that anywhere but Smash. I don’t know who that is with the green hat in Smash. But it’s not Luigi.

The great thing is that he plays like Luigi! But he sure doesn’t act like it. And neither does Mario. And Mario and Luigi don’t play off each other at all, either. They’re so awkward to put together in this game; it’s like an attack on the sibling family unit.

We Don’t Stan Rosalina

We don’t stan her

“We Made Up Lore About EarthBound Hoping No One Would Notice Also We Really Like Pollyanna and the First Eight Melodies and We Exclusively Reference Mother 1 But We Still Won’t Put Ninten in This Game”

Ness is supposed to have defensive and support PSI because he has the highest physical offensive stats—and the lowest IQ—in EarthBound. He can’t use PK Starstorm, or PK Fire, or PK Thunder. He can use PSI Shield and Brainshock and Paralysis and um, PSI Rockin, and though I don’t mind using Ness and Lucas as they are now, I still can’t help but notice how inaccuracy-laden all the EarthBound references were, and that a moveset focused around trapping an opponent to go in for the beat down intrigues me.

Listen, no one else in this game has made-up lore about how their friends taught them certain moves after the end of their game, and how they channeled their big finisher into smaller bursts of energy while taking on the friend’s (much weaker!) signature move as their Final Smash. You could probably explain the magic Zelda uses as they come in crystals anyone could theoretically use, but the framing that they use for Ness and Lucas? It’s pretty silly.

Okay, about Ninten...he doesn’t have to be in Smash. But what’s the point of saying “Mother (Series)” and then making this weird conglomerate of ideas that doesn’t actually get the point across? All three games communicate very different ideas, but hardly any of what’s in Smash portrays any of it very well.

Where’s Bandana Dee

Where is he

Realistic Guns

Joker is about to enter this game with a literal fucking glock and I’m not okay

Final Smashes is the Same

It’s either a Mega Laser, a Giant Stage Hazard, a I’m Gonna Just Ram Into You Like Nobody’s Business, or a Barage of Attacks With One Final Hit. For all the crap I give Peach’s Final Smash, at least it’s different. Oh, there’s a new kind now: the We Stole Snake’s After We Thought He Was Never Coming Back And Oh God He’s Here. Oh No He’s Back. He’s Angry Oh N-

Kirby and Jigglypuff

They haven’t been great for years! I want them back to being good again.

Okay so Jigglypuff was OD’ing in Melee. But insta-death shield break just doesn’t tell me you care about them!

Speaking of Caring About Kirby

I see y’all only putting Kirby’s Adventure and Kirby Super Star content in your game. Look, whoever made Kirby 64 and friends disappeared the same year Sakurai left HAL Laboratory. The new Kirby games acknowledge all of Kirby’s history, and they take many cues from Smash. Smash is a big game, but the least it could do was reciprocate some of that.

The Music Selection is Underwhelming Me So Far

And it’s not the sheer number; I think that’s incredible. My problem is many of the songs are remixes with multiple versions. There are multiple versions of Light Plane from Pilotwings, multiple versions of Magicant, multiple Ballads of the Goddess, a billion Mario Main Themes. There are so many different musicians arranging for these games; are they all sitting there thinking “I’ll do you one better!!” making the same songs again? Some series have one song being remixed over and over while the rest of the soundtrack is just ripped from the original and chucked into the game. Other songs are just weak, which I expect, but they’re just so...mild.

The original music in Smash Ultimate I think is also pretty weak. It’s the same problem Brawl ran into and the only difference is the Ultimate themes are better orchestrated. The arrangement became stale to me and I think it’s because the game is so big that it couldn’t tie itself together as neatly as Smash 64 could (although only one, maybe two people worked on Smash 64’s music).

Stage Hazards

I don’t remember if it’s possible to turn them off but I am tired of the goddamn Flying Man.

So I think that’s about it. Thanks for reading and on the off chance that someone responds to it, you don’t have to go through the entire thing just to pick it apart bit by bit, I don’t want anyone to have to slog through that unless they want to, I guess. Happy New Year!

#smash ultimate #thinking about video games

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annakie · 6 years

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It’s gonna be the future soon...

So, I think that it’s close enough to definite now that I can say something solid about it.

Very close to 10 months after my old, awesome company was acquired by this... other... company... that we had an extremely not-awesome experience with... unless something goes terribly wrong with my pre-employment checks, on June 11th I’ll be starting a new job, at a new company, doing exactly what I want to do with people who I don’t know but I seem to like so far, in a location really close to home.

I didn’t talk about much of this outside of private channels because it’s always a bad idea to be negative about your employer when they’re your employer, but... I’m feeling such catharsis, and like the cold hand that’s been gripping my head and heart for so long is finally letting go.

Anyway, here’s a lot of words, and a few pictures.

Last year, on the five-year anniversary of working for the company I worked for, we’ll call it company A, I wrote this long blog post about how much I loved my job.

I really did. I was so happy. Most people who worked there were really happy. The IT/Dev group were mostly very close with each other. My team, the IT team specifically extended out with two others, we were honestly like brothers and sisters.

On August 15th, we were acquired by Company B.

I knew it was coming for like a month ahead of time, and throughout July and early August every day I made myself appreciate all the little things about working there, because things were going to change some. But you know, we’d probably just lose the top bosses and maybe they’d cut like, Marketing, which would be sad, but understandable. And maybe a few other people would leave and things would be different, but still, it couldn’t be that bad.

But it was. It started when... for most of the employees, our stock was worthless. A few people got a few hundred dollars but... some of us had been given stock in leiu of bonuses and raises. So our outgoing board screwed us. That cut, deep. It wasn’t the new company’s fault, but we started out disgruntled.

And the new company... I think that the people in charge didn’t really want to acquire us, but were told to by the financial backing partners. It was bad from the start. From an absolutely ridiculous NDA/Non-Compete which many lawyers we consulted said we shouldn’t sign which made 5 important people just walk out instead of signing, and the fact that my boss was almost walked out on orders of the CEO for speaking his mind when in a meeting Company B set up to answer questions. Our old and new CTOs just barely averted that from happening.

Picture break! This is the old office, the view from my desk. I mean... Carlos wasn’t ALWAYS dressed that way, just when there was a World Cup or Euro Cup happening. But every one of those desks and a bunch you can’t see were filled with people I loved working with.

But within a month, communication and trust between the two companies was already shattered. They made much deeper cuts from the staff than we thought would happen. We lost one of our 3 locations, everyone but the 2 devs there were laid off. The entire marketing team, almost all of the sales team, all of accounting. And it wasn’t too long before my boss found something else because his days were numbered anyway. And our CTO was pushed out a month later. Expected, but it stung.

And in all this time, they kept telling us that we were wanted. The IT/dev teams. And we kept dropping like flies. People just saying “Fuck this shit, I’m out.” Finding something better, higher paying, less painful, and quickly. For most of the last 4 and a half months of last year, I was turning accounts down.

We were getting punched in the stomach by something from the new company every few days, it felt like. There was no morale. There was only us, huddling together for warmth as people were torn away or dropped out, one by one. I organized probably close to 20 goodbye lunches, and several more “Hey who wants to go to lunch? We’re going to ____, whoever can go, meet there at 11:30″ to keep in touch lunches.

The last one we had was May 11th, to celebrate my birthday and one of our remote guys being in town.

I take a picture at almost every group lunch we have. I have so many pictures of various groups of us sitting at a table, smiling, all just happy to be hanging out together again for an hour.

This was the “new” Dev manager and Carlos’ goodbye lunch.

I can’t get into specifics of all the ways things happened that hurt. There are so many things that happened that just left our jaws hanging open. So many things we questioned. This post would be ten times the length were I to really get into it.

They hired a new Development manager, promised him support and the ability to run what remained of the IT department his way, and then in actuality though, gave him no power and no money and no ability to change anything. He was a scapegoat. He started out rah-rah we can fix this in late October or early November-ish? By Christmas, even his spirit was broken.

We were told during the acquisition we would get to participate in the company’s bonus program. Neat! Prorated, of course, I mean, that makes sense. Cool. Well, December we get our bonus checks and um... it’s half of what they should be. We did the math, a lot. Several times. Someone, somewhere made the decision that we only deserved half of our prorated bonuses. That’s just the way it was.

There’s so much more. But let’s move on.

We’d been told when all this started that they wanted to move our office and turn our development-focused office into more of a sales-focused office. The move is its own story of hilarity, but those of us left got the honor of cleaning out the office and packing it all away. We did, at least, get to take a lot of stuff home. I am, right now, sitting at my desk from work, and my chair from work, in the middle of my living room. What used to be my office is now in process of being turned into the living room. I took home my favorite painting, a TV console, and lots of just misc stuff we wouldn’t need at the new place. So that’s nice.

Yeah so that’s basically my living room now. The cats like it! They got new beds AND a big cat tree out of the bargain! Pemily only uses a bottom “house” level, Fry likes the bed on top and the bigger level right under it. They use the beds a lot more, though.

There have been so many days where I would just get in the car at the end of the day and cry out of frustration and anger and sadness over what we lost. The promises broken, the things that we were told wouldn’t happen and did, the things we were told would happen and didn’t. The loss of so many people I cared so much about from my daily life.

And I should say, some of the people at the new company are great. My new immediate boss, I really do like him, and I have always tried to be as honest with him as I could. The last several months, I’ve been completely honest with him, for both his sake and mine. He, more than anyone on their side, has gotten the brunt of taking several bad decisions by the higher ups on his chin. The rest of the other IT team, they are very nice people and I enjoy working with them. Even their CTO, well, there are some mixed feelings about him, but as a person, I like him a lot. We’ve even hung out when he’s been in town.

So yeah... by the beginning of 2018, the IT/Dev team was down to like six people, out of over 20 when we started.

The day of The Move, January 27th, everyone on the team who was left got pulled into a meeting at the new place, while the movers were still moving our things in.

We were told that we were all losing our jobs in six months. We’d get a (TBH, laughable, 12%) severance if we stayed the entire time. Or, we could move to Kansas City, Kansas. Hmm... from the #1 job market in the US to Kansas City. Lol. No.

Immediately, I mean like WHILE THAT MEETING WAS STILL HAPPENING, my last two team members from IT accepted other job offers they’d been mulling over. My last other friend who I’d gotten a job there not long after I started, went from “Nah, I’m gonna stick it out.” to “I’m out.”

Eric was gone a week after the announcement, Carlos and the new Dev manager were gone the next week. My dev friend and I were the last two left. It only took him about a month to be gone.

They’d designed an area in the new office for development and IT before they made the decision to move us. I literally sit in this area of 10 cubes utterly alone. Soon, the only people left from my office were 2 guys from sales and one project manager which... his story is a whole other doozy I’m not getting into. Anyway, four of us left, out of the 30 that were there in August. And eight of the twelve from Memphis still have their jobs. Twelve people left. Out of fifty.

So yeah, this is my view. Nobody sits in any cube you can see besides mine. My back is to a wall. One of the remaining guys DOES sit in that office on the right, and recently another of them moved into the office next to that one, which you can’t see in the picture, though. That helps stave off the lonely a lot.

The same day we were starting work in the new office, the Monday after the day we were told about losing our jobs (Friday) a whole other set of people started work there, too. Eight call-center salespeople and their manager.

It was very apparent that first week that... whatever used to be my company was utterly gone.

I wasn’t totally alone. The 3 guys left and I banded together. They were already close with each other, and I did consider myself friends with them already but we hadn’t been like, close. But they took me in, and made me a part of their clique. That helped.

And the new people... aren’t bad, honestly. The manager is great, I really like him, and most of the sales people are nice, even though I don’t really talk to them much. They have calls to make, and I don’t go to their meetings so... I’m just... there. It’s still a weird feeling. I mean, I IT Support them as is my job, but yeah. There’s still a divide there. The new office space is OK. The building is pretty classy, we’re on the 7th floor right off of a freeway, it’s a great view. Lots of nice amenities. It’s also a 45 minute drive from home. The drive would be a little better if I wanted to pay $5 a day in tolls, lol. No.

And mostly, I’ve been horribly bored. I mean, sure, I’ve made it to like episode 42 of Critical Role. I do all my work. I help the people in the office who need help. I set up cubicles with the computers and peripherals the Kansas office sends me for the new hires. I find more work to do. I’ve been documenting all the things I do in anticipation of when I’m no longer going to be there, and I don’t wanna leave my new team hanging when that happens -- none of this is their fault. I’ve been wiping all our laptops we don’t use anymore and sending them to Kansas so they can use them. I’ve been sorting boxes and throwing more stuff out. It just... it wasn’t what I wanted to be doing anymore. It wasn’t interesting or challenging.

So why was I even still there? I had reasons.

There was... an opportunity... I was told I was going to get. It was solid, a lock. And in fact at one point there was ANOTHER opportunity I was supposedly a lock for. For quite awhile, I was waiting for one of these to pan out because either would have been awesome. I just needed to hang on a few more weeks.

When suddenly it was April and neither had panned out, I realized that it was really fucking time that I stop waiting and being sad about what was gone, and to start actually taking charge of the next few months. I had til July 27th to make something happen for myself. I’d been assured that unless I did something really terrible at work, my current job was safe until that date. (I very much appreciated that and suspect my direct boss and (possibly the CTO too) has stuck his neck out for me a time or two to make sure this happened.) That took some pressure off. And I still had hope that the opportunity was going to pan out, but I could work harder to make things work out.

I first had to sit down and really decide what I wanted to focus on. Before the acquisition, I had two halves to my job. IT Support for the entire 50+ person company, and project managing our yearly SOC2 Audit. I knew I could pretty easily get another straight up IT Support job. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I’d been doing IT Support for like, 18 years now, along with another half to both of the jobs I’d had in that time (Telephony in my previous job, and auditing in this one.) I started to wonder if I could make a real go at getting a job 100% in auditing.

I started poking around at job listings for that and kept seeing the acronym “CISA” as a requirement for everything I was interested in. So I googled it -- Certified Information Systems Auditor. Intrigued, I spent a day learning about what that was. I took a “practice test” I found online and thought “Oh, hm, I don’t know most of these answers but I do understand the questions. I... I think I could do this.” So I joined a professional organization for the first time, dropped a load of money on that, plus study materials, and set aside another $600 for when it’s time to take the exam

A great deal of my free time since early/mid April has been taken up by studying. I’m hoping to take the test in late June.

I also modified my resume at this point to add that I was preparing for the test. Couldn’t hurt.

In the last six weeks or so, I’ve probably applied to 20 or 30 IT Auditor type jobs, and some just more in general IT Security. I’ve talked to about a dozen recruiters. I’ve heard a lot of people say my resume is great and they could definitely find me a job. None of them tried. I didn’t even hear back from most of them, ever. I’ve talked to a lot of internal recruiters, some of whom made me big promises then ghosted me, some of whom were excited to place me and then whoops it turned out the hiring manager promoted from within and all interviews were canceled... or something.

It was frustrating, but people kept telling me, this is also normal. TBH, I hadn’t had to job hunt literally since the year 2000. I’d read up a lot about what I needed to do, how to act and talk and what to say and how to answer the hard questions and I felt like I did well whenever I was given a shot. It’s just that Something always happened. I started to joke with my guys left at work that I wondered what this week’s Big Disappointment would be. I was also joking that if I wanted to feel let down this consistently, I’d go back to dating.

Two Sundays ago I was doing a pass at job boards, and went to one I hadn’t been using before, but probably should have. And there I saw it.

A job doing exactly the auditing things I wanted to do, but more stuff, that I also wanted to do, and I had almost every line of their “Must haves” already on my resume. It was one of like, three jobs I applied to that night.

Tuesday I got an email for a phone screening. I didn’t let myself get excited, but I researched the company as much as I could, and liked what I saw. I also noticed, holy crap, they’re a 15 minute drive, all on surface roads and no freeways, from my house. That. Would. Be. Awesome.

The internal recruiter was really responsive, and nice, and seemed interested, all things I’d come to not really expect. We set up a phone screening for Wednesday, and on Thursday she said that the hiring manager wanted to skip a phone conversation and jump right to in-person interview on Monday.

Um, wow.

So I finally got a chance to wear that $200 interview outfit I’d bought, and put on the $100 makeup, and Monday, I drove the fifteen minutes oh my God this is awesome to the new place. Holy crap there’s a Starbucks RIGHT OUT FRONT IN THE SAME PARKING LOT YOU CAN WALK THERE. I took the elevator to the top floor wow this view is beautiful I can almost see my house from here! and met my possible new manager. I kind of got the vibe early that he was already heavily favoring me, and our conversation was basically like “I need someone who can do ____” “Oh, yeah, I was already doing that, so I can definitely do that.” And some of it was “Hm, I don’t have any experience in that area.” and he was like “Eh, but you have experience in this related thing, you can definitely pick it up.” And it was a lot more like a conversation than an interview. Always a good sign.

I’d actually put under like “Other interests” my masseffectsaves.com site and being admin and a major contributor to the TAH wiki, as a “see, I have other interests, I’m an interesting person” and he even asked about both of those things. I think being able to explain these semi-complex ideas helped a lot. (Why do you need a saves site? WHAT THE HECK IS Thrilling Adventure Hour? And I explained that the wiki shows I am able to write well, and have a good head for categorizing information.)

I felt things were going very well when he asked me to stay, and went and got the team, the people who would be my equals. They came and asked me questions, I asked them a few, and they thanked me and left.

And then he brought in the CIO, his boss. Later edit: this was not his boss, but someone very important at the company and I have since learned he told my boss he should absolutely hire me and I was perfect for the job and thought I’d do great. And since it’s 2 months later I’m making this edit, he’s already told my boss he thinks I’m great. :) And we had a good conversation.

Then I got the office tour. That was when I felt really good about it. And I had decided pretty early on in the interview that yeah, I really wanted this job.

The only downside is a smaller bump in my salary than I was hoping for. But it’s still a bump. And literally, everything else is fantastic.

I left the interview at 11:30.

I got a phone call from the internal recruiter (I made sure to tell both her and her boss how great she is) with a verbal offer at 3:30. I verbally accepted.

(Side note, I also got another request for a phone screening interview with another company I’d applied to that same night while I was in the interview. I did set up the phone screening just in case, but canceled it this morning after signing my offer letter.)

I signed all my paperwork today, submitted for the background and credit checks (because of the industry of the company, the credit check is like, mandatory. And my credit is great so, no worries.)

My current boss knew I had an interview Monday. I didn’t go to work Monday or yesterday, but I talked to him and let him know. If everything goes well, I’ll be turning in my notice on Tuesday (Monday is a holiday), and the 8th will be my last day.

A week shy of 10 months since all this started.

To the people I’m close to who read this, I’m sorry I’ve been withdrawn for so long, It’s just how I needed to cope, thank you for sticking with me. IDK if anyone noticed, but I didn’t post on tumblr and let my queue run out for like three months at the end of the year. I’ve still not been here a lot, but... enough to keep a queue going and make a few actual posts here and there. It was really bad for a long time. I didn’t want to engage with almost anyone about almost anything. I didn’t feel like I had much positive to say. And I couldn’t really talk about this publicly.

And now, today, it feels so good. I just want to scream about how great it feels to be getting out. Moving on! And to be fair, the last four months haven’t been terrible. They’ve been fine. Just fine. They actually offered to let me keep my job, to be even more fair, back in April, at about the time I’d decided to start studying for my CISA. Also about that time I was going through my first “Oh you’re gonna get this job!” excitement, pre-disappointment, besides the two that I’d been waiting on.

Oh yeah, of those two I’d waited on... one of them ghosted, and the other one, the one I’d really been waiting on, offically fell through like two weeks after I turned down the offer to stay on at the current company. I did have one weekend of “OH SHIT WHAT DID YOU DO NO ONE IS EVER GOING TO HIRE YOU WHY DID YOU TELL THEM YOU WERE GONNA LEAVE MAYBE YOU CAN BEG TO KEEP YOUR JOB” thoughts, a pretty bad panic attack, a bunch of scared crying, and utter despair in there. Then Sunday afternoon I picked myself back up, and went back to studying, and told myself over and over there was going to be something awesome out there for me. Plus, I had savings enough plus the “retention bonus” money to live on for a few months, if worse came to worse and I hadn’t found something on July 27th.

And to be honest, I really didn’t think I’d find a job in It Security/Auditing until after I passed the exam. I was applying to things, though, just in case, maybe I will.

I’m so, very glad to be wrong. I’m still going to pass my exam, and there’s at least one other certification I’m going for afterwards.

Which is just another weird thing.

My whole life I’ve been like, drifting when it came to college and work. TBH I never finished college. I got into IT almost by accident, because someone believed in me and pulled me onto his team. That person went from being my boss for a few years, long ago to now one of my closest friends I stayed in IT + Telephony then IT + Auditing because... I could. I always had a solid job that I was happy in (except near the end of the first job, the last 2 or 3 years were... hooo boy. Anyway.) I never felt a particular passion or calling to it. I liked it, I was good enough at it. It was a good paycheck and I got to work with awesome people.

But, as much as I would sometimes grouse about the audit, secretly kinda loved it. It was a LOT of work, and nerve-wracking, but I was good at managing it. I knew I could be better at it and do more if I didn’t have that whole other half of my job of IT Support to do. But realizing last month I could actually get a certification and there were other certs I could do that would also make work better and actually holy shit I have a career PATH. What sorcery is this? It’s weird. I just really, really, really wish I would have started looking at it... oh... five years ago.

I also took this other step about a month ago. There were several jobs I didn’t apply to because I never finished college and they stressed a degree was mandatory. That made me sad, and nervous.

I knew I had a TON of college credits, probably close to 120, but nothing that would coalesce into like, a degree. Also as the years went by it was like... well. There’s no way I could start all over with college.

On a whim, though, I googled “What to do when you have a lot of college credits and no degree”. And it turns out, there’s a couple of real, actual accredited non-profit colleges that have programs exactly for people like me. They accept transfer credits liberally and will tell you what you need to get a real actual diploma. I said what the fuck, and applied and got my transcripts from the three colleges I had significant credits at sent over there.

They finished the evaluation and got back to me today. I need twelve hours to get a bachelors of Liberal Arts. TWELVE. Five classes. (one is a 1 hour credit, one is a 2 hour credit, the rest are three. And I can CLEP out of two of the classes, if I want to.) I was also accepted into the program. I’m kicking myself for not doing THIS years ago.

So... the rest of this year will be dedicated to CISA and at least one more certification. Starting in the spring semester, I’m going back to school. Online, night classes type school, but I’m going to do it. I’m gonna get a fucking diploma, even if it’s a liberal arts diploma, at 43 years old. (Hell, I’ll be 44 by then.)

And what’s crazy is... this is like the silver lining to a dark, dark cloud. No, it’s more than that. It’s... coming out of the dark. It almost feels like a rebirth. It took five and a half months of a torturous slow death of the job and place that I loved. Then two months of emptiness. Then two months of terror and pushing myself and frustration and disappointment.

And now... I’m here.

I’m starting a new job that I think I’m going to be great at, and think I can be very happy at the place.

I’m getting real professional certifications.

I’m going to graduate college, finally.

Sometimes it really does take a lot of pain in order to grow. It takes the death of a thing that you hold dear to push you out of the nest and force you to make changes, to work hard, to be better.

I’m still sad that it took all of that to get to where I am, but I’m so glad, today, to be here. I feel like I can breathe again. I feel like the future is good.

Sorry this post is so long, by the way. I feel like.. for a really long time I couldn’t talk much about it. There were only a few people / private places I really talked about it because I was afraid of consequences should the wrong people see -- I still needed this job. I needed to figure out what I was doing. So now, this is me able to talk about it. Thanks for reading. It’s been a journey, and this chapter is closing. I really, really can’t wait to get to the new one.

#this is a very very long post #but also an important post for me #personal post tag thingy #work

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cdc1345711 · 6 years

Text

Prime Order:The Truth

(I will tell you the story of one 16 yr old girl who in the night is Dream Maker,Illusionist of Dreams but during the day she is.......)

‘Starla.......Miss Starla Cosmas?’

Starla:Huh?(waking up from daydreaming)”

Mrs. Margarot:Mind telling us the truth behind Edgar Allen Poe’s ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ poem?”

Starla:Well basically it’s mostly about a person wanting something that frightens him to end but in doing so he is consumed by guilt until he eventually couldn’t take it and tells the truth”

Mrs.Margarot:That is correct Starla”

(Everyone cheers her on......except one spoiled rich brat)

(After school Starla and her friends-Trevor,Tamyra,Rachel,Devon and Darrel-walk out together discussing their weekend plans)

Trevor:So we decided to go to the mall later,wanna come with us Star?”

Starla:That sounds wonder.....(her phone rings)hold on for just a second,Hello Grandpa(listens to what he says)really? right now but......Yes I know I have to but......okay fine,i’ll be there soon(hangs up and looks to her friends)sorry guys I gotta do something with my Grandpa,maybe we can hang out next weekend?”

Tamyra:You said that last weekend......”

Rachel:And the week before that......”

Darrel:And before that........”

Devon:Technically you’ve been saying that for the past 11 weekends,counting this one”

Starla:Wow 11-but this will be it-gotta go bye”

Rachel:Mmmm-mmm what is wrong with that girl?”

Trevor:Have you guys ever wonder what she and her Gramps do every weekend?”

Darrel:Whatever it is,it’s not our business”

Trevor:Still,don’t you think it’s total crap she blows us off-her best friends every other day? in fact when was it the last time we were at her place?”

Devon:When we were exactly 8 years of age,well 8 for you Trevor but 7 to me,Rachel,Tamyra,8 for Darrel and 6 for Starla”

Trevor:You know your Identic Memory scares us sometimes Dev but come on,we deserve to know-what do you say?”

(The group looks at each other and come to a conclusion)

Rachel:Okay we’re in”

Trevor:Yes-let’s go”

(The friends catch up to Starla behind the bush and keep a watchful eyes on her)

Starla:I’m here Zella,activate the portal”

(The gang look in confusion as she said ‘Portal’ then in mere seconds a portal opens up)

Devon:Holy Crows.....(Amazed by the portal’s appearance)”

Trevor:Shhhh-be quiet Dev”

Starla:Activating ‘Dream Maker’ uniform(She presses a button and her Dream Maker costume appears-stupefying her spying friends)entering now(enters the portal)”

Tamyra:Okay-what is going on?......”

Rachel:(Seeing Trevor walking up to the portal)Trev,what are you doing???”

Trevor:(Walking towards the portal)Come on guys,we’re too far to stop now.....”

(The group enters the portal one at a time while Dream Maker meets up with the rest of the Prime Order)

Dream Maker:So where is THE EVIL now?”

Sleep Master:He is currently attacking the ‘CatDog’ universe,we suspect to suck the evil out of the Greasers and Rancid Rabbit”

Repulse:Well what are we waiting for let’s stop us some Implings”

SM:Zella if you please.....”

Zella:On it Sleeps(pushes some buttons on her gloves)one portal to ‘CatDog’”

DM:Yay(in a not fully happy tone)”

Maze:(Noticing she is down)What’s wrong Star?,you usually enjoy going to these different cartoon worlds”

DM:It’s nothing, just......after school my friends asked me to hang out with them at the mall but you called and......”

SM:I understand you’re sad Young one but you must understand we have a duty to maintain order in all universes”

DM:I understand Grandpa it’s just......sometimes I want to have at least one weekend to hangout with them instead of just......(Sleep Master gives her a hug)”

SM:I get it-tell you what if we finish this mission early you can hangout with your friends the whole weekend,how’s that?”

DM:(Over joyed)REALLY?-then what are we doing here? let’s get those Implings”

SM:That’s my little fighter(rubs her head)”

(The team enter the portal and just when they leave Starla’s friends pop up at the base)

Trevor:(Looking at the enormous base)Wow.....look at all of this”

Tamyra:This is some real ‘Star Wars/Star Trek’ stuff right here”

Darrel:Dang-Star’s Grandparents must be rich or work for the government or something”

Devon:(Completely mind-blown)um uh uh uh uh(brings out his inhaler)this is so awesome”

Rachel:Hey Star?-you here?”

Trevor:She must be here somewhere let’s check it out”

Tamyra:I swear if a Xenomorph pops out and eats us off one by one I’m leaving you guys”

(As the wayward stowaways explore the base the Prime Order is fighting EVIL and his Implings trying to stop him from draining the evil out of the Greasers and Rancid Rabbit)

Maze:These shadowy S.O.Bs aren’t going down easily”

Repulse:(Cutting himself so the attacks hit the Implings)Yeah I’m running out of places to cut on me”

Accel:(Inflicting as much pain on the enemies he can)Just as you take one down tons more take it’s place”

Sleep Master:(Taking on EVIL himself)Keep on my Order”

EVIL:You’re out of luck old man-i’ll decimate this world along with countless others”

Sleep Master:Not today-ZELLA,DREAM MAKER NOW!!!!!!!”

(Dream Maker and Zella blast THE EVIL with light canons-which weekends the embodiment of EVIL)

EVIL:GAAAAAAAAH(the Implings stop attacking the PO and retreat to protect their lord)this isn’t over Sleep Master-I will end you”

SM:And we’ll be waiting”

DM:We did(does a victory dance)oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah(checks her phone)and just enough time to catch up to my friends at the mall”

Set Zero:(Noticing a blinking red light on Zella’s gloves)Uh Zell-you’re gloves beeping”

Zella:WHAT????(checks it out)the’re intruders in the base”

DM:(Aggravatingly)OH COME ON SERIOUSLY???????”

(The PO arrive at the base)

SM:Split up everyone,Maze,Repulse you two go to the west wing,Void,Set Zero check the east wing,Accel,Zella second floor,I’ll Check the Basement while Dream Maker stays here,alright move out”

(The group go to their designated places as Dream Maker stays in the Counseling Room)

Dream Maker:This is such bologna,I was this close to hanging out with our friends(phone rings)what is it Repulse?”

Repulse:Those sorry bastards ransacked my room”

Maze:Mine too,turned it into a bigger pig sty than it already was”

DM:Really? that’s odd?”

Accel:Same for me and Zella”

Set Zero:Same with me and Void(checks his room)wait aren’t those my panties?”

Void:(Blushing red)uuuuuh”

DM:I’m checking my room,call you when(hears a loud ‘BANG’)I’ll call you back(goes to investigate)okay Star you got this,you got this(she opens the door and puts her batons to the throat of......)TREVOR??????”

Trevor:Hey Star(waves to her along with Tamyra,Rachel,Darrel and Devon)”

DM:Tamyra,Rachel,Darrel,Devon,how?......What?.......When?.......Huh?”

Rachel:Hey Starla......”

DM:How did you guys get here?”

Darrel:We entered the same portal you went into and then we ended up here”

Tamyra:And what exactly is here?”

Starla:Oh no no no no no-you guys gotta leave before......”

Set zero:(Along with Void,Accel,Zella,Maze and Repulse)DREAM MAKER WHAT’S......(sees her friends)Oh......”

Repulse:(Bringing out his knife and about to cut his chest)AAAH”

Starla:No Repulse don’t.....”

Repulse:Dream Maker-you know these pendehos?(Spanish for ‘Dumb-Ass)”

Starla:They’re my friends”

Darrel:And we’re not ‘pendehos’ scar guy”

Trevor:Wait ‘Dream Maker’? isn’t that your ‘Prime Order’ name?”

Starla:Ah-ha yeah”

Devon:So.......you’re a super hero like the Hulk or Martian Manhunter?

Tamyra:Why didn’t you tell us about this?”

Starla:Uh I told you guys a bajillion times about the Prime Order”

Darrel:But we didn’t think they were true

Trevor:So you’re literally a team of super powered people who fight the bad guys?”

Devon:Wait so you do have powers?......are you like......a mutant?”

Starla:Like from X-Men,not necessarily it’s actually hereditary,like on my Dad’s side,even though Professor X did want to recruit me”

Devon:(About to spasm out)You.....you.....you met Charles Xavier.....Professor X......oh my Goooooood,what about Batman?”

Starla:Which Batman(hearing that made Devon faint)”

Set Zero:Is Nerd Boy okay?”

Starla:Yes he just fainted,he’ll be back soon-But really you guys gotta go now or else my Grandpa will flip his.......”

‘Flip my WHAT??????’

(Sleep Master appears behind the PO-scaring them half to death-and looks at his Granddaughter with angry disappointed eyes)

Starla:Hey Grandpa(rubbing her arm)found the intruders”

Devon:(Waking up to see Sleep Master)Mr.Seriphos? is that you?”

Sleep Master:Hello Devon,Trevor,Rachel,Tamyra and Darrel-Starla may I have a word with you ‘privately’?(Starla just gulps and walks with her Grandpa as everyone looks in depressed confusion as to whats gonna happen to her)”

Devon:So.....exactly what are your powers?(Everyone just looks at him)Just trying to break the silence”

Trevor:Too soon Dev,too soon”

(Starla is alone with Sleep Master)

Starla:You’re probably disappointed in me for allowing none Prime Order members to enter the base or for not closing the portal in time huh?”

Sleep Master:(Just stares at her)”

Starla:Well I’m sorry and yes I know it’s our duty to uphold Order but these guys are my friends and every day I tell them about our adventures knowing they don’t believe them.......until now,so...........what are you gonna do with them and what’s my punishment?”

(But before he could utter a word the gang enters the room)

Trevor:Mr.Seriphos please don’t punish Star,we’re the ones who spied on her and who entered your portal”

Rachel:We just wanted to see what you guys were doing”

Tamyra:It sucks to be left in the dark you know”

Darrel:We didn’t mean to her in trouble”

Devon:Please Mr.Seriphos”

Starla:(Happy her friends are standing up for her)Oh you guys(looking like she might cry)”

Sleep Master:I had no intention on punishing my Granddaughter nor you lot,I merely just wanted to ask her what we should do with the 5 of you”

Devon:Oh please Mr.Seriphos we can keep a secret promise,especially since Starla’s a super hero”

Sleep Master:We’re not superheroes Devon,we’re merely super powered individuals who maintain order in the different Cartoon Worlds”

Devon:Still.......”

Trevor:Anyway what are you gonna do with us?”

Starla:Well........”

(The team drops the group outside of their base)

Rachel:Wow-I can’t believe we’re allowed to go to the PO base”

Devon:This is now the greatest day of my life,say Starla how do you join the team.....”

Starla:You got to have reality warping powers to join,sorry Dev”

Devon:Awe darn it(everyone laughs)”

Starla:Hey it’s not super late-we could still hit the mall,if you guys still want to go?”

Trevor:Okay,but tomorrow we’re going back to that base to get a proper tour”

Starla:Deal”

Trevor:And maybe go on a few missions with you?”

Starla:Don’t push it”

(So Starla the ‘Dream Maker’ and her small band of friends head out to the Mall only to await their next encounter at the Prime Order base)

THE END

#Prime Order

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